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

What We Don’t Know About COVID-19 CAN Hurt Us… And Probably Will

If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until ALL those with COVID-19 start getting sick as they age, after the Banana Republicans trash the “preexisting condition” healthcare provision in the PPACA, and insurance companies return to “cherry picking” and denials.

Won’t that be more fun than a barrelful of monkeys?!

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COVID-19’s Long-Term Harms: What We Don’t Know Yet Could Hurt Us

Infectious diseases have afflicted humans for hundreds of thousands of years, shaping communities and cultures. The ways pathogens affect human health have been studied extensively for decades. We have learned that any given microorganism can be protean, or capable of changing, in its manifestations — from patients who experience no symptoms at all, to those who become acutely ill yet recover fully, to those who suffer chronic infection and live with the ever-present threat of deteriorating health.

In stark contrast, we have coexisted only one year with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and are still learning the diverse ways this novel virus affects human health. During the first week of December, the National Institutes of Health convened a two-day workshop involving public health officials, medical researchers, and patients dedicated to discussing the post-acute health consequences of COVID-19. One of the primary goals of the meeting — to provide a definition for the long-term sequelae, or health consequences and symptoms, following acute COVID-19 — proved elusive. Variably termed “chronic COVID,” “long haulers” and “long COVID” by physicians, patients and the media, whatever you call it, the protracted symptom complex following COVID-19, seemingly affecting all organ systems, has emerged as an unanticipated, devastating outcome of the pandemic.

The earliest data out of Europe and the United States painted a concerning picture: The majority of hospitalized patients remained symptomatic weeks or months after their acute illness, the most common symptoms being fatigue and shortness of breath in approximately half of patients studied. Even patients who were never hospitalized had persistent symptoms several weeks later. Over ensuing months, the full gamut of persistent symptoms emerged, ranging from chronic fatigue, sleep disturbance, cognitive impairment, fast heart rates and exercise intolerance. The exact incidence of these symptoms and their time-course

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

Things Will Get Worse

With a little over 330 million people, America has about 4.3% of the world’s population.

And yet, with 26.1346% of the world’s cases, we’re the undisputed leader as the world’s repository for COVID-19.

And with 146,934 lives claimed so far, the United States has

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

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

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

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:

“Do Something!” About Gun Sickness and Disease

Within a period of 7 days, 35 people were killed, and 64 were injured in 3 mass shootings in our nation.

July 28, 2019 – 5:48 PM PDT Garlic Festival – Gilroy, CA – 3 Killed, 13 Injured

August 3, 2019 – 10:39 AM CDT Wal-Mart – El Paso, TX – 22 Killed, 24 Injured

August 4, 2019 – 1:05 AM EDT – Historic Oregon District, Downtown Dayton, OH – 10 Killed, 27 Injured

Authorities have identified the assailants and weapons used. In each case, the weapons used were military-grade assault style rifles designed for military use, modeled after the Russian AK-47, and the American AR-15. The exclusive purpose of such firearms as weapons of mass destruction is to kill human beings with great ease, and efficiency – to inflict as much carnage and damage upon as many people as possible, in a short period of time. They are ONLY weapons of war, and nothing else. They were NOT designed for any other purpose than to kill human beings with great ease, and efficiency.

The assailants were:
• Connor Stephen Betts, 24, of Bellbrook, OH (Dayton) – deceased;
• Santino William Legan, 19, of Gilroy, CA and Walker Lake, NV (Gilroy) – deceased, and;
• Patrick Wood Crusius, 21, of Allen, TX (El Paso) – captured.

In none of those cases neither “a good guy with a gun,” nor a border wall was effective to either deter, prevent, or stop the deaths and injuries of 127 people.

But those three tragedies were not the only ones.

Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike Dewine addresses Ohioans about the Dayton mass shooting.

Just today – August 5, 2019 – in Brooklyn, the most populous borough in NYC, there was a mass shooting at 216 Buffalo Avenue where 4 people were injured, with no deaths in which “Police confirm a man was shot in the chest, and two women have also been found with gunshots wounds.”
-and-
A shooting with 4 injuries occurred at 5691 Suitland Road, in Suitland, MD.

