What are your thoughts on how government is handling COVID-19

[ItsMainelyYou]

Now he is going to delay checks so he can have his sharpie signature on the memo line.
Because, branding!

Trump's name to be on stimulus checks going to Americans: Washington Post

The U.S. Treasury Department has ordered President Donald Trump's name to be printed on checks the Internal Revenue Service is planning to send to tens of millions of Americans, a decision that will slow their delivery by several days, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday...

www.reuters.com

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

@kipari - I don't think we did better because we were "behind" you at all. We are a geographical hotspot for Chinese students and for Chinese travellers, probably more so than the US and Europe.

On a timeline, the Australian Government announced that they were going to quarantine all Australian citizens evacuated from Wuhan and China on Manis Island on the 29th of January (ie well before the disease reached crisis levels in Europe). Our scientists had the virus in our labs and were trying to find a cure and develop vaccines at the beginning of the year as well.

All flights of Chinese students were banned early but you know what they did? Being intelligent they found ways to get around the system, they flew from places like Wuhan to other Asian countries first and then came into Australia via them, it took us a while to figure out, when infected students and travellers showed up on our doorstep, what was going on. At the time ALL Chinese irrespective of how they arrived her were supposed to abide by 14 day stay at home quarantine laws.

We did extensive tracking and tracing early here, the flatmate of one of the students that was infected was asked to self quarantine for 14 days as was anyone the students came into contact with. The guys flatmate decided to go to work, go out to eat, go out to party and disregarded those measures. He spread the virus.....

We then also worked out that travellers from Europe and other regions were also coming here infected so we closed all International flights early and anyone that did come here was placed into quarantine.

Extensive tracking and tracing and enforced stay at home quarantine as much as possible prevented rapid spread.

NSW (one state) made a series of bad judgement calls and allowed a number of passengers off a ship called the Ruby Princess after the captain and the cruise company lied about the health status of their passengers. Again all of those people were asked to self quarantine, many of them did not and spread the virus around Australia.

Yes we are a big Island, but make no mistake, we shut our borders early. We restricted flights early. We introduced social distancing early, when the measures were not tough enough to stop people going out, the Federal Government (the Prime Minister) not the states announced even tougher measures. The states introduced fines. We worked out that people off cruise ships and our citizens being flown back from other countries could not be trusted to self isolate, so they put them ALL in hotels or isolated places where they were watched 24/7 by the police and the military.

We had and have some of the toughest lockdown laws in the Western World. We had massive unemployment before the US did, we introduced stimulus package after stimulus packaged before the US did. The government worked out that to help preserve jobs they would need to pay businesses and companies workers wages to keep them on their books to attempt to reduce job losses here.

We are flattening the curve, reducing the numbers of infections every day, hospitals are not overwhelmed. A minimum number of people have died here compared to the rest of the world.

We still currently have some of the tightest most extreme lockdown measures in the Western World. Yes, I agree Australia and New Zealand are big and small Islands, yes, that helped - but our government and our states (whose boarders between each other btw remain shut) understood what this virus did and responded early enough to avoid massive infection rates and a massive death toll.

Our government chose to save people over our economy which is in worse shape than many other places that do not have extensive lockdowns but we were in a better financial position than America to start with to take on massive amounts of debt. Keep in mind we tax our citizens and businesses at a much higher rate that most other countries too, which in the past helps us pay for state and federal spending.

@arkieb1 , my comment was not to criticize the Australian efforts to fight this pandemic. It's great to see that Aussies don't have to face another tragedy after the horrible bushfires.

Many other governments installed tougher measures, though and in a some cases it's just not working as well. We're in complete lockdown since 3/13 in France for instance. All non essential businesses closed. No gatherings at all. No going out except 1 hour a day ALONE before 10 or after 7. (Except for when taking out one's own kids an hour. But parks are closed, too).

State pays partial unemployment to people who are not working (so businesses don't fire anyone) and gives out generous credit to businesses. Health care is free. We're still not doing great. Our death rates are pretty bad. Mostly very old people , yes, Yesterday they said average is 81, (which I'd like to see data for, because that sounds super old for an average). But still.

A leading German virologist said: "a virus isn't stopped by borders " .

So this is unfortunately not a straight effort to impact ratio.
Being extremely sparsely populated helps.
Being an island helps significantly.

But the UK government for instance screwed that up royally. Sure.
US didn't take advantage of the time and geographical advantage either.

