A couple months ago I purchased a bluetooth connected thermometer from a company called Kinsa. The thermometer is connected to a research facility at Oregon State University which records the data when people check their temperatures. Kinsa publishes what they call their “health weather map” which shows where “atypical” indications of elevated temperatures are occurring. This map has a record of identifying illness around two weeks before the CDC recognizes what is happening. Every once in a while I check the “map” and today is one of those days – we’re in the early stages of “unlocking” the country. Looking at this map my response is – YIKES!
The levels of temperatures are labeled from “none” to low to mild to moderate to high – the places which are labeled as “high” show up in red. Well, I’ve looked at this map about six times since I purchased the thermometer and, today, the amount of “red” is – ALARMING! Previously, Florida has consistently had more “red” than anyplace else not named New York, and, today, they actually have MORE red than what I’ve seen previously. However, the number of places which are in the “red” category have expanded a LOT! Arizona, Maricopa County does not look good, Texas – in several places- are bright red, New York and New Jersey – which surprised me because their “numbers” have been coming down – bright red, and there’s more.
All three West Coast states appear to be on the upswing regarding their amounts of red along with a lot of orange – which would indicate “moderate” increases in people showing high temperatures. All across the Midwest there are patches of red and significant patches of orange – Arizona, to me, looks bad – as far as what may lie ahead if these spikes in people with temperatures indicate increases in Covid-19. The upper Midwest, meaning Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania all look to be on the upswing in the next two weeks. The Northeast still looks bad and it appears it’s moving up toward Maine and the Southeast has red spots all over the place.
I certainly don’t know what this means but the first time I looked at the map Florida was clearly the “reddest” place in the entire country and their number of Covid-19 cases was just a couple hundred a day. Withing two weeks, Florida’s numbers were close to or over a thousand per day. So, what this appears to mean is that, within a couple weeks of all these states “opening up” there could be some kind of outbreak – this time I would think it would be increases in the number of people who have Covid-19. The scientists have been warning there’s going to be a “second wave” and, while we’re all anxious to be “opened up” and most states, to some degree are doing so, it appears the “second wave” could come while we’re still in the “first wave.”
I mean, I personally don’t believe we’ve outlasted the first wave. Over the past couple of weeks I believe there have been over 1500 deaths per day and over 20,000 NEW cases of the virus confirmed per day. And, of course, most scientists are suggesting the number of infected people is likely 5 to 10 times those identified due to the lack of testing and Dr. Fauci said he believed the number of deaths to be anywhere from 15% to 50% HIGHER than what has been reported. So, it doesn’t appear to be a good time to “re-open” and Kinsa’s map appears to be confirming this. I’m sure republicans will figure a way around the TRUTH of what is actually happening – because, like it or not, individual 1 and his sycophants are going to PUSH our economy back toward “business as usual.” Essentially, pushing the “herd immunity” solution to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As an aside: A couple weeks back, because I’ve been following the Covid-19 statistics very closely, I pointed out it looked to me like there were some “shenanigans” going on in some states with republican governors. My obvious concerns were South Dakota, Georgia, and Florida – three states either with no “shelter in place” order (South Dakota) or hurrying to “open up” despite hardly “closing” for even a week or two (Florida and Georgia). Well, so far, since then, I’ve read reports coming from both Florida and Georgia that they HAVE been LYING about the statistics in order to make their states look as if Covid-19 was going away – as in the wishes of individual 1. To me, these governors are CHEATING their own people and eventually the truth is going to come out – so, in a matter as serious as this pandemic, I would highly recommend against that type of behavior. But, they likely watch Fox “news” and you can’t talk to people who are part of the CULT!
