Sunday, March 29, 2020

Domestic violence 'epidemic' in the wake of COVID-19

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277940



In the UK, MPs have suggested giving police special authority to evict individuals for committing acts of violence against other family members and allowing courts to withdraw court fees for protection orders.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Here's how to debunk coronavirus misinformation and conspiracy theories from friends and family

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/28/media/information-coronavirus-reliable-sources/index.html

 Reminder: Some Americans "still think this is a media hoax"
Brian Stelter writes: CNN contributor and WIRED writer Garrett Graff, who recently published an oral history of 9/11, is working on a week-by-week "Covid Spring" oral history for WIRED. The first two installments are out now. Graff told me he was struck by "the number of people" who took Trump seriously when the president was "downplaying this threat for the first chunk of this year." Even now, he said, some people "still think this is a media hoax that is playing out..."
 

Five of Donald Trump's most misleading coronavirus claims

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/28/trump-coronavirus-misleading-claims
 
As US deaths rise, the president seems unable to grasp the severity of the problem – and he’s made multiple false claims along the way
 

Pelosi not invited by Trump to White House coronavirus relief bill's signing



A White House official confirmed to The Hill that no Democrats were invited to the bill-signing event. But in the Oval Office ceremony, Trump — flanked by top Cabinet members, aides and GOP lawmakers — heaped praise on bipartisan negotiators.
 

Haredi communities urged to ‘wake up’ as infections in Bnei Brak, Jerusalem soar

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ultra-orthodox-communities-urged-to-wake-up-as-virus-infections-soar/


Bnei Brak Mayor Avraham Rubinstein, himself currently quarantined for fear of exposure, urged residents Friday to “wake up!” He said the city was seeing the highest infection rate in the country, with “the forecast far more frightening.” Rubinstein called on the public to “stop with the wise-guy minyans [quorum of 10 Jewish adults required for prayer] of more than 10, keep your distances, and stop the crowding and congestion at supermarkets. Just stay at home and be careful, this is dangerous.”

The US hits a grim new record as Trump continues to preach optimism

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/28/politics/what-matters-march-27/index.html\\\

 The US is now the world leader in coronavirus infections, with more than 100,000 as of Friday. That includes more than 25,000 in New York City, where hospitals are already overwhelmed.
Yet it is impossible to reconcile the messages being blasted to the country on competing platforms by President Donald Trump, on the one hand, and by the nation's top infectious disease doctor, on the other.
 

Friday, March 27, 2020

AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s inaccurate boasts on China travel ban

https://apnews.com/0dc271ad7f7917374a5a0cfb49273783



TRUMP: “Everybody was against it. Almost everybody, I would say, was just absolutely against it. ... I made a decision to close off to China that was weeks early. ... And I must say, doctors — nobody wanted to make that decision at the time.” — Fox News virtual town hall Tuesday.
TRUMP: “I’ll tell you how prepared I was, I called for a ban.” — news briefing on March 19.
THE FACTS: His decision was far from solo nor was it made over opposition from health experts, as the White House coronavirus task force makes clear. His decision followed a consensus by his public health advisers that the restrictions should take place.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who was coordinator of the task force at the time and announced the travel restrictions, said Trump made the decision in late January after accepting the “uniform recommendation of the career public health officials here at HHS.”
While the World Health Organization did advise against the overuse of travel restrictions, Azar told reporters in February that his department’s career health officials had made a “considered recommendation, which I and the president adopted” in a bid to slow spread of the virus.
Most major airlines had already suspended flights to China prior to the announcement on Jan. 31, following the lead of several major international carriers that had stopped due to the coronavirus outbreak. Delta, American and United cited a sharp drop in demand for the flights, and an earlier State Department advisory told Americans not to travel to China because of the outbreak.
___
TRUMP: “And if we didn’t do that, thousands and thousands of people would have died.” — news briefing Wednesday.
THE FACTS: The impact hasn’t been quantified. While Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health has praised the travel restrictions on China for slowing the virus, it’s not known how big an impact they had or if “thousands and thousands” of lives were saved.

