COVID-19 news: Cases spike in Midwest and South; meat processing counties see large increases

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to work toward his apparent future ambition: A chapter in future history books identifying him as one of the worst senators to ever hold the position. McConnell appeared on the Team Trump Livestream to insist to Donald Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump that "the Obama administration did not leave to this administration, any kind of game plan for something like this" pandemic.

That is a blatant lie. There is no disputing it: The Obama administration quite literally created a playbook for dealing with a pandemic like this. They also created a national security team devoted to preparing for a pandemic like this, installed an "early warning" system for tracking emerging pandemics like this, and held a transition training exercise to help prepare the incoming Trump team for a pandemic like this.

That said, McConnell's lie serves to drive home one truth of our current situation. Even Republican leaders recognize that we would have been much, much better off if the last Democratic president was still in charge of things.

There have now been over 82,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States. In today's pandemic news:

• COVID-19 cases are now spiking in the Midwest and in the South, as cities including Nashville and Des Moines saw a more than 70% increase in week-to-week infection rates.

• In the week after Trump's executive order demanding meat processing plants remain open, COVID-19 infections have increased 40% in the counties holding major plants.

• U.S. Latinos continue to be infected at a disproportionately higher rate than white Americans.

• House Democrats today unveiled their next planned pandemic relief bill, this one targeting state and local funding, rent and mortgage assistance, further cash payments, Post Office funding, and other urgent needs.

• Republican governors who have taken aggressive action to combat the pandemic are enjoying overwhelming public support, while those who have not are facing collapsing approval ratings. One interpretation: Despite the presence of Fox News, not killing people remains a popular political position.

• Trump groused about those high approval ratings for most state governors, claiming they "could have no way gotten those numbers, or had that success, without me." (Trump has been in a particularly foul mood since the weekend.)

• Case in point: Yesterday's Trump press conference, the first in some time, was notable for a two-podium setup in which all other speakers were distanced from Trump's own position and for Trump leaving abruptly when he didn't like the questions posed by two female reporters.

• Older Americans are increasingly souring on Trump, with Trump's favorability rating among Americans aged 75+ falling by a whopping 20% in one month. One interpretation: Despite watching Fox News, older Americans remain particularly unconvinced by Republican arguments suggesting they, personally, be killed in service to a faster economic reopening.

• Dr. Anthony Fauci told a New York Times reporter that his major message to the Senate today would be "the danger of trying to open the country prematurely."

• Fox News hosts continue to press for businesses to reopen, demanding their viewers "put freedom before fear" and establish "herd immunity" to the virus. They will continue to make those demands from their own home studios: Fox News' chief operating officer sent employees a letter extending the closure of Fox's own studios until at least mid-June.

• Anti-lockdown protestors continue to enjoy little public support, with a strong majority of Americans indicating they support stay-at-home order.

• There are few industries as "essential" as growing and harvesting food, and a strong majority of Californians support pandemic protections for farmworkers regardless of their immigration status.

• Another Trump administration pandemic effort is ending: "Project Airbridge," providing federally funded flights allowing private companies to transport emergency medical supplies from other nations for sale at market rates, is shuttering despite ongoing shortages. The Jared Kushner-run program's actual results remain mostly secret.

• It is looking increasingly likely that the Democratic National Convention will be significantly pared back due to the pandemic, possibly with delegates themselves being allowed to cast their votes remotely.

• A Texas salon owner who became a right-wing celebrity after defying shelter-in-place orders was revealed to have applied for and received $18,000 in Paycheck Protection Program funds.

• The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported that accidental poisonings because of bleach or similar household cleaners have nearly doubled since Trump's televised comments suggesting the injection of "disinfectant" as a possible cure for the virus.

• Americans are likely to find themselves on the other end of international "travel bans." As other nations begin to successfully tamp down on new infections and reopen, United States citizens are likely to be kept out due to this nation's still-expanding infection rate.

from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/2WUvDyo