Open Letter To White Republican Men

There is hope only for the living. As they say, “It’s better to be a live dog than a dead lion!”
— Ecclesiastes 9:4 (NLT)

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Dear White Republican men,

 

Whatever you do, DO NOT EVER — as in NEVER, EVER — GET VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19.

And for goodness sake, REFUSE to wear a mask EVERYWHERE you go.

Your resulting infection with, and death from, COVID-19’s delta variant will leave society better off — MUCH, MUCH BETTER.

We don’t

CORONAVIRUS may NEVER “Go Away”

Welcome to the “new” reality.

But, just for a moment, let’s play “What if?”

What if the United States’ failed response (because of the inactions and deliberate failures of the previous administration) was the primary cause of the mutated, more virulent variants?

It’s entirely plausible.

Otherwise, how to explain that the United States, with the world’s 3rd most populous nation – China and India each have WELL OVER 1 BILLION MORE – has ABSOLUTELY THE WORLD’S WORST COVID-19 INFECTION RATE?

Other nations, most notably New Zealand, have had phenomenal success in keeping the disease at bay, relatively speaking, as have a few other nations, including China, India, Greenland, Australia, other Scandinavian nations, and… well, you get the picture.

Perhaps there should’ve been a sign:

Choose One: Your Life, or Your Freedom.

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“When Will It End?” : How A Changing Virus Is Reshaping Scientists’ Views On COVID-19

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-variants-insight/when-will-it-end-how-a-changing-virus-is-reshaping-scientists-views-on-covid-19-idUSKBN2AV1T1

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chris Murray, a University of Washington disease expert whose projections on COVID-19 infections and deaths are closely followed worldwide, is changing his assumptions about the course of the pandemic.

Murray had until recently been hopeful that

A COVID-19 vaccine was ready January 13, 2020 – long before the pandemic began.

Margaret Keenan, a 90-year old Irish-English grandmother, was the world’s first to receive a coronavirus vaccination.

While the world is crowing about Margaret Keenan, a 90-year old Irish-British grandmother of four, being the first in the world to receive a coronavirus vaccine yesterday, on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, around 0630 local time (GMT) – she received the version collaboratively developed by the American company Pfizer and German company BioNTech – the American biotechnology company Moderna, in Massachusetts, had long had a vaccine developed.

Moderna had already designed a COVID-19 vaccine – mRNA-1273 – by January 13.

It was only recently, on  November 16, that they reported a 94.5% efficacy rate.

Moderna developed their vaccine only two days after the genetic sequence had been publicized internationally by Chinese researcher Professor Dr. Yong-Zhen Zhangm Ph.D. His humanitarian act of scientific generosity resulted in him being temporarily forced out of his lab.

Professor Dr. Zhang believes science holds the key to predicting viral outbreaks with similar accuracy as with which we now anticipate typhoons and tornadoes. He said, “If we don’t learn lessons from this disease, humankind will suffer another.”

Moderna’s vaccine design only took one weekend to develop at their Massachusetts facilities.

In fact, Moderna had completed development of their COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 before the Chinese government had acknowledged the disease was transmitted by human-to-human means, and more than a week before the first confirmed coronavirus case in the United States – January 21.

And by the time the first American coronavirus death was reported a month later, on February 29, Moderna’s mRNA-1273 coronavirus vaccine had already been manufactured and shipped to the National Institutes of Health to begin its Phase I clinical trial.

All of that was long before the President had made any announcement about his “Operation Warp Speed,” the public-private partnership to develop a coronavirus vaccine, and yet even 2 months before Bloomberg News reported on April 29 that such a plan was in the works.

Regarding the announcement of the first known coronavirus-related death, it should be noted that, following autopsy results in mid-to-late April, the Santa Clara County California Medical Examiner’s office reported on April 21 that the first known COVID-19 related death occurred in United States on February 6. The first death was previously thought to have occurred in Kirkland, Washington on February 29. The New York Times reported that, “The virus has an incubation period of 14 days and people who die of it are often sick for at least three weeks, so the individual who died on February 6 could have been infected — and transmitting the infection to others — in early January, experts said.”

In essence, what that means, is that for the entire time the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has infected well over 15 million – and counting – in the United States, we had the tools we needed to prevent it, as well as the death of over 250,000 Americans… and counting.

So, that begs the question: If Moderna had a vaccine ready in January, why has it taken until now – December, very nearly a year later – to have a vaccine readily available?

Moderna, a publicly-traded company (stock symbol: MRNA) with operations and headquarters in Massachusetts, is a biotechnology firm focused exclusively upon development of vaccines using mRNA – messenger RNA. Their vaccine is the first in the history of vaccine development to use mRNA.

Drs. Emmanuelle Charpentier-L & Jennifer A Doudna-R, are 2020 Nobel laureates, and creators of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool

Vaccines made using mRNA are fundamentally different from any other vaccine ever made. The history of vaccination began on May 14, 1796, when a country doctor from Gloucestershire, England, Dr. Edward Jenner, MD, first took some fluid from a cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an 8-year-old boy.

Dr. Jenner developed his vaccine while he was still a medical student, after noticing that milkmaids who had contracted a disease called cowpox, which caused blistering on a cow’s udders, did not catch smallpox. However, unlike smallpox, which caused severe skin eruptions and dangerous fevers in humans which often led to death, cowpox led to few ill symptoms in those women.

Science has come a very long way since then. While traditionally, vaccines were first made using active, live, then attenuated, then inactivated, or dead cells from the organism or virus. Throughout the history, the process of making vaccines used chickens’ eggs for the protein they contained, and were literally injected into the shell of an egg. Some are still made that way.

Most recently, two women have forever changed health, medicine, and many other life sciences, which gives hope to millions, and holds untold promises. Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, Ph.D., Director of Infection Biology at the Max Planck Institute, and Professor Dr. Jennifer A. Doudna, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Professor in Biomedical and Health at the University of California Berkeley, in October 2020 won the Nobel prize in chemistry for the development of the revolutionary CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool which has been described as enabling “rewriting the code of life.”

Drs. Emmanuelle Charpentier-L & Jennifer Doudna-R, are the 2020 Nobel laureates in chemistry, and creators of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool.

Cas9 is a type of modified protein and acts like a pair of scissors that can cut parts of DNA strands. CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, in essence, a repeating mirrored DNA sequence in genomes that repeats. The technology has worked in most every organism that it has been used on, including plants, animals, microbes and humans.

By using the gene editing platform CRISPR, which could be thought of as cut-and-paste, the idea is to remove parts of a genome using RNA as a means of guiding to a particular place within a genome, genes can then be modified to eliminate mutated, or harmful parts.

The ability to use such sophisticated gene splicing technology holds enormous promise.

As it relates to the coronavirus, the gene splicing technology uses a very small portion of messenger RNA (mRNA) from the coronavirus genome, and produces a gene that codes for the spike protein – the characteristic protruding part seen on images.

The coronavirus has 4 proteins, the spike is 1, and is the part that enables the virus to invade cells. By using only that part of the virus, it causes the body to produce antibodies that neutralize that spike protein. RNA vaccines cause the body to make only that spike protein. Then, encased in a fat molecule mRNA then enters cells, and sends a coded message to the body to make the protein, which in turn causes an immune response.

RNA vaccines have many advantages, which, unlike other vaccines produced other ways, they stimulate the production of killer T-cells which stop the coronavirus from replicating. And because mRNA vaccines are produced in test tubes or tanks, rather than being cultivated in cells (such as in eggs), they should be relatively quick and easy to produce.

The use of mRNA to treat disease, even genetic-based disease, such as cystic fibrosis, is brand new, but holds exciting possibilities. Moderna is perhaps one of the most promising mRNA therapeutics research firms in the world. And under the leadership and direction of Chief Science Officer Dr. Melissa Moore, Ph.D., Moderna has developed, and publicized, the scientific blueprint for a unique form of cancer therapy using mRNA which when used used, ensures its mRNA is made only inside cancer cells. Ryan Cross reported in Chemical and Engineering News on September 3, 2018 in “Can mRNA disrupt the drug industry? Messenger RNA technology promises to turn our bodies into medicine-making factories. But first Moderna—and a long list of old and new competitors—needs to overcome some major scientific challenges.” and wrote in part that, “Moderna scientist Ruchi Jain designed an mRNA that causes cancer cells to self-destruct but is recognized by, and destroyed in, healthy cells.”

Dr. Moore has a distinguished scientific pedigree, and

A Thoughtful Response To An Anonymous COVID-19 Post

A friend seeking my opinion had sent to me an anonymous post which I rather suspect is “making the rounds” on social media, which most likely is FaceBook. The following is my reply.

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NOTE TO THE READER: For ease of reading, and for convenience sake, the anonymous author’s remarks are found in red, and my response is found [emboldened in black within brackets].

 

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I did not write this but it’s exactly what i’ve been questioning.  This is what i want answers too.  We need to push “leaders” to give answers and make decisions that make sense long  term.    When does quality of life out weights the risk of a disease you have a 99.97% of getting?

Thank you to whoever wrote this.

******

What is the end game with the ‘rona? Anyone? 🦠

[NOTE: The basis for the practical entirely of the argument made in the author’s “rant” is hopelessness, helplessness, quitting in exasperation, and not even trying.] 

 

What is the magic formula that is going to allow us to sound the “all clear?” [There is NO “magic formula.”] Is it zero cases? For a while, the goal was to simply “flatten the curve,” but now that we are disconnecting utilities for gatherings in California, setting up check points in New York, and recommending goggles (what’s next?), it seems as if there is, in fact, no end game. And, truthfully, the only way that we will see numbers drop is if we cease testing and stop reporting. [That is a blatantly asinine, and ignorant remark. It’s like telling people if we stop testing for pregnancies, and counting births, the population will decline.] Keep in mind that hundreds of thousands have shown up to be tested, registered, left due to long waits, and still come up positive when they received their results.🤷🏼‍♀️[That remark suggests that tests are fabricated then falsified – that the results are fraudulent – and that a wholesale deceptive criminal enterprise exists throughout the entire testing chain, everywhere in all locations nationwide.]

 

This young girl in Bangladesh was infected with smallpox in 1973. Freedom from smallpox was declared in Bangladesh in December, 1977 when a WHO International Commission officially certified that smallpox had been eradicated from that country.

Is it a vaccine💉? It took 25 years for a chicken pox vaccine to be developed. [It seems as if the writer is beginning to understand the complexity and magnitude of the problem of vaccine development. The first varicella zoster vaccine was tested in Japan in 1974, and approved by the Japanese government in 1986 – a span of 12 years. The FDA approved a varicella vaccine in 1995, and in 1996 the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to formally approve the vaccine for widespread use.] The smallpox inoculation was discovered in 1776 [Dr. Edward Jenner, MD, developed the first smallpox vaccine (using cowpox) in 1796.] and the last known natural case was in 1977. [SEE EXTENDED COMMENTS FOLLOWING THIS PARAGRAPH] We have a flu vaccine that is only 40 to 60% effective (that’s generous- the last two years it was more like 20-25%) [Influenza vaccines are developed in advance of the annual “flu season” using statistical inferences (prediction), and from 2004/2005 to 2018/2019 vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates have ranged on average from 10% to 60%. For the 2018/2019 season, the overall VE rate was 29%.], less than half of the US population chooses to get one [The remark presumes that all people would get an influenza vaccine if they could – however, many cannot, typically either for reasons of lack of access, availability, or cost. In the Armed Services, vaccines are mandatory. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to estimate flu vaccination coverage for the U.S. population of adults aged ≥18 years during the 2017–18 flu season. Flu vaccination coverage among adults was 37.1%, a decrease of 6.2 percentage points from the previous flu season.], and roughly 20,000 Americans still die annually due to flu or flu complications. [From 2010/2011 through 2018/2019 influenza-related deaths have ranged from 12,000 to 61,000. The 2017/2018 year saw 61,000 influenza-related deaths, while the 2018/2019 year saw 34,157.] [EXTENDED COMMENTS: In late 1975, Rahima Banu, a three-year-old girl from Bangladesh, was the last person in the world to have naturally acquired variola major and the last person in Asia to have active smallpox. She was

BLS On Unemployment Figures: We Know We Were Wrong – We Were Just Kidding… Just Kidding!

If the workers who
were recorded
as
employed
but
absent from work
due to
“other reasons”
(over and above the number absent for other reasons in a typical May)
had been classified
as
unemployed on temporary layoff,
the overall unemployment rate
would have been
about
3 percentage points higher than reported
(on a not seasonally adjusted basis).
However,
according to usual practice,
the data from the household survey
are
accepted as recorded.
To maintain data integrity,
no ad hoc actions are taken
to reclassify survey responses.

Below is the full image of their addendum on the report “THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — MAY 2020,” which may be found on the BLS website as linked here.

The pertinent part is the final paragraph, which is pasted above, and appears in red.There you have it.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has OFFICIALLY STATED that the Present Unemployment Rate is THREE POINTS HIGHER than officially stated.

They noted also that in the three preceding months of March, April, and May 2020, that responses to the monthly survey were down -9.5%, -12.6%, and -15.1% correspondingly to the month, from last year for the preceding 12 months, and averaged.

Th agency noted also that “BLS and our partners at the Census Bureau take the misclassification error very seriously, and we’re taking additional steps to address the problem.”

Part of the problem, as they note, is with classification.

In a lengthy explainer, the agency wrote that, “In May, 8.4 million workers were classified as employed with a job but not at work during the survey reference week (not seasonally adjusted). Although lower than the 11.5 million not at work in April, this measure remains about twice the typical level at this time of the year. This likely reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Their explanation of “with a job but not at work” is apparently integrated into the idea of going to a central, or common location to work (such as at an office building, or factory site), and of that they wrote in part that, “BLS tabulates data on

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?

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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

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

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

10 GOOD Things COVID-19 Will Cause.

Every period of change in human history has been preceded by chaos and upheaval.

COVID-19 novel coronavirus is exposing our weaknesses, our strengths, where changes are needed and must occur, and where we are performing well.

This illustration reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. Image credit: CDC.

There will be positive outcomes, of course, one of which will be that it is no longer necessary for some people to assemble, or congregate in one place to work. It is being proven that work which can be performed remotely, i.e., from one’s residence, will be increasingly utilized, and that will be a net positive outcome in several ways.

Here’s a list of…

10 GOOD Things COVID-19 Will Cause.

• One, it will reduce going-to, and coming-from work-related commuting traffic volume.

• Two, it will increase employee satisfaction, insofar as one will not fight traffic in order to get to work, or home from work.

• Three, because fewer automobiles will be on the roadway, it will reduce automobile emissions, and therefore yield an environmentally net positive result.

• Four, because traffic will be reduced, navigation will be

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.

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: