Coronavirus

[Kathianne]

I've heard a report claiming that no restrictions applied, and total policy direction dedicated just to achieving a herd-immunity effect, could've cost us a quarter of a million lives.

But I'm conflicted on this. The herd immunity effect made perfect sense to me. I've long since argued (I did so when I was arguing my stand over measles) that people evolve immunities to diseases if there's a sufficient 'herd exposure' to them.

After all, with no vaccine out there, and with the rate this is spreading .. the sooner a form of 'natural' immunity could make itself felt, the better.

The problem surely is that if a lot of people evade the virus by self-isolating and the like, they remain vulnerable to it once they re-emerge from isolation. It only takes one infected person out there to re-ignite a spread of it.

Like putting the vulnerable population into isolation for 4 months? I'm thinking a wildfire in the making. Maybe there's something I'm not getting in how this was supposed to play out?

[NightTrain]

2 more cases popped up in Alaska, grand total of 3 now.

The first one was flying cargo from Asia and checked himself in when he landed in Anchorage.

These last 2 came from the lower 48, and have been mingling in Fairbanks for at least a week now without knowing they were infected and contagious... so I expect we'll see a hotspot develop there shortly.

[Drummond]

Like putting the vulnerable population into isolation for 4 months? I'm thinking a wildfire in the making. Maybe there's something I'm not getting in how this was supposed to play out?

Good point. So, you can see why I remain conflicted. By and large MAYBE, the isolation measure would be worthwhile. But, there are no guarantees. The 'wildfire' you talk of might very well occur.

The problem surely is that those whose immune systems are compromised because of age, surely can't be a viable part of any 'herd immunity' effort. So, what do you do with such people, if you don't instead see to it that they're isolated ?

[Drummond]

2 more cases popped up in Alaska, grand total of 3 now.

The first one was flying cargo from Asia and checked himself in when he landed in Anchorage.

These last 2 came from the lower 48, and have been mingling in Fairbanks for at least a week now without knowing they were infected and contagious... so I expect we'll see a hotspot develop there shortly.

Three.

Sheer 'luxury', in a world riddled with far larger outbreaks !

It wasn't so many days ago that I was claiming the equivalent for Wales, where I am. It didn't take long for that figure to be dwarfed by increasing infection. My current hometown was claiming its first case a week ago ... last night, when I checked, it had fourteen.

Around the first hundred cases England had, were all traceable to people returning from China, Iran, other European countries ...

So: enjoy the low number while you can !

[Abbey Marie]

I think we have 6 in Delaware. (But I’m not totally current on virus news. It’s overload for me now). One of the last states to succumb.

[Drummond]

14 new deaths in England ... increasing the total to 69.

[jimnyc]

Just some updates in the order as I came across them today.

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86% of people with coronavirus are walking around undetected, study says

“Stealth” coronavirus cases are fueling the pandemic, with a staggering 86% of people infected walking around undetected, a new study says.

Six of every seven cases – 86% — were not reported in China before travel restrictions were implemented, driving the spread of the virus, according to a study Monday in the journal Science.

“It’s the undocumented infections which are driving the spread of the outbreak,” said co-author Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University Mailman School, according to GeekWire.

Using computer modeling, researchers tracked infections before and after the Chinese city of Wuhan’s travel ban.

The findings indicated that these undocumented infections with no or mild symptoms — known as “stealth” cases — were behind two-thirds of the reported patients.

“The majority of these infections are mild, with few symptoms at all,” Shaman said, Mercury News reported. “People may not recognize it. Or they think they have a cold.”

These “stealth” cases were then able to transmit the bug that could cause severe symptoms in other people, according to the researchers.

Rest - https://nypost.com/2020/03/17/86-of-...ed-study-says/


Dire new report forces U.S. and U.K. to change course on coronavirus strategy

A startling new report from Imperial College London warns that 2.2 million Americans and 510,000 Britons could die from coronavirus if extreme action isn't taken to change the course of the outbreak.

Why it matters: The report's dire warnings prompted a quick course correction from both the American and British governments on their strategies, but its strict recommendations and long timeline — 18 months — to stem the tide could have far-reaching implications for both populations and economies.

