COVID19 Update - Day 22

US Tests: 1,149,960
US Cases: 210,770
US Deaths: 4,700
Worldwide Cases: 932,605
Worldwide Deaths: 46,809

We'll talk about the personal news first today --- not that there's much to tell.

I have now worked at this job from home more days than I worked in the office.  I just started this job on February 26 (one day after my daughter's birthday), and went into the office a total of 12 times.  My plan all along was to work from home on Fridays, so my first day working from home was Friday, March 13.  The directive to continue working from home going forward came on Sunday the 15th, so I have now worked from home for the past 14 work days.  And just today we were notified that we should expect to continue working from home at least through the end of the month.

So there's that.

I also gave blood today --- something I would encourage everyone to do who is neither symptomatic nor caring for someone who is.  Apparently, having been in the close physical proximity of anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 results in an automatic 14-day deferral.

I have to say, I was surprised at how NORMAL the process was.  The only things that distinguished today from a typical blood donation were:

1. They took my temperature immediately when I came in the door.
2. They enforced 'social distancing' (when the number of donors waiting got too large, one woman was asked to wait outside).
3. There was one guy there whose sole job, apparently, was to constantly wipe stuff down.

The big thing I was expecting, but didn't see, was people wearing masks.  I halfway expected to be given a mask when I walked in, but not even the medical staff had them.  I guessing this is due to the national shortage of PPE.

Anyway, on to today's atrocities --- and they are typically mindboggling.

To start with, U.S. manufacturers have stepped up production of desperately-needed PPE (personal protective equipment) in response to the pandemic.  However, there is a problem.  In addition to price-gounging, a substantial amount of that PPE is being sold to foreign countries:

By the end of the day, roughly 280 million masks from warehouses around the U.S. had been purchased by foreign buyers and were earmarked to leave the country, according to the broker — and that was in one day.

To his [medical supplies broker Remington Schmidt's] knowledge none of the masks had been purchased by buyers in the U.S.

And it is absolutely vital to understand that these medical supplies, which are absolutely essential to the health and safety of the first responders fighting to save lives through this pandemic, wouldn't be leaving the country if our puswart of a president would invoke the Defense Production Act:

The act allows the president to require companies to prioritize government contracts and orders needed for national defense, including national emergencies.

Trump can require that the federal government is first in line to receive all of the masks, tests, and ventilators American businesses can produce, and then see that those items are appropriately distributed to the states on an as-needed basis.  THAT'S what desperately needs to happen in order to minimize death and suffering --- but he won't do it.  We've already seen how he plays favorites with the equipment the federal government DOES have, based on electoral math, or how willing governors are to sing Trump's praises.

On the other hand, there's strong evidence to suggest that the federal government is incapable of distributing medical equipment after all:

Despite having committed to transferring 2,000 ventilators in military stocks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the coronavirus outbreak, the Pentagon has not shipped any of them because the agencies have not asked for them or provided a shipping location, the Pentagon's top logistics official said Tuesday.

Although it's been said many times, many ways --- it was probably a bad idea to put a bunch of corrupt idiots in charge of the government.