Common Sense vs. the Coronavirus

They're giving us a terrible choice: suffer millions of deaths, or knock out the economy, or both at once.

Yet there is another solution. If you can test everybody who needs it, then you can quarantine everyone who is infected, and let the rest lead their normal lives. This worked in Singapore[1] and even in one town in Italy.[2]

Moreover, if you can relieve the symptoms before people get critically ill, they won't need intensive care. So if we keep ramping up the supply of test kits, while rolling out anti-viral drugs, we can eradicate the virus without a disaster.

Most experts are afraid hospitals will be overwhelmed, that we won't have enough intensive care beds for all the critical cases, so we have to lock down to slow the infection rate.[3] A few dissenters call this a statistical error, and point to early figures from Italy showing that up to 99% of deaths were among the chronically ill elderly, the group who accounted for most of last year's 80,000 deaths from the flu. However the overall picture there is much worse than usual[4]

The world got into this mess because outside of a few lucky countries, there has been a lack of imagination, organization and pro-active measures. We've agonized helplessly over the impossible choice between ruining the economy and ruining our health, when there were ways to save both. Business as usual and half-hearted measures leading to a full catastrophe. This is no time for rationalization and penny-pinching.

Testing, Testing

Everyone agrees we need more test kits. The CDC bungled that job, too little, too late, and too hard to use. Finally private firms are coming out with them. Due to the lack of kits, yesterday Los Angeles gave up trying to contain the epidemic.

Some much smaller countries like Singapore and South Korea were able to make all the kits they needed. By testing everyone with symptoms, Singapore was able to quarantine the sick, and let healthy people keep going about their normal lives working in a healthy economy!

We don't need the Fed to throw money at the stock market, we need these medical supplies in the trenches. Have we forgotten how to make things? If we can't make them, then buy them – this is an emergency.

Germany is offering us millions of tablets of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which was found to cure Cov-19 in Australia and France. All the CDC can do is say, we haven't done clinical trials on the drug yet.[5]

Why not? If it works, it will be a "game-changer" indeed. Patients will get better in a matter of days, not weeks. That means no collapse of the health-care system or the economy either. Yet partisan pundits like the New York Times assail the idea as unfounded or because of side-effects:

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1241367239900778501
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Mar 21 HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine…
Reply: David Rothschild @DavMicRot
President spreading super dangerous misinformation that will make crisis worse.[6]

DON'T GET OLD

Let the doctors and patients, not the pundits, decide what drugs to prescribe.

Why are the elderly most at risk from diseases like the flu or the coronavirus? Because they are weaker, their immune systems are weaker. But have you seen a single expert in the mainstream media talk about strengthening our immunity against this virus? Nothing about nutrition,  rest and exercise for a healthy immune system, immunotherapy, fresh air, sunlight or exercise, nix. Just wash your hands and stay in a bubble.

Bed rest is the all-time number one medicine. Every mother will tell a sick child to get enough rest. People over age 60 should be in bed by 10. Nobody says anything about this. They are too busy pooh-poohing home remedies as quackery.

Your body needs energy to fight off infections. Nutrition, rest and exercise are three factors that generate energy. That plus your mental energy.

There are online lists of foods and herbs that are good for the immune system. People with short attention spans jump to conclusions and mock this, saying "Garlic doesn't kill viruses." Of course not. Nothing kills them inside your body, except your immune system. Vaccines only work by activating it. So does broccoli, and it's cheap and available. You don't need to make a killing on Wall Street out of it. 

Down the Tubes

The coronavirus doesn't kill directly. It damages the lung, giving pneumonia bacteria a place to fester. There are older coronaviruses that give you the common cold. You probably know how that works. Your first line of defense, the upper respiratory tract, is your nasal passages. So an early symptom is a runny or stuffy nose. Next line is the throat, when it gets sore. Then there are the bronchi, you get a chest cold and a cough. Last trench is the lungs, that's where it gets dangerous, it can become a battle for life and death.[7]

It's a fair guess that the people who only get mild symptoms from the novel coronavirus are basically just getting a cold, without any bronchitis or pneumonia. So to help people from getting a severe case, why not try things we've always been doing to fight the cold and the flu? Have our health authorities dreamt of that?

There are countless cold remedies around. I even have my own bag of tricks to try to keep a runny nose from running down into my lungs, like soaking in a hot bath. Here are a few prescriptions from a trusted source, the Mayo Clinic[8]

- Rest
- Stay hydrated. Sip warm liquids, (Chicken soup and all that. I like to breathe in the steam while I'm sipping)
- Saline rinse for nose, saltwater gargle for a sore throat (No, salt water won't kill viruses, but it will remove them from your nose, so they don't get into your lungs. That's probably why your nose runs in the first place, to expel pathogens.)

I wonder if the Center for Disease Control will ever suggest things like that. I guess we need clinical trials first. Or autopsies afterwards.

The authorities tell us face masks won't help if you're not sick. Yet everyone is saying you can't tell if you're sick without a test! So maybe you should be wearing a face mask. But don't buy them, because then the doctors, who need them most, won't have enough. And don't try to make your own either. Just make excuses instead of masks, and deny tests to people who clearly need them.  

