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Author Topic: COVID-19 🏴☠️ Pandemic  (Read 26756 times)

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AGelbert

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February 26, 2020 - 12:27

Summary: 

► CDC reports 6 new cases among repatriated Americans
Iran deaths hit 19
► Brazil confirms first case in South America
France confirms 2nd death
► Tokyo pushes back against Tokyo Games cancellation talk
► Greece confirms first case
► Germany unleashes fiscal stimulus after confirming new cases
Dems one-up Trump with $8.5 billion package.
► Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain confirm new cases
► Finland confirms 2nd case
► 1st 2 cases reported in Pakistan
► HHS Secretary tells Congress infectious disease fund has no extra uncommitted cash
► Congress begins talks on corona virus spending bill with vote expected early next month
Germany health minister warns we're at beginning of epidemic in Germany
Italy confirms 12th death, cases soar above 400
► North Macedonia confirms first case
► South Korea cases soar above 1,200 as gov't begins testing of 200k patients
► Brazil confirms infected patient came on plane from Paris
► Ericsson confirms one of its employees in Croatia tested positive

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: New Pandemic?
« Reply #16 on: February 26, 2020, 03:18:42 pm »
February 26, 2020

Quote
Macdavy 👍
the cascading effects of this are too many to list, and the pundits on wall street aren't expert on pandemics so are likely wrong, how can their hubris be so huge, how do they think this can all blow over, they must really not understand the force of nature we are dealing with. 

When airlines start to default because of government-enforced travel restrictions or simply people cancel travel plans, now hotels and restaurants default, cab companies, uber has fewer customers as people stay home, luxury items are not a priority, items dry up at stores as china is in full economic lockdown,  Walmart starts layoffs, I can go on and on at what's coming,

The problem is our central banks created this asset bubble people think is going to the moon, it was already up 350% on nothing but low interest and cheap credit. We weren't in an economic boom; We were in a boom of cheap money and the world leveraged, and now our cheap trinkets are about to stop flowing. This little nanometer chain of RNA has just started to pop this bubble, and the banks are helpless. No amount of liquidity they pump into this will stop it. Right now I'm seeing something I haven't seen since 2008, the markets are started to scream fear, All our jobs will be on the line.

Agelbert NOTE: The above truth telling comment was  made in regard to this truth telling 👍 article:

Wed, 02/26/2020 - 14:15
Summary

There are plenty of uncertainties in the world. Individuals have the decision-making ability to evaluate those uncertainties and the risks they pose. That said, it is difficult to remember a time when the potential turbulence we face has been so broadly ignored by the “market” and so overlooked by the Fed and politicians. It is as though we have been tranquilized by the ever-rising stock market and net worth as an artifact of that fallacious indicator of security.




He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

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Cooch Totally On Top Of Coronavirus Thing
« Reply #17 on: February 27, 2020, 06:06:04 am »
Virginians remember The Cooch from his days as Governor Transvaginal Ultrasound's AG, when he worked tirelessly to put abortion providers out of business and otherwise find a legal basis for interposing the state in Virginia vaginas. He's a perfect Trumprimmer.


Trump Administration Totally On Top Of Coronavirus Thing, Will Ask Twitter If They Have Any More Questions



Stock markets have been dropping due to fears that the Covid-19 coronavirus could become a global pandemic, so Donald Trump took a little time away from hugging a fellow authoritarian leader in India yesterday to reassure a worried nation that everything's perfectly all right. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?

Just to reinforce Trump's insistence that all is well, (acting) Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli, AKA perennial Wonkette favorite ****-about-their-bortions" target="_blank">Saint Cooch Nobortions, a member of Trump's coronavirus task force -- really -- took to Twitter to ask why he couldn't see a non-governmental website about the outbreak.

See? Everything's just fine! TOP MEN.

Cuccinelli returned to the matter a little later to complain that the Johns Hopkins map was hidden behind a "paywall," and isn't THAT a scummy thing for an important source of information to do?

That led a whole BUNCH of people to chime in and point out that as a top government official who's directly involved in the Covid-19 response, maybe Cuccinelli could ask someone in the government for the information he needs, instead of going to a university website.

