The Countdown to the restart of the economy has begun.

[Scooter]

[Darren]

Boeing went back to work.

"When Boeing workers returned en masse Tuesday to the airplane factories in the Puget Sound region after a four-week shutdown, they found a changed workplace, cleaner and with a series of safety protocols in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Even as Boeing faces a drastic collapse in its business due to the near disappearance of air travel, management instructed about 27,000 factory employees to return to work this week. Yet with the coronavirus still threatening lives nationwide, the first to return came back with varying levels of unease."

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/b ... -recovery/

[Darren]

Up to 2.7 Million in New York May Have Been Infected, Antibody Study Finds

"Preliminary results from New York's first coronavirus antibody study show nearly 14 percent tested positive, meaning they had the virus at some point and recovered, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. That equates to 2.7 million infections statewide -- more than 10 times the state's confirmed cases."

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/n ... s/2386556/

[Joe Guy]

And people don't know this...

[Scooter]

[Darren]

"Political pressure is increasing on Gov. Kate Brown to ease the stay-home order that has kept most Oregonians homebound and averted the worst outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new projection issued today by a widely followed model says Oregon could be ready to reopen by the end of May.

"After May 25, 2020, relaxing social distancing may be possible with containment strategies that include testing, contact tracing, isolation, and limiting gathering size," says an April 17 model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington."

https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/04/17/a ... by-may-25/

[Scooter]

[Crackpot]

I disagree sloth had some redeeming qualities.

[Darren]

There was No Post-Election Surge of Coronavirus Cases in Wisconsin

"It's been two weeks since Wisconsin voted in a Spring Election that Democrats spent days claiming would spark a massive surge in Coronavirus cases across the state.

"People should not have to decide whether they can vote or be sick," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "That’s just not a good choice for anyone in a democracy.""
...
"Two weeks to the day after the vote, it is clear that none of these doomsday predictions has come true. The data is in, and it shows definitively that there has been no surge in Coronavirus cases after the Spring Election."

[Scooter]

Perhaps they relied on Trump's new favourite treatment:

[Lord Jim]

Here's another article about that, and this one comes with an actual ink!

At Least 7 in Wisconsin Got Coronavirus During Voting, Officials Say

Milwaukee health officials said they had identified at least seven people who contracted the coronavirus from participating in Election Day on April 7, which was held despite a stay-at-home order issued throughout the state.

The seven people were the first identified by Milwaukee officials, who contend that the number may be higher as they are still conducting testing. Other cities have not reported any cases tied to voting yet.

The officials, in a statement issued Tuesday, did not say how they traced the new coronavirus cases to in-person voting. Six of the cases they identified were Milwaukee voters; the seventh was a poll worker.

Polling places opened across Wisconsin after the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature refused to take action to postpone the election or expand vote by mail. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said it would also be studying any voters or election workers who contracted the virus from voting. They have not reported any cases yet.

“Please note that we only have 30 percent of the data back from new cases as of 4/7 and on,” said Jeanette Kowalik, the Milwaukee health commissioner, in the statement. “We hope to have these fields complete by Friday and will provide a more complete report then.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/us/p ... cases.html

[Darren]

Be not fearful for the best is yet to come.

"Washington (AFP) - The new coronavirus is quickly destroyed by sunlight, according to new research announced by a senior US official on Thursday, though the study has not yet been made public and awaits external evaluation.

William Bryan, science and technology advisor to the Department of Homeland Security secretary, told reporters at the White House that government scientists had found ultraviolet rays had a potent impact on the pathogen, offering hope that its spread may ease over the summer."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sunlight-des ... 44605.html

[Scooter]

So then getting the economy roaring back to life by May 1 was always a pipedream.

[Crackpot]

And Darren has been hitting that pipe hard.

[Darren]

So then getting the economy roaring back to life by May 1 was always a pipedream.

The restart was scheduled for May 1. That still looks good for most areas of the country if you've been reading the links I've posted.

Roaring back will be interesting. Lots of small businesses got pole axed by state governors. The fallout will be interesting especially when you have examples like the South Dakota governor that said no to a state lock down.

She recognized that the pandemic was mostly confined to specific hot spots unlike Cuomo who pissed off western and upstate NY. Same with the governor in PA where one of the largest medical centers told him "Screw you." we're going back to work before the lock down was lifted. I suspect Governor Wolf doesn't have a political future.

In the ongoing Amazon vs. Walmart competition, Walmart seemed to step things up with the earlier than expected completion of hiring 150,000 new employees. They now want to hire another 50,000. That will hurt small retail businesses and the chains like McDonalds that already had help wanted signs up before the pandemic.

After talking to in store Walmart shoppers in several states, Walmart got a boost in sales. I'm not sure about profits. Psychologically we're more amenable to change during times like marriage, new job, divorce, death, the birth of a child, etc.

The pandemic fits the criteria. We're living in interesting times that are about to get more interesting.

[Darren]

So then getting the economy roaring back to life by May 1 was always a pipedream.

The restart was scheduled for May 1. That still looks good for most areas of the country if you've been reading the links I've posted.

Roaring back will be interesting. Lots of small businesses got pole axed by state governors. The fallout will be interesting especially when you have examples like the South Dakota governor that said no to a state lock down.

She recognized that the pandemic was mostly confined to specific hot spots unlike Cuomo who pissed off western and upstate NY. Same with the governor in PA where one of the largest medical centers told him "Screw you." we're going back to work before the lock down was lifted. I suspect Governor Wolf doesn't have a political future.

In the ongoing Amazon vs. Walmart competition, Walmart seemed to step things up with the earlier than expected completion of hiring 150,000 new employees. They now want to hire another 50,000. That will hurt small retail businesses and the chains like McDonalds that already had help wanted signs up before the pandemic.

After talking to in store Walmart shoppers in several states, Walmart got a boost in sales from curbside deliveries. I'm not sure about profits. Psychologically we're more amenable to change during times like marriage, new job, divorce, death, the birth of a child, etc.

Walmart may have increased their crowd of devotees. The pandemic fits the criteria and Walmart responded perfectly in a business sense.

We're living in interesting times that are about to get more interesting.

[Darren]

"An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 em­ploy­ees could re­turn to work Mon­day un­der a plan by Gov. Tim Walz to dial back the state’s stay-at-home order, which was imposed to reduce or delay the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move is tailored to manufacturers and offices that don’t have face-to-face interaction with clients and weren’t deemed critical industries that were exempt from the stay-at-home order.

Roughly 20,000 companies in this category now have the option to reopen if they complete and publicize plans to maintain social distancing, worker hygiene and workspace cleanliness, said Steve Grove, commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development."

https://www.startribune.com/restriction ... fresh=true

[BoSoxGal]

Why are there virus cases and deaths in abundance in so many sunny warm places? Spain, Panama, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Florida - why is there ANY virus in Australia right now?

I’m confused.


Could it be that the virus hangs out INSIDE PEOPLE where there is no sunshine?

[Lord Jim]

Despite Darren's repeated attempts to try and portray the US as a closely divided country with a large group of outraged citizens ready to rebel against their "oppressive" governors with their life-saving stay-at-home orders, as is so often the case, the facts reveal that he is engaging in pure fantasizing:

Poll: 80% of Americans favor staying at home to slow spread of coronavirus

Written By: Forum News Service | Apr 24th 2020 - 7am.

A vast majority of Americans favor strict shelter in place orders, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

The poll found that 80% favor the orders, with 94% of Democrats, 84% of independents and 63% of Republicans in favor in breakdown of political leanings.

Nineteen percent say shelter in place orders pose unnecessary burdens and cause more harm than good, the poll finds.

Even in states with Republican governors, more Republicans say the strict measures are worth it (63%) than say they do more harm than good (36%).

Republicans are now more optimistic than Democrats and independents that the crisis is getting better. A slight majority of Republicans (53%) now believe “the worst is behind us,” while most Democrats (64%) and independents (56%) believe the “worst is yet to come.”

About half the public overall (51%) now says the worst is yet to come, down from 74% three weeks earlier. Republicans’ growing optimism is a major reason for this shift, the poll concludes.

https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/newsm ... oronavirus


I have to confess to having mixed feelings about Trump's daily shit shows...

From a strictly political point of view, clearly he is damaging his re-election prospects: (this poll was conducted before Trump's profoundly ignorant statements yesterday about disinfectants and sunshine)

Only 23% of Americans have high levels of trust in what Trump is saying about the coronavirus: Poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has made himself the daily spokesman for the nation’s coronavirus response. Yet few Americans regularly look to or trust Trump as a source of information on the pandemic, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Just 28% of Americans say they’re regularly getting information from Trump about the coronavirus and only 23% say they have high levels of trust in what the president is telling the public. Another 21% trust him a moderate amount.

Confidence in Trump is higher among his supporters, though only about half of Republicans say they have a lot of trust in Trump’s information on the pandemic — and just 22% say they have little or no trust in what he says about the COVID-19 outbreak.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/poll- ... 2020-04-23

So, since each day he comes out and helps to contribute to his electoral defeat, a part of me wants to say, "Keep 'em coming Donnie, you go boy!"

But since what he is doing is likely to get many more people killed, even though it would help him politically, I have to come down in favor of his shutting up...

[Scooter]

Kemp Gets a View of Life from Under the Bus

As we've noted several times now, Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) has become the poster boy for the Southern governors (four of them) who are hustling to reopen their states. His thinking here is evidently guided by three things: (1) the protests of what is, according to multiple polls, a noisy-but-not-that-large minority, (2) the desires of national Republicans, including Donald Trump, and (3) the recognition that an economy in recession is not good news, politically. As a consequence of his decision-making, Kemp has been flayed by pundits across the spectrum, inspiring a large number of acidic op-eds like this one, headlined "Georgia leads the race to become America's No. 1 Death Destination." He's also gotten a lot of pushback from Democratic politicians, including the mayors of most of the Peach State's largest cities.

Now, Republicans are also piling on, including alleged Kemp ally Trump. The President called the Governor to express support for the grand reopening, and then just hours later went on TV (guess which channel) and declared:

I told the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities which are in violation of the phase one guidelines for the incredible people of Georgia. They're incredible people. I love those people. They are—they're great. They've been strong, resolute.

But, at the same time, he must do what he thinks is right. I want him to do what he thinks is right, but I disagree with him on what he's doing. But I want to let the governors do—now, if I see something totally egregious, totally out of line, I'll do. But I think spas and beauty salons and tattoo parlors and barbershops in phase one—we're going to have phase two very soon—is just too soon. I think it's too soon.
Concurrently, Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), who is running for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), and so is carefully monitoring the political winds, went on TV (guess which channel) and lit into Kemp and said he was "not communicating clearly."

This whole sequence of events has two practical implications. The first is that Trump, apparently having figured out that going too far too fast could be disastrous for him on numerous levels, is now hinting that he may extend the timeframe for social distancing to June 1, or even beyond. The second is that the 40 or so governors whose states are still closed down, even the ones who lead ruby-red Trump-loving states, are going to be very reluctant to reopen until there is nationwide movement in that direction. They certainly don't want to stick their necks out and have them stomped on by Trump, as happened to Kemp.