Coronavirus

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

I think the "MEDIA," aka, THE DEMOCRAT PROPAGANDA WING, is intentionally trying to build this up to be as bad as they possibly can. Why? I think it's obvious... the worse they can make it appear, the more they can trash President Trump.

"Never let a good crisis go to waste."

Exactly, the virus is real but the dem party is using this to denigrate Trump- thus they will make it seem a thousand times worse than it actually is.
The virus being real and a threat -they get to magnify that threat to whatever level they think best to trash Trump. Media is in with them , imho.
Thus we do not get an accurate assessment of the true threat level.
Te dem party will play politics to their advantage regardless of whom or how many such action may harm..
Only thing that matters to them - is power! We that are not blind -- we know this is true... --Tyr

[Drummond]

Exactly, the virus is real but the dem party is using this to denigrate Trump- thus they will make it seem a thousand times worse than it actually is.
The virus being real and a threat -they get to magnify that threat to whatever level they think best to trash Trump. Media is in with them , imho.
Thus we do not get an accurate assessment of the true threat level.
Te dem party will play politics to their advantage regardless of whom or how many such action may harm..
Only thing that matters to them - is power! We that are not bind --know this... --Tyr

Exactly. Power is all. Say, do, whatever it takes to grab it.

I think we all know this ? Namely, that there is absolutely no depth the Left won't stoop to, to get what they want ... no limit to the sheer viciousness of their strategies and actions in that 'cause'. Trump, according to them, is to blame for every possible ill ... is the 'devil incarnate'

He must be. He exists. He opposes and frustrates Leftie ambition.

The British NHS consistently fails to meet its health targets. This automatically means that Trump is to blame.

I had a boil on my bum a couple of years ago. Had I told the American Left about it, they could've blamed Trump for it.

I know that, I .... DIDN'T. I cite this as proof of my non-Leftie credentials !!!!

[Kathianne]

This makes me uncomfortable. It's behind a paywall, so:

Read the whole thing here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

There’s an old brain teaser that goes like this: You have a pond of a certain size, and upon that pond, a single lilypad. This particular species of lily pad reproduces once a day, so that on day two, you have two lily pads. On day three, you have four, and so on.


Now the teaser. “If it takes the lily pads 48 days to cover the pond completely, how long will it take for the pond to be covered halfway?”


The answer is 47 days. Moreover, at day 40, you’ll barely know the lily pads are there.


That grim math explains why so many people — including me — are worried about the novel coronavirus, which causes a disease known as covid-19. And why so many other people think we are panicking over nothing.


During the current flu season, they point out, more than 250,000 people have been hospitalized in the United States, and 14,000 have died, including more than 100 children. As of this writing, the coronavirus has killed 29 people, and our caseload is in the hundreds. Why are we freaking out about the tiny threat while ignoring the big one? . . .


But go back to those lily pads: When something dangerous is growing exponentially, everything looks fine until it doesn’t. In the early days of the Wuhan epidemic, when no one was taking precautions, the number of cases appears to have doubled every four to five days.


The crisis in northern Italy is what happens when a fast doubling rate meets a “threshold effect,” where the character of an event can massively change once its size hits a certain threshold.


In this case, the threshold is things such as ICU beds. If the epidemic is small enough, doctors can provide respiratory support to the significant fraction of patients who develop complications, and relatively few will die. But once the number of critical patients exceeds the number of ventilators and ICU beds and other critical-care facilities, mortality rates spike. . . .


The experts are telling us that here in the United States, we can avoid hitting that threshold where sizable regions of the country will suddenly step into hell. We still have time to #flattenthecurve, as a popular infographic put it, slowing the spread so that the number of cases never exceeds what our health system can handle. The United States has an unusually high number of ICU beds, which gives us a head start. But we mustn’t squander that advantage through complacency.


So everyone needs to understand a few things.


First, the virus is here, and it is spreading quickly, even though everything looks normal. Right now, the United States has more reported cases than Italy had in late February. What matters isn’t what you can see but what you can’t: the patients who will need ICU care in two to six weeks. . . .


Second, this is not “a bad flu.” It kills more of its hosts, and it will spread farther unless we take aggressive steps to slow it down, because no one is yet immune to this disease. It will be quite some time before the virus runs out of new patients.


Third, we can fight it. Despite early exposure, Singapore and Hong Kong have kept their caseloads low, not by completely shutting down large swaths of their economies as China did but through aggressive personal hygiene and “social distancing.” South Korea seems to be getting its initial outbreak under control using similar measures. If we do the same, we can not only keep our hospitals from overloading but also buy researchers time to develop vaccines and therapies.


