DLers! How would you rate YOUR leaders for their response to the pandemic thus far?

From LA County: ——————

Mayor - Eric Garcetti 5 Stars

Governor - Gavin Newsom 4 Stars

President - Don Trump -1 Star

Leaders of China: Brilliant in bringing the rest of the world to its knees. And they will do it again at the first sign of criticism or resistance.

Leaders of the rest of the world: Feckless Fascists

^^I used the following scale : 0-5 with 5 being best, 0 worst (and -1 as above, abdominal).

I would never vote for our governor because she’s a bona fide Republican, but I gotta Hans it to her, she has handled this pandemic with both fists. From the very first confirmed case, we were not only on shutdown but on curfewed total lockdown, with exceptions made only for people getting food/medicine and for essential workers. And NO ONE allowed on the streets after 7:00 pm. Currently, a new tightening of the rules has been that only even numbered license plates are allowed on certain weekdays and only odd on the others. Sunday’s, no one except essentials.

Current count: 200 confirmed cases, 11 deaths. Our population: 3.2 million.

Any DLers from Florida?

Georgia?

Alabama?

Sweden?

^I’m gonna have to give a 5 to the Republican running our tiny crowded island^

Did not know about PR, R4. Appreciate the on-the-ground update. It’s more helpful than what the media has presented here. (i.e, virtually nothing about your region.)

Your post is a great example of how help DL can be: cutting through a lot of miasma of reporting on other places.

Thanks for your information.

^^”how helpFUL DL can be”

I'm in San Diego. Governor 5 President -100

Our nation's governors are really making it clear that competence is a Good Thing. You can see which states have it together, and which ones don't. It doesn't fall entirely on party lines, but I'd say overall the Democrats are doing a better job than the Republicans. For years it's been the philosophy of the Republican Party that government is a bad thing; something to be drowned in the bathtub. How can anyone expect them to be good at running it??

OP/R7, this is our fifth island-wide emergency in less than three years, so I think we’ve become well programmed to respond. Some positive actions have eventually rubbed off to the entire population. And I gotta say, we need the discipline because, stereotypes. be damned, we do tend to make a party out of everything and some things unfortunately can’t go that route.

Hell -I'd take the spirit of Puerto Rico over the spirit of Washington DC any day!

Like all states, Oregon got off to a slow start because of Trumps outrageous incompetence and indifference. But I feel as though our governor, with a little bit of pressure from Mayors and the legislature, got us effectively on lockdown pretty quickly. A lot of the citizenry didn't pay attention, but it feels like most people are on board now. I don't want to jinx it but so far it seems as though it's having the desired effect in our state. Which is to say that, yes, we continue to see a huge increase in cases as testing expands,but at a slower rate than in states with a similar population. It should go without saying that our governor is a Democrat

R9, all I see in the news speaks very well of your governor. Best of luck

Caretaker Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland Leo Varadkar: 3 stars

- After some nudging, cancelled the St Patrick's Day celebrations on time - Shut down more or less on time - Seems to have avoided the worst-case scenario in terms of infections and deaths - gives good speeches

BUT

- could have done better in providing tests and PPE - mismanagement of the health service in previous years could be costly.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - 0.5 stars

- ran with the disastrous 'herd immunity' strategy until it was pointed out it would overwhelm the NHS and cause a New York - style catastrophe - Spent the early days of the epidemic shaking everyone's hand and encouraging people to mix like they normally would - way behind the curve on purchase of tests and PPE - failed to die of Coronavirus himself, thus denying us our tiny silver lining

However, he gets half a star for belatedly reversing course and shutting down two weeks ago, despite the fact that his blundering has probably caused thousands of excess deaths.

First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon: 3 stars

Hamstrung by having to work within the limits of the UK government strategy: perhaps should have done more to push back against it in the early days. At least appears competent and like someone who listens to the science. Also she has managed to stick a finger in the eyes of fury chimp unionists by naming the temporary Glasgow hospital after a Scottish nurse and not Florence Nightingale.

PA - excellent. Dem Wolf shut us down early - even before NYC. Shockingly low cases given proximity to hot spots. But second highest unemployment claims in country as a result - highest per capita by far. But we are alive.

R9: Point well taken.

Also, any thoughts on your mayor?

R10: Know that despite much of the mainland’s response (or lack thereof), you are to be commended. You all have been through the ringer these last years; with all that has transpired. Throughout this difficult time, it is less difficult to hear of your virus stats now. Things could be much worse and it sounds as though there is some (slight? ) silver lining (of experience) with having had to endure all PR’s disasters.

OP @ R1 - You gave trump one star? Fuck that.

He gets NO stars, and good old-fashioned slap across the back of his head.

Ha ha, R17!

If you read my posts, you’ll see I gave Trump MINUS 1! He’s off the scale....or better yet, as the insightful poster from San Diego suggested MINUS 100!

I'm sure I'll get some shit here, but I haven't been completely disappointed with Greg Abbott's response in Texas. The national media has been making it seem like it's a free-for-all here, but that really hasn't been the case. A few weeks ago, he issued a statewide ban on restaurants, bars, gyms, etc. He allowed county officials to institute stricter orders based on their local situations. Most of the larger counties did just that. I think that response was reasonable. Texas is such a large and far-flung state, it didn't make much sense to institute a strict statewide order. We have 18 counties with fewer than 2000 people in them. The smallest has around 100. None of these small counties have reported a single case yet. And very few, if any, of them are necessarily places that would likely be visited by someone coming from the areas with most of the cases. So it doesn't really make sense to institute a lock-down in those areas yet.

