Return to Slaughter

Posted on by Thor

During the Covid-19 pandemic meat packing plants became hot beds for the spread of the virus. These outbreaks affected dozens of plants, leading to closures of some factories and disruption of others, and posed a significant threat to the meat supply in the United States. As of May 1, nearly 5,000 packing plant workers in 115 facilities, in 19 states had fallen ill, and 20 had died. Meat packing plants are notoriously known for having poor working conditions with everyone working close together on the disassembly line cutting meat.

Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls, South Dakota had an outbreak that had 600 employees who tested positive for the virus. On April 12, 2020 Smithfield Food closed its plants to stop the rampant spread of the virus. Hundreds of federal meat inspectors have also been exposed to Covid-19, as the virus outbreak spread to thousands of workers at processing plants across the country.

On April 28, 2020 President Donald Trump, who loves MacDonald Hamburgers, used the Defense Production Act to insist meatpacking plants to remain open. The order requiring plants to remain open will threaten the health of workers returning to work after the plants closed last week because of the Covid-19 outbreak. The executive order named such plants “critical infrastructure,” but did not include a specific order for them to remain open. Trump’s order also seeks to shield meat companies from legal liability if they are sued by employees who contract COVID-19 while on the job. What s needed is a robust, continuous testing infrastructure for workers and their families, but that has not been put in place. It has been reported that some employers have failed to provide face masks and are not consistently offering personal protective equipment (PPE) to non-management employees. What’s more, many slaughterhouse employees are not guaranteed sick pay for COVID-19-related illness or premium pay for working extra hours in hazardous conditions.

Trump’s production act is considered by some to be a paper-thin proclamation with limited legal effect. At least seven Covid-19 affected meatpacking plants have shut their doors since the April 28th executive order. That’s in line with the average of eight weekly plant closures in the month leading up to the order.

What happens to the animals now that meatpacking plants close?  The hard fact is that they will not live an idyllic life in open fields. The industrial scale farms have no place to send their cows, pigs and chickens so their facilities are becoming overcrowded by the glut of animals. Farmers are choosing to either starve the animals or kill them on mass. Millions of animals are being slaughtered and left to decompose. It is an orgy of waste.

Daybreak Foods used carbon dioxide to kill 61,000 egg laying hens in Minnesota. Others have covered flocks in foam which suffocates them. Another method has been to shut off ventilation and allow the animals to died from the heat build up. Pigs are being killed by gun shots, electrocution and blunt force trauma also known as “thumping” where baby pigs are slammed head first into the ground. By a conservative estimate 2 million animals have been killed.

This then creates another problem. What can be done with all the decomposing carcasses? Rendering plants can turn some animal mass into dog food or fertilizer but these plants are also closing down or working at a limited capacity due to the virus. Disposal in land fills requires leak proof trailers with absorbent liners. Burial requires adherence to state and federal water protection regulations. Open pit burning has health costs due to dangerous particulate matter. These kinds of ultimate solutions have not been used since World War II. This is a nightmare of a situation where life of any kind is considered expendable in the rush to open the economy.

Despite growing evidence that the pandemic is still raging, President Trump and other administration officials said on Tuesday May 5, 2020, that they had made so much progress in bringing it under control that they planned to wind down the Coronavirus Task Force in the coming weeks and focus the White House on restarting the economy.

How much is a life worth?

At the Feet of Lincoln

Posted on by Thor

Donald Trump spoke with several Fox News hosts inside the Lincoln Memorial about the Covid-19 pandemic. The White House had Interior Secretary David Bernhardt relax the rules to allow the interview inside the memorial. The original plan was to have the interview on the steps outside the memorial but Donald wanted to be at the feet of the giant inside. As he said, “I don’t think it’s ever been done, what we’re doing tonight, here, and I think it’s great for the American people to see, this is a great work of art, aside from the fact that that was a great man, this is a great work of art.” It would seem that for Trump, the appearance of things is more important than any facts. He is ever the reality show star. However this setting made it clear that this is a tiny man making desperate attempts to seem presidential.

