Sunday - May 10, 2020

chewing the numbers, again

As time goes by, more and more data about the COVID virus becomes available.

And more and more, it looks to me like we’ve been conned.

Pray for the people at nursing homes, veterans retirement homes, mental hospitals, and development centers. They are the ones who are sick and dying, far more than their small part of the population.

My little country of Hunterdon is now the 3rd least infected county in the state. 1st and 2nd place are two counties down at the south end of the state that are pretty much empty. Big areas, almost no population. And thus almost no cases.

Hunterdon County has around 125,000 residents, and 710 cases. My little piece of it, Union Twonship, has 5500 residents and 147 cases. But the New Truth is that we also have a rather large county developmental center for the special needs folks. 600 residents live there. They report 109 active cases. That’s 18%, which is catastrophic. But it also means that they’re 74% of the cases in our township, and 15% of the cases in the county. This holds basically true around the county, with the cases at LTC making up 40% of all cases in the county, and 60% of the deaths. Up north in hard hit Bergen County, while the LTC cases are only 24%, they are 59% of the deaths.

I know I’ve said the same thing several times already, but it isn’t sinking in to our leaders’ heads. These are people who generally do not go out in public, and sadly aren’t visited all that much by outsiders. They are part of the population, but not really part of the equation. Without a doubt the pandemic in their little world is epidemic and endemic. They’re being hammered and there isn’t anything that can be done about it. The staff there is also significantly infected, and those people DO go out in the world. Are they an infectious vector for the rest of us? Are they the ones bringing it in to these places and spreading it around and around? Maybe both. Or neither. I really don’t know.

But I do know that without the cases in the HDC, the numbers for my township are 4900 residents and 38 cases. 3/4 of 1 percent. Which is pretty damn small overall. And these are total numbers after almost 4 1/2 months of infection. January 1 to May 10. It doesn’t amount to much.

So why on earth is the lockdown continuing? Especially with our governor’s impossible standards of 2+ weeks of declining numbers, alongside ramping up testing to amazing 20,000 tests per day, but not providing any additional testing sites. It’s an impossibility. Is it designed to fail??

The Governor has to set more reasonable goals and requirements for opening the state up, so that Hunterdon County and New Jersey can get back to business, Freeholder Matt Holt announced at the Board’s May 5thmeeting. 

Holt, the Freeholder Board’s Economic Development liaison, stated, “Businesses that are still open have adapted to protecting people’s health with directional signage, social distance marks on the floors, handing out sanitary wipes, mandatory face coverings, and plexiguard shields. Let’s give closed businesses a chance toopen andimplement the same safety precautions to get our economy moving again.”

The veteran Hunterdon Freeholder, who has served on the Board for thirteen years, said, “Governor Murphy has put forth parameters for re-starting the economythat, in my opinion, sets the bar too high –it sets up roadblocks and nearly unobtainable goals.Instead of creating roadblocks, the state should be looking to clear them, to get New Jersey back to work.”Holt stated, “We recognize COVID-19 is contagious and can be dangerous.  That is why precautions must be taken with any business re-opening. But the Governor’s plan is out of sync.

Called Restoring Economic Health Through Public Health, the plan requires 14 consecutive days of reductions in COVID-19 positive cases in the state. Yet the plan also calls for 20,000 tests per day statewide by the end of the month.  But more testing will result in more positive tests, and with the increased testing we may not hit 14 straight daysof decline in positive casesuntil sometime late in the summeror later.”Holt added, “And while the Governor’s plan calls for increased testing, right now the Governor has not set up even one state test site –thetest sitesare all either county run or the two federal sites.Quite frankly the entire plan is frustrating as proposed.”

Posted by Drew458     on 05/10/2020 at 05:55 PM   
Filed Under: • New Jersey • pandemic and epidemic diseases • Pandemic Pandemonium •  
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   Thursday - May 07, 2020

An Un-Bridge Post

What a non-surprise. “Bridgegate” was a hit job against the Chris Christie administration. Well no shirt.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday threw out convictions against Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, two former Christie administration officials charged in what has become known as Bridgegate.

The court unanimously overturned the 2016 convictions of Gov. Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and William Baroni, the former governor’s top political appointment at the Port Authority, while acknowleding they “used deception to reduce Fort Lee’s access lanes to the George Washington Bridge – and thereby jeopardized the safety of the town’s residents.”

But Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote the opinion, said prosecutors wrongfully applied federal statutes in the case.

“Not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime. Because the scheme here did not aim to obtain money or property, Baroni and Kelly could not have violated the federal-program fraud or wire fraud laws,” she wrote.
...
Kelly and Baroni were found guilty in November 2016 of all charges — conspiracy, wire fraud and civil rights violations — connected to the scandal, which involved shutting down several local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee as retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not endorsing Christie for reelection in 2013. A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment against them in May 2015.

The foolish flunky at Port Authority, David Wildstein copped a plea to 2 counts of conspiracy and got 3 years probation for it. So no exculpation for him.

Was this whole affair of unwarranted placement of a bunch of rubber traffic cones really some kind of payback against the unsupportive mayor of Fort Lee? Probably. Maybe. Who really cares? IIRC the lanes were only closed off for a few days. So big deal, shut up, move on. The whole criminal charge thing was pretty much just the Left going into High Dudgeon mode to zap anyone on the Right as hard as possible. I’m sure General Flynn could have something to say about that.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/07/2020 at 12:17 PM   
Filed Under: • New Jersey • Politics •  
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   Sunday - January 03, 2016

not my fault

An unusual and mild earthquake rumbled in parts of New Jersey on Saturday, officials said.

The 2.1-magnitude shake-up hit Ringwood, New Jersey, at 12:58 a.m., according to the United States Geological Survey.

The earthquake could be felt in Sloatsburg and Suffern [NY], according to the Suffern Police Department.

There was no reported damage to people or property, Ringwood police said.

Left-leaning media idiots quickly used the micro-quake to create fear over a proposed trans-state gas pipe, and of course, against fracking. Not that NJ has any fracking. And we already have several trans-state gas pipes. Outside of the Canadian Shield, no place on earth is ever earthquake free, but NJ comes close, averaging only 1 or 2 magnitude 2.4 or less earthquakes per year.

A small earthquake rattled part of Passaic County early Saturday morning.

The U.S. Geological Survey confirms that a 2.1-magnitude earthquake struck just before 1 a.m. and was centered near Ringwood.

There were no reports of any damage or injuries.

Earthquakes happen in the area from time to time, experts say, because Ringwood sits on the Ramapo fault line.

Posted by Drew458     on 01/03/2016 at 01:25 AM   
Filed Under: • New Jersey •  
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