"However, the COVID-19 outbreak in the city of Gallup is a crisis of the highest order. Immediate action is necessary," wrote Mayor Louis Bonaguidi, quoted in
"Roads closed into New Mexico city to mitigate 'uninhibited spread of Covid-19'" (CNN).
Under the Riot Control Act, anyone who fails to comply with restrictions imposed under the act is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction of a second or subsequent offense is guilty of a fourth-degree felony....
"The spread of this virus in McKinley County is frightful," Lujan Grisham said. "And it shows that physical distancing has not occurred and is not occurring. The virus is running amok there. It must be stopped, and stricter measures are necessary."
I was only familiar with Gallup, New Mexico from the song
"(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" — "You see Amarillo/Gallup, New Mexico/Flagstaff, Arizona/Don't forget Winona..." — but I'm reading about it now.
Wikipedia:
Gallup (Navajo: Naʼnízhoozhí /nɑ̀ʔnɪ́ʒòːʒɪ́/; Zuni: Kalabwakin) is a city in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States, with a population of 21,678 as of the 2010 census. A substantial percentage of its population is Native American, with residents from the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni tribes. Gallup is the county seat of McKinley County and the most populous city between Flagstaff and Albuquerque, along the historic U.S. Route 66.
The city was founded in 1881 as a railhead for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, and named after David Gallup, a paymaster for the railroad. It is on the Trails of the Ancients Byway, one of the designated New Mexico Scenic Byways. Because of the nearby rugged terrain, it was a popular location in the 1940s and 1950s for Hollywood Westerns....
Gallup is known as the "Heart of Indian Country" or "The Heart of Indians" because it is on the edge of the Navajo reservation and is home to members of many other tribes as well.
Posts
104 comments:
They'll get tribe immunity.
It would be possible (and fascinating) to test everyone on the county, to see how many of them have had asymptomatic infection with the virus. I wonder is there any other reason besides not practicing social distancing that could explain why the virus is so widespread there.
How much of this is a function of increased testing in “impacted communities”?
How many of these detected “cases” require treatment or hospitalization?
Neither CNN nor the politicians declaring the emergency make that clear.
Viruses running amok? Yes, that is what they do. Well maybe it's climate change. Blinded by science?
Third one out of the blocks. Wince, come to the podium and get your prize.
New Mexico population is: 2.1 Million
No. of Covid-19 deaths: 131
Source: Worldometer
This is 62 deaths per million people. Most likely these are elderly folks in nursing homes or in hospitals with significant pre-existing illnesses. This is a very low number.
This is 2 months after winter season ended. This is without a vaccine. This is 2 weeks after peak deaths in the US, according to the IMHE Model. Source: IMHE
These Dem politicians are slow-walking the reopening of the country, because they want to incur as much economic damage as possible, which, of course, translates into human damage. They won't say this though. They will say they are "saving lives" from the deadly virus, even though they are too stupid to understand epidemiology, Farr's Law or even basic statistics.
If they are claiming that the problem is residents not social distancing, how does closing the roads help that particular community?
McKinley County, NM:
72,290 people, 1029 confirmed cases, 19 deaths.
I wonder what flu season in 2018 looked like. There are a lot of cases. Is there a meat processing plant there?
How many old folks? 11.6% of the population, or 8,412. I wonder how many of the confirmed cases are among old people.
32.3% poverty rate.
I hope invoking the riot control act helps.
I blame gemstones.
"..."In the Navajo way, it’s a monster, it has eyes and its own being. Thus, by offering the gemstones, this virus figured we want it and is continuing to harm us by killing our people.
The simple solution is if a medicine man can pray to free it from us, we all can come together as they did in the past, mainly the modern Navajos that have faith in our traditional ways. We all need to stand behind the pile of ash and pray, too, and say, “Pah, Pah” with our arrowheads with covered ashes."
Native Americans have terrible problems with diabetes.
1027 confirmed cases in a county of 71,300 people. 19 deaths? There are many other counties in NM with worse numbers.
Shutting down all human movement for this? Not sure. But what I'm seeing all over the country is politicians, such as the clowns running Illinois, Michigan, and Maine overstepping their power, mismanaging their states. They are claiming power over peoples lives "for the common good" or "because I'm the boss and I said so".
I don't know enough about what's happening in NM, or how the Navajo Tribe is prepared to handle this. Are there enough medical facilities in the county? Docs? Nurses, equipment? You could ask that of almost anywhere.
I suspect many many more of us have this than is known at this time. And perhaps allowing it to run it's course- as we do the flu- is the best thing we can do. You cannot declare "life is over for your own good until we say so and sorry about your livlihood" for too long.
More testing means more mild or asymptomatic cases and it actually lowers the death rate.
Its like the whole country has turned into a weird version of Scrooge. Worth millions but still sitting on the floor counting pennies.
"The virus is running amok there. It must be stopped"
This is the essence of the insanity epidemic. The virus cannot be stopped. It should not be stopped. We need herd immunity. We'll get it anyway, except slower if we remain insane.
What you can do is protect people who are at risk of actually getting very sick.
There are now [May 1] a total of 2,141 cases of COVID-19 on the Navajo Nation [pop ~ 350,000] and 71 deaths due to the virus as of Thursday.
These include 1,004 males and 1,137 females with an average age of 46.
The deaths include 44 males and 27 females with an average age of 65.
A total of 12,023 tests have been administered with 8,639 negative results."
If they are claiming that the problem is residents not social distancing, how does closing the roads help that particular community?
They really want to stop booze sales, but failing that, it looks like they closed the entire city. The paper copy of the Navajo Times mentions drunk people are not "social distancing" while they share bottles and cans.
When we were moving to SoCal (for 14 months) in Summer 1968, we stopped in Gallup to see a parade with a lot of Indians in native dress and horses. I wonder if they still have it.
Related -
The Israeli Doctors' Strike in 2000 Lowered the Death Rate
Doctors’ strike in Israel may be good for health
"The number of funerals we have performed has fallen drastically"
That Navajo times article was a lot more helpful. Gallup is a very busy place for truckers; it's right off the 40. We passed through there often on our way to AZ. How are the truckers going to eat? Get gas? There's really no where else to stop... besides the casinos...
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio put the forecast for the Big Apple's full reopen at "a few months away, at minimum.".
de Blasio said (and i QUOTE)
"The covid-19 virus will ALWAYS be with us. Until it is gone, ALL CIVIL LIBERTIES MUST BE CURTAILED"
Apparently CV’s main product is not death but complete stupidity.
In Massachusetts, people from "vulture capital" firm Bain Capital (or is it Bane) have volunteered to help guide the state's reopening.
Steve Pagliuca enters spotlight as state officials figure out how to restart economy
The Bain Capital and Celtics partner leads tech council’s effort to establish safety protocols for employers.
Pagliuca has emerged as a nexus of coronavirus-related research and recommendations: protocols for virus and antibody tests, the prospects for a vaccine, effective ways to track people who have been exposed, safe approaches for returning to the office.
Hmm, a company that specializes in scooping-up distressed businesses having outsized impact on when business can resume, urging reliance on still patented medicines and quick introduction of vaccines that offer more government-provided immunity from liability than infection.
What could go wrong?
At least when Romney practiced the "dark art" he wasn't in a position to cause the target company's distress.
Most commentators have already hit all the salient facts. Rather lack of facts.
All I can think is how bad the reporting is. Numbers without context, is nothing but propaganda, because its sure not informative. All narrative setting.
I cant get my head around the choices the politicians are making.
What is the goal? I can't find a clear answer to that simple question. I will assume, to move the discussion forward, the goal is to prevent death.
Locking down the entire population to protect a known, definable population, is stupid. At a fraction of the effort, the most vulnerable could be protected.
JackWayne said...
Apparently CV’s main product is not death but complete stupidity.
it seems to me, that CV has infected EVERYONE with the follow symptoms
A) excessive exaggeration of affect predictions; either positive, or negative
B) COMPLETE INABILITY to be able to even CONCEIVE of the validity of opposing viewpoints
C) Desire to OVERREACT, which shows as
..a) fascism in government leaders
..b) revolutionary anger in people
NOTE: if the overreaction of part "C" corresponds with the direction of part "A";
then that overreaction is considered not only 'normal', but commendable
I guess I should mention that every time I've stopped in Gallup, I've seen a Native sporting Redskins gear. Just for reference .
It started in March with a large traveling evangelical gathering in a fairly remote area of the rez. Multiple generations in one home, many without electricity or running water. Ancient culture meets modern virus. Gallup is a great town.
There's really no where else to stop... besides the casinos...
They closed the Navajo casinos a few weeks ago; there might be others around Gallup, dunno.
from the Navaho Times article that Fernandistein linked to...
people aren’t adhering to the curfews because they’re leaving their homes to buy alcohol...
“Within our area of Smith Lake there is one liquor establishment, two in Thoreau ..and
“These are on the outskirts of the chapters I represent,” he said. “There is one near the Zuni and Navajo borderline. The rest is in the city of Gallup.”
DEMON RUM! DEMON RUM! THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH BROKEN LIQUOR BOTTLES!!
Gallup is a very busy place for truckers; it's right off the 40. How are the truckers going to eat? Get gas? There's really no where else to stop...
I'm assuming that it's the roads on the north side of Gallup that she's closing
she's (TRYING to be) keeping the indians out of town, and stuck in their villages
I'm assuming that truck stops will still be open (can NOT believe she's closing i-40, which goes right through town)
Gallup is a great town
An acquaintance was arrested there. He was a Green Beret, just back from Vietnam, and walking down the street when a policeman made the mistake of coming up from the rear and putting a hand on his shoulder. He threw policeman down, dislocating the policeman's shoulder in the process, then, when the policeman started to draw his pistol, waited for it to clear the holster before kicking it away. The policeman's partner then showed up and asked politely if he would go peacefully and so he spent the night in prison. A Green Beret officer showed up the next morning and got him released. There is a reason Special Forces people are depressurized when they return from combat.
Gallup NM has always been a rough town full of drunk and diabetic Indians. They're likely practicing the same social distancing as Allen S and Anne-l'm because they are braves.
I understood the effort to flatten the curve to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. Mission accomplished. What has happened since the curve was flattened is inexplicable. We've moved the goalposts outside the stadium. There is no clearly definable purpose to our actions at this point.
The reports that large numbers of people have been infected without symptoms should be encouraging. Let the healthy portion of the herd contract the virus and defeat it. Meanwhile, protect the vulnerable portion of the population while understanding that old age, obesity and various health conditions come with a risk. If you are 75 and obese with uncontrolled diabetes you are a time bomb and death will eventually find you.
Let's define the goal as protecting the vulnerable as well as we can and ask them to participate in the process.
Need to do what Alaska does with its farflung native communities and go dry, I guess.
(Not really advocating this.)
Other news stories point to native multi-generation housing patterns and choices as assisting transmission of this disease. It’s well to remember that in the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago, whole native communities disappeared because everybody in a village died.
Whatever Navaho named the place "Nazi hooze* was prescient.
Gallup was a dump when I was there.
God forbid you need to use the restroom.
That's the first thing to be trashed on a Saturday night.
Take that, white man!
You're probably right Gilbar. Trying to sound like they're not targeting the Natives when really, they're targeting the Natives.
"All roads into the city have been closed, businesses must close between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. and vehicles can only carry two individuals, according to the governor's order."
The question that no one in government seems to be answering is: What beneficial effect do they expect these specific restrictions to have?
Wouldn't the curfew mean more people shopping at the same time, with more spread of the virus? If grocery stores stayed open all night, people who are worried about contact could shop at 3 a.m. and maintain a really good social distance.
What's the point of keeping people who are currently living in the same apartment or house from being in the same car together?
How is a single mother with two young children supposed to go anywhere or do anything? She can't even drop her kids off with a sitter without leaving one of them at home alone while she drives the first one over -- like one of those riddles where have to get a wolf and chicken and a cabbage across the river safely.
I'm trying to be charitable and assume that the mayor thinks he's helping, but it's hard to see how these specific measures could be helpful. The only thing I can think is that these are relatively easy to enforce and will make people more likely to stay at home. Perhaps he's responding to people carpooling to public locations to hang out in large groups and the restrictions will actually be enforced more narrowly than they are written and in a more sensible way than the stories that make for viral videos.
The reports that large numbers of people have been infected without symptoms should be encouraging
To people who are not well informed -- which is most of them -- this is just means VIRUS EVERYWHERE STAY HOME FOREVER AIIEEEEEEE
The NM Gov is a democrat female Latina said to be on the short list of VP candidates. She needs to look strong and authoritative if she expects to stay on it.
I noted the link about prisons in missouri which tipped the balance.
People are traveling from high virus states to lower virus states, and that is bad.
It's tempting to go to a state with less out-break - but YOU risk bringing the virus along for the ride.
Wyoming has very few cases or deaths. I'd like to go to Wyoming. Out of respect for Wyoming, I'm staying put.
The wave of people moving out of NY, NJ to the rest of the nation is going to be yuge.
It's already happening in my 'hood. My next door neighbor just sold his house because he and his wife are moving to northern CA. (sold the home before it even hit the market. 2 off-market showings - and boom /sold)
New owners are from New York City.
retired couple.
I'm not going near them for a good long while.
The NM Gov is a democrat female Latina said to be on the short list of VP candidates. She needs to look strong and authoritative if she expects to stay on it.
The Harris County [Houston] judge who issued the order for mandatory masks is 27 years old, immigrated to the United States in 2005, and went into "public service" immediately after law school. Wheeee!!!!
Jebus Bleached Bit Bimbo. I thought you were a tough chick who didn't fall for this phony covid-19 libtard conspiracy bullshit designed to defeat PDJT. Is Ken B your sock puppet?
Pants hates foreigners who show ambition and high achievement. It must make you feel very very small to see someone of such low and humble beginnings achieve high office at a young age. Of course we real Americans applaud success and welcome the best people from around the world to make our country greater because we need to weed out the deplorable deadwood.
From the other thread
https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/4/12/senator-migz-zubiri-announces-COVID-19-recovery.html
My next door neighbor just sold his house because he and his wife are moving to northern CA
But Cali has been infected with a disease of a whole 'nother kind.
Pants hates foreigners who show ambition and high achievement.
Get a hobby
You know Pants, you wouldn't be in this pickle if you didn't spread your legs so often. I can understand why you're so pissed because you put out such a weak product that we have to keep importing Superior beings from inferior countries so we can hit our growth targets.
clint said...
businesses must close between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m...
Bars and Liquor Stores
Wouldn't the curfew mean more people shopping at the same time...
NOT worried about SHOPPING, worried about drunken indians drinking
If grocery stores stayed open all night, people who are worried about contact could shop at 3 a.m. and maintain a really good social distance.
This is NOT about grocery stores
How is a single mother with two young children supposed to go anywhere or do anything?
They don't want her WORKING, at the BAR
sorry, this is ALL ABOUT DRUNKEN INDIANS. Drunken Indians getting drunk; TOGETHER
Hey Howard, I closed my laptop and was doing something else but continued to think about what you said in response to my comment about Judge Hidalgo. I won't bother to address your remarks, because they are nonsense and I don't pay attention to nonsense, but the fact that you said it: Aren't you in your seventies? You don't have much time left. Don't spend it lobbing bad faith, deliberate twisting of words, bilious potshots at strangers on the internet. Why would anyone do this as a pastime? This is advice for your own good. Go do something positive with your time. Make a batch of jam, play the piano, take a walk and smell the roses, take pictures of a body of water, meditate, tutor struggling readers. Sometimes you add to the conversation here in witty ways but so often you are just here to be sour and ugly. I mean, why, at your age, are you doing that?
This is one of my hobbies you silly cow thanks for playing
You're like the female version of shouting Thomas
My view is that Gallup is really ugly country. Hot in the summer, cold in the winter, with the wind. Broke down on I40 just east of town maybe 3 years ago, driving from Denver to Phoenix. It was something like the right front wheel falling off. Guy who picked us up with his tow truck was a crusty old guy. Started out essentially conversing in monosyllables and grunts. We sometimes compete with each other to open up strangers, esp in situations like that. She in particular just starts throwing out different things, until they bite. His was guns. I apologized to him about being armed - broken down 20 miles east of Gallup on I-40 is a bit sketchy. Asked if he wanted me to lock it in our Tahoe. Nope. He had a gun in the glove box. Late nights along this drug corridor. Etc. And we were off and running, best friends by the time he dropped us at the more reputable garage in Gallup. It was Saturday afternoon, and missed closing of the only car rental place in town by less than an hour. But U Haul was open, and I rented one of their vans. Stayed the night an hour or so west in Holbrook. Dropped at our house by Phoenix (330 miles), then most of a week later retraced the route to drop off the van, and pick up the now-repaired Tahoe. Not a fun trip, esp since U-Haul vans don’t ride that well on the freeway.
And we wonder why things occasionally go into comment moderation.
Mark:
Really Northern California is a lot different than the Bay Area, but still has the same income tax, same governor, same unfunded public employee pensions, same plaintiff loving legal system. Reasons why I left.
"social sadism"
To be fair, it is understandable that Native Americans would be a little touchy about a new virus. They probably wish they had closed the borders centuries ago.
Love you Pants.
I think Gilbar is right. The law is on the books only to be enforced for Drunk Indians.