Maybe he just doesn't trust the Deep State -- but then, why would he trust the Hopkins map, either, since some of those epidemiologists probably voted for Hillary? At least he didn't go the Limbaugh route and explain the virus is, like hurricanes, merely a Deep State plot.

Do we really need to say that while previously-known coronaviruses can cause (along with rhinovirus) the common cold, Covid-19 is not the cold? Hence the name "novel coronavirus," not that it only affects literate people. And the influenza virus is a whole 'nother thing. And no, rhinos aren't involved either.

(Updated to reflect that flu is not caused by a coronavirus.)

Right around the time Cuccinelli was complaining about a "paywall" that didn't exist, the folks at Johns Hopkins explained — twice! — that heavy traffic had knocked the site offline for a while and that they were working on it.

For the heck of it, we left off part of the URL for the site, and got what we assume Cuccinelli and others saw while the site was borked:

So now let us assign some blame, shall we? 1: Yeah, the team at Johns Hopkins's Center for Systems Science and Engineering should have had a clearer error screen instead of a "please sign in to your account" widget. So we can kind of forgive Cuccinelli for assuming he was looking at a "paywall." BUT 2:DUDE YOU ARE IN GOVERNMENT AND YOU'RE NOT HELPING BY GOING TO TWITTER FOR TECH SUPPORT.

Also, this seems like a good time to remind y'all that the entire administration ismaking up its coronavirus response as it goes along. It certainly doesn't help that, as Foreign Policy reports — in a story that is subject to a two-free-articles-per-month paywall — in 2018 Trump gutted much of the public health infrastructure that's supposed to manage disease outbreaks, because who needs big government? In 2018, he literally got rid of the person at the National Security Council who is supposed to be the point person on things like this! And just hasn't filled the position!

But even Ken Cuccinelli ought to know that despite threats of budget cuts, the CDC is still kind of a thing. And maybe you don't want to further give the impression that no one in the administration knows what they're doing?

Probably just as well you keep that out in front, though. Might encourage people to wash their hands more. That Fox News dipshit is on his own.

[Politico / Ken Cuccinelli on Twitter / Newsweek / Foreign Policy / CDC / Photoshoop source:Johns Hopkins CSSE and Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons license 2.0]


Surly1

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Trump Insists on Paying for Coronavirus Prep by Cutting Heating Aid for the Poor

One sick puppy. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Since taking office, the Trump administration has slashed taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars, while increasing the Defense Department’s annual budget by $130 billion (a sum more than large enough to cover the costs of tuition-free public college and paid family leave). All together, the policies implemented during Donald Trump’s tenure are poised to push the federal deficit past $1 trillion this year.

That last bit isn’t necessarily concerning. Many mainstream economists consider our nation’s existing debt load more than sustainable. From a progressive perspective, the problem with Trump’s deficit spending isn’t its scale but its content.

From a self-styled fiscal conservative’s point of view, however, that $1 trillion figure is a real eyesore. And for at least some of the self-professed conservatives who work in the Trump White House, it is a source of psychological discomfort bordering on guilt.

Or at least, that’s my best guess as to why the Trump administration has, (1) spent the past several weeks refusing to endorse new spending on coronavirus preparation, despite the pleas of lawmakers in both parties for action, and (2) is still holding up funding for the imminent public health crisis by insisting on offsetting a small fraction of the emergency appropriation with a $37 million cut to home heating aid for the poor.

As the Washington Post reports:

House Democrats tell us they are outraged by one aspect of the White House response in particular: The White House appears to have informed Democrats that they want to fund the emergency response in part by taking money from a program that funds low-income home heating assistance.

A document that the Trump administration sent to Congress, which we have seen, indicates that the administration is transferring $37 million to emergency funding for the coronavirus response from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, which funds heating for poor families.

Democrats see this as provoking budgetary bickering and unnecessary political friction at a time when a clean emergency appropriation could easily avoid both.

