The current Corona virus outbreak first occurred in the city of Wuhan, China. Since then, it has exploded. As of today there are over 81,000 confirmed cases of Corona and almost 2800 have perished. 30,000 have successfully recovered.
Maybe.
The other day Rush Limbaugh was downplaying the seriousness of Corona, calling it the common cold. That was ignorant. The mortality rate thus far exceeds the common cold and in Iran it’s particularly bad. We really don’t know what the mortality rate really is and won’t until the dust settles.
This is map of infections as of Feb. 10.
You can find an interactive map here.
Citizens of cities in China have been ordered to remain in their homes. There are now outbreaks in South Korea and Italy and so far the lines of transmission have yet to be determined. Iran admits to 139 cases and 19 deaths but they continue to be secretive about the true numbers.
Corona is not from bat soup. In this article a finger is pointed at snakes at the wet market. I am still finding this difficult to accept because of the sheer virulence of the virus.
An interesting wrinkle has been added to this story:
A Chinese general with a long record in biological warfare defense was dispatched to Wuhan at the end of January, fueling suspicions about the origin of the deadly virus and whether the outbreak is linked to a secure medical laboratory engaged in COVID-19 research.
People’s Liberation Army Maj. Gen. Chen Wei joined the effort to contain the outbreak in Wuhan, the state-run Pengbai news outlet reported Jan. 31, describing the general as “our nation’s ultimate expert” in biological and chemical weapon defenses.
Gen. Chen was credited with working on the fight against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, and the Ebola virus outbreak a decade later. According to the Pengbai report, Gen. Chen also is the leader of a team of experts at China’s Biological Hazards Prevention and Control Program.
A research paper which was offered and then withdrawn suggested that this Corona virus was developed in a lab. This is the abstract from that paper.
The 2019-nCoV has caused an epidemic of 28,060 laboratory-confirmed infections in human including 564 deaths in China by February 6, 2020. Two descriptions of the virus published on Nature this week indicated that the genome sequences from patients were almost identical to the Bat CoV ZC45 coronavirus. It was critical to study where the pathogen came from and how it passed onto human. An article published on The Lancet reported that 27 of 41 infected patients were found to have contact with the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. We noted two laboratories conducting research on bat coronavirus in Wuhan, one of which was only 280 meters from the seafood market. We briefly examined the histories of the laboratories and proposed that the coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory. Our proposal provided an alternative origin of the coronavirus in addition to natural recombination and intermediate host.
What peaks one’s curiosity is the reported use of HIV drugs to combat the Corona virus:
China is using HIV drugs to treat the deadly coronavirus as experts search for a cure, according to a report.
Beijing officials with China’s National Health Commission said two drugs used to combat HIV are being recommended to treat pneumonia symptoms from the virus, Bloomberg reported.
Patients are being advised to take tablets of lopinavir and Ritonavir twice a day, the outlet reported.
China was allegedly warned in 2017 that a virus could escape its Level 4 Biohazard lab:
After the 2003 SARS epidemic, China constructed the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory (Level 4) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2015. The aim was to prepare for and respond to future infectious disease outbreaks.
….
The lab — the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory (Level 4) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences — works with and studies the world’s most dangerous pathogens such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Ebola. However, scientists had warned in 2017 that a dangerous virus could escape the lab. According to Nature, some scientists outside China were worried about pathogens escaping, and the addition of a “biological dimension to geopolitical tensions” between China and other nations.
The market is 900 feet from the lab.
Being the cynic I am, I cannot shake the feeling that this is an escaped virus from the Wuhan lab. A lab rat (lab worker) may have gotten sloppy with HAZMAT technique and carried it outside. Now there is more bad news. You might not be better when you think you are better:
Authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan introduced a 14-day mandatory quarantine this weekend for patients who had supposedly recovered from the coronavirus after some discharged patients again tested positive for the disease.
Saturday afternoon, all patients who had recovered and been discharged were forced to return to quarantine, the city’s coronavirus treatment and control command center announced on the Chinese social media site Weibo.
