Free Republic

There is far more damage being created by the panic than by the virus itself. The damage is hitting hardest those who are most unable to take a hit – small business owners, hourly workers, the poor. Yet because the media continue to push the angst and drama, the panic worsens, and the little guy takes a huge hit. There will be millions of job losses. Did you get that? Not deaths, job losses. Millions. https://www.wnd.com/2020/03/covid-19-panic-far-damaging-virus/  

Wolf has shut down schools in Pennsylvania, put counties in lockdown, and said he could even order businesses to shutter their doors. Such are the powers the Democratic governor has since declaring a disaster emergency on March 6.HARRISBURG — In the space of a week, Gov. Tom Wolf has shut down schools statewide, put four counties in lockdown, and directed businesses to temporarily close their doors to customers.And if coronavirus cases continue to multiply, the Democratic governor could also limit travel, order evacuations, and even commandeer private property to cope with the public health crisis.

Italy on Friday recorded its highest one-day death toll yet from cases of the new coronavirus, according to official data. There were 250 deaths recorded over the past 24 hours, taking the total to 1,266, with 17,660 infections overall, a rise of 2,547 since Thursday evening. (Please see link, for original story)

Lotta buzz overnight about this figure from yesterday’s press conference with Gov. Mike DeWine, which is good. Scary numbers drive home to people how serious this is.But the number didn’t make sense to me intuitively. Since 80 percent of people with the disease experience mild symptoms, 20 percent should logically require medical intervention. If 100,000+ Ohioans have it, there should already be a glut of patients at ERs needing oxygen, ventilators, and so on. There are no reports of that yet. So how can one percent of the population be infected? “We know now, just the fact of community...

Amid the first signs that the novel coronavirus was spreading in the Seattle area, a senior officer at the University of Washington Medical Center sent an urgent note to staffers. “We are currently exceptionally full and are experiencing some challenges with staffing,” Tom Staiger, UW Medical Center’s medical director, wrote on Feb. 29. He asked hospital staff to “expedite appropriate discharges asap,” reflecting the need for more beds. That same day, health officials announced King County’s — and the nation’s — first death from the coronavirus. Now as cases of virus-stricken patients suffering from COVID-19 multiply, government and hospital officials...

Federally funded tests conducted by scientists from several major institutions indicated that the novel form of coronavirus behind a worldwide outbreak can survive in the air for several hours. A study awaiting peer review from scientists at Princeton University, the University of California-Los Angeles and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) posted online Wednesday indicated that the COVID-19 virus could remain viable in the air "up to 3 hours post aerosolization," while remaining alive on plastic and other surfaces for up to three days. "Our results indicate that aerosol and fomite transmission of HCoV-19 is plausible, as the virus can...

I'm a doctor in a major hospital in Western Europe. Watching you Americans (and you, Brits) in these still-early days of the coronavirus pandemic is like watching a familiar horror movie, where the protagonists, yet again, split into pairs or decide to take a tour of a dark basement. The real-life versions of this behavior are pretending this is just a flu; keeping schools open; following through with your holiday travel plans, and going into the office daily. This is what we did in Italy. We were so complacent that even when people with coronavirus symptoms started turning up, we...

No one should flaunt safety by refusing to take precautions to avoid contracting the coronavirus, but there is also no reason to be panicked about it. First of all, the virus seems to be targeting elderly patients the most as comparatively few people under 50 have been hit with the virus. Children have been especially passed over by this strain. So, for most people, simply washing hands frequently and avoiding large gatherings of people in public spaces is enough of a precaution to take over the next month or so. The virus is nothing to ignore, for certain. But it...

There’s an old brain teaser that goes like this: You have a pond of a certain size, and upon that pond, a single lilypad. This particular species of lily pad reproduces once a day, so that on day two, you have two lily pads. On day three, you have four, and so on. Now the teaser. “If it takes the lily pads 48 days to cover the pond completely, how long will it take for the pond to be covered halfway?” The answer is 47 days. Moreover, at day 40, you’ll barely know the lily pads are there. That grim...

Dr. Helen Y. Chu, an infectious disease expert in Seattle, knew that the United States did not have much time. In late January, the first confirmed American case of the coronavirus had landed in her area. Critical questions needed answers: Had the man infected anyone else? Was the deadly virus already lurking in other communities and spreading? As luck would have it, Dr. Chu had a way to monitor the region. For months, as part of a research project into the flu, she and a team of researchers had been collecting nasal swabs from residents experiencing symptoms throughout the Puget...

A person, who attended the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). Mainstream media has gone mad reporting this fact:

Stocks tumbled on Monday as investors braced for the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus, while a shocking all-out oil price war added to the anxiety. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 1,800 points at the open, while the S&P 500 dropped 7%. The massive sell-off triggered a key market circuit breaker in morning trading. Trading was halted for 15 minutes until 9:49 a.m. ET.

The coronavirus panic continues and deepens. It’s hard to see the story straight through the panic. It appears that things will get worse before they get better. We don’t know how much worse before the turn occurs. A wise man once observed it’s always darkest just before it’s entirely black. It’s been a long time since we heard from science writer Michael Fumento. Fumento’s journalism on the AIDS hysteria culminated in The Myth of Heterosexual Aids (1990). Against the tenor of the then reigning misinformation and hysteria, Fumento, I believe, had it right. Fumento’s 1997 book on diet, The Fat...

Coronavirus - Why you should panic more

An infectious diseases expert at the forefront of the search for a coronavirus vaccine said on Friday that it was the most “frightening disease“ he’s ever encountered, and that “war is an appropriate analogy” for what the country is facing, as “50 – 70 percent of the global population” may become infected. Hatchett, who sat on the White House Homeland Security Council in 2005 – 2006 and was a principal author of the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan, and currently heads the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, told the UK’s Channel 4: “This is the most frightening disease...

On Saturday night, 31 states and the District of Columbia reported at least one confirmed or presumptive positive case, with those cases totaling 372. Including those infected people repatriated from abroad, and those trapped aboard the quarantined cruise ship Grand Princess off San Francisco, the total is at least 442. Washington state had the most cases with 103, including 16 deaths, followed by New York with 89 cases and California, with 81 cases and one death. Florida, which reports 11 cases, has also seen two fatalities. In the interior of the country, a number of more sparsely populated states reported...

As concerns of COVID-19 spread across the United States, public health officials are advising people to wash their hands regularly. In response, people have been scooping up large loads of hand sanitizer, leaving store shelves empty and online retailers with sky-high prices set by those trying to profit on the rush. More is on the way, although it's not clear how long it will take retailers to restock. California Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed out on Twitter the shockingly high prices amid hand sanitizer mania. Newsom shared images of a 24-pack of pocket-size bottles selling for $400. "Seriously, @amazon? These prices...

... "I've never seen downtown so empty," she said, referring to the streets, not just the shelves. ... Francisco's store has been in the same small corner for 43 years, she said. Before that, her mother owned a novelty shop in another spot of the usually bustling shopping area. Millions of people visit Pike Place Market annually. But the stalls are empty this week. Vendors aren't flinging fish to one another; instead, they're checking their phones or reading a book. "It's like a ghost town," Francisco said. ...

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association sent a memo to players recommending they avoid several common forms of fan interaction during games in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. ESPN and CNN obtained the memo that the league sent to teams Sunday. "The health and safety of NBA players, coaches, staff and fans is paramount," the memo said. "Working with infectious disease experts, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are providing the following information for players related to the coronavirus outbreak." The NBA and NBPA memo defined the coronavirus, how it spreads, explained the symptoms, gave a...

Coronavirus panic has sent the famously crunchy Park Slope Food Coop into “chaos” as people stockpile organic goods to brace for a local outbreak — with a skirmish breaking out over a can of tuna fish, according to members. The famed Brooklyn produce collective saw its fair-trade food flying off the shelves Monday morning, just hours after New York City’s first case of coronavirus was confirmed. “There is nothing on the shelves. It’s chaos,” said Henderson Paternell, a nine-year member of the socialist-tinged Union Street supermarket. Some of the members reported that perishable items such as soups, peanut butter, rice...