Fourth, and most important: We are all in this together. It is your responsibility to keep America safe by following the CDC guidelines, just as much as it is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s or President Trump’s responsibility to lead us to safety. And until this virus is beaten, we all need to act like it.

[jimnyc]

Here's what makes me nervous - different days, different doctors, different news, and they are all giving out differing opinions and so called facts. Many have stated that this virus isn't quite as harmful as many think, even that "it may be no more worse than the common cold" and rates as low as 0.1-1%. But then we have the opposite from some, who say it's deadlier than others, that it will kill many, that it may be as high as 4%.

And the latest I read from an article is that perhaps 10x deadlier than the flu?

--

Coronavirus is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu, Trump's task force immunologist says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday that COVID-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus — is probably about 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.

President Trump has often compared COVID-19 to the flu, which affects tens of thousands of Americans each year, in an effort to calm people down, but Fauci clearly wasn't trying to downplay the seriousness of the virus' spread. Fauci is a member of the White House's coronavirus task force.

At the same time, he did clarify that 10 times figure actually brings the new coronavirus' fatality rate lower than official estimates, which hover around 3 percent. The flu has a mortality rate of about 0.1 percent, so, when considering the likelihood that there are many asymptomatic or very mild cases that have gone undiagnosed, Fauci places the new coronavirus' lethality rate at somewhere around 1 percent. While that's a good deal lower than the current data suggests, it still would lead to significant numbers of fatalities, and makes the flu comparisons seem pretty questionable. Tim O'Donnell



https://theweek.com/speedreads/90147...unologist-says


And this can't possibly be good if near the truth. We barely have test kits out there yet with unknown numbers of the actual sick. And yet in 10 days they may be overwhelmed? And what do they do with the people?

Trump's former pandemic adviser: 'We are 10 days from our hospitals getting creamed'

Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus are swiftly ballooning across the United States, and President Trump's former Homeland Security Adviser Thomas Bossert says time is running out to control the spread.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who is overseeing one of the country's largest clusters, said "if you do the math" there could be 64,000 cases of COVID-19 in the Evergreen State by May, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the positive cases in the city are "coming in so intensely now" that public officials are struggling to keep up with them. He said he wasn't in a position to give the media a "detailed case breakdown" because of the rapidly changing number.

That seems to lend credence to Bossert's claim Tuesday that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed.

Rest - https://theweek.com/speedreads/90125...etting-creamed


The cases by me in New Rochelle jumped once again of course, and I think like 108+ now? A couple more schools announced closings for 2 weeks.

‘Public Health Version’ of Katrina: Cuomo Rips Feds as New York Cases Near 200

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, facing a mounting coronavirus outbreak unmatched by any other U.S. state but one, eviscerated the federal government Wednesday for what he described as a lack of adequate testing and preparations.

On "Morning Joe," the Democrat said the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak could be the "public health version of Hurricane Katrina."

"We knew this was happening in November and December. We watched China. China did something like 200,000 tests per day. South Korea did about 15,000 tests per day. The United States has only done about 5,000 tests to date," Cuomo said on "Today" just before the MSNBC appearance. "The retrospective is going to be damning."

Cuomo said state governments should take more control of the response to COVID-19 -- and he has: deploying the National Guard to New Rochelle, the hotbed of the New York outbreak, and establishing one-mile radius containment zone around the most infected parts of that community.

The measures the governor announced Tuesday were the most stringent yet in New York state's effort to combat the spread of the virus, which has now infected more than 200 people across the tri-state area. More than half of the patients are in Westchester County, where the midtown Manhattan lawyer linked to the cluster lives with his family. He's still hospitalized.

That lawyer was the second confirmed case in New York and its first instance of community spread. There have since been fresh instances of person-to-person spread, including in the five boroughs.

As of Tuesday evening, Westchester County had seen 108 confirmed COVID-19 cases; that's more than half of all tri-state cases.

The New Rochelle containment zone goes into effect Thursday, March 12 and will remain in effect for two weeks, through March 25. Officials stress it's not a lockdown. Those who aren't quarantined will be able to leave their homes and go to work or elsewhere. Local businesses can remain open. People are free to walk the sidewalks.

Rest - https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...to-40/2321532/

[Drummond]

Here's what makes me nervous - different days, different doctors, different news, and they are all giving out differing opinions and so called facts. Many have stated that this virus isn't quite as harmful as many think, even that "it may be no more worse than the common cold" and rates as low as 0.1-1%. But then we have the opposite from some, who say it's deadlier than others, that it will kill many, that it may be as high as 4%.

