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If you’re rich and famous, there’s a much better chance that you’ll land an elusive COVID-19 test. If you’re an average Joe, well, good luck. “It’s the wild, wild West out there,” Dr. Edward Goldberg, a Manhattan internist said. “There’s very little unified messaging and when that happens, the rich and privileged jump the line. And the rules about testing keep changing and they differ state to state — and country by country.” Everyone from Bravo host Andy Cohen, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Prince Charles, Prince Albert of Monaco, Placido Domingo, Debi Mazar, Jackson Browne, Idris Elba, UK Prime Minister...

QUEENS — Brian Zupanick, who marked his 39th birthday alone Sunday, couldn’t believe his ears when a doctor called him from Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan this weekend. The doctor had some positive news about his long-time partner, John Giarratano, who’d been placed on a ventilator for 13 days, after COVID-19 virus invaded Giarratano’s lungs. “He’s off the ventilator,” Brian Zupanick told PIX11 with jubilation, as we FaceTimed him to discuss his good piece of news. “I couldn’t ask for a better present, honestly.” Giarratano—a 42-year-old, freelance TV producer—was the first COVID-19 patient we profiled early last weekend. His partner,...

Trapped in the confines of four walls, springtime spent in quarantine can feel uninspiring, if not isolating. But as Gregory Chiate’s son looked outside his window in Marin County one recent morning, he realized he wasn’t alone. On top of a towering conifer outside perched a bald eagle: the first one his father had seen since they moved there 11 years ago. The birds have been making a comeback, according to Shannon Burke, an interpretive naturalist with Marin County Parks, though it’s not necessarily because the area has been deserted by people. (Coyotes are a different story in San Francisco.)...

Good video with the song.

(TNS) As the administration ramps up its response to the continuing spread of Wuhan coronavirus, President Donald Trump is becoming increasingly frustrated with the constant carping coming from (mostly) Democratic governors and mayors. Despite the fact that the government has stockpiled pandemic response supplies in warehouses around the country, anyone who’s been in government at the state or federal level for any length of time knows that it takes time, thanks to bureaucracy, for ‘things to happen’ like getting those supplies distributed. Not to mention the fact that America is a big place with 50 states and right now, pretty...

Okay, so it looks like the isolation period is going to be extended to the end of April. It's going to be a long haul since I am already going a bit stir crazy. Only going out once per week for food (and one other pit stop last week to pick up our new Coronavirus car on a GM deal). Fortunately some of this isolation is mitigated by watching lots of stuff on TV. However, the sense of wanderlust remains. So my question to everybody is: What will you be doing once the isolation period ends? I am definitely thinking...

Lonnie David Franklin Jr., who killed at least 10 people between 1985 and 2007 -- mainly in the South Los Angeles area -- has died at the age of 67, officials at San Quentin State Prison said Sunday. Franklin, who was sentenced to death in Los Angeles in 2016, was found unresponsive in his cell at about 7:20 p.m. Saturday. “Medical assistance was rendered and an ambulance was summoned. Franklin was pronounced deceased at 7:43 p.m. His cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy; however, there were no signs of trauma,” prison officials said. Local Local news...

Jan Howard, a longtime singer who spent nearly five decades as part of country music’s famed Grand Ole Opry, has died. She was 91. Howard died Saturday in Gallatin, Tenn., the Grand Ole Opry announced. “Jan Howard was a force of nature in country music, at the Opry, and in life,” said Dan Rogers, the musical institution’s vice president and executive producer. “We were all so lucky so many nights to hear her voice on stage and to catch up with her backstage. We’re all better for having had her in our lives.” The Grand Ole Opry, which Howard joined...

Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday sent a letter to hospital administrators requesting they provide any Wuhan coronavirus testing data available to the Trump administration. The goal is to arm the White House Coronavirus Task Force with data so they can make informed decisions about how to best protect the American people from the Wuhan coronavirus.  The administration is asking every hospital with testing information to update the spreadsheet they were sent every day by 5 p.m. ET. The full letter is below: Dear Hospital Administrator:On behalf of President Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force, I want to extend...

Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare has created guidelines for the priority of care for Chinese coronavirus patients that could see elderly Swedish citizens left to die in favour of illegal migrants.Sweden’s elderly, along with Swedes with pre-existing health conditions, can be given lower priority than healthy young illegal migrants, according to the new guidelines. Dr Thomas Lindén, of the National Board of Health and Welfare, said that health professionals should prioritise based on medical needs and not on the basis of citizenship, according to Nyheter Idag. “The principles of prioritisation say that we should prioritise on the basis...

When it came to deadly epidemics, the Soviets didn’t do half-measures. Not only doctors, but the police, army, navy, and even the KGB were all brought in to curb the spread.In 1939, microbiologist Abram Berlin brought a dangerous disease back with him to Moscow from Saratov. There in Saratov, during experiments on animals, he used the living causative agent of the plague, and was strictly confined to quarantine. However, an urgent call from Moscow forced him to go immediately to the capital, unleashing the plague. Berlin checked in at the Hotel National, dined there, and visited a hairdresser. Feeling very...

Covid fatality rates per age groups:Based on VOX (with brief excerpts): Covid-19 risks for different age groups, explained (Mar 23, 2020. (https://www.vox.com/2020/3/23/21190033/coronavirus-covid-19-deaths-by-age) â–º Kids under 10 years old:Italy, South Korea, and China have no reported fatalities for this group. Out of 28,600 total cases in Spain, 26 percent were hospitalized, and one child was put in the ICU (a 0.8 percent rate); and there have been zero fatalities. Zero have ended up in intensive care, while one person has died (0.4 percent). â–º Tweens and teens (10 to 19 years old):Italy and South Korea have reported no fatalities for...

Here at home, there are rising concerns about the Wuhan coronavirus. Philadelphia officials are hoping to give residents, as well as restaurants and businesses, a boost of confidence and support. “We have confidence that everybody’s safe coming to Chinatown,” Mayor Jim Kenney said. As a major show of support for residents and businesses in Chinatown, Kenney and other city officials had lunch at the Ocean Harbor Restaurant on Thursday afternoon. They’re hoping to quell rising fears about the coronavirus

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is distributing its 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel to public health labs through the International Reagent Resource...Tests using two components were not determined to be reliable until 28 February 2020, and it was not until then that state and local laboratories were permitted to begin testing. The test was approved by the Food and Drug Administration under an Emergency Use Authorization. From the CDC, updated March 15, 2020 regarding the above:Is this test FDA -approved or cleared? No. This test is not yet approved or cleared...

Songwriter John Prine is hospitalized and in critical condition with COVID-19 symptoms, according to a statement posted to his Twitter account on Sunday afternoon. “After a sudden onset of Covid-19 symptoms, John was hospitalized on Thursday (3/26),” the statement reads. “He was intubated Saturday evening, and continues to receive care, but his situation is critical.” The news follows a video posted to Instagram 12 days ago from Prine’s wife, Fiona, in which she revealed she’d been diagnosed with the Coronavirus. At the time, she said, John also was tested but the results came back “indeterminate.” She noted that John had...

The one size fits all solution is going to ruin us as a nation. This needs to stop!! Below are what I propose as a common sense approach to dealing with COVID-19. Breaking us up into risk groups makes sense, at least to me. Group 1: Ages 0-40 This group does not need to practice social distancing or change any behavior with respect to each other in this group. This group can work, play and go about their daily lives as normal with the exception of respecting the practice of social distancing with group 2, 3 and 4. Group 2:...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB2drJIWI7Y

A group of armed vigilantes cut down a tree and dragged it across a man’s driveway in Maine to force him to quarantine in his home amid fears he could be infected with the coronavirus, officials said. A man residing on Cripple Creek Road in Vinalhaven, an island off the coast of Maine, called authorities around 3:35 p.m. Friday to report a group of people with guns had cut down a large tree and dragged it in front of his driveway, blocking access to the main road. The man said he left his house to check his property when he...

New York’s health commissioner on Wednesday dismissed a call from White House officials for anyone who left or is leaving the New York metro area to self-quarantine for two weeks. “I would not follow that,” Dr. Howard Zucker told reporters in Albany. “These cases are all over the country, it’s not just in New York,” he added.

Elections Under Evers’s proposal, Wisconsinites would no longer be required to provide a photo ID in order to vote when a public health emergency is declared. The bill includes provisions the governor floated Friday, such as allowing absentee ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election day and extending the time for voters to register online.