Jaybird
Veteran Member
I damn sure would. He has more information than you or me. He is a stooge to his masters. Just like they all are.
CORONA Main Coronavirus thread
- Thread starter Heliobas Disciple
- Start date
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- coronavirus
jward
passin' thru
here here :: applause :: actually, I'm fed up with all snarky arm chair quarterbacks of every race creed colour & political persuasion. Part of the solution? No, then you're part of the problem. Sit down, shut up, and let the adults handle it.
Chuck Woolery
@chuckwoolery
I am so sick of all of these dumb asses in the media who are pulling for the Coronavirus. Calling hydroxychloriquine "SNAKE OIL?" They are the ones selling snake oil. They are tiresome, all of them, and all these doctors tiptoeing around the subject. There is no excuse now.
Chuck Woolery
@chuckwoolery
I am so sick of all of these dumb asses in the media who are pulling for the Coronavirus. Calling hydroxychloriquine "SNAKE OIL?" They are the ones selling snake oil. They are tiresome, all of them, and all these doctors tiptoeing around the subject. There is no excuse now.
jward
passin' thru
Reuters
@Reuters
10m
Four Canadian banks cut credit card interest rates to ease coronavirus impact https://reut.rs/39NsGV2
View: https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1246329304809644033?s=20
@Reuters
10m
Four Canadian banks cut credit card interest rates to ease coronavirus impact https://reut.rs/39NsGV2
View: https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1246329304809644033?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Americans are underestimating how long coronavirus disruptions will last, health experts say
By Helen Branswell @HelenBranswell
April 3, 2020
Public health experts are increasingly worried that Americans are underestimating how long the coronavirus pandemic will disrupt everyday life in the country, warning that the Trump administration’s timelines are offering many a false sense of comfort.
Coronavirus cases are expected to peak in mid-April in many parts of the country, but quickly reopening businesses or loosening shelter-in-place rules would inevitably lead to a new surge of infections, they said.
Meanwhile, other parts of the country are only now implementing restrictions and others have not yet ordered the closure of non-essential businesses, creating a patchwork response that will slow progress toward the goal of driving down transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
Support STAT: If you value our coronavirus coverage, please consider making a one-time contribution to support our journalism.
“The administration has consistently shown a desire to underplay the severity of whatever is coming. And they’re constantly adjusting that — as it becomes harder to deny the reality will be worse than what they’ve conditioned people for,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development.
Konyndyk said he and other experts he’s discussed the matter with believe an “intensive period of social distancing and a national semi-voluntary lockdown” will last for months.
President Trump, after signaling that he may try to restore some sense of normalcy in the country by Easter, has acknowledged that difficult times are ahead and that restrictions should remain in place until the end of April.
But experts say that, even if some restrictions are relaxed, it’s unlikely life as normal will resume in early May.
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thomas Frieden, said this week that it’s understandable that people want to know when businesses can reopen and some facets of life can resume. But he said the focus of public discourse now needs to be on the public health response, not the question of when restrictions can be lifted.
“Decisions to reopen society should not be about a date, but about the data,” Frieden, now president and CEO of the global public health initiative Resolve to Save Lives, said during a briefing Wednesday for journalists. “How well and how quickly we do these things will determine how soon and how safely we can reopen.”
He and others have outlined steps that should be taken before restrictions are lifted to ensure new cases do not continue to grow exponentially, collapsing health care systems under their weight. Frieden stressed the importance of expanded testing to know where the virus is transmitting as well as setting up public health
infrastructures to trace the contacts of cases and monitor them in quarantine.
“We need an army of contact tracers in every community in the U.S. to be ready to find every contact and warn them to care for themselves and stop spreading it to others,” he said.
Related:
Navigating the Covid-19 pandemic: We’re just clambering into a life raft. Dry land is far away
Those resources do not current exist, said Konyndyk, who also noted that hospital capacity across the country needs to be expanded and protective equipment for health workers restocked. There are currently global shortages.
“If we want to be able to — as I think we need to — turn our economy back on in a safe way, we need to be able to do that sort of thing at scale,” Konyndyk said. “And we do not have anywhere close to the public health infrastructure that’s needed to pull that off.”
“That’s fundamental to getting us out of this lockdown phase. And the government’s not talking about it, much less acting on it,” he said.
Public health experts have said the near-term goal is to flatten the epidemic curve of new cases. There are signs that the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle are starting to see some results in this respect, but progress is not yet apparent in most parts of the country.
Michael Mina, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the United States squandered a chance to prevent the virus from taking off here and now must do what it takes to beat it back.
“We let things get out of hand,” said Mina, who is also associate medical director of clinical microbiology at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “So now the place that we’re left in is we have to absolutely beat this down with a hammer and get to near zero cases.
“What the means is we have to be patient. By the end of April shouldn’t be anyone’s consideration at this point,” he said. “We have to assume at the very least this is going through May.”
Others suggest it may be longer before stores and restaurants can reopen, before authorities can consider reopening schools and universities.
Philanthropist Bill Gates warned in an appearance on “CBS This Morning” on Thursday that things like lifting bans on mass gatherings — public meetings or concerts — could be quite a way down the road.
Some activities, like reopening schools, might be deemed low risk and of societal benefit, Gates said. But mass gatherings “may be, in a certain sense, more optional.” Until large numbers of people can be vaccinated against the virus “those may not come back at all,” he said.
Though vaccine development is proceeding at a historic pace, in a best-case scenario a product won’t be available for the general public for at least 18 months, and likely longer. Early supplies, which will be limited, would be used to protect health workers.
Konyndyk and others warn that lifting restrictions will need to be done gradually. And the Trump administration has told state governors it will issue county-by-county guidelines on the level of risk, an effort to help local officials decide when to relax restrictions.
Still, experts are worried that if the current measures work, success could have a paradoxical downside: People who are still vulnerable to the virus will see the risk as over, leaving open the possibility of resurgent spread.
“Success is we have a lot of susceptible people left against a disease for which there is still not effective or proven treatment and no vaccine — and won’t be for some time,” Konyndyk said.
Experts say even a return to normal could come with asterisks. Mina noted, for instance, that restaurants may need to put more space between tables. Others have suggested people in high-risk groups — those over 65 or 70 and people with chronic conditions — may need to practice physical distancing even after restrictions have loosened for others, at least until vaccine is ready.
“We’re at the front end of what will be a pretty arduous few years of something. What the something looks like, we don’t fully know,” said Konyndyk. “But I think our best case scenario is we can pull off what South Korea seems to be managing, which is get the curve down. And our job is going to be much bigger than theirs was. … Dramatically bigger.”
posted for fair use
photos and notes at source
www.statnews.com
By Helen Branswell @HelenBranswell
April 3, 2020
Public health experts are increasingly worried that Americans are underestimating how long the coronavirus pandemic will disrupt everyday life in the country, warning that the Trump administration’s timelines are offering many a false sense of comfort.
Coronavirus cases are expected to peak in mid-April in many parts of the country, but quickly reopening businesses or loosening shelter-in-place rules would inevitably lead to a new surge of infections, they said.
Meanwhile, other parts of the country are only now implementing restrictions and others have not yet ordered the closure of non-essential businesses, creating a patchwork response that will slow progress toward the goal of driving down transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
Support STAT: If you value our coronavirus coverage, please consider making a one-time contribution to support our journalism.
“The administration has consistently shown a desire to underplay the severity of whatever is coming. And they’re constantly adjusting that — as it becomes harder to deny the reality will be worse than what they’ve conditioned people for,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development.
Konyndyk said he and other experts he’s discussed the matter with believe an “intensive period of social distancing and a national semi-voluntary lockdown” will last for months.
President Trump, after signaling that he may try to restore some sense of normalcy in the country by Easter, has acknowledged that difficult times are ahead and that restrictions should remain in place until the end of April.
But experts say that, even if some restrictions are relaxed, it’s unlikely life as normal will resume in early May.
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thomas Frieden, said this week that it’s understandable that people want to know when businesses can reopen and some facets of life can resume. But he said the focus of public discourse now needs to be on the public health response, not the question of when restrictions can be lifted.
“Decisions to reopen society should not be about a date, but about the data,” Frieden, now president and CEO of the global public health initiative Resolve to Save Lives, said during a briefing Wednesday for journalists. “How well and how quickly we do these things will determine how soon and how safely we can reopen.”
He and others have outlined steps that should be taken before restrictions are lifted to ensure new cases do not continue to grow exponentially, collapsing health care systems under their weight. Frieden stressed the importance of expanded testing to know where the virus is transmitting as well as setting up public health
infrastructures to trace the contacts of cases and monitor them in quarantine.
“We need an army of contact tracers in every community in the U.S. to be ready to find every contact and warn them to care for themselves and stop spreading it to others,” he said.
Related:
Navigating the Covid-19 pandemic: We’re just clambering into a life raft. Dry land is far away
Those resources do not current exist, said Konyndyk, who also noted that hospital capacity across the country needs to be expanded and protective equipment for health workers restocked. There are currently global shortages.
