Interim Report on the Origins of Covid-19

 Report An Analysis of the Origins of COVID-19 (senate.gov)

"A Senate investigation into the origins of COVID-19 has concluded that the virus most likely leaked out of a Chinese laboratory.

The interim report, released by Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Thursday, found a lack of evidence supporting the theory that COVID-19 was passed from animals to humans, and named China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology as the likely source of the virus." NY Post

What would be the motives of Democrats who refused to even consider the lab leak theory?  Fear of attacks by China?  Fear of loss of business if the Chinese were offended? Afraid Trump was right and they'd look even more stupid than they already do?  Or. Maybe they just didn't care.

Fentanyl poisoning

It's not an "overdose," or an "addiction," it is poisoning and some people should be held accountable.. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and up to 50 times more potent than heroin. Even tiny doses, as little as two milligrams, the size of two grains of salt, is a fatal dose for most people. Teen don't have a fully developed brain for the problems of risk taking, and are accidentally poisoned. And the origin is China, just like Covid. Why does the president not act?

https://www.rand.org/blog/2019/09/tackle-fentanyl-like-a-poisoning-outbreak-not-a-drug.html

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/teens-tragic-tales-meet-some-of-children-who-died-from-fentanyl-poisoning

https://www.foxnews.com/us/fentanyl-poisoning-deaths-double-30-states

Fentanyl, Covid-19 and Public Health   https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wmh3.355

GOP hearings on origin of Covid--lab or market

I hope you watched the GOP's hearings on the origin of Covid--hearings the Democrats refused to participate in, and Dr. Fauci wouldn't appear. The cover up gets more massive all the time. Fauci was sending hush up warnings to his own people, not even Birx was included, then calming, no problem e-mails to the Trump advisors. The man knew from the beginning this was from a lab and that he'd be implicated because the research on gain of function had continued despite Trump stopping it.

 
One scientist testified that everyone who knew him told him not to testify, and one even told him it was because it might help Trump! Another scientist was told his lab would never work again with the Chinese if he testified about the origins of the virus. I doubt this was reported on cable news. That "we may never know" line they've been repeating? They already know.

https://youtu.be/YeW5sI-R1Qg

Democrats are so worried about an outspoken Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who is a match for AOC, but they don't seem to worry about the huge crimes (and deaths) perpetrated by non-elected bureaucrats on the American people during this pandemic.

The Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020--7 Critical Lessons

As of January 28, 2020 there were more than 4500 confirmed cases (98% in China) of a new virus that originated in the City of Wuhan, China and more than 100 deaths according to Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., global health expert at Georgetown University (and now an advisor to Biden). On January 30, 2020, when the U.S. had not yet reported a single death, President Trump closed travel into the U.S. from China. Powerful Democrats like Biden, Pelosi, and DeBlasio predictably called him racist and xenophobic. Since Trump is not a doctor, lawyer, or experienced in public health, he created a team and listened to advice from well established experts, with credentials just as good as Dr. Gostin. For weeks he was on TV with his advisers, but because he was hopeful and positive, the Democrat run media stomped their feet and insisted on gloom and doom (which we still get with the nightly news).
In JAMA Forum article Nov. 10, 2020 (v. 324, no. 18) Dr. Gostin published "The Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020--7 Critical Lessons." He's a lawyer who advises organizations like UN, WHO, and now Biden, and holds multiple international academic professorial appointments. If I were to criticize his lessons, I would be waved away like a gnat.

With distain he refers to "populist political leadership" right after acknowledging the remarkable development of clinical trials for a vaccine within 6 months of the virus being sequenced. He credits personal hygiene, physical distancing and masks to control virus particles so tiny that so far, no mask has been able to stop. Still, lesson 2 is a nation needs great leadership and public trust to beat such a challenge. Imagine public trust when 95% of the media report negatively or lie about dear "leader." Gostin seems to mean, any leader other than Trump could raise the public trust. Like someone who says, "Hey man, I'm here for ya."

