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The current coronavirus disease, Covid-19, has been called a once-in-a-century pandemic. But it may also be a once-in-a-century evidence fiasco. At a time when everyone needs better information, from disease modelers and governments to people quarantined or just social distancing, we lack reliable evidence on how many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 or who continue to become infected. Better information is needed to guide decisions and actions of monumental significance and to monitor their impact. The data collected so far on how many people are infected and how the epidemic is evolving are utterly unreliable. Given the limited testing...

SARS, the 1918 flu pandemic, and Ebola have all helped public health officials prepare for major outbreaks. Each major outbreak is different though, and experts have a hard time predicting how they will end. The fallout of each disease largely depends on other circumstances — when we catch it, how contagious and fatal it is, how hygienic people are, and how quickly a vaccine or cure becomes available. With new cases of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, growing day by day, it’s natural to compare the new disease to other outbreaks in recent history. There was the 1918 influenza,...

Brittney Valles, co-owner of the state-mandated takeout-only Guerrilla Tacos in Los Angeles, was concerned about her mother exposing herself to COVID-19 while shopping for essentials. That’s when the idea dawned on her: “Why not get them from us?” she tells CNN. So Valles and her co-workers compiled an all-in-one emergency taco pack complete with 30 eggs and four rolls of bathroom tissue scrounged from their vacant restrooms. This past week alone, brawls over bathroom tissue have erupted at Australian stores, while Oregon authorities are urging the public to stop dialing 911 over the purported TP shortage.

Here’s a chap called Nick Heath who’s a rugby commentator and journalist and also a podcast producer. But it’s the commentating bit we’re really interested in. Because in the absence of any live sport, all postponed because of coronavirus, Nick started commenting on everyday life as he saw it and shared the videos on Twitter. And they really will make your day better.

As the Chinese coronavirus shuts down our economy and locks in our homes, we are discovering stock boys matter and Hollywood celebrities do not. Out there in the shit, out there in the danger, out there touching countless surfaces that could be infected, out there working punishing hours for low wages are the people we too often overlook and take for granted — even though they are the ones who keep our world turning. Away from their families, risking illness, America’s farm workers, truck drivers, grocery store workers, sanitation workers, and delivery people, are holding together the slender thread that...

French law enforcers have slapped fines on tens of thousands of uncooperative citizens, less than a week after the government introduced restrictions on non-essential travel and business in an effort to combat Covid-19. The Ministry of Interior disclosed on Saturday that police across the country had carried out 867,695 inspections to ensure that people using transport or participating in other restricted activities had good reason to do so. As a result, cops reported some 38,994 instances of non-compliance resulting in fines between Tuesday and Friday. French authorities have also warned that they will become stricter with enforcement going forward.

The Trump press conferences are a problem for the anti-Trump media, because they give Trump direct access to viewers with minimal filtering by the networks. Donald Trump’s daily press conferences, attended by numerous senior health and other officials, are a must-watch. Enormous information is provided by officials, and Trump signals where he thinks the crisis is going. Trump spends an hour or more taking reporter questions, some of which are hostile. The press conferences almost certainly have large audiences, and have contributed to polling that shows strong support among the public for Trump’s handling of the crisis. This is a...

Beware the First Horseman of the Apocalypse!! Going back to Leviticus 26, there is a Biblical archetype of “the four horsemen of the apocalypse.” It’s a four-fold judgment from God going forth over the world. The archetype “takes on flesh” in Revelation 6 with four literal horsemen. Most understand three out of four horsemen as war, famine, and pestilence. But there is debate about what the first one is, particularly in Revelation 6. It’s “a white horse.” And “He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to...

Over at Paul Bedard’s “Washington Secrets,” pollster John Zogby says President Trump has risen to the challenge of the Coronavirus Crisis facing the Nation. Zogby compares Trump to President Franklin Roosevelt, who led America through the Great Depression and World War II. There is no doubt that President Trump has moved boldly and decisively to curb the spread of this virus. The actions he has taken are very difficult, especially for a President who worked so hard and so successfully to rebuild the U.S. Economy. To urge the shutting down of much of that Economy in order to save thousands...

