Category Archives: Coronavirus

Truth and Action Saves Lives

03 Sunday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus

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Let’s think about how to either keep from getting the virus or how to get over it over it once we got it. Apparently we can keep from getting it by staying in the steam room or maybe the warm pool room of one of Trump’s resorts. Several times Trump said heat and high humidity will kill it. If that was true it wouldn’t have been in the southern hemisphere’s summer. Brazil’s death toll is rapidly climbing. Its heat and humidity hasn’t slowed it.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern went straight to the countrywide lockdown when the virus first appeared. Today they have no cases and a fully functioning economy. Why? They paid attention to what the WHO said and didn’t keep calling it a hoax as people died.

As people died here, our President partied, campaigned, denied, and said he had everything under control. With over 61,000 dead and increasing, he still is patting himself on the back by saying it would have been much worse without him in charge!

Of course, we can’t overlook the medicinal remedies he has espoused as cures. They have been promoted by his celebrity friends before the FDA said supposed cures didn’t help and could be dangerous. Commonsense says don’t put household cleaners into the body or stick a u-v light up your butt. Still thousands called their local, state and federal poison control agencies.

We are behind the eight ball while those countries that reacted quickly are opening up. Almost all New Zealanders love Ardern for her quick action on guns and the virus. We, on the other hand, are greatly divided and can’t believe our leadership.

Corporate Responsibility

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, President Trump

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The 3-M Company is a major manufacturer of the highly sought after N95 face masks. Why it is called N95, what is it made of, how does the wearer still get sick, and many other questions.

The mask is composed of a mesh of plastic fibers blown together, not woven together. It is supposed to prevent any particle larger than 0.3 microns from going through it. Unfortunately the virus is half that size. That size will prevent droplets from a sneeze or from normal breathing from passing through it. The 95 means it is 95% effective.

It is designed to fit tight so the air the wearer inhales has to go through the mask, not around it. This causes the droplets to stay inside or outside as designed. However, 5% means one person in twenty could be infected or every twentieth breath allow the wearer to breath the virus in or out to others. Depending on that mask and goggles to keep healthy is gutsy and having to use the less effective cloth masks is purely insane.

3-M bought additional equipment to make the masks after the H1N1 virus and left it set up but unused waiting for another disaster. That is what pandemic planning is all about. It isn’t denying it is happening and blaming others who had been planning for it for several years.

3-M has gone from under 50 million masks to over 100 million a week in a few weeks to planning for a billion in the fall. They charge less than a dollar to distributers. Since Trump has reversed policy and told states to buy their own, New York recently had to out-bid other states to get emergency supplies and pay ten times 3-M’s price!

Big Decisions Required

14 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Leadership

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Here is the problem facing the governors. Just over a hundred years ago we had the Spanish Flu killing tens of thousands of us. Medicine and treatment wasn’t as advanced as today. Entire towns quarantined themselves by blocking roads into town. The virus died out after several months and didn’t come back. No vaccines were made to protect people. It just didn’t return. Why? We don’t know. Will COVID 19 be the same?

The hope is COVID 19 will do the same but the virologists don’t know if the immunity occurs at all with all levels of contracting the virus and how long it lasts. The Chinese have just announced they are starting to have a second wave of people getting sick. Does that mean it will stay with us until we all get it or a vaccine is widely distributed?

How does a Governor decide what to do? Does Pritzker open the state up in a few weeks and the virus comes back killing hundreds more requiring another shutdown? A negative test for an individual doesn’t confer immunity or mean that a person can’t get it the next day and spread it to others. Should a Governor make it mandatory for people to wear masks for months or years?

When should restaurants and other “non-essential” businesses re-open? When do non-emergency surgeries start again? What about debt and how do governments return to some kind of fiscal responsibility? Illinois wasn’t stable before so what does Pritzker do now?

One thing I know for sure, whatever decisions are made, most people will not be happy!

To Buy or Not To Buy

12 Sunday Apr 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Uncategorized

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To buy or not to buy, that is the question. Is it better for a state to buy emergency medical equipment by bidding against other states or for the Federal Government to purchase them at a lower price? The obvious answer is for the Federal Government to maintain price control by being sole buyer and having used Presidential powers to create new manufacturers.

As a news junkie I watch Trump as much as I can tolerate. I have heard him say he would use the Government’s reserves to give to the states and buy more when needed. They should not complicate things by trying to buy supplies themselves. Then a few weeks later he says it is the states’ responsibility and not his. Then later, he says the states are running up the cost by bidding against each other and he will buy for them.

Then his president-in-waiting son-in-law says the Federal Reserve is for the federal governments use only. That is why the Illinois treasurer had to pay 3.5 million for items at a Dwight McDonalds which would have been much less if FEMA had been buying all the supplies. Other states weren’t willing to pay that much.

How can people think President Trump is doing a good job when he constantly is shown to be mismanaging the effort and contradicting his own expert team? He pushes an unproven drug because Rudy Giuliani tells him it will stop the virus. The question I want to know – is Giuliani lobbying for the drug company and how does Trump benefit from selling it?

Is the Federal Government supposed to buy and distribute fairly or create total confusion?