Free Republic

Gov. Phil Murphy on Saturday announced he’s putting New Jersey into a virtual lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus, ordering New Jerseyans to stay at home except for necessary trips and mandating that all non-essential businesses close until further notice and others have people work from home. The measures will go into effect 9 p.m. Saturday, Murphy said while announcing that the state now has 1,327 confirmed cases of the virus that has infected hundreds of thousands across the globe. There have now been 16 known deaths from the virus in New Jersey. The governor said the actions...

Post good news here. Are we making progress against the spread of COVID-19?

Members of President Trump's coronavirus task force, led by Vice President Pence, are expected to speak to reporters at the White House. Read more: https://wapo.st/2QA0D4l. Subscribe to The Washington Post on YouTube: https://wapo.st/2QOdcqK

Anthony Fauci, M.D., the 79-year old head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has become the #1 point man on the government's role in the coronavirus crisis. Fauci has worked for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) his entire professional life. In the past, for more than two decades starting in the mid-1980s, he was the medical establishment's face of HIV-AIDS — omnipresent on television when AIDS was hot and ever present at international AIDS conferences well into the 21st century. Always, he was an enthusiastic advocate of throwing more federal money at the problem of...

The United States and the world face down one of the most challenging tests in modern history in the coronavirus pandemic. Timely implementation of bold decisions can substantially stem the spread of the coronavirus and significantly limit the havoc it may wreak on mankind. To help prevent an uncontrollable outbreak in the United States, it is essential that President Trump immediately stop outgoing passenger flights from JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark, in light of the quickly spreading virus in New York and New Jersey. President Trump has proven himself to be a courageous leader time and again, announcing multiple restrictions designed...

I thought we needed a humor/cuteness break. This is a video from arguably the most famous cat family from South Korea. 5 Scottish folds (Mama Suri, Papa Noel and their grown kids, Iz, Soul and Raon) and their "adventures" in their apartment. In this one, their human "Butler" encourages them to lift their paws in unison getting a tasty treat reward. 5 mins, 49 secs video.

Three people at a retirement community in Greenport have died from the coronavirus. A 96-year-old woman who lived at Peconic Landing died Wednesday. A 97-year-woman and a 96-year-old man both died Thursday. All three people were residents of the "Health Center" portion of the community and had underlying health conditions. Officials say the first case of the virus was discovered there on March 10. Employees say a part-time worker tested positive for the virus after they were unknowningly exposed. "It's just unbelievable," says Jim Cunningham of Ridge. "This whole situation seems surreal, it seems like we're in a twilight zone...

Addressing the media alongside the coronavirus task force on Thursday, Donald Trump said he would “slash red tape like nobody has even done it before” to get approval for coronavirus treatments. That would be a welcome development indeed. What’s unfortunate is that there was no similar push at the beginning of the crisis to expedite coronavirus testing. The U.S. response to the pandemic has been hampered at every level due to insufficient testing capacity. The first coronavirus case in the U.S. and South Korea was detected on January 21. Since then, South Korea has effectively contained the coronavirus without shutting...

.... the Black Death in the mid-1300s killed 30–50% of the world's population. Modern medicine makes it unlikely that this will happen in the here and now. All of this gets us back to Mike Rowe. He points out that, despite the lack of knowledge we have, Americans — especially Americans in government — are making instant, big decisions with consequences that may be disastrous and far-reaching. He writes, too, that people cannot perpetually maintain a state of panic. Even if we wanted to keep people locked in their houses for a year, wiping out entirely the American economy, Americans...

BREAKING: Ground stop now in effect — all departures stopped — for JFK, LGA, EWR due to positive covid-19 tests. Other regional airspace sectors halted through key “gates” through NY air traffic areas. -Sources

With no antibodies built up in the population, no known cure, and no existing vaccine against COVID-19, some may fear that there's no hope for those suffering with the disease now or in the future. However, there have actually been green shoots of positive results from several existing anti-viral and anti-inflammatory drugs already on the market, albeit on an anecdotal basis.While no official U.S. trials have been completed and data is scarce, anecdotal successes with these drugs are giving people hope, and the government is now loosening red tape to get them where needed as fast as possible. Here are...

GUARDIA Civil are cracking down on movements across the country with a particular focus on roads which lead to the coasts. It means if you are caught travelling with families and suitcases to your second residence, you will be ordered to return to your home with a fine of between €601 and €30,000. The state security forces began the ‘high impact operation’ today in a bid to stop people planning to break the coronavirus lockdown restrictions. One of the biggest focuses has been on stopping people heading to the Costa del Sol after Andalucia surpassed 1,000 cases today. Guardia Civil...

I have created an audio server (currently for music) that can play audio over the internet. It can be any type of audio. Not just music. The preferred audio format is mp3. It is portable too and can be moved to any internet client.

Univision broke from its afternoon coronavirus newscast and delivered on a longstanding policy item: opposition to the Second Amendment and to the private ownership of firearms. But in their coronavirus-themed rant against gun ownership, they also revealed something about themselves. Watch as Univision’s panel rant about a coronavirus-fueled increase in gun sales, and notice how Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Juan Rivera otherizes his fellow citizens: ORGE RAMOS: But as we were saying before going to commercial, something’s going on. Because in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, people’s fears are reflected in different ways. MARIA ANTONIETA COLLINS: Well yeah, some...

I pray Jim Thompson and family are well secluded, prepared and stay healthy

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first coronavirus diagnostic test that can be conducted entirely at the point of care. The test from California-based Cepheid will deliver results in about 45 minutes – much faster than current tests that require a sample to be sent to a centralized lab, where results can take days. The test has been designed to operate on any of Cepheid's more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert Systems worldwide, of which 5,000 are in the U.S., the company said. The systems are already being used to test for conditions like HIV or tuberculosis. The...

In a case that has many scratching their heads, a Belmont resident is under investigation by the Chinese government for flying with her family last week back to her homeland without informing the airline, Chinese officials that she had recently tested positive for the highly contagious coronavirus by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Jie Li, who lived with her husband and their son on Sharpe Road since 2015, landed in Bejing from Los Angeles on March 13, according to the Xinhua News Agency, the official media outlet of the Chinese government. ... While an investigation determined that Li did...

What are negative interest rates? A negative interest rate is exactly how it sounds — it’s when an interest rate (or a yield) falls below 0 percent. It seems counterintuitive. After all, how can a rate actually fall below zero, a number that’s literally meant to be a floor for traditional borrowing and lending activities? Take Germany, for example. Its government bond yields are trading in the negative territory all the way out to 20 years. Bond yields are negative in France, Denmark and the Netherlands right now, and they were once sub-zero in Belgium. The Riksbank of Sweden, the...

The German government is planning an economic aid package worth €822 billion to prevent companies from going under during the coronavirus pandemic. The planned funds are to be made available according to a draft bill seen by AFP on Saturday. The funds will go towards a slew of aid programs, including help for employees forced into shorter work hours. They may also be used to fund the partial nationalization of large enterprises in order to keep them afloat, according to the text. […] Germany’s so-called “debt brake” was written into its constitution in 2009, and limits a federal budget deficit...

Mar. 20, 2020 - 2:46 - President Trump gets into a contentious battle with NBC's Peter Alexander over coronavirus drug treatments and for sensationalizing the pandemic VIDEO