US round-up: More refrigerated trucks: https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/arizona-texas-counties-bring-in-refrigerated-trucks-as-morgues-fill-up-amid-surge-in-coronavirus-hospitalizations/ (link replaced 7/18/21). WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-latest-updates-07-15-2020-11594798680 . More headline shenanigans from the print edition, which calls this an “uptick”.
Dude, stop Bogarting that medicine: https://www.eatthis.com/covid-cannabis-help-infection/ (link replaced 7/18/21). Bogarting – vocabulary quiz for the whippersnappers (turns out “young whippersnappers” is redundant).
Scientific/medical debate over challenge trials: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/16/health/vaccine-open-letter-challenge-trials-intl-gbr/index.html (link replaced 7/18/21). The ethics of a challenge trial without a rescue therapy is questionable. Given the widely varying effects of the disease by age, a challenge trial including only young, healthy volunteers would arguably restrict use of the vaccine to young, healthy individuals. But this might make sense for the people willing to go to a COVID-19 party (vocabulary word: COVIDIOTS).
More on re-infection and herd immunity: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/07/16/covid-19-can-you-get-infected-twice-herd-immunity/5429012002/ . We need a vaccine.
WSJ: Hospital surge response: https://www.wsj.com/articles/hospitals-in-covid-19-hot-spots-are-filling-up-11594860223 .
WSJ: Continuing to fail on testing: https://www.wsj.com/articles/growing-wait-times-for-covid-19-test-results-hinder-virus-response-11594891800 .
WSJ: Control the pandemic and benefit the economy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-is-first-major-economy-to-return-to-growth-since-coronavirus-pandemic-11594865317 . China is winning this one.
WSJ: Hope and the market: https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stock-markets-dow-update-7-15-2020-11594802644 .
WSJ: Health care deferral benefits insurer: https://www.wsj.com/articles/unitedhealth-groups-second-quarter-profit-rose-11594809964 (link replaced 10/15/20). Well, maybe … Let’s see if this is true in a year. It can’t be helping population health. Here’s the opposite view from WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/health-insurers-coronavirus-boost-is-likely-to-last-11594826405 .
WSJ: COVID-19 and manufacturing: https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-could-short-circuit-u-s-industry-bounce-11594831304 .
Voters speak on pandemic and school re-openings: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/07/15/poll-biden-leads-trump-52-37-quinnipiac-poll-widest-2020-margin/5445704002/ . The attitudes on the pandemic may be affecting the attitudes on the economy shown in this poll. Here is the latest NBC/WSJ poll: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/biden-opens-11-point-national-lead-over-trump-nbc-news-n1233913 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-expands-lead-as-trumps-approval-drops-11594846800 . One really important question: Will September school re-openings lead to October scale-backs and shutdowns? The answer will further affect opinion and polling results.
Historic levels of jobless claims continues: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/16/economy/unemployment-benefits-coronavirus/index.html (link replaced 7/18/21). Before the pandemic, largest weekly level was 650,000. $600 additional weekly benefit expires before end of July; pressure increases for an additional coronavirus relief package.
WSJ: College re-opening plans: https://www.wsj.com/articles/universities-plan-robust-covid-19-testing-for-returning-students-11594812937 . “Some worry”? Unless the college has guaranteed testing resources with rapid turn-around, this is yet another disaster waiting to happen.
Florida children testing positive at 31%: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-pbc-health-director-covid-children-20200714-xcdall2tsrd4riim2nwokvmsxm-story.html . Based on this information in this story, the ideas that children are not transmitters of or susceptible to COVID-19 seem highly questionable. And being asymptomatic externally can mask lung damage.
What?: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/outrage-after-georgia-gov-brian-kemp-voids-local-orders-requiring-face-masks-2020-07-15 . And now: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/16/892109883/georgia-gov-brian-kemp-sues-atlanta-mayor-keisha-lance-bottoms-over-face-mask-or . I continue to not understand the politicization of public health advice. The most likely way to hurt business owners is to prolong the pandemic by not wearing masks. However, we are now experiencing exactly this problem nationwide. Anti-science is ignorant enough; now there’s anti-logic?
Republican convention downsized, mix of indoor and outdoor venues: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-national-convention-florida-scaled-back-rnc-coronavirus/ (link replaced 7/18/21). With local opposition to the convention, how will this affect voter opinion in this key swing state?
As the Washington Post requires a subscription and has not released Governor Hogan’s op-ed for general use, here’s a summary: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/07/16/maryland-gop-governor-hogan-blasts-trump-for-coronavirus-response/#45ecb7aa6264 . The criticism of the White House coronavirus effort by a Republican, DC area governor who chairs the National Governors Association is an important part of understanding how the US COVID-19 response has failed so miserably. The Post currently offers a $1 a month online subscription if you wish to read the full op-ed (the offer comes up when you try to open the op-ed) or you can search for other summaries online.
A humorous finish today? Not so much. Here’s more on the Washington NFL team: https://deadline.com/2020/07/washington-redskins-had-15-employees-accuse-team-of-sex-harassment-washington-post-1202988034/ . Is this related to the owner finally relenting on the team name? If any significant portion of these allegations is true, the NFL must take action.