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Scenes From the Stupidest Country in the World

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In March and April, when we shut down the schools, what we should have learned was that eliminating contact among children and practicing social distancing works in reducing the infection rates among children.

Sadly, this is America, and what half the country apparently ‘learned’ is that “KIDS ARE IMMUNE TO THE RONA.”

And, as the stupidest motherfuckers on the planet, we then launched our kids back into camps and schools, because for some reason we decided that children are a different species with a fundamentally different biology, and lo and behold, look what is happening:

As the nation focuses on safety issues around going back to school during the pandemic, a new report found a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases among children in the United States.

There has been a 90% increase in the number of Covid-19 cases among children in the United States over the last four weeks, according to a new analysis by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association that will be updated weekly.

Hoocoodanode. In Florida, ground zero for stupid in this country, it’s even worse:

Florida’s number of official Covid-19 cases in children has more than doubled over the past month, data from the state showed Tuesday.

Covid-19 cases among children also spiked across the country during roughly the same period.

In Florida, the total number of cases in children 17 and under rose from 16,797 on July 9 to 39,735 on August 9 — an increase of 137%, according to Florida Department of Health data.

And you know what those kids are going to do? SPREAD THE FUCKING VIRUS TO THEIR PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, BABYSITTERS, etc.

You know, when I was younger and eating mushrooms by the handful and consuming blotter by the notebook page and earning my degree in street pharmacology, every now and then I worried that maybe I was doing long-term damage to myself and would pay a heavy price later on in life. So far, it appears that chemistry ain’t got nothing on old fashioned stupid.

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Excellent Read: “How to Counter Trump’s Attempt to Manipulate the Election and the Census”

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Yes, I always say this, but seriously: READ THE WHOLE THING. (And share it.)

Chotiner is a widely acknowledged master of the meaty interview, and Gupta spells out the vital issues in simple terms:

With the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of abating before November 3rd, Democrats and civil-rights groups are increasingly concerned that a slew of new mail-in voters will overwhelm states, leading to delayed counts and large numbers of rejected ballots. They are particularly concerned about the role of the U.S. Postal Service. In May, the Republican-majority Postal Service Board of Governors appointed a new Postmaster General, a Trump campaign donor named Louis DeJoy, who made operational changes that appear to have led to slowed delivery. Meanwhile, the President has repeatedly attacked the reliability of mail-in ballots, falsely claiming that they facilitate voter fraud.

To talk about these issues, I recently spoke by phone with Vanita Gupta, the president and C.E.O. of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an advocacy group founded in 1950. Gupta previously served as the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, under President Obama…

What are the crucial things that states should be doing to prepare for holding an election amid a pandemic?

Several things. One is they need to create or implement vote-by-mail systems in their state that have prepaid postage and secure collection or drop-off. States that don’t already have this have to provide a reasonable window to accept ballots postmarked on Election Day that may arrive after. And this is especially important in light of the cuts to the United States Postal Service made by the Trump donor who’s running the agency.

States also need to expand early voting in order to have socially distanced, public-health-compliant polling places. They need to extend online voter registration, since so many of the government agencies that people typically register at are shuttered. And they need to be recruiting and training younger workers who are less vulnerable to COVID-19, and doing that on a pretty massive scale.

These are all the rule changes that need to happen at the state level, but then there’s this very significant voter-education effort that states need to be engaging in, too. It’s both affirmative and defensive. Affirmative because, in 2016, one in four voters voted by mail. There is going to be a pretty significant surge in those that are going to do this for the first time. And clarifying how voters can do this, what the deadlines are and all of that, is going to require a lot of voter education. But then they also have to be willing to fight disinformation. There’s going to be attacks on secretaries of state and local and state officials on November 3rd when they are unable to certify results because they need to count all of the absentee or mail-in ballots.

We obviously need to have mail-in voting so that people don’t put their health on the line to go to a polling place, but do you have concerns that a ton of mail-in voting is going to create problems?

