DL Open Thread: Monday, April 20, 2020
Trump’s Plan A And Plan B: Either Way, You Lose. One great point among many others: Workers at meat processing plants are expendable since they’re not part of Trump’s America. A must-read.
These Antibody Tests Are Not Operative. Well, that sucks.
Stoopid Rethuglican Governor Coronavirus Tricks. Iowa Governor Won’t Even Close Infected Meatpacking Plants. Fla. Governor Reopens Beaches. One official in Florida says it best:
“When a person doesn’t believe in science, they do dumb things,” Lake Worth Beach City Commissioner Omari Hardy tweeted. “When a person in power doesn’t believe in science, they do dumb things that hurt the public. This move is so dumb that I had to make sure it wasn’t fake news. You guys, it isn’t fake news.”
DeSantis, BTW, has been withholding vital information from Florida residents. Gee, I wonder why…
Ladeez And Gentlemen…Your Testing Czar. Brett Giroir was forced out of his job at Texas A & M because he was ““more interested in promoting yourself” than getting the job done. That’s a pandemic in this Administration. Actually, the article is, pardon the expression, fair and balanced. It’s not all bad and it’s not all good. Quality journalism.
Trump-Supporting RWNJ’s Challenge Nurses At Denver Hospital. They truly are the ‘horribles’. Reveling in irresponsibility at every turn. In other words, Trump’s base.
Everything Falls Apart, Ctd. Global. US. The latest carnage: 759,786 confirmed cases, and 40,683 confirmed deaths in the US.
Smithfield Executive Says It Out Loud: Our Workers Are Expendable. This company deserves extinction. Here’s the quote that illustrates the point perfectly:
In a statement published on the Smithfield Foods website, Chief Executive Kenneth Sullivan struck a defiant tone.
“We have a stark choice as a nation: we are either going to produce food or not, even in the face of COVID-19,” wrote Sullivan. The current push to temporarily close plants for cleaning, he added, “is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply.”
In other words, let ’em die so that you can eat bacon. I love bacon, but not that much.
Which reminds me: Just how safe are Delaware’s chicken plants, and just how diligent will Delaware be in protecting the workers at those plants?
Houston Livestock Show Went On Despite Coronavirus Threat. Commerce over lives in Texas. Yep, another Pro Publica collaboration, this time with the Texas Tribune. As someone who surfs the best sites every day, I strongly encourage contributions to Pro Publica, Mother Jones, The Guardian, Reuters, and whatever other great journalistic organizations that you like.
Congress’ Secret Oversight Weapon On Coronavirus Spending. The Government Accounting Office is funded, armed, and already bird-dogging the spending. Hey, might as well end on a rare positive note.
What do you want to talk about?
Are we mandating explicit protective equipment and policies for the chicken processing workers? NO!
Most of these workers are not literate in the English language.
Most of these families have little to no medical insurance
Most of these families live in fear of over exuberant immigration laws and authorities
Most of workers and their families live in claustrophobic conditions.
Most of these jobs require close contact.
All of these businesses have decided to conceal specifics of exposure and positive tests that would allow workers to self-protect.
Is DHSS or any executive branch agency doing “contact tracing” at this time? NO!
(This is a system that must be in place before we can issue any return to work advisory or order).
If we do not have a “contact tracing” system in place when and how do we plan to create one?
Such a system will also require much more testing and result gathering then we currently have in place therefore as a follow-up:
How many test kits do we currently have available and if that number is insufficient to establish a credible pattern of detection of positives in order to move forward what plans are being pursued to ensure sufficient tests?
Are we tracking and notifying medical providers of possible positive exposures to themselves, their patients, co-workers or families?
Delaware officials have willingly looked the other way for decades. Chickens must be processed regardless of the human toll. Instead of being ashamed, Delaware officials continue to be enablers.
Well, there is a reason that we are currently lauding those who work in essential industry; there is an inherent risk to those folks. As such, I am less inclined to thrash operators of meat packing plants and the like. Of course they want their workers to be safe and of course we as consumers would prefer that we not start having to worry about the availability of food items on store shelves. (BTW, where’s the god-dang TP?). I tend to push my ire further up the ladder to the political leaders, mostly federal. If we actually had competent leaders (bear with me) they would be looking at the entire picture, finding where the pinch-points are, and addressing the complete food chain from production, shipping, to distribution and then using that information to help producers decide who is really needed and what other materials and services could be provided to help them along which would minimize the risk to workers. I’m not saying take control, but someone needs to have the big picture in sight and conveying that out to the populous and producers. If they are doing that, I’m not hearing it, but I’m not going looking either. Given the way the big orange one hogs the mic. for his self aggrandizement, the information could just be getting lost.
P.S. apologies for the length, I didn’t have time to make it shorter.
“When a person doesn’t believe in science, they do dumb things,” – Omari Hardy
All too often you hear people like Mr Hardy just blurt out the word “science” like just saying the word “science” is an argument winner. To me it just means that you either don’t have the knowledge of what you are debating or that you are just plain lazy.
Is Sweden “dumb” because they didn’t make people self isolate? Are Danish people “dumb” because they are opening schools? I do not believe they are “dumb” or that they lack scientific knowledge. They may or may not be wrong, but not because they don’t accept “science”. The debate is wether isolation will solve the problem better than allowing a natural progression and eventual herd immunity within communities right?
Flattening of the curve doesn’t necessarily mean less people will be infected, it can just mean that the rate of infection is spread out over time and that a spike hopefully won’t overwhelm our healthcare system…There are different approaches being taken with this pandemic and we will have a better understanding of which was the most successful when it can be evaluated.
The debate is whether isolation will solve the problem better than allowing a natural progression and eventual “herd immunity” within communities right?
Yeah how did that “herd immunity” work out for those thousands and thousands of cattle shot dead and mass buried in response to anthrax and hoof and mouth diseases. We’re gonna’ need a lot more ICU beds and refrigerated trucks RSE