Category: Corona Virus

Voters were racked with nervous energy. Katie Whelan, a high school history teacher from New Jersey, crossed the Pennsylvania border to knock on doors over the weekend for Mr. Biden in the key battleground. The previous night, she said, she had awakened from a panic dream involving Hillary Clinton and the dread of falling just short at the ballot box. She was like, Honey, Ive been there, Ms. Whelan recalled Mrs. Clinton telling her in the dream.

Adding to her anxiety, Ms. Whelan could not tell if the nightmare was set in 2016 or 2020. I stood over the sink and drank three pints of water, Ms. Whelan said. And I said to myself, I better get canvassing.

For Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden, their final events on the last full day of 2020 campaigning offered as stark a display of their differences as anything they said.

Seeking to project a sense of normalcy even as infection caseloads surge, Mr. Trump flouted public health guidelines with a slate of large rallies in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and even made a winking nod to firing the countrys top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, should he win another term, in a Florida rally that lasted past midnight on Sunday.

In Ohio and Pennsylvania, Mr. Biden argued there could be no return to routine until the virus was under control and his itinerary of socially distanced, drive-in rallies Honk if you agree with me! he shouted in Cleveland served a visual expression of his sober approach. Mr. Biden, the former vice president, cast race as a referendum on Mr. Trumps stewardship of a pandemic that has infected more than nine million people in the United States and cost more than 230,000 lives.

The first step to beating the virus is beating Donald Trump, Mr. Biden declared, adding, The power to change the country is in your hands.

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Undeterred by Coronavirus Pandemic, Americans Prepare to Render Verdict on Trump - The New York Times

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions."

Does wearing more than one mask at a time make you safer?

You might have wondered that too if you were watching Monday Night Football last month and saw New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick wearing two masks after his quarterback Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19.

Well, let's think about that. Masks block contagious droplets that an infected person breathes out. They also offer a measure of protection for a wearer who's not infected.

So yes, in theory, two is better than one and three is even better, says biosecurity expert Raina MacIntyre, who researches mask effectiveness at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

But there are pitfalls to piling on masks. You may be more tempted to fiddle with the additional mask, and that's a bad idea if you're in a place where other people have been hanging out and possibly spreading contagious droplets. You might touch a contaminated surface, then bring the viral particles to your mask.

And while a second (or third) mask will create a more effective barrier for outgoing and incoming particles, it will also make it harder to breathe in the air you need.

Adding an additional mask isn't the only way to add a layer of protection. Dr. Abraar Karan, a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, recommends a multilayered single mask that fits comfortably snug over your nose and mouth.

Karan and other mask experts look for two or three layers in a mask. Some masks, for example, come with an interior pocket where you can insert a filter. So that adds up to three layers in one face covering.

If you're still interested in doubling up, you might want to consider an innovative approach we wrote about a few months ago.

As correspondent Maria Godoy reported: Researchers at Northeastern University added an outer layer made from nylon stockings to a homemade face covering. They found that the nylon layer can boost a mask's ability to filter out small particles in the air by creating a tighter seal between the mask and the wearer's face.

"Using nylon stockings to improve the fit of a mask makes sense," says Linsey Marr, a civil engineering professor at Virginia Tech who researches airborne transmission of infectious diseases. "The stocking will help reduce or eliminate gaps that would otherwise allow particles to short-circuit the mask."

Does mouthwash offer any benefit in reducing possible transmission of COVID-19?

Imagine gargling the coronavirus away with minty fresh mouthwash! That's what some media headlines suggested in the past few weeks.

The origin of this idea is a study published in September in the Journal of Medical Virology. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University grew the coronavirus in human liver cells, then flushed the cells with mouthwash for durations of 30 seconds and 1 and 2 minutes. Their finding: About 90% of the viruses treated with mouthwash lost their ability to infect cells.

But that doesn't mean gargling is the next best thing to a vaccine.

Here's what the optimistic media reports didn't point out.

First, the researchers did not test mouthwash on the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Instead they tested the strain of coronavirus that causes the common cold.

What's more, they did not test the impact of mouthwash on the coronavirus in actual humans, which makes the study limited, according to Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health in Weymouth, Mass.

It's not a cure, agrees Dr. Craig Meyers, the study's lead author, and it needs to be tested further on humans.

In the study, mouthwash did not kill the virus, Meyers says; rather, it temporarily stopped it from infecting more cells. The effects are local so if they were to be replicated in human studies, he believes the mouthwash would only disable the virus that is present in your mouth at the moment of gargling.

In other words, if you're not infected, gargling doesn't protect you from getting infected, says Meyers. While in quarantine, however, an infected person can gargle as a precaution to protect the people around them.

"We're not asking people to do anything like inject this or do anything silly with mouthwash," says Meyers. "We see this as a layer of protection on top of wearing masks and social distancing."

But even a really good long gargle is unlikely to get every bit of virus on each mucus membrane, says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease professor at Vanderbilt University.

"Just wear a mask," Schaffner sighs. "There is no magic solution; pun intended."

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Does Wearing 2 Or 3 Masks Offer Better Protection Against COVID-19 Spread? : Goats and Soda - NPR

The figures represent the highest number of reported cases since the pandemic began. Tuesday ranked fourth with about 85,200 reported cases, the data showed.

Experts have warned this bout with the virus will be the worst one yet -- and alarming trends are already pointing in that direction. In just one month, the country's 7-day case average nearly doubled.

And when hospitalizations climb, deaths are likely to follow, doctors have warned.

"If more people make the decision to wear masks in public today, it could help to delayor possibly even preventthe need for future shutdowns," he wrote.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Public health measures touted by experts for months -- including face masks, social distancing and regular hand washing -- can help hold the virus down.

Health resources 'stretched beyond belief'

At least 36 states are reporting more new cases than the previous week while only five -- Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee -- are reporting a decline, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

In Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont announced new guidelines including limiting restaurants to 50% capacity, with no more than eight people at a table and limiting indoor event spaces and theaters, among other restrictions. Lamont also recommended residents stay home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., a move he said would help limit socializing.

Meanwhile in West Virginia, the governor sounded the alarm on the state's infection rate and the resources stretched thin.

"When it boils right down to it, what I have done now I've taken an even more drastic step in trying to provide testing and our National Guard, local health departments are now being tested beyond belief and being stretched beyond belief," Gov. Jim Justice said.

In Nebraska, a recent surge of coronavirus cases resulted in a 91% increase of hospitalizations in the Omaha metro area from October 17 to 31, according to the chief medical officers of three major hospital systems. Hospital capacity and staff are approaching their limits.

