Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic

by Oui Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 10:01:38 AM EST

No, Mark Rutte can be accused of intentional neglect by following the suggestion of his chosen scientists on "herd immunity". The RIVM is still not following WHO instructions to do the testing!

Minister President Mark Rutte of The Netherlands will be remembered in history, quite like Dutch PM Colijn during the military build-up in Germany and the outbreak of World War II ...

From my diary on March 14th ...

Outbreak -- Herd Immunity Is Damning!

More below the fold ...

Frontpaged- Frank Schnittger

The Extraordinary Decisions Facing Italian Doctors | The Atlantic - March 11, 2020 |

Two weeks ago, Italy had 322 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. At that point, doctors in the country's hospitals could lavish significant attention on each stricken patient.

One week ago, Italy had 2,502 cases of the virus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19. At that point, doctors in the country's hospitals could still perform the most lifesaving functions by artificially ventilating patients who experienced acute breathing difficulties.

Today, Italy has 10,149 cases of the coronavirus. There are now simply too many patients for each one of them to receive adequate care. Doctors and nurses are unable to tend to everybody. They lack machines to ventilate all those gasping for air.

[...]

DREADFUL STATISTICS ITALY

Today's horrifying statistics ... not just numbers, but real persons, lives suddenly stopped short by lack of empathy and insight by people in power of the mightiest economies the planet has ever witnessed. A complete failure in leadership!! Trump, Johnson and PM Mark Rutte refusing to follow WHO guidelines on testing, testing, testing.

COBRA Watching the Charts : Experts

Unpreparedness on the scale we see in many nations, including the three I've focused on ... is just criminal. The data on the Wuhan Outbreak has been known since mid-January .. the political preoccupation had other priorities. Same old with George Bush and Dick Cheney in August 2001 - Hair On Fire warning from the intelligence community. US intelligence is like God: Knows All! National Security? Trump closed down the Pandemic Response Team inside the NSC.

Mark "Wonder Boy" Rutte was on a visit in the White House ... scourging for economic favours because of Brexit, building best relationships with U.S. President Donald Trump. What a shithole countries, "leading" the planet into oblivion.

○ MSC: Trump's Best Friend: Dutch PM Mark Rutte

Trump doesn't know shit or care about "World Health" also known as the WHO which has launched its guidance from the beginning of January. Boris Johnson and Mark Rutte have followed in the Master's footsteps ... deception and outright lying. By BoJo it's clear, Mark is a better presenter. He did go AWOL on Sunday March 15 and let the minister in his cabinet bring the bad news and backtracking from earlier statements. Rutte was all prepared for Sunday in spoke eloquently in his Address to the Nation

See the graphs in article, the individual elliptical rise indicates how the state tackled the virus ... or didn't!

○ Coronavirus map: The COVID-19 virus is spreading across the world. Here's where cases have been confirmed. | NBC News |

○ Coronavirus: Italy and Spain record highest single-day death tolls | The Guardian |

Display:
From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic | 66 comments (66 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
After Policy Delay, Boris Blaming Public (none / 0)
Coronavirus: Boris Johnson in Mother's Day warning amid concern for NHS | BBC News |

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking at a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19) as he ordered pubs and restaurants across the country to close tonight as the Government announced unprecedented measures to cover the wages of workers who would otherwise lose their jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak.Image copyrightPA MEDIA

Boris Johnson has warned the NHS could be "overwhelmed" if people do not act to slow the "accelerating" spread of coronavirus, as he urged the UK not to visit loved ones on Mother's Day.

The PM called on the public to join a "heroic and collective national effort" and follow social distancing advice.
The number of people who have died in the UK with coronavirus rose to 233 on Saturday, as cases topped 5,000.

It comes as NHS England plans to write to 1.5 million people most at risk.

Those at-risk people will receive letters or text messages strongly advising them not to go out for 12 weeks to protect themselves, the government said. They include people who have received organ transplants, are living with severe respiratory conditions such as cystic fibrosis or specific cancers, such as blood or bone marrow

Coronavirus news - live: NHS could be 'overwhelmed' by pandemic, warns PM, as military set to help deliver supplies to vulnerable | The Independent |

Related reading ...

