Caronavirus & Tokyo 2020

[zeio]

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/38430/

 

[igorponger]

SALT-CURED PORK TO MAINTAIN YOUR VITALITY. RUSSIANS AND GERMANS PROVED IT TO THE FULL.

[size=+1]If the flu is treated, it passes in 7 days, and if not treated-in a week[/size]

Just so. No effective curing or drugs for COVID exist so far. Proper diet is the best to maintain your immune system fit. And eating pork bacon in plenty is the superior diet to any others.

https://www.asienda.ru/kulinariya/immunitet-i-svinoe-salo/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachidonic_acid#Conditionally_essential_fatty_acid

Be happy.

 

[Baal]

SALT-CURED PORK TO MAINTAIN YOUR VITALITY. RUSSIANS AND GERMANS PROVED IT TO THE FULL.

Just so. No effective curing or drugs for COVID exist so far. Proper diet is the best to maintain your immune system fit. And eating pork bacon in plenty is the superior diet to any others.

https://www.asienda.ru/kulinariya/immunitet-i-svinoe-salo/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachidonic_acid#Conditionally_essential_fatty_acid

Be happy.

Igor. Stop posting shyte.

 

[Baal]

PREDICT was a program established initially in the US in which American scientists collaborated with foreign labs to identify viruses with the potential to become pandemics. The program trained scientists around the world to accomplish that, and had identified 160 new novel coronaviruses before shutting down just before this one, SARS-CoV-2, emerged. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab that ultimately did catch the emergence of COVID-19, was part of the PREDICT program.


PREDICT was launched in 2009 and funded through two five-year cycles before the Trump administration defunded it just in time for the exact scenario it was supposed to catch. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/health/predict-usaid-viruses.html

In addition:

• In 2018, Donald Trump dismantled the National Security Council's global health section, which was supposed to fight pandemics.
• Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security stopped running pandemic simulations for preparedness.
• Also last fall, White House economists warned of the economic effects of a pandemic.
• The Trump administration inherited a pandemic playbook from the Obama administration, which drew on the lessons of Ebola and H1N1.
• And the Obama administration tried to prepare the Trump administration with a pandemic response exercise during the transition.

 

[NextLevel]

PREDICT was a program established initially in the US in which American scientists collaborated with foreign labs to identify viruses with the potential to become pandemics. The program trained scientists around the world to accomplish that, and had identified 160 new novel coronaviruses before shutting down just before this one, SARS-CoV-2, emerged. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab that ultimately did catch the emergence of COVID-19, was part of the PREDICT program.


PREDICT was launched in 2009 and funded through two five-year cycles before the Trump administration defunded it just in time for the exact scenario it was supposed to catch. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/health/predict-usaid-viruses.html

I am not sure I fully trust articles written in the midst of the current crisis by a source with a clear bias, but an article written months before the pandemic is exactly the kind of thing that shows what we are dealing with.

 

[Baal]

I am not sure I fully trust articles written in the midst of the current crisis by a source with a clear bias, but an article written months before the pandemic is exactly the kind of thing that shows what we are dealing with.

Except for one thing Next Level. The article New York Times article I posted a link to was written on Oct. 25, 2019!!!!! This is before anyone knew that the SARS-CoV-2 virus existed. Before this crisis (although there is recent genetic evidence suggesting it had probably jumped into humans before that). It is a documented fact that the Trump administration killed this and other programs related to pandemic preparedness, and it is a documented fact that the National Security Council had produced a playbook for dealing with pandemics in 2016 (it is now circulating on the internet) and that absolutely none of it was followed, even though the potential of this to cause a disaster was apparent by the first week of January at the latest.

 

[Baal]

I will copy and paste the lede.

