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

 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cuomo-knocks-trumps-claim-ny-ventilators/story?id=69790191

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

https://www.timesofisrael.com/nearly-5-of-uk-coronavirus-dead-are-jewish/

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.

 

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.