President Trump Speaks on Coronavirus

20 thoughts on “President Trump Speaks on Coronavirus”

1. Stay classy Belgium:

   https://www.distractify.com/p/corona-time-racist-photo?fbclid=IwAR3117Bhu-x_Nx1dv8TBEVel-cTOKt6kyqRuwo6MJDvptEQbmkMJ1nzMSVkReport

2. The European travel ban would have made a huge difference a few weeks ago, as a lot of our first cases traced back to Italy. One of the problems with trans-Atlantic flights is that lots of passengers can catch the virus while on the plane, so they’ll have no symptoms at all to screen for when it arrives.

   Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, currently in Australia, both tested positive. Australia has very few cases, so he’ll probably get excellent care, if necessary, and probably end up making a movie about it.Report

   1. I recall hearing an infectious disease specialist say one time, “If you were designing an environment to facilitate the transfer of viruses among a crowd of people, you’d end up with the cabin of a modern airliner.”Report

      1. Definitely. When the cruise ship in Japan was evacuated, officials put the passengers on buses and then found out that some of the people on the buses had just tested positive. They let the buses roll anyway. People had spent a week holed up in their cabins to avoid the virus, and then government happens. ^_^

         It would’ve made more sense to have all the passengers travel on scooters or in rental cars that would then be left sitting for a month where ever the passengers parked. Of course the passengers, both infected and not, were then loaded onto a special 747 where the sick people ride in the back. Would it have been too much to put the relatively small number of infected people on a separate plane from the non-infected people, or is that level of sophisticated thinking too much to ask?

         Another problem with air travel is that all the passengers get some one-on-one face time with ticket agents and TSA screeners, who then get infected and become the spreader. I think two TSA agents at LAX have tested positive.Report

3. Swinging from politely asking my brother who has been in Belgium/France/Netherlands the last several days whether he should come to the family get-together this weekend when he returns(*), to wondering whether he will get out of Europe in the foreseeable future.

   (*) Elderly parents.Report

   1. Sorry to hear that. I hope everything is okay.Report

      1. I guess my brother changed flights and on his way to the States right now. Don’t know if the change was related to the virus or something else.

         But it kind of doesn’t matter as much now, because I don’t think the extended family is coming to our house to celebrate my son’s birthday.

         My daughter’s college switched to on-line education only while she was home on Spring Break, and isn’t certain when she will go back now.Report

         1. I’m glad he’s on his way home (if that’s what he wants).

            The place I work at is also switching over to online education. I do wonder whether the online infrastructure is strong enough to handle the greater influx of usage. I’m too ignorant to know the in’s and out’s, but I imagine it just might hard to accommodate everyone who needs to use the internet.Report

            1. I worry about that–our LMS is Blackboard and we’ve had failures in normal times. I guess we’ll see what our infrastructure can handle.Report

               1. Fortunately (for me, not for anyone else, necessarily), I’m not an instructor and don’t have to worry about that aspect of it.Report

4. This was informative. Corona virus data from Tomas Pueyo, posted at medium.comReport

5. Interesting. When Trump called for travel restrictions from some middle eastern countries, the Dems and MSM screamed “Trump is being racist!”.

   When Trump called for travel restrictions from China, the Dems and MSM screamed “Trump is being racist!”.

   When Trump called for travel restrictions from Europe the Dems and MSM… said nothing much. I’m sure that more response pieces will come out over the next few days, but so far I’m not seeing the same claims of “RACISM!” that immediately greeted his other travel restrictions. So, quick poll for the commenters, what’s different this time?

   A. It’s not different, the next few days will have similar accusations of racism
   B. It can’t be “racism” if the targets of discrimination are mostly white (Europe is mostly white)
   C. It’s officially a pandemic now: Trump was just racist before, but this one is actually justified
   D. It’s officially a pandemic now: People actually are putting politics aside to come together in a unified response
   E. None of the travel bans were racist, it’s only now that Dems and Media are realizing they were good policy all along
   F. Other (specify in your comment)Report

   1. F. What they all have in common is ignorance and incompetence. The UK has more cases than any European nation but is somehow left off his list.

      When your brand is racism, don’t be surprised when people see it as your brand.Report

      1. I’ll agree that I don’t see the point of exempting the UK.

         But, “The UK has more cases than any European nation but is somehow left off his list.” doesn’t even pass the sniff test. Did you mean something else, like, maybe large single day growth? Its weird because I’m seeing it on twitter too.

         And let’s be honest, if we can’t enjoy some good racism against the French, then what’s the point?Report

         1. Oops… easier to find map link.Report

            1. I was looking at old information. I stand corrected.Report

               1. The Republican brand isn’t racism. That’s just an intellectually lazy slur Dems use when they can’t be bothered or are unable to present a substantive argument against anything a Republican does. It’s ad hominem and nothing more.

                  More relevant to this particular poll, that also doesn’t answer the question why banning travel from Europe isn’t generating the same accusations of racism the other bans did. Pointing out something you consider the same about all the bans doesn’t explain why the Dem/media reaction isn’t the same this time. You haven’t actually answered the question I asked.Report

                  1. Don’t worry. As soon as Trump sets up drive-thru testing because Democrats are screaming for it, we’ll find out drive-thru testing is racist because Trump only wants to test people who:

                     1) Own cars
                     2) Have a valid drivers license
                     3) Have valid registration and car insurance
                     4) Have no outstanding warrants
                     5) Are here legally

                     Drive-thru testing will be evidence that we’re still living in the Jim Crow era, they’ll demand that it be stopped immediately, and they’ll find a circuit judge who will issue a nationwide injunction against it. It’s how they roll.Report

                  2. Next Day’s Headline: “Drive or Die? Trump policy leaves poor pedestrians to perish in the streets!”

                     It wouldn’t surprise me. If Trump literally walked on water the CNN headline covering it would be “Trump can’t swim!”Report

6. The travel ban comes too late and also manages to not include locations with Trump gulf courses and property. Interesting, interesting.

   A public health crisis/pandemic is the one thing that Trump’s bluster can not help with.Report

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