969 New American COVID-19 Deaths Today

In the space
of a few hours,
America’s
COVID-19
Death Toll
has gone from 100,647
to
101,616
–
an increase of
969.

COVID-19 update May 28, 2020 AM

COVID-19 update May 28, 2020 PM

America Now Has Well Over 100,000 COVID-19 Deaths

According to CDC data compiled by Johns Hopkins, 100,396, to be exact.

As of 5/27/2020, 7:32:29 PM, there are 100,411 COVID-19 deaths in America.

And sadly, as I had predicted on May 24, it’ll only be a matter of time before we have…

MORE COVID-19 Deaths than all deaths in WWI – 116,516.

Last week, we eclipsed all deaths from the Korean and Vietnam Wars combined.

We are in a very Public Health war.

And so far, testing continues to lag with only 4.6037% of the entire American public tested – 15,192,481.

Meanwhile, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam – along with their economies – are returning to normal with no new cases reported, while stupid Americans cry, whine, moan, groan, gripe, bitch, and complain about not being able to get haircuts, their nails done, eat out, or go to the gym.

See: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-daily-vs-total-cases

Where will

Alabama COVID-19 Findings

Recently, I examined the Alabama Department of Public Health‘s (ADPH) COVID-19 dashboard, and made some interesting findings.

As usual with many reporting outlets, whether official, governmental, or news, there are often important underlying figures omitted, either through carelessness, or willfulness, which give understanding to the greater picture. In this instance, state population, and population percentages were missing.

According to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2019, Alabama has an estimated population of 4,903,185, and the Black or African American percentage of that population is 26.8%. Thus, when observing item numbers 1, 6, and 9 citing the percentage of Alabamians tested, and distribution of the disease as being “practically equally affected,” the reality is that because of their minority population status, the Black or African American community is affected more significantly, and disproportionately affected with respect for the total population.

As well, residents aged >65+ constitute 16.9% of the population.

Alabama has a total of 15,330 staffed beds, in 89 hospitals statewide.

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1.) Only 3.789% (almost 4%) of all Alabamians have been tested for COVID-19.

2.) Of the 551 related deaths in the state, 34.2448% were hospitalized.

3.) The majority of COVID-19 cases (39.75%, or very nearly 40%), were aged 25-49 – the “prime” of life.

4.) Those aged 65, or over, constituted only 23.67% (almost 24%) of all cases.

5.) Overall, more females than males

BREAKING NEWS! Alex Jones Teaching New York City Rats!

Alex Jones would feel right at home.

Definitely NOT the Pied Piper.

Or, is he?

And, for the benefit of those unaware of the association and correlation, here’s a wee bit of a backgrounder:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethcohen/2020/05/02/what-alex-jones-said/

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Starving Rats Are Reportedly Turning Into Cannibals And Attacking One Other As Their Restaurant Food Supply Disappears

By TPorter@businessinsider.com (Tom Porter)

• The CDC has warned that rats are growing increasingly aggressive amid the coronavirus epidemic, and advised on what people can do to stop infestations in their neighborhoods.

• The rodents usually feed on rubbish in restaurant bins, but with many outlets closed or only offering takeout they are empty.

• Videos have been posted on social media of rats swarming deserted streets in New Orleans and New York streets.

• Pest control officials say that some rats are resorting to cannibalism and infanticide to survive.

Rats are growing increasingly aggressive in their hunt for food as restaurants across the US

In Memoriam On Memorial Day

Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA

Thus far, 1,354,664 American lives have been lost in the total 78 armed conflicts in our nation’s 244 year history.

That averages out to very nearly 5,552 per year.

In the past 127 days since COVID-19 disease was discovered to have invaded our nation on January 20 this year, over 97,811 deaths – that we now know of – have occurred.

Again, using averages, that averages out to be

Donald’s Daily Death Count Saturday, 16 May 2020

Good news, America!

As of today, we’re only 6,069 body bags, and 3 days away from our goal!

Let’s review:

Yesterday, Friday, 15 May 2020, we closed out the day with 85,884 COVID-19 Deaths in America.

Today, we close out the day with a total of 88,754 COVID-19 Deaths – a 3.3417% increase, only slightly above our projected 2% daily increase.

As we had earlier written, “Again, a friendly reminder that by June 2, at the current rate, we’ll have a total of 115,781 COVID-19 related deaths. In fact, at the fairly constant increase of 2% per day, in 5ive days (May 19), we’ll have MORE COVID-19 related deaths than ALL the DEATHS from the Vietnam War & Korean War COMBINED – 94,823!!”

If we continue to keep up what we’re doing (and there’s no indication that we’ll do anything any differently – why mess with success, eh?), at our projected approximate 2% Daily Death Rate increase, we’ll be

What Percentage of Americans Have Been Tested for COVID-19?

8,709,630

That’s how many Americas have been tested for COVID-19.
(As of Saturday, 9May2020; as of Sunday, 10May2020 the figure is 8,987,524 – an increase of 277,894, or 3.1906%. At that rate, it’d take 1,187.5031 days, or 3.25 years, to test every American.)

330,000,000

That’s how many Americans there are.
(The U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Clock reports 1 birth every 9 seconds, and 1 death every 12 seconds, and 1 immigrant every 47 seconds, with a net gain of 1 person every 19 seconds, making the rolling total 329,632,650… and counting).

0.026392818181818

That’s the percentage of Americans who have been tested.
(As of Saturday, 9May2020; as of Sunday, 10May2020 the figure is 0.027234921212121, or 2.72349% – an increase of 0.0842103030303%, or almost 1/10th of 1%.)

2.6392%.

United States
1,329,203 ÷ 330,000,000 = 0.004027887878788
Reported Infections ÷ Population = per capita Infection Rate
0.004027887878788 × 100,000 = 402.7887, or 403 per 100,000.

Spain population = 48,614,528
COVID-19 cases = 224,350
Infection Rate =

Who are YOU willing to sacrifice for this economy?

Your Money, or Your Life… You Choose.

Presently, there are increasing calls clamoring for our states’ and nation’s economies to be returned to a state of “normalcy” (whatever that may be, or look like). Those voices are largely cacophonous, often belligerent, threatening with violent, even lawless displays, such as in Michigan recently, when renegades and insurrectionists stormed the State Capitol building armed with loaded assault weapons, and battle accouterments such as helmets, flak jackets, and bullet-proof vests, threatening to kill the Governor, and attempted to seize the Legislative floors.

In response, some states’ Governors are “reopening” their states’ economies, which have been largely shuttered for the benefit, and protection of the Greater Good, preservation of Public Health, and the prevention of loss of life, through unwitting dissemination of a particularly insidious and occult disease for which we have no cure, neither validated, nor verified treatment, nor vaccine – the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, aka COVID-19.

It seems to me that, in essence, what is being done – not merely said – is presenting a “your money, or your life” robbery type scenario, a practical sacrificing of human life upon the altar of filthy lucre to the god of mammon, through the high priests of

French Scientists Discover COVID-19 In December 2019 BEFORE The China Outbreak

This information, which was reported just yesterday (Monday, 4 May 2020), is turning the entire understanding of this disease on its ear.

Previously thought to have originated in China, COVID-19 is now thought to have been spreading globally long before the outbreak in Wuhan, China ever occurred.

An interesting observation:
This individual –and– “Patient Zero” in Wuhan were BOTH fishmongers.

A germane question:
Could this virus be related to, or capable of being transmitted in aquatic wildlife?

