Pandemic Politics … Pandemic Pause … How To Spend $881 Billion In A Month … What NOT To Do With Disinfectants … Hydroxychloroquine: So Last Week … #FloridaMorons … Five Surprising Things About Coronavirus … From Toss-up to Pinkie On The Scale … Alicia Keys: A Song For Our Time … and other news of the week.
From my quarantine state of mind,
JR
Joyce Rubenstein
Capstone National Partners
P.S. 194 Days Till Election Day (Nov 3, 2020)
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More Relief
The House voted 388-5 in favor of a $484 billion interim coronavirus relief bill that will add another $310 billion for the small business Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), plus billions in aid to hospitals and for testing.”
Jobs
U.S. Jobless Rate Seen at 14% in Second Quarter
Normal Now Looks Too Risky
The U.S. death toll is soaring, but experts have called the number of reported covid-19-related fatalities an underestimation. While the number of deaths each day has decreased slightly in New York, it is beginning to surge in many other states.
Remote Access
How To Spend $881 Billion In A Month
1. Fed Liquidity: About 20% of the stimulus, or $454 billion, was given to Mnuchin to use as a backstop for Federal Reserve lending facilities. The central bank can leverage that into more than $4 trillion to help stabilize financial markets through loans aimed at companies and local governments. So far, the Treasury has committed $215 billion from its Exchange Stabilization Fund to nine different Fed facilities. The central bank has said it will post details about who is tapping its facilities on its website.
2. Airlines: So far, [nearly a dozen] airlines have claimed $21.6 billion of the total $50 billion in aid available. Payments are being handed out on a “rolling basis,” according to the Treasury Department. Several airlines have announced that they may ask for more loans but have until the end of September to decide what they will actually take.
What Not To Do With Disinfectants
Hydroxychloroquine Hype
Covid-19 Tracking System?
Five Surprising Facts About the Novel Coronavirus
(3) SARS had its own once-promising drug combo, reminiscent of hydroxychloroquinetoday. When SARS was raging in 2003, Hong Kong hospitals were attempting robust treatments, putting patients on a combination of steroids and ribavirin, an antiviral drug, and the early results seemed promising. U.S. hospitals, by contrast, were taking a more conservative approach, limiting their interventions to things like providing oxygen. Today, however, we know that less was more. The Hong Kong treatment [resulted in] long-term harm to the survivors, in the form of memory loss and bone necrosis. Such tragedies come to mind as the drug [Trump had been hawking] hydroxychloroquine loses its shine as a tonic for COVID-19. Simple remedies are possible, of course. Citrus fruit took care of scurvy. But such miracle cures are as rare as bogus cures are common. … In short, times of plague breed a lot of false hopes. This is one of those times.
(5) You have to work hard to catch it outside. Coronavirus transmission is an indoor phenomenon that works in mysterious ways. Outdoor transmission, on the other hand, is a rarity. One impressive Chinese study, still in the preprint phase, examined 320 cities in China for every outbreak affecting three or more people. Not one was found to have occurred outdoors. Had the authors delved into two-person outbreaks, it still wouldn’t have changed much. Only one of out of the 7,324 cases fit the bill. In a village in Henan province, note the authors, a “27-year-old man had a conversation outdoors with an individual who had returned from Wuhan on 25 January and had the onset of symptoms on 1 February.” Even in that case, the people in question may have touched, shaken hands, or gotten very close for a long time.
That’s good news, right? If so, let us end on a high note and consider heading outside. If you can’t have a dinner party, you can at least have a walk.
Cancelled: Oktoberfest Festival
Campaign 2020: From Toss-up to Pinkie On The Scale … For Democrats
Colorado: Republican hopes that a Democratic primary in Colorado might produce a weak — or at least weakened — nominee have faded. … the fight for the Democratic nomination is over, with former Governor John Hickenlooper the inevitable nominee. Hickenlooper’s popularity as governor and strategic positioning as a moderate businessman, and private polling showing a large Hickenlooper advantage leads to only one conclusion: current Senator Cory Gardner is a heavy underdog.
Arizona: Democratic challenger Mark Kelly continues to raise unbelievable amounts of money in his bid to oust appointed Republican Sen. Martha McSally. Public polls over the last few months have also shown Kelly with a lead. … private polling confirms that McSally is an underdog now.”
Maine: BGov “Republican Susan Collins is seeing declining approval ratings, a polarizing president from her party sharing the ballot, and a well-financed, top-tier Democratic recruit combine to give the Maine Republican her most challenging re-election. The latest evidence came last week with a poll finding Collins with a 37% approval rating and first-quarter fundraising reports showing state House Speaker Sara Gideon (D) brought in $7.1 million. That was nearly $5 million more than Collins, who paused her campaign in March to focus on the government’s coronavirus response. Both public and private polls now show Collins and Gideon in a dead heat.