[Washington Examiner] Attorney General William Barr vowed there would be "severe" consequences if a foreign country was behind the cyberattack against the Health and Human Services Department's website on Sunday or behind the false coronavirus rumors swirling in recent days.
The HHS website was hit by a denial-of-service cyberattack on Sunday night, apparently designed to disrupt efforts to combat the spread of the growing COVID-19 outbreak in the United States.
"When you’re dealing with something like a denial-of-service attack on HHS during a pandemic, that’s a very grave action for another country to take," Barr told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "So, if it is another country doing this, I’m sure the ramifications will be severe."
Barr, "Our primary role right now is to investigate" and that "the FBI is very active trying to determine who is responsible for these things."
The attorney didn’t take a guess on which foreign nation might be responsible.
#6
^Start producing everything essential which today comes from China in USA - if necessary give companies lucrative, long term contracts. Double tariffs on anything made in China.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2020 10:32 Comments ||
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#5
The heart wants what the heart wants.
I'm a little unclear on exactly what the problem is here. Are Florida hospitals some sort of No Sex zone? Or is it a civil engineering matter where you aren't supposed to do it on a sidewalk?
#12
No. We don't allow our Ped Bridges to be de-stressed with live traffic underneath - EVER
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2020 19:39 Comments ||
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#13
^ As I was gonna ask after your first comment, so help me, "How about on the Spruce Street Bridge?
Posted by: Oscar Bluetooth4930 ||
03/18/2020 20:21 Comments ||
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#14
One of my favs. We've had to retension support cables periodically and replace the lead wraps on the main cables (under the support cables). Softer metal keeps the supports from abrading the main cables
Nice catch :-) . It's a bit unnerving to walk on with others bouncing along
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2020 20:50 Comments ||
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#1
You got the Guard first buddy. PS - after Katrina the law was modified so you can borrow NG from neighboring states, if they accommodate. Part of making friends and influencing people, which you lack.
#2
"Escape from New York", part whatever. Coming Soon!
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/18/2020 13:39 Comments ||
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#3
He wants the US Military to build temporary structures, out of the federal budget, instead of occupying vacant property in NYC on his budget. Bet he thinks that those owners would demand an expensive effort to get rid of the coronavirus cooties™ and he wants no part of that.
#7
So he wants to use federal troops to put NYC under martial law.
This is probably the first and only time DiBlasio's ever been remotely in support of the US military.
[FoxNews] President Trump on Wednesday announced that he is invoking the Defense Production Act as part of the administration’s efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic -- and also described himself as being a "wartime president."
"It can do a lot of good things if we need it," he said at a White House press conference. "We'll have it all completed, signing it in just a little while."
The act ensures the private sector can ramp-up manufacturing and distribution of emergency medical supplies and equipment. The move gives the White House the authority to increase production of masks, ventilators and respirators, as well as expand hospital capacity to combat the coronavirus.
As of Wednesday morning, there were 6,519 cases and 114 deaths in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that coronavirus deaths in the U.S. mirror what has been reported in other countries, with approximately 4 out of 5 deaths occurring in people 65 and older — and no deaths in children.
On Wednesday, Trump also announced that the Housing Department is suspending all foreclosures and evictions until the end of April.
Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the taskforce, announced that Health and Human Services are suspending a regulation that prevents medical professionals from practicing medicine across state lines. He also called on the nation to postpone all elective medical procedures.
[Breitbart] San Francisco (AFP) ‐ Millions of San Francisco area residents on Monday were ordered to stay home to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus as part of a lockdown effort covering a section of California including Silicon Valley.
Six counties in the region and the city of Berkeley joined the effort after data showed 258 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with four deaths in the jurisdictions with some seven million people.
A "remain-in-place" order announced by San Francisco Mayor London Breed will go into effect at the end of Tuesday here and remain in force until April 7, with the possibility it will be extended.
"We know these measures will significantly disrupt people’s day to day lives, but they are absolutely necessary," Breed said.
[TheScientist] Research on dangerous pathogens has been suspended at an Army lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found biosafety lapses there, the Frederick News-Post reported August 2. A spokesperson for the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) tells the newspaper that no disease-causing materials have been found outside authorized areas at the site.
