The Walls Come Down: No Travel Betwen US and Europe for 30 Days

[bilateralrope]

PA apparently has pulled Gamestops operating licenses for the state and declared all the stores hazmat areas requiring PPE to enter.

Good.

I'm wondering if physical media for video games will survive COVID19.

[The Romulan Republic]

PA apparently has pulled Gamestops operating licenses for the state and declared all the stores hazmat areas requiring PPE to enter.

Good.

I'm wondering if physical media for video games will survive COVID19.

It was already on the way out, so likely not.

[MKSheppard]

The number of imported #COVID19 cases in China has increased from 85 to 269 over the past 10 days, with an increase of 216%, which is faster than the 98% growth rate of confirmed cases globally during the period, according to the National Health Commission on Saturday.

https://t.co/Wi3qjM9IHL

[loomer]

The US government has a special duty of care towards domestic subaltern tribal nations. They should be first in line, not last.

Since you didn't get it the first time:

In the United States there is no line. It does not exist.

NO ONE is getting helped by the Feds at this point.

At this point, the only governments doing jack are the STATE and LOCAL governments.

The Feds have completely failed in their duty towards EVERYONE.

Read the article before you come at me with your bullshit. There is a line for funding, test kits, respirators, and PPE, and despite getting congressional approval, $40 million in emergency funds for health care for the tribal nations and urban Native communities has been held back by the Trump administration's utter incompetence. They've received disproportionately little in the way of testing kits and PPE even compared to the poor situation elsewhere despite the massively elevated risks, and are, unlike your local hospital, heavily reliant on direct federal supply due to the treaty arrangements and way the IHS is set up. That's without considering the years of deliberate underfunding and resource cuts that become especially lethal at times like this.

Since you didn't get it the first time:
The United States Government has a special fiduciary duty to Native American communities that requires it to act in their best interests and is actively failing to do so during this pandemic, above and beyond its general failures.

[The Romulan Republic]

I agree, but since the government is failing in that duty, its up to the American people to fulfill it themselves.

If you have any information on non-profit organizations which are trying to help provide assistance to Native American communities in particular, or to pandemic victims generally, please post it, and I'll pass it on.

[chimericoncogene]

The number of imported #COVID19 cases in China has increased from 85 to 269 over the past 10 days, with an increase of 216%, which is faster than the 98% growth rate of confirmed cases globally during the period, according to the National Health Commission on Saturday.

https://t.co/Wi3qjM9IHL

These are absolute case numbers, which reflect total numbers of people returning to China as well as % of returnees infected. With the outbreak worsening in the EU and US, east asian expats are returning home in droves, resulting in higher case totals. The same effects led to flights from the EU to my country getting way overbooked.

[loomer]

I agree, but since the government is failing in that duty, its up to the American people to fulfill it themselves.

If you have any information on non-profit organizations which are trying to help provide assistance to Native American communities in particular, or to pandemic victims generally, please post it, and I'll pass it on.

Unfortunately I don't know enough about which organizations are legitimate, let alone effective, to give advice on where to direct donations, as I focus most of my donations to either international level orgs or to direct relief for Indigenous communities on my own continent. I'm sure if you search around on twitter you'll find people who do - Nick Estes is pretty active and might know who to point you to, for instance - or you could try contacting various tribal health bodies, but those are probably slammed at the moment so it may not be helpful for them to have people adding to the workload.

[Broomstick]

PA apparently has pulled Gamestops operating licenses for the state and declared all the stores hazmat areas requiring PPE to enter.

Ha! Comeuppance!

[Broomstick]

Morally, I can make no justification for the continued existence of the federal government of the United States in its current form.

Great.

Look, you work on that - I have yet another 10 hour day trying to keep the nation, or at least my little corner of it, feed and supplied with toilet paper (yes, we DID get a truck of that yesterday. Which didn't last long, of course).

[Broomstick]

Since you didn't get it the first time:
The United States Government has a special fiduciary duty to Native American communities that requires it to act in their best interests and is actively failing to do so during this pandemic, above and beyond its general failures.

Fuck you.

It's not about "this group gets in line first" and "that group goes to the end and goes to hell". There should have been enough for everyone. There isn't.

I'm going to go work another 10 hours today trying to do my tiny part to save the world, without asking people before I ring them up "Hey, are you Native? No? Get to the back of the line colonial scum".

What the fuck have YOU do with YOUR day to help someone else?