Low-income Americans in frigid regions of the country aren’t the only victims of the administration’s arbitrary penny-pinching. The White House is also calling for $535 million cut to funding for Ebola virus treatment and containment — despite the fact that the Republic of Congo is still battling an Ebola epidemic. The administration’s insistence on financing the fight against one epidemic disease with cuts to funding for the containment of a different epidemic disease — so as to avoid increasing the federal budget by .01 percent — is emblematic of this White House’s goldfish-esque lack of foresight: Since taking office, President Trump has tried to slash national health spending by $15 billion; cut the disease-fighting budgets of DHS, NSC, HHS, and CDC; allowed the ranks of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to steadily erode (after trying and failing to shrink its budget by 40 percent); eliminated the federal government’s $30 million Complex Crises Fund; and shut down the National Security Council’s entire global health security unit.

There is no rational explanation for the administration’s current position. The coronavirus represents a massive political liability for Trump, not least because of how indefensible his previous bouts of penny-pinching on public health now appear. There is no mass constituency for prioritizing opposition to infinitesimal increases in the national debt over pandemic prevention. In fact, many congressional Republicans were alarmed by the austerity of Trump’s proposal. As Politico reports:

Administration officials sought to swat away concerns their emergency request for $2.5 billion to address the outbreak was inadequate, even as some Republicans joined Democrats in criticizing the amount — and slamming a lack of transparency around efforts to contain the disease on U.S. soil.

… The Republican chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee at Azar’s hearing accused the administration of making a “low ball” request.

“It could be an existential threat to a lot of people in this country,” warned Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). “So money should not be an object. We should try to contain and eradicate this as much as we can, both in the U.S. and helping our friends all over the world.”

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer unveiled an $8.5 billion emergency funding proposal, composed entirely of new spending. The Democrats’ counteroffer is not merely superior on the merits, but also a sound election-year messaging device: If the coronavirus creates major disruptions to American life, the Democratic Party will be able to say it demanded more ambitious preparations than the Republican president would allow; if the epidemic somehow peters out, no voters are going to reward Trump for holding the line against a $7 billion increase to the $1 trillion deficit.

Thus, the most plausible explanation for the White House’s stance is the neurosis of budget director Mick Mulvaney and his ideological kin. In the House, Mulvaney was that rare breed of a “small-government” crusader whose zeal for slashing spending didn’t spare the Pentagon. By most accounts, the man is a supply-side, deficit-hawk true believer. Now, like a guilt-prone cannibal who seeks to mitigate his sense of moral injury by religiously observing “meatless Mondays,” Mulvaney is ostensibly trying to compensate for his complicity in an exploding deficit by holding pandemic prevention hostage to trivial spending cuts.


AGelbert

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Agelbert NOTE: Carl_R said this yesterday. He is right about Trump. I will add that Trump cannot be any other way. 🦀 Trump is an evil bastard. Trump is reaping what he willfully, arrogantly, greedily and murderously has sown all his profit over people and planet life.

Quote
Carl_R
Trump had the high ground. All he had to do was to act Presidential, and say something like "Coronavirus is a global threat. We take coronavirus very seriously, and we are devoting as much effort to fighting it as possible. So far it it contained in the US, but it is an ongoing risk. I am very concerned for all the people who could be at risk if this begins spreading in the US. I have asked Congress for additional funds to fight this threat. It it time for an end to partisanship, and we need to all work together, and then our country will emerge stronger, regardless of what happens."

With a statement like that, he wins either way. If corona doesn't cause large number of deaths in the US, it was because of his strong response. If it does, it was despite his efforts, and the resulting recession was not something he could have prevented or be blamed for. Either way, his re-election would have been almost certain.

Instead he downplayed it. Now instead of a win-win scenario he is in a lose-lose situation. In the more likely case, corona does create problems for the US economy, not only can he not win  ;D, Republicans will be wiped out in Congress as well. Expect Sanders to be elected , and to have a better than 2/3 majority in both houses  . In the less likely scenario, it is contained and never becomes an issue in the US. In that case, coronavirus is forgotten, and ceases to be a factor. Even though he was right, he gets no credit because the supply disruption in China causes a recession anyway, which he gets blamed for, and he loses the election that way, too, though the Republicans end up perhaps holding the Senate.

Without question, this was the worst political move I have ever seen at any level . He had a winning hand, and he folded and accepted defeat.

I think there is no way to keep Coronavirus from spreading in the US . There is just too much travel. I talked to four customers today. I'm in a relatively small town in the middle of nowhere. One had just returned from Africa. Another was headed to Mexico for a cruise. Another was on his way to Germany. Still another was headed to Israel on Friday. This is going on in every city in America. Coronavirus will be here sooner, rather than later, and Trump, and the Republicans will pay a heavy, heavy price for his incredibly ill-advised speech tonight. The stock market will probably rally for a couple days, though. I hope it was worth it to him.

ANOTHER Agelbert NOTE: Trump's PPT is desperately trying to protect the stock market. It isn't working ;D. It appears that sanity has returned to most of the traders there.  As I posted February 5, 2020, the Crack-up Boom market is in progress for many reasons, only one of them being Covd-19. The market has nowhere to go but DOWN. The only prudent thing to do is SELL.

Quote
thimk
It's all a ruse to protect the much vaunted reelection stock market  Notice how the Trumpster shifted culpability to Pence; the fall guy. My god we don't even have a reliable, affordable, accessible test for this man made malady. This virus possesses ungodlike like characteristics. It's ironical the CB's adopted a "what ever it takes" attitude to save the financial markets but "what ever it takes" doesn't apply to the well being of individuals. No global integrated action plan/procedures/policies forth coming. It's just considered a blip on the radar screen. Make that a double, bartender.

associated article:







He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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How Can the U.S. Confront Coronavirus With 28 Million People Uninsured?

SASHA ABRAMSKY, TRUTHOUT

The announcement late Wednesday that a California resident who had neither traveled nor been in close contact with someone infected by the coronavirus signifies that the disease is likely already starting to circulate within the U.S. But with roughly 28 million Americans excluded from primary health care coverage and no national paid sick leave policy in place, the prospects for reining in a pandemic are abysmal.
Read the Article → 👀
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Mark Pocan On Dangers of Corona Virus
« Reply #21 on: February 27, 2020, 07:49:01 pm »
Mark Pocan On Dangers of Corona Virus
512 views•Feb 27, 2020


Thom Hartmann Program
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Congressman Mark Pocan joins the program to discuss how Donald Trump's administration is already mishandling the Corona Virus.
 
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Are the Republicans going to go along with Trump mishandling the infrastructure of healthcare and putting Americans at risk?

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He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

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Mike Pence Will Edit All CDC Coronavirus Messages For Mentions Of Science, Truth, Boobies



In a move that no one could have seen coming, one of the White House's first jobs for Mike Pence after making him Donald Trump's coronavirus czar was to tell the federal bureaucracy that "all statements and public appearances" concerning about the epidemic will have to be cleared through Pence first. The New York Times reports the administration wants y'all to understand this is not an attempt to subordinate scientists to the administration's political agenda, heavens no, why would anyone think that?

Officials insist the goal is not to control the content of what subject-matter experts and other officials are saying, but to make sure their efforts are being coordinated, after days of confusion with various administration officials showing up on television.

Yes, we're sure this has more to do with Larry Kudlow declaring the virus was all bottled up (Mmmm, bottles!) than with silencing that terrible Deep State Scientist lady all of wingnuttia is mad at for trying to make Trump look bad. If there's one thing this administration worries about, it's having a consistent message at all times, not people saying inconveniently true things.

The Times dutifully reports the official line that this is all about having clear lines of communication during this very important situation, yes that's definitely it.

The announcements from the White House were intended to show that Mr. Trump and those around him are taking the potential threat to the health of Americans seriously. Aides said the president wanted governors and members of Congress to have a single point-person to communicate with, eliminating any jockeying for power in a decentralized situation.

