OPEN THREAD: Saturday Night’s Alright for Social Isolatin’.

WE’VE MOVED INTO SOME BIZARRE ALTERNATE TIMESTREAM WHERE GOV. J.B. PRITZKER IS A VOICE OF SENSE: Illinois Governor Lists Gun Stores as ‘Essential,’ Exempts Them from Forced Shutdown.

Here in Knoxville, a friend called me the other day because he was at Sports Academy and there was a crowd of 40-50 people outside waiting to buy guns. All were pretty obviously first-time gun buyers. They had an off-duty cop to keep order.

Another friend who, for perfectly sensible reasons, didn’t own guns for many years (a family member with dementia) came by to borrow a shotgun from me. I don’t actually think civil disorder is a major threat, but one likes to be ready for anything.

I RECOGNIZED THIS AS WHAT IT WAS, BECAUSE THESE ARE POPPING UP AROUND MANY MEDICAL CENTERS, but it’s a triage area for testing new arrivals, not “overflow” space because the hospital is full with coronavirus cases.

More here.

THIS WAS TRANSPARENTLY MANIPULATIVE: Why Telling People They Don’t Need Masks Backfired: To help manage the shortage, the authorities sent a message that made them untrustworthy.

First, many health experts, including the surgeon general of the United States, told the public simultaneously that masks weren’t necessary for protecting the general public and that health care workers needed the dwindling supply. This contradiction confuses an ordinary listener. How do these masks magically protect the wearers only and only if they work in a particular field?

Second, there were attempts to bolster the first message, that ordinary people didn’t need masks, by telling people that masks, especially medical-grade respirator masks (such as the N95 masks), needed proper fitting and that ordinary people without such fitting wouldn’t benefit. This message was also deeply counterproductive. Many people also wash their hands wrong, but we don’t respond to that by telling them not to bother. Instead, we provide instructions; we post signs in bathrooms; we help people sing songs that time their hand-washing. Telling people they can’t possibly figure out how to wear a mask properly isn’t a winning message. Besides, when you tell people that something works only if done right, they think they will be the person who does it right, even if everyone else doesn’t.

Third, of course masks work — maybe not perfectly and not all to the same degree, but they provide some protection. Their use has always been advised as part of the standard response to being around infected people, especially for people who may be vulnerable. World Health Organization officials wear masks during their news briefings. That was the reason I had bought a few in early January — I had been conducting research in Hong Kong, which has a lot of contact with mainland China, and expected to go back. I had studied and taught about the sociology of pandemics and knew from the SARS experience in 2003 that health officials in many high-risk Asian countries had advised wearing masks.

It is of course true that masks don’t work perfectly, that they don’t replace hand-washing and social distancing, and that they work better if they fit properly. And of course, surgical masks (the disposable type that surgeons wear) don’t filter out small viral particles the way medical-grade respirator masks rated N95 and above do. However, even surgical masks protect a bit more than not wearing masks at all. We know from flu research that mask-wearing can help decrease transmission rates along with frequent hand-washing and social-distancing. Now that we are facing a respirator mask shortage, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that surgical masks are “an acceptable alternative” for health care workers — again, obviously because some protection, even if imperfect, is better than none. In the face of this, publicly presenting an absolute answer — “You don’t need them” — for something that requires a qualified response just makes people trust authorities even less.

Fourth, the W.H.O. and the C.D.C. told the public to wear masks if they were sick. However, there is increasing evidence of asymptomatic transmission, especially through younger people who have milder cases and don’t know they are sick but are still infectious. Since the W.H.O. and the C.D.C. do say that masks lessen the chances that infected people will infect others, then everyone should use masks. If the public is told that only the sick people are to wear masks, then those who do wear them will be stigmatized and people may well avoid wearing them if it screams “I’m sick.” Further, it’s very difficult to be tested for Covid-19 in the United States. How are people supposed to know for sure when to mask up?

Fifth, places like Hong Kong and Taiwan that jumped to action early with social distancing and universal mask wearing have the pandemic under much greater control, despite having significant travel from mainland China.

Indeed.

UPDATE: “In this pragmatic, cluster randomized clinical trial involving 2862 health care personnel, there was no significant difference in the incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza among health care personnel with the use of N95 respirators (8.2%) vs medical masks (7.2%).”

POST-QUARANTINE: Needed: the reopening plan. Fast. “Needed fast: a plan to open up the economy again in a virus-safe way. Every business should be (and likely is) working hard to figure out how to operate in a virus-safe way. Federal state and local government need to be working 24 hours a day during the next few weeks to promulgate virus-safe practices. Not because they are particularly good at it, but because they are the ones shutting things down, and their permission is needed to reopen, fully or partly. People also will want the confidence to know that businesses they patronize are compliant. You’ve got two weeks — figure out what combination of personal distancing, self-isolation, testing, cleaning, etc. will allow each kind of business to reopen, at least partially.”

