Wuhan virus 2020

[Rockstar]

This is interesting back in 2013 the U.S. government stopped funding to gain-of-function (GOF) experiments of SARS, MERS and influenza. But its not the warm and fuzzy healing we are the world kind of study. Scary stuff, especially since it wasnt so much about the actual study and experiments but because of the "biosafety and biosecurity risks, which need to be understood better". I can only imagine if we were doing this everyone else has been too, can anyone say Wuhan?
https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we...ction-research

“GOF studies” refers to scientific research that increases the ability of any of these infectious agents to cause disease by enhancing its pathogenicity or by increasing its transmissibility among mammals by respiratory droplets.

Also I would add that all these headlines touting those ever so smart state intel services concluding this or that is IMHO utter horse crap. You know ,those same infallible intel services which every one knows and trusts who let 911 slip through, anthrax letters to be sent, and just recently involved themselves in our internal politics to sway public opinion during the impeachment boondoggle? I've read several papers and even linked to one very early on in this thread. Not one of them conclude anything. They all state using current methods of scientific study and comparisons there is nothing to lead them to believe COVID-19 was man made. But each one of them left the door open to other possibility.

I can almost guarantee you science communities and intel services will be looking at this for a long time. But for now there will be no wars. I imagine if they did come out and say it was man made we would probably be involved in one right now.

[Rockstar]

If it did happen to originate from a fish market or some other benign location I really dont see the necessity for secrecy and clamping down on information even from a state like China. Unless of course they actually thought it did originate from the Wuhan lab. From what I hear it wouldn't be the first time it had trouble following bio security protocols.



The other thing is Trump said it did, which is why (for the moment) I believe it probably did originate from the lab. Simply because he cant keep his mouth shut. He probably heard it from one of his intel briefs and if you ever really paid attention to him and not the media. He is very egocentric, it's about him and nothing else. He loves making himself the center of attention always trying to impress others with his great ideas and how smart he is. Seems to me he wouldn't even allow something as important as national security stand in the way of his ego.


Thats my story and Im sticking too it.

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

If it did happen to originate from a fish market or some other benign location I really dont see the necessity for secrecy and clamping down on information even from a state like China.

You're not taking into account just how important saving face is there. They just can't say okay, my bad.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

You're not taking into account just how important saving face is there. They just can't say okay, my bad.

If it were just nature taking its course or if you will an act of god. What would be the need for secrecy or saving face for something you have no control over? On the flip side, it could have been a knee jerk reaction of a communist state too I guess. I'm just not prepared to rule out one for the other just yet.

[Onkel Neal]

Cops hunt for person wearing creepy 17th-century plague doctor costume

Cops have received several reports about the freaky faux-doctor amid the coronavirus crisis and plan to give them a warning in the form of “words of advice,” the paper reported.

Give him a warning in words of advise? What does that mean? Is he breaking the law?

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

If it were just nature taking its course or if you will an act of god. What would be the need for secrecy or saving face for something you have no control over? On the flip side, it could have been a knee jerk reaction of a communist state too I guess. I'm just not prepared to rule out one for the other just yet.

You do realize this is China we're talking about here? And we are talking about a rather hardcore Communist government, at that? China, like other Communist governments, is very, very loathe to disclose much information about its internal activities, in general, and its governmental activities, in particular. Asian countries have a long history and tradition of playing matters very close to the vest; this is one of the reasons the area was called the "Mysterious East". There is also the fact that pretty much any government goes to great lengths to quell any discussion/disclosure that could even in the slightest be embarrassing or prejudicial, even if the cause were out of their hands...


Speaking of governments going out of its way to conceal embarrassment and trying to prevent disclosure, the White House has blocked the House Committee tasked with oversight of the CDC from calling any of te top officials of the CDC, NIH, etc., from testifying about the Administration's handling of the Covid-19 responses; those banned from testifying includes Dr. Fauci; I guess the Administration doesn't think we citizens and voters can handle the truth...


There is a new candidate to join the ranks of possible future unemployment, alongside Drs. Fauci and Birx: Dr. Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the CDC, who has just published a report detailing the woefully inadequate response by the Administration in handling Covid-19:


Health official says US missed some chances to slow virus --

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/heal...225240114.html

President Donald Trump has repeatedly celebrated a federal decision, announced on Jan. 31, to stop entry into the U.S. of any foreign nationals who had traveled to China in the previous 14 days. That took effect Feb. 2. China had imposed its own travel restrictions earlier, and travel out of its outbreak areas did indeed drop dramatically.


But in her article, Schuchat noted that nearly 2 million travelers arrived in the U.S. from Italy and other European countries during February. The U.S. government didn’t block travel from there until March 11.


“The extensive travel from Europe, once Europe was having outbreaks, really accelerated our importations and the rapid spread,” she told the AP. ”I think the timing of our travel alerts should have been earlier.”
She also noted in the article that more than 100 people who had been on nine separate Nile River cruises during February and early March had come to the U.S. and tested positive for the virus, nearly doubling the number of known U.S. cases at that time.


The article is carefully worded, but Schwartz saw it as a notable departure from the White House narrative.



“This report seems to challenge the idea that the China travel ban in late January was instrumental in changing the trajectory of this pandemic in the United States,” he said.

This is a link to the CDC website with the actual report:


Public Health Response to the Initiation and Spread of Pandemic COVID-19 in the United States, February 24–April 21, 2020 --

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/...cid=mm6918e2_w


This link is to a PDF version of the printed report: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/...mm6918e2-H.pdf


Note the report is referred to as a "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)"; M&M is more often seen as a function in hospitals and other health institutions to determine the causes of deficiencies in handling cases, particularly cases resulting in death(s) and to develop means of avoid repeats of the failures...





<O>

[vienna]

Almost forget this piece of good news; the ventilators developed by CalTech (home of NASA rocket scientists) in Pasadena has been approved by the FDA for use in treating Covid-19 patients; the ventilators, as noted in a previous post, are vastly simplified, easier to construct from readily available parts sources, and cost about 1/8 - 1/10 of models currently available...

The icing on the cake is NASA is offering licenses for the the manufacture of the ventilator for free to companies seeking to produce the devices:


NASA-Developed Ventilator Authorized by FDA for Emergency Use --

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7655





<O>

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Adults in Spain are being allowed to exercise outside for the first time in seven weeks.

Thousands register interest in taking part in a UK trial to see if blood plasma from survivors can help those in hospital.

The US Food and Drug Administration gives emergency approval for the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir.

A nursing home in New York has reported 98 deaths linked to coronavirus.

Austria is allowing thousands of shops to reopen, as well as hairdressers and beauty salons.

UK government says the target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests has been met - but critics say the numbers are misleading.

The lockdown has seen a huge fall in murders in El Salvador, one of the world's most violent countries.

[Jimbuna]

Passengers travelling on Eurostar from the UK must wear a face mask or face covering from Monday in line with guidelines from the French and Belgian governments.

Spaniards have made the most of the latest easing of the national lockdown, as they have taken to the streets in droves since early this morning.

Russian Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev has gone to hospital with coronavirus, just a day after the prime minister did so.

Malaysian authorities are rounding up undocumented migrants as part of efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus, the country’s police chief Abdul Hamid Bador said.

When it comes to political satire during this pandemic, Xinhua - China's state news agency - has gone to some length with an animated film that takes a cheeky swipe at the US. It has been produced in response to the Trump Administration's criticism of the country over coronavirus.
Once Upon a Virus uses animated Lego characters to depict both sides, with the US represented by the Statue of Liberty and China by a historic warrior.

[Jimbuna]

Latest developments in Asia and Australia

The Indian government has made it compulsory for all public and private sector workers to use a smartphone app designed to trace people who may have been infected with coronavirus. The Aarogya Setu app alerts users who have come in contact with people later found to have Covid-19. India has recorded 37,336 cases and 1,223 deaths.

Meanwhile in Australia, more than four million people have downloaded a contact-tracing app but the information it gathers is not yet available, broadcaster ABC reports. Health chiefs say privacy rules and final tests are still being carried out. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called the COVIDSafe app "a ticket" to easing restrictions.

Singapore has announced a timetable to ease coronavirus measures. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine will resume some activities from Tuesday and other businesses such as hairdressers and laundry services will be allowed to operate from 12 May. On Friday the city-state's oldest coronavirus survivor, 102-year-old Madam Yap Lay Hong, was discharged from hospital. There have been more than 17,500 cases in Singapore but only 16 deaths.

Thailand, meanwhile, reported six more cases of Covid-19, taking the total to 2,966. The number of deaths stays the same at 54

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

When it comes to political satire during this pandemic, Xinhua - China's state news agency - has gone to some length with an animated film that takes a cheeky swipe at the US. It has been produced in response to the Trump Administration's criticism of the country over coronavirus.
Once Upon a Virus uses animated Lego characters to depict both sides, with the US represented by the Statue of Liberty and China by a historic warrior.

They score several valid points, one has to admit that.


But they have some misdeeds of theirs to hide, too. Mainly in the statistics and numbers reporting, and changing calculation methods to hide unwanted information about the situation in their home country.

Also the quality of protective equipment they deliver on order, varies wildly.

