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Footprints

California: Two more counties to reopen defying Governor's order

Eric Quintanar
Daily Wire
Sat, 02 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Newsom
© Gage SkidmoreCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom
Two more California counties have decided to re-open with social distancing measures in defiance of the governor's stay-at-home order, which Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has said takes precedence over any county directives.

The neighboring counties of Yuba and Sutter in Northern California appear to have followed in the steps of Modoc County, which announced earlier this week that it would begin to re-open businesses with modifications, such as half-capacity seating for dine-in restaurants. The Yuba County public health office stated:
"This is a time for personal responsibility in minimizing our movements and physical interactions. It is up to all of us to show respect for each other's health and safety by adhering to guidance on facial coverings, social distancing, small group gatherings, and good hand hygiene."
In a statement on Friday, Yuba-Sutter County health officer Dr. Phuong Luu said that waiting to re-open would exacerbate economic and health problems, unrelated to coronavirus, in the two communities.
"We cannot wait for a vaccine without seeing extreme economic damage done to our community. The consequences of waiting will be additional health concerns brought on by stress and the very real dilemma for those with limited resources whether to buy life-saving food or life-saving medicines."

Comment: See also:

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Airplane

Your passport and corona test, please: Vienna airport starts on-site screening for those who wish to avoid quarantine


RT
Sun, 03 May 2020 16:19 UTC
Vienna International Airport
© REUTERS / Lisi NiesnerFILE PHOTO. Passengers arrive at Vienna International Airport.
Starting Monday, passengers arriving at Vienna International Airport will be offered an on-site Covid-19 test to avoid the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Austrian health officials require everyone arriving in the country by air to provide a health certificate ensuring they are not carrying the coronavirus. Without one issued no less than four days prior to arrival, travelers must sign up for two weeks of self-isolation. Starting Monday, there will be an alternative - an on-site express test with a three-hour wait before the results come through.

The same PCR express test will be available to people leaving Austria who may need a certificate to travel to another country with similar entry requirements or for other people who wish to be tested, the airport said on Sunday. The service costs €190 (about $210).
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Bullseye

Best of the Web: The science is becoming clear: Lockdowns are no longer the right medicine

John Ioannidis and Rohan Silva
The Sunday Times
Sun, 03 May 2020 16:11 UTC
social distancing
When reports emerged of an epidemic in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, policy-makers had to make far-reaching decisions based on extremely limited information. Terrifying statistics led many global leaders to shut their economies and quarantine entire populations.

The World Health Organisation declared at first that the Covid-19 death rate was 3.4%. Modelling at Imperial College London — based on early, unreliable data — suggested more than 500,000 people could die in the UK unless drastic action were taken.

Since then academics have been working hard to understand more about Covid-19 and we have seen remarkable progress. Here are some of the key findings.

Comment: Ioannidis isn't just a professor of epidemiology; he's the world's leading expert on it.

Here he has been given a platform on the UK's 'top newspaper'.

And yet the British govt, like most other Western ones... isn't lifting the lockdown until mid-summer.

Clearly then, the medical and epidemiological facts about COVID-19 are not informing their decisions.

So what is?

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Red Flag

Almost a fifth of UK homes with children go hungry in lockdown

Nosheen Iqbal
The Guardian
Sun, 03 May 2020 16:03 UTC
food kitchen
© Kate Green/Getty Images
The number of households with children going hungry has doubled since lockdown began, as millions of people struggle to afford food.

New data from the Food Foundation shared exclusively with the Observer has revealed that almost a fifth of households with children have been unable to access enough food in the past five weeks, with meals being skipped and children not getting enough to eat as already vulnerable families battle isolation and a loss of income.

The strain on larger families, single parent homes and those with disabled children has been immense. A reported 30% of lone parents and 46% of parents with a disabled child are facing food insecurity and finding it difficult to manage basic nutritional needs at home. With schools no longer providing a reprieve for children reliant on free breakfast clubs and school lunches, poorer families are at crisis point.
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Yellow Vest

Michigan pilot gives a literal 'F U' to governor over coronavirus lockdown

Vincent Barone
NY Post
Fri, 01 May 2020 15:59 UTC
flight tracker
© FlightAwareA screengrab of a flight tracker that charted the trip
This frustrated Michigan pilot gives a literal flying you-know-what about his governor's lock-down order.

Ed Frederick, 45, spent about an hour charting a path over Grand Rapids that spelled out this message for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: "F U," with an arrow pointing directly over the governor's mansion.

Frederick said he was inspired to hop in a propeller plane Friday morning after Whitmer announced an extension of the state's emergency lockdown order through May 28.

"It's a power trip," Frederick told The Post.
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Yellow Vest

Oklahoma city ends face mask rule for customers after threats of violence

Jackie Salo
NY Post
Sun, 03 May 2020 20:38 UTC
face masks
© Shutterstock
An Oklahoma city walked back an emergency declaration requiring customers to wear face masks inside businesses after threats of violence were hurled at store employees.

Officials in Stillwater announced the change Friday, less than 24 hours after the rule went into effect at stores and restaurants.

"In the short time beginning on May 1, 2020, that face coverings have been required for entry into stores/restaurants, store employees have been threatened with physical violence and showered with verbal abuse," City Manager Norman McNickle said in a statement. "In addition, there has been one threat of violence using a firearm."
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Attention

How Liberals smear Tara Reade is everything rape survivors fear

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Wed, 29 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
CNN screenshot
© CNN
Former Georgia state congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who is on the Joe Biden running mate short list and making no secret of her desire for the job, said on CNN Tuesday night that she did not believe rape allegations against Biden to be credible.

"The New York Times did a deep investigation and they found that the accusation was not credible. I believe Joe Biden," Abrams said when pressed on further corroborating evidence that Biden's accuser Tara Reade had been talking about a sexual assault by the then-senator way back in the nineties.

CNN's Don Lemon pressed Abrams on the contradiction between her earlier "believe women" rhetoric about conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's accuser, to which Abrams responded that Kavanaugh's accuser was not given a fair hearing but Tara Reade was. Past tense. Over and done with now.

Lemon did not ask why Abrams considers The New York Times the official arbiter of who was and was not raped. He did not challenge her false assertion that The New York Times concluded Reade's accusation was "not credible". He did not point out that the investigation by the The New York Times took place prior to the emergence of the corroborating evidence in question. Abrams was allowed to coolly insert a false, baseless narrative into public consciousness and move on.

Comment: See also:

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Top Secret

House committee demands Bezos testify regarding 'misleading' statements

Taylor Hatmaker
Tech Crunch
Fri, 01 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Bezos
© BFN NewsAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos
Amazon is in hot water with a powerful congressional committee interested in the company's potentially anticompetitive business practices.

In a bipartisan letter sent Friday to Jeff Bezos, the House Judiciary committee demanded that the Amazon CEO explain discrepancies between his own prior statements and recent reporting from The Wall Street Journal. Specifically, the letter addressed Amazon's apparent practice of diving into its trove of data on products and third-party sellers to come up with its own Amazon-branded competing products.

As the Journal notes, Amazon
"has long asserted, including to Congress, that when it makes and sells its own products, it doesn't use information it collects from the site's individual third-party sellers — data those sellers view as proprietary."
In documents and interviews with many former employees, the Journal found that Amazon does indeed consult that information when making decisions about pricing, product features and the kinds of products with the most potential to make the company money.

Comment: See also:
GOP Sen. Hawley asks DOJ to open a criminal investigation into Amazon

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Brick Wall

Public opinion, not scientific advice, is what is keeping us in lockdown

Daniel Hannan
The Telegraph
Sat, 02 May 2020 20:00 UTC
lab testing
© Anthony Kwan/BloombergMinisters keep repeating that they are Guided By The Science, but the trouble is that there is no such thing as The Science.
What has come over us? Is Covid-19 turning us into a nation of authoritarians? Are we secretly enjoying the lockdown and its associated feelings of community, simplicity and purpose? Were some of us longing all the while to be bossed about? Opinion polls continue to show massive support for the restrictions, with more people wanting them tightened than loosened.

In the most recent survey, 70 per cent of British voters wanted businesses to be closed unless the coronavirus was "fully contained", with only 23 per cent disagreeing, making us the most illiberal of the 14 nations polled. Think about that for a moment. Eradication is not a realistic possibility: even if we find a vaccine, the coronavirus will continue to circulate, as bird flu and swine flu still do. So seven in ten of us are asking for an open-ended lockdown.

When the closures were imposed, no one tried to claim that they would halt the disease. Rather, they were intended to buy time, to "squash the sombrero". But the distinction between preventable deaths and deaths per se was quickly lost. Commentators began to speak of "defeating the disease", and politicians realised that they would be judged only on the number of coronavirus-related fatalities.

Comment: See also:

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Cheeseburger

NYPD sends 1,000 officers to enforce social distancing in NYC


Sputnik
Sun, 03 May 2020 01:48 UTC
NYC park lockdown
© REUTERS / EDUARDO MUNOZ
While the police have welcomed citizens to enjoy the sunny weather, they also reminded them not to forget about the federal guidelines on social-distancing, introduced amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has dispatched 1,000 officers in New York City to ensure citizens comply with social distancing guidelines over the weekend, according to NYPD chief Terence Monahan.

Throughout the weekend, officers are making sure New Yorkers maintain a six-foot distance from each other while using public transportation, eating out in restaurants, and just chilling in the parks. No large gatherings are allowed.

Comment: Tell us again how this isn't a police state?

See also:

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