And no article could be complete these days without a mea culpa for health inequities. When this article was in a first draft in the fall he knew, we all knew, old age and comorbidities were factors in death rates. Now I think the figure is about 50% elderly and 80% overweight or obese. Blacks and Hispanics have a higher rate of overweight and obesity than whites, who are obese, but less so. Life style strongly influences health--smoking, drinking, drugs, poor nutrition/too many calories, lack of exercise and sexual promiscuity. Dr. Michael Rosen of the Cleveland Clinic says 75% of chronic illnesses can be improved or cured by changing our lifestyles. The medical profession has not yet found a way to control our lifestyles, despite all the articles, TV ads, billboards, organizations and lectures. It's easier to just blame societal inequities.

In lesson 6 he mentions the horrifying disaster of the uneven lockdowns through the sweeping powers of local and state governments. He warns of usurpation of power under the pretext of a health crisis which threatens to erode democratic freedoms. Yet his only solution seems to be "the rule of law," by which I think he means federal, or even global. If you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and his area of expertise is global law and institutions. So he really was unhappy when President Trump thought WHO mishandled or mislead other countries.

So his recommendations are choose "science," the rule of law, and equity. That would be transformational, he says.

First Corona virus death in U.S. February 29, 2020

Cases of a new virus from Wuhan, China, were being reported all over the world, and the few in the U.S. involved foreign travel. These were cases, not fatalities. 

On January 29, 2020 the President's Coronavirus Task Force it was established.

On January 30 the President closed tourism coming from China.

 On February 26, 2020, U.S. vice president Mike Pence was named to chair the task force, and Deborah Birx was named the response coordinator.

Then a man died in a Washington state on February 29.  President Trump had already closed travel from China at the end of January.  Ohio by March 3 had yet not had ANY confirmed cases, let alone deaths, when Governor DeWine began cancelling events. At this time, DeBlasio, Pelosi and Cuoma were still inviting tourists to come to their states/cities. 

On March 4, when many states had yet not had one case, the HHS announced the intent to purchase approximately 500 million N95 respirators and Secretary Azar announced that HHS was transferring $35 million to the CDC to help state and local jurisdictions that have been impacted most by the coronavirus.

 On March 6 the President signed an $8.3 billion bill providing $7.76 billion to federal, state, and local agencies for combating the coronavirus, and authorizing an additional $500 million in waivers for Medicare telehealth restrictions.

On March 11, the WHO announced it was a global pandemic, and the President in a speech to the nation said,  “We are cutting massive amounts of red tape to make antiviral therapies available in record time.  These treatments will significantly reduce the impact and reach of the virus. . . and he also said:

“The vast majority of Americans: The risk is very, very low.  Young and healthy people can expect to recover fully and quickly if they should get the virus.  The highest risk is for elderly population with underlying health conditions.  The elderly population must be very, very careful.”  Today, December 21, that is still the case.  Even with thousands of deaths, the fatality rate from this virus is about .3% with the elderly at higher risk, and young people suffering higher than usual deaths from non-Covid reasons. 

On March 13, the president also declared an emergency for COVID-19 under Section 201 and 301 of the National Emergencies Act. The National Emergencies Act (NEA) generally authorizes the president nearly unlimited discretion to declare a national emergency. President Trump Declares State of Emergency for COVID-19 (ncsl.org)

On April 29, Operation Warp Speed announced—a public private partnership initiated by the U.S. government to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

My question for Democrats; if the President had extended the national lockdown to mandatory after the two weeks at Governors’ discretion, how would you or the national media have accepted the order from the president you’d been trying to impeach, whom you called a Nazi, whom you called illegitimate because he won the Electoral College and not the popular vote?  Also which has been more effective in your opinion, Operation Warp Speed or the lockdowns?