There were plenty of gaps in containment.
Trump’s order did not fully “close” the U.S. off to China, as he asserts. It temporarily barred entry by foreign nationals who had traveled in China within the previous 14 days, with exceptions for the immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Americans returning from China were allowed back after enhanced screening at select ports of entry and for 14 days afterward. But U.S. scientists say screenings can miss people who don’t yet show symptoms of COVID-19; while symptoms often appear within five or six days of exposure, the incubation period is 14 days.
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/the-facts-on-trumps-travel-restrictions/


Although Democratic leaders and Democratic presidential candidates have been highly critical of Trump’s response to the coronavirus, we couldn’t find any examples of them directly and clearly criticizing the travel restrictions.

Fox News Poll March 21-24, 2020

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-march-21-24-2020
- More Democrats than Republicans are concerned about the virus spreading nationally and about personally catching it.

Approval of Trump’s overall job performance is up one point since February to 48 percent, while 51 percent disapprove. That puts him underwater by 3 points. Last month, his rating was 47 approve-52 disapprove (-5).  His best marks were in February 2017, when he had a net positive rating by one point (48-47).

Fox News Poll: Complete Mar... by Fox News on Scribd

Army Corps of Engineers Gives Options To States Facing COVID Crush | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC


Defying ruthless, deadlocked politics, Gantz sacrifices everything for stability

https://www.timesofisrael.com/defying-ruthless-deadlocked-politics-gantz-sacrifices-everything-for-stability/


The right is now celebrating Netanyahu’s emergence from a year-long three-election marathon as the winner. But as with the right’s premature celebrations on March 3, it may come to regret the new alliance Gantz plans to impose on their leader. The serially underestimated Gantz now seems to have made it his mission to wipe those smiles away.
 

Trump Campaign Threatens Legal Action Of Coronavirus Ad | Morning Joe | MSNBC


Kellyanne humiliated BY FOX NEWS as her defense of Trump backfires ON AIR


Trump questions if New York will actually need 30K ventilators

https://nypost.com/2020/03/26/trump-questions-if-new-york-will-actually-need-30k-ventilators/


“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump said in a call to Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators,” Trump continued. “You know you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators and now, all of a sudden, they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'”
 

Influencer reportedly hospitalized with coronavirus after licking toilet

https://nypost.com/2020/03/25/influencer-reportedly-hospitalized-with-coronavirus-after-licking-toilet/

A California social media prankster claims he was hospitalized with the coronavirus — just days after posting a video of himself licking a toilet bowl for a nauseating online challenge.

As basic supplies run perilously short, hospitals need everyone’s help now

https://nypost.com/2020/03/25/as-basic-supplies-run-perilously-short-hospitals-need-everyones-help-now/

It’s even more alarming than charts of rising corona cases: three Mount Sinai West nurses standing in a hospital hallway, wearing black Hefty trash bags over their scrubs. “NO MORE GOWNS IN THE WHOLE HOSPITAL,” one healer captioned the Facebook photo. “NO MORE MASKS AND REUSING THE DISPOSABLE ONES. NURSES FIGURING IT OUT DURING COVID-19 CRISIS.”
 

The Rachel Maddow Show 3/26/20[NEW] | Rachel Maddow MSNBC News March 26, 2020


"Maitav (Army Draft Office) Corona Recklessness"

BS"D

"Maitav (Army Draft Office) Corona Recklessness" 


1 Nissan, 5780 °° March 26, '20


By Binyomin Feinberg


~~~~~~~~~~~

To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week,  please visit the Adar Update link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z2nuHMNh-CQ3Te2MdV04dmFfkkmQ0TLNKElS9JT6yJc/edit?usp=sharing
~~~~~ 


######################

Coronavirus Testing Scammer Alert:

######################

This just in from NYC government:

"Notify NYC: 

Scammers are calling NYers to set up testing. This is NOT the City. Directly contact your healthcare provider or call 311 for real info."

######################


Below is an brief exchange with the Israeli Health Ministry. It follows eyewitness reporting on the public health hazard at the scene at the Yom Chiyul (Draft Day) last week, as briefly described in last week's post (Parshas VaYakhel-Pekudei:
https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2020/03/corona-concerns.html, and https://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2020/03/corona-concerns.html).