Yesterday, there were FOUR mass shootings at:
1800 S Kildare Ave in Chicago, one killed, and 7 wounded;
443 E Shelby Dr in Memphis, one killed, 3 wounded;
2900 block of W Roosevelt Rd in Chicago, 7 wounded;
419 E 5th St in Dayton, OH, 10 killed, 26 wounded.

On July 28, the date of the Gilroy, CA Garlic Festival shooting, there were a total of SIX mass shootings throughout the nation.

In the days since, there have been 15 mass shootings, inclusive, in which 47 people were killed, with 115 injured. For details, see: https://www.GunViolenceArchive.org/reports/mass-shooting

According to data from the Gun Violence Archive website, this year to date, there have been 255 mass shootings, resulting in 275 deaths, and 1069 injuries.

No one is happy about this.

No one.

Kentucky Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proudly displaying the Made-in-China Nike brand athletic shoes which he blames for his fall which ironically, injured his LEFT shoulder. As a child born in Alabama, McConnell also had polio.

The paralytic gridlocked Congress is in summer recess, as GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) is

Another Year Over, And A New One Just Begun

Welcome aboard!

Glad to have you in the New Year!

Curious about how the New Year was looking, I messaged some friends in Germany, where it’s 7 to 8 hours ahead of the Central Time Zone. She and their boy were visiting his father over the winter holiday season, where he was stationed on Active Duty with a Special Forces unit.

The “New Year” is often depicted as a babe, a veritable infant, wearing a diaper and banner sash with the year imprinted upon it, while the outgoing year, the “Old Year” (Father Time), is depicted as a decrepit old codger wearing a tattered cloak type garment with a staff.

When I’d earlier messaged my friends, I’d asked if they had any special plans. Not everyone celebrates the incoming New Year, you know. She replied, “Not sure quite what we are doing, there are several parties to choose from.” (Don’t you just marvel at our ability to communicate INSTANTLY to the opposite side of the world!?! Seriously. How great is that!?!)

Several hours later, just about the time when the New Year was dawning in Germany, I sent a message which stated, “How does the New Year look so far? Got any clothes on?🤣”

The reply, “Happy New Year. Hardly. In the hospital. C has a broken ankle.”

Of course, upon hearing such, one would naturally ask, “How’d THAT happen?”

As most might suppose, the typical way one breaks the ankle is by

Alabama As A Third World Country: How True Is It?

Editor’s Note, Saturday, 15 October 2016: Since Sunday, October 26, 2014, the date of this original publication, Yellowhammer News blog has thought to create their own entry (herein linked) obliquely contradicting the data supplied and referenced in this entry, which has now been published for over two years. Though they do not refute the data cited herein, instead, they refer to an Alabama-based data analysis company, and present data exclusively from the United Nations’ Human Development Index to support their assertion. In stark contrast, we use source citation and and references to the variety of sources used to compare Alabama to Third World Nations.

Also entitled as: How does Alabama compare with Third World Countries?

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In so many comparative rankings for quality of life within our 50 United States, Alabama and Mississippi seem in a dead heat for last place. In a veritable “Race To The Bottom,” Alabama and Mississippi scrap over being in last place. In fact, it’s been a long-standing joke – with the sad, bitter sting of truth – that Alabama’s State Motto is not “Audemus jura nostra defendere,” which has been translated as: “We Dare Maintain Our Rights” or “We Dare Defend Our Rights,” but rather “Thank God For Mississippi.”

And just so we’re singing on the same sheet of music, and on the same verse, a “Third World Nation” is one which were at one time colonies “formally lead by imperialism. The end of imperialism forced these colonies to survive on their own. With lack of support, these colonies started to develop characteristics such as poverty, high birthrates and economic dependence on other countries. The term was then affiliated to the economic situation of these former colonies and not their social alliances to either capitalism or communism.” In a more modern sense however, a “Third World Nation,” is more readily thought of as being one of several “underdeveloped nations of the world, especially those with widespread poverty.” And it is in that sense to which I refer to Alabama as “a Third World Nation.”