“If we want to be able to — as I think we need to — turn our economy back on in a safe way, we need to be able to do that sort of thing at scale,” Konyndyk said. “And we do not have anywhere close to the public health infrastructure that’s needed to pull that off.”
“That’s fundamental to getting us out of this lockdown phase. And the government’s not talking about it, much less acting on it,” he said.
Public health experts have said the near-term goal is to flatten the epidemic curve of new cases. There are signs that the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle are starting to see some results in this respect, but progress is not yet apparent in most parts of the country.
Michael Mina, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the United States squandered a chance to prevent the virus from taking off here and now must do what it takes to beat it back.
“We let things get out of hand,” said Mina, who is also associate medical director of clinical microbiology at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “So now the place that we’re left in is we have to absolutely beat this down with a hammer and get to near zero cases.
“What the means is we have to be patient. By the end of April shouldn’t be anyone’s consideration at this point,” he said. “We have to assume at the very least this is going through May.”
Others suggest it may be longer before stores and restaurants can reopen, before authorities can consider reopening schools and universities.
Philanthropist Bill Gates warned in an appearance on “CBS This Morning” on Thursday that things like lifting bans on mass gatherings — public meetings or concerts — could be quite a way down the road.
Some activities, like reopening schools, might be deemed low risk and of societal benefit, Gates said. But mass gatherings “may be, in a certain sense, more optional.” Until large numbers of people can be vaccinated against the virus “those may not come back at all,” he said.
Though vaccine development is proceeding at a historic pace, in a best-case scenario a product won’t be available for the general public for at least 18 months, and likely longer. Early supplies, which will be limited, would be used to protect health workers.
Konyndyk and others warn that lifting restrictions will need to be done gradually. And the Trump administration has told state governors it will issue county-by-county guidelines on the level of risk, an effort to help local officials decide when to relax restrictions.
Still, experts are worried that if the current measures work, success could have a paradoxical downside: People who are still vulnerable to the virus will see the risk as over, leaving open the possibility of resurgent spread.
“Success is we have a lot of susceptible people left against a disease for which there is still not effective or proven treatment and no vaccine — and won’t be for some time,” Konyndyk said.
Experts say even a return to normal could come with asterisks. Mina noted, for instance, that restaurants may need to put more space between tables. Others have suggested people in high-risk groups — those over 65 or 70 and people with chronic conditions — may need to practice physical distancing even after restrictions have loosened for others, at least until vaccine is ready.
“We’re at the front end of what will be a pretty arduous few years of something. What the something looks like, we don’t fully know,” said Konyndyk. “But I think our best case scenario is we can pull off what South Korea seems to be managing, which is get the curve down. And our job is going to be much bigger than theirs was. … Dramatically bigger.”
posted for fair use
photos and notes at source
Americans are underestimating how long coronavirus disruptions will last, health experts say
Public health experts are increasingly worried that Americans are underestimating how long the coronavirus pandemic will disrupt everyday life in the country.
www.statnews.com
jward
passin' thru
..hmm..would be just my luck- I hate to shop but live to dance. This kiddo will prove prescient, or be run outta town on a rail.. or both, as so many scientist are eh. 
No proof coronavirus can be spread while shopping, says leading German virologist
Initial findings suggest virus may be less easily transmitted than thought
By Justin Huggler Berlin 2 April 2020 • 5:21pm
Premium
Social distancing indicators are seen on the floor of a supermarket in Berlin, Germany Credit: Jacobia Dahm/Bloomberg
There is no evidence that coronavirus can be spread by shopping or going to the hairdresser, a leading German virologist has said.
Professor Hendrik Streeck, leading the first comprehensive study of a town that suffered a major coronavirus outbreak, told German television his initial findings suggested the virus may not be as easily transmitted as previously thought.
Prof Streeck's team carried out an intensive search of the home of a family infected with the virus but found no trace of it on surfaces, he said.
"We did not find any live virus on any surface. Not on cellphones, not on taps, not on doorknobs," he told the Markus Lanz talk show on ZDF television. His team even examined the fur of the family's pet cat but found no trace of the virus.
The virologist said his initial findings challenged many of the assumptions behind current lockdown measures around the world.
"We talk a lot about speculation and models, but only one factor has to be wrong and then the whole thing collapses like a house of cards," Prof Streeck said.
There have been widespread calls in Germany for face masks to be made compulsory at supermarkets, but Prof Streeck said: "There are no proven infections while shopping or at the hairdresser." He stressed that he was not calling for lockdown measures to be lifted, but argued that not enough is yet known about the virus.
Prof Streeck has led the response to the coronavirus in one Germany's worst affected regions, North Rhine-Westphalia, and diagnosed thousands of patients.
He is leading a detailed study in Gangelt, a town in the Heinsberg district which saw the first major coronavirus outbreak in Germany.
Prof Streeck pointed to the country's first recorded case, a woman who travelled to Germany from China and infected colleagues at work, as evidence for his analysis. "This woman would have stayed in a hotel, eaten in the restaurant, but only infected her colleagues," he said. "So we know that eating in a restaurant or working in a hotel is not responsible for the infection.
"The virus spreads in other places: the party in Ischgl, the club in Berlin, the football game in Bergamo."
Ischgl, a ski resort in Austria known for its nightlife, is believed to have been a major centre of the European outbreak where the virus was spread by drinking games in which people shared glasses.
"We know it's not a smear infection that is transmitted by touching objects, but that close dancing and exuberant celebrations have led to infections," said Prof Streeck. "Now it is time to find the nuances in between."
photos & notes at source
posted for fair use
archive.is
No proof coronavirus can be spread while shopping, says leading German virologist
Initial findings suggest virus may be less easily transmitted than thought
By Justin Huggler Berlin 2 April 2020 • 5:21pm
Premium
Social distancing indicators are seen on the floor of a supermarket in Berlin, Germany Credit: Jacobia Dahm/Bloomberg
There is no evidence that coronavirus can be spread by shopping or going to the hairdresser, a leading German virologist has said.
Professor Hendrik Streeck, leading the first comprehensive study of a town that suffered a major coronavirus outbreak, told German television his initial findings suggested the virus may not be as easily transmitted as previously thought.
Prof Streeck's team carried out an intensive search of the home of a family infected with the virus but found no trace of it on surfaces, he said.
"We did not find any live virus on any surface. Not on cellphones, not on taps, not on doorknobs," he told the Markus Lanz talk show on ZDF television. His team even examined the fur of the family's pet cat but found no trace of the virus.
The virologist said his initial findings challenged many of the assumptions behind current lockdown measures around the world.
"We talk a lot about speculation and models, but only one factor has to be wrong and then the whole thing collapses like a house of cards," Prof Streeck said.
There have been widespread calls in Germany for face masks to be made compulsory at supermarkets, but Prof Streeck said: "There are no proven infections while shopping or at the hairdresser." He stressed that he was not calling for lockdown measures to be lifted, but argued that not enough is yet known about the virus.
Prof Streeck has led the response to the coronavirus in one Germany's worst affected regions, North Rhine-Westphalia, and diagnosed thousands of patients.
He is leading a detailed study in Gangelt, a town in the Heinsberg district which saw the first major coronavirus outbreak in Germany.
Prof Streeck pointed to the country's first recorded case, a woman who travelled to Germany from China and infected colleagues at work, as evidence for his analysis. "This woman would have stayed in a hotel, eaten in the restaurant, but only infected her colleagues," he said. "So we know that eating in a restaurant or working in a hotel is not responsible for the infection.
"The virus spreads in other places: the party in Ischgl, the club in Berlin, the football game in Bergamo."
Ischgl, a ski resort in Austria known for its nightlife, is believed to have been a major centre of the European outbreak where the virus was spread by drinking games in which people shared glasses.
"We know it's not a smear infection that is transmitted by touching objects, but that close dancing and exuberant celebrations have led to infections," said Prof Streeck. "Now it is time to find the nuances in between."
photos & notes at source
posted for fair use
No proof coronavirus can be spread while shopping, says leading Germa…
archived 2 Apr 2020 20:39:55 UTC
Attachments
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Americans are underestimating how long coronavirus disruptions will last, health experts say
By Helen Branswell @HelenBranswell
April 3, 2020
Public health experts are increasingly worried that Americans are underestimating how long the coronavirus pandemic will disrupt everyday life in the country, warning that the Trump administration’s timelines are offering many a false sense of comfort.
Coronavirus cases are expected to peak in mid-April in many parts of the country, but quickly reopening businesses or loosening shelter-in-place rules would inevitably lead to a new surge of infections, they said.
Meanwhile, other parts of the country are only now implementing restrictions and others have not yet ordered the closure of non-essential businesses, creating a patchwork response that will slow progress toward the goal of driving down transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
Support STAT: If you value our coronavirus coverage, please consider making a one-time contribution to support our journalism.
“The administration has consistently shown a desire to underplay the severity of whatever is coming. And they’re constantly adjusting that — as it becomes harder to deny the reality will be worse than what they’ve conditioned people for,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development.
Konyndyk said he and other experts he’s discussed the matter with believe an “intensive period of social distancing and a national semi-voluntary lockdown” will last for months.
