CNN: US round-up: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/26/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html . Texas is now facing the exact problem expected when the virus spreads in rural areas.
BI: Global round-up: Record number of cases, and trend is up: https://www.businessinsider.com/who-record-number-of-reported-coronavirus-cases-2020-7 .
Guardian: World round-up: https://www.theguardian.com/world/coronavirus-outbreak . Note particularly the discussion of divergent mortality counts in England: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/21/analysis-why-englands-covid-19-death-toll-is-wrong-but-not-by-much . Also, predictions on the new world order “after” COVID-19: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/11/coronavirus-who-will-be-winners-and-losers-in-new-world-order .
Problems in Florida: https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/coronavirus/washington-post-calls-out-gov-desantis-handling-of-the-pandemic-in-blistering-report (link replaced 9/23/21).
You need a two-layer mask: https://bestlifeonline.com/mask-layers/ (link replaced 9/23/21).
More relief package pre-negotiation: https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-politics-steven-mnuchin-virus-outbreak-mark-meadows-77fb2de39e69ae6e4d233ac666fce346 . An alternate view of why Republicans don’t have a deal: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/hill-republicans-begin-jockeying-power-possible-post-trump-world-n1234942 .
WSJ on Sunday?: https://www.wsj.com/articles/poll-finds-just-13-of-voters-still-up-for-grabs-for-trump-biden-11595678400 (link replaced 9/23/21). Putting this political article here to explain a few things about WSJ. As you may have noted, sometimes I post WSJ articles before they hit the print edition. Their online stuff hits at all hours and sometimes precedes its appearance in print by a day or two. Timeliness is a bigger issue on Sunday where there is no print edition. There is no reliable way that I’m aware of to identify all WSJ articles when they hit online. I most typically find WSJ articles early through other news consolidators (including a WSJ newsletter that does come on Sunday). As you also know, the print and online headlines almost never match and sometimes differ significantly in their import.
Lastly, as to this NBC/WSJ poll, the result is interesting but the math is shaky. There are 900 poll respondents, too few for a reliable national conclusion. My recollection of sampling math is that reliability arrives around the square root of the population; the square root of 330 million is 18,166 and national polls almost never rise to that level – 3,500 would be a top national survey. We also have the Electoral College, and these results apply more to the popular vote. The focus is on the 13% they identify as swing voters, and 900 times 13% is 117, of which 62 (53%) have no preference.
This is looking like polling in a bar, assuming there was an open bar (intended double-entendre). These 62, described as younger working-class male voters, are represented in the article by one person – Bill Davis, age 65. Describing swing voters as “free radical agents” makes no sense. My theory is that this guy slept through chemistry class, heard and misprocessed the concept that free radicals are oxidizing agents, and ended up as a pollster.
What can be done to protect persons in nursing homes and other “congregate living” facilities? The link provided below is the best-written piece I have seen on this issue, particularly in describing concrete actions which the federal government (specifically HHS and CMS) should have already taken under existing legal authority (and a Supreme Court ruling). The author is Susan Mizner, who after graduating from Yale with a B.A. in Chemical Engineering and English, became quite ill. She then graduated from Stanford Law School after taking much of her coursework from a cot, and began her career as an advocate for the disabled. Again, best-written piece I’ve seen: https://www.aclu.org/news/disability-rights/covid-19-deaths-in-nursing-homes-are-not-unavoidable-they-are-the-result-of-deadly-discrimination/ . Here’s more about Susan Mizner: https://rootedinrights.org/five-questions-for-aclu-attorney-susan-mizner/ .
Remote work: https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-start-to-think-remote-work-isnt-so-great-after-all-11595603397 . To state the obvious, which the article fails to, this depends on what you do; our work, for example, often requires little collaboration. The weather also can be an issue (for example, many older homes in Portland don’t have air conditioning, and 100 is the predicted high for today and tomorrow) and whether and how schools re-open in the fall is an issue.
This Week with George Stephanopoulos & Portland. In an earlier Sunday post, I mentioned that for the first time ever in decades of watching Sunday talk shows, I had to take notes. Today, in the panel discussion on ABC, things started out rationally enough, but devolved into a shouting match over Portland. In the following link to the program, at 38:45, Sara Fagan states that there are 2000 people throwing Molotov cocktails at the federal courthouse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KTxL-H8nbk . At 40:55, Chris Christie also states that federal agents are needed here because of people throwing Molotov cocktails.
An Internet search shows the only mention of Molotov cocktails in Portland in 2020 is on June 4, when Portland Police investigated an apparent Molotov cocktail found near a downtown building. The federal agents deployed here around July 4, when protests ramped back up. On the PBS NewsHour Weekend tonight, there is a more realistic description of the protests here from a newsperson who lives here: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/july-26-2020-pbs-newshour-weekend-full-episode . The piece is first in the show and begins at 1:40; the local reporter is on from 3:20 to 7:20. I sent a comment to ABC’s This Week requesting a correction. This false narrative is potentially and unnecessarily dangerous to everyone involved.
WSJ: Sports: Fauci interview: https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-had-sports-questions-dr-fauci-had-answers-11595772062 . Fauci is measured in responding here, certainly in his last answer: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/14/834098998/florida-designates-pro-wrestling-essential-business . And: https://www.wwe.com/superstars/donald-trump .