<article id="story" class="css-1vxca1d e1qksbhf0"><time class="css-129k401 e16638kd0" datetime="2019-10-25T05:00:28-04:00">Oct. 25, 2019</time>
In a move that worries many public health experts, the federal government is quietly shutting down a surveillance program for dangerous animal viruses that someday may infect humans.<section name="articleBody" itemprop="articleBody" class="meteredContent css-1r7ky0e">The United Nations Environment Program estimates that a new animal disease that can also infect humans is discovered every four months. Ending the program, experts fear, will leave the world more vulnerable to lethal pathogens like Ebola and MERS that emerge from unexpected places, such as bat-filled trees, gorilla carcasses and camel barns.


The program, known as Predict and run by the United States Agency for International Development, was inspired by the 2005 H5N1 bird flu scare. Launched 10 years ago, the project has cost about $207 million.
The initiative has collected over 140,000 biological samples from animals and found over 1,000 new viruses, including a new strain of Ebola. Predict also trained about 5,000 people in 30 African and Asian countries, and has built or strengthened 60 medical research laboratories, mostly in poor countries.

The article goes on to say that this program was strongly supprted by both the Bush and Obama administrations. A public health expert was quoted in the article: “Predict was an approach to heading off pandemics, instead of sitting there waiting for them to emerge and then mobilizing. That’s expensive."
“The United States spent $5 billion fighting Ebola in West Africa,” he added. “This costs far less.”




</section></article>

 

[NextLevel]

Except for one thing Next Level. The article New York Times article I posted a link to was written on Oct. 25, 2019!!!!! This is before anyone knew that the SARS-CoV-2 virus existed. Before this crisis (although there is recent genetic evidence suggesting it had probably jumped into humans before that). It is a documented fact that the Trump administration killed this and other programs related to pandemic preparedness, and it is a documented fact that the National Security Council had produced a playbook for dealing with pandemics in 2016 (it is now circulating on the internet) and that absolutely none of it was followed, even though the potential of this to cause a disaster was apparent by the first week of January at the latest.

That's my point. It was written before the pandemic so we are on the same page. I actually shared it with a few people.

 

[Free bird]

PREDICT was a program established initially in the US in which American scientists collaborated with foreign labs to identify viruses with the potential to become pandemics. The program trained scientists around the world to accomplish that, and had identified 160 new novel coronaviruses before shutting down just before this one, SARS-CoV-2, emerged. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab that ultimately did catch the emergence of COVID-19, was part of the PREDICT program.


PREDICT was launched in 2009 and funded through two five-year cycles before the Trump administration defunded it just in time for the exact scenario it was supposed to catch. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/health/predict-usaid-viruses.html

In addition:

• In 2018, Donald Trump dismantled the National Security Council's global health section, which was supposed to fight pandemics.
• Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security stopped running pandemic simulations for preparedness.
• Also last fall, White House economists warned of the economic effects of a pandemic.
• The Trump administration inherited a pandemic playbook from the Obama administration, which drew on the lessons of Ebola and H1N1.
• And the Obama administration tried to prepare the Trump administration with a pandemic response exercise during the transition.

Looking back, the Chinese CDC dropped the ball big time in recognizing human2human transmission so late. WHO is a total disaster and disgrace in handling the situation. US CDC dropped the ball earlier but is beginning to perform well.

 

[zeio]

U.S. sounds alarm on coronavirus in Japan, Tokyo pushes for state of emergency
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...o-pushes-for-state-of-emergency-idUSKBN21L0D0
https://jp.usembassy.gov/health-alert-us-embassy-tokyo-april3-2020/

“The Japanese Government’s decision to not test broadly makes it difficult to accurately assess the COVID-19 prevalence rate,” the Embassy said on its website, referring to the illness caused by the virus.

“While we have confidence in Japan’s health care system today, we believe a significant increase in COVID-19 cases makes it difficult to predict how the system will be functioning in the coming weeks.”

If U.S. citizens wanted to return to the United States from Japan they should do so now, or risk remaining abroad for an “indefinite period”, it said.

