For several days now, one of the talking points at Tea Time and Tee Time with The Don & Friends has been that "everybody who wants a test can get one."
So how do you explain this? Palm Beach County asked FEMA for a drive-through testing station and was told on Wednesday it would get it. But on Thursday, as Florida blew past 2,400 cases, FEMA changed its mind. The Trump family's new home (wink) can't get drive-through testing. (Sorry about the Post's sloppy Website.)
As USA became #1 in cases, The Don said we've tested more people in eight days than South Korea did in eight weeks. As FactChck noted, "that ignores the fact that South Korea has a much smaller population. On a
per-capita basis, the U.S. lags behind the Asian country, and other
nations." It also noted that, on raw numbers, The Don was close but not quite there. South Korea tested a few more.
The daily press briefing, in which The Don and a chosen cheering section break social distance rules, preempts the local news on the East Coast and tea time in the Midwest. A lot of people think their local stations shouldn't carry it. They don't collect and show live every word that falls from the lips of Sen.Mitch McConnell and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, but those two luminaries are spending more money than The Don knows what to do with. The media just report on that and could report on the press briefings as well. That also would make them shorter.
The briefing is at least as much a substitute for the rallies The Don loves to preen at as it is an effort to inform the public. And The Don's endless stream-of-consciousness boasting, denying, aspirating (full churches on Easter are "aspirational") and misinforming leave the public addled and confused. (He did 55 solid minutes with many repetitions in one. Not since Fidel Castro have there been such long-winded national leaders.) That hospital ship The Don said a few days ago was on its way to New York City is still in dry dock in Virginia, but a True Believer assured me yesterday that it has been in NYC for several days. Not carrying the rants and raves would, he said, amount to censorship of alternative news.
Sigh. Anyhow, I couldn't get a test if I wanted one.
UPDATE: Friday, the governor cobbled together a plan for a drive-through testing site in Palm Beach County. The reason he had to do it himself is telling. FEMA told The Post in an email: "The state, county or the private sector (hospital, medical facility, etc.) can establish their own testing sites, and request supplies through the established system."
The strategy is clear: Praise governors (e.g. Cuomo) when they praise the Trump "effort," and blame the governors (e.g. Cuomo) if something goes wrong. So, in the end, the governors are responsible for everything that goes wrong, including lack of supplies. And The Don acted (as little as possible) brilliantly, gallantly, and may we say, heroically.
Could someone please explain to me, in simple terms, why there is such a shortage of tests? I can understand that the labs might be swamped, but wouldn't the test kits themselves just be an exercise in manufacturing and logistics? If other countries can ramp up quickly, why can't we?
ReplyDeleteThere may not be a shortage of tests in any given area, but a shortage of labs to process them, or of workers to staff testing centers.
DeleteBasically the problem is that testing is not nationally centralized, and there is no federal agency coordinating anything. States and counties are also cobbling up their own rules about who gets tested.
Repubs hate telling states what to do, and Trump has told governors, "Don't look at me."
Thank God he is anti-abortion, though!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/states-arent-testing-uniformly-for-coronavirus-thats-creating-a-distorted-picture-of-the-outbreak/ar-BB11NU8s
And the words "reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction" give us an indication that this test might not be the easiest to mass produce.
DeleteA doctor in our book group who is a pediatric hospitalist tells us that the materials for the C19 flu kits are also used for flu testing, so supplies were low because it was a bad flu season.
DeleteIn his state, hospitals are being told by the state health authorities who can be tested, which is frustrating doctors. Some docs and nurses with asthma or underlying conditions have been transferred to care for patients believed not to be infected ... only to present with symptoms and then testing positive during their hospitalization.
In this way, the virus is passing to other patients and medical staff thought to be "safe."
The CDC is trying to collect info and make rec's, but the patchwork of protocols and tests around the country means that that info may not offer a good picture of what's going on.
Layer on later of complexity with Trump muddling things up at the top.
According to a story in Sunday's NYTimes there were no tests and then too few tests and now not enough because no one in charge knew what they were doing. The upper echelons of the Trump Administration are not people qualified for the jobs they have. It sounds like deputy positions are empty or filled with other know-nothings, and that the turnover in personnel has created a miasma of ignorance. And since we're the greatest nation in history, we don't need help from second-rate institutions like WHO...!!!&&(*&^^&
Deletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/testing-coronavirus-pandemic.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
If the president was smart, he would let Mike Pence take the lead on the daily briefings.
ReplyDeleteI agree. He stands behind Trump nodding like a bobble-head, but when he is allowed to speak, he seems more measured and factual.
DeleteHowever, I am no longer watching briefings. News is curtailed to checking the state and local situation at 4 p.m. when the state posts daily infection and death numbers, and 90 minutes of TV News (PBS, CBS).
I can no longer read the overwrought reports in the WaPo, and Judy Woodruff's "ain't it awful" reportage is really starting to piss me off.
Of course, it would be out of character for Trump to let anyone else be the star of the show. He is the Great Man who fixes everything. Everyone else's job description consists of toadying and bootlicking, and trying to thread the unthreadable needle that passes between truth-telling and contradicting him.