The blatant disregard for human life exhibited by the Israeli government and the Army Draft Office, in the midst of the escalating Corona outbreak, was on full display at the Yom Chiyul in Tel HaShomer, by virtue of absence of basic distancing precautions between recruits and family members, who were witnessed congregating in large numbers, and in close proximity, that Tuesday morning.

Moreover, the very fact that the Army Draft Offices insists on remaining open and summoning recruits in the midst of the outbreak constitutes a public health hazard. How many lives have already been endangered by recruits who picked up Corona at the Draft Offices and went home to spread it around, including exposing vulnerable family members? Is that the price to be paid for being summoned for military service?

After a former IDF general (res.) publicly critiqued the Army Corona protocols, it was noticed that the Tel HaShomer Draft Office closed this week. However, the Jerusalem Draft Offices remained open for business, summoning recruits as if they were merrily oblivious to the looming collapse of the healthcare system, R"L, and to the broader societal threat, about which Netanyahu so eloquently grandstands.

The question here is really not so much on the Israeli military and draft authorities, whose policies are most unconnected to Jewish Law, and are not at all representative of the desires, concerns, and attitudes of the Jewish community. Their anti-Torah disregard for the wellbeing and rights of Israeli citizens is not new, and has, in modest measure, been repeatedly covered in previous posts and published articles, primarily regarding their female draft policies.  [Just one recent example: For the Army brass, drafting women clearly takes precedence over national security, even to the extent of leaving southern border security partially contingent of all-female tank* crews, as recently reported by JNS.]

(* that's not a typographical error)

We also don't have much to wonder about Netanyahu, whose inspirational deliveries about national preparedness against Corona are exposed in light of his own military's recklessness. He's sold his soul to the Draft Agenda long ago. It's his faux "rightwing" government that pioneered the escalating draft of even religious girls in recent years, with all of the scandalous denial of human rights that goes along with that, as we've covered for over a year now.

The question we have here is more on the Ministry of Health, which is apparently taking Corona very seriously: why do they allow this nonsense to go on unabated?


1.  My original query to the Ministry of Health was as follows:

"From: Binyomin Feinberg <feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 7:54 AM
To: דובר‏ <DOVER@MOH.GOV.IL>
Cc: ...
Subject: Question re Corona & IDF

B"H

March 19, '20

Spokesman office

Ministry of Health

P.O.B 1176

Jerusalem 91010

dover@moh.health.gov.il

Tel: 02-5081220/5

Fax: 02-5655965


Dear Spokesman,


Hello, I frequently do contributing to The Jewish Press. I am curious as to why recruitment into the IDF has been continuing despite the Corona epidemic, especially given the primacy of the IDF in maintaining national security in an increasingly unstable world. Do you perhaps have any statement answering that question I could please quote? Thank you in advance,


Binyomin Feinberg

feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com"


2.  Their first reply was:


-------- Original message --------
From: רויטל מימרן
Date:03/19/2020 4:38 AM (GMT-05:00)
To: feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com
Cc: ...
Subject: FW: Question re Corona & IDF

Dear Binyomin Feinberg,

Thank you for your e.mail.
The Ministry of Health is working hand to hand with the IDF.
Questions concerning recruitment into the IDF are under the IDF spokesman's office. Please send your request to them.
Thank you.

revital


3.  My follow up to their reply was:

From: Binyomin Feinberg <feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 5:39 PM
To: רויטל מימרן
Cc: ...
Subject: RE: FW: Question re Corona & IDF


B"H

Revital,

Thank you kindly for your email.  Whom specifically in the IDF would I contact to get that type of information?

More to the point, my question really is what is the Health Ministry ITSELF doing to ensure that those Israeli recruits - expected to lay down their lives to defend fellow Jews from those who seek to exterminate us all - are adequately protected from contracting and spreading Corona -- in the midst of what PM Netanyahu described as a global pandemic, one over which he's poised to shutdown the country?

Thank you again, in advance, for providing genuine information.

BF


4. Their brief March 22nd reply was:

"Dear Binyomin Feinberg,

As mentioned in my previous e.mail – we are not allowed to answer questions concerning the IDF.

You should reach the IDF spokesman's office.

