https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pk1wD5T_L8&ab_channel=RebelHQ
Saturday, October 17, 2020
As White House Embraces Dangerous 'Herd Immunity' Strategy, Covid-19 Deaths Predicted to Spike 80% in US by February
"This is the time when we could be entering one of the worst periods of our epidemic and one of our worst periods in modern American public health. I'm very worried for the nation."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/16/white-house-embraces-dangerous-herd-immunity-strategy-covid-19-deaths-predicted
As the Trump administration ignores the pleas of its own health experts and embraces a "herd immunity" strategy that scientists have condemned as fringe and dangerous, researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine are predicting an 80% spike in U.S. coronavirus deaths by February as cases continue to rise across the nation.
A model designed by experts at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecasts that the U.S. coronavirus death toll will soar from around 217,000 at present to 389,087 fatalities by February 1.
Under the model's best-case scenario—in which all Americans adhere to mask guidelines—the U.S. death toll is predicted to rise to 314,000 by the beginning of February. If mask-wearing requirements are eased, the model predicts total U.S. deaths from the pandemic could rise to 477,000.
The alarming projection—which runs directly counter to President Donald Trump's repeated insistence that the pandemic is fading away—came as the U.S. reported more than 64,000 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, the highest single-day total since late July."We expect deaths to stop declining and begin increasing in the next one to two weeks," the institute's researchers told CNN. "The winter surge appears to have begun somewhat later than the surge in Europe. Daily deaths will reach over 2,000 a day in January even with many states reimposing mandates before the end of the year."
As the Washington Post reported Thursday, "In 44 states and the District of Columbia, caseloads are higher than they were one month ago, and many of the new infections are being reported in rural areas with limited hospital capacity."
The upward trend of new infections is "a very ominous sign," Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of tropical medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN. "This is the time when we could be entering one of the worst periods of our epidemic and one of our worst periods in modern American public health. I'm very worried for the nation."
Despite rising cases and the advice of public health officials, Trump—who was diagnosed and hospitalized with Covid-19 just two weeks ago—has resumed holding large in-person rallies across the nation ahead of next month's election, prompting concerns that the president's campaign is sanctioning "superspreader" events that could endanger both those in attendance and entire communities.
"Wisconsin has had over 10,000 Covid cases in three days," Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, tweeted Friday. "Donald Trump, why are you still holding a superspreader rally here tomorrow?"
Just ahead of Trump's rally in Sanford, Florida on Monday—where many attendees did not adhere to mask or social distancing guidelines—Dr. Anthony Fauci said the president is "asking for trouble" by holding massive in-person events.
"We've seen that when you have situations of congregate settings where there are a lot of people without masks, the data speak for themselves," said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "It happens. And now is even more so a worse time to do that, because when you look at what's going on in the United States, it's really very troublesome."
As Common Dreams reported earlier this week, the White House has embraced a declaration by a right-wing think tank calling for a "herd immunity" approach to the coronavirus pandemic—a strategy that experts have warned would result in millions of additional deaths if implemented without a widely available and effective vaccine.
In an interview with CNBC Thursday, Fauci denounced the so-called herd immunity approach as "nonsense" and "dangerous."
"By the time you get to herd immunity," Fauci said, "you will have killed a lot of people that would've been avoidable."
Biden CRUSHES Trump in Town Hall Ratings on NBC and ABC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaZtoUe3TJo&ab_channel=ChristoAivalis
CNN Abandons Ice Cube, Police Charged With Fraud, Twitter Crosses a Line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yTVr2sDIo8&ab_channel=HLM
Dianne Feinstein Pathetically Kisses Lindsey Graham's Ass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k1klGiOpp4&ab_channel=TheDamageReport
Trump's Millionaire Economic Adviser Celebrates 'Gales of Creative Destruction' as Millions Lose Their Jobs and Go Hungry
"Wonder how the 14% of households with kids who reported that they didn't get enough food to eat in the last seven days feel about the 'gales of creative destruction.'"
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/16/trumps-millionaire-economic-adviser-celebrates-gales-creative-destruction-millions
With millions of Americans out of work, struggling to afford food for themselves and their children, and facing the possibility of losing their homes, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser on Friday celebrated what he described as the "gales of creative destruction" supposedly unleashed by the U.S. economic system in the midst of the pandemic-induced recession.
"The talk is that a lot of folks who became unemployed, alright, most regrettably—but, they're sticking with it and they're going out and starting new businesses," Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said in an appearance on Fox Business. "They're going to be small businesses."
"But that's the great part of American capitalism, gales of creative destruction," Kudlow continued, deploying a phrase popularized in the 1940s by economist Joseph Schumpeter. "I just love that new business start-up story."
Watch:
Critics immediately noted that the millions of people across the U.S. who are teetering on the brink of complete financial ruin are likely not impressed by the so-called "creative destruction" praised by Kudlow, who in June complained that the $600-per-week federal unemployment insurance boost many jobless workers were receiving at the time was excessive.
"Wonder how the 14% of households with kids who reported that they didn't get enough food to eat in the last seven days or the 32% of adults who are having trouble paying for usual household expenses feel about the 'gales of creative destruction,'" tweeted Washington Post reporter Jacqueline Alemany, pointing to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Kudlow's comments came a day after the Labor Department reported that an additional 1.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits, yet another indication that the strong economic recovery Kudlow has repeatedly predicted in recent weeks is not materializing.
"As American capitalism becomes even crueler, the rhetoric of its apologists will only grow more explicit," Jacobin's Luke Savage tweeted in response to Kudlow's remarks.
On top of being cold comfort for Americans struggling to get by as the prospect of another federal relief package before the November election remains uncertain, Kudlow's rosy insistence that the economic turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic spurred a major new wave of entrepreneurship was also likely factually dubious.
"Self-employment is absolutely helping us to adapt to the pandemic," Adam Ozimek, chief economist at freelancing platform Upwork, told the Post's Jeff Stein. "But it's really nowhere near enough to make up for the massive shortfall in overall employment that we still have. Not even close."
George Gascรณn for Los Angeles District Attorney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRQljA9hX9Q&ab_channel=BernieSanders
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