If you practice federal law and you are not getting Henry Bell's Corona Tonight email updates, you are missing a super-quality email updated with memos, motions, and orders from around the county.
And we should recognize the work he is doing in keeping lawyers in this district on the cutting edge of Compassionate Release and virus related litigation. Well done Mr. Bell. Well done indeed.
The hallmark of this blog is our willingness to take a stand, make a prediction, and make it in a public forum. Our astounding success rate in picking NFL games lo this past decade and more is evidence of the prognostication powers of this blog's author.
There will be no Covid-19 successful vaccine in 2020. There probably will not be a successful Covid-19 vaccine until the fall of 2021 at the earliest. There never may be a successful vaccine. Kindly act accordingly. Covid-19 is a virus. A virus is an exceptionally hard target for a vaccine. Some virus's resist all vaccines. The Flu vaccine is about 50% effective in any year because the virus changes so much. The good news is Covid-19 is a relatively stable target. The bad news is that relatively stable viruses like, say, herpes, have resisted all vaccine attempts for decades.
Sooooooo, as we perambulate throughout Miami, and see legions of walkers and runners in Key Biscayne not wearing masks and similar behaviors on the beaches and boardwalks throughout South Florida, we are left with the inescapable conclusion that tougher times are ahead.
Miami Courts are admirably working towards opening and reestablishing jury trials. However, are there work groups considering how to keep the courts running if we get hit with a worse second wave in four to six months? We do not think so.
A word to our robe wearing readers- you are working to open the courts assuming the best- please start assuming the worst: That there will be no treatment, no vaccine, and a second worse wave in October and November. Unlike the executive branch of the State and Federal government, our judicial branches- state and federal- have inspired confidence in their work, dedication and consideration of medicine and science. Thank you for that. But we remained concerned that, as February and March of this year showed, there is no plan for re-closing the courts when a second wave strikes. Please advise.
Personally, the first time we qualify for the Boston Marathon, they cancel it. C'est la vie.
Mr. Ovalle and the Herald have an article about the limitations of Zoom. From unintended backgrounds to shirtless interlopers walking in camera view, there is only so much that can be accomplished by Zoom. We are not big fans. We like staring into the eyes of a witness. Watching where their eyes dart when hit with an unexpected question. See a prosecutor squirm in her seat- or even better seeing two prosecutors arguing with each other as we lob question after question at the witness, the legal equivalent of shock and awe- the tactics that bring legions of lawyers to watch our trials when they know Rumpole is about to rise for the defense.
Have a safe weekend. Wear a mask and stay far away from us por favor.
RUMPOLE ...
ReplyDeleteI just read your update. You state that there may never be a Covid vaccine - and to plan accordingly.
Wall Street obviously disagrees with you. Even the bank stocks, cruise industry and home builders are up, up, up. Your prognostication a few weeks back to go to cash seem to be the opposite of what most investors are doing?
Can you give your faithful readers an update? Do you think that the President’s recent actions as to Twitter, China and the killing of yet another innocent black man may lead to mass social unrest? The state’s and city’s inability to have sufficient funds for essential services? 40 million Americans unemployed? A crazy election? The virus?
Runpole - are we doomed? Time to move to another country and invest in some other asset allocation or just go all to cash?
Help us. Please.
Rumpole:
ReplyDeleteYou said, "Sooooooo, as we perambulate throughout Miami, and see legions of walkers and runners in Key Biscayne not wearing masks and similar behaviors on the beaches and boardwalks throughout South Florida, we are left with the inescapable conclusion that tougher times are ahead."
Fake news!
The main point of infection is indoor, face to face, relatively close proximity contact and hand shaking. Passing a walker or jogger outside, without touching each other or stopping to talk to one another (even within 6 feet and even without masks) is very low risk behavior. The New York Times reported as much just a few days ago, and the CDC agrees. Sure, keeping your distance and wearing a mask when out for a walk or a jog is safer, but so is living in a bubble. As Fauci has repeatedly said, we are not looking to avoid all risk, just high risk activity. Walking and running outside, even without a mask, is not a high risk activity for the runner or for others around him.
Again, as reported by the New York Times, "In one study of more than 7,300 cases in China, just one was connected to outdoor transmission. In that case, a 27-year-old man had a conversation outdoors with a traveler who had just returned from Wuhan. Seven days later, he had his first symptoms of Covid-19."
From the same article: "Experts say that a person walking, jogging or cycling too close for a few seconds is not a big worry."
Here's the May 15, 2020 NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-what-to-do-outside.html
Here's Fauci on March 26, 2020 (if you don't have 14 minutes, watch these 2 minutes: 2:39 to 4:40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A3jiM2FNR8
Stop talking crap about an important subject. I know this is your blog, you can say what you want, and I can "vote with my feet" and not visit. But your readership is too high for you to simply abdicate responsibility and to say things (even if maybe tongue-in-cheek) that are false and that sow fear in the context of this virus.
And here we go...
ReplyDeleteCivil Rights Lesson "We Shall overcome" by Peter Seeger
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gmTxc2wGTI