And the latest I read from an article is that perhaps 10x deadlier than the flu?

--

Coronavirus is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu, Trump's task force immunologist says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday that COVID-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus — is probably about 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.

President Trump has often compared COVID-19 to the flu, which affects tens of thousands of Americans each year, in an effort to calm people down, but Fauci clearly wasn't trying to downplay the seriousness of the virus' spread. Fauci is a member of the White House's coronavirus task force.

At the same time, he did clarify that 10 times figure actually brings the new coronavirus' fatality rate lower than official estimates, which hover around 3 percent. The flu has a mortality rate of about 0.1 percent, so, when considering the likelihood that there are many asymptomatic or very mild cases that have gone undiagnosed, Fauci places the new coronavirus' lethality rate at somewhere around 1 percent. While that's a good deal lower than the current data suggests, it still would lead to significant numbers of fatalities, and makes the flu comparisons seem pretty questionable. Tim O'Donnell



https://theweek.com/speedreads/90147...unologist-says


And this can't possibly be good if near the truth. We barely have test kits out there yet with unknown numbers of the actual sick. And yet in 10 days they may be overwhelmed? And what do they do with the people?

Trump's former pandemic adviser: 'We are 10 days from our hospitals getting creamed'

Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus are swiftly ballooning across the United States, and President Trump's former Homeland Security Adviser Thomas Bossert says time is running out to control the spread.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who is overseeing one of the country's largest clusters, said "if you do the math" there could be 64,000 cases of COVID-19 in the Evergreen State by May, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the positive cases in the city are "coming in so intensely now" that public officials are struggling to keep up with them. He said he wasn't in a position to give the media a "detailed case breakdown" because of the rapidly changing number.

That seems to lend credence to Bossert's claim Tuesday that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed.

Rest - https://theweek.com/speedreads/90125...etting-creamed


The cases by me in New Rochelle jumped once again of course, and I think like 108+ now? A couple more schools announced closings for 2 weeks.

‘Public Health Version’ of Katrina: Cuomo Rips Feds as New York Cases Near 200

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, facing a mounting coronavirus outbreak unmatched by any other U.S. state but one, eviscerated the federal government Wednesday for what he described as a lack of adequate testing and preparations.

On "Morning Joe," the Democrat said the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak could be the "public health version of Hurricane Katrina."

"We knew this was happening in November and December. We watched China. China did something like 200,000 tests per day. South Korea did about 15,000 tests per day. The United States has only done about 5,000 tests to date," Cuomo said on "Today" just before the MSNBC appearance. "The retrospective is going to be damning."

Cuomo said state governments should take more control of the response to COVID-19 -- and he has: deploying the National Guard to New Rochelle, the hotbed of the New York outbreak, and establishing one-mile radius containment zone around the most infected parts of that community.

The measures the governor announced Tuesday were the most stringent yet in New York state's effort to combat the spread of the virus, which has now infected more than 200 people across the tri-state area. More than half of the patients are in Westchester County, where the midtown Manhattan lawyer linked to the cluster lives with his family. He's still hospitalized.

That lawyer was the second confirmed case in New York and its first instance of community spread. There have since been fresh instances of person-to-person spread, including in the five boroughs.

As of Tuesday evening, Westchester County had seen 108 confirmed COVID-19 cases; that's more than half of all tri-state cases.

The New Rochelle containment zone goes into effect Thursday, March 12 and will remain in effect for two weeks, through March 25. Officials stress it's not a lockdown. Those who aren't quarantined will be able to leave their homes and go to work or elsewhere. Local businesses can remain open. People are free to walk the sidewalks.

Rest - https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...to-40/2321532/

Just a quick point. On percentage of those who'd die from this ... we, here, aren't finding the level of disagreement you're suggesting.

Our experts are quick to say that it's likely a full, complete, fully informative picture of how this virus has spread isn't available, that there'll be a reservoir of cases unknown in 'real' time, so, they can't be included into a proper assessment. But, that aside, the figure of a 1% lethal rate is agreed upon by the vast majority of experts.

They argue that in fact there could be cases of people who get Covid-19, have such mild symptoms that they easily shrug it off, and so don't take notice of their illness to the extent they become diligent in reporting it.

This, it's argued, suggests an OVER-estimate of the believed-in mortality rate, since estimates can only be based on known cases.