Best regards,

revital"


~~~

° To reiterate what was posted last week, we encourage all to employ all due caution to avoid contracting or spreading Corona, or spreading misinformation about it.

בכירי הרופאים במכתב לציבור החרדי: "הישמעו להנחיות – מדובר בפיקוח נפש"

https://www.jdn.co.il/breakingnews/1302432/

עשרות רופאים פנו הערב במכתב פתוח לציבור החרדי בו קראו להם להישמע להנחיות משרד הבריאות על רקע התפשטות נגיף הקורונה: "כל יציאה מהבית שלא לצורך חיוני כמוגדר בחוק, מהווה סכנה מיידית וברורה. בהתאם לצו של ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם"



Thursday, March 26, 2020

Copper Destroys Viruses and Bacteria. Why Isn’t It Everywhere?

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xgqkyw/copper-destroys-viruses-and-bacteria-why-isnt-it-everywhere

It could destroy norovirus, MRSA, virulent strains of E. coli, and coronaviruses—including the novel strain currently causing the COVID-19 pandemic.


 

Blue and White splits as unity deal with Likud approaches

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Likud-Blue-and-White-negotiations-intensifying-622426

In a dramatic turn of events, the Blue and White Party, which served as the alternative to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the March 2 election, broke up on Thursday after party head Benny Gantz decided to enter Netanyahu's government.
The three parties that made up Blue and White - Gantz's Israel Resilience, Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid and Moshe Ya'alon's Telem – all went in different directions. Israel Resilience is joining the government, Lapid will head the opposition and Telem will split up, with Ya'alon on the outside and divided.

 

In Israel, a Time to Pray Amid a Health Crisis

32 Economists From Both Major Parties Sign Letter Urging U.S. Not to Open Country Prematurely

https://www.newsweek.com/32-economists-both-major-parties-sign-letter-urging-us-not-open-country-prematurely-1494352


Members of the bipartisan Economic Strategy Group signed a Wednesday letter which said the U.S. must pull together to combat the coronavirus before opening businesses and attempting to restart the economy.
 

Doctors Condemn Young People Having Parties Amid Coronavirus Outbreak: 'This Is Not the Time to Be Stupid'

https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-parties-young-people-mass-gatherings-1494209

 
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear expressed his outrage and frustration at how a group of people in their 20s threw a party in defiance of the guidelines prohibiting mass gatherings to help stop the spread of the virus. At least one person who was at the party later tested positive for COVID-19.
"This makes me mad, and it should make you mad," Beshear told a press conference in reference to the party. "There is the power of forgiveness and we will move on and forgive, but there should not be any more of these parties—for any reason."
Beshear said those who attended the party despite being told to social distance themselves from others must have thought they were "indestructible" and that contagion was only a danger to the elderly.
"We are battling for the health, and even the lives, of our parents and our grandparents," Beshear said. "Don't be so calloused to intentionally go to something that can potentially kill other people. We ought to be much better than that."

More Trumpian nonsense - the elderly should risk their lives to help Trump get reelected?!

They should stop trying to scare people and stampede them into herd hermitry.
Many mental health professionals like to tell their clients that they suffer from anxiety.
So now doctors are playing up on that implanted anxiety.
"Ooooh, big bad Donald Trump is scary...! He wants you to go to work and school...you could never vote for a man that makes you feel anxious....riiiiiiight???? Hmmm???????"
In time of war, we send young people into harm's way and expect them to die for their country. Well, now it is time for older people to engage in some self sacrifice for the good of keeping Donald Trump electable.

James Dyson designed a new ventilator in 10 days. He's making 15,000 for the pandemic fight

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/26/tech/dyson-ventilators-coronavirus/index.html
"This new device can be manufactured quickly, efficiently and at volume," Dyson added, saying that the new ventilator has been designed to "address the specific needs" of coronavirus patients.
A spokesperson for the company, which is best known for its vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, said the ventilators would be ready by early April. Dyson, who has wealth worth $10 billion according to Bloomberg, wrote in his letter that he would also donate 5,000 units to the international effort to tackle the pandemic.


 

The Coronavirus Pandemic May Be Causing an Anxiety Pandemic

https://time.com/5808278/coronavirus-anxiety/

“The worry becomes, ‘How do I pay my bills? What if I lose my job? What if I lose my car?'” McGrath says. “Anxiety disorders are based on two words: ‘What if,’ followed by the worst scenario your brain can devise.”

Andrew Cuomo Hits Back at False Coronavirus Attack That Trump Launched During Fox News Town Hall: ‘That’s Not the Fact’

https://www.mediaite.com/news/andrew-cuomo-hits-back-at-false-coronavirus-attack-that-trump-launched-during-fox-news-town-hall-thats-not-the-fact/

A false attack that President Donald Trump made during his Fox News town hall made its way to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s latest coronavirus press conference, and Cuomo batted it down by telling the reporter “That’s not the fact, and you know it.”
During Tuesday’s Fox News town hall, Trump read portions of a post from conspiracy blogger Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit that accused Cuomo of rejecting an opportunity to purchase 16,000 ventilators back in 2015, and suggested Cuomo is to blame for his state’s anticipated shortage of the devices.
Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer did not challenge Trump’s attack, and on Wednesday, it was repeated by a reporter at Cuomo’s press conference.
 

Tucker Carlson Roasts the Media for Originally Downplaying the Wuhan Virus After They Try to Blame Fox News

https://www.redstate.com/bonchie/2020/03/25/tucker-carlson-roasts-the-media-for-originally-downplaying-the-wuhan-virus-after-they-try-to-blame-fox-news/


One of the dumber aspects of the mainstream media’s response to the Wuhan virus is their pretending that they’ve been sounding the alarm from the beginning. As I noted last week, The Washington Post tried to essentially rewrite history by sharing anonymous leaks from the intelligence community claiming that the President hadn’t seen the virus as a threat early enough.
 

Here’s the disturbing Fox News clip that appears to have triggered one of Trump’s most dangerous tweets yet

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/heres-the-disturbing-fox-news-clip-that-appears-to-have-triggered-one-of-trumps-most-dangerous-tweets-yet/


“[If] you stopped lockdowns, and sent everyone back to work, lots and lots of people would get sick. You’d have workplaces where half the staff were out. And this would roll through all kinds of places, people who maintain the electrical grid and water treatment and sewage systems, etc… Not only that, as the hospitals filled up and horror stories emerged, you’d have tons of deaths from things other than Covid-19 that couldn’t get treated. This would make [people] more scared of getting the bug and lead to further retreat,” he wrote. “Which is to say, even if you care about economic activity as the only value here, it’s really not clear that anything like ‘business as usual’ is even a possibility in the midst of a roaring pandemic, even if you let everything stay open.”
 

Let’s Never Forget That Trump and Fox News Started as Coronavirus Truthers

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/trump-republicans-fox-news-coronavirus-truthers-hoax-video.html


President Donald Trump doesn’t tell the truth that often and neither does Fox News. Both, however, seem to have come around to the idea that the coronavirus is not only a bad thing but a real thing. It took each a long time to put aside their own political or financial self-interest in an alternative reality where everything was fine and Trump was to thank, but they more or less got there eventually. We obviously have bigger problems to face at the moment than the damage done nightly by Sean Hannity’s Biff-Tannen-does-the-news routine, though the president lying over and over and over again will never not be a grave threat. It is even more of a problem now, during a pandemic, when people are looking for enlightened leadership and where accuracy and straightforwardness can stave off panic, save lives, and inspire confidence.
 

Fox News anchors fail to challenge Trump as he misleads during coronavirus town hall

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/24/media/fox-news-trump-town-hall/index.html

But neither Hemmer, who is the chief breaking news anchor at Fox News and was broadcasting from the White House, nor Faulkner, who was broadcasting remotely from a studio, effectively pushed back on Trump during the two-hour event -— despite obvious misinformation peddled by the President.

Trump, for instance, repeatedly compared the coronavirus to the seasonal flu. "We've never closed down the country for the flu," the President said.
Hemmer, however, repeatedly failed to note that Covid-19 has a significantly higher mortality rate than the seasonal flu.
 
The World Health Organization has estimated the mortality rate to be 3.4%. And Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the United States, has estimated that it is about 2%. Fauci even previously told Fox News, "The mortality for seasonal flu is 0.1% so even if [Covid-19] goes down to 1% it's still 10 times more fatal."
At another point during the interview, Trump said he would "love" for the country to "open by Easter" on April 12.
Instead of challenging Trump, and noting that his deadline is at odds with what many medical professionals and infectious disease experts have said, Faulkner replied, "Oh wow. OK."
Hemmer added, "That would be a great American resurrection."
After being criticized online for his failure to follow up, Hemmer came back from a commercial break and asked Trump the question again: "You'd like to be back to normal by Easter Sunday. That's 19 days from now. Is that true? Is that possible?"
 
Trump replied to Hemmer, saying he believed it to be possible and once again compared it to the much less serious seasonal flu. Hemmer asked Trump how he could determine it might be safe, and Trump reiterated his belief that the country "has to get back to work."
 
 

Fox Goes Full Dear Leader With Coronavirus Coverage

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/fox-news-dear-leader-donald-trump-coronavirus-coverage


In the alternate reality of Fox News, the coronavirus pandemic is an overhyped invention of the mainstream media devised for the specific purpose of taking down Donald Trump. Unfortunately for the American public, the network also happens to be the president’s source for news on the spread of the virus, and where most White House officials have opted to appear while updating the public—in between segments casting it as an anti-Trump “hoax.”
“The chorus of hate being leveled at the president is nearing a crescendo as Democrats blame him, and only him, for a virus that originated halfway around the world,” Fox Business host Trish Regan said on Monday, labeling media coverage “yet another attempt to impeach the president.” The same night, Lou Dobbs, Trump’s favorite Fox Business host, accused “the national left-wing media” of “playing up fears of the coronavirus,” before reporting, without an ounce of self-awareness, that the virus has “now infected 113,000 people…in 111 countries and territories around the world.”
 

Trump tears into media at coronavirus briefing: They want economy to stay closed, 'would like to see me do poorly in the election'

https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-doubles-down-media-attack-coronavirus


President Trump doubled down Wednesday on his assertion that the media wants to keep the country closed in order to prevent his reelection during his daily coronavirus briefing at the White House.
After Trump had earlier slammed the "LameStream Media" on Twitter, CBS News correspondent Paula Reid asked the president if his recently announced goal of reopening the economy by Easter was solely a political strategy.

"Just so that you understand, are you ready? I think that there are certain people who would like it not to open so quickly, I think there are certain people that would like it to do financially poorly because they think that would be very good as far as defeating me at the polls," Trump told Reid. "And I don't know if that's so, but I do think it's so that there are people in your profession that would like that to happen."

Trump’s Boast About U.S., South Korea Coronavirus Testing Misses The Mark

https://khn.org/news/fact-check-trumps-boast-about-u-s-south-korea-coronavirus-testing-misses-the-mark/

Trump claimed that the United States has “done more tests in eight days than South Korea has done in eight weeks.”

The CDC has not put out comprehensive data on this. But independent work on the subject suggests the comparison is flawed. In eight days, the United States performed almost as many tests as South Korea did in eight weeks, but not necessarily more.

In addition, that statistic is relatively less important. The American rate of testing per capita is more than six times lower than South Korea’s. It’s certainly possible to catch up, but that hasn’t happened yet.

The president’s statement frames the data in a way that is misleading and doesn’t accurately represent the status of the American response to COVID-19. We rate it False.

Shocking coronavirus study says people could be locked down for 18 months

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Shocking-coronavirus-study-says-people-could-be-locked-down-for-18-months-621609

The United States and United Kingdom received information from an Imperial College London coronavirus report that was published on March 16.
Dozens of experts had informed policy makers that modeling showed millions would die and that health systems would be overwhelmed, the report said. A fight against the virus could go on for 18 months, it said.

Israel Turns to Its Spy Agencies to Combat Coronavirus

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-turns-to-its-spy-agencies-to-combat-coronavirus-11584735025


TEL AVIV—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mobilized Israel’s intelligence agencies to help contain the new coronavirus, an effort that has involved an undercover purchase of testing kits from abroad and the use of antiterrorism phone-tracking technology to map infections.
 

נלחמים בקורונה: הישראלים שמדפיסים מכונות הנשמה


World Health Organization backs call to avoid ibuprofen for coronavirus

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/World-Health-Organization-backs-call-to-avoid-ibuprofen-for-coronavirus-621408

