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Prominent Minnesotans pitch lockdown to slow COVID-19

https://www.startribune.com/prominent-minnesotans-pitch-lockdown-to-slow-covid-19/572054322/

A prominent University of Minnesota health researcher and the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis are calling for a strict, state-by-state lockdown to suppress COVID-19, saying tougher restrictions in the short-term would save lives and more quickly restore the economy.

The U’s Michael Osterholm and Neel Kashkari of the Minneapolis Fed argue states were too quick this spring to give up on social restrictions to combat the virus and failed to go far enough to keep workers home during that time.

Depending on when it would start, a lockdown of up to six weeks could allow for the normal functioning of schools and elections by November, they say. Measures this summer are now starting to control case growth in some Sun Belt states, but Osterholm said as schools reopen and activities move indoors, infections are poised to rebound.

“What does that mean for our country in terms of not only lives lost and health care issues, but to the economy?” Osterholm said in an interview. “In the long run, economically, it makes a lot of sense for the country to deal with it now — take your medicine now.

“If we keep at these numbers like we have now, this is only going to deteriorate until we have a vaccine, which could be six to 18 months away.”

Osterholm and Kashkari put forward the idea of a comprehensive lockdown in an op-ed piece published online Friday by the New York Times.

Photos by Glen Stubbe • glen.stubbe@startribune.com

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari, top, and Michael Osterholm, the U’s infectious disease research director, argue for a lockdown to check the spread of the coronavirus.

In an interview Saturday, Kashkari said remote learning isn’t working for students, particularly younger learners, but questioned how schools can safely reopen if the pandemic is still raging. He said the economy can’t recover until the virus is under control.

“If we don’t do the hard shutdown, it’s going to be a much longer, harder economic recovery, with much more serious health consequences for many Americans,” Kashkari said. “We can continue to fumble our way through it, or we could take a much more strategic approach.”

On Saturday, the Minnesota Department of Health reported a large one-day jump in COVID-19 cases, which pushed the statewide total to 60,101 confirmed cases during the pandemic. Eight more people have died from the virus, the state reported, including four residents of long-term care facilities.

The latest numbers show 309 patients were hospitalized, including 154 in intensive care. Daily tallies for hospitalized patients in Minnesota have been rising in recent weeks, although they remain well below peaks in late May of more than 600 hospitalized patients and about 260 people in the ICU.

Saturday’s net increase of 916 new cases came on a volume of 17,857 completed tests, a high one-day total. That means the share of positive tests continued to hold steady at around 5% — a level that likely won’t trigger further restrictions to slow the virus spread, Gov. Tim Walz said Thursday.

“I do worry [if] we start getting above 6% or 7% daily positivity rates, and most of that is coming through community spread of unknown origin,” Walz added.

Asked about a broader shutdown, state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said that returning to some form of a stay-at-home order would be “an unfortunate step that could become necessary down the road if we don’t have enough people step up and make the everyday decisions needed to slow the spread.”

Malcolm suggested that by wearing masks and keeping distant, Minnesotans might avoid the economic and social costs of a shutdown.

Some states are moving too fast to reopen schools and businesses, but Minnesota still has a chance to keep case growth at a manageable level — particularly if younger people cut back on the parties and socializing that can fuel the virus spread, said Dr. John Hick, emergency physician and medical director for emergency preparedness at Hennepin Healthcare.

“The best time to request everyone to literally stay home may be over the holidays — that could be a triple whammy with travel, flu and COVID and trigger a devastating surge nationally in January,” Hick said via e-mail.

COVID-19 is a viral respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus that was found circulating late last year. Since the first case was reported in Minnesota in early March, 5,506 people have required hospitalization.

People at greatest risk are those 65 and older, residents of long-term care facilities and those with underlying medical conditions such as lung disease, serious heart conditions, obesity and diabetes.

Most COVID-19 patients don’t need to be hospitalized, since it usually causes mild or moderate sickness. Studies suggest that up to 45% of those who are infected won’t have symptoms.

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https://youtu.be/kTcRRaXV-fg

There was a large bureaucratic fight about the Russians influencing the 2016 election – which was never proven… but for a new/unknown virus showing up early in this election year from China has seemingly turned ours and a lot other countries’ economy upside down.  The timing seems suspicious and it showed up in China just as big Chinese holiday where people travel to see celebrate with family.  After all China has 1.4 billion people… what is losing a few million to help spread this virus and disrupt the world’s economy.  Trump has apparently played pretty “hard ball” with China… something they  are not use to from a USA President previously.

Right now we have 30 million unemployed and Congress could not come to a compromise to extend/replace all the “freebies ” that expired about a week ago and left town to go home for their scheduled “August vacation”. It has been reported that there is still ONE TRILLION that was previously authorized that had never been distributed and they couldn’t even cut that loose to help people.  Of course, none of the 535 members of Congress nor any of the 2 million federal workers have lost one penny of pay since this pandemic reared its ugly head in March.

But President Trump signed four Executive orders yesterday to implement financial assistance to untold millions that Congress chose to close up shop and leave town for the month and let them scrounge for themselves.  What is Nancy & Chuckie going to do, sue the President for extending financial assistance that they allowed to  expired and TAKE THE MONEY BACK  ?   These members of Congress are suppose to represent the people in their respective districts.

Did anyone see the clip of Joe Biden yesterday – riding a bicycle ?….  wearing a face mask and NO HELMET ?

With Joe “hiding in the basement” it sort of reminds me of the Eddie Murphy  movie “Distinguished Gentleman “

I just wonder, if they are trying to keep Joe out of sight and hoping that he gets elected with a black/female as VP and within the first year of his administration… they invoke the 25 th Amendment  or he steps down because of health issues and all of a sudden our country has a 47th President a black/female and if the House remains <D> controlled… Nancy Pelosi steps up to be VP.

Who are the idiots that arranged for the first Presidential debate to be after many states have sent out absentee ballots and people will be able to cast their vote before the first debate ?

What if Trump gets re-elected… if the two Houses of Congress do not shift as to which party is in control… are they going to try to impeach him again ?

If they do, he just might “take the gloves off” … he can’t be reelected and he has – believe it or not – been pulling his punches this first term…  There seems to be a lot of “skeleton in the swamp’s closet” and he has not taken action against and AG Barr seems like a very smart, cunning man and he too has not shown all his cards.

His promise to “drain the swamp” may get more attention in his next term.

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Trump orders $400-per-week unemployment payments amid COVID crisis, hits Dems for stonewalling

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-to-sign-coronavirus-relief-executive-orders-saturday-to-help-unemployed-americans-renters

President Trump signed four executive orders Saturday aimed at delivering relief to Americans struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus while accusing Democrats of stonewalling greater aid efforts.

Trump announced a $400-per-week supplemental unemployment payment to out-of-work Americans — short of the $600 weekly benefit that expired at the end of July. He unveiled an extension of student loan relief and protections from evictions for renters and homeowners.

Trump also signed a payroll tax holiday through the end of the year to Americans earning less than $100,000, while promising more relief if he wins a second term.

The president signed the executive actions from his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster N.J. as club members cheered him on. He blamed Democrats for the coronavirus deal stalemate in Congress and said he’d take matters into his own hands.

“Democrats are obstructing all of it,” Trump said. “Therefore I’m taking executive action … and we’re going to save American jobs and provide relief to the American workers.”

For the new $400-per-week benefit, states would be on the hook for funding 25 percent to the millions of jobless Americans, while the federal government would pick up 75 percent of the benefit, Trump said. Asked when the jobless would see the money, Trump said it would be “rapidly distributed.”

The $400 boost is more than what many Congressional Republicans wanted. Some opposed any extension of the federal aid, while others backed a boost no greater than $200 per week. Meanwhile, Democrats had been fighting for the full $600-per-week extension, which is on top of state unemployment benefits.

Trump has long wanted a holiday on payroll taxes, which helps fund Social Security and Medicare. But Congressional Republicans have not fought for the provision because of how much the suspension on tax collection could drive up an already staggering debt.

Acting unilaterally could prompt legal challenges. Since Congress controls new federal spending, Trump already predicted sidestepping lawmakers will have lawsuit consequences. But he dared opponents to deprive Americans of relief.

“If we get sued, it’s [from] somebody that doesn’t want people to get money,” Trump said. “And that’s not going to be a very popular thing.”

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Trump’s payroll tax holiday could drain the Social Security trust fund and said stained states cannot afford the 25 percent unemployment match, especially since the GOP has opposed additional money to state and local governments.

“Donald Trump is trying to distract from his failure to extend the $600 federal boost for 30 million unemployed workers by issuing illegal executive orders,” Wyden said. “This scheme is a classic Donald Trump con: play-acting at leadership while robbing people of the support they desperately need.”

But Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he supports Trump’s unilateral actions.

“I applaud @realDonaldTrump executive actions to help the American [people],” Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, tweeted. “Democrats all or nothing strategy jeopardizes the certainty Americans need to pay their bills. [President] Trump puts the American [people] first, compared to nonstop political games by Democrats.”

House Democrats already passed their $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill in May. The Senate GOP last month proposed a $1 trillion plan, though didn’t bring the measure to a vote as Republicans were divided on whether more aid is even needed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have been in talks all week with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, but the two sides couldn’t strike a deal.

Democrats blamed the GOP for failing to understand the gravity of the crisis and for trying to “nickel and dime” struggling Americans, while the White House accused Democrats of not willing to compromise.

Trump blasted the Democrats’ $3 trillion HEROES Act as a “radical left policy” that includes bailouts to states, sending stimulus help to undocumented immigrants and funding for mail-in voting and other election provisions.

“They want to steal the election,” Trump said of Democrats.

Trump’s orders are narrower in scope than the trillions Congress is mulling for a massive stimulus to the virus-damaged economy.

The president didn’t address some of the big issues that Congressional proposals sought to tackle, including another round of $1,200 stimulus checks, aid to schools to reopen safely, an infusion of cash to revenue-strapped state and local governments, food assistance, new lawsuit protections for businesses and money for mail-in voting for the 2020 elections.

Because of provisions in the Constitution that grant the legislative branch spending power, the White House can’t just pull hundreds of billions out of the ether without Congressional approval.

But the Trump administration believes it has access to $140 billion which it can “reprogram.” That includes $80 billion in untapped money from the big coronavirus bill signed into law in March and roughly $40 billion from the Disaster Relief Fund.

Trump’s executive order indicated he would use “up to $44 billion from the DRF” to cover the federal government’s 75 percent share of the $400 weekly unemployment aid.

The White House believes it can divert the funding, similar to how Trump in 2019 declared a national emergency at the border with Mexico to shift billions of dollars from the Pentagon budget to help pay for a border wall.

Pelosi and Schumer earlier this week expressed skepticism about Trump’s executive powers.

“You can’t move that much money,” Pelosi said. “We’re talking about a major investment.”

The Democrats want the White House to continue negotiating with Congress on a big package.

“A better way to do this is [to] come to an agreement that meets the needs of the American people — a much better way,” Schumer said.

The need for relief is pressing as millions of Americans lost out on the $600-per-week federal unemployment benefit that expired at the end of July. A partial moratorium on evictions on properties with government-backed mortgages also expired at the end of last month. Check out the best Mortgage Consulatnts in Victoria.

There are some 110 million Americans living in rental households; up to 23 million renters – or 20 percent – are at risk of eviction by Sept. 30, according to an analysis by the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project.

With the supplemental $600 in unemployment benefits now officially lapsed, about 24 million Americans say they have little to no chance of being able to pay next month’s rent, according to a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Rent and mortgage payments are typically the largest monthly expense for Americans: One in four tenant families pays more than half of its income for rent, a rate that’s even higher in cities like San Francisco and New York, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

New jobless figures from the Labor Department, which cover the week ending August 1, show that more than 1.18 million workers sought aid last week, the lowest since March 14.  The latest figures bring the total number of unemployment claims since the shutdown began to more than 55 million.

The unemployment rate fell to 10.2%, down from 11.1% in June.

Fox News’ Mark Meredith, John Roberts, Jon Decker, Chad Pergram, Brooke Singman and Megan Henney contributed to this report. 

I hope that everyone remembers how those we have elected to represent us in Congress have acted over the last week and how they those in Congress are using those they represent as political pawns  when election time is here in Nov 3, 2020.

Remember, 98% of the members of Congress expect to get re-elected regardless of what they have done or not done and what they have promised and they have followed thru or not. Also remember, since this pandemic started in March, those in Congress have continued to collect a paycheck and they have now decided to take the regular “August Vacation” and have left DC and went home.

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We understand that hospitals have been given a financial incentive to label just about anyone coming thru the door with a ICD11 coding of having COVID-19 and a second financial incentive to put pts on vents.

I have heard stories of a kid dying at home from a accident and his death being classified as a COVID-19 and a second of a person dying from a motorcycle accident and his death being classified as a COVID-19 death.