President Trump, after signaling that he may try to restore some sense of normalcy in the country by Easter, has acknowledged that difficult times are ahead and that restrictions should remain in place until the end of April.
But experts say that, even if some restrictions are relaxed, it’s unlikely life as normal will resume in early May.
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thomas Frieden, said this week that it’s understandable that people want to know when businesses can reopen and some facets of life can resume. But he said the focus of public discourse now needs to be on the public health response, not the question of when restrictions can be lifted.
“Decisions to reopen society should not be about a date, but about the data,” Frieden, now president and CEO of the global public health initiative Resolve to Save Lives, said during a briefing Wednesday for journalists. “How well and how quickly we do these things will determine how soon and how safely we can reopen.”
He and others have outlined steps that should be taken before restrictions are lifted to ensure new cases do not continue to grow exponentially, collapsing health care systems under their weight. Frieden stressed the importance of expanded testing to know where the virus is transmitting as well as setting up public health
infrastructures to trace the contacts of cases and monitor them in quarantine.
“We need an army of contact tracers in every community in the U.S. to be ready to find every contact and warn them to care for themselves and stop spreading it to others,” he said.
Related:
Navigating the Covid-19 pandemic: We’re just clambering into a life raft. Dry land is far away
Those resources do not current exist, said Konyndyk, who also noted that hospital capacity across the country needs to be expanded and protective equipment for health workers restocked. There are currently global shortages.
“If we want to be able to — as I think we need to — turn our economy back on in a safe way, we need to be able to do that sort of thing at scale,” Konyndyk said. “And we do not have anywhere close to the public health infrastructure that’s needed to pull that off.”
“That’s fundamental to getting us out of this lockdown phase. And the government’s not talking about it, much less acting on it,” he said.
Public health experts have said the near-term goal is to flatten the epidemic curve of new cases. There are signs that the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle are starting to see some results in this respect, but progress is not yet apparent in most parts of the country.
Michael Mina, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the United States squandered a chance to prevent the virus from taking off here and now must do what it takes to beat it back.
“We let things get out of hand,” said Mina, who is also associate medical director of clinical microbiology at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “So now the place that we’re left in is we have to absolutely beat this down with a hammer and get to near zero cases.
“What the means is we have to be patient. By the end of April shouldn’t be anyone’s consideration at this point,” he said. “We have to assume at the very least this is going through May.”
Others suggest it may be longer before stores and restaurants can reopen, before authorities can consider reopening schools and universities.
Philanthropist Bill Gates warned in an appearance on “CBS This Morning” on Thursday that things like lifting bans on mass gatherings — public meetings or concerts — could be quite a way down the road.
Some activities, like reopening schools, might be deemed low risk and of societal benefit, Gates said. But mass gatherings “may be, in a certain sense, more optional.” Until large numbers of people can be vaccinated against the virus “those may not come back at all,” he said.
Though vaccine development is proceeding at a historic pace, in a best-case scenario a product won’t be available for the general public for at least 18 months, and likely longer. Early supplies, which will be limited, would be used to protect health workers.
Konyndyk and others warn that lifting restrictions will need to be done gradually. And the Trump administration has told state governors it will issue county-by-county guidelines on the level of risk, an effort to help local officials decide when to relax restrictions.
Still, experts are worried that if the current measures work, success could have a paradoxical downside: People who are still vulnerable to the virus will see the risk as over, leaving open the possibility of resurgent spread.
“Success is we have a lot of susceptible people left against a disease for which there is still not effective or proven treatment and no vaccine — and won’t be for some time,” Konyndyk said.
Experts say even a return to normal could come with asterisks. Mina noted, for instance, that restaurants may need to put more space between tables. Others have suggested people in high-risk groups — those over 65 or 70 and people with chronic conditions — may need to practice physical distancing even after restrictions have loosened for others, at least until vaccine is ready.
“We’re at the front end of what will be a pretty arduous few years of something. What the something looks like, we don’t fully know,” said Konyndyk. “But I think our best case scenario is we can pull off what South Korea seems to be managing, which is get the curve down. And our job is going to be much bigger than theirs was. … Dramatically bigger.”
posted for fair use
photos and notes at source
Americans are underestimating how long coronavirus disruptions will last, health experts say
Public health experts are increasingly worried that Americans are underestimating how long the coronavirus pandemic will disrupt everyday life in the country.
So my county send out this missive stating that we have done such a great job with social distancing that we have substantially flattened the curve of infection. So now, the peak of infection has moved from April to the end of May. It appears that this means 2 more months of social distancing. I don't think people understand that an extended time period accompanies "flattening."
Attachments
marsh
On TB every waking moment
5:00 min
"Masquerade" from Phantom of the Opera
For what is life without musical accompaniment?
Last edited:
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Here's How You Can 3D-Print Masks At Home
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 21:00
A little more than a month ago, the US Surgeon General tweeted, "Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!"
Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to reverse the recommendation on wearing face masks.
President Trump suggested on Thursday that new CDC guidelines could require Americans to wear masks.
But there's a problem: Masks are in short supply – the average American can't find 3M N95s or higher, and if they do, some masks can cost upwards $10 to $20 per. Several months ago, the masks were on Amazon or at Home Depot for $1 per, but huge demand as a pandemic unfolded has extinguished all supply. Even major US hospital systems are lacking masks and other medical equipment as confirmed cases reach 245,658 and deaths breach over the 6,000 level.
For anyone who didn't heed our warning about purchasing 3M N95 masks in January/February – here's another option: You can now 3D-print masks at home thanks to the medical students and engineers of Rowan University.
"This is part of a humanitarian effort by Rowan," said Dr. Shreekanth Mandayam, an engineering professor on the university's Glassboro campus who is leading the project.
Courtesy of Courier-Post, students at Rowan show how the masks are assembled: VIDEO on site
In a separate print operation, here's a timelapse video of the masks are being printed:
The printed masks are made from polylactic acid and are not N95 grade. Anyone can slide in HEPA material for the filter -- it's a better option than wearing no mask.
3D-printed adult face mask instructions:
Here’s the 3D-printed adult face mask software:
- Small adult mask - small_rowan3dprintedmask_v2_1.stl (2.1MB)
- Medium adult mask - medium_rowan3dprintedmask_v2_1.stl (2.1MB)
- Large adult mask - large_rowan3dprintedmask_v2_1.stl (2.1MB)
- Filter - filter_rowan3dprintedmask_v2.stl (438KB)
Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
You don't have to pace. you can do a walking exercise video. Look up Leslie Sansone on youtube.
Go to this link to get started:
leslie sansone - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 18:10
Update (1810ET): Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on Friday that a fourth coronavirus bill is in the works, and that health care should be prioritized - telling the Associated Press that "there will be a next measure."
"[It] should be more a targeted response to what we got wrong and what we didn’t do enough for — and at the top of the list there would have to be the health care part of it," said McConnell.
That said, McConnell said he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have a "little different point of view" on the timing for the fourth package, and that he is "not in favor of rushing" the next bill.
McConnell tweeted on Friday that Senate GOP are now focusing on 'tracking the implementation' of the the $2.2 trillion package passed last week.
* * *
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has walked back ambitious plans for infrastructure spending in the next coronavirus stimulus package - and is instead focusing on boosting direct payments to individuals as well as loans to businesses, according to Bloomberg, which notes that the shift will leave an estimated $800 billion infrastructure plan in limbo.
"While I’m very much in favor of doing what we need to do to meet the needs of clean water, more broadband and the rest of that, that may have to be for a bill beyond this," Pelosi told CNBC in a Friday appearance. "I think right now we need a fourth bipartisan bill -- and I think the bill could be very much like the bill we just passed."
"So I’d like to go right back and say let’s look at that bill let’s update it for some other things that we need, and again put money in the pockets of the American people," she said - promoting the much easier sell, which Bloomberg notes would probably have an easier time getting through Congress.
Pelosi and other Congressional Democrats pitched approximately $800 billion in new infrastructure spending, which would be allocated towards boosting broadband, access to clean water, and funding for community health centers.
Congressional Republicans have pushed back against the idea - suggesting that we should wait and see what the impact of the first three packages have had, despite President Trump's call for a $2 trillion infrastructure package.
Meanwhile, nobody has said how the infrastructure plan will be paid for, as nobody has come forward with an actual proposal.
_______________________
Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
I am so sorry for your loss. Adding my prayers for you and your family. I hope that you have people around you to offer support, we are all hear to listen and lend comfort too.
HD
marsh
On TB every waking moment
You don't have to pace. you can do a walking exercise video. Look up Leslie Sansone on youtube.
Go to this link to get started:
leslie sansone - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
1:03 min
Man Makes Homemade Treadmill Using Dish Soap! - (Man Makes A Homemade Treadmill During Quarantine)
Probably throw out your back
Krayola
Veteran Member
LifeSouth seeks recovered COVID-19 patients to help by donating plasma
by: Carey Cox
Posted: Apr 3, 2020 / 04:30 PM CDT / Updated: Apr 3, 2020 / 10:33 PM CDT
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — LifeSouth is partnering with medical centers in Florida, Georgia and Alabama to collect plasma from COVID-19 patients who have recovered from the virus, to transfuse to patients with COVID-19 to help with recovery.
