3/12/2020 #1 First Place Bat Shit Crazy Award goes to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Zhao Lijian
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday that the U.S. military might have brought the coronavirus to the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has been hardest hit by the outbreak.“When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!” Zhao tweeted in English. China government spokesman says U.S. army might have brought virus to China
‘Bat Soup Girl’ From China Apologizes After Viral Video Leads to Hate Mail and Death Threats
Chinese YouTube celebrity Wang Mengyun aka ‘Bat Soup Girl’ breaks her silence to issue a public apology.
According to a menu posted by the stallholder on Dazhong Dianping — the most popular review and rating app in China, around 100 varieties of live animals and poultry were available, from foxes to wolf cubs and masked palm civets. The civets [skunks] are thought by the World Health Organisation to have been an intermediate host carrying a virus from bats that jumped to humans in a wet market in Guangdong province near Hong Kong that led to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2002-03. Sars killed 774 people worldwide and infected 8,098 in total.
Drug shortages likely from India, China as coronavirus spreads
The global spread of the coronavirus has started to affect the supply of antibiotics and vitamins out of India and China.
While a few factories in India have started producing products again, shortages of some drugs could develop, experts warn.
On Tuesday, authorities in India ordered the country’s pharmaceutical industry to stop exporting 26 drugs and ingredients used in antibiotics without explicit permission from the government. The moves made in India will undoubtedly have an effect on the rest of the world, which relies on the Asian nation’s drug makers for much of its supply of generic drugs.
China hints at denying Americans life-saving coronavirus drugs.
Our response to the coronavirus has been so lackluster that we need to have crucial supplies donated by a Chinese billionaire. I’m grateful this is happening, but it’s worth reflecting on how we arrived at this juncture.
Jack Ma Foundation
The Food and Drug Administration has announced the first drug shortage related to the coronavirus. Though it did not disclose which drug was in short supply, the FDA did say it could not access enough raw components needed because they are made in China.
The United States is a global leader in research, much of the manufacturing of life-saving drugs has moved overseas. The last American manufacturing plant to make a key component in penicillin shuttered in 2004. Since then, Chinese pharmaceuticals companies have moved in and taken over, supplying between 80 percent and 90 percent of U.S. antibiotics, 70 percent of acetaminophen and about 40 percent of heparin, according to Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
#2 Second Place Bat Shit Crazy Award goes to
The Trump Presidency Is Over – The Atlantic
Trump is fundamentally unfit—intellectually, morally, temperamentally, and psychologically—for office. The coronavirus has overwhelmed Donald Trump. Mitch McConnell is taking a 3-day weekend. That’s how little he cares about Americans. Must remember, the guy who is being forced to declare a national emergency today is the same guy who called it a “hoax” two weeks ago and said we’d have “zero” cases of it ten days ago.
The US’s top infectious disease expert said ‘it would be nice’ if Trump hadn’t scrapped the NSC’s global health unit.
MAIL IN BALLOTS
There’s an easy solution to elections in the time of a virus outbreak: Mail in ballots. There’s time for states to arrange for this by November. Only Congress can change the date of the presidential election. This ends with Trump resigning. Even if he gets a 2nd term. Even if he loses the election. Even if it’s before the election.
It costs $1300 for a coronavirus test, not including healthcare costs. Millions of Americans don’t have $400 for an emergency in the bank. How is this system acceptable? VOTE BERNIE
Bernie: “People woke up with coronavirus symptoms today but can’t afford to go to the doctor. When somebody is not treated for the virus because they can’t afford it, that means that infection can spread.” Millions of people lacking insurance threatens us all. In his second address about Coronavirus, Bernie Sanders makes the case for Medicare For All. “We are only as safe as the least insured person in America.” Next week’s primaries will go on, election officials from AZ, FL, IL & OH announce. Steps being taken to make them as safe as possible, and folks are encouraged to vote early/by mail where available
* The nation’s top expert on infectious diseases said it would be
nice if a global-health unit that President Donald Trump scrapped
were still around.
* Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told House lawmakers, “It would
be nice if the office were still there.”
* Fauci said that the bottom line for the coronavirus outbreak in
the US is that “it’s going to get worse.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-would-be-nice-trump-hadnt-scrapped-nsc-global-health-2020-3
MEANWHILE . . .
Pneumonia. Urgent care + ER say “all the markers” of COVID-19. ER wouldn’t test, only “severe” cases. Sent home. Family got sick.
Fever is the most common symptom of the coronavirus, seen in nearly 90 percent of patients. About a fifth of people experience shortness of breath, often including a cough and congestion. Many also feel fatigued.
GMs.
Deng’s doctor prescribed a regimen of arbidol, an antiviral medicine used to treat the flu in Russia and China; Tamiflu, another flu medicine more popular internationally; and Kaletra, an HIV medicine thought to block the replication of the virus. Ms. Deng was taking at least 12 pills a day, as well as traditional Chinese medicine. China defines a critically ill patient as someone with respiratory failure, shock or organ failure. Around 5 percent of infected patients became critical in China, Testing can be faulty, and negative results don’t necessarily mean patients are in the clear. NYT
https://www.drugs.com/kaletra.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810626/
Tamiflu Generic Name: oseltamivir phosphate
Senegal: 10 minute Covid-19 Test
test kits that will be produced by DiaTropix, UK-based laboratory Mologic working with scientists in Senegal to make a diagnostic test for coronavirus that can produce test results within 10 minutes, the company said. MAP
– Senegal is to make a positive impact in the push for a solution to the coronavirus pandemic spreading across the world
– The African country is now to produce a testing kit with the ability to detect coronavirus in just 10 minutes
– The country is doing this in Dakar, its capital, collaboration with the United Kingdom
Politicians, Community Leaders and Business Leaders: What Should You Do and When?
White House told federal health agency to classify coronavirus deliberations
How Taiwan Used Big Data, Transparency and a Central Command to Protect Its People from Coronavirus
Amazing Report from Shanghai
When the first waves of plague swept medieval Europe, the disease killed
both the rich and the poor indiscriminately. In July 1348, King Edward III
of …
“Especially at moments like this, everyone crowds around,” said Kizzmekia Corbett, an NIH research fellow leading the vaccine development. When her team sent word of the positive results, “it was absolutely amazing.”
Dozens of research groups around the world are racing to create a vaccine as COVID-19 cases continue to grow.
At this point into their re-election year, the Dow Jones:
Up 65% under Obama
Up 11% under Trump