Don't Leave Me Behind | The Green Amsterdammer - 2013 |

    In 2013, according to the Secretary of Health Van Rijn, around € 27 billion was spent on 800,000 people in long-term care through the General Exceptional Medical Expenses Act (AWBZ) - and that expenditure rose by 4.5 percent annually. That increase had to be stopped.

A worthwhile read ... Rutte has done his best to benefit electorally to split the nation in a generation gap.

The young generation running corporate The Netherlands have long despised the older generation because of their fortunate period of economic wealth and profiting from the state pension benefits.

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 11:12:58 AM EST
NL in Crisis: ALARM Message (none / 0)
NL-Alert Rijksoverheid: keep 1,5 meter distance!

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 12:09:40 PM EST
Medical Supplies Lucrative Business for Thieves (none / 1)
Ace Pharmaceuticals in Zeewolde is the only company in the Netherlands that produces a drug that can suppress the pathogenic effects of the coronavirus. According to the TV program EenVandaag, it concerns the drug chloroquine.

Police surveillance at drug manufacturer Ace Pharmaceuticals | TV Flevoland |

Ace Pharmaceuticals from Zeewolde is guarded 24/7 by provincial police.

The company makes medications that can suppress the pathogenic effects of the coronavirus. The drug Chloroquine is included in the preliminary treatment plan of the RIVM.

Around the building there is a police car with a running engine on every corner. There is one striking car at the company on the Schepenveld. On the other corners are civilian cars with agents in them.

The police say that the property is under surveillance because of a suspicious situation that has arisen. The Ministry of Security and Justice also does not want to say anything about the police deployment for the time being. A spokesman for the municipality of Zeewolde says he does not know why there is a police force near the company.

○ Hydroxychloroquine, a less toxic derivative of chloroquine, is effective in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro

Related reading ...

○ Coronavirus outbreak could disrupt supply for U.S. healthcare companies | Healthcare Finance - Feb 13, 2020 |
○ WHO Warns of a Shortage in Coronavirus Protective Gear | US News - Feb 3, 2020 |

    "Demand is up to 100 times higher than normal for some equipment and prices are up to 20 times higher, according to the World Health Organization [Press release on Jan. 5, 2020]."

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 01:19:25 PM EST
To prevent a Mossad style raid? (none / 1)


Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 03:01:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: To prevent a Mossad style raid? (4.00 / 2)
Or a Czech style raid instead?

Coronavirus: Czech Republic seizes more than 100,000 face masks sent by China to help Italy tackle spread

The Czech Republic has seized more than 100,000 face masks which China had sent to Italy to help tackle the country's coronavirus outbreak, authorities have said.

Around 680,000 protective masks were confiscated, as well as thousands of respirators, from speculators, according to an article shared by the Czech health minister.

The company involved was supposed to provide the equipment to health professionals, but raised the price at the last minute, the interior minister said.

However, it turned out that some of these seized masks were destined for Italy - one of the worst-hit countries in the world by the coronavirus pandemic - as a gift from China.

All will end well, the authorities have assured:

The Czech foreign minister has said that 110,000 face masks will be sent to Italy from their own stock while the police investigation is ongoing, the Italian embassy to Prague told The Independent.

This matches the number of face masks meant for Italy that were seized, according to the embassy.

The delivery will be sent before the police finish their investigation "in light of the growing need for medical supplies in Italy", their statement said.

by Bernard on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 05:10:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Rutte's Advice to Trump: Chloroquine (none / 1)
Twitter Trump intervention Fauci on trial drug chloroquine ...

Fauci throws cold water on Trump's declaration that malaria drug chloroquine is a 'game changer'

??? Dutch patients as guinea pigs for American BIG Pharma ???

New medicine used on CoV-2 patients in Red Zone of Brabant | AD.nl |

Pulmonologists are with their hands in the hair because there is no effective treatment for the coronavirus. A new Dutch guideline that specialists discussed yesterday states that there is still insufficient evidence for the effect of the medicines referred to in the guideline. Some may even do more damage than they do right. "In practice, we have not yet seen much effect from those medicines in Brabant, but patients do suffer from side effects."

The first treatment results make the chairman of the Dutch Association of Physicians for Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis (NVALT) sadly disappointed. "What we have seen in practice in the Brabant region so far is that the recommended medicines do not seem to have much effect," explains Van den Toorn. "But at least patients suffer from side effects, such as depressive complaints, nausea and vomiting."