According to its website, USAMRIID has been the US Department of Defense’s lead laboratory for medical biological defense research since 1969. The News-Post reports that the facility has both level 3 and level 4 biosafety labs and has worked on pathogens such as Ebola, Yersinia pestis (plague), and Francisella tularensis (tularemia). Those pathogens are among those considered "select agents and toxins" by the Department of Health and Human Services, which only allows authorized labs to work on them.
#2
How much would you bet, Mr. B, that we will learn in coming weeks that a researcher from said facility was a Chinese national, on loan from a US university as part of a postdoctoral or other educational visa program?
#4
Inside the Hot Zone: A Soldier on the Front Lines of Biological Warfare, by Dr. Mark G. Kortepeter
“But I felt like I wanted to show a different side of the story, how some of the folks at USAMRIID felt about it,” Kortepeter said. “And really to demonstrate a little bit about the devastation that had on the, on the institute as a whole, not just to Dr. Ivins, and allow some of my colleagues who work with them to have a bit of a voice that they really weren’t able to have, because they were under gag orders by the FBI.”
Excerpt: At any rate, the controversial shipment brought about the entering of information technology specialists into Qiu's office after hours, for her computer. Consequent to the incident, security access for Dr. Qiu, her husband and the Chinese students was revoked. Her regular trips to China also started being denied.16 Notably, Dr. Qiu made at least five trips over the school year 2017-18 to the above mentioned Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,17 which was certified for BSL4 in January 2017. Moreover, in August 2017, the National Health Commission of China approved research activities involving Ebola, Nipah, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses at the Wuhan facility, and in March 2019, the Chinese published their tour de force.18
Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of NATO, said at a news conference he couldn't comment on this specific case but appeared to suggest the possibility of espionage. "What I can say in general is that we have seen increased efforts by the nations to spy on NATO allies in different ways," he noted.19 Connectedly or not, Dr. Qiu collaborated in 2018 with three scientists from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Maryland, studying post-exposure immunotherapy for two Ebola viruses and Marburg virus in monkeys; a study supported by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency.20
USAMRIID has been in operation for over a half-century. Seems curious it would be completely shut down over "safety lapses" which could have potentially been corrected on-the-spot or contained via isolation.
BRUSSELS (AP) ‐ European Union leaders agreed Tuesday to immediately impose travel restrictions on most foreigners entering Europe for at least 30 days to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, and to set up fast-track transport lanes to keep vital medical equipment, food and goods flowing smoothly inside the bloc.
As the virus case count in Europe climbed to over 60,000 and with more than 2,700 people dead, nervous national governments have introduced quick-fix measures such as partial border closures and quarantines with little consultation. The EU sought over three hours of video talks to forge a united front against an illness that is also wreaking economic havoc.
"We reaffirmed the need to work together and do everything necessary to tackle the crisis and its consequences," European Council President Charles Michel told reporters. He said the 27 EU countries agreed to impose border restrictions on tourism and non-essential business "as fast as possible."
The plan exempts long-term EU residents, diplomats, some healthcare and transport workers.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said her proposal for the restrictions "got a lot of support by the member states. It’s up to them now to implement. They said they will immediately do that."
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the leaders agreed in a conference call to an entry ban with "very, very limited exceptions," and that Germany would start implementing it immediately.
Merkel said citizens of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom and Norway are exempt. The EU leaders also agreed to coordinate the repatriation of EU citizens stranded outside the bloc, she said.
Von der Leyen said they also backed a proposal to set up "green lanes" for trucks and other priority vehicles aimed at beating the traffic jams that have formed around crossing points on internal borders, where no ID or vehicle checks were required just days ago.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ‐ Iran issued its most dire warning yet Tuesday about the new coronavirus ravaging the country, suggesting "millions" could die in the Islamic Republic if people keep traveling and ignore health guidance.
A state TV 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 were finally closed due to the virus. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious ruling prohibiting "unnecessary" travel.
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 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.
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.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
03/18/2020 01:42 ||
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[BBC] Here are more details on the shutdown in Nevada.
Governor Steve Sisolak announced the measures in a news conference Tuesday night.
