Coronavirus May Have Spread Undetected For Weeks; Five Dead In US; Trump Gives His Longest Speech Ever, Telling CPAC Audience How Amazing He Is

The coronavirus may have been spreading undetected in the United States for several weeks (while the government was busy ignoring the threat).

If the virus has been spreading undetected in Washington since mid-January, that could mean that anywhere from 150 to 1,500 people may have it, with about 300 to 500 people the most likely range, said Dr. Mike Famulare, a principal research scientist at the Institute for Disease Modeling in Bellevue, Wa., who performed the analysis. These people "have either been infected and recovered, or currently are infected now," he said. ...

Heather Thomas, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish Health District, said in a statement that the district was aware of the preliminary findings suggesting that coronavirus had been spreading for close to six weeks.

The US government's response has been slow because Donald Trump fired the country's pandemic response team in 2018 and cut the CDC's budget and its ability to fight pandemics. He also rejected testing kits offered by the World Health Organization and instead sent faulty kits to various states. (Pence lied when asked about the delay in sending kits and claimed "airport screening" is the same as actual testing. And he lied about his actions in stopping an HIV outbreak in Indiana. Pence claims he's an expert on public health crises. Digby: "So, not only is the man who is running the country a pathological liar and an imbecile, the man to whom he has assigned the crisis is also a pathological liar and a faith-based non-believer in science.")

The total number of new cases in the US increased by two dozen over the weekend. There are 90 known cases in thirteen states. Five people in the US have died. The Florida Department of Health waited 24 hours after learning of two positive cases before informing the public; the state has now declared a health emergency.

Does that mean Doctor Trump was wrong when he assured everyone a few days ago that the number of people in the US with the virus would be zero?

Richard Engel, NBC News' Chief Foreign Correspondent conducted an hour-long interview with Dr. Fauci, US director of infectious diseases. Fauci says the virus has "now reached outbreak proportions and likely pandemic proportions". (I thought Pence was muzzling him? "I tell it like it is. I've been doing that for 36 years and I will continue to tell it like it is.") But Fauci also believes the Trump administration has the political will to meet this challenge and there is no reason to panic. Interview airing tonight.

Osmel Martinez Azcue returned to Florida from China and felt sick. He did the responsible thing and sought medical attention. He turned out not to have the coronavirus, but he was billed $3,270 for the test. In France, a test costs 1 Euro or US$1.12.

At the same time, Trump is currently trying to destroy the Affordable Care Act and his budget would cut $1,000,000,000,000 from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act over the next ten years. (Trump lied (naturally) in 2015 when he said: "I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid.")

New York State is bypassing the CDC and doing its own tests. Dr. Matt McCarthy (NY Presbyterian Hospital): "We are not testing at full capacity and that is a national scandal."

PENCE: The President of the United States is laser focused on the coronavirus and protecting the safety and well-being of Americans

TRUMP: https://t.co/IESOf1zNa5

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 1, 2020

Good fucking lord. This entire thing is an utter train wreck, as Trump admits he's "totally off-script". (You can read it, too.)

Trump begins his 2020 CPAC speech by talking about his favorite topic -- how awesome he is pic.twitter.com/5q6jcQ8iTV

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 29, 2020

Do you remember when Bill Maher lost his "Politically Incorrect" show for saying that the 9/11 hijackers weren't cowards? https://t.co/iew7vQ7Ujs

— digby (@digby56) February 29, 2020

Trump's approval rating at Rasmussen has dropped from 52% to 46% in the last week. So he's got to pump up his ego immediately by holding another campaign rally in which he can ramble incoherently and be cheered for it.

CNN: "Coronavirus Crisis Underlines Eight Of Trump's Failings As A Leader":

First, Trump doesn't do any homework. ... Related to Trump's first failing is his second: He always believes he knows more than the experts about any given subject. ...

Third, Trump trusts his own gut. ... Fourth, Trump has increasingly surrounded himself with a team of acolytes who will not challenge him. ... Fifth, it's hard for the public to believe a President who has made more than 16,000 false or misleading claims in his first three years in office ...

Sixth, Trump always blames the messenger for news he doesn't like ... Seventh, Trump is the reverse of President Harry Truman. The buck never stops at Trump's desk. If things are going well, he is always ready to take credit ... If things go poorly it's always someone else fault. ...

Eighth, Trump almost always plays the divider-in-chief ... Now is surely not the time for Trump and his top cabinet officials ... to claim that the coronavirus is being hyped by crazed Democrats. This is arguably the most serious health crisis that the world has faced in many years and to pass it off as a partisan issue is crass at best. ...

Apparently not.

Eric Boehlert (Press Run) quotes Trump's comments ("complete gibberish by any working definition") from last Friday (adding: "keep in mind, this came after he was briefed by officials):

A lot of people are getting better. Very much better. The 15 number...The 15 people, likewise, we have them down to a much lower number. They're in good shape. Most of them are in really good shape. One of the people is — I wouldn't say "not doing well," but it's very — she's very sick. But she's hopefully getting better. But we're at the same number. We've only — so, it — essentially, we've only had 15.

Boehlert writes:

I often wonder why, among the throngs of reporters who surround Trump to record his quotes and ostensibly to ask him questions, not one has ever snapped after listening to the relentless lies, and blurted out something like, "What f**k are you talking about?!" Let’s be honest, that would be the normal, human response after absorbing Trump's confused answers to a very important coronavirus questions. ...

Hiding behind the need to be "neutral," and content to cling to access while simultaneously afraid of getting banned from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. by an administration that advertises its authoritarian ways, reporters have settled into a numbing routine of not seriously questioning Trump to his face ...

Remember, this is an anti-press White House that pulled off the impossible — it canceled daily press briefings, a Beltway move that was unthinkable just four years ago. But not only did this White House pull the plug, it received virtually no pushback from news organizations. ...

White House reporters now scurry around trying to toss questions to Trump, often while he's leaving for the helicopter. There, as the nearby blades whirl, journalists shout out topics for Trump to talk about. ... Trump can simply ignore questions he doesn't want to answer. And no matter how inane or absurd his responses, reporters simply nod ...