Coronavirus tests U.S. medical system's unhealthy reliance on China for drugs, supplies

NBC NEWS ^ | February 6, 2020 | By Tim Morrison, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute

[cba123]

The basic building blocks of U.S. health care are now under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping recently warned of the “grave” situation posed by the “accelerating spread” of the coronavirus in China. Xi’s frank warnings were unusual for the seniormost official of the Chinese Communist Party and reveal the depth of the concern at the highest levels of the country’s leadership.

Already, nearly 500 people have died and tens of thousands more have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. It has been found in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Europe and the United States. Tens of millions have been put under travel restrictions and even quarantine by the Chinese government.

Already, nearly 500 people have died and tens of thousands more have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. It has been found in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Europe and the United States. Tens of millions have been put under travel restrictions and even quarantine by the Chinese government.

As Rosemary Gibson, author and health care expert noted, the United States does not produce its own penicillin anymore — the last U.S. based penicillin production facility closed in 2004. Of course, antibiotics may not do any good against the coronavirus, but they may be needed to deal with a related sickness, just as flu often leads to respiratory infections.

This makes the U.S. acutely vulnerable for several reasons. First, China has a record of faulty products and poor oversight that have resulted in recalls, production delays and other problems Americans certainly don’t want to encounter when trying to obtain lifesaving drugs. As Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross stated recently, it is time for the U.S. to "consider the ramifications of doing business with a country that has a long history of covering up real risks to its own people and the rest of the world."

(Please see full article at the link)

[cba123]

Very good article.

Very good.

Trump...

[cba123]

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/coronavirus-tests-u-s-medical-system-s-unhealthy-reliance-china-ncna1131211

[momincombatboots]

Our leadership prefers union factories over healthy Americans. Nice gig China is incredibly good at this. Make our drugs, cheaply.. because over 40% of our citizens pay zero dollars. Then produce deadly viruses to control the China population and then the US.
Our country needs to roll back the employment laws costing us the most, starting with inions and guranteed leave for headaches.

[BobL]

“Our country needs to roll back the employment laws costing us the most, starting with unions and guaranteed leave for headaches.”

I told our resident union-defender yesterday that we don’t need unions acting up now, as they did in World War 2, when they literally REFUSED to take our side - instead they looked at the war effort as an opportunity. He didn’t respond.

[GOPJ]

...United States does not produce its own penicillin anymore — the last U.S. based penicillin production facility closed in 2004.

We'd be speaking German today if our leaders during World War II had outsourced our health and military production to Germany.

[null and void]

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

If a quarantine saves just one child's life, it's worth it.

[hardspunned]

This dry run for a very deadly pandemic such as a weaponized airborne Ebola might turn out to be a godsend for America. Very valuable lessons are being learned in the mass quarantine process as well as the subjects of this article. I have faith that Trump will react accordingly. The worst possible nightmare scenario is a democrat administration handling a deadly pandemic.

[Jane Long]

Exactly!!

Why would you outsource your healthcare - MANY meds and most all equipment, gowns, etc. to a country you could potentially go to war with??

HEALTHCARE, of all things.

Bring it all back.

I know POTUS is trying.

[sauropod]

.

[kaktuskid]

It used to be that most of our pharmaceuticals were made in Puerto Rico

[bgill]

We shouldn’t rely on other countries for our supplies, period.

[gandalftb]

There are two basic issues that control lethality.
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1. Susceptibility, how available are certain people to this virus?
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2. Impairment, when people get sick, how good are their bodies at getting better?
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Everyone though, can get sick.
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Although the sample size is very small for now, researchers have noticed that certain kinds of lung cells are “gateways” for the virus.
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Those small minority (about 3%) of lung cells are 3-4 times more prevalent in Asian males than they are in Asian females or male/female whites and blacks. There may be a linkage to blood pressure meds also.
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Pack those Asian males together, with some of them being very mobile, bingo, epidemic and possible pandemic.
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Impairment of self-healing is an issue. Smoking doesn’t appear to be a major factor. Age is, and heart/lung background problems are present in nearly all deaths.
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The virus is easily killed outside the host, particularly by air temperature or antiseptic chemicals. Summer is coming. Fumigation is happening.
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Once the available population is either healed or dead, the virus will disappear. Although it is showing a remarkable ability to mutate.