Apparently you have to be a friend of Trump to be tested promptly for the novel coronavirus. All others must stand in line for tests that are seldom available.
Two close congressional allies of President Trump underwent coronavirus testing in recent days in apparent defiance of federal recommendations reserving those tests for patients exhibiting symptoms of infection — and amid growing concerns about the availability of testing for Americans who are sick.
Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the latter of whom Trump named last week as the next White House chief of staff, both said in statements that the tests showed no infection after exposure to a coronavirus carrier at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference last month in suburban Washington.
The two lawmakers also said they were exhibiting no symptoms of respiratory illness, raising questions of why they were tested at all.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that health-care providers prioritize tests for hospitalized patients who are exhibiting coronavirus symptoms, elderly and medically fragile individuals, along with others who have shown signs of illness after contact with a known or suspected coronavirus patient.
Gaetz, 37, and Meadows, 60, are not known to belong to any groups at high risk for infection. Spokesmen for the two lawmakers declined to comment beyond their public statements confirming the negative test results and their decision to self-quarantine as a precaution.
The scarcity of testing has emerged as a crucial challenge to the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak, with health providers, public officials and individuals all calling for more widespread testing capacity. The unavailability of tests makes it difficult crucial challenge to the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak, with health providers, public officials and individuals all calling for more widespread testing capacity. The unavailability of tests makes it difficult to determine how many Americans are infected with the disease.
States Need Medical Supplies to Fight Coronavirus. Can the National Stockpile Keep Up With Demand?
MARCH 10, 2020
…HHS estimates the U.S. could need up to 3.5 billion N95 respirator masks, the mask that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends health care workers use when treating patients with the coronavirus, over a year in a pandemic. But the stockpile currently holds approximately 12 million N95 respirator masks and 30 million surgical face masks, HHS officials say.
“We’re actively working on that,” Kadlec told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on March 3. HHS plans to purchase 500 million N95 respirators over the next 18 months for the Strategic National Stockpile to help shore up its reserves.
The stockpile is designed to supplement states’ own supplies and help fill in gaps, and it will ultimately be up to Kadlec to decide how to triage requests from states if the system becomes overwhelmed. But his office’s management of the complex system is relatively new: two years ago, the Trump administration moved oversight of the stockpile from the CDC to the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response, so this will be the first major test of the new chain of command. In 2018, former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney wrote that the shift would “streamline operational decisions during responses to public health and other emergencies and improve responsiveness,” the Washington Post reported. Other officials, however, had raised concerns that the shift would disrupt a proven system…
https://time.com/5800200/strategic-national-stockpile-coronavirus/?utm_source=emailshare&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-share-article&utm_content=20200311
White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney wrote that the shift would “streamline operational decisions during responses to public health and other emergencies and improve responsiveness,”……. for the Politicians(and family) 1st, the wealthy 2nd, and to hell with everyone else.
Since these pompous-and-corrupt fools were already tested, they are probably as stupid as Trump and think they are safe.
But, they are not out of the woods yet. A COVID-19 infection could happen anytime from anyone. And from what I’ve read, we can get it, seem to get over it and get hit again. I also read that the virus had already mutated into at least another strain of COVID-19, and this could happen again, too.
It figures. Why give poor workers time off when they can come to work and spread all the joy. Why isn’t Sen. Alexander putting up a bill to have the government fund paid sick leave? How much money does the government to help people have since the Great Tax Cut for the Middle Class was so successful?
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Senate GOP Blocks Emergency Paid Sick Leave Bill
Democrats hoping to pass an emergency paid sick leave bill to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus were stymied by Senate Republicans on Wednesday.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) tried to speed the measure up for a vote on the Senate floor through a procedural maneuver, but an objection from Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) prevented the bill from bypassing the Republican-controlled health committee.
Murray noted that many people who don’t have paid leave through their jobs will inevitably miss work due to being sick or quarantined in the coming weeks. She argued that guaranteed paid leave was important both for public health and the good of the broader economy.
“For many of our workers ― restaurant workers, truck drivers, service industry workers ― they may not have an option to take a day off without losing their pay or losing their job,” Murray said. “That’s not a choice we should be asking anyone to make in the United States in the 21st century.”
Alexander said that paid sick leave is a “good idea.” But if lawmakers want to require employers to provide it, then the federal government should have to foot the bill, he argued.
“Employees are struggling, our employers are struggling, and it’s not a cure for the coronavirus to put a big new expensive federal mandate on employers who are struggling in the middle of this matter,” Alexander said…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/senate-gop-blocks-emergency-paid-sick-leave-legislation-from-moving-forward_n_5e691016c5b68d61645ebff9?ncid=engmodushpmg00000006
“Alexander said that paid sick leave is a “good idea.” But if lawmakers want to require employers to provide it, then the federal government should have to foot the bill, he argued.”
Alexander is right. There are a lot of small businesses that are operating on a very slim margin. If you want to support the walmartization of the nation, support forcing employers to provide paid sick leave since large companies are the only ones who will survive relatively unscathed. One size does not fit all. Paid sick leave is for the good of everybody. If it is deemed necessary, then the federal government needs to pony up.
Waiting for Trump to do his big address to the nation…I turned on the TV just now and believe it or not the reality show “Survivor” is on. (Truth is stranger than fiction!) Who will get the immunity idol? Who will get a taxpayer bailout? Big oil? Boston Rob? It’s a bit confusing. And, which Trump will be walk out? The “nice” B.S. Donald or Tweetstorm Donald? Stay tuned!