Cardiac arrhythmias

The database for side effects Lareb states that chloroquine can cause serious heart complaints and arrhythmias, for example, in addition to gastrointestinal complaints and headaches. "Do NOT use this medicine if you have this heart rhythm disorder," urgent advice.

According to the lung specialist, who himself works at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the remedy that is "by far the most tried in the Netherlands is "chloroquine", a drug that is also used to prevent malaria. "Not all hospitals are enthusiastic about it, but in most hospitals it is given to the sicker patients." "Whether people in the Netherlands have been saved with this drug? "You can't say that, we don't know much about it yet," admits the foreman. Moreover, he emphasizes: ,, Of course you don't know what would have happened to those people if you had not used the drug.

When patients have a serious infection, doctors are allowed to administer experimental drugs. A number of them are advised by the Working Group on Antibiotics Policy (SWAB) and are already used in hospitals. These drugs have mainly been tested in the laboratory, but barely on humans.

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 08:58:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Rutte's Advice to Trump: Chloroquine (none / 1)
This particular drug has approval to combat malaria ... approval is for use in The Netherlands !! 😷🤒
May not be exported ... bit more than just odd.
by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 09:23:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Rutte's Advice to Trump: Chloroquine (none / 0)

Shipment of medicine is heavily guarded from factory to enduser.

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 06:14:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Tory Orthodoxies On the Grand CoV-2 Bonfire (4.00 / 2)
The coronavirus crisis ignites a bonfire of Conservative party orthodoxies | The Guardian Opinion |

You can see some of the tensions this creates in the strained and exhausted face of Boris Johnson whenever he appears at the now daily news conferences. This instinctive libertarian, who used to earn his living by penning newspaper columns ridiculing "the nanny state" is being impelled to introduce social controls of a kind not seen since the Second World War.

Some of the constraints go further than that time of national trial. They didn't shut the boozers during the Blitz. He finds himself, and clearly hates having to be, the prime minister responsible "for taking away the ancient and inalienable right of every freeborn Englishman to go to the pub".

Three pillars of Trump's case for reelection are collapsing all at once | CNBC |

`Disaster socialism': Will coronavirus crisis finally change how Americans see the safety net? | Will Bunch |

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 02:33:00 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (4.00 / 2)
Germany has half the fatalities of Holland and 6 times as many confirmed cases. Either the German health care system is 12 times better or Holland has 12 times more cases than it knows about. That means that 11/12th. of their cases could be spreading further infections without realising it. When you're in a Rutte, start testing!

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 03:07:31 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 1)
How about PM Rutte deserving 12 Pinocchio's 🙃😟

Most important ... Merkel's Germany does the testing following WHO instructions ... Rutte, BoJo and Trump are of the Conservative Church of my #science and NO TESTING but the bare minimum. Blaming outside forces for the unfortunate "acceleration" of number of deaths ... see elliptical curve upwards.

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 04:33:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (4.00 / 2)
Add France to the list of "low testing rate" countries: about 4000 per day vs. over 20000 in Germany. Only people being hospitalized with symptoms (and health care personnel) is systematically tested. People with mild symptoms are asked to self-quarantine at home and take paracetamol.

Official justification is that now that the virus is officially spreading nationwide, there's no longer a point in systematic testing -  the WHO begs to differ. French Health minister acknowledged that the real number of infected people is much higher that the 15000 counted as of Saturday night, "somewhere between 30000 and 90000" he estimated.

by Bernard on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 05:18:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 1)
The real point of testing mild cases is to do contact tracing, but that becomes exponentially more difficult the greater the number of infections, so perhaps the opportunity to that has passed.  Nevertheless, it was an opportunity missed at an earlier stage of the pandemic. It also rather assumes that people with mild symptoms will effectively self isolate - which they may not do if they think it's just a cold...