What they found: The report states the effectiveness of "mitigation," which includes isolating only the sick and those linked to them while advocating social distancing for at-risk groups, is limited. It instead recommends "suppression," a much more wide-ranging tactic to curb coronavirus' spread.

The researchers say that suppression "will minimally require a combination of social distancing of the entire population, home isolation of cases and household quarantine of their family members." It also recommends school closures.

The report notes that this strategy could have to be in place until a vaccine is developed, which could take 18 months — saying it is "the only viable strategy at the current time."

Worth noting: While China and South Korea have managed to suppress the outbreak using similarly draconian strategies, the report admits that it's not yet clear if suppression's successes can last in the long-term.

The state of play: The findings caused a messaging shift on both sides of the Atlantic.

While President Trump had previously brushed off coronavirus concerns and compared it to a winter flu, the White House advised people on Monday to avoid gatherings of 10 or more, stop non-essential travel and avoid bars and restaurants.

The U.K. previously allowed its citizens to go about the world more or less as normal, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson walked some of that back this week — admitting that the country was only days behind Italy's outbreak and instituting more strict recommendations for at-risk populations. But it still eschewed lockdowns and closures like those being implemented around the world.

The big picture: The New York Times reported that the Imperial College researchers "had shared their projections with the White House task force about a week ago and that an early copy of the report was sent over the weekend."

The BBC called the report the "crucial piece of evidence" that spurred Downing Street to act, saying the researchers "first realized the scale of the problem in China" and noting their "advice is heavily influential in government."

The bottom line: The report admits that "no public health intervention with such disruptive effects on society has been previously attempted for such a long duration of time."

"How populations and societies will respond remains unclear," it concludes.

Rest - https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-re...b2b7c1b50.html


San Francisco Bay Area counties issue shelter-in-place order

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Officials in seven San Francisco Bay Area counties issued a sweeping shelter-in-place mandate Monday affecting about 7 million people, ordering residents to stay at home and go outside only for food, medicine and outings that are absolutely essential.

The order says residents must stay inside and venture out only for necessities for three weeks starting Tuesday in a desperate attempt by officials to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“I know today’s order is a radical step. It has to be. We need to act now, all of us, to protect the public health,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

If affects the counties of San Francisco, Marin, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda, which includes the cities of Berkeley and Oakland.

“History will not forgive us for waiting an hour more,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, whose city is the most populous in the Bay Area and the epicenter of the area’s outbreak. “This is our generation’s great test, our moment to stand tougher as a community. Amid our collective fears, we will find our uncommon courage.”

Rest - https://apnews.com/a342998638cdccb56172a1663e8d6edf


L.A. County releasing some inmates from jail to combat coronavirus

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is releasing inmates from its jails and cutting down on how many people it books into custody to protect those housed in close quarters from the growing coronavirus pandemic.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva said deputies and police officers across the county have been directed to cite and release people whenever possible, instead of arresting them, and to seek medical clearance before booking anyone who shows symptoms. Countywide, he said, arrests have dropped from a daily average of 300 to 60, while the jail population was reduced by more than 600 inmates.

“Our population within our jail is a vulnerable population just by virtue of who they are and where they’re located,” Villanueva said Monday at a news conference in downtown L.A. “So we’re protecting that population from potential exposure.”

The move came amid mounting calls by civil rights advocates and health professionals to reduce the number of people held in local, state and federal lock-ups. They raised concerns about the mayhem a COVID-19 outbreak could create within the prison and immigration detention system, which has been criticized for lacking sufficient capacity to meet inmates’ medical needs even before the pandemic.

Rest - https://www.latimes.com/california/s...id-coronavirus


Despite dire coronavirus warning, some refuse to give up their routines

LOS ANGELES — As schools closed and store shelves emptied of toilet paper, Joseph Sanchez realized that life as he knew it was grinding to a halt.

What was next? Perhaps even bars would close to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 6,500 people worldwide?

Sanchez invited a friend, Marcos Avina, to meet at their favorite spot, Glendale Tap, for what he termed “one more moment of normality.”

His hunch proved prescient.

As he and Avina sipped craft beers Sunday afternoon at the neighborhood bar on San Fernando Road, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that bars in California should close their doors, restaurants should seat customers farther apart and senior citizens should isolate themselves.

“This could be the last bar we go to in a long time,” said Avina, 40, a bill collector for Spectrum, the internet and cable company.

Rest - https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/...es/ar-BB11gwUG

[jimnyc]

US sees highest 24-hour coronavirus death toll increase since outbreak started

The United States experienced the largest 24-hour jump in the coronavirus death toll since the outbreak was discovered in the country.

Health officials reported that 18 people in the U.S. died from the virus on Monday, the most on any one day so far, according to the Washington Post. The total number of U.S. deaths from the virus is now up to at least 88.

The rising death toll and total number of confirmed cases, which now exceeds 4,600 nationally, has led to a number of states issuing restrictions on public gatherings and venues, including gyms, bars, and restaurants. Additionally, President Trump provided new guidelines on Monday, which included avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people for at least the next two weeks.

"It seems to me that if we do a really good job, we will not only hold the death down to a level that is much lower than the other way ... and we have done a good job ... but people are talking about July, August something like that," the president said, indicating that the crisis could last through the summer.

In total, there have been more than 180,000 confirmed coronavirus cases globally and over 7,100 deaths as a result, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Rest - https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...tbreak-started

[jimnyc]

And how many cases are stemmed from brave idiots licking things claiming their faith will save them.

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Iran warns virus could kill ‘millions’ in Islamic Republic

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran issued its most dire warning yet Tuesday about the outbreak of the new coronavirus ravaging the country, suggesting “millions” could die in the Islamic Republic if people keep traveling and ignoring health guidance.

A state television journalist who also is a medical doctor gave the warning only hours after hard-line Shiite faithful on Monday night pushed their way into the courtyards of two major shrines that had finally been closed due to the virus. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious ruling prohibiting “unnecessary” travel in the country.

Roughly 9 out of 10 of the over 18,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the Middle East come from Iran, where authorities denied for days the risk the outbreak posed. Officials have now implemented new checks for people trying to leave major cities ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Friday, but have hesitated to quarantine the areas.

That’s even as the death toll in Iran saw another 13% increase Tuesday. Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the virus had killed 135 more people to raise the total to 988 amid over 16,000 cases. Jordan prepared for a shutdown of its own, banning gatherings of more than 10 people, and neighboring Israel issued its own strict guidelines.

Most infected people experience only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and recover within weeks. But the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by people with no visible symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Rest - https://apnews.com/6e92d93551ee6c6ae51d0acaaad9eb32

[jimnyc]

Sweet! Where's mine? Am I getting the Wang $1,000 special?

So it's starting to sound like they are maybe going to go through with this. I don't know how I feel about it. And you all?

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‘Americans Need Cash Now’ — Donald Trump Wants to Send Checks to Households Immediately

President Donald Trump said at the White House Tuesday he wanted the federal government to send direct payments to Americans suffering economically from the coronavirus as part of a larger rescue package.

“We’re going big,” Trump said, adding, “We want to go big, go solid.”
The proposal was detailed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday during a press briefing at the White House.

“We’re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,” Mnuchin said, adding, “Americans need cash now and the president wants to get cash now.”

Mnuchin said that Americans could expect an individual stimulus within two weeks as he continued to negotiate with Congress.

He added that wealthy Americans would not get direct payments as they did not need it.

“I think it’s clear, we don’t need to send people who make millions of dollars a year checks, OK?” Mnuchin said to reporters. Trump agreed. “Obviously some people shouldn’t be getting checks for $1,000.

Mnuchin said that some of the reported funding numbers of $850 billion for a rescue were probably more expensive than the final bill would be, but that details would be released later in the day.

“This is stuff that needs to be done now, the president has instructed to me that this is no fault to American workers,” he said.

Trump said there were four different ways to get funding directly to Americans, and said that although he supported a payroll tax cut, he was looking at a better way to get funding to Americans faster.

