Blumenthal after classified coronavirus briefing: "appalled and astonished by the inadequacy..."

[Mrs. Overall]

Link to tweet

Richard Blumenthal
@SenBlumenthal

This morning’s classified coronavirus briefing should have been made fully open to the American people—they would be as appalled & astonished as I am by the inadequacy of preparedness & prevention.

[jimfields33]

1. 55 confirmed 9 recovered. 46 still active. 0 deaths.

I don’t see the concern. Sorry I don’t. Wouldn’t it be nice if they took the flu seriously since we lose 4,800 to death a year to it. 208,000 hospitalized.

[Nonhlanhla]

2. You can't compare this to the flu

The high death rate of the flu should actually make you more concerned about Covid-19, since the latter is more contagious, has a significantly higher death rate, and has no vaccine. If widespread flu causes so many deaths (which is does), then how much more deadly will Covid-19 be once it becomes widespread. The lowest estimated death rate I've seen is 1% (and it's quite likely higher). If even just one tenth of the US population gets it, we're still look at hundreds of thousands of deaths, possibly millions.

[jimfields33]

6. We only need 46 more to recover and it's out of the United States

[Mrs. Overall]

10. What?

Last edited Tue Feb 25, 2020, 12:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Don't you realize that there are many people under observation and told to stay home because they have suspected cases?

Here in WA State we have nearly 900 people currently being closely monitored. The same is true in other states.

You are echoing what Trump said about it simply being gone soon.

[dewsgirl]

98. I swear there is a group of people that believe this virus is

going to behave differently on American soil, as if it literally can't happen here. I don't know if it's denial or arrogance, or a combination of both.

[Nonhlanhla]

16. I don't think that is realistic

This thing is spreading like wildfire in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. There are several thousand under observation in the US, and the likelihood of asymptomatic carriers. The US pandemic readiness system has been dismantled by Trump over the last 2 years. It is naïve to think this will not eventually, likely quite soon, start spreading in the US.

[dewsgirl]

55. It will, it already is. Not being pessimistic, or a fearmongering.

Several states are observing hundreds, if not thousands of cases.

[Farmer-Rick]

90. Yup, in the end we are all going to get it.

Thank happen chance that the death rate isn't as high as some of these other newer viruses. But it's going to take its death toll from the ill, the very young and the very old. Trump ain't going to do shit because his administration is too stupid to handle anything except fake news.

We don't have a vaccine and none of these not paying taxes big pharmaceutical corporations are really interested. So, plan on getting it and hope you survive.

[dewsgirl]

91. The thing is, so many stories about medical proffesionals

dying that were between the ages of 23 and 60, not elderly by any stretch.

[Farmer-Rick]

94. Well the age group most likely to die is 70+

"The median age of the people who died was 75 (range 48-89) years. Fever (64.7%) and cough (52.9%) were the most common first symptoms among those who died. The median number of days from the occurence of the first symptom to death was 14.0 (range 6-41) days, and it tended to be shorter among people aged 70 years or more (11.5 [range 6-19] days) than those aged less than 70 years (20 [range 10-41] days; P?=?.033)."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/31994742/

Trump really should act like a man and go visit the quarantined Americans like the brave president of China. He should bring his Slovenian sex worker with him. She could hand out medals of freedom. And Limpballs should help out too, considering he is such a brave fat old white Nazi.

[dewsgirl]

97. Yes, he should.

Haven't you heard, President XI is hiding in an underground bunker, that was a body double.
That is a honest to goodness rumor floating around.

[NoMoreRepugs]

19. Seriously???

[Javaman]

20. yeah, that's exactly how it works...

[pangaia]

22. Are you kidding me....

[llashram]

28. you believe this

really? I am amazed

[AllyCat]

43. The number of cases in the US has quadrupled in the last WEEK.

The number of recoveries are slow, with many of them sick now for weeks. In the time it takes those 46 to hopefully recover, how many new cases will start since our government is woefully unprepared to deal with the disease?

The flu is taken seriously here. We have massive vaccinations every fall and still people are getting sick. This is a new beast Jim Fields. We don't know what we are dealing with and our predictions of how it is transmitted are not holding up as there is a new de novo case in Italy that had NO CONTACT with an infected person or travel to China...and look how many are sick there? Iran has a 15% death rate, way higher than the 2-3% every where else.

It is not adequate to hope those 46 people just recover and then it is gone.

This is an interesting site to track the disease. I've watched it for weeks and the one case in my area is STILL sick on home quarantine.

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

We can concentrate on the flu AND this at the same time.

[Mike 03]

51. Thanks, but I'll listen to the CDC

Link to tweet

[Mike 03]

53. And this:

Link to tweet

[dewsgirl]

54. Do you have any idea how contagious this thing is?

[Coventina]

67. Hahahahahahahahaha!

You are hilarious!!

[pnwmom]

73. You're joking, right?

Did they decide to close the border when I wasn't looking? No planes will be flying in? No Americans will be flying out and then returning?

[secondwind]

105. You win the prize for the most ignorant comment.

I’m sorry, but this was astounding to read.

[jmbar2]

26. Widespread flu also provides herd immunity among survivors/ge population

Covid is too novel for any herd immunity to exist.

[Boomer]

57. No one develops immunity to covid-19

You can catch it more than once. There is no immunity.

[Blues Heron]

62. you have a link to that?

[Farmer-Rick]

100. Yeah, even if you recover it is not clear you are immune.

"Unfortunately, we don’t know yet whether or not the body’s immune response would protect you from subsequent infection,” said Chiu. It is known that exposure to the four seasonal human coronaviruses (that cause the common cold) does produce immunity to those particular viruses. In those cases, the immunity lasts longer than that of seasonal influenza, but is probably not permanent, said Chiu.

A single negative test may not rule out infection."

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/02/416671/how-new-coronavirus-spreads-and-progresses-and-why-one-test-may-not-be-enough

[Blues Heron]

103. thanks Farmer Rick

appreciate it.

[Warpy]

87. Covid-19 is less contagious than influenza

The death rate, based on numbers updated daily at the BBC is about 3%. The death rate among people over 80, especially those who are already ill, is just short of 15%.

The only thing holding down the influenza mortality rate is yearly vaccination. Without that, the flu is about 2% fatal, mostly among the elderly and young children.

The reason Covid-19 is less contagious is that it's a mid to lower respiratory system virus. Infected people cough out droplets, but those mostly land on surfaces. Sneezing spreads fine aerosols up to 30 feet, but most people present with a nonproductive cough and a fever, not sneezing. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/symptoms.html

If you want to avoid it, stop touching you face with your fingertips unless you have washed your hands. Avoid crowds. Teach people around you to cough and sneeze into the crooks of their elbows, it's the only thing that works to stop aerosolized droplets. If somebody with a hacking cough comes to visit, wipe down surfaces with antiseptic wipes. If you want to wear a mask when you're out and about, it will keep you from touching your face with contaminated fingers. And wash your hands, counting to 20 while you do it. Hand sanitizer is useless, save your money, you need to soap them and drown them in water.

A vaccine entered the first human trials this week.

[Nonhlanhla]

88. Thanks

Good info. The numbers I heard about contagiousness was that Covid is more contagious right now than flu - perhaps because of the lack of a vaccine. And until they get one, which will likely take at least a year, that's what we have to work with. But the information you gave is very interesting - thanks for sharing about the mid to lower issue in particular.

[Warpy]

89. I guesstimated less than a year because they already had a SARS vaccine

prototype available. SARS faded because it was even less contagious and the vaccine never went into large scale trials. Some vaccines are rushed, I believe Ebola vaccine took about 8 months. Since they already have a head start with the SARS vaccine, and SARS is 80% identical to Corvid-19, the process will be even quicker.

[Nonhlanhla]

92. I hope you're right

although all the reports I've read say 1-2 years. I also read that development of a SARS vaccine by a lab in Houston (if I remember right) was halted after the SARS epidemic faded because funding dried up.

[Warpy]

109. Republicans are too dumb to know disease happens in cycles

Coronaviruses that cause common colds are already out there. This time, it's more serious. Those cheap ass, medically ignorant moronic bidnessmen need to be scruffed and exposed to a little education that doesn't involve spreadsheets and bottom lines.

It's very likely the SARS vaccine will work at least partially, the way vaccines for related flu strains offer partial immunity and lighter cases of the flu if the vaccine makers guess wrong.

[Johonny]

107. Word I keep hearing is 9 months. They already have 1 in trial.

I imagine given Trump, they might start mass distribution of an in trial (might not work) vaccine, because Trump is all about panic. I remember H1N1 a few years back, they had the vaccine out before it really hit my area.

[Mrs. Overall]

4. In your opinion is Blumenthal being overly dramatic?

What steps do you suggest for the US to take the flu more seriously?

[jimfields33]

7. Everybody in the United States is

Heck they are running out of surgical masks so hospitals can’t grt them. That’s out of control.

[Demsrule86]

11. I trust Blumenthal if he is concerned so am I and if it was so damn innocuous why was it classified

by the idiot.

[Turbineguy]

52. It's classified

to cover trump.

[2naSalit]

65. +1

[MontanaMama]

76. I think this could be true.

Our country is being run by amateurs.

[lagomorph777]

77. Immediately raised red flags when I heard it was classified. That's bullshit.

There is no legitimate reason to classify vital public health information. Just one more coverup. An incredibly dangerous coverup.

[captain queeg]

84. If Trump thinks it's good for him, it's automatically good for the country, thus legal...

Or some such bullshit. That sort of twisted reasoning they rolled out during the impeachment is now flourishing.

[wnylib]

102. Trump is over 70 and in poor health.

He really should take this seriously. Once it becomes widespread, even be cannot escape it. Even if he goes into a bunker, his food and various other items will come from outside.

News now reporting that he will address the nation on covid 19 tonight (Wednesday).

[Demsrule86]

8. There are only three states that can even test for this...God knows if some flu deaths and there

are always flu deaths were due to this virus...it is going to get ugly and Trump is an idiot surrounded by incompetents...God help us.

[PA Democrat]

14. The CDC shipped several hundred test kits out to the states several weeks ago

and then discovered the test kits were inaccurate.

[Demsrule86]

12. Those are Republican talking points and I find no basis in fact for such comments.

[Mrs. Overall]

13. +1

[jimfields33]

15. Oh that card.

[llashram]

30. you're laughing

while the world is beginning to burn. Do you believe in the climate crisis?

[LanternWaste]

35. Easy to play cards when they're relevant, obvious and a gift to any given hand.

(insert emoji here for random, self-validating pretense)

[Coventina]

66. Yeah, that card. I wonder why you are playing it?

[Texin]

32. Okay, jimfields33. Here's why.

I'm a 65 year old woman with hypertension (controlled through BP medication) and, more deeply concerning, the fact that I've had lifelong asthma that requires twice daily inhaled steroidal medication to control inflammation.

The Covid-19 virus - Coronavirus - is viral pneumonia. Pneumonia of all types is an extremely serious and often fatal inflection in ANY people with ANY kind of chronic illness - especially those who have immune disorder issues (of which asthma is but one).

Furthermore, the Covid-19 infection is a VIRUS. Viral infections cannot be treated with any antibiotic protocols. There are some antiviral meds that are used in infections like Covid-19 and the flu, but they have their own raft of issues.

The thing that is more alarming is the fact that, the WH is trying suppress information about this spreading infection IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE FUCKING STOCKMARKET! They'll have a whole lot more worrisome things to deal with when his fucking *base* all begin to die like flies - just like everyone else in the godforsaken shithole he's created.

[Mrs. Overall]

38. This is a very powerful and to-the-point post. Thank you.

Please take care, Texin.

[virgogal]

40. Maybe the government

is trying to prevent hysteria and not protect the stock market. Protective mask hoarding is an example. Another thing is avoiding Chinese restaurants,business way down. Hysteria can be ugly.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

46. Trump has cut funding and fired response teams.

"Avoiding Chinese restaurants"? This seems to be a non-scientific approach to dealing with the virus. China is manufacturer for the world. Are you avoiding all Chinese manufactured goods?

[virgogal]

68. Boston's Chinatown had a severe drop in customers,per the local news.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

69. This is not science.

[virgogal]

82. Never said it was,it's hysteria.

[sarge43]

71. All commercial airline crews and passengers are being individually screened?

The 1918 flu pandemic started in the spring of 1918. By the fall it had spread throughout Europe. When the soldiers and sailors started returning to North America, India, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, it became world wide. Deaths estimated: 50 to a 100 million. All it took were railroads and ships. One infected soldier traveling from NYC to San Fran by rail could come in contact with hundreds - other passengers, especially if he switched trains, at all the stop overs. Wash, rinse and repeat tens of thousands of times.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

74. This is not 1918. We are much more globally connected.

Avoiding Chinese restaurants to protect against COVID-19 seems about as reasonable as avoiding taco stands to protect against "Spanish" 'flu.

Rather than providing the public with useful information, the deliberately incompetent trump administration is concealing information, which increases public worry.

[sarge43]

81. That was exactly my point

Last edited Tue Feb 25, 2020, 06:46 PM - Edit history (1)

In a time of far fewer people and much slower transportation, a lethal virus went nearly global in under a year. Now we're approaching 8B people and can be any place in the world within a day, the potential for a pandemic is now increased exponentially.

Chinese restaurants are the least of our worries.

What other reaction could we expect from Moron and his lackeys? They don't know nor care about the role of governments. They're in it to make money, to screw with people they don't like and get off about having power. They have knee capped preventive and public health care in this country.

As far as providing useful information, even if they had any they wouldn't. Unless you're rich and, preferably white, they don't give an obese rodent hindquarters about the rest of us.

[sdfernando]

80. Well bully for you!

I don’t have the luxury of being unconcerned. Many people like me are immune compromised. I get the flu shot every year to keep me safe or at least safer from the flu. I can’t do the same for the coronavirus.....yet.

it’s “only 46” today...but what about tomorrow?...or the next day? I can’t just write it off.

I hope you are right....I really do! I can’t take that chance.

[Progressive dog]

86. The flu is taken seriously, a new vaccine every yea.

Get your flu shot at the local drugstore, walk in and ask.

[tenderfoot]

3. Didn't right wingers lose their shit about an Ebola patient in Houston when Obama was in office?

Where's their outrage now?

[budkin]

61. No outrage because this is Trump

And it will hurt his reelection chances. Also Rush said it's just a cold.

[Baitball Blogger]

83. On facebook a GOP fund raiser I know kept posting,

Close the border! Close the border!

[Luz]

99. Here in San Antonio, they're blaming our dem mayor for

allowing the us govt to use Lackland AFB.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Maybe it's a good thing that this is happening during an election year.

This will probably be remedied quickly after tonight when the Dem presidential candidates rip Trump a new one.

[Texin]

33. It's probably TOO FUCKING LATE!

[greenjar_01]

9. In any deeply incompetent organization, reality impedes on the masquerade eventually

Trump has stocked upper admin with yes men, cronies, and grifters. Just as with "Heckuva Job Brownie," the hard materiality of the world comes knocking.

Knock knock.

Knock knock.

[Caliman73]

85. True. The problem is that this particular masquerade can end with thousands upon thousands of deaths

I know we don't have much of a choice but I would rather not have an incompetent at the head of government while this potential pandemic begins.

[Maeve]

101. I'm sorry...the proper follow-up to your post is

WHO's there!

(World Health Organization, of course)
Sorry---puns happen

[SunSeeker]

17. Nothing to worry sbout! Trump has the Cooch on it!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/top-member-of-trumps-coronavirus-task-force-asks-twitter-for-help-accessing-map-of-virus/ar-BB10lbOX

[rocktivity]

18. Well, a U.S. coronavirus pandemic

Last edited Tue Feb 25, 2020, 02:38 PM - Edit history (1)

would certainly justify postponing the election, wouldn't it?


rocktivity

[shanti]

93. It would justify

anything to his microscopic mind.

[jayfish]

21. The Most Important Question...

Why in the fuck is this classified? That's what we should be "appalled & astonished" about.

[global1]

42. One Would Think That The Best Thing To Do Is Inform The Public About Covid-19.....

Patient education at this point in the development of this issue is most important. By making this classified actually creates more fear in people. Fear of what do they know that they are not telling us.

Right now - I feel that there should be a series of 'public service announcement/commercials' that tell people what signs/symptoms to look for; what precautions to take (hand sanitizer, protective masks, stay away from large public gatherings, etc); and when to see you physician.

Trying to sweep this under a rug is not good for anyone and if this Covid-19 is really the threat that some people say - by the time the public becomes more informed as to what they should do - it might be too late.

I don't want to create a panic - but I believe more info is better than no info.

[progressoid]

75. +1

[NewJeffCT]

23. really senator?

is anybody really astonished at the depth of incompetence and corruption from Team Trump?

[DallasNE]

24. Great Point

Why was that classified?

We used to see witness testimony before Congressional committees nightly. Now we get horserace.

[Blaukraut]

25. That was my first thought, too. Why is this classified? n/t

[zipplewrath]

29. Foreign intelligence

If it is legitimately classified, it most likely is because it contains data and information on the disease in foreign countries that came from sources that are not openly known. It's the old "sources and methods" excuse.

[lagomorph777]

78. NO way is it legitimately classified.

[jayfish]

31. He's Not making That Point Though.

He simply saying the incompetence should be made public. He doesn't seem to have a problem with the classification itself.

[DallasNE]

63. I Disagree

He said that every American should know about this. That at least hints that he has an issue with the classification - perhaps other parts of his comments addresses this more directly. I was basing my point on the content of the meeting: preparedness & prevention. That doesn't sound like sources and methods. It is just that there is so little transparency on matters of great concern.

Some guy said the meeting needed to be classified because making it known would cause a panic. The panic would come from finding out how poorly prepared we are but at least that would drum up some action before it is too late.

My guess is that we will have some selective leaks on what was said anyway.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. I have almost zero patience with classified crap.

There are people who would classify the location of your butt if they could.

Something like this should be spread far and wide, whatever the information is. We can only hope some good citizen will leak it.

[Leith]

34. Classified?!

There's only one reasonable reason that the regime is classifying information: it's because it shows their incompetence, lack of preparedness, and how they reduced funding and personnel in the departments that handle such things.

[eShirl]

36. didn't we used to have a Surgeon General?

you know, in the before-time.

[They_Live]

39. I remember that

now everyone is just "Acting".

[2naSalit]

72. We did!

But now it's pretend-time and everybody's supposed to pretend that before-time didn't happen.

[bronxiteforever]

37. The GOP war on science continues unabated.

“In May 2018, Trump ordered the NSC’s entire global health security unit shut down, calling for reassignment of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer and dissolution of his team inside the agency. The month before, then-White House National Security Advisor John Bolton pressured Ziemer’s DHS counterpart, Tom Bossert, to resign along with his team. Neither the NSC nor DHS epidemic teams have been replaced. The global health section of the CDC was so drastically cut in 2018 that much of its staff was laid off and the number of countries it was working in was reduced from 49 to merely 10. Meanwhile, throughout 2018, the U.S. Agency for International Development and its director, Mark Green, came repeatedly under fire from both the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And though Congress has so far managed to block Trump administration plans to cut the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps by 40 percent, the disease-fighting cadres have steadily eroded as retiring officers go unreplaced.... “

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/what-we-know-about-the-trump-admins-response-to-coronavirus.html

The entire GOP is responsible for this war. From climate science to disease to environmental protections they are burning our institutions down.

