... after Trump discusses walking back coronavirus measures, Hopkins official warns of consequences

[struggle4progress]

By MCKENNA OXENDEN
BALTIMORE SUN |
MAR 24, 2020 | 7:45 PM

President Donald Trump expressed frustration during a White House media briefing Monday night about how shutting down public activities nationwide amid the coronavirus pandemic threatens to disrupt the U.S. economy. Hours later, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security ... Tom Inglesby tweeted a long thread .. highlighting how social distancing and other limitations have stopped the spread of COVID-19 in other countries. Inglesby is .. advising Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan every morning ...

“Anyone advising the end of social distancing now, needs to fully understand what the country will look like if we do that,” the health security director tweeted. “COVID would spread widely, rapidly, terribly, could kill potentially millions in the yr ahead with huge social and economic impact across the country.”

In an interview Tuesday, he said he felt he had to say something publicly given Trump’s comments and others from people who believe that social distancing orders should be lifted.

“I had been hearing and seeing various kinds of prominent voices and editorials and hearing people in and out of government talking about the near-term need to end social distancing so that the economy could get going again, and I have real serious concerns that if we do that soon, this epidemic will spread uncontrollably across this country, and in a way that would overwhelm our health care system,” he said. “So I wanted to just make that clear” ...

https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-md-johnshopkins-inglesby-coronavirus-security-response-20200324-h7mbqlvucjh2df6pfc6czyvmqe-story.html

[sheshe2]

1. They are correct.

[struggle4progress]

2. Dangerous and foolish impatience

BY DAVID FRENCH MARCH 24, 2020

... First, the spread of Covid-19 is not slowing. It’s accelerating, with New York state so hard hit that it’s suffered more cases than most European nations. Second, Donald Trump is growing increasingly impatient with the state lockdowns. He has now repeatedly tweeted (with caps-lock emphasis) that the “cure cannot be worse” than the disease and emphasized that people “want to return to work.”

... There is no serious desire to extend state lockdowns into an indefinite future. Governors don’t want to see their state economies struggle one moment longer than is necessary. But it is necessary for the moment. At the same time, when Trump signals impatience mere days into what could well be an extended crisis, he’s signaling that he doesn’t fully understand the dimensions of the challenge America faces.

... former Trump FDA commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, had perhaps the best and most succinct response. “There is no such thing as a functioning economy,” he said, “so long as Covid-19 continues to spread uncontrolled in our biggest cities” ...

https://time.com/5809260/president-trumps-dangerous-impatience-coronavirus/

[LovingA2andMI]

3. Obviously...

Map Reading is not Trump's Strong Suit:

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

[canetoad]

4. We, in Australia, are approximately

Where you in the US were two weeks ago. I believe my state will go into a UK style lockdown today or tomorrow. There is absolutely NO talk of an end date for the lockdown.