This story appeared in the Washington Post. This refusal to follow medical advice will continue to spread the disease and cause unnecessary deaths. The world is watching our rudderless response to the pandemic and feeling sorry for us. Why ask a doctor for her best advice in a dire situation and then ignore it?
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) said Monday that he has no plans to close bars and curb indoor dining — minutes after White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx recommended those measures at a joint news conference with the governor.
Saying that the coronavirus situation in Tennessee was at an “inflection point,” Birx said Monday that diligence and targeted business restrictions statewide could have an effect on a par with a stay-at-home order.
“We can change the future of this virus in this state today,” she said. “If we continue to social-distance, if every mayor throughout this great state would mandate masks, close the bars and substantially increase indoor dining distancing, together we can get through this.”
But when Lee took the microphone later, he said there are currently no plans to close bars or limit dining. Some mayors can shutter businesses on their own, but the vast majority of Tennessee’s county health departments fall under Lee’s purview, the Tennessean reports.
“I’ve said from the very beginning of this pandemic that there’s nothing off the table,” Lee said after a reporter brought up the issue. “I’ve also said that we are not going to close the economy back down, and we are not going to.”
“But I appreciate their recommendations and we take them seriously,” he said, after thanking Birx for visiting his state and saying there were “productive meetings” about education plans and strategies to encourage mask-wearing, among other topics.
Lee has also declined to issue a statewide mask order, though he promoted their effectiveness Monday, and Birx said Monday that she believes the governor has a “sound strategy” and supports local officials taking the lead. Birx appealed to the mayors of rural counties in particular to mandate face coverings, saying that a majority of counties in Tennessee require them but that “we need 100 percent.”
On another front in the battle against COVID-19, the head of Baltimore’s Intensive Care Unit died of the virus.
Joseph J. Costa, chief of the hospital’s Critical Care Division, died about 4:45 a.m. Saturday in the same ICU he supervised. He was attended by his partner of 28 years and about 20 staff members, who placed their hands on him as he died. Costa was 56.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Gov Lee is doing everything he can so that people will want to come to Belmont University in Nashville, TN for the debate at the end of Oct. Nashville is a party town and Lee doesn’t want to shut it down and cancel the debate (yet Michigan State and Notre Dame have already cancelled). My daughter will be attending Belmont this year as a Freshman but I’m not feeling very good about the Covid situation and how it’s being handled by government …..my bet is that the University will shut down by the end of September, the state will need to go into lockdown and the debate will cancelled.
Watching Anderson Cooper: 13 members of Miami Marlins MLB Team tested positive for covid: games have been cancelled.
Not school, though. In FL, “over 34,000 children have had covid-19 (nearly 1/3 of kids tested). Nationwide, 175,000 children 17 & under tested positive, w/228 deaths nationwide.” (Sun-Sentinel, FL).
But, surely this is just a hoax put out by the Democrats to make Trump look bad. Either that or the numbers of infected and dead put out by the MSM is fake news to make Trump look bad.
This country is in deep trouble. Trump is the one causing all this unwillingness to shut down services and promoted opening up way too early. Pretend the virus doesn’t exist and stop all the testing and everything will be just fine.
Trump, however, must have everyone tested and get the results before they can come near him. He is a _________________________________!! Fill in the blank with the foulest words you can think of.
And we can’t even realistically know that he won’t be re-elected. SICK!!!!🤪
And now look at the news! It “looks” like we are hitting a plateau and the worst may be over? Funny how the numbers are changing now that the data has been rerouted to a different agency? I’ll believe it’s better when the Dr’s, RN’s and Respiratory Therapists working in the hospitals say it’s better.
Like many today, I walk through metal detectors every morning to teach. I’d take a bullet for my kids. But according to Bill Lee et al I should be required to take that bullet home to my family too… What good is “the economy” if you’re dead?
“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”—from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Republicans May be thinking of long term Social Security savings as elderly die in large numbers
Thank you, LisaM. I have been thinking of that Dickens’ quote…s lot.
Did anyone see the “America’s Frontline Doctors” misinformation video yesterday? The “Doctors” in the video are wearing lab coats with labels that say “America’s Frontline Doctors”. Facebook pulled the video for spreading Covid misinformation.