COMETS IN THE HEAVENS: Newfound Comet ATLAS is getting really bright, really fast.

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NEW JERSEY IS THE LATEST STATE TO TELL RESIDENTS TO STAY AT HOME.

BRYAN PRESTON: We’ll Be Alright, and then We Must Reckon with Communist China.

GOOD: GM is partnering with Ventec Life Systems to help increase production of ventilators.

Plus: New Bangor factory starts making toilet paper just in the nick of time.

UPDATE: Demand for Face Masks Is Booming, But Makers Have a Nagging Concern: Legal Liability. Makers of N95 respirators are worried about their potential liability amid the coronavirus outbreak and have been seeking protection from Congress.

Demand for N95 face masks—the kind that keeps out at least 95% of particles—is surging amid more U.S. coronavirus cases. But some mask manufacturers worry they could be held liable if someone gets sick anyway.

The companies have been seeking for years to get Congress to pass legislation giving them immunity from liability lawsuits, including in a current bill to authorize about $8 billion to be spent on coronavirus readiness.

The bill, approved Thursday, didn’t include the provision. Democratic congressional staffers said their concern about such a provision is that it would be too broad and cover a too-big range of products. . . .

The issue is that there are two basic kinds of N95 masks, and makers say they each have a different legal status. One is the type of masks that often are used in hospitals and often are cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.

The other type, commonly used in mining and construction work, is approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The first type gives the manufacturers immunity from liability under federal law; the second doesn’t, lawyers say.

The problem in the current coronavirus outbreak is that many paramedics and other emergency responders could often be wearing the second type of mask, which protects them against disease—but doesn’t necessarily block legal liability.

“There is a vast supply of N95 masks in the industrial setting,” said Charles Johnson, president of the International Safety Equipment Association, makers of masks, hardhats and other protective gear. “All of these are protecting medical and first responders.”

Mr. Johnson said the vast majority of such N95 masks don’t have FDA clearance.

Now, at a time the U.S. could run short of masks because of demand from medical workers and the general public, Mr. Johnson said the NIOSH process is rigorous and that “we’re trying to get a larger supply to medical personnel.”

Over the weekend, Vice President Mike Pence said there are currently about 40 million masks nationwide and the government is seeking to increase the nation’s supply by as many as 35 million each month.

Related:

Faster, please. Cut down the underbrush.

UPDATE: Well, you can’t get much faster than . . . yesterday: Change in U.S. law will make millions more masks available to doctors and nurses, White House says.

THE BUREAUCRATS ARE IN THE WAY: Flattening the Coronavirus Curve Is Not Enough: Addressing the growing pandemic requires a new mindset and it requires it quickly. “When everything is laid out this way, the policy solution is obvious. If we can’t flatten the curve enough, we must dramatically increase health care capacity.”

HMM: Restrictions placed on travelers from Japan as coronavirus cases rise.

TIMELY: Scientists develop AI device that detects coughs in crowds.

CHINA’S CORONAVIRUS RECOVERY IS ‘ALL FAKE,’ WHISTLEBLOWERS AND RESIDENTS CLAIM.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Dry Practice Drills for Homebound Shooters.

HUFFPO REPORTER: The Democrats’ Response to the Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak Has Been Disastrous.

And yet, have you noticed there hasn’t been much from Democrats on this front. It didn’t dawn on me until two things happened. I read the Huffington Post (yes, you should read what the libs are digesting) and saw “#WhereisJoe” was trending on Twitter. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee, is nowhere to be found in the crisis. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ policies are insane, but at least he held some pressers on this matter, mostly to push for his Medicare for All proposal which would have done nothing to shield people from getting sick.

The Democrats are nowhere to be found on this. It’s been Republicans who have been quarterbacking the response on the Hill. HuffPo described their move on this matter as disastrous, as the GOP has taken the leadership role, despite Democrats controlling the House and the money for all this stuff.

Related:

● Airline bailout should come with climate strings attached, Democrats and environmentalists say.

● Rashida Tlaib proposes minting two $1 trillion platinum coins to finance monthly coronavirus debit cards.

What could go wrong?

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WE’VE ALREADY FOUND SOME PROMISING CANDIDATES: How Scientists Are Working 24/7 Looking For Old Drugs That Might Treat COVID-19.

BERNIE TRYING TO DECIDE WHICH HOUSE TO QUARANTINE HIMSELF IN.

From America’s Newspaper of Record, the Babylon Bee.

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NEVER LET A CRISIS GO TO WASTE: San Jose Uses Wuhan Virus Crisis to Infringe on the Second Amendment by Shutting Down Gun Stores.

WHY IS THE LEFT SUCH A CESSPIT OF ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC? Former state lawmaker Chris Herstam apologizes for saying members of Arizona Legislature, governor ‘should be shot.’

I’M GOING TO DO THIS FOR ONE OF OUR LAW FACULTY HAPPY HOURS SOON: How to Have a Successful Virtual Happy Hour.