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The U.S. Air Force quietly flew 500,000 swabs for COVID-19 testing kits from Italy to Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday, Defense One has learned.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman confirmed the shipment on board an Air National Guard aircraft. The plane carried “swabs” that are used in the COVID-19 testing process, he said during a Wednesday afternoon briefing at the Pentagon.

“There’s multiple parts to testing,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Dr. Paul Friedrichs, the Joint Staff surgeon, said at the same briefing. “The first is the swabs that are used to collect the sample from the individual who’s being tested, then there’s a liquid … that you put the swab into. That’s what composed what we brought over from Italy.”

These types of swabs are made by companies in the U.S. and overseas, he said.

“This is a great example of how nations are working together to ensure that we’re meeting the global demand,” Friedrichs said.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:38 pm The Walmart I work at has cut hours. And we're designating the first hour of business as either for associates only, or the elderly. The toilet paper situation is rote bullshit, pardon the pun.

In South Africa, spreading false information about the coronavirus is now a crime, punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine, or both.

SACRAMENTO (KABC) -- California health officials predict that about 56% of the state's population -- 25.5 million people -- will be infected with the novel coronavirus within the next eight weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a letter to President Donald Trump.

The letter, dated March 18, echoes a phone conversation with Trump on Tuesday in which Newsom formally requested that the Navy's USNS Mercy, the largest hospital ship in the world, be deployed to California.

"The acquisition of the Mercy here off the coast of the state of California would provide additional 1,000 bed capacity, provides support for pharmacists and other diagnostic equipment," said Newsom.

"This resource will help decompress the health care delivery system to allow the Los Angeles region to ensure that it has the ability to address critical acute care needs, such as heart attacks and strokes or vehicle accidents, in addition to the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases," Newsom said.

On Feb. 27, when the United States had 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19, President Trump was tamping down fears and suggesting that the virus could be seasonal.

"It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle. It will disappear," the president said then, before adding, "it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens."

On that same day, Burr attended a luncheon held at a social club called the Capitol Hill Club. And he delivered a much more alarming message.

"There's one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history," he said, according to a secret recording of the remarks obtained by NPR. "It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic."

In attendance, according to a copy of the RSVP list obtained by NPR, were dozens of invited guests representing companies and organizations from North Carolina. And according to federal records, those companies or their political committees donated more than $100,000 to Burr's election campaign in 2015 and 2016

Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 33 separate transactions.

As the head of the intelligence committee, Burr, a North Carolina Republican, has access to the government’s most highly classified information about threats to America’s security. His committee was receiving daily coronavirus briefings around this time, according to a Reuters story.

It was the first of 29 stock transactions that Loeffler and her husband made through mid-February, all but two of which were sales. One of Loeffler’s two purchases was stock worth between $100,000 and $250,000 in Citrix, a technology company that offers teleworking software and which has seen a small bump in its stock price since Loeffler bought in as a result of coronavirus-induced market turmoil.

In the weeks after her spate of stock trades, Loeffler sought to downplay the public health and financial threats posed by the coronavirus.

“Democrats have dangerously and intentionally misled the American people on #Coronavirus readiness,” she tweeted on February 28. “Here’s the truth: @realDonaldTrump & his administration are doing a great job working to keep Americans healthy & safe.”

“Concerned about #coronavirus?” she tweeted on March 10. “Remember this: The consumer is strong, the economy is strong, & jobs are growing, which puts us in the best economic position to tackle #COVID19 & keep Americans safe.”

It’s illegal for members of Congress to trade on non-public information gleaned through their official duties.

The Atlanta businesswoman, whose husband is the chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, is worth an estimated $500 million.

The GOP Senate Caucus faced a massive scandal on Thursday after multiple GOP senators revealed in public filings that they had sold large stock holdings after private briefings on the coronavirus scandal.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) have all be implicated in the scandal.

Now conservative Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe has also been caught up, after reporting he sold in late February.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday issued a statewide order for all residents to ‘stay at home’ amid a coronavirus outbreak.

“We need to bend the curve in the state of California,” Newsom said, as he announced a statewide order for Californians to stay home.

“There’s a social contract here, people I think recognize the need to do more ... They will begin to adjust and adapt as they have been quite significantly. We will have social pressure and that will encourage people to do the right thing,” he said, in addressing how this order will be enforced.

Newsom added: “Home isolation is not my preferred choice ... but it is a necessary one ...This is not a permanent state, this is a moment in time.”

The stay home order is in place till further notice.

President Trump has invoked the Korean War-era Defense Production Act to allow the government to direct industrial production. The White House’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said Wednesday he was consulting with General Motors’s CEO to use idled factories to produce ventilators, which will be critical to keeping patients alive when a surge of coronavirus cases reaches hospitals.

Kudlow also said the Trump administration is considering taking an equity stake in companies bailed out by taxpayers. In 2008, Kudlow blasted a similar move by the Obama administration to take a stake in General Motors after a bailout as “an attack on free-market capitalism.”

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:40 pm So, at work, there's this guy. I don't know his name, don't care. He's got his hair done up with a long knot jutting up, a propeller attached to the top like a fucking helicopter. He goes to the soap/sanitizer aisle and starts yelling he's got the coronavirus. He's got the coronavirus!

My mother's got a bad respiratory infection. If I had heard him shout that I would've fucking punched his lights out. I don't care if it costs me my job.

Nutso wrote: ↑Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:47 pm

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:40 pm So, at work, there's this guy. I don't know his name, don't care. He's got his hair done up with a long knot jutting up, a propeller attached to the top like a fucking helicopter. He goes to the soap/sanitizer aisle and starts yelling he's got the coronavirus. He's got the coronavirus!

My mother's got a bad respiratory infection. If I had heard him shout that I would've fucking punched his lights out. I don't care if it costs me my job.

Sorry to hear about your mom, Strike. Hope she'll be okay. Is that guy still there? Who the hell can work with that level of obliviousness? Works among people all day but, can't read a room?

Spanish doctors prepare to make difficult decisions if intensive care units reach capacity

Doctors in Spain are preparing to make difficult decisions as the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care continues to rise. Hospitals in hard-hit regions like Madrid are quickly reaching capacity while the number of cases keeps growing and officials warn that “the worst is yet to come.”

By Friday afternoon, Spain had registered 1,002 deaths, a 30% rise from 24 hours earlier. And the number of people in intensive care had grown by 21.5%, for a total of 1,141 patients.

These two indicators are particularly relevant in tracking the spread of the disease, because the actual number of cases “is very likely” higher than what is officially reported due to a lack of testing, said Fernando Simón, the head of the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Emergencies and Alerts, and one of the most visible faces of the crisis management effort.

With nearly 20,000 reported cases, Spain is close to taking third spot on the global list of coronavirus infections. Of these, half have been hospitalized and 1,585 have been discharged following recovery. But with numbers expected to climb even higher in the coming days, government and health officials are preparing to see overwhelmed healthcare facilities.