Free Republic

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Shipments of the drug hydroxychloroquine will be making their way to Dade and Broward County hospitals to help people seriously ill with COVID-19, according to Florida’s governor. Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis announced in the opening of his Saturday coronavirus briefing that hospital systems in Dade, Broward and Hillsborough counties, plus some hospitals in Orlando will receive the drug. Hydroxychloroquine is currently under investigation for treatment of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. “It was being utilized in the state of New York. We had a Floridian who used it and was in very bad shape and it seemed...

The coronavirus has shut down much of the country, left Capitol Hill a ghost town and even sidelined aircraft carriers. But it hasn’t been able to dent construction of the border wall. Since the virus was first detected on U.S. soil in January, the government has completed about 40 more miles of border fencing, according to Border Patrol data, with more than half of that coming since early February, about the time Mr. Trump announced a second wave of cash was being funneled from the Pentagon toward wall building. And acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, amid his virus duties...

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees announced Thursday that he and his wife Brittany are donating $5 million to the state of Louisiana in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. “The priority now is helping our communities get through this tough time,” the NFL legend wrote on Instagram. According to the post, the Brees family will be working with a handful of organizations and companies to provide 10,000 meals per day to children, families and seniors in need “for as long as it takes.” He named Second Harvest Food Bank, Ochsner Health Systems, Walk-Ons, Jimmy Johns, Small Sliders and Waitr as...

There is an article in the Financial Times saying that a medical researcher/statistician at Oxford believes that half of the UK's population has already had the virus. Several people disagreed with his study, but it is intriguing. I suspect that I and several members of my family may have had the Wuhan virus in February. We assumed we had the flu, but the symptoms were not like typical flu symptoms. The cough was the worst. If you think you may have had the virus, but didn't realize it at the time, please comment about your experience. Some think this virus...

Recently my niece wrote and asked about my observations relating to the Wuhan Virus pandemic. After much thought I wrote this reply. You may find agreement, disagreement, or simply smack your forehead for any number of reasons. Crusher ****************************************************** Dear H Thank you for your note and update on y'all's situation and we join you in prayer. We are just hunkered down in the hinterlands where "social isolation" has been the status for any day ending in "Y" just about forever. It is early gardening season for your aunt and I have a never ending menu of projects in the...

If you want to maintain job security at the Washington Post, you must adhere to the Orange Man Bad narrative- whether you are a conservative, or a "conservative" such as columnist Kathleen Parker. On Tuesday, Parker stuck to that policy by writing yet another column based on the Orange Man Bad narrative concerning the response to coronavirus "Let Andrew Cuomo speak for America, not Trump." Unfortunately for Parker, her attempt to boost Cuomo backfired on her in a most embarrassing way just a short time later. But before we get to her self-inflicted pie on the face, let's take a...

As businesses and workers across the United States reel from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Wawa stores have remained open to the public with several precautionary measures in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.Last week, Wawa announced the closure of all self-serve stations for coffee, iced coffee, fountain drinks, cappuccinos and Icee drinks. The company also said it would close stores briefly between 2-3 a.m. each night to complete thorough cleaning and restock shelves.On Thursday, the company announced additional steps to ensure customer and employee safety: in-store signage and announcements about social distancing, visual floor markers and clear plastic...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti urged that "we look on the bright side of the current pandemic. Sure there are inconveniences that must be endured, but there is also a 'silver lining.' Consider the positive developments we have observed so far." "The widespread fear of the contagion has inspired a much higher rate of public cooperation with the autocratic measures we have seen fit to impose," the Mayor pointed out. "We tell people to go to their homes and stay there. Almost everyone obeys. For the few who don't we cut off their electricity and water—making their lives hellish and...

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed on Wednesday that next month's Olympic women's football qualifying matches would be moved from Wuhan to Nanjing, amid concerns over the spread of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. With the 2019-nCoV virus having spread across several Chinese provinces and 440 cases confirmed, Chinese authorities have urged people not to travel to or from Wuhan, where the virus was first reported in late December. The central Chinese city was scheduled to host all matches in Group B of the 2020 Olympic women's qualifiers, with China, Australia, Chinese Taipei and Thailand included...