I see Howard has opened up his bait shop.
Gosh, Re: Howard comments to Pants. the Althouse blog is really bringing out the ugly today.
“Gosh, Re: Howard comments to Pants. the Althouse blog is really bringing out the ugly today.”
Every one of Pants’ comments since the beginning of social distancing has been “ugly”. It’s only a matter of time that she got some of her own medicine.
"I'm assuming that truck stops will still be open (can NOT believe she's closing i-40, which goes right through town)"
That would make for an interesting case. Dormant commerce clause vs. police power wielded to deal with a health emergency. I suspect that strict scrutiny would come to the rescue of I-40.
The Zubiri case is part of an extensive cluster in the Philippine Senate. At least four (out of 24) Senators and numerous members of their staff got it, and their families, and onward from there. Several of the Senate staff died, and in the chain of transmission into the political elite it got to several retired dignitaries some of whom also perished. That incident, still ongoing in its ramifications, may explain some of the extreme and IMHO disproportionate measures the government has taken.
Very similar to the situation in Iran where the leadership class in Qom and Tehran were hard hit.
We knew the Zubiris a bit back in the day, friends of friends sort of thing. Over there the famous six degrees of separation is usually more like two or three. Though a Visayan-Mindanao lot they were all in school in Manila of course and the clan had a house in the city. As boys I knew the Senators elder brother slightly, though I was several years older. The father may have been my uncles university classmate but I cant check with him as he is dead.
Don't forget Winona...
How could I?
We'll always have the '90s, baby ...
{{{I don't know enough about what's happening in NM, or how the Navajo Tribe is prepared to handle this. Are there enough medical facilities in the county? Docs? Nurses, equipment? You could ask that of almost anywhere.}}}
I watched the video at the link, it showed the ICU in the largest of the Navajo nations' four hospitals. Six rooms. They are full. They have enough ventilators and apparently enough other supplies BUT they don't have nearly enough PPE. While there, an ICU patient had to be removed for a flight to a better hospital. It's a long segment but short on information. One immediately wonders, why not enough PPE? The report makes sure to show how awful it is to not have the PPE, but never asks them why. We're left wondering if the fact that it's on a reservation is behind the shortage. Since New Mexico isn't overwhelmed in general at this point, why in the world isn't the state transferring PPE to the under-supplied hospitals?
I told them that the production West Side Story with Tony as a Navaho and Maria as a Zuni should have been postponed, but they didn't listen.
Sebastian said: "The virus is running amok there. It must be stopped"
This is the essence of the insanity epidemic. The virus cannot be stopped. It should not be stopped. We need herd immunity. We'll get it anyway, except slower if we remain insane."
I agree completely, except that this particular lockdown may make sense. It seems to be dealing with a particular Navajo community that is NOT prepared to deal with the consequences of letting the virus rip. This community probably hasn't changed its behaviors before now, to social distance, and their local health facilities are definitely overwhelmed.
New Mexico resident here. Interesting that the Gallup story is picked up, but not the one about the Grants mayor who is determined to reopen his town. https://www.abqjournal.com/1447729/grants-mayor-prepares-to-defy-shutdown.html
why in the world isn't the state transferring PPE to the under-supplied hospitals
I wonder if it's some kind of an issue with Indian Health-could their supply lines be siloed in some way? You'd think there'd be a workaround.
Thank you, Birches. :)
Tommy Duncan said: I understood the effort to flatten the curve to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. Mission accomplished. What has happened since the curve was flattened is inexplicable. We've moved the goalposts outside the stadium. There is no clearly definable purpose to our actions at this point.}}}
I totally agree. But I had a great exchange with a knowledgeable commenter on another blog who made a good case that slow easing of restrictions is necessary. This is because we may NOT be medically prepared for the strength of the wave that will come---unless the population encounters the virus in increments. Of course that begs the question, where is the hard data on preparedness, so that we can all have a clear explanation and a visible goal. Are we actually medically unprepared, except in certain small areas such as the Navajo nation?
Clint noted: "All roads into the city have been closed, businesses must close between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. and vehicles can only carry two individuals, according to the governor's order."
The question that no one in government seems to be answering is: What beneficial effect do they expect these specific restrictions to have?}}
Exactly. We need a groundswell of rational rebellion that focuses on demanding better than the shitty information and explanations we are getting/not getting from the authorities. We deserve answers and I'm becoming more furious by the day that the answers are not only not forthcoming, but discussion is being actively suppressed.
We have many examples
now of treatment that works.
So why is the first instinct of politicians to restrict freedom instead of encouraging rapid and early treatment before the disease turns deadly?
Another example:
https://uncoverdc.com/2020/04/30/medical-misinformation-part-1-hydroxychloroquine/
And another
https://www.trustnodes.com/2020/03/29/italy-finally-starts-mass-treatment-with-hydroxychloroquine
Been to Gallup seveal times. You hear Navajo spoken as much as English or Spanish.
And another:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.27.20073379v1
Seems like the only study of Hydroxychloroquine that failed was the VA study that almost looks like it was designed to fail by people who wanted it to fail.
More and more "anecdotes" are coming in that say the same thing. Early aggressive treatment and you don't end up with people dying on ventilators at the other end. Double blind studies at this point will only increase the death count.
The one thing I wonder now is- will this treatment work for influenza also? It's obvious to all but the purposely oblivious it works for covid19.
“I watched the video at the link, it showed the ICU in the largest of the Navajo nations' four hospitals. Six rooms. They are full. They have enough ventilators and apparently enough other supplies BUT they don't have nearly enough PPE. While there, an ICU patient had to be removed for a flight to a better hospital. It's a long segment but short on information. One immediately wonders, why not enough PPE? The report makes sure to show how awful it is to not have the PPE, but never asks them why. We're left wondering if the fact that it's on a reservation is behind the shortage. Since New Mexico isn't overwhelmed in general at this point, why in the world isn't the state transferring PPE to the under-supplied hospitals?”
The same problem might be faced in other rural areas with small hospitals. If there are large outbreaks in rural areas, we may be seeing more local authorities taking a similar stance this Mayor is. The hospitals in the areas that are having the outbreaks centered around the meat processing plants are already feeling it.
As I have said any number of times, the reservations are the one place inside this great country where by law the rules are communist.
And you all wonder why the reservations are ill-prepared?
I wonder what the infection rate was when H1N1 hit? More? Less? Same?
These Dem politicians are slow-walking the reopening of the country, because they want to incur as much economic damage as possible, which, of course, translates into human damage. They won't say this though. They will say they are "saving lives" from the deadly virus, even though they are too stupid to understand epidemiology, Farr's Law or even basic statistics. Bay Area Guy
I understood the effort to flatten the curve to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. Mission accomplished. What has happened since the curve was flattened is inexplicable. We've moved the goalposts outside the stadium. There is no clearly definable purpose to our actions at this point. Tommy Duncan
Exactly.
Some Native Americans have a genetic disposition to an enzyme that doesn't metabolize alcohol well. They have real problems with it. I grew up in central NM and we had the same issues there. Played football in high school, had a game in Gallup. We were the third game on the field that day; pouring rain, 39 degrees. It was not fun.
Pants: I would add two things to your list of things people might do to occupy themselves. Learn a new language (or brush up on one you already know but are a bit rusty with). Start a sourdough starter.
I have a new starter that looks and smells healthy and has just passed the float test with flying colors (a dab of starter floats in room temperature water). I have named it Livy. A couple of days and the first loaves will emerge.
To explain Pants' comment above about County Judge Hidalgo to non-Houstonians:
Lina Hidalgo is a 27-year-old graduate student who became county judge (chief executive officer) through an electoral fluke.
She has absolutely no real-world experience which she has amply demonstrated in this crisis. Most recently she responded to Governor Abbott's order ending Texas lockdown with a counter-order decreeing that all residents must wear a mask at all times. The order was too police-state even for the police and sheriffs, who announced they wouldn't enforce it.
This morning she told the Houston Chronicle that she was upset that Houstonians were celebrating the end of lockdown (which we understandably were).
She is clearly envious of the really tyrannical figures like Gretchen Whitmer.
The same problem might be faced in other rural areas with small hospitals. If there are large outbreaks in rural areas, we may be seeing more local authorities taking a similar stance this Mayor is. The hospitals in the areas that are having the outbreaks centered around the meat processing plants are already feeling it.
Once again, bullshit. As it always is with you.
Rural hospitals are closing. Got that? Closing.
Why? Because they've been ordered to treat only coronavirus patients. And guess what? Those 'patients' don't need hospitalization.
Jim at,
That is absolutely correct. Many rural hospitals are in BK because they cannot perform their normal functions. Without profitable business to attend they shutter, as they must. And now those communities will be short doctors, nurses, and facilities.
One must assume this is happening by design given the extensions of the lockdown orders in so many places.
Cui bono?
Howard doesn’t sound like himself today. In fact, he has a completely different tone.
Weird.
https://www.kff.org/other/issue-brief/covid-19-in-rural-america-is-there-cause-for-concern/
“Less densely populated rural areas initially saw slower spread of the new coronavirus, and both cases and deaths remain lower in non-metro areas than metro areas. However, there are troubling signs that the rates of growth in both cases and deaths are increasing more rapidly in rural areas, where the population tends to be older, younger people are more likely to have-risk health conditions, and hospitals have fewer ICU beds per capita.
Due to concerns over the economic effects of stay-at-home orders, some states have started to ease social distancing measures previously put in place. For example, Georgia has started to reopen certain businesses and allow limited dine-in at restaurants, despite some of its counties” rising toward the top of this list of U.S. metro and non-metro counties with the highest numbers of COVID-19 deaths per capita. Similarly, Oklahoma and Montana have also begun easing restrictions, despite each having a county among the top five for non-metro COVID-19 deaths per capita. The findings presented here suggest that there may be particular challenges in these states and others, given recent case and death trends in their rural counties.”
Haven't seen any alerts on Amtrak about the train station in Gallup. Apparently it's the busiest one in NM. The Southwest Chief goes through there twice a day and most riders either head east to Albuquerque or west to Flagstaff, or the smaller towns between the two. Last time we went through, the tracks next to the station were out of service for repairs so the travelers had to walk across two sets of tracks, some snow berms, and the gravel making up the track grades. One passenger slid on an icy spot coming down off the second grade but didn't appear to be hurt.
If Gallup is a vector I wonder if the train station will be closed due to the act.
Quirky NM also has a law that no alcohol may be sold or served on Sunday. That applies to the train as it passes through the state so if you want wine with dinner it ain't happening until you cross into the the next state on the route.
Royal ass Inga ignores the bankruptcies hitting rural hospitals.
Breaking a few eggs to make that socialist omelette.
Rural hospitals have been struggling long before Covid but now with this pandemic they are especially at risk.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/rural-america-hardest-hit-by-covid-19-outbreak#Older-and-less-healthy
Medical facilities known as critical access hospitals, which have 25 beds or fewer and are 35 miles away from the closest facility, are among the ones that have closed at the highest rates in the past two decades, even as their closure rate slowed somewhat thanks to provisions in the Affordable Care Act.
“Rural hospitals, on the whole, they’re going to see their curve, whether it’s flat or not, start a whole lot later, maybe 3 weeks, 6 weeks,” Longenecker told Healthline.
In the meantime, however, “Rural hospitals right now are seeing a steep decline in activity, empty beds, and empty practices, so for right now there’s a steep loss of revenue.”
For those rural hospitals — ones that remain after more than 80 have closed since 2010 and nearly 700 more found themselves on the brink of closure — that loss of revenue illuminates a dangerous teetering in our health system, as administrators try to balance the costs of staying afloat against the predicted flood of eventual COVID-19 cases.
In the meantime, many of these critical access hospitals are operating with bare-bones staff.
“What’s happening is the wave hasn’t come yet here,” said Jane, a travel nurse working at a critical access hospital in Wisconsin. “We’re down to two teams working here per day, which is OK most days because procedures keep getting canceled and falling off, but yesterday, we were working our (tails) off and I’m wondering why are we down to a skeleton crew? It’s because they’re trying to save money for when the s— really hits the fan.”
By then, supply shortages and other issues may have already rocked the system, Longenecker said.”
“Part of the reason rural areas are so vulnerable to the COVID-19 health crisis is that they were vulnerable to begin with.
Rural zip codes lost almost 20 percent of their hospital beds between 2006 and 2017, according to a study from the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a bipartisan public policy organization.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Within this study, EIG found that economically distressed rural areas were especially affected.”
Immediate action is necessary, the man said. So if Level 10 craziness isn’t doing the trick, looks like it’s time to dial it up to 11.
Cutting and pasting will make the BKs better.
Stick your head in the sand.
You're useless.
I wait for threads to be dead before engaging because there's no reason to waste others' time.
So now let's understand that those articles explain why government control through ObamaInsurance killed rural hospitals, by design! Do you think you can appreciate the dates in your own cut-and-paste bull shit?
