Ian Welsh

The horizon is not so far as we can see, but as far as we can imagine

May 21st US Covid Data

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On May 21, 2020

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Our benefactor writes:

May 21. We’re living in a slow-motion Cormac McCarthy novel, a death march without the nuclear holocaust. It almost feels like the first wave was a warm-up to get used to seeing so many cases and deaths. Unless, of course, you get really sick or die, those people don’t really appreciate the lack of concern….100,000 deaths before the end of May. Hard to fathom.

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2 Comments

  1. Zachary Smith

    Moving Personal Protective Equipment Into the Community – Face Shields and Containment of COVID-19

    Face shields offer a number of advantages. While medical masks have limited durability and little potential for reprocessing, face shields can be reused indefinitely and are easily cleaned with soap and water, or common household disinfectants. They are comfortable to wear, protect the portals of viral entry, and reduce the potential for autoinoculation by preventing the wearer from touching their face. People wearing medical masks often have to remove them to communicate with others around them; this is not necessary with face shields. The use of a face shield is also a reminder to maintain social distancing, but allows visibility of facial expressions and lip movements for speech perception.

    Most important, face shields appear to significantly reduce the amount of inhalation exposure to influenza virus, another droplet-spread respiratory virus. In a simulation study, face shields were shown to reduce immediate viral exposure by 96% when worn by a simulated health care worker within 18 inches of a cough.

    This is about “Opening Up” safely. Adding a face shield to a light mask looks like a good idea from here. Wish I had one! I haven’t been keeping proper notes, but I believe my county’s Covid cases have increased about 50% during the past ten days.

    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2765525

  2. Zachary Smith

    At the Mahablog is an interesting story about McConnell and Kentucky.

    Kentucky is among the poorest and least educated states in the Union. It’s also about 88 percent white. It shouldn’t surprise you that Trump is currently running 16 points ahead of Biden in the most recent polling of Kentucky. Poor, ignorant, and white = Trump voter, more often than not.

    A person has to suppose McConnell feels safe in hanging Kentucky out to dry in order to get what he demands to be in the next Congressional Covid Bill – Corporate Immunity. From another article:

    Sen. Mitch McConnell pledged to include employer immunity in the next relief package to protect employers from workers or consumers lawsuits.

    Unfortunately his scheme to out-wait the Democrats is probably a sound one. I expect them to fold like a wet noodle if he throws them a crumb or two. As the second article says, treating workers as “disposable widgets” doesn’t bother the US Elites the least little bit.

    BTW, the Mahablog site is definitely worth checking ever day or so.

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