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Archive for 2020
March 22, 2020
AN ARGUMENT FOR LOCALISM: Disaster in New York does not require the same policy everywhere.
New York State has a whopping 810 cases per million residents, closing in on both Italy and Switzerland fast. And the vast majority of those cases are concentrated in the City and nearby commuter counties. Franklin County, in the Adirondacks (and where your Editor has been known to spend some time) has not yet had a single confirmed case.
By contrast, the other 49 states combined, including such hot zones as Washington and California, are at 54 cases per million residents. That puts the per million infection rate in the “other 49” just between Australia and North Macedonia. Or China, if you care to believe Commie numbers. Which we don’t.
One question, of course, is whether the rest of the country is just “behind” New York by a few days, or whether there are important differences that should inform policy. We suspect some of both is true. Yes, New York is the land of stainless steel subway poles, where the virus once deposited will linger a particularly long time, cheek-by-jowl restaurant tables, and terribly crowded sidewalks. But New York is also testing heaving masses of people, so it may be revealing its own infections more completely than other states that will soon catch up in the world’s most dubious league table.
Regardless, the vast difference in the apparent rate of infection between downstate New York and the rest of the country (and the considerable differences among the remaining 49 states) suggests that we need not apply precisely the same policies in every jurisdiction. Even in New York State, we do not understand the logic, beyond mere political calculus, for imposing the same burdens on the already poor towns of the Adirondacks as are the bare minimum, if that, in the boroughs.
Read the whole thing.
WHEN YOUR MESSAGING IS WORSE THAN BAD: Stunning NYT headline: “Senate Democrats blocked action on a trillion-dollar stimulus plan.” “It’s stunning because it’s true, and it hints that Democrats might have miscalculated how much political cover they have in this coronavirus crisis.”
MAYBE I’LL SWITCH TO GIN AND TONIC, JUST TO BE SAFE: Can Schweppes inhibit Coronavirus infection? I doubt there’s enough quinine in tonic water to do much, but it’s no sacrifice, as I like gin and tonics anyway.
OPEN THREAD: Party with your peers.
I can’t help but feel that one reason they’ve been downplaying the value of masks is that there aren’t enough anyway.
IF ONLY WE HAD SOCIALIZED MEDICINE SO EVERYONE WOULD BE TREATED ALIKE: How Are the Rich and Famous Jumping the Test Queues? In England, by Paying $425.
DISPATCHES FROM THE MANCHURIAN MEDIA: Austin newspaper slams Cornyn’s words on COVID-19, it doesn’t end well.
Related: Time to ban wet markets.
(Classical reference in headline.)
SUDDENLY, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS MOVING VERY FAST. I WAS JUST BLOGGING ABOUT THIS THE OTHER DAY, AND NOW: Interagency Statement on Loan Modifications by Financial Institutions Working with Customers Affected by the Coronavirus. Including this on the exact item I was blogging about: “Will not criticize institutions for prudent loan modifications and will not direct supervised institutions to automatically categorize COVID-19-related loan modifications as troubled debt restructurings (TDRs).”
UPDATE: From the comments: “It’s pretty amazing how quickly these issues are being addressed. If the Executive can fix it, it gets fixed. If industry can help, the right person gets a call. If Congress is required…well, Nancy and Chuck are still weighing the optics of saving Americans vs cooperating with OrangeManBad.”
THE CURRENT ERA, IN A NUTSHELL:
EXECUTIVE ACTION: Trump says he’s activated National Guard in New York, California and Washington state: Trump said large quantities of masks, respirators, gowns, face shields and other items are due to arrive in the three states within days. “He added that he has ordered the government to set up large federal medical stations in each of the states.”
Compare and contrast:
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SOME CORONAVIRUS NEWS: Harbor Freight stores are donating all the masks, gloves in their inventory to hospitals.
Arsenal of health: GM suppliers preparing to manufacture parts for 200,000 ventilators.
U.S. FDA approves first rapid coronavirus test with 45 minutes detection time.
Chloroquine May Fight Covid-19—and Silicon Valley’s Into It.
Gov. Greg Abbott resists calls for statewide shelter-in-place; moves to expand hospital capacity.
ANY DOCTOR CAN PRESCRIBE THIS — YOU DON’T NEED PERMISSION FROM THE FDA: GOOD NEWS: Actor Daniel Dae Kim credits ‘drug cocktail’ which included hydroxychloroquine and Z-Pak for his recovery.
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CIAO, NO KISSING PLEASE: Italy, Numbers, and Confusion: Why is Italy the Hotbed of COVID-19.
LIONEL SHRIVER: Why Hachette were wrong to drop Woody Allen’s memoir.
Second, procedural precedent. Contracts mean nothing. Publishing is now a bottom-up, populist industry in which an army of 12-year-old editorial assistants enjoy a veto over the catalog. They may jettison at will any author deemed to be a Bad Person, evidence to the contrary be damned. So the fate of my work rests with the wokies fresh from Ivy League re-education camp who post my proofs. I’ll have to start emailing: ‘Dear Biffy: I realize your favorite book is still The Gruffalo, but could you please check that nothing in the attached first draft offends you or your little friends? Meanwhile, I promise never, ever to wear a sombrero! And I apologize to the sisterhood for marrying a man seven years my senior. The marriage is obviously an abuse of power, and he’s been grooming me for 20 years.’
The employees who walked out of Hachette should all have been sacked. Plenty of surplus arts grads could fill those open-plan desks, and they’d get the message about who’s in charge. Instead the tweenies are emboldened. Good luck to management taking that authority back.
Yet another reminder that as Ray Bradbury predicted in Fahrenheit 451, that books will be burned to protect everyone’s feelings as much as to block the content within them.
THE CORYBINIZATION OF JEREMY CORBYN’S PARTY CONTINUES APACE: Oxfam apologizes for selling anti-Semitic tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and removes it from online sale.