"No doubt if this trend continues, not just our hospitals, but every hospital in the state could be at capacity," said Dr. Carey Ward, chief medical officer of CHI Health.

The city of El Paso, Texas, set another record on number of hospitalizations Tuesday as the city's Covid-19 dashboard reported there are 998 people in the hospital. The city reported 1,085 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 52,817, according to the dashboard.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion for a temporary injunction "to stop El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego's unlawful lockdown order, which flies in the face of Gov. Greg Abbott's executive orders on COVID-19," according to a news release from Paxton's office.

"Judge Samaniego has no authority to flout Gov. Abbott's executive orders by shutting down businesses in El Paso County," said Paxton in the release.

A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Wednesday.

CDC: People with Covid-19 or those exposed cleared to vote

"In-person voting can be carried out safely following CDC's recommendations for polling location and voters," a CDC spokesperson wrote in a Monday email.

Voters who are sick or in quarantine were told to let poll workers know when arriving at the polling location and were told to wear a mask, stay at least 6 feet from others and wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before and after voting.

Poll workers who are assisting voters with symptoms should be provided with personal protective equipment and trained on how to use it properly.

"When possible, alternative voting options -- which minimize contact between voters and poll workers -- should be made available for people with Covid-19, those who have symptoms of Covid-19, and those who have been exposed," the CDC spokesperson said.

The way Americans follow the results will also be starkly different given that health experts recommended against large gatherings. Massive election parties have largely been canceled as the CDC has said large in-person gatherings are of the highest risk.

Covid-19 child cases see highest one week spike

Meanwhile, more bad news, this time on Covid-19 cases in children.

Covid-19 case counts across the US are impacting children at "unprecedented levels," according to numbers released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, which track data reported by state health departments.

There were 61,000 new cases in children during the last week of October, "which is larger than any previous week in the pandemic," the AAP said in a statement.

And since the start of the pandemic through October 29, more than 853,000 children have tested positive for the virus, the AAP said. Nearly 200,000 of those cases were during the month of October.

That number is likely an undercount as symptoms in children can often be mild and look like common colds or viruses and many children go untested.

CNN's Amanda Watts, Naomi Thomas, Sandee LaMotte, Gregory Lemos and Evan Simko-Bednarski contributed to this report.

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US sees the five highest days of Covid-19 cases leading up to election - CNN

More than 40 percent of Maine respondents to a national survey said the coronavirus pandemic is the most important issue facing the country and more than half described the virus as not at all under control.

Additionally, 60 percent of Maine participants in The Associated Presss national VoteCast survey disapproved of President Trumps handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, while 69 percent approved of how Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has responded to the crisis.

The results from Maine appear to mirror the national sentiment, at least when it comes to the top concerns on voters minds as they headed to the polls on Tuesday or were awaiting results after casting their ballots early.

Among the 1,859 Mainers who participated in APs survey, 43 percent listed the coronavirus pandemic as the most important issue facing the country, compared to 42 percent of respondents nationwide. Twenty-six percent of Maine respondents listed the economy and jobs as their top concern compared to 27 percent nationwide, while health care was the most important issue for 10 percent of Mainers and 9 percent nationally.

Conducted in all 50 states by NORC at the University of Chicago, the VoteCast survey expects to poll an estimated 140,000 registered voters between Oct. 26 and when the polls close on Tuesday. Participants could answer the questions by phone, by mail or online. The Maine results had a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

The results, both in Maine and nationally, show an electorate deeply concerned about the coronavirus pandemic, as infection rates once again surge, as well as strong frustration with the direction of the national economy.

In Maine, just 17 percent of respondents said they believed COVID-19 was completely or mostly under control compared to 55 percent who described the virus as not at all under control. Among a smaller group of 448 respondents in Maine, 65 percent said the federal government should place a higher priority on limiting the spread of the coronavirus even if it damages the economy, while 31 percent favored the government limiting damage to the economy even it meant a worsening virus.

Mainers were much more likely to approve of how Mills or the nations top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, had responded to the pandemic (69 percent and 79 percent, respectively) than the president (39 percent)

Additionally, nearly six in 10 survey participants in Maine disapproved of Trumps overall job performance as president a statistic that would seem to support consistent polling showing the president trailing Democrat Joe Biden in the state by double digits. On the question of honesty, 62 percent of respondents said they did not believe Trump was honest and trustworthy versus 42 percent who lacked trust in Biden.

The Maine respondents had more confidence in Bidens ability to handle the coronavirus than Trump (58 percent versus 30 percent) but were almost equally split on who would better handle the economy, with Trump edging his Democratic opponent 46 percent to 45 percent.

The initial batch of VoteCast survey results released Tuesday night by the AP did not contain results on how respondents voted or planned to vote in the presidential election or Maines high-profile Senate race between Republican Sen. Susan Collins, Democrat Sara Gideon and independents Lisa Savage and Max Linn. But the results did include responses to questions about whether participants viewed candidates favorably or unfavorably, in general.

Collins, who is seeking a fifth six-year term in the Senate, was viewed very or somewhat unfavorably by 53 percent of the 1,843 respondents, while 34 percent had a somewhat or very favorable opinion of the senator. Gideon, meanwhile, was viewed favorably by 49 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 46 percent, with 3 percent undecided.

In another indication of Collins challenge with Maine voters this year, 54 percent of the more than 1,800 respondents said the senator supports Trump too much while 14 percent viewed her as offering the president too little support, with roughly one-third indicating she supported him about the right amount.

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Coronavirus, economy top list of Mainers' concerns heading into elections - Press Herald

Conversations with more than three dozen voters in the Maricopa County revealed an area shaped by the ongoing pandemic, one where the politicization of the virus was on full display. People who voted for Trump often gave the President the benefit of the doubt on the virus, arguing he was being unfairly maligned. Those who backed Biden often said Trump's response to the virus as a key issue, citing personal experiences with the pandemic for why they chose to reject the President.

Few voters who spoke to CNN said they decided to switch their vote entirely because of the virus, but those who did went from either backing Trump or a third-party candidate in 2016 to choosing not to vote for Trump in 2020.

"This was the final straw for me," said Ann Whitmire, a 66-year old longtime Arizonan who voted third party in 2016 but was considering backing Trump this year. But then Whitmire contracted coronavirus in June and watched in horror as the President made a series of false claims about the pandemic. Whitmire, despite contracting what she said felt like a mild case of the virus, said she still has bad days where she felt the effects months later.

"I may have voted for him, because of his policies. I believe in a lot of what he has done and it's good, but I just can't vote the man. ... The coronavirus was absolutely the thing," said Whitmire, whose more Democratic-leaning husband, William, also contracted the virus and began volunteering for a local Covid organization in the wake of their positive tests.

Describing how she saw Trump claim that the country was rounding the turn on the virus, Whitmire said, "It's just not my reality."

The same was true for Sabrina Mitchell, a furloughed travel agent from Glendale who voted for Biden after backing libertarian Gary Johnson four years ago. Mitchell is not the biggest fan of Biden -- "To be perfectly honest, he is not Trump," she said of why she backed the former vice president. But the way the President has handled the pandemic contributed to her decision.

"I am very frustrated with the way he handled the virus," she said. "I feel like the way he acted kind of instilled everyone's current attitudes about it -- very nonchalant about it."

Arizona's handling of the virus, under the leadership of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, has mimicked Trump's handling of the pandemic nationally. Ducey declared a state of emergency due to Covid-19 in early March and largely shut down the state later in the month, but the governor let his stay-at-home order expire on May 15. By late June, the state became the nation's largest hotspot. Trump, too, took a more stringent stance on the virus in the spring, but as the pandemic wore on, the President openly questioned some coronavirus measures like mask wearing and has held campaign events with little social distancing.

For Trump voters, however, the President's handling of the coronavirus is either something that he is being unfairly maligned for or something that they believe no president could have handled perfectly.

Chase Johnson lost his job as a debt relief counselor because of the shutdowns caused by the coronavirus. Even still, Johnson and his wife Amanda were willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt on the virus after they both voted for him.

"I honestly think he did as good a job as he could have" said Johnson. "Hindsight is always 2020. ... Personally, I don't think he did great, but I don't think he did bad. I think he did what he could."

Amanda Johnson personalized the issue: "I can't imagine being in that position and I don't know if anyone could do any better."

And people like Kyle Schmidt, a high school senior who cast his first ever ballot for Trump, said people criticizing the President were unfairly using hindsight to damage him politically. His mother, Kristen Clark, agreed.

"The President did the best with the information that he had," said Schmidt. "If you want to go back and say he could have done this, he could have done this, of course he could have. If he had a crystal ball, he could have done a much better job."

'It is extremely competitive'

The politics of Arizona have been changing for years -- and Mesa may be the best example. The suburb to Phoenix's east is sprawling, an endless grid of sun-scorched ranch style homes that house the city's more than 500,000 residents.

Mesa Mayor John Giles, a registered Republican in a nonpartisan job, said while he isn't sure the moniker fit back then, but he is certain that it doesn't fit now.

"Ten years ago, if you wanted to be politically relevant and if you wanted your vote to have an impact, you were foolish to be registered as a Democrat because they failed to field a candidate for some offices and even then it was just volunteering to get killed in the general by the Republican," said Giles. "That certainly is no longer the case now. It is extremely competitive."

Mesa, like many cities in America, have been subject to a steady change that made it more purple than red, powered by a combination of suburban women breaking away from a Trump-led Republican Party, a growing Latino population and people moving to Mesa from places like California and Illinois.

A key part of these changes is Republicans, many of whom were deeply loyal to the late Sen. John McCain, leaving the party.

Yasser Sanchez is one of those people. An immigration lawyer who volunteered for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign and worked for McCain's 2016 reelection to the Senate, is now working to elect Biden, helping to organize Latinos on his behalf and funding a series of digital billboards across the Phoenix area.

"Arizona is a huge insurance policy for the Biden campaign. If we can (win Arizona), then there is a zero path (for Trump) and that is why the President has come here desperately seeking votes," said Sanchez. "If (Trump) had just said, 'wear a mask' and sat down with the American public... he would have won. ... He could have won Arizona."

Arizona moving away from Republicans, especially because of more liberal voters moving into the state, worries longtime GOP supporters like Darryl Frary, a truck driver who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020.

"I am sure the influx of people from California who bring their bad ideas here (will change things)," said Frary. "They go over there and screw it up and never learn their lesson. They leave because it is so terrible and then they spread it around. ... It concerns me."

But the shift that has worried Frary and voters like him has excited Steven Slugocki, the chair of the Maricopa County Democratic Party.

"If someone would have said this 12 years ago, I would have been surprised we would be at this point we are at," said Slugocki. "Even six years ago, in 2014, we were a deep red state, Republicans won everything."

But voters like Eric Sampson, a longtime Republican from suburban Gilbert who moved to Arizona from California, are contributing to that shift.

Sampson voted for Trump in 2016 but began to move away from the President early in his administration because of his "attitude towards people" and the sense that he is "better than everyone else."

Then came the coronavirus, which took the lives of older family friends back in California.

"That was huge for me. ... I just don't think he did what he needed to do with Covid. We have all these countries around the world, everyone is still getting sick, but at a much lower rate," said Sampson. "I had already made up my mind at that point. This was just icing on the cake."

'I will settle for him, I guess'

Republicans hope one bright spot in Maricopa could come from an unexpected place: Latino voters.

The party, helped by efforts from Trump's campaign, has attempted to invest more in winning over Latino voters, like opening up Latinos for Trump community centers to "establish a presence in this state and never let up," said Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward.

Ward's efforts to court Latinos are helped by people like Reymundo Torres, a top operative for the Arizona Latino Republican Association, who said a successful Latino outreach effort by Trump in Arizona would be winning over 40% of Latino voters in Arizona. That would be a significant increase from 2016, where Trump won 31% of Latinos in Arizona, compared to 61% for Hillary Clinton.

"That would have a much more significant end result of telling Republicans finally that they can no longer rely on the idea that illegal immigration is a critical idea to us or placating the idea that we just want amnesty or comprehensive immigration reform," said Torres. "At 40%, that philosophy is dead."

Trump did have some Latino support in conversations with voters across the Salt River Valley.

Bob Rodriguez didn't vote at all in 2016. This year, he said he was voting for Trump four years after not voting at all. The retired truck driver who lives in Mesa described the President as "the best man" for the job.

"I want to see if things get back to normal, God willing, these next few years, and go from there," said Rodriguez, who said he doesn't blame Trump for his handling of the virus. "And if he wasn't president, I would feel the same way."

But the more common response from Latino voters was support for Biden -- even if, at times, it was tepid.

"I will settle for him, I guess," said Ariana Mondragon, whose family came to the United States from Mexico. She cast her first ever presidential ballot for Biden, but, at its core, the voter was more against Trump: "As long as we vote Trump out," she said.

The same was true for Priscilla Del Toro, who voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and described Biden as "not a perfect candidate."

But Del Toro happily cast her ballot for Biden in Tempe, citing coronavirus as a key reason in her decision.

"As someone who had personally seen the effects of Covid-19 on my family, I think that we need a leader who is really going to step up and care about the American people," said Del Toro, whose parents contracted the virus earlier in the year. "Even now, as we stand here and speak, numbers are surging. So, you can't stay we are almost done, when we are not even close to being done."

The sentiment that Biden voters are more often voting against Trump than for the Democratic nominee is clear in polls: The recent survey of Arizona by CNN found that 48% of Biden supporters are voting against Trump, as opposed to 45% who feel they are voting for the former vice president.

Democratic operatives in Arizona attribute this to Trump's handling of the coronavirus.

Jacob Martinez, a 19-year old who was formerly the chairman of the Arizona Teenage Republicans, left the party because of the President and is now working as a Democratic organizer during his sophomore year at Arizona State University.

"Covid has been a big factor in getting people even more energized than they already were," said Martinez. "Arizona was the country's hotspot for a good amount of time and even now we are on the rise again."

He added: "At this point, everyone knows someone that has died (of Covid). It speaks to the ineffectiveness of Trump."

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How the politicization of the coronavirus could shape Arizona's most important county - CNN

DHHRhas confirmed the death of a 71-year old female from Grant County. Weare deeply saddened by this news, a loss to both the family and our state,said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary.

CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour (188), Berkeley (1,709),Boone (415), Braxton (76), Brooke (253), Cabell (1,559), Calhoun (36), Clay(65), Doddridge (72), Fayette (799), Gilmer (65), Grant (200), Greenbrier(215), Hampshire (146), Hancock (244), Hardy (109), Harrison (688), Jackson(420), Jefferson (634), Kanawha (3,894), Lewis (115), Lincoln (268), Logan(805), Marion (425), Marshall (451), Mason (183), McDowell (132), Mercer (816),Mineral (250), Mingo (669), Monongalia (2,378), Monroe (267), Morgan (161),Nicholas (193), Ohio (649), Pendleton (79), Pleasants (36), Pocahontas (73),Preston (227), Putnam (1,001), Raleigh (880), Randolph (431), Ritchie (56),Roane (115), Summers (142), Taylor (174), Tucker (67), Tyler (58), Upshur(279), Wayne (630), Webster (38), Wetzel (232), Wirt (56), Wood (748), Wyoming(364).

Free COVID-19 testing is available today in Berkeley, Braxton, Cabell, Doddridge, Fayette, Hampshire,Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Marshall, Mineral, Mingo,Monroe, Morgan, Ohio, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Tyler, Upshur, Wayne, Wetzel, Wood,and Wyoming counties.

Berkeley/MorganCounties, November 2, 12:00 PM 8:00 PM, Hedgesville High School, 109 RidgeRoad N., Hedgesville, WV AND 12:00 PM 8:00 PM, Musselman High School, 126Excellence Way, Inwood, WV AND 12:00 PM 8:00 PM, Spring Mills HighSchool, 409 Campus Drive, Martinsburg, WV

BraxtonCounty, November 2, 8:00 AM 12:00 PM, WV National Guard Armory, 1072 StateStreet, Gassaway, WV AND 1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Burnsville Volunteer FireDepartment, 237A Kanawha Avenue, Burnsville, WV

CabellCounty, November 2, 9:00 AM 2:00 PM, Cabell County Health Department, 703Seventh Avenue, Huntington, WV (flu shots offered)

DoddridgeCounty, November 2, 2:00 PM 4:00 PM, Ritchie Regional Health Center, WestUnion Location, 190 Marie Street, West Union, WV

FayetteCounty, November 2, 11:00 AM 3:00 PM, J.W. and Hazel Ruby WV Welcome Center,55 Hazel Ruby Lane, Mt. Hope, WV

HampshireCounty, November 2, 1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Slanesville Ruritan, 6458 Bloomery Pike,Augusta, WV

HarrisonCounty, November 2, 9:00 AM 12:00 PM, Harrison County Health Department, 330West Main Street, Clarksburg, WV (by appointment; call 304-623-9308)

JacksonCounty, November 2, 9:00 AM 12:00 PM, Jackson County Health Department, 504South Church Street, Ripley, WV AND 7:00 AM 11:00 AM, Sandyville SeniorCenter, 29 Gilmore Drive, Sandyville, WV AND 12:00 PM 5:00 PM, RavenswoodSenior Center, 511 Washington Street, Ravenswood, WV

JeffersonCounty, November 2, 4:00 PM 8:00 PM, Page Jackson Elementary School, 370Page-Jackson School Road, Charles Town, WV AND 10:00 AM 6:00 PM, ShepherdUniversity, 301 N. King Street, Shepherdstown, WV AND 12:00 PM 8:00 PM,Sam Michaels Park, 235 Sam Michaels Lane, Harpers Ferry, WV

KanawhaCounty, November 2, 12:30 PM 4:30 PM, Kingdom Life Church, 405 First AvenueSouth, Nitro, WV (flu shots available)

LincolnCounty, November 2, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Lincoln County Health Department, 8008Court Avenue, Hamlin, WV (Walk-in testing)

Logan County,November 2, 8:00 AM 12:00 PM, Man Fire Department, 110 North Bridge Street, Man,WV AND 1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Cora Volunteer Fire Department, 28 AldrichBranch Road, Logan, WV

MarshallCounty, November 2, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Marshall County Fairgrounds, 714 MyrtleAvenue, Moundsville, WV, *enter from 12th Street AND 8:00 AM 12:00 PM, Limestone Volunteer Fire Department, 216US Route 250, Moundsville, WV AND 2:00 PM 7:00 PM, Sandhill ElementarySchool, 169 Sandhill Road, Dallas, WV

MineralCounty, November 2, 1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Mineral County Health Department, 541Harley O Staggers Dr, Keyser, WV AND 2:00 PM 6:00 PM, Mineral CountyFairgrounds, Route 28, Fort Ashby, WV AND 8:00 AM 12:00 PM, MineralCounty Airport, 165 Terminal Loop, Wiley Ford, WV

Mingo County,November 2, 9:00 AM 2:00 PM, Williamson Health & Wellness, 173 East 2ndAvenue, Williamson, WV (under the tent) AND 4:00 PM 7:00 PM, DelormeBible Church, 1876 Route 49, Edgarton, WV AND 10:00AM 2:00 PM, Beach Creek Volunteer Fire Department, 4198 Beach Creek, Matewan,WV AND 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Chattaroy Volunteer Fire Department, 1 FirefighterLane, Williamson, WV