My original concern about the CHEATING was states where the governors are republicans – you can call me a cynic, you’re probably correct – and, now, tonight I’m hearing about Arizona. They’re NOT testing (or reporting testing if they’re doing it) in nursing homes and, apparently they’re NOT testing in a meat processing plant. Of course, these are two of the areas which are susceptible to major outbreaks if there isn’t sufficient testing. I also surmise they’re not testing in their jails or prisons – another potential place for a “hot spot.” Why, you might ask, would they do this? – it IS dishonest. I believe one of the motivations might be that Major League Baseball is trying to figure out how they can start their season and one of the potential states where that could happen is Arizona. I’m sure their governor is trying to make it look as if it’s safe for all those baseball players to come to their state.
Of course, as I’ve said here numerous time, I’m a baseball fan and I’m hoping they can manage to have a season. Arizona does have several sites where teams play their spring training games and, in my mind, it’s likely safer to play games there than in most “home” stadiums – for lots of teams – but, it makes no sense to LIE about the actual Covid-19 infections. If they would start the season and then have an outbreak, that would NOT be good. In my mind, don’t LIE about the actual situation so it can be brought under control with the idea of stopping future outbreaks – sadly, LYING about the actual danger of the virus is likely based on what is happening around the country in similar situations by other republican governors.
It’s now “tomorrow” and now I’m learning that the (republican) governors of Nebraska AND Iowa are also CHEATING – by blocking any reporting of Covid-19 cases coming out of meat packing plants or nursing homes there as well. After all, many of these workers are Latinx “immigrants” so, apparently, it doesn’t count (or matter?) when they’re sick. I’m guessing they’re CHEATING about the actual statistics in prisons and jails too because, well, they’re all prisoners – apparently they shouldn’t count either. (I believe it was the governor of Iowa who actually suggested these workers shouldn’t count in the statistics – on camera!) These governors are attempting to make this TERRIBLE outbreak look better than it is and they must think no one is going to notice if there’s another spike in the number of people who are sick. It’s like EVERY politician who “hitches their wagon” to individual 1 is “all in” on LYING – because, make no mistake, all of this is LYING! Nancy Pelosi was correct when she suggested it’s like they have “doggydoo on their shoes.”
Republicans believe “we the people” are STUPID and I can only hope we prove them wrong come November. Lying about this pandemic by leaders is “as low as you can go” – people are dying from this. My friend who supports individual 1 believes it’s “just old people” as if they don’t matter (although, clearly, it’s well more than old people and, by the way, if I haven’t already said this, old people VOTE). From my vantage-point once it was clear people over 60 and Black and Brown people are disproportionately taking the “brunt” of the disease which results from the coronavirus republicans became in a hurry to “open the economy.” As I’ve said, I hope we’re back to normal ASAP, but “jumping the gun” is a huge gamble. (Unless, of course, republicans have no intention of “turning back” if this “opening” proves to be premature.) Yikes!!!
One more thing: Individual 1 is threatening to pull America out of the World Health Organization and he’s supposedly pulled the funding of the U.S. to that group which consists of something like 190 countries. Without getting into the absurdity of what I’ve read so far regarding the complaints of our IMPEACHED so-called president my first thought was “Isn’t this what he got him IMPEACHED?” Can he unilaterally withhold funding for something like this? Was it individual 1 who originally authorized the funding? I thought funding which comes from America originates in the Congress and they would have to be involved in blocking the dispersal of this funding? I’m probably wrong, but those are the thoughts which came to my mind when I heard of what looks to me like Ukraine all over again.
What’s clear about this temper tantrum is it’s just another of individual 1’s attempts to cause “we the people” to forget about the “missing 70 days” or to fail to notice “we the people” are much more likely to be affected by the coronavirus than ANYONE in the WORLD (although Brazil may be interested in, well, taking the “mantle”) and our IMPEACHED so-called president STILL does not have a plan. In America we have OVER 50 different “plans” because individual 1 has left the response to Covid-19 up to our governors and, in some instances, various mayors. I’m beginning to think America has become the laughing stalk of the people around the world.
