(image courtesy of pixabay.com and Ri_Ya)
The details: the impeachment trial’s pre-ordained conclusion occurred on February 5, 2020. The first known patient with COVID-19 arrived in the US on January 15 and was hospitalized on January 19-20. Details of his case were published in the NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) on January 31. Briefings for the *president on the threat of the new virus had already been held.
Himself was holding rallies and golfing thru-out the month of February and into March. He visited Mar-a-Lago repeatedly and met with officials from Brazil (after which multiple members of the Brazilian delegation turned out to be positive for the new virus). He was calling the virus a “Democratic hoax” all along. This is at the same time that he was getting regular briefings on the advance of the virus in the US.
After impeachment was over, he pivoted towards retaliating against those who dared to come forward and testify to his corrupt actions. He kicked Alexander Vindman off the NSC (National Security Council). He threw Vindman’s twin brother out (who had done nothing) at the same time.
George (“Mr. KellyAnne”) Conway pushed back on McConnell’s claims, according to IJR (Independent Journal Review):
Conway noted that the impeachment trial — which ended on Feb. 5 — was “over before it even started, thanks in large part to McConnell.”
Himself made his first tweet about COVID-19 on January 24, projected confidence, and made no mention of its spread to the US.
On February 29, the first US death from the new virus was reported. Himself had already banned travel from China on January 31 (after removing US nationals from the country) and reported new travel bans on the 29th. He boasted that the travel ban for China had been very effective.
All in all, multiple news outlets have contradicted the claim that impeachment was a distraction– or would have been for the average president. Clinton had made a good show of concentrating on actual business while he was being impeached. But Himself couldn’t concentrate on anything except the attack on his standing in government and its narcissistic threats to his self-image.
Long after impeachment was over, He held rallies, golfed, travelled, and raved about the new virus as a “Democratic hoax”. McConnell’s new claim is just an attempt to deflect blame for His tardy response towards the Democrat’s quixotic quest to remove the sociopathic, narcissistic solipsist who claims to be our leader.
(image courtesy of pixabay.com and Ri_Ya)
Blank Post: COVID Isolation Picture
(image courtesy of pixabay.com and Ri_Ya)
(image courtesy of pixabay.com and Ri_Ya)
(photo/image courtesy of pixabay.com and Ri_Ya)
The need is apparent for all people, not just those who are ill, to wear facemasks in public. The only question is where they will come from. I have seen news accounts of home-made masks being produced by, dare I say it, entrepreneurs. These would appear to be ideal for the general public rather than medical providers, since they don’t look standard and may not be particularly effective.
The original purpose of facemasks, as I see it, was to prevent a surgeon and his (in the old days, they were almost all male) assistants from contaminating the surgical incision and the patient’s insides with bacteria-laden spittle, beard hairs, and the like. They seem to have been highly effective as the surgical infection rate has been very low for many years. So why won’t they work for the general public?
The authorities may be fearful of people de-identifying themselves. Just a thought.
This (wearing masks) has been done in Asia for years already and doesn’t provoke any second glances in places like Hong Kong and Tokyo. They are doing it in Europe. It is time we started doing it too.
(Cat (Olive Oyl) looking in window. Wants to know when is dinnertime?)
A few questions I have after reading news reports on my iPhone ($30 a month, is it worth it to spend 4 hr a day reading the news?)…
First, what will happen to the newspapers? Advertising revenue has dried out, leaving those with subscription services like NYT as the only ones with any money coming in. Free newspapers are dead; no ventilators available to these once frequented hard copy sources. Local newspapers have been dying for years because of the shifts in revenue and aging out of those who like to read the paper with their morning coffee.
Second, where do some hospitals and those who own them come off telling employees that they can’t talk to reporters or make posts on Faceplant? Haven’t they heard of the First Amendment or are they just closet fascists? What is the difference between a capitalist and a closet fascist? Don’t they know that healthcare employees are much in demand right now, and if someone gets fired they can sue (someone has already)? Raising privacy issues is a non-starter– these people are not identifying or discussing individual patients. Their real objection is that they don’t want people to know that the medical system is under extreme stress and that personal protective equipment is in such short supply, there are none available for the general public.
I know you already have the answers to these questions. So do I, that is, I mean, these questions are rhetorical. Enough speculation, time to gather more data.
(photo courtesy of pixabay.com and Ri_Ya)
(image courtesy of pixabay.com and TheDigitalArtist)
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that an article in Science magazine (paywall, sorry) details current efforts to find out which people are most genetically susceptible to severe infections with the novel coronavirus.
Research efforts include looking at variations in gene coding for the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), an enzyme on the outer surface of cells, that could affect how easily the coronavirus can enter targeted cells, as well as differences in the human leucocyte [sic] antigen genes that influence how the immune system responds to viruses, according to a report in Science magazine.
Andrea Ganna, a geneticist at the University of Helsinki’s Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, has led the International Covid-19 Host Genetics Initiative to gather genetic data from patients. The team compares patients with mild infections to those with severe cases. He said he expected the first susceptibility genes to be identified within a few months.
So far, we have found that those with Type A blood are more susceptible than those with Type O, according to another SCMP article. Type O is found in an average of 33% of people in the world, with type A at 25% and B at 27%. Only 6.5% have type AB. Chile, with type O at 86%, and Peru with 70%, are outliers in the world spectrum. Japan has about 40% type A. (Figures from babymed.com)
The fact that almost a third of infections are asymptomatic is surely a coincidence, despite the nearly identical 1/3 prevalence of type O across the world.
A rumor has been floating around that the high use of chloroquine for malaria prophylaxis in Africa has conferred protection from the pandemic there. This is dubious because the virus simply hasn’t found its way to Africa yet. Don’t believe anything you read that has not been adequately evaluated with a skeptical eye.
Pangolins are not the immediate source of the SARS-COV-2, but harbor closely related viruses: Nature
(image courtesy of pixabay.com and TheDigitalArtist)
A report in the March 26 issue of Nature argues that pangolin viruses are not the immediate predecessors of the novel coronavirus currently sweeping the world. Pangolins confiscated as part of a sweep of illegal smuggling in southern China were found to harbor several closely related viruses, but not the one we are facing now. Particularly closely related forms of the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to and enter human respiratory epithelial cells (those lining the surface in the nose, throat, and bronchi) were found, but none that are an exact match. Bats remain the animals with the most closely related viruses to SARS-COV-2.
Conrad Theodore Seitz 