Europe Is Closing Up Again, While Trump Under-Boss Mobster William Barr Compares Quarantines To Slavery

 

Magical Mystery Cure by Chip Proser

I can remember back in mid-March thinking how horrible the pandemic was for Italy and being certain would never been that bad for us over here. (That Trump is in charge must have slipped my mind.) Yesterday Italy reported 1,585 new cases of COVID, bringing the country's total to 293,025 (4,848 cases per million residents). 4,848 cases per million residents is, at least relative to the U.S. pandemic, a very small number. Italy, in fact, is better off than every American state other than Maine (3,691 cases per million residents) and Vermont (2,732 cases per million residents). You want to see tragedy? Look at these ghastly numbers from the dozen worst-hit states in the U.S., which helps explain why Americans are banned from virtually every country on earth:

• Louisiana- 34,268 cases per million residents
• Florida- 31,403 cases per million residents
• Mississippi- 30,891 cases per million residents
• Arizona- 29,079 cases per million residents
• Alabama- 28,911 cases per million residents
• Georgia- 28,167 cases per million residents
• South Carolina- 26,050 cases per million residents
• Tennessee- 26,085 cases per million residents
• New York- 24,709 cases per million residents
• Texas- 24,460 cases per million residents
• Iowa- 24,425 cases per million residents
• Nevada- 24,218 cases per million residents

The U.S. average is 20,706. Italy is in another-- more habitable-- universe entirely. Except... It looks like Europe's second wave has begun, not just in Italy, but all across Europe. CNN reported that the World Health Organization warned that coronavirus cases are surging alarmingly in Europe, as a 'very serious situation' unfolds across the continent. As Covid-19 infections spike to record numbers, European governments are imposing strict local measures and weighing up further lockdowns in a bid to halt a second wave of the pandemic. But WHO regional director Hans Kluge said at a Thursday news conference that the increase in cases should serve as a warning of what is to come. 'Weekly cases have now exceeded those reported when the pandemic first peaked in Europe in March,' Kluge said. 'Last week, the region's weekly tally exceeded 300,000 patients.' More than half of European nations have reported an increase of more than 10% in new cases in the past two weeks, Kluge added. 'Of those, seven countries have seen newly reported cases increase more than two-fold in the same period,' he said."

There are now full blown emergencies unfolding across the continent. These were the reported new cases on Tuesday ---> Wednesday and ---> yesterday (along with cases per million residents):

• Spain +9,437 ---> +11,193 ---> +11,291 (13,380 cases per million residents)
• Belgium +851 ---> +489 ---> +1,153 (8,271 cases per million residents)
• Russia +5,529 ---> +5,670 ---> +5,762 (7,436 cases per million residents)
• France +7,852 ---> +9,784 ---> +10,593 (6,362 cases per million residents)
• Romania +1,111 ---> +1,713 ---> +1,679 (5,658 cases per million residents)
• U.K. +3,105 ---> +3,991 ---> +3,395 (5,615 cases per million residents)
• Netherlands +1,379 ---> +1,542 ---> +1,753 (5,138 cases per million residents)
• Italy +1,229 ---> +1,450 ---> 1,585 (4,848 cases per million residents)
• Ukraine +2,905 ---> +2,958 ---> +3,584 (3,806 cases per million residents)
• Czechia +1,674 ---> +2,136 ---> _1,707 (3,989 cases per million residents)
• Germany +1,623 ---> +2,021 ---> +1,393 (3,200 cases per million residents)

Kluge told CNN that "In the spring and early summer we were able to see the impact of strict lockdown measures. Our efforts, our sacrifices, paid off. In June cases hit an all-time low. The September case numbers, however, should serve as a wake-up call for all of us. Although these numbers reflect more comprehensive testing, it also shows alarming rates of transmission across the region. This pandemic has taken so much from us... And this tells only part of the story. The impact on our mental health, economies, livelihoods and society has been monumental."

While there was an increase in cases in older age groups, those aged 50 to 79, in the first week of September, Kluge said, the biggest proportion of new cases is still among 25- to 49-year-olds.

Countries across the continent have been easing lockdowns and reopening their economies, but governments are now scrambling to avert further outbreaks.

In France, Covid-19 hospitalizations have risen in recent days in large cities such as Paris, Bordeaux and Marseille.

Earlier this year, the first coronavirus wave spiked fast in France, but it was cut short by a strict nationwide lockdown. In total more than 31,000 people died there from the disease, out of more than 443,000 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

Now, the number of new infections is rising fast. A record was set over the weekend with more than 10,000 new cases in a single day. The number of clusters has been rising steadily and, most worryingly, nationwide, the number of people in intensive care has risen 25% in the past week.

Cases in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy have also increased.

New restrictions were imposed across England this week barring people from meeting socially in groups of more than six, of all ages, indoors or outdoors. Scotland and Wales have also tightened their social distancing rules.

From Friday, even stricter measures will apply in the northeast of England amid a "concerning rise" in Covid-19 infection rates there, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced in Parliament on Thursday.

The measures include a ban on socializing outside households or "support bubbles" and a mandated closing time of 10 p.m. for all bars, pubs, restaurants and leisure centers. They will apply to seven areas-- including the cities of Newcastle, Sunderland and Durham-- and will affect more than 1.5 million people.

Hancock stressed the need to take "immediate action" against the virus with winter approaching.

At least 41,773 people have died with coronavirus in the UK, according to JHU, the highest toll in Europe and fifth-largest number of any country in the world.

The UK government has come under pressure over recent failings in its coronavirus testing system, with some people-- including health care workers-- experiencing difficulty in accessing tests or being directed to testing sites far from home.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended Britain's coronavirus testing record Wednesday, saying it compared favorably to other European countries and that recent problems were due to a "colossal spike" in demand.

Authorities in the Spanish capital of Madrid are to announce new coronavirus restrictions on Friday as the country also responds to an uptick in the number of cases.

Spain has now recorded more than 30,000 deaths since the start of the outbreak, with more than 600,000 total cases.

Madrid accounts for approximately a third of all new cases, according to data from the country's health ministry.

The president of Madrid's regional government, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has suggested that migrant populations are partly to blame.

"(The outbreaks are partly) due to the way of life of Madrid's immigrants and the population density of these districts," she said Tuesday. "It is a way of life in Madrid."

Meanwhile, German authorities have imposed new restrictions and ordered more testing in a popular Bavarian ski resort after a coronavirus outbreak that has been linked to a US citizen working at a lodge operated by the US Army.

The state prosecution service in Munich said it had launched an investigation into the American who may have caused the surge in cases.

New regulations imposed in the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen over the weekend mean local bars will now close at 10 p.m. Parties are limited to 100 people-- down from 200-- and groups eating indoors are capped at five, down from twice that.

In America... it's all denialism from the nation's leaders-- pretending. Trump and the Trumpist governors first and foremost. Oh... and the goons I hope to see at Nuremberg-like trials one day, like his consiglieri William Barr. He likened the effort to protect the country from a pandemic he doesn't understand to slavery. Watch the idiot:





New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio thought again about opening up his city's schools. He was smart to do so, while most "leaders" are trying to shove decisions like that off on anyone they can. The NY Times' Eliza Shapiro reported that he acknowledged that "the system had still not fully surmounted the many obstacles that it faced in bringing children back during the pandemic." Shapiro is too dull-witted to understand that DeBlasio was doing the right thing and the courageous thing and she slanted her entire piece to disparage him. What a piece of crap this one is! Most of her writing made me want to vomit. It could have been written by anyone from inside the Trump Regime.

She did note, however that "The mayor said that he decided to delay the start of the school year and opt instead for a phased-in reopening after a three-hour conversation at City Hall on Wednesday with the leaders of the unions representing the city’s principals and teachers, along with senior mayoral aides. Those union leaders have been explicitly warning for weeks that schools were not ready to reopen for myriad reasons, from poor ventilation in some aging buildings to a severe staffing crunch that the principals’ union estimated could leave the city needing as many as 10,000 educators. A Thursday report from the city’s Independent Budget Office put that number closer to 12,000. Some principals have said in recent days that they lacked dozens of teachers for their schools. Mr. de Blasio said that the teacher shortage was his main reason for again delaying in-person classes. But he did not explain why he waited until just before the start of the school year to acknowledge the seriousness of the staffing issue, even though union leaders and his own aides have been raising alarms about it for weeks... No large district in the country has yet attempted to reopen schools on a hybrid basis, and New York’s challenges may discourage other systems from trying a similar approach. The nation’s other large school systems decided earlier in the summer to start their school years remote-only, but none have a virus transmission rate as low as New York’s." I hope the school's in L.A. get a clue. God knows they have no leadership worth calling a leader. And the teachers' unions' officials in California need to grow some balls or step aside for younger members.