 

[zeio]

'Modern-day piracy': German official says US swooped on masks at airport
https://www.thelocal.de/20200403/ge...ooped-on-masks-at-bangkok-airport-coronavirus

The United States diverted a delivery of Chinese-made face masks bound for Germany at a Bangkok airport, a Berlin city official said Friday, accusing Washington of "modern-day piracy" as competition for protective gear against the coronavirus heats up.
...
French officials have also complained this week that Americans had swooped on Chinese masks ordered by France, after apparently outbidding them on a shipment that had already been lined up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlGkatRvXBU

<iframe width="416" height="234" src="//fave.api.cnn.io/v1/fav/?video=politics/2017/08/18/trump-albany-rally-winning-sot.cnn&customer=cnn&edition=international&env=prod" frameborder="0"></iframe>

 

[tropical]

My Chinese friend in Shenzhen shipped me some KN95 masks. It is amazing that he can ship them through FedX and took only 3 days to reach my home. My local chiropractor and a supplier, all Chinese, also gave me a few non N95 masks. I had to ask for help from people thousands miles away as I do not think our government can do a good job in handling the crisis. So much for the pathetic slogan MAGA!

 

[yoass]

MAGA!

1. There was no iceberg
2. The iceberg was a hoax
3. The China-berg will pass right by
4. Nobody could've known how big the China-berg was
5. I always said the China-berg’s a disaster
6. The passengers should protect themselves
7. Lifeboats are only for the ship
8. It was a perfect collision
9. Best. Captain. Ever!

 

[brokenball]

ere is the truth.
The President cannot de-fund programs by himself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impoun...opriated_funds

The main stream media makes it look like Trump did it all by himself. If Trump could spend money as he wishes, the wall would have been built by now.

De-funding Predict happened last September. The democrats in the house could have voted against this but they were too busy trying to get Trump impeached.

Predict was a sub-division of USAID. USAID's primary goal was to provide aid, not research. China refused aid from the CDC and WHO on Feb 7. This report is from Feb 8
https://www.thedailybeast.com/china-...th-coronavirus

There were a few people CDC people in China at the out break.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN21C3N5
Note, the comment about CCP censorship.
The CDC could have reported the severity of the problem back in December if allowed.

What difference does it make what programs you have if the CCP is going to prohibit access to the information and censor what little there is?[/QUOTE]

Update. As mentioned above, Predict was a division of USAID. See this
https://globalbiodefense.com/2020/0...ogram-challenged-by-senators-warren-and-king/
USAID shut this program down. Now I doubt and of the congress or the President knew about this since the decision was made at a lower level.

 

[Baal]

As an official component of U.S. foreign policy, USAID operates subject to the guidance of the President, the Secretary of State, and the National Security Council. The president makes a budget request for The Department of State and the USAID. Congress then approves it. The PREDICT program (which was a minuscule portion of the USAID budget) is then determined by the bureacracy of the agency and ultimately by the director (Mark Green, who was appointed by Trump). Since these kinds of programs are not line items in the budget that Congress passes, the Administration can kill them at will, and certainly killed this one. Did Trump personally see that item and say kill it? Who knows? But he certainly made his priorities known and then his minions made sure that many things were cut.

More concerning is the Pandemic response playbook that had been created by the National Security Council in 2016, the President and/or whomever makes the decisions about this kind of thing CHOOSE not to put it into play in early January. And yet by then all of the warning signs were there. Again the NSC is there to advise the president on national security, and there is no way to say they didn't know about the existence of this very detailed plan, which was developed over a period of several years in response to SARS, Ebola, Swine Flu, etc. etc. Again, they CHOSE not to implement a single one of the actions in that plan.

Trump has put incompetent people in charge of crucial agencies and even entire Departments of the executive branch (for example people with absolutely no background in the agencies they are running). He is known to have the attention span of a 4th grader (this according to people actually working in his White House). And he does not have the background to understand very much but thinks he understands everything.

