"Here are some tips to help you know when to call your doctor and how to get the most out of your virtual visit…" Always be prepared, even for in-person doctor's appointments. Take notes with you, take notes during the appointment.
"To confirm Herashchenko’s claim (of safe radiation levels in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone), Ukraine’s Emergency Situations Service published a photo showing a firefighter holding a Geiger counter showing a reading of 0.14 microSieverts per hour (mSv/h) – indicating a radiation level considered safe or normal… The claim is misleading." Nuclear power, the gift that keeps on giving.
"Observations made with ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) have revealed for the first time that a star orbiting the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way moves just as predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity. Its orbit is shaped like a rosette and not like an ellipse as predicted by Newton's theory of gravity. This long-sought-after result was made possible by increasingly precise measurements over nearly 30 years, which have enabled scientists to unlock the mysteries of the behemoth lurking at the heart of our galaxy."
"Stars, galaxies, planets, pretty much everything that makes up our everyday lives owes its existence to a cosmic quirk… The nature of this quirk, which allowed matter to dominate the Universe at the expense of antimatter, remains a mystery… Now, results from an experiment in Japan could help researchers solve the puzzle - one of the biggest in science."
"Europe's newest space telescope has begun ramping up its science operations… Cheops was launched in December to study and characterise planets outside our Solar System."
"A 99-year-old British World War II veteran has raised more than $9 million in donations for the U.K.'s National Health Service as it battles COVID-19… Tom Moore, who rose to the rank of army captain while serving in British-ruled India and Burma, set out to walk 100 laps of his back garden in Bedfordshire, around 50 miles northwest of London, before his 100th birthday on April 30." Stands and salutes.
"President Donald Trump said the U.S. has 'passed the peak' of the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected more than 632,000 people in America." Not yet, I'm afraid.
"Teaneck is the hardest hit town in the hardest hit county in the state and was an early epicenter for the outbreak. The rate of infection for the North Jersey suburb of 40,000 people is slightly higher than in New York City. Working the front lines is the all-volunteer, unpaid Teaneck EMT squad that for weeks has responded to an alarming number of calls."
"Despite all the personal and economic pain the coronavirus has caused, WHO officials say that in many places, it's too soon to get back to normal. And because any premature attempts to restart economies could trigger secondary peaks in COVID-19 cases, they warn that the process must be deliberate and widely coordinated… Any government that wants to start lifting restrictions, said Tedros of WHO, must first meet six conditions…" "You're not my real Dad," soon to be said by Trump, probably.
"US intelligence and national security officials say the United States government is looking into the possibility that the novel coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory rather than a market, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter who caution it is premature to draw any conclusions… The theory has been pushed by supporters of the President, including some congressional Republicans, who are eager to deflect criticisms of Trump's handling of the pandemic." Genetic analysis has already shown this to be false.
"Kroger, the largest U.S. grocery chain, has teamed up with the largest U.S. retail and food workers union in urging national and state officials to designate grocery employees as 'extended first responders' or 'emergency personnel.'… The goal is for grocery workers to get a higher priority for COVID-19 testing and access to safety gear like masks and gloves and other protections. Stores have struggled particularly to access a steady supply of masks, which are in shortage. Health workers and other first responders are also desperate to get them."
"As he unboxed a toaster-size device made by Abbott Laboratories at a Rose Garden press conference last month, President Donald Trump proclaimed that the company's rapid coronavirus test -- which takes minutes instead of days to return results -- would be 'a whole new ballgame' in expanding testing for the disease… The federal government duly distributed devices across the country last week -- but accompanied them with only enough test kits to test around 115 people in each state." The machine isn't very useful without the material needed to run the tests.
Remember me mentioning false-negatives? "Dozens of blood tests are rapidly coming on the market to identify people who have been exposed to the coronavirus by checking for antibodies against it… The Food and Drug Administration doesn't set standards for these kinds of tests, but even those that meet the government's informal standard may produce many false answers and provide false assurances. The imperfect results could be a big disappointment to people who are looking toward these tests to help them return to something resembling a normal life."
"A total of 141 people who had apparently recovered from Covid-19 have tested positive again, South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Thursday."
"It's a moment that people with disabilities have long feared: there's a shortage of life-saving equipment, like ventilators, and doctors say they may be forced to decide who lives and who dies… People with disabilities worry those judgments will reflect a prejudice that their lives hold less value." This is not an overstatement. Hell, patients who have difficulty hearing or speaking (and especially the deaf, or people who have been trached or are on a vent) are practically ignored by most healthcare workers. I've been told patients are "non-responsive", only to find you just need to take a little more time, speak clearly, or just let the patient read your lips. I've gotten comments from nurses when I talk to patients who are zoned out (either by drugs or their condition), but having experienced syncope myself (from dehydration), I'm always aware that the patient may be full conscious inside, able to receive input, but unable to respond. So I do the whole routine with them, introduce myself, tell them what I'm there to do, apologize for making them uncomfortable, and thank them at the end. But then, I also address the dead the same way. It's a matter of respect and honoring the patient as a person. Also, I just have to say it, doctors are not the brightest when it comes to a full appreciation of what patients' lives are like, or what patients must do (even for procedures in the hospital). I can't tell you how many times I've had to call a doctor with, "This patient has a suspected hip/femur fracture and you ordered a 2-view chest, that requires we sit the patient upright or roll them fully on their side…" Note, for almost any fracture, this is something you don't want to do, but especially if the fracture is somewhere that will have to bear the weight of the patient.
"Medical residents in New York City described their fears and hopes to NBC News and said they never imagined they would have to bear witness to so much death this early in their careers. As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 111,000 known coronavirus cases in the city, with more than 6,800 confirmed deaths." Time of your life, eh kid?
"A tip of a body in a shed led Andover Police to one of New Jersey's largest nursing homes Monday evening where they found 17 bodies in the facility's morgue, one of the responding officers told CNN."
"For the latest COVID-19 statistics, updated in near real time, millions of people around the world have been turning to an interactive, Web-based dashboard created by a small team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore." And if you look at the dashboard (link in the article), it's a pretty damning indictment of the US response.
"'Some of the scientists and doctors say there could be other strains later on, this could come back in the fall in a limited way,' Conway said in an April 15 'Fox & Friends' interview. 'This is COVID-19, not COVID-1, folks. And so you would think that people charged with the World Health Organization facts and figures would be on top of that… People should know the facts,' she added." Yes they should, Kellyanne, especially when they represent the president. The stupid, it burns. It does appears as if someone in her office was able to correct her quickly before she did the next interview on Fox, and then she spent the day walking back and trying to explain that she meant something different.
Nero is fiddling. "President Donald Trump's make America open again campaign will deliver exactly what he wants Thursday -- a victory lap over the coronavirus pandemic that leaves the life and death decisions to others." Note the president has absolutely dick to say about reopening the economy (lifting stay-at-home orders). He actually could help restart the economy, but he and his advisors have no idea what to do because that's not their focus, and it would violate even more conservative ideology (hint, it's time for "infrastructure week" to become a reality).
"Millions of people received their stimulus payments from the federal government this week, but some are at risk of immediately losing the money if they owe credit card, medical, or private student loan debts… A loophole in the law could mean some of those who are most in need of the emergency aid don't get the money. About a third of Americans -- some 71 million adults -- have debt in collections and could be impacted, according to the National Consumer Law Center." This is one way to not restart the economy.
"The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service launched the 'Get My Payment' web application allowing people to track their payout, which was hit with early glitches at the time of launch… Around 80 million people were to receive the deposit this week, the Treasury Department said on Monday. But Wednesday, many people expressed concern and worry when the government website said the cash, up to $1,200 per person, was sent to a bank account that didn't seem to belong to them." Also not helping.
"County leaders across the country are asking the federal government for more emergency aid money as they watch tax revenues sink because of the coronavirus shutdown."
"Three weeks into Ohio’s stay-at-home order, Gov. Mike DeWine is facing increasing pressure to restart some nonessential work around the state, especially in areas with few confirmed cases of the coronavirus… Republicans from rural Ohio who are worried about an economic collapse and owners of small businesses who fear losing their life investments are calling on DeWine to relax social distancing restrictions that brought many workplaces to a standstill." Look at the morons. I would say, let them all get the Covids, if I weren't completely sure that they would infect others, including us healthcare workers, because of their stupidity. For some reason, those people jammed against the windows of the Ohio Statehouse remind me of every patient that refuses to wear a mask, or sets the mask below their nose. It's the same obstinance, ignorance, and libertarian "freedom for me" assholiness on their faces. And here in Ohio, the only businesses really closed are the service industries like bars and restaurants. Almost everyone else qualifies as "essential." So mostly I see these people mad that they can't get their beer after 8pm. But I may be jaded to the "wisdom of the rural folks." (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's decision to toughen rather than relax what already was one of the nation's strictest stay-home orders in response to the coronavirus is hitting opposition in her home state, where Republicans who backed her moves initially are now ratcheting up their criticism… GOP legislators are upset because she did not align Michigan with a federal agency's revised list of critical infrastructure, which would have allowed more people to return to work. The list is advisory and not a directive, but House Speaker Lee Chatfield says the state should transition to asking which activities are safe or unsafe rather than essential vs. nonessential."
"'I'm hopeful that he doesn't follow through on (defunding WHO) because we need their support. This is a global problem. They are the institution that, you know, brings nations together and make sure that, you know, that were sharing best practices between all of those countries,' said (Bill) Gates, who spoke to Muir along with wife Melinda Gates on Wednesday."
"Another 5.2 million workers filed for their first week of unemployment benefits last week, according to the US Department of Labor, bringing the total number of Americans who have filed initial jobless claims to around 22 million, or roughly 13.5% of the labor force, since March 14." They're now predicting a "second wave" as people begin to realize just how deep this recession is going to be.
It's a Fox Business story, but… "China, where the coronavirus pandemic started in December, is cautiously trying to get back to business, but it's not easy when many millions of workers are wary of spending much or even going out."
So how's that OPEC+ agreement stabilizing the world oil market? "The global oil industry is about to test just how much crude oil it can transport and store, according to an intergovernmental agency, as disappearing oil demand creates an unprecedented glut of crude oil… The imbalance is keeping prices extraordinarily low. The price of West Texas Intermediate, a benchmark for American crude, has plunged to below $20 from around $60 per barrel at the start of the year." The good news is it looks like OPEC and Russia picked the exact wrong time to try this stunt. The bad news is it still doesn't look good for domestic production. The really bad news is all that oil stored above ground, in newly purposed caverns, and in ships on the sea are all ripe for massive spills.
"Retail spending is in a free fall — nosediving a record 8.7% last month — as more companies continue to furlough workers as stores, malls and restaurants remain shuttered across the country during the coronavirus pandemic." Whispers, consumer spending is 70% of our economy. And if the government continues to allow banks to garnish the "relief" checks coming in to people's accounts, consider that a double-tap to the economy.
Never let a crisis go to waste. "'For those earning $1 million annually, a tax break buried in the recent coronavirus relief legislation is so generous that its total cost is more than total new funding for all hospitals in America and more than the total provided to all state and local governments,' said Doggett. 'Someone wrongly seized on this health emergency to reward ultrarich beneficiaries, likely including the Trump family, with a tax loophole not available to middle class families. This net operating loss loophole is a loser that should be repealed.'" (Grokked form Cat Rambo, I think)
"U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper indicated Thursday that it's possible Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, who was relieved of his command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after raising concerns about a coronavirus outbreak, could be reinstated." If another captain has been appointed to the ship, you don't reinstate command. Only if Capt. Crozier's second in command has been temporarily in charge could you bring him back to the ship. The department of the Navy should do a mea culpa, apologize to the crew, formally apologize to give Capt. Crozier, remove the dismissal from his record (or add a letter of reinstatement) and make sure he has full benefits and retirement at his pay grade.
"The story of one Bloomberg reporter and his wife showcases the widespread use of such legal restraints (NDAs) at the company… Six years ago, Bloomberg News killed an investigation into the wealth of Communist Party elites in China, fearful of repercussions by the Chinese government. The company successfully silenced the reporters involved. And it sought to keep the spouse of one of the reporters quiet, too." The rich and powerful will always cover for the other rich and powerful, unless they see an angle they can use to profit from it. And they will go whichever way there is the potential for more profit.
"Thousands have taken to social media the last few days in support of the U.S. Postal Service. With the agency in financial trouble during the coronavirus crisis, Twitter users are urging others to buy stamps as a lifeline for the beleaguered agency." The president has already hurt the USPS by driving Amazon away from their service. And now conservatives hope to finish the job of killing the USPS. Probably for no other reason that the USPS is a successful and popular government entity. And the USPS would not be in this situation if they weren't required by law to fully fund the retirement of postal workers who haven't even been born yet (and they've been doing this since the 90s). Also, the USPS has a very strong union.
"Last week's Wisconsin election was extraordinary for a number of reasons… When results were finally reported on April 13, former Vice President Joe Biden won the state's Democratic presidential primary, and a judge backed by Democrats was elected to a 10-year term on the Wisconsin's Supreme Court." Thank you, Wisconsin, for resisting and fighting back against overwhelming attempts to suppress voter turn out in "liberal" areas of the state. And to everyone else, make sure your registration is up to date, and look into requesting an absentee ballot for the Fall. Request it early.
"President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to do what no American president before him has done: Unilaterally adjourn Congress so that he can appoint his nominees to senior positions and the federal bench without Senate approval… But according to legal scholars, the president only has the authority to adjourn Congress if — and only if — the House and the Senate disagree with one another over when to adjourn. Currently, there is no such disagreement." Or, you know, the president could actually do his job and formally nominate people that would be run through the Republican controlled Senate. But that would be actual work, and the president and his administration are opposed to doing actual work. But the Reichstag won't burn itself down, you know.
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