Saturday,  Apr 25th, 2020

Video animated coronavirus

WHO says there’s ‘no evidence’ people can’t get second coronavirus infection The World Health Organization on Saturday warned countries against issuing so-called coronavirus “immunity passports” to recovered patients because there’s “no evidence” they are protected from a second infection. As things stand, the United Nations agency believes such actions could increase the risks of the virus’ spread. The WHO, however, will continue to monitor antibody responses to get a better sense of whether people can develop immunity and, if so, for how long. Several countries have tinkered with the idea of creating some form of immunity certificate that would allow recovered patients and those with antibody to return to work during the pandemic. Chile was the first country to officially announce it planned to do so.  Source: Reuters, Bloomberg

Some countries begin easing coronavirus lockdowns  India announced Friday the relaxation of some aspects of its strict coronavirus pandemic lockdown measures. Some neighborhood stores are allowed to re-open, but only those situated outside of hotspots. Greece, which has received praise for its early actions in combating the pandemic, as well as for its citizens’ adherence to guidelines, is reportedly preparing to gradually reverse its lockdown measures beginning on May 4 when small shops, hairdressers, barbers, and beauticians will be allowed to go back to work. Greece’s actions largely prevented a major outbreak — the country has 2,490 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 130 confirmed deaths. In the United States, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Alaska have also eased some restrictions, though they all include limitations.Source: The Guardian

U.S. hits 50,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, outpacing expert predictions  The United States crossed a grim threshold on Friday, officially recording its 50,000th death attributed to COVID-19. The U.S. now accounts for almost a third of the confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, and more than a quarter of the deaths. Many experts believe the toll of the disease in the U.S. is being underreported, due to insufficient testing and excess mortalities. America’s confirmed coronavirus deaths have now outpaced predictions by experts, who estimated last week that 47,000 would be dead by May 1, a number the country instead hit on Wednesday, April 22. “Just a few days from now,” writes The New Yorker, “more Americans will have died from COVID-19 than the entire toll from the Vietnam War.” The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., contains 58,320 names. Source: The New Yorker

Trump claims disinfectant comments were sarcastic after doctor condemnation  President Trump on Friday claimed he was being sarcastic when he suggested health officials look into treating COVID-19 with measures like injecting disinfectants or hitting lungs with a “tremendous” amount of ultraviolet or “very powerful light.” His comments were widely criticized, and health experts slammed his suggestion, which came during one of Trump’s widely-viewed coronavirus briefings, as “irresponsible” and “dangerous,” seeing as disinfectants can be poisonous or deadly if ingested or injected, which Lysol warned. Trump said he brought it up “sarcastically to reporters” to “see what would happen.” The speculation about disinfectants was not interpreted as a joke by many viewers: The state of Maryland confirmed it had “received several calls regarding questions about disinfectant use” as it pertains to curing COVID-19.  Source: The New York Times

CBO predicts nearly 40 percent GDP drop this quarter  The Congressional Budget Office on Friday predicted the U.S. GDP will contract 39.6 percent year over year during the second fiscal quarter of the year, which runs from April through June. The nonpartisan group forecasts an 11.8 percent drop from Q1 of 2020. The CBO ascribes the massive contraction to the coronavirus pandemic and “the social distancing measures put in place to contain it.” It predicts economic activity will restart in Q3, leading to a 5.4 percent growth year over year in that quarter, or a 23.5 percent jump from Q2. The CBO says the unemployment rate will only continue to grow, hitting an estimated 16 percent in Q3, and efforts to mitigate the economic woes are expected to lead to a federal deficit of $3.7 trillion by the end of 2020. Source: Congressional Budget Office

The separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) announces the establishment of a self-ruled administration in southern Yemen, which the internationally-recognized government describes as “catastrophic”. STC forces are deployed in the city of Aden as emergency rule is declared. (Reuters)

The Lost Apple Project, a non-profit conservationist society based in the Pacific Northwest, announces the rediscovery of ten cultivars of apples previously thought to be extinct. The decad almost doubles the total amount of species the society has rescued, bringing the total to 23. (CNN)

 

Friday,  Apr 24th, 2020

Trump signs $484 billion coronavirus relief bill  President Trump on Friday signed a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill after it was passed by both chambers of Congress this week. The relief package includes more than $300 billion to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides forgivable loans to small businesses and recently ran out of money. It also includes $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for coronavirus testing but does not include money for states and local governments. Lawmakers will turn to the next phase of coronavirus relief after the passage of this interim bill, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he wants the full Senate to return to Washington. Source: Axios