How do we know Trump has a heavy responsibility for this? Simply look at all the things he has said to diminish the seriousness of the Covid-19 threat, starting in January up until about last week (including the one where he said "he takes no responsibility" for the response). By the way, the stuff he said today was really terrifying because (a) insane and (b) disjointed.

In summary, we are really screwed. And a big part of the things that are screwing us in the US are the things that have been going on in the US. It is an utter failure of emergency management.

And now there are reports that his son in law is running the show, rather than the Secretary of Health and Human Services or even Mike Pence. Think about that for a second.

 

[Baal]

By the way, if you are looking to make your own mask, a decent material to use are vacuum cleaner bags, the kind that keep allergens in the bag.

 

[Baal]

Here is a short time line.

2007. GOP Senator Tom Coburn wites a 100-page report against the CDC because they stated that gun violence was a public health problem. From that point since, the GOP has been hostile to CDC. (That was not the case within the Bush administration).
May 2011. GOP Senator Rand Paul proposes to cut CDC budget by 30%
Sep 2011. GOP presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann claims that vaccinations cause "mental retardation"
March 28 2014. Donald Trump tweets "Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn't feel good and changes -- AUTISM. Many such cases!"
May 2017. Trump proposes massive cuts to scientific research, medical research and disease prevention programs, including >20% cut to NIH.
May 19, 2017 Trump imposes hiring freeze on CDC, leaving 700 positions unfilled. Uses recisions to eliminate a number of public health programs.
May 2018. Members of pandemic response team in White House are fired and not replaced.

