It's Now Clear That Many States Loosened Restrictions too Quickly-- and the White House is Trying to Bullshit Their Way Through It

Vice President Mike Pence urged state governors to adopt the administration’s claim that increased testing helps account for the new coronavirus outbreak reports, even though evidence has shown that the explanation is misleading.  On the call with the governors (audio of which was obtained by The New York Times), Pence asked them to “encourage people with the news that we’re safely reopening the country.”

In fact, seven-day averages across the nation reveal Pence's claims to be a complete delusion. In six states — Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming — the seven-day average of new cases has increased since May 31 while the average number of daily tests being conducted has declined, according to data collected by the COVID Tracking Project.   In 14 other states, the rate of new cases is increasing faster than the increase in the average number of tests.

Pence was also dismissive of the idea that community spread is a culprit, focusing instead on specific outbreak locations, like nursing homes. In fact, as cases rise, officials in several states have specifically pointed a finger at community spread.

Unfortunately, Dr. Deborah Birx also got roped into peddling Pence's fantasy- she was quoted as saying that hospitalization rates for coronavirus infections had generally been declining across the United States, though some states had seen an uptick.

However, the Washington Post has already called bullshit on that talking point-- there have been more than a dozen states recording their highest averages of new cases since the pandemic began, and hospitalizations in at least nine states have been on the rise since Memorial Day.  In Texas, North and South Carolina, California, Oregon, Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Arizona, there are an increasing number of patients under supervised care since the holiday weekend because of coronavirus infections. The spikes generally began in the past couple weeks and in most states are trending higher.

Data from states that are reporting some of their highest seven-day averages of new cases is disproving the notion that the country is seeing such a spike in cases solely because of the continued increase in testing.

Bars and restaurants that only recently reopened around the country are being forced to close their doors again, or at least suspend dining in, amid new infections.  In some cases, the closings came after employees tested positive. In others, it was the patrons who were found to be infected.

In Phoenix, where cases have been on the rise, the Porch Arcadia, which reopened May 11, announced that it was temporarily closing again because someone who had been in the restaurant had tested positive. Another restaurant, Chelsea’s Kitchen, said on Facebook that it had suspended dine-in service and moved back to curbside takeout and delivery after “a person close to the restaurant” tested positive.  In Texas, some San Antonio bars decided to shut down, among them Hills & Dales Icehouse, which cited “the recent surge of positive Covid-19 cases.”   Florida-- the poster child for the Trump approach to the pandemic is a complete basket base.

Over the past week, the Sunshine state saw a surge in new confirmed cases of COVID-19. These numbers, based on the recent history of the DeSantis-led government, are likely grossly low.  Despite the likelihood that Florida's numbers are low, the state over the weekend still reported its highest single-day number of cases since the outbreak began: 2,581.

This comes about one week after all Florida counties began a transition into phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan. Now, news outlets are reporting that newly reopened bars are having to newly re-close, as new cases of either patrons or staff testing positive for the virus have come to light.

A number of Florida bars — including in Naples, St. Petersburg and the Orlando suburbs — told customers that they were voluntarily shutting down their dining rooms because employees had tested positive. St. Petersburg’s mayor, Rick Kriseman, urged other businesses to also close if any of their workers get sick.

Kiwi's Pub & Grill in Florida's Altamonte Springs posted on their Facebook page that the bar had temporarily closed again because “We have been informed by 6 different people today that they have been infected with the Coronavirus and they have been inside Kiwi’s within the last week.” The owner of Kiwi’s posted the following day that he had spoken to someone at the Seminole County health department who said they did not believe the bar had “been tagged by any infected people,” but that they were “getting hammered with new infections all around Altamonte Springs.”

According to News 4 Jacksonville, 15 patrons of the newly reopened Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach tested positive after a post-quarantine celebration. Erika Crisp, a 40-year-old healthcare worker who tested positive after visiting Lynch said that her experience makes it clear that DeSantis and company are not being prudent when it comes to reopening the state. “We should be wearing masks. We should be social distancing. It was too soon to open everything back up.”

In Texas, Governor Abbott tried to rationalize his way out of the recent spikes in cases in Texas, saying during a teleconference yesterday: “There are certain counties where a majority of the people who are tested positive in that county are under the age of 30, and this typically results from people going to the bar type settings.”  Hmmm-- so who exactly allowed the bars to open up to begin with, Governor Abbott?

  

Here's the bottom line.  Remember the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) ?  They were the guys the White House relied on (once upon a time) for its projections on deaths from COVID-19.  It just so happens that IHME  recently updated its projections for the U.S.-- and they are now projecting that we will reach a death toll of 201,2129 by October 1, 2020.   Let's put that in perspective.   It took us from January 21 to May 28 (129 days) to get to 100,000 dead Americans in our country.  What this new forecast says is that to get to our next 100,000 dead-- it will take us LESS time (May 28 to October 1=127 days).  Not only is this deadly coronavirus situation not getting better-- it's getting worse.  So when Mike Pence says, "The truth is . . . our whole-of-America approach has been a success. We’ve slowed the spread. . . That’s a cause for celebration"-- he can take his bullshit and stick it up his ass.  How can this guy sleep at night with the blood of over 100,000 Americans (and counting) on his hands?