"This [coronavirus] is effecting the lives of our citizens. People are dying. Every day that is delayed here, I'm losing a dozen people on the back end that are going to die as a result of this,"
All non-essential businesses are affected by the shutdown. Restaurants are only allowed to provide takeout or delivery.
Even slot machines in convenience stores will no longer be permitted.
"America's playground", as Las Vegas is known, is usually open 24-hours a day. The last time the casinos had to lock their doors was on the day of John F. Kennedy's funeral in 1963.
Nevada's month-long freeze on gambling will hit Las Vegas hard. The city depends on the glitz of the Vegas strip for its tourism and hospitality-based economy.
The closure - which goes into effect Wednesday at noon - will be part of federal guidelines recommending social distancing. Americans are asked to follow sweeping measures for the next few weeks, including for older residents to stay at home and for people to not gather in groups of more than 10 or go to restaurants and bars.
[IsraelTimes] Closed borders in EU lead to 40 mile traffic jams; America reports virus in all 50 states; US, Britannia and the Netherlands announce giant economic rescue packages.
Mass disruptions shuddered across the globe Tuesday as governments struggled to slow the spread of the coronavirus ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... while also trying to keep their economies afloat. The chaos stretched from Lithuania, where border traffic jams were 40 miles deep, to bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit
Continued on Page 49
[DailyWire] In South Korea, as of this writing, the current death toll for COVID-19 stands at 66, which equals about 0.6% of those infected. Conversely, the death toll in Italy now tops 2,000. In South Korea, the rate of testing has been quite high (3,692 tests per million people as of March 8), and its mortality among those infected quite low (about 0.6%, or 66 deaths, at last count).
By contrast, Italy tests about 826 people per million and its mortality among those with diagnosed infection is about 10 times higher, with more than 1,000 people dead from the disease.
"According to a UN report in 2015, 28.6% of the Italian population was 60 years old or older (second in the world after Japan at 33%)," continued CNN. "This compares to South Korea, where 18.5% of the population is at least 60 years of age, ranking 53rd globally. The impact of this disparity is quickly shown in the analysis of coronavirus deaths in each county. In Italy, 90% of the more than 1,000 deaths occur in those 70 or older."
In South Korea, 30% of COVID-19 patients were in their 20s versus just 20% 60 years or older. The survival rate breaks strongly along gender lines as well in South Korea, where at least 62% of cases were reported among women. If China provides a window, the death rate among men currently stands at 4.7% versus just 2.8% among women. Continues to smoker breakdown.
Global coronavirus death toll at 7,813; nearly 190,000 infected
[IsraelTimes] The number of novel coronavirus ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... cases globally stood at 189,680 with 7,813 deaths, across 146 countries and territories at 1700 GMT Tuesday, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources.
Since 1700 GMT on Monday there were 806 new deaths reported and 14,159 new cases globally.
The tallies, using data collected by AFP offices from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), take into account the fact that criteria for counting victims and coronavirus screening practices vary from country to country.
The countries with the most new deaths in the past 24-hour period are Italia (345), Spain (182) and Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... (135).
China ‐ excluding Hong Kong and Macau ‐ where the outbreak emerged in late December, has to date declared 80,881 cases, including 3,226 deaths, with 68,869 people recovered. The country declared 21 new cases and 13 new fatalities since Monday.
Belgium imposes general coronavirus lockdown until April 5 [IsraelTimes] Belgians must stay at home from midday on Wednesday until at least April 5 in case they spread the coronavirus further, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes says on Tuesday. The only residents allowed out will be those heading for medical attention, solo exercise or work in some businesses deemed essential such as food markets and pharmacies, she says.
People with blood type A might be more susceptible to coronavirus, study finds
[NYPOST] People with blood type A might be more vulnerable to the coronavirus ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... , while those with type O blood could be more resistant, according to a new preliminary study from China.
Researchers studying COVID-19 in its outbreak epicenter, Wuhan, and the city of Shenzhen found the proportion of Type-A patients both infected and killed by the disease to be "significantly" higher than those with the same blood type in the general public.
Type O patients, meanwhile, made up a smaller proportion of both those infected and killed by the virus.
