The official number of Americans sick with coronavirus doubled over the weekend; markets are plunging. There’s a lot to talk about, so here’s a new open thread.
This tweet from Eric Trump really hasn’t aged very well.
Send tips to dfutrelle at gmail dot com.
We Hunted the Mammoth relies entirely on readers like you for its survival. If you appreciate our work, please send a few bucks our way! Thanks!
Speaking of tweets that haven’t aged well, didn’t Trump Sr. put out a bunch of tweets about how great the stock market was and how he had saved us from coronavirus?
A friendly warning: please do not downplay this virus by pointing out that it will mostly kill old people and immuno-compromised people. Some of us care about old people and immuno-compromised people. Some people are old and/or immuno-compromised, and they can understand you. Thank you.
That look bad. Not just for the coronavirus, but because if there is an economic crisis because of it, things will get from bad to worse.
Let’s hope that governements will do just enough lockdown to slow down the virus without destrouing the economy.
(while the current maret fluctuations seem a bit artificial to me, 2 or 3 months of lockdown will A – starve any gig economy worker and B – do a lot of economic damage on firms, especially smaller one, and that’s what frighten me)
@Mrs. Obed Marsh : even above that, people that say that don’t know how to stats. There’s plenty of not old, not immuno depressed dead peoples, and the odds for anyone to die from it are far from negligible regardless of their health.
And in addition, while the mortality for “healthy” people apparently isn’t high, it will spike up dramatically if the hospitals are overcrowded, because peoples won’t get the care they need. And it will results on unneeded deaths of both infected people, and non infected people that needed an hospital stay for other reasons. The peak on mortality if the health system fail look close to 20%.
At times like these I’m thankful I walk to work each day, and through a mostly unused route. Bus and the like could be a risk factor at all times.
Still, if there’s one thing that irks me about my fellow Peruvians is that plenty of them just sneeze in the open without covering themselves.
I keep on warning them that the stores might’ve run out of face masks but not mace. If they insist on not covering up, Imma spray the first jerk in my path that spreads their germs my way.
This sucks….
Lost my retirement savings twice already, in the 80s and in 2008… now I’m 6 months from retirement and my money is vanishing again….
Neoliberalist capitalism bites.
(But, oh, can’t explore socialism… that would be… socialist….)
My workplace has been in a death spiral for going on 2 years.,. we’ve had 3 company presidents, three owners, now we’re down to four people, no I.T., no H.R., and not just “paycheck-to-paycheck” but “hope my key works when I come to work”….
And with dumb donald, I don’t even know if Social Security and Medicare will even be around in October….
Hope everyone else is healthy, well-scrubbed and disinfected 🙂
Obviously now a lot more people are using hand sanitisers; which is good of course. But just to warn, some of them contain essential oils that are harmful to pets. So you might want to check the ingredients before giving pats or scritches.
Yesterday was the 42nd (yes 42nd) anniversary of the original Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio comedy on BBC Radio 4. It’s probably a coincidence that the World Health Organization is literally urging people to sanitize their phones. And most of all, HHGTTG has yet more good advice for us: Don’t Panic! Let’s write it in large, friendly letters when we feel the world is falling apart.
May we always know where our towels are in these times of trouble!
Unbelievable…the Cheeto just tweeted a meme of himself playing the violin. I’m guessing he’s unaware of the Nero thing. Nothing would surprise me at this time.
@Alan Robertshaw:
Good to know. My one cat, Baby, backs away from the smell of scented toiletries, like a vampire from a cross.
@Weird Eddie:
I hear you. I myself am planning on Social Security being gone when it’s time for me to retire.
I understood that reference.
Also, I believe the code for posting pics is literally just posting the full link of the pic right?
@Anonymous Coward, I always thought we were meant to lie down and put a paper bag over our head or something.
@Dormousing_it
He wouldn’t know it because he doesn’t know anything about history, but the irony is extreme. Unless he’s trying to say it’s good to fiddle while Rome burns…which is a possibility with him.
@Diego Duarte
Yes. Make sure it ends in an image extension, though.
I’m surprised no one has yet commented on Trump’s claims that coronavirus is just like the flu, in that you will just feel bad for a while and then get over it.
I guess he’s never heard of the Spanish flu.
@ Diego
I don’t know if this is of any interest to you; but it relates to your earlier point that climate change etc. disproportionally affects people in the global south.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/09/we-need-to-be-heard-the-bame-climate-activists-who-wont-be-ignored
Something I ran across on Twitter last week that I’m curious/concerned about. Some people are claiming that guys do not wash their hands when using the bathroom. I don’t know that many guys I can ask… so guys? How often do guys wash their hands? Are y’all having conversations about what it means to wash your hands more?
I need a like button for Mrs Obed Marsh’s comment, please.
I’m just glad that my elderly parents are paying attention to the warnings about the virus, in spite of being Trump voters and Fox News consumers.
Lack of proper hygiene is, unsurprisingly, part of toxic masculinity. As we’ve all seen here from the guys who refuse to wipe because “that’s gay.”
I’ve always been very hygienic, even as a little boy, and the short time that I spent in a college dorm (around 1997-1998) was utterly horrifying.
Not only did it turn out that “real men” don’t wash their hands, they also don’t wipe. I learned that they don’t wipe because they don’t flush, either.
Then there was the guy who did not use the toilet, because he was already in the shower. No, he did not just pee in the shower.
@Lilome
I’m not a guy, but I lived as one long enough to know that sadly most men do not wash their hands. I’ve always been obsessive about cleanliness and wash my hands very often, but many people do not share my view on this.
@Allandrel
That’s disgusting. What was he thinking?
@Allandrel:
That’s horrifying. Sadly, I’m not surprised at their lack of concern for others. I’m a little surprised at their carelessness about their own health & comfort. They must’ve been in need of diaper-rash cream. I’m hoping alot of this was young men’s BS, and they eventually matured out of it.
It reminds me of something I read in the news – some men are reluctant to recycle, because they believe it makes them look “gay”.
@Dormousing_it
That sounds similar to what we discussed a few months ago with men not using reusable bags because they thought it made them look gay. Either way, toxic masculinity kills the environment in subtle ways in addition to the more overt ways.
It’s definitely disturbing that people don’t already wash their hands. Gross.
The US government and any other government that doesn’t enforce paid sick leave need to enact emergency measures to start enforcing it now. Not just offer paid leave, but not punish workers for using it by requiring doctors notes or limiting the number of days that can be taken at once.
We also need free testing offered to anyone who needs it.
Given that the recovery from the 2008 recession didn’t really apply to non affluent people, the US economy is ill equipped to handle both a recession and a pandemic at once.
I fear this mess will only bolster Biden’s chances at winning the nomination, as voters will seem as a representative of a more stable time. However, the status quo is what got us here and is not good enough. I guess the silver lining is a no longer good economy will remove the last excuse to vote for Trump in the general.
@WWTH
Millions still will vote for him. They don’t need an excuse other than that he shares in their bigotry and insecurity.
And they will say “the situation is bad, so I need Trump to improve it !”
Same bullshit as for state police : if criminality go down, it’s thanks to them, if criminality go up they need more to fight it.
@WWTH:
I fear you may be right about Biden, but damn, that’s fucked up. This is absolutely the right time for voters to demand progressive policies! Bernie should be killing it in the current situation!
Did anyone else see the pictures of Trump at Mar-a-Lago and think Masque of the Red Death?
@Ohlmann
Of course in realty Trump has every opportunity to fix things but made everything worse. Not sure how he’ll spin the economy. Probably just say it’s doing great because he knows his fans will never doubt him. We’re in real 2+2=5 territory and he knows that.