If you don't do anything it's sure to cost many MORE lives. But implementation of strict measures doesn't guarantee it's going to work either. Sadly

 

[arkieb1]

@arkieb1 , my comment was not to criticize the Australian efforts to fight this pandemic. It's great to see that Aussies don't have to face another tragedy after the horrible bushfires.

Many other governments installed tougher measures, though and in a some cases it's just not working as well. We're in complete lockdown since 3/13 in France for instance. All non essential businesses closed. No gatherings at all. No going out except 1 hour a day ALONE before 10 or after 7. (Except for when taking out one's own kids an hour. But parks are closed, too).

State pays partial unemployment to people who are not working (so businesses don't fire anyone) and gives out generous credit to businesses. Health care is free. We're still not doing great. Our death rates are pretty bad. Mostly very old people , yes, Yesterday they said average is 81, (which I'd like to see data for, because that sounds super old for an average). But still.

A leading German virologist said: "a virus isn't stopped by borders " .

So this is unfortunately not a straight effort to impact ratio.
Being extremely sparsely populated helps.
Being an island helps significantly.

But the UK government for instance screwed that up royally. Sure.
US didn't take advantage of the time and geographical advantage either.

If you don't do anything it's sure to cost many MORE lives. But implementation of strict measures doesn't guarantee it's going to work either. Sadly

Yes being an Island really helped, I totally agree we can lock the whole country down more effectively than yours. I think the tougher measures in Europe were done too slowly, there was not enough effort to track and trace every single infection. So you locked everything down early March, we had less cases and started restricting flights and who was allowed into Australia back in January and February. By behind, I mean that on the timeline I think Australia acted before many other countries did, Europeans came here with the virus later than your country, that is true, but keep in mind we had Chinese students that came here with the virus at the same time or before you did. At the same time or before Italy did.

If it was as simple as extremely sparse populations doing better than countries in Europe, then places like India, Africa, Singapore and so on would have huge infection numbers and death tolls but they do not.

Therefore, I think it is safe to assume it is as much about border management early enough and then containment and management early enough for each different country. Most European countries including the UK failed at that. The US was behind Europe, had the chance to see what was happening there, and still failed to do what was necessary. Countries that are doing better irrespective of how dense their populations are understood the concept of slowing the curve of infection down so that their health systems are not overwhelmed - countries that did that, are doing much much better rather than completely stopping the infection, which was and is near to impossible in most places. States in the US that have observed what occurred in NY and understand what slowing the curve of infection rate does, so their health systems can cope will do far better than states that do not comprehend it.

I think for places like Italy, Spain, the UK, France and even New York by the time the authorities worked out exactly what was necessary (no one had a handbook on COVID - 19) it was far too late, sadly way too many infected people already and so it was and is a matter of then dealing with hospitals and ICUs overrun with more patients then they had resources to cope with.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

Agree with you, @arkieb1 , but

border management

there was not enough effort to track and trace every single infection

Those two go together too closely. In Germany they knew every single infection chain for a long time. But people traveled and than the community spread began.

The travel bans are very hard to implement. I'm not trying to defend/measure/ blame. It's just my try analyse and understand. Europe has a big problem because people are living in a different country than they live in and we had massive numbers of healthcare workers who live in one country and work in another. Other essential jobs too. So closing down the borders was not just the strict "no flight" policy.

Also, the human mind is made up in such a way, unfortunately, that I am sure if every politician had closed everything very early and therefore completely contained the viruses by sacrificjng the economy, that would have cost them their job for sure. People are mostly like :"HERE everything is fine, so that is /was unnecessary". The majority of people don't grasp that the situation would be more dire without the measures. As long as THEY(or loved ones) aren't on a ventilator...


It's good that India is so strict. But police force hitting citizens to implement the lockdown won't fly in the western world either...



Don't watch if upset by physical violence. I regretted having seen that video.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

@kipari are your transmissions community transmissions?

Are people sneaking into the country???

I really wonder why it's not working so well.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Just saw the video.....wow

That said given the population and economic situation in India better to have these people whacked than them all dead in body bags.

The idiots who were cavorting around Bondi Beach in Sydney deserved to be whacked too.

Same with those idiots throwing dinner and house parties. It's not like we haven't been told repeatedly not to do it.

 

[missy]

Agree with you, @arkieb1 , but





Those two go together too closely. In Germany they knew every single infection chain for a long time. But people traveled and than the community spread began.

The travel bans are very hard to implement. I'm not trying to defend/measure/ blame. It's just my try analyse and understand. Europe has a big problem because people are living in a different country than they live in and we had massive numbers of healthcare workers who live in one country and work in another. Other essential jobs too. So closing down the borders was not just the strict "no flight" policy.