---

Who: 42 year old man born in Algeria, lived in France for many years, worked as fishmonger

What: retrospective investigation for SARS-COV2 (novel coronavirus, aka COVID-19) in respiratory samples collected

Where: intensive care units (ICUs) of hospital north of Paris, France

When: December 27, 2019

Why: Presented to emergency ward with hemoptysis (coughing up blood/bloody sputum), cough, headache and fever, evolving for 4 days

How: RT-PCR test (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) the most sensitive technique for mRNA (genetic) detection and quantitation currently available

Additional Facts: Last trip was in Algeria during August 2019. One of his children presented with ILI (influenza-like illness) prior to the onset of his symptoms. His medical history included asthma, type II diabetes mellitus. Had not visited China.

See also: COVID-19 in France since December, hospital test suggests
Researchers testing old samples found COVID-19 in a man treated a month before France confirmed its first cases.
(https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/covid-19-france-december-hospital-test-suggests-200504154024084.html)

See also: French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December
Man found to have had virus a month before government confirmed first cases
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/french-hospital-discovers-covid-19-case-december-retested)

See also: After retesting samples, French hospital discovers COVID-19 case from December
(https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-france/after-retesting-samples-french-hospital-discovers-covid-19-case-from-december-idUSKBN22G20L)

See also: French hospital discovers country’s first known Covid-19 case, from December
A French hospital which has retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.
(https://www.france24.com/en/20200505-france-s-first-known-covid-19-case-was-in-december)

See also: After Retesting Samples, French Hospital Discovers COVID-19 Case From December
(https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/05/04/world/europe/04reuters-health-coronavirus-france.html)

See also: Genetic Study Shows COVID-19 Was in France Weeks Before The First Case Was Reported
(https://www.sciencealert.com/genetic-investigation-reveals-covid-19-was-circulating-in-europe-before-cases-were-reported)

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International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents

Available online 3 May 2020, 106006

In Press, Journal Pre-proof
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.106006
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857920301643#fig0002

Highlights

• Covid-19 was already spreading in France in late December 2019, a month before the official first cases in the country.

• Early community spreading changes our knowledge of covid-19 epidemic.

• This new case changes our understanding of the epidemic and modeling studies should adjust to this new data.

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic is believed to have started in late January 2020 in France. We report here a case of a patient hospitalized in December 2019 in our intensive care, of our hospital in the north of Paris, for hemoptysis with no etiological diagnosis and for which RT-PCR was performed retrospectively on the stored respiratory sample which confirmed the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Based on this result, it appears that the COVID-19 epidemic started much earlier.

SARS-COV-2 was already spreading in France in late December 2019

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Introduction

After its onset in December 2019 in China, the new coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) spreads widely in several countries, causing COVID-19 illness.¹ World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020.³ France reported the first cases of SARS-COV-2 related infection on January 24, 2020.⁵ Both cases had a history of travel to Wuhan.⁶ To the best of our knowledge, these 2 cases are believed to be the first confirmed cases in France. COVID-19 most commonly present with influenza-like illness (ILI).⁷ While China was facing COVID-19 outbreak, European countries were struggling with seasonal influenza.⁸ Clinical symptomatology between COVID-19 and ILIis similar,we therefore decided retrospectively to look for SARS-COV2 in respiratory samples collected in the intensive care units (ICUs) of our hospital near Paris.

Methods – Retrospective analysis

Selected records

We reviewed medical record of ICUs patients admitted for ILI between December 2, 2019 and January 16, 2020, with a negative RT-PCR performed at admission. Every respiratory sample collected in our hospital are

Which is more deadly? War, or COVID-19?

American COVID-19 Deaths
WILL SURPASS
the
TOTAL Number of Deaths
in the
Vietnam and Korean Wars
COMBINED.

33,686 + 47,424 =81,110

81,110 – 68,387 = 12,723

Remember those numbers.

What are they?

The first figure – 33,686 – represents the number of deaths in the Korean War.

The second figure – 47,424 – represents the number of deaths in the Vietnam War.

The third figure is the sum (total) of the two numbers.

The fourth figure – 68,387 – represents the number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States, as of 0450 UTC (Universal Coordinated Time), Monday, 4 May 2020.

The fifth figure – 12,723 – represents the difference between the current number of COVID-19 American Deaths and the Total number of Deaths in the Korean and Vietnam Wars combined.

Sadly, that fifth figure WILL surpass the the third figure in a matter of days.

Already, the TOTAL number of American COVID-19 deaths has SURPASSED the number of deaths in Vietnam (47,424), Iraq (3836), Afghanistan (1833), Gulf War (149), and the Beirut Deployment (256) COMBINED – 53,498.

But here’s the sad, startling fact:

This has all happened in the space of a couple months – since 20 January – a mere 106 days. On the other hand, those wars lasted far, far longer.

So, you tell me

Scientific, Peer-Reviewed Study: Conservative-Only News Consumers Ill Informed, Believe COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories

No surprise there.

There’s a reason why Fox News is monikered Faux Noize.

The Republican party is NO LONGER the “Grand” Old Party.

It’s NOT the “party of Lincoln,” and hasn’t been for quite some time.

Since circa 1964, it’s been the party of the Ku Klux Klan, the John Birch Society, libertarians, and other radical elements. And, it was seriously ushered in during the Reagan administration when in his first inaugural address, the B-movie actor and longtime GE mouthpiece said in part that, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

It’s easy to understand that if “government is the problem,” the solution to that problem is elimination of it. And that is anarchy. And yet, in his carefully crafted address, that was precisely what he was intimating – the abolition of government. For in his next sentence, he said, “From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule…”

It’s not difficult to see that his slashing of the Top Personal Income Tax bracket for the wealthiest Americans from 70% to 50%, and then to 28%, in conjunction with reductions in Capital Gains tax rates, and the “Paris Hilton Tax Cuts,” also monikered as the “Death Tax,” which is properly known as the Estate Tax, which only wealthy Americans have ever paid, was purposely designed to eliminate government, rather than to refine its operations, increase efficiency, or reduce fraud, waste, and abuse at any level.

When he said, “It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed,” it could not have been made any more clear that his was a “starve the monster” approach to an alleged, though imaginary, and non-existing problem, that government was too big and the “monster” was the government.” And that was despite what he said in that same address that “Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it’s not my intention to do away with government,”
because it couldn’t have been made more clear what his ultimate objectives were.

He again clearly identified government as being an evil monster when he said, “It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government.” Hardly anyone could have done a better job of setting up a Straw Man Argument, for afterward, he beat that government straw man to a pulp.

Again, it is beyond the scope of the pale to imagine that a more populous nation would need fewer laws, or fewer people to efficiently and effectively conduct operations to provide for the demands and needs of more people. For that would be an inversely proportional relationship, that somehow a larger (more populous) nation, with more inventions, more businesses, more works of art, science, and other forms of creativity, would need fewer laws to govern their behavior and operations, and at some point in time, would eventually disappear.

The contradictions in his speech were blatant, and his intentions were fully uncloaked. Bluntly stating that “It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment,” he set about using his skills as an actor reassuring the people in a grandfatherly way that he had their best interests at heart, despite what he said otherwise.

The notion of “self-rule” is one which is emphasized by the ultra-radical group headquartered in Auburn, Alabama known as the Mises Institute, which promotes a heterodox economic world view, which includes anti-government sentiment, and the belief in the idea of anarchy – a world without government – and a “free market only” solution to everything as a one-size-fits-all solution to all problems.

Again, while Reagan was a B-movie actor, he was an actor nevertheless, and in his years on the stump for General Electric nationwide, he honed his public persuasion speeches to a fine edge, and was able to parlay that into a run for the White House which he won twice being monikered as the “Great Communicator.” But the language he used, while delivered quite well, was “dog whistle” language for anti-governmental radicals, all whom he welcomed into the GOP’s “Big Tent.”

The ground had earlier been ploughed at the 1964 Republican National Convention at Cow Palace in Daly City, CA (immediately adjacent and SOUTH of San Francisco) when then-NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller was granted 5 minutes to address the delegates to request adoption of language in the official party platform which would “repudiate here and now any doctrinaire, militant minority, whether Communist, Ku Klux Klan or Bircher which would subvert this party to purposes alien to the very basic tenets which gave this party birth.”