He clearly staged this interview with this air-headed thought in mind, “They always said Lincoln — nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse.” He went on to blame the media, China, Obama, Biden, and State Governors for his short comings. He praised protestors who are spreading the virus.

Trump said, “Look, we’re going to lose anywhere from 75,000, 80,000 to 100,000 people.” He put on his doctors cap to explain, “It — it infects — if you have any problem, heart, diabetes, even a little weak heart, a little diabetes, then, look, this thing is vicious, and it — it can take you out. And it can take you out very strongly.”

Jared Kushner said in an interview that the government rose to the challenge and that this is a great success story. Trump tried to follow that line of reasoning by saying, “That’s one of the — if you call losing 80,000 or 90,000 people successful, but it’s one of the reasons that we’re not at that high end of the plane, as opposed to the low end of the plane.” He pointed out, “We we’re winning bigger than we’ve ever won before.” I guess it is true, in that America has the highest death toll of any country in the world. Maybe that is Trumps idea of winning.

So much of this human suffering could have been mitigated had the president taken the virus seriously. Sadly any time I write down the number of deaths in America it is instantly outdated. To date 72,002 people have died from this virus. Funeral directors can not keep up with the number of bodies. They are stored on ice in rental trucks or they are stored in cardboard boxes marked “Handle with care” each propped up on two chairs and strapped onto a wooden palette with a zip tie. The head is noted much like any “This side up” that you might see on a box. A decorative Greek wreath is also at the head of each box.  each Loved ones are unable to say good by in the hospital. With this virus, you die alone.

Families suddenly out of work, are unable to afford the cost of the funerals. People have to resort to GoFundMe pages to try and raise enough to bury their loved ones. The federal government could pay for burials for those who have died. After past tragedies like hurricanes, the government has stepped in to handle burial costs. However Donald Trump refuses to release federal funds for those who have fallen. In past tragedies the government payed out $2,700 for each families funeral expenses. Where the government to pay families that amount it would cost about 195 million dollars. The administration dolled out 500 billion for big business, tens of billions for the airline industry, tens of billions for a luxury hotel in Atlanta. Helping to bury the dead is a basic core measure of human dignity. For what is supposed to be the greatest country in the world, it is the least we can do. Trump will not do it. He does not need congress to make this happen, he just needs to authorize FEMA to release the money.

Instead the president is rage tweeting in the middle of the night. He thinks he and his administration has done a great job. He feels “Our deaths per million are really very strong.” What is happening in America is a nightmare. While many grieve, the president wants to reopen the country with not enough testing to find out who has the virus. As many states began to reopen their economies a new internal report from the Trump administration predicts that will come at a cost: There could be 200,000 new Covid-19 cases and 3,000 deaths EVERY day by the end of May. This study reflects “changes in mobility and social distancing policies.”

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
― Abraham Lincoln

Carnival Cruise to Set Sail August 1?

Posted on by Thor

Carnival Cruise is making preparations to set sail again starting as early as August 1, 2020. Prior to the pandemic, an estimated 30 million passengers were transported on 272 cruise ships worldwide each year. Cruise ships are often settings for outbreaks of infectious diseases because of their closed environment and contact between travelers from many countries.

More than 800 cases of laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases occurred during outbreaks on three cruise ship voyages, and cases linked to several additional cruises have been reported across the United States. Transmission occurred across multiple voyages from ship to ship by crew members; both crew members and passengers were affected; 10 deaths associated with cruise ships have been reported to date. As of 2 May 2020, over 40 cruise ships have had confirmed positive cases of Codid-19 on board, and one cruise ship remains at sea with passengers on board: Artania, with 8 passengers who are scheduled to disembark at Bremerhaven, Germany, around May 31, 2020.

During February 7-23, 2020, the largest cluster of Covid-19 cases outside mainland China occurred on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, ( 712 confirmed cases and 14 dead) which was quarantined in the port of Yokohama, Japan.  On March 6, 2020, cases of the virus were identified in persons on the Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California, (122 confirmed case and 7 dead.)  The Grand Princess was subsequently quarantined. By March 17, 2020, the virus had has spread on at least 25 additional cruise ship voyages.

On February 21, 2020, CDC recommended avoiding travel on cruise ships in Southeast Asia; on March 8, 202220, this recommendation was broadened to include deferring all cruise ship travel worldwide for those with underlying health conditions and for persons aged 65 years or older. On March 13, 2020, the Cruise Lines International Association announced a 30-day voluntary suspension of cruise operations in the United States. CDC issued a level 3 travel warning on March 17, 2020, recommending that all cruise travel be deferred worldwide. The “no sail” order is in effect until the Secretary of Health and Human Services declares that COVID-19 no longer constitutes a public health emergency, the CDC Director rescinds or modifies the order based on specific public health or other considerations, or 100 days have passed from April 15, the date the order was extended, meaning July 24, 2020.

It would seem that cruise ships are floating coffins. Carnival Cruise lines plans to resume cruised out of the port of Miami starting in August 1, 2020 with a total of 8 ships. The following ships will set sail, Carnival Dream, Freedom, Vista, Horizon, Magic, Sensation, Breeze and Elation. More appropriate ship names might include, Nightmare, Imprisonment, Dark Sky, Blindness, Curse, Sea Sickness, Stagnant Air, and Depression. I would be curious to sketch on the Carnival Nightmare.
In the future, passengers entering a cruise ship would have their temperature checked with a heat sensor. Boarding passes would be timed to avoid lines entering the ship. With food service there would be sanitation stations and staff serving the food rather than having guests touching the same utensils to serve themselves. The plan would also be to have fewer people on the ship. Passengers would only be permitted to book balcony rooms which would allow them to get fresh air in the case of yet another outbreak. They may only book every second cabin as sell. If there are only about 40% of passengers on board then the whole crew would not be needed as well. Each crew member would have their own cabin rather than being with a roommate. There is no guarantee that the cruise industry will incorporate all these possible changes.

On Friday, May 1, 2020, the US Congress announced an investigation of Carnival Cruise Line’s parent company, Carnival Corporation, over why it did not act sooner to protect passengers and staff. Dozens of people have died and more than 1,500 confirmed Covid-19 infections have been recorded in connection with Carnival’s ships, which saw major outbreaks on the Diamond Princess, the Zaandam (11 confirmed cases, 4 dead) and the Ruby Princess (852 confirmed cases, 21 dead).

At least 17 cruise ship workers are confirmed to have died from suspected Covid-19, on cruise ships, and dozens more have had to be evacuated from ships and taken to hospital. Around the world, more than 100,000 crew workers are still trapped on cruise ships, at least 50 of which have Covid-19 infections, a Guardian investigation has found. They are shut out of ports and banned from air travel that would allow them to return to their homes. At least one cruise line has stopped paying some workers who are trapped onboard. Many nations, including the US, have balked at providing even basic emergency services for these stranded crew members. The CDC is also acting as a roadblock to the Crews safe return home. Though crew have been isolated for more than 30 days, they can not break quarantine. Should a crew member get off the ship, the captain could face jail time.

Though sources vary, there were about 2871 confirmed cases of Covid-19 on cruise ships  with 72 dead.

Pamdemic Kitchen

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz, the head curator at the Orange County Regional History Center has teamed up with Brendan O’Connor at the Bungalower to produce Old Florida themed cooking shows on Zoom during the pandemic.I sketched he first show where Pam demonstrated how to prepare Chicken Pilau (pronounced Pur-lo) in an instant pot. Pam based her creation on a recipe by Florida author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings who is best known for writing The Yearling. It was a fun hour of watching Pam and Brendan joke together while she taught him how to prepare the dish via Zoom.

The Pilau had diced white bacon (Pork Belly), Chicken, 1 chopped Green Pepper, 4 medium onions chopped fine, 1 clove chopped garlic, 4 cups chopped tomatoes, 1 teaspoon thyme, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/8  teaspoon pepper, 6 cups long grain rice, and 6 cups water. If you like hot, add 1 hot Datil pepper shopped. The recipe calls for things to simmer for several hours, but with the instant pot, it took just 10 minutes to cook. The process, after cutting and dicing seemed to be to just throw the ingredients in the pot, set the timer and forget about it while chatting with the audience and Brendan. You can tell the dish is done when the pot’s pressure nipple pops up. The great thing about this show is that I get to taste the leftovers for the next couple of days. This dish was delicious!