DeleteJean, I'm with you. I swore off television news many years ago. Now I simply skim the WaPo and NYT headlines, seldom read an article, skip op eds completely.
DeleteI pretty much stick to Reuters these days. Factual, short news briefs.
DeleteJim, Your first qualification covers everything. But anyone but Himself taking the lead in anything (even when he doesn't know where he is going) is beyond the conceptual powers of Himself.
ReplyDeleteHere is a good article on the test for COVID 19. From the article: "Once samples arrive at the lab, technicians use a procedure called RT-PCR, or reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, to look for the genetic code of the coronavirus using a special reagent....A virus, just like any other species, has a unique genetic code called the viral genome. This code, called the viral genome, provides the blueprint for the virus as it replicates and the coronavirus test works by determining whether any given specimen contains the distinct coronavirus genome, according to the CNN report."
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what all is involved in making RT-PCR reagents, but I do know from the name that it would involve restriction enzymes, which cut an RNA or DNA sequence in specific places. These wouldn't be cheap or easy to synthesize.
There are some labs now which are utilizing test poolin to speed up the procedure. This involves combining as many as 64 samples in a single test to save reagents and time. Of course part of the sample is conserved for back-up. Most samples will be negative. If there is a positive result, all the samples are re-tested individually. It is said that this can increase throughput and reagent conservation by at least a factor of 5.
My personal uninformed take is that this sounds risky as heck. They must be awfully sure of the detection limit of the test, and that the number tested does not exceed it. But it is approved, and I read that test pooling is being used at at least one lab in our state. If it works, more power to them.
"test poolin" should read "test pooling"
DeleteI just listen to governors' briefings. Fauci is good but he's in the shadow of the Great Teletubby, the Obscurer of Truth. I believe that are already taking people who aren't getting better off ventilators to give others a chance.
ReplyDeleteYes, Detroit/Grand Rapids hospitals already have triage plans in place for when the demand for ventilators exceeds the demand. "Comfort care" will be offered instead.
DeleteSo now Trump has ordered GM to make ventilators. Okay, I understand how a car manufacturer could gear up to make tanks in WWII. But do they know anything about making medical equipment? Maybe he should have talked to Becton Dickinson, or something.
ReplyDeleteIt's a legitimate use of emergency powers to prioritize badly needed equipment. But wouldn't you want to draft manufacturers who actually had knowledge of what you wanted them to churn out?
"But wouldn't you want to draft manufacturers who actually had knowledge..." Asked by someone who trusts the Fake News in the Lyin' Media. The president's gut trumps actual knowledge every time. And he went to the auto companies because they are bit and everybody knows their names and how many times does a guy get to run two auto companies?
DeleteAutomobile engines are made to tolerances of 0.001" at least. I don't think of respirator tolerances as being any tighter than that. What they DO need is consultation from a respirator designer. A design could be cobbled up adapted to the automobile makers' manufacturing processes. It is metal shaping and plastic molding and computers, all of which are incorporated in autos. The lungs have to be slightly overpressure, so you need a pressure sensor like on a tire. Yup. I think they can do it.
DeleteItalians are adapting scuba gear as vents.
DeleteIron lungs would also work. Yes, they still make them. A European study several years ago showed they were superior to intubation for COPD episodes. better in them and, of course, no intubation.
They are linking up with a company already making ventilators...
Delete"General Motors will manufacture ventilators that are crucial to fighting the worst symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. One thousand members of the automaker’s unionized workforce will build the equipment for ventilator company Ventec Life Systems at GM’s factory in Kokomo, Indiana, which has been shut down during the pandemic."
We're going to find out that almost everybody in the US is smarter than Trump and anyone he's appointed to his administration--including Jared Kushner (boy millionaire) who, according to new story, botched the GM deal....
DeleteJean, I was reading about Trump's saying that medical supplies shouldn't be sent to Michigan. Because he is feuding with Governor Witmer? Hard to believe he could be so petty. But he never fails to exceed my expectations for pettiness.
ReplyDeleteWell, she was a "bomb thrower," as Bill Ballenger, one our our beloved Republican pundits put it, in the Legislature and she is throwing bombs as governor. Bill is a good reporter and savvy political observer. He ran for governor once.
DeleteAnd she has been lobbing criticism at Trump for his absence of leadership, inaccurate statements and, lack of centralized coordination.
However, Gov. Gretchen hasn't said anything worse or more frequently than Inslee or Cuomo. But he can't stand criticism from women, apparently.
She has had nothing but praise for Pence, and has been working well with him from the start.
Oh yeah, those nasty wonen! He's still mad Hillary got more popular votes.
DeleteOver on Twitter, he calls her Gov. Gretchen "Half" Whitmer.
DeleteLast time I look at his tweets. Reading them makes me have sinful thoughts.
As Tom noted, he blusters, blows, takes credit for what governors are doing right and blames them when things are going badly.
Twitter...was there ever a more asinine means of non-communication?
DeleteThe limited characters make the medium ideal for snark and gross generalities or banalities. It doesn't lend itself to thoughtful commentary.
DeleteTrump's use of Twitter has thrown its limitations into high relief. And Twitter has thrown Trump's limitations into high relief.
They were made for each other!