Lazy Caturday Reads
Posted: October 3, 2020 Filed under: just because 40 CommentsGood Morning!!
The Trump regime is imploding. Trump is at Walter Reed receiving experimental treatments for Covid-19, and the following Trump world denizens have also tested positive for the coronavirus: Melania Trump, Hope Hicks, Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager Bill Stepien, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, Sen. Mike Lee, Sen. Thom Tillis, and new this morning, Sen. Ron Johnson. In addition, Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins has also tested positive for the virus.
Chris Christie, who helped Trump prepare for the debate, is waiting for a test result after spending four days with Trump and others, none of whom wore masks.
It appears that the ceremony for Trump’s announcement of his SCOTUS pick Amy Coney Barrett may have been the superspreader event that that led to these infections. More could well be coming.
White House reporters are also contracting the virus.
In addition, infections are being connected to the presidential debate in Cleveland. NBC News: 11 positive coronavirus tests traced to presidential debate, Cleveland officials say.
At least 11 positive coronavirus tests can be traced to members of the media or organizers of this week’s presidential debate in Cleveland, city and clinic officials said Friday.
The city’s announcement came after President Donald Trump, who debated Democratic rival Joe Biden on Tuesday in Cleveland, revealed he and his wife have both tested positive for Covid-19 and are in isolation. Trump was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday.
“The City of Cleveland is aware of positive cases of Covid-19 following the Sept. 29 presidential debate,” according to a City Hall statement. “We advise anyone who has come in contact with someone who has tested positive to self-quarantine. If anyone who was in attendance has concerns or is symptomatic, they should contact their healthcare provider.”
The city’s announcement also came shortly after the Cleveland Clinic, which oversaw Covid-19 protocols at the debate, said it’s confident that guests at Tuesday night’s event were safe from the coronavirus.
Even after Trump was hospitalized, White House staffers were behaving carelessly. Peter Nicholas at The Atlantic yesterday: What I saw at the White House.
On the White House grounds this morning, senior West Wing aides walked around without masks. They spoke with the press without masks. They huddled privately with one another and didn’t wear masks.
When I visited the White House in August, no one checked to see if I was running a fever or suppressing a hacking cough as I passed through the security booth. The ritual was the same today: I showed up hours after we’d learned that President Donald Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus, yet no one asked about my health. Instead, I was simply searched for weapons and allowed in.
I’ve written twice in recent months about the dangerous conditions around the president—about lax testing of journalists flying with him on Air Force One, about troubling working arrangements inside the executive mansion itself. Trump’s illness seems an outgrowth of the administration’s flagrant disregard for public-health precautions. And yet, there’s no sign of a real course correction: The practices today seemed every bit as lax. When Trump walked deliberately toward Marine One tonight, in a dark suit and matching mask, he waved to reporters who all day had been trying to find out information about his condition.
But he left a White House that, even though he’s been stricken with a potentially fatal disease, seemed no safer than at any other point in the pandemic. Officials don’t appear to have learned much from the nightmare.
The Washington Post reports that the administration didn’t perform testing correctly: The White House relied on a rapid test, but used it in a way it was not intended.
For months, the White House’s strategy for keeping President Trump and his inner circle safe has been to screen all White House visitors with a rapid test.
But one product they use, Abbott’s ID Now, was never intended for that purpose and is known to deliver incorrect results. In issuing an emergency use authorization, the Food and Drug Administration said the test was only to be used by a health care provider “within the first seven days of symptoms.”
The ID Now has several qualities in its favor: It’s portable, doesn’t need skilled technicians to operate and delivers results in 15 minutes. Used to evaluate someone with symptoms, the test can quickly and easily diagnose Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
But in people who are infected but not yet showing symptoms, the test is much less accurate, missing as many as one in three cases.
A big problem for journalists and the rest of us is that we can’t trust anything that comes out of this White House. Margaret Sullivan at The Washington Post:
Via MIT Review:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/02/1009278/what-drug-treatments-will-president-trump-get/amp/
Trump just got a dose of Regeneron’s unapproved antibody drug for covid
At 74 and overweight, the president is at higher risk for serious illness.