Is a human life only worth a few pennies! It can't cost more than that to manufacture a mask, or buy them in bulk from China. Is this why the pandemic task force is headed by a guy named Pence? A lot of people are out of work now, why not set them to work sewing masks. And the other excuse is the earloop masks don't protect the eyes. Well, we could wear goggles.

I know from experience that you'll feel the difference if you don't wear a dust mask on a job that calls for one. During the Spanish flu of 1918, hospital staff made their own masks out of wire and six layers of gauze. China recently sent planeloads of face masks to Italy and Russia. But please don't buy any unless you're sick. Then it might take a week for them to arrive and you'll be dead anyway. So just don't buy them.

Granted, the evidence is that the virus is usually transmitted in enclosed spaces, not through the open air. "As much as 85% of spread occurred in households" according to a new WHO report "that suggests the disease is spreading less readily than some experts had feared."[9] The CDC concurred that on the Diamond Princess, a fairly enclosed space, about 20% of those on board got infected. On the other hand, there have been very few reports of flight attendants getting infected.[10] So while cancelling large gatherings was urgently necessary – they have caused some major outbreaks – the rationale for shelter in place isn't so clear.

They do believe the virus is sometimes spread by touching surfaces. We could even give people jobs bringing items to customers in the store, while wearing gloves, so everything doesn't get handled by multiple customers. Or have them order online for pickup, and fill their cart for them. Or just give customers penny plastic gloves.

Without testing, we're in the dark. And while we're in the dark, the virus can spread. According to Vox.com, "America's shamefully slow coronavirus testing threatens all of us. The US lags just about every developed country on testing for Covid-19 disease…[11] In the early phase, the US had given just 23 tests per million population, where China and South Korea had tested 3000 – about 150 times as much. In hard-hit Seattle, "local researchers were so exasperated by the CDC's initial faulty test that they came up with their own." The government might have invited the private sector to pitch in from the start.

Moonshine

The professional medical intelligentsia and bureaucracy generally belittle and dismiss anything that is Not High Tech or Not Invented Here. The CDC botched the test kits by trying to design one that was 10 times more complicated than everybody else – America's Moonshot Mentality. Everything we do has to cost billions and put the first man on the moon. But that's been done, and we don't need that now. C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre. This is an emergency, you need to use what you have handy.

This country can't build common things anymore, such as trains. 100 years ago we built the world's biggest subway system in New York. 80 years ago we churned out planes and ships for WW2. During that war we had tons of field hospitals and army medics without MD degrees. This year, China put up 14 temporary hospitals in Wuhan. New York governor Cuomo "asked businesses to get creative with manufacturing protective equipment like masks and gowns for healthcare workers" and called for thousands more hospital beds, ICU units and ventilators. What ever happened to crash programs?

Today our F-35 jet fighter is an endless, grotesque boondoggle. We're the hypertechnological Affluent Society that has to waste gazillions on pork every time we throw money at a problem. Cov-19 and our response to it is a huge test kit for this dysfunctional way of running a society. Do you get that eerie feeling of living through an epic disaster movie script in a science fiction dystopia?

Playing with Fire

With all the modern advances in genetic engineering, many are suspicious that the novel coronavirus could have been made in a lab and then leaked, whether from benign research or as a bioweapon, and whether originating in China or the US[12]. Most experts scoff at this, although researchers are publishing open source papers describing their work on assembling new viruses. The doubtful benefits of such efforts, such as science for science's sake, or experiments with vaccines, are negligible next to the catastrophic risk. After all, we still don't have a vaccine for the common cold, and what may be our salvation against this novel virus is just an old malaria drug, no biotech needed.

GMO virus experiments are like sleeping with the enemy. After our generation somehow managed to survive the nuclear menace, another bunch of mad scientists are letting the genie out of the bottle again. Let sleeping dogs lie, for goodness sake! There is an old story about this.

The Genius, the Magician and the Nobody

There was once a brilliant scientist and his friend a wonder-working magician, who decided to go on an expedition to put their amazing knowledge into practice. They agreed to let their less-educated neighbor come along as a guard, if he would not interrupt their deliberations.
Halfway through a desert, the party came across the bleached bones of a giant creature. The scientist exclaimed, From my vast learning I can see that this is a saber-toothed tiger. The magician exulted, Yes, and with my great knowledge of spells, I can bring it back to life. One moment, said the neighbor, As the security detail here, I must advise you that if you do, it will tear us limb from limb. Look, Dummy, you are here just to do the chores, they told him. So he ran to climb up the nearest tree. The two Devotees of the Intellect carried on with their experiment. The tiger was reconstituted, in perfectly hungry form, and immediately made a meal of its two resuscitators.
As my own neighbor says, They are playing with fire.

What is the CDC for anyway?

According to its critics at Natural News, the CDC would have been better prepared for the coronavirus pandemic if it hadn't focused for years on "gun control" and "social justice." With its $6.6 billion budget, the CDC "messes up" the one job it has "every time." Its kits gave false negatives due to failed reagents. It lavished funds on things like a transgender beauty pageant and attempts to overturn the Second Amendment.[13]

Why is the CDC pushing vaccines and downplaying drugs when most experts say it takes 18 months to develop a new vaccine? Meanwhile private companies are clamoring to be the first to announce their new vaccine and boost their stock prices. A few trials are underway. But there's one big problem -- vaccines aren't any use once you are infected. Vaccines next year for a disaster today, even less. And viruses mutate. At best, vaccines are least effective for the group most at risk – the elderly. Some years the flu vaccine is only 11% effective. So why the pushback against trying existing anti-viral drugs?

