Dr. X's Free Associations

What Does Covid-19 Have To Do With the Season Finale of The Bachelor?

Ratings

“President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2020

...On Monday, nearly 12.2 million people watched Mr. Trump’s briefing on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, according to Nielsen — ‘Monday Night Football’ numbers. Millions more are watching on ABC, CBS, NBC and online streaming sites, and the audience is expanding. On Monday, Fox News...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2020

Just wait until the virus hears about the ratings. It'll hop the first freighter back to China.

Meanwhle, in China...

Wuhan reported only about 2,500 #coronavirus deaths, but 5,000 urns were delivered to one mortuary over just 2 days. “Wuhan has seven other mortuaries.” https://t.co/32sIwcJYRq @shanghaiist

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) March 27, 2020

After Chinese 640,000 test-kits were reported duds in Italy, now a report from Netherlands that says half of the 1.3 million face-masks supplied by China are defective. In other words, the only quality commodity coming out of China right now is propaganda. https://t.co/YlynJIcd7V

— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) March 28, 2020

Local Update

It has seemed to me that almost everyone here is compliant with social distancing, though there were problems on the Lakefront and at the 606 Trail (an elevated trail like the NYC High Line) over the weekend, so the mayor has ordered both closed. Yesterday, I drove along the lakefront and CPD had it locked down tight with patrol cars at every pedestrian entrance.

As of yesterday, we had 26 confirmed COVID-19 related deaths, which is very few compared with New York where they had over 100 deaths in a single day. Perhaps we're lagging behind by a couple of weeks, but I'm hoping that we've slowed things down here.

The Wannabe Dictator

The Trump campaign is threatening broadcast licenses to stop TV stations from airing this 30-second advert. The FCC has no authority to take broadcast licenses based on disputes about political content or political claims.

Trump refused to take the threat of the coronavirus seriously, now he won’t take responsibility as his administration has been totally unprepared for this crisis. pic.twitter.com/Jdh1GY9HHS

— Priorities USA (@prioritiesUSA) March 23, 2020

“Under the law, the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content... The FCC under my leadership will stand for the First Amendment.” -FCC Chairman Agit Pai

According to Der Spiegel, the G7 foreign ministers haven't been able to agree on a joint statement because of Pompeo's insistence it refer to #coronavirus as the "Wuhan virus". Pompeo did not deny that this morning - said G7 don't agree on everythinghttps://t.co/hizImEAtnK

— Julian Borger (@julianborger) March 25, 2020

"The medicines, & what I like to call, & people are calling, 'therapies' are things that can help, or maybe help, people who are ill, or not quite ill, but feeling a little better, or getting better, or before they even get sick in some cases." - Donald Trump at daily pandemic briefing

Thank God we got that cleared up.

Illinois: Shelter-in-Place

A connected friend told me that Illinois Governor Pritzker is going to issue a shelter-in-place order beginning at 9pm tomorrow (Saturday). I don't know what restrictions and exceptions that would entail exactly. I'm just offering this as a heads up in case you really need to do something outside your home.

Update:

Pritzker announced the shelter-in-place order to commence at 5pm tomorrow. Trips for groceries, take-out food, gas, bank and essential jobs will be permitted. Most retail establishments will close. Enforcement won't be aggressive, so most people will be living as they have been for the past few days.

I had to go into the office to pick up mail and take care of some paperwork It was easy to maintain no contact with people. Even our doorman had a social distancing barrier protecting him. There is no shelter-in-place order, but we are effectively almost there.

Below: Michigan Avenue at lunch hour. On a weekday, this location is typically congested with cars and people. I haven't seen it this deserted at this time of day since 9-11.

Rush hour on Lakeshore Drive, ordinarily bumper to bumper.

FOMO

FOMO: /ˈfōmō/ noun informal noun: FOMO ORIGIN English Fear of missing out

CBS interviews with spring breakers in Miami who refuse to stop partying despite a pandemic are like deleted scenes from Idiocracy pic.twitter.com/mnNOJ5MkZ4

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 18, 2020

This was predictable. The only move that would have stopped this is closing the Florida beaches and placing strict limits on public gatherings at hotels and resorts -- closing the pools, limits on occupancy. Eliminate access to places that Spring break revelers gather.

Media needs to be much much more skeptical of big Presidential “announcements” that drive coverage and then prove to be less than meets the eye. Same the infamous Google website and drive through testing in Wal Mart parking lots (speaking of which do we have that yet?) https://t.co/6YH6JkqEMD

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 18, 2020

Asked about asymptomatic NBA players getting tested and whether the wealthy and well-connected are going to the front of the line where others can't, Trump says you'd have to ask them, "but perhaps that's been the story of life."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 18, 2020

Some refreshing candor from Trump?

COVID-19 Deaths in Italy Top 2,500

The Hill:

The death toll in Italy from the coronavirus rose above 2,500 on Tuesday.

Italy’s health ministry reported 2,503 deaths and a total of 31,506 confirmed cases of the virus.

Italy has been the hardest hit nation in Europe from the virus, which originated in China.

At the moment, more than 26,000 people are positive for the virus in Italy and nearly 3,000 people have been healed, the country's health ministry said.

This isn't quite clear, but either 26,000 or 29,000 have tested positive for the virus. We don't know how many cases there are but it seems pretty safe to assume that it's far more than 29,000. I believe the death figure in the article is for deaths from the virus, but surely there are also deaths that are incidental to the virus because the healthcare system is overwhelmed. This is why it's so important that we flatten the curve. The worst case scenario is too many people contracting the virus at the same time and running out of hospital beds, medical personnel and supplies. Personally, I've decided to limit my work to telehealth for existing patients.

Then there's the economy. It's cost me a lot but I'm okay. I've already spoken with people who will not be okay going into next month. I will reduce or forgo charges to patients as necessary rather than leave them hanging out to dry in the middle of a crisis. I hope others are similarly prepared to do what they can to help their clients, customers and their community.

It might be funny if he weren't the president

Asked about his change in tone yesterday, Trump says, "I have seen that, where people actually liked it. But I didn't feel different. I've always known this is a real -- this is a pandemic." He then claims, "I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 17, 2020

CNBC on Jan. 22: "Are there worries about a pandemic at this point?"

Trump's response: "No. Not at all. And -- we're -- we have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."https://t.co/EoaaBxHW1k

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 17, 2020

Trump: "We have a problem that a month ago nobody ever thought about."

False. Both with regard to pandemics generally, coronavirus pandemics in particular, and this specific coronavirus.

And the US had its first confirmed case in January. https://t.co/GipI01oUBg

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 16, 2020

Trump just said “A lot of people are gonna die. A lot of people,” “I’ve always known this was a pandemic.”

If Trump always knew this was a pandemic that was going to kill a lot of people, why in the he’ll didn’t he act sooner? why didn’t he get the country prepared for it?

— Patricia Villaescusa (@patyvillaescusa) March 17, 2020

Feb. 26: Trump:

“Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. … When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done."