The Polarized States of Trump however have made a clown of themselves, all by themselves.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by vienna

You do realize this is China we're talking about here? And we are talking about a rather hardcore Communist government, at that? China, like other Communist governments, is very, very loathe to disclose much information about its internal activities, in general, and its governmental activities, in particular. Asian countries have a long history and tradition of playing matters very close to the vest; this is one of the reasons the area was called the "Mysterious East". There is also the fact that pretty much any government goes to great lengths to quell any discussion/disclosure that could even in the slightest be embarrassing or prejudicial, even if the cause were out of their hands...

<O>

I agree with ya buddy. But I still cant let go the coincidence of the lab being just a few blocks away from the wet market. Reports that Wuhan lab has been seen as a bio-security risk for several years. Coupled with Wonder Bread's ego letting fly something he may have heard during one of his intel briefs.

China I think kept the lid on it because it would be extremely embarrassing to be caught screwing up AGAIN. Anyway, the narrative MUST lead us to believe it wasnt the Chinese government or the Wuhan Lab otherwise something worse than the virus might happen.

[Platapus]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/dogs...ing-out-virus/


Dogs Are Joining the Fight Against COVID-19 By Learning to Sniff Out the Virus

For years, dogs have been helping to keep humans safe by sniffing out narcotics, improvised explosive devices, pests, natural disasters, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and now—yes, you guessed it—the novel coronavirus.
A medical charity in England that has successfully trained dogs to detect malaria is now attempting to train man’s best friend to identify the smell of COVID-19.


The charity, called Medical Detection Dogs, is partnering with the Tropical Medicine and Hygiene School in London along with Durham University to begin trialing dogs for the job. Dr. Claire Guest, a behavioral psychologist and principal member of the charity told CTV News that there is “absolutely no reason why a dog can’t detect the virus.”


Describing its approach as “rigorously scientific,” Medical Detection Dogs has produced more than a dozen peer-reviewed papers during their work training dogs to smell and detect cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and most recently malaria, the people behind which have reunited to give COVID a shot.

“The aim is that dogs will be able to screen anyone, including those who are asymptomatic and tell us whether they need to be tested. This would be fast, effective and non-invasive and make sure the limited NHS testing resources are only used where they are really needed,” writes Guest on the Medical Detection Dogs website.

“We know that other respiratory diseases like COVID-19, change our body odor so there is a very high chance that dogs will be able to detect it. This new diagnostic tool could revolutionize our response to COVID-19 in the short term, but particularly in the months to come, and could be profoundly impactful.”


According to CTV News, who 4 years ago covered the enterprising Kiwi—a Golden Retriever being trained to sniff out disease—Medical Detection Dogs has previously worked with prostate cancer and the detection rate was catalogued at as high as 80%.


Professor Steve Lindsay at Durham University says: “If the research is successful, we could use COVID-19 detection dogs at airports at the end of the epidemic to rapidly identify people carrying the virus. This would help prevent the re-emergence of the disease after we have brought the present epidemic under control.”

We will have to see how this research goes.

[Platapus]

In any crisis, there are people who are looking for someone to blame and then there are people looking to find ways to help.


https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/lego...ve-face-masks/

The LEGO Group is offering their assistance to healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis by using their facilities to produce thousands of protective facial visors.


According to an Instagram post that was published by LEGO earlier this week, the company’s Billund-based factory in Denmark has reworked some of their machinery to make more than 13,000 plastic masks per day. The masks will reportedly be distributed to hospitals and medical facilities across the country.


Although these visors do not offer the same kind of protection as N95 masks, individuals and businesses around the world have been producing the plastic shields—as well as homemade cloth masks—for medical workers to use as additional protection in high-risk areas.


“This week we began to make visors at our factory in Billund for healthcare workers on the frontline in Denmark,” wrote the company. “We are so incredibly proud of the team who made this happen. They worked around the clock to create designs and make moulds that can produce more than 13,000 visors a day. We are grateful to have such talented, dedicated and caring colleagues.”

LEGO also announced this week that they would be donating 500,000 brick sets to children in need during the novel coronavirus outbreaks. The company did not specify how the sets would be distributed, but they did ask their social media fans to show additional support to the NHS by building a LEGO brick rainbow in solidarity.


This is not the first time that corporations have stepped forward to help during the COVID-19 crisis. Famed engineer and inventor James Dyson designed a ventilator for the UK government in just 10 days—and then he volunteered to donate 5,000 of the devices.



IKEA staffers also donated 50,000 N95 masks to a Swedish hospital after they discovered the coveted masks collecting dust in a warehouse.



A Chinese tech company sent tens of thousands of respirator masks to Italian hospitals hard-hit by the virus.



The New England Patriots even made headlines last week after they used their private team jet to transport 1.2 million N95 masks from China to New York and Boston hospitals in need.