Yesterday, Bavarians voted in their communities. Communal votes in Munich, one of Germany’s largest cities, were counted by state servants - teachers - to ensure the voting went ahead, since many of the voting aides canceled their volunteering last minute due to Covid-19 precautions.
Currently, Germany has 4828 documented infections as of yesterday 15h.
Not only that, but retirees on fixed incomes are going to be hit hard by ZIRP policies. It will be good for homeowners who are able to re-finance their mortgage rates and for anyone who carries large rolling credit card debt; while the former may result in benefits to the general economy, too much reliance on consumer debt is not the sign of a healthy or sustainable economy. Selfish and economically unsophisticated people (e.g. most Libertarians) tend to miss these nuances.
You take what silver linings you can, I suppose. At least* the secondary economic effects of COVID-19 are prompting even conservatives and free-market fundies to openly recommend socialist programmes like this (which open the door to long-term support for a UBI):
For anyone nerdly enough to care bout the ACE / ARB / COVID-19 discussion from earlier, this is a really good summary of where we are. (Hint: Lots of mouse data, lots of hypotheses, no solid human data. Interpret with caution.)
The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that they will receive the crew of the British cruise ship MS Braemar. Some of them tested positive for coronavirus and are going to have medical care on the communist island. After that, the UK will send rescue planes.
Here are a couple linksto help understand exactly why testing is important for EVERYONE, including young people, and why the attitude that the disease is no big deal for non-elderly is just so fucking wrong:
tl;dr: People with mild symptoms can go from feeling OK to crisis in a very short time. Younger patients are on ventilation support longer, which feels like constant suffocation even under sedation.
Yeah, looking at the Worldometer data, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the US has consistently grown by ~30% each day for the past two weeks (there’s plenty of variation, though: on 3/6 it jumped 44%, for example). I expect that the US will have had between 4700 and 4900 cases by midnight tonight (Eastern Time, I think—I haven’t figured out yet exactly when Worldometer ends their days).
I’m no epidemiologist, but I don’t expect the growth rate to significantly decrease anytime soon. I believe the US case count will surpass China’s as early as 3/28. When the US reaches that point (and I’m quite certain it will), I think Trump will meltdown (even further). He just won’t be able to handle that.
But there is at least one person at each hospital in charge of knowing these numbers throughout the day and communicating them to the rest of the hospital (ER, general wards, etc.), regional and community hospitals, EMS, and hopefully state and federal officials (as is done with flu-like-illnesses during the season).
Reporters don’t need to show up to the hospitals, just be in the loop to inform the public of available community resources (resources other than toilet paper).