“We want to do something much faster than that,” Trump said.

Rest - https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...s-immediately/

[jimnyc]

I think there is going to be more and more misinformation out there like this, politically motivated things. I think it's disgusting from either side, to take advantage of something potentially life threatening, and using it to a political advantage.

By election day there will be stories out there about how Trump is a secret biologist of some sort and personally created this virus.

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Fact Check Update: U.S. Never Rejected WHO Coronavirus Tests; They Were Never Offered

CLAIM: The World Health Organization (WHO) offered the U.S. coronavirus tests and we refused them.

VERDICT: False. They were never offered to the U.S., and the U.S. typically does not accept WHO tests.

When former Vice President Joe Biden made this claim in the Democrat debate on Sunday night, Breitbart News initially rated it “true,” focusing on the question of whether the U.S. had declined to use WHO tests. That is true.

What is not true, as Politifact pointed out Monday, is that the U.S. rejected the tests, because they were never offered in the first place — not for donation, or sale, or in any other way.

Biden claimed: “We refused them. We did not want to buy them. We did not want to get them from them. We wanted to make sure we had our own.” But that is wrong.

Politifact’s Jon Greenberg and Victoria Knight explained (original links):

The Biden campaign referred us to a Politico article that said the WHO shipped coronavirus tests to nearly 60 countries at the end of February, but the U.S. was not among them. That is technically correct, but it suggests that the United States would have been on the list under any circumstances.

The countries WHO helped are ones that lack the virology lab horsepower that exists across the United States. The outreach work by the Pan American Health Organization is a case in point.

…

“No discussions occurred between WHO and CDC about WHO providing COVID-19 tests to the United States,” said WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris. “This is consistent with experience since the United States does not ordinarily rely on WHO for reagents or diagnostic tests because of sufficient domestic capacity.”

…

In this instance, this caused a lag in testing for the virus in the U.S.

Rest - https://www.breitbart.com/health/202...never-offered/

[Drummond]

26040878-8120211-image-a-15_1584429849605.jpg

[jimnyc]

Coronavirus is a known quantity. "Covid-19" is just another iteration for a 'corona virus' type, and I think like the 19th style or something like that. But folks have seen 'coronavirus' stuff on bottles and gels instantly think conspiracy.

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Actress Says Jewish Conspiracy Behind Coronavirus

Actress Rosanna Arquette said Tuesday implied that a Jewish conspiracy is behind the coronavirus spreading across the world.

“I’m still confused,” she wrote in a post on Twitter, now deleted, “so Israel has been working on a corona virus vaccine for a year already? (so they knew ) Vaccines take a long time to know if they are safe and KUSHNER OSCAR is the major investor in the new vaccine that is supposedly coming here. lives at risk for profit.”

It was unclear what “KUSHNER OSCAR” means, but RedState took a stab at it.

If there is anything bad in the world then, ipso facto, Jews and Israel are behind it. That an Israeli company, with a (I suppose) relative of Jared Kushner’s as an investor, would be developing a vaccine a year in advance for a virus that was first identified in December 2019 is something that we should all have immediately thought because $$$$ is the first thing that we should have thought of were we thinking clearly and not mesmerized or something.

To help Arquette understand, there’s a reason this coronavirus is called COVID-19 — there are plenty more coronaviruses out there, the name for a larger class of viruses.

“Coronaviruses are a group of related viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that can be mild, such as some cases of the common cold (among other possible causes, predominantly rhinoviruses), and others that can be lethal, such as SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. Symptoms in other species vary: in chickens, they cause an upper respiratory tract disease, while in cows and pigs they cause diarrhea. There are yet to be vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections,” Wikipedia says.

The name, by the way, “is derived from the Latin corona, meaning ‘crown’ or ‘halo,’ which refers to the characteristic appearance reminiscent of a crown or a solar corona around the virions (virus particles) when viewed under two-dimensional transmission electron microscopy, due to the surface covering in club-shaped protein spikes.”

And for the record, COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China, with the first case being diagnosed on Dec. 1, 2019 (at least according to Chinese officials).