[mr friendly guy]

Some states in Australia are going alone in shutting down. News is their is a government meeting later to try and coordinate things on the Federal and state levels, but if no one agrees, some states will go ahead anyway. Which would be a blow for Scott Morrison's leadership.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/ ... s/12079124

The Governments of New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT will proceed to a more comprehensive shutdown of non-essential services over the next 48 hours in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Supermarkets, petrol stations, pharmacies, convenience stores, freight and logistics, and home delivery will be among the many services that will remain open.

Schools in all three states will remain open on Monday, but in Victoria school holidays will be brought forward to start on Tuesday.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/ ... t/12079044

Meanwhile SA and WA are closing their borders

Authorities in Western Australia and South Australia have announced tough new measures that will see both states close their borders to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The WA Government has announced it will close its borders from 1:30pm (AWST) on Tuesday, although exemptions will apply for essential services and workers.

Interstate arrivals will be required to self-isolate for 14 days, and the border controls will apply to all road, air, rail and sea access points.

"These are extreme steps, but these are extreme days ... we all need to step up and play our part in one of the greatest crises facing our state in its history," WA Premier Mark McGowan said.

"WA is now in a war, the type of war we have never seen before."

This means of course, AFL is cancelled.

[loomer]

Since you didn't get it the first time:
The United States Government has a special fiduciary duty to Native American communities that requires it to act in their best interests and is actively failing to do so during this pandemic, above and beyond its general failures.

Fuck you.

It's not about "this group gets in line first" and "that group goes to the end and goes to hell". There should have been enough for everyone. There isn't.

I'm going to go work another 10 hours today trying to do my tiny part to save the world, without asking people before I ring them up "Hey, are you Native? No? Get to the back of the line colonial scum".

What the fuck have YOU do with YOUR day to help someone else?

Boofuckinghoo, you work in a store - no one cares, and it doesn't give you license to get shirty or abusive with people with compromised immune systems who're locked down because they don't. You're also completely wrong - it is about 'this group is first in line' and 'that group is last in line' because of the ongoing fiduciary duty the US government has badly neglected towards domestic subaltern nations rendering Native American communities significantly more vulnerable to the pandemic's most serious impacts, which any sane and caring person would recognize makes providing them with supplies and staff a priority. That's a little thing called equity - you give those who need more, more, and those who need less, less, so that everyone has an actual even chance.

P.s. - if anyone wondered what settler fragility looks like, Broomie's bullshit here is a pretty great example.

[mr friendly guy]

Can you get covid 19 twice?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/ ... e/12075878

Long story short, an Australian expert thinks not, and that the reason people appear to be reinfected is that the test gives a false negative, maybe because the virus is hiding elsewhere in the body then where the swab is taken.

Some Chinese doctors also think this is the case, that is its the test giving a false negative rather than reinfection. If this is true, its obviously more promising for vaccine development and makes it easier to control the outbreak.

[The Romulan Republic]

Can you get covid 19 twice?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/ ... e/12075878

Long story short, an Australian expert thinks not, and that the reason people appear to be reinfected is that the test gives a false negative, maybe because the virus is hiding elsewhere in the body then where the swab is taken.

Some Chinese doctors also think this is the case, that is its the test giving a false negative rather than reinfection. If this is true, its obviously more promising for vaccine development and makes it easier to control the outbreak.

Well that's some excellent news, if true.

[MKSheppard]

To elaborate on Broomy's point about NOBODY having shit:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11221578/ ... rus-masks/

French border guards seize two lorries carrying 130,000 coronavirus face masks for hero NHS medics

The French sparked a near-diplomatic row by seizing two lorries carrying 130,000 face masks for the NHS.

The cargo was being urgently ferried in a major boost for over-stretched UK medics battling coronavirus.

But French border guards impounded the trucks after realising what was on board.

They were acting on President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to “requisition” all masks for his country’s fight.

The seizure came just 24 hours after another British-bound vehicle carrying thousands of bottles of hand sanitiser was also held up on the other side of the Channel.

UK officials were quickly alerted to both incidents.

And after tense, top-level talks, the lorries were allowed to leave with all supplies on board.

A government source said: “On Tuesday night, French authorities stopped the hand sanitiser and confiscated the lot. “On Wednesday night, it was lorries full of FFP3 face masks to protect staff.”

But a Whitehall source added: “Both incidents were dealt with relatively quickly.

“There is a clear understanding between countries that only a united approach will tackle the public health emergency all countries face.

“It appears to have been a misunderstanding, we’re confident it won’t happen again.”

President Macron had promised on Twitter on March 3 that the French “will requisition all stocks and the production of masks”.

Former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith said: “This shows you all you need to know about European co-operation.

“Europe is in lockdown and each nation has been left to their own devices.”

Paracetamol exports from Britain have been banned as ministers move to protect vital stocks.

Officials have halted firms from shipping 82 key drugs abroad, including adrenalin, insulin and common painkillers.

Health Minister Lord Bethell said: “NHS staff are going above and beyond to provide world-class care to patients and we are supporting them in every way we can.”

[Zaune]

To elaborate on Broomy's point about NOBODY having shit:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11221578/ ... rus-masks/

Source is... dubious, to put it politely.

[MKSheppard]

It's not about "this group gets in line first" and "that group goes to the end and goes to hell". There should have been enough for everyone. There isn't.

I'll repost this this section too, since some people didn't get it earlier (I also posted it earlier in response to you too):

Nobody can get any PPE either; the entire supply chain for those has been decimated.

The only people who have them now are those who had the foresight to stock up on PPE a few months ago.

There are a few hospitals in the US who actually do keep PPE stockpiles; but most of them are "JIT" ruled by beancounter hospital administrators; because PPE stocks expire and have to be rotated.

After this, I think we're going to need regulations saying if you want to have a license to run X amount of beds as a hospital, you need to maintain A, B, and C amounts of PPE.

ADDITIONAL:

Two days ago, DOD began releasing stockpiles LINK after the Defense Production Act was invoked:

The Department of Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, said in a news conference that the department will release personal protective equipment (PPE), including 5 million N-95 masks, from the military reserves. 1 million will be available immediately.

In addition to the PPE, over 2,000 ventilators will be available for hospital use. The need for ventilators is projected to be far greater than the 62,000 that are currently in use in US hospitals - prompting fears that hospitals are not well equipped to handle the influx of COVID-19 coronavirus patients.

ADDITIONAL II

I posted a page ago a image of a letter sent out. Here it is in OCR format:

This letter was supposedly sent out by one of the Chief Heads at New York -- Presbyterian / Columbia University Medical Center in NYC (aka Presbyterian Hospital).

Dear Colleagues,

This has been a very active day, during which the hard data has become alarming. I wish I could use a more comforting word. Today NYP has about 300 COVID-19 antigen-positive inpatients, with about 200 awaiting test results. This approaches a 50% increase in one day.

CUIMC inpatient COVID-19 positive patients have increased from 37 to 59 overnight, ventilator patients from 10 to 12. Projections presented at noon today estimate that we will reach peak COVID-19 volume within 22-32 days, at which point the NYP system will need 700-934 ICU beds. The lower estimate exceeds our ICU capacity, even with surge construction, HSS and DHK capacity added. With that resource limitation in mind, we have reduced the urgent OR schedule even more dramatically. There is a sliver of a silver lining—it appears the alarm raised yesterday about our blood supply was overstated.

PPE is an increasingly limited resource, most dramatically illustrated by masks. N95 masks are already extremely scarce. NYP normally uses 4,000 non-N95 masks per day. Currently NYP is consuming 40,000 such masks per day, which is estimated to reach 70,000 per day.

The downstate region uses about 3 million masks per week. The entire United States strategic reserve holds only 75 million masks. With great effort Dr. Corwin has successfully pried 150,000 masks out of the reserve; a two-day supply at peak. We're told that manufacturing is beginning to accelerate, but that relief is weeks away at best. These figures might make it hard for readers to understand today's decision to provide one non-N95 mask to each NYP, CUIMC, and WC employee, but it is a potentially important concession to their emotional needs. In theory, the mask is to be used only if the person becomes symptomatic. Employees will be responsible for keeping their one mask clean and available.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to apologize profusely in a few weeks for having overestimated the threat. That would mean we never exceeded capacity, and that mortalities and morbidities rarely seen in non-pandemic circumstances were avoided. The next month or two is a horror to imagine if we're underestimating the threat. So what can we do? Load the sled, check the traces, feed Balto, and mush on. Our cargo must reach Nome.

Remember that our families, friends, and neighbors are scared, idle, out of work, and feel impotent. Anyone working in health care still enjoys the rapture of action. It’s a privilege! We mush on.

Craig R. Smith, MD
Chair, Department of Surgery
Surgeon-in-Chief, NYP/CUIMC

[loomer]

To elaborate on Broomy's point about NOBODY having shit:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11221578/ ... rus-masks/

Except, of course, that both seizes lorries were allowed to go on with their cargo intact. But more than that - it's tangential to the point. No one has shit, but that doesn't justify ignoring principles of equity and leaving the most vulnerable communities in the dust, let alone failing to distribute what is available in a timely manner or the years-long underfunding and neglect of the fiduciary duty owed to domestic subaltern nations that has exacerbated the current crisis.

