Michigan – No Car Seat Purchases

Jacques: Confusion over stay-home order leads to car-seat ban at UP store

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/ingrid-jacques/2020/04/12/jacques-michigan-weeds-ok-but-car-seats-nope/2978644001/

On Friday evening, Tori Sachs posted a photo on Twitter that a friend had shared with her on Facebook.

The photograph depicted child car seats cordoned off with yellow tape at an Upper Peninsula Walmart.

Ridiculous, right? And potentially dangerous for parents in need of the safety device.

A mother who lives in Ironwood had taken photos from a trip that day to the store and shared them. Sachs, in her early 30s, is the same age as this woman, and is the mom of three young daughters, with another baby on the way.

For Sachs, this seemed very wrong, and she wanted to draw attention to the problem so that it could be fixed.

This was the day after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tightened and extended her stay-home executive order, with additional restrictions on big-box stores like Walmart. Hundreds of these stores around the state have scrambled to interpret the governor’s new demands, as the state seeks to fight COVID-19.

Whitmer''s office said Sunday her order was not intended to ban the sale of children's cars seats.

But many have complained that the order is arbitrary and vague, leaving retail outlets and other businesses in a difficult position of trying to muddle through what is “essential” for customers and what isn’t.

Marijuana and alcohol sales can continue, for instance, but garden seeds and paint are off limits.

“Large stores must also close areas of the store that are dedicated to carpeting, flooring, furniture, garden centers, plant nurseries, or paint,” the order states.

So a manager or an employee at this particular Walmart had interpreted this to mean taping off the car seat aisle.

Sachs’ tweet was pretty straight-forward. She included the photo and wrote this: “Per order from @GovWhitmer, people in Michigan are now banned from purchasing a new baby car seat in stores. This is dangerous and this order needs clarification immediately.”

But her tweet started taking off, and has since gone viral with thousands of retweets and likes.

An hour or so after she posted this, she says got a call from Erik Hingst, a Michigan-based director of public affairs and government relations for Walmart. Sachs says Hingst asked her to take down the tweet and accused her of spreading fake news. But Sachs knew the photo was legitimate and didn’t think that was a fair request.

The call didn’t go well. Afterward, according to Sachs, she texted him saying: “This picture was taken in Michigan today. If you’ll send me a written statement attributed to Walmart that this was a single store mistake as a result of confusion with the executive order, I’ll take the tweet down and share that statement in its place.”

Yet Sachs says Hingst didn’t do that and instead threatened to call everyone Sachs has worked with in Lansing until she took down the photo. She started getting other calls from lobbyists that night — all men — informing her she should remove the photo.

Sachs is a Republican consultant who worked with former Gov. Rick Snyder and then ran U.S. Senate candidate John James’ 2018 campaign. She doesn’t appreciate her work and reputation being threatened over trying to do the right thing.

What’s ironic is that Sachs didn’t draw attention to this having happened at a Walmart. And plenty of other Michigan residents — including some state lawmakers — have also posted pictures of what they’ve seen at stores following Whitmer’s order, from taped off seed isles to mosquito spray.

While this particular lobbyist doesn’t seem to have handled the situation well, it is not Walmart’s fault. The chain and others like it deserve some slack as they try to adjust to the new framework.

In fact, when I called Hingst to get a comment, he told me he didn’t have time because he was unloading a shipment of thousands of donated masks and other personal protective equipment from Walmart’s corporate office.

As Sachs says: “The big problem here is Whitmer’s order and its lack of clarity. There’s no reason for people to attack me or anyone else just documenting what is going on as a result of the confusion Whitmer has made.”

https://twitter.com/Tori_Sachs/status/1248767913269645319

>>8771720

Every time I see a pic of Frau Reichsmarschall - mean Governor Whitmer, keep thinking

Why is Bruce Jenner in the news, and he put on a few pounds

Ambulance servie low on PPE for staff

Area ambulance serves less than 100k, reflective of smaller towns and cities.

Article illustrates 1. state and local organizzations failed to plan and consider ordering supplies in the weeks prior to state emergencies, 2. suppliers must restrict oders due to the sudden order demands 3. stockpiles need to be frequently rotated and restocked - elastic and latex products deteriorate over time - governments often forget that crucial detail

AMED running low on PPE

https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2020/04/amed-running-low-on-ppe/

The biggest local provider of ambulance services has been running uncomfortably low on equipment needed to protect its emergency medical service workers from COVID-19.

The biggest local provider of ambulance services has been running uncomfortably low on equipment needed to protect its emergency medical service workers from COVID-19.

“PPE (Personal Protective Equipment, like masks, gloves, goggles and gowns) is in short supply,” said AMED Executive Director Gary Watters in an email Thursday, following a teleconference board meeting. “Have been requesting PPE since March 18. None received…”

Later that day, AMED did get N95 masks and gloves, relayed from the Blair County Emergency Management Department, so at week’s end there was “an adequate supply of most items,” up from five days’ worth — yet still only enough goggles and gowns for about 10 days at current call volumes, Watters said.

“So far, we’ve been adequately protected,” Watters said before the delivery. “I’m not sure I can answer whether we will continue to be.”

The problems have included a major supplier restricting purchasers to items they’ve bought in the last 60 days, and because AMED doesn’t typically use many procedure masks and gowns, it hasn’t been able to buy those, according to Watters.

AMED at one point received a shipment of older N95 masks and gowns from a regional organization that had stockpiled them, but their useful shelf life had expired, and some of the straps on the masks broke, Watters said.

To preserve the masks, workers have been using them call-to-call, until they get a call for a patient suspected of COVID-19, he said.

AMED has been sanitizing and reusing goggles, Watters said.

Gowns are not reusable, he stated.

AMED has been looking to find a substitute, possibly rain suits.

The wearing of PPE began in earnest March 28, with an order that all employees wear N95 masks, gloves and eye protection on all calls, Watters said.

That has been supplemented with another protective tactic — the masking of patients when ambulances arrive, Watters said.

If done in the first five minutes, “our risk drops dramatically,” Watters told the board.

Workers also ask patients to step outside their homes when the ambulance arrives, if that’s practical, and they keep a safe distance away from patients, when that’s possible, Watters said.

The 911 center is helping by asking callers whether patients to be transported have been coughing or if they’re feverish or having respiratory problems, then forwarding that information to AMED, Watters said.

AMED has been especially attentive to guidance for employees who may be more vulnerable to COVID-19 because of age or health conditions, Watters indicated, in answer to a question from board member Brad Kissell.

The organization has transported three patients who later tested positive for COVID-19, none of whom at the time showed “the classic signs and symptoms,” Watters said.

Three AMED employees who were subject to “high-risk” exposure were sent to quarantine for 14 days, while five others subject to “low-risk” exposure were told to self-monitor, Watters said.

Workers have been cleaning their stations every four hours, he said.

“The Clorox is eating the finish off some of the door handles,” he said.

All are screened before their shifts with a temperature check and questions about respiratory problems, cough or fatigue, he said.

None have had to be sent home based on those tests, he said.

The employees are concerned, but not fearful — and mainly concerned not to bring the virus back to their families, Watters said.

“God bless them, they’ve been doing exactly” what they’re supposed to, despite frequent policy revisions, Watters said of his workers.

The board authorized Watters to spend up to $30,000 to buy additional needed supplies.

>>8772080

In PA the stae runs the hard liquor stores. To rebuild Johnstown sfte their 1936 flood (major floods 1888, 1936, 1977), the state implemented a liquor tax to cover the cost. Every few years the tax percentage changes but the Johnstown Flood Liquor Tax remains in effect.

Johnstown Flood Tax: Why Are We Still Paying A Flood Tax From 1936 On Our Booze?

https://philly.thedrinknation.com/articles/read/174-Johnstown-Flood-Tax-Why-Are-We-Still-Paying-A-Flood-Tax-From-1936-On-Our-Booze-#

Just when I thought that there couldn’t possibly be any more reasons to hate the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, I stumbled upon what is known as the “Johnstown Flood Tax”. Almost 80 years ago with prohibition ending and Mother Nature reeking havoc, conditions were arranged perfectly for totally ridiculous, unnecessary, and blasphemous liquor taxes and alcohol regulation in Pennsylvania.

Johnstown is a town in western Pennsylvania that was ravaged by floods in the 1930s resulting in $41 million in damages (or 2,733,333 cases of PBR, I know, I panicked too). PA legislators were quick to implement a ‘temporary’ 10% tax on wine and liquor sold in Pennsylvania to help pay for the recovery effort. Even though this $41 million was reimbursed within six years, this ‘temporary’ tax stuck around, and was even increased to 15% in the 1963, and again to 18% in 1968 where it stands today.

Most people aren’t even aware that this tax exists as you won’t find it on your receipt, and the Liquor Control board isn’t exactly going out of their way to tell people. So what exactly are you paying for when you purchase a bottle of wine or liquor in Pennsylvania?

Since all wine and liquor is sold and distributed by the state run (and #1 ranked in the country in alcohol purchases by volume) PLCB, you are paying a 30% base markup. You are then paying a handling cost of a little over a dollar, the 18% Johnstown tax, and then the 6% Pennsylvania sales tax. Seem a bit extreme? It is, and by making it a crime punishable by up to 90 days in prison to transport alcohol across state lines, you have no choice but to pay it if you want to enjoy a glass of wine or spirits at home.

Where does this money go, and how much of it is there? Since 1936 this tax has netted approximately $15.4 billion, and almost $300 million annually (or about 20 million cases of Schlitz), none of which is fixing flood damages from 1936, but instead goes into a general PA budget. With the hundreds of millions annually brought in from this tax, it’s unlikely that it will be changed. As unlikely as change is, state representative Bryan Barbin introduced legislation that would redirect funds earned from the liquor tax to it’s original purpose: dealing with economic disaster, and eventually phase it out by 2021.

Being only one on a very short list of reasons to ever go into New Jersey, 90 days in jail just might be worth risking the drive to avoid paying horrendous Pennsylvania liquor taxes.