Of course we’ve known almost since the beginning, that’s why it’s so dangerous. This is so incredibly stupid. But this is only the latest stupid thing he said. He also said it was not easy to transmit.
Mayor Bill de Blasio rejected WNYC host Brian Lehrer’s claim that the U.S. knew “weeks and months ago that asymptomatic people can spread this disease,” and instead suggested this fact was only discovered “in the last 48 hours.”
“The city’s position used to be that healthy people don’t need masks because they’re not very effective at preventing the virus from coming in, they’re mostly from keeping you from spreading it, so explain this new recommendation,” Lehrer said.
“Exactly, it’s still the fundamental truth, so we have, you know, a renowned health department here in New York City… only in the last really 48 hours or so do they feel they’ve seen evidence around the world, particularly a new study coming out of Singapore, that shows more evidence that this disease can be spread by asymptomatic people,” de Blasio responded.
CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta was widely blasted for interrupting Dr. Deborah Birx during Friday’s coronavirus briefing to attack President Trump.
Birx took a moment at the podium to address the “who knew what when” concerns and said all the countries affected by the pandemic can “look back” to develop a timeline but not while “in the middle” of the crisis.
“We can talk about why didn’t Italy do something or Spain do something or Germany do something, or we can really say right now — we all can do something,” Dr. Birx explained. “We can do the social distancing and all of the pieces that we know is starting to work around the globe in country after country. And then when we get through all of this, we can ask the questions about could we have done some piece of this better as a global community.”
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has been dinged several times by fact-checkers over claims he has made during the coronavirus crisis, including a total of 11 “Pinocchios” from the Washington Post.
Over the course of three weeks between March 13 and April 3, Biden was fact-checked five separate times for making false or misleading claims concerning the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic.
A Washington Post fact check on March 13 awarded Biden four Pinocchios, the fact-checker’s most severe rating, for two manipulated videos the Biden campaign circulated.
The first video claimed to show Trump at a Feb. 28 rally saying Democrats were turning the coronavirus into “their new hoax” after they failed to bring Trump down through impeachment. Biden’s video was edited to make it appear that Trump was calling the coronavirus a hoax. Trump, however, was referring to the Democrats’ attempts to blame him for the virus, not the virus itself.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.) on Friday defended his previous claim that coronavirus is a “tremendous opportunity” to advance Democratic policy goals.
“I find it kind of interesting that one of my colleagues said he has a problem with me because I’m a ‘restructure government’ person,” Clyburn told Roll Call. “Yes, Jim Clyburn is a restructuring government guy and everybody with any common sense, and looking at where we are today, needs to be a restructuring government person.”
Clyburn has taken a prominent role in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D., Calif.) coronavirus response. The speaker tapped the South Carolina Democrat on Thursday to lead her select oversight committee on coronavirus relief, which will monitor the billions in federal dollars spent fighting the pandemic. Top Republicans criticized the decision, pointing to Clyburn’s March comments calling the coronavirus “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
This is where I remind people that Robert Kraft is friends with Donald Trump and gave to his campaign. It’s incredible the Kraft family is doing this, but hope they understand their money helped empower their ✌🏾friend✌🏾 https://t.co/IytC5C5bIX
Former ESPN host and vocal Trump critic Jemele Hill blasted New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft for being friends with the president despite his efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
Kraft, a longtime ally of President Trump, oversaw a shipment of roughly 1.7 million N95 masks from China using the Patriots’ private plane. But Hill condemned the NFL team owner for his association with the commander in chief.
“This is where I remind people that Robert Kraft is friends with Donald Trump and gave to his campaign. It’s incredible the Kraft family is doing this, but hope they understand their money helped empower their ‘friend,'” Hill tweeted in reaction to the news.
CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin tested positive for the novel coronavirus, she announced Friday.
Baldwin made the announcement on Instagram Friday and said that she is “OKAY.” The “CNN Newsroom” host added that her symptoms “came on suddenly yesterday afternoon.” This announcement comes just three days after anchor Chris Cuomo announced that he tested positive for the virus.
“Chills, aches, fever,” Baldwin said as she described her symptoms. “I’ve been social distancing. Doing ALL the things we’re being told to do. Still – it got me.”
UPMC and scientists from Pitt Health Sciences announced a potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a press release, “when tested in mice, the vaccine, delivered through a fingertip-sized patch, produces antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 at quantities thought to be sufficient for neutralizing the virus.”
Researchers said they had previous experience with two viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2.
A replay of the press conference is available in the video
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “You know, I’ve talked to the governor about this because I think in other policies and decisions that he’s made, he’s almost indicated that it’s not enough when you apply his own standard to his decisions and his calls on mortgages. The governor has not just issued a foreclosure moratorium in the state of New York. He has called for mortgage payment suspensions. So if he believes that just placing a moratorium on foreclosures isn’t enough, surely a person who’s made that decision should also apply that standard to renters and say that foreclosure on just evictions isn’t enough. If you called for a suspension or moratorium on mortgage payments, then we should also call for that same treatment on rent payments. And when you hold one standard where we’re being more generous to mortgagers, or rather people who are receiving mortgages, than you are on people who are renters, which is two-thirds of New York City, we’re kind of creating a class and race issue. We’re essentially rewarding and offering preferential treatment to landowners and folks who are more wealthy, and we’re not offering that same kind of relief to renters.“
As liberal networks debate whether to pull broadcasting pressers from the president of the United States because they don’t like him, one anti-Trump network might not have a choice if they want to boost ratings. CNN had quite a dismal first quarter, with not a single one of their programs cracking the top 20 in the rating chart. President Trump has made the network his top punching bag, and rightfully so. It’s no secret that the top brass at CNN hate Trump.
Fox News continues to dominate, but even MSNBC, who hates Trump, even more, was able to break into the top 20 on multiple fronts. As John Nolte of Breitbart noted, maybe trying to forcibly mainline the impeachment nonsense into the American bloodstream was just bad for the health of the country—and it was (via Breitbart):
A molecular biologist who has been quoted as a coronavirus expert by The Washington Post and MSNBC said Thursday in no uncertain terms that the novel coronavirus could have been unleashed due to a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
China’s top virologist on bat-borne viruses, Shi Zhengli, has sworn on her life that the virus did not leak from her Wuhan lab, saying that its spread was “nature punishing the human race for keeping uncivilized living habits.”