Save us from the experts, musings and opinions

Nicholas Christakis is making the rounds of talk shows, twitter, Facebook, academic papers, etc. and says our leaders (aka Trump) weren't taking the right actions to fight Covid19. Of course, he would have no book if everything had been done right. Yet, he admits, he knew nothing till the end of January (it's his field) then became alarmed when China confined/locked down Wuhan. Now he's saying the president didn't do enough. (Perhaps he has his time taken up by the Democrats three year campaign to undo the 2016 election?)  He acted on January 30 to close air traffic and began working with private industry to get supplies out. But being an academic, Christakis is a progressive--they are always smarter than the people who get elected, right? I guess he was listening to the main stream media that nothing was done. But these same critics, poo-poo Trump's accomplishments in getting a 16 year process reduce to 9 months for a vaccine and some governors have instilled fear about them.

Which hoax?

The hoax is how Democrats have treated the Covid tragedy. Trump acted promptly as soon as the word was out from WHO.    We have a pandemic with a high infection rate, and a low death rate. I realize that China’s reports are suspect, but that’s also what their first published reports indicated. [Feb. 11, 2020, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, summarized in April 7, 2020 JAMA] 

• Unusual pneumonia Dec. 26, 2019.
• Dec. 30, 2019 first Wuhan case. 
• Dec. 31, 2019 WHO notified by Wuhan Health Commission. 
• Jan. 1 open market closed. 
• Jan. 30, 2020 WHO declares an international emergency.
• Jan. 30, 2020 Trump closes flights for international travelers from China.

Prior respiratory syndromes (SARS and MERS) were the opposite.  Slower transmission, but death rate 10% to 50%.  Death rate for Covid19, even reported by China in February, was 2.3%  for confirmed cases.  This is about the same as U.S. overall (almost zero for children, higher for elderly with co-morbidities)  And because people were anticipating a much higher death rate like SARS or MERS, the U.S. took drastic measures and closed down the economy. Even after it became apparent the damage that was doing to the country in proportion to the virus, Democrats and the media have continued to spread fear and urging that further lockdowns are needed—Biden has all but promised it.  Even when the “flatten the curve” and shortage of equipment turned out not to be true and the emergency hospitals Trump authorized were unnecessary. 

The “hoax” isn’t the virus; even the low death rate is higher than seasonal flu and it can always mutate.  It’s always been serious. We are being hoaxed by people who have demonstrated for 4 years they are desperate to get rid of the President. Even if they have to bury the economy.   If Biden is elected, the day after inauguration in 2021 he will take credit for the incredible drugs developed to further reduce hospitalizations and death rates, and the media will go silent on reporting cases. When the true disaster of mental health, deaths from non-Covid in nursing home lockdowns, educations interrupted, businesses ruined, suicides, churches closed, hospitals bankrupted—then they’ll blame that on Trump and the governors will just run for reelection.

Coronavirus news in my mail today

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Saturday approved Department of Defense (DoD) housing at four military bases for 1,000 people who may have to be quarantined as a result of the coronavirus, following the appearance of the eighth confirmed case of the disease in the U.S. Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Jonathan Rath Hoffman made the announcement and said the program is designed for those returning from overseas. Military installations in Colorado, California and Texas were selected to house the evacuees and will help to assist the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with the operation, if needed. They are the 168th Regiment Regional Training Institute in Fort Carson, Colo.; Travis Air Force Base in California; Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3048518/coronavirus-case-load-and-death-toll-china-rise-epicentre-hubei-province

“As many as 75,815 people in Wuhan may have been infected with the new coronavirus , according to a study by University of Hong Kong scientists.

The research, published in The Lancet on Saturday, is based on the assumption that each infected person could have passed the virus on to 2.68 others. The estimated total was as of Tuesday, it said.”

A group of Brazilians stuck in the Chinese city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak has sent President Jair Bolsonaro a video aired Sunday pleading for help to return home.

Reading from a letter dated January 30 from the sprawling eastern city of Wuhan, they told him they were willing to be quarantined when they get back.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3048639/coronavirus-brazilians-wuhan-ask-help-fleeing-wuhan-video

Wuhan has 11,000,000 people and most of us had never heard of it before this virus made it famous.  I looked through trip advisor, and it looks like a gorgeous place with interesting sites.  Who will go there now and how many in the tourism business are out of work?

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g297437-Activities-Wuhan_Hubei.html