Loose Controls
Saturday, March 21, 2020
THE MEDIA'S MISINFORMATION AND FEAR CAN CRIPPLE ANY ECONOMY
On November 17 of 2019, the first case of Covid-19 may have been a 55-year old man from Wuhan, located in Hubei Province, China, home to 57 million people. Researchers identified a new variant of the known Corona viruses which had emerged in several pneumonia cases.
Researchers in multiple countries have corroborated genome evidence which points to this being a natural outgrowth of viral disease. We know they exist and mutate from time to time, with several examples of recent Corona type viruses emerging such as SARS, MERS and this Covid-19 strain.
Interesting to this story, but debunked by international genome research as being the source of the virus, is the Wuhan Institute of Virology located within Wuhan, a State-run Level-4 laboratory protected and shrouded in secrecy by the Communist Chinese Party. It is obviously a germ-warfare lab, and it's results are not accessible by any public query. Several coincidences mean neither are a coincidence. Add to that the timing of top-level athletes- The Annual Military Games which has military members- loyal to foreign governments- visiting an area very close to both China's top BioWarfare lab and the supposed origin of this latest novel Coronavirus.
After months of denial and a clamp down on any information coming from the Wuhan outbreak, the CCP has asserted the novel virus originated in an open air food market. But tracing the origin is impossible now that the market has been torn down and all traces of it's existence have been wiped away.
SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh member of the Coronaviridae known to infect humans. Three of these viruses, SARS CoV-1, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2, can cause severe disease; four, HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E, are associated with mild respiratory symptoms. Herein, we review what can be deduced about the origin and early evolution of SARS-CoV-2 from the comparative analysis of available genome sequence data. In particular, we offer a perspective on the notable features in the SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss scenarios by which these features could have arisen. Importantly, this analysis provides evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct nor a purposefully manipulated virus.
From Virological.org http://virological.org/t/the-proximal-origin-of-sars-cov-2/398
SARS-CoV-2 is the scientific name of this virus first seen as stated above. Since then research has centered around a vaccine but most importantly a way to accurately test for the presence of the disease. Those who are at higher risk are prone to additional problems stemming from fear and stress which are central to my theme.
In elderly and seriously sick individuals, the virus attaches itself to healthy cells within the lungs, as it is spread through droplets whose first stop is the lungs. With their immunity already in action fighting the existing problem, the virus attacks and is "spotted" by the immune system and overwhelming force is employed to destroy the invading cells. Damage is caused to adjacent healthy cells. The immune system, already taxed, over-reacts to the invasion, attempting to kill it but collaterally, damages healthy cells as well. This exacerbates lung conditions such as pneumonia and asthma.
While this epidemic, or pandemic if you wish is serious, it's not serious enough to warrant the extreme measures being advocated widely. In Houston, the mayor has decreed that all restaurants are prohibited from serving dine-in customers. Kitchens are allowed to remain open but to take-out diners only. The governor of Texas has just today issued directives concerning same points of prevention of the virus' continuing spread.
All schools on every level have released their students and have closed. This alone is enough of a terrifying development for some parents to drive their stress way, way up. For those parents, school is a much needed place for their children to visit every day. The parents are, of course, working parents and need the children to be looked after and fed. College students have been sent home to complete their courses, in some cases online. For a large percentage, this means traveling long distances to get home, with noone to pay for it, or for their upkeep while at home (unexpectedly).
Worse for society, gatherings are being banned by many municipalities. Concerts, conventions, seminars and meetings on all levels have been determined to be too much of a risk to public health to take place.
Most directives aimed at the public are geared for the very lowest common denominator in society. People in general, are not, and cannot be trusted to understand logic and plain facts. Instead, the great unwashed masses are understood by the elites to be lowbrow, selfish, uncaring and ignorant to a breathtaking level. Unfortunately, those who do their due diligence, those of us who do our research and search for the facts and truth are lumped into the same category. Therefore news is viewed with skepticism; assertions like the "science is done", and "the discussion is over" are not trusted and answers from multiple sources are weighed against what is otherwise being reported by mainstream "drive-by" media sources. We know that "If it bleeds, it leads" and news outlets have always produced their shows to titillate, not to educate. I have more faith in foreign news sources than domestic organizations like CNN and MSNBC.
When University Administrators closed their schools to prevent the large groups of students from potentially spreading the disease, the students rushed out to continue their Spring Break activities, with large block parties forming, where large numbers of students mingled, drank and partied together! Out of school students flocked BACK to Spring Break destinations causing dismay to the residents of towns like Ft. Lauderdale, Daytona Beach and the annual #1 destination Fort Walton Beach.