In our country there are typically abt 7500 people die EVERYDAY FROM SOMETHING.  Using numerical averages that comes to about 23.5 deaths/one million population.

Our local TV stations come out of Louisville, KY so they report the news for both Indiana & Kentucky and twice a day  6PM & 11PM news they report the number of positive COVID-19 tests and the number of deaths.

Indiana’s population is 6.7 million and Kentucky’s population is 4.5 million.  So on any given day Indiana should expect 157 deaths and Ky should expect 106 deaths from any/all causes.

These TV channels report the number of total positive test results, deaths to date and deaths for the particular day..

They present graphs of 7 days averages and they speculate if a slight upturn or downturn represents “a trend” or not..

Recently both states have been reporting single digit deaths from COVID-19. Remember we don’t know if they people died from some complication of their comorbidity issues when they got infected with COVID-19 or COVID-19 itself caused them to die.

Lets take a daily death rate of 6… that would mean that abt 4% of the deaths in Indiana was COVID-19 related and Kentucky would mean about 5%.

Recently Gov DeWine of Ohio got bumped with meeting with President Trump because he tested positive for COVID-19 but the next day he tested negative  https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2020-08-06/ohio-governor-tests-positive-for-covid-19-cancels-plans-to-greet-trump-in-cleveland  was that a false positive or false negative test ?

We also have the problem that each state has different forms used by their coroner and there are a couple of southern states that their requirement to be coroner is HS/GED and not a convicted felon..  So the CDC is getting this non-consistent reporting system from coroners with a great inconsistency of their knowledge base in the medical sciences.

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Judge rejects bid by CVS, Walgreen’s and other pharmacy chains to toss opioid suits

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2020/08/07/cvs-walgreens-other-pharmacies-fail-bid-toss-opioid-lawsuits/3324662001/

CLEVELAND – Lawsuits filed by two Ohio counties against retail pharmacy chains claiming their opioid dispensing practices flooded communities with pain pills and were a a public nuisance can continue, a federal judge in Cleveland has determined.

U.S. District Judge Dan Polster rejected the pharmacy chains’ motion to dismiss the suits, ruling Thursday that the Ohio law does indeed apply to Lake and Trumbull counties’ nuisance claims.

Polster is overseeing more than 2,000 lawsuits filed by local governments, tribal authorities and others against companies they blame for fueling an opioid epidemic that has killed 430,000 people since 2000.

The two northeast Ohio counties’ lawsuits against CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Giant Eagle were the first to target retail pharmacy chains as both distributors and dispensers of painkillers. The counties contend the chains’ stores in the two counties bought a combined total of nearly 130 million oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, the most frequently diverted and abused painkillers, between 2000 and 2014. That would be roughly 266 pills for every Lake County resident and 320 pills for every Trumbull County resident during that 15-year period.

Attorneys for the retail pharmacies have argued the stores were filling prescriptions written by physicians for legitimate medical needs.

A trial is set for May.

A trial in a case filed against six pharmacy companies by Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, and Summit County, which includes Akron, is scheduled for November.

Those claims seek damages from the retail chains as distributors of painkillers but not as dispensers. A federal appeals court ruled in April that Polster wrongly allowed the two counties to add the companies as dispensers.

Also on Thursday, women living in Florida and California filed separate federal lawsuits claiming retail pharmacies repeatedly refused to fill their legitimate pain medicine prescriptions. The lawsuits ask a judge to declare them class actions, which would open them to include plaintiffs making the same claims.

A spokesman for Walgreens, named in one of the lawsuits, declined to comment Friday. A message seeking comment was left with Costco Warehouse, the other defendant in that case, and with CVS, the defendant in the other lawsuit.

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https://youtu.be/WCXQLARPu9c

Epidemics are a thing in their own and if you do not stop them in the first few weeks they will assume their roles as infectious agents until they run out of hosts. you can still protect your self but the overall attack rate needs to reach a certain point until the virus runs out of hosts. Lockdowns just move infectious people around and destroy our culture while the virus does it dirty deed. We need to focus on the pathology and decide if pushing fluids is wise and whether we need to treat the microthrombi with aspirin. These are medical issues that need focus, not more lockdowns and fretting about which method we erroneously believe will stop the epidemic. The charts indicate the US cases look to be declining and maybe by November the thing will burn out on its own, as is the historical case

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there are no studies outside of death certicicate data that show benzos are a problem. No reputable study uses death certificates as they have a 50% error rate. The rare CDC sponsored studies showing benzos of being a problem world the certificate study is basically invalid. Purely opiate overdose deaths whether it be in attics or in patients are extremely rare. They have to be combined with other drugs usually four or five. It is difficult to tease out which is which. I have not seen any studies of increased death rates with just benzos and opiates except for the invalid dispute a study out of unc using death certificates. Even then the author said probably the higher death rate associated with benzo’s and opiates was due to people being sicker. Yes Virginia sicker people die more frequently. A fairly large CDC ground followed the production of the study I have heard from the author. this study also showed death from opiates with or without other medications as extremely rare in medical patients It may be more common in the CDC subjects who 95% died in the streets and suffered from heroin addiction disease, Affect CDC has never admitted. It’s time for the CDC guidelines to be suspended we’ve had enough

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Independent pharmacies top score in all categories in JD Powers survey

https://drugstorenews.com/these-pharmacies-topped-jd-powers-2020-survey

Pharmacies’ expansion into primary care is driving significant increases in both satisfaction and consumer spending, according to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Pharmacy Study released yesterday.

The U.S. Pharmacy Study, now in its 12th year, measures customer satisfaction with brick-and-mortar and mail order pharmacies. The 2020 study is based on responses from 13,378 pharmacy customers who filled a prescription during the three months prior to the survey period of September 2019-May 2020.

Good Neighbor Pharmacy ranked the highest among brick-and-mortar chain drug store pharmacies for a fourth consecutive year, with a score of 915. Health Mart (905) came in second and Rite Aid Pharmacy took third place (861). 

Sam’s Club ranks highest among brick-and-mortar mass merchandiser pharmacies for a fifth consecutive year, with a score of 885. Costco and CVS/pharmacy inside Target (870 each) rank second in a tie.

When it comes to brick-and-mortar supermarket pharmacies, Wegman’s topped the list for a third consecutive year, with a score of 904. Publix (889) ranks second and Winn-Dixie ranks third (883).

Humana Pharmacy ranks highest in the mail order segment for a third consecutive year, with a score of 904. OptumRx (886) ranks second and Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy (883) ranks third.

“When you look at the major pharmacy business trends of the past couple of years—CVS acquiring Aetna, Walgreens partnering with Humana and Walmart moving into health insurance—it’s clear that pharmacy operators are positioning themselves to become hubs of consumer healthcare, edging into the space once reserved for primary care physicians’ offices,” said James Beem, managing director of Healthcare Intelligence at J.D. Power. “What has not been clear until now is exactly how consumers would react to the shift. Simply put, they’re embracing it, and it’s driving higher overall satisfaction and increased spending as they use more health and wellness-oriented services.”

Among the key findings of the 2020 study:

• Nearly half (48%) of retail pharmacy customers have used at least one health and wellness-oriented service provided by their pharmacy this year, up a significant 5 percentage points from 2019. Overall customer satisfaction with the retail pharmacy is 26 points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) among customers who use health and wellness services vs. those who have not;
• Customers who use at least one health and wellness-oriented service provided by their pharmacy spend an average of $11 more per customer than those who do not use these services ($35 vs. $24, respectively). When customers use two or more health and wellness-oriented services, that average spend climbs to $58. Among customers who use two or more health and wellness-oriented services, overall satisfaction jumps to 907 vs. 861 for those who don’t use any service;
• Just 9% of brick-and-mortar pharmacy customers order their prescriptions via digital channels. Despite the stubbornly low utilization rate, overall satisfaction among those customers who do order digitally through a brick-and-mortar pharmacy is 859, which is 5 points higher than among those who only visit the store in person. By contrast, mail-order pharmacy customers are far more frequent users of digital ordering, with 32% ordering prescriptions via digital channels. These mail-order digital customers have even higher levels of satisfaction, with an overall satisfaction score of 867; and
• Physician recommendations for pharmacy-delivered health and wellness services are associated with an 80% utilization rate and recommendations from friends and family are associated with a 75% utilization rate. However, just 8% of customers say they’ve received a recommendation from their doctor and 9% have received a recommendation from friends and family. The most common means of hearing about these services is in-store advertising, which drives a 45% utilization rate.
• Both Good Neighbor Pharmacy and Healthmart pharmacies are independently owned pharmacy franchisees

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