Ironically, one center that is working on a new drug reported that due to the lockdown, it "has become more challenging because many universities have reduced activities and some labs have shut down entirely." Their innovative approach is to identify parts of the virus that could be targeted by existing drugs. .https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-03-drug-covid-.html?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.com&utm_campaign=dbr

CDC also downplayed or damned the drug hydroxychloroquine with faint praise in a statement aimed for physicians, not the public – you have to scrape the web yourself to find anything about it. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/therapeutic-options.html

One wonders if they have a dog in this fight. The CDC once came under criticism from the FDA for pushing Tamiflu, a drug made by a company that donated to the CDC Foundation.[14] I'm all for public-private partnerships as long as it isn't privatization by corruption.

CDC should be building emergency capacity for manufacturing protective supplies (face masks, gloves, hazmat suits) with its budget. In fact, these factories could actually be used to sell products in "peacetime"  under the Made in USA brand. Nothing wrong with the government being in business where the market's invisible hand is really invisible. Maybe FEMA can store create strategic stockpiles of the stuff. .

Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Fire?

The bottom line is this: Government has abrogated the social contract with the governed. They are not doing their job. They are doing everything else -- subverting independent nations, building useless weapons, manufacturing enemies, ripping out urinals for transgender bathrooms, and every imaginable form of social engineering -- all the while bickering like spoiled brats.

Everything we didn't ask them to do. Everything except doing their goddamn homework.
It's high time for payback time!

Random Notes and Choice Leftovers

The Tweeter in Chief: WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!

 "In mid-February, the World Health Organization warned that global demand for safety gear for medical providers was 100 times higher than normal. Prices were 20 times higher, stockpiles were depleted and there was a four- to six-month backlog."
https://www.pennlive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/why-is-america-lacking-enough-medical-supplies-to-fight-coronavirus-china-stopped-shipping-them-weeks-ago.html
Ensure that we have alternate sources for critical products. Even China couldn't fill demand and was forced to prioritize its own hospitals.

Russia appears to be another one of the lucky places that did things right - "Testing and identification of cases, tracing contacts, isolation" https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/21/europe/putin-coronavirus-russia-intl

I'm calling it Cov-19, rather than Covid-19, no idea where the ID part comes from.

An Italian doctor died from the virus due to lack of gloves, after he warned about the shortage of protective supplies. He was only 57.  https://www.newsweek.com/italy-doctor-dies-gloves-coronavirus-marcello-natali-1493268
How about those cheap gloves of thin plastic they used to give away at some gas stations or sell in a pack of 100 at the dollar store? A penny a life again! With so much invested in that career, and other lives depending on it.

The Lancet reported a study of 355 deaths in Italy showed that three-fourths had hypertension, apparently aggravated by one of the antiviral medicines used. The wrong medicine could be part of the problem in Italy. https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-covid-19-treatments.html  There are also reports that ibuprofen is contraindicated, but aspirin or acetaminophen / Tylenol are safe..

DON'T GET SICK - Keep your immune system strong
Online lists of anti-viral herbs, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
Here is one list of "15 Impressive Herbs with Antiviral Activity" https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/antiviral-herbs  A lot of them are tasty, too! Basil, oregano, licorice, ginger, garlic, sage, fennel, peppermint. What's not to like. Even dandelion has been found to fight the flu.
You can also look up antiviral foods. Here is one list https://www.today.com/series/start-today/17-immune-boosting-foods-get-you-through-cold-flu-season-t120427  Ginger, oranges, water, Greek yogurt, blueberries, ginseng tea, tomatoes, salmon, dark chocolate, broccoli, olive oil, green tea, spinach, whole-grain bread, spinach, egg yolks, garlic, apples. Almonds and carrots are also often recommended.
Zinc picolinate is highly recommended. https://www.uchealth.org/today/zinc-could-help-diminish-extent-of-covid-19/

https://www.collective-evolution.com/2020/03/18/foods-that-weaken-your-immune-system
Processed foods, fast food, caffeine, alcohol, foods with preservatives, soft drinks, refined sugar, snacks, bread, pastas, artificial sweeteners. SAD, in short, the Standard American Diet.

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/the-probiotic-immunity-connection-this-md-wants-you-to-know-about Probiotics, gut bacteria and the immune system

https://anonhq.com/china-cuban-drug-proves-itself-in-the-fight-against-corona-virus/ China is using two drugs from Cuba, interferon for early phase immunity and biomodulina for immune response. "Exact side effects still need to be researched - the current interferon spray was developed as a quick response to the new virus and had to be used directly. There was no time for preliminary clinical examinations."
China tried chloroquine early on but found it risky. They are now trying hydroxychloroquine. We are already running out of hydroxychloroquine in the US.

Belgium endorses hydroxychloroquine https://epidemio.wiv-isp.be/ID/Documents/Covid19/COVID-19_InterimGuidelines_Treatment_ENG.pdf

Laura Ingraham interviews Dr. Grace from a New York hospital who says doctors are having great results with hydroxychloroquine, but supplies are low 
https://therightscoop.com/watch-ny-doctor-says-his-hospital-already-using-chloroquine-for-coronavirus-patients-and-have-had-zero-deaths/   

https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/03/coronavirus-grocery-shopping-best-practices-explained.html?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.com&utm_campaign=dbr

Insulating a relatively small proportion of elderly people will halve deaths and is potentially more practical than total lockdown of entire populations. We need to urgently focus on the best way to achieve this. At the time of writing, the UK is seriously discussing this strategy. https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/the-coronavirus-looks-less-deadly-than-first-reported-but-its-definitely-not-just-a-flu/

The CDC Data tabulates  both "confirmed" and "presumptive" positive cases since January 21, 2020. Yet what it fails to mention is that among the confirmed and presumptive cases, a large number of Americans have recovered. But nobody talks about recovery. It does not make the headlines.https://www.globalresearch.ca/spinning-fear-and-panic-across-america-analysis-of-covid-19-data/5706785

Germany with fewer fatalities because of lots of testing
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-germany-death-rate-confirmed-cases-2502388

https://therightscoop.com/watch-ny-doctor-says-his-hospital-already-using-chloroquine-for-coronavirus-patients-and-have-had-zero-deaths/

The Diamond Princess cruise ship incident was a major fiasco, more of an incubation chamber than a quarantine. On Feb. 4 it was announced that 10 passengers had coronavirus. After two weeks of lockdown, there were700 cases out of the 2600 passengers and 1100 crew trapped on board. One in three passengers, but all seven who died, were over 70. We can assume that these were active seniors with years left to live. Later reports show 8 dead and 12 in serious condition.
The Kirkland care home disaster was also an example of infection spreading in an enclosed space. Reportedly it was the first hospital in the country to install 5G, lending fuel to fears of weakened immunity from excessive radiation.

The Simpsons, House Cat Flu Preview Déjà Vu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5ATxwXSvKo

Article continues below as a blog

About the author.
Being in the over-70 group, I have been closely following the coronavirus story, with particular attention on the death rate for seniors. It's important for us to stay healthy and keep up our immunity, and not get sick when the epidemic peaks, because of the shortage of ICU's and ventilators for pneumonia. I'm also pinning hopes on hydroxychloroquine. My bio is here http://www.progressivepress.com/author/john-paul-leonard

FOOTNOTES

 [1] https://theconversation.com/why-singapores-coronavirus-response-worked-and-what-we-can-all-learn-134024  How Singapore contained the virus and kept life going like normal: Latest test kits and traditional quarantine, a practice that dates back at least to the 8^th century BC.

[2] https://www.livescience.com/small-italian-town-cuts-coronavirus-cases-testing.html

[3] Most prominently, British epidemiologist Neil Ferguson OBE, whose report shook the UK government out of a complacent, laisser faire attitude. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf  His ideas were picked up by Joscha Bach here https://medium.com/@joschabach/flattening-the-curve-is-a-deadly-delusion-eea324fe9727

[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-18/99-of-those-who-died-from-virus-had-other-illness-italy-says  Unfortunately, most people over 70 have "other chronic conditions" like hypertension, heart conditions or diabetes. According to one more recent report, Italy's hardest-hit Lombardy region has so many critical cases and so few ventilators that they stopped giving them to anyone over 60 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8140517/We-no-longer-respirators-aged-SIXTY.html
Right now the US is showing a huge spurt in cases but this is probably because we finally are doing more testing.

[5] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/therapeutic-options.html

[6] Taking them together is "usually not recommended, but may be required in some cases." https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/azithromycin-oral-route/precautions/drg-20072362?p=1

The risk factor involves the effect on heart rhythm these drugs have. One reason Africa has had reported low numbers of cases may be that many people there have no choice but to take anti-malaria medicine. If you get very sick with Cov 19 you won't have much choice either, which is why people are flooding their doctors with requests for hydroxychloroquine prescriptions. See end notes for more on this drug.  

[7] Chancellor Merkel was famously vaccinated for pneumonia this week, then quarantined herself after she found out her doctor was coronavirus positive.

[8] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/in-depth/cold-remedies/art-20046403

[9] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-28/coronavirus-spread-in-china-mostly-among-families-report-says

[10] https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-flight-attendants-jobs-hours-sick-2020-3 Flight attendants are more worried about their jobs than about their health.

[11] https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/12/21175034/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-usa

[12] The Chinese say it might have been brought to China during the Wuhan Military Games in October. Conceivably, visitors might have infected a worker in a local restaurant, who in turn passed the virus on to the wholesale seafood market, which the Chinese initially thought was the point of origin. China claims that five foreign athletes were hospitalized with an unknown illness. Note that the US team did poorly, ranking 35th place, according to Wikipedia. Perhaps they were not feeling too well. Perhaps they were not even athletes. Perhaps the virus was part of the leak from Ft. Detrick that the NYT reported on in August 2019. Others believe the virus leaked from a bioengineering research lab in Wuhan. The plot thickens still more when we find the Wuhan lab was set up by a Harvard chemistry department head now facing federal espionage charges. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/harvard-chemistry-chair-2-chinese-nationals-arrested-lying-about-china-ties-smuggling

[13] https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-03-18-cdc-focused-gun-control-social-justice-coronavirus-epidemic.html

[14] https://www.minnpost.com/second-opinion/2015/05/revelations-cdcs-industry-funding-raise-questions-about-some-its-decisions/

March 24 
The WHO is running a major worldwide drug trial called Solidarity. Good idea.
They are going to test 4 drugs -."an experimental antiviral compound called remdesivir; the malaria medications chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine; a combination of two HIV drugs, lopinavir and ritonavir; and that same combination plus interferon-beta, an immune system messenger that can help cripple viruses."
Not sure why they are using chloroquine which is more toxic than hydroxychloroquine and aren't trying the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin . Maybe because they want to keep it simple and that combination is contraindicated for certain conditions.  

