Mornings on the Mall

Friday, April 10, 2020

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

MD Del. Dan Cox, Chad Pergram, Fr. Paul Scalia, Mark Levin and David Platt joined WMAL on Friday!

5am – A/B/C CORONAVIRUS MODELER SAYS TEAM RELIED ON WUHAN & ITALY TO PREDICT U.S. IMPACT… ‘WE STARTED THESE MODELS BASED ON WHAT WE SAW IN WUHAN AND ITALY, AND LATER ON SPAIN’… Professor behind key COVID-19 model says ‘positive news’ led to lower projected death count. Dr. Ali Mokdad, a University of Washington professor working on a key coronavirus model, told “Bill Hemmer Reports” Thursday that the number of deaths anticipated by his model has declined in recent days due to some positive trends emerging in the U.S. and in Europe. The most recent modeling from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation on Wednesday predicted that 60,415 Americans would die from the virus by Aug. 4 of this year. The model also projected that the number of daily deaths from coronavirus in the U.S. would peak at 2,212 on Sunday — down from Monday’s projected high of 3,130 deaths on April 16. […] As Hemmer noted, the IHME model has helped influence the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak as politicians wrestle with when and how to reopen the economy. On Thursday, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director for the International Monetary Fund, said she expected to see “the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression.”

• THINGS WE KNEW AT THE TIME…
• MORE THAN HALF OF CHINESE MEN SMOKE, ONLY 2.4% OF WOMEN DO…
• U.S? 16% OF MEN, 12% OF WOMENITALY’S POPULATION HAS WORLD’S FIFTH OLDEST MEDIAN AGE…
• U.S.? SIXTY-FIRST OLDEST POPULATION…
• THINGS WE KNOW NOW…Smoking Helps Open Gateway to Coronavirus Infection, Study Shows. Smoking may raise the risk of Covid-19 by elevating enzymes that allow the coronavirus to gain access into lung cells, according to a new study. Smokers and people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may have elevated levels of an enzyme called ACE-2, which helps the virus enter cells in their lungs, where it replicates, a study published in the European Respiratory Journal Thursday showed.
• Meet the former NYT reporter who is challenging the coronavirus narrative. Alex Berenson has been analyzing the data on the crisis on a daily basis for weeks and has come to the conclusion that the strategy of shutting down entire sectors of the economy is based on modeling that doesn’t line up with the realities of the virus.  “The response we have taken has caused enormous societal devastation, I don’t think that’s too strong a word,” he told Fox News in an interview Thursday. Berenson is a former reporter who worked for the Times from 1999 to 2010 primarily covering the pharmaceutical industry. He recently came to prominence again with a book, “Tell Your Children The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence,” which challenged prevailing narratives on marijuana. Now he’s turned to challenging the narratives on the response to the coronavirus. What Berenson is promoting isn’t coronavirus denialism, or conspiracy theories about plots to curb liberties. Instead what Berenson is claiming is simple: the models guiding the response were wrong and that it is becoming clearer by the day. […] “I went to Yale and I worked for the New York Times, the people on the left hold themselves out as being science-driven, as being smarter, they think they’re smarter but they won’t look at facts that won’t meet their narratives,” he said. He voiced frustration that these arguments have been ignored by a lot of mainstream outlets. “That is frustrating for me … but everyone needs to hear this counterargument, whether or not it’s right, you need to hear it because the damage we are doing to ourselves right now is so enormous.”

5am – D         BUREAUCRATS AT FDA DELAYING ANTIBODIES TEST: Fox News medical contributor and Johns Hopkins University professor of public health Dr. Marty Makary claimed Thursday that an obscure Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation delayed work on a potential antibody test for COVID-19 early in the onset of the contagion in the United States.

5am – E         SENATE FAIL TO APPROVE RELIEF: The U.S. Senate blocked dueling plans to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to help small businesses deal with the coronavirus-fueled economic meltdown. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to add $250 billion dollars to the Paycheck Protection Program-part of a larger coronavirus economic stimulus package- to provide loans and grants to small business with fewer than 500 employees.  But Democrats objected calling it a “political stunt.  Democrats tried to offer their own alternative to include $100 billion for hospitals, $150 billion for state and local governments and an expansion of food assistance. The partisan impasse throws the small-business funds into limbo until at least Monday.

6am – A/B/C HAVE YOU FILLED OUT THE CENSUS? 