He was booed for over 16 minutes.

The language was simple, and read as follows:

Shocking Findings: 96% of Prison Inmates Infected with COVID-19 HAVE NO SYMPTOMS

We have been told that the MINIMUM asymptomatic (without symptoms) range was 30-50% for the general public, which means that the number of POSITIVE cases is very likely UNDER–COUNTED by that amount, and therefore at LEAST 30-50% HIGHER than tests show, precisely because without symptoms, few, if any, are being tested.

The rationale such individuals have is, ‘I don’t have symptoms, so why should I get tested?’

And that is the classic “Typhoid Mary” Mallon case of the early 20th Century in which Mary Mallon infected many with Typhoid Fever (some of whom died), and NEVER – not even once – EVER showed any signs or symptoms of disease – not even on her deathbed.

And she did NOT die of Typhoid Fever.

And what you’re about to read is PRECISELY what needs to happen to EVERYONE in America.

That is,

EVERYONE

SHOULD BE TESTED,

EVEN IF

THEY HAVE

NO SYMPTOMS!

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In four U.S. state prisons, nearly 3,300 inmates test positive for coronavirus — 96% without symptoms

By Linda So and Grant Smith

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Sun Apr 26, 2020 / 7:59 AM EDT

(Reuters) – When the first cases of the new coronavirus surfaced in Ohio’s prisons, the director in charge felt like she was fighting a ghost.

“We weren’t always able to pinpoint where all the cases were coming from,” said Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. As the virus spread, they began mass testing.

They started with the Marion Correctional Institution, which houses 2,500 prisoners in north central Ohio, many of them older with pre-existing health conditions. After testing 2,300 inmates for the coronavirus, they were shocked. Of the 2,028 who tested positive, close to 95% had no symptoms.

“It was very surprising,” said Chambers-Smith, who oversees the state’s 28 correctional facilities.

As mass coronavirus testing expands in prisons, large numbers of inmates are showing no symptoms. In four state prison systems — Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia — 96% of 3,277 inmates who tested positive for the coronavirus were asymptomatic, according to interviews with officials and records reviewed by Reuters. That’s out of 4,693 tests that included results on symptoms.

The numbers are the latest evidence to suggest that people who are asymptomatic — contagious but not physically sick — may be driving the spread of the virus, not only in state prisons that house 1.3 million inmates across the country, but also in communities across the globe. The figures also reinforce questions over whether testing of just people suspected of being infected is actually capturing the spread of the virus.

“It adds to the understanding that we have a severe undercount of cases in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leana Wen, adjunct associate professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University, said of the Reuters findings. “The case count is likely much, much higher than we currently know because of the lack of testing and surveillance.”

Some people diagnosed as asymptomatic when tested for the coronavirus, however, may go on to develop symptoms later, according to researchers.

The United States has more people behind bars than any other nation, a total incarcerated population of nearly 2.3 million as of 2017 — nearly half of which is in state prisons. Smaller numbers are locked in federal prisons and local jails, which typically hold people for relatively short periods as they await trial.

State prison systems in Michigan, Tennessee and California have also begun mass testing — checking for coronavirus infections in large numbers of inmates even if they show no sign of illness — but have not provided specific counts of asymptomatic prisoners.

Tennessee said a majority of its positive cases didn’t show symptoms. In Michigan, state authorities said

CDC Chief OK’s FREE COVID-19 Testing for ALL

If you, your loved ones, or someone you know, needs, or wants to be tested for COVID-19, GO GET TESTED AT NO COST TO YOU!

THIS IS A MATTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH!!

And, EVERYONE IS AT RISK –  not just the elderly, infirm, or those with other health conditions – EVERYONE!

Representative Porter questioned Dr. Redfield in committee on Capitol Hill March 12, and as a long-time consumer advocate attorney, discovered the law provides that CDC Director has FULL AUTHORITY to “authorize payment for the care and treatment of individuals subject to medical examination, quarantine, isolation, and conditional release…”

See the video on her Twitter timeline.

Read 42 CFR 71.30.

§ 71.30 – Payment for care and treatment.

(a) The Director may authorize payment for the care and treatment of individuals subject to medical examination, quarantine, isolation, and conditional release, subject to paragraphs (b) through (h) of this section.

(b) Payment for care and treatment shall be in the Director’s sole discretion and

Are There Common Factors With Spread Of COVID-19 Disease?

Much of the media has focused upon the raw numbers for COVID-19 infection cases in the United States, and, that’s just one way of examining data. Of course, it doesn’t look good, and some may try and put a “spin” on the information as they whistle past the proverbial graveyard – it’s a type of denial… which is not just a river in Egypt.

So in that sense, I sought to examine population, population density, global population comparison, national area (in square miles) in psuedo-randomly selected nations throughout the world, and THEN to post their Infection Rates. By so doing, it gives a more clear understanding of the nature of the problem, at least in some sense.

Copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr. Beak], a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome, with a satirical macaronic poem (‘Vos Creditis, als eine Fabel, / quod scribitur vom Doctor Schnabel’) in octosyllabic rhyming couplets.

For example, consider India.

With 1,361,462,965 people, it is the 2nd most populous nation in the world, with 17.5% of the global population. Its population density is 1,051.3 people per square mile, and it has 27,890 COVID-19 cases, with an infection rate of 2 per 100,000 people.

But, some may protest saying that the population dilutes the figures. So, let’s examine another nation.

Mozambique, an African nation on the south eastern coastal horn of that continent, has 30,066,648 inhabitants, with a population density of 74.3 people per square mile. It comprises only 0.386% of the global population. And with only 76 confirmed COVID-19 cases, its infection rate is 0.2527 per 100,000.

Again, some may protest and say that heat and sunshine are the primary reason why that nation’s infection rate is so low. So again, let’s examine another nation.

With 34,218,169 people, Saudi Arabia has 0.440% of the world’s population, is largely a

America: The World’s Repository for COVID-19 Disease. Global Perspectives, Anyone?

The Buck STOPS gets passed at the White House.

936,293 vs 994,509

223,759 + 195,351 + 161,639 + 156,418 + 149,569 + 107,773 = 994,509

Spain + Italy + France + Germany + United Kingdom + Turkey =

United States = 936,293

The difference between 936,293 and 994,293 is slightly over 6%, or 6.19464%, to be exact.

So, let’s express this.

The United States has only 6% fewer total COVID-19 cases than Spain, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Turkey COMBINED.

Let’s examine population.

United States has very nearly 330,000,000 people.

Spain has

Trump: “Disinfectant Injection Inside Does A Tremendous Number On the Lungs.”

Friends, this just boggles my mind.

Seriously.

It’s mind-numbing to even imagine what the 45th White House Occupant Moron in Chief said yesterday.

In the daily COVID-19 briefing, POTUS suggested that injecting disinfectants and light into the body would cure COVID-19.

Here’s the transcript from the White House website:

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Bill.

Q Mr. Bryan —

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. So I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.

ACTING UNDER SECRETARY BRYAN: We’ll get to the right folks who could.

THE PRESIDENT: Right. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds — it sounds interesting to me.

So we’ll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that’s — that’s pretty powerful.

Steve, please.

In response, the Food and Drug Administration issued a Tweet which stated

“Do not use disinfectant sprays or wipes on your skin because they may cause skin and eye irritation. They are intended for use on hard, non-porous surfaces.”

As well, Reckitt Benckiser, the British company that makes Lysol® and Dettol®, issued a Tweet and press release which warned the public that

COVID-19 Trump Daily Failure Report – 23 April 2020

• In the past 11 days, since April 12, confirmed American COVID-19 cases increased 51.9596%, from 555,398 to 843,981.

• Related deaths increased 112.7730% (from 22,023 to 46,859) in that same period.

• As well, COVID-19 tests performed increased only 60.1311% (from 2,805,892 to 4,493,106).

• The United States now has 31.7338% of all COVID-19 cases globally – BY FAR, the most number AND highest percentage of cases.

South Korea and the United States both reported their first COVID-19 cases the same day, yet the

America’s COVID-19 Infection Rate Likely at Least TWICE the Reported Number

According to publicly available information compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as of 2100 GMT/UCT Wednesday, 22 April 2020, in the United States, there were:

• 842,319 Confirmed COVID-19 cases

• 46,399 COVID-19 deaths

• 4,171,896 Total COVID-19 Tests Conducted

• United States population is very nearly 330,000,000

• COVID-19’s incubation time ranges between 2 to 14 days.

• 4,466,559 have been tested

• At least 30%–50% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic carriers (show no signs or symptoms of infection, i.e., no fever, no chills, no loss of taste, no loss of smell, no muscle aches, no nausea, no vomiting, no upset stomach, no loss of appetite, no diarrhea, no cough, no runny nose, no sore/scratchy throat, no headache, no tiredness, no shortness of breath, no difficulty breathing, no feeling of hotness {subjective fever}, etc.)

Extrapolating, what that means is:

• Only 1.3535% of the American population has been tested for COVID-19.

• 120,932 Total have been Hospitalized

• Potentially 421,160 MORE, or AT LEAST 1,263,479 people could be infected – 50% more than have been diagnosed

• The U.S. COVID-19 Death Rate is 5.5084%

Globally, there are:

• 2,623,231 Total Confirmed COVID-19 cases

• 182,740 Total COVID-19 Deaths

The COVID-19 Global Death Rate is 6.9662%.

At this juncture, there are 707,331 known Total Recovered COVID-19 cases globally.

These figures are by no means final; they are merely preliminary good estimates, because the scenario is changing daily, and more diagnoses are being made, and autopsies which are showing COVID-19 infection as a cause of death.

The Santa Clara County California Medical Examiner’s Office recently reported that following autopsy results, TWO deaths occurred in that county February 6, and 17, both related to COVID-19, which put the dates of the first known deaths in the United States back by at least two weeks, instead of the case in Kirkland, Washington on February 29 which to date, was thought to be the first COVID-19 related death in the United States.

Essentially, the implications are precisely in keeping with what we know about COVID-19, that it is insidious – progressing inconspicuously, but harmfully – stealthily and seriously damaging before it makes its presence known with symptoms.

The experts (not the POTUS) from the CDC, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, tell us that

“Radical reforms” are needed to stabilize economy.

The Financial Times is no slouch organization – neither are they “left-leaning,” nor “liberal,” per se – at least not in the common, modern political sense.

They’re as “conservative” as they come.

And to read that “an irregular and precarious labour market,” combined with “monetary loosening by central banks [that] will help the asset-rich,” the loss of income by ” the young and active,” multiplied by

In short, nothing but “radical reforms” – defined as “reversing the prevailing policy direction of the last four decades” – will save individual nations’ economies, and the global economy at large.

The “laissez faire” attitude toward business, economy, and finance must be replaced by governments taking “a more active role in the economy,” including making “labour markets less insecure.”

Investing in public economic infrastructure, i.e, considering “public services as investments,” reconsidering the notion of “redistribution” of wealth, in conjunction with eliminating “the privileges of the elderly and wealthy,” and implementing “basic income and wealth taxes” will no longer be “considered eccentric.”

In short, “you must offer a social contract that benefits everyone.”

Suddenly (it seems), Bernie’s ideas aren’t so “radical,” anymore.

Suddenly (it seems), Elizabeth Warren’s ideas aren’t “way out in left field.”

Suddenly (it seems), Andrew Yang’s “Freedom Dividend” isn’t “extremist.”

Suddenly (it seems), everything old is new again.

But, you know the saying,

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

–– George Santayana (1863-1952), Spanish philosopher, writing in “The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress“ (1905-1906), “Vol. I, Reason in Common Sense”

The post-WWII Bretton Woods agreement, which pegged international currencies to the U.S. Dollar, which was itself based upon the “Gold Standard,” will again be in the fore of discussion, and was unilaterally abolished by then-POTUS Richard Nixon through a series of measures called the “Nixon Shock” which effectively destroyed the Agreement, which was created when the world’s nations assembled in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to establish a globally stabilizing economic system.

The Federal Reserve writes this about the Bretton Woods agreement:

“The international monetary system after World War II was dubbed the Bretton Woods system after the meeting of forty-four countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944. The countries agreed to keep their currencies fixed (but adjustable in exceptional situations) to the dollar, and the dollar was fixed to gold. Since 1958, when the Bretton Woods system became operational, countries settled their international balances in dollars, and US dollars were convertible to gold at a fixed exchange rate of $35 an ounce. The United States had the responsibility of keeping the dollar price of gold fixed and had to adjust the supply of dollars to maintain confidence in future gold convertibility.”

Up until the time of the “Nixon Shock,” employees’ wages in the United States had generally kept pace with increases in GDP, or economic output. But after the “Nixon Shock” in 1971, wages have essentially flat-lined, while GDP has risen.

In response to Nixon’s unilateral decision, the ten leading developed nations in the world – Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States – entered into an agreement monikered as the Smithsonian Agreement which was a temporary agreement negotiated in 1971 which adjusted the system of fixed exchange rates established under the Bretton Woods Agreement and created a new standard for the dollar, to which other industrialized nations then pegged their currencies to the U.S. dollar.

As Certified Financial Analyst Michael Lebowitz, wrote in 2016, “unshackling the U.S. monetary system from the discipline of a gold standard, allowed the Fed to play a leading role in replacing the Virtuous Cycle with an Un-Virtuous Cycle. Eliminating the risk of global redemption of U.S. dollars for gold also eliminated the discipline, the checks and balances, on deficit spending by the government and its citizens. As the debt accumulated, the requirement on the Federal Reserve to drive interest rates lower became mandatory to enable the economic system to service that debt. And this effectively changed the course of U.S. economic history.”

These observations, and others, are, and have been, borne out by others, as well, such as in February 14, 2019, by Bloomberg writer Noah Smith, who wrote about wage stagnation in part that, “Workers lost a lot of ground between 1973 and 1994, and didn’t make up enough of it between 1994 and 2009. Stronger worker representation within companies, as well as government health care, would help restore some of those losses.”

But perhaps the simplest explanation I’ve ever heard, or read, about the value of good, strong and effective regulation is one which I’ve said for many years, which is this:

Regulations strengthen markets the same way that regulations create competitive sports, and operate machinery. Remove regulations and games become a pointless free-for-all, while removing or changing regulations on an automobile engine (such as through changing timing), and it will self-destruct fairly quickly.

But again, it seems that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Are our memories truly that Alzheimered?

Or, do we just not give a damn?

I contend that for some,

Got your COVID-19 mask on?

The time is NOW!

The CDC has written that,

“We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (“asymptomatic”) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (“pre-symptomatic”) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms.

This means that the virus can

Mayo Clinic to have COVID-19 Antibody Test by Monday

“How can I know if I’m FULLY recovered from COVID-19 novel coronavirus?” is a question that gets asked by many, particularly by those who have been infected by COVID-19.

Unfortunately – to this point, at least – the answer to that question has been “We don’t know.”

Fortunately, however, researchers have rapidly doubled-down on their research, intensified their efforts, and are becoming fruitful.

Here’s a brief story about one such effort.

MPRNews.org

Mayo Clinic expects COVID-19 antibody test to be ready Monday

---

Mayo Clinic Expects COVID-19 Antibody Test To Be Ready Monday

Pedestrians cross the street as they leave Mayo Clinic’s Gonda Building in Rochester, Minn., in 2016. Mayo researchers say they’re close to releasing tests that would tell whether a person has had and recovered from COVID-19.Alex Kolyer for MPR News file (Minnesota Public Radio)

Researchers at Mayo Clinic expect to release a test that would tell whether a person has had and recovered from COVID-19 on Monday. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the University of Minnesota is also narrowing in on an antibody test.

The tests would help public health officials understand the scope of the outbreak and identify people who could safely be in public to help with relief efforts. They would also help in an effort to treat critical COVID-19 patients with plasma from individuals who have recovered.

Elitza Theel is director of the Mayo Clinic lab testing COVID-19 antibody tests. She spoke with MPR News host Tom Crann Wednesday.

You can listen to the interview by clicking on the audio player above, or read the transcript below, which has been edited lightly for clarity and length.

Q: Tell us first, what is an antibody?

A: Antibodies essentially recognize the virus and can help inactivate and kill it.

It’s important to know that these types of tests are different than all of the molecular tests that are being done off of nasal swabs or throat swabs. Those tests detect viral genetic material [to show whether the coronavirus has infected that person].

These [blood serum] antibody tests are detecting a person’s immune response to that virus. It takes, in some cases, 10 to 11 days for a person to mount an immune response and produce these antibodies, so these tests aren’t going to be used as a diagnostic in patients that are presenting with two or three days of symptoms.

Q: Tell us how soon they’ll be ready

A: At Mayo, we hope to have it available as early as next week. We will be doing kind of a slow roll out because, similar to the situation with molecular tests, there’s a limited supply of these tests. We’re hoping that commercial manufacturers will ramp up here in the next few weeks so that we can make it available much more widely.

Q: Then it can go straight to to doctors, public health departments, or is FDA approval needed? How does that work?

A: FDA approval is not needed at this time. However, laboratories that are offering these tests have to go through a very rigorous verification process to make sure that the tests they’re offering provide the right results.

Clinicians will be able to order this in individuals who they think having are a result for would be helpful to either guide return to work [decisions] or further quarantining.

Also, you may have heard about the convalescent plasma treatment trials. As we wait for antivirals and vaccines to be developed and deployed, we need some sort of bridging therapy. So, the idea here is to identify individuals who have recovered from COVID-19, collect their plasma, make sure that it has the antibodies, and then use that plasma to treat acutely ill patients. We’re basically providing somebody else’s antibodies to ill patients who maybe don’t have an immune response mounted yet, and these antibodies would essentially help to fight off the virus.

Q: How close are we on plasma treatment?

A: Clinical trials are starting very soon, both here at Mayo Clinic as well as many other locations across the U.S.

Q: Why is it important to have this information about how many people have been infected, even if they are recovered?

A: There’s a couple of reasons. One, we know there’s a significant number of individuals who have been infected without symptoms. So, knowing the true number, the true denominator of individuals who have been infected with COVID-19, would allow us to determine the true case fatality rate. And then the other reason this is important is identifying when, as a community, as a region, as a nation, we’ve reached herd immunity status.

Cytokine Storm

Cytokine storm.

Wot zat?

Glad you asked.

Imagine having a very minor kitchen fire – as in ’some grease/oil in a small 6-inch skillet flamed up’ while cooking breakfast one morning.

It’s easily put out by placing a lid on the pan.

Stop the air from getting to it, and VOILA!

Out goes the light.

More’n likely, anyone who’s ever cooked has experienced one.

Not a big deal, right?

So, what if, in response to that minor emergency – and yes, it is an emergency, and yes, it is minor – a fleet of 747 jumbo jets all filled with water (for forest fire-fighting purposes, they’re called “Super Tankers”) flew over your place and dumped it all atop your house?

That’d be pretty extreme, wouldn’t it?

Of course it would!

But

How can I know if I’m FULLY recovered from COVID-19 novel coronavirus?

We were discussing this – how to determine if someone is fully recovered – just moments earlier BEFORE I happened upon this news item.

—//—

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/04/01/mayo-clinic-expects-covid19-antibody-test-to-be-ready-monday

“Researchers at Mayo Clinic expect to release a test that would tell whether a person has

“Good morning, America! How are you?”

“Good morning, America! How are you?”

“Don’t you know me? I’m your native son.”

So goes the introductory portion of the bridge lyric to “City of New Orleans,” a song first popularized by Arlo Guthrie in 1972, and later, by Willie Nelson in 1984, though it was written and first recorded in 1971 by Steve Goodman.

If America could answer, she’d most probably say, “I’m sick right now with COVID-19 novel coronavirus.”

And, indeed, as of this Monday morning, 30 March 2020, at 0700, there are 143,055 confirmed cases in the United States, while there are 735,560 globally.

Yesterday evening, I had written that, “at the current rate of

COVID-19: Death Warmed Over

Frontispiece from Bernardino Genga’s “Anatomia per uso et intelligenza del disengno…”, 1691,
via National Library of Medicine #2353013R

It’s 2020, Sunday, 29 March 2020, and there are now 142,106 CONFIRMED cases of COVID-19 novel coronavirus in the United States.

This morning at 0811, there were “124,686 ACTIVE cases of COVID-19 novel coronavirus.”

That’s a 17,420 difference, or an increase of 13.971095% in 12 hours. (Might as well call it 14%.)

Put another way, it’s an increase of 1.1666% every hour.

Extrapolating, at the current rate of 14% in a 12-hour period, tomorrow morning at 0800, there’ll be an additional

COVID-19: A Work In Progress

Active COVID-19 cases per nation ranked hierarchically as shown on the Johns Hopkins dashboard Sunday morning 8AM CST, 29 March 2020.

Good morning!
¡Buenos días!
Guten Morgen!
Bonjour!
早上好！Zǎoshang hǎo!
おはようございます！
Ohayōgozaimasu!
صباح الخير!
Buongiorno!

As I write this Sunday morning, March 29, 2020, it’s just a few minutes after 0800. More precisely, it is now 0811 CST DST.

“The Angel Of Death Victorious,” 1924 by Herman N. Matzen (1861-1938), Cleveland area artist/sculptor, Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, OH, Haserot family plot.

According to figures available through the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard this morning, the United States now has 124,686 ACTIVE cases of COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

Yesterday, very nearly exactly 24 hours ago, there were 104,837. And, based upon calculations made the data, I had written that,

“If that pattern continues to hold, we could expect to see at least 127,902 cases by Sunday, 29 March 2020.”

While that exact number – the 127,902 which I calculated – has not “officially” been reached, the 2.54644% increase difference between the calculated estimate, and the actual figure, is numerically – if not also statistically – insignificant.

Further, 124,686 is 97.4855% of 127,902, which means there is but a 2.5144% difference between the two figures.

The point being…

We are effectively there now.

At this juncture, there seems to be – or, more accurately, there has been shown to be – no suggestion, nor hint of a lessening of the rate of increase, especially in the United States, of infections with COVID-19 novel coronavirus, and quite likely will not be for at least several more weeks.

So, let’s move along to other critically important, and very related matters.

“…pre-symptomatic shedding may be typical among documented infections.”

— Science (magazine), 16 Mar 2020, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on SARS-CoV2, aka novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, in an article entitled

USA’s COVID-19 Case Numbers Going Through The Roof… By The HOUR!

JHU COVID-19 dashboard

It’s almost been 12 hours since I wrote this morning’s entry “America: Very nearly 105,000 COVID-19 cases… and INCREASING” (published 0800), and as I’m now writing, it is 1845.

The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 dashboard now shows that in the United States, there are presently 121,478 ACTIVE CONFIRMED cases of COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

This morning, Saturday, 28 March, I had written that, “If that pattern continues to hold, we could expect to see at least 127,902 cases by Sunday, 29 March 2020.”

