Arm’s Length for the Heir During the Very Serious Pandemic (TM)
If Governor Raimondo really thought the coronavirus represented a crisis, wouldn’t she be keeping her replacement in the loop?
Rhody Reporter: COVID Update
Mark Zaccaria shows that Gov Raimondo and other public officials have provided little help to their constituents by trying to micromanage everyone’s behavior. Instead, they should start trusting us to make good decisions about COVID safety on our own.
The research Mark cites may be found here: https://globaljournals.org/GJSFR_Volume20/1-SARS-Cov-2.pdf
Lockdowns are Now a Proven Failure As Their Collateral Damage Rises Inexorably
Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, let’s examine the goal of the lockdown, the critical matter of its effectiveness and the collateral damage it has caused.
Following the Science Where Science Can’t Lead
We should acknowledge reality (you know, believing in science and all), respect rights, and do what planning and management we can around those to great Rs.
Distracted from Important COVID Questions
Given the choice, Americans might very well choose not to sacrifice their holidays, their businesses, and their children’s education so as to maintain the fiction that a rapidly socializing government can manage complex systems like healthcare.
Politics This Week with John DePetro: Mailing in the Lockdown
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for November 16, included talk about:
- What to make of Gina’s move toward another lockdown
- What to think about the RI Trump co-chairs’ differences on concession
- What Rhode Islanders should do about mail ballot anxiety
I’ll be on again Monday, November 23, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
… Except that Rhode Island’s COVID Positivity Rate Is Lower than Two Months Ago
Graph by epidemiologist Dr. Andrew Bostom basis State of R.I. data
At her press conference currently ongoing, Governor Gina Raimondo is announcing new restrictions, including reduction from fifteen to ten at social gatherings; no spectators at any sports for next two weeks; and fines, including fines on households, saying she doesn’t want cases to “explode”.
You’d reasonably conclude from these serious measures and language that Rhode Island’s case positivity rate, the newest panic-promoting selling point of the lockdown, was at a recent high, wouldn’t you? In fact, as epidemiologist Dr. Andrew Bostom said yesterday on the R.I. Center for Freedom and Prosperity‘s “Mikes with Mics” and shows in his graph, above, the current, very modest rise in case positivity is actually lower than the modest rise of August 1.
UPDATED: Rhode Island Hospitalizations – Still Less than Half the Peak
Eight days ago, this is where Rhode Island stood with hospitalizations, the original and only goal of the lockdown. Now Rhode Island is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases. Good time to update, especially with a press conference by Governor Raimondo coming up shortly.
At 168 “Currently Hospitalized”, we are still less than half the peak in late April of 377. And Rhode Island hospitalizations were not overwhelmed even at this peak. In fact, the Governor Raimondo herself stated mid-April that the need for hospital beds would peak in late April or early May and that Rhode Island was not going to see a worst case scenario. She was correct on both points. Nor has Rhode Island come close to the peak for hospitalizations
Yet despite achieving this goal, Governor Raimondo, with the express consent by inaction of Speaker Mattiello and Senate President Ruggerio, has inexplicably not lifted the onerous and damaging lockdown of Rhode Island.
Moreover, as we are now seeing in Europe, lockdowns do not work to stop the disease.
Yes, we need to be vigilant. Vulnerable populations must continue to take steps to protect them and we all need to be thoughtful of our interactions with them. But let’s also not overreact.
By continuing to impose what has now been demonstrated to be an ineffectual (yet highly damaging) measure to suppress spread when the singular goal of the measure was achieved six months ago, our state leaders are flexing power in a way that is completely detached from facts, science and data. This is, accordingly, an an abuse of power and an overreaction, the result of which, intended or not, is to punish Rhode Islanders in the short and long term for something that is beyond our control.
Politics This Week with John DePetro: Protest and Action
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for October 26, included talk about:
- Fenton-Fung and Mattiello back in the ring
- The governor comes for Thanksgiving dinner
- Protests settle in in Providence
I’ll be on again Monday, November 2, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
Hospitalization Data: Why is Rhode Island Still Locked Down Five Months after Flattening the Curve?
What does perhaps the most important COVID-19 data point show and say about the case for continuing Rhode Island’s lockdown?
Aaron Lewis: In the Grey Zone
Are local hospitals withholding life-saving measures and allowing some babies to die?
Time to Acknowledge Doubt About Raimondo COVID Response
If we continue to accept the governor’s proclamations passively, or even with support, part of the blame for consequences falls on us for our silence.
Last Impressions #52: Stable Pods and Unstable Metonyms
Justin Katz reports the (unfortunately) not Not Real News about “stable pods” at URI, reviews local conservative happenings in Rhode Island, and talks about the metonymic dogmatism of the Left.
Last Impressions #51: Rebels Needed
Governor Raimondo and her merry band of magic Appointees focus on the true danger in Rhode Island — not roudy rioters carrying signs that threaten to burn down the country, but college kids who aren’t voluntarily living as if in an open-air prison.
Government Tracking Your Health Through the Sewer
The thing with encroachments on our liberty is that they always seem far off… until they’re at your door.
Politics This Week with John DePetro: Theater of Courts and Corona
My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for September 21, included talk about:
- Progressive protesters seek Senate shutdown
- COVID crackdown at Providence College
- Mail ballot application apprehension
- No bother with budget before election
- Fenton-Fung fields Mattiello’s obvious flaws
I’ll be on again Monday, September 28, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.
A Necessary Adjustment When Comparing 1968 to Now
Comparison of the Woodstock-era pandemic with COVID-19 has to take into account the ages of the population.
School Opening Follies
Mark Zaccaria applies that ol’ Rhode Island intuition to the questions of whether public schools should… and will… open.
Putting the Scare into the People
Just calling something “highest risk category” and saying there has been a “spike” induces fear.
In The Dugout: DOH Whistleblower On Media Lockout
Mike Stenhouse brings Lisa Camuso back on the show to talk about how pervasively the Rhode Island media is ignoring her story of problems at the state Department of Health.
Raimondo Rips out Goalposts Altogether as Governors Carefully Disregard Most Important Datapoint
As you probably know, the original justification for the COVID-19 lockdown was to prevent the overwhelming of hospitals. This never happened; not in Rhode Island nor in any state other than hotspot New York (where it got close); not even at the height of the pandemic. Click here to view Justin Katz’ latest, very informative tracking graph of COVID-19 trends in Rhode Island. You’ll note that hospitalizations in Rhode Island, in fact, peaked THREE WHOLE MONTHS AGO.
Keep this critical piece of information in mind as we move now to Rhode Island’s COVID-19 press conference yesterday.
Games with Models in the Midst of a Dictatorship, 8/5/20 Data
Is it really the law that if the governor decrees an emergency at any point, she can then extend her enhanced power indefinitely into the future in 30-day increments, even when her moves become entirely precautionary?
Games with Models, 8/3/20 Data
The math of recent COVID hospitalization trends has flipped the projection from exponential increase back to gradual decline. Just like that.
Games with Models, 7/28/20 Data, Doom and Denial
The reason RI COVID-19 numbers have been doing things that make a simplistic model inapplicable are instructive as a lesson on the more-sophisticated models of the experts.
In the Dugout: Lyle Morse on Miraculous COVID Recovery
Back to School
Looking for Reality with Schrodinger’s President
In the world of media and politics, ignoring reality in order to keep your preferred outcome a live possibility may be an option, but for the sake of a healthy reality it cannot be.
Daring to Look for Perspective on the Pandemic
The attitude of fear that has been fostered by the presentation of COVID-19 to the public has created a terrible atmosphere in which to be making major life-and-society-affecting decisions.
Data Doubts and Games with Models, 7/15/20 Data
Americans are finding ourselves in a position of not knowing whom to trust on COVID-19.
Narrative Battles and Games with Models, 7/13/20 Data
If we see an increase in hospitalizations, it may very well be an indication that fewer people are dying, which is good, and that people are in the hospital for other reasons, which isn’t an indication that COVID is overwhelming our resources.