Key developments for Thursday, November 12, 2020

3 Comments on Key developments for Thursday, November 12, 2020

Prepping was recently considered an eccentric pastime. The folks at NatGeo link modern day prepping back to the Cold War. I’ve always considered it simple self-sufficiency, myself, and saw these commonsense practices as a legacy of the American expansion west from the first big cities. In any case, it’s increasingly mainstream.

Bloomberg has a rosy outlook on the post-COVID economic recovery. People are spending less and saving more, and when folks can venture out more safely, they’ll be ready to spend. I wonder if this outlook isn’t too rosy–there will certainly be a lot of growth, but we’ve got a lot of businesses that will never come back and a lot of jobless folks who may not reenter the workforce. Over 2,000,000 women have left the workforce to care for children during the pandemic, and I wonder how many will continue to chose to stay home. I think it may take quite some time to recover, but I’m no economist.

Seattle and Western Washington are facing a potentially monster storm that’s barreling across the jet stream from Asia. The barometer’s going to drop, and that low-pressure center is likely to create some serious wind. The storm system is going to cause huge waves along the coast—and it’s creating beach warnings all the way down to Southern California. Oregon might get 40’ waves.

US cities that rely on tourism and convention monies are facing massive deficits.

You think thinks are bad, now? Historian Peter Turchin argues that the next decade will be even worse.

The world has over 53 million cases.  The world has added over 4 million cases since last Thursday. Case growth is steady but high. There have been nearly 1.3 million deaths in total. The US has nearly 11 million cases. Nearly 250,000 Americans have died—over 1,100 in the last 24 hours. The US has gained over 155,000 new cases since yesterday, which is record-breaking. The US still leads the world in case growth.

The Dakotas are suffering right now:

Nurses sick with COVID may be asked to work anyway, but a mask mandate? Naw…:

Some vaccines (like Pfizer’s and Moderna’s) are going to need extreme cold storage. Many small/rural health clinics won’t be able to store them properly. The Pfizer vaccine will be shipped in cryo-packaging and will have GPS tracking. This will help if the vaccine is doled out immediately on arrival, but it’s still going to be a problem:

Ticketmaster wants to see your COVID papers before you get into a concert…

Moderna’s plugging along with its vaccine trial and hopes to have data on effectiveness soon.

Hospitalizations are really rising. It’s going to get ugly rather immediately, and I expect calls for another round of lockdowns soon:

The lines for COVID testing in Los Angeles County are signposts for incoming trouble:

People are dying after hospitalization with COVID, and it’s revealing a higher mortality rate than previously assumed:

The country’s found a way to unite! Oh, wait:

Doctors without Borders is coming to the US because COVID is now a humanitarian crisis here:

Stephanie Arnold | cosmicpixle

Stephanie Arnold is an advanced practice psychiatric nurse and a doctoral candidate in UA Tuscaloosa’s DNP program. Stephanie moonlights from time to time at UCLA teaching mental health nursing. She also likes making cold-process soap.

  • 3 Comments
    • TraceContributor November 13, 2020

      “Doctors without Borders is coming to the US . . .” Wow, just wow.

      11 |
    • woodrow November 14, 2020

      I don’t think it’s ever too late to ramp up and get ahead of the curve. Priority needs to be given to self-testing schemes that have a low false-negative profile, something folks can pick up in the local store or pharmacy and use at home. Without that, all testing becomes either passively (long lines) or actively (mandating tests to be a clinical decision) rationed. That’s been a huge problem all along. A country this big, can’t get by on a highly managed or controlled testing strategy. Self-service is the way to go. 

      8 |