COVID-19 this morning
2020-04-02 17:14:00.218997+00 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
So the news this morning was that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) is claiming that he didn't know that COVID-19 could spread by asymptomatic people until yesterday. I don't know what rock he was hiding under, but that sort of wilful denial of something that's been all over the place (and that we learned from the first cruise ship situations) is, at best, gross incompetence.
Meanwhile, US Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) have introduced legislation "To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to the deliberate concealment or distortion of information about public health emergencies of international concern, and for other purposes." Unfortunately, those sanctions don't appear to American politicians who seem to have deliberately buried their heads in the sand for short-term political gain.
Speaking of American politicians who seem to have deliberately buried their heads in the sand for short-term political gain, I think it's worth going back and pointing out again that that disgusting Tim Morrison retcon claiming that Trump didn't disband the CDC pandemic response3 team is easily debunked by going back and reading news articles from the time. Or just looking at Twitter from two years ago:
When the next pandemic occurs (and make no mistake, it will) and the federal government is unable to respond in a coordinated and effective fashion to protect the lives of US citizens and others, this decision by John Bolton and Donald Trump will be why.
Top White House official in charge of pandemic response exits abruptly
(Also, it's not like Republicans have a lock on fucking up pandemic response, a reminder that Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to help California be more prepared, and Jerry Brown fucked that up.)
Anyway, your cheery news for the morning is that excess mortality rates are skyrocketing in Europe, suggesting that the mortalities attributed to COVID-19 are low.
Yikes.
Bonus: Partisan divisions on COVID-19 exist in Canada but they're deeper — and more dangerous — in the U.S.