DO:  As Discussion On Reopening Economy Begins, Get Ready Regardless. 

THE PANIC AND REACTION — IF NOT THE VIRUS — WILL CHANGE US FOREVER. IT’S UP TO YOU TO MAKE SURE IT DOESN’T CHANGE US INTO VENEZUELA:  Coronavirus: Our new Age of Heroic Medicine is going to kill us all.

IT’S NOT WHAT IT KNOWS BEST. IT’S ALL IT KNOWS:  It’s all the Republicans’ fault: the NY Times returns to what it knows best, after a very short detour.

COMPUTER MODELS ARE THE RESULT OF BAKED-IN ASSUMPTIONS. IF THOSE ARE WRONG YOU GET GIGO, “GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT.” ONLY OLD SF WRITERS AND IDIOTS BUY COMPUTER MODELS UNQUESTIONINGLY. OH, AND POLITICIANS USING IT AS AN EXCUSE TO GET POWER:  Oxford Epidemiologist: Here’s Why That Doomsday Model Is Likely Way Off.

ALL OF IT IMPORTANT:  All Things Wuhan.

REALLY, THEN? THIS IS MACDREAMY?  Trump: Cuomo Opted for Death Panels, Lotteries Instead of Buying Ventilators.

DEMENTED ENOUGH TO TELL WHAT HIS SIDE IS TRYING TO DO?  Biden: ‘We Have To Take Care Of The Cure’ For COVID-19. ‘That Will Make The Problem Worse.’

WE KNOW!  Joe Biden: Bernie Sanders And I ‘Share A Common Vision’ For The Country.

I don’t know about you guys, but I have already had enough of empty grocery shelves and no toilet paper available. So — I say no.

WHAT? REALLY?  Anti-Trump finds its new McDreamy.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE POWER AND THE BOOT ON YOUR NECK:  LA Mayor Garcetti threatens water & power shut-offs for nonessential businesses that don’t close.

BTW the teen apparently did not die of Wu-Flu. This is my SHOCKED face.

HOW MUCH PORK. AND MORE IMPORTANT DOES IT INCLUDE THE “LET’S FACILITATE ELECTORAL FRAUD” PORTIONS NANCY WANTED IN?  Senate Passes $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill.

WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUITS. LOTS OF WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUITS:  Governor of Nevada bans use of chloroquine.

LEADERSHIP:

AT AMAZON, stock up on Pet Food and Supplies.

Plus, save on Vitamins and Dietary Supplements.

HMM: Army gauges interest in voluntary recalls of medical soldiers. “The Army is gauging interest from retired officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers who would be willing to assist with the coronavirus pandemic response effort should their skills and expertise be required, according to an email sent out Wednesday afternoon and provided to Army Times. . . . The email listed a series of Army health care jobs that would be of interest: 60F, critical care officer; 60N, anesthesiologist; 66F, nurse anesthetist; 66S, critical care nurse; 66P, nurse practitioner; 66T, emergency room nurse; 68V, respiratory specialist; and 68W, medic. The message included an email signature for Lt. Gen. Thomas C. Seamands, the Army deputy chief of staff for manpower.”

SAME SCAM, NEW VERSE: SPLC Blames Trump’s ‘Racist, Anti-Asian Epithets’ for Coronavirus-Related Anti-Asian Harassment.

China’s massive propaganda effort has no connection, of course.

I HOPE THIS IS TRUE, BUT I WOULDN’T TAKE ANY ACTION BASED ON IT: New Oxford study suggests millions of people may have already built up coronavirus immunity.

The Oxford research suggests the pandemic is in a later stage than previously thought and estimates the virus has already infected at least millions of people worldwide. In the United Kingdom, which the study focuses on, half the population would have already been infected. If accurate, that would mean transmission began around mid-January and the vast majority of cases presented mild or no symptoms.

The head of the study, professor Sunetra Gupta, an Oxford theoretical epidemiologist, said she still supports the U.K.’s decision to shut down the country to suppress the virus even if her research winds up being proven correct. But she also doesn’t appear to be a big fan of the work done by the Imperial College team. “I am surprised that there has been such unqualified acceptance of the Imperial model,” she said.

If her work is accurate, that would likely mean a large swath of the population has built up resistance to the virus. Theoretically, then, social restrictions could ease sooner than anticipated. What needs to be done now, Gupta said, is a whole lot of antibody testing to figure out who may have contracted the virus.

Before I’d rely on this to loosen anything, I’d want to see that lots of people had antibodies, and that those antibodies were reliably protective.

ADRIANA COHEN: Trump takes charge as communicator-in-chief: Approval rating hits 60% as pandemic puts president in front of all the rest.

WORTH A TRY: Creating a plan to reprogram smart CPAP machines to become emergency ventilators. “While CPAP machines are not ventilators, and don’t have software to deliver assist control or pressure control ventilation, they may contain much of the hardware needed for certain types of ventilation. What they don’t have is the software. Normal CPAP machines deliver a max pressure of 20cm of water. (That’s not much, about 2% of atmospheric pressure.) Many ventilation patients use much less than that, but serious ARDS patients need that and more. Ventilators usually are rated to deliver over 40cm, though they don’t normally go to that level, as it’s dangerous. Researchers have discovered, though, that the blowers used in some CPAP models are capable of 45cm and up to 400 l/min of airflow, much more than is needed for CPAP, and enough for ventilating many ARDS patients.”

OPEN THREAD: Find something to talk about.

COMMUNIST CHINA’S VIRAL PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN: My latest Creators Syndicate column. Wuhan virus is racist? Gol durn! Why the hell doesn’t the White House press corps treat Old Lyme, Connecticut, with the same smarmy snowflake sensitivity?

DIG this press jerks:

Old Lyme is where Lyme disease was first diagnosed as a unique condition. German measles — hey, CNN, does that slur Germans? West Nile virus — West Nile is a province in Uganda, Washington Post. With regard to West Nile virus, where’s your outrage on behalf of West Nile’s Alur ethnic group? The Ebola virus was identified in 1976 in Yambuku, a village near the Ebola River. (To be fair, it was also identified in what is now South Sudan.) Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a bacterial disease. If you think the name slurs Colorado, seek psychotherapy, not a vaccination.

A little more:

Attention White House press corps: China’s communist dictators think they are propaganda Zen masters. They believe their ability to wage relentless narrative warfare, globally confuse useful media idiots and coerce Chinese citizens gives them a global media edge.

My column also reviews the Stalinist term “useful idiot.”

Definition: “…a Stalinist communist term for dupes in the West whose Bible was Kremlin propaganda…”

Read the whole column. (bumped)

THE GREAT SOCIETY: A NEW HISTORY WITH AMITY SHLAES. Peter Robinson’s Uncommon Knowledge interview with Shlaes on her timely follow-up to her 2007 revisionist look at the New Deal, The Forgotten Man (video).

AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, THERE’S ALWAYS A SHORTAGE OF WELDERS: Welders wanted: SpaceX is hiring to ramp up production of stainless steel Starship.

JOE BATTENFELD: Joe Biden replaced by Andrew Cuomo? Not so far-fetched.

WORLD COMES TO END, WOMEN HARDEST HIT: Australian senator wants to remind us all that COVID-19 is a gendered crisis.