It appears that we’ll surpass that long before the dawn of the next day.

The difference between the 2 figures is a 15.8732% INCREASE… and we STILL have 12 more hours to go to make it to 127,902 – a 21.9162% INCREASE – by

America: Very nearly 105,000 COVID-19 cases… and INCREASING

Yesterday (Friday, 27 March 2020), at 7:20 AM CST DST, there were 85,991 Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the good ol’ USA.

That’s an INCREASE of 21.9162%.

If that pattern continues to hold, we could expect to see at least 127,902 cases by Sunday, 29 March 2020.

In stark contrast to China, or even Italy, the United States today has 21.7871% MORE cases than does China, which yesterday, had 81,894 confirmed cases. Today, China’s 81,996 morning figure is a mere 0.1245% increase.

Some experts attending the Hospital Association of America have predicted that America could see 96,000,000 US coronavirus

USA Now Has MORE COVID-19 Coronavirus Cases Than China Ever Did

I can hear it now –– the chants of the Faux Noize talking head dingbats saying loudly in unison… “We’re number 1! We’re number 1!”

According to information as of 0600 CST DST Friday, 27 March 2020, provided through Johns Hopkins University Dashboard, the United States has 85,991 active and confirmed COVID-19 coronavirus cases, while China – which has 1 BILLION MORE PEOPLE, has NOT reported any additional, or new cases – experienced 81,894 such cases.

So, let’s put this in perspective, shall we?

The United States Census Bureau reports that American Population is estimated be very nearly 330,000,000 – 330 million.

Chinese Population is estimated to be 1,389,618,778 – that’s 1 BILLION, 389 million, 618 thousand, 778.

India’s Population is estimated to be 1,311,559,204.

The US Population is only 23.7475% that of China.

Or, expressed another way, China has 321.0965% MORE people than the United States.

So… WHY is it that the United States has 5.0028% MORE COVID-19 infection cases than China?

Seriously…

WHY!?!

WHAT has been done, or what has happend which has led us to this point?

Well… that’s an EXCELLENT question!

The POTUS – that’s Donald John Trump – has killed, slashed and burned, many biosecurity programs which would have helped protect American Public Health.

Here’s what Forensic News wrote:

“On his second full day in office President Trump instituted a federal hiring freeze that stayed in place for nearly 90 days. In the weeks after the freeze was lifted, nearly 700 positions sat vacant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to researchers and officials interviewed in May 2017, the freeze affected “programs supporting local and state public health emergency readiness, infectious disease control, and chronic disease prevention.

“Many of the unfilled jobs are high-level positions, at least GS-12 and above… Several positions are in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, which regulates some of the world’s most dangerous bacteria and viruses and manages the nation’s stockpile of emergency medical countermeasures. Others include positions in the director’s office, infectious disease offices and the office for noncommunicable diseases, injury and environmental health.

”To make matters worse, the Trump administration took months to fill numerous senior positions that are critical to responding to an outbreak. A permanent Director of the CDC was not appointed until July 2017, six months after taking office, and the top position at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) remained empty for nearly eight months. Second-in-command positions also remained empty across health-related agencies: Within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there was no Assistant Secretary for Health for over a year, no Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response for eight months, and no Director of the Office of Global Affairs for five months. USAID just received its first permanent deputy administrator last year, in 2019!

“In addition to the dissolution of global health security units, the NSC has experienced unprecedented turnover during Trump’s administration. There have been four National Security Advisors (in addition to two acting NSAs) in Trump’s three years in office. This is compared to Barack Obama’s three NSAs in eight years and two in George W. Bush’s eight years. Trump has had five Deputy National Security Advisors in 3 years, while Obama had four in eight years and W. Bush had three in eight years. Trump has had four Homeland Security Advisors (plus one acting HSA) in three years compared to two in Obama’s eight years and four in W. Bush’s eight years. “

But WAIT!
THAT’S NOT ALL!

Yeah… you guessed it.

It’s POS45’s fault.

The BUCK STOPS with him.

Or… does it?

“Yeah, no, I don’t take responsibility at all, because we were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. It wasn’t meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers that we’re talking about.”
–– POTUS Donald John Trump, Friday, 13 March 2020, White House Rose Garden news conference

POTUS Harry Truman succeeded to the Office of the President upon the death of POTUS Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died in his FOURTH term in office.

“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is

RNs Being Begged to Work in COVID-19 States With Little PPE. Trade Money for Your Life?

COVID-19 novel Coronavirus is no laughing matter, and is rapidly overwhelming hospitals nationwide, especially in New York City, which has become the practical epicenter of the global pandemic in the United States.

In response, physicians are being requested to come out of retirement to assist states where the effects of the almost instantaneous demand for licensed healthcare professionals are being experienced the worst. Some for love, others for money.

And, as one might expect, Registered Nurses are in great demand as well, the shortage of which is being keenly and acutely felt. As a result, Travel Nurse agencies are placing calls nation-wide for RNs to assist in localities hardest hit, which include Washington state, California, and New York City.

The compensation packages which are being offered in response are nothing less than eye-popping, with almost “stupid money” being paid for RNs to work – however briefly – in hospitals where needs exist.

An unexpected problem has arisen, however, and that is an acute shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which includes gowns, gloves, nose/mouth masks (especially N95 respirators), and eye shields. If the healthcare providers do NOT have the proper equipment to care for patients, their lives will be placed at risk, as well.

In essence, one is being asked to risk their life for money – and unnecessarily. Already, there are widely circulated national news reports of some staff in some facilities reusing such PPE, which is designed for ONE USE ONLY, which is also required by law and/or regulation for the health and safety of staff and patients.

Examples of how, and where they’re being recruited (including internationally), and the compensation packages include:

America’s Grocery Supply Chain Is Healthy

With COVID-19 cornoavirus proliferating in the United States, and abroad, some grocery shoppers have begun panic purchasing. That behavior is not limited to Americans. Shoppers in other nations have also begun to panic purchase, which in turn, makes it difficult for those who genuinely need groceries to obtain them.

And at least one story has been published about people not being able to purchase much-needed food items, including one about a 51-year-old Critical Care Nurse in England who, after a 48-hour shift, wasn’t able to find any groceries for herself.

“Just stop it please”: Tearful Nurse urges the public to stop panic buying food after she was unable to buy basic items following a 48-hour shift.

Top Out of Stock Categories of grocery store items

There are other readily-observable phenomenological (def. a “method of inquiry concerned with the perception and experience of objects and events as the basis for the investigation of reality”) matters, and events, at work. One such matter is the “80-20 rule.”

Also known as the Pareto Principle, after the Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) who first described it, the rule, or principle certainly applies in this scenario.

Simply put, as it applies to consumption, the rule states that 80% of your product sales will come from 20% of your customers – or, if you prefer, 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes, which thus asserts an unequal relationship between inputs (cause), and outputs (effect).

The 80/20 rule is borne out also by anecdotal observation, in which an Assistant Grocery Store Manager recently remarked to me that, “There are others who can’t buy things, because the same people are lining up at 6AM when the truck arrives and are buying basketfuls of the same things every time,” adding that, “It’s obviously way more than they need.”

Or, to put it another way, the suffering of 80% of the people who don’t have access to regularly-purchased items, is caused by 20% of the population. Things like that kinda’ gives you pause for thought, doesn’t it?

Further anecdotal evidence may be found among shoppers themselves, who report similarly, which is that a relatively small number of people are purchasing an inordinate quantity of select items, whatever they may be, and thus rapidly depleting available stock and inventories.

Kroger Spokesperson, Melissa Eads in Nashville, TN said that since Thursday, March 12, 2020, Kroger stores have seen a significant increase in the number of customers, and the quantities they’re purchasing. Kroger grocery store officials estimate that most customers are buying at least five times what they would normally buy.

And to buttress the idea that America’s grocery supply chain is safe, and secure, Greg Ferrara, President & CEO of the National Grocers Association has written that, amidst a national profusion of panic purchasing, that:

“Food supplies are plentiful throughout the supply chain and are being replenished continuously to meet the demand. Although some consumers may experience temporary out of stocks in some categories or brands, such as hand sanitizer and paper goods, stores are re-filling shelves as quickly as possible. Supermarket associates are working diligently to quickly restock shelves and clean stores. And, while consumers may find purchase limits on some products that are in high demand, such as toilet paper and cleaning supplies, this is simply to ensure as many customers as possible are able to purchase what they need.”

But since when do people give heed to sound advice, eh?

After all, it was a Wisconsin Republican Congressman and Johnny Carson who were the cause of the “Toilet Paper” shortage scare in American, dating back to December 1973… and hasn’t shown any signs of letting up.

Following are industry observations about the grocery industry – or, more accurately as Consumer Behavior – in relation to COVID-19.

An Open Letter To Panic Purchasers

Dear Fuckwits,

STOP BUYING EVERY GODDAMNED THING ON THE SHELVES!

What’re you… stupid?

Oh… wait.

That’s a rhetorical question.

Look you selfish dimbulbs, this week I’ll need eggs, milk, flour, peanut butter and some meat – it makes no difference the type, beef, pork, fowl, etc. I would just like to have some protein in my diet, and I’m not a vegetarian.

So, I go to the grocery store, and what do I NOT find?

Meat – of every type – poultry, beef, pork, including seafood
Toilet paper – trees must be extinct
Flour – wheat must be extinct
Peanut butter – same song, second verse, second verse same as the first

NEVER in my life have I ever panic purchased anything… EVER!

And thanks EXCLUSIVELY to your unthinking, unkind, selfish stupidity, I will not have meat for the foreseeable future. That’s because I don’t stalk the grocery stores to purchase every goddamn thing just because I think that chickens, pigs, cows, trees, and wheat are, or will be suddenly extinct.

Fortunately, I don’t need toilet paper, because YOU ASSHOLES have purchased EVERY goddamn sheet on EVERY shelf in EVERY store EVERYWHERE!

You know, one gets the impression that you bunch of living, breathing tadpole-brained troglodytes have just discovered that you have rectums, and colons which experience peristalsis. I mean, after all… you must be shitting your brains out since you’ve purchased every goddamned sheet in every mother-fucking store.

And as for hand sanitizer and soap, one distinctly gets the impression that you have JUST NOW discovered Personal Hygiene and Public Health. You sons of bitches will probably re-elect POS45, too, won’t you?

Of course, the corollary to that, is that, by your behavior, you are obliquely acknowledging that you were – and probably still are – pig-ass nasty, to begin with.

You all are a collective shit-for-brains bunch of assholes, who aren’t worth the goddamned time of day.

It’s not just me who feels that way, either.

A RN friend needs toilet paper for her family.

You fucktards also made a Critical Care RN in England break down in tears because of your thoughtless selfishness.

Europeans Thank Healthcare Professionals Amidst COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic

“In a gesture of gratitude for doctors, nurses and other medical workers who work in Spain’s national health system, people went to their balconies all over the country at 10 p.m. local time to applaud in unison.”

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/16/816309232/global-deaths-from-coronavirus-surpass-6-000

–//–

Folks in America would ~NEVER~ do anything even remotely like that.

And, that’s quite sad, indeed, given that gratitude – which is among, if not THE most “Christian” of all human expressions – isn’t practiced on a broad collective level by an ostensibly “Christian” nation.

Perhaps the nation’s churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and other houses of worship should reconsider the merit their work has, or has accomplished, given as much.

And “yes,” regardless of one’s personal, or religious opinion of the Christ’s teachings, or claims of divinity, most faith traditions – especially the closely-related faith practices of Islam, Judaism, and Christendom (ecumenism), including those of Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Jainism, etc. – celebrate the principles, teachings, and/or respect the purpose, reason, and cause to, and for which, his self-stated initiative was devoted – acceptance, love, and respect of everyone, and the selfsame expression of that love, and demonstration of acceptance and respect, which inherently includes forgiveness, by and through selfless actions for others’ benefit, without regard for any other factor.

While I have seen, and experienced some “messages of gratitude for these and other essential workers” personally, mine are anecdotal, while the observation and citation referenced above, is not.

My greater point is not individualism, but collectivism — a unified expression of gratitude on a national basis, as in “they were all in one accord.”

And, might I add, simultaneous.

The closest thing we have in that regard is Thanksgiving, or Independence Day, both which are both national holidays, though one has religious overtones, while the other does not.

See also:

BY LORI HINNANT
Friday, 20 March 2020

PARIS (AP) — At a time of isolation, people in many European cities hit hard by the new coronavirus are taking at least a minute each night to come together in gratitude.

They stand at open windows or on balconies in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Athens and Amsterdam, singing, cheering and applauding even though they know their intended audience is too busy to listen.

The adulation is for the doctors, nurses and other health care workers putting themselves at risk on the front lines of the pandemic that is forcing most residents to stay home. A 52-year-old nurse on Thursday became the first medical professional in Spain to die of COVID-19.

In Italy, where the number of virus-related deaths surpassed those in China, 2,900 health care providers have been infected, or 10% of the country’s total. Italian broadcasters regularly feature exhausted doctors and nurses begging people to stay home and

Airlines: Bail us out… again!

When the CEOs of corporations are paid the same wages as the LOWEST paid employee of a company, THEN -and- ONLY THEN should their “bailout” requests be even remotely considered.

Bastards, all.

———

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chief executives of major U.S. airlines were reaching out to key members of Congress on Saturday in a last-ditch uphill effort to try to win cash grants to weather the coronavirus crisis, warning that

Dear Millennials, YES, you TOO can get sick… VERY sick!

Don’t think COVID-19 novel coronavirus can’t affect you.

It can.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that 705 of the first 2,500 cases of COVID-19 novel coronavirus in the United States were ages 20-44, 15-20% of which were hospitalized, with at least 4% needing stays in Intensive Care Units. And there were a few deaths.

In Italy, 25% of that nation’s coronavirus victims were/are aged 19-50 – with a very nearly equal distribution between the two other major age categories 51-70, and 71+.

Clement Chow, Assistant Professor of Genetics at the University of Utah is one example of a young person getting VERY SICK and requiring hospitalization in an ICU.

In a series of Tweets on March 15, 2020, he wrote in part:

“I’m young and not high risk, yet I am in the ICU with a very severe case. We really don’t

Hey Kids! Keep EVERYONE Safe! Help Stop Spreading COVID-19 Coronavirus!

The pandemic (meaning, “the worldwide spread of a new disease”) is now upon us with COVID-19 coronavirus.

While there are particularly worrisome aspects of this disease, one of the most overlooked aspects of it is that someone can be a carrier without showing any signs, or symptoms of infection, or disease.

In other words, folks are (not “can be,” but ARE) spreading the disease WITHOUT KNOWING IT.

So, why don’t they know they have it?

First, they’re asymptomatic – that’s medical jargon meaning “they don’t show signs of symptoms of having the disease.”

Second, they’ve NOT been tested. (And, I put the blame for that problem squarely upon Trump, because he gutted the National Security Council and White House infrastructures which would handle such crises.

In numerous articles published as far back as 2017, from a wide variety of sources, it’s broadly acknowledged that

COVID-19 novel coronavirus

Humor is always good medicine.

And to be certain, this pandemic is certainly no laughing matter, per se.

But, humor has ALWAYS helped people through difficult and dark times, trials and tribulations.

And, we’ll get through this one, together – just as we always have.

So, in the process of washing your hands, maintaining social distancing, avoiding crowds, and working from home (if you’re able), enjoy a couple adult beverages… or some other item to relax.