[MKSheppard]

The hard facts are that PPE in a pandemic situation is a rapidly depleting commodity.

Lets say you have 75 nurses working every 24 hours in your hospital. You might think that 75 masks/day and a 75/pairs of gloves would be enough, and thus a supply of 5,000 masks/glove pairs would last you 60~ days.

Except it doesn't work that way -- masks themselves can become "hot", since if they do their job in filtering, they end up with a lot of what you don't want inside you on the outside of the filter material. Same thing with gloves; they can become hot as well.

If you don't want to track COVID-19 (or any other nasties) outside of the designated RED ZONE, you have to dispose of your PPE when you leave the RED ZONE, and thus get fresh PPE when you re-enter the RED ZONE.

Here's a happy thought. You think TSA security screeners change their gloves every 30 minutes?

EDIT: Meme from Facebook:

LOOK AT IT THIS WAY

COVID-19 is glitter and it's on a doorknob. You touched that doorknob and now the glitter is on your hand. Then you pay cash for a Diet Coke, grab your phone and high five Carol. Then you wash your hands and wash off the glitter.

BUT CAROL hops in her car, goes home and touches her eyes, ears, nose or mouth on the way. These spots are basically glitter transfer sites. They take the glitter from your outer body and bring it to your immune system. So now Carol is infected with glitter.

Meanwhile, the cashier that took your cash has glitter on his hands - let's call him Kyle. So Kyle goes home, grabs both his baby girls and gives them a big hug and kiss. So now the babies have glitter on them, so naturally as babies do, they put their hands in their mouth.

Glitter. Transfer. Sites.

BUT we're not done.

You washed your hands and you used soap and you even used paper towel to turn the contaminated taps off. But you did not clean your phone and your phone has glitter on it. So now with your silky clean hands you grab your phone because 'HELLO, Becky texted you!'

AND BAM! Glitter hands.

[loomer]

The hard facts are that PPE in a pandemic situation is a rapidly depleting commodity.

Lets say you have 75 nurses working every 24 hours in your hospital. You might think that 75 masks/day and a 75/pairs of gloves would be enough, and thus a supply of 5,000 masks/glove pairs would last you 60~ days.

Except it doesn't work that way -- masks themselves can become "hot", since if they do their job in filtering, they end up with a lot of what you don't want inside you on the outside of the filter material. Same thing with gloves; they can become hot as well.

If you don't want to track COVID-19 (or any other nasties) outside of the designated RED ZONE, you have to dispose of your PPE when you leave the RED ZONE, and thus get fresh PPE when you re-enter the RED ZONE.

Here's a happy thought. You think TSA security screeners change their gloves every 30 minutes?

So, again, this is actually beside the point. There is no dispute that PPE, ventilators, and trained staff are increasingly hard to come by, and the logistics of their use within a clinic isn't actually all that relevant. What is in dispute is whether or not Native American communities - which are specially vulnerable due to the systematic neglect of the fiduciary duty owed to them by the feds - should be given priority access to some of the released stockpiles of PPE and other equipment coming out of the strategic reserves (that'd be the line that Broomstick doesn't think exists) or not, along with whether actions should be taken to expedite the release of funds promised to their healthcare services that have been caught up in bureaucratic snafus. It isn't a question of if there are enough supplies for everyone - it's a question of what we do when there isn't and what communities are owed special duties of care over others. The two are actually very different issues. One is one of pure mathematics, and the other is one of morality, legal obligation (like that fiduciary duty the US government owes), and practical impact.

[Ace Pace]

So, again, this is actually beside the point. There is no dispute that PPE, ventilators, and trained staff are increasingly hard to come by, and the logistics of their use within a clinic isn't actually all that relevant. What is in dispute is whether or not Native American communities - which are specially vulnerable due to the systematic neglect of the fiduciary duty owed to them by the feds - should be given priority access to some of the released stockpiles of PPE and other equipment coming out of the strategic reserves (that'd be the line that Broomstick doesn't think exists) or not, along with whether actions should be taken to expedite the release of funds promised to their healthcare services that have been caught up in bureaucratic snafus. It isn't a question of if there are enough supplies for everyone - it's a question of what we do when there isn't and what communities are owed special duties of care over others. The two are actually very different issues. One is one of pure mathematics, and the other is one of morality, legal obligation (like that fiduciary duty the US government owes), and practical impact.

I can go with moral and legal obligations, but can you explain practical impact? Why do we assume the practical impact of giving the equipment to the tribes is better than the practical impact of giving them to other rural hospitals?