"People of blood group A might need particularly strengthened personal protection to reduce the chance of infection," wrote the researchers at the Centre for Evidence-Based and Translational Medicine based out of Wuhan.
Though the team, led by Wang Xinghuan, couched the study as "preliminary," with more work needed to be done to develop concrete findings.
Coronavirus bailout to cost more than $1 trillion, Mnuchin says
[NYPOST] A stimulus package to save the US economy from the ravages of the coronavirus ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... is expected to soar beyond $1 trillion, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday.
The bailout will include direct checks to Americans facing financial hardship, which is expected to cost $250 billion, as well as loans for small businesses and entire industries facing the brunt of the economic downturn.
"I know there’s been some rumors of the number. It is a big number," Mnuchin said after a luncheon with Republican senators on Capitol Hill.
"This is a very unique situation for this economy. We’ve put a proposal on the table that would inject a trillion dollars into the economy that is on top of the $300 billion from the IRS ...the Internal Revenue Service; that office of the United States government that collects taxes and persecutes the regime's political enemies... deferrals," he said.
At least $50 billion would be directed to the airline industry which has been devastated by travel restrictions in place around the globe.
The Senate has committed to staying in Washington until the stimulus package is passed and is preparing to sit through the weekend as the rest of the country goes into lock-down.
Comparatively, the bank bailout after the 2008 Great Recession, known as TARP, cost $700 million.
Conservative Republicans balked at the huge package which would further inflate the federal government deficit but said the COVID-19 health crisis was an unprecedented challenge.
Defense Secretary Esper tells @BretBaier he will deploy Army Corps of Engineers “soonest” to NY. Esper says he spoke to Gov. Cuomo today about “deficit” of hospital beds.
• Iran's #coronavirus death toll climbs to 988 • Spain's death toll rises to 491 • Malaysia records its first death • Borders close in Latin America, Libya • France could nationalise big companies
• Ohio to delay primary despite court ruling • Trump refers to #covid19 as "Chinese Virus" • Venezuela to impose nationwide quarantine • Colombia to close all borders until May 30 • Iceland undertakes widespread testing 👉https://t.co/YC2Jxe7j6cpic.twitter.com/KZ3zsnAstu
The US military is preparing to distribute more then 5 million protective masks and other equipment, according to Reuters. Already, some 1 million are ready and will be given to the military strategic reserves for government redistribution, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told a news conference that the Pentagon would also be prepared to distribute up to 2,000 ventilators. He added that the US military's laboratories would additionally be made available to start carrying out coronavirus tests for civilians, increasing US testing capacity.
The Pentagon has also begun mobilizing US Navy hospital ships as part of the US Defense Department's plan to contain the domestic spread of the coronavirus, USNI News reported.
“We’ve already given orders to the Navy… to lean forward in terms of getting them ready to deploy,” Esper said Tuesday, the report stated.
I thought this was a pandemic -- you know, the kind that takes tens of millions of lives.
Which would be counted with not four but EIGHT DIGITS. There is no curve imaginable that gets us from 4 to 8 digits within weeks or months-- or even years.
And the world's leaders are destroying the global economy and potentially ruining a BILLION young people's lives in order to save... a few thousand old folks?
#2
"There is no curve imaginable that gets us from 4 to 8 digits within weeks or months-- or even years. "
Lex, the exponential curve is a bitch. With a daily growth rate of 25% (and this is what countries without strict measures are seeing now, you get into millions within a month.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/18/2020 3:59 Comments ||
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#3
I think the KungFlu will be hard pressed to get above normal flu
#4
And the world's leaders are destroying the global economy and potentially ruining a BILLION young people's lives in order to save... a few thousand old folks?
The current economy is based on China producing 90% of everything. This is war to divest from China.
USA can do it, the way you did war materials production in WWII.
Just imagine a bunch of Greta-freaks gathering to protest a new industrial complex and being arrested under the limitations on public gathering rules! In fact, since these are the psychos who want to live forever - they'll, most likely, to protest from home on Twitter.
#6
Neither WHO nor CDC has made a statement about people taking quinine yet as a treatment or prophylactic.
Research paper was made public on 13 March. Lots of analysis in past two days and even some new clinical information (generally positive).
and, yes, I bought some tonic water yesterday and had some tonic, cranberry and vodka with supper
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/18/2020 10:00 Comments ||
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#7
Not so, EC. In modern societies there is a natural limit to how many people can be infected. If your logic were correct, that entire cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, would surely have been infected. Even there, in the most ideal transmission conditions imaginable - thousands in closed quarters, sharing single crowded dining area, with central ventilation systems - even there the infection rate only reached twenty percent!
Listen to Nobel Laureate and Stanford Biophysicist Michael Levitt:
Nobel laureate Michael Levitt, an American-British-Israeli biophysicist who teaches structural biology at Stanford University and spends much of his time in Tel Aviv, unexpectedly became a household name in China, offering the public reassurance during the peak of the country’s coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. Levitt did not discover a treatment or a cure, just did what he does best: crunched the numbers. The statistics led him to the conclusion that, contrary to the grim forecasts being branded about, the spread of the virus will come to a halt.
Coronavirus: Five Reasons for Optimism >>
Don’t Panic, the Sky Won’t Fall, Says Mellanox CEO >>
The calming messages Levitt sent to his friends in China were translated into Chinese and passed from person to person, making him a popular subject for interviews in the Asian nation. His forecasts turned out to be correct: the number of new cases reported each day started to fall as of February 7. A week later, the mortality rate started falling as well.
Levitt received his Nobel prize for chemistry in 2013 for "the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems." He did not in any way intend to be a prophet foretelling the end of a plague; it happened by accident. His wife Shoshan Brosh is a researcher of Chinese art and a curator for local photographers, meaning the couple splits their time between the U.S., Israel, and China.
When the pandemic broke out, Brosh wrote to friends in China to support them. “When they answered us, describing how complicated their situation was, I decided to take a deeper look at the numbers in the hope of reaching some conclusion,” Levitt explained. “The rate of infection of the virus in the Hubei province increased by 30% each day—that is a scary statistic. I am not an influenza expert but I can analyze numbers and that is exponential growth.” At this rate, the entire world should have been infected within 90 days, he said.
But then, the trend changed. When Levitt started analyzing the data on February 1, Hubei had 1,800 new cases each day and within six days this number reached 4,700, he said. “And then, on February 7, the number of new infections started to drop linearly and did not stop. A week later, the same happened with the number of the deaths. This dramatic change in the curve marked the median point and enabled better prediction of when the pandemic will end. Based on that, I concluded that the situation in all of China will improve within two weeks. And, indeed, now there are very few new infection cases.”
...
The messages his friends translated quickly made waves in China and people wanting to make sure he did indeed write the information attributed to him started contacting Levitt. “That is how I knew I needed to continue,” he said. “I could have said, yes, that’s what I said,’ and left it at that.”
New numbers were being reported every day by various entities, such as the World Health Organization (WHO). Levitt started sending regular reports to his Chinese friends, and their popularity led to interviews on Chinese television, for example on CNN-equivalent CGTN. Based on the diminishing number of infection cases and deaths, he said, the virus will probably disappear from China by the end of March.
Initially, Levitt said, every coronavirus patient in China infected on average 2.2 people a day—spelling exponential growth that can only lead to disaster.... When discussing diseases, it frightens people a lot because they keep hearing about new cases every day. But the fact that the infection rate is slowing down means the end of the pandemic is near.”
There are several reasons for this, according to Levitt. “In exponential growth models, you assume that new people can be infected every day, because you keep meeting new people. But, if you consider your own social circle, you basically meet the same people every day. You can meet new people on public transportation, for example; but even on the bus, after some time most passengers will either be infected or immune.”
Another reason the infection rate has slowed has to do with the physical distance guidelines.
“You don’t hug every person you meet on the street now, and you’ll avoid meeting face to face with someone that has a cold, like we did,” Levitt said. “The more you adhere, the more you can keep infection in check. So, under these circumstances, a carrier will only infect 1.5 people every three days and the rate will keep going down.”
Unfortunately the Diamond Princess isn't a good example, because people didn't stay in quarantine long enough on board to get all infected.
