COPYRIGHT 2020 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
Ann Coulter is the author of THIRTEEN New York Times bestsellers—collect them here.
Her book, ¡Adios America! The Left’s Plan To Turn Our Country Into A Third World Hell Hole, was released on June 1, 2015.
Her latest book, Resistance Is Futile!: How the Trump-Hating Left Lost Its Collective Mind, was released on August 21, 2018.
Coronavirus pandemic spreads across the US South
Hospitals overwhelmed in California and Alabama as national death toll approaches 100,000
Hospitals in Montgomery, Alabama and El Centro, California have been forced to restrict admission of new coronavirus patients after caseloads of COVID-19 spiked during the week. The situation in both cities developed as the number of confirmed cases in the US passed 1.6 million, and the death toll approached 100,000.
Margot Bloch of Takoma Park, Md., stands in Lafayette Park near the White House as she protests President Donald Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday, May 20, 2020, in Washington. She is surrounded by "body bags" representing those who have died. (Photo: AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The situation in both cities was summed up by Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, who said yesterday at a press conference, “Right now, if you are from Montgomery and you need an ICU bed, you are in trouble.” Of the state capital’s four regional hospitals, one is short three ICU beds, two have no available ICU beds, and one has just a single ICU bed remaining. Excess patients are being transferred to Birmingham, a trip for those infected of more than an hour.
Reed also warned that the hospitals are “at a capacity that is not sustainable,” and that, “Our health care system is maxed out.”
In El Centro, the increased caseload came from both sides of the US-Mexico border in the wake of relaxed physical distancing rules enacted two weeks ago. According to the CEO of the El Centro Regional Medical Center, Dr. Adolphe Edward, the surge is largely from US citizens who live in Mexicali, a border town in Mexico with a population of 690,000, who were turned away from Mexican hospitals as a result of rising coronavirus infections there.
More than two dozen patients had to be transferred to hospitals in San Diego and other nearby cities, Reuters reports.
This reality did not stop President Donald Trump from declaring on Friday, “I am identifying houses of worship, churches, synagogues and mosques, as essential places that provide essential services,” and demanding that “governors … allow our churches and places of worship to open right now.”
Trump’s comments follow his remarks Thursday that the country’s reopening will not be stopped even if the pandemic regains the momentum it had in the previous two months. “Whether it’s an ember or a flame, we’re going to put it out. But we’re not closing our country.” This campaign has added fuel to the record rise of the stock market since its collapse in March, at the expense of tens of thousands of lives and tens of millions of livelihoods.
The spike in cases in such divergent areas of the country is another indication that, contrary to official policy, the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is not slowing but increasing. States including Texas, Florida and Louisiana have joined Alabama and California in seeing an increase of new COVID-19 cases in recent days.
Both the 7- and 14-day moving averages of daily case counts in Alabama are increasing and now stand at above 500 new cases per day. The number of new cases in California has stayed above 2,000 for the past four consecutive days. Texas, where the stay-at-home order expired April 30, saw its new case count on May 21 double to 1,856, as compared to the previous day.
The number of new cases in Florida has also begun to rise, with a sharp increase to 1,204 on Thursday. On that day, the number of new cases in Louisiana increased more than four-fold from the day before, to 1,188 new infections. Total deaths in these states also continue to rise, to 537 in Alabama, 3,682 in California, 1,501 in Texas, 2,190 in Florida and 2,668 in Louisiana.
Texas, Florida and Alabama are also among the states predicted to have even more coronavirus infections over the next four weeks, as modeled by the PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Using cellphone data to track mobility in an attempt to forecast the pandemic, the researchers have found that those states are some of the most at risk for an increased pandemic caseload as their economies continue to reopen.
Another state that has seen a sharp rise in cases is Arkansas, where the number of new infections increased by 228 percent over the past 14 days, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases to 5,612. This is largely due to outbreaks among poultry workers across the state, which now includes 136 active cases.
Across the country, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the reopening is driving the spread of the deadly pandemic.
Forcing states to allow religious services to take place will only exacerbate this crisis. Every state now allows some form of public gatherings, including restaurant dining, retail stores, barbershops and salons, beaches and gyms. Some states, such as Louisiana, have even opened movie theaters, museums, zoos and casinos, while Florida has already allowed houses of worship to reopen.
Many of these reopenings are taking place in advance of the Memorial Day weekend. In Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court has allowed bars, clubs, wineries, restaurants and campgrounds to collectively host 158 live music events. While none of these will be in Milwaukee or Madison, due to the large number of cases in those cities, they are expected to draw large crowds, and public health officials are concerned about a resurgence of cases and deaths as a result.
This is particularly concerning in the current pandemic because of the incubation period of the coronavirus. It takes 2-14 days before symptoms appear and even longer before a patient gets tested and possibly hospitalized. “We’re looking at potentially a month or two later that we’re going to see the impact” of the reopening, said former Baltimore health commissioner Leana Wen to the Washington Post. “You have not seen the impact of reopening yet. I think there’s going to be a very significant lag.”
U.S. Census Launches Weekly Coronavirus Report: 47% Jobless, 38% Delayed Medical Treatment
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The U.S. Census Bureau announced this week that each Wednesday it will post online a survey of American households to measure how people are doing during the coronavirus outbreak on a number of issues, including employment, “food security,” and access to health care.
“The survey is intended to provide crucial weekly data to help understand the experiences of American households during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the announcement of the survey said.
The announcement said:
In this initial release, the Household Pulse Survey Interactive Tool provides data for select indicators at national and state levels. National data also are available in table format. We plan subsequent weekly releases through late July, and will include additional estimates for states and the 15 largest metropolitan statistical areas.For the April 23-May 5 period, invitations to take part in the survey were sent to 1,867,126 households and a total 74,413 responded (63,003 complete interviews and 11,410 partial interviews).
Some of the key findings include:
• Among the population of adults 18 and over, 47 percent either lost employment income or another adult in their household had lost employment income since March 13. Thirty-nine percent of adults expected that they or someone in their household would lose employment income over the next four weeks.
• About ten percent of adults reported that they did not get enough of the food they needed some of the time or often. Another 32 percent report getting enough, but not the kinds of food they needed. On average, households spent $196 a week to buy food at supermarkets, grocery stores, online, and other places to be prepared and eaten at home.
• Adults who responded reported feeling anxious or nervous more than half the days last week or nearly every day 29.7 percent of the time. They reported not being able to stop or control worrying more than half the days last week or nearly every day 22.8 percent of the time.
For measures related to depression, 18.6 percent of adults report feeling down more than half the days or nearly every day last week, and 21.4 percent reported having little interest or pleasure in doing things more than half the days or nearly every day last week.
• 38.7 percent of adults report that over the last four weeks, they delayed getting medical care because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• When asked about the likelihood of being able to pay next month’s rent or mortgage on time, 21.3 precent reported only slight or no confidence in being able to pay next month’s rent or mortgage on time. Another 2.5 percent reported next month’s mortgage is or will be deferred.
• In households with children enrolled in public or private school (K-12), adults spent 13 hours on average on teaching activities during the last seven days.
The Bureau said it partnered with five other federal agencies to develop the Household Pulse Survey, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, USDA Economic Research Service, Department for Housing and Urban Development, and the National Center for Education Statistics.
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