The Saudi-led coalition announces the extension of a unilateral ceasefire by one month to fight the pandemic. The Houthis did not accept the coalition’s previous ceasefire that expired Thursday. Reportedly, the Houthis “want a lifting of air and sea blockades imposed by the coalition to the regions they control before agreeing to a ceasefire”. (Reuters)

 

 

Thursday, Apr 23rd, 2020

 

Over the last week, 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits. Since mid-March, 26.4 million have filed, which is more than 15 percent of the workforce. (BBC)

Facebook removes “pseudoscience” and “conspiracy theory” as options for targeted ads, as criticism mounts against social media for their role in spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. (Reuters)

50 crew members on the cruise ship Costa Atlantica test positive for COVID-19 after it docks in Nagasaki, Japan. (Reuters)

 

Wednesday,  Apr 22th, 2020

The Department of Health and Social Care reports 4,451 new confirmed cases and 759 more deaths from COVID-19, bringing the United Kingdom’s death toll to 18,100 and 133,495 total cases. (ITV)

The Indian Council of Medical Research advises states to pause rapid tests for two days, following reports of invalid results. (CNN)

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deploys the country’s first military satellite, using a new satellite carrier called “Ghased” (“Messenger”). (Deutsche Welle)

 

The Good

The following is part of an article by one of my favorite writers. Jim Howard Kunstler has been writing social criticism. he’s not always correct in his predictions but I have found him to be reliable in his observations over the years.

Warning: it is pessimistic. Do read read further if you are already having a bad day. I provide the link to the full article at the end.

“Probably the biggest argument is over the seriousness of the disease itself. The statistical through-put of the moment appears to underwhelm the models the USA and Europe constructed at the onset of the plague. At least, that is, far fewer people have died, and of those, mostly the very old and those burdened with chronic illnesses ­– but also quite a few doctors and nurses in the prime of life. The statistical model is queered by many other uncertainties: is this really the peak? Does the plague come raging back if people go back to circulating freely? Can you catch it again? Will it return in waves next fall and spring? We have those models and pockets full of suppositions, theories, terrors.

Here’s what I think about the disease just now (subject to further evidence): it’s not just another flu. It operates differently, it’s more lethal, it affects many organs and can damage them permanently, and it spreads rapidly. That seems to have been the consensus of public health officials the world round who promoted the lockdown policy ­– and it’s hard to believe that they all got snookered into that. I have no idea (or opinion) whether Covid-19 was engineered, either as a bio-weapon or a good-faith science project gone awry… or whether some hapless gourmet got it at the Wild Animal Cafe.

The plague didn’t cause the economic crash. But the lockdown response certainly accelerated, amplified, and ramified it. The crash happened because we built up a hyper-complex, over-scaled, just-in-time economic system with all its ecological redundancy edited out for the sake of efficiency, making it hyper-fragile. The system’s basic power module (fossil fuel) was failing on a cost-basis and we tried to compensate for that with debt. The debt got out of hand in both sheer quantity and from the dishonest games that bankers and politicians were playing with it. All of this happened for the reason that most things happen in history: it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The old system is permanently broken now. We’re having a hard time recognizing that, plague or no plague. Many activities have flunked the scale challenge and will not come back to running the way they used to, generally anything organized at the giant scale: global supply chains, global corporations that depend on them, fracking for shale oil, big institutions like colleges and even public school systems, commercial aviation and tourism, the auto industry, show business (including the Disney empire and things like it), suburbia as a general proposition, skyscrapers and megastructures, shopping malls, pension funds, insurance companies, mega-banks, and, of course, medical conglomerates. We’re deceived by Amazon.com, which appears to be successful at the moment because it is filling a vacuum that Amazon will also eventually fall into. Amazon’s business model is a joke. The model is: every item purchased makes a separate journey by truck to the customer. That’s a “sell” signal to me.