Recovered COVID-19 patients who were tested and found positive, can donate plasma if they have not had symptoms for at least 14 days and test negative by a lab, or after 28 days without symptoms with no follow-up testing required.
The treatment is considered an investigational new drug by the FDA and collected donations will be sent to medical centers to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients. The plasma contains antibodies that may help fight the virus.
Plasma is the clear, straw-colored liquid in the blood that remains when red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are removed.
Potential donors should email medicaloffice@lifesouth.org or call 888-795-2707.
www.wkrg.com
by: Carey Cox
Posted: Apr 3, 2020 / 04:30 PM CDT / Updated: Apr 3, 2020 / 10:33 PM CDT
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — LifeSouth is partnering with medical centers in Florida, Georgia and Alabama to collect plasma from COVID-19 patients who have recovered from the virus, to transfuse to patients with COVID-19 to help with recovery.
Recovered COVID-19 patients who were tested and found positive, can donate plasma if they have not had symptoms for at least 14 days and test negative by a lab, or after 28 days without symptoms with no follow-up testing required.
The treatment is considered an investigational new drug by the FDA and collected donations will be sent to medical centers to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients. The plasma contains antibodies that may help fight the virus.
Plasma is the clear, straw-colored liquid in the blood that remains when red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are removed.
Potential donors should email medicaloffice@lifesouth.org or call 888-795-2707.
LifeSouth seeks recovered COVID-19 patients to help by donating plasma
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — LifeSouth is partnering with medical centers in Florida, Georgia and Alabama to collect plasma from COVID-19 patients who have recovered from the virus, to transfuse to …
www.wkrg.com
marsh
On TB every waking moment
[Because only the wealthy should have guns and ammo]
www.zerohedge.com
Congress Proposes 50% Tax On Guns & Ammo In The US
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 18:00
Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
Congress proposes 50% tax on guns and ammunition in the US
Congress is considering a bill to require citizens to apply for a federal license before being able to purchase a firearm.
And the government would have the authority to deny a license, even if the applicant has no criminal history or mental health issues.
That makes this essentially a nationwide “red flag law.” The government can deny or revoke a license if they arbitrarily deem you to be a problem.
The proposed law would also tax firearms at 30% and ammunition at 50%.
Meanwhile, March saw record firearm sales.
The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 3.7 million background checks required to buy firearms. That is the highest month on record since the system began in 1998.
Click here to read the bill.
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 18:00
Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
Congress proposes 50% tax on guns and ammunition in the US
Congress is considering a bill to require citizens to apply for a federal license before being able to purchase a firearm.
And the government would have the authority to deny a license, even if the applicant has no criminal history or mental health issues.
That makes this essentially a nationwide “red flag law.” The government can deny or revoke a license if they arbitrarily deem you to be a problem.
The proposed law would also tax firearms at 30% and ammunition at 50%.
Meanwhile, March saw record firearm sales.
The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 3.7 million background checks required to buy firearms. That is the highest month on record since the system began in 1998.
Click here to read the bill.
jward
passin' thru
Check out CH's thread on staying safe and fit at home- lots of simple things to be done, even in small spaces. Gotta give the body a way to burn off the stress, as well as to protect from the slower paced lifestyle...
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 17:40
A San Francisco biotech executive featured in the Netflix documentary "Pandemic" announced this week that he and his team may have a cure for coronavirus which is headed to the US military for testing.
Dr. Jacob Glanville of Distributed Bio tweeted on Tuesday that after nine weeks, "we have generated extremely potent picomolar antibodies that block known #neutralizing #ACE2 #epitopes, blocking the novel #coronavirus from infecting human cells."
"I’m happy to report that my team has successfully taken five antibodies that back in 2002 were determined to bind and neutralize, block and stop the SARS virus," he told Radio New Zealand's "Checkpoint" - adding "We’ve evolved them in our laboratory, so now they very vigorously block and stop the SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] virus as well."
When asked directly over Twitter if it's a cure, Glanville replied that it's a "Candidate cure" which requires validation tests and human trials before it can be released.Covid 19 antibodies breakthrough made in San Francisco
•Mar 30, 2020
RNZ
Scientists around the world have been racing to develop treatments, cures and a vaccine for COVID-19 - and are getting closer by the day. Jacob Glanville, one of the stars of Netflix documentary Pandemic, runs Distributed Bio which has been working to find an antibody therapy. Yesterday he tweeted we should get ready for a positive announcement this week. He joins Lisa Owen via Skype from San Francisco.
"Antibodies are attractive because you can give them to a patient right when they're in the hospital like an antiviral. You can also give them to doctors, you could give them to the elderly people to prevent them from getting sick," he added.
Glanville says that the treatment could be 'out by September,' however he will need 'funding and efficient GMP manufacturing.'
The antibodies will be sent to the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases according to Fox News.
jward
passin' thru
AFPgraphics
@AFPgraphics
Cytokine storm: how the immune system can go into overdrive during a severe respiratory illness
@AFP
View: https://twitter.com/AFPgraphics/status/1246330114171961358?s=20
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
When It's Over, Will We Be The Same America?
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 16:45
Authored by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,
And as it is with men, so it is with nations.
Monday, Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, projected some 100,000 to 200,000 U.S. deaths from the pandemic, “if we do things almost perfectly.” She agreed with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s estimate that, if we do “nothing,” the American dead could reach 2.2 million.
That 2 million figure would be twice as many dead as have perished in all our wars from the American Revolution to the Civil War, World War I and II, and Korea and Vietnam.
This does indeed concentrate the mind wonderfully.
Now add to this slaughter of our countrymen a market plunge steeper than the 1929 Crash and a 1930s-style Depression. Wall Street analysts are talking of a wipeout of 30% of our GDP and unemployment reaching 35%.
What a difference a month can make.
On March 3, Super Tuesday, we were caught up in the 14 primary contests after Joe Biden’s stunning victory in South Carolina, which broke the momentum of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
What March 2020 produced and what it appears to portend is a sea change in U.S. history, an inflection point, an event after which things never return to what they were.
The coronavirus crisis seems to be one of those epochal events that alter the character of the country and the course of the republic.
Consider what has happened in three weeks.
The Republican Party, the party of small government and balanced budgets, approved with but a single dissent a $2 trillion emergency bill. There is talk now of a second $2 trillion bill, this one for infrastructure.
In a single month then, a Republican Senate and president grew the federal budget by 50% and are looking to double that.
For years, Democrats raised alarms about Trump’s poaching of the powers of the other branches. Now Democrats are demanding to know why Trump has not shut down the economy by presidential decree and not used his latent dictatorial powers to order U.S. companies to produce what the nation’s hospitals demand.
Democrats who long accused Trump of xenophobia and racism for seeking to close the borders to migrants entering the country illegally are now silent as Trump closes America to the world.
First Amendment free press champions are calling for Trump’s White House briefings not to be carried on TV because the president is spouting propaganda and lies. The problem: The people are watching and approving of what the media think the people ought not see.
If people in a crisis will jettison lifelong beliefs like this readily, how enduring will their professed belief in democracy itself prove?
The president thinks this will be a V-shaped recession, that once the economy hits bottom and turns up, it will soar, as in 1946 when pent-up demand from World War II was unleashed and America began to churn out cars and consumer good as rapidly as it had weapons of war.
Perhaps. But put me down as a skeptic.
You can’t go home again.
The shattering events of March, followed by what is coming in April and May, will have lasting impacts on the hearts and minds of this generation.
That once-insatiable appetite for Chinese-made goods at the mall — will it really return? Will Americans, after having “socially distanced” for months from family and friends, be reassured of their safety and pack into restaurants in July?
Observing the carrier Theodore Roosevelt in Guam offloading scores of sailors infected with coronavirus, will Americans be up for a clash with a China that is even today asserting its claims to the South China Sea?
Will Americans who survive this crisis care whether Iranian-backed Shiites dominate Iraq or Saudi-backed Sunni prevail in Yemen?
If March shocked this nation as severely as 9/11, what is coming may be even more sobering.
Are millions of unemployed workers without the cash to pay for or to find medicine and groceries likely to stay indoors for weeks or months?
All those criminals being given early release from virus-infested jails and prisons without the means to provide for themselves and their families, how will they react to weeks of mandatory sheltering in place?
Will MS-13 and its thousands of members, and its rival gangs that live off narcotics sales, comply?
Americans have done well in staying home in March. Will they do so through April, May and perhaps June? Or will the system gradually break down just as the second wave of the virus in the fall appears?
In times of crisis in America, there is a tradition of self-sacrifice.
But there have also almost always been not a few whose mindset is that of the Fort Lauderdale spring-breakers.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 14:50
It's the first day that America's small businesses can apply for the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program, i.e., the $350BN program that is part of the bigger $2 trillion bailout package designed to provide small businesses access to capital for payroll and other overhead costs to the tune of 2.5 months of average payroll and which must be accessed via an existing banking relationship - and the rollout is predictably a mess, with some banks such as BofA already accepting loans (which convert to grants if used exclusively for payrolls and business continuity purposes), while others like JPM delaying the roll out to 1pm; a third group of banks such as Wells Fargo has conspicuously failed to provide its rollout plans - perhaps it is scheming how to cross-sell bailout loans with auto insurance or engage in some other typically Wellsfargoian fraud.
But a recurring shock as millions of small business owners head to these bank websites to apply for the PPP funds is that contrary to the SBA's guidance that any small business with 500 or less employees can apply, going to lender portals shows that only a very narrow subset of America's millions in small businesses are be eligible.
In fact, only those companies that already have a lending relationship, i.e., an outstanding loan with a given bank are - at least as of this moment - able to apply for the rescue funds.
Bank of America's website confirms as much, stating on its eligibility page that only "clients with a business lending and a business deposit relationship at Bank of America are eligible to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program through our bank." In other words, any business that only has a deposit account and no loan or business card is out of luck.
And the kicker, literally, for those BofA clients who would like to become eligible and open a business loan account, well it's too late: as the bank makes clear, this should have happened as of Feb 15.
Said otherwise, business who ran a clean balance sheet without debt are seen as riskier than businesses that carry loans, and are unduly penalized just because they never opened a loan with BofA.
JPMorgan is even more draconian in its selectivity of whom it will hand out Treasury-guaranteed money to. As the bank notes in its ironically-named "CARES" website, "You must have a Chase Business checking account as of February 15, 2020." Anyone who does not is straight out of luck.
And as countless other banks follow suit, the question becomes is this how the banks that were bailed out by ordinary Americans in 2008 will treat those same Americans when they need a rescue too? Alternatively, what happens to these banks when millions of small business fail and America's economy plunges into an even deeper depression. One final question: how is it logical for banks to only bailout those companies which already have debt and are by extension riskier, than to provide funds to their ordinary clients who only now, for the first time, need a helping hand.
We eagerly await Steven Mnuchin's answers to these questions.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 11:45
Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
Approximately ten million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits over the past two weeks. To put that in perspective, the all-time record for a single week before this coronavirus pandemic hit was just 695,000. So needless to say, 6.6 million claims in a single week puts us in uncharted territory. Just check out these charts...
We have never seen a week like this before, and we may never see a week quite this bad again. Of course millions more jobs will be lost in the months ahead as this pandemic stretches on, but it is hard to imagine another spike like we just had. When you add the last two weeks together, somewhere around 10 million Americans have filed new unemployment claims during that time period…
As I have documented repeatedly in my articles, survey after survey has shown that most Americans were living paycheck to paycheck even during the “good times”.The torrent of Americans filing for unemployment insurance skyrocketed last week as more than 6.6 million new claims were filed, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That brings to 10 million the total Americans who filed over the past two weeks.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected 3.1 million for last week, one week after 3.3 million filings in the first wave of what has been a record-shattering swelling of the jobless ranks. The previous week’s total was revised higher by 24,000.
Now that those paychecks aren’t coming in anymore for millions of Americans, a lot of bills aren’t going to get paid.
Just like we witnessed in 2008, mortgage defaults are about to skyrocket, and Wall Street is bracing for the worst…
As I noted yesterday, the St. Louis Fed expects the unemployment rate to eventually hit 32 percent. That won’t happen immediately, but if we do get there it will be worse than anything that we witnessed during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Because of all the shutdowns that have been instituted nationwide, economic activity has already dropped to levels that we have never seen before in our entire history.
Personally, I was absolutely astounded when the latest box office numbers were released…
And even once all the “shelter-in-place” orders have finally been lifted, a substantial portion of the population will not want to go to movie theaters anymore due to fear of catching the virus.
Many movie theaters that have closed down will simply never open up again.
Another thing that has really surprised me is how rapidly many Americans have run out of food. A Daily Mail article that documented a line of vehicles a half mile long at a church in Orlando that was giving out food received a lot of attention today…
How is it possible that so many families are out of food already?
And apparently charities and food banks all over the country are seeing similar surges in demand. Here are just a few examples that were shared by the Guardian…
- In Amherst, home to the University of Massachusetts’ largest campus, the pantry distributed 849% more food in March compared with the previous year. The second-largest increase in western Massachusetts was 748% at the Pittsfield Salvation Army pantry.
- The Grace Klein community food pantry in Jefferson county, which has the largest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Alabama, provided 5,076 individuals with food boxes last week – a 90% increase on the previous week.
- In southern Arizona, demand has doubled, with pantries supplying groceries to 4,000 households every day – double the number supplied in March 2019. “We saw an increase during the federal government shutdown but nothing as rapid, massive or overwhelming as this,” said Michael McDonald, CEO of the Community Food Bank of South Arizona.
Meanwhile, U.S. farmers are facing problems of their own.
Because of all the shutdowns, it has been difficult for farmers to get enough workers into their fields. The following comes from CNN…
Of course the main thing that is going to drive up prices is the fact that the system is being absolutely flooded with new money. Many Americans have applauded the recent moves by the Federal Reserve, and just about everyone seems thrilled that big government checks are coming, but they won’t be so thrilled when a loaf of bread costs five dollars and a gallon of milk costs ten dollars.
As the virus spreads, many are concerned that it will sweep through low wage communities particularly hard, and that is a huge problem because low wage workers are absolutely vital all along the food chain…
So what are we going to do if there are not enough healthy workers to get our food from the farms to our dinner tables?
Already, confirmed cases are starting to pop up at quite a few food production facilities…
Fear of the coronavirus is going to paralyze even “essential” industries such as food production.
We are now being told that authorities hope that cases peak in April and that this crisis will hopefully be behind us by June. Let us pray that is true, but what most Americans don’t realize is that this pandemic is just the beginning.
Even before any of us ever heard of “COVID-19”, our world was already descending into madness, but now this pandemic has certainly accelerated things.
Millions of Americans have already lost their jobs, and the days ahead are going to be exceedingly challenging.
This is what an economic collapse looks like, and it is just getting started.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Wall Street Wins Again: Banks Force Treasury To Double Rate On Small Business Rescue Loan
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 05:29
Update (1800ET): And so Wall Street wins again.
After we warned earlier that the SBA's $350BN Paycheck Protection Program, which is expected to be launched at midnight tonight and is meant to bailout America's small and medium business (<500 employees), may never even get off the ground because the proposed interest rate on the loan of 0.5% is too low lender banks (alongside with various other considerations as listed below) with JPM saying it “will most likely not be able to start accepting applications on Friday, April 3rd as we had hoped", in a press conference late on Thursday, Steven Mnuchin said that he will double the interest rate on the SBA loan from 0.50% to 1.00% in order to appease banks seeking higher interest rates to participate in the Treasury's bailout program and lend money to the same taxpayers who bailed them out 12 years ago.
These are same banks, mind you, that just sold all $1.6 trillion in securities to the Fed to expand their balance sheets capacity in the past three weeks, and which also just benefited from the Fed's decision to remove Treasurys and deposits from the Fed's SLR test, freeing up another $1.6 trillion in liquidity.
Furthermore, these loans are guaranteed by the federal government and don’t require collateral, and will be forgiven if funds are used for payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent and utility payments for two months and if businesses retain and rehire employees. So bank don't take any risk - why are they charging any interest at all, or rather why do they have any say in what the rate should be?
And yet, despite all this, these banks - which include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Citigroup, Truist Bank and PNC - which were bailed out in 2008 and again bailed out 3 weeks ago with the Fed's various alphabet soup programs, couldn't agree to give Main Street a helping hand, and instead of offering loans at a modest 0.5%, demanded no less than 1%, which is 75-100 bps above where they can borrow cash from the Fed. Because charging America's middle class a record 17% credit card interest rate is not enough, and anything less than 1.0% on a loan that is explicitly backstopped by the Treasury would be uneconomical.
A senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday there could be millions of applications when the program goes live on Friday, with the idea funds would be disbursed quickly, even the same day, on a first-come, first-serve basis. But lenders complained it wouldn’t be possible to process the loans that quickly without having more guidance from SBA, and they were awaiting more information.
Finally, we have a question: who the hell calls the shots here - the perpetually insolvent banks, who would be in dire straits had it not been for the Fed's now trillions in excess reserves, and which once again steamrolled over Main Street, or the Treasury which until today had indicated a rate of 0.50% on the PPP loan...
... and which folded like a cheap seat as soon as the banks demanded another pound of taxpayer flesh, and doubled the rate to 1.0%. In fact, we hope someone finally asks former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin on whose side he really is?
Update (1715ET): With just a few hours before the expected launch of the federal program to dole out at least $350 billion in loans to small businesses (the Paycheck Protection Program), CNBC's Wilfred Frost reports that JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank, emailed customers late on Thursday to say the company “will most likely not be able to start accepting applications on Friday, April 3rd as we had hoped.”
However, Frost goes on to say that the bank makes clear that they are doing all they can to be ready as soon as possible.
* * *
Tonight at midnight, the most critical - if hardly biggest - part of the Fed's $2 trillion fiscal stimulus is expected to begin: that's when small and medium business with 500 employees or less can request a loan of up to 2.5x the average monthly payroll (capped at $10 million), meant to buy cash-strapped companies just under 3 months in liquidity. As we discussed previously, the loans which are packaged under the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program carry a 0.5% interest rate, and would be forgiven if their proceeds are used toward operational uses such as payrolls, utilities, and rent.
Needless to say, getting these loans into the hands of America's 30 million small businesses is absolutely critical: they employ about half of U.S. private sector employees, according to the Small Business Administration website.
There is just one problem: with just hours to go until millions in small businesses across the nation scramble to apply for much needed funding, the program appears to be on the verge of collapse amid what appears to be sheer chaos between the Treasury, the Small Business Administration, and the various commercial banks that will be tasked to loan the action money.
One reason why the program is woefully unprepared for a Friday midnight rollout is that banks that haven't underwritten SBA loans before will need to get onboarded in the system. However, as Politico reports, as of last night, there was no application available for banks to do this, and as CNBC's Kayla Tausche adds, Treasury remains committed to originating these loans beginning tomorrow, despite hiccups.
But wait there's more: as CNBC's Kate Rogers reports, an "official familiar with the Paycheck Protection Program loans rolling out tomorrow says official guidance for banks is not yet finalized" with Kayla Tausche adding that in addition to general guidance, banks are asking Treasury for two specific changes to the small biz program:
- Smaller banks want higher interest rate so they don't lose money
- Big banks want "know your customer" rules waived so they can lend to co's they haven't worked with
Meanwhile, with the supply side choked off amid last minute rollout chaos, demand for the bailout cash is exploding with some estimates that as many as $1 trillion in loan requests will be available for the $350BN in "first come, first serve" loans. As Tausche adds, "industry sources say a "feeding frenzy" of small biz demand for limited resources will be problematic for the system, technically" and notes that "executives are preparing for a situation akin to the 2013 roll-out of http://Healthcare.gov"
That, for those who may not recall, was an unmitigated disaster lasting for months.
But while logistical issues will be overcome, a potential dealbreaker of a problem is that the physical source of new loans is getting cold feet. According to Reuters, thousands of U.S. banks, including some of the country’s largest lenders, have said they may not participate in the federal government’s small-business rescue program due to concerns about taking on too much legal and financial risk.
While the Trump administration has said it wants the loans disbursed within days, bank representatives, as well as thousands of community lenders, have expressed serious reservations about participating in the scheme in its current form and called that deadline totally unrealistic.
Their biggest concern is that the Treasury Department said on Tuesday that lenders will be responsible for preventing fraudulent claims by verifying borrower eligibility, which is determined by a few measures including the borrower’s number of employees and its average monthly payroll costs.
That's not all: banks also must take steps to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, a process that would normally take weeks, the sources said. Additionally, banks are concerned they could face regulatory penalties or legal costs down the line if things go awry in the haste to get money out the door. But at the same time they are worried they will be blamed for not moving funds fast enough if they perform due diligence the way they would under normal circumstances, the sources said.
Then there is the mandated interest rate on the loans: community banks said the Treasury’s guideline interest rate of 0.5% will be unprofitable, and that many small banks will not have sufficient liquidity to front up the loans (this, as we said yesterday, may have been a primary consideration for the Fed to release Treasuries and deposits from the Supplementary Leverage Ratio test, effectively opening up over $1 trillion in additional loan capacity across the US banking sector).
"Taking all of the above concerns into consideration, many banks have already indicated that they will not be able to use the Program under the current terms,” the Independent Community Bankers of America wrote to the U.S. Treasury and Small Business Administration, which are jointly administering the loans program, on Wednesday.
“We strongly recommend that you make changes to the guidelines before the Program goes live so that it will work as intended by Congress,” the group, which represents thousands of small banks across the country, wrote.
Alas, that is impossible as going back to the drawing board would mean days if not weeks of additional delays, which for an economy where every hour matters, is simply not feasible..
Still, as Reuters reports, as of late Wednesday night, after hearing the concerns, Treasury officials are considering withdrawing Tuesday’s guidance and are working to fix the issues, although as of this moment the same guidelines for the PP program were still in place as earlier this week.
Banks also want a document customers can sign attesting to their eligibility and other requirements, thereby relieving the industry of responsibility for potential misconduct. One source said banks are also seeking a written assurance from the government regarding their legal liabilities and obligations before they agree to participate in the program.
Reuters could not learn which specific big banks are thinking about shunning the program. The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), a Washington trade group, hosted a call on Wednesday during which executives from its members discussed their concerns, three of the sources said. Members of the group include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Citigroup, Truist Bank and PNC.
“Our banks are committed to ensuring this program works and that all of the operational complexities and process challenges are worked through so we can achieve Congress’s goal of helping America’s small businesses,” Greg Baer, President and CEO of the BPI, said on Thursday.
Which is ironic: back in September 2008 all the banks demanded multi-trillion taxpayer funded bailouts right this instant as the world was going to implode if a few banks went under. However, now that the tables are flipped, and mainstream America and half of all the private sector employees demand a similar turnaround time or else the US economy will truly collapse, banks suddenly think that taking their time, dotting i's and crossing t's is far more important than getting money into the hands of America's workers. Money which, as a reminder, is now of the "helicopter" variety, openly printed by the Treasury, monetized by the Fed, and which can be delivered to banks through the back door if need be.
With that we look forward to seeing how this chaos resolves itself, and the unprecedented anger that will erupt if US banks - so generously bailed out in 2008 - are the gating factor to getting the critical $350BN in relief loans to America's small business.
For those who are confident this story will have a happy ending, here is a twitter thread from Brock Blake, the CEO of Lendeo - a small business loan marketplace - who explains succinctly why there is no way this program can possibly roll out tonight:
Finally, here is a recap of key issues ahead of the imminent PPP rollout courtesy of CNBC's Tausche.
Worthless animal needs to be put down like any other rabid skunk...
OA
MinnesotaSmith
Membership Revoked
Trump Says Hospitals Will Be Reimbursed For Treating The Uninsured
Hospitals will be reimbursed by the federal government through the historic economic relief package to treat uninsured patients infected with the coronavirus, the president said.
www.npr.org
Trump Says Hospitals Will Be Reimbursed For Treating The Uninsured
BARBARA SPRUNT
President Trump speaks about the coronavirus during Friday's briefing at the White House.
"Just days after the White House coronavirus task force warned Americans to brace for sobering death tolls, the administration is vowing to reimburse hospitals for treating uninsured patients infected with the coronavirus.
Speaking to reporters Friday evening, President Trump said the reimbursement will come using funds from the economic relief package Congress passed last month.
"This should alleviate any concern uninsured Americans may have about seeking the coronavirus treatment," Trump said.
Trump also announced that the health insurance system Blue Cross Blue Shield will not require any co-pays from patients for treatment of the virus over the next 60 days, similar to the commitments of Cigna and Humana.
"For them to do that, is a big statement," Trump said.
Using defense production act
Trump also said he's invoking the Defense Production Act to prohibit the exporting of critical medical supplies by "unscrupulous actors and profiteers."
The president referenced an operation earlier this week by the Department of Justice's COVID-19 hoarding and price gauging task force, which took custody of nearly 200,000 N-95 respirator masks and 600,000 medical grade gloves, along with hand sanitizers and spray disinfectant. The materials were distributed to health care workers in New York and New Jersey.
The owner of the hoarded stash was paid fair market value (pre-pandemic) by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump also announced that the Department of Defense is providing about 8.1 million N95 respirators, saying 200,000 of them have already been given to New York City.
Trump said he anticipates that number will increase.
New guidance on wearing masks
After reports of changed mask guidelines circulated this week, Trump announced a change to those guidelines Friday.
Trump said in light of the fact that individuals can transmit the virus without presenting any symptoms has led the CDC to advise using non-medical cloth face coverings as an additional voluntary public health measure.
The president stressed repeatedly that it's voluntary.
"With the masks, it's going to be really a voluntary thing. You can do it. You don't have to do it," Trump said. "I'm choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it. And that's OK. It may be good."
Trump said such coverings can be purchased online or made at home and can be easily washed and reused.
He emphasized that the CDC is not recommending using surgical grade masks as those need to be reserved for health care workers and that social distancing guidelines are still in place.
Supplies
Vice President Pence told reporters a flight arrived from China today in Columbus, Ohio, with medical supplies.
"We continue to work each and every day watching the data about cases to ensure that in particular, not just the personal protective equipment is available for the health care workers that are on the front lines, but also that ventilators are available," Pence said.
When asked why the country wasn't in a better state of preparedness in terms of supplies, the president blamed the previous administration for the shortages of medical equipment.
"The shelves were empty," Trump said.
Trump went on to say the administration is "doing our best" to provide New York with the ventilators they need.
"We've worked very well with the governor. We happen to think he's well-served with ventilators," Trump said. "We're going to find out. But we have other states to take care of."
Trump wants bodies in voting booths come November
When asked whether states should be prepared for all-mail voting come November, Trump passionately declared no.
"The general election will happen on November 3," Trump said.
Trump said he thinks a lot of people "cheat" with mail-in voting and voiced strong support for voter identification.
"It shouldn't be mail-in voting. It should be — you go to a booth and you proudly display yourself," he said. "You don't send it in the mail, where people pick up, all sort of bad things can happen by the time they signed that, if they signed that, by the time it gets in and is tabulated," he said.
Meeting with energy industry leaders
Crude oil prices have plummeted as a result of the country's lockdown, with gas prices averaging just under $2 a gallon. The drop in demand is coupled with an increasing supply due to a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Trump met with energy executives Friday afternoon and told reporters they "did discuss the concept of tariffs."
When asked if industry leaders asked him for a bailout, Trump said it was more of a "discussion" than an ask.
"We did discuss the concept of tariffs because, as you know, this was a dispute among a couple of countries that I think they want to be able to get it solved. And they had a dispute. They had a competition, but they want to get it resolved," Trump said, referring to Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Trump said while he believed he could use tariffs as a tool, he ultimately thinks the market will resolve it.
Direct payments slated to come in two weeks
During Thursday's briefing at the White House, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said his department is working to ensure that eligible taxpayers will receive their first direct payments within two weeks, one week earlier than originally promised.
"We're delivering on our commitments," Mnuchin said. "The IRS, which I oversee, within two weeks, the first money will be in people's accounts."
Mnuchin dismissed reports that some relief payments — especially to people who can't accept direct deposits and require paper checks — may take up to 20 weeks to reach some Americans.
"If we don't have your information, you'll have a simple Web portal; you'll upload it," Mnuchin said. "If we don't have that, we'll send you checks in the mail."
Coronavirus Live Updates
Mnuchin was joined by Jovita Carranza, head of the Small Business Administration, who said her team is working around the clock to prioritize getting emergency capital for small businesses suffering as a result of the coronavirus.
"I want to ensure that small businesses all over the country know about the Paycheck Protection Program and how they can benefit from this," Carranza said. "Simply put, the Paycheck Protection Program is to help keep employees on payroll and small businesses open. SBA will forgive the portion of the loan that is used toward job retention and certain other expenses."
Efforts to mitigate the economic toll of shutting down the country comes as the U.S. suffered a net loss of jobs for the first time in nearly a decade. Ten million people filed for unemployment in the last two weeks alone.
President Trump, Vice President Pence and other coronavirus task force members also emphasized the work being done to distribute supplies to hospitals, including ventilators and masks."
mzkitty
I give up.
You're killin' me here, OA.
mzkitty, my ex-wife said that I had no sense of humor. Sometimes something comes out funny- in spite of myself!
Have a great weekend, and stay safe and well...
OA
MinnesotaSmith
Membership Revoked
Hospitals STILL preventing their doctors and nurses from wearing masks, even if they bring their own:
www.npr.org
Doctors Say Hospitals Are Stopping Them From Wearing Masks
April 2, 2020
LEILA FADEL
Some doctors say they are being told they can't use their own personal protective equipment, such as gloves and masks.
Neilly Buckalew is a traveling doctor who fills in at hospitals when there's need. So in the midst of this pandemic, she feels particularly vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus — not just in hospitals but in hotels and on her travels.
When she got an assignment last week at Saint Alphonsus Regional Rehabilitation Hospital in Boise, Idaho, she packed her own personal protective equipment and drove to town. She disinfected her hotel room and stayed away from other guests, but worried about the coughing person in the room next door. So she donned her own fitted N95 mask that she uses for work.
"I wanted to protect myself," she said. "I wanted to protect my patients."
Can The U.S. Crowdsource Its Way Out Of A Mask Shortage? No, But It Still Helps
That first day at work, Buckalew said, she was told to take off her mask.
When she asked hospital administrators why, the reasons kept changing. First, Buckalew said she was told it was against hospital policy for health care workers to bring their own gear. Then, she said, administrators told her if she wore her own N95 mask, others would want to wear the masks as well and the hospital didn't have enough. Finally, Buckalew said, it was that CDC guidelines don't require the mask at all times.
"I said if I can't wear it, then we have a problem," she said.
Refusing to take off her mask, she said, got her terminated. Then, she said, after complaining she was reinstated and then terminated again — all within three days.
"I'm raising a huge big stink because it's wrong. It's unsafe. We'll never flatten the curve if hospital systems keep acting this way," she said, adding that she's speaking now because she's already lost her assignment and wanted to speak on behalf of those who can't. "A lot of people can't speak out because they're afraid, or they know that they'll be fired."
The rehabilitation hospital is a joint venture by the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and Encompass Health. A spokesman at the medical center referred NPR to Encompass Health. Repeated calls to Encompass Health for comment were not returned. Buckalew said she filed a formal complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Buckalew's account lays bare tensions between some hospital systems and health care workers on the front lines of this disease. Many doctors, nurses and other hospital workers say they don't feel protected and are afraid in the midst of a shortage of masks and other protective gear. Some are bringing their own supplies, donated by friends and family or purchased at hardware stores. Meanwhile, some hospitals are instituting strict policies that bar medical workers from bringing their own personal protective equipment, or PPE, to work, or limiting how much protection a person can wear because of a shortage in supplies.
Leaders at the American Academy of Emergency Medicine says they have heard accounts like Buckalew's from health care workers across the country.
"We're hearing a lot of people saying that 'I'm not getting adequate PPE at my job, so I was able to buy PPE and I'm using what I buy,'" said Dr. Lisa Moreno, the president-elect of AAEM.
But when they wear it to work, she says, doctors have told her, "'I'm being yelled at. I'm being told to take it off. I'm being told that I'm scaring patients and that I'm scaring other people.' We've had people who had their jobs threatened."
Moreno said about two dozen people have formally complained to her organization. She said they've also received hundreds of calls from health care workers who are afraid to lose their jobs if they complain, but also feel that hospitals aren't letting them do what they need to do to protect themselves against an infectious and new virus. A virus that causes a disease that has killed dozens of health care workers in Italy and already taken the lives of at least two health care workers at the epicenter of the spread in the New York City metro area.
"It seems that the hospital administrations are reacting to the fact that they are failing to provide adequate PPE for their staff," Moreno said. "And when one individual provides adequate PPE, it seems to highlight that fact to the other staff who haven't been able to purchase it."
These types of masks are very hard to come by. A quick search at Home Depot shows pretty much every type of protective mask is out of stock. And everyone from federal and local officials to hospital administrators are struggling to get their hands on as much personal protective equipment as they can in the midst of this pandemic.
So Moreno says it's vital that health care workers are allowed to do what they feel they need to, to feel safe. Because if they get infected, not only could they get very ill or give it to patients, but there would be fewer skilled health care workers to treat sick patients.
She said she's also received complaints that hospital administrators are telling health care workers how much personal protective gear they can wear at work and when. Some doctors and nurses who want to wear their N95 masks at all times are being told no, she said, adding that one doctor told her that he needs to be extra-careful because his son has cancer.
Then there are cases like Henry Nikicicz in El Paso, Texas. He's an anesthesiologist, so he does intubations on patients. He's 60, has asthma and is particularly vulnerable to upper respiratory infections.
Two weeks ago, he was intubating a patient for respiratory distress on his overnight shift at the University Medical Center of El Paso. He walked into the hallway and saw people gathered in a group, so he slipped on his hospital-issued N95 mask.
Should We All Be Wearing Masks In Public? Health Experts Revisit The Question
The next day, a hospital supervisor told him he wasn't allowed to wear the N95 mask when he wasn't in the operating room or treating a patient with an infectious disease, because they are costly and in short supply. Nikicicz was also told he was scaring the patients. The supervisor texted him that he could get a "regular mask" if he felt he needed one.
When Nikicicz responded that he is susceptible to upper respiratory infections, the supervisor's texts appeared to get more aggressive. He referred to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus," a term that many say is not only inaccurate, but also stokes xenophobia. He texted in all capital letters that Nikicicz was the only one in the entire hospital wearing an N95 mask and that he would not be able to get one when the "real virus" comes in. Nikicicz texted back: "The real virus is here already."
Nikicicz is an independent contractor who works with the placement company Somnia Anesthesia. He said he got a call from the company asking for his side of the story. He was told hospital administrators had complained. After that, Nikicicz said he was told not to go into work on Monday.
"I protect myself and protect the environment in case I am infected. In a situation like this, when we have social distancing, wearing a mask is one of the basic ways of stopping the spread of the virus," Nikicicz said. "And I really feel that injustice was done to me because of the fact that the right thing to do is to wear a mask. To punish me for wearing a mask is something that I really feel is wrong."
The University Medical Center of El Paso said in a statement that Nikicicz was removed from the schedule by Somnia Anesthesia for "insubordination."
"The anesthesiologist was told on numerous occasions by his supervisor to not wear the N95 surgical mask while not in the Operating Room area or while not treating patients with infectious disease," the statement said. "UMC is not unlike other hospitals in its efforts to conserve N95 surgical masks, especially when it comes to wearing them when not in the surgical/OR area. At the time of these incidents, the CDC did not require masks (and certainly not N95 masks) to be used by hospital staff when not treating patients or while in surgical/OR areas. Beyond this, we view this as a personnel matter between Somnia Anesthesia and its contracted anesthesiologist. "
Hours after NPR reached out to the hospital, Nikicicz was put back on the schedule.
