The Countdown to the restart of the economy has begun.

[Darren]

"Acknowledging that approximately only 20 percent of people who go on ventilators, as he did, survive, he believes his life was saved after giving a doctor the thumbs up to use the experimental drug hydroxychoroquine after it appeared he was out of other options."

""People need to see some positive things, not just all the negative stuff you see on the news,'' said Saia on Monday, which is exactly two weeks after he was discharged from Staten Island University Hospital’s Ocean Breeze campus after he did a complete 180. "You can make it, no matter how (bleak) your situation is.

"I’m 100 percent proof.''

According to Saia, his initial experience at SIUH North wasn’t a good one after an ambulance brought him there on March 25.

"I thought they dropped the ball the first time,'' he said. "I couldn’t breathe and I had a temperature. They took a chest X-ray and diagnosed me with inflammation of the lungs and sent me home without antibiotics and eventually, things got worse.

"That’s the only thing I got upset about.''

Unfortunately, Saia was rushed back to the hospital just two days later when he started gasping for air. Technicians took another chest X-ray and he not only discovered he had double pneumonia, but also learned he was positive for the coronavirus.

The 46-year-old was admitted into what he called SIUH North’s “4B Unit” and said the care he received from the nurses and Patient Care Assistants (PCA) was second to none.

"I was in there for a total of 12 days,'' he said. "The nurses and PCAs were absolutely amazing. They were there anytime I needed them and honestly, the way they did their jobs was an inspiration.''
Believes in hydroxychloroquine

Forty-six-year-old Carmelo Saia said things turned around for him during his bout with COVID-19 after taking the experimental drug hydroxychloroquine. (Courtesy of Gina DeRosa)

But just the same, early in his visit, things started to look bleak. He still couldn’t breathe to the point where he needed a nurse.

"I hit the little red button and she came in and got a doctor. He put a stethoscope on my side and I heard him tell the nurse to ‘call the anesthesiologist and respiratory therapist,’' said Saia, noting he was not put on a ventilator yet. "That’s when I thought i was going to die. I can’t put it into words -- it crossed my mind that I wasn’t going to make it.''

Now in complete respiratory failure, a doctor asked Saia if he wanted to try hydroxychoroquine, the anti-malarial drug that is sometimes given to COVID-19 patients. A desperate Saia agreed to take it and was also give Zithromax (Z-pack).

Eventually, Saia’s oxygen levels began to improve and he was taken off the ventilator.

"I couldn’t breathe, so I did what I had to and that included taking the hydroxychoroquine,'' said the father of sons 14 and 11-years-old. "(The hydroxychoroquine) definitely kept me alive and I think anybody with the virus should take the drug. It helped me.''"

https://www.silive.com/coronavirus/2020 ... -life.html

[Scooter]

Nurses to Protest at White House to Demand OSHA Standard and Mass Production of Protective Equipment for Health Care Workers

Registered Nurses will be holding a protest in front of the White House on Tuesday, April 21 to call attention to the tens of thousands of health care workers nationwide who have become infected with COVID-19 due to lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). The nurses, members of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of RNs in the country, will be practicing social distancing and will read aloud the names U.S. nurses who are known to have died of COVID-19.

Nurses have been demanding that the Trump administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgate an emergency temporary standard so that health care workers are provided with the optimal PPE. NNU petitioned OSHA on March 4, 2020 for such a standard and never received a response. With no federal health and safety standard, nurses and other health care workers in many hospitals across the country have not been provided with adequate PPE to protect them from exposure to the virus.

Nurses point out that they require N95 respirators or a higher level or protection as well as other protective gear when taking care of patients who may be infected with COVID-19. With the failure of the Trump administration to protect health care workers, NNU is demanding that Congress include a mandatory OSHA emergency standard in its next COVID-19 legislative package.

The nurses are also demanding that President Trump use his authority under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to order the mass production of PPE, including N95 respirators, face shields, gowns, gloves and shoe coverings, as well as ventilators and COVID-19 testing kits. The U.S. Health and Human Services Department estimates the country will need 3.5 billion N95 respirators to be used throughout the pandemic. NNU is calling on Congress to mandate the DPA’s use to produce the equipment and supplies health care workers need to care for COVID-19 patients as well as to conduct mass testing that is required to control the spread of the virus.

[BoSoxGal]

And now using the excuse of our economy/jobs, our shiny orange dictator has just by fiat ended ALL immigration to the United States of America.

[Scooter]

As Hotels Offer Coronavirus Aid, Trump Properties Stay Quiet

On Sunday, the official White House account tweeted out a message to the generous hoteliers of America: “Thank you to hotels around the country for providing healthcare workers and first responders a place to stay while they’re on the front lines of the pandemic.” Though Trump rarely forgoes an opportunity to promote himself, the White House was not able to include any of his properties in the letter of gratitude. According to a report from Politico, Trump hotels are not providing space for health-care workers in U.S. cities grappling with substantial coronavirus outbreaks.