Yes, some of us won’t make it through. That’s a given. But, hopefully, our government’s response (no thanks to the Current White House Occupant, who eliminated the White House) has been piecemeal, at best.

See:
Cuts To Biosecurity In Trump Budget Leaves ‘The American People Very Vulnerable,’ Experts Say
KHN Morning Briefing (Kaiser Health News)
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Tuesday, May 30 2017
https://khn.org/morning-breakout/cuts-to-biosecurity-in-trump-budget-leaves-the-american-people-very-vulnerable-experts-say/

See also:
Trump Calls For More Spending On Health Care So It’s ‘The Best Anywhere,’ But He Just Proposed Big Cuts
By Damian Paletta, Economic Policy Analysis, May 28, 2017 at 8:28 p.m. CDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/05/28/trumps-sunday-night-tweets-on-healthcare-and-taxes-contradict-what-the-white-house-said-just-last-week/

See also:
Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response
As it improvises its way through a public health crisis, the United States has never been less prepared for a pandemic.
By Laurie Garrett, January 31, 2020, 11:07 AM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/

See also:

The BUCK STOPS here! But not for Trump (POS45) who REFUSES to accept responsibility for his actions.

POTUS “Give ’em HELL!” Harry Truman (1884-1972) succeeded to the Office of the President in 1945 upon the death of POTUS Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), who died during his FOURTH term in office.

Speaking at the White House Rose Garden for over an an hour, Trump was also asked if he took responsibility for the lag in making tests available for the coronavirus COVID-19… despite the fact that he dismantled government-spending programs related to fighting the spread of global diseases.

Trump replied,

“I don’t take responsibility at all.”

Remember when there was accountability, responsibility, ethics, honesty, and even virtue in the White House?

Yeah.

It was a Democrat – Harry Truman – FDR’s VP, whose desk sign read,

“The BUCK STOPS here!”

According to research by Foreign Policy magazine, Trump’s budget cuts included:

• Cut $15 billion from the disease-fighting operating budgets of

Trump Budget Slashing Gutted Coronavirus Emergency Response

Trump’s hated of “everything Obama” has already harmed America.

Now, it’s harming Public Health.

That man is a genuine threat to the security of the United States. He simply has NO understanding of the complexity of the matters placed before him on the platter of the Presidency. He is utterly out of his league.

Consider this sampling of inane things he’s said about coronavirus (COVID-19):

First, it was, “We have it all under control.”

Followed closely by, “It’s very small problem in this country.”

And on its heels was, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.”

Which was later accompanied by, “We have it totally under control. It’s going to be fine.”

As things progressed, and it because clear that it was only a matter of time before Americans were affected, he said in Davos, Switzerland that, “We do have a plan, and we think it’s going to be handled very well.”

Now that the fecal matter has started to hit the fan, he decided to make a rare, live, emergency telecast to address the nation, and said that, “I have decided to take several strong but necessary actions to protect the health and well-being of all Americans.”

He also said in that emergency live telecast address to the nation that, “We declared a public health emergency and issued the highest level of travel warning.”

In the same breath, he said, “To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.”

Just last year, he:
• Cut the budgets of the Centers for Disease Control, and other Public Health-related budgets,
• Firing the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including those of the
––National Security Agency,
––National Security Council,
––Health and Human Services,
––Department of Homeland Security,
• Gutting the entire management infrastructure of the White House, and
• Killing the Complex Crises Fund

…DESPITE all that budget bloodshed like Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, he had the unmitigated gall and audacity to say that, “We are at a critical time in the fight against the virus.”

And sadly, it’s highly doubtful that anyone truly believes him when he said, “I will always put the well-being of America first.”

It’s not as if anyone believes him now, anyway. Members of the Cabinet are in fear of him, that they’ll lose their jobs being fired by Tweet, so they simply turn into jelly, and keep their ideas to themselves… since he knows how to run everything, anyway. So what difference does it truly make?

The next thing is to GET HIM OUT OF OFFICE!

But, moreover, this article goes in-depth to show and explain the things he’s done which have had a horrific effect upon Public Health -and- National Security.

That is NOT how to “Make America Great Again.”

Come November, you know what to do.

VOTE HIM OUT!!!

Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response

By Laurie Garrett
January 31, 2010
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/

When Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared the Wuhan coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern on Thursday, he praised China for taking “unprecedented” steps to control the deadly virus. “I have never seen for myself this kind of mobilization,” he noted. “China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response.”

The epidemic control efforts unfolding today in China—including placing some 100 million citizens on lockdown, shutting down a national holiday, building enormous quarantine hospitals in days’ time, and ramping up 24-hour manufacturing of medical equipment—are indeed gargantuan. It’s impossible to watch them without wondering, “What would we do? How would my government respond if this virus spread across my country?”

For the United States, the answers are especially worrying because the government has intentionally rendered itself incapable. In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion. If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic response, the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is

If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic response,
the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is – not just for the public but for the government itself,
which largely finds itself in the dark.

When Ebola broke out in West Africa in 2014, President Barack Obama recognized that responding to the outbreak overseas, while also protecting Americans at home, involved multiple U.S. government departments and agencies,

Google Coronavirus

‘Nuff said?

”We are preparing as if this were the next pandemic.” -Dr. Nancy Messonnier, MD, CDC airborne disease expert

GET READY!

Coronavirus is very likely coming to your town!

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, MD, is the Director of the Center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) of the CDC, held a press conference about coronavirus February 3, 2020, and said in part, that,

“We expect we will see community spread in this country.
It’s not so much a question of if this will happen any more, but the rather more correct question to be asking is, ‘When this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness?’“

Coronavirus/COVID19 deaths = 2700 (and counting)

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, MD, is the Director of the Center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) at the CDC.

SARS deaths = 774 (per CDC)
MERS deaths = 858 (per WHO)
SARS+MERS = 1632

Remember when Trump said, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be fine.”?

He also said, “We do have a plan, and we think it’s going to be handled very well. I think China’s in very good shape also.”

He was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland January 22, 2020, and was interviewed by Joe Kernen of NBC’s Squawk Box program when he said “we have it totally under control.”

He said further that, “We do have a plan and we think it is going to be handled very well. We’ve already handled it very well. The CDC is terrific. Very professional.”

He later said to reporters that, “we do have a plan… China’s in very good shape also” before a meeting with Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, also while in Davos.

An increase from 1 to 53 is a 5200% INCREASE.

Would you say that’s “totally under control,” or not?

Here’s the verbatim transcript of pertinent portion of the Squawk Box interview:

JOE KERNEN: It was a couple of years ago. Before we get started– with- we’re going talk about the economy and a lot of other things–the CDC– has

Trump’s China Problem

This is Chinese privet.

Chinese privet

Chinese privet

This is the Chinese coronavirus flag.

The coronavirus has now infected more than SARS ever did

One month after the new coronavirus was discovered, the virus has infected more people than the related SARS coronavirus did when it broke out in 2002/2003.

BY KEVIN GREENER

published: 31.01.20 at. 15:15
https://medwatch.dk/Medicinal___Biotek/article11913152.ece

The newly erupted coronavirus has now infected more people than the related SARS coronavirus did during the SARS outbreak in 2002/2003. The latest official figures released by the Chinese authorities on Friday show that 9809 people have been infected with the new coronavirus. In comparison, a total of 8422 people were infected with SARS between November 2002 and July 2003, after which the WHO declared that the risk of infection at SARS was over. In addition, the Chinese authorities suspect that an additional 15,238 people are infected with the new coronavirus.

213 people have so far died of the new coronavirus, while the SARS outbreak killed a total of 916 people.

Chinese authorities have previously said that the coronavirus, which is still only officially known under the name 2019-ncov, had a mortality rate of about 2% – that is, about 2% of the infected door.