March 17. Trump in Front of Everything
Trump seems quite content to appear for a news conference to announce things that were only thought of the day before, and haven’t been vetted, filled out, costed, etc. The $1 trillion “Plan” reminds me of Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers film. Unfrozen after years, he asks for a billion dollars ransom. His son whispers to him, and he ups that to a trillion dollars. I also know from previous government critics, that if the appropriation is a really round number, there is no accounting of what it will be used for. $1 trillion is the entire discretionary budget. There still is only the now meager $8.3 billion, less than 1% now, devoted to actual research on fighting the virus. I remember ages ago when Trump only wanted to spend $2.5 billion, half of which was taken from a meals program.
I’m still upset that the entire Virus Task Force is crowded as close as possible on the stage in the tiny press room, setting the worst example of social distancing. VP Pence even motioned for the doctor to move in, when she was trying for a little distance.
Trump was on the “everything that I do has never been done before” trip. That included the expected swift economic rebound, like has never been seen before. Of course it will be swift, since we are in an enormous shutdown.
So much for comedy, now for the tragedy.
Today’s numbers are approaching 200,000 world wide cases and 8,000 deaths. In the US they are approaching 6,000 cases, and have reached 100 deaths.
In good news, Trump is trying to respond to the economic crises for not covered workers, by payments of $1,000 each. That is $250 billion of the trillion. Also small businesses and of course large businesses like airlines will be covered.
Another good news, the government now sees the morbidity rate as only 0.7%, consistent with China outside of Hubei province, instead of the world average of 4%. The 0.7% is still 5 times the usual flu’s morbidity of 0.14%. However, South Korea, which had few deaths, is now at the 1% level. Dr. Birx, Coronavirus Response Coordinator, hoped that we would continue to fight the flu with such efforts, since it takes 12,000 to 50,000 lives a year. No response from others.
Today’s data is 198,006 wold cases, with 7,945 deaths.
The US has 6,352 cases. Subtracting the 67 ship cases, gives 6,295 land cases. Yesterday, there were 4,594 land cases, giving 1,701 new cases. The increase ratio is 1,701/4,594 = 37.0%.
There are 108 US deaths, with 55 in WA, 13 in NY, 12 in CA, and 6 in FL.
California now has 700 cases, and increase of 243, giving the increase ratio 243/557 = 43.6%. Tests are still short, with delays.
New York has 1,707, up 740 from 967, due to more testing. The increase ratio is huge, 740/967 = 76.5%.
Washington has 1,012 cases, up 108 from 904. The increase ratio is small, 108/904 = 11.9%. Very encouraging.
Florida has 216 cases, up 56 from 160. The increase ratio is 56/160 = 35%.