Japan using asthma drug against Cov19  
NIID on Friday recognized cases in which the asthma drug Ciclesonide has been found effective in treating COVID-19 patients.
Based on data at NIID showing the drug worked on patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome, a hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture administered it to three elderly pneumonia patients from the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Afterward, their symptoms, which included fever and respiratory distress, reportedly improved in a few days.

It Is Not Only the COVID-19 Virus that Is Dangerous. It Is How Our Body Reacts to It. Belgian Family Physician (Global Research)
A Belgian doctor suggests potential therapies for Cov-19. "In order to avoid that a Covid-19 patient would need a hospitalisation, a General Practitioner might prescribe, after a preliminary ECG, hydroxychloroquine 200mg."
He also focuses on a promising avenue of inquiry, as to why the fatality rate is so much higher in the elderly. One possibility is the "capillary bed," which is much more robust in younger people. "Dihydroquercetin is known to strengthen our body’s 100.000 km capillary bed, including in our lungs. As we get older, why would we not take it ?"
We know that an over reaction of the immune system releasing excessive fluid into the lungs is what triggers death in most patients. For this he suggests ginkosides to block "excessive PAF-acether release."


March 25. Just heard this from a resident there about how the virus came to Albania. 
An Albanian couple living in Firenze (Florence) Italy saw the ambulance come for their neighbor, an old woman who had the virus. They left her there, since they had no place or equipment in the hospital for her. The couple, who already had symptoms, panicked and traveled right away to Albania to get care. When they checked in to the hospital there, the doctors and nurses didn't know to wear the proper protective equipment, so many people in the hospital were infected. Now the country is on lockdown with the army patrolling the streets. Albanians are stubborn and fatalistic, it's hard to get them to submit to a quarantine. The prime minister is begging them please stay home, I don't have beds, or machines, or money to buy supplies and take care of you if you get sick. 
Also, it's believed the reason Northern Italy is badly hit is because of the fashion and textile industry there has lots of cooperation with China. Also Italians are sociable people and they had a hard time getting used to social distancing. 

Coronavirus spreads to at least 9 Amazon warehouses. 

Checks for $1200 are a cute idea, but they should put that money into production lines for life-saving supplies instead!

Cuomo to Trump: I need 30,000 ventilators. Trump: You can have 400. Cuomo: You decide which 26,000 have to die. (This is not a joke.) Arithmetic doesn't seem to be a strong point for either of them. 
Salon.com: "Cuomo has repeatedly called on President Donald Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to require companies to produce equipment such as ventilators and protective masks for health workers. But large corporations reportedly successfully lobbied Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, against doing soon." [sic]

Compare this to South Korea, which "showed that it is possible to contain the coronavirus without shutting down the economy."
"Lesson 1: Intervene Fast, Before It’s a Crisis. 
"Just one week after the country’s first case was diagnosed in late January, government officials met with representatives from several medical companies. They urged the companies to begin immediately developing coronavirus test kits for mass production, promising emergency approval.
"The country has conducted over 300,000 tests, for a per-capita rate more than 40 times that of the United States."
“Testing is central because that leads to early detection, it minimizes further spread and it quickly treats those found with the virus,” Kang Kyung-wha, South Korea’s foreign minister, told the BBC, calling the tests “the key behind our very low fatality rate as well.” New York Times, 3/23/20
We missed that boat. It's not clear we can contain the virus without lockdowns now, unless we really start to do lots and lots of testing! Then we will know who needs to be in quarantine and who doesn't.  

The health care overload catastrophic scenario comes from bringing in patients too late, when they are in critical condition. If we had enough test kits to give everyone with mild symptoms a checkup, then it will be much easier to help them and avoid fatalities.
We have done so little testing because we had no test kits.

As Business Insider reported, "What happened in the US is the CDC created and sent out a [defective] test to all 50 states and then said, 'Wait, hold up, don't use it." A great share of the blame rests squarely on the CDC.
Which doctors prescribe this for an epidemic: Don't get tested, don't wear a mask, wash your hands, and don't touch your face? That's a recipe not a remedy.
To be fair, part of the blame lies also at the door of the insufferable boor John Bolton, who disbanded the pandemic preparedness office when he was head of the NSC. 

An impressive panel of dissenting voices. 12 Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic  An interesting insight: "Our main problem is that no one will ever get in trouble for measures that are too draconian. They will only get in trouble if they do too little. So, our politicians and those working with public health do much more than they should do."

Paper Tiger Department

March 24. Very interesting map The Countries Best And Worst Prepared For An Epidemic in Statista.com on Feb 28. How far off can you be? 
Best prepared: USA, UK, France
Only average: China, Russia, Japan
Supposedly based on lots of data, but comes out looking more like a personality contest. 
"The United States was named as the country with the strongest measures in place and it came first with 83.5 out of 100. The United Kingdom came second with 77.9." I hope so!  Maybe speaking English means you're better prepared, lucky us!
Someday we may see the Before and After map for this.
March 25. Here is the correction already, in The New Scientist: "the US is probably the developed economy with the worst type of healthcare system to tackle covid-19." Perhaps another thing is not knowing how to take a vacation. We don't need to shut down too long if we do it right. 

March 26
As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) in the UK.  Announcement by British government. Reason given: Low overall mortality rate, increased testing, established clinical procedures.
However it still says "Stay at home - Only go outside for food, health reasons or work (if you cannot work from home), Stay 2 metres (6ft) away from other people, Wash your hands as soon as you get home. You can spread the virus even if you don’t have symptoms." 

March 27

Destroying the Village in order to Save it?

The Off-Guardian collected opinions of 12 experts who question the need for a coronavirus panic (see Mar. 25). Reading this, one feels that we have been hoaxed. However, there seems to be a slight undertone of focusing on the economy and ignroing the elderly who are dying from this. 

Of course we all die sooner or later, but it's the sooner part one wants to avoid. So I returned to analyzing the death rates.
 
What is the probability of dying in one year when you are say 70? 
https://www.finder.com/life-insurance/odds-of-dying Read More
According to this, based on social security actuarial tables, your odds of dying in the next year are 2.34% if you're 70, and 5.87% if you're 80.

What are your odds of dying at these ages if you get Cov19? The CDC estimates.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/18/coronavirus-new-age-analysis-of-risk-confirms-young-adults-not-invincible/
"29% to 44% of patients 65 to 74 were hospitalized and 8% to 19% needed intensive care; 2.7% to 4.9% in this age group died."
The midpoint estimate of the death rate if ypu are hospitalized is 3.8%, which is about 50% higher than the odds of dying in one year at age 70. Two points, however – the sample is not a random cross section of populations, it's people who caught it and got sick. Secondly, those deaths are concentrated among patients who have other conditions, so the deaths should be partly attributed to those causes. So this is not that scary.

What's worse and worrisome is if you need intensive care. then they say your odds of dying from Covir-19 in the 65 to 74 age group are about 8 to 19%, midpoint 13.5%. That's like your odds for the next five years. Worst case, if you need an ICU or a ventilator and can't get it, then it's all over.

In people 85 and older, 31% to 71% were hospitalized and 6.3% to 29% needed intensive care. The death rate in that age group was 10% to 27%, midpoint 18.5%.

That's why testing should be available to people in risk categories so they can be treated before they are severe cases. I worked in a hospital once, and I'll always remember how doctors would exclaim, "Why do they wait to bring in patients until they have one foot in the grave? I can't work miracles." 
Early on, you might treat them with something like interferon for a short visit, rather than an ICU for weeks.

Accurate testing is not as easy as it sounds, though. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-testing-diagnostic-covid19-united-states   If you go to an official test site, you still have to tell them you have symptoms. Then if you're tested positive, you may be in hospital for quite a while, and be charged quite a lot, even if you aren't really sick. At least two companies are going to offer online testing https://www.massdevice.com/everlywell-nurx-to-offer-at-home-covid-19-tests/

What we needed was an antibody test that tells not only if you have it now but if you had it and recovered. This gives much more information for us to select the best strategy to combat an epidemic. One such test has been developed here. It's much more accurate. Part of the problem was the CDC's nasal swab test was hard to do properly so often gave false results. 

Next time we definitely don't want to leave the job of testing to the CDC. Let the private sector compete to develop and produce the best and the most tests they can, which is what South Korea did. Their economy is not on lockdown!

(BTW I don’t like to use the name Covid because it sounds too much like Real ID which makes me think of Big Brother tracking us. The CDC says, "COVID-19, 'CO' stands for 'corona,' 'VI' for 'virus,' and 'D' for disease." https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html . While we're on conspiracy issues, did I mention that allegedly Wuhan is the first city in China to get G5, and the nursing home in Kirkland, WA where so many died was the first hospital to get it?) 

Worried Sick
There is an old saying that worry is a way to make yourself sick. We certainly are making the economy sick by so much apprehensiveness. More testing of those at risk would also be a way of reducing worry and avoiding an economic and social disaster, which will just inflict more stress on people. It would also help us separate the sick from the healthy, and let our younger working people keep the economy going. 

March 31
I'm disappointed that my fellow Americans are so easily panicked into shredding our rights under the Constitution.* Our Governor has made an absurd, unlawful proclamation amounting to mass house arrest, without due process or evidence. There is no medical reason to lock up healthy people and destroy the economy. The only people needing a quarantine are the sick. Did you know that in China they found that 85% of transmission occurs in households. In enclosed spaces?
Keep in mind this pending disaster was unleashed by the gross negligence of a government agency, the CDC, because they weren't able to produce functioning test kits. Never again should such a critical role be assigned to a single lame government agency. Would you believe that there are 400 different Coronavirus test kits out there now? and we had to wait for the CDC.
After creating a potential health disaster, your government now wants to take credit for an economic disaster.
Certainly, there are good medical grounds to ban large gatherings, which can spread the virus fast. But there's no harm in going out for a walk. You could even wear a mask if you like, or you could if our idiotic rulers hadn't made sure there aren't enough to go around. Sunlight and UV are great germicides, too.
Why are they shutting down campgrounds and national parks? Why not organize outdoor camping, with self-isolation. People want to get away from the cities, they have been warned that if they get sick, they're going to end up in a hospital that will be too overwhelmed to save them.
Look at the Diamond Princess. They quarantined the whole ship, not just the sick ones. As a result, the number of sick increased ten-fold. That's our Ship of Fools.
It is not a choice between the economy and health, between money or morals. It is a choice between being competent or being idiots, like these loathsome politicians. They have failed miserably in most countries, with a few exceptions, like Singapore and South Korea.
The US and South Korea both had their first Covirus 19 case on the very same day. The Korean health minister immediately called in people from top medical manufacturers and told them, you're getting emergency approval to develop test kits and start mass producing them ASAP. Korea never had to shut down their economy or worry about the hospitals being inundated.
“Testing is central because that leads to early detection, it minimizes further spread and it quickly treats those found with the virus,” Kang Kyung-wha, South Korea’s foreign minister, told the BBC, calling the tests “the key behind our very low fatality rate as well.” (New York Times, 3/23/20)
Instead of locking up our BnBs, the state and county should be encouraging people to take long-term stays out in the sterile, clean air and sunshine of the desert. But they don't give a damn about health. If they did, they would give out information on keeping your immune system strong, but there hasn't been one word about that.
The US had 80,000 deaths involving the winter flu last year, mostly older people with accompanying chronic illnesses like heart conditions. Only about 12000 were counted as flu deaths.
Statistically, on your 80th birthday, you already stand a 6% chance of dying before you're 81. That is not something you can panic about. Sad but true, 3 million people die in the US every single year.
These are facts of life, and not a reason to commit suicide as a society.
Or to add another $2 trillion to the deficit.
Life has to go on! We the people are the life blood of the economy, the government is not!
You may be sure that the idiots who bungled the virus threat the last two months are still bungling it now. The NY Times has revealed how the CDC and FDA have totally bungled it with "business as usual" attitudes, just as I said
The Lost Month: How a Failure to Test Blinded the U.S. to Covid-19
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/testing-coronavirus-pandemic.html

*See Red and Blue America Agree That Now Is the Time to Violate the Constitution https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-america-co...

The mass of conflicting information we're getting about this virus is like an enormous IQ test. A quick reaction to new data tends merely to express confirmation bias, without comparing it to existing beliefs, and making adjustments. People don't usually take the time. They accept or reject new information according to what they already think.

Government has gone from one extreme to the other, from complacency to draconian measures. Trust me, this is not the best or only way to do things. This is how we got the worst of both worlds, both a health disaster and economic disaster. It's not about being a hero, dear friend, it's about intelligent policies. Maybe that doesn't resonate in America, but a lot of countries are doing much better. I fear that our wealth has given us the habit of throwing money at problems instead of solving them.

Yes, Quarantine works and it's been used since at least 800 BC. It should still be used for the sick and for banning large gatherings. But we have a lot more tools since the Black Plague. Namely testing, thanks mostly to the private sector, and hopefully some good drugs. But there is a failure to implement those better tools. South Korea used them, and only had to lock down one city, Daegu, where there was a mass outbreak due to a very large gathering.

I didn't want to say this because I posted my March 31 entry to a facebook group, but it got taken down and got me suspended anyway. So one has to say that it's maybe not just bungling. Why they keep looking for a vaccine when we need medicines, why nothing for immunity, why do you still need an act of congress to get tested? Do they really want this to be a disaster? One has to wonder. It certainly seems to fit a lot of agendas. 
 

April 1.
April Fool's? True or False: Hydroxychloroquine plus Zinc a sure cure for Coronavirus. https://www.globalresearch.ca/report-successful-treatment-coronavirus/5708056 Not much confirmation available yet.
One source thinks it's the zinc that does the cure, the synthetic quinine just helps it get into the cell. "being a ++ ion, extracellular zinc requires active transport to pass across the cell membrane. It so happens that chloroquine is a zinc ionophore, thus provides zinc++ with the transport mechanism.... In this instance, chloroquine has no drug action. It is the zinc that is in play." https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_a_combo_of_chloroquine_and_Zinc_a_cure_for_coronavirus 

Natural News is also pointing to zinc, saying that most coronavirus fatalities suffer from one or more of these 3 conditions: high blood pressure, prescription medications, and zinc deficiency. https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-03-30-nearly-every-person-dying-from-coronavirus-three-things-in-common.html

Hope for a 100-year old TB vaccine that is effective against a broad spectrum of viruses. Isn't it odd how the stuff that works is old tried and true recipes -- which are too cheap for the Wealth Care industry to sneeze at? https://www.ibtimes.com/there-mysterious-coronavirus-cure-australia-netherlands-test-vaccine-may-protect-2949491

A Belgian virologist blames the WHO as well as governments for letting the virus spread exponentially by not moving more quickly, getting stuck in cautious long-term trials when an emergency was breaking over our heads. Dithering like a deer in the headlights, when faced with a fast-moving enemy, is a sure way to lose a war. https://www.globalresearch.ca/why-asia-successful-containing-covid-19-why-west-not/5708058

Dogs and cats can catch the disease from people, presumably also pass it on to people. Remember the Simpsons'  "House Cat Flu" episode ... https://bgr.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-symptoms-in-cats-felines-can-also-get-covid-19/

Sewing machines are going full tilt in US to make more masks, but there is a shortage of the right kind of material "nearly 97% of particles penetrated the cloth masks, versus 44% for medical masks." This vulnerability had been identified in a 2017 report. Experts have suggested impregnating masks with anti-microbial substances - like salt.
https://qz.com/1826057/us-fashion-brands-making-masks-expose-a-failure-of-the-health-system/

Oh and about those $2 Trillion --"Handout or Bailout? Transferring Trillions to the Super-Rich. “Crumbs” for US Households" https://www.globalresearch.ca/trump-rejects-congressional-oversight-corp...

Auto industry races to make ventilators during virus crisis https://japantoday.com/category/tech/auto-industry-races-to-make-ventilators-during-virus-crisis

April 2
With the US now as the world epicenter, Japan has now closed its borders to the Americas. No place left to get away. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/04/5176f48c552d-japan-to-expand-entry-ban-to-73-countries-regions-amid-virus-spread.html

Two companies, Henry Schein Inc in Pennsylvania and General Atomic - Diazyme near San Diego, have rolled out FDA-approved coronavirus blood tests (antibody tests) which indicate if you already had the disease. Good luck finding a doctor or clinic that has it, though. 

https://theconversation.com/antibody-tests-to-get-a-grip-on-coronavirus-...

April 3
Good news - Some blood banks are now offering testing when you donate. Shows our society still has resilience and imagination.
Bad news - There are confirmed reports of test kits contaminated with the virus at CDC in Atlanta. Makes me wonder why they had to design such a gross and invasive test, sticking a swab up through your nose and down into your throats. Wouldn't coughing up a phlegm sample do just as well, without risk of giving the subject the disease? Imagine you test negative - but the test gives it to you! The virus is also present in feces and probably in the urine too. Just asking. 

How Covid-19 immunity testing can help people get back to work
We need to find out who has the antibodies to the virus.
See also 6 things to know about the coronavirus testing disaster in the US

Can We Trust the WHO? No, not on your life, says F. Wm. Engdahl.  "What few know is the actual mechanisms of its political control, the shocking conflicts of interest, corruption and lack of transparency that permeate the agency."

Not a good time to get arrested. You may wait a long time for a trial.

Hydroxychloroquine rated ‘most effective’ coronavirus treatment, poll of doctors finds
There have been small trials that found HCQ ineffective, but the reason could be that it's effective more in the early or middle stages, whereas for instance the French government is only allowing it as a last resort. It may also work to help with a deficiency of zinc which is important for the immune system.

April 4.
Yes HCQ is a "zinc ionophore" which means it transports zinc into the immune cells where it's needed.
– It may be that failed HCQ trials occur when it’s given too late, as it should be used in an earlier phase.
– Another cause of failure could be zinc deficiency, if HCQ needs zinc to work.  
Accordingly the claim by New York doctor Vladimir Zelenko that he is getting cures with HCQ plus zinc is inherently plausible and deserves serious attention.

April 6
Actually there is an older study showing that zinc blocks replication of coronaviruses. Last few days I've been replying to various posts at https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/ which is part of Science Magazine which is part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
I was even going to write a piece called "Think Zinc". Zinc deficiency is linked to all the contributing causes of death from coronavirus morbidity: old age, hypertension, heart problems, diabetes, obesity, and complications from pneumonia. Zinc has also been known to support other anti-viral treatments. So think zinc! I also collected "Zinc's Links" to articles from the NIH online library, about zinc deficiency contributing to all of those chronic conditions. 

Yesterday a doctor in Los Angeles was on ABC News telling how he is having 100% success with his patients giving them hydroxychloroquine plus zinc. This confirms the doctor in New York who made the same claim for that combination plus azithromycin.
So the cat - or rather cure - is out of the bag, and I'll go back to my other duties now. If you feel the need, try to get hold of some zinc supplements and quercetin (which helps transport zinc into your immune cells where you need it, same role as chloroquine but safer.) Take Vitamin D too.
On the other hand, if this protocol works, and our dear health authorities let it work, it could be all over very soon. 
Hopefully with this cure we can be saved from endless lockdowns and bailouts, national bankruptcy, more vaccines and Bill Gates. (And from snide remarks from big pharma trolls about zinc, vitamins and nutrition, too, as a side bonus.)

April 9-10.
I realized that Zelenko's treatment received high-level attention already on March 23 and nothing has happened to stop the loss of lives and livelihoods. So I went ahead and worked up this article, "Think Zink." Here is the draft version from April 9.I'll probably post it on a separate page on this website, update it and perhaps add more on the motives behind suppression of this cure -
They are sabotaging the economy to benefit asset strippers and let Mr. Plandemic Billionaire Bill Gates become the king of vaccines and health data, while thousands die daily!
But the conspiracy angle is being very well covered by many other writers, while I haven't seen my research into the zinc therapy anywhere else, so I focus on that.