And even at that, a few days ago he issued a statewide ban on non-essential services, which isn't much different than what the larger counties or other states have already instituted. He just hasn't called it a "stay at home" or "shelter in place" order, but it is that in all but name. The only big mistake I think he's making is designating religious services as "essential". But even there he asked religious groups to offer their services remotely if at all possible, or to practice social distancing if they choose to meet in person.

I hate the guy and I hate that I am even somewhat defending him. But I think the media has misrepresented what is actually happening here.

Trump: -1 for abdominal

Thanks R12. Did not realise your situation in Oregon. (Mayors—->encouraging Governor).

Corncerned European: Thanks very much for the info. Heard (Herd) about BoJo but not the others.

R15: Thank you. Good to hear of Tom Wolf’s “excellent” response (except for the 2nd highest unemployment). God, it is a sticky wicket, isnt it?

R18- My apologies. I didn’t see the - before the star.

I guess I get so triggered when I see anyone giving this asshole even a hint of kudos, that I go into blind rage... lol

r 17

Snap R20! Good catch on my autocorrect! Thanks!

Although, your photo is spot on. He is abdominal!

Canada:

John Horgan: 4 stars (comparing him to 5 stars Jay Inslee, my State Governor until 2019)

Justin Trudeau: 3 stars ("I'm cleared for essential travel!" "Yes but you have to self-isolate when you enter Canada." "But my provincial letter says 'other essential travel' personnel don't need to self-isolate! How about you grant me an exemption so I don't need to do essential travel and can stay at home?" "How about I fine you $750000 and threaten you with prison time?" "How about you tell me how my cancer-ridden husband is supposed to go to his treatments when hitch-hiking on Washington state highways is forbidden?" *Crickets*)

Mayor: 3 stars

Still, thanking my lucky stars I moved away from the US when I did! I'm starting knitting my death shroud for those who will be lost due to grifter mob family incompetence.

You know, R19, your post put me slightly more at ease. From reports (not from citizens), of your part of the US, there was a bit of concern....that Texas (and Louisiana and Florida and Georgia) could be a nidus of ever-growing infection.

From what you are saying, people are generally self-directing, no? And more mindful than what is being reported?

R25, for the most part, people are taking this seriously here. Especially in the metropolitan areas like Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. I think the efforts that have been going on for the past few weeks have helped to keep our number of cases down for now. Texas is the second most populous state after California. But we're 12th in cases with about 4700. There are some hot spots (Houston, DFW), but even those areas are reporting fewer than 1600 cases each.

And the governor closed all schools statewide until at least May 4.

R24:

Talking to folks in Washington State, Jay Inslee seems to have handled this thus far, very well. In fact, someone stated that he was the “Gold Standard”? It’s been no walk in the park for any of us; Inslee included. He’s battled with Trump and although the Governor here (Gavin Newsome) is being lauded (for his response also), his slight Trump-pandering/politicking to “get the goods” has been a disappointment on my end. To my knowledge, Inslee has been less sycophantic and as a result has had a greater struggle but also has engendered respect and good outcomes thus far to flatten the curve.

Having lived in Canada, I appreciate your sentiments. It is not easy for many of us to be in the US at this time.

Or perhaps many places at this time?

Illinois boy here. I know at least one DL poster hates his guts, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker shut the state down faster than Trump giving away billions to billionaires. Schools, stores, restaurants all ordered to close pretty much right off the bat, and plenty of scolding of everyone to stay the F home.

Ditto pocket lesbian and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Don't EVER cross her - she'll cut a bitch.

NYS resident, Hudson River Valley (100 miles north of NYC for those unfamiliar with the area). Cuomo has impressed me and I never thought much of him - he was slow to act and bungled some early steps but I think his press conferences provide context and are calming to people (and no more corny than FDR's fireside chats during another global crisis). I hate de Blasio, but like that he has been kicking dirt in Trump's teeth. I'm about as frightened as I've ever been (I am caregiver to a 70+ parent who co-habitates with me), but feel the situation is being addressed in adult terms.

Trump = minus whatever number of Americans die. There is no way this situation would have turned into the clusterfuck it has if this piece of shit was not in the White House. And he makes himself newly hateful each day. I've actually begun to feel sorry for Pence, who is trying to act like a concerned and rational adult. Do you know how vile someone has to be before I start feeling sorry for Pence? Donald Trump-levels of awful.

Fat head R17. Across the back of his fat head.

Yeah, GoldStarElderGay, good on Pritzker.

The Lori Lightfoot memes are just what we need at this time.

Canada - Justin TrueDope Negative 10,000 stars

Fucking moron refused to close the borders while calling everyone a racist. Took selfies eating at Chinese restaurants while calling everyone a racist. Donated all our PPE to China while calling everyone a racist. His even dumber wife gave the virus ti Idris Elba lol!

Kudos to Cuomo for the press conferences, R30. Share your sentiments. He has become the most visible face of the governors in the US now.

He, his brother and his brother’s diagnosis have propelled the family into the Coronavirus spotlight.