That's the thing with exponential curves. They stay quite flat for a number of days until they explode. Without protective measures, within two months, at least two thirds would have been infected (this is the point when herd immunity kicks in).
You just don't think much of a 30% growth per day when the number goes 10 - 13 - 16 - 20...
The "natural limit to how many people can be infected" (provided that a person who got it and survived can't get infected again) stands at approx. 70%.
Let's also stress the fact that we don't know enough about the virus.
But if we don't flatten the curve now hospitals WILL get overwhelmed and this means not only the number of COVID19 deaths will shoot up, also the number of people who die from other illnesses, as they no longer can be properly attended to.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/18/2020 21:06 Comments ||
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[MSN] A nasty respiratory illness had been spreading through the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., for at least nine days when a sick resident was taken to a hospital on Feb. 19.
The resident, and another hospitalized Feb. 24, were later diagnosed with covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... , according to the facility. They were two of the earliest cases in the country’s deadliest cluster to date in the pandemic.
But the home’s managers had believed since early February that they were facing a surge of influenza, which was common for the facility, said a front man for the Life Care Center.
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Their focus on flu had persisted even though their region had been on high alert since the Jan. 21 announcement of the first U.S. case of the coronavirus in a neighboring county.
The assumption of flu had held as the managers introduced a policy on Feb. 10 discouraging visitors due to the spike in illness.
And it had continued after a senior state health official, in a Feb. 21 letter, urged all nursing homes to prepare for the coronavirus by checking hygiene and infection controls, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Washington Post.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
But the home’s managers had believed since early February that they were facing a surge of influenza, which was common for the facility
- would be interesting to find out if that was common, whether the death toll was similar.
I will assume by the silence, that it is so
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 ||
03/18/2020 7:43 Comments ||
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[Breitbart] New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) signed a coronavirus emergency order last week allowing her to ban the sale and transportation of firearms.
She signed a follow-up proclamation on March 16, 2020, further emphasizing her emergency powers to "suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation, of alcoholic beverages."
The declaration declaring the mayor’s power to restrict gun sales and transportation says she is "empowered, if necessary, to suspend or limit the sale of alcoholic beverages, firearms, explosives, and combustibles."
On March 16, 2020, the Second Amendment Foundation responded to Cantrell’s claims of emergency powers over firearms by reminding her that they sued over Second Amendment infringement following Hurricane Katrina and will do so during the era of coronavirus if needed.
#2
Guns are no prob. We already have enough to defeat most European armies. Now, if she tries to ban the sale of alcohol in the Big Easy, may God have mercy on her soul.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/18/2020 12:23 Comments ||
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#3
The question is not of foreign armies, but do we have enough to defeat our own gummint?
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/18/2020 12:29 Comments ||
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#4
What's with NOs? New Orleans didn't get the firearms thing right during Katrina either.
[Hot Air] China has announced plans to expel American journalists from five publications today including the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time and Voice of America. The journalists will also not be allowed to report from Hong Kong: Tom Freidman: "After ALL we've done for you!"
China instructed American journalists "whose press credentials are due to expire before the end of 2020" to "notify the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within four calendar days starting from today and hand back their press cards within ten calendar days."
It went on to specify that the American journalists now working in China "will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions."
So is this a response to China’s frustration over being blamed for the coronavirus outbreak? The Times points out this back and forth has been building for several weeks and coronavirus was definitely part of it:
#5
*Smirk* No, no, no, those people are agents of the DNC and the Deep State and not the agents of the Trump Administration. When you PNG (persona non grata) someone you need to do it to the right person.
#8
Just had a horrible thought. If I'm right - and I sure hope I'm wrong - China will soon have a lot of anti-Covid immunoglobulin for passive immunization for sale or "aid" (strings attached).
#1
Some calm, rational, perspective at a time when it is in short supply.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/18/2020 9:42 Comments ||
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#2
VDH is a national treasure.
Note the total absence of sarcasm and cheap insults - even the idiot Governor of Ohio's absurdly, grossly incompetent virtue-signaling (aka Shitshow) is calmyly and factually related by VDH to simply show panic at its stupidest.
