By Steve Rhodes
Trax Records Founder Larry Sherman Has Died https://t.co/5CC1E2oIlj via @pitchfork
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) April 10, 2020
Posted on April 10, 2020
The [Thursday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“Across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic is affecting almost all aspects of daily life. Travel is down; jobless claims are up; and small businesses are struggling.
“But not all businesses are experiencing a downturn. The world’s largest pornography website, Pornhub, has reported large increases in traffic – for instance, seeing an 18% jump over normal numbers after making its premium content free for 30 days for people who agree to stay home and wash their hands frequently. In many regions, these spikes in use have occurred immediately after social distancing measures have been implemented.”
Yes, wash your hands.
Posted on April 9, 2020
The [Wednesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
TIL: Micro Center is an essential business, and therefore open.
I had to go there this morning for an external keyboard and some compressed air (don’t ask) after a thoroughly frustrating, counterproductive discussion with Apple Support last night about a MacBook issue I’m trying to solve. It turns out Apple is virtually shut down, at least from a technical assistance view, and including their stores and genius bars.
Micro Center – the one on Elston – said they wouldn’t even have an Apple tech available for about two weeks.
Anyway, I got what I needed for a temporary fix, though for a store with social distancing squares taped down at the check out line, limits on how many customers are allowed in at a time, a plastic partition between customer and cashier, and a worker wiping down carts, I was shocked to see customer service and sales reps without masks or gloves – and violating social distancing like the dickens. I suppose you have to stand next to customers to help them, but c’mon!
Posted on April 8, 2020
The [Tuesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“Two weeks ago, French doctors published a provocative observation in a microbiology journal. In the absence of a known treatment for COVID-19, the doctors had taken to experimentation with a potent drug known as hydroxychloroquine,” the Atlantic reports.
For decades, the drug has been used to treat malaria – which is caused by a parasite, not a virus. In six patients with COVID-19, the doctors combined hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin (known to many as “Z-Pak,” an antibiotic that kills bacteria, not viruses) and reported that after six days of this regimen, all six people tested negative for the virus.
The report caught the eye of the celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, who has since appeared on Fox News to talk about hydroxychloroquine 21 times. As Oz put it to Sean Hannity, “This French doctor, [Didier] Raoult, a very famous infectious-disease specialist, had done some interesting work at a pilot study showing that he could get rid of the virus in six days in 100 percent of the patients he treated.” Raoult has made news in recent years as a pan-disciplinary provocateur; he has questioned climate change and Darwinian evolution. On January 21, at the height of the coronavirus outbreak in China, Raoult said in a YouTube video, “The fact that people have died of coronavirus in China, you know, I don’t feel very concerned.” Last week, Oz, who has been advising the president on the coronavirus, described Raoult to Hannity as “very impressive.” Oz told Hannity that he had informed the White House as much.
Anthony Fauci is not among the impressed. The day the study came out, Fauci, the leading infectious-disease expert advising the White House’s coronavirus task force, downplayed the findings as “anecdotal.” The report was not a randomized clinical trial – one in which many people are followed to see how their health fares, not simply whether a virus is detectable. And Oz’s “100 percent” interpretation involves conspicuous omissions. According to the study itself, three other patients who received hydroxychloroquine were too sick to be tested for the virus by day six (they were intubated in the ICU). Another had a bad reaction to the drug and stopped taking it. Another was not tested because, by day six, he had died.
Nonetheless, the day after Raoult’s study was published, Donald Trump tweeted about it: “HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine.” In the days since, Trump has repeatedly returned to this claim. On Saturday, he said that the term game changer wouldn’t even adequately describe the drug: “It will be wonderful. It will be so beautiful. It will be a gift from heaven, if it works.” After downplaying the value of ventilators and social distancing, measures that experts overwhelmingly agree are needed to overcome the virus, Trump said the country would procure 29 million doses of hydroxychloroquine for a national stockpile. He said he may start taking the drug himself.
Over the course of these two weeks, the president of the United States has become the world’s most prominent peddler of medical misinformation.
So when the media keep citing that French study they should tell the truth.
And every media mention of Dr. Oz should note that he’s a fraud. To wit:
Posted on April 7, 2020
The [Monday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“Executive pay keeps climbing at Blue Cross of Illinois’ parent company, even as the health insurance giant lays off workers and looks for a new strategy,” Crain’s reports.
“The 10 highest-paid employees at Health Care Service Corp. got a combined $70 million last year, up 58 percent from 2018. The biggest winner was Paula Steiner, who stepped down as CEO in July. Her total compensation surged 120 percent to $31 million about $12 million of which was severance pay.”
Paula Steiner, you are Today’s Worst Person In Illinois.
Posted on April 6, 2020
The [Thursday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“The city had received roughly 500 complaints about nonessential businesses operating in violation of the governor’s stay-at-home directive as of Tuesday,” the Tribune reports.
Five hundred complaints about 500 different businesses? Or 500 people calling about the same five businesses? It makes a difference, because 500 is an awfully large number (to my lights) of nonessential business to be operating, even in a city the size of Chicago.
Posted on April 2, 2020
The [Wednesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
The three finalists for police chief are in. Let’s take a look.
Posted on April 1, 2020
The [Tuesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“Much of Chicago is shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a North Side company with a long history of pollution problems is still shredding flattened cars, twisted rebar and used appliances every day,” the Tribune reports.
“Neighbors are livid.”
Posted on March 31, 2020
The [Monday] Papers
– Source unknownThe [Friday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“Just over a week after her sister became Illinois’ first coronavirus fatality, Wanda Bailey also succumbed to the disease,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Bailey, 63, of Crete, died Wednesday morning of pneumonia due to COVID-19 infection, with hypertension, heart disease and COPD serving as contributing factors, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She was pronounced dead at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields.
“Bailey was the sister of Patricia Frieson, 61, a retired nurse who died March 16 after testing positive for COVID-19 just a day earlier. Their brother, Anthony Frieson, posted on social media Wednesday evening that his family had lost ‘another beautiful soul.'”
Posted on March 27, 2020