The lockdown is making people crazy. It’s one thing to be stuck in the house with spouses and relatives you can barely stand under normal circumstances. But to see all your financial support systems melt down at the same time, along with the implications for your hopes-and-dreams, is a pretty big shock. Naturally so many want to bust out of the waking nightmare and get going, to return to action, to at least see whether what they were doing before all this happened might restart.”
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/turning-and-churning/

Wednesday,  Apr. 22nd, 2020

[Monday]New data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array and Hubble Space Telescope, published in the Nature Astronomy journal, suggests interstellar comet 2I/Borisov contains large amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide. The new findings suggest the object was formed in the cold outer region of its planetary system. (BBC)

Unrest breaks out in Paris, Berlin, and in Vladikavkaz as people oppose lockdowns. (The Guardian)

[Monday]Seoul-based Daily NK reports North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is recuperating from a heart procedure done earlier this month, after his disappearance from various events led to speculation about his health. (Reuters)

CDC director warns second wave of coronavirus could be ‘even more difficult’  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield on Tuesday warned that in the winter, a second wave of the coronavirus could be “even more difficult than the one we just went through” because it will likely coincide with the beginning of flu season. “When I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean,” Redfield told The Washington Post. “We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.” Having concurrent coronavirus and flu outbreaks would overwhelm hospitals, Redfield said, and federal and state officials must use the next few months to get prepared for a rough winter. He suggested officials continue to encourage social distancing, increase testing, and remind Americans during the fall to get their flu shots. Source: The Washington Post

[Monday] Germany reopens shops, but Chancellor Angela Merkel warns of a second coronavirus wave in the country. (The Guardian)

Senate passes $484 billion coronavirus relief package Congress has come to an agreement on a new coronavirus relief package, with the Senate passing it Tuesday evening by a voice vote. The House is expected to vote on the package Thursday. The bill’s price tag comes out to $484 billion, with about $320 billion going to the Paycheck Protection Program, as the fund for small business loans recently ran out of money, Politico reports. Additionally, the bill includes $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for coronavirus testing. The bill, Axios notes, also has “carve-outs so that community businesses and lenders don’t have to fight bigger businesses and banks for the same funding,” something Democrats had been pushing for.Source: Politico

California endorses coronavirus testing for people without symptoms California is changing who is eligible for coronavirus testing, becoming the first state to broaden the strict federal guidelines. Public health officials on Tuesday said they are now recommending that asymptomatic people who work at places where the coronavirus could spread easily, like prisons or nursing homes, get tested, labeling them “Priority 1.” The federal guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list hospitalized patients and health care workers displaying coronavirus symptoms as the primary people to receive testing. People who do not show any symptoms are a non-priority. Bob Kocher, a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) task force on testing, told the Los Angeles Times that combined, high-volume labs in the state are able to run more than 80,000 coronavirus tests every day. Source: Los Angeles Times

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces that the state will begin testing residents for COVID-19 antibodies as the state plans to reopen the economy. (Politico)

Missouri becomes the first U.S. state to file a lawsuit against the Chinese government over the coronavirus pandemic, claiming the government is responsible for the virus’s negative impact on the state’s economy and that the nation is “hoarding” masks. (Reuters)

The Lebanese Parliament legalizes cannabis farming for medicinal purposes, in hopes that it will bring revenue to the country. (Reuters)

A man kills his wife, brother and seven others in Baakline, Lebanon, in the country’s worst mass shooting in years, before being arrested. It is suspected they were honor killings. (Reuters)

 

Tuesday,  Apr. 21st, 2020

[Monday]Swedish auto manufacturer Volvo Cars resumes full production at its plant in Torslanda, Sweden, which had been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic since March 26, 2020. (Just Auto)

[Monday]U.S. oil prices for May contract settle at an all-time low, finishing down over 300% to −$37.63 per barrel. (Market Watch)

[Monday]United Airlines reports a $2.1 billion loss in the first quarter of this year, blaming restrictions on the aviation industry due to the coronavirus pandemic. (CNBC)

Russia reports 5,642 new confirmed cases and 51 more deaths from COVID-19, the highest daily death toll in the country to date, bringing Russia’s death toll to 456 and 52,763 total cases. (TASS)

A 56-year-old urologist becomes the first Russian doctor to die from COVID-19 at a hospital in Moscow. (The Moscow Times)

 

 

Monday,  Apr 20th, 2020

Miami Police disperses crowds who violated social distancing guidelines during David Guetta’s coronavirus relief concert in the city. (ABC News)

Citing jobs and the ongoing pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump announces he will sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration to the United States. (The Hill)

Saudi Arabia announces the Great Mosque of Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the two holiest mosques in Islam, will remain closed throughout Ramadan this year. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says that the country will ease its lockdown on April 27 if progress is maintained. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White Alliance leader Benny Gantz agree on a deal to form a unity government, thus ending more than a year of political deadlock. As part of the deal, Netanyahu will hold onto his position for 18 more months, with Gantz replacing him afterwards. (The Times of Israel)

The Wuhan Zall football team returns to Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, after their lockdown restrictions have been lifted. (ABC News)

 

 The End

 

Starting the sixth week of a lockdown in Boston that began in earnest Tuesday, March 17th, St.Patrick’s Day, 2020.

