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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 08 2020, @03:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the dangerous-times dept.

Trump official: Unclear if RNC can be safely held in Florida:

A top Trump administration health official says it is not clear whether it will be safe to hold the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Jacksonville next month as Florida sees record numbers of coronavirus cases.

The comments on Sunday came a month after Republican officials moved the event from North Carolina over a dispute over health precautions.

Stephen Hahn, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, also refused to confirm President Donald Trump's claim that 99 percent of coronavirus cases were harmless and called the situation a "serious problem".

With record numbers of people testing positive for the virus in Jacksonville and across Florida, Hahn was asked if it would be safe to hold the typically large RNC gathering in just seven weeks.

On Saturday, Florida reported a new record of nearly 11,500 new coronavirus cases, amid a surge in cases in western and southern states. To date, nearly 130,000 people have died in the US amid 2.83 million cases.

"I think it's too early to tell," Hahn said on CNN's State of the Union programme. "We will have to see how this unfolds in Florida and elsewhere around the country."

The Republican Party in June announced it was moving most of the convention activities to Jacksonville from Charlotte after a battle over coronavirus safety concerns with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat.

[...] Trump has been known to thrive on large crowds at his campaign rallies and has not embraced masks or social distancing measures at events since the country began reopening from the coronavirus shutdown.

The president has also repeatedly sought to minimise the jump in confirmed cases and claimed without evidence in a July Fourth speech that 99 percent of cases in the United States were "totally harmless".


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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday July 08 2020, @04:55AM (5 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 08 2020, @04:55AM (#1018068) Journal

    Only 8 cases yesterday in all the 1.4B of them, safest place: hold it in China!

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @05:17AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @05:17AM (#1018073)

    Yet 134 in Melbourne...

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 08 2020, @08:05AM (2 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 08 2020, @08:05AM (#1018103) Journal

      Thanks God, I wouldn't want RNC held in Melbourne (grin)

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @10:46AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @10:46AM (#1018132)

        Last year Sydney did host the CPAC festival of nutters.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 08 2020, @10:59AM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 08 2020, @10:59AM (#1018138) Journal

          Not US nutters [wikipedia.org] but all right-nutters alright.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by DannyB on Wednesday July 08 2020, @02:20PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 08 2020, @02:20PM (#1018205) Journal

    You have the wrong Obvious Solution.

    Consider the alternate facts:
    * the sickness is a hoax (a Chinese disease)
    * masks are ineffective and designed to take away your freedom to spread the (hoax) disease
    * science (including medicine) should be in the service of politics
    * it's no worse than the flu (but is still a hoax)
    * it will just go away come summer
    * more people die from the flu

    Conclusion:

    Simply hold the convention indoors, without masks, in Florida. Everyone happy.

    I know that is not a nice thing to say. But these people, even if unwittingly, are carelessly pushing policies that make people sick every day, and some of them die. They double down on this, and repeat it every day. It is a shame that a disease and how to prepare for and contain it have become a political issue. But only in America.

    Such an Obvious Solution could unwittingly be chosen, and turn out to be a Final Solution of sorts. Or a Darwin Award of sorts. That would be sad even if ironic.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.