In the last 24 hours alone, an additional 793 people have died in Italy due to Chinese coronavirus, shattering the nation’s previously held record — 627 — for the highest daily death toll...Now, as of Saturday, Italy is nearing 5,000 coronavirus deaths nationwide.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that the state was reckoning with a significant rise in the number of coronavirus cases, the majority of which were identified in residents younger than 60. Cuomo announced there were 10,356 confirmed cases across the state, 6,211 of which are in New York City, and 54% of which are from patients who are between 18 and 49 years old.

The Ohio Attorney General’s office issued a letter on March 20th to Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio’s Cincinnati Surgery Center, and one to the Women’s Med Center in Dayton, after it came to the Attorney General’s attention that these abortion businesses were still seeing patients for abortion procedures. The letters issued from AG Dave Yost’s office and signed by Deputy AG Jonathan Fulkerson stated in part (emphasis added): On March 17, 2020, the Ohio Department of Health issued an order pursuant to the Department’s powers under R.C. 3701.13. That order (attached) cancelled all non-essential or elective surgeries and procedures utilizing...

The Lagos State government on Friday disclosed that following the announcement by President Donald Trump on Thursday that chloroquine can cure coronavirus, hospitals in the state has received patients suffering from chloroquine poisoning. This was just as the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) told Nigerians to desist from self-medication over the coronavirus as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not approved chloroquine for the management of coronavirus.

      KEEP MOVING A college class was graduating on a hot and humid day. As the graduates walked across the platform and received their diplomas from the president of the college, he smiled, shook their hands, and said loudly, "Congratulations!" Then, in a much lower voice, one that was firm and could be heard only by the graduates, he would say, "Keep moving". He was only trying to keep the line moving across the stage, but his words were good advice for a lifetime: "Keep moving". After every achievement growing up, graduation, marriage, job promotion, even retirement...

Italy on Saturday shut all non-essential factories after recording another record coronavirus toll that brought its fatalities to 4,825 - over a third of the world's total and a grim reminder that the pandemic remains out of control. "The decision taken by the government is to close down all productive activity throughout the territory that is not strictly necessary, crucial, indispensable, to guarantee us essential goods and services," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a dramatic late-night TV address. The 55-year-old Italian leader stressed that groceries and pharmacies would remain open and did not spell out what "indispensable" companies were....

Whoopi Goldberg claimed Friday that people would not be “stuck” in their houses if Americans had good leadership. Goldberg, who has been appearing on ABC’s “The View” via Skype for the past several days to protect herself from potential exposure to coronavirus, appeared to suggest that President Donald Trump had failed to provide a level of leadership that might have kept Americans from being forced to stay home. Cohost Sunny Hostin repeated the debunked claim that Trump had called the coronavirus “a hoax” (he has said numerous times that he was referring to the media hype surrounding the virus rather...

Chinese medical experts helping Italy deal with the crisis have said restrictions imposed in the Lombardy region are "not strict enough" to contain the spread Italy called in the military to enforce the lockdown on Friday as officials announced 627 new deaths in 24 hours, the largest single-day toll in any country since the coronavirus outbreak began. Desperate scenes have unfolded in the north of the country, particularly the hardhit Lombardy region where infections first exploded last month, as hospitals struggle to treat thousands of cases, CNN reported.

Rome Canonist to Priests: Disobey Illegal Mass Bans Says bishops have no authority to stop sacraments ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Rome-based expert in canon law is urging faithful clerics to defy illegal orders prohibiting the faithful from attending Holy Mass and receiving the sacraments.  "The Catholic Church has taught from time immemorial that lex iniusta non est lex, an unjust law is no law at all — and it should not be obeyed," writes canonist Catherine Caridi, creator of the popular blog Canon Law Made Easy.  Bishops' Conferences have "absolutely no authority" to make decrees canceling all public Masses, Dr. Caridi states. "The law is...

from the comments: X-mayor Enrique Echeverría Chan was suffering from the effect of the mordida-virus. A virus prevalent in Mexico for several generations. This virus targets mainly politicians & other institutions responsible for safeguarding the public & Mexico oh good, the cenotevirus is next

With 45 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Delaware, Governor John Carney is ordering everyone off the beach and will move to ban non-essential business early next week. In a third modification to his State of Emergency Saturday around lunchtime, Carney announced he's prohibiting public access to Delaware's beaches except for exercise or dog walking on beaches, where that's permitted. Carney hinted about closing the beaches in remarks made on WDEL Friday. The beach ban goes into effect at 5 p.m. Saturday, March 21, 2020. The restrictions are in place until May 15, 2020, or until the public...