I am of the strong opinion that MA has done as well as it has because of excellent leadership. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been far, far better than the US as a whole.
As I always approach these things from a non-political viewpoint, just looking at what the leader is doing as a person, and leaving his or her party and tendencies out of it, just judging each decision, I still say that Charlie Baker has done an amazing job here in MA, and our federal government, for the most part, has been one big failure. It is what it is, and now we have to deal with what is, not what could have been.
I agree. I never expect any person or politician to be perfect. I simply expect the politicians to put constituents first. I’ve said for far longer than covid has existed that I think Baker would be an excellent President….same for Kasich and I am inclined to add Romney in the mix. We have truly decent folks from which to choose. In too many cases it is we who actually fail by expecting a leader to answer only to our political agenda and forgetting that not all share the same views.
I am undeclared and always will be as, like the first two presidents, I do not like political parties.
And using absolute logic….I credit TK with providing my soap box 😉
The article below by Eric Boodman should be must reading by politicians of all stripes, policymakers, and interested citizens. It depicts a microcosm of the pandemic, introducing a number of aspects of the crisis in a moving, intelligent way that reminds us of Covid-19’s profound impact.
Thank you, Joshua. Such an emotional story but one as you correctly said should be read by all. Yes, this surely depicts the microcosm of the pandemic…..but in truth it also depicts the overriding problem in this country.
The coronavirus mutates. I believe it means that the virus adapts to the human body making any potential vaccine less effective.
Say this ain’t so.
Could be. This is not definitive at this point in time. But, don’t take it from me as I’m not a virologist. I do know that viruses tend to mutate. They adapt, in essence because they don’t `want’ to die out.
Today’s news is sobering. Looks like a new record could be established by 9pm for U.S. new cases in one day. Deaths are not rising commensurately. So, that’s good news. However, deaths appear to be rising in states that have been affected most by the surging caseload. I expect that to continue over the coming days, especially given the large numbers of hospitalizations in those states. It is clear from the typical demographic of the patients in this surge that many are relatively young, generally not quite as sick as the older folks in the first surge, and not as likely to die. Still, thousands are in hospitals and ICU units.
Excess mortality studies – there are several gold standard peer-reviewed studies so far – reveal the under-count of Covid-19 deaths by around 10%-15%. So, more people have died from Covid-19 than the official tally.
U.S. life expectancy numbers had already taken an enormous hit 3 of the last 4 years – declining (!) life expectancy; outlier among industrialized nations. That trend is set to continue this year.
Many causes are cited, including obesity and associated diabetes, heart disease, opioids, alcoholism, and now Covid-19. The socioeconomic determinants of health are important to take into account, as we see worsening mortality and morbidity numbers in the lower socioeconomic strata as well as minority groups.
The two-tiered system in which inequality grows is a problem we as a nation will have to grapple with at some point. This is after all the land of equality of opportunity. And I understand that doesn’t mean equal outcomes. But, it’s clear that certain groups don’t have the same opportunities as others, whether in the economy or health.
A parallel development is the increasing chasm between the real economy on main street where people make ends meet, and the stock market. The disconnect between the two is in hyper-drive, as the haves (people with stocks) and have-nots (people without stocks, or savings for that matter) grow farther and farther apart.
I will be locked out of my admin account until sometime later this morning at which time I will probably be on the road somewhere, so until I can get back in just continue to do your C-19 comments here on yesterday’s post.
According to our fearless leader, the virus will “just disappear”.
It is now painfully clear that our current leadership is totally out of touch with reality.
No doubt that we are a complete laughingstock to the entire world. Very sad indeed. 🙁
C-19 for 7-2 is up…
You may move to there for this discussion.
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
Zero (0) deaths in MA yesterday! 🙂
I am of the strong opinion that MA has done as well as it has because of excellent leadership. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been far, far better than the US as a whole.
As I always approach these things from a non-political viewpoint, just looking at what the leader is doing as a person, and leaving his or her party and tendencies out of it, just judging each decision, I still say that Charlie Baker has done an amazing job here in MA, and our federal government, for the most part, has been one big failure. It is what it is, and now we have to deal with what is, not what could have been.
I agree. I never expect any person or politician to be perfect. I simply expect the politicians to put constituents first. I’ve said for far longer than covid has existed that I think Baker would be an excellent President….same for Kasich and I am inclined to add Romney in the mix. We have truly decent folks from which to choose. In too many cases it is we who actually fail by expecting a leader to answer only to our political agenda and forgetting that not all share the same views.
I am undeclared and always will be as, like the first two presidents, I do not like political parties.
And using absolute logic….I credit TK with providing my soap box 😉
My latest on lessons from (mis) handling the 1st wave of the pandemic: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2020/07/01/eight-lessons-to-be-learned-from-the-mishandling-of-the-first-wave-of-coronavirus/#4e715eadbe12
Excellent read Joshua! Thanks.
The article below by Eric Boodman should be must reading by politicians of all stripes, policymakers, and interested citizens. It depicts a microcosm of the pandemic, introducing a number of aspects of the crisis in a moving, intelligent way that reminds us of Covid-19’s profound impact.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/30/covid19-death-of-hospital-food-worker-a-microcosm-of-pandemic/
Thank you for sharing this article.
Thank you, Joshua. Such an emotional story but one as you correctly said should be read by all. Yes, this surely depicts the microcosm of the pandemic…..but in truth it also depicts the overriding problem in this country.
The coronavirus mutates. I believe it means that the virus adapts to the human body making any potential vaccine less effective.
Say this ain’t so.
Could be. This is not definitive at this point in time. But, don’t take it from me as I’m not a virologist. I do know that viruses tend to mutate. They adapt, in essence because they don’t `want’ to die out.
Today’s news is sobering. Looks like a new record could be established by 9pm for U.S. new cases in one day. Deaths are not rising commensurately. So, that’s good news. However, deaths appear to be rising in states that have been affected most by the surging caseload. I expect that to continue over the coming days, especially given the large numbers of hospitalizations in those states. It is clear from the typical demographic of the patients in this surge that many are relatively young, generally not quite as sick as the older folks in the first surge, and not as likely to die. Still, thousands are in hospitals and ICU units.
Excess mortality studies – there are several gold standard peer-reviewed studies so far – reveal the under-count of Covid-19 deaths by around 10%-15%. So, more people have died from Covid-19 than the official tally.
U.S. life expectancy numbers had already taken an enormous hit 3 of the last 4 years – declining (!) life expectancy; outlier among industrialized nations. That trend is set to continue this year.
Many causes are cited, including obesity and associated diabetes, heart disease, opioids, alcoholism, and now Covid-19. The socioeconomic determinants of health are important to take into account, as we see worsening mortality and morbidity numbers in the lower socioeconomic strata as well as minority groups.
The two-tiered system in which inequality grows is a problem we as a nation will have to grapple with at some point. This is after all the land of equality of opportunity. And I understand that doesn’t mean equal outcomes. But, it’s clear that certain groups don’t have the same opportunities as others, whether in the economy or health.
A parallel development is the increasing chasm between the real economy on main street where people make ends meet, and the stock market. The disconnect between the two is in hyper-drive, as the haves (people with stocks) and have-nots (people without stocks, or savings for that matter) grow farther and farther apart.
All viruses mutate to one degree or another.
This song says it all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XluslIGClRA
I will be locked out of my admin account until sometime later this morning at which time I will probably be on the road somewhere, so until I can get back in just continue to do your C-19 comments here on yesterday’s post.
According to our fearless leader, the virus will “just disappear”.
It is now painfully clear that our current leadership is totally out of touch with reality.
No doubt that we are a complete laughingstock to the entire world. Very sad indeed. 🙁
C-19 for 7-2 is up…
You may move to there for this discussion.