The new arrangements were announced after disease control experts warned that those who had supposedly made a recovery from the virus may have not done so after all and may still carry the virus and present a consequent contagion risk.
Wuhan and the wider Hubei province continue to account for the vast majority of coronavirus cases across China where around 78,000 people have been infected and nearly 2,500 have died. Many have questioned these official figures from the Communist Party.
Some experts warned that the current way by which Chinese doctors define when a patient is “cured” may be insufficient. Zhao Jianping, a doctor in Hubei, explained to Southern People Weekly last week that the issue was causing major difficulties as resources are already stretched.
This is the CDC’s advice to avoid infection:
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
- Follow CDC’s recommendations for using a facemask.
- CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19.
- Facemasks should be used by people who show symptoms of COVID-19 to help prevent the spread of the disease to others. The use of facemasks is also crucial for health workers and people who are taking care of someone in close settings (at home or in a health care facility).
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
- If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
Two months ago I opined that all non-emergency travel to and from China should be suspended. It remains my opinion today.
Stay well.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
Of course, Schumer and Pelosi have to politicize and do all they can to spread fear to the maximum level, driving the markets down and hurting millions of investors.
Watching the financial news channel and heard South America has its first case today.
Also many Middle Eastern oil-rich mini-states have their first cases.
Too many people travel to China too often.
Now Japan is threatening (promising?) to cancel the Olympics unless this disease has been contained before May.
I am not taking anything out of Communist Cina at face value. A bit of History:
Where did SARS begin? Where was it first found? Guangdong, China. In their excellent book, Virus Mania, Torsten Engelbrecht and Claus Kohnlein explore non-virus causes of flu-like illness in that locale. They found causes. It turns out this area is one of the world’s largest re-cyclers of e-waste:
“Guangdong is China’s largest industrial area…extremely polluted. Garbage lies everywhere; above all high-tech waste…For $1.50 a day, locals disassemble computers, monitors and printers with their bare hands, endangering both their own health and the environment… There, workers empty toner cartridges from laser printers the whole day long without protective masks, breathing in fine carbon dust. Others, mostly women and girls, dip circuit boards into baths of liquid lead to separate and collect the soldering materials with which the memory chips and processors are attached to the plates. Unprotected, they are exposed to toxic fumes. While the plastic plates are simply burned up, the chips and processors are put in acid baths, to extract their gold. Here as well, poisonous fumes are generated, and the unusable leftover acids are just dumped into the river. A lot of garbage is simply burned up or dumped onto rice fields, irrigation facilities or into waterways. The bodies of water and groundwater around Guiys have become so contaminated that drinking water has to be brought in daily from other cities…”
Wuhan has some of the most toxic air on the planet.
We should be able to get the same information as provided to Congress why is it classified?
The lack of real information has caused Hype and fear of the unknown.
Even posting that high doses of vitamin C could be helpful would get you banned, despite the clinical proof.
Case HS (2018) Vitamin C questions answered. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, https://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v14n12.shtml.
Gonzalez MJ, Berdiel MJ, Duconge J (2018) High dose vitamin C and influenza: A case report. J Orthomol Med. June, 2018, 33(3).
Gorton HC, Jarvis K (1999) The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing and relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections. J Manip Physiol Ther, 22:8, 530-533. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10543583
In addition to increasing basic hygiene, make sure to take your vitamins and dont stress. No panic and run.
February 27, 2020 – Coronavirus: Recovered patients testing positive again – BBC News
What does this mean? That exposure and recovery confers no immunity? That those recovered remain capable of spreading the infection? Or maybe only that there’s a problem with the test?
Japan has moved to close all schools—whither this is an overreaction or a very wise move remains to be seen. Only a fool would call it foolish.
February 27, 2020 – Coronavirus: PM declares emergency response plan | Nine News Australia
A video documentary—how this all started, only a month ago: February 24, 2020 – Coronavirus: How the deadly epidemic sparked a global emergency | Four Corners
Be advised: The last video is disturbing. It’s also current and truthful. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, but the situation at the moment does not look good.
@Greg: People in China cant get sick without it being a pandemic despite the toxic environment
http://archive.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/63627092.html
In the States its simply a seasonal virus.
