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New coronavirus cases in the U.S. spiked to more than 52,000 on Tuesday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, marking the highest daily number in over a month.

The deeply worrying figure was recorded on the same day that President Donald Trump doubled down on his claim that the virus will “go away” thanks to what he called “herd mentality,” even if no viable vaccine is created.

An internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News on Wednesday night showed that the current national trend in new cases is only slightly down while the trend in new deaths is way up.

There were 261,204 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States during the period of Sept. 9-15, a 0.7% decrease from the previous week. Meanwhile, 5,906 coronavirus-related deaths were recorded during that same period, a 16.6% increase compared with the seven days prior, according to the FEMA memo.[/a]

“This coronavirus is the strangest virus I’ve ever heard of. It’s very dangerous in the way it spreads. It is so mysterious the way it lurks in schools, but then dies at Home Depot. It can wreak havoc in churches; praying people are exceptionally vulnerable! Although it’s mind-boggling how it vanishes when people stand close together holding signs, destroying businesses, homes, property, monuments, etc. Yet, standing to watch a marathon or a concert triggers its wrath. It is sneaky. It can spread when buying clothes at Kohl’s but not at Target. It is non-alcoholic. It can’t spread when you are buying beer. It lives for two days on Amazon boxes, you must wait 48 hours to touch them but it can’t survive on Dunkin Donuts coffee cups, so enjoying a hot cup of joe is safe. It is the most curious thing, how it lives on basketballs, baseball bats and ballet bars, but dies on WWE ropes and Walmart shopping carts. It is spread by hair stylists, dog groomers, and dentists, but not by bank tellers, cashiers, and fast food workers. It’s so smart. It won’t bother the first 10 people gathered but it knows when the 11th person shows up, so be careful if that’s you.! It even knows what you want vs. what you need. If you want a massage or your nails done it is very actively on the prowl and not even a mask can stop it, but if you need a plumber, it is weak, and a mask will keep it away. It also seems to be most dangerous after 5:30pm so businesses must start to close before the virus comes out of hiding and wreaks havoc upon the populations. It also requires dine-in restaurants to have a shorter menu and you use real plates but only plastic forks and spoons.

Whoever heard of such a clever, sneaky virus?!?” - Anonymous

The Department of Health and Human Services is shelling out an astonishing $300 million for an ad campaign putting a positive spin on COVID-19, Politico reported. It’s reportedly the brainchild of a controversial HHS official who stepped aside last week after warning supporters of President Donald Trump to buy ammo before the election.

The “defeat despair” ad blitz reportedly plays down the dire consequences of the pandemic and touts Trump’s low-key efforts against COVID-19 even as the U.S. death toll rockets past 200,000, sources told Politico.

AnotherFairportfan wrote: ↑Sun Sep 27, 2020 4:17 am

Taxpayers Hit With $300 Million Tab For Ads Spreading Positive Spin On COVID: Report

The Department of Health and Human Services is shelling out an astonishing $300 million for an ad campaign putting a positive spin on COVID-19, Politico reported. It’s reportedly the brainchild of a controversial HHS official who stepped aside last week after warning supporters of President Donald Trump to buy ammo before the election.

The “defeat despair” ad blitz reportedly plays down the dire consequences of the pandemic and touts Trump’s low-key efforts against COVID-19 even as the U.S. death toll rockets past 200,000, sources told Politico.

The White House put the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under immense pressure to produce more evidence that suited the Trump administration’s agenda to send kids and teachers back to school in person before the election despite the raging coronavirus pandemic, The New York Times reports.

One member of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff claims that she was repeatedly asked to instruct the CDC to write more reports that showed a decline in virus cases among young people. The staff member, Olivia Troye, said she regretted being “complicit” in the effort, and left the White House in August. One unnamed former public-health official told the Times that, before a task force briefing in June, White House officials asked the CDC for supportive data in “a snazzy, easy-to-read document.”

Recent data shows that hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-1 have increased at a faster rate in children and teens than among the general public. One coronavirus tracking project has reported at least 30,000 cases in U.S. schools since the school year began.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ outsized $300 million public health campaign to “defeat despair and inspire hope” during the pandemic is falling apart, Politico reports.

In the wake of medical leave taken by its main architect, HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo, celebrities and prominent medical experts have refused to participate, with the latter holding out for interviews in Anthony Fauci’s busy schedule.

Only Dennis Quaid, CeCe Winans and Hasidic singer Shulem Lemmer have so far agreed to participate. Sources with knowledge of the campaign also told Politico that Caputo’s assistant, Madeleine Hubbard, a 2020 college graduate with no public health experience, had repeatedly overstepped her role in the project. One official called the project “a boondoggle.”

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic… we could use that quarter of a billion dollars on buying PPE [personal protective equipment], not promoting PSAs with C-list celebrities.”

1. Decisions have consequences.
2. Magical thinking has its limits. As Old Lodge Skins said, "Well, sometimes the magic works. Sometimes it doesn't."
3. We're all in this together. Viruses don't give a damn about anyone's political affiliation.

Though many of us lived through the flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968, almost nobody can dredge up personal memories of those times. And that's interesting.
...

Yet it is remarkable that these more virulent pandemics had such evanescent economic consequences. The United Nations’ World Economic and Social Surveys from the late 1950s contain no references to a pandemic or a virus. Nor did the pandemics leave any deep, traumatic traces in memories. Even if one very conservatively assumes that lasting memories start only at 10 years of age, then 350 million of the people who are alive today ought to remember the three previous pandemics, and a billion people ought to remember the last two.