You also bring up a point about de Blasio and a new way to frame him juxtaposed with Trump. Hey, and also Pence. That’s how “abdominal” [abominable] Trump is and has become in his position.

Also thoughts your way. [I am similarly back in the US following a beloved parent’s health issue.]

May we all move through this with as much ease, health and grace as is possible.

I agree with everybody who is slamming the orange tyrant in the White House. He is the reason for most of the confusion and some of the slow response we have seen. Calling a pandemic a hoax that will disappear?? Seriously?! What a fucking piece of garbage.

Missouri -

Governor - GOP snaggle-toothed asshole - F Mayor - Dem woman - B+ Metro Leadership - B+ US Federal Government - F

Trump should be pulled out of the WH and thrown into a sick ward with his family. Enough insanity.

Canada:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - Adequate. Well spoken on morning tv rants, I’m told. But fuck him, he’s still a major fucking cunt trying to bulldoze pipelines through B.C..

B.C. Premier John Horgan - Adequate. I assume he has decent advisers, as I think this may be beyond his intelligence for the big picture.

R36, it is Parson you are referring to, no? Is he of the same ilk as Eric Greitens (who was forced to step down from the Governorship due to multiple issues)? A Trump acolyte?

Things sound more hopeful with your mayor.

Come again, R26? The enforcement looks to be nonexistent.

Thanks [R34]. It's been nerve-racking.

New Zealand- 3.5 out of 5. Could have closed the border and gone into lockdown slightly earlier but I don't think it would have made a tonne of difference, plus people would have accused her of destroying the economy unnecessarily.

Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand:

As per usual the kind-hearted lass trusted people - for example travellers coming into NZ to self quarantine - then she was shocked! shocked, I tell you, when all the backpackers ran amok and the Germans and Chinese refused to stay in their camper vans.

On the plus side, she is determined to stop the spread of the virus by keeping us all in our houses and encouraging us to all nark on each other. New Zealanders are excellent at that, so community pages are overflowing with bored curtain-peeping tattletales.

We are being quite good compared to other countries, I think, everything is shut except the bare necessities. People are generally accepting that we will be stuck inside for the whole of winter, though the 5G, Pizzagate, New World Order crew have a lot to say on the above mentioned community pages.

She has ramped us community testing, but is still not testing people who are symptomatic if they have no association with overseas travel. Funnily enough, the government is saying we have no community transmission. We are currently doing about 3000 tests a day. Our numbers of infected are going up by about 70-80 per day, with one death so far and one in hospital.

We are waiting to see how the dice will fall and will have a clearer picture in a week or two.

She is not relying on 'God' to save us, thank christ.

On the downside, New Zealand's economy is absolutely fucked. That's something that happens when you rely on tourism and overseas students to prop up your economy, though obviously not Jacinda's fault.

All our media outlets are currently hanging by a thread with a couple of big ones already gone under. Peter Theil and Jeff Bezos better watch out, there are currently thousands of jobless journalists roaming the land looking for overground bunkers and a story.

Anyway, I fucking hope Jacinda's got this right, because as naive as she is, I believe she's a good person - and all our other politicians are raging cunts.

R42 EnZed has nothing to offer but overwhelming scenery and sheep. At least Oz has attempted to wean itself off the sheep's back by stealing minerals from Blackfellas. But not to worry. There's all those migrant New Zealanders (on ya, Tasman Agreement!!) who'll send cheques home to mum and dad back in Invercargill.

r43 Is that meant to make me feel better...or?

You're not telling me new information here.

South Africa: 3.75 stars for the president and health minister for implementing a strict lock down early on, providing economic relief and water and sanitation to those living in shanty towns, and working with private companies to source PPEs and ventilators, increase hospital beds and so on.

I don't often have anything good to say about this wretched government, but they've done about as well as could be expected, and it seems to be bearing fruit in our relatively low numbers of infections.

They could have stopped inbound flights sooner and forcibly quarantined tourists, some of whom (mostly Germans) behaved with utter disregard for others' health even after testing positive.

They have also not managed to test anywhere near enough people with most testing being done by private companies but we are promised that this'll increase soon (we'll see).

Thanks Kiwis for the updates. Really glad to hear your perceptions.

Always had the impression that Jacinda was one of the most competent of the current Heads of State atm. [Would’ve thought she would have merited more. However, have heard only bits and pieces up here of what’s going on in Aotearoa virus-wise.]

[And, R42, after living in Parnell and Akaroa, it would be a dream to return to EnZed. Perhaps it’s all relative, but would you like to trade places with someone in LA? Although by no means perfect, it was the most decent, reasonable and sane country (not to mention beautiful) I’ve been able to call home for awhile.]

R45 - Appreciate you chiming in. Honestly, with everything going on, hadn’t heard anything from your neck of the woods, so to hear from you in South Africa is genuinely helpful.

Thanks.

I live in the Netherlands. We have the highest ratio of deaths to infections, although our infection rate is slowing due to Dutch people doing a good job following the guidelines. You won't know most of these people but overall it's more professional than the Americans but some boneheaded moves here and there.

Mark Rutte (PM) 6: he started with that stupid herd immunity bullshit but flipped into crisis management mode quickly and is doing better now. He either gets it very right or very wrong.

Willem-Alexander 8 (King): nice speech about the 'loneliness virus', docked 2 points for going to Indonesia when the virus was taking root. Maxima and the girls have been useless.

