The good news is that Trump cannot unilaterally open anything more than a bucket of KFC. The bad news is that there are a lot of Trumpy governors, and they would follow his lead. The worst news is that there isn't one peak so much as a rolling peak. A bunch of left-leaning states were hit hardest first...they'd be the ones in the best position to open things up, but are sensibly not planning to do so. A bunch of right-leaning states are only now approaching peak and they're the ones most likely to be swayed.
I mean that's just nuts. It's like Trump surely wouldn't risk killing people to be the first to open up fully would he. This is almost like getting on the moon first for him. That 60k revised estimate may need pushing out, at this rate they will hit that inside 2 weeks.
Figure at 12million now. What a fantastic story this is becoming. After reading about the selfish ****s flouting the lockdown rules it just restores your faith in humanity.
One of the underappreciated aspects of Trump is the degree to which he comes to believe his own bullshit. If he wants something to be true, it's not just that he tries to convince others that it's true: it becomes true. So if he wants for it to be safe to open on May 1st, there is no risk of killing people, because he doesn't believe it and what he believes is reality.
Piers Morgan asked Matt Hancock just now “After picking on footballers to donate money, would yourself and other ministers,most being millionaires donate with a pay cut as well”? Just like the PM and ministers in New Zealand have done. His answer was basically no but he’s working lots of hours.
Whilst I have no great love for Matt Hancock, or anyone else in this government (Rishi Sunak excepted), Piers Morgan can take his newly acquired and completely phony “voice of the people” act, and shove it up his hypocritical arse.
I am certainly no fan of Piers (hated what he allowed to happen when he was at The Mirror)...but he asking questions which is making Hancock squirm. Another was yesterday at the briefing when a journalist asked “You said we would be having 25,000 tests a day by this date?” “ But were only having 15,000 instead!” Then Matt Hancock said the journalist was incorrect when in fact they were.
Captain Tom Moore competes his 100 laps, and gets a guard of honour https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52303859
This comes back to what I posted a few days ago. Once the reporter asks the question, his microphone is turned off, so if the MP/expert replies with a lie or misinformation, there is no rebuttal. That there is no rebuttal gives a false impression that the reporter has no issue with the response and leads to the viewers believing that the answer is accurate. The briefings are being used as a means of controlling what the public get to know, so I find it quite exhilarating that people like Piers Morgan and the Tory press are making things difficult for the government by asking questions that need to be answered under serious scrutiny. I don’t like Morgan. I think he is an overbearing bully and, generally, an apologist for the Tory government, so I am enjoying seeing him use his bullying tactics to poke holes in the Tory mantra.
Yes indeed, it's something when the mail and telegraph publish articles slating tory governments. The shame of question being avoided or misleading replies going unchallenged need further exposure. The organ Morgan's faux man of the people act is as opportunistic as Johnson's performances. May their hemorrhoids dangel painfully.
No doubt some republican governors will open their states May 1. We will see if any of them with high case loads like Florida and Louisiana do. He will celebrate and tell us all we are now safe when North Dakota opens.
The furlough scheme was opened up to anyone who moved jobs shortly after the original 28 Feb cut off date. Should have been that way to begin with but fair play for acting on it. It now gives me and thousands others a crucial safety net. I’ve got a pay cut but still employed and working at the moment.
A potential new treatment for coronavirus being trialled at a hospital in Wales offers patients a "glimmer of hope", specialists say. The University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff hopes to offer the treatment as part of a study within a month. Blood will be extracted from people who have recovered from Covid-19 and the plasma will be given to patients. It is hoped antibodies in the plasma of the blood could help others struggling to fight the infection. At this early stage, the plan is to trial the treatment on patients who are severely affected by coronavirus, according to Dr Stuart Walker, medical director at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
It's a fabulous achievement but it shouldn't have to be up to a ninty-nine year old and members of the public to plug the financial gaps left by austerity and underfunding of the NHS.
Maybe true, but this will have caught out any government at any time. I still don't believe people have died due to a lack of available beds or equipment, they have died due to the ability of the virus to spread, underlying health issues (in the main) and age. To me, it's not the funding part that is the larger issues, it is we acted a couple of week later than perhaps we should have.