Twitterers blasted Arquette.





https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/202...d-coronavirus/

[jimnyc]

What a stupid thing for everyone to argue over and make labels and racist crap again. They ALL labeled this "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese virus" up until WHO and/or others then started asking to stop. It wasn't racist then and it's not racist now. Just ammo built up for more blaming.

And while the media is so dang busy calling Trump or others racist for those terms, barely a peep out of them to condemn China for their outlandish accusations.

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Trump Smacks Down Liberal Hack Reporter Complaining About His Use of the Phrase “Chinese Virus”

The mainstream media is truly the enemy of the American people.

President Trump gave a press briefing from the White House on Tuesday to address his administration’s ongoing efforts to calm the Coronavirus panic and bring financial relief to Americans.

The fraudstream media has been pushing Communist Chinese propaganda since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Wuhan.

The same media who now criticizes President Trump for using the phrase “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan Coronavirus” used the exact phrase themselves until all of a sudden it became “racist” and “xenophobic,” because orange man bad.

President Trump put a liberal hack reporter in his place on Tuesday.

“Critics say that using that phrase [Chinese virus] creates a stigma,” a reporter said concerned about his Commie masters.

Trump responded, “No, I don’t think so. I think saying that our military gave it to them creates a stigma.”



The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman recently claimed the US military brought the Coronavirus to Wuhan.

Chinese officials are spinning the narrative about the Coronavirus to blame the US and the fraudstream media is more concerned about Trump using the phrase “Chines virus.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/202...e-virus-video/

[jimnyc]

Now people are getting upset with comparisons to the flu and others. And I mean doctors and officials, as if someone is doing wrong by trying to compare.

But I think it's very worthy. We deal with such issues year in and year out, and things are handled quite differently. Anyway, just some things to think about. And while these other things are quite serious and potentially deadly, you don't see the same level of craziness and emergency handling and hoarding...

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Global Coronavirus Daily Deaths on Its Worst Day Is Still Less Than: Flu, Swine Flu, Malaria, AIDS, Pneumonia, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis

As of Tuesday morning 3-17:
** There have been 4,748 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US
** There have been 93 deaths due to coronavirus in the US

From our report on Monday —

The current estimate for the fatality rates for the coronavirus just don’t add up. The estimates based on current data are completely inaccurate. Current data shows that this virus is much less deadly that even the common flu from the 2019-2020 season.

Details below:



And as The Gateway Pundit reported earlier today the controversial Ethiopian politician and Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, claimed in a press conference in early March that the fatality rate for the coronavirus was many multiples that of the fatality rate of the common flu.

This egregiously false premise has led to the greatest panic in world history.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on March 3rd: About 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.

This inaccurate statement by the WHO director started the global panic.

The Daily Death Toll of Coronavirus–

The global number of deaths of coronavirus continues to escalate.
There were globally 686 coronavirus deaths recorded on Sunday.
There were globally 641 coronavirus deaths recorded on Monday.

The total deaths globally is 7,510 deaths.

So how do these numbers compare to other deadly diseases?

Here is a graph of the Average Disease Deaths per Day worldwide.

Via Information is Beautiful.



You can see from the chart above that SO FAR the worst number of daily coronavirus deaths (686) is still lower than: Flu, Swine Flu, Malaria, AIDS, Pneumonia, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis

President Trump was right when he said the WHO’s coronavirus fatality rate was much too high.

Evidence proves the coronavirus is not as deadly as what was reported by the WHO and is continually repeated in the media.

In fact, current data shows it is not as deadly as the flu. The elderly and the sick should be concerned and protected. Everyone else has little to worry about.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/202...-tuberculosis/


Is the Coronavirus or the 2019-2020 Flu More Dangerous for US Seniors? — Here are the Numbers

As of Monday afternoon 3-16:
** There have been 4,294 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US
** There have been 75 deaths due to coronavirus in the US

From our report earlier today—

The current estimate for the fatality rates for the coronavirus just don’t add up. The estimates based on current data are completely inaccurate. Current data shows that this virus is much less deadly that even the common flu from the 2019-2020 season.

Rest - https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/202...e-the-numbers/