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/07/28/trump-retweets-covid-19-video-yanked-by-social-media-for-pushing-fake-cure/24574352/
Some churches in California are saying that they won’t close down because it is obedience to God’s will that they remain open. These warped people don’t care of their members get sick and die. Unbelievable. Is there a problem with worshipping at home?
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I thought you would like this story from breakingchristiannews.com
California Churches Refuse to Shut Down in Face of Local Leaders Threatening to Cut Power
“Therefore, in response to the recent state order requiring churches in California to limit or suspend all meetings indefinitely, we, the pastors and elders of Grace Community Church, respectfully inform our civic leaders that they have exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction, and faithfulness to Christ prohibits us from observing the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services.” -Excerpt from GCC’s Open Letter
…The Bible commands Christian churches to remain open regardless of the dictates of secular leaders, church leadership argued in an open letter posted to Grace’s website: “Scripture does mandate careful, conscientious obedience to all governing authority, including kings, governors, employers, and their agents” as long as “government authorities do not attempt to assert ecclesiastical authority or issue orders that forbid our obedience to God’s law.”…
https://?ID=30824
All of this reminds me of the nuns who, during the raging Our Lady of the Angels school fire in Chicago, 1956, I believe, told the students to stay at their desks & pray. Of course, every one of them who obeyed perished. I think some kids disobeyed, jumped out the window, & saved themselves.
What a horrific story. I didn’t know about this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_the_Angels_School_fire
Tennessee needs a new governor. We need one that cares about the people not the economy. So many people have died. He needs to have a statewide mask mandate.
Dr. Bonney: Governor Holcomb [R-IN] started a mask mandate on Monday of this week. He originally wanted it to be a third degree misdemeanor for not wearing a mask. He got so much flack that he backed down and said that people who don’t wear one should be educated and eliminated the 3rd degree charge. There were police and sheriffs departments that told him they wouldn’t enforce the law.
The numbers of infected in Indiana are continuously growing.
How in the world is this country going to ever have this pandemic under control when we have a lying, ignorant con man in charge spouting all the ‘wondrous’ knowledge that comes from his gut? “…I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”
Our children are supposed to go back to school in person when his own child Barron won’t be doing that. Trump is still claiming that Hydroxychloroquine is what will cure COVID-19.
Thank s for the link, GregB. Yes, one that horrified all of us. As can be read in the link, national tv shows were interrupted (I was 6-years-old & my sister 11, & CBS broke into I Love Lucy. We were terrified to go to school the next day.
Read the book, To Sleep With the Angels.
Off topic, Jitu Brown & Jesse Hagopian are on Democracy Now right now (45 minutes into the one hour show. They are talking about the possibility of the military coming into Chicago & Seattle, & also opening the schools (mostly Jesse), & Amy has a piece on something a CPS teacher wrote & said. Reopen? Just. NO.
Watch! (It will be online on democracynow.org soon, or if someone has a link to yesterday’s (7/28/20) show: I think this is the 12 AM CT rerun (it’s on another PBS station at 8 PM CT).
I haven’t yet watched the program but here is the link:
Democracy Now
full program
July 28, 2020
A Vaccine by November? Science Journalist in Vaccine Trial Casts Doubt on Rosy U.S. Projections
https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2020/7/28
Oh, Jitu is bringing up the excellent point about the privatization of janitorial services in CPS (CPS has broken its contract w/Aramark–because the schools went unclean & just plain filthy, rat infested–less custodial staff {so the Aramark/Sodexo higher-ups have already been paid $$$$, & they’ll continue to understaff the schools), who were even buying their own cleaning supplies!
(BTW, “SodexoMAGIC is a joint venture formed in 2006, btw. Magic Johnson Enterprises, LLC, owned by…Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, & Sodexo, Inc. Mr. Johnson holds a 51% stake in the company & serves as Chairman, qualifying SodexoMagic as an NMSDC-certified Minority Owned Business.”)
& the schools are going to be appropriately sanitized, daily, & student-ready, when they couldn’t even be cleaned properly before covid?
Don’t make me cry.
This was put out by a British media. The U.S. is the laughing stock of the world. Carol
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Donald Trump: ‘nobody likes me’ despite Fauci’s popularity
The Telegraph
Jul 29, 2020
In a press conference, President Donald Trump said ‘nobody likes me’ despite Dr Fauci’s high approval rating.
Trump is not only bad on COVID-19, he is quietly ruining our environment. I like Seth Meyers and say that comedians often tell things better than the main stream media.