Wopke Hoekstra (finance minister) 2: picked a fight with southern Europe over money, embarassing our country's reputation as a unifying EU force, just because he covets Rutte's job. ex-McKinsey asshole.

Hugo de Jonge (deputy PM and health minister) 8: keeping people calm, more approachable than Hoekstra or Rutte. The least offensive conservative politician.

Thierry Baudet and Geert Wilders (Trumpy Nazis) 1 each: irrelevant, going for lockdown just because they hate immigrants, ratings cratering, no one is paying attention anymore. Maybe CV can kill populism?

Rob Jetten and Jesse Klaver (Democrats and GreenLeft leaders) 4 each: a bit absent although Rob took Hoekstra to task on his anti-EU moves. Boys (they're both very young), this isn't a teen empowerment summit.

Lodewijk Asscher (Labor opposition) 7: have brought PvdA back from brink and shamed Rutte into abandoning herd immunity...he's been on a roll.

I think de Jonge and Asscher come out better when it's done. Just like the old days: CDA (center-right) and PvdA (center-left) establishment although VVD (corporatist center-right) ratings have gone up the most due to rally round the flag.

Dutch media and celebrities 0: hopeless, witless, have no fucking idea what to do, useless. All should just turn off their home video cameras and close down their empty sets. If you think Gal Gadot is bad you havent seen Chantal Jantzen yet.

It seems politically the women are doing a better job than the men: Merkel, Ardern, Sophie Wilmes in Belgium. We need more women to fix this.

And the winner of all of this: the Dutch sign language lady who introduced the nation to the sign for 'hoarding' (evocatively called 'hamsteren' in Dutch). This is 'hamsteren'...

U.K. here. 1 star for Boris Johnson and his team. The whole herd mentality BS a few weeks ago was horrendous thinking. Many Brits thought this was no big deal at all a few weeks ago because of the way that the government was treating it. They had horse races open as well as football games, concerts, etc. While the rest of the world was closing those down.

^^Brilliant R48.

Really great synopses.

Although, I don’t speak Dutch, familiar with the majority of folks you mentioned.

Thanks.

North Carolina: 1.857 confirmed cases, 16 deaths.

Cooper “encouraged” social distancing and other precautions before finally issuing a stay-at-home order in mid-March.

In general the virus has hit our cities the hardest, Repub Charlotte by far, Raleigh 2nd, Durham 3rd. Liberal Hippie Hill shut itself down earlier and more strictly; there are only 37 cases in “the other” Orange County.

NC is in relatively good shape; we have roughly 10 times the number of hospital beds vs. cases and 13 counties with none confirmed.

So far.

[quote] NC is in relatively good shape.

May things remain that way for you, NC and Roy Cooper, R51.

[quote] It seems politically the women are doing a better job than the men

That’s not just “politically,” honey.

Trump is still trying to make a buck...sending our supplies to his friends while he charges them a fortune. Trump and Jared, grafting, grafting, grafting. Just don't get in their way.

France, Macron 3,5

But our gov -5: A bunch of incompétent liars!

DeSantis did not do anything right but I expect nothing good from Republicans. At least he is not as ignorant as the doodoo head in Georgia.

I live in LA

Garcetti and Newsom both get 4s. Strong if a little slow of responses, good information, little bullshit.

Trump doesn’t deserve a rating. He has done nothing to help, and is grafting away like usual. He should be pushed out of the way and let the adults handle this.

R55 (From Reuter’s):

[quote] President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to make France self-sufficient in protective masks by year-end and learn lessons from the coronavirus emergency....

Upstate New Yorker, here.

Local government: Four stars. This is absolutely not within the scope of their expertise. They have followed state guidelines and not made hash of it. Most importantly, they have not done anything to scare anyone.

State government. Five stars. Andrew Cuomo is a mixed bag, but he's done a great job with this. Plus, nipple rings!

Federal government. Trump gets Five Guillotines. And five electric chairs. And 20 lethal injections.

R58 Yes and what are you trying to tell me ? I already know about the decisions he is taking

Orangeshitass -5

DeSantis .05

County Board SW Florida 2

Cnty board has been leading the pack in locking beaches, only necessary businesses, stay at home rules, etc

They had to threaten fines to keep some locals off the beaches.

R56, are you from Florida?

When we first saw Brian Kemp - Governor of Georgia - at his press conference stating that he was just informed “24 hours ago” that asymptomatic individuals could be carriers of the Coronavirus, we honestly thought this was some kind of a joke. Upon realising it was not, someone then asked - seriously - if he was developmentally delayed.

Also, isn’t Ohio’s Governor - Mike DeWine - Republican? He was one of the earlier individuals to address the virus in his state.

So, while politics is certainly involved in government, there’s more to it that just party identification: personality, intelligence, empathy, and the ability to perceive a bigger picture surely play a role.

DeSantis and Kemp seem lacking in most identifiers listed above, save for party allegiance to Trumpism.

[quote] Yes and what are you trying to tell me ? I already know about the decisions he is taking.

R60, not attempting to tell you anything. Just wishing to share the news headline update that popped up on my screen from Reuters whilst scrolling through this thread.

Since I (obviously) know little of the happenings in France related to CV, if you have any further details you’d be willing to share, these would be appreciated.

R39, that's pretty much the story everywhere. It's not unique to Texas. That's also why I said "for the most part". And we haven't seen an explosion of cases like other areas have. At least not yet.