One thing I think I’m seeing the last week, and I can’t be sure, is the appearance of more actual old-style news in “the news.”

There are actually a relatively high frequency of murders, and international relations incidents, and other “stuff” being reported in contrast to the ongoing, constant, slo-motion COVID-19 Olympics saga.

Okay, focus. Back on topic.

Here’s a story you don’t even have to read – just the headline – to understand how none of the numbers really mean anything. Nigeria has a population of 196 million, two-thirds as big as the United States. Chalks up only 17 deaths, but one of them is the chief-of-staff to the President. Go figure.

Nigerian Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari dies from COVID-19 in Lagos. Kyari is the highest profile person to die from the virus in Nigeria so far. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reports 493 total cases and 17 deaths from COVID-19. (Reuters)

And then suffers more deaths in some vague insurgent action. Some might say COVID-19 is the least of their worries.

Gunmen raid multiple villages in Nigeria’s Katsina State, killing at least 47 people, according to police. (Reuters)

Globally, the virus has plateaued in the last week as far as the reported numbers show, killing a steady 7,000 people a day with about 80,000 new cases each day. The good news is it doesn’t appear to be spreading as fast as a month ago. The bad news is there is really no evidence it is slowing down overall and it might actually be spreading faster but it is happening in places like Africa, India, Brazil, and Mexico with huge populations and lacking the resources to test for the virus or care for the sick or even record the cases.

Meanwhile,  in parts of the United States which have been lightly infected and fail to observe any cataclysmic effects of the pandemic there is a nascent movement to end the lockdown, send people back to work and restart the economy.

The reality is that 20% of the population of the United States is infected at an average rate of about 6 people per thousand. While the other 80% of the country is only infected at an average of under 1.5 per one thousand. The only part of the country infected at above 20 per 1000 is New York City. And that is only 2% of the population. Of those confirmed infected about 1 in 10 are hospitalized. And of those hospitalized, about 1 in 10 again end up dying.

There are reports and a fair amount of anecdotal evidence suggesting for every confirmed positive case there are ten more cases who show no symptoms meaning a lot more people have been infected and are hopefully immune. But the is little hard data in the form of random “anti-body” testing on significant parts of the population.

This has been promised for a couple of weeks now by the CDC and has been suggested as a requirement for opening up the economy, yet not much has come of that talk. It is an obvious failure of our corporate-commercial-university-big-pharma system.

Going forward we would do well to converting at least a quarter of our $1 Trillion-plus annual military/national-security budget to actual “defense.” The institution is called the Defense Department or the Department of Defense. In recent years it has  focused on rather vague threats like terrorism an global warming.

Maybe we should consider drafting everybody after high-school into a national medical service along the lines of the National Guard, but without guns. Train everybody to be an army medic, how to take blood, administer tests, setup quarantine/isolation units. Set up regional supply depots of N95 masks, gloves, and PPE equipment, along with respirators, ventilators, drugs, and anything else certain hotspots might need in the next pandemic.

And if you don’t want to do that, you can try out for the Navy SeALs or Delta Force. Why isn’t Joe Biden suggesting something like this? Why do I have to bring it up?

 

Sunday, Apr. 19th, 2020

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces that the state will begin testing residents for COVID-19 antibodies as the state plans to reopen the economy. (Politico)

China revises the coronavirus death toll upward in Wuhan, where the virus originated, adding 1,290 more fatalities to bring the country’s reported deaths from COVID-19 to 4,632. (BBC)

Over 2,000 Israelis protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of endangering democracy in the country and using the coronavirus crisis to escape prosecution on corruption charges. (ABC News)

Trump says protesters demanding end to coronavirus lockdowns have ‘cabin fever’ President Trump on Sunday said that people who are calling on state governments to lift coronavirus stay-at-home orders have “cabin fever” and “want their life back.” There have been protests in some cities, with demonstrators shouting that they should be able to go back to work despite coronavirus continuing to spread across the country. Trump was asked by a reporter about a series of tweets he wrote on Friday, including one stating, “LIBERATE Virginia, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” Trump denied that he was inciting violence. He instead praised the protesters, saying he had “never seen so many American flags at a rally as I’ve seen at these rallies. These people love our country. They want to get back to work.” Source: The Guardian