Yesterday they were back at it making sour orange pie. The pie was Pam’s personal recipe. Sour oranges are the types of oranges that used to grow in Florida before farmers started growing the sweet navel  oranges. I didn’t sketch this recording session since I was working on one of my pandemic themed illustrations, but I heard them joking and of course tasted the final result. Sour orange pie is a real taste explosion covered in a gorgeous lightly toasted meringue. Someone offered her to pick oranges off a tree in her yard but the yard was way out on the Atlantic coast. This seemed an excessive drive for a few oranges. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings had one abandoned sour orange tree on her property in Cross Creek Florida. When she wanted to make a sour orange pie she had to ask her assistant where the tree was. The assistant had been using the trees oranges for herself. The tree was right across the road in a ditch from the house.  Pam had to call all over Orlando to find a grocery that carried the rare sour oranges and she found them at Fancy Fruit (7192 East Colonial Drive Orlando FL). There is nothing fancy about sour oranges, they are wrinkly and ugly but make a great pie.

Pre-Pandemic: Dickson Azalia Park

Posted on by Thor

Prior to the Pandemic I was doing a series of sketches of Orlando’s Significant Trees. This was the final series f sketches I was doing before the sate wide lock down. Dickson Azalea Park (100 Rose Garden Drive) is a rare gem in Orlando. Of note in this scene are the Long Leaf Pine trees which are about 100 years old. They are extremely tall because they had to compete for light against the Oak trees which grow along the upper edge of the ravine.

The paths in this park follow a stream and the entire park is sunk because of erosion, sort of like a mini grand canyon only less orange. I have become infatuated with the pattern that tree branches make against the sky. Working with the complexity of natural forms I also have an excuse to just play with the paint, sometimes just splattering the page for pattern.

I have just 3 of these locations yet to visit, but I stopped after the stay at home order. I have no need to have my work labeled #floridamoron because I risk my life for the sake of any one painting. Instead, I stay in and paint the nightmare that is modern politics that first didn’t recognize the problem and then does as little as possible to resolve it.

On March 3, 2020 the day this sketch was done, California Governor Gavin Newsom released millions of N-95 face masks to be used in low emergency health settings. That state was mobilizing every level of government to address the impending threat of the virus. On March 3, the third case of Covid-19 was diagnosed in Florida. One was a 29-year-old Hillsborough County woman who had recently traveled
to Italy and the second was a 63-year-old Manatee County man who had
contact with someone who tested positive. The third patient, was a 22-year-old California woman, who was the sister of the
29-year-old Hillsborough County woman who was diagnosed after traveling
to Italy. On this day the Florida Department of Health first set up a Covid-19 hotline. On the day after this sketch was done Florida Governor Ron DeSantis informed Orlando residents, “that the risk of contracting the coronavirus is low for Floridians.” He was clearly WRONG, and should have been preparing for what was to come.

A few people have complained about my dark pandemic illustration series, so periodically I will just post a pretty tree for contrast with the harsh realities we face. There is good reason to someday, somehow return to a new normal. But this can not happen until our country gets serious about testing and tracing to isolate those that are infected. People are protesting the stay at home orders, but they are risking their own lives and the lives of others because anyone carrying a picket sign could be infected.

Today over 27,000 people are infected in Florida and 800 have died. The numbers don’t begin to hint at the precious lives lost and the creative potential of every person who died needlessly. One of my favorite artists, Egon Schile died in the pandemic of 1918. Who knows what he might have created had he survived.

Florida Restaurants Re-Open

Posted on by Thor

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had issued an order allowing restaurants to re-open in Florida. Phase one of the re-opening plan allows restaurants and retail stores to reopen Monday, May 4, 2020.

Restaurants will be able to use outdoor seating if they have a permit. Inside, they’ll be able
in the first phase of the state’s plan to use just 25% of their seating
capacity.  Violation of 25% capacity limits and
other restrictions remain a second-degree misdemeanor with a fine up to
$500. Regulated businesses may face enforcement action for violations
from their regulatory agency.