R63 Oh ok ... (in advance i'm sorry for my poor English)

Okay, at first Macron made a big mistake by maintaining the municipal elections (mayors). He hadn't fully realized how dangerous the situation was. Today we learn that many people have been infected because of it. But recent revelations show that he refused to maintain them and that it was the Prime Minister and the President of the Senate who put pressure on him. We didn't have masks because Macron (when he didn't take things seriously) sent 1 billion masks to China and Italy. The privatization of our public services is being felt heavily, but, to be fair, it is the fault of its predecessors. It is with dread that we learn that the Minister of Health has known since January, according to her own confession, that the virus would inevitably arrive in France, but that she did nothing. Macron immediatly replaced her 2 weeks ago.

Finally, there was Macron's remarkable speech and the steps he took. 40 million French people were watching that evening. He was the first to speak about an "invisible war" which Trump immediately copied 2 days later. Strangely doesn't sound the same in Trump mouth.

Attached the speech in english if you are interested

(sorry again if my english was painful to read)

[quote]President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to make France self-sufficient in protective masks by year-end and learn lessons from the coronavirus emergency....

And in the meantime, monsieur le président??

Australia Really pleasantly surprised. After a slow start, where you could see "but I want to save the economy!!!" written all over the Prime MInister's concerned face, the (fairly) right-wing government has melted in the middle and you'd think we were governed by FDR all of a sudden. Free childcare for all, unemployment rate nearly doubled, wages for casual workers propped up for the duration, small business supported, ban on evictions (commercial or personal) - it's startling. Plus, we've got the army in fixing unused machinery and helping re-tool it so defunct manufacturers can reawaken to make essential products. The PM says we will "snap back" when the crisis is over, but that'll be quite hard in some instances, especially if the world economy recovers more slowly.

Our PM has also done something the US could've really used if you had a decent President. Parliament is suspended, but he's formed a National Cabinet with the State Premiers (the equivalent of Governors, except we only have 6 States and 2 Territories) specifically for the discussion of health and economic safeguards in relation to the crisis, and of the essentials required by the States from the Feds. They meet by videoconference. They're informed by State and Federal health experts, the data analysts and (I assume) Treasury officials. It has meant that they've agreed on national rules of conduct for the rest of us, but that the hardest-hit states can (and do) institute tougher measures without blindsiding anyone, to minimise public confusion. 50 states is unwieldy, but if you had a useful President he could be meeting in a group with the Governors of the hardest-hit states.

R66 haha exactly our state of minds right now

but....face masks about to be sent to a french region that ordered them. But they won't. Why ? A Us supplier gazumped the french region and the masks were loaded on a plane to America! Same thing happened to Canada.

As a progressive democrat I can’t ever vote for him because he’s extremely anti-abortion, anti-LGBT equality, he’s trying to kick people off their health insurance, etc., but I have to admit that no governor in the country was better than Mike DeWine was here in Ohio during the early weeks of this thing.

R62, DeWine is a Republican. He made one of the first cancellations when the international Arnold Sports Classic was cancelled in February.

I watch the press conferences daily (also known by some as “Wine with DeWine or Snackn’ with Acton). Here are my ratings:

Mike DeWine (Governor) - A Dr. Amy Acton (Ohio Dept of Health Director) - A+++ John Husted (Lt. Governor) - B+ tRump - F

Germany, 9 out of 10 for me. Not everyting went well. But as fare I can see, Angela Merkel and the local prime Ministers do a good job.

But we are in a good situation, Germany health care system works. Today there are still 45% of the extensive care beds available at our hospitals.

Now I'm curious as to why certain Republican governors were taking this more seriously than other Republican governors. The ones in places like Florida have to be forced to keep their citizens alive, whereas other ones have no problem seeing the perks of living citizens.

R71 been very impressed with your Jens Spahn. He should be your next Chancellor now that AKK has self-destructed. And he's gay too :)

In Oman, of all places, 5 out of 5 to the leadership and relevant agencies. They moved real fast. Here's what boggles my mind: In this very much Islamic country (and others in the region), mosques have been closed for... hmmm, 2 weeks? They're actually doing better w. religion-related matters than the boneheads in Florida and elsewhere.

Gay he may be, R73, but does anyone care?

Queens will never let this guy into the White Party.

R74 I've noticed that COVID's being handled better in places you wouldn't think, which makes sense because the spread of this virus was predominantly dependent on traveling to major metropolitan areas and spreading from there.

Also, COVID's been an excellent worldwide religious test. When this is all said and done and we have the stats, religious scholars should do a study on how each faith tradition responded to COVID, how quickly, and whether they resisted shutting down for the benefit of their flock, and humanity at large.

I've noticed that for the most part Jews and Muslims seem to be doing well, which is unsurprising. Christians on the other hand, especially in America, are having a difficult time letting go of their addiction to the physical house of worship. It's also political as churches have enjoyed being exempt from certain secular laws, but their refusal to follow these particular laws will, and has, resulted in the spread of COVID, as well as related deaths.

I fear what's fringe in American Christianity will become normalized if individuals within the faith don't keep reforming it. Leaving the church in 2007 might've ironically saved my life, haha.

2nd try.

DeWine is not a Trumpster, but one of the few moderates left in the Republican Party. He gets an A+

1. Shut down the " Arnold-fest," which would have brought 200,000 to Columbus

2. Ordered lockdown early

3. Facilitated early testing in the hospitals

4. When Battelle developed technology to sanitize 160,000 masks per day, pushed it through the FDA; machines going to NYC and Wash in addition to Ohio. Going to be sent wherever needed.

He's been exemplary and honest with the citizens during his daily conferences. I didn't vote for him, but am glad he's in charge.

r76. Was there anything to believe in anykind of a God in the last century?

Just have a look how fast our earth travels around the sun, how fast the sun travels in our small Galaxie and so on..

[quote]They're actually doing better w. religion-related matters than the boneheads in Florida and elsewhere.

"Containment" is so much simpler and easier when you live in a tribal society with no freedoms under the thumb of a feudal despot.

[quote]"Containment" is so much simpler and easier when you live in a tribal society with no freedoms under the thumb of a feudal despot.

No it's not! You know how many Christians are still flooding churches in America? They won't even listen to their OWN despot! They like the sky one.

Wow. Just 12 hours ago in Sacramento. Christianity: the faith that keeps on giving. COVID that is!

R81 in his rush to pretend to be stupid missed the operative word: FREEDOMS

R82 In his rush to call people out, he missed the goddamn joke. Hope he watched the video of Christian lemmings. There are plenty more across the nation.

And R82 missed the operative word "RESPONSIBILITY."

In Los Angeles. I'd have to give Eric Garcetti a sold five stars. He's shown great leadership. His daily 5:15 briefing is fascinating because he tells it like it is, answers questions honestly and deeply cares about protecting the residents. Am very proud of him.

I mean... any faith can be made fun of, but it's clear right now which faith doesn't seem to get it. Super unfortunate. People will die.

California's killing it big picture. There are plenty of other states that are doing relatively well too.

Anyone live in Michigan or Colorado? They're being hit hard.

Why are Christians flocking to churches to catch COVID? Don't Christians say Muslims are the only ones that kill themselves for their faith?

I don't care why they are doing it. I just thank them for their sacrifice and say, "Keep it coming!!!"

Can you even IMAGINE the 24/7 HATE and defamation that would have been heaped upon Hillary Clinton were she the President!

Even if she were doing a brilliant job with this pandemic, and she would be, the cries of "KILLARY!" and pictures of dead babies and dead old people would be shoved in our faces daily, with our addled media of Hate-bots (Chris Hayes, Berners, Andrea Mitchell, the NY Times, etc.) would be working overtime with their, "Well, I mean, all these people ARE dying, and she IS President, so...." song and dance.

On one level, at least the curtain is being pulled back for the MILLIONTH TIME on what INCOMPETENT ASSHOLES Republicans are!

Looks like German leaders are doing the best job out of all of them

NJ here

Phil Murphy started out slow even though he says his administration has been keeping an eye on this since January.

The first state diagnosis was on March 1 and the first death on the 10th, but it wasn't until the 16th that schools were ordered to be closed and restaurants were ordered to do only take out or delivery (although I think some state offices like DMV closed the week earlier).

Murphy's daily press conferences are like night & day as compared with this godawful president daily conferences, and not just in the imaging, where people stand so close to one another, they look like they're on a crowded subway car.

The governor's conferences are purely data and fact driven, and all questions are answered clearly and concisely. Also, all hospitals and medical facilities are required to provide daily updates on their supplies of PPE, including ventilators, and to report how many patients are hospitalized.

While he doesn't have the star quality of Cuomo, Murphy's cool and matter-of-fact approach to this has been profoundly appreciated.

I say that because we're getting slammed pretty hard hard as a result of the top half of the state being in the NY metro area. It doesn't get much national attention, but we were at over 25,000 known cases yesterday, and this afternoon I suspect it'll get close to 30,000.

And our hospitals and the people who work there are struggling as well.

[quote] Garcetti and Newsom both get 4s. Strong if a little slow of responses, good information, little bullshit.

Their responses were not slow, just measured, it was a balancing act to avoid public panic, try to sustain as much of economy as feasible and ensure that essential services were preserved. Given how many people we have in California -- including staggering numbers of homeless and undocumented -- our situation could be way worse than NY.

That California's even below the national average is a testament to our leadership, and there are STILL Californians acting like fools and congregating.

[quote]Even if she were doing a brilliant job with this pandemic, and she would be, the cries of "KILLARY!"

Hahah! Damn. You even captured their lack of cleverness on that one. Have you noticed how much the right like their stupid little 1st grade insults? "It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!" And they all laugh in their echo chamber, think they're the height of humor. I suspect this is why conservatives genuinely [italic]aren't[/italic] that funny. I think they take themselves too seriously to get it.

We've got that utterly useless cunt Boris.

And Michael Gove, who flat out lied to the British people, and if he had any honour should have shot himself.

But, hey, Brexit...

[quote]Their responses were not slow, just measured, it was a balancing act to avoid public panic

Well they definitely failed at that, given the hoarding and hysteria evince by those worked into a froth by fear mongering.

They also definitely failed in responsibility and governance, completely ignoring several Constitutional amendments. But when it's guys you like being fascists, well, what about it? With the added benefit that those supporting fascists don't bother with the nasty repercussions thereof or what supporting fascists who ignore the Constitution and rule of law makes them.

^^^ therefrom, not thereof ^^^

R72 Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker seems to be one of the dwindling number of Republicans who make sense: he's been proactive in leveraging state and private resources to try to squash the sombrero. Local colleges and universities also saw the problem early on by deciding to send their students home in early March (there are an estimated 300,000 undergrad and graduate students in Massachusetts) before spring break.

For a small state, Massachusetts has a massive international footprint - the schools, hospitals, and businesses here attract people from around the world and Logan Airport has direct service to Europe and Asia - making for the early transmission/introduction of the coronavirus to Boston and the rest of state. The early efforts at isolation have helped, but that means the worst effects in terms of healthcare have yet to hit the state - the next week or two will be critical in terms of how will the most severe cases will be handled.

I don't dismiss the potential PR benefits, especially for his legal issues, but the Kraft family's donation of the Patriot's team jet to fly to China to pick up PPE they bought for Boston and NYC hospitals is one way wealthy private citizens are working with the governor for everyone's benefit, not escaping to the Hamptons or Aspen.

For an overwhelmingly Democratic state, Massachusetts is doing pretty well under a sane Republican governor. I wish there were more of them in the United States.

[quote]For a small state, Massachusetts has a massive international footprint - the schools, hospitals, and businesses here attract people from around the world and Logan Airport has direct service to Europe and Asia - making for the early transmission/introduction of the coronavirus to Boston and the rest of state.

Honestly, I fucking forgot about that. I literally forgot about Boston and the surrounding area alone. I forgot about goddamn Harvard. Ignore my question. COVID's presence there, and the proactive Republican response makes sense. Also, he's gotta take pride in the reputation of intelligence his state has, so I'd hope he's listening to the right people. I mean... the smartest people in the world are allegedly in his state.

Ooooh... I haven't actually asked this yet. How are the brainiac students at Harvard handling this? How are all Ivy League institutions handling this? Are the higher educated student bodies behaving more logically compared to other universities or city colleges? I'd like to see studies on this.

FLORIDA: I agree with the above rating of .05 for De Santis. Even his state "lockdown" that went into effect at midnight is somewhat toothless-- it seems that every type of business is "essential." This includes dry cleaners, hardware stores, gas station stores. The airports are not shut down. And many people in my building are not practicing social distancing while sitting 1 foot apart and passing plates of food to each other in the outdoor space.

As for Trump: -2000. I won't add any comment as everyone above has captured why he gets a poor rating.

Florida's governor's like that mayor in Jaws.

Macron, Sanchez, Conte...really just about all of the EU gets a big fat zero.

Their rate of deaths per population is so much higher than the US.

However Germany is doing well.

Along with Trump, Cuomo, DeBlasio, Pelosi and others should be held accountable for not taking this seriously in the beginning.

Pelosi urging everyone to flock to Chinese New Year. DeBlasio telling everyone to go on about their lives only 4 weeks ago.

There's a reason NYC is such a shit show right now: DeBlasio and Cuomo.

Nancy Pelosi, easing outbreak fears: Feb 24th:

"Know-it-all" Bill DeBlasio

I think Illinois is doing a good job with the situation and here in Chicago Mayor Lightfoot isn't taking any shit!

As for the President he gets negative marks and then assigning the job to Kushner, they both need to be overthrown and executed.

Idiot NYC health commissioner Oxiris Barbot's word of advice:

I hate the fucking CONs, but so far they've handled it well. I think our prime minister waited a bit too long, the quarantine rules could have been enforced a couple of weeks earlier, but at least she acted before it became much worse, which is more than can be said about Trump. I do think a Labour government would have been earlier with closing schools and work places though, as usual the fucking CONs only care about one thing: PROFIT. Seriously, just a few years ago they cut unemployment benefits and a bunch of other stuff to afford to give their rich cult, sorry "supporters" tax cuts. On everything else they increased taxes, electricity, gas, alcohol... you name it. You know, everything normal people use, and everything those with a normal or low income would have to pay for. Fucking assholes. Lets just say, our government's handling of the crisis has not changed my political beliefs. I will vote Labour next time too, as I always have.

Massachusetts and Charlie Baker got a slower start than they should have. I give him a 3 star out of 5 because of it. The Biogen thing should have shut the whole state down sooner. I was there in February when the virus was just getting started.

Vermont gets a 2 star rating for only following suit once MA took action and belatedly ordering refugees from NY to quarantine. Our tiny town issued guidelines only yesterday and there is little enforcement. Most of the folks are ignoring it in rural areas but following social distancing in the larger cities like Burlington and Brattleboro.

Both states have Republican governors, but of the NE, moderate type. I give Baker points for giving Trump some crap about the feds competing with states for medical supplies.

Five stars for California. Newsom is not afraid to do unpopular things.

The subway yesterday in Cuomo and DeBlasio's NYC.

Cuomo is such a fraud.

Trudeau - 7 (i think he faltered with the pc stuff early on but has recovered nicely)

Ford (Ontario Premier) - 6 in the beginning (I think he was hesitant to shut down the economy) but now an 8. And I loathe to give him that score but it's true

[quote] Well they definitely failed at that, given the hoarding and hysteria evince by those worked into a froth by fear mongering. They also definitely failed in responsibility and governance, completely ignoring several Constitutional amendments. But when it's guys you like being fascists, well, what about it? With the added benefit that those supporting fascists don't bother with the nasty repercussions thereof or what supporting fascists who ignore the Constitution and rule of law makes them.