In January of 2020, a man boarded Carnival Cruise Lines' Diamond Princess ship in Yokohama, Japan. He disembarked in Hong Kong several days later, (with no ports of call in between) and promptly fell ill, was tested and found to have the virus. By the time the Diamond Princess returned to Yokohama 46 passengers complained of illness and the ship was quarantined on the spot. No one was allowed to leave the ship initially, until the sick passengers fell gravely ill and were then transported to area hospitals for further treatment.
The disease spread quickly and to far flung locations around the globe. Early places it popped up were a nursing home in the State of Washington, USA, in Italy and from a river cruise in Egypt.
A rare opportunity to view the disease and it's spread and effect happened to the passengers of this ship. They were quarantined and forced to stay put in this hotbed of viral activity. When the sick passengers had been removed, and all others, including crew, were cleared of having symptoms and released, the numbers suggested a virus spreading normally, and infecting the predominantly old and infirm. The mortality rate on that ship was nearly 1%. Outside Wuhan, in China the death rate was only 0.4%, in Germany it was 0.2%. Yet the news sources, taking information from the CDC and the World Health Organization concocted a much higher mortality rate.
Each year tens-of-thousands of Americans, much less elsewhere in the world, are afflicted by a flu/cold and die. This year, in the US, the SARS-CoV-2 will have afflicted more than 10k and kill 150 before the seasonal temperatures rise to a point where the virus cannot live anymore. Next year, there may be another more virulent strain, and could be projected to kill thousands more.
Where will common sense be reintroduced into our assessment of threats against our collective health?
It certainly won't come from the media.
The fear which has been induced is palpable to people who are interacting with each other at grocery stores and public places such as post offices and court houses. With ignorance comes fear, and it's the responsibility of our government to maintain order, and to soothe the fears that come with a lack of information, with facts and assurances.
More importantly, is there an argument for this elevated course of action regarding slowing the spread of this virus? Yes, it appears Italy reacted a little slow. Is there really reason for this level of fear and is it worth it to wreck our economy and so many people's situation. Time may tell, though it may not. What is clear is that our leaders seem to want to err on the side of caution or simply not to commit an offense of carelessness on behalf of the American people.
Update: President Trump has asserted that a new study of a known drug has had good results in treating Covid-19. Unfortunately trials here in the US haven't been completed and it looks like beaurocrocy may still hold sway much to Trump's ire.
-Ian Carroll
ΒΆ 7:23 AM 0 comments
The Chinese Coronavirus of 2020
On November 17 of 2019, the first case of Covid-19 may have been a 55-year old man from Wuhan, located in Hubei Province, China, home to 57 million people. Researchers identified a new variant of the known Corona viruses which had emerged in several pneumonia cases.
Is it a Bioweapon?
Researchers in multiple countries have corroborated genome evidence which points to this being a natural outgrowth of viral disease. We know they exist and mutate from time to time, with several examples of recent Corona type viruses emerging such as SARS, MERS and this Covid-19 strain.
Interesting to this story, but debunked by international genome research as being the source of the virus, is the Wuhan Institute of Virology located within Wuhan, a State-run Level-4 laboratory protected and shrouded in secrecy by the Communist Chinese Party. It is obviously a germ-warfare lab, and it's results are not accessible by any public query. Several coincidences mean neither are a coincidence. Add to that the timing of top-level athletes- The Annual Military Games which has military members- loyal to foreign governments- visiting an area very close to both China's top BioWarfare lab and the supposed origin of this latest novel Coronavirus.
After months of denial and a clamp down on any information coming from the Wuhan outbreak, the CCP has asserted the novel virus originated in an open air food market. But tracing the origin is impossible now that the market has been torn down and all traces of it's existence have been wiped away.
What is Covid-19?
SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh member of the Coronaviridae known to infect humans. Three of these viruses, SARS CoV-1, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2, can cause severe disease; four, HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E, are associated with mild respiratory symptoms. Herein, we review what can be deduced about the origin and early evolution of SARS-CoV-2 from the comparative analysis of available genome sequence data. In particular, we offer a perspective on the notable features in the SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss scenarios by which these features could have arisen. Importantly, this analysis provides evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct nor a purposefully manipulated virus.
From Virological.org http://virological.org/t/the-proximal-origin-of-sars-cov-2/398
Are we Overreacting? The Immune System is doing just that
SARS-CoV-2 is the scientific name of this virus first seen as stated above. Since then research has centered around a vaccine but most importantly a way to accurately test for the presence of the disease. Those who are at higher risk are prone to additional problems stemming from fear and stress which are central to my theme.
In elderly and seriously sick individuals, the virus attaches itself to healthy cells within the lungs, as it is spread through droplets whose first stop is the lungs. With their immunity already in action fighting the existing problem, the virus attacks and is "spotted" by the immune system and overwhelming force is employed to destroy the invading cells. Damage is caused to adjacent healthy cells. The immune system, already taxed, over-reacts to the invasion, attempting to kill it but collaterally, damages healthy cells as well. This exacerbates lung conditions such as pneumonia and asthma.
While this epidemic, or pandemic if you wish is serious, it's not serious enough to warrant the extreme measures being advocated widely. In Houston, the mayor has decreed that all restaurants are prohibited from serving dine-in customers. Kitchens are allowed to remain open but to take-out diners only. The governor of Texas has just today issued directives concerning same points of prevention of the virus' continuing spread.
All schools on every level have released their students and have closed. This alone is enough of a terrifying development for some parents to drive their stress way, way up. For those parents, school is a much needed place for their children to visit every day. The parents are, of course, working parents and need the children to be looked after and fed. College students have been sent home to complete their courses, in some cases online. For a large percentage, this means traveling long distances to get home, with noone to pay for it, or for their upkeep while at home (unexpectedly).
Worse for society, gatherings are being banned by many municipalities. Concerts, conventions, seminars and meetings on all levels have been determined to be too much of a risk to public health to take place.
Hilarious and Perilous
Most directives aimed at the public are geared for the very lowest common denominator in society. People in general, are not, and cannot be trusted to understand logic and plain facts. Instead, the great unwashed masses are understood by the elites to be lowbrow, selfish, uncaring and ignorant to a breathtaking level. Unfortunately, those who do their due diligence, those of us who do our research and search for the facts and truth are lumped into the same category. Therefore news is viewed with skepticism; assertions like the "science is done", and "the discussion is over" are not trusted and answers from multiple sources are weighed against what is otherwise being reported by mainstream "drive-by" media sources. We know that "If it bleeds, it leads" and news outlets have always produced their shows to titillate, not to educate. I have more faith in foreign news sources than domestic organizations like CNN and MSNBC.
When University Administrators closed their schools to prevent the large groups of students from potentially spreading the disease, the students rushed out to continue their Spring Break activities, with large block parties forming, where large numbers of students mingled, drank and partied together! Out of school students flocked BACK to Spring Break destinations causing dismay to the residents of towns like Ft. Lauderdale, Daytona Beach and the annual #1 destination Fort Walton Beach.
Diamond Princess
In January of 2020, a man boarded Carnival Cruise Lines' Diamond Princess ship in Yokohama, Japan. He disembarked in Hong Kong several days later, (with no ports of call in between) and promptly fell ill, was tested and found to have the virus. By the time the Diamond Princess returned to Yokohama 46 passengers complained of illness and the ship was quarantined on the spot. No one was allowed to leave the ship initially, until the sick passengers fell gravely ill and were then transported to area hospitals for further treatment.
The disease spread quickly and to far flung locations around the globe. Early places it popped up were a nursing home in the State of Washington, USA, in Italy and from a river cruise in Egypt.
A rare opportunity to view the disease and it's spread and effect happened to the passengers of this ship. They were quarantined and forced to stay put in this hotbed of viral activity. When the sick passengers had been removed, and all others, including crew, were cleared of having symptoms and released, the numbers suggested a virus spreading normally, and infecting the predominantly old and infirm. The mortality rate on that ship was nearly 1%. Outside Wuhan, in China the death rate was only 0.4%, in Germany it was 0.2%. Yet the news sources, taking information from the CDC and the World Health Organization concocted a much higher mortality rate.
Each year tens-of-thousands of Americans, much less elsewhere in the world, are afflicted by a flu/cold and die. This year, in the US, the SARS-CoV-2 will have afflicted more than 10k and kill 150 before the seasonal temperatures rise to a point where the virus cannot live anymore. Next year, there may be another more virulent strain, and could be projected to kill thousands more.
Where will common sense be reintroduced into our assessment of threats against our collective health?
It certainly won't come from the media.
Will Cooler Heads Prevail?
The fear which has been induced is palpable to people who are interacting with each other at grocery stores and public places such as post offices and court houses. With ignorance comes fear, and it's the responsibility of our government to maintain order, and to soothe the fears that come with a lack of information, with facts and assurances.
More importantly, is there an argument for this elevated course of action regarding slowing the spread of this virus? Yes, it appears Italy reacted a little slow. Is there really reason for this level of fear and is it worth it to wreck our economy and so many people's situation. Time may tell, though it may not. What is clear is that our leaders seem to want to err on the side of caution or simply not to commit an offense of carelessness on behalf of the American people.
Update: President Trump has asserted that a new study of a known drug has had good results in treating Covid-19. Unfortunately trials here in the US haven't been completed and it looks like beaurocrocy may still hold sway much to Trump's ire.
-Ian Carroll
ΒΆ 7:23 AM 0 comments
