It was two weeks ago now that things went to hell.
Started with the NBA shutting down. Travel from Europe was suspended. Tom Hanks got it.
The American shutdown was still five days off at that point, and few saw it coming.
But now we’re here.
Yesterday afternoon the Missoula County Health Department ordered most of the city’s businesses to remain closed until April 15.
A few hours later, Bullock told all the schools and the businesses around the state to close until April 10.
Yeah, a five day discrepancy there...telling us that there is absolutely no communication between local governments, the county governments, and the state government.
Sadly, the County Health Department has the authority under MCA 50-2-118 to close these businesses indefinitely.
I’m very frustrated with these county commissioners and the Health Department’s Ellen Leahy. I know they think they’re helping, but at the same time they’re destroying the local economy.
Alas, we have six cases in Missoula County so these people feel it’s necessary to effectively shut down the town.
Thousands have the flu, but these folks don’t care about that. More and more, it seems like a huge scheme to ruin the GOP’s chances in November. Missoulians have a greater chance of dying by falling out of their bed while asleep than they do of catching this virus.
Sadly, thousands of businesses in this town are now ruined because of Leahy and her commissioner buddies.
It’s sad.
Started with the NBA shutting down. Travel from Europe was suspended. Tom Hanks got it.
The American shutdown was still five days off at that point, and few saw it coming.
But now we’re here.
Yesterday afternoon the Missoula County Health Department ordered most of the city’s businesses to remain closed until April 15.
A few hours later, Bullock told all the schools and the businesses around the state to close until April 10.
Yeah, a five day discrepancy there...telling us that there is absolutely no communication between local governments, the county governments, and the state government.
Sadly, the County Health Department has the authority under MCA 50-2-118 to close these businesses indefinitely.
I’m very frustrated with these county commissioners and the Health Department’s Ellen Leahy. I know they think they’re helping, but at the same time they’re destroying the local economy.
Alas, we have six cases in Missoula County so these people feel it’s necessary to effectively shut down the town.
Thousands have the flu, but these folks don’t care about that. More and more, it seems like a huge scheme to ruin the GOP’s chances in November. Missoulians have a greater chance of dying by falling out of their bed while asleep than they do of catching this virus.
Sadly, thousands of businesses in this town are now ruined because of Leahy and her commissioner buddies.
It’s sad.
Observations
- My son and I went to Dominoes Pizza on Monday night. They won’t let you in the store anymore for carryout; you have to put your money on the table set up outside the door, and then they give you the pizza and change.
- I got a good chuckle out of an article that appeared on NBC, “How not to kill your spouse when you’re both working from home.”
- On Monday the mall decided to close down. I’m not sure they’ll reopen - malls in this country are already on the ropes, and we just saw ours lose two of its anchor stores. I think the mall is done, will be torn down, and turned into houses for rich transplants fleeing the liberal policies of California.
- That same day we learned that the virus was living on surfaces of the Diamond Princess cruise ship for 17 days.
- In California, gun stores were ordered to close. Yet another one of our constitutional rights is in jeopardy of being taken away. Few seem to care.
- While you can’t buy a gun, you can get a lap dance. LA authorities are very upset that social distancing isn’t taking place in strip clubs. I’m surprised those places are still allowed to stay open.
- On Tuesday morning I saw a large plume of smoke going up into the air. I wondered if someone was burning down their business to get the insurance money.
- Yesterday the Western Montana Health Clinic closed its doors and laid-off its workers. They also refused to allow anyone to use their sick leave during this time, saying they both had the legal right to do so, and that they simply did not have the money to pay it out. Lawsuits will be filed over this, I’m sure. Lawyers in Missoula are already trying to profit off this mess.
I got a letter in the mail on Monday from the Department of Labor. They told me I’d be getting around $160 a week for unemployment benefits.
They calculated this based on the three different jobs I’ve had over the past two years. They say if they overpay me, I’ll owe that money back. I have until the end of the month to send in corrections.
I have a feeling many people might get overpaid, and end up in long-term debt to their state government over this. That’s a real shame, as many of these people don’t want unemployment; they want to work.
The Test Kit Dilemma
Some countries have a handle on this virus, while others do not. Italy is a disaster, but South Korea is under control and going to work. Germany is another country where things are alright.
Why is this?
Test kits.
South Korea had enough, mainly because they went through SARS and H1N1 and were expecting another such outbreak. So they were ready.
In America we weren’t.
We’re short of the supplies necessary to even give the tests, such as “specialized nasopharyngeal swabs used to collect samples, chemical reagents used in processing, and transport media.”
Sadly, most of the swabs that are made for the Coronavirus test kits are manufactured in Lombardy, Italy. The U.S. Air National Guard was forced to airlift 800,000 of those swabs out of Italy last week.
The global supply chain had such bottlenecks that testing parts couldn’t be manufactured, kits couldn’t be put together, and couldn’t be shipped to where they needed to be.
The corporate media refuses to talk about the supply chain issue, or the fact that many of our critical components are made in China. Considering that much of the corporate media is controlled by the same companies that outsource, this should come as no surprise.
When we do have a functioning test kit, we often don’t have enough materials to protect those administering the test, things like “an N-95 or higher-level respirator (or facemask if a respirator is not available), eye protection, gloves, and a gown.”
Test kits first went out in early-February, but it was realized that many tests were giving inconclusive results because “one of the chemicals used to conduct the test was not working properly and needed to be remanufactured.”
By the end of February, just five states were testing.
Even when tests were working, they had to be sent off to the CDC in Atlanta for conclusive results. This lasted until March 2, when the CDC realized they simply could not keep up.
By the time March 4 rolled around, just 1,000 tests a day were occurring around the country. By March 23, however, that had jumped to 65,000 a day.
We’re moving in the right direction, just very slowly.
