Coronavirus Outbreak

[temporal1]

I’m sure there are ten thousand experts who could answer that question better. Maybe use the off-the-shelf WHO testing protocols deployed in China and Korea and have US pharma companies pump out test kits by the hundreds of thousands on an interim basis until whatever FDA-approved test protocols can be developed to replace them?

Trump managed to shake the pockets of the Federal government to come up with $30 billion in spare change to build his wall without going to Congress and he waived every single procedural and environmental law to just deploy contractors and bulldozers with zero review. They just snatched the money from other Pentagon funds, and send in the bulldozers, skipping every single required legal step normally required for large Federal projects.

He found another $22 billion to pay for his farm bailout of farmers suffering from his trade war with China, also without going to Congress.

With a stroke of a pen he could have done the same thing a month ago for Coronavirus and had a million test kits deployed across the country by now.

More apples and oranges.
Trump campaigned on the wall, AND, the border has been a problem for decades.
Farm bailouts are far from new.

Even if he responded perfectly in DECEMBER 2019, in current March 12, 2020 eyes, many would criticize that; don’t ask me how, the pattern is established.

He is not clairvoyant.

It’s been about 12 weeks since the first cases were identified in China.
In that time frame, a lot has happened, and continues. As you say above, possibly too much.

“Expert: Excessive Authority Held by FDA Delays US Coronavirus Response”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/expert-ex ... 68740.html

WASHINGTON—Overregulation of diagnostic testing has played a major role in delaying the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak. The existing rules have created a bottleneck in delivery of testing kits, slowing the process of detection of cases in Washington state for weeks, said a health policy expert.

“The problem is a holdover from the obama administration,” .. ..

At this time, many are not interested in partisan politics as a response to a nonpartisan virus.

This topic has 47 pages of discussion. Thankfully, not a lot of partisan finger-pointing.

[Bootstrap]

“Expert: Excessive Authority Held by FDA Delays US Coronavirus Response”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/expert-ex ... 68740.html

WASHINGTON—Overregulation of diagnostic testing has played a major role in delaying the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak. The existing rules have created a bottleneck in delivery of testing kits, slowing the process of detection of cases in Washington state for weeks, said a health policy expert.

“The problem is a holdover from the obama administration,” .. ..

At this time, many are not interested in partisan politics as a response to a nonpartisan virus.

Why would anybody not interested in partisan politics read the Epoch Times? That article sure doesn't seem to think the virus is nonpartisan. And ... um ... this really doesn't seem to be true. Looks like people are trying to find some way to fix the blame on Obama, but the facts don't seem to be there.

It’s not clear what regulation Trump and Redfield have in mind, and neither the White House, FDA, nor the CDC responded to requests for more information. But experts told us that no such “rule” was implemented under Obama.

“It’s not true,” said Rachel Sachs, a Washington University in St. Louis law professor, of Trump’s claim in a phone interview. The Obama administration did attempt to impose a risk-based system of regulation on laboratory developed tests, or LDTs, and introduced draft guidance in 2014. But that guidance was never finalized, and was withdrawn after Trump won the election in 2016. “It never went into effect,” she said, “so it’s not an issue to walk back.”

Have you considered looking at medical sources if you really want to understand this history?

[JimFoxvog]

I really wish the Congress and Senate had been passing responsible legislation for the last 3 years instead of being busy playing political games and trying, unsuccessfully, to impeach the President.

The House has been passing responsible legislation. It is Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnel, who has not allowed the Senate to vote on these bills.

BTW, the House did successfully impeach the president.

[temporal1]

“Expert: Excessive Authority Held by FDA Delays US Coronavirus Response”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/expert-ex ... 68740.html

WASHINGTON—Overregulation of diagnostic testing has played a major role in delaying the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak. The existing rules have created a bottleneck in delivery of testing kits, slowing the process of detection of cases in Washington state for weeks, said a health policy expert.

“The problem is a holdover from the obama administration,” .. ..

At this time, many are not interested in partisan politics as a response to a nonpartisan virus.

Why would anybody not interested in partisan politics read the Epoch Times?
Have you considered looking at medical sources if you really want to understand this history?

i responded to Ken that i’d prefer not to get into it. he continued. i briefly replied.
from my posts, it’s clear, i read many sources, sometimes the Epoch Times. i’m not a subscriber.
i have been following this thread and others, reading lots of sources, and speaking with my family in the Seattle area, working in public schools, dealing with everything Mr Ken is dealing with, IRL, in real time. Ken is not alone in his experience.

and, btw, i don’t usually respond to anyone using, “ums,” etc.
i find them to be used by people who are convinced they are right, and everyone else is stupid.
i find lib verbal shorthand like that unworthy of response.

[Bootstrap]

Some people saw this coming two years ago when the Trump Administration dismantled the team that handled pandemics like this.

May 10, 2018 at 4:32 p.m. EDT

The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton.

The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer’s departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack.

Ziemer’s last day was Tuesday, the same day a new Ebola outbreak was declared in Congo. He is not being replaced.

Pandemic preparedness and global health security are issues that require government-wide responses, experts say, as well as the leadership of a high-ranking official within the White House who is assigned only this role.

“Health security is very fragmented, with many different agencies,” said J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It means coordination and direction from the White House is terribly important. ”

The personnel changes, which Morrison and others characterize as a downgrading of global health security, are part of Bolton’s previously announced plans to streamline the NSC. Two members of Ziemer's team have been merged into a unit in charge of weapons of mass destruction, and another official's position is now part of a unit responsible for international organizations. White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, who had called for a comprehensive biodefense strategy against pandemics and biological attacks, is out completely. He left the day after Bolton took over last month.

NSC spokesman Robert Palladino said Wednesday the administration “remains committed to global health, global health security and biodefense, and will continue to address these issues with the same resolve under the new structure.”

Another administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, acknowledged it was only one of many administration priorities. “In a world of limited resources, you have to pick and choose,” he said. “We lost a little bit of the leadership, but the expertise remains.”

Ziemer is a well-respected public health leader who was considered highly effective leading the President’s Malaria Initiative under George W. Bush and Barack Obama before joining the NSC last year. While Palladino said he left “on the warmest terms,” an individual familiar with the specifics behind the reorganization said “he was basically pushed out. He struggled to preserve himself and the integrity of his team, and he failed.”

His exit comes against the backdrop of other administration actions critics say have weakened health security preparedness, including dwindling financing for early preventive action against infectious disease threats abroad.

The new Ebola outbreak is in northwest Congo. Only two cases have been confirmed, but the World Health Organization reported Thursday another 30 probable and suspected cases of the deadly hemorrhagic fever. Of those, 18 already have died.

Congolese and international health officials say they hope to control the outbreak quickly, but some health officials worry about its potential to become more serious and spread because of its location in a town upriver from the densely populated capital of Kinshasa.

This week, the administration released a list of $15 billion in spending cuts it wants Congress to approve. Among the targets is $252 million in unused funds remaining from the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, far exceeding the combined total cases reported in about 20 previous outbreaks since the 1970s.

The White House proposal “is threatening to claw back funding whose precise purpose is to help the United States be able to respond quickly in the event of a crisis,” said Carolyn Reynolds, a vice president at PATH, a global health technology nonprofit.

Collectively, warns Jeremy Konyndyk, who led foreign disaster assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Obama administration, “What this all adds up to is a potentially really concerning rollback of progress on U.S. health security preparedness.”

“It seems to actively unlearn the lessons we learned through very hard experience over the last 15 years,” said Konyndyk, now a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development. “These moves make us materially less safe. It’s inexplicable.”

The day before news of Ziemer’s exit became public, one of the officials on his team, Luciana Borio, director of medical and biodefense preparedness at the NSC, spoke at a symposium at Emory University to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1918 influenza pandemic. That event killed an estimated 50 million to 100 million people worldwide.

[AnthonyMartin]

My personal request. Share all the politics you like, just wash your hands and be careful. Our school hasn't closed yet, but since we are just outside of Montgomery County I expect it to close soon. Our ERs are really being challenged with sick and with worried well. Either way, this thing is gonna consume my life for a while...

I think the school closures are going to be a mistake. How many nurses and other medical professionals, for example, have small children and are going to be forced to stay home and care for them during the day now that schools and preschools everywhere are closing? A LOT of them.

Schools could actually be run as mini-quarantine sites with no mixing of students or teachers across classes or different parts of the school. That would greatly restrict exposure spread if a student did show up infected. You would maybe have 24 students possibly exposed rather than 500. But maybe that's no longer good enough. Closing schools isn't going to put all children into isolation. It will just free them from supervision in many cases.

Maryland just announced friday will be the last day for school for awhile. Governor said that childcare provision will be made for those who are "essential." This means fire police and healthcare, let's see how this goes. In spite of this, I am expecting many of the gals at our clinics to play the "mommy" card, and the rest of us will be working doubles.

Had a patient come in today with a mask. I had to tell her it was quite useless, as she was wearing it upside down.

Seriously, the hospitals are pitching the isolation tents behind their ERs. Someone expects this to be really bad. No one actually knows how much of this is out there, largely due to the total incompetence and denial of the current administration.

J.M.

We are doing this at some of our ERs, mostly to triage at this point. ERs are already maxed out just about everywhere. Seen as the safety net many people come who don't need to. Just based on volume we will likely see a lot more alternate care sites popping up. We do them about every year for Flu, so this will just be a bit bigger. The worried well and use of protective equipment is also being challenged because many countries who make it aren't exporting it.

No need to panic, better to stay home and wash your hands. Robert is right, most people will survive. But, that doesn't mean it shouldn't make us consider doing what we can to mitigate the effects now that it's here. Biggest thing I believe is good personal hygiene and reasonable supply use. The 2nd one is the most difficult.

[HondurasKeiser]

With 2 confirmed cases Honduras just closed all schools across the country for 2 weeks. My school is gearing up for distance learning to start Tuesday.

[Ken]

OK guys, here's a completely apolitical post

The World Health Organization has announced that dogs cannot contract Covid-19. Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released. To be clear, WHO let the dogs out.

[AnthonyMartin]

OK guys, here's a completely apolitical post

The World Health Organization has announced that dogs cannot contract Covid-19. Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released. To be clear, WHO let the dogs out.

Nope, still political.
https://thebark.com/content/are-dogs-born-politicians

[Aurien]

“Expert: Excessive Authority Held by FDA Delays US Coronavirus Response”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/expert-ex ... 68740.html

At this time, many are not interested in partisan politics as a response to a nonpartisan virus.

Why would anybody not interested in partisan politics read the Epoch Times?
Have you considered looking at medical sources if you really want to understand this history?

i responded to Ken that i’d prefer not to get into it. he continued. i briefly replied.
from my posts, it’s clear, i read many sources, sometimes the Epoch Times. i’m not a subscriber.
i have been following this thread and others, reading lots of sources, and speaking with my family in the Seattle area, working in public schools, dealing with everything Mr Ken is dealing with, IRL, in real time. Ken is not alone in his experience.

and, btw, i don’t usually respond to anyone using, “ums,” etc.
i find them to be used by people who are convinced they are right, and everyone else is stupid.
i find lib verbal shorthand like that unworthy of response.

I've seen several instances where you've made cutting little remarks in response to Bootstrap. Today after reading the words that I underlined in your post I decided to say something. I don't think it's appropriate for you to keep making these jabs at him. I realize that he leans left while you lean right but there's no need to be derogatory towards him about it.