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April 28, 2020

Texas Progressives: Coronavirus, week 7

Coronavirus officially became "not just the flu" last week, despite a growing number of lefty as well as Trumpist and further right conspiracy theorists.

Yes we will have some sort of coronavirus issues in the fall, per both Dr. Redfield and Dr. Fauci; even Dr. Birx, more of a toady than Fauci, agrees. It's likely to be less severe than in the summer but still real, and conjoined with influenza, even as a number of Greens are demonstrating that the horseshoe theory is not totally false in some matters political, with people on the GP's official (and public) Facebook group being like many a libertarian type in fighting alleged government tyranny if a vaccine IS developed, but also going down the wingnut road in claiming conspiracy theories about coronavirus itself, only in this case, the pharmaceutical industry is the villain.

And, beyond mortality, this is a serious issue. In a Twitter thread, an epidemiologist explains that the coronavirus, like, say, smoking, can have long-term pulmonary effects even if it doesn't kill you. (Thus also proving Nietzsche wrong.)

However, hopes of many and fears of libertarians and anarcho-greens aside, we will not have a vaccine by then. We may not have a vaccine in 18 months. Nautilus explains the process of vaccine development and also dives into some ethics issues.

Meanwhile, Gov. Strangeabbott incrementally "reopened Texas" Monday even while continuing to tell Trump-level lies about testing.


With that, let's dive in. The Roundup is again broken into two parts. Week 1 is here and week 2 is here. And for April 7 week, here. Week 5 is here. Ditto for Week 6. Here's Week 8. Weeks 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.



Dallas icon Neiman Marcus, struggling for years after a boatload of debt from a leveraged buyout, could be the first of several department store chains to not just go bankrupt but maybe just disappear. The coronavirus has accelerated existing issues.

Related? Texas Monthly has a longform of the history of Nieman-Marcus, which has been out of Marcus family ownership hands since before the start of the century. That said, per what TM describes, I expect this is another Texas institution that, like Half Price Books, will go the way of the dinosaurs and the dodo.

Update, May 6: It has officially filed for bankruptcy.


Vanity Fair has the receipts on why Dr. Rick Bright was pushed out of his vaccine development position.


Related? Dr. Stephen Hahn jumped from a frying pan he had cooled down at M.D. Anderson into the fire of being Trump's FDA head right before the coronavirus hit the fan, along with Trump pressers. It doesn't help that his immediate predecessor, Scott Gottlieb, along with Shrub Bush FDA head Mark McClellan, have been questioning recent FDA performance. But, Hahn got his job in part for being a political donor and player. Tough shit. (Hahn, per the Vanity Fair link, is also implicated in signing off on Trump's hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine.)


Could reopening restaurants with table social distancing help the "reopening"? (California is considering similar, but also with temperature testing requirements.) Maybe, and maybe not. In any case, in wingnut states, accelerating reopening timetables can't force people to dine or shop. That link shows that people were self-isolating from restaurants before official government closure orders.


Fort Worth bars are talking about reopening early. Marketing stunt, or for real? If so, will the Cowtown city council and cops do anything? Speaking of bullshit, Abbott's alleged reopening of bars for takeout is exactly that. But Cowtown bars don't attack him.


Related? Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has yet to arrest Shelley Luther after this


Jim Schutze enters the land of make-believe with his bromance for Andrew Cuomo, the biggest hard-on since the one he had for Amber Guyger.


Who says antibodies will prove coronavirus resistance? WHO itself says that's not true.


Trump's USDA is why Florida, California, Arizona and southern Texas veggie farmers are plowing under crops.


Dr. Deborah Birx, given every chance to disinfect herself, remains a Trump Toady.


Ilyse Hogue points out how the pro-coronavirus protesters are trying to hijack pro-choice language.


Gavin Rogers wants us to remember our most vulnerable neighbors.


Grits for Breakfast interprets the state Supreme Court ruling on the Abbott executive order on bail.

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