In essence, what that term refers to is Quality Of Life. And, there are many aspects of life that can be measured, such as rates and incidences of crime, employment/unemployment, education, health/sickness/disease, responsive & efficient government, availability of clean water, sewerage, utilities such as electricity, natural gas, supporting infrastructure to deliver those utilities, which includes transportation, roads, highways, airports, railways, and access to the same. There is much more to life than the mere availability of food, clothing and shelter. For example, who would want to eat raw meat, wear bearskins, and live in a cave? In context, those three items are certainly fulfilled. And if that’s all there is, then all is well… right?

Demonstrating that, again, there is MUCH MORE to life than the mere availability of food, clothing and shelter.

Consider, for example, Public Health.

Rates of Obesity, and Obesity-related Diseases (also called chronic, or long-term problems) such as Diabetes, Hypertension (High Blood Pressure), Stroke, and certain types of Cancer, in Mississippi and Alabama are among the highest in our United States. While Obesity is quickly becoming an epidemic of significant national proportions, it is particularly problematic in

Official Sources: Huntsville Hospital gets low patient safety rating, patients’ lives at risk

Realistically, what does that mean for you, your loved ones or friends if – God forbid – they’re hospitalized at Huntsville Hospital?

It means that when you, your loved ones’ or friends’ are a patient in the hospital, you or they could get an infection, or some other serious bug or problem while being treated for something else entirely different. And by so doing, it could make your stay more unpleasant, and in fact, could increase the risk of complications of your treatment – up to, and including your death – was well as increase the length of your stay, among other factors.

What does that mean for the Hospital?

Because insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid have STOPPED paying for the treatment of preventable problems that are a direct result of hospitalization, it means that Huntsville Hospital will be stuck with the bill (the costs of treating their own mistakes upon you while you’re there)… and will try to pass the cost along to you to recoup the cost of the loss, which is a DIRECT result of their own sloppiness.

Huntsville Hospital has essentially become a monopolistic monstrosity of an enterprise, gobbling up numerous hospitals in the North Alabama region, including BOTH hospitals in Decatur, the only hospital in Athens, the only hospital in Red Bay, Helen Keller Hospital in Tuscumbia area of the Shoals, and the only hospital in Lawrence county.

Meanwhile, Huntsville hospital has fought tooth-and-nail to keep other hospitals OUT of competition in the Huntsville market, and spent untold millions of dollars in a protracted legal battle against Crestwood Hospital – and continues to spend millions to prevent Crestwood Hospital from offering services that would benefit the entire city and county.

Such anti-competitive practice has all been accomplished by and through the state of Alabama‘s Certificate Of Need Board.

The commentary of Mr. Burr Ingram – Huntsville Hospital’s official mouthpiece – which is contained in this article is entirely and wholly unwarranted, and weasel-like.

Not only that, but Huntsville Hospital is NOT a Nursing Magnet Hospital.

There are many things Huntsville Hospital is not.

And sadly, quality is one of them.

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Watchdog Report: Consumer Reports gives both hospitals in Huntsville low safety ratings

Published: Thursday, July 12, 2012, 9:06 AM     Updated: Thursday, July 12, 2012, 9:30 AM

By Challen Stephens, The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Consumer Reports magazine ranked the two hospitals in Huntsville as the least safe in Alabama. But the magazine’s list of hospitals is far from complete.

“We were kind of perplexed at some of what it reported,” said Burr Ingram, spokesman at Huntsville Hospital. “When you think about it, it’s fashionable for everyone to rate hospitals. And Consumer Reports is the latest to use public data that is available.

“But at times, it’s difficult to know how these ratings come about.”

Huntsville Hospital, The Huntsville Times

The magazine’s August edition lists scores in four safety categories. Both Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood Medical Center received low marks for poor communication with patients and for high rates of infection. Both received mediocre marks for high rates of re-admission and unnecessary scans.

Yet the report ranked

Warning: Don’t Drink Diet Coke

Once, it was “don’t drink the water.” Now, that would seem much better by comparison. At least “Montezuma’s Revenge” is a temporary ailment, and disappears on its own!

Coca-Cola began putting the “sugar substitute” aspartame in Diet Coke in 1982. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death.

In 1999, the newspaper “Independent on Sunday” discovered that