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Post by theevan on Apr 24, 2020 9:20:52 GMT -5
Bizarre stuff. I wish he'd shut up and keep doing what good things he does. And shut up. And fire some of his staff, please.
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Post by Cornflake on Apr 24, 2020 9:43:44 GMT -5
"If you build it, they will come...? What if some states (towns, cities, businesses) open and nobody comes?"
I don't think it'll be nobody but I'm afraid demand will still be significantly reduced due to concern about the virus. A lot of businesses can't operate profitably if demand falls by a third or a half. I really need a haircut. If Great Clips reopened tomorrow, would I get one? No. The relatively small benefit of a haircut would be outweighed for me by the risk of infection.
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Post by majorminor on Apr 24, 2020 9:54:14 GMT -5
And shut up. And fire some of his staff, please. He's fired them all twice already
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Post by millring on Apr 24, 2020 9:57:18 GMT -5
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COVID 19
Apr 24, 2020 10:42:20 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by TKennedy on Apr 24, 2020 10:42:20 GMT -5
Count me among the first to eat crow if it works🙂. Thanks Millring.
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Post by millring on Apr 24, 2020 10:47:50 GMT -5
From my perspective, it isn't whether it works or not, but whether or not there was anything reasonable behind Trump's thinking out loud. Would I shut him up if I could? You betcha. But is there any way to look at what he's saying as just a really poorly framed riffing on something that would sound reasonable if someone else said it? Usually.
I'm reminded of the folks back in 2015 who dubbed an English accent into an interview with Trump. It was astounding, and I'm not being hyperbolic.
But this is how we ended up with Trump in the first place.
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Post by james on Apr 24, 2020 11:02:05 GMT -5
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Post by majorminor on Apr 24, 2020 12:18:17 GMT -5
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Post by howard lee on Apr 25, 2020 11:29:58 GMT -5
My son went for a very long bike ride this morning. He texted and told me he rode through Times Square and it was like the film "I Am Legend."
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Post by TKennedy on Apr 25, 2020 12:42:31 GMT -5
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Post by Cornflake on Apr 25, 2020 13:45:53 GMT -5
I heard about the phases of a disaster in a message from the local Episcopal bishop back in March. It was probably about the time of the "honeymoon" period. If you haven't seen it, it's interesting. www.samhsa.gov/dtac/recovering-disasters/phases-disasterShe told us that "disillusionment" would be coming. I think we're well into it.
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Post by millring on Apr 25, 2020 16:34:14 GMT -5
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Post by fauxmaha on Apr 25, 2020 16:51:58 GMT -5
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Post by epaul on Apr 25, 2020 17:37:54 GMT -5
All 350+ employees of Simplot, a potato processing plant in Grand Forks, were tested last week. There was one positive. All were sent home and the plant underwent its scheduled cleaning process a week earlier than planned. It will then start up again.
A 90-year-old man died from the virus yesterday bringing the total number of deaths from Covid in ND to 16.
There are currently 17 ND residents hospitalized due to Covid symptoms (4 in Grand Forks).
I am still breathing and made a second trip to Culvers this afternoon for a shrimp basket.
And that's the news from ND.
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Post by billhammond on Apr 25, 2020 18:04:14 GMT -5
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Post by Cornflake on Apr 25, 2020 18:08:20 GMT -5
Glad the news is relatively good, epaul. Nobody wants to see the rate go up.
Got paywalled on that link, Bill.
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Post by billhammond on Apr 25, 2020 18:18:06 GMT -5
Grand Forks Herald
The coronavirus outbreak at Grand Forks’ LM Wind Power manufacturing facility has grown severe. There are more than 120 cases now linked to the facility, and it’s regularly referred to in national media as a remarkable, uniquely large manufacturing outbreak.
On Monday, Grand Forks Mayor Mike Brown discussed early city responses to LM Wind Power employees’ concerns about the company’s coronavirus mitigation efforts. The city’s response was, in effect, to ask Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corporation CEO Keith Lund to reach out to plant officials, since Lund had a preexisting relationship with the company. Lund reported back that the company appeared to be working on its protocols.
But as LM Wind has become a coronavirus hot spot in the region, the city’s response has increasingly drawn criticism. A Minneapolis Star Tribune report, relying on sources from throughout the community, is that the response was deeply lacking in urgency. Jim Schothorst, a retired city health inspector, told the Star Tribune that the city’s response was “ridiculous,” and questioned why local health officials weren’t more involved.
Lund was named but not quoted in the report. The Herald interviewed him on Friday to ask about his role in the city response. The interview, reproduced below, has been edited for length and clarity.
Herald: The implications of the Star Tribune story are that the city response was too slow, and that the city should not have relied on the EDC, which did not respond appropriately to the crisis. To get us started: what are your thoughts on the story and how it frames the matter?
Keith Lund: The story reported some of the facts, I think, pretty accurately. The fact that there was a conversation between the city and the EDC, and that I offered to give the company a call and let them know that a complaint had been received. I don’t know enough about what the proper protocols are to know what the city should or should not have done beyond that.
“But we reached out to LM because we have a 20-year relationship with the company, and we have access to the top local official, who is the plant manager, to let them know there were concerns. We let them know that, and he appreciated it — our giving him a heads up. He asked me to reiterate what those complaints were, so that he could follow up and make sure that the protocols they wanted to implement were being implemented at this time. I reported that back to the mayor’s office, and that was the end of the involvement with the EDC until the positive testing.
Herald: Can you expand on that particular conversation — to give us an insight into what you were conveying to them?
Lund: I would characterize it as letting the plant manager know that the city had received a complaint, and the nature of those complaints. And he had indicated that a conversation that we’d had a week prior, as well as that conversation — I’m losing track of the date — the day after we were notified by the mayor’s office that a complaint had been received. He said they’d implemented some procedures, and he said he was going to follow up to make sure they’d been implemented as they’d been designed. That was really the nature of the conversation. That was the extent of the conversation.
Herald: Can you be specific about things you may have urged them to implement over there?
Lund: I didn’t give specifics. I’m not a health care professional. I let them know what the complaint was and they were going to be following up to make sure that was rectified.
Herald: Do you think it was appropriate for you to be the contact person, instead of local health care officials?
Lund: I acknowledge and agree that I and the EDC aren’t health care professionals. That was never the intent, to reach out in a health care-related fashion. It was to give our client and a key employer a heads-up, and let them know that a complaint had been registered. Again, we had a 20-year relationship with the plant manager and the top local official. And we wanted to alert him that this complaint had been filed. We’d never suggested that we’re health care professionals, and I never reached out in any health care or public health capacity.
Herald: With the benefit of hindsight, would you have handled this differently?
Lund: I don’t know that I would have done anything different. Again, if something that is happening in the community, and it could be any number of circumstances that is impacting the EDC client or a key business in our community. I don’t think it’s inappropriate at all for the EDC to call and let officials know that business, whatever the situation is going on — we reached out from a relationship basis and let a key employer in our region know that a complaint had been filed.
Herald: This has turned into a significant set of cases. I’m sure most people would say that something should have been handled differently. Who should people hold accountable for that not happening?
Lund: I can’t answer that. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not a health care professional. I’m not sure what should have been done differently. I mean, I think maybe the mayor’s office could be contacted to ask that question. I sort of fall back on, reaching out to the company based on the relationship and let them know that there were concerns, and not doing that in any kind of official capacity from the city or any kind of a health care, public-health fashion. The communication was truly based on a relationship.
Herald: There are questions about what happens to active cases linked to the facility and how they’ll fare. And I know it’s not beyond imagination that people may think legal action is necessary. Is the EDC preparing for that?
Lund: I haven’t considered that at this point, and wouldn’t expect to. I would add, though, that, as you indicated in your question, there are a lot of opinions on both sides, and most of that is focused on state government. And there are folks that are extremely disappointed that the entire state isn’t completely open — there are folks that are disappointed that anyone is allowed to go anywhere during this time. It seems like whatever action is taken both locally and at the state level, there’s a huge number of constituents that are disappointed in that decision. This is uncharted territory. I think people are trying to do the best they can with the circumstance, where there’s no playbook. And so that’s a dynamic that we’re all working within, and I think people generally are working in good faith and want to think of the best interests in any circumstance, and I think that’s the case with what happened with LM.
Herald: You mention the state — whether or not the state had a stay-at-home order. I know you mentioned I should follow up with the mayor’s office. It strikes me that some of the argument you’re sketching out here is, “We’re the EDC, we acted at the behest of the city to make a simple call.” And that perhaps the state or the city would be better places to talk about this, or take fuller responsibility. Am I understanding that correctly?
Lund: I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that, if it is to be explored, it should be explored with the city, yes. I would say that we offered to make a call based on a relationship. I think the EDC is a private organization, working for essentially a public good, and so we have a board of directors that are independent and separate from the city. It was a conversation — it wasn’t a request or a demand by the city that we reach out. It was done voluntarily to alert the company that there had been a complaint filed.
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Post by james on Apr 25, 2020 18:49:34 GMT -5
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Post by epaul on Apr 25, 2020 19:07:03 GMT -5
Mayor "Baby Doc" Brown is up for re-election this June. He is a retired pediatrician and has been Mayor for 20 years. I haven't heard anything about him one way or another, about this or about anything else.
As LM Wind Power is an energy plant (wind turbine production) discussions of "state-ordered business shutdown" vs "no-state ordered business shutdown" aren't pertinent. As an energy plant, LM would have been deemed an essential service and would have been exempt from state-wide business closure orders even if ND had issued them. Across the board, energy companies (and food processing companies such as the various meat packing plants in the news) have been deemed essential services.
As for the rest, OSHA will rule on LM and the voters will decide about Doc Brown. .
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COVID 19
Apr 25, 2020 19:56:30 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by majorminor on Apr 25, 2020 19:56:30 GMT -5
I thought the New York version of anti body sampling gave similar or implied an even larger % of population infected? Curious about something. When the claim is made about how deadly Covid is compared to H1N1 and 2 are apples to apples bring compared? In that surely there are a huge number of people that get the flu and don’t go get tested. I wonder if these comparisons really mean much.
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