And if that happens to mean we won't be hearing from any CDC doctors warning it's "inevitable" the virus will spread and cause serious disruptions to Americans' everyday lives, well then that's a happy coincidence. Trump was visibly annoyed at his press conference Wednesday night, saying he didn't think it was inevitable and insisting the "very few" cases in the US will soon be "zero" really soon.

Mind you, Pence didn't exactly eliminate the possibility of multiple competing voices when he announced today that Dr. Deborah L. Birx, who's already running Trump's very special project to eliminate HIV/AIDS, will now serve as the White House's "Coronavirus Response Coordinator." Way to delegate, Mike. We should also point out maybe Pence wasn't supposed to delegate his job away, though, since as the Times notes,

The decision to put Mr. Pence in charge was made on Wednesday after the president told some people that the vice president didn't "have anything else to do," according to people familiar with the president's comments.

So now he'll have even more nothing to do. He'll be taking care of business, and working overtime.

The Times suggests Birx was selected to put an "experienced scientist and physician" in charge of managing the federal response, but also pointed out a bit of a complication, namely that there are now three people "in charge" of coordinating the coronavirus response. WHOOPS.

Mr. Trump said that "Mike is going to be in charge, and Mike will report back to me." Mr. Pence said it will be Dr. Birx. Meanwhile, Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, remains the chairman of the government's coronavirus task force.

Read the rest of the article here;

https://www.wonkette.com/mike-pence-will-edit-all-cdc-coronavirus-messages-for-mentions-of-science-truth-boobies


AGelbert

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Re: New Pandemic?
« Reply #23 on: February 28, 2020, 12:43:19 pm »
February 28, 2020

SNIPPET:

Update (1100ET): Kudlow says "no higher priority" than the "health of the American people"
Agelbert NOTE: What 😈 Kudlow just said is actually true. Let me explain. For Kudlow and Mulvaney, both loyal 🦀 Trump lackeys, the definition of "American people" is a bit different than what they want you to believe it is. "American people" is a term defined by Trump's wrecking crew as those, including first of all Trump, who support 🦀 Trump. EVERYBODY ELSE IS EXPENDABLE to the 🐍 profit over people and planet BASTARDS. Yes, this is old news to most people who can add and subtract. But it is not that simple.

What you need to realize is that, even as these crooks and liars mouth mendacious platitudes to help Wall Street, they are ALSO planning, in typical fascist malice aforethought, to obtain MORE FASCIST POWER and make TONS OF MONEY out of the MISERY that COVID-19 will visit on we-the-people.

DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THIS SKULLDUGGERY! GET OUT OF THE STOCK MARKET AND ELECT PRESIDENT SANDERS WITH A PROGRESSIVE MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE.   

Full article:

« Last Edit: February 28, 2020, 04:30:23 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Why Are Americans Not Protected Against COVID-19? (w/ Dr. Leana Wen)
707 views•Feb 28, 2020


Thom Hartmann Program
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Why do Americans think they don’t need to wear protective clothing when meeting people who have had contact with the Coronavirus COVID-19 especially around the military bases?

Dr. Leana Wen covers some of the facts of COVID-19 virus and how it spreads. She offers some advice on transmission and how infectious the virus appears to be. Some people act as carriers, while not being affected by illness, but can pass on the virus.

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Dr. Leana Wen, Emergency Physician & Public Health Leader, joined Thom to discuss the COVID-19 Coronavirus.

🔥 WATCH NEXT: Thom Explains How To Survive Corona Virus -

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He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Mulvaney: “Hoax of the Day” - Seriously? (w/ Laurie Garrett 👍)
7,514 views•Feb 28, 2020


Thom Hartmann Program
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Some people in the Trump administration are calling COVID-19 ‘hoax of the day’ because the left has run out of things to attack Trump. Are they seriously putting politics before the health of the nation? It seems that way.

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White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said that media outlets were playing up the coronavirus news to bring down President Donald Trump.

Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, joined Thom to discuss the Coronavirus COVID-19.

