COVID-19 Update: Again

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World: U.S.: NC and local: A little fact check on Trump’s little “victory” lap Monday: It had all the trappings of a “Mission Accomplished” moment: the banner, the presidential pomp, and a message that wasn’t true.  But what President Donald Trump wanted Monday to be a show of strength over his administration’s coronavirus testing push, complete with a banner touting “AMERICA leads the … Read More

COVID-19 Update: Oops! White House Becomes Hot Zone While Urging Country To Open Up

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Election 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World: U.S.: NC and local: The news of the weekend of course is that yet another White House person has contracted COVID-19. This time it is Pence’s press secrteary, who is also the wife of Trump advisor Stephen Miller. It’s not a good look when you’re trying to open up the country again so that everything looks good for the … Read More

If Nothing Bad Was Said, Why Haven’t We Seen Transcripts Of The Flynn-Kislysk Conversation?

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

There’s a giant hole in Bill Barr’s motion to dismiss the Mike Flynn prosecution: the call transcripts of the General’s calls with Sergey Kislyak. The Timothy Shea-signed motion claimed that the transcripts showed “arms-length communications” which provided no suggestion that Flynn might be “directed and controlled” by Russia. Nor was anything said on the calls themselves to indicate an inappropriate relationship between … Read More

CDC Guidelines That Were Never See The Light Of Day

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Here they are: The US response is looking more and more like the Soviet response to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. This is how super-powers on the brink of collapse behave in a crisis: The Trump administration has shelved a document created by the nation’s top disease investigators with step-by-step advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen restaurants and … Read More

If It Ain’t COVID, It’s Corruption

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

After an extraordinary public campaign by President Trump and his allies, the Justice Department dropped its criminal case on Thursday against Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser yesterday. Flynn had previously pleaded guilty twice to lying to F.B.I. agents about his conversations with a Russian diplomat during the presidential transition in late 2016. The Justice Department’s decision to drop the … Read More

COVID-19 Update: Too Soon To Open

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World: US: NC and local: For a while there, I was beginning to think that opening up a few states might be in the cards. Apparently even the Trump Administration disagrees (even though they are advocating opening up themselves. As President Trump presses for states to reopen their economies, his administration is privately projecting a steady rise in the number … Read More

COVID-19 Update: Day 1,285,342

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Economy & Jobs & Deficit, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World: US: NC and local: The United States today topped 60,000 COVID-19 deaths, a milestone once suggested by Donald Trump as a potential “success,” if the pandemic’s toll could be held to just that. It shows no evidence of being held to just that; instead, the 60,000 deaths marker came over three months sooner than the White House-cited pandemic model used in Trump’s claim … Read More

DOJ Gets Marching Orders From Trump Donators

Ken AshfordTrump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

. The Department of Justice is consulting with the fever swamp:  A network of conservative leaders, donors and organizations has launched a legal onslaught against state and local restrictions intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus, pushing to allow churches to hold services, businesses to reopen and people to be able to visit with family and friends. They have been … Read More

COVID-19 Update: No Plan For Testing

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World: US: More than 5,400 cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in North Carolina across 94 counties. Thursday featured an increase of 342 cases from Wednesday with an additional 14 deaths. Wake County has 557 cases while Durham County has 388 cases. The New York Times’ David Leonhardt​​ ‘s newsletter: This has been the week when everybody seems to be thinking … Read More

COVID-19 Update: Re-opening Without Testing And Contact Tracing Is Irresponsible

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Economy & Jobs & Deficit, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World: US: NC and local: There’s still lots of talk about re-opening the economy, but research published in the medical journal Nature Medicine on Wednesday suggests we just can’t do that yet. The study shows people with the COVID-19 coronavirus were at their most infectious right when symptoms began, or even a few days before, presenting yet another hurdle for containing its spread. … Read More

COVID-19 Update: We’re Going To Be Here A While

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World cases top 2 million: US deaths exceed 25,000: NC and local: We should remember that these totals, at least for the US, are low. New York City, already a world epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, sharply increased its death toll by more than 3,700 victims on Tuesday, after officials said they were now including people who had never tested positive for … Read More

COVID-19 Update: Trump’s Rant Fallout

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World: US: NC and local: Today we’re learning that two years before the novel coronavirus pandemic upended the world, U.S. Embassy officials visited a Chinese research facility in the city of Wuhan several times and sent two official warnings back to Washington about inadequate safety at the lab, which was conducting risky studies on coronaviruses from bats. The cables have fueled discussions … Read More