[global1]

44. The Last Sentence In Your Post Says It All....

That's why the November 2020 election should not only be about beating Trump - but it should be directed towards the whole Repug Party.

[bronxiteforever]

45. +1 absolutely and well said.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

47. and there's a toon for that ...

[Hermit-The-Prog]

60. They can only stand when they put on their exoskeleton suits.

Invertebrates, the lot of 'em.

[Raftergirl]

41. Pfft. Nothing to worry about.

Donald will shoot the CV on 5th Ave and save the world from this menace!

[DemoTex]

48. There are roughly 1 million hospital beds in the US ..

If the coronavirus hits hard, we could have a demand for 3-10 million hospital beds at a time. If anything like that happens, health care will be rationed. Hospitals will suspend all other services, just to care for victims of CV. That is not my opinion, it is the gist of what physicians that I know, who are on hospital staffs, are being briefed.

Imagine a pandemic that peaks next Fall. Imagine Trump's totally altruistic ( ) concern that Americans not jeopardize their health by standing in a line to vote in November .

Trump and his minions thrive on entropy. The danger to them and their families notwithstanding, this plays right into their implementation of what Naomi Klein called the "Shock Doctrine." The coronavirus is that tipping point, beyond which we cannot take back our country for a long, long time.

I talked with a radiologist from a major city in the southeastern US last night. He said, "You had better update your Last Will & Testament, because Trump has this one."

At age 23, I was philosophical about dying on a combat mission in Vietnam or over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. C'est la guerre. At least the VC and NVA were honorable women and men, fighting for a cause in which they had their hearts.

But at 72, it totally pisses me off that I might die because of the gross, intentional incompetence and malfeasance of a vainglorious, draft-dodging, pussy-grabber like that icon of Failure (with a capital F), Donald J. Trump.

[Toorich]

49. ....Duct/Duck Tape America.....

...... I remember the last great reThuglican advice we were given to help
avert a colossal disaster....

Just duct-tape your doors and windows!!!! Problem solved!!!!!

[ffr]

50. I'd fully expect Putin to funnel in millions to defeat RB after that comment.

And for the Kremlin's right-wing media apparatus to storm negativity onto him, in an effort to distract from the fact that tRump and this cabal has left our nation woefully unprepared to handle a crisis such as this.

Defeat the rePutins in November and shame MAGAts at ever turn!

Thank you Senator Blumenthal for speaking truth to power!!

[LonePirate]

56. Why was this classified in the first place?

[Kurt V.]

58. then he should damn well tell us.

[Baked Potato]

64. What if the almighty and benevolent billionaires aligned with

the private sector insurance companies and hospitals and performed a robusting of our infectious disease preparations? I thought Government Bad...

[Blue_Tires]

70. I said Trump was going to kill us...

[Hassler]

79. Heckuva job, Brownie is now the orange clownie.

[Historic NY]

95. Trump has been sitting around doing nothing,

saying it will go away what it warms up, how pathetic. He's gutted the CDC and forced out scientists so who is advising him. People in the chain don't know what to do putting infected people on a plane..WTF.

Who the hell is going to want to travel.

[Johonny]

108. Are you kidding. It's hard work being fluffed by the prime minister of India.

[Warpy]

96. The combination of executive stupidity and lack of health care

is going to kill on hell of a lot of people here if there is a large outbreak, people who could have survived with supplemental oxygen and nebulizer treatments dying of neglect and indifference.

It might be a perfect storm of bad government and worse health care.

[33taw]

104. Trump will order every democratic city quarantined in November.

I think I am going to order an absentee ballot now.

[eyeofnewt]

106. Pandemic or not...

trump’s playbook: virus spread, US citizens dead... fire everyone even remotely involved for not giving him timely, accurate information. Oh what he could have done! On the other hand, a pandemic is avoided, virus contained...he saved the world! Just like he said he would and always does. Where’s his Nobel now?