The Far Right Is Looking for Miracles and Scapegoats to Bail Us Out of the Coronavirus Crisis

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/far-right-conspiracy-fauci-security-miracle-cure-scapegoat-coronavirus.html

The U.S. government is now providing a security detail for infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci because as his stature has grown as one of the pillars of the American response to the pandemic, so have the rumblings of the far-right, conspiracy-theory wing of President Donald Trump’s support. The 79-year-old has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than 35 years, working with numerous administrations on infectious disease preparedness and response, ranging from HIV/AIDS to SARS and H1N1. To most Americans, that is a comforting sign of the experience and expertise that you would look for and appreciate in, say, the doctor who was treating your family. To conspiracy-minded Trump supporters, those decades of experience and public service are an indicator of something sinister: the anti-Trump deep state.

Fauci given security detail after threats: Source

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fauci-security-detail-threats-source/story?id=69933965

Dr. Anthony Fauci, someone millions of Americans are trusting to help them deal with the coronavirus crisis, has now had to be given increased security after threats to his safety, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

 

Fact-checking coronavirus briefing: Trump says scarves 'better' than masks, exaggerates Europe travel restriction

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/02/politics/fact-check-trump-coronavirus-briefing-april-2/index.html

 President Donald Trump made fewer false claims than usual at Thursday's coronavirus briefing, ceding the floor to administration officials for extended periods and trading his usual inaccuracy for some vague musings and boasts.

Trump did, however, offer some more medical advice that is not endorsed by experts, this time claiming that thick scarves make for more effective protective masks than masks themselves. He also repeated his exaggeration that he had cut off travel from Europe.

Here's our fact check:

Brooklyn’s Orthodox neighborhoods have high rates of coronavirus

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Brooklyns-Orthodox-neighborhoods-have-high-rates-of-coronavirus-623455

The record of positive COVID-19 tests in the five boroughs shows that Borough Park, Crown Heights, Williamsburg and Midwood all have above-average positive test rates.

 

I’m an ultra-Orthodox rabbi. We are not criminals.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/im-an-ultra-orthodox-rabbi-we-are-not-criminals/

I am Haredi.

I am the principal of a Haredi school network.

If you read the media both in Israel and around the world, you would conclude that I am a criminal who violates the rules of the state and doesn’t care about the lives of others.

I see the way people are writing about me and my community on social media. I hear the way people are talking about me and my community on the radio.

And it is extremely painful.

Tucker Carlson Doesn't Think America Should Let Medical Experts Make Coronavirus Decisions

https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-doesnt-think-america-should-let-medical-experts-make-coronavirus-decisions-1495898

 Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday lashed out at the medical establishment for allegedly failing the country with their handling of the coronavirus outbreak and questioned why America is allowing them to make pandemic decisions.

In his heated Tucker Carlson Tonight monologue this evening, Carlson said it is "bewildering" that the U.S. have let public health officials decide the country's COVID-19 response. Carlson then questioned whether it would have made more sense to quarantine only the elderly and immunocompromised citizens rather than issue stay-at-home orders for the entire population.

"It's clearly a conversation we should've had before we locked the entire country down and put 10 million people out of work. But we didn't have that conversation," he said. "Instead, we outsourced the decision to public health officials, and that is the strange irony of the moment we're living through."

Carlson then declared that "one of the main lessons of this crisis is that the public health establishment failed us badly."

Coronavirus crisis in France sparks antisemitic conspiracy theories

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/Coronavirus-crisis-in-France-sparks-antisemitic-conspiracy-theories-623458

Disease-related antisemitic conspiracy theories haven't been seen in France since the plagues of old. But with the new coronavirus pandemic, the strain is re-emerging.

 

Quebec Hasidic Jewish community under quarantine due to coronavirus oubreak

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Quebec-Hasidic-Jewish-community-under-quarantine-due-to-coronavirus-oubreak-623438

The region's public health department noted that there have been 10 confirmed cases of coronavirus discovered among members of the Tosh Hasidic community.

 

Coronavirus: US Navy removes Captain Brett Crozier who raised alarm

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52145230

 

The commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt has been removed after saying the US Navy was not doing enough to halt a coronavirus outbreak on board the aircraft carrier.

But acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the commander "exercised extremely poor judgement".

On Thursday, Mr Modly told reporters that Capt Crozier was being fired for allegedly leaking the letter to the media.

He said the letter "created the impression the Navy was not responding to his questions".

"It creates the perception the Navy is not on the job; the government is not on the job. That's just not true."

Trump passes the buck as deadly ventilator shortage looms

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/02/politics/donald-trump-ventilators-leadership-coronavirus/index.html

Navarro said the President had ordered General Motors to manufacture ventilators in "Trump time -- which is as fast as possible," even though the President rebuffed calls for weeks from critics to fully utilize the Defense Production Act to surge their manufacture. On Monday, the President said that Ford had agreed to repurpose production lines to build 50,000 ventilators in 100 days.

"Trump time" is not going to be fast enough for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who said on Thursday his state has about six days at the current "burn rate" of ventilators.

"It's very simple: A person comes into the ICU unit. They need the ventilator, or they die. It's that basic proposition," Cuomo said during a CNN town hall on the coronavirus.

Cuomo said the state had bought 17,000 ventilators but they have yet to be delivered because they are coming from China and 50 states and the federal government are competing for the equipment. New York has only 4,000 ventilators in the state, Cuomo said.

"Obviously, nobody would say that this was the best way to do it," Cuomo said, "to have 50 states compete, but that's where we are."

 

DeSantis risked the lives of Floridians

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/02/opinions/desantis-risked-the-lives-of-floridians-louis/index.html

Despite surging numbers of fatalities in New York and Washington and a rising tide of Florida editorial boards demanding action, DeSantis did not issue a statewide stay-at-home order until April 1. That made Florida the last state with more than 5,000 coronavirus cases to implement a statewide shutdown.

"Unlike some other governors, DeSantis ignored the obvious for too long, and Floridians likely are sicker for it," the Miami Herald said in a scathing editorial. "His statewide essential-services-only order, though welcome, is indeed, too late."

On March 22, the same editorial board has issued another action under the pointed headline: "Coronavirus is killing us in Florida, Gov. DeSantis. Act like you give a damn."

 

Jewish doctor urges Israel to follow his off-label coronavirus treatment

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/jewish-doctor-urges-israel-to-follow-his-off-label-coronavirus-treatment-623355

  Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, a Jewish family medical practitioner from Monroe, New York, who claims to have an off-label treatment for the  coronavirus, sent a letter on Wednesday to Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov, urging him to follow his protocol.

 While some anecdotal studies indicated that these drugs might be effective, other doctors have criticized Dr. Zelenko’s protocol, saying that more research is needed, and warned about the drug's side effects. Another point of criticism was that not all of Zelenko’s patients were formally diagnosed with COVID-19 because of a shortage of tests. 

 “He reports that after a follow-up period of eight days, there have been no deaths, no incubation and only four hospitalizations,” Dr. Dinerstein added. “So there you have it, a bunch of patients, no firm diagnostic information, no ages, no co-morbidities, and a follow-up period that is several days shy of adequate. Could he be right? Perhaps, but this report doesn't clarify.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-nw-nyt-coronavirus-vladimir-zelenko-hydroxychloroquine-cure-20200402-s4rwdsfi5ncx7oyxoiwgmoml7y-story.html

 Zelenko’s treatment arrived at a useful moment for Trump and his media supporters, who have at times appeared more interested in discussing miracle cures than testing delays or ventilator shortages.

Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, quickly promoted Zelenko’s claims on his TV and radio shows. Mark Meadows, the incoming White House chief of staff, called Zelenko to ask about his treatment plan. And Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, praised him in a podcast interview this week for “thinking of solutions, just like the president.”

Few people have been as hopeful about hydroxychloroquine as Trump, who has enthusiastically promoted it for weeks as “very effective” and possibly “the biggest game changer in the history of medicine” —even as health experts have cautioned that more research and testing are needed.

In virus epicenter NYC, disaster guru puts blame squarely on Trump White House

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-virus-epicenter-nyc-disaster-guru-puts-blame-squarely-on-trump-white-house/

 I think President Trump continues to be talking about the preposterous idea that somehow the state and city do not know what they need,” Redlener said. “He keeps questioning the needs expressed by the city.” He called the president’s recent consideration of a mandatory quarantine for New York “kind of an inappropriate suggestion” and said that he was happy the president decided not to go through with the idea.

What the Nurses See: Bronx Hospital Reels as Coronavirus Swamps New York

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-the-nurses-see-bronx-hospital-reels-as-coronavirus-swamps-new-york-11585702641

The pandemic has hit the borough hard, and Christina Norstein has witnessed things she never has before