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that people with COVID-19 symptoms avoid taking ibuprofen, after concerns were raised by French officials that it may make the virus more harmful.
A recent study in The Lancet medical journal, theorizing that an enzyme boosted by ibuprofen could enable and exacerbate COVID-19 infections, led France's Health Minister Olivier Veran to suggest via social media that the medicine be avoided.

Cuomo knocks Trump's claim about NY and ventilators


After New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he needed 30,000 ventilators for the state of New York in order to be prepared for the "apex" of its caseload -- which his team predicted was two to three weeks away -- he criticized the federal government for offering up a fraction of that need.
"FEMA says, 'we're sending 400 ventilators.' Really? What am I going to do with 400 ventilators, when I need 30,000?" Cuomo said at a news conference.
 
Later, Trump announced he would supply another 4,000 ventilators to New York from the national stockpile, but he added a claim that Cuomo had turned down the chance to stock up on thousands of ventilators in 2015. 

"He had a chance to buy -- in 2015 -- 16,000 ventilators at a very low price and he turned it down. I'm not blaming him or anything else. But he shouldn't be talking about us. He's supposed to be buying his own ventilators. We are going to help," Trump said in a Fox News town hall held at the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday.
 Trump appeared to be dramatizing a report from a New York Department of Health task force in 2015 which predicted that, if faced with a pandemic like the 1918 Spanish flu, New York would run into a ventilator shortage to the tune of 15,000. The report was recently resurfaced by Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York and supporter of Trump since 2016, who wrote an op-ed about it in the New York Post. Her op-ed was later picked up by the far-right blog Gateway Pundit.
The report, however, did not recommend that New York Health Department should have stocked up on ventilators, nor did it find a low-cost option to do so, as Trump indicated Tuesday. Instead, the 2015 report acknowledged that New York should instead prepare for a moderate scenario and rely on federal resources if faced with a severe scenario.

Trump to New York: You’ve Been Mean to Me, Drop Dead

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-to-new-york-youve-been-mean-to-me-drop-dead


“If you’re good and respectful to [Trump], he will treat you the same—it’s that simple,” said one senior White House official. “The president has always said that he fights back when he needs to, and the situation with [Cuomo] is no different. If you keep that in mind, their sort of seesaw relationship during [coronavirus] doesn’t come as a surprise.”

That was true on Tuesday, when Cuomo said the state is in need of 30,000 ventilators and was getting insufficient help from the federal government to acquire more. The Trump administration said later that it was in the process of shipping about 4,000 ventilators to New York. But the governor’s office is still desperate for more and has called on the president to implement the Defense Production Act and order private companies to make more for the open market.

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell 3/25/20[FULL] | MSNBC News March 25, 2020


A restless Trump wants to end the country's isolation -- and his own

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/24/politics/donald-trump-white-house-life-coronavirus/index.html

Antsy at being sealed off, with no visiting dignitaries and no large crowds, Trump has wondered aloud to aides when life will again return to normal -- not just for the nation, but for himself. The slowdown in his own life has led, in part, to Trump's strong desire to see the guidelines he offered on avoiding crowds and staying at home lifted quickly.
"I gave it two weeks," he said Tuesday during a virtual town hall aired on Fox News. "I guess, by Monday or Tuesday, it's about two weeks. And we will assess at that time."

 

The scariest aspects of the coronavirus are what we can't see on TV

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/25/media/coronavirus-television-reliable-sources/index.html

"The truth is, the sickest patients are terrifying," Choo said. "They are air hungry, dropping their oxygen, confused, distressed. We can never show that. But it is terrifying."

Meredith Case, an internal medicine resident at Columbia, took to Twitter on Wednesday because she said the press "does not reflect our reality." The deluge of patients "is here," she wrote in the morning. "Our ICU is completely full with intubated COVID patients." At night she signed off with this: "Today was the worst day anyone has ever seen, but tomorrow will be worse. We are on the precipice of rationing. Needless to say, these decisions run counter to everything we stand for and are incredibly painful..."

Mayor de Blasio Calls $1 Billion for NYC From Coronavirus Stimulus Bill 'Just Immoral'