Just days after his commanding primary victories in Florida, Arizona and Illinois, the coronavirus has turned former Vice President Joe Biden into a virtual prisoner of his Delaware home, where he’s reduced to sniping at President Trump from the family rec room. “He’s making himself irrelevant,” Saikat Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff to Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, told The Post, saying the virtual broadcasts were not helping. “We need action immediately, and Biden can’t do anything real right now.”

[Catholic Caucus] Anything Goes: Bishop Allows Nurses To "Anoint" The Sick Springfield Bishop Mitchell Rozanski, USA, "allowed" nurses on March 25 to perform [invalid] anointings of the sick. Rozanski planed that a priest would stand outside the room while a nurse would enter and administers the oil. Prayers could be provided via telephone. On March 27, CatholicNewsAgency.com reported about this. An hour later, Rozanski rescinded his "permission."

The local Walmart has 5 quart bottles of Conventional Super Tech 10W-30 for $13.98 and Synthetic for $14.88. Regular quart bottles of all brands/grades are also at months ago prices. These are the same prices for which it has been selling for months. With the price of oil at around $22 a barrel, that is WAY too high for oil. Doesn't seem to be right with what is going on right now with the whole region in economic distress. Never did see Walmart as gouging, but on this item they are.

From a disease standpoint, Shakespeare was living in arguably the worst place and time in history. Shakespeare's overcrowded, rat-infested, sexually promiscuous London, with raw sewage flowing in the Thames, was the hub for the nastiest diseases known to mankind. Here are the worst of the worst. 1. Plague It is little surprise that the plague was the most dreaded disease of Shakespeare's time. Carried by fleas living on the fur of rats, the plague swept through London in 1563, 1578-9, 1582, 1592-3, and 1603 (Singman, 52). The outbreaks in 1563 and 1603 were the most ferocious, each wiping out over...

Are you convinced that all candidates running for political office are the same? Do you see “politics” as just another career choice, where candidates work their way up the ladder and — once elected to the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate — use their power, influence and our tax dollars to keep their jobs for life? Are you annoyed that the party establishment hand-picks the candidates to fill the important posts, then lays out the bread crumbs for the rest of us to dutifully follow to the polls? Just when you thought there was no way that...

Some fun - and hope! - in gloomy times, for those of us who are getting older (or are Forever Young) - and stuck at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3a8dTtc4Zo

Watching it live ..... formed quickly into a huge intense tornado in town

SALT LAKE CITY — If residents of Salt Lake City violate Gov. Gary Herbert’s new “Stay Home, Stay Safe” directive, which went into effect Friday, they could be charged with a class B misdemeanor, fined up to $1,000 and spend up to six months in jail. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall signed a proclamation shortly after the governor announced the directive, giving local legal backing to the state’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” directive.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underestimated the threat from the emerging outbreak of the coronavirus in the US — and bungled its communication with local public health agencies about what actions to take, according to a report. ProPublica obtained hundreds of pages of documents that it said painted a picture of chaos at the country’s leading national public health agency that slowed the early response to the deadly illness. On Feb. 13, the CDC sent out an email with what the writer described as an “URGENT” appeal for assistance as the agency was struggling to keep track of...

With New York quickly becoming the new epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the US, healthcare workers in the state have been working nonstop. Knowing that these heroes wouldn't have time to stop and grab a meal, one of New York's most famous couples -- Bill and Hillary Clinton-- stepped in to help. This week, the Clintons sent over 400 pizzas to all the hospitals in their home county of Westchester "as a small token of their appreciation for everything medical professionals are doing for their communities," according to Angel Ureña, spokesman for President Clinton. With a note that read,...

The link between unemployment and suicides will be a concern that has to be addressed while the majority of the population stays-in to duck the coronavirus pandemic Even a pandemic can’t shock the media out of its blinding hostility to President Trump — witness this week’s absurd press eruption after he warned of a likely rise in suicides. “People get tremendous anxiety and depression, and you have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies,” Trump noted at a briefing, adding that he believes the isolation many Americans face thanks to social distancing will also lead to more...