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COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus and the flu is caused by an influenza virus. These are two similar but distinct types of viruses that can be easily differentiated in a lab. But new data from the CDC may point to the flu being misdiagnosed as COVID-19, resulting in higher coronavirus numbers but much lower flu numbers. In fact, there has been a 95% decrease in flu cases during current weeks 40-41. This time last year, there were 1251 flu cases reported to the CDC during weeks 40-41. This is about average. But in 2020, we’re seeing a record low...

The coronavirus, like so many other social ills, real and metaphorical, incubated in major cities. New York City, with the highest population density in the country, also accounted for the highest death toll. San Francisco, the second highest among large cities, was a major incubator. Pandemic maps of the death toll show the deaths concentrating around major cities before making the slow trek from urban into suburban and eventually rural areas. The urban lockdowns didn’t stop the spread of the virus. What they really did was trap poor and middle class residents in urban areas, while the wealthy fled, and...

A leading infectious disease expert in the US has warned that the coming weeks “are going to be the darkest” of the entire coronavirus pandemic. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, says the US is seeing a fresh surge in cases while awaiting a vaccine. “We do have vaccines and therapeutics coming down the pike, but when you actually look at the time period for that, the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic,” he warned Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the...

Researcher and attorney Michael P. Senger suggests that the Chinese government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign to exaggerate the severity of coronavirus in order to force the rest of the world into a draconian lockdown that would serve to benefit Beijing. In an article for Tablet Magazine, Senger details how in late January, “international COVID-19 hysteria began” with a series of suspicious videos posted to social media sites showing people in China suddenly collapsing on the streets, including one instance where a man held out his arm to break his fall, suggesting the collapse was staged. After tens of millions...

CDC publishes new survival rates for Covid… MSM Goes Silent The US govt last week updated the survival rates (i.e., IF infected) for Covid19: 0-19 99.997%20-49 99.98%50-69 99.5%70+ 94.6% Didn't see it reported much.https://t.co/miFbqyb9pM— Adam Creighton (@Adam_Creighton) September 23, 2020 CDC link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html

The novel coronavirus may have been circulating in Southern California as early as December, suggests a new study from UCLA published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research. After analyzing electronic health records from UCLA Health hospitals and clinics, researchers found that beginning the week of December 22, hospitals began to report an abnormally high number of patients experiencing coughs and acute respiratory failure compared to previous years. For reference, the Chinese government first informed the World Health Organization of the novel illness on December 31. "For many diseases, data from the outpatient setting can provide an early warning...

An 84-year-old man died at the end of January from Covid-19 - making him the UK's first coronavirus victim and throwing more doubt on China's claims about the start of the pandemic. Peter Attwood, whose death a coroner has partly attributed to Covid-19, died on January 30 – more than a month before what was previously thought to be the UK's first virus death on March 2. It also makes him the first person outside of China who died of the virus. Post-mortem tests on Mr Attwood detected coronavirus in his lung tissue, leading the Kent coroner to record his...

I wrote my first commentary on Covid-19 back in January. The numbers were small back then, but a worldwide pandemic already seemed possible. I wrote, “Confirmed cases of the virus have popped up in 13 countries so far. That includes, as of this writing, five confirmed cases in the United States. Five Americans out 327 million may not seem like much. But the point is, it’s here!” And it would soon be here in a big way! To fight it, Americans and the rest of the world mobilized resources in one of the biggest scientific efforts in history. But the...

Video clip, 45 seconds in duration, at link. The date of original recording is unknown.  A Tweeter on the thread commented that Fauci's remarks in the video were made, "During sars cov 1."Transcript of Fauci's comments below.8:03 PM · Sep 5, 2020https://twitter.com/MaykelMatias/status/1302442308701429760"To  just add one thing that seems to get lost in that question is that, as Bob said and I agree, we would really like to see the data because if there really is asymptomatic transmission it impacts certain policies that you do regarding screening etc.But the one thing historically people need to realize, that even if there is...

A new outbreak of the Ebola virus has infected 100 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Equateur Province, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which said several dozen people have died. The outbreak was first declared on June 1 in the province, and a cluster was first found in Mbandaka, the capital. “The outbreak has since spread to 11 of the province’s 17 health zones. Of the 100 cases reported so far, 96 are confirmed and four are probable,” the agency said. Some 43 people have died from the deadly virus, which causes hemorrhagic fever.

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a newly emerged disease going around under the name Covid-19. While much of the world’s attention is currently placed squarely on this new pathogenic threat, it isn’t the only disease that’s emerging (or re-emerging) and looming over the fate of humanity. In a bid to highlight these risks, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has produced a map that shows the newly emerging diseases and re-emerging diseases that the world is currently facing, and where. The map shows some well known old enemies that are currently resurging in some parts...

In the Middle Ages, the plague caused tens of millions of deaths in Europe in a series of outbreaks known as the Black Death. And while it's extremely rare in modern times, the deadly bacterial infection is still around today — but how likely are you to catch it? This week, California reported its first case of plague in five years. The patient, a resident of the South Lake Tahoe area, is said to be recovering at home. And in July, a 15-year-old boy in western Mongolia died of bubonic plague that he contracted from an infected marmot. According to...

Currently, there are six strains of coronavirus. The original one is the L strain, that appeared in Wuhan in December 2019. Its first mutation—the S strain—appeared at the beginning of 2020, while, since mid-January 2020, we have had strains V and G. To date strain G is the most widespread: it mutated into strains GR and GH at the end of February 2020. "Strain G and its related strains GR and GH are by far the most widespread, representing 74% of all gene sequences we analyzed," says Giorgi. "They present four mutations, two of which are able to change the...

Chinese state media has admitted it views the novel coronavirus as a tool to “beat” President Trump, confirming the Trump administration’s insistence China has sought political gain from the virus. China Global Television Network (CGTN) issued a nearly six-minute video entitled “Can COVID-19 beat populism?” in which the Chinese Communist Party-run network leverages the coronavirus as “another straw on the camel’s back to expose [Trump’s] hollow politics.”In addition to attacking President Trump, the video also went after China-skeptic political leaders such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and Britain’s Boris Johnson.The video confirms Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s insistence that China has...

On Friday, KVEO’s Sydney Hernandez, who has been covering cross-border news for years, reported that “doctors say they are not only treating Rio Grande Valley residents but people who crossed the border seeking medical attention.” “One of the factors is the border, we in McAllen Medical are receiving many patients from Mexico, they are coming in because their resources over there are also limited so they are coming into our area seeking medical attention and by law we have to provide it,” said Dr. Ivonne Lopez, medical director of McAllen Hospital Group at McAllen Medical Center. “The patients that cross...

As many as one in five Londoners had syphilis by their mid-30s during the late 18th century, according to a detailed new study on the sexually transmitted infection (STI) and its spread in the capital of the United Kingdom. Researchers used data from hospital admissions and workhouse infirmaries to reach their figures, making allowances for duplicate records, private treatments, and the possibility of syphilis numbers getting mixed in with other diseases like gonorrhea or chlamydia. The findings show a much higher incidence in London than elsewhere in the country at the time – other studies show 'the pox' was half...

The disease investigators arrived at the apartment in street clothes, carrying their gowns, gloves and face shields in Whole Foods bags. They didn’t knock on the door. Instead, they called the resident — a man in his 50s, then California’s first known coronavirus case — by phone. When he answered, he was instructed to move to the farthest corner of the apartment so the team could go inside and suit up. The pileup of samples left the county’s testing infrastructure bottlenecked and on the brink of collapse. A county memo asked hospitals to turn away any suspected coronavirus patient with...

One aspect of the various executive orders being issued all around the country impacts most retail businesses and private social groups, as well as public offices and spaces. Many of these EOs require stores and other public-facing operations wishing to reopen to mandate the wearing of face masks for not only employees but visitors to the establishment. This is quite common where I live, and the rules apply to most operations in a large number of states. But such an order leaves one very big question unanswered. What if the customer or visitor refuses to don a mask? Who is...

TYLER, Texas — In an interview with CBS19 on Friday, Governor Greg Abbott said a lack of masks and a spike in COVID-19 could, as a last resort, lead to "the necessity of closing Texas down."

A deadly ‘unknown pneumonia’ that has a higher death rate than Covid-19 is understood to have broken out in Kazakhstan, Chinese officials warned. The Chinese embassy, which quoted local media reports, said Atyrau and Aktobe counties as well as Skymkent city had seen a spike in cases of the illness since mid-June. Kazakhstan’s Health Ministry said it had recorded more than 32,000 cases of pneumonia and 451 deaths from the illness between June 29 and July 5 alone. The embassy said the central Asian nation had 1,772 deaths in the first half of the year, including 628 las month –...