Also, the human mind is made up in such a way, unfortunately, that I am sure if every politician had closed everything very early and therefore completely contained the viruses by sacrificjng the economy, that would have cost them their job for sure. People are mostly like :"HERE everything is fine, so that is /was unnecessary". The majority of people don't grasp that the situation would be more dire without the measures. As long as THEY(or loved ones) aren't on a ventilator...


It's good that India is so strict. But police force hitting citizens to implement the lockdown won't fly in the western world either...



Don't watch if upset by physical violence. I regretted having seen that video.

Not going to watch the video right now but yes to border control. So easy to do with an island nation but not so easy for other countries especially the USA.

Yes being an Island really helped, I totally agree we can lock the whole country down more effectively than yours.

Yes. This is one of the big reasons Australia and New Zealand are doing so well. I just spoke with my friend in NZ and I think they had 4 deaths that doubled to 8 because of a nursing home outbreak but I am so relieved for all my friends and PSers who are located in areas that are relatively safe and may it stay that way. It is truly a nightmare situation in the USA as well as Italy and other countries. Mind boggling at the great loss of lives. Real people, flesh and blood. Not statistics. Human beings who have loved ones whose lives are forever changed because they are gone and lives snuffed out way too soon.

 

[arkieb1]

@kipari - yes I 110% agree I googled when France actually closed it's boarders and it was around March 20 we closed ours before that and quarantined almost everyone that came here afterwards with the exception of the Ruby Princess cruise ship, that was to date the biggest mistake any state government here has made.

I think it could have been a very different situation in Australia, if we had not enforced early strict closed boarders (our states still have closed borders) and effectively restricted all travellers as early as we did and we had not tracked and traced every single infection if just one small outbreak was allowed to infect others, and then not contained, we would be in a very different situation now.

I think the government here will have backlash, as a result of what they did and the steps they have taken, we have some of the highest % unemployment rates compared to other countries, and will be one of the hardest hit economies especially compared to Europe and the US, because of reacting early and as hard restriction wise as they did. But they literally saved a lot of lives. People here see what is going on in the US, in Europe, the UK and we get it, I for one applaud them for having the balls to do so when there was a heap of criticism from the media, from the people locked in hotels, under military and police guard and so on. The US and countries were mocking us back in January and February for restricting flights.

@missy - my heart bleeds for New York and the US. That many people did not need to die. Government inaction any way we look at it in the US, is directly responsible for causing so many deaths. The US was never going to stop COVID - 19 but with earlier better management everywhere, even densely populated places could have slowed down the rate of infection enough that your medical system in those areas should not have had to face what they have been forced to face. And that IMHO is where the true blame lies in all of this.

 

[missy]

@kipari - yes I 110% agree I googled when France actually closed it's boarders and it was around March 20 we closed ours before that and quarantined almost everyone that came here afterwards with the exception of the Ruby Princess cruise ship, that was to date the biggest mistake any state government here has made.

I think it could have been a very different situation in Australia, if we had not enforced early strict closed boarders (our states still have closed borders) and effectively restricted all travellers as early as we did and we had not tracked and traced every single infection if just one small outbreak was allowed to infect others, and then not contained, we would be in a very different situation now.

I think the government here will have backlash, as a result of what they did and the steps they have taken, we have some of the highest % unemployment rates compared to other countries, and will be one of the hardest hit economies especially compared to Europe and the US, because of reacting early and as hard restriction wise as they did. But they literally saved a lot of lives. People here see what is going on in the US, in Europe, the UK and we get it, I for one applaud them for having the balls to do so when there was a heap of criticism from the media, from the people locked in hotels, under military and police guard and so on. The US and countries were mocking us back in January and February for restricting flights.

@missy - my heart bleeds for New York and the US. That many people did not need to die. Government inaction any way we look at it in the US, is directly responsible for causing so many deaths. The US was never going to stop COVID - 19 but with earlier better management everywhere, even densely populated places could have slowed down the rate of infection enough that your medical system in those areas should not have had to face what they have been forced to face. And that IMHO is where the true blame lies in all of this.

I agree with you there. Our government has blood on its hands. Not the first time. And it won't be the last time but the magnitude of loss is staggering. I have no words to succinctly convey how I am feeling. The people/civilians are innocent. The government is not. And yet we must carry on and not give up but I fear the death toll is far from over and to say I am worried is an understatement. Each life is precious. We have lost over 11K people in NYC and we are not done yet. Not even close. And the rest of the USA well it is mind boggling.

These numbers are lagging. But it gives an idea.






Over 600,000 people infected here. Over 26K dead. And that number will keep growing.

 

[arkieb1]

@missy - ALL governments and political leaders that did not take the health warnings seriously enough early enough are at fault.

Is Trump correct blaming the WHO? Yes and no, no because they issued global warnings about the virus in January, but most countries chose to ignore them. On the flip side of that Trump and even @Dancing Fire are correct when they say that those warnings probably were not strong enough, and that the WHO, even if it was by accident, was complicit in allowing China to mask or lie about the extent of the situation in Wuhan.

I got into an absurd disagreement with a member here months ago over what I thought was going to happen, but the truth is most people at the time, Aussies included would have all agreed with her, that my POV seemed like an overreaction or a negative forecast of what was about to happen.

What that person and everyone else did not know is that I am good friends with a Gemstone dealer that lives in a village down the road from Wuhan and without breaking communist laws he was suggesting to people he knew, like me, that the situation was far worse there than the authorities were admitting. Yes, @Dancing Fire is correct when he says that over and over again, I believe that China has a large amount of culpability on what has happened, they covered up what was going on there and the extent of the problem. Chinese authorities are directly to blame for allowing the infection/disease to spread elsewhere.

I knew there was no vaccine, nor would there be one any time soon, so I thought to myself wow, if this thing somehow gets out of China it's going to be very very ugly.

On flip side of that, Trump can bluster and lie all he wants. The US, Australia, and lots of other countries all spy on China, they get intelligence that would be far better than anything the people the guy in China I know was telling his outside friends. So if I was smart enough to work it out before everyone else, then I think it is safe to assume that there were advisors to Western and European governments that reached the same conclusions I did, and were ignored by those people in power because as @kipari so aptly points out, it was never going to be a popular decision anywhere to shut down societies as we know them and cause economic chaos.

However, the fact Trump is blaming the WHO and taking no heat or acceptance of blame himself for the situation in the US is B/S on every level. In fact, he made a number of public statements that suggest he never thought this was going to become a global or a problem in the US. Even after he was advised by the WHO and probably by a lot of experts of the potential for it to become a global pandemic. So to be clear, he was getting advice to act and he didn't until it was far too late.

 

[missy]

@arkieb1 don’t get me started on the WHO. They’re filled with criminals.

 

[arkieb1]

@arkieb1 don’t get me started on the WHO. They’re filled with criminals.

Yes that is true. If we are compiling a list of who is to blame for the situation in New York it would read
1) The Chinese Government
2) The WHO
3) Trump and his administration - the same applies to all governments and leaders that did not want to accept or do what was needed earlier enough to slow the spread of the disease down. They all had intelligence on the virus but they made the call that it was either not going to be that bad, or that they were not willing to destroy their economies too soon over something that they predicted was not going to do what it did.

 

[missy]

@arkieb1 please see @Slick1 wise post with Trump and the Titanic. Word.

Sorry, not interested in engaging in the political commentary. I just thought this was funny. That’s all...
Have a nice day all...Stay healthy.

 

[Tekate]

Which of these simple, and dare I say objective, statements do you question as facts or need help to verify?

Pointers please, anyone can post anything, back it up.

N.Y. did get ventilators, thousands of ventilators, though not as many as requested.

They got temporary hospital facilities and staff to run them. (Including Javits Center which is now underutilized....freeing up extra medical personnel to be utilized in the standing hospital facilities)

They got a huge hospital ship (Now taking Covid patients although that was not the original intent/purpose)

Cuomo and some other governors asked for more than could be supplied. (The total requests exceeded the total supply in the national stockpile...it's basic math)

Still other governors asked for more reasonable amounts and received closer to or all of their requests. Florida, for example.

The shortage isn’t in NY or even the US...it’s global.

Cuomo was warned years ago that his state was lacking ventilators and equipment to handle just this situation and he did little to remedy that situation.


The federal government was similarly unprepared.

 

[1ofakind]

Now he is going to delay checks so he can have his sharpie signature on the memo line.
Because, branding!

Trump's name to be on stimulus checks going to Americans: Washington Post

The U.S. Treasury Department has ordered President Donald Trump's name to be printed on checks the Internal Revenue Service is planning to send to tens of millions of Americans, a decision that will slow their delivery by several days, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday...

www.reuters.com

Treasury Department confirms checks will be mailed ahead of schedule...not delayed which is good.

"Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned – there is absolutely no delay whatsoever," a Treasury spokeswoman said in a statement. "In fact, we expect the first checks to be in the mail early next week which is well in advance of when the first checks went out in 2008 and well in advance of initial estimates."

Trump's name to be printed on $1,200 coronavirus stimulus checks going out to Americans

Critics slammed the move as narcissistic and accused the president of using the pandemic to try and boost his reelection chances.

www.usatoday.com

 

[voce]

@arkieb1 don’t get me started on the WHO. They’re filled with criminals.

??? I don't remember hearing bad press about them. Is this current WHO members? Because someone could unequivocally say the American government is full of criminals, too, especially under current administration. Once an organization gets large enough, it's hard not to have criminals inside it.

 

[missy]

??? I don't remember hearing bad press about them. Is this current WHO members? Because someone could unequivocally say the American government is full of criminals, too, especially under current administration. Once an organization gets large enough, it's hard not to have criminals inside it.

Yes they are not an honest organization. If you’d like to research it you will find info. And I didn’t say the American government was filled with ethical upright individuals so please don’t twist my words. And saying any large organization has criminals brings no comfort to me nor does that make it acceptable imo.

Do your research if you’re interested. I don’t have the desire to do it for you. Especially given the tone of your post.

 

[1ofakind]

@Tekate which statements do you not know are true? Be specific please. It’s a little embarrassing that someone claiming to be so informed would not know about the 1000 bed ship that sits in the harbor accepting Covid patients, as everyone else seems to knows it Is therE as a fact. Maybe you really aren’t relying on information as complete/accurate as you think If you need verification for any of those simple things. Do you know how to use Google?...there are even photos of the ship passing by the Statue of Liberty...very nice pictures.
Or maybe if I posted that the sky is blue you would demand proof for that too. What if after every statement I said something like “trump is a fat orange troll”, “Trump is an idiot and it’s all his fault” “Trump is an incompetent fool who can’t find his backside with both hands”. Try that and see if it works for you.

 

[Demon]

Now he is going to delay checks so he can have his sharpie signature on the memo line.
Because, branding!

Trump's name to be on stimulus checks going to Americans: Washington Post

The U.S. Treasury Department has ordered President Donald Trump's name to be printed on checks the Internal Revenue Service is planning to send to tens of millions of Americans, a decision that will slow their delivery by several days, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday...

www.reuters.com

Like anyone is going to forget who the president was at this time, and why that money was sent out!

 

[Calliecake]

It will be interesting to see how states handle reopening. I’m failing to grasp how we can do this safely without easily accessible testing.

@1ofakind , Trump claimed he was being optimistic when he chose not to be truthful with the American people. He knew how dangerous this virus was back in January. He LIED about it and did nothing for over a month. I believe @Tekate is getting her information from places like NYT and other reliable news sources. The timelines with the virus, when Trump knew and how he handled the situation are well documented. I apologize for butting in @Tekate. I wasn’t trying to speak for you.

We need to focus on what we are going to do as a country to keep everyone safe going forward.

 

[missy]

It will be interesting to see how states handle reopening. I’m failing to grasp how we can do this safely without easily accessible testing.

I agree we need more testing and hopefully plasma treatment in some form. To get antibodies from those who already had the virus. Here’s an interesting op ed piece.

Opinion | Joe Biden: My Plan to Safely Reopen America (Published 2020)

An effective strategy to beat the virus is the ultimate answer to how we get our economy back on track.

www.nytimes.com

 

[voce]

Yes they are not an honest organization. If you’d like to research it you will find info. And I didn’t say the American government was filled with ethical upright individuals so please don’t twist my words. And saying any large organization has criminals brings no comfort to me nor does that make it acceptable imo.

Do your research if you’re interested. I don’t have the desire to do it for you. Especially given the tone of your post.

I'm not sure what tone you were reading from that post. I was genuinely curious but feel very jaded and pessimistic about any large bureaucratic system. Didn't mean to offend, but I do see the world pessimistically, and my words were not meant to provide comfort to you, or excuses for criminals. There is a multitude of uncomfortable, deplorable things going on in the world, which we are powerless to change. Not all people are good.

Yes, I can search myself, though I have my doubts as to whether I'd get hits of objective search results if my search terms are "WHO" and "criminals".

 

[missy]

I'm not sure what tone you were reading from that post. I was genuinely curious but feel very jaded and pessimistic about any large bureaucratic system. Didn't mean to offend, but I do see the world pessimistically, and my words were not meant to provide comfort to you, or excuses for criminals. There is a multitude of uncomfortable, deplorable things going on in the world, which we are powerless to change. Not all people are good.

Yes, I can search myself, though I have my doubts as to whether I'd get hits of objective search results if my search terms are "WHO" and "criminals".

I’m sorry I misinterpreted your post. Your 3 question marks seemed aggressive and combative.

Sadly, I think we have good reason to feel cynical. I don’t have energy to search for reputable sources right now. If I do find the motivation I’ll share here.

Just as an example regarding Covid the WHO did more protecting of China IMO than caring about protecting everyone else. They really messed up. Deliberately withheld important facts that could have saved many lives.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-world-health-organization-failed/

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Treasury Department confirms checks will be mailed ahead of schedule...not delayed which is good.

"Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned – there is absolutely no delay whatsoever," a Treasury spokeswoman said in a statement. "In fact, we expect the first checks to be in the mail early next week which is well in advance of when the first checks went out in 2008 and well in advance of initial estimates."

Trump's name to be printed on $1,200 coronavirus stimulus checks going out to Americans

Critics slammed the move as narcissistic and accused the president of using the pandemic to try and boost his reelection chances.

www.usatoday.com

I hope you're right, there are so many desperate people right now. The problem is they say many things and then do others. In any event it is a wasted empty gesture that wastes time and resources for no appreciable reason. People are scared and now they're hungry. No one cares if their check is genuine TrumpyBux.

 

[voce]

I’m sorry I misinterpreted your post. Your 3 question marks seemed aggressive and combative.

Sadly, I think we have good reason to feel cynical. I don’t have energy to search for reputable sources right now. If I do find the motivation I’ll share here.

Just as an example regarding Covid the WHO did more protecting of China IMO than caring about protecting everyone else. They really messed up. Deliberately withheld important facts that could have saved many lives.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-world-health-organization-failed/

Thank you, missy, for helping me become better informed.

 

[voce]

I hope you're right, there are so many desperate people right now. The problem is they say many things and then do others. In any event it is a wasted empty gesture that wastes time and resources for no appreciable reason. People are scared and now they're hungry. No one cares if their check is genuine TrumpyBux.

I think that, on the contrary, he's not wasting fine and resources because the publicity is his way of campaigning for the presidency, and he doesn't have to spend a dime to speak to his voter base this way. He's getting exactly what he wants, and as I've thought for a long time, the rational response is to stop giving him the attention he wants, craves, NEEDS as a narcissist.

 

[1ofakind]

It will be interesting to see how states handle reopening. I’m failing to grasp how we can do this safely without easily accessible testing.

@1ofakind , Trump claimed he was being optimistic when he chose not to be truthful with the American people. He knew how dangerous this virus was back in January. He LIED about it and did nothing for over a month. I believe @Tekate is getting her information from places like NYT and other reliable news sources. The timelines with the virus, when Trump knew and how he handled the situation are well documented. I apologize for butting in @Tekate. I wasn’t trying to speak for you.

We need to focus on what we are going to do as a country to keep everyone safe going forward.

Her request was ridiculous and disingenuous as if she doesn't know there is a Navy hospital ship in the harbor and requires evidence to back it up. Come on...is there anyone who doesn't know that the national stockpile didn't have enough ventilators or PPE? This is common knowledge and she should look it up herself if she isn't certain. I haven't defended trump or how he's handled any of this. Not once. There is plenty of blame to go around, Trump is not excluded from that. I have never said otherwise. Yet still she follows me around this topic arguing about things I never said and asking me to prove things which she already knows are true.

 

[redwood66]

@Dee*Jay you might be glad to know that Gov Little extended the stay at home order this morning until April 30. Hope your momma is safe.

@Wink he mentioned jewelers doing curbside? How can that happen unless it's maybe a repair?

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

I think that, on the contrary, he's not wasting fine and resources because the publicity is his way of campaigning for the presidency, and he doesn't have to spend a dime to speak to his voter base this way. He's getting exactly what he wants, and as I've thought for a long time, the rational response is to stop giving him the attention he wants, craves, NEEDS as a narcissist.

You are spot on, of course. It really is the only response we can give.
It is just boorish of him to inflict on the American public who already has to endure during delicate/desperate time.

 

[1ofakind]

@missy Perhaps China should be requested to fill in the WHO funding gap since DT has suspended US support. I really feel like that is the very, very, very least China could do.