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He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Can Hand Sanitizer Stop Corona Virus?
« Reply #26 on: February 29, 2020, 06:53:55 pm »
👨‍🔬 Can Hand Sanitizer Stop Corona Virus?
2,005 views•Feb 29, 2020


Thom Hartmann Program
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What are the everyday things we can do to stop the spread of illnesses like Corona Virus? Thom Hartmann, speaks to an emergency room nurse 👍 to find out more.
 
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Covid19, also known as the coronavirus is coming to America and taking these steps could help Americans with access to bathrooms, hand sanitizer and gloves avoid the illness, but will this be enough when many cannot afford these?

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He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.

PREPARING FOR THE INEVITABLE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 OUTBREAK
February 26, 2020/316 Comments/in emptywheel /by Jim White

Jim here.

I am quite late to getting to a post on the new coronavirus, but headlines yesterday finally forced me to move ahead and gather info today. First, watch this incredibly informative video from the World Health Organization. It gives very good information on the biology of the virus and what’s going on in the outbreak:


Although 🦀 Donald Trump and his 😈 media partners have been denying that Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a real cause for concern, there were multiple statements yesterday from US health officials that ranged from quite alarming to somewhat more reassuring. The announcements were summarized well by the Washington Post. Perhaps the most attention was paid to portions of what Dr. Nancy Messonnier provided in a telephone briefing yesterday morning. Dr. Messonnier is the Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. A recording of the briefing and a full transcript can be found here.

Of most note from the briefing is when Messonnier stated:

Quote
Ultimately, we expect we will see community spread in this country.  It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness.

So, yes, spread of COVID-19 in the US is inevitable. Messonnier continued, discussing what can be done to try to contain the disease. Because there’s no vaccine or specific treatment for the virus, control has to be through what is termed non-pharmaceutical interventions or NPIs:

Quote
There are three categories of NPIs.  Personal NPIs which include personal protective measures you can take every day and personal protective measures reserved for pandemics.  Community NPIs which include social distancing measures designed to keep people who are sick away from others.  And school closures and dismissals.  And environmental NPIs which includes surface cleaning measures.

It’s in the category of potential community NPIs where the biggest concerns start to appear:

Quote
Now I’d like to talk through some examples of what community NPIs look like.  These are practical measures that can help limit exposure by reducing exposure in community settings.  Students in smaller groups or in a severe pandemic, closing schools and using internet-based teleschooling to continue education.  For adults, businesses can replace in-person meetings with video or telephone conferences and increase teleworking options.  On a larger scale, communities may need to modify, postpone, or cancel mass gatherings.

Messonnier expanded on the disruptions:

Quote
Secondary consequences of some of these measures might include missed work and loss of income.  I understand this whole situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe. But these are things that people need to start thinking about now.

So, yes, there may well be significant disruptions to everyday life in parts of the US. We of course don’t know when this would occur, or where in the US it would be. But this is a good time to start thinking about how a disruption to moving around for a couple of weeks would affect you. Here in Florida, we regularly have to prepare for a week or more of loss of electricity during hurricane season. Preparing for community control measures would be a bit different. Right now, my thoughts for our household are that I will stockpile a few extra large cuts of meat in the freezer. These are things I’d eventually use anyway, so it won’t hurt to have them around. I’ll increase a few of the pantry items that I wouldn’t otherwise increase until the start of hurricane season. I’ll beef up my supplies for baking bread. If a disruption starts looking more likely locally, I’ll even add some frozen veggies to my stockpile, but for now I’m going to rely mostly on my ongoing CSA supply.

But I’m not going to rush out and buy an N95 respirator facemask. The current recommendations from CDC do not recommend facemasks for the general public. They are only recommended for people who are sick or for those who are caring for someone who is sick. This and the other CDC recommendations for treatment and prevention can be found on this helpful page.

The key thing to remember in trying to avoid catching COVID-19, as described in the video above and on the CDC page linked just above, is to avoid being very close to sick people. The guideline mentioned is six feet. If you see someone who looks symptomatic, it shouldn’t be too hard to stay six feet from them. Also, if the virus is known or suspected to be in the area where you are, be especially careful to keep your hands below your shoulders at all times and to wash your hands frequently if visiting public places. As CDC describes here, transmission is thought primarily to be through aerosol droplets such as sneezes and coughs, but it remains possible that the virus could be picked up by touching contaminated surfaces.