• Tom Fitton @TomFitton: I filled out the #Census forms this week and found a series of invasive and obsessive questions about the race and ethnicity of me and my family. But no questions about citizenship. Incredible.
• Ocasio-Cortez calls for extending census period.  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called Thursday for the government to extend the 2020 Census counting period amid the coronavirus pandemic. Ocasio-Cortez, a staunch progressive, warned that issues with the census related to the coronavirus could lead to skewed results that influence where federal resources are allocated. The New York lawmaker cited statistics showing that in-person reporting for the census is down, a factor aggravated by COVID-19. “The U.S. Census Bureau has suspended all fieldwork until April 15, and likely will have to suspend further. Self-reporting is currently down across the country compared to 2010,” she wrote for the liberal think tank Data For Progress. “Congress should strongly consider delaying the Census as much as the law allows, in order to ensure we have a comprehensive survey of the national population.” The census bureau announced in March it is delaying the deadline for counting from the end of July to mid-August, though Ocasio-Cortez said the change was not enough.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – MARYLAND DELEGATE DAN COX (District 4, Frederick and Carroll Counties) 

• Montgomery County scraps proposed tax hike.  A proposed property tax rate hike in Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s budget has been shelved after backlash from residents and council members as governments at all levels around the DMV swivel to combat the coronavirus threat.
• Del. Cox was one of the people pushing constituents to contact the MoCo council to fight the proposed tax hike. His efforts saw results this week.
• Maryland’s state revenues are expected to drop by $3 billion to finish out the 2020 fiscal year in June. In early December, the state revenue board predicted a total of $18.2 billion in total revenue.

6am – E         REOPEN NEXT MONTH? Trump seeks to reopen much of U.S. next month. President Trump is preparing to announce as soon as this week a second, smaller coronavirus task force aimed specifically at combating the economic ramifications of the virus and focused on reopening the nation’s economy.  The task force will reportedly be made up of a mix of private-sector and top administration officials. The president’s new chief of staff Mark Meadows is likely to lead the panel.

6am – F         White House Tests Press For Coronavirus At Thursday Press Briefing. White House staff will administer fast-result coronavirus tests to members of the press attending Thursday’s daily press briefing, the Trump administration announced. The testing comes after the White House Correspondents’ Association reported that one of its members was experiencing symptoms of the coronavirus Wednesday after attending a briefing the day before. Results are expected to come in before the 5pm briefing. The individual remains unnamed, but is the second WHCA member known to be tested for coronavirus. The first tested negative in March. “WHCA confirmed yesterday that a member who had been at the White House is now experiencing symptoms,” the White House said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, the White House Medical Unit is going to conduct a COVID-19 test on all members of the press who plan to participate in today’s task force briefing, including correspondents, photographers, and technicians. These tests will be conducted with absolute privacy in a vacant office within lower press.” It was already White House policy to administer temperature checks prior to briefings.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – CHAD PERGRAM – congressional correspondent for The Fox News Channel — discussed the Senate failing to approve new coronavirus relief after partisan stalemate.

7am – B/C     FASCINATING CDC REPORT ABOUT A CASE STUDY OF HOW IT’S PROBABLY BEST PEOPLE AREN’T GOING TO CHURCH IN PERSON THIS YEAR:

• A funeral and a birthday party: CDC traces Chicago coronavirus outbreak to two family gatherings. Case study shows how a single person can set off a chain reaction of infections.
• CDC case study of Chicago coronavirus outbreak shows why it is dangerous to go to church on Easter. (Washington Post) Reading the federal government’s new case study on the spread of the novel coronavirus in Chicago feels like watching the movie “Contagion,” as Gwyneth Paltrow’s character returns from Macao to Minnesota. It’s a real-life reminder that a single person can trigger a deadly chain reaction. The story laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention begins with a funeral in February.  Patient Zero, a friend of the deceased who had recently traveled out of state and was experiencing mild respiratory symptoms, came to a dinner the night before the service.  He shared a takeout meal from common serving dishes with two family members of the deceased at a house. Three days later, one of the dinner hosts started to show symptoms of the coronavirus. Two days after that, the other did too.  A third member of the family, who hugged Patient Zero at the funeral, got sick. A few days after the funeral, Patient Zero – still only experiencing mild symptoms – went to a birthday party with nine other people. Seven of them soon fell ill. Two have died. Three of the seven people who would get sick after the birthday party then went to church.  Someone sitting within a row of them in the pews during the service, who was passed the offering plate, soon developed symptoms. The first host of the dinner from the night before the funeral was hospitalized as their condition deteriorated. A ventilator would not be able to save this person, but a family member who came to visit the hospital soon developed a fever and cough. All these infected people unwittingly transmitted the disease to other loved ones, fellow parishioners, home health workers and so forth. This happened before Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) banned gatherings of more than 50 people and, four days after that, issued a stay-at-home order.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – Father Paul Scalia – with the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Pastor of the Saint James Catholic Church in Falls Church, VA, and author of “Sermons in Times of Crisis: Twelve Homilies to Stir Your Soul” – discuss the importance of faith during this pandemic, reflect on Good Friday and Easter and also discuss how churches are going online to reach their parishioners.

7am – E         CAN BIDEN CONSOLIDATE THE DEM PARTY ENOUGH TO WIN?

• With Sanders out, can Biden consolidate the left? (By Paul Steinhauser | Fox News) — Welcome to Joe Biden’s dilemma. His last remaining rival for the Democratic presidential nomination suspended his campaign. But, Sen. Bernie Sanders has pointedly refrained from endorsing the former vice president. And Sanders made it crystal clear that his name will remain on the Democratic primary ballot going forward, to gather delegates and ensure “influence” at the party convention. For Biden – who needs the support of Sanders and his legions of young and progressive followers in order to unify the party as he challenges President Trump – a delicate dance is ahead. The former vice president clearly needs to embrace more of Sanders’ progressive agenda if he wants to seal the deal with that part of the base. But going too far leaves Biden even more vulnerable to attacks from President Trump that he’s pushing a socialist agenda. Trump and his allies have hammered the message since the beginning of the cycle that the Democratic Party has drifted far to the left of most Americans. They are eager to paint Biden with that brush. Within moments of Sanders’ suspension, the president’s re-election campaign went up with a digital ad highlighting similarities between the presumptive nominee and the democratic socialist. “Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden: A big government socialist and a big government liberal,” the narrator in the spot says. “They’re more alike than you think.” While withholding an endorsement, however, Sanders beckons Biden to embrace even more of his agenda.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MARK LEVIN – host of “Mark Levin Show” heard here on WMAL from 6-9 PM – discussed the handling of coronavirus pandemic and thoughts on the models.

8am – B/C     LESSONS FROM DELIVERING A BABY DURING A PANDEMIC: In a new op-ed for Washington Post Opinions, Dr. Leana Wen, emergency physician and former Baltimore health commissioner, details her birthing experience amid the covid-19 pandemic. She writes that when she went to the hospital on Friday, there was one thing that she didn’t anticipate: how she would become scared of, and also scared for, her health-care providers.

Excerpts:

• The nurse doing my intake looked exhausted. It had been a busy night, she told me. The ward was filled with women seeking to deliver before the hospital went over capacity with covid-19 cases, and they were short-staffed. Another nurse and a doctor had just tested positive for the virus. At least six people were out and under quarantine.
• And when it came time to push, the doctor, nurse and tech all put on N95 respirator masks and full face shields. My doctor explained that this was new hospital policy, too. Laboring women focus intently on their breathing, and the PPE served to protect the staff from respiratory droplets. But a terrible thought crossed my mind as my contractions built. I was aware that I was breathing right into my nurse’s face as she coached me. I had no symptoms and no known exposure, but as we all know, that’s no guarantee with this virus. How awful would it be if I infected my providers?
• Covid-19 is forcing a change in the provider-patient relationship and creating a tension that must be navigated with empathy, by caregivers and patients alike

8am – D         INTERVIEW – DAVID PLATT – leader pastor at McLean Bible Church – discussed the importance of faith during this pandemic, reflect on Good Friday, Easter and also discussed the way churches are going online to reach their parishioners. https://mcleanbible.org/ 

8am – E         Dolly Parton shares coronavirus quarantine-themed poem: ‘This too shall pass.’ Dolly Parton is putting her legendary songwriting skills to use to entertain fans during quarantine. The country icon, 74, shared a video on Instagram on Thursday of herself reciting a coronavirus social distancing-themed poem. In the video, Parton sits facing the camera and begins the clip by shouting to someone off-screen, feigning in-home chaos. “Can you hold it down in there? I’m trying to do a video in the studio,” she shouts. “What? My accountant’s calling? Well, tell him to kiss my assets goodbye because they’re dwindling to nothing. No, you can’t put a mask on a turtle!” Parton then turns to face the camera directly, telling viewers she’s written a poem about the ongoing crisis. “This too shall pass, as all things will / if the virus don’t kill us, the stay at home will / the kids are bored and restless / they scream and yell and squawk / and the teens and tweens, they’re just plain mean / they bite your bleepin’ head off,” she began.