De Blasio -- Never Mind -- March 29, 2020

Is filming "Saturday Night Live" still considered an "essential" activity in NYC?

From today's daily note:

Comments:

• China's numbers can be dispensed with; no one believes them
• Iran's numbers can be dispensed; no one believes them -- although probably more accurate than China's
• more cases in the US than any other country in the world (may or may not be true if one includes China)
• total number of new cases in US: 7,825 ("today") -- most of any country in the entire universe;
• total number of new cases in New York: 7,131 ("yesterday) -- accounts for more than 90% of all new cases in the US

Well documented:

• as late as February 27, 2020, the mayor of NYC was downplaying the coronavirus
• never shut down the subway; encouraged folks to use it; did not change subway precautions;
• kept hotels, restaurants open; welcomed tourists, business travelers to the city

Wallet Hub: "ranking" severely questions criteria used. New York is ranked #7 in its efforts to stop coronavirus. Number of new cases in last 24 hours accounts for 91% of all new cases in the US. NYC is on track to exceed number of cases in all countries in the world.

Toilet paper:

"They" say the reason for the "run" on food at grocery stores -- particularly, beef -- was due to the fact that Americans took upwards of 60% of their meals outside the home, and thus the run on food -- particularly beef --  was simply Americans restocking their pantries now that they were homebound and eating at home.

Now, toilet paper.

Let's re-write that first paragraph with emphasis on toilet paper:

"They" say the reason for the "run" on toilet paper at grocery stores was due to the fact that Americans took upwards of 60% of their bathroom breaks outside the home, and thus the run on toilet paper was simply Americans restocking their bathrooms now that they were homebound and pooping at home.

Just saying. 

On another note: liquor stores. I honestly do not know if liquor stores are open in our area. I have not checked. [Later: see first comment: apparently liquor stores are open in Texas.] I asked one person: that person said "no, liquor is not essential."

Actually, this should not be taken lightly. My hunch is that a lot of diagnosed and undiagnosed alcoholics have severe alcohol intake. Abruptly stopping their alcohol could result in death and/or other non-fatal serious consequencs. One of thousands of links.

******************************************** 

Back to New York

From Power Line:

Yesterday (March 28), new reported deaths in the U.S. from the Wuhan coronavirus exceeded 500 for the first day ever, according to Worldometer. On March 26, the daily death count was half of what it was yesterday.

The New York City pandemic is driving the increase. The pandemic there shows no sign of abating, and the high number of new reported cases from New York might well drive the daily national death count higher for weeks to come.

A key question for me is whether other big metropolitan areas will experience New York-like pandemics. New York, of course, is larger and more compact than other major cities, and, as I understand it, had more contact with Chinese nationals during January and February.

Thus, there’s reason to hope that no metropolitan area will be hammered by the virus to the extent New York has been. But there’s also reason to fear that we will see several mini New Yorks before long.

In Western Europe, meanwhile, the daily death figures (as reported by Worldometer) are inching towards 1,000 in Italy and Spain, and new reported cases in both countries are also rising. The number of daily reported deaths have held steady the past few days in France (at around 300) and Germany (at around 80). Great Britain reported 181 deaths on March 27 and 260 yesterday.