David Kurtz
You may have heard talk of eventually redeploying the resources mobilized to fight the pandemic to tackle carbon emissions. It’s not a misplaced sentiment exactly, though I do think the parallels are generally inapt. But then TPM Reader FL wrote in a few days ago and framed it up in a way that felt more on point than other discussions I’ve seen. I yield the floor:
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Important new numbers out this evening from New York City that for the first time allow us to take a preliminary look the city’s excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Josh Kovensky has pulled together the numbers.
It would be imprecise to say COVID-19 hit NYC overnight. It was a slowly building menace, spreading though the community. But as these new numbers from FDNY show, the gathering threat hit the fire department like a tsunami at the beginning of the fourth week of March. The fire department was suddenly flooded with cases involving deaths at home or on the streets. Take a look.
So where is this headed? What is the endgame?
Nobody is talking about it.
It’s just unbelievable what medical practices across the country are going through as an indirect result of the pandemic. The upheaval is extraordinary. Again, this isn’t to treat COVID per se, but to maintain existing health services despite the virus. Tierney Sneed explains.
I grew up in the oil patch, so this email from TPM Reader DB resonated:
I wanted to write in with a different perspective than the one I’m seeing take hold among progressives. I work in oil and gas (yes; yes; I know. I’m sorry) and, as such, I interact with conservatives all the time. It’s interesting watching the conservative id coalesce as it does.
By now a significant number of us have experienced the self-imposed hardship and uncertainty of being sick but unsure if it’s the rona. TPM Reader DS writes in from Seattle:
Hi Josh. I was just reading your piece about testing, and thought to contribute a personal anecdote about what widespread testing would mean for people and families with relatively mild cases.
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Proud of this piece from TPM’s Matt Shuham on a COVID-19 hot spot in rural Colorado around Vail. These are the kind of details we want from your area, especially if you’re a nurse, respiratory therapist, physician, hospital administrator, emergency preparedness expert, or elected official dealing with the pandemic in your community. You know the drill: Email us at talk at talkingpointsmemo dot com.
A TPM reader who is a physician and on a medical school faculty is watching the Trump’s ongoing press conference at the White House:
Today’s presser is unbelievable. I am an MD and member of our hospital executive administration in the thick of Covid preparation.
I live in Sicily where we’ve watched this become a pandemic. It’s been more than one week now that we’ve been asked to stay at home, going outside only for groceries or medicine. Pretty much everything else is closed up and very few people are on the streets now.