2:00PM Water Cooler 3/6/2024 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Affected person readers, I had a family debacle, and obtained a really late begin. Therefore, I’ll do politics first, since we had Tremendous Tuesday. Then I’ll do Covid, as a part of orts and scraps. Sorry! –lambert UPDATE Covid charts quickly.

Chicken Music of the Day

Mrs. Moreau’s Warbler, Morogoro, Tanzania. Appears like a synthesizer making house noises!

Some readers requested for one thing desk of contents-like, so listed here are a number of highlights amidst the density:

Excessive- or Lowlights

(1) Reader question on the CDC.

(2) Open supply P2P search software program.

(3) Cuomo to be accountable for nursing residence deaths?

(4) Tremendous Tuesday.

Politics

“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in reality a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

The Constitutional Order (Rebellion)

“The Court docket’s Colorado Choice Wasn’t In regards to the Regulation” [George Conway, The Atlantic]. “What little logic that does seem is within the type of a coverage argument. The Court docket accurately factors out that, relating to the presidency, if states had been allowed to implement Part 3 in federal races, a “patchwork” may end result, notably as to presidential candidates. You possibly can have totally different states making use of totally different requirements below Part 3 in numerous proceedings with totally different procedures and on differing data, they usually may attain differing outcomes as to a selected candidate for the presidency. This, the Court docket felt, was unhealthy.” • In the event you don’t like Justice Chase (“[A] development, which should essentially event nice private and non-private mischief, must not ever be most popular to a development which can event neither”), then maybe Justice Jackson (“[the Constitution is not] a suicide pact”) will do. If Conway thinks {that a} gaggle of Blue States deciding election 2024 with a “patchwork” of evidentiary requirements and entities is the trail to a authentic Biden win, then I need no matter he’s smoking.

Biden Administration

“Safety fence to go up at Capitol for State of the Union” [Roll Call]. “A safety fence will encompass the Capitol as President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union deal with on March 7, in accordance with three sources conversant in the choice. The Capitol Police Board on Friday authorised the set up of the fencing. A safety fence went up across the Capitol for final yr’s State of the Union speech. The State of the Union is designated as a Nationwide Particular Safety Occasion, the very best safety standing the federal authorities can assign to an occasion. These are decided by the scale, scope and potential menace profile. U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi stated folks ought to anticipate to see a heavy legislation enforcement presence across the Capitol advanced. He famous that there will probably be know-how, plainclothes officers and assist groups.”

“The Press Is Able to Feast on Biden’s State of the Union” [Politico]. “Apart from this yr’s. Due to the stream of reminiscence lapses that burble from the president’s lips like a Rocky Mountain stream, his stiff gait, his falls, his use of the shorter and sturdier set of stairs on Air Pressure One and even his personal self-effacing jokes about his age, Biden has effortlessly attracted the quantity of consideration that makes him the envy of earlier presidents. Sadly for Joe, it’s the unsuitable form of consideration as a result of it makes him look infirm — veering into inept. And it’s occurring proper because the 2024 presidential marketing campaign is on the verge of being set, as a rematch between Biden and Donald Trump. The quantity of media and social media scrutiny that the deal with will blast at Biden will possible exceed the facility of a billion suns. His each handshake coming down the aisle, his each step taken, his each phrase spoken, will probably be magnified 100 occasions over by the press, his political opposition and voters as they take his measure. And it’s solely honest. Biden is asking for one more time period, and the press is tasked with vetting the candidates the very best they will.”

“Ukraine first woman declines State of the Union invitation?” [The Hill]. “Ukraine’s first woman Olena Zelenska was invited to attend President Biden’s State of the Union deal with however is unable to return, in accordance with the White Home…. The White Home had additionally invited Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny, however she was additionally unable to return, in accordance with the White Home.”

“Biden’s Greatest Doable State of the Union Is a Populist Avenue Battle” [The New Republic]. “Biden is in a near-disaster zone with working-class voters, it’s true. Earlier than we get into that, let’s shortly right one assertion typically made by pundits that’s simply unsuitable. Biden doesn’t must win the working class. He didn’t in 2020. Exit polls from that yr present that Trump gained non-college voters—the closest proxy to working class in such polls—by 50 to 48 p.c. Trump crushed Biden amongst white voters with no faculty diploma, 67 to 32 p.c. However Biden pummeled Trump by much more amongst voters of colour with no faculty diploma, 72 to 26 p.c. If Biden can simply preserve it shut amongst non-college voters general (who comprised 59 p.c of the voters in 2020), he can win. However he’s not there proper now, particularly with the erosion of assist amongst Black and Latino working-class males that we’ve seen in ballot after ballot. If he can’t change that, he’s in serious trouble.” And: “It’s maddening as a result of middle-out economics—the financial principle that Biden embraces and promotes—is solely about shifting wealth from the highest again to the center and dealing lessons. The entire thought in a nutshell is that development comes not from reducing wealthy folks’s taxes and ready for them to take a position, however from making personal and public investments, financed partly by wealthy folks’s cash, directed towards the center and dealing lessons in order that these folks have a good shot at fulfilling their potential and dwelling higher and safer lives. Throw in his passionate assist of labor unions [like the railroad workers], and Biden is extra on the aspect of working-class folks than any president since arguably Harry Truman. However the truth that he’s not getting loads of credit score just isn’t puzzling, as a result of both (a) no person is aware of about this wealth switch or (b) they type of comprehend it, however they don’t actually consider it. There are causes for this: First, Biden has not been a really efficient salesman for his concepts and accomplishments. He additionally suffers for the truth that his occasion, writ massive, isn’t solely on the identical web page.” • And by not “on the identical web page” we imply “vehemently opposed” when their class oxen are gored.

Useful checklist of Biden’s betrayals on Covid:

hilarious to look again at bidens covid plan and skim web page after web page of stuff he didnt even attempt to do pic.twitter.com/3NZq11Kn5w

— trevor (@trrvvb) December 16, 2021

Most deadly, consequential “Lucy and the Soccer” transfer ever. Little question Biden will probably be treating CDC’s “in the future” steerage as an infinite victory, even when the pre-SOTU timing was an entire coincidence [snort]. And talking of these tips:

22. He doesn’t have time to spend 4 years neck deep in analysis. So, whose recommendation is that this?

Does the WH make use of FarUV know-how and elevated air flow? Most likely. However not at a restaurant in Iowa. Not on the marketing campaign path.

Does he use a day by day antiviral? Which one(s)? /22

— Chalis Montgomery (@TheChalis) March 5, 2024

2024

Lower than a yr to go!

* * *

Tremendous Tuesday: “Takeaways from Tremendous Tuesday” [CNN]. “President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump made their rematch all however official, with each notching enormous Tremendous Tuesday wins and Nikki Haley dropping out of the GOP presidential race. Greater than a dozen states held primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, the most important day of the nominating races as far as the 2024 presidential marketing campaign accelerates and leaves the one-by-one march by means of early-voting states behind. Each Biden and Trump noticed acquainted indicators of potential basic election weaknesses: progressives casting ballots for “uncommitted” somewhat than Biden, college-educated suburbanites selecting Haley over Trump.” • Useful maps:

Tremendous Tuesday: “Donald Trump and Adam Schiff Are the Largest Winners of Tremendous Tuesday” [Cook Political Report]. “Donald Trump’s decisive displaying on Tuesday — he gained 14 of the 15 contests and 722 delegates — wasn’t shocking. However, firstly of 2023, this end result was removed from a given. At this level in 2023, polling confirmed Trump polling at simply 46% whereas an ascendent and well-funded Florida governor seemed well-positioned to make the race for the nomination a critical contest. A yr later, Ron DeSantis is lengthy gone, and Trump’s lone remaining opponent, Nikki Haley, solely managed to choose up 46 delegates and one main state victory (Vermont). Exit polls in North Carolina and Virginia confirmed a long-standing sample of Trump operating up the rating amongst Republican and non-college voters, however narrowly successful, or dropping, faculty educated and unbiased voters to Haley.”

Tremendous Tuesday: “7 issues Tremendous Tuesday simply taught us in regards to the November election” [Politico]. The deck: “Biden and Trump romped on Tremendous Tuesday. However there have been warning indicators for each of them.” Extra: “If Tuesday evening cemented something, it was that any lingering probability of Trump or Biden not getting by means of their primaries has change into the stuff of fanfic fever desires. Massive swaths of voters in each events aren’t relishing a 2020 rematch, polls present. And now, they’re going to should get used to it.” Or, as we are saying, “reside with it.” Extra: “From Colorado to Virginia, it was clear that the GOP’s down-ballot issues will solely be exacerbated by Trump’s issues within the suburbs. In Virginia, the previous president misplaced suburbs like Alexandria and Arlington to Haley, together with the state capital of Richmond and metropolis of Charlottesville, residence to the College of Virginia. In Colorado, he misplaced Denver and Boulder. ‘He persistently loses probably the most educated counties in each state,’ stated GOP pollster Christine Matthews. ‘In Virginia, this was undoubtedly true, but it surely was true in South Carolina, too. And in all places. … I don’t assume he wins them again by speaking about how a lot Black voters love his mug shot T-shirt or let Russia assault NATO allies who haven’t paid their dues.’ Trump got down to remake the GOP into extra of a working-class occasion — and November may check whether or not buying and selling white-collar voters for blue-collar ones is a successful technique in swing states.” And: “Nevertheless it was in Minnesota, which hasn’t gone for a Republican for president since Richard Nixon in 1972, the place Biden noticed a much less shocking however extra threatening setback. The ‘uncommitted’ choice on the poll there had as massive an evening because it did in Michigan, successful 19 p.c of the vote with 89 p.c counted. The state’s politically vital Somali inhabitants, concentrated across the Twin Cities, rebuked Biden’s dealing with of the Israel-Hamas warfare…. However come this fall, Biden can hardly afford such a defection within the pivotal blue wall state.”

* * *

Tremendous Tuesday: “How did ‘uncommitted’ carry out on ballots throughout the nation?” [USA Today]. MN: 18.9%; MI (final week) 13%; NC: 12.7%; MA: 9.4%; CO: 8.1%; TN: 7.9%; AL: 6%; IA: 3.9%. Could possibly be rather a lot in a detailed race. Extra:

“Uncommitted” obtained a whopping 19% in Minnesota with nearly no organizing, however this graph is much more telling than the general quantity. In lots of locations it was over 50%, & in 2 over 75%! They speak about “youthful voters”, however observe the age vary goes as much as 34. Not simply faculty children! pic.twitter.com/yKIGiTX3pz

— Left I on the Information (@leftiblog) March 6, 2024

One other view of “protest votes”:

Tremendous Tues states w largest anti-Biden Protest Vote:
Minnesota:
Biden 71
Uncomm 19
Dean 8
Marianne 1

Massachusetts:
Biden 83
No Pref 9
Dean 5
Marianne 3

Colorado:
Biden 84
Uncomm 8
Dean 3
Marianne 3

North Carolina:
Biden 87
Uncomm 13
(Dean & Marianne blocked from poll)

— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) March 6, 2024

Tremendous Tuesday: “How the ‘Uncommitted’ Effort to Protest Biden Has Unfold in Tremendous Tuesday States” [New York Times]. “The campaigns have been fragmented, organized with far much less time and sources than Michigan’s operation. Many had been deliberate in a matter of days, properly after early voting had already begun, and a number of other organizers declined to articulate particular benchmarks for what would represent success on Tuesday evening past the purpose of seeing Mr. Biden transfer his place.”

* * *

Tremendous Tuesday: “Nikki Haley suspends her marketing campaign and leaves Donald Trump because the final main Republican candidate” [Associated Press]. “Nikki Haley suspended her presidential marketing campaign on Wednesday after being soundly defeated throughout the nation on Tremendous Tuesday… ‘It’s now as much as Donald Trump to earn the votes of these in our occasion and past it who didn’t assist him. And I hope he does that,’ she stated. ‘At its greatest, politics is about bringing folks into your trigger, not turning them away. And our conservative trigger badly wants extra folks.’”

Tremendous Tuesday: “Dean Phillips ends presidential marketing campaign and endorses Biden” [NBC]. “‘I’m going to droop my marketing campaign and I will probably be, proper now, endorsing President Biden as a result of the alternatives are so clear,’ he stated in a Minnesota radio interview on WCCO’s ‘The Chad Hartman Present.’ ‘The choice, Donald Trump, is a really harmful, harmful man,’ he continued. ‘I’d merely ask and invite and encourage Haley supporters, Trump supporters, uncommitted supporters to unify behind decency and integrity.’”

* * *

Tremendous Tuesday: AIPAC a paper tiger?

And actually a seismic end result for Dave Min to fend off practically $5 million in AIPAC adverts and attain the runoff. Will AIPAC endorse the Republican in November? pic.twitter.com/JwU9xPCmt7

— David Dayen (@ddayen) March 6, 2024

Min additionally has a DUI conviction, so he’s not with out vulnerabilities.

* * *

Trump (R): “Arizona investigators concern grand jury subpoenas as state’s 2020 Trump election probe accelerates” [Politico]. “Arizona prosecutors in current weeks issued grand jury subpoenas to a number of folks linked to Donald Trump’s 2020 marketing campaign, a pointy acceleration of their felony investigation into efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory within the state… Mayes’ investigators are scrutinizing the so-called “alternate electors” who signed paperwork falsely claiming that Trump had gained the state. Prosecutors in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada have already introduced prices towards pro-Trump faux electors of their states. Mayes’ staff has additionally requested folks about Trump himself, in addition to former White Home Chief of Employees Mark Meadows and Trump attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro. Chesebro, an architect of Trump’s scheme to arrange slates of false electors in six states gained by Biden, pleaded responsible for his function in that scheme in Georgia, and he has cooperated with investigators in Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin. He agreed late final yr to talk to Arizona prosecutors as properly.” • To me, that is probably the most harmful lawsuit of all, and the one which will have already holed Trump under the waterline, as a result of a number of the “contingent electors” had been innocents who obtained sucked in. Voters could properly really feel that gamers do what they do, on both sides. However when the gamers begin taking pictures civilians, that’s fairly one other factor. (I don’t know if the Democrats are able to enjoying it that approach, since that will suggest that every one Trump voters will not be evil, but when they will carry themselves to, I feel it will be the best method.)

Trump (R): “Trump lawfare replace” [Washington Examiner]. A helpful abstract, concluding “The rationale for the Democratic panic is that this: Some within the occasion assume, positive, President Joe Biden is weak and his polls are horrible, but when he falters, there may be at all times lawfare. We’ve thrown case after case towards Trump. Absolutely certainly one of them will work. Now, there was loads of motion with the large six circumstances. 5 of them won’t be resolved, or resolved in Biden’s favor, earlier than the election. So it may very well be that the whole hopes of the Democratic Celebration and all those that search to carry down Trump earlier than Election Day relaxation with Bragg.” Bragg’s case is the Trump’s funds to a mistress: “Bragg[‘s] prices had been weak. It’s actually a bunch of misdemeanors that Bragg conjured into felonies by means of a legally questionable maneuver.” Looks as if regular apply in New York.” And: “The opposite circumstances, unhealthy as a few of them are, obtained extra respect and a focus, and Bragg stepped into the background, providing to delay making an attempt his case whereas the others went first. However now all these circumstances have encountered issues, and Bragg is steaming forward to a March 25 trial date, lower than three weeks away. It’s a nasty case, but it surely’s a case.”

Trump (R): “FAU ballot reveals 1 in 7 Republicans don’t plan to vote for Trump in November” [Orlando Sentinel]. “The ballot requested folks — Democrats, Republicans and independents — who stated they aren’t voting for Trump in November why. There have been two central causes folks cited for his or her intentions to not vote for Trump within the fall. (1) His monitor document as president and his efficiency on Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the tried riot geared toward stopping the official declaration of President Joe Biden’s victory (cited by 30%); (2) The best way Trump conducts himself personally (cited by 21%). There have been notable variations by political occasion. Amongst Democrats, 31% cited his presidential efficiency/Jan. 6. Amongst Republicans, 29% cited his private habits. The precise query was, ‘Why are you not voting for Donald Trump?’” And, on abortion: “Simply 4% stated it was their prime concern.” • The query cause #1 actually was “His monitor document as president together with his efficiency on Jan. sixth.” If this had been a journal paper, I’d say there have been confounders.

* * *

Biden (D): Yikes:

Oh my Lord. This man just isn’t properly. pic.twitter.com/5UoEW90FD6

— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) March 6, 2024

Staffer yelling “Thanks” to get the press outta there…

Biden (D): “The White Home is betting the election on a principle of skewed polls” (excerpt) [Nate Silver, Silver Bulletin]. “One of many oddities of my profession overlaying politics is that Democrats have by no means actually been down within the polls of a presidential race — till now…. So it’s straightforward sufficient to see why Democratic marketing campaign officers have a sure confidence, generally verging on swagger. Or at the least these officers most carefully related to Biden, for the reason that one election out of the 4 that Democrats misplaced (2016) was the one when Biden wasn’t on the ticket…. In the event you held the election at present, it wouldn’t be a fait accompli: Biden can be in a similar place to Trump in 2016, inside putting distance within the occasion of a scientific polling error. However Trump can be favored…. This issues extra, as a result of one cause polls in March aren’t traditionally all that dependable is as a result of campaigns have the chance to alter course and tweak a method that isn’t working. And but, blessed with loads of runway and confronted with ample proof that voters have soured on Biden — his approval score is 38 p.c — Democratic officers have principally reacted with denial.” • Democrats?! Under the fold (sigh), Silver reacts to Osnos’ New Yorker piece yesterday. One other response to that article–

Biden (D): “Is Biden in Denial In regards to the Polls?” [Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine]. “Essentially the most disturbing chance of Biden’s posture of polling denial just isn’t that it’s honest however that it comes from a way of entitlement. In keeping with Osnos, Biden’s view is ‘I’ve earned this.’ In different phrases, he believes his presidency has been profitable sufficient that he doesn’t should be going through questions on his effectiveness.” • A posture very interesting to the PMC typically.

* * *
* * *

“Who Will Win Management of the Home in 2024? California Might Maintain the Key” [New York Times]. “Of the 16 Home districts gained by Mr. Biden however presently in Republican palms, 5 are in California, making the state a linchpin of the occasion’s hopes of retaking the [House], the place Republicans presently maintain a three-seat majority…. On the entire, Democrats begin at a slight numerical drawback relating to taking again the Home. Gerrymandering and the pure sorting of voters between dense city areas which can be closely Democratic and huge rural districts which can be strongly Republican have left vanishingly few in play.” • “Pure”? If you learn “pure,” at all times contemplate rewriting as “synthetic.” • Useful chart on Home rankings, from Larry Sabato’s Heart for American Politics:

Republican Funhouse

“GOP lawmakers ship Andrew Cuomo subpoena over COVID insurance policies” [News Nation]. “A Home committee led by Republicans issued a subpoena Tuesday to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, asking him to supply a deposition on his COVID-19 insurance policies, in accordance with a letter obtained by NewsNation. The subpoena, despatched by the Home Choose Committee on the Coronavirus Response and signed by GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, asks Cuomo to present a deposition on Might 24. Particularly, lawmakers are asking for info on his COVID insurance policies as they relate to nursing houses in the course of the early days of the pandemic. Cuomo left workplace in 2021 after a report by New York Lawyer Common Letitia James concluded he sexually harassed at the least 11 girls, which he has denied. On the subject of the pandemic, critics have stated Cuomo understated the true loss of life toll in nursing houses by 1000’s, with fatalities fueled by a state order that successfully pressured such locations to just accept recovering COVID-19 sufferers.” • That is particularly nice as a result of the Republicans aren’t going for a winger kneejerk speaking level, however accountabilty for an actual concern: Cuomo’s slaughter of elders (which Democrats couldn’t carry themselves to do. Sexual harassment is unhealthy, no query, however think about prioritizing it over the deaths of 1000’s).

#COVID19

“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Common Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be happy to contact me on the deal with given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!

Assets, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater studies); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

Assets, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).

Assets, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

Testing and Monitoring

America just isn’t a critical nation:

dwelling in europe, i can order a bulk field of 25 SARS-CoV-2 fast exams for thirty cents a check, aka 7,5€ for 25 rapids. folks within the US are getting fleeced. https://t.co/eq1mxnEvF8

— Lola Q. Germs (@LolaGerms) March 6, 2024

Sequelae

“SARS-CoV-2 causes mind irritation and induces Lewy physique formation in macaques” [bioRxiv]. From 2021, nonetheless germane. From the Summary: “SARS-CoV-2 could trigger acute respiratory illness, however the an infection may provoke neurological signs. Right here we present that SARS-CoV-2 an infection causes mind irritation within the macaque mannequin. An elevated metabolic exercise within the pituitary gland of two macaques was noticed by longitudinal positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT). Put up-mortem evaluation demonstrated infiltration of T-cells and activated microglia within the mind, and viral RNA was detected in mind tissues from one animal. We noticed Lewy our bodies in brains of all rhesus macaques. These information emphasize the virus’ functionality to induce neuropathology on this nonhuman primate mannequin for SARS-CoV-2 an infection. As in people, Lewy physique formation is a sign for the event of Parkinson’s illness, this information represents a warning for potential long-term neurological results after SARS-CoV-2 an infection.” • “Monkeys exaggerate, and mice lie.” Nonetheless.

Elite Maleficence

“The CDC’s new, relaxed Covid isolation steerage makes good sense” [STAT]. “. As an alternative, these in control of public well being steerage ought to contemplate the burden it imposes on folks to alter their habits, balanced towards the well being advantages the change can supply to them and people round them. The CDC’s new steerage on what to do after a Covid an infection has been controversial amongst some. It says that it is best to isolate when symptomatic however when the fever subsides and signs enhance, you’ll be able to finish isolation. Utilizing this lens of burdens and advantages, the brand new method makes loads of sense.” • That’s not the CDC’s job (neither is it the CDPH’s, as I present right here). This “stability” is a political selection — one would hope one democratically arrived at — and people selections will not be inside CDC’s remit. (I notice this places me into the field with those that wish to destroy the executive state, however right here we’re.) Even when the CDC had not butchered testing, masking, aerosol transmission, scientific communication, isolation steerage, and management that modeled non-pharmaceutical interventions, the CDC shouldn’t be doing this. (My response to the headline was: “What’s STAT pondering? Then I noticed the writer.) Readers, I would really like very a lot to observe up on alert reader Steven V’s suggestion of submitting a “writ of mandamus.” My first step was to attempt to decide on what statutory foundation the CDC operates (apparently starting with the Public Well being Service Act of 1912 (!). CDC itself is an unimaginable tangle of re-orgs. Can any readers assist me out with some sources on this? Ideally, a legislation evaluation article with a number of footnotes (perhaps even from the ACT-UP period?).

TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new at present; all others will not be up to date.

2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”

NOTES

[1] (Biobot) Biobot drops, conformant to Walgreen positivity information (if that’s certainly not a knowledge artifact). Observe, nonetheless, the realm “below the curve,” moreover peaks. That space is bigger below Biden than below Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if erratically.

[2] (Biobot) Regional separation re-emerges.

[3] (CDC Variants) As of Might 11, genomic surveillance information will probably be reported biweekly, primarily based on the provision of optimistic check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice every week; semiweekly.” Appears like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to fret about. Time will inform.

[4] (ER) Doesn’t assist Biobot information. “Charts and information supplied by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous yr, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.”

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Not flattening.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless down. “Maps, charts, and information supplied by CDC, updates weekly for the earlier MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Division Visits, Take a look at Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.

[7] (Walgreens) That’s an enormous drop! It could be attention-grabbing to survey this inhabitants typically; these are individuals who, regardless of a tsunami of official propaganda and massive peer stress, went and obtained examined anyhow. UPDATE Given the extraordinary and sudden drop-off, I assumed I’d examine to see if the inhabitants being examined modified in a roundabout way. Listed here are absolutely the numbers on February 14, on the fringe of the cliff:

“CDC plans to drop five-day covid isolation tips” [WaPo] (February 13, 2024).

[8] (Cleveland) Flattening, according to Biobot information.

[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Now up, albeit within the rear view mirror.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants) Backward revisions take away NV.1 information. JN.1 dominates completely.

Stats Watch

Employment Scenario: “United States Job Quits” [Trading Economics]. “The variety of job quits in the USA declined by 54,000 from the earlier month to three.385 million in January 2024, down from December’s revised determine of three.439 million and touching the bottom degree since January 2021.”

The Bezzle: “Worldcoin hit with momentary ban in Spain over privateness considerations” [TechCrunch]. “Spain’s information safety authority has ordered Worldcoin to quickly cease accumulating and processing private information from the market. It should additionally cease processing any information it beforehand collected there. The controversial, Sam Altman-founded eyeball-scanning blockchain crypto undertaking began operations out there final July, as a part of a world rollout. The Spanish authority is utilizing ‘urgency process’ powers contained within the European Union’s Common Information Safety Regulation (GDPR) for the momentary information processing cessation order — which suggests the order can have a most period of three months (so till mid June).”

Tech: Utopia this isn’t:

Immediately’s Concern & Greed Index: 75 Excessive Greed (earlier shut: 74 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 78 (Excessive Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Mar 6 at 1:15:38 PM ET

Information of the Wired

YaCy is free software program on your personal search engine” [Yacy.net]. “Think about if, somewhat than counting on the proprietary software program of a giant skilled search engine operator, your search engine was run throughout many personal units, not below the management of anyone firm or particular person. Nicely, that’s what YaCy does!” • Attention-grabbing, although requires Java or docker. (The demo web page may be very sluggish to load, presumably being overloaded by Hacker Information site visitors.)

Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a examine if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me pictures of vegetation. Greens are advantageous! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you need your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it firstly of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From TH:

TH writes: “There are issues about this picture to not like – the useless rose leaves, the useless juniper branches, and so forth. Nevertheless it has form of a country, considerably congested, mature backyard really feel that I like. It’s most likely apparent that the intense splash of yellow was my favourite a part of the scene.”

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not lined by the annual NC fundraiser. So for those who see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see wherever else, please don’t hesitate to precise your appreciation in tangible kind. Bear in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common optimistic suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. After I get no donations for 5 or ten days I get nervous. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I consider that trickle when setting fundraising objectives: