COVID-19: March 18, 2020
Local impact:
’Some shelter in place ’may be necessary,’ surge in coronavirus cases coming, Governor says
“Hopefully it will not be necessary,” Edwards said of a shelter-in-place order. “It may be necessary to do that in certain localities.”(Update: four days later he would put the whole state under a Saty At Home Order)
Cases:
National
| Source | Old Count | New Count | Increase of | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDC | 4,226 | 7,038 | 2,812 | 4:00 pm update |
| J.H.Univ. | 5,894 | 7,769 | 1,875 | 2:33 pm update |
| NYT | 5,303 | 8,017 | 2,714 | 5:06 pm update |
Louisiana
| Where? | Old Count | New Count | Increase of | Deaths | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide | 196 | 280 | 84 | 7 | 5:30 pm update |
| Orleans | 136 | 196 | 60 | 6 | |
| Jefferson | 35 | 45 | 10 | 1 | |
| St. Bernard | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||
| Lafourche | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||
| Terrebonne | 3 | 3 |
Louisiana NEW cases by day for the last ten days:
1, 5, 7, 6, 17, 41, 26, 33, 60, 84
Articles:
Red Cross needs blood donations
We now face a severe blood shortage due to an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations during this #coronavirus outbreak. Make an appointment to help patients counting on lifesaving blood: https://t.co/lQdFEVrctc pic.twitter.com/rnUpJF1vq4
— American Red Cross (@RedCross) March 17, 2020
“Republicans like me built this moment. Then we looked the other way.”
By Stuart Stevens (age 65, hometown Jackson, Mississippi) Writer & Republican political consultant - worked for Dole, Bush, McCain, Romney, and many senators and governors.
The failures of the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis can be traced directly to the toxic fantasies now dear to the Republican Party. Here are a few:
- “All Government is bad.”
Except now we are in a crisis that can be solved only by massive government intervention. That’s awkward.- “Establishment experts are overrated or just plain wrong.”
The Republican Party became anti-intellectual, by which I mean, almost reflexively opposed to knowledge and expertise. We began to distrust the experts and put faith in, well, quackery.
The Republican Party has gone from admiring William F. Buckley Jr., an Ivy League intellectual, to viewing higher education as a left-wing conspiracy to indoctrinate the young. In retribution, we started defunding education. Never mind that Republican leaders are among the most highly educated on the planet; it’s just that they now feel compelled to embrace ignorance as a cost of doing business.- “Science is suspect.”
Conservatives have spent years trying to cut funds for basic science and research, lamenting government seed money for nearly every budding technology and then hoping for the best. In the weeks ahead, it’s not some fiery, anti-Washington populist with an XM radio gig who is going to save folks’ lives; it is more likely to be someone who has been studying this stuff for decades, almost certainly at some point with federal help or outright patronage.
What is happening now is the inevitable result of a party that embraced fear, weaponized xenophobia and regarded facts as dangerous, left-wing landmines that must be avoided.
Over the past few years, when ramming through conservative judges, Republicans have crowed, “Elections have consequences.” That’s true.
Those of us in the Republican Party built this moment. Now the nation must live with those consequences.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average has wiped out all its gains since Trump’s inauguration. Today, it closed below 20,000.
Tracking Growth:
Coronavirus Growth in Western Countries: March 17 Update
France and Germany remain precisely on the Italian flight path. The US has moved slightly above it, possibly due to more widespread testing. Sweden continues to level out, suggesting that they’re doing something right.
Speculating:
Case numbers are going to dramatically increase as testing finally ramps up to where it needs to be. And we’re not anywhere close to where we need to be on that front.
Honestly, I believe this crisis is not going to be “over” in four weeks, or even eight weeks. Maybe August? Maybe we live in anxiety until a vaccine is developed?
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