[chimericoncogene]

Except it doesn't work that way -- masks themselves can become "hot", since if they do their job in filtering, they end up with a lot of what you don't want inside you on the outside of the filter material. Same thing with gloves; they can become hot as well.

If you don't want to track COVID-19 (or any other nasties) outside of the designated RED ZONE, you have to dispose of your PPE when you leave the RED ZONE, and thus get fresh PPE when you re-enter the RED ZONE.

Here's a happy thought. You think TSA security screeners change their gloves every 30 minutes?

This is good prep for global thermonuclear war.

Generally, yeah, all your outdoor clothing and equipment is going to be hot. Backpacks, T shirts, everything. Treat it like it's radioactive like its covered in an alpha emitter, with a half life of maybe a day (less under sunlight). Other people are beta emitters, stay three, six, ten feet away from them.

Treat everything you touch like its an alpha emitter. Your skin is covered in fallout. Go home, shoes off, head straight for the shower, doff clothing, shower. Clothes are hot, so wash hands after handling dirty clothing.

And phones! 70% ethanol should work on them and maybe keyboards. Not computer monitors though, i hear those are plastic coated.

[loomer]

So, again, this is actually beside the point. There is no dispute that PPE, ventilators, and trained staff are increasingly hard to come by, and the logistics of their use within a clinic isn't actually all that relevant. What is in dispute is whether or not Native American communities - which are specially vulnerable due to the systematic neglect of the fiduciary duty owed to them by the feds - should be given priority access to some of the released stockpiles of PPE and other equipment coming out of the strategic reserves (that'd be the line that Broomstick doesn't think exists) or not, along with whether actions should be taken to expedite the release of funds promised to their healthcare services that have been caught up in bureaucratic snafus. It isn't a question of if there are enough supplies for everyone - it's a question of what we do when there isn't and what communities are owed special duties of care over others. The two are actually very different issues. One is one of pure mathematics, and the other is one of morality, legal obligation (like that fiduciary duty the US government owes), and practical impact.

I can go with moral and legal obligations, but can you explain practical impact? Why do we assume the practical impact of giving the equipment to the tribes is better than the practical impact of giving them to other rural hospitals?

Keeping the infections from raging freely in communities where transmission rates are going to be higher is practical generally, but by practical impact I meant that it is a factor that must be weighed in combination with and potentially against morality and legal obligation. It may well be that it's actually less practical both to send a ventilator to the Dine and to have it play a major role in reducing overall fatalities than it is to send it to, say, Bumfuck, Missouri and have it do the same.

It's stepping outside my area of expertise to comment further on the implications for epidemiology, but staying in my relative lane I will note that Indigenous communities often have a whole lot more riding on the survival of any given elder than settler ones do - they may be the last person who can do full initiations, the only fully fluent speaker in a language, the only person who still knows all the unwritten stories word-perfect, and so forth. At that point the practical cultural and social implications of their deaths are significantly more serious than the death of, say, me to my community or even the old fellas I'm responsible for to it. It's another dimension to triage, basically - not just the individual odds of recovering, but the importance of a person to the social survival of a community and culture.

[MKSheppard]

Treat everything you touch like its an alpha emitter. Your skin is covered in fallout. Go home, shoes off, head straight for the shower, doff clothing, shower.

A poster on another board's wife used to work at a really shittily run animal shelter; and epidemics of doggie/cat diseases would sweep through it regularly, to the point she had to put down lots of animals.

What she did after work was:

Entered the Garage
Stripped Naked
Put "Hot" Work Clothes into Garbage Bag
Walked Straight into shower
Launder "Hot" Work Clothes ASAP
Clean Hands after handling hot clothes

This way, she was able to keep working there, and not pass the diseases on to their dogs until she quit the job there.

Now the above is pretty fucking extreme, and should be done only after you enter the equivalent of a Level 4 hot zone (known/confirmed COVID-19 patient, or going to a hospital ER like, today).

[mr friendly guy]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11221578/ ... rus-masks/

French border guards seize two lorries carrying 130,000 coronavirus face masks for hero NHS medics

Despite the dubious source, I am inclined to consider this highly possible. On another board an Italian member showed a google translated article from Italy about how shipments of masks ordered from China which was meant to be transiting via Germany was intercepted as the Germans thought it was buying up German medical supplies. This was sorted out and the shipment allowed to proceed. Only problem was the masks went missing. Oopsies.

Also the same phenomena was reported in the early days of the outbreak in China before the PRC got their production of PPEs going. Only it was one province accusing another of taking it.