There are more states than not that have experience with mail-in ballots. The primaries were really a test run for states, and the problems that we saw in Wisconsin, Georgia, and Pennsylvania can all be corrected, and secretaries of state have been taking steps. Many of them, not all, are trying to fix these problems and to be ready to make changes so that what we saw in the primary won’t happen in the general. And there are a lot of groups that are providing technical assistance. This is why the Leadership Conference has been urging Congress to supply the funds that are needed for states to make these changes and make them swiftly…

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Nice things happen only after community spread is crushed

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Yesterday, the Big-10 conference suspended or cancelled their football season.

 


 

Yesterday, a good chunk of the Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduate populations are back on campus.

Yesterday, schools that re-opened last week in Georgia are closing for performative cleaning as community spread is ongoing.

Today, most of Europe is able to go to school, with appropriate precautions, meet with a friend for a drink outside and carry on a life that closely resembles a life that they would have conceived last December.

We can’t do that.

The United States has not systemically crushed community spread. Vermont and Maine each have under 1 new case per 100,000 residents per day. Conneticutt, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire have between 2 and 4 new cases per 100,000. These states are suppressing community spread to the point where targeted public health interventions can work quite effectively with the current workforce. Everywhere else, we need broad, and crude protective measures as Florida and Georgia each have over 30 new cases per 100,000 residents per day; North Carolina has 16 new cases per 100,000 residents per day, Texas and South Carolina are in the middle of those three states. Most of the Big-10 states are between 11 and .

We can’t have anything nice until community spread is crushed.

That means we need to get real. That means we need lots of diagnostic and screening tests. That means we need rapid turn-around. That means we need to support people who are isolating out of an abundance of caution. That means we need to wear masks. That means we need to minimize interactions.

Until we do the work needed to suppress local community spread, we’re just going to be omnishambling along.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: (Still) Proud to Be A Democrat

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Of course, I’m lucky enough to have two fantastic senators!

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On The Road – Auntie Anne – Chateau de Rochecotte

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We’re still in France this morning, but not in Paris.

The Loire Valley is famous for its beautiful and well-preserved chateaux, and for the formal gardens that are within the grounds of many. Auntie Anne takes us on a tour of one of these, where she actually got to stay for a couple of nights, and includes a sighting of the chateau chat (or chatte, perhaps).

Auntie Anne

When we were planning our trip to France, I kept coming back to an expensive tour because one of its highlights was spending two nights in an actual chateau – the Chateau de Rochecotte. I kept telling my friend, Polly, that I couldn’t miss staying in a “real chateau.”  It was almost half again as much as a cheaper tour, but I got to stay in a chateau. It was worth every penny!

Chateau de Rochecotte is a late 18th-century château, owned by among others, the Duchess of Dino, who was married to Talleyrand’s nephew. The grounds are beautiful.

On The Road - Auntie Anne - Chateau de Rochecotte 3
ChateauMay 18, 2017

I didn’t take this picture – I added it to give everyone an idea of what the chateau looks like.

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Monday-Tuesday, August 10-11

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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that the country has become the first to approve a coronavirus vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, with production and tens of thousands of inoculations to follow.

Officials have pledged to vaccinate millions of people, including teachers and front line health-care workers, with the experimental coronavirus vaccine beginning this month, raising global alarm that the country is jumping dangerously ahead of critical, large scale testing that is essential to determine if it is safe and effective.

Russian officials have said that a second vaccine from the state research center in Siberia, Vector, is not far behind.

The aggressive strategy from a country eager to declare a victory amid one of the worst outbreaks in the world has been criticized by outside scientists who worry that shots could be harmful or give people a false sense of security about their immunity. China has already authorized one vaccine for use in its military, ahead of definitive data that it is safe and effective…

Any bets which GOP puppets will be ‘volunteering’ to attest to the safety of this vaccine? Not the Squatter-in-Chief — his health isn’t up to risking a replacement this close to the election — but maybe Ron Johnson? Matt Gaetz? Mitch McConnell? Mike Pence?…

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Late Night Open Thread: Trump’s Malign Pandemic Neglect Kills College Football; GOP Complains Indignantly About the Corpse

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