MonroeCounty, November 2, 12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Monroe County Health Department, 200Health Center Drive, Union, WV

Morgan County,November 2, 12:00 PM 6:00 PM, Warm Springs Middle School, 271 Warm SpringsWay, Berkeley Springs, WV

Ohio County, November2, 11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Valley Grove Volunteer Fire Department, 355 Fire HouseLane, Valley Grove, WV AND 11:00 AM 4:00 PM, West Liberty VolunteerFire Department, 1333 Van Meter Way, West Liberty, WV AND 11:00 AM 4:00PM, Wheeling Island Fire Department, 11 North Wabash Street, Wheeling, WV

RitchieCounty, November 2, 2:00 PM 4:00 PM, Ritchie Regional Health Center, 135South Penn Avenue, Harrisville, WV

Roane County,November 2, 9:00 AM 1:00 PM, Roane County Family Health Care, 146 Williams Drive,Spencer, WV (flu shots offered)

TaylorCounty, November 2, 12:00 PM 2:00 PM, First Baptist Church of Grafton, 2034Webster Pike (US Rt. 119 South), Grafton, WV

Tyler County,November 2, 10:00 AM 12:00 PM, Sistersville Volunteer Fire Department, 121Maple Avenue, Sistersville, WV AND 1:00 PM 3:00 PM, Wetzel-TylerHealth Department, 425 S. 4th Avenue, Paden City, WV AND 4:00 PM 6:00PM, Tyler County Senior Center, 504 Cherry Street, Middlebourne, WV

Upshur County,November 2, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Hodgesville Elementary School, 918 Teter Road, Buckhannon,WV AND 10:00 AM 1:00 PM, Buckhannon Upshur High School, 270 BU Way, Buckhannon,WV AND 2:00 PM 6:00 PM, Banks District Volunteer Fire Department, 206Rock Cave Road, Rock Cave, WV

Wayne County,November 2, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 KenovaAvenue, Wayne, WV, Pre-registration: wv.getmycovidresult.com AND 2:00PM 5:00 PM, Prichard Volunteer Fire Department, 1255 Round Bottom Road, Prichard,WV AND 2:00 PM 6:00 PM, Kenova Police Department, 1501 Pine Street, Kenova,WV

Wetzel County,November 2, 9:00 AM 11:00 AM, Wetzel County 4H Grounds, 1821 MountaineerDrive, New Martinsville, WV AND 12:00 PM 2:00 PM, Hundred High School,3490 Horney Highway, Hundred, WV AND 3:00 PM 5:00 PM, Valley HighSchool, 4 Lumber Jack Lane, Pine Grove, WV

Wood County, November2, 9:00 AM 12:00 PM, Church of Christ Latter Day Saints, 2515 Capital Drive, Parkersburg,WV AND 12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Parking Lot by Blennerhassett Hotel, 315Market Street, Parkersburg, WV AND 1:00 PM 5:00 PM, South Parkersburg BaptistChurch, 1655 Blizzard Drive, Parkersburg, WV

WyomingCounty, November 2, 12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Old Board of Education, 19 Park Street,Pineville, WV AND 8:00 AM 12:00 PM, Herndon Consolidated School, Route10, Bud, WV AND 1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Huff Consolidated Schools, 374 LizardCreek Road, Hanover, WV

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COVID-19 Daily Update 11-2-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Weather: Watch out for wind gusts up to 50 m.p.h. Mixed sun and clouds, with a high in the mid-40s.

Alternate-side parking: In effect today. Suspended tomorrow for Election Day.

To fight the pandemic and disseminate crucial information to the public about the viruss spread, officials and experts proudly tout their reliance on data. Charts, tables and maps display hot spots, school closures, positivity rates and more.

It is a wealth of information. But to what degree does data accurately reflect reality?

The question has become particularly salient in Orange County, the suburban area about 65 miles north of New York City where a skyrocketing case count in mid-October prompted a state-imposed lockdown and drove the positivity rate in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish village up to 34 percent. Two weeks later, the rate has dropped to 2 percent, and restrictions in the area have been eased.

But the local health commissioner, Dr. Irina Gelman, said she had doubts about the suggested decline. She said that some people in the community would not agree to be tested, despite reporting symptoms or exposure to the virus.

Some members of the ultra-Orthodox community rejected the idea that there was any effort to manipulate the positivity rate.

Always in everything, Its the Jews fault, they are trying to pin everything on us, said Moshe Brach, an ultra-Orthodox liaison for the Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown, N.Y., and a volunteer emergency medical technician with the Hatzolah ambulance service.

[Experts question whether officials are tracking the virus effectively.]

For months, the virus seemed to be in check in New York.

But in October, a surge in cases in Orange County, as well as in Brooklyn, Queens and other communities with large populations of ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents, raised fears of a second wave of the pandemic.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced a series of restrictions until the situation improved: Nonessential business and schools were closed, and houses of worship faced limits on capacity.

Then, in mid-October, urgent calls from doctors came to the Orange County health department.

Some patients are refusing testing because they do not want D.O.H. bothering them, a doctor said in a message for the county health commissioner on Oct. 13.

A caller to a state complaint hotline said in a message, I would also like to report that there is a widespread effort from the communitys leadership to discourage Covid testing.

The positivity rate has become one of the most recognizable metrics in understanding the pandemic. But public health experts emphasized that the rate does not indicate the percentage of people in a specific area who are infected rather, it indicates the infection rate among those who have been tested.

That means that when the amount of testing in a community increases or decreases, the rate can fluctuate. Selectively choosing who does and doesnt get tested can also affect the rate.

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure, said Rebecca Lee Smith, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois who helps run the universitys Covid-19 control strategy. Once you have put out a single measure as a target, people will figure out how to game that measure.

Drastic drops in the positivity rate are unusual, said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

If public health measures are seen as punitive, she said, you will drive cases underground.

Dr. Gelman said she requested that the state health commissioner approve an order that would require doctors in Orange County to report cases where people with Covid-19 symptoms decline testing.

But state health officials were concerned that such an order could lead people to assume that everyone who declined testing was positive and discourage people from seeking medical care, according to a senior state health official.

The governors office also defended its use of the positivity rate data in easing restrictions, saying that in making that decision, it had also considered the number of hospitalizations and the testing volume, and had consulted with the local health department.

The Lithuanian collector filled a warehouselike space in Chelsea with more than 3,500 artifacts related to the K.G.B., the Soviet Unions intelligence agency and secret police. My daughter and I have invested a lot of work, energy, heart and many years of collecting artifacts, Mr. Urbaitis, 57, wrote in an email last week.

But now that dream is dashed.

Mr. Urbaitis said that the K.G.B. Espionage Museum, which opened less than two years ago, is closing permanently and putting up for auction almost its entire collection after the pandemic made its operations unsustainable. The museum has been shut since March.

Martin Nolan, the executive director at Juliens Auctions, which plans to conduct the sale in Beverly Hills, Calif., in February, said the museums collection includes more than 300 lots estimated to fetch anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $12,000.

The exhibits will go to the museums of the world and to the hands of serious, authoritative and rich collectors, Mr. Urbaitis said.

Its Monday know your history.

Dear Diary:

My friend Charles and I attended the Bronx High School of Science in the 1950s, where Maurice Silver was our Spanish teacher.

He was a natty dresser who wore three-piece tweed suits and colorful neckties that Charles said were Bronzinis and Countess Maras, very expensive brands. (I didnt know about such luxuries at the time; Charles evidently did.)

One day, as we were leaving class, Charles approached Dr. Silver.

I really like your Bronzini and Countess Mara ties, he said. Dr. Silver appeared to be a bit surprised, but he managed a smile and thanked Charles for the compliment.

In 1983, our class (1953) had a reunion at the Waldorf Astoria, and we invited our teachers from three decades earlier to join us.

When Charles and I saw Dr. Silver emerge from an elevator, we went to greet him.

Seeing us, he unbuttoned his jacket, put a hand to his vest, lifted out his tie and waved it at us.

Countess Mara, he said, grinning broadly.

Gerald Strauss

New York Today is published weekdays around 6 a.m. Sign up here to get it by email. You can also find it at nytoday.com.

Were experimenting with the format of New York Today. What would you like to see more (or less) of? Post a comment or email us: nytoday@nytimes.com.

See the original post:

The Coronavirus Rate in One Area Plummeted. Experts Wonder Why. - The New York Times

A dizzying stretch of coronavirus spread is now creating new records in Oregon on a near-daily basis, with virtually all indicators suggesting the states bleakest moment of the pandemic so far has arrived.

At least five statistics from Monday show unprecedented trouble:

Any one of those indicators could be concerning. Combined, they represent perhaps the strongest signals that Oregon much like the rest of the country has reached a precarious period of the pandemic and the path forward is unclear.

But the extraordinary moment passed with no public acknowledgment from Gov. Kate Brown, who sent nine Tweets on the eve of Tuesdays election about protests, safety, voting access and turnout. The Oregon Health Authority also did not highlight the stark statistics beyond sharing the daily numbers of 557 new cases and one death.

Officials, responding to inquiries from The Oregonian/OregonLive, said they are concerned but declined to provide any specifics for their plans to slow the spread. Brown and health officials have repeatedly urged Oregonians to take responsibility for their actions, including physical distancing and wearing masks, but those messages do not appear to be resonating as cases have been on the rise for nearly two full months.

We are concerned and monitoring the situation closely with the Oregon Health Authority and the Governors Medical Advisory Panel, Charles Boyle, a spokesman for Brown, said in a statement. All options are on the table when it comes to limiting the spread of COVID-19, and we are weighing what additional restrictions may be necessary and effective if these trends continue.

As provocative as that might sound, Browns office has offered similar platitudes for months while striving to slow spread without blunt-force restrictions.

To be sure, even at its worst Oregon is still faring far better than most states. Oregon ranks eighth lowest for per-capita cases in the past week, essentially equal with Washington and California and well below the likes of Idaho, Utah and Montana, according to The New York Times. And while Oregon set a new record for deaths reported in a single day Saturday, the total fatality count for October still did not approach the states peak this summer.

When Oregons governor began allowing counties to reopen nearly six months ago, the states daily case count was nearly seven times lower than it is now. At the time, officials said they would be methodical and consider putting some of our protections back in place in order prevent the spread of COVID-19 if cases grew too sharply.

But sweeping restrictions, such as Browns earlier stay-home orders or shuttering businesses, have a tremendous impact on the economy. Officials have also effectively bent the curve, with Oregons hospitals not at risk of reaching capacity until mid-to-late December, according to the health authority.

In fact, Brown and state officials have eased restrictions in recent weeks even as cases spiked. They most recently adopted liberal benchmarks to allow schools to reopen for in-person instruction and approved bowling alleys and skating rinks to reopen in the metro area.

State officials say their data continues to show smaller informal gatherings, such as barbeques and birthday parties, are playing a bigger role driving cases than workplace outbreaks and other settings. Officials have been particularly vocal about staying safe during holidays, including Halloween, but have not yet issued formal recommendations for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Boyle, the governors spokesman, said it is more important than ever that we all work together to implement the proven measures that limit the spread of COVID-19: wearing face coverings, watching physical distance, washing hands, staying home when sick, and avoiding large social get-togethers, especially indoors.

If we all work together, he added, we can drive down our case rates, keep our businesses open, and return students to the classroom.

Should that fail, however, its not clear what specific restrictions could be under consideration. Some health experts have questioned keeping bars and restaurants open for in-person dining.

Browns office has not yet fulfilled a public records request submitted by The Oregonian/OregonLive on Oct. 21 seeking documentation about potential public health interventions or restrictions under consideration.

Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state health officer and state epidemiologist, said in a statement Monday that the health authority continues to discuss options with state leaders should the situation continue to worsen.

Oregon has been well-positioned throughout this pandemic compared to other states, but we cannot rely on past success in limiting the spread, he added. It will take a collective sustained effort to keep our state safe.

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt

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As Oregon sets coronavirus records, governor responds with pleas and platitudes - OregonLive

Everyone living or working in Liverpool will now be offered COVID-19 testing, whether they have symptoms or not, in the first pilot of whole city testing in England made possible by the dramatic increase in testing capacity and new technologies.

At the request of and in close collaboration with local leaders, the Prime Minister is announcing the first deployment of whole city testing in order to help support the local area to find even more people with coronavirus to control the spread of the virus and gain more data on the number of cases across the city, which are already among the highest per 100,000 in the UK. Testing will begin this week.

Residents and workers will be tested using a combination of existing swab tests, as well as new lateral flow tests which can rapidly turn around results within an hour without the need to be processed in a lab, as well as LAMP technology due to be deployed in Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for NHS staff.

The pilot will help to inform a blueprint for how mass testing can be achieved and how fast and reliable COVID-19 testing can be delivered at scale.

Local leaders who invite mass testing will benefit from receiving a clearer picture of the number of cases across the city, enabling them to make informed decisions to manage the spread of the virus and support their communities. The greater the number of people who participate, the greater the accuracy of the local picture, which will mean better local decision-making to suppress the virus to help communities get back to doing more of the normal things they like to do.

Testing will be carried out in sites across the city, including a large number of new sites determined by local leaders. There will be a variety of ways to book a test, including online, walk-up, or by invitation from the local authority. Testing will be carried out in new and existing test sites, using home kits, in hospitals and care home settings, and schools, universities and workplaces.

Positive results from tests will be collected by NHS Test and Trace, and published as part of the daily case numbers, including how many positive cases are detected with this new method of testing. Results will be received from NHS Test and Trace via text and email.

Anyone who tests positive, using either a lateral flow test or an existing swab test, must self-isolate along with their household immediately and their contacts will be traced. Those who test negative will need to continue to follow all national guidance.

These more advanced tests will help identify infectious individuals who are not displaying symptoms and help far more positive cases so they can self-isolate and prevent the virus from spreading, in a first step towards rolling out mass testing more widely across the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

I want to thank the civic leaders of Liverpool for volunteering to join the UKs first city-wide population testing pilot and the people of Liverpool for taking part.

These tests will help identify the many thousands of people in the city who dont have symptoms but can still infect others without knowing. Dependent on their success in Liverpool, we will aim to distribute millions of these new rapid tests between now and Christmas and empower local communities to use them to drive down transmission in their areas.

It is early days, but this kind of mass testing has the potential to be a powerful new weapon in our fight against COVID-19.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:

Last month we set out our ambition to use the latest mass testing technologies to bring this virus under control.

Mass testing will help us to control this virus, by finding it even before people get symptoms. Im delighted we can now roll out mass testing to whole cities starting with the City of Liverpool. Using half a million of the very latest rapid tests, this rollout can help suppress the virus and give residents and workers some peace of mind.

I want to thank local leaders, Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson and City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, and Liverpools Director of Public Health Matt Ashton, who will continue to work hand in hand with our dedicated armed forces to provide tests to anyone who wants one, fully supported by NHS Test and Trace.

Everyone in Liverpool can help play their part by getting a test and following the rules, including the critical basics of Hands. Face. Space.

Eligible individuals who test positive and contacts who are required to self-isolate will be entitled to the 500 Test and Trace Support Payment in the same way as a regular swab test ordered through NHS Test and Trace.

Whole city testing aims to protect those at highest risk and find asymptomatic cases to help prevent and reduce transmission in the community. By testing a large proportion of a single town or city more positive cases can be identified and told to self-isolate to help control the spread.

Liverpool is in local COVID alert level very high and weekly cases currently stand at 410.4 per 100,000, as of 25 October. The governments strategy is to suppress the virus while supporting the economy, education and the NHS, until an effective vaccine is widely available. Local action is at the centre of the governments response, and engagement with local authorities is, and will continue to be, a key part of this process.

Liverpool City Council will set out how residents and workers will be able to access the tests this week.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said:

During negotiations with central government, myself and Steve Rotheram have always highlighted the need for enhanced public health intervention measures in Liverpool and the wider city region, and we were keen that we should be considered for any new strategies to tackle the worrying rise in COVID-19.

We are pleased that our numerous conversations have resulted in Liverpool becoming a pilot for mass testing, which will help to quickly identify people who have the virus and reduce transmission substantially.

We are seeing a slow reduction in figures in Liverpool which shows we are on the right path and residents and businesses are working together and following guidelines for the greater good.

We hope this new initiative boosts our efforts, and we will continue to see the numbers of positive cases drop across the city.

Alongside NHS Test and Trace and commercial partners, the Ministry of Defence will supply additional military personnel to support the COVID-19 mass testing initiative in Liverpool through assisting local authorities with planning logistics locally, and delivering the additional lateral flow testing part of the programme. Roughly 2,000 personnel will be deployed from Thursday 5 November.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Armed Forces have deployed specialist planners, medics and logisticians to assist with the Government response to the outbreak through the COVID Support Force. When the national testing programme launched, the Armed Forces provided invaluable support, deploying thousands of personnel at short notice across 236 mobile testing units, carrying out more than 700,000 tests. As part of the sustainable testing model for the long term, personnel were replaced with civilian operators, but Armed Forces have continued to bolster local logistics and outbreak management.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:

Since the start of the pandemic, the Armed Forces have worked with colleagues across government to increase the national testing capacity. We will be deploying 2000 talented Armed Forces personnel to, once again, rise to the challenges posed by COVID-19 to ensure we go above and beyond for the Liverpool community we will have your backs throughout the trial.

The military are uniquely placed to help with the fight against COVID-19 and remain ready to support with the mass testing initiative in Liverpool along with the additional needs of the country at this time.

Interim Executive Chair of the National Institute for Health Protection Baroness Dido Harding said:

Mass testing has the potential to enable us to find the vast majority of people who have coronavirus, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not, and therefore dramatically enhance our ability to stop the spread of the virus. This first deployment of whole city testing in Liverpool is a really important step forward and is thanks to the big increase in testing capacity and our investment in new testing technologies.

NHS Test and Trace will continue to work closely with local leaders, directors of public health and the Armed Forces to ensure Liverpool residents and workers can benefit from these advances. By everyone in Liverpool coming forward to get tested, and isolating if they need to, we have a real opportunity to make a massive difference.

Lateral flow tests are intended to detect the presence or absence of coronavirus by applying a swab from the nose and throat to a special test kit, and provide results without the need for a full scale laboratory.

LAMP is a new type of testing technology which stands for loop mediated isothermal amplification, and provides the ability to deliver significant volumes of tests.

PCR swab tests are the tests that have been used as the default. These tests look for the genetic code (RNA) of the virus. The test involves taking a swab of the throat and nose. The test will confirm if an individual who is showing symptoms of the virus currently has it. It will not confirm whether they have had it and have now recovered.

More here:

Liverpool to be regularly tested for coronavirus in first whole city testing pilot - GOV.UK

John Oliver took a different approach during Sunday nightsLast Week Tonightwith two main stories instead of one. The first one serving as the shows intro and it spotlighted Donald Trump failed the country with is disastrous handling of the coronavirus.

For many, Trumps handling of the coronavirus is going to be a significant factor in how the vote, said Oliver. He pointed out that Trump claims that the U.S. is doing a tremendous job handling the virus but the stats show a different story. The U.S. has 4% of the global population, yet 20% of the worlds coronavirus cases.

Even so, his base is giving him the benefit of the doubt. In clips from interviews, many say that Trump is doing the best he can.

Is he? questions Oliver. I guess that depends doesnt it? Is he doing the best that any president can or the best that he can? Because if its the second one, you may actually be right. We should all be grateful that he hasnt bottled his urine and started selling it as Trump Immunity Juice.

Every president faces a defining crisis and, without a doubt, the pandemic is Trumps and his response has been a disaster. Oliver brings up receipts that illustrate some massive f*ck ups that many of us have forgotten. This includes that one time when he suggested we leave Americans infected with COVID-19 on a cruise ship because they would increase the number of cases in the country. He said that he liked the numbers where they are.

To even further unpack Trumps massive failures when it comes to handling the coronavirus, Oliver broke it down intothree crucial areas where more work could have been done: preparation, coordination and communication.

When it comes to preparation, previous presidents were very aware of a threat like COVID-19. George W. Bush created a pandemic response plan in 2005 while Barack Obama created a pandemic preparedness team.

In a speech Obama made in December of 2014, he eerily summarized what we are going through right now, saying that our country needed to build an infrastructure to be ready for a virus similar to the Spanish Flu.

Trumps administration disbanded Obamas pandemic preparedness team, they cut the CDC staff in operating in China by more two-thirds and ended a pandemic early warning program.

Even when the pandemic began, Trump took an appallingly long time to take it seriously, said Oliver. Trump would complain how China took a long time to be forthright with the U.S. about the virus. However, when the administration found out the U.S. acted unforgivably slow.

The first report of the coronavirus in Wuhan was on December 31, 2019. Alex Azar, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, couldnt get through to speak to Trump about the virus until January 18. Even when he did, Trump interrupted him asking when flavored vaping products would be back on the market.

Trump said that the virus would go away even though there was community spread reported on February 26. Trump did eventually ban travel from China into the U.S. and constantly patted himself on the back for that.

He put the ban on February 2, two weeks after the first known case in the U.S. The ban was also announced after 45 other countries already imposed travel restrictions on China. Even though there were restrictions, there were massive exceptions. U.S. citizens and immediate family members were still allowed to come from China. That said, nearly 40,000 people came in from China in the two months after Trump imposed restrictions.

We also found out that the first cases of COVID-19 in New York primarily came from Europe and it took Trump six weeks to impose restrictions on travelers from there. Even then, ehen he made a speech announcing those restrictions, it made it sound as if Americans would not be allowed back into the country which caused chaos in airports across the country.

When it came to coordination at the beginning of the pandemic the Trump administration was terrible. They were not able to coordinate crucial supplies like PPE which left medical professionals to their own devices to keep them protected.

Oliver said, The White House denies mishandling anything. Trump tried to blame the previous administration for medical professionals not having the appropriate PPE despite the fact that he has been president for three years.

Mike Bowen, an executive at one of the top PPE production companies in the country has been sounding the alarm for years saying that most of the countrys mask supply comes from abroad. In January, when Bown saw what was happening he attempted to contact anyone he could in the government to ramp up production of masks in the U.S. He didnt get any response and later testified in front of Congress to address the consequences due to the lack of response from the administration and it was dire.

Like everyone else on Earth, the U.S. had to scramble for medical equipment like everyone else on earth and it created chaos. To add to that, Trump made Jared Kushner the leader of a Supply Chain Task Force and he failed miserably.

That brings us to the final area of what could have prevented a lot of this: communication.

Oliver said, Trump has repeatedly undermined public messaging from the very start despite the fact that as we now know, he knew extremely early on just how bad things could get.

In private he admitted the severity of the virus, but in public during press conferences, he downplayed the spread of the virus. Oliver simply stated: Trump just lied.

He added that even as it became clear to everyone that this was very much more than the flu, Trump constantly undermined his own administration.On April 3, the CDC finally advised that Americans should wear masks in public but Trump undercut it. He leaned into the word voluntary when it came to wearing a mask. To that, he said, I dont think Im gonna do it.

And just like that, wearing a mask was a political issue, said Oliver. He didnt wear a mask in public until July.

Because he said it was voluntary from the jump, Americans were listening to him. In news clips, people were saying that if Trump wasnt worried about the virus, they werent worried.

It has been genuinely remarkable just how consistently trump has undercut public health messaging, said Oliver. He went on to point out that over a decade ago the CDC put out six principles in how a leader should communicate during a crisis: Be First, Be Right, Be Credible, Express Empathy, Promote Action, and Show Respect.

Oliver commented, Trump did the precise opposite of every single one of those.

When it came to empathy, the hardest of the six to do badly, Trump failed. Oliver brought up the fact that he did not think of what medical professionals had to go through at the start of the pandemic. In New York, there were mass graves, makeshift morgues and medical professionals having emotional break downs. It was utterly brutal, said Oliver.

During a Trump press conference in the Oval Office at the start of the pandemic, one man expressed his concern about what his colleagues are going through and the post-traumatic trauma due to all the deaths. Trumps response? He just passed pens around to the people.

As we have seen in the past eight months, the lack of preparation, coordination and communication has had real-world effects.

I know that Trump wants everyone to believe that nothing more could have been done but thats just not true. Other countries have done more and suffered less, Oliver stated.

Has trump done a good job handling the pandemic? Well, he got the disease so that should give you an appropriate answer. When it comes to Trumps failures, there was so much more that Oliver couldnt get to such as using the racist term kung flu to the fact that he never developed a comprehensive plan to fight COVID. Trump also removed an independent watchdog for coronavirus funds and asked people to slow down testing. He even made baseless claims that doctors were inflating coronavirus death counts for money and who can forget when he suggested that sunlight and ingesting disinfectants could help cure coronavirus. On top of all that, he has repeatedly undermined the nations top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

If Biden is elected, its not like he will magically end this pandemic, but hell at least take it seriously and its pretty bleak that alone sounds good but it really does, said Oliver. At this point, Trump is clearly bored of hearing about COVID and I am sorry about that. But do you know what has been completely exhausting for the rest of us? Worrying about it all the time.

He continued, This virus has taken so much from us: our peace of mind, our routines and nearly a quarter of a million Americans and its frankly pathetic that in response the only thing Trump has offered people in this country over the past eight months are damaging lies, staggering incompetence and occasionally when hes feeling generous, some sh*tty f*cking pens.

Read more from the original source:

Last Week Tonight: John Oliver Reviews Trumps Disastrous And Incompetent Response To The Coronavirus - Deadline