Healthcare professionals: "This is a disaster." tRump gives N95 masks to ICE, not hospitals.

[ffr]

Where Are the Masks?

It’s like going to war with a butter knife.” That’s the description one physician in New York City offered for how he and his colleagues are trying to suppress the coronavirus, even as they deal with dwindling stocks of health-care supplies and personal protective equipment.

Over the past two days, I’ve talked with 22 health-care professionals, almost all of whom used metaphors and analogies usually reserved for combat movies. They are “soldiers” on the “front lines” and in the “trenches” fighting a “war” against a terrifying new “enemy” that is growing exponentially. But we’re failing these soldiers, sending them into battle without the weapons and armor they need to win.
<snip>

“I’ve got small kids to support. I can’t afford backlash from my institution [for speaking out],” said a physician from Baltimore, echoing the fears of many colleagues.
<snip>

“We are flying blind right now.”
<snip>

The shortage of personal protective equipment is particularly acute. Medical workers are supposed to be using N95 masks, which reduce their exposure by filtering out at least 95 percent of particles in the air...Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, meanwhile, have access to N95 masks as they apprehend immigrants during a national pandemic. - The Atlantic

tRump and rePuticans are still prioritizing ICE arrests over Covid-19 public safety. Physicians shouldn't even have to consider threats against themselves and their families for speaking out.

Crazy times.

Incredible!

[hlthe2b]

1. JHC

there is not enough Karmic retribution likely to be sufficient for Trump, Stephen Miller and all their ilk

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[Lars39]

3. A winger family member just told us

he had bought a case of these. Probably expired, but wtf. He's still out and around, getting dogs groomed, traveling to another city for a laptop ffs.

[paleotn]

14. Let them.

But no boo hoo hoo if they become infected, crash and expire. Brought it on themselves.

[Lars39]

15. Not like I could stop them in better times. :)

[oldsoftie]

27. He probably bought fakes. Any real ones would have been sold well before it became a "thing"

The govt has been issuing warnings about fake masks being sold on many websites.

[Lars39]

29. Never considered that!

Thanks for the info

[oldsoftie]

35. here's an article on it:

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-sold-out-sellers-warn-counterfeit-masks-coronavirus-2020-1

[Lars39]

36. Thanks!

[Tess49]

30. They have to be fitted to work properly. We were fitted at the hospital where I worked, and

it is a tedious process. Doubt your family member knows that.

[Lars39]

32. Thanks for the info!

[Tess49]

39. Welcome!

[Tumbulu]

44. I have to wear n95 masks everyday to do my work on my farm

as I have huge lung problems aggravated by dust. So I keep many boxes of them. And I am glad that I do have them, because I need them. These are for dust, not medical purposes. But they just have two elastic bands. They keep the dust out fine. I also have cloth ones that I wear at times because they are more comfortable. But I can really feel the difference in my breathing when I go back to the N95’s. Plus a lot of people got them for the smoke from all the wildfires. What I an not get my head around it why the heck aren’t they ramping up production of these things? I know that is a separate concept.

I think that the N95’s that are sold at hardware stores and ag supply stores ( they are standard safety equipment for lots of professions) are not the same as what medical people use.

I used to just wear my masks only at the farm, but now I keep it on when going out in public. And I am grateful that I have them.

[Lars39]

45. I'm glad you have them!

Already vulnerable lungs definitely need protection.

[Tumbulu]

53. Thank you

[underpants]

4. The coach of the New Orleans Saints (football) had no symptoms but tested positive.

Sean Payton. He had no fever or any other symptom other than fatigue but he got tested. Oh and went to see his horse run a race.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28927492/saints-sean-payton-says-tested-positive-coronavirus

From The Atlantic article
Health-care workers often don’t have access to the testing kits that magically appear for celebrities and politicians. They are running out of the life-saving medical supplies they need to do their jobs.

Included a link to a N.Y. Times story. Remember what Trump said (with a smirk)

President Trump being asked at a Wednesday news conference whether “the well-connected go to the front of the line.”

“You’d have to ask them that question,” he replied, suggesting that should not be the case. “Perhaps that’s been the story of life. That does happen on occasion, and I’ve noticed where some people have been tested fairly quickly.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/us/coronavirus-testing-elite.html

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Rich guys get tests with no symptoms while symptomatic middle class are denied tests . . . nt

[bigbrother05]

8. He missed a word 'that's been the story of MY life.'

Given a place at the front of the line and thinks it was all about bootstraps.

[Harker]

9. +1

Is there another life that matters?

[JHB]

21. Blunter than that...

"The story of life" as in: "the well-connected being catered to while others are left without is how it should be."

[SleeplessinSoCal]

26. concierge plans.

Here's How Some Rich New Yorkers Got Coronavirus Tests So Quickly
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rich-new-yorkers-coronavirus-test_n_5e74c74ac5b63c3b648ecbe8

[UpInArms]

5. Pure evil is residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Despicable is too nice of a word to waste it on the pusillanimous pile of rotten batshit

[ancianita]

7. That right there tells Americans all they need to know, as if they didn't already.

There's a legal criminal term for that: voluntary manslaughter.

[iluvtennis]

10. Just disgusting. trump is an evil CRETIN. nt

[Lonestarblue]

11. Call me paranoid, but is Trump favoring red states over blue states in this epidemic?

The biggest outbreaks have been in Washington, California, and New York, and all have complained mightily about the lack of cooperations and assistance from the federal government. Hospitals in Boston are rationing masks. I seem to recall an interview with a doctor in the Midwest who said they had masks and protective gear. Testing kits seem to be in short supply everywhere. Just a crazy thought, but no real proof other than just not trusting anything the Trump crazies do.

[flibbitygiblets]

19. Crossed my mind too, but I think it's just population density at work

More people mingling closely together means the virus can spread like wildfire.

The red states have sparser populations and will take longer to catch up.

[oldsoftie]

28. Down here in GA tests havent been readily available either.

And i think we are #5-6 in cases

[meadowlander]

43. Blue states have more diverse populations who travel more.

That's why they're being hit first. Middle America and the South will follow not far behind particularly with the blase attitude a lot of those states' leaders are showing.

[Maggiemayhem]

47. WV only had 500 tests for the entire state

[treestar]

54. Very possible

Dotard did not help California as much as he could have with the gores.

[irisblue]

12. .

#KNIT Twit (@cyndy_jt) Tweeted:
@IngrahamAngle Focus https://t.co/k5623LIIcG

Link to tweet

[geardaddy]

17. Ingraham needs to fuck off.

[lunasun]

52. Probably using that as an excuse for her not to stay home

[seta1950]

13. Wow

How did we let this criminal take the helm of this beautiful country 😢😢😢

[Rob2861]

16. When are we going to wake up?

Unfortunately, we Americans never learn and all we do is sit on our asses and complain. Don't we understand by now that Trump and his Trumpkins from the GOP, doesn't give a damn about the people of this country unless they are kissing Trumps ass. It has to stop, we have to unite and say enough is enough. It's not about power and politics now, it's our lives at risk. Our medical people are more important than ICE (Gestapo)

[Ferrets are Cool]

49. What would you like for ME to do?

In all seriousness. What am I, as an American, supposed to do? And do NOT say vote. That is not going to help the medical people who are risking their lives right NOW.

[geardaddy]

18. Well at least his Schutzstaffel is protected

[uponit7771]

20. omfg

[RockRaven]

22. Let's be clear what this means -- doctors and nurses will DIE so he can arrest immigrants.

American citizens will die so he can arrest a few more immigrants.

[90-percent]

23. Well, hey

When you've managed to turn America into a DICTATORSHIP within three years, you can do what ever the hell you want. There are no institutions left than can check your power. And considering his approval is going up, gumming up the system so badly with anti-health decisions is what us Americans want! Hopefully when we thin down the American herd of idiots, we are left with a few still capable of cogent thought?

-90% Jimmy

[Warpy]

24. It's what they did in China

You might have read about healthcare workers in Hong Kong all going on strike--this is one major reason they did it at the beginning of an epidemic. All masks and other protective gear went to the cops, not the hospitals. Friends wrote about cops in hazmat gear while hospital workers were trying to make do with the old cotton masks that do nothing against viruses.

Of course Orange Pus is taking care of his Gestapo first. It's what totalitarian assholes do.

(I told my friends in China that the cops would be out of the hazmat gear by May, it's damned uncomfortable when it gets warm. Hell, they didn't last through March)

[Politicub]

25. ICE is his domestic army

Of courses he will protect them at the expense of healthcare workers. Maybe he’ll deploy them to round people up and place them in quarantine cages. Perhaps he sees a fundraising opportunity from mass deaths of Americans.

[Locrian]

31. following in the footsteps of the Nazis I'm sure.... n/t

[burrowowl]

33. Kick

[OhioChick]

34. WTF? n/t

[crickets]

37. Same. Good god this man is evil. nt

[EndlessWire]

38. There's something I'm not getting.

My idea is that everyone will have an exposure, so you have to treat everyone else like they have it. What good is testing if you are asymptomatic? You come up negative, walk out your front door, and run into someone else who infects you. You still think you're negative, because you still don't have any symptoms, right? So, now you're walking around and infecting people. What good did that test do you?

If you are symptomatic and present to the ER with your fever and cough, THEN the test should be done to differentiate between the regular flu and the C virus, and to determine the correct medicine (when we get it.)

So, what's the hullabaloo over this? Yes, all medical people should be tested, etc., but...there was a period of time when testing would have worked for immediate isolation to slow the spread, but that time is long gone, isn't it?? I'm just talking about the test, not the masks. The masks could break the chain, but not the tests.

[Maggiemayhem]

50. That is why we have social distancing

Most ERs don’t take suspected CV cases.There are separate testing areas. There still going to be car wrecks, heart attacks etc. Where I live, you get prescreened before you are allowed past the front door for a regular visit at your family doctor.

[stopdiggin]

59. testing would help identify individuals that actually

need to be quarantined. With true isolation practices, the ability of any positive to further infect would be hugely minimized. The idea that we only test symptomatic individuals .. is just plain bad science. (although the protocol might well have had it's origins in acute shortages, particularly in the beginning.) But, even now, there would be large benefits available in greatly expanded testing.

"You come up negative, walk out your front door .." The idea being that you walk out your to a greatly reduced pool of potential carriers ... Flattening the curve still further .. and (potentially?) reducing total infections .. until such time as we have a real cure.

[bdamomma]

40. Thanks

I'm going to call my Senators in RI both Dems but I am so angry something needs to be done.

[ThoughtCriminal]

41. Prediction - most will wear them for 5-minutes

and then toss them in the garbage because they find them an uncomfortable nuisance. Healthcare professionals know better and are accustomed to wearing them properly.

[jimlup]

42. We have an imbecile as a leader

God help us

[BigmanPigman]

46. More like CRAZY POTUS, not "crazy times".

He has made these times 100% crazier.

[ffr]

55. Correction, IMPotus. He's been impeached.

He is no longer Potus, forever to be remember as Impeached Potus.

[Ferrets are Cool]

48. The mf'er should be locked up immediately. FUCK, this makes me so GD angry

[emmaverybo]

51. Sick and sickening.

[OKNancy]

56. I'm sure people have thought of this, but house painters use the N95 respirator mask all the time

I wonder if some could donate. I just went out in the garage to look at my husband's painter stuff ( RIP.. he was a house painter)
and what do you know.. I found a regular style mask and a respirator mask. In the morning, I'm going to dig some more to see if I can find any more.

[IronLionZion]

57. The election strategy is to blame foreigners

Trump's minions are online telling each other that diseased foreigners are bringing in viruses instead of American businesspeople traveling overseas. Americans don't go to Wuhan, China for vacations, it's for the factories. They really want their base to believe that "foreign looking people" are the enemy not "American looking people".

They also mix in various conspiracies involving the Chinese bioweapons lab, American universities, and deep state.

[uponit7771]

58. +1,

[King_Klonopin]

60. Dear ICE administrators, please donate the masks to hospitals. Thank You. n/t

[SergeStorms]

61. His hate for brown people obliterates any tiny bit of compassion.....

he might have hiding within him anywhere. The thought of a brown person setting foot on U.S. soil so infuriates him he doesn't care who lives or dies for him to get his way. People will die because of Trump's diseased, hate-filled mind. But that's OK, the MAGAts love him for it because it makes we liberals so angry!

[Alwaysna]

62. Even if Trumpty dumpty had a heart or a soul and wanted to

Do the right thing he'd be too stupid to do it. This carnival Barker in a red tie has no business being president.

[Alwaysna]

63. I haven't left the house for about 2 weeks .

But on Monday I have to go to the hospital and clinic for tests. I plan on using my cpap mask and hose for protection. I'm certain to get stares but I don't care.

[ffr]

64. You shouldn't care. Be a survivor. Stares will be forgotten.

Do what you think you need to.