We will look back on these days as one of the most foolish episodes of mass hysteria in modern history.
Worse than the Salem Witch Trials.
Worse than the Tulip Craze.
Worse than the Great Cat Massacre in pre-revolutionary Old Regime France.
Worse than the 2K scare, the Ebola scare, the early 1990sbogus child-abduction hysteria or the Anti-Vaxxer idiocy.
#4
Finally a sane voice about a serious but less than existential threat. We are wrecking the entire economy in mere days. Man up America, if you can remember how!
#4
No more of this 'too big to fail' bailout crap - if Boeing dies, it dies. The virus isn't killing them - it was the colossal fuck-up of the Max 737 plane.
[LA Times] As the coronavirus pandemic has spread, Americans have taken to stores to clear out shelves of hand sanitizer, canned goods and other emergency rations.
For some reason, they've also started panic-buying toilet paper.
But despite the photos of empty shelves popping up on social media, is there in fact any risk to the nation’s toilet paper pipeline?
The short answer: no.
"It’s not like suddenly all the toilet paper factories in the world are burning down," said Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies manufacturing supply chains. "They’re still cranking this stuff out."
If anything, toilet paper supplies are suffering from being too steady, Shih says. Typically, demand for the product is flat proportional to the population ‐ there is no hot season for toilet paper. That means that factories are designed to run as efficiently as possible around the clock to produce a constant stream of product, with little room for increase or decrease.
When that constant supply meets a spike in demand, shoppers suddenly run into empty shelves.
Toilet paper is also distinct from products such as hand sanitizer and coronavirus test kits, where increased use means that there is a genuine risk of shortages. Barring a new craze for mummy costumes, the actual use of toilet paper is unlikely to increase. And, by the way...
Only people who are at higher risk of serious illness from the virus, either from age or other medical conditions, are truly in need of stockpiling enough toilet paper to last for the duration of the outbreak, since going back out to the store for fresh rolls may put their safety at risk (though delivery services should be available as supplies replenish).
Other countries with severe outbreaks have not suffered total shutdowns of stores or illness rates that disabled the logistics and paper industries. In Italy and parts of China that went into full lockdown, grocery stores remained open, as did factories producing essential products.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/18/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
The rush on toilet paper was a rational reaction to the incomplete information provided by the press. They reported on the run on TP in Australia without explaining that Australia DOES import TP, but the US makes most of our own with the remainder coming from Canada.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/18/2020 0:49 Comments ||
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#2
Yeah but don't forget once socialists take over, toilet paper tends to vanish for good. See Venezuela.
Here in Germany, toilet paper is back, hand sanitizers are still missing.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/18/2020 0:52 Comments ||
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#6
I went shopping yesterday at the local supermarket. Not a single roll of TP in the place. Also gone or largely depleted: pasta, pasta sauces, canned soups, ground beef (?), canned vegetables, pork, and frozen dinners.
The store was practically deserted. I remarked about that to the checkout clerk, and he said vast crowds were there over the weekend and cleaned the place out like a horde of locusts.
Driving through town on the way to the store, the streets were practically deserted; normally at that hour it would be bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go traffic.
The parking area out front of our apartment complex has 40 parking spots. Normally at mid-day there would be about 5-10 cars in the lot, with everyone else gone to work. Yesterday I counted 36 cars in the lot.
Nothing is open in town; it's dead. I fear a massive economic collapse if this shit goes on much longer.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/18/2020 4:39 Comments ||
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#7
Today almost all stores closed in Munich except food and drugstores. Food market was open, delicious fresh fruit from Italy, Spain, Portugal.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/18/2020 4:44 Comments ||
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#8
I have not bought TP in years!
My roll of TP collects dust!
I have varicose veins, varicocele and hemorrhoids.
TP is worthless.
Only a thorough cleaning with soap and water will relieve symptoms.
#10
I went to a grocery store the other day to pick up a couple of things and some of the shelves looked like the shelves in some cold-war Communist country--empty. People seem to be panic buying in case of a long hunker down.
#12
:Hmmm: I was wondering if it was a feeling that DIY facemasks would need to be made at home from TP and duct tape .... hence the shortage. Internet rumor about shortages sounds more plausible.