OMG: I was listening to individual 1 today as he was responding to a question about the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19. He claimed the reason we have so many cases is because we’ve had over 12 MILLION people tested. He said, “If we hadn’t tested so many people we wouldn’t have so many cases.” My response as I listened to that was “what an idiot?” Of course if we had fewer people tested we wouldn’t have fewer cases – that comment was just absurd. The reality is we simply wouldn’t know about them (So, in effect, we’d likely have even MORE cases). Clearly we have MANY more cases than those which have been identified – because experts say we should be doing even MORE testing if we want to “re-open” the economy. I wish he’d stop with all the STUPID remarks.
Of course his comments about the testing weren’t the only STUPID comments coming out of his mouth today. When questioned about his support for and use of hydroxychloroquine despite evidence suggesting it’s NOT safe he referred to the VA hospital as “anti-Trump” and suggested the people being tested were old people ready to DIE. All of these VETERANS who took part in the trial for this drug to see if it works to help fight Covid-19 are/were, well, VETERANS! Why would any president, even an IMPEACHED so-called president, disrespect VETERANS who are in the VA hospital. Now you have members of his CULT panic buying this drug and even some of them, apparently, are brewing their own versions of the drug. (He could be losing some voters)
Finally, I pointed this out several weeks ago when individual 1 decided he would have NO federal response to this pandemic and he put all the responsibility on the governors of the various states that he was planning to avoid any responsibility for what lies ahead. He basically was “throwing in the towel” at the time, but setting up the nations governors to be the “fall guys” when things blow up after he’s PUSHING a “way too early” re-opening of the states. I predict he will claim victory in any place where the re-opening works and he’ll be blaming the governors in the places where it doesn’t go so well. This is all so obvious it’s really hard to imagine why individual 1’s supporters just don’t “get it.” It really is SHAMEFUL!
I have to add: This won’t be the first time I’ve said this, but it appears LYING is a requirement for anyone who wants to be a stalwart in individual 1’s administration. This also won’t be the first time I’ve pointed out Mike Pompeo, who was a top member of his West Point class – where telling the TRUTH is a key part of the HONOR code – seems to be totally comfortable in spinning what appear to be out and out LIES. So, the other day individual 1 fired the Inspector General (IG) of the State Department apparently at the request of Secretary Pompeo. Today, I saw a clip of Pompeo (apparently) LYING about this IG being fired saying, “I have no idea what investigations he was doing” – when it’s public knowledge he actually answered questions about a potentially Iran/Contra like situation where he went around Congress to send arms to the Saudi’s AND, he’s been hosting some “Madison dinners” at the State Department which, apparently, are under investigation for using taxpayer dollars for political ends.
Apparently, that he refused to be interviewed in the investigation makes him think “we the people” will actually believe he “had no idea” this investigation was going on AND wasn’t the reason he requested the IG be fired. Nonsense! The saying “Birds of a feather flock together” comes to mind as I think of the near 20,000 LIES individual 1 has thrust upon “we the people.” Yes, our IMPEACHED so-called president has a CULT who believe virtually every word coming from his mouth – or the online stuff people twist to make him look better (to them) – but, I can guarantee you the SECOND Pompeo appears to be a distraction he’s “under the bus.” And, it appears that time is on the horizon – Pompeo’s LYING is not open for debate – it is what it is!
The polls are looking worse for individual 1 – the one I saw today by Quinnipiac University – has Biden at 50% and individual 1 at 39%. I saw a prognostication by the Oxford Economic Forum which is predicting a LANDSLIDE – which is also the prediction of my friend I write about here, only he’s predicting it will be individual 1 on the winning side and “liberals will be violently protesting in the streets” – Oxford, on the other hand, is predicting Biden is going to win in a landslide. The reality of all this polling is likely what is causing the desperation tactics we’re seeing coming from individual 1’s supporters – well, more desperate than usual. Of course, picture what they’d have been saying if, during the Ebola outbreak, if hundreds of thousands of Americans had died on President Obama’s “watch” along with depression level unemployment. Do you actually think republicans would have looked the other way?