April 20, 2020

White House Tells Federal Workers to Prepare to Return to Office

Source: Bloomberg

The White House ordered federal agencies on Monday to begin preparing to return workers to offices, telling them to align their coronavirus reopening plans with those of the states and municipalities where they’re located.

“In partnership with state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and the private sector, the federal government is actively planning to ramp back up government operations to the maximum extent possible, as local conditions warrant,” Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought wrote in a memo distributed to the heads of federal departments and agencies.

Agencies are encouraged to allow federal employees and contractors to return to the office in low-risk areas,” Vought wrote in the memo.

But the memo said to allow employees to work from home until state and local authorities begin reopening their economies under the three-phase plan the White House outlined last week.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-20/white-house-tells-federal-workers-to-prepare-to-return-to-office

April 20, 2020

Gov. Lee to allow 'Safer-at-Home' to expire April 30 (Tenn)

Source: WTVF-TV

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Governor Bill Lee will allow the state's "Safer-at-Home" order to expire on April 30 with the most businesses in 89 counties allowed to re-open on May 1.

“Our Economic Recovery Group is working with industry leaders around the clock so that some businesses can open as soon as Monday, April 27,” said Gov. Lee in a press release. “These businesses will open according to specific guidance that we will provide in accordance with state and national experts in both medicine and business.”
Gov. Lee emphasized that even though businesses will be reopening, it's important for social distancing guidelines to remain in place.

Read more: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/gov-lee-to-allow-safert-at-home-to-expire-april-30

April 20, 2020

BREAKING: Tennessee will lift lock-down rules on May 1.

https://twitter.com/NC5/status/1252325165188485126

April 20, 2020

To defeat the Republican, you must become the Republican...

I don't mean becoming a racist, sexist, xenophobic bible-thumper; I mean applying cold-hearted, emotionless decision-making as to which candidates you'll support financially. Think about the Koch Brothers. Did they target Bernies Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in past elections? No, they targeted vulnerable Democrats like Heidi Heitkamp and Claire McCaskill in Republican-friendly States. They didn't focus on people they hated; they focus on people they could defeat.

As we look forward to the 2020 Senate races, we must apply the same dispassionate logic. Don't focus on Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham: defeating them would be emotionally satisfying but the odds are still incredibly long (yes McGrath and Harrison outraged them in the 1st Quarter of 2020, but they still have WAY more money and political support in place). Instead, focus on the vulnerable Republicans: McSally, Gardner, Collins, Tillis. THEN, if you still have financial resources, look at the second tier pickup opportunities: Loeffler, Ernst and Kobach. Don't play the long shots.

April 20, 2020

Will the Pandemic Keep Third Parties Off the 2020 Ballot?

Politico

The pandemic may have robbed Donald Trump of a growing economy. It may have trapped Joe Biden in his basement. But it may yet do something even worse to the Libertarian and Green party nominees: Keep them off the ballot in many of this year’s key states.

In 2016, the Libertarian Party was on the general election ballot in all 50 states; this year, it has secured ballot access in just 35. Similarly, the Green Party—which in 2016 had its best election ever by making the ballot in 44 states, with a further three states granting the party’s candidate official write-in status—has qualified for the November ballot in only 22 states.

Several of the elusive ballot lines are in states that in 2016 were either narrowly won or flipped from red-to-blue. At present, neither the Libertarian Party nor the Green Party has qualified for the ballot in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Iowa or Minnesota. Additionally, the Green Party has not secured a place on the ballot in Arizona, Georgia or Nevada, and the Libertarian Party is missing from Maine.

To get on the ballot in the remaining states, they need to collect and submit petition signatures. And in a normal year, they would be on track to do just that. But because of the deadly coronavirus—and the social distancing and stay-at-home orders to minimize its spread—after March 6, “petitioning was over in the United States,” as Libertarian Party executive director Daniel Fishman told me.

April 20, 2020

Bernie raising money for...PART of "The Squad"

https://twitter.com/LevineJonathan/status/1252049130588962824

April 19, 2020

Don't bet on vaccine to protect us from Covid-19, says world health expert

Source: The Guardian

Humanity will have to live with the threat of coronavirus “for the foreseeable future” and adapt accordingly because there is no guarantee that a vaccine can be successfully developed, one of the world’s leading experts on the disease has warned.

The stark message was delivered by David Nabarro, professor of global health at Imperial College, London, and an envoy for the World Health Organisation on Covid-19, as the number of UK hospital deaths from the virus passed 15,000.

A further 888 people were reported on Saturday to have lost their lives – a figure described by communities secretary Robert Jenrick as “extremely sobering” – while the total number who have been infected increased by 5,525 to 114,217.

The latest figures, which do not include deaths in care homes and in the community, put further pressure on the government amid continuing anger among NHS workers and unions over the lack personal protective equipment (PPE) for hospital and care home staff on the front line.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/dont-bet-on-vaccine-to-protect-us-from-covid-19-says-world-health-expert

April 19, 2020

Within a 5 minute walk of my home are...

A FEMA ambulance staffing area and (separately) a morgue truck. Have a nice weekend.

April 18, 2020

A lovely day at the beach.....

https://twitter.com/AdamCC75/status/1251452914738106369

April 18, 2020

Recovered coronavirus patients are testing positive again. Can you get reinfected?

Source: CNN

In South Korea, health officials are trying to solve a mystery: why 163 people who recovered from coronavirus have retested positive, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The same has been recorded in China, where some coronavirus patients tested positive after seeming to recover, although there are no official figures.

That raises the question: can you get reinfected with coronavirus?

In South Korea, the proportion of cases that retest positive is low -- of the 7,829 people who have recovered from coronavirus there, 2.1% retested positive, the KCDC said Friday. It is not clear how many of the people who have recovered have been tested again.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/health/south-korea-coronavirus-retesting-positive-intl-hnk/index.html