Never let a crisis go to waste, right, Dems?
[SD Union Trib] The Trump administration is taking steps to close the southern border to certain migrants, citing the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
U.S. immigration authorities could soon begin immediately removing migrants who enter the U.S. between official ports of entry and turning them back to Mexico, saying it will help stanch the expansion of the pandemic, officials told The Times.
The administration has yet to formally announce the proposal, first reported by the New York Times on Tuesday night, but it is hammering out final details. Earlier Tuesday, administration officials began laying the groundwork for the shift.
Under the new policy, Border Patrol agents who apprehend Mexican adults attempting to cross the border between ports of entry will return them to Mexico at a nearby port of entry instead of detaining them, according to Brandon Judd, president of the union that represents 15,000 agents, the National Border Patrol Council.
Agents will have to check migrants' information, including criminal records, in the field. Equipment to help them perform those checks was already being distributed Tuesday, Judd said.
Judd, who is close to the Trump administration, added that the new policy could take effect as soon as Tuesday night.
"This will greatly limit the potential for spread of the coronavirus," he said. "The administration was looking at ways to minimize exposure."
The administration also began recalling asylum officers and other employees of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ‐ the arm of the Homeland Security Department that administers the legal immigration system ‐ from detention facilities and postings across the country on Tuesday.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2020 05:58 ||
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[JPost] - A man in his 40's from Jerusalem was arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly organizing a multi-part wedding in Bet Shemesh which housed approximately 150 guests, which far outreaches the Health Ministry's limitations in their new guidelines.
A new video that began circulating on the web, first shown on Channel 12, shows the haredi wedding with far more than 10 attendees. As a result, the police opened an investigation into the incident.
"Published tonight is a documentation of an event that occurred in Bet Shemesh," a Channel 12 reporter wrote on Twitter, explaining that it is the wedding of two rebbes and slamming the gathering.
"This is no longer negligence or lack of awareness, but disrespect of precautions. The first people to be hurt will be the celebrators themselves, and then afterwards, all of us," he continued.
[IsraelTimes] TV reports military drafting orders that will allow it to take far greater role in combating COVID-19, from logistical support to possibility of enforcing curfews and lockdowns.
[Arutz 7] - The attorney at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in New Rochelle, New York, has emerged from his coma.
Lawrence Garbuz "is awake and alert and seems to be on the road to full recovery," his wife, Adina, said in a post on Facebook. She has not seen him in person, but communicated through FaceTime.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli-American Dr. Ofer Levy heads PVP, which is among 40 research groups aiming to trample COVID-19. As lives hang in the balance, his work focuses on the elderly.
Forty?! I was impressed when I thought there were a dozen or so. May they find many answers — some quickly and adequate, others more slowly but even better to replace the first ones.
The Precision Vaccines Program (PVP) at Boston Children’s Hospital is working on developing a vaccine for the novel coronavirus ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... , which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. PVP head Dr. Ofer Levy says that among the worldwide vaccine efforts, his group is uniquely focused on a solution for the elderly, a population Levy defines as age 65 or older.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Breitbart] San Francisco (AFP) ‐ Millions of San Francisco area residents on Monday were ordered to stay home to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus as part of a lockdown effort covering a section of California including Silicon Valley.
[TheScientist] Research on dangerous pathogens has been suspended at an Army lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found biosafety lapses there, the Frederick News-Post reported August 2. A spokesperson for the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) tells the newspaper that no disease-causing materials have been found outside authorized areas at the site.
Inside the Hot Zone: A Soldier on the Front Lines of Biological Warfare, by Dr. Mark G. Kortepeter
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
[DailyWire] In South Korea, as of this writing, the current death toll for COVID-19 stands at 66, which equals about 0.6% of those infected. Conversely, the death toll in 
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
For some reason, they've also started panic-buying toilet paper.
If anything, toilet paper supplies are suffering from being too steady, Shih says. Typically, demand for the product is flat proportional to the population ‐ there is no hot season for toilet paper. That means that factories are designed to run as efficiently as possible around the clock to produce a constant stream of product, with little room for increase or decrease.
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
