Importantly this is from Monday, March 2nd. A lot has happened over the last five days. But TPM Reader RW reports that he was not screened at all when returning from Milan, Italy, which is the epicenter of the outbreak in Italy …
As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds one of its unique dynamics is the surge of new medical studies being rushed into print because of the extenuating circumstances of a global pandemic. To be crystal clear, these are studies produced using expert, scientific methodologies and conducted by credentialed epidemiologists and clinicians. But many have relatively small sample sizes and they’re being performed – many in China – under crisis conditions. So they don’t necessarily ‘prove’ things even in the limited way that larger, more organized studies can. But they’re giving us key information.
Let me point your attention to a few of them.
I mentioned on Thursday talking with readers who have had difficulty convincing older relatives to take basic social distancing precautions because they’ve heard on Fox News that the threat is being hyped for political purposes. Now Ipsos/Reuters has released a poll which shows a significant though not overwhelming difference between the self-reported precautions by Democrats and Republicans.
An interchange from the President’s visit yesterday to the CDC in which he said he was resisting allowing that cruise ship off San Francisco to disembark passengers since it would inflate the numbers of infections in the US and that those “weren’t our fault.” The people on board the ship are overwhelmingly American citizens.
Trump on decision whether to let Americans off cruise ship: "I would rather, because I like the numbers being where they are, I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault." pic.twitter.com/jYnXjlaAqt
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 7, 2020
I am always very cautious about drawing conclusions based even on a significant number of reader reports. But having reviewed numerous accounts and combined those with many more from other published accounts, the following is clear: a substantial number of people are seeking medical care for respiratory illnesses (usually not severe) and being presumptively diagnosed with COVID-19 but sent home to take care of themselves and not being recorded in any registry or being contact-traced in any way.
This is a very important story. It deserves more coverage on cable news – though obviously we’ve got a pretty news-packed environment at the moment. This wasn’t some numbskull claiming Dems are the real nazis. It was a self-avowed Nazi unfurling a swastika at the campaign rally of a Jewish presidential candidate.
We’ve already been doing this informally in recent days. But we’ve decided to place all COVID-19 material we publish outside the Prime paywall. Our assumption is that we will continue this as long as the country remains in the current national public health crisis footing.
I would be remiss if I did not make clear to our regular readers that doing this takes away from us our primary tool for retaining members and driving new sign-ups. So if you’ve been thinking about becoming a member or are a lapsed member or have been considering upgrading to Ad Free now would be a great time.
Thomas Frieden, CDC Director from 2009 to 2017: “The CDC got this right with H1N1 and Zika, and produced huge quantities of test kits that went around the country. I don’t know what went wrong this time.”
Without the economy, Trump’s got nothing.
JoinLarry Kudlow, top Trump economic advisor and member of the COVID-19 task force was on CNBC this morning telling investors to buy on the dip and that COVID-19 is “contained”, “relatively contained”. (Needless to say, all evidence suggests that is not true.)
Kudlow: Buy on the dip, on COVID-19 "this is contained", "relatively contained." pic.twitter.com/iF4Nheem4i
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 6, 2020