Never a man of great charity, Trump and his organization have not offered up his buildings for the cause. In New York, Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo have requested that hotels aid the city in its goal of tripling its 20,000 hospital beds by next month. While at least 20 hotels have offered their services, the Trump International Hotel and Tower overlooking Central Park has not. Three hotels neighboring the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago are welcoming first responders to stay, and are receiving “a base rate to pay for the cost of labor and operation.” The president’s company did not heed the call there either.

Though the Trump Organization is not alone in its decision not to lend a room, their resorts don’t have anything more lucrative going on either: Last week, the New York Times reported that the president’s company is seeking a bailout from its longtime look-the-other-way lender, Deutsche Bank. Of the Trump properties that remain open, Politico reports that they’re not doing so for financial gain. “There’s no business reason for” staying open, a union official familiar with the situation told Politico. “They’re trying to support what the president is pushing from the podium.”

[Scooter]

Singapore's second wave of cases is a glimpse at what the US may be in for

On Wednesday, Singapore reported 142 new cases of COVID-19 — the highest single-day record for the city-state. In the last week, Singapore had two record-breaking numbers of new infections — with 120 new confirmed cases on April 5 and 106 on April 7, according to data collected by Worldometer — after weeks of successfully controlling the outbreak within its borders.

The new cases have been connected to foreign workers living in compact dormitories, the Straits Times reported. The recent resurgence of infections has prompted the government to implement a lockdown, closing down schools and most workplaces for a month.

"We have decided that instead of tightening incrementally over the next few weeks, we should make a decisive move now, to pre-empt escalating infections," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech, the New York Times reported.

Singapore was one of several Asian countries whose coronavirus response efforts were hailed as a "gold standard" of how to bring an outbreak under control.

While many other countries have imposed city-wide lockdowns and ordered citizens to stay at home, Singapore relied on surveillance, quarantine, and social distancing to curb the spread of infection. The city-state boldly resisted aggressive lockdown measures to limit disruptions to companies and workers in hopes of softening the inevitable economic blow of the pandemic.

Many countries are navigating a complex balancing act of lifting restrictions to allow its economy to recover from lockdowns while preventing another wave of coronavirus cases. Austria and Denmark are planning to end their coronavirus lockdowns should the number of cases continue to decline.

However, the recent spike of cases in Singapore underscored how easily the virus can spread even with social distancing measures in place — and it may give a glimpse at what the US may be in for if the government lifts the orders too early.

Most US states have enacted some form of stay-at-home orders which have closed non-essential businesses and asked citizens to remain in their residences. However, President Donald Trump has repeatedly emphasized the need for the "country to open again," as he grew impatient with the negative impact that the country's restrictions were having on the US economy.

"We have to open our country again. We don't want to be doing this for months, and months and months," Trump said at a news briefing on Saturday. The Trump administration has been tracking what it believes to be a "stabilization" in infection rates so that it can roll back some coronavirus restrictions in hopes of re-energizing the stalled economy.

Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering loosening its guidelines for self-isolation.

Under the proposed guideline, people who are exposed to the novel virus could be allowed to return to work if they are asymptomatic, wear a face mask, and monitor their temperature twice a day, a person familiar with the proposal told the Associated Press.

However, as the Trump administration eyes loosening restrictions, some estimates show that the US has yet to hit the peak of its coronavirus outbreak. Some estimate that it could occur in late April or early May.

Experts, including those on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, warned that lifting restrictions too early could result in a "second wave" of COVID-19 cases in the country.

An epidemiologist told Business Insider that countries might need to impose new lockdowns every three months until a vaccine is available. Lifting lockdown measures could lead to a re-emergence of the virus. As residents emerge from their homes, go to work, take their children to school, and go shopping, people could be asymptomatic but still spread the novel virus to others.

On Wednesday, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, cautioned against reading "early signs of hope" and doubled down on maintaining social distancing measures.

"What's really important is that people don't turn these early signs of hope into releasing from the 30 days to stop the spread. It's really critical," Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said on Wednesday.

"So, if people start going out again and socially interacting, we could see a very acute second wave very early. We are really encouraging every American to continue to follow the guidelines for these 30 days," she added.

The US quickly outpaced other countries to become a hotspot for the novel virus, with over 423,000 confirmed cases and over 14,300 deaths, according to data collected by John Hopkins. In a news briefing on Saturday, Birx said that projections showed that New Orleans, Detroit, and New York City were likely to hit the peak of their outbreaks this week.

