Another must-listen podcast from Chris Lydon. The take-away is that our political system hasn't yet realized that we need to go to single-payer for all, now, if we want to have as good an outcome as Italy, which is to say a very shitty outcome. Ours is on track to be much worse because the uninsured can't enter the system, therefore will continue to infect even people with insurance. We're set suffer here in the US a lot more. There will be a debate tomorrow night, and if Biden isn't tuned into this, Sanders is going to clean his clock. And I suspect Biden isn't. And there's a chance that Sanders isn't thinking clearly either, but I kind of doubt it. Nothing focuses the mind like losing. Action-item: before the debate, Biden should give a speech outlining a Medicare-for-all-now program. Give Sanders proper credit. At the debate he can offer to delegate the implementation of this to Sanders. Create unity right there on the debate stage. The Democrats in Congress are not without power. Trump is crazy to think the only criteria people will care about is the stock market. People who unnecessarily lose friends and relatives to this disease are likely to care about that more. Never waste a good crisis. Now is the time to reform health care in the US. #A story from 2008. I was living in Berkeley. During the financial meltdown, I was driving on Solano Ave with my friend Tori. I asked if she thought the stores would still be there in a year. I imagined we were headed for the Stone Age, our economy would be based on barter, and a lot of us would die. Kind of the way I feel now. Tori paused and said they would still be there. And they were. #
Just tried something funny. I ordered something on Amazon that won't be available till April. A bottle of off-brand hand sanitizer. $12. Let's see if the world still exists in April. 💥#Ronald Reagan famously asked Mikhail Gorbachev if they could set aside their differences if the world was invaded by aliens. Gorbachev said hell yes. #
On NPR this morning, they said almost 50 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. This is going to be a huge problem, shortly.#
Silver lining. People are searching for meaning in their lives. We're on the cusp of getting there. We need each other. Ads on TV are from a different world, one that is gone now. Meaning is here. Helping each other to survive. Can't get more meaningful than that. #
On Thursday I recommended listening to the Daily podcast. They had an interview with NYT reporter Donald McNeil who explained how they fought Covid19 in China. He was on Maddow that night, and they posted a video of his talk on Twitter. If you haven't seen it, stop everything, now, and watch it. You'll get so much more information about what we're up against. China appears to have beaten it. Ultimately we will have to do the same, if we don't want it to spread to everyone. #- Enoch Choi is a longtime friend, and a doctor on the front line of treating patients with Covid19. This is copied from his Facebook timeline. #
- We will be swept by Covid19 deaths without more screening so we can know who to focus care for. Without diagnosis, we fly blind and just wait for those so sick to need hospitalization. #
- Without more tests, and possible treatment (high flow nasal oxygen, bipap, intubation, remdesivir, convalescent serum, oya1, steroids) what I have for folks is symptomatic (cough suppressants, fever reducers) which I can recommend over the phone. #
- Telemedicine needs to ramp up so we can keep folks home and prevent waiting room transmission. Stay home and call your doctor. Don’t come In until you are dying. I can reassure you over the phone. You won't get the swab/test you want unless you are really sick, feverish and a contact of positive Covid19 patient, feverish with severe shortness of breath and chronically ill.#
- Note to readers outside Ulster County. I'm going to start posting about my experiences in the area I live now. I think they will be of general interest. There are a number of people locally who read my blog and right now this is the only place I can post them. #
- I went to Hannaford's in West Hurley today. I was pleased to see the parking lot looked fine for a Saturday morning. I got a spot in the second row. Lots of empty spots.#
- First the general picture. The store is well stocked. Lots of canned goods, pasta, dairy, bottled water, snacks, beer, most everything on my shopping list. Where there were things missing I was able to improvise. The store people were in good spirits.#
- But there was no mistaking we're in a different world now. I could feel this immediately on entering the store. There were empty shelves. Something you don't generally see in America, but you do see in the third world. The produce section was mostly empty. Chicken, hamburger, pork -- mostly gone, what was there were specialty items.#
- The store is functioning. I had seen people say earlier that it was closed. We have to be careful about that. Before reporting rumors, let's go check it out. That was one of the reasons I went today, to see what was going on. I'm a big believer in people getting the news themselves. This is one of those times when that'll be important.#