Young people are almost immune to this disease. The younger, the better, I guess. They’re stronger. They’re stronger. They have a stronger immune system. It’s an incredible thing. Nobody has ever seen this before. Various types of flu will hurt young people more than older people.
But young people are almost immune. If you look at the percentage, it’s a tiny percent of 1 percent. It’s a tiny percent of 1 percent. So we have to have our schools open.
Before we run with Trump's spin on this, take a look at the newly-released findings of a large-scale, high-quality study of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by children.
In the heated debate over reopening schools, one burning question has been whether and how efficiently children can spread the virus to others.
A large new study from South Korea offers an answer: Children younger than 10 transmit to others much less often than adults do, but the risk is not zero [the rate is half. But far more concerning] those between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as well as adults do.
Speculation on the reason for a lower transmission rate among the youngest children is quite interesting:
Children under 10 were roughly half as likely as adults to spread the virus to others, consistent with other studies. That may be because children generally exhale less air — and therefore less virus-laden air — or because they exhale that air closer to the ground, making it less likely that adults would breathe it in.
The findings don't indicate that children are immune to the virus. We know that they can be infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but they tend not to develop COVID-19 symptoms. They can still transmit the virus and cause the full-blown disease in adults. As the Times' report indicates, among children under age 10, the transmission rate is half the adult rate, but children ages 10 and older transmit the virus at the same rate as adults.
Notwithstanding Trump's assertion that children are almost totally immune to the disease so "we have to open schools," the findings in the first large scale study of virus transmission by children do not lead inevitably to the conclusion that we must open schools or that it is safe for America as a whole to do so. I certainly understand that decisions on school reopening are subject to cost-benefit analyses, but we know from Trump's record on lockdowns, mask-wearing, distancing, and the Tusla rally, that he can be reckless in his disregard for the dangers posed by the virus. And as complicated as it is to conduct such cost-benefit analyses, such an analysis is no analysis at all if you are only willing to look at the benefits side of the ledger.
Steven G. Calabresi, co-founder of the ultra-conservative Federalist Society and Professor of Law at Northwestern University writes:
I have voted Republican in every presidential election since 1980, including voting for Donald Trump in 2016. I wrote op-eds and a law review article protesting what I believe was an unconstitutional investigation by Robert Mueller. I also wrote an op-ed opposing President Trump’s impeachment.
But I am frankly appalled by the president’s recent tweet seeking to postpone the November election. Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist. But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate.
Better late than never, but he really didn't see this coming? I guess this is what happens when you don't understand personality.
A top Michigan official warned on Wednesday that, unless the Republican-controlled state Legislature passes a law to speed up the reporting of election results, it would be responsible for a chaotic and destabilizing election this fall.[...]
Benson, a Democrat, is the state’s top election official. She wants current laws changed in order to allow vote counters to be able to open mail-in and absentee ballots at least one day before Election Day.
Benson said that if clerks are not enabled to start arranging the ballots for counting before Election Day, this will increase delays in reporting the results. For one thing, she said, “every single one of [the election officials] is already going to be dealing with several other issues” on the day of the election.
“That will create a space to enable bad actors to falsely raise questions about the sanctity and security of our elections.
With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???
Trump speaking in a Facebook Live event yesterday:
“They want to end school choice, they want to abolish charter schools, it’s ridiculous, they want to abolish and really hurt the suburbs, because under their plan, that’s very much agreed to by them, they want to make it worse. They don’t mind if low-income housing is built in a neighborhood, in a beautiful suburb of Iowa, but a beautiful suburb anywhere in the country. They want low – and this has been going on for years, Obama made it much worse, and now they want Cory Booker to run that program, Cory Booker of New Jersey, to run that program and make it many times worse than it is right now.” “People have gone to the suburbs, they want the beautiful homes, they don’t have to have a low-income housing development built in their community, which is going to reduce, which has reduced the prices of their homes, and also increased crime substantially.”
Gee, I wonder why Trump pulled Cory Booker's name out of his butt. I guess he thinks his racist stink bombs will draw suburban voters back into his tent. At this point, however, I think more suburban voters are fleeing the stench in Trump's tent.
Out for a walk this morning, Floyd's on Clybourn. They seem to be everywhere.
Perhaps the proliferation of Floyd's 99 barbershops reflects a yearning for a return to times we may remember as more simple, innocent, and substantive. Not that we didn't have serious problems and dangers in the past; we did. But there is a sense in the imagination of greater clarity in contrast to our virtual world of constantly contested truth. Then again, this is the old story of Paradise Lost, which both afflicts and comforts in the confusion of the present and the anxiety of an unfolding, unknown future.