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We were promised 1,000 ventilators; we're getting 100
By adamg on Mon, 04/06/2020 - 12:39pm
On March 30, Gov. Baker said the federal government had assured Massachusetts it would be sending us 1,000 ventilators from that fabled national stockpile - but Baker cautioned he'd believe it when he saw it, because these days "you don't have a confirmed order until it actually shows up."
Baker was right to add that caveat.
On Friday, Vice Dotard Mike Pence announced, like it was some grand gesture, that Massachusetts would be getting 100 of the devices.
The entire Massachusetts delegation in Washington now wants to know what happened to the other 900 ventilators. In a letter today to FEMA, which runs the alleged stockpile, they write:
We have heard from hospitals in the state that they will run out of invasive ventilators in a matter of days and will run out of other ventilators that can be adapted for use for COVID-19 patients within a week.
Massachusetts currently has a total of 12,500 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 231 deaths from COVID-19, and the virus is expected to peak in the coming days, infecting between 47,000 and 172,000 residents - or up to 2.5% of the population. Governor Baker recently announced projections showing that a COVID-19 surge in hospitalizations is expected between April 10th and April 20th, and that the state could see up to 2,580 COVID-19 deaths.
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Comments
Blood on their hands
This administration is using the lives of people to punish states they don't like. These ensuing deaths will be on them.
Blood on Baker's hands too
Thousands of construction workers, painters, and landscapers, among others are somehow considered essential and are still working. There is nothing critically essential about construction of new buildings, cleaning of yards, and painting walls.
The Baker guidelines are contradictory and not consistent. Landscapers for example, on the state's website are defined as "not essential" while at the same time are allowed to work, if they "practice social distancing". Riding in a truck to a jobsite with 2-3 shoulder to shoulder is not social distancing.
yeah
I like that baker has done SOMETHING and most of us are smart enough to just stay home.
But as I sit on my front steps to get my 20 minutes of direct sun.. I hear them pounding away on the tobin bridge
In many cities, such as Boston.. construction has ended FOR PRIVATE COMPANIES
yet they are pounding away at the Tobin right now.
Exceptions
I believe exceptions have been made for certain critical projects that can not be halted. For example, the second work stops on the Tobin the chance of it dropping into the harbor increases by about 10% daily. Unfortunately that will be it's perpetual state forever - because nobody has the wherewithal to cut the connection long enough to just demolish it and build anew.
Because a bridge is critical
Because a bridge is critical infrastructure, and the Tobin is in terrible shape.
Yes
Baker is pushing his own projects the same way the president is pushing the health of the economy at the cost of social well-being. Boston housing on the backs of skilled labor at any cost. Disgusting white collar business move.
are you KIDDING me?
are you KIDDING me?
That's a bold statement to make.
He's not going to please everybody here. It's what's best for the general public of the state. We're currently in a nightmare scenario that governors don't normally face. He's trying to prevent deaths on a wide scale here. I'd say he's doing a damn good job of doing what is necessary to keep people safe, and I'd like to see if any of you armchair quarterbacks do any better. It's on US too to abide by the guidelines. That's the way disease contagion and being part of a society works.
Why should they care?
Massachusetts wasn't going to vote Republican in November anyway.
That's how a sociopath like Trump thinks.
if the dems...
if the dems don't weaponize this administration's gross indifference to blue state lives in the lead up to November, then we really need to push pelosi and schumer out into the ocean on ice floats.
using the facts of this tragedy for political gain is repugnant, but it is not more repugnant than letting people die in states you deem unnecessary to your campaign.
The Neocon Trolley Problem
The trolley's brakes were decommissioned intentionally because the driver wasn't using them all the time. Then the parts went missing before they were delivered. Now the driver is instructed to run over the ten people who won't vote for the dictator and spare the one person on the other fork who supports the dictator.
Right now...
...they're more concerned with keeping people alive, a consideration that doesn't affect Trump or his minions.
the point
is at least partly to extract praise from governors in blue states for use in re-election ads.
The world does not revolve
The world does not revolve around Massachusetts.
Other states have it worse.
That is all..
Yeah, it's far worse in New York
Which also isn't getting many ventilators.
But the issue here isn't so much who has it worse (and if current numbers keep rising, you know, exponentially, here, we're going to be in a lot of trouble) as the fact that we were promised X and then, without explanation, got X minus a whole lot.
Cuomo said today
They didn't need any more ventilators.
Baker asked for 1400 ventilators of the 9000 the fed gov't has (16%). MA has 3.5% of the cases in the US.
Cuomo is full of shit
I was listening to an interview with a pediatric nurse at one of the hospitals in Staten Island yesterday. Multiple people have already died just in her hospital because they needed to be intubated and there weren't any ventilators available.
Exactly. But of course Trump
Exactly. But of course Trump didn’t learn not to make promises that he can’t keep like the rest of us by the time we became adults. He’s literally 5 years old
Well, I mean, not literally,
Well, I mean, not literally, right?
In a large orange costume
In a large orange costume
5 is generous. Trump is the
5 is generous. Trump is the worlds oldest, dumbest, fattest toddler. His daily temper tantrums are proof of this.
But they sent a ton to FL which hadn't asked for them
PPE & ventilators are definitely not being distributed by need.
Trump told governors they should get the equipment themselves and then has had the fed gov't seizing the shipments.
Revovle around....
That is a diluted and overly worn out cliche used to knock down uncomfortable facts. 1,000 were promised. People are dying not just in other places but in Massachusetts as well.
Do you have courage (or chutzpah) to tell family members - neighbors - whose loved one suffered and died for lack of a ventilator?
Go to Hell, Troll
You have no clue. No clue whatsoever. You are just an ignorant person who thinks that if everyone was born with your privilege or followed whatever sacred life playbook your God gave you there would be no problems.
Meanwhile, my niece doesn't even have any contact with her kids for fear of giving them COVID as she works in an ICU and does not have adequate protection because little flowers like you think medical workers are expendable when there are supplies stolen by the feds to give to Republican fundraisers and an orange ass to be kissed.
You make me want to puke.
LOLOL
LOLOL
I'm not sure if this is directed at me, but as one who has a daughter actually working on the front line @ MGH, I take your comment with a grain of salt. Sorry about your niece but her story is one of millions.
You know nothing of my "privilege" but your post is emotional drivel.
Go ahead and puke away!
But...
...you ARE a vile troll, Patricia.
You constantly cite your relatives as if their position or conduct somehow excuses yours. It does not. Stand by your words or remain silent.
Hey, if you let emotions run
Hey, if you let emotions run your decisions, be my guest!
Swirly's post is just emotional tripe.
What conduct of mine? Actually clearly thinking that MA is just one of 50 states dealing with this crisis, with other states faring much worse is somehow being a "troll". Hilarious! Unlike most here, I've no notion that the whole US of A revolves around Boston.
While Swirly's niece can't see her kids, my daughter gets coughed on all shift by inconsiderate, or un thinking patients - yet she does her job and she does it well (and brings home all those germs, by the way). I'm proud that she has managed to keep her sanity and not let her emotions run away with her - take note.
Take your vile emotional trolling and go away lbb, You add nothing, you offer nothing but insults.
"The US doesn't revolve around Boston"
That's the (expletive) problem, lady. It should. We and like 11 other states pay the bills. If you work, pay taxes, and have an IQ over 50, the state of this nation should be deeply troubling to you.
Also, who are you to pull rank on a registered user?
I found 7
2 are on red Auerbach and bill Russell's face
The others are on the ducks in the commons
Ignorant Fools Abound!
Sorry, asshat - scale is vastly wrong. Somebody hand made those things to make a point about covering up.