Do tell us, R96, how YOU would have SUCCESSFULLY handled this?

[quote]Five stars for California. Newsom is not afraid to do unpopular things.

Dude was like this with gay marriage. He's keeping California ahead of the curve, and all the states that make fun of us are drowning in their lung fluid and that SUCKS because I wish people put their HEALTH before political party. It's like America's in a cult of its own making.

Is the UK able to activate on the county level the way other countries are operating on the state level? In other words, Boris is a useless piece of shit, but is local administration acting like Newsom in CA, etc.?

That's a good question. Are there at least SOME sensible authority figures the citizens can listen to if they don't already know we're in a global fucking pandemic?

Frankly, I find it very heartening to read responses from all over the world. We are certainly all in this together, and all suffering when there is a leadership failure somewhere in the chain of command. I've always been a proud Californian, and I think our state and local leaders have stepped up and done a good job. Likewise, the majority of our residents have as well. Our local teachers union is organizing relief snacks and food for hospital workers and first responders. Local restaurants are feeding the homeless and some are giving huge discounts and/or free meals to people who have been laid off from work. We will get through this TOGETHER.

Too bad Walter Cronkite ( voted the most trusted man in America) isn't still around.

I didn't mention Boris Johnson's most unforgivable sin: failing to participate in the EU scheme to buy ventilators and other vital supplies, then unconvincingly lying about it afterwards.

R107 "The Biogen Thing" took place on February 26th and 27th. Given the lead time needed to become symptomatic much less tested and treated, twelve days (because this is a leap year) didn't strike me as a long time: Baker declared a state of emergency on March 10th - a day before Trump did. The schools and businesses were ordered closed on the 15th and the stay at home order issued later that week.

My point is that he's seemed reasonable, responsible, and reliable: you can trust what he's said. There's zero partisanship in all of it, too: people are pretty together on this. I think the sight of kids lined up to get into the bars on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day woke people up. The bars were closed at 11pm and haven't reopened. For the most part, people are staying home.

There are plenty of challenges - unemployment, housing and food insecurity, where healthcare will be in three or four months, the disappearance of the tourists, and the next round of infections likely to hit in the fall are just some of things that are going to make everywhere, not just here, tougher to manage than it's ever been. I feel a lot more confident in Charlie Baker's ability to keep this place afloat than I do in someone like, say deSantis or that crazy bat in Alabama who's still in denial with a thousand cases there already.

Trump continues to fall in the polls while more Americans die. He hardly deserves to be rated a 'leader' in this and is more an obstructionist.

He's proving, every time he opens his mouth, that he lacks the empathy to serve. Leadership is about serving others. So rating him on this criteria is impossible. He has not done the job.

Trump is antithetical to leadership.

Let's disregard Trump. How is you state or country's leadership doing?

I have to disagree with r19.

[quote] I think that response was reasonable. Texas is such a large and far-flung state, it didn't make much sense to institute a strict statewide order. We have 18 counties with fewer than 2000 people in them. The smallest has around 100. None of these small counties have reported a single case yet. And very few, if any, of them are necessarily places that would likely be visited by someone coming from the areas with most of the cases.

As long as there is freedom of movement, those small rural counties are in grave danger. Just because there aren't cases yet doesn't mean they shouldn't be taking the same precautions as the metro areas. All across the South rural cases are on the rise. Texas will be no different.

[quote] The only big mistake I think he's making is designating religious services as "essential".

This is a big, deplorable mistake that is bound to have disastrous consequences.

Local leaders in Texas are doing a fine job. People in the cities are taking the orders seriously. However the state deserves condemnation for these reckless decisions.

Related Thread

Well, as stated above, R121, we can't really rate the country response here in the US....it's too far below any reasonable expectation and those of us who've watched this evolving over the last few months aren't really surprised. It was an opportunity to change some minds, create a different set of expectations and rise to the challenge that didn't happen.

My governor, a moderate of the GOP ilk, is pretty much following in the footsteps of his brethren here in NE. He's doing a passable, if still somewhat lax job. The rates here in VT are slowly rising. I fear complacency may create a bigger problem in a potentially deadly second wave of infection once things 'level out' and an all clear is given.

NYC:

Can’t remember the last time I actually saw or heard Mayor DeBlasio, now that I think about it. I’ll say a 2. Lots of tune wasting dithering that gave it plenty of time to spread.

Cuomo: wasn’t particularly a fan previously but he has won me over despite silly hand sanitizer misstep early on. I feel like he’s smart and sensible and enjoy watching him be a bitch to Trump. He gets a 5, showing up being at least three of those. He’s consistent and reliable and behaves like an adult.

Speaking of Trump...not enough negative digits to convey how tragic the federal response has been. Tragic. And also humiliating.

Yes. Would have to sadly agree with the posters up thread who wisely acknowledge the ever-devolving response of the US Federal Administration. It is humiliating.

As statistics skyrocket and Dr. Fauci clamors for a unified federal response (and Navy captains/oversight IGs fired), this is all playing out to render The Trump admin as Sick and Inhumane.

I was concerned when Trump was elected. And thought we’d be in for a rocky road. Perhaps even war or a significant climate catastrophe.

But this. This was even out of my ken of thinking.