“less likely to end up in a doctor’s office” Hard to tell what exactly this means. Doesn’t sound especially beneficial. Read something in a medical newsletter that the difference between active and placebo groups wasn’t that significant. Will try to find that again.
At least it’s not bleach or UV light.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/938300
Still looking for the critique on statistical vs clinical significance.
“8 days for the high-dose group and 6 days for the low-dose group”
Wait. What? In the groups getting the medicine, the ones who got more of it took *longer* to recover on average?
That’s not typically a good sign of effectiveness. There’s supposed to be a dose-dependent relationship. /*thinking face here*/
Chris Christie has now tested positive for the coronavirus.
We should have a game where we guess what the total is from Trump’s superspreader event!
Here’s an expert explanation of what would happen if either Trump or Biden couldn’t keep on with the campaign.
The Atlantic: What Happens If a Presidential Candidate Becomes Incapacitated or Dies. Rules exist for what could come next, but they won’t prevent total chaos.
Can’t fix stupid. The incompetence and denial still stuns me.
“herd immunity” is just PR-speak for “I hope if anyone gets it, it’s you, not me.”
None of these people have a clue.
I
the Kazuaki Horoitomo illustrations, BB!
Patriots QB Cam Newton (those things together still sound weird) now has covid. Gotta figure that will mean more changes to the NFL season.
The simple fact that Trump knew he had the virus but went ahead with those rallies is a perfect illustration of Trump himself.
Selfish and uncaring to the core. How many people he put at risk marks him as a potentia lkiller who thinks of no one but himself.
He needs to go!
CNN is talking about the doctor’s statement that Trump was diagnosed 72 hours ago, which would have been on Wednesday morning, well before his rally in MN.
In addition, a WH source told a pool reporter that Trump’s “vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning.” and he “is not yet on a path to a full recovery.”
The source could be Mark Meadows. He was at Walter Reed during the press conference, but not on camera.
That he tested positive on Wednesday is stunning and suspiciously sounds like half the truth. If he tested positive before the debate Tuesday, or so close to the debate he couldn’t get out of it without looking like a coward…..then retested Wednesday, sounds more plausible to me. They were not tested by the Cleveland venue handlers prior to the debate because they arrived so late. It would not be surprising if they handed the venue a fake test for him. That would explain the suspiciously quick onset of symptoms, wouldn’t it?
He deliberately exposed his donors at Bedminster on Thursday, which should be criminal.
Do they know yet whether former covid positive people actually clear the virus completely, and at what point they might get reinfected?
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he knew on Tuesday. Maybe that was why he was so angry.
That’s really awful that he was diagnosed that early and still went to MN and NJ. That’s just not acceptable behavior for any one.
CNN doctor just said he’s probably going to have lasting damage from this (if he survives) and may already have lung damage.
That’s common with this illness. Plus neuro and cardiac complications which may be long-lasting. People don’t realize this isn’t a brief illness.
Thought “polyclonal” was really weird. Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) are used a lot in my practice, but polyclonal???
He’s lying.
He’s absolutely lying. None of it makes sense unless you accept he tested positive by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. And they’ve already said the antibody cocktail was Thursday (not Friday), right?
Yes, Thursday. Can’t trust ’em.
He was hoping to skate through asymptomatic and never admit he’d gotten it. Only announced after symptoms appeared.
Perfect.
These people are lunatics! Wtf America? I think I see one Black person…
Pence tested negative again today.
OT, but if you like archeology this site has some cool stuff.
For Caturday:
❤
Awesome
Ya know, I’m not sorry for those trumpers, they joked it was a hoax, they didn’t take the science seriously, they double dared the virus- “catch me if you can”. They deserved everything they’re getting. Melania said it best- I don’t care,du you? Answer is Hell No.
At this point, after Trump’s diagnosis, I’m only interested in whether Amy Coney Barrett, Mitch, and enough Republican Senators have testing positive to prevent a quorum and to slow that dreaded confirmation hearing vote down. (I’m usually a nice person wishing no one ill.)
I wonder how evangelicals can miss this message from God, the science creator. LOL