Then again, like most jackass males of this species, you really have no idea of how big "big" is.
Wait, I'm confused
What are the "commons?"
The Commons
Are what out of towners call the Boston Common and the Public Garden.
And...
...they confuse the two. Look for those ducks on "the Commons" (or even the Common) and you'll be looking a long time.
Do you think that masks and
Do you think that masks and ventilators are the same thing?
Stephen Bickerton Senior
Stephen Bickerton Senior couldn’t think of another name to give to his son. You think he knows what a ventilator is?!
A rundown of just where all
A rundown of just where all that medical gear may be going right now.
Seized by the Feds, given to Trump's private sector distributions so they can profit from a monopoly on that stuff.
Correct
If, like me, you are not a Twit, and can't read those things, this is from Talking Points Memo:
Strange that Adam's blog leaves this out...
On Monday, Baker had predicted 1,000 ventilators would arrived by week's end.
"We believe that the process as it's been laid out to us is going to be an incremental one," Baker said. "We don't believe this is the last shipment. We fully expect that we'll get additional ventilators over the next two weeks."
yeah
yeah all my friends wonder why I'm a hot mess lately. Feeling like a -1 lately (on a scale of 1-5).
Ya this is why.
OUR OWN GOVERNMENT IS ACTIVELY WORKING AGAINST ITS CITIZENS
We're are so fucked.. so fucked.
If COVID-19 doesn't get us, the economy might, and if that doesn't, Donald Trump most certainly will.
Every single day it becomes more apparent this is the case.
ya maybe I've been alone too long (I live alone) but I've tossed this around in my head since the day he won. a pandemic would be a perfect storm for him to 'finalize' our destruction. And now that nightmare has come true.
a pandemic would be a perfect
This is not without precedent. Hitler wanted the whole German civilian population to go up in flames as punishment for defeat. The Japanese military cult wanted the whole of the island's people to die in defense or in suicide.
i don't think we're fucked.
i don't think we're fucked. we've done a decent job of getting our house in order as far as the public health is concerned. the next weeks will be tough, but we will survive them because of the preparations we've made.
however, the social contract between the states and the federal government has been broken: we pay our taxes to them, yet we get only desolation in return. when they tell us to fend for ourselves, they proceed to kneecap us when we do, and all for political reasons.
we may want to start seriously considering secession, perhaps with several of our neighboring states who have also been subject to the federal government's abuse.
our government has tried to set us up for failure in our moment of crisis, and we are under no obligation to abide them any further.
Yep
I was saying this long before COVID-19. What does Massachusetts get for being a net payer of federal funds? Ripped off when it counts, apparently.
If I survive this outbreak, I get to spend the rest of my life knowing that I'm intellectually superior to so many people who had more power/influence than me, and/or who were older than me. Aw, who am I kidding? I feel that way now.
Corporations needed handouts after a week, traffic is down 60% with Goldman Sachs predicting a 30% decrease at most in economic productivity, and nobody's bothering to make masks and ventilators in this country fast enough.
All the things I believed my entire adult life about overspending, overclogged roads, and the simple truth that the invisible hand just doesn't give a (expletive) about finding a way to make sure people don't die are all coming true. I just wish that the powerful had listened to me before hundreds of thousands of Americans died.
Megalomaniacs rule the day
As every day it becomes more obvious that few if any were prepared for this, the number of voices crying "I was right all along!' completely overwhelms those few saying the opposite.
I'm no Jesus
I'm no (expletive) Elvis.
This is why I think we're fucked
Almost your ENTIRE statement is why.
They are working against us.. actively.
If we think we can thumb our nose and walk away without a fight, we're sadly mistaken. Sure "legally" we can.. but as someone pointed out above, our constitution is being used as TP right now so there's that.
Brings me to a point I didn't say... he's also pushing us toward civil war. Maybe not a 'war' like the real Civil War.. but one where we fight against each other. Blue states against Red States. Its already starting.. the virus is just polarizing it.
and then of course the will of the people. Do we have it in us to fight?
