Health secretary says "window is closing" to get coronavirus under control

[brooklynite]

Source: Axios

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar warned on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the "window is closing" for the U.S. to take action and get the coronavirus under control, calling the current state of the outbreak a "very, very serious situation."

Why it matters: Azar's rhetoric stands in stark contrast to that of President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who claimed at a press briefing on Friday that the U.S. has "flattened the curve" and that much of the surge in new cases is attributable to an increase in testing.

Throughout the pandemic, health officials on the White House coronavirus task force have sounded the alarm about the seriousness of the crisis while political figures like Trump have sought to paint a rosier picture.

The reality is that the U.S. today is getting closer to the worst-case scenario envisioned in the spring — a nationwide crisis, made worse by a vacuum of political leadership, threatening to overwhelm hospitals and spread out of control.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/alex-azar-hhs-coronavirus-control-dd6c3540-d6a8-4405-a32a-bec741c74ada.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100

[ashredux]

1. He will be "correcting" that statement before the day is out....Wanna bet?

[groundloop]

23. Either that or he's FORMER Human Services Secretary Alex Azar

[Botany]

2. Anybody want to get that barn door?

[marie999]

10. That isn't a brown post behind that horse is it? n/t

[jcgoldie]

18. The fucking horse has been sighted 2 counties over...

Quick close the door!

[beachbumbob]

3. lol, we miss that chance back in February

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Republican Senate refused to remove Trump and now we're in this mess

Three and a half years seems like 12 years of dictatorship. Already.

[progree]

5. Daily new U.S. cases, 7 day moving average: +77% in last 2 1/2 weeks

Looks like June 9-11 was the recent bottom of daily new cases, 21,300;

June 27: 37,600

+77%, (7 day moving averages).

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

Deaths continue to decline. (New cases are more and more skewing younger people so death rate is going down. And lag the increase in cases by more than 2 weeks -- 2 weeks ago was around the bottom of new cases).

[Lonestarblue]

7. And older people are forced to hide out at hime because of younger people.

I know that younger people do not risk death as much as those of us in vulnerable age groups or with existing health issues, but I heartily resent the younger people who refuse to take the virus seriously because it has less impact on them and refuse to follow any safety precautions because they seem to think their rights come with no responsibilities or consideration for other people. Republicans especially see this as just so much hype, and they don’t bother learning how their actions hurt others. This group of Republicans are the most selfish human beings I can imagine.

[NickB79]

15. Older people can't hide forever

The more younger people get infected, the greater the odds the vulnerable will get it even with limited contacts.

The death rate may lag this time longer than it did in the spring, but once you start seeing 50,000 new cases a day there's nowhere to hide.

[louzke9]

19. Young People Do Risk Death!

And they ARE dying! No person is invulnerable from contracting COVID19 if precautions are not taken. Sooner or later' if you are careless, you will contract it. For young people who contract the virus, they may not experience any symptoms or milder symptoms! Still young people fall ill enough to need hospitalization. Those who survive hospitalization/recover still face the prospect of getting COVID again. The virus attacks our organs and blood, causing permanent damages. It increases the risk of death anytime time later in life if a person catches a flu. And organ damage SHORTENS our life spans. So young people need to change their attitudes!

[HockeyMom]

35. Not all of we older people have been

Who do you think has been babysitting, if they live nearby, their grandkids when parents HAVE to go to work? Besides health care workers, whats about supermarket clerks, plumbers, electricians, and blue collar workers in general. Work from HOME?

My 71 year old husband with 2 heart attacks, Code Blue 4 times, Parkinson's, has continued to go out' shopping, visiting his elderly friends, driving around with them. We have visited our kids and grandkids across state lines, and they to us. We do not stay at home and have groceries delivered to us. I go myself to multiple stores a couple of times a week.

Husband and I have gone to indoor restaurants since they re-opened in PA. We went today to get our hair cut first time since March. Going to a July 4th BBQ at friend's (65) home.

Please do not attempt to tell us because of our age that we MUST stay home. I would call that Age Discrimination.

Edit: We live in PA with a Democratic Governor (same as California) who has just about re-opened the entire state although in 3 stages. Even NY where our kids live is doing the same. Stay in total lockdown until a vaccine is approved? Next problem. Mandate and manufacture 300M doses for the entire population?

[SergeStorms]

36. I live in New York as well...

and from what I've observed since we went to Stage 4 re-opening is........we're screwed. People are acting like there never was a corona virus, and many (again, mostly young people) are not using any sort of protection or social distancing at all. The virus doesn't care, it's just biding it's time, waiting for people to let down their guard and then it'll attack like it did the first time. And people will say, "Oh no, how did that happen? I took precautions for a little while". Our entire society is geared toward instant gratification, with few restraints, if any, on their actions. I believe the United States is doomed, just because of who and what we are. Other countries will survive and flourish because they still have a sense of cooperation and community. The United States has lost that. We're so fractured there's little hope of cooperating for the better good ever again.

[Tommymac]

37. Gov Wolfe has announced Bars can no longer serve Alchohol.

Only food and to-go beverages.

Things are getting bad. You can take YOUR chances - but not me. I am not going to spread it or catch it if I can help it. Going out and pretending eveything is ok is jumping the shark.

[HockeyMom]

38. Since when?

Right now husband is at our local VFW bar. The majority of member only Vets are 55+.

[Tommymac]

39. My Bad...It is only Allegheny County.

Misheard the news. Apologies.

[greymattermom]

6. So does it make sense to quarantine everyone with risk factors?

If that's all we have left until a treatment is found? Herd immunity among the young and improvements in treatment may be the only hope now.

[Igel]

14. Makes better sense than quaranting everybody without risk factors. n/t

[totodeinhere]

21. No, everybody should be quarantined. People who don't have risk factors can

expose others who do. We need to go to a complete European style shutdown.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Think About That, Again

I don't disagree on the importance of taking serious precautions, but...
You say quarantine everyone as a reply to quarantining people at higher risk. You say that others could infect them.
If those people are quarantined, how would they be exposed? They're in quarantine!

[NickB79]

25. The senior living facility industry employs almost a million Americans entering and leaving daily

https://seniorhousingnews.com/2018/05/14/breaking-todays-senior-living-workforce-numbers/

Today’s senior living workforce is relatively young—28% of workers are younger than 30, and 37% are between the ages of 30 and 49, the report says.

That's how they're exposed. It's literally impossible to enact a real quarantine.

And that's just those at high risk due to age, not other factors.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. You're Not Thinking This Through

You(!) said quarantine EVERYONE!
Are the care workers exempt? Of course.
So, EVERYONE can't quarantine.
You're refuting your own point.

[totodeinhere]

28. I have already thought about it. Without everybody on quarantine, community spread will continue

and it will not be possible to get the virus under control. Yes, hopefully at risk people will be safe if they stay home but unless everybody follows precautions community spread will continue. Countries that have been more successful at controlling the virus such as New Zealand and Taiwan did so by putting everybody under quarantine, not just high risk individuals.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. I Don't Think You Have

I'm out.
You tripled down on self-contradiction.

[RobinA]

27. I'd Like To See

a quarantine that makes sense. You can’t visit your dying relative? Grandma is stuck in her room alone for five months and counting? There’s got to be a better way. And no, Zoom doesn’t cut it!

[totodeinhere]

29. Yes of course you want to visit grandma. But if that visit cannot be safe would you really

want to risk it and risk spreading it to others?

[Chainfire]

8. Well, he must be right

Florida only shows 8,500 new cases today. Now that folks is WINNING!

[louzke9]

9. Its a Not So Secret Message....

To state governors.....Better take measures to stop this, because the FOOLS in the WHITE HOUSE won't listen, let alone DO ANYTHING!

[Igel]

16. In May we had this discussion.

Trump said he'd reopen the country.

With one, rarely united voice, the governors (and pundits, etc., etc.) said that Trump did not have the legal authority to do this.

What's now not a secret message was what they themselves were yelling over a month ago. I'm sure they heard what they were saying.

But I still think what I thought in March: You do what you need to do when you need to do it, you don't impose restrictions to prevent something that isn't predicted and unlikely to happen. People in NYC wanted to close the country when NYC was hit hard. Now we have NYC saying that while they should be cautious, why should they let what's happening in the SW affect their plans? Get the asymmetry?

Meanwhile, I've read today that while the number of dead due to COVID in the US is surging as a result of the reopening, the number of dead due to COVID in the US continues to decline. And that, my friend, is the level of reporting that we have come to demand and that the purveyors of ruth have consented to provide.

[hatrack]

11. Says the guy who still has this job, for some unknown reason ...

[Major Nikon]

12. This is going to be the nail in Trump's coffin

It's one thing to finger fuck twitter during the whole week of February doing nothing about the disease. It's quite another for toad dick to take direct action to reopen the country and drive the US into a state of complete chaos and death.

[marie999]

13. That is why, as little as I do know about CVovid-19,

I am afraid the death total in the US for 2020 will be over 1,300,000 for Covid-19 and flu.

[iluvtennis]

17. If the window is closing, where is HHS's plan for corralling the outbreak? Azar's comments are

meaningless as he has become a trump kiss ass.

[Evolve Dammit]

20. Due to the total abdication of any duty by the Admin., that ship done sailed. Totally inept or

criminally negligent; or a deadly blend of the two?

[Javaman]

24. If things continue as I expect, this fall/winter will be horrific nt

[Marie Marie]

31. I think that ship has sailed.

[Retrograde]

32. So what are YOU doing about it, Alex?

I would have thought the job of the Health and Human Services secretary would involve, I don't know, health issues? If you'd do your job instead of kissing Dear Leader's behind maybe, just maybe, you could have some positive influence.

[relayerbob]

33. Tomorrow, Trump will say he's a great person

Tuesday, he'll be unemployed

[IronLionZion]

34. Or a few months late on that one

[SunSeeker]

40. Why isn't Azar issuing a nationwide mask mandate? WTF