Finally, people are also quite concerned about the prediction discussed here by Professor Marc Lipsich, an epidemiologist at Harvard. He has stated that it’s possible that a COVID-19 pandemic could result in 40-70% of people world-wide becoming infected. As Lipsich points out, however, that estimate must be coupled with the realization that we currently have no good estimate for what percentage of people who become infected develop few or no symptoms. In fact, moving out from his discussion, there currently are widely ranging estimates of what percentage of infected people die. Inside Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, estimates now are that 2.8% of those infected die. Outside Wuhan, however, that number drops to 0.18%, a difference of over 15-fold. For a discussion of how early we are in the process of understanding the epidemiology of this virus and why these numbers differ, see this paper.

For perspective, it appears that COVID-19 spreads far more efficiently than SARS and MERS, but conversely, SARS and MERS killed a higher percentage of those infected. We see more COVID-19 deaths because many more people have been infected.


The featured image for this post is in the public domain and comes from CDC. Here is the caption CDC provides: “This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. A novel coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The illness caused by this virus has been named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).” Credit for the image goes to Alissa Eckert, MS, Dan Higgins, MAM.

Tags: Centers for Disease Control, coronavirus, COVID-19, World Health Organization

https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/02/26/preparing-for-the-inevitable-coronavirus-disease-2019-outbreak/

Agelbert NOTE: You don't need to be a medical doctor to understand the method a corona virus uses to attack cells. Some knowledge of biology is important, of course, but the "how it works" of a corona virus can be grasped after some study and thought.

The video below gives you the basic idea. The deal with viruses in general is that they need cell reproductive machinery in order to be fruitful and 😈 multiply. Viruses are like microscopic safe crackers. They unluck protein "doors" on a cell wall by using their set of "tools" to fool the cell wall into allowing entry by molecular mimicking of a protein the cell needs to absorb. Corona viruses are even more efficient at doing that because they have those "tools" sticking way out all over their outer surface (i.e. the protrusions made of various safe cracking proteins that make the "crown" that gives the little bugger the "corona" virus name).

You see, at the cellular level, everything (i.e. immune system defense and offense) is about DISTANCE. Within a certain distance of a cell wall, an immune system response (i.e. chemtaxis) is triggered which, after a series of chemical steps, identifies the virus as an invader to be both defended from (i.e. close all the cell wall doors until it goes away) and call the antibody troops to attack the virus.

The "tools" sticking out of the corona virus enable it to get closer to the cell wall protein "doors" than a virus without said handy protrusions.


In the illustration below, some attacker proteins are not as far out as the S-Protein reddish ones, which are primarily responsible for the ability of the corona virus to attach, hang on to, and open the doors to let the other attacker proteins in.


Thus the corona virus can sneak attack and enter a cell before the general alarm is put out by chemotaxis. If enough cells get infected, the host dies.

It's a war in there. You've heard the "might equals right" Social Darwinian term corollary that "The best defense is a good offense", haven't you. A lot of evil bastards live by that society destroying stupidity. Well, in your body, the TRUTH of the biological REALITY matter is that the best offense is a good defense.

That applies to a lot more than microbiology, but I digress. Enjoy the video and defend your health and that of those around you with kindness, care and altruism, not 🦀 Trumpian society (and biosphere) destroying "survival of the meanest MF around" Social Darwinsim.


« Last Edit: March 01, 2020, 02:53:41 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: New Pandemic?
« Reply #28 on: March 02, 2020, 06:32:58 pm »
Click on image for interactive COVID-19 map. 👀



Mike 😈 Pence Pushes Corona Virus Conspiracy!
1,413 views•Mar 2, 2020


Thom Hartmann Program
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🐘 Republicans are 😈 suggesting that the Coronavirus is merely an attack by democrats on 😇 President Trump.
 
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He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: New Pandemic?
« Reply #29 on: March 03, 2020, 12:29:48 pm »
Click on image for updates:
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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