https://www.newsweek.com/mayor-de-blasio-calls-1-billion-nyc-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-just-immoral-1494343

"We are one-third of the cases in this country right now," de Blasio said. "Someone do the math down there in Washington in the Senate Republican Majority. They gave us less than 1 percent of the money that they were giving out to cities and states and we have a third of cases in the nation. That is just immoral."

 

2019 Study Touted by Trump Showed Global Lack of Pandemic Readiness

https://www.newsweek.com/2019-study-touted-trump-showed-global-lack-pandemic-readiness-1494325

President Donald Trump referred to the GHS Index during a February news briefing, showing its 300-plus pages to reporters.
"The Johns Hopkins, I guess—is a highly respected, great place—they did a study, comprehensive: 'The Countries Best and Worst Prepared for an Epidemic.' And the United States is now—we're rated No. 1," Trump said. "We're rated number one for being prepared."
Roughly a month after that briefing, the U.S. was ranked No. 3 in the world for having the most confirmed cases of coronavirus with over 55,000 individuals confirmed to be infected by the virus.

Some countries that ranked poorly on the GHS index, such as Mauritania which came in on the list at No. 157, have a low occurrence of coronavirus. Currently, the country only has two reported cases of COVID-19.
"Just epidemiologically speaking," Nuzzo said, "I would expect all countries to be hit hard. Some countries may do better, the ones that are able to respond really quickly."

Trump Wants to Reopen America 'By Easter.' But That's (Mostly) Up to the States, Not the President

https://time.com/5809962/trump-coronavirus-easter/

 But even if Trump begins encouraging Americans to get back to work, it will be largely up to state and local leaders — especially governors — to chart their own courses. Governor Gavin Newsom of California has said his state’s social distancing measures could last two to three months, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said they could last as long as nine months in his state, home to the country’s worst outbreak yet.
 

Nearly 5% of UK virus dead are Jewish; community is just 0.3% of population


JTA — Nearly 5% of all coronavirus-related deaths in the United Kingdom are of Jewish people, who make up just 0.3% of the country’s population, The Jewish News of London reported.
According to the paper’s report Thursday, at least 22 Jewish families have lost loved ones to the disease, which has killed 465 people in the United Kingdom. The UK has about 66 million residents and 250,000 Jews.
 

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

White House abruptly transfers DHS official amid loyalty purge

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/white-house-dhs-heather-swift-loyalty-148856


The White House removed a top public affairs official at the Department of Homeland Security in a move that shocked many in the department as it takes a lead role in handling the coronavirus pandemic, according to two former senior DHS officials familiar with the matter.

Since taking over PPO, 29-year-old John McEntee has asked Cabinet agencies to probe the records of political appointees and ferret out any who might show signs of disloyalty to the president. McEntee, a former college quarterback known for his trick plays and a longtime Trump favorite, has also come under fire within the administration for recently hiring three college seniors for sensitive jobs.

Trump wants America reopened by Easter. That could send the US economy into depression

But there are massive risks involved with quickly reversing the social distancing policies. Not only would a premature re-opening of the economy defy the advice of health experts, but economists warn it would backfire.
Instead of a one-time blow, the economy could face repeated shutdowns over a prolonged period. 

"If the president decides to go 180 on us and open by Easter, that will create chaos and confusion. That is the prescription for a depression," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told CNN Business. 

"If people are panicked because hospitals are overflowing and loved ones are dying, the hit to the economy will be even worse than if we remain in lockdown," said Zandi, who advised Republican presidential nominee John McCain in 2008. "It's a massive gamble -- and one without science on his side."

Netanyahu: Complete lockdown if numbers do not improve

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277822


Addressing the citizens, Netanyahu said: "I say this most clearly: You must stay at home. Stay at home - stay alive. Everyone has to obey, no exceptions. And you must be very cautious with your safety. What it takes for anyone to obey is strict self-discipline. If you do not mobilize to look after yourselves and your families, there will be a disaster here. Do not leave home, stay inside the homes and follow the guidelines. These are not trifles, but matters of life and death."