5228

Sometimes, a little bit of good news can make a big difference.

5229

A thread:

5230

Mortality is going to skyrocket. I have the strange feeling we are already at top capacity.

Or maybe our governement is lying to chinese levels, that maybe.

5231

We are not at top capacity, but we’ll reach that over the next days in Madrid. For numbers, we have 800 people in ICU and we have 6k beds with respirators nationally, so still ways to go, but in Madrid is much, much tighter.

Mortality will actually go down, since once we start counting milder cases if can be reduced to 1/4th of what it’s now in relative terms (going by Madrid’s number of suspected mild symptomatic patients in self isolation).

Madrid now has 7.3% mortality, if you only count confirmed cases.

5232

In my town, the rules are:

Parks and Playgrounds. Arlington playgrounds (areas with play structures of any kind) are closed until further notice. Parks, fields, and courts will remain open for passive use. No congregating, group activities, or game playing is allowed. Please maintain a distance of 6 feet from other people while enjoying these spaces.

But it’s not like people give a fuck.

5233

You know what some Not Vichy Left shit looks like? It looks like this.

This Maxine Waters lady – I like the cut of her jib.

5234
5235

I hope we all remember the spring of 2020 next time putting “small-government conservatives” in power sounds like a good idea.

I know what I’d like to drown in a bathtub right now.

5236

So last night, Nate Silver kinda called Elon Musk on his “We’ll make ventilators” thing.

And Musk responded to him with this bullshit:

So here’s the chaser:

Hey Elon, hope this wasn’t just bullshit.

5237

Is this where the narrator says “It was bullshit”?

5238

Elon needs to put up or shut up. You know who doesn’t go on Twitter and say “HEY GUYS I’M RICH AND I CAN HELP?” Actual philanthropists. Bill Gates. He does shit.

I’m sure Elon’s ventilators will have a fatal flaw making them useless and he’ll start calling some random nurse a pedophile on Twitter because of it.

5239

Other stuff in short supply:

  • video gaming systems. Nintendo Switches are bought up everywhere around me.
  • webcams. I wonder if I can set up my phone to be a webcam for my computer.
5240

Well Animal Crossing comes out tomorrow so Nintendos being sold out isn’t surprising.

5241

~27,000 COVID-19 tests run in the last 30 hours in the US, per the COVID Tracking Project.

Two things can both be simultaneously true: demand for tests still vastly outstrips supply and availability of them (and there’s no glossing over the various criminal boondoggles to starting widespread testing and implementation of that), but also…it’s starting to get better, as more and more private testing labs come onboard and report results to state government health departments.

5242

This was the Leesburg Wegmans in NoVa.

5243

Is that the cause of the Switch shortage? Ah, makes sense.

I’m totally buying one as soon as we get any kind of financial clarity. We’re still not sure if the wife is going to have a job through the whole thing.

Congressional stimulus worth a damn will probably get me to pick one up, even if we’re still unclear on the job situation.

5244

Minnesota and Vermont just declared grocery store workers as “essential workers”, meaning that during this time, they may avail themselves of the state’s free childcare for emergency/essential workers.

5245

Thanks for the news.

I remain pretty impressed with Gov Walz here, for all that he was definitely not my first choice in the DFL primary.

(We roll with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party here, because we do shit right.)

5246

The Democratic House leadership last night proposed monthly cash payments of $2K to all adults and $1K to all children during the crisis. Appearing on TV this morning, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin offers $1K and $500, respectively (not positive if he’s talking monthly, or a one-time payment). He says checks could be sent in as soon as three weeks.

As for taxes, folks will still have to file by April 15, but individuals can defer payments of up to $1M and corporations up to $10M for 90 days.

Talking airlines (AAL, DAL, UAL, LUV, ALK), Mnuchin suggests secured loans, and is unsure whether the government might take equity stakes.

Moving to oil, he says the feds probably ought to add $10B-$20B to the SPR at these low prices.

5247

The reports from France advising steering clear of Ibuprofen and NSAIDs to treat fever from COVID-19 infection?

That’s starting to look like there’s no hard data to support that.

The article mentions that there are good reasons to stick with acetaminophen when treating fevers and infection – fewer side-effects and potential for organ damage at high doses. But otherwise, to treat mild fever? Looks like ibuprofen is probably fine.