Useful To Consider About Infection Rates ...

and other thoughts, worth the long read.

From the CDC’s study on transmission in China and Princess Cruise outbreak -

A growing body of evidence indicates that COVID-19 transmission is facilitated in confined settings; for example, a large cluster (634 confirmed cases) of COVID-19 secondary infections occurred aboard a cruise ship in Japan, representing about one fifth of the persons aboard who were tested for the virus. This finding indicates the high transmissibility of COVID-19 in enclosed spaces

Dr. Paul Auwaerter, the Clinical Director for the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine echoes this finding,

“If you have a COVID-19 patient in your household, your risk of developing the infection is about 10%….If you were casually exposed to the virus in the workplace (e.g., you were not locked up in conference room for six hours with someone who was infected [like a hospital]), your chance of infection is about 0.5%”

According to Dr. Auwaerter, these transmission rates are very similar to the seasonal flu.

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/covid-19-evidence-over-hysteria

On the Basics of Capitalism aka Cooperative Exchange

A reminder of the basic ideas of corporations and risk.

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-the-wrong-coronavirus-stimulus-20200323-h6erlkfgvjg5vlmrizphmgpdb4-story.html

It is not Tamny's easiest writing to understand but I wish I could master his ability to cut through all of the incorrect thoughts we all share about what government is and is not, and how little people understand what they are talking about when they talk about the actions of governments against the people that fund them.

To which one assumes conservatives will reply per the editorial that this is a “liquidity panic," and since it is, the federal government must step in. Except that tight liquidity is a market signal like any other; in this case one logically signaling horror on the part of investors that politicians on all levels are in the process of forcing a centrally planned economic reversal on the most dynamic economy in the world. Conservatives claim to revere market signals, market signals are presently telling politicians to stop the economic asphyxiation they’re forcing on the economy, but conservatives want taxpayers to blunt the signal?
https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2020/03/18/dear_conservatives_if_you_bail_out_everyone_you_bail_out_no_one_486845.html?mc_cid=cdc4762403&mc_eid=7eb43cc72c

A Well Stated Case Against MFA

My thanks to the author.

In a moment like this, with a virus that causes respiratory distress, my two children who have cystic fibrosis may be determined too costly to save. Before the virus hit, a recent ICER report determined that the cost of life-extending medication for CF sufferers wasn’t worth it, even if it was a full cure.

That’s why Medicare for All is so scary. The known practices of withholding care in government-run plans has the potential to put all Americans at risk, no matter the illness. Just this week, the National Council on Disability asked  the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take proactive steps so that care will not be denied to those with chronic illnesses and disabilities. 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/28/medicare_for_all_scares_me_more_than_coronavirus_142779.html

Iceland, Biden Accusation, Unemployed

This will go no where. Three of the greatest heroes in Democratic party lore were far, far worse than Biden's accused of being - Teddy, John and Bill best him easily and they still love those 3.

Who ever timed the notification of this accusation - well played and dirty.
According to Joe Biden, Biden Should Step Down

You may have had this - apparently half of those infected have no symptoms.
https://futurism.com/neoscope/half-coronavirus-carriers-no-symptoms

We're all wrestling with uncertainty - those with the fewest resources bear the most risk of economic failures
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/us/coronavirus-unemployed.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Phase II

Managing the pandemic well doesn’t mean eradication; it means that our ability to mitigate how many people die—our ability to isolate those sick, test their contacts, care for them in available intensive-care beds with available respirators—is working. Social distancing, currently our primary tool to manage the burdens on our health-care system, will eventually give way to efforts to quickly identify those infected, before they can expose others, and also to treat those already exposed. Even before a vaccine is available, the United States will fall into a steady-state suppression effort—which is to say, life will go on, even as public-health officials play whack-a-mole with individual outbreaks.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/there-isnt-going-be-all-clear-signal/608512/

What? The "Media" Has An Agenda?

There has been no shortage of reporting on the business dealings of Trump’s children and son-in-law. Can anyone imagine Trump dismissing questions about his adult children with personal insults and a CNN reporter turning around and saying it was a “human moment” showing “authenticity”? What about Biden’s threat to “slap” the union worker while pointing a finger at him in close quarters? If Trump did that, would the media describe him as “forceful but composed”?

Similarly, the media are anxious to defend Biden this time around by bowling right over the facts. ABC News’ chief political analyst Matthew Dowd said the exchange over guns with a union worker was a “net plus” because "voters are sick of the typical political speak ... Voters want somebody that they can trust, and is genuine, and has believability.”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/13/media_attempts_to_spin_bidens_tirade_into_a_triumph.html

It is sadly comic that Joe Biden, at least as dirty as anything Trump's been accused of, is looking to be the contestant to Trump. I am as shocked that he's still a candidate, given the Hunter issues, as I was that the GOP picked Trump 4 years ago. 

Shows what I know. 

Why Americans insist on electing a nearly endless train of buffoons and demand that they take more and more power to the government is baffling. All of the bad presidents in history are the case for libertarian solutions - to a tiny majority who can see it.  

I'm completely bored by the obvious assertion that the "media" has an agenda - they need ratings and they say whatever is needed to get the most people to watch their entertainment shows - but of course, someone has to keep saying it. It isn't interesting, just true.