A statewide shelter-in-place order expires Thursday May 30, 2020, but DeSantis says
people should continue to practice social distancing and not socialize
in groups larger than 10. He’s also asked those who are medically
vulnerable and the elderly to remain at home as much as possible. Officials said the 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in Orange County will remain
through next week and then county leaders will reassess.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said, “We don’t want it to open too quickly without a plan in place.” “In order for people to have ample time to prepare to get their workers
back to work and get all the equipment they need, it takes some
planning,” He said.

AdventHealth’s Dr. Scott Brady brought a list of six guidelines he recommends for all businesses.

Those guidelines include:

  • Universal masking of all employees and guests
  • Continue keeping people six feet apart
  • Quickly sending symptomatic people for testing and treatment
  • Make sure employees practice aggressive hand hygiene
  • Sanitize work surfaces after contact with employees and guests
  • Temperature checks for all employees and guests

Many
of the business owners within the task force expressed concerns with
requiring businesses to give temperature checks to all customers too. Chuck Whitall, President of
Unicorp National Development, a title which clearly makes him a self proclaimed medical expert, said, “I don’t think it’s
practical to do this to customers,” Brady stood by his recommendations with a stern warning for the group. “Just
breathing with a fever spreads this virus,” Brady said. “There is more a
chance that this virus spreads and we have to shut everything down,
there is more of a chance than less of a chance. I just want to caution
you to be very, very careful.” 

Demings was not ready to give an exact date for reopening in
Orange County yet but, he noted that any plan
would need to include a phased approach. He said having the economy back
in its pre-Covid-19 swing by May 11, 2020 was not “very realistic.” “Our work isn’t over and while these plans will provide a path to
gradually and safely restart our economy, they must not lure us into
thinking that we’re going to go back into business as normal because the
virus is still going to be here and life is not normal,” Orlando Mayor
Buddy Dyer said. “The hard truth is that we are building a new normal
and it will be a different way of life for everyone and a different way
of doing things to keep us all safe.”

A new study of a Covid-19 outbreak tied to a restaurant in China is re-igniting questions about how far the novel Covid-19 could spread in the air and how airflow through ventilators or air conditioners, and the air quality itself, could play a role. 
The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention have long maintained that the virus is spread primarily
through droplets in person-to-person contact and in some cases from
contaminated surfaces, and rarely travels more than
six feet in the air. However, the recent study, conducted by the Guangzhou Center for Disease
Control, suggests that the virus not only passes through
person-to-person spread at close range, but can travel farther with help
from air currents blowing from ventilation systems. The study concluded that crowded gatherings and “poor ventilation” with little
outside air brought into the room created an isolated loop, allowing
virus particles to be transferred from table to table.

A map of the restaurant showed how one infected individual infected 9 others. An air conditioner and exhaust fan were the sources of circulation in the room. The main point is that the virus can travel much further than 6 feet. The conclusions are worrisome and worthy of further investigation as
American restaurants and other buildings look to re-open their doors. The data suggests that it’s crowded, poorly ventilated places where there have been outbreaks. The Covid-19 is “not behaving like an airborne virus, but that
doesn’t rule out the possibility of airborne transmission in certain
circumstances,” Dr. Todd Ellerin, the director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health in Massachusetts said.

A small sandwich shop owner in Windermere said on Twitter,  “Not sure about you, but we are over this.” The owner said she will re-open on May 1, 2020 despite orders from the county and state. In a tik tok video the owner mocked the Covid-19 virus by feigning to cough outside the establishment. Seeing a restaurant owner mocking public health is NOT appetizing. There was a huge backlash of people complaining about her disregard for public safely and the offending posts by the restaurant owner were removed. The owner claimed her life had been threatened but she did not report the offenses to police. The place did not open on May 1, but will open on May 4 when the DeSantis First Phase kicks in. I don’t expect any honest attempts at maintaining public safety from this place. I will never dine there.

