BlackMask Breaking News

On the final night of the Republican National Convention, about 1,500 people gathered on the South Lawn of the White House to hear President Donald Trump speak. The crowd didn’t appear to observe social distancing and few people in attendance wore masks. The Trump campaign issued a vague statement ahead of the speech that didn’t specify any testing protocols.  Chairs being assembled on the lawn in the late afternoon drew initial concern for their lack of spacing, with most of the spots sitting only inches apart.

—Mark Knoller (@markknoller) August 27, 2020

Then, once the crowd began forming around sunset, a lack of mask wearing became apparent to reporters and photographers on the scene.

—Mark Knoller (@markknoller) August 28, 2020

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said “a number of people” at the event will be tested, according to Bloomberg News.

The Trump campaign’s statement on coronavirus protocols for the final night of the convention was vague, and did not specify what the testing situation would be or whether masks would be mandatory.

“Patronus Medical, a leading medical, safety, and health company, has worked in partnership with the Republican National Committee to make certain proper protocols are in place to ensure the safety and well-being of individuals at convention venues.”

“These strict protocols are in full compliance with multiple guidelines set forth by the United States Centers for Disease Control, the District of Columbia Department of Public Health, and other leading authorities on health safety.”

Even though coronavirus research has found far fewer outdoor transmissions, packed areas like stadiums have been traced to “superspreader events.”A prominent Harvard Medical School professor tweeted his concerns.

—Ashish K. Jha (@ashishkjha) August 28, 2020

Like other Trump campaign events, mask wearing was scant as attendees waited for the president to speak.

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Mask wearing at Trump rallies has been a lingering issue of the 2020 campaign since the debacle in Tulsa back in June. While it is unknown precisely where he contracted the virus, former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain died from COVID-19 a little more than a month after the Trump Tulsa Rally, where he was in attendance. He was hospitalized with the virus two weeks later.

—Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) July 30, 2020

Two days after Cain announced positive test result, he expressed support for the Trump campaign’s decision not to require masks at the Mount Rushmore Fourth of July rally.

Some attendees did wear masks

 

DELCAMBRE, La. — Hurricane Laura made landfall in southwestern Louisiana as a ferocious Category 4 monster with 150 mph winds early Thursday, swamping a low-lying coast with ocean water that forecasters said could be 20 feet deep and unsurvivable. The National Hurricane Center said the storm, which intensified rapidly Wednesday before plowing into land, came ashore at 1 a.m. CDT near Cameron, a 400-person community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of the Texas border. “Potentially catastrophic impacts will continue,” forecasters said. Video and photos on social media showed torrents of rain flying sideways past street lights in Lake Charles, and streets covered with water closer to the coast. A sudden storm surge knocked over cameras meant to capture the hurricane’s effects. With hours of violent weather ahead, officials said the extent of destruction likely wouldn’t be clear until daybreak, when search and rescue missions will begin. Drawing energy from the warm Gulf of Mexico, the system arrived early Thursday during high tide as the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. so far this year. “It looks like it’s in full beast mode, which is not what you want to see if you’re in its way,” University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said. Hurricane-force winds extending 60 miles (95 kilometers) from the storm’s center neared the coast, forecasters said, and bands of heavy rain fell 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the beach in Lake Charles. Maximum sustained winds increased to 150 mph (241 kph) before nightfall, and forecasters said up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain could fall. Forecasters issued a string of tornado warnings as the storm pushed on to land, but there were no immediate reports of damage. More than 100,000 homes and businesses were without power in Texas and Louisianan. One major Louisiana highway already had standing water as Laura’s outer bands moved ashore with tropical storm-force winds. Earlier Wednesday, winds picked up as shoppers rushed into a grocery store in low-lying Delcambre. Trent Savoie, 31, said he was staying put. “With four kids and 100 farm animals, it’s just hard to move out,” he said. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards fretted that the dire predictions were not resonating despite authorities putting more than 500,000 coastal residents under mandatory evacuation orders. Officials said at least 150 people refused pleas to leave and planned to weather the storm in everything from elevated homes to recreational vehicles in coastal Cameron Parish, which could be completely covered by ocean water. “It’s a very sad situation,” said Ashley Buller, assistant director of emergency preparedness. “We did everything we could to encourage them to leave.” Edwards activated the state’s entire National Guard. In Lake Charles, Guard members drove school buses around neighborhoods, offering to pick up families. Across the state line in Port Arthur, Texas, few stragglers boarded evacuation buses, and city officials announced that two C-130 transport planes offered the last chance to leave. A Category 4 hurricane can render wide areas uninhabitable for weeks or months and knock out power for just as long. The threat of such devastation posed a new disaster-relief challenge for a government already straining under the coronavirus pandemic. The parts of Louisiana that were under evacuation orders included areas turning up high rates of positive COVID-19 tests. The National Hurricane Center kept raising its estimate of Laura’s storm surge, from 10 feet (3 meters) just days ago to twice that size – a height that forecasters said would be especially deadly. On Twitter, President Donald Trump urged coastal residents to heed officials. Hurricane warnings were issued from San Luis Pass, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, and reached inland for 200 miles (322 kilometers). Storm surge warnings extended from Freeport, Texas, to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Nick Note: we will not know the extend of damages until daylight And survey crews return to the offshore oil rigs. We have overlayed satellite images:

The storm missed the sweet spot of rigs in the Eastern Gulf. Most of the rigs have been spared and the refinery belt in Huston and Galveston bay were spared since the storm went east. As you can see here Houston and most of Texas were not hit. This was not a oil event but a Coonass disaster:

That is why we recommended no changes to our oil trade!

Dr. Anthony Fauci said  that he wasn’t present in the room when other members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force decided to change its covid-19 testing guidelines. In fact, he was zonked out to high heaven on general anesthesia in an operating room. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly (and quietly) modified its testing guidelines to say that individuals who may have been exposed to someone with the novel coronavirus “do not necessarily” need to get tested, especially if they are not exhibiting symptoms or haven’t been directed to by a doctor. Before, the CDC recommended anyone potentially exposed to seek testing. This modification struck many in the medical community as confusing and suspicious, given that scientists currently believe those who have contracted the virus but who are asymptomatic or have not yet exhibited symptoms are a major driver of new infections. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has made little secret of the fact he thinks widespread testing is part of a scheme to inflate case numbers and hurt him politically, rather than an effort to track and control the spread of a disease now estimated to have killed at least 179,000 people across the country. The CDC ultimately is in charge of the guidelines. But Health and Human Services assistant secretary for health Admiral Brett P. Giroir told reporters the White House task force reached “absolute consensus” on the new guidelines at a meeting on August 20, specifically noting that Fauci was involved in the process. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the most visible official on the task force, told CNN on Wednesday he wasn’t at that meeting. According to CNN, the idea was proposed in July by Redfield, who previously faced accusations he was rolled by the Trump administration on school reopening guidelines and has been largely sidelined during the crisis. The idea was “met with immediate resistance from several task force members,” but when it was brought back up on Aug. 20, Fauci wasn’t there to dissent. Anonymous federal health officials told CNN and the New York Times the directive to change the guidelines didn’t originate with the CDC at all but instead came from higher in the food chain. If fewer tests turned up fewer cases, that could help create the impression the situation is more under control than it really is. Infectious disease experts told Gizmodo they had similar concerns about the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization this week for convalescent plasma to treat covid-19, saying it lacked rigorous scientific data to support it. The CDC also removed guidance instructing those returning from overseas or out of state to self-isolate for two weeks on Monday. “I mean, the evidence that I’m aware of as of today is that close to 40% of the cases of the infections are asymptomatic and asymptomatic people transmit the infection,” Emory University School of Medicine associate dean and infectious disease specialist Dr. Carlos del Rio told CNN. “So, not testing—I mean, if you have been in contact with somebody for a few minutes, that’s okay. But if you have been in contact for 15 minutes and that people doesn’t have a mask, I think you need to be tested regardless if you have symptoms or not.”

“… We want to decrease cases by decreasing transmission, not by decreasing testing,” del Rio told the network.

NEW YORK — The energy industry braced Wednesday for catastrophic storm surges and winds as Hurricane Laura cuts a dangerous path toward the coastlines of Texas and Louisiana. Oil and gas producers have evacuated platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and companies are shutting down refineries in the storm’s path. Many had already done so while they were preparing for Tropical Storm Marco. Utilities are bracing for downed power lines and blackouts.

Experts say it’s unlikely that the U.S. will suffer from major oil or gasoline shortages due to the hurricane, as other regions fill in the gaps or turn to stored oil. And demand this summer has been at historic lows. And inventories are at record highs.

OFF-SHORE PLATFORMS

Nearly half of the oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico — almost 300 — were evacuated by Wednesday, along with most of the offshore rigs. Producers shut in 84% of the oil produced in the region, taking about 1.6 million barrels per day off the market. The Gulf region usually produces about 15% of the oil in the U.S. Producers also shut in about 61% of the natural gas produced in the Gulf. While some oil production is temporarily suspended, experts say it’s unlikely to cause problems for supply in the U.S. There has been a surplus of oil production this year, and demand for fuel is still well below pre-pandemic levels. Producers outside the region can pick up the slack.

———

REFINERIES

More than half of U.S. refining capacity is built along the Gulf Coast, where the storm is heading. Six refineries, which together have a refining capacity of about 2.2 million barrels per day, were shut down, including refineries operated by Valero, Total and Citgo.

Refineries built in hurricane regions have reinforced their facilities after prior hurricanes to withstand the storm, but it’s likely that there will be disruptions to some major refineries, Burkhard said.

———

https://youtu.be/jM7p9Xh1Hnk