[Kathianne]

I didn't know all these details, but it jibes with what I've been reading and listening to since January. I agree that in these examples of incompetence, it's not so much the President's fault, as it is the bureaucracy. In any case, it should be pretty clear that when it comes to emergencies, totalitarian governments do have much more control:

https://hotair.com/archives/allahpun...ase-infection/

I do think that if the President was more focused on the medical, rather than the economic, he may have had exerted more control of those that in their attempts to please were bringing down an avalanche. Bottom line, we now face medical, political, and economic crisis. Which needs to be first?

[Kathianne]

Italy is dealing with the math now. Hospital surge full on. So, triage:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...k-worsens.html

Italian coronavirus death toll climbs by 196 to 827 in 24 hours - a 31% increase – as country's top doctors say intensive care units should stop treating the elderly

• Coronavirus cases in Italy have jumped in the last 24 hours by 196 to 827
• Intensive care units in Italy facing an acute shortage of beds due to coronavirus
• If beds run out medics should stop treating the elderly and instead focus on those with the best chance of survival and most years to live, top doctors warn
• Measures should apply to all patients, not just those suffering from coronavirus
• Comes as coronavirus cases in Italy topped 10,000 with more than 600 deaths

By CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR MAILONLINE


PUBLISHED: 14:33 EDT, 11 March 2020 | UPDATED: 15:43 EDT, 11 March 2020

[Kathianne]

Well the President is going to address the nation tonight:

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiep...ether-n2564602

I will be at work, it would be nice to see some information from you folks during my breaks.

[Drummond]

News update - heard on LBC radio, & your media must be 'breaking' with it ...

... All people returning to the US from Europe must self-isolate upon arrival back in America.

The UK's extent of 'draconian' self-isolation measures just says that UK citizens must self-isolate if returning from Italy. Just Italy.

The UK has now had eight deaths. We're told that a second Cabinet Minister is self-isolating ... name not yet released.

[Kathianne]

News update - heard on LBC radio, & your media must be 'breaking' with it ...

... All people returning to the US from Europe must self-isolate upon arrival back in America.

The UK's extent of 'draconian' self-isolation measures just says that UK citizens must self-isolate if returning from Italy. Just Italy.

The UK has now had eight deaths. We're told that a second Cabinet Minister is self-isolating ... name not yet released.

I've been reading about the 'math' for a couple months now. The best analogy I've seen was the one I posted about the lily pads. Did you catch it? I'm pretty much off to work now, but it's here.

[Drummond]

I've been reading about the 'math' for a couple months now. The best analogy I've seen was the one I posted about the lily pads. Did you catch it? I'm pretty much off to work now, but it's here.

Must admit, no, I didn't.

Mid-evening where I am ... I'm keeping an ear turned to my radio, with LBC giving updates. BBC 'News at Ten' is due on in around 20 minutes, which I'll watch.

Oh, one update. We've another of our emergency 'Cobra' meetings called for tomorrow, no doubt triggered by the official 'Pandemic' classification. Speculation is that our 4-part strategy for combatting Covid-19 will be ramped up a notch.

[Kathianne]

Must admit, no, I didn't.

Mid-evening where I am ... I'm keeping an ear turned to my radio, with LBC giving updates. BBC 'News at Ten' is due on in around 20 minutes, which I'll watch.

Oh, one update. We've another of our emergency 'Cobra' meetings called for tomorrow, no doubt triggered by the official 'Pandemic' classification. Speculation is that our 4-part strategy for combatting Covid-19 will be ramped up a notch.

Here’s the link:
http://www.debatepolicy.com/showthre...329#post952329

[Kathianne]

Keep in mind that this was based on a fun post from an American in Italy. What freaks me out a bit is that it aligns with what some informed, but alarmist writers were say two months ago:

https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2...nce-yesterday/

[Drummond]

News update - heard on LBC radio, & your media must be 'breaking' with it ...

... All people returning to the US from Europe must self-isolate upon arrival back in America.

The UK's extent of 'draconian' self-isolation measures just says that UK citizens must self-isolate if returning from Italy. Just Italy.

The UK has now had eight deaths. We're told that a second Cabinet Minister is self-isolating ... name not yet released.

Update: 2nd Cabinet Minister still not named; however, SIX of our MP's are self-isolating.

Presumably the House of Commons must be suspected of being a nurturing-ground for Covid-19 .... ??? ......

[Drummond]

Question: if we're now firmly in 'Pandemic' territory .. does that confirm that it's reached Antarctica ?

Do your people still maintain McMurdo base there ? Have they had an outbreak ?

Where would McMurdo personnel 'self-isolate' to ? Presumably McMurdo is 'roomy'.