Miami Cranes

Posted on by Thor

In a press briefing on April 29, 2020, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke about Miami-Dade which has to remain under lock down as he opens up the state… “Before this “Dade Broward and Palm Beach we’re all doing so well… You drive in Miami, you couldn’t move 10′ without seeing a crane somewhere.” He was referring to the building boom in downtown Miami, but with fewer people and cars on the streets, wildlife is finding its way back. An image search on google images shows an amazing array of wildlife reclaiming cities around the world.

Phase one of the Governors plan to re-open Florida includes:

  • Schools must keep distance learning
  • Visits to senior living facilities are prohibited
  • Elective surgeries can resume
  • Restaurants may offer outdoor seating with six feet of space between tables
  • Indoor seating at restaurants must be at 25% capacity
  • No change for bars, gyms and personal services, like hair dressers
  • Vulnerable individuals should avoid close contact with people outside the home
  • Everyone should maximize physical distance from others while in public
  • Avoid socializing in groups of more than 10 people in circumstances that do not “readily allow for physical distancing”
  • Face masks are recommended for those in face-to-face interactions and where you can’t social distance.

The Governor’s reopening plan applies for all Florida counties except Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Governor DeSantis said. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said it could be a while longer before
businesses begin reopening in his county because they will need more
time to prepare for the new guidelines. Central Florida  has seen the most cases of Covid-19.  A curfew remains for all of Orange County from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.
The mayor said he has no plans to lift that anytime soon. Demings didn’t give an exact date for when businesses would reopen but
said he doesn’t want to rush it and risk seeing a spike in Covid-19
cases.

The mayor said under the
governor’s order restaurants and retail shops can reopen in the county
if they are able to comply with the guidelines, including 6-feet between
customers and maintaining a 25% occupancy. “In the
absence of recommendations from our task force that they can get to me
in a timely manner, those entities will be able to reopen on Monday as
long as they do so in compliance with the governor’s order.” Demings
said. There is a nationwide shortage on personal protective equipment as well
as hand sanitizer, two requirements of the governor’s mandate.

The Guidelines for Reopening Businesses Group is expected to
put out a finalized list of guidelines businesses would have to follow,
both recommendations and mandates. The group, which included major
theme parks and business leaders, met Wednesday morning, turning to
health care officials with both Orlando Health and AdventHealth for
guidance on what those guidelines could look like.

The group is expected to meet again Thursday and Friday to continue developing a plan to safely reopen the county.

At last check, there were more than 33,690 confirmed cases in Florida with 1,268 deaths. There were 1,339 confirmed cases in Orange C0unty with 30 deaths. Florida Medical Examiners Commission chairman Dr. Stephen Nelson said that state officials asked them to withhold Covid-19 death figures. The pause in reporting, has been occurring for nine days. The blackout comes as Republican Governor Ron DeSantis contemplates how Florida will begin to reopen amid the pandemic.

83 Seats

Posted on by Thor

83 people died in Florida on Tuesday April 28, 2020, the highest total so far for a single day. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided it was the best day to fly to Washington D.C. to visit Donald Trump and tell him what a great job he has done to keep the state safe. I started to wonder what that flight to DC would have been like. How many seats would be on that plane? Then I realized that 83 people could have flown on that flight had they been alive. People with husbands, wives, children and friends. People DeSantis seems to feel are acceptable collateral damage as he makes plans to reopen Florida to help Trumps re-election plans.

The Florida Department of Health on Tuesday reported
a total of 1,171 deaths and nearly 33,000 confirmed cases, although the
true number of infections in the state is believed to be significantly
higher. Meanwhile, Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity has
struggled to process nearly 2 million unemployment claims in a state
where the economy relies heavily on tourism and hospitality.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article242339311.html#storylink=cpy

Trump has not been back to his Mara Lago estate in Florida since the beginning of March and he fired his whole staff. His popularity in Florida has been slipping away to his opponent Joe Biden. I can’t imagine what he might have said to make his numbers drop.  Florida has been the recipient of critical personal protective equipment. Trump is pushing states to reopen businesses “as quickly as possible.” DeSantis is falling lock step in line. The planned meeting was mired in confusion after the White House
abruptly announced the two men would hold a formal press conference,
then abruptly announced they would not.