Pelosi says lawmakers are ‘close’ on more coronavirus aid House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday during an appearance on ABC’s This Week that lawmakers are “very close to an agreement” on more coronavirus aid, echoing earlier reports that Republicans and Democrats are closing in on a solution. Pressure has been mounting for Congress to end its stalemate and pass the next phase of funding quickly; the small business relief fund has been depleted and 22 million Americans have lost their jobs over the last month. But Republicans and Democrats have clashed over the latter’s preference to include more money for state and local governments, as well as hospitals. Source: Politico

U.S. coronavirus death toll surpasses 40,000 As of Sunday evening, more than 40,000 people have died of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more coronavirus cases than any other country, with over 755,500 confirmed cases reported. On Sunday, President Trump said he will use the Defense Production Act to compel a company to make more swabs for coronavirus testing. Two people with knowledge of the matter told CNN the company is Maine-based Puritan Medical Products, which makes flocked swabs. Source: CNN

Hong Kong police arrest at least 14 pro-democracy activists in raid Police in Hong Kong arrested at least 14 pro-democracy activists Saturday in connection with the city’s mass demonstrations throughout last year. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai and former legislators Martin Lee, Albert Ho, Leung Kwok-hung, and Au Nok-Hin were among those arrested. Lee is reportedly considered the founding father of Hong Kong’s democratic movement and helped write the city’s Basic Law when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Per Al Jazeera, the raids were the biggest crackdown on the movement since the anti-government protests began last June. Because of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, tensions between Beijing and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement had eased slightly in recent months as the focus shifted to the virus. Source:  Deutsche Welle

A killing spree occurs in the small coastal town of Portapique, near Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. At least 17 people are dead, including the perpetrator and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, thus making it the deadliest rampage in Canadian history. (CBC News)

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards announces it has increased patrols of the Persian Gulf following a confrontation between its Navy and the U.S.’s on Wednesday, and warns that “any error in calculation on [a foreign vessel’s] part will receive a decisive response”. (Reuters)

Mario Matthew Gatti of Pennsylvania, wanted for murder, is arrested at Jacksonville Beach, Florida. (Daily Beast)

South Korea, Spain, Israel continue coronavirus progress as Russia sees spike in cases The trajectory of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic continues to vary around the world. South Korea, which has garnered praise for its handling of the crisis, reported only eight new coronavirus cases Sunday, the first time the number has fallen into single digits since mid-February. Seoul extended its social distancing policy for 16 more days, but has begun to ease some restrictions. Elsewhere, Spain recorded its lowest daily death toll since March 22. Madrid is expected to extend its lockdown through early May, but is also likely to loosen some components, including allowing children to go outside. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his country has “succeeded in [its] mission so far” as infection rates have declined over the past two weeks. Consequently, some businesses will be allowed to reopen. Russia, meanwhile, added 6,060 new cases Sunday, the country’s largest one day jump.  Source: CNBC

 

Saturday,  Sat 18th, 2020

Trump announces $19 billion plan to help agriculture sector during pandemic President Trump announced Friday that the United States Department of Agriculture will offer $16 billion in direct grants to farmers and ranchers who are struggling amid the novel COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, the department will purchase $3 billion in fresh produce, dairy, and meat to distribute to food banks, community organizations, and charities. The money will come from the $2.2 trillion congressional coronavirus economic relief bill, as well as separate USDA funds. The payments, which are expected to go out at the end of May, will reportedly account for 85 percent of farmers’ and ranchers’ losses between Jan. 1 and April 15. The plan also seeks to address disruptions in the supply chain by using commercial distributors like Cisco to package bulk products into pre-approved boxes of dairy, meat, and produce products. Source: ABC News

Some Florida beaches reopen amid pandemic Beaches and parks reopened in and around Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday afternoon with the permission of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) amid the novel COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. People are supposed to continue to practice social distancing in the recreation, most of which will only be accessible between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. each day. Chairs, coolers, sunbathing, towels, and blankets are not allowed, as exercise — not lounging — is meant to serve as the primary reason for people to head to the beach, but that reportedly wasn’t the case Friday when people, many without masks, were reportedly seen lounging on a crowded Jacksonville Beach. Officials have said they aren’t afraid to close beaches again if people don’t abide by the restrictions. Source:  CNBC

Bonanno crime family mobster Vincent Asaro is granted compassionate release and released from the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Missouri due to the coronavirus pandemic. (CNN)

The Department of Health and Social Care reports 5,526 new confirmed cases and 888 more deaths from COVID-19, bringing the United Kingdom’s death toll to 15,464 and 114,217 total cases. (RTÉ)

 

The End