Nah. Donald Trump has done alot. but if we haven't fought back so far, I don't think we will be able to. And frankly, I think many Americans are too self absorbed to even care. And when it finally hits home with them.. it'll be too late. Add some morons who still believe in fake news and his supporters, and we're done. As I keep saying.. perfect storm.
I've been saying this since 2016 and much like everything else.. it's also becoming very true.
I wish that weren't true
But, given all the people who have been bleating "Somebody save us!" since 11/9/16, I'm afraid you may be right.
Thank You!
I don’t know if it is great for my anxiety to know someone else out there is reading the tea leaves like me.
Every morning, I wake up with this tiny voice that whispers to me ‘They are going to let us die.” Throughout the day, with each press conference the tiny voice gets louder and louder.
I also hate the need to rationalize COVID-19 deaths in the media. Pre-existing conditions soothes the panic I know but that person was loved and leaves a hole in a family.
Here is another shocker - the New York Times is reporting a Trump holds shares in a Hydroxychloroquine manufacturer.
Federalism
I'd be very happy to live in a socialist democracy but the example of Germany compared with the US federal gov't response makes me look for a truly federal system as a good back up. In that scenario, Gov. Baker would have more influence and impact on our response here in MA than anything the feds could do.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/germanys-devolved-logic-is...
I'd also like to see workers get meaningful representation on corporate boards too but that's a different topic,
To be very clear, 'the Federalist' folks here in the US should be exiled and sued for damages. I'm referred to the Germany implementation of federalism.
Hang On To Yourself
I'm not exactly thrilled myself these days, but, to paraphrase Bowie, people need to hang on to themselves. When this is all over the world will still wag. It's a genuine tipping point and some things that have been faltering for a while (i.e Macy's, movie theaters, fleabag hotels in Kenmore Square, etc) may go. Other, newer things will rise. Welcome to life on Earth.
No offense, but... how trite.
No offense, but... how trite. If the last few decades have shown me anything, it's that the contest to see who can be the most jaded and unperturbed has no winners. I think we all know the Earth isn't about to spin off its axis. Maybe there's something between here and there, though, that's worth caring about?
Disagree
Trump ran on the coat tails of 21st century political and religious fanatics whose fundamental platform was the destruction of the Federal government.
Koch brothers, Grover Norquist, too many Supremes, every religious fascist all want the nation to tank.
The question ultimately is whether enough people realize that the folks trying to run the show are willing to let anyone who disagrees in the slightest - die.
Even if (God forbid) Trump the Dump was relected, where does that leave Mitch McConnell, the screaming queen Lindsey and the rest of the "let them die" cabal that kissed up to Mitch everyday.
I've lived through Nixon, Ray-gun, Bush 1 and 2. The lessor Koch bigot has gone to his circle of Hell. Scalia's immortal head is stuck in the muck.
I choose to continue to hope. We are far from the horror shows of Germany, Russia and Communist China. If for no other reason than the fact that as US Americans we - I hope - are just to darn irony and bullheaded to let people like Trump and company destroy us.
At this point, it looks like
At this point, it looks like the upcoming election will be determined by how many people died in Blue states because Trump withheld medical equipment vs how many people died in Red states because they thought the virus was a hoax... that is if Trump doesn't somehow cancel the election altogether.
Since
Since I've been saying this for a while I'll hafta correct you like I was..
he has no authority to do so, according to the constitution. If we do not have an election by Jan 20th 2021, Nancy Pelosi will become President.
And you bet BabyDon and MitchMcTurtle aren't going to let that happen.
Sure there will be an election, but it'll either be rigged for him to win, or we'll be so sick or hurt economically, many of us will be unable to vote. Add some voter dis-enchantizing of voters, and that crap they do so PoC cannot vote... oh yes. It will be fixed in his favor.