The Governor said he would be reviewing a document issued by his re-opening task force. Phase one of the DeSantis plan to re-open Florida will begin Monday May 4, 2020. The plan will allow limited reopening of stores and restaurants everywhere except
the hardest-hit counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach
counties. Capacity for retail stores and dine-in restaurants will be limited to 25
percent, more conservative than the 50-percent threshold in neighboring
Georgia, which began reopening last week. He stressed the importance of social distancing and continued
testing in the first phase, but sought to convey a sense that the state
was committed to moving forward. Then he mangled FDR, saying, “The only thing we have to fear is letting fear overwhelm our sense of purpose and determination,”

Florida should test potentially triple the number of people now
being tested every day to re-open safely. But DeSantis said Tuesday that Florida’s testing
capacity exceeds current demand. However, without testing, you have no idea how many are infected. Like Trump he loves to deny reality. “We have challenges. This is not an easy situation,” DeSantis said. “But
I have less than 500 people in a state of 22 million on ventilators as
of last night. And I have 6,500 ventilators sitting unused in the state
of Florida.” DeSantis’ month-long stay-at-home order expires on Thursday April 30, 2020.

During this pandemic airlines are still packing flights full with no social distancing measures in place. It is business as usual. After seeing a viral video about the viral flight crowding, American Airlines announced it will start distributing face masks, sanitizing wipes and gel to passengers in May. Starting May 4, 2020 Jet Blue Airline will require passengers to wear face masks saying, “This is the new flying etiquette.” Air Asia has come up with new flight attendant uniforms that consist of long sleeves, a face mask and hood.

It turns out that none of this should matter to Ron DeSantis, because he flies a 15.5 million dollar business jet. This is good for him since he doesn’t know how to put on a face mask. The airplane model is a Cessna Citation Latitude from Textron Aviation Inc.
The company advertises it as a jet with “elegant and lean design,” an
electronic door, touch-screen avionics and a spacious 6-foot standing
cabin.  The plane is being funded by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Which is of course funded by you.

To date there have been 1,171deaths due to Covid-19 in Florida.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article242339311.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article242339311.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article242339311.html#storylink=cpy

What Do You Have To Lose?

Posted on by Thor

At the beginning of the pandemic, Trump handed off the Covid-19 response to Vice President Mike Pence because “He didn’t have anything to do.” Pence actually conducted some informative briefings though he continues to ignore science like showing up at the Mayo clinic without a mask. Every visitor at the Mayo clinic must wear a mask. When Trump saw the ratings of Pences briefings, he decided he indeed had time to stand in front of the microphone. The White house Covid-19 briefings became mini rallies and a chance for Trump to play the blame game. His concern didn’t seem to be the health and well being of the nation but his re-election chances.

On April 4, 2020 Trump was pushing an anti malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine as a cure   to Covid-19. From the podium he pushed the rug like a snake oil salesman, saying, “What do you have to lose?” “I may take it. I have to ask my doctors,” he added. The Mayo Clinic
released a warning for healthcare providers last week about the dangers
the drug could pose on some patients, which includes it potentially
causing sudden cardiac death when taken. The European Commission
also announced on Tuesday there was no proof hydroxychloroquine or
chloroquine, which is also used for malaria, could treat Covid-19.

His April 23, 2020 briefing was historic. He made the following  comments after Bill Bryan, the head of the science and
technology directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, discussed
some research about how COVID-19 reacted to sunlight. This is a transcription of what Trump said… “So I asked Bill a question some of you are thinking of if you’re into
that world, which I find to be pretty interesting. So, supposing we hit
the body with a tremendous, whether its ultraviolet or just very
powerful light, and I think you said, that hasn’t been checked but
you’re gonna test it. And then I said, supposing it brought the light
inside the body, which you can either do either through the skin or some
other way, and I think you said you’re gonna test that too, sounds
interesting. And I then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out
in one minute, and is there a way you can do something like that by
injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the
lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it’d be
interesting to check that. So you’re going to have to use medical
doctors, but it sounds interesting to me, so we’ll see. But the whole
concept of the light, the way it goes in one minute, that’s pretty
powerful.”

As Trump made the comments the reaction of Dr. Deborah Birx sat quietly on the sidelines, her face contorted in agony at what he was saying. Any respect for the doctor was lost as she sat silently. To keep her job she could not directly contradict the POTUS. She has had to defend his fantasies in the following days.

Injecting oneself with bleach or some other sort of disinfectant is not only incredibly dangerous and even life-threatening, but it would not be an effective treatment or cure for COVID-19. In the wake of Trump’s press conference, both doctors and manufacturers of cleaning products like Lysol warned people not to ingest or inject disinfectants.

New York City’s Poison Control Center saw a spike in the number of
people ingesting household cleaners after United States President Donald
Trump raised the possibility of using disinfectant inside people’s bodies to fight Covid-19. The non-profit National Public Radio (NPR) reported that the center
registered 30 cases in an 18-hour period ending at 3pm on Friday (April
24), as opposed to only 13 cases for the same time frame a year ago. Nine of the cases were related to exposure to Lysol, 10 were
“specifically about bleach” and 11 were exposures to other household
cleaners, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene spokesman
Pedro Frisneda told NPR.

9 in 10

Posted on by Thor

A New York City study has found that 88% of 2,600 patients who had Covid-19 and were put on ventilators died. The study examined outcomes for Covid-19 patients who were admitted between March 1 and April 4 to 12 hospitals in New York City and Long Island that are part of the Northwell Health System. When you have a very bad case of Covid-19 it feels like you are drowning, only you are drowning in the fluid in your own lungs.

Overall, the researchers reported that 553 patients died, or 21%. But
among the 12% of very sick patients that needed ventilators to breathe,
the death rate rose to 88%. The rate was particularly awful for patients
over 65 who were placed on a machine, with just 3% of those patients
surviving, according to the results. Ventilators involve inserting a breathing tube into the windpipe so a
ventilator can pump air into the lungs. The danger of this method of treatment is that it can do possible harm to the lungs.

As a result, some doctors are questioning their use in Covid-19 patients,
and have been trying to find methods for keeping Covid-19 patients
off them when possible. Doctors at the University of Chicago Medicine are seeing “truly
remarkable” results using high-flow nasal cannulas (HFNC) rather than
ventilators and intubation to treat some COVID-19 patients. HFNCs, are non-invasive nasal prongs that sit below the nostrils and
blow large volumes of warm, humidified oxygen into the nose and lungs. Dozens of COVID-19 patients who were in respiratory distress were given HFNCs instead of putting them on ventilators. Only one patient then had to be put on a ventilator. The HFNCs are often combined with prone positioning, a technique where patients lay on their stomachs to aid breathing. This treatment does have risks in that the air being blown into the nostrils can also cause the Covid-19 virus to go air born in the hospital room. Staff have to have the best personal protective equipment to stay safe themselves.

However not all the news is bad. Nurse Taylor Campbell told a heart warming tale of a patient on a ventilator who had been unresponsive, but then squeezed her hand. She had been on the ventilator for 15 days. Taylor had talked to the woman every day. Since the woman was unresponsive she wasn’t sure she was being heard, but the talked calmly to the woman anyway. The worst thing about having the virus is that you have to be separated from friends and family. On this day the woman’s grip was stronger that usual and she would not let go. She was extubated that afternoon and Taylor held her hand the entire time. A few minutes later the woman mouthed the words, “I love you.” Taylor cried into her N95 mask as she held the woman’s hand. A minute later the woman was able to speak the words. Taylor asked if she had heard what she had said to her over the last 15 days, and the woman heard every word.

Yesterday I saw a chart that showed the overall number of new cases in
America starting to level off from it’s meteoric rise. Of course that
does not mean the crisis is over. It might level off for some time
before the numbers start to drop. Then the rate of decline become
important. Before we can return to a new normal, there has to be massive
testing and tracking to be sure work places are safe. They have found
that the air born virus can travel much further than at first though. It
can attach to a tiny pollution particle and re main in the air for 30
minutes. The 6 foot cushion is not enough. That cushion should be more
like 30 feet.

The United States is fast approaching One Million cases at 987,160 with 55,413
deaths.