Marc Koch, president and CEO of Somnia Anesthesia, said that Nikicicz was not removed for insubordination. Koch said he was briefly taken off rotation because elective surgeries are canceled and hundreds of contract workers are being laid off.
"To be frank, I was trying to reach out to him to try to get him to come back. At no point was he terminated," Koch said. "He didn't listen to his chief, yes he was not listening. But what we were trying to do was see our way through that and help him and reconcile that issue."
Koch said protecting doctors has been his number one goal, even securing N95 masks to supply to hospitals that couldn't find any.
"The clinicians want to be safe. They want to meet or exceed the CDC guidelines," Koch said. "And the hospitals fear a run on supplies and [causing] patient anxiety.""
Doctors Say Hospitals Are Stopping Them From Wearing Masks
Health care workers say some hospitals are punishing them for wearing personal protective gear in the halls or that they brought from home.
www.npr.org
Doctors Say Hospitals Are Stopping Them From Wearing Masks
April 2, 2020
LEILA FADEL
Some doctors say they are being told they can't use their own personal protective equipment, such as gloves and masks.
Neilly Buckalew is a traveling doctor who fills in at hospitals when there's need. So in the midst of this pandemic, she feels particularly vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus — not just in hospitals but in hotels and on her travels.
When she got an assignment last week at Saint Alphonsus Regional Rehabilitation Hospital in Boise, Idaho, she packed her own personal protective equipment and drove to town. She disinfected her hotel room and stayed away from other guests, but worried about the coughing person in the room next door. So she donned her own fitted N95 mask that she uses for work.
"I wanted to protect myself," she said. "I wanted to protect my patients."
Can The U.S. Crowdsource Its Way Out Of A Mask Shortage? No, But It Still Helps
That first day at work, Buckalew said, she was told to take off her mask.
When she asked hospital administrators why, the reasons kept changing. First, Buckalew said she was told it was against hospital policy for health care workers to bring their own gear. Then, she said, administrators told her if she wore her own N95 mask, others would want to wear the masks as well and the hospital didn't have enough. Finally, Buckalew said, it was that CDC guidelines don't require the mask at all times.
"I said if I can't wear it, then we have a problem," she said.
Refusing to take off her mask, she said, got her terminated. Then, she said, after complaining she was reinstated and then terminated again — all within three days.
"I'm raising a huge big stink because it's wrong. It's unsafe. We'll never flatten the curve if hospital systems keep acting this way," she said, adding that she's speaking now because she's already lost her assignment and wanted to speak on behalf of those who can't. "A lot of people can't speak out because they're afraid, or they know that they'll be fired."
The rehabilitation hospital is a joint venture by the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and Encompass Health. A spokesman at the medical center referred NPR to Encompass Health. Repeated calls to Encompass Health for comment were not returned. Buckalew said she filed a formal complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Buckalew's account lays bare tensions between some hospital systems and health care workers on the front lines of this disease. Many doctors, nurses and other hospital workers say they don't feel protected and are afraid in the midst of a shortage of masks and other protective gear. Some are bringing their own supplies, donated by friends and family or purchased at hardware stores. Meanwhile, some hospitals are instituting strict policies that bar medical workers from bringing their own personal protective equipment, or PPE, to work, or limiting how much protection a person can wear because of a shortage in supplies.
Leaders at the American Academy of Emergency Medicine says they have heard accounts like Buckalew's from health care workers across the country.
"We're hearing a lot of people saying that 'I'm not getting adequate PPE at my job, so I was able to buy PPE and I'm using what I buy,'" said Dr. Lisa Moreno, the president-elect of AAEM.
But when they wear it to work, she says, doctors have told her, "'I'm being yelled at. I'm being told to take it off. I'm being told that I'm scaring patients and that I'm scaring other people.' We've had people who had their jobs threatened."
Moreno said about two dozen people have formally complained to her organization. She said they've also received hundreds of calls from health care workers who are afraid to lose their jobs if they complain, but also feel that hospitals aren't letting them do what they need to do to protect themselves against an infectious and new virus. A virus that causes a disease that has killed dozens of health care workers in Italy and already taken the lives of at least two health care workers at the epicenter of the spread in the New York City metro area.
"It seems that the hospital administrations are reacting to the fact that they are failing to provide adequate PPE for their staff," Moreno said. "And when one individual provides adequate PPE, it seems to highlight that fact to the other staff who haven't been able to purchase it."
These types of masks are very hard to come by. A quick search at Home Depot shows pretty much every type of protective mask is out of stock. And everyone from federal and local officials to hospital administrators are struggling to get their hands on as much personal protective equipment as they can in the midst of this pandemic.
So Moreno says it's vital that health care workers are allowed to do what they feel they need to, to feel safe. Because if they get infected, not only could they get very ill or give it to patients, but there would be fewer skilled health care workers to treat sick patients.
She said she's also received complaints that hospital administrators are telling health care workers how much personal protective gear they can wear at work and when. Some doctors and nurses who want to wear their N95 masks at all times are being told no, she said, adding that one doctor told her that he needs to be extra-careful because his son has cancer.
Then there are cases like Henry Nikicicz in El Paso, Texas. He's an anesthesiologist, so he does intubations on patients. He's 60, has asthma and is particularly vulnerable to upper respiratory infections.
Two weeks ago, he was intubating a patient for respiratory distress on his overnight shift at the University Medical Center of El Paso. He walked into the hallway and saw people gathered in a group, so he slipped on his hospital-issued N95 mask.
Should We All Be Wearing Masks In Public? Health Experts Revisit The Question
The next day, a hospital supervisor told him he wasn't allowed to wear the N95 mask when he wasn't in the operating room or treating a patient with an infectious disease, because they are costly and in short supply. Nikicicz was also told he was scaring the patients. The supervisor texted him that he could get a "regular mask" if he felt he needed one.
When Nikicicz responded that he is susceptible to upper respiratory infections, the supervisor's texts appeared to get more aggressive. He referred to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus," a term that many say is not only inaccurate, but also stokes xenophobia. He texted in all capital letters that Nikicicz was the only one in the entire hospital wearing an N95 mask and that he would not be able to get one when the "real virus" comes in. Nikicicz texted back: "The real virus is here already."
Nikicicz is an independent contractor who works with the placement company Somnia Anesthesia. He said he got a call from the company asking for his side of the story. He was told hospital administrators had complained. After that, Nikicicz said he was told not to go into work on Monday.
"I protect myself and protect the environment in case I am infected. In a situation like this, when we have social distancing, wearing a mask is one of the basic ways of stopping the spread of the virus," Nikicicz said. "And I really feel that injustice was done to me because of the fact that the right thing to do is to wear a mask. To punish me for wearing a mask is something that I really feel is wrong."
The University Medical Center of El Paso said in a statement that Nikicicz was removed from the schedule by Somnia Anesthesia for "insubordination."
"The anesthesiologist was told on numerous occasions by his supervisor to not wear the N95 surgical mask while not in the Operating Room area or while not treating patients with infectious disease," the statement said. "UMC is not unlike other hospitals in its efforts to conserve N95 surgical masks, especially when it comes to wearing them when not in the surgical/OR area. At the time of these incidents, the CDC did not require masks (and certainly not N95 masks) to be used by hospital staff when not treating patients or while in surgical/OR areas. Beyond this, we view this as a personnel matter between Somnia Anesthesia and its contracted anesthesiologist. "
Hours after NPR reached out to the hospital, Nikicicz was put back on the schedule.
Marc Koch, president and CEO of Somnia Anesthesia, said that Nikicicz was not removed for insubordination. Koch said he was briefly taken off rotation because elective surgeries are canceled and hundreds of contract workers are being laid off.
"To be frank, I was trying to reach out to him to try to get him to come back. At no point was he terminated," Koch said. "He didn't listen to his chief, yes he was not listening. But what we were trying to do was see our way through that and help him and reconcile that issue."
Koch said protecting doctors has been his number one goal, even securing N95 masks to supply to hospitals that couldn't find any.
"The clinicians want to be safe. They want to meet or exceed the CDC guidelines," Koch said. "And the hospitals fear a run on supplies and [causing] patient anxiety.""
Yeah, with the Indonesian tourist invasion shedding COVID-19 everywhere, they're gonna need to keep 'em. At least they'll work, unlike those from the evil, wicked, chinee...
OA
jward
passin' thru
Iran Arab Spring
@IranArabSpring
Samsam o din Ghawami the Imam Jumma of Pardisan in #Qom / #Iran provided 3 possibilities as the source of #Coronavirus today (Friday, April 3,2020) 1- Bats
2- Biological war
3- Jinn
View: https://twitter.com/IranArabSpring/status/1246164540187971585?s=20
@IranArabSpring
Samsam o din Ghawami the Imam Jumma of Pardisan in #Qom / #Iran provided 3 possibilities as the source of #Coronavirus today (Friday, April 3,2020) 1- Bats
2- Biological war
3- Jinn
View: https://twitter.com/IranArabSpring/status/1246164540187971585?s=20