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‘It’s just everywhere already’: How delays in testing set back the U.S. coronavirus response

‘It’s just everywhere already’: How delays in testing set back the U.S. coronavirus response

The New York Times reports: Dr. Helen Y. Chu, an infectious disease expert in Seattle, knew that the United States did not have much time. In late January, the first confirmed American case of the coronavirus had landed in her area. Critical questions needed answers: Had the man infected anyone else? Was the deadly virus already lurking in other communities and spreading? As luck would have it, Dr. Chu had a way to monitor the region. For months, as part…

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Sanders supporters can actually get a lot of what they want via Biden

Sanders supporters can actually get a lot of what they want via Biden

Jamelle Bouie writes: [I]f the goal is to move America to the left — to craft and pass policies that help ordinary people — then a Biden candidacy isn’t the end of the game. He represents an opportunity. You can see what this might look like in Virginia, where the Democratic majority in the General Assembly just finished its legislative session. In 2017, Virginia Democrats faced a difficult choice about the future of the party. Would they nominate a forceful,…

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‘Assault on democracy’: A sitting federal judge takes on John Roberts, Trump and Republicans

‘Assault on democracy’: A sitting federal judge takes on John Roberts, Trump and Republicans

The Washington Post reports: Lynn S. Adelman, a U.S. district judge in Milwaukee, has riled conservatives by publishing a blistering critique of the Supreme Court’s record under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., focusing on a string of decisions that he argues have fostered “economic inequality,” “undermined democracy” and “increased the political power of corporations and wealthy individuals” at the expense of ordinary Americans. Adelman also criticized President Trump, who he wrote ran as a populist but failed to deliver…

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It’s now or never for the U.S. to prevent coronavirus spreading out of control

It’s now or never for the U.S. to prevent coronavirus spreading out of control

Tom Bossert, Donald Trump’s former homeland security adviser, writes: School closures, isolation of the sick, home quarantines of those who have come into contact with the sick, social distancing, telework and large-gathering cancellations must be implemented before the spread of the disease in any community reaches 1 percent. After that, science tells us, these interventions become far less effective. Simply put, as evidence of human-to-human transmission becomes clear in a community, officials must pull the trigger on aggressive interventions. Time…

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Social distancing is the only way to stop the coronavirus

Social distancing is the only way to stop the coronavirus

Yascha Mounk writes: We don’t yet know the full ramifications of the novel coronavirus. But three crucial facts have become clear in the first months of this extraordinary global event. And what they add up to is not an invocation to stay calm, as so many politicians around the globe are incessantly suggesting; it is, on the contrary, the case for changing our behavior in radical ways—right now. The first fact is that, at least in the initial stages, documented…

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Epic failure: The U.S. is woefully behind other countries on coronavirus tests per capita

Epic failure: The U.S. is woefully behind other countries on coronavirus tests per capita

Business Insider reports: As of Sunday, 1,707 Americans had been tested for the novel coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. South Korea, by contrast, has tested more than 189,000 people. The two countries announced their first coronavirus cases on the same day. In the US, test-kit shortages have hampered health authorities’ ability to get a clear sense of how many Americans are infected. Compared with many other countries affected by the coronavirus, in fact, the US…

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Trump administration stalls release of intel report warning the U.S. still isn’t ready for a pandemic

Trump administration stalls release of intel report warning the U.S. still isn’t ready for a pandemic

Time magazine reports: An annual intelligence report that has been postponed without explanation by President Donald Trump’s administration warns that the U.S. remains unprepared for a global pandemic, two senior government officials who have reviewed a draft of the report tell TIME. The office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was scheduled to deliver the Worldwide Threat Assessment to the House Intelligence Committee on Feb. 12 and the hearing has not been rescheduled, according to staffers and members of…

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The unique incompetence of Donald Trump in a crisis

The unique incompetence of Donald Trump in a crisis

Daniel W. Drezner writes: I needed to do two kinds of research when writing “Theories of International Politics and Zombies.” The first was mastering the zombie genre. The second was reading the social science literature on the politics of disasters and pandemics, because those kind of events most closely mirrored what a zombie apocalypse would look like. The conclusion I drew from that research, which I noted during the 2014 Ebola outbreak as well, was that conflicting trends would dominate…

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Trump, germophobe-in-chief, is privately terrified about getting the virus

Trump, germophobe-in-chief, is privately terrified about getting the virus

Gabriel Sherman writes: Trump’s press conference on Friday at the CDC was a Trumpian classic, heavy on braggadocio and almost entirely lacking a sense of the seriousness of the crisis. “I like this stuff. I really get it,” Trump told reporters, his face partly hidden under a red “Keep America Great” hat. “People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors say, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe…

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China’s excessive coronavirus public monitoring could be here to stay

China’s excessive coronavirus public monitoring could be here to stay

The Guardian reports: Over the last two months, Chinese citizens have had to adjust to a new level of government intrusion. Getting into one’s apartment compound or workplace requires scanning a QR code, writing down one’s name and ID number, temperature and recent travel history. Telecom operators track people’s movements while social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo have hotlines for people to report others who may be sick. Some cities are offering people rewards for informing on sick neighbours….

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At nursing home 13 residents died, 70 employees got sick, as others waited for virus test; Trump’s mismanagement helped fuel coronavirus crisis

At nursing home 13 residents died, 70 employees got sick, as others waited for virus test; Trump’s mismanagement helped fuel coronavirus crisis

The New York Times reports: A week after a deadly coronavirus outbreak was reported inside a nursing home in the Seattle suburbs, officials from the long term care center said on Saturday that 70 staff members were out sick with symptoms resembling coronavirus and six residents were also ill. A federal strike team of nurses and doctors arrived Saturday to support the staff at the long-term nursing home, Life Care Center of Kirkland, Wash., where officials have announced the deaths…

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Trump’s immigration policies may put people at risk of coronavirus

Trump’s immigration policies may put people at risk of coronavirus

The Guardian reports: Since 2017, Donald Trump has pushed a hardline immigration agenda that has sown confusion, fear and distrust among immigrant communities. Now, as the world deals with a public health emergency in the shape of the coronavirus outbreak, experts worry his immigration policies may put everyone at risk. There is a widespread fear that the president’s policies have sown such fear of deportation and wariness of any contact with US authorities among immigrants – who also have greater…

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Rainbow Coalition comes full circle as Jesse Jackson endorses Bernie Sanders

Rainbow Coalition comes full circle as Jesse Jackson endorses Bernie Sanders

Ryan Grim writes: Michigan holds a special place in the memory of Jesse Jackson and the supporters of his insurgent 1988 presidential campaign. It was Jackson’s Nevada, the moment that the party establishment realized this campaign it had long written off might just seize the nomination. At a rally in Michigan on Sunday, Jackson will endorse Sanders ahead of a do-or-die primary for the Vermont senator. The Michigan contest in 1988 fell on March 27. After more than three dozen…

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The world is experiencing a new form of autocracy

The world is experiencing a new form of autocracy

Tim Horley, Anne Meng, and Mila Versteeg write: In March 2018, Donald Trump, addressing a crowd of donors at his Florida estate, told what sounded like a joke. He was talking about the recent amendment of China’s constitution to remove presidential term limits, allowing Xi Jinping to serve in that office indefinitely. About Xi, Trump said: “He’s now president for life, president for life. And he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe…

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How the Trump administration squandered time instead of confronting the coronavirus crisis

How the Trump administration squandered time instead of confronting the coronavirus crisis

The Washington Post reports: This portrait of the precious weeks that President Trump and his administration frittered away in trying to deal with the coronavirus is the result of interviews with 16 current and former administration officials, state health officials and outside experts, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share candid assessments. Public health experts and officials faced a deluge of challenges, almost from the beginning. First there were the problems with the initial coronavirus test…

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‘I didn’t know people died from the flu,’ said Trump, apparently ignorant of his own family history

‘I didn’t know people died from the flu,’ said Trump, apparently ignorant of his own family history

The Washington Post reports: In Atlanta on Friday, President Trump talked about the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in other countries vs. the United States. He also compared coronavirus disease with influenza. “Over the last long period of time, you have an average of 36,000 people dying” a year, the president said, gesturing toward National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony S. Fauci, who nodded confirmation. Trump continued: “I never heard those numbers. I would’ve…

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