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The Check In: Trump Rolling Back Environmental Regulations
Jul 29, 2020
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Seth takes a break from breaking news to check in on President Trump quietly rolling back environmental legislations, ultimately harming the environment and disproportionately impacting people of color in the process.
Maybe the only way things will improve in this country is if Trump supporters, wealthy ones, get sick.
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From Axios:
GOP Rep. Louis Gohmert tests positive for coronavirus
Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) tested positive for COVID-19 during a pre-screening at the White House on Wednesday, Politico reports.
Why it matters: Gohmert, a fierce defender of President Trump and member of the House Freedom Caucus, has been walking around the Capitol without a mask and attended Tuesday’s hearing with Attorney General Bill Barr. The 66-year-old congressman was supposed to travel with Trump to Texas on Wednesday.
Gohmert told CNN in June: “I don’t have the coronavirus, turns out as of yesterday I’ve never had it. But if I get it, you’ll never see me without a mask.”
When told that experts have said asymptomatic people can unknowingly spread the virus to others, Gohmert replied: “But I keep being tested and I don’t have it. So I’m not afraid of you, but if I get it I’ll wear a mask.”
https://www.axios.com/louis-gohmert-coronavirus-f34719b4-79da-4ae7-970d-1b3c73a80c16.html?utm_campaign=organic&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=email
“NEWS” from the WH:
California Cancels School
Declaring that there will be no in-person instruction this fall, Governor Gavin Newsom puts teachers’ union interests over those of children and families.
Larry Sand
July 27, 2020
…Opposing the shutdown, the Center for American Liberty will sue the state on the grounds that its constitution promises children a basic education and that online learning is insufficient to this guarantee. Harmeet Dhillon, the group’s head, argues that Governor Newsom has gone too far. “This issue affects not just the kids,” she says, “but their parents, and their parents who have jobs, and all the workplaces that are impacted. This is actually a catastrophe for California, and we are intending to challenge it legally.”
The best way out of this mess: fund students, not the education bureaucracy. If a school district or the state decides not to hold classes, parents should be able to use education dollars to pay for their child’s education elsewhere. As Corey DeAngelis, director of school choice at the Reason Foundation, wrote recently, “If a Walmart doesn’t reopen, families can take their food stamps elsewhere. If a school doesn’t reopen, families should similarly be able to take their education dollars elsewhere.”
Though private and religious schools are included under Newsom’s shutdown order, direct funding of students in the form of vouchers would still be a blessing for many families, who could use the money to help defray the costs of educating their kids via a homeschool co-op, for example. After Newsom’s announcement to shutter schools, California assemblyman Kevin Kiley stated, “today’s decision elevates the appearance of safety over actual student safety. A growing body of evidence suggests school closures do little to flatten the epidemic curve, while an abundance of evidence shows they are a calamity for kids.” Kiley added: “By giving himself political cover, Governor Newsom has exposed millions of kids to untold trauma and loss. The impacts of school closures will be devastating for working parents, academic equity, and mental health.”
https://www.city-journal.org/california-cancels-school#.XyG3ELitHRg.gmail
Larry Sand, whom you quoted, blames teachers unions for everything bad that happens. He hates them.
People read this BS and believe it. Grrrr. The same people will not accept the wearing of masks because our great Chosen One says people don’t need to wear a mask. Just find some hydroxychloroquine and drink a quart of Clorox each day. It’s sort of a replacement for an apple a day to keep the doctor away.
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I thought you would like this story from breakingchristiannews.com
US Doctors Who Have Used and Promote HCQ as Effective Treatment for COVID
Anthony Murdoch (Jul 29, 2020)
“…There are many thousands of physicians who have been silenced for telling the American people the good news about the situation, that we can manage the virus carefully and intelligently, but we cannot live with this spider web of fear that’s constricting our country.” -Dr. Simone Gold
[LifeSiteNews.com] A video viewed millions of times, which showed doctors championing hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment for the coronavirus and blasting the “spider web of fear” the virus has caused Americans, was swiftly removed from YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook for violating the sites’ respective COVID-19 “misinformation” policies. (Image: Breitbart /via LifeSiteNews)
The banned video, originally posted by Breitbart News, was removed despite going viral. It shows a press conference held this Monday in front of the US Supreme Court by the group America’s Frontline Doctors in Washington, DC….
https://?ID=30835