Well he hasn't cared about
Well he hasn't cared about the Constitution thus far, so why would he suddenly do so? And he's stacked the Federal courts, including the Supreme one, so even if he does violate it, they'll likely rule in his favor.
rawr
Your first line was the one line i forgot to add.
Yeah I meant to add
"according to our constitution" but mean to add that.
But yeah you are right. And yes our courts are stacked
Again see my main post.. all my friends wonder why I'm on the edge all the time now?
we're in a zero sum game here folks..
It wouldn't be so clear cut
He wouldn't cancel the election, he'd impose restrictions on densely populated areas to prevent them from fully voting so that he'd appear to win in a landslide.
Look at what the Wisconsin GOP is trying to do with their state election tomorrow. They are refusing to allow it to be moved to another date and have also denied the request to send everyone a mail-in ballot. So only a tiny fraction of people will vote, most of whom are rural voters they have been courting.
There's a hotly debated state court judge on the ballot so making urban voters stay home all but ensures he'll win.
Pelosi would not become
Pelosi would not become President because she would also have to vacate, having not been re-elected. I read an article someplace just a few days ago, I can't remember where, that followed the obscure cascade based on the premise of no election, that ends up with the Democrats in control of the Senate and Pat Leahy as President. Wish I could find it.
Was it this article?
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/21/21188152/trump-cancel-november-election-co...
I would welcome a President Leahy.
It wasn't that one, but it's
It wasn't that one, but it's fairly similar. It went into a bit more detail but you get the idea.
Nope
Not if California held their election, which is a STATE election.
I love it - not that I like Pelosi much, but it would be good to have a grownup running things again.
US Congress members are
US Congress members are elected in FEDERAL elections. STATE elections are for Governors and state reps. States administer the federal elections for their US Congress people and they might still be able to hold the election even if Trump somehow tried to postpone the federal election (which he can’t, but I have no faith that his GOP enablers in Congress and SCOTUS won’t try anyway). In that case, yes, California could re-elect Pelosi. But if there were no federal elections then the chain of succession flows down to the most senior member who is not up for re-election. Which would be Leahy because the Senate would flip due to the 23 GOP vacancies, landing him as President pro tem.
Of course this is all an intellectual exercise because the law is very clear that he can’t just stay in office. I’d be fine with President Pelosi. Or President Leahy. Or even President Dead Squirrel From My Back Yard as long as it’s not the Orange Menace.
This is revenge
for Baker embarrassing Trump with the Patriots mask deal.
Come on, Charlie, there's no place for you in the Republican Party anymore. Just cut the cord.
Could he become an
Could he become an Independent?
What would it matter?
He's going to win another term in MA if he wants it. He's made a career of being a Republican in the Democratic state. He's got no reason to change.
Unfortunately he is a coward
You're right. He should cut the cord. But he is a coward. Remember how he handled the presidential election? By his own account , he didn't cast a vote. A friggin governor who didn't even cast a vote for president. That's Charlie.
House money
Trump without the overt crassness and tackiness. I didn't reward him with a vote. People who probably need access to health care a hell of a lot more than I do did. Why they saw fit to reward a health profiteer with a vote eludes me.
(Expletive) Charlie Baker. He's not a hero. Neither is Andrew Cuomo. Cue Chris Rock: "You're supposed to demand that your states get things from the feds, you low-expectation having (expletive!)" Now THAT'S the celebrity I want for president.
Oh, come on.
Oh, come on.
The pandemic is still on. If kissing Trump's ass will save lives in Massachusetts, Baker will kiss Trump's ass. Ask him again when this is over.
He's the Nice Cop
Liz Warren is the tough cop.
They work together.
Do we have any data on what
Do we have any data on what the current inventory in MA is? The IHME model (updated last night) says we will need 2,569 ventilators (1,124-5,276 with uncertainty).
Probably
But not here.
Did they work?