Of course because of the atmosphere of total control of all information people become frightened.
The same type that was at the SARs center of outbreak.
Imagine if our government came to your door and took the temperature of your child then hauled them away, because they had the seasonal flu. You have to be checked too. If you catch that flu they haul you away. You have been exposed to the virus but not sick, your body shows antibodies it is successfully battling the flu germ, but maybe they experiment on you too, cause antibodies mean you are sick.
Lots of deaths there, experimental treatments, quick disposal of protestors, who knows. Its run by a ruthless dictator, as your video shows all information is on lockdown, are they telling the world the truth?
In a mega city you will run into lots of virus germs, so your body will be fighting non stop, how do they know for sure this virus is the culprit?
Given the large number of viruses detected in healthy hosts, it is likely that some of the viruses initially found in sick hosts are simply harmless coincidental infections. I dont trust Chinas official line at all.
Central government is what China is all about, dont like it, to prison you go. The hospitals they are building so quickly are prefab prisons they had in storage.
https://www.newsmax.com/scitech/research-sars-hiv-research/2020/02/27/id/955990/
Human testing under way on a possible vaccine.
@kitt, #5:
I think the documentary about Wuhan clearly demonstrates this is something far more dangerous than any seasonal influenza. It’s now present in 47 nations.
@Greg:
I never said it was’nt, Where would you rather be treated the USA or communist china, not one report tells any one about the toxic air pollution as a factor, not one.
The big corporations manufacturing there coudnt get away with the pollution here, the commies dont care. The just hang up suicide nets and work their people to death and blame it on an anteater at the food market.
Biological warfare is in humane and should not exist
February 27, 2020 – Thousands in California being monitored for coronavirus: governor
@Greg: How many inaccurate test kits do they expect in a month for a brand new virus? LAX isnt the only international airport in the USA. The Cali alarmists need to realize that or set all their resources in making their own test kits.
@kitt, #11:
I don’t think public health officials are being alarmist at this point. They’re trying to prepare for what they think is coming. California has the largest Asian-American population of any state in the nation and is a focal point for international travel from Asia. What happens there will be a good indicator of what will soon follow elsewhere.
@Greg: Cali doesnt deserve more than the other States. Just because we have many Polish people here doesnt mean they regularly travel to Poland.
February 28, 2020 – BBC News – Coronavirus: Risk of spread upgraded to highest level
There is a report that COVID-19 was STOLEN by the ChiComs from a Canadian level 4 biolab by a husband & wife team with phony credentials.
I don’t remember where the Canadians got it from but it was legitimate for experimental purposes. I believe the couple has been arrested by the Canadians. My personal opinion is that every ChiCom should be thrown out of every western country, no exceptions.
@Greg: We also have a huge number of &^%$ illegals from every shythole country in the world turd world.
Nature is the most likely source of COVID-19.
March 5, 2020 – A Warning From a Scientist Who Saw the Coronavirus Coming – “It’s our everyday way of going about business on the planet that seems to be driving this.”
March 6, 2020 – WHO warns governments ‘this is not a drill’ as coronavirus infections near 100,000 worldwide
@Greg: So what the hell is news there? There is no major outbreak here in the US, but as soon as those new and improved testing kits are out the numbers will go up and a second 8 billion will be allocated a good share for big fat pharma to develop a shot that as with all flus may not be very effective. The elderly most at risk. You could do your part being a lab rat for them at 100 bucks of tax payers money per visit.
Thee are still only limited things we can do to avoid the kung flu, unless you lock your doors and become a hermit, thats seems to be a silicon valley solution.
March 6, 2020 – Trump postpones CDC visit
Alex Azar is throwing himself on the grenade. If he survives, he may be given a presidential medal.
And here is the liberal 9th Circus helping out.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/03/06/cbp-deploying-crisis-response-force-at-border/
The Getty photo on the linked page shows Honduran immigrants crossing the Suchiate River from Guatemala into Mexico. I don’t believe that’s within the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ legal jurisdiction.
@Greg: Where do you suppose those people are headed? Or, do you think Mexico is welcoming them to mow their yards since so many lawn workers have ventured north?
Actually, the border in Texas is none of the 9th Circus’ business either, yet they do all they can to keep it wide open.
They must have left their lawn mowers behind in Honduras.
March 6, 2020 – Confirmed Coronavirus ‘Cluster’ From Grand Princess Mexican Cruise Continues To Grow
@Greg: Hmmm…. and Democrats want the border open and illegals flowing steadily.
Photo of two men wondering if they’re listening to a lunatic…
Trump’s CDC visit turns into scattershot defense on coronavirus response: Falsely claims tests are fully available, calls Wash. governor ‘a snake’
@Greg: Thankfully we now have a leader in the White House instead of some clown sitting around allowing thousands to die, as Obama did.
It looks like you’re all going to have to buy new Trump hats. The message on the old ones now suggests that greatness has yet to be achieved. Trump is sporting the new and improved model in the photo.
@Greg: I’ll get one during the inauguration.
Try to avoid any Made in China knockoffs.
From FOX News, March 7, 2020 – CPAC attendee tests positive for coronavirus; White House says Trump, Pence not in close proximity
The conference ended one week ago. The estimated coronavirus incubation period is from two days to 14 days. It’s presently thought that the first symptoms appear around day 5, on average.
Maybe more should be done to discourage all sorts of mass gatherings that bring people together in close proximity who subsequently disperse to all parts of the country? We’ll probably only know the answer to that question in retrospect.
@Greg: Yes lets all lock ourselves in our homes and hide. Buy latex suits and fully enclosed oxygen delivery systems for when we go out for supplies. Just pathetic terrified hermits every time a new flu germ gets announced. Voting yes lets not do that the pens are shared, every germ ridden human contaminating those touch screens ahhhhhhhhh we are all going to DIE!
Damn just when I had my MAGA hat bronzed.
@Greg: So, cancel the Democrat primaries, Bernie’s and Joe’s rallies, Schumer gathering people to hear him threaten Supreme Court Justices and any ANTIFA terrorist attacks they may be planning.
February 24, 2020 – US accuses Russia of spreading conspiracies about the Wuhan coronavirus, including that it’s a CIA biological weapon
This should be a popular conspiracy theory in Iran.
@Greg: Anyone getting their news and information from Twitter is a twit.
That said he CIA has been known for some pretty inhuman activities. Especially with mind control and up to plans to slaughter Americans in Florida to spark a war with then Russia backed Cuba.
https://www.thetoptens.com/worst-things-cia-has-done/
@kitt, #35:
Agreed. Unfortunately, millions of people who believe whatever they read there also vote, so it has become a cheap and easy way to leverage public opinion. I don’t know what the solution is. A lot of people seem to be addicted to their cell phones. They’re carrying mass manipulation devices around with them in their pockets. They’re even looking at them while they’re driving.
@Greg: You see there are things we agree on, not much but a few. You pushing fake news that the only source named is none, same as the Russian fantasy of Hillarys making. Do us a favor dont post fake news, the article you posted came out a day after they warned elderly and frail.
They are selling fear and panic for pathetic ghoulish ratings with zero real information.
Brother the real panic is 20,000 have died from the seasonal flu where were your talking heads and the AP on that?
Ive already had my time this year watching 2 grandkids with the flu, picked up in public school so the parents could go to work.
3 days and I nor Sweetie came down with the bug. We didn’t have to go out for anything except 7 up. I already had disinfectant spray and wipes in the cabinet.
I added 2 capfuls of bleach to the dishwater. Its all about common sense, no one from the government told me how to not catch the flu while nursing the kids.
Be advised, the following is not reassuring, but it’s critical, unfiltered information some people might want to know. We’re probably not looking at a short term situation. Forewarned is forearmed.
March 10, 2020 – How Serious is the Coronavirus? Infectious Disease Expert Michael Osterholm Explains
@Greg: No one is under any misunderstanding that COVID-19 is not dangerous and deadly. All the more reason for Democrats to lay off the fear mongering and get with the efforts to contain and fight it.
Me encanta este blog, desde casa seguimos luchando contra el COVID.