"Public health officials have an explanation for why they flip flopped on recommending masks to the general public. There was a shortage, and masks needed to be available for healthcare workers, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told TheStreet." Many decisions on proper PPE use in the early days (and somewhat even now) are based more on the economics of the event (if we have proper PPE, if we can buy more) than actual medical best practices.
"Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NPR's '1A,' which is produced out of WAMU in Washington, D.C., that the last time he talked to Trump was 'two weeks ago' and it was about 'vaccine development efforts.'"
"The new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing grew to 106 cases Tuesday, with 29 communities in the sprawling Chinese capital back on lockdown. Health officials confirmed another 27 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, a smaller increase than in previous days but still a worrying resurgence after Beijing enjoyed almost two months without a single new infection."
"Health officials in New Zealand have made an embarrassing U-turn in the case of two women recently arrived from Britain who were infected with Covid-19 and allowed to leave quarantine without being tested – admitting the pair met up with friends when they should not have done."
"A month after President Trump announced Operation Warp Speed, administration officials are offering no guarantees that the project will meet its goal of producing 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by January." Ta-da!
"New numbers released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer a comprehensive picture of who in the United States has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and how they fared… The latest figures confirm that older people, minorities and those with preexisting health conditions are at the highest risk of death."
"In Florida, where there's a surge of new COVID-19 cases, officials are divided over what to do about it. The state saw 2,783 new cases Tuesday. It was the third time in a week that Florida set a new daily record."
"Despite the concerning uptick in people sick with the virus, Abbott said that the reason for his news conference was to let Texans know about the 'abundant' hospital capacity for treating people with COVID-19. He and other officials spent much of the briefing touting the state's hospital bed availability."
"Hundreds of pages of tax returns, depositions and other filings in state court in Houston show how TeamHealth marks up medical bills in order to boost profits for investors." It ain't the healthcare workers who are pulling gin the big bucks.
"Alleged 'Boogaloo' extremist charged in killing of federal officer during George Floyd protest."
"Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost will announce new law enforcement reform efforts on Wednesday."
There's an app for that. "If a situation arises that you want to record, you might not have the time or forethought to pick up your phone, send a message and begin recording… If you have an iPhone, however, you can use Apple's Shortcuts app and a Shortcut created by Reddit user RobertAPeterson to send a message with your location to a friend or family member and automatically begin recording a video with nothing more than a simple command, 'Hey Siri, I'm getting pulled over.'"
"The wealthiest American households are keeping a tight grip on their purse strings even as their lower-income counterparts are spending a lot more freely when they emerge from weeks of lockdown. That decline in spending by the wealthy could limit the whole country's economic recovery."
"A closed highway and a 'mad dash' to e-commerce: Here’s how one New Jersey Main St. is preparing to reopen."
"Target said Wednesday it is raising its minimum wage to $15 per hour and will give all hourly employees a one-time bonus of $200… The $2 per hour raise will apply to employees at stores and distribution centers, beginning July 5. Target had temporarily raised its wages by $2 an hour in March as coronavirus cases rose."
"Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington talks about the more than $1.7 billion in coronavirus-related unemployment benefits paid out to over 300,000 claimants since March 16… 'At this point, we are paying out the equivalent of a "normal" year’s worth of benefits every two weeks,' Washington said." That's how piss poor the unemployment normally pays.
"India's prime minister has said the deaths of at least 20 soldiers in a fight with Chinese troops in a disputed Himalayan border area 'will not be in vain'… Narendra Modi said India would be 'proud that our soldiers died fighting the Chinese' in the clash in the Ladakh region on Monday." This is fine.
A Frontline Dispatch podcast… "As COVID-19 has spread, so, too, have misinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus — amplified by figures like Alex Jones, and proliferating on social media and even at the highest levels of government. Veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk, who was already making a documentary about the rise of conspiracy theories in American politics when the pandemic hit, shares what he’s learned about how such theories have become central to understanding the nation’s response to the coronavirus outbreak."
"A 27-page civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against Bolton with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleges that publication of his 592-page book, The Room Where It Happened, would be a violation of nondisclosure agreements he signed and compromise national security."
"One of four prosecutors who withdrew from the case of longtime Donald Trump ally Roger Stone after Justice Department leaders intervened in his sentencing, Aaron Zelinsky, is prepared to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next week, Chairman Jerry Nadler revealed Tuesday."
"'The word "fascist" has acquired a feeling of the extreme, like crying wolf,' Stanley writes — not because Americans are so unfamiliar with fascist tactics but because we are becoming inured to them. 'Normalization of fascist ideology, by definition, would make charges of "fascism" seem like an overreaction.' Our senses have been dulled by exposure. The United States has had a long history of pro- or proto-fascist sentiment, including the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, the America First movement of the interwar years and the Jim Crow laws that Adolf Hitler cited as an inspiration. 'Fascism is not a new threat,' Stanley writes, 'but rather a permanent temptation.'"
"Speaking during a discursive noontime event in the Rose Garden, Trump initially sought to adopt a unifying tone as he announced an executive order that, among other steps, creates a federal database of police officers with a history of using excessive force… But later he veered from that topic and that tone to assault his political rivals and tout the stock market's recent rally."
Say hello to the Farm Team… "The operation, named 'Secondary Infektion' by researchers, has sought to spread pro-Russian propaganda around the globe by sharing fake tweets from U.S. elected officials and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. And it attempted to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Researchers say it will likely try to spread falsehoods tied to the November election, too." Waves to our Russian friends.
"That was precisely the problem in 2016: The national polls were largely accurate, to within the margin of error. But there were too few state polls, and many of those that were conducted failed to collect accurate data, especially from white voters without college degrees in key swing states… And those issues haven’t been fixed." Also, any polling before the end of August is fundamentally flawed (which is why I don't often point out articles based on polling until we're closer to the election).
"A familiar tale is unfolding in American politics in 2020: women are once again setting records as candidates for Congress. While the 2018 midterms saw a historic wave of Democratic candidates and general election winners, this time the surge in candidates is among Republican women running for the House."
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