Jumping forward

Jan 3, 2020. In a CDC briefing with Chinese colleagues, Trump admin was informed of a pandemic coronavirus outbreak.
Jan 9. Trump holds campaign rally in Ohio.
Jan 11. German lab ships first globally available test kit.
Jan 14. Trump holds campaign rally in Wisconsin.
Jan 17. Screening put in place, but only for travelers coming to the US from Wuhan.
Jan 18. Health and Human Services Secretary Azar (a Cabinet member) finally gets a meeting with Trump to warn him about Covid-19, but Trumps interrupts him to ask when sales of flavored vaping products would resume
Jan 19. Trump plays golf at his Florida resport.
Jan 20. Trump: "We have it totally under control. It's just one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It's going to be just fine".
Jan 28. Trump holds campaign rally in New Jersey. Meanwhile HHS Secretary Azar references the 2016 pandemic playbook. But none of that playbook was ever implemented.
Jan 29. Trump puts Pence in charge of task force (instead of Secretary Azar). Pence does not believe in evolution.
Jan 30. Trump: "We think we have it very well under control". Trump holds campaign rally in Iowa.
Jan 31. Travel from China suspended but ONLY for foreign travelers. Over the next two weeks more than 400,000 people traveled to the US from China.
Feb 1. Trump plays golf in Florida.
Feb 2. Trump plays golf in Florida. That night he appeared on Hannity's show on Fox to say "Well we pretty much shut it down coming in from China. We have as tremendous relationship with China, getting along with China, getting along with Russia, getting along with those countries". He also claimed to have "shut down" travel from China.
Feb 3. Korea approves testing kit for public use.
Feb. 4 CDC constrains US providers to use only the (flawed) test that they developed.
Feb 10. Trump: "We're in great shape. We only have eleven cases and they're all getting better". Later, Trump holds campaign rally in New Hampshire. Meanwhile CDC denies permission to University of Washington researchers funded by Gates Foundation to perform tests they developed.
Feb 12. Trump cancels his national intelligence briefing. Two officials who saw the report say it contains grave warnings about the coming pandemic. On that day, tests in Korea = 1,445, Tests in the US = 58/
Feb 15. Trump plays golf in Florida.
Feb 18. Chair of President's Council of Economic Advisors says "I don't think corona is as big a threat as people make it out to be".
Feb 19. Trump holds campaign rally in Arizona.
Feb 20. Trump holds campaign rally in Colorado.
Feb 21. Trump holds campaign rally in Nevada.
Feb 26. CDC ad FDA relent under pressure and finally allow the Seattle lab to perform tests. Meanwhile Korea opens drive-through testing centers, patients get the results the next day.
Feb 27. Trump: "It's going to disappear. One day -- it's like a miracle -- it will disappear".
Feb 29. Trump: "Everything is under control" in speech to Conservative Political Action Committee in DC.
March 2. Trump holds campaign rally in North Carolina.
March 3. Trump tweet dismisses the threat of Covid-9, saying more people die of the flu. Korea has tested more than 16,000, US only 867.
March 6. In visit with Trump to CDC in Atlanta, HHS Secretary Azar claims 4 million tests would become available the next week. It was a lie. CDC Director Redfield (Trump appointee) "I would say again that at the present time, the general risk to the American public is low". Trump later that day "I didn't know people died from the flu". “Anybody that needs a test gets a test…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.” " I like this stuff. I really get it… every one of these doctors said, ‘how do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability."
March 7. Trump plays golf in Florida. Later that night, at dinner with President of Brazil, Trump insisted that his campaign rallies would continue. Later one of the Brazilians at the dinner tested positive.
March 9. Fox News says "Coronavirus Impeachment Scam!".
March 10. OMB Director goes to Congress to defend stripping another 15% off CDC budget. Trump tells GOP senators "We're prepared, and we're doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm."
March 13. Trump, on the crisis" "I don't take responsibility for it at all". Fox News says it's actually the safest time to travel.
March 15. CDC finally urges closing of most public spaces. Republicans all over the US mock the guidance. Oklahoma governor posts picture of his family at a restaurant.
March 16. Dow Jones drops 13%
March 20. New York Presbyterian Hospital went through 40,000 N95 masks in a single day. California institutes stay at home order.
March 23. GM announces they will build ventilators at a plant in Indiana but Trump is angry because he wanted it in Ohio, where he had made a 2017 campaign promise to reopen a GM plant in Youngstown.
March 26. White House cancels GM contract. Also claims New York doesn't need all those ventilators.
March 27. President signs 2 trillion USD stimulus bill. Democrats managed to get a provision included that banned Trump's personal businesses from receiving bail out funds. Trump in a signing statement claimed he has the power to ban the Inspector General from disclosing payments under the bill. Trump explains that he hasn't helped governors who have not been sufficiently "appreciative " toward him.
March 28. White House defines gun shops as essential businesses.
April 2, 2020. Jared Kushner, presidential son-in-law, whose application for a security clearance was denied in 2017, and who has no background in science, health or public administration, delivers the White House press conference on Covid-19.

 

[NextLevel]

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-china-trail-leading-back-to-wuhan-labs/

 

[Janard]

Big Brother strikes ~

Coronavirus: Justin Trudeau hints at retaliation after White House orders 3M to halt ‘critical’ N95 mask exports to Canada health workers – https://www.scmp.com/news/world/uni...navirus-white-house-orders-mask-maker-3m-halt

‘An act of modern piracy’: A mask shipment from 3M bound for Germany was reportedly diverted to the US – https://www.businessinsider.sg/3m-m...iverted-united-states-report-2020-4?r=US&IR=T

3M refused Trump's demand to divert 10 million N95 masks produced in S'pore to the US – https://mothership.sg/2020/04/trump-3m-10-million-masks/

 

[Baal]

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-china-trail-leading-back-to-wuhan-labs/

An article that appeared in Nature Medicine on March 17 entitled "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2" by Kristian G. Andersen, Andrew Rambaut, W. Ian Lipkin, Edward C. Holmes & Robert F. Garry has used careful analyses of coronavirus genomes to convincingly disprove any conspiracy theories that the virus was human made and instead strongly supports zoonotic transfer (jumping from animals to humans), a process that has occurred many times with viruses. It also argues against leakage from a research lab.

The scientists who did this analysis are from Tulane, Edinburgh, Scripps in La Jolla, Columbia Univ, and Univ. of Sydney.