[Scooter]

Maryland Republican Governor Says Trump and Pence Are Lying About Testing

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said that Donald Trump is lying about states having enough tests to reopen their economies.

Gov. Hogan said on CNN’s State Of The Union, “I think this is probably the number one problem in America and has been since the beginning of this crisis. The lack of testing and I’ve repeatedly made this argument to the leaders in Washington on behalf of the rest of the governors in America, and I can tell you I talk to governors on both sides of the aisle nearly every single day. The administration, I think, is trying to ramp up testing. They are doing some things with respect to private labs, but to try to push this off to say that the governors have plenty of testing, and they should just get to work on testing, somehow we aren’t doing our jobs is just absolutely false.”

[Scooter]

[BoSoxGal]

More on that story:

https://www.businessinsider.com/fema-pa ... sks-2020-4

[Bicycle Bill]

And now using the excuse of our economy/jobs, our shiny orange dictator has just by fiat ended ALL immigration to the United States of America.

At first look, it DOES sound like he is grasping at any straw in a whirlwind to ram his cherished "⃥M⃥a⃥k⃥e⃥ ⃥A⃥m⃥e⃥r⃥i⃥c⃥a⃥ ⃥G⃥r⃥e⃥a⃥t⃥"⃥  "Keep America White" anti-immigration policy through; however, if you're trying to prevent introduction of a disease to a population I would have thought that closing the borders and keeping potentially-infected people out of the country would be one of the first things that should be done.

The true intent of his actions will come after the crisis eases and if this "no immigration from anywhere" policy is modified or rescinded.

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

You can quarantine incoming immigrants, it was standard practice through history during prior outbreaks of disease. Canada’s Grosse Isle housed a large scale quarantine facility for years and there’s a mass grave there of Irish immigrants who perished due to typhoid and other diseases.

Closing to all immigrants is enormously cruel to all those with completed visas in hand who are now shut out of the country indefinitely - not to mention that some of them are likely healthcare professionals.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Meanwhile in the land of potential immigrants:

On Saturday, President Cyril Ramaphosa met the country's premiers, with his ministers and selected experts, at the President's Coordinating Council (PCC). Western Cape Premier Alan Winde - who served previously as both finance and economic development and tourism MEC - told News24: "At the end of the lockdown, we can't go back to where we were. Every aspect of life would be affected, and would have to adapt to a 'new normal'," Winde warned. "They're calling it a 'partial lockdown'."

Winde said: "It's an interesting dynamic, because right now, in 'lockdown', the businesses that are the highest risk, are the ones that are open. No duh! Right now, where you're getting your positive tests are in all our retail outlets - from the small guys in Khayelitsha, to the big hyper-stores. Because it's a natural phenomenon - that's where people are gathering, so that's where transmission happens. We're finding it in the factory spaces - pharmaceutical, agriculture, or food processing, you'll find that because people are congregating, coming to work, there is transmission.

"So the message to businesses is going to be: You've got to come up with your own set of rules" - to ensure strict physical distancing, proper hygiene, professional standards and all necessary protocols to prevent any transmission of the virus.

"If you've got Covid-19 cases, the first thing the health department is going to do is close you. So if you can show you have proper processes they will say you can open again," Winde predicted.

Winde hoped permission-to-trade would focus on "businesses which are least susceptible", and cited an example: "Two or three guys that run an ICT company. Their back office will require a set of protocols. But their front counter might not exist like it did in the past - they will perhaps just have deliveries and collections," Winde said.

"A restaurant can develop the same thing. They will now have to have certain protocols inside the kitchen, so they minimise transmission, and, they will deliver, or have collections."

Asked how businesses would need to demonstrate they had the necessary levels of safety in place, Winde said it was likely different sectors would be categorised, according to risk.

"The tourism industry is the one that is unfortunately going to take longer, because their customer base is being kept away," Winde said.

In the meantime: "We've still got two weeks of 'lockdown'. Hopefully we'll see in the last week some relaxation so everyone's still in lockdown, wine! For the love of .... wine!except for – those sectors which would be exempt under the 'partial lockdown'."

But there would be a flip-side to easing up on certain parts of the economy in a partial lockdown. This would be to ensure that severe risks were still managed tightly.

"There will be constant 'lockdown' for people at risk. So if you are elderly,that's people over 75, right Al? or if you suffer a lung disorder, or lung disease, TB or asthma, you need to be in 100% lockdown, no matter what. But the situation may be different for other demographic groups.

"If we have a look at statistics around the world, younger people seem to be less susceptible. They may be carriers - so they obviously have to follow all the rules. But perhaps they can go back to school or back to university," Winde said.

[Lord Jim]

Here (briefly) is how I see things unfolding over the month of May; it's the tale of two models of transition:

1. The Responsibly Run States:

In these states, (thankfully the majority) we'll see the beginning of highly regulated "opening up" of additional businesses, with an application process and strict health and safety plans required (including the preservation of social distancing) For convenience, I'm going to call this The Ohio Model. (Since that state seems to be the furthest along in developing these processes)

In these states, even these first steps wont be taken without meeting the 14 day of decline in infection rates standard (which is actually, believe it or not, the Trump Administration official standard) and resources are in place to be able to do effective trace-contact testing, and appropriate quarantines. In these states, public health is the first and foremost consideration, and the decision making process will be driven by science and the data. There may be some loosening of restrictions in public spaces, (parks and beaches) but these will be accompanied by a culture of strict enforcement of the social distancing and group congregating rules already in place.

2. The Irresponsibly Run States:

In these states, businesses will be allowed to reopen without any health and safety plan approval process. Lip service may be paid to require social distancing and health testing of employees, but enforcement will be lax to non-existent. Contact-trace testing wont be considered an important part of the process.

The whole decision making process will not be driven by consideration for health and public safety, but by pro-Trump politics and perceived short term political advantage at the expense of health and public safety. I'm going to refer to this as The Georgia Model. (I chose that because as bad as some other states are in this regard, Gov. Brian "The Butcher Of Georgia" Kemp, continues to make himself the most egregious example of all. This guy is opening up a slew of business niches this week with no consideration for any health concerns. Next week, theaters and restaurants will be allowed to re-open. Kemp is the worst thing to happen to Georgia since William Tecumseh Sherman...)

Loosening restrictions in public spaces (like parks and beaches) will be accompanied by lax to non-existent enforcement of social distancing and congregating rules.

Needless to say states that follow some form of the Georgia Model will in short order burn with a new surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. The leadership of these states are fully aware of this; they just don't care. (Kemp even said that he expects the sickness rates to rise, but he isn't concerned because he believes the Georgia healthcare system can "handle it.")

[Gob]

Could responsible states ban travel from others?

[Guinevere]

The right to interstate travel is guaranteed under the Constitution. Right now the responsible states are requiring an in- home quarantine when traveling between states - that’s likely the most that could be done. Public health regulations are typically an area of state law — thus the mix of approaches. You’d need federal legislation to change that, and well, Congress is immobile.

[Gob]

Wow, that's not helpful is it? You'll get the "guns = freedom" brigade cross-contaminating everywhere.

[Guinevere]

I don’t think they’re actually traveling between states, just focusing on their own state restrictions.

It’s so ironic, here in Massachusetts, a month ago 5500 residents living on Cape Cod petitioned the Governor to shut down the two bridges which access the Cape (there after, the only other access would be via boat or plane). Of course he cannot. Last weekend, the larger Massachusetts anti-stay at home protests were, you guessed it, on the Cape. I have to wonder how many were part of both groups.

[Lord Jim]

Right now the responsible states are requiring an in- home quarantine when traveling between states -

A 14 day mandatory quarantine should be sufficient deterrent for most folks to travel from an irresponsible state to a responsible one...

What I've been wondering specifically about the Georgia tragedy that is about to unfold, is whether there might be someway for someone (the Georgia mayors who have been appalled by Kemp's murderous decision for example..or any kind of independent group) to go into court to get an order to prevent Kemp's plan from being enacted...

Even if ultimately the effort failed it would at least buy sometime. Any delay in implementing this hare-brained plan would probably save lives.

[Guinevere]

I know nothing about Georgia law, but doubt it. Possible Mayors or County Boards/Commissions could implement stay at home orders in their own jurisdictions, but none of them have state-wide authority. Its possible the legislature could do something, but my guess is that would be infringing on the executive’s authority.

[Darren]

Could responsible states ban travel from others?

There were efforts by states to intercept people coming in from other states. Rhode Island was looking for New Yorkers. Florida was also reported to be looking at incoming travelers. The idea was to check for contact information and ask people to self quarantine if they were staying. I haven't read about outright bans on travel.

"Tara Koppie was driving to Rhode Island from Staten Island, New York, on Friday to pick up a puppy she recently adopted, CNN affiliate WPRI reported. She had to stop at a checkpoint on Interstate 95 operated by Rhode Island State Police and soldiers from the Rhode Island National Guard."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/us/rhode ... index.html

[Darren]

The closing of meat processing plants and the impact is being addressed.

"Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of National Guard personnel are being activated in Iowa as coronavirus sweeps through meat-processing plants in a state that accounts for about a third of U.S. pork supply.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said 250 National Guard members have been moved to full-time federal duty status and could help with testing and contact tracing for workers at plants operated by Tyson Foods Inc. and National Beef Packing Co."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/iowa-sen ... 54924.html