Birkel doesn’t like being proven wrong...
https://www.rollcall.com/2020/04/30/rural-areas-face-pandemic-risk-as-countrys-urban-areas-reopen/
“People who get sick in rural areas may have fewer health care resources to turn to during the pandemic. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey released last week found a notable discrepancy between hospital resources in urban and rural areas nationwide, according to Matthew Rae, the foundation’s assistant director for health care marketplaces.
“There is not a huge discrepancy of hospital beds, but there is a huge discrepancy in ICU beds,” Rae said. “The capacity is going to be hit a lot harder there in rural areas.”
According to the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina, rural hospitals have long faced declines that have spurred closures and consolidations. According to the center, 170 rural hospitals have closed since 2005, including 10 so far in 2020.
Krieger said rural hospitals may soon face staffing issues if administrative issues and cases surpass their staff's capacity.
"It is not just whether there are adequate ventilators, it is who is going to be running those ventilators," she said.”
It would be a nice change of pace if you disproved any of the things I have typed. We both know you're not bright enough to do so. Still, you make me laugh with your insane pantomime of others.
Points I have made:
1) ObamaInsurance was a direct cause of hospital closures, as I and many others predicted before its passage.
2) Your article supports my point 1.
3) More hospitals are bankrupt due to the ridiculous shutdowns.
4) Fewer hospitals will not reduce the effects of Winnie Xi Flu.
Take a crack at any of them.
You haven't so far.
5) You are demonstrably stupid.
"This is because we may NOT be medically prepared for the strength of the wave that will come"
Well living in NorCal we never saw any of the hospitals overwhelmed in the first place. So why on earth would this so-called "second wave" overwhelm the hospitals now? None of the hospitals in California were ever at risk of being swamped.
Elon Musk caused something of a stink when he charted all of Gov.Newsoms dire covid-19 predictions and then charted the actual outcome. Our hospitals are half empty and laying off staff. My liberal friends all assure me they are "data driven" but are now curiously mute whenever i send them this link. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1255678979043778560
"As a matter of fact, however, hospitals are now so empty of patients that their healthcare professionals and other staff have been sent home by the tens of thousands. In a recent survey conducted by Merritt Hawkins, a company that recruits physicians, more than one in five of the responding doctors “said they’ve experienced pay cuts or have been furloughed as a result of the crisis.”
"Pay cuts, furloughs, and layoffs have reached even the urban centers hardest hit by coronavirus, leaving us to wonder what all of this is for, though know what they say about best-laid plans."
https://www.aier.org/article/what-happened-to-the-land-of-the-free/
Also at that link: The lockdowns cost $25,000,000,000 per day.
Are we actually medically unprepared, except in certain small areas such as the Navajo nation?
The Navajo rez is over 10 times the size of Delaware, and about half the size of NY State.
If you want to feel sorry for people, try the Hopi; their reservation is surrounded by the Navajo reservation, and the two tribes don't like each other, as with the Navajo and Utes, although that dislike is less intense.
A Navajo guy was teaching me to say "you're full of shit" in Navajo (something like "shh shh hah", along with hand gestures), and suggested that it'd be a bad idea to say it to our local Indians, who are mostly Utes.
You are far more likely to die by alcohol in Gallup than by COVID-19.
Fenandistein-
Where do you live? I used to live in Durango.
"This is because we may NOT be medically prepared for the strength of the wave that will come"
Well living in NorCal we never saw any of the hospitals overwhelmed in the first place. So why on earth would this so-called "second wave" overwhelm the hospitals now? None of the hospitals in California were ever at risk of being swamped.}}}
And THIS is the exact question/issue that needs to be addressed. For those who are attending to the authorities updates, are they presenting believable evidence that we still can't handle a higher wave in the infection rate? All I've seen are pronouncements that we must still flatten, without telling us the underlying reasons and showing the supporting data. They do say that it's to avoid overwhelming the medical system, but they don't explain how it is that we have managed the needed care thus far and still don't have the needed capacity despite the fact that we have now had time to prepare.
I'm trying to be logical and reasonable about this. For instance, Delaware is still shouting at people to not come there from out of state. They actually do have a relatively small capacity for serious hospitalizations. Delaware is dealing with the infections so far but since about 9 million people come visit over the summer, I am open to the argument that they are poorly situated to deal with a sharp rise in cases.
Gallup is slick compared to Shiprock.
"Howard doesn’t sound like himself today. In fact, he has a completely different tone"
They had to bring in an inexperienced sub for the second shift today?
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