UK PM Boris Johnson Becomes The First World Leader To Contract Coronavirus | Talking Points Memo

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101

Terrible. :cry:

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102

Not much good, that’s for sure.

Here’s an excerpt from “tomorrow’s” issue of The Lancet (the author is Richard Horton, editor-in-chief):

“When this is all over, the NHS England board should resign in their entirety.” So wrote one National Health Service (NHS) health worker last weekend. The scale of anger and frustration is unprecedented, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the cause. The UK Government’s Contain–Delay–Mitigate–Research strategy failed. It failed, in part, because ministers didn’t follow WHO’s advice to “test, test, test” every suspected case. They didn’t isolate and quarantine. They didn’t contact trace. These basic principles of public health and infectious disease control were ignored, for reasons that remain opaque. The UK now has a new plan—Suppress–Shield–Treat–Palliate. But this plan, agreed far too late in the course of the outbreak, has left the NHS wholly unprepared for the surge of severely and critically ill patients that will soon come.

I asked NHS workers to contact me with their experiences. Their messages have been as distressing as they have been horrifying. “It’s terrifying for staff at the moment. Still no access to personal protective equipment [PPE] or testing.” “Rigid command structures make decision making impossible.” “There’s been no guidelines, it’s chaos.” “I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel protected.” “We are literally making it up as we go along.” “It feels as if we are actively harming patients.” “We need protection and prevention.” “Total carnage.” “NHS Trusts continue to fail miserably.” “Humanitarian crisis.” “Forget lockdown—we are going into meltdown.” “When I was country director in many conflict zones, we had better preparedness.” “The hospitals in London are overwhelmed.” “The public and media are not aware that today we no longer live in a city with a properly functioning western health-care system.” “How will we protect our patients and staff…I am speechless. It is utterly unconscionable. How can we do this? It is criminal…NHS England was not prepared…We feel completely helpless.”

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103

Unless he dies, it’s “lazy karma”.

104

Thanks, Boris.

OTOH, we could consider this the first public field test of “herd immunity”.

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105

Thank you for the thoughtful response. At this point random stupidity no longer explains the Trump response to the pandemic. Mental illness may explain DOTUS, but hardly explains why he is allowed to implement his insanity.

Sorry for the bum rap. I need to go walk dogs.

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106

How does that compare w the daily numbers of new cases and deaths for the last week? It feels unnatural to discuss this in such antiseptic terms but last I read things were still increasing but the growth rate was flattening out-

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The blahs? First they try to vote, then they go after National Treasure Tom Hanks?

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Unfortunately, according to the chart, death rate keeps going up.

From Wapo’s Live Updates:

Italy reports 919 coronavirus deaths in one day — the largest single-day toll reported by any country.

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“I was at a hospital the other night where I think a few there were actually coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you’ll be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands,” he said.

And I thought we had the stupidest leader in the world.

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110

This is Evolution’s IQ test: Are you intelligent enough to take this information and change your behavior such that you will maximize your likelihood of survival? It’s pass/fail.

Fortunately, it’s already being shown the majority of failures are the wingerscum. With luck, the Covid-19 will really Make America Great Again with all the senile old boomers too fucking stupid to understand reality finally getting the hell out of the way. (I have cordially disliked the majority of my birth cohort for their moron stupidity for the past 70 years).

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I wonder if he’s the dipshit who infected Prince Charles? If so, off with his head! :cricket_bat_and_ball:

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112

It’a more about the effect they have on the overall population. These are the folks who voted Donnie in, with them gone the rest of their herd will find itself on the out and will gradually fad away. Respect for Science will become the norm and those who believe what they believe will lose their communal megaphone, just as those who espoused the earlier instantiations of racist and misogynistic ideologies were marginalized.

Long term, the community is liberalized and thus their herd is “thinned”…

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They exported all their best to Australia and Canada? :sunglasses:

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114

And immediately acquire (with zero delay) a ventilator and fully staffed and equipped hospital ward (if they don’t already have one in each of their palatial houses and yachts…).

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115

BoJo is a Bullingdon.

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He’s been that way for at least a year. And there was that international meeting on a sicilian island where he needed a golf cart to go 1500 feet through town where the other attendees walked.

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Can we arrange a long meeting with Prince Andrew?

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It can be a short one if he’s got his security detail with him…

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119

Well, we knew that.

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