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 05:35:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
expontent -> 0 (4.00 / 2)
The probability of new cases is indirectly related to indiscriminate quarantine enforcement. The greater HH "locked down" and (confirmed, suspect) patients' compliance, the fewer contacts to trace. Physical quarantine of all suspected cases (∞) is the limiting factor of "new case" growth. And ultimately, depletion of finite medical care and equipment resources available to acute cases.

chc.cn | Update on the epidemic situation of new coronavirus pneumonia as of 24:00 on March 21

A total of 687,680 close contacts were traced, and 1,071 close contacts were still in medical observation.
Doubtless Wuhan artifacts in the total. But China still hasn't stopped daily tracking and health surveillance of "suspect" contacts.

archived Sun Feb 9th, 2020 at 03:09:27 AM EST, A/V segment

by Cat on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 07:05:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: expontent -> 0 (4.00 / 3)
According to more recent sources, the number of daily tests in France is now closer to 8000 and there's a plan to ramp them up, particularly once the mass confinement is eventually lifted, in... a number of weeks from now.
by Bernard on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 07:41:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 1)
He's out by an order of magnitude, I suspect.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 07:06:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (4.00 / 2)
The thing about there being no point in testing is a cover story -- the truth is that they had very few testing kits available, so had no choice. An official lie in order to forestall panic, I suppose.

They are ramping up testing quite fast in France now that the tests are available in greater numbers.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 11:18:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (4.00 / 2)
Same for the decision to go ahead with the first round of local elections, only to hastily cancel the second round sine die. Decisions are taken at the last minute with little anticipation, because until recently, the priority was the health of the economy over the health of the public. Neoliberalism in action.

The Chinese leadership may be taking a similar gamble:

Life after lockdown: has China really beaten coronavirus?

Others say it is a balancing act for the leadership. Since the beginning of this month, leaders in Beijing, including Xi, have emphasised the need to meet economic and development targets, in a year where the Chinese economy was already expected to struggle. A taskforce has been touring the country to make sure local authorities, bound by competing demands of restarting production but preventing new infections, are following orders.

"Now the leadership has put a very heavy emphasis on resuming economic activity," said Victor Shih, a politics professor at the University of California, San Diego.

"One way to resume economic activity without panic is to cover up cases while still doing the government's best to trace and contain them," he said. "There is a risk it will lead to another outbreak but for now that seems like a risk the government is willing to take."

by Bernard on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 07:09:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 1)

Dutch coronavirus death toll rises to 179, most deaths outside intensive care
There are 1,150 intensive care beds in the Netherlands, of which around half are being kept free for coronavirus patients.
[...]
Convoys of patients are also being moved to other hospitals around the country. `This situation can last for months and the number of patients could be so great that we won't have enough IC personnel,' Farid Adbo, a specialist at the Radboud university teaching hospital in Nijmegen told broadcaster NOS.
[...]
More than 80% of Dutch coronavirus patients are being treated at home, and of those who are admitted to hospital, 20% to 30% end up in intensive care, Adbo said.
by Cat on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 10:58:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
BREAKING: Chancellor Merkel In Quarantine (none / 1)

... can hardly keep up with some essential developments :-(

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 06:23:30 PM EST
BREAKING: Senator Rand Paul Too (none / 1)
by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 07:06:13 PM EST
Re: BREAKING: Senator Rand Paul Too (none / 1)
Between his test and quarantine he went to the Senate gym and swam in the Senate swimming pool.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 08:08:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Segregates or Partisan Pools? (none / 0)
Must be a partisan division in the pool, otherwise the virus may cross the aisle ... getting the votes all messed up too!

Damn Chinese interference! Punishment from god for not buying Huawei 5G. Is Lauren complaining, or the senators getting too old??

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 09:02:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No Courage, Insight and Will Never Excel (4.00 / 2)
'He's an idiot': critics say Trump has failed the US in this test of reassurance | The Guardian - March 14, 2020 |

Perhaps Trump's greatest blunder was turning down the offer of a German-made diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization and taken up by many countries. The US government's own painfully slow progress led to a nationwide shortage of test kits at the most critical moment. It was reported that just 11,000 tests have been conducted in America so far, whereas South Korea is carrying out 10,000 tests per day.

Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told the Bloomberg news agency:

    "This is an unmitigated disaster that the administration has brought upon the population, and I don't say this lightly. We have had a much worse response than Iran, than Italy, than China and South Korea."

It seems that Trump only began to take the issue seriously two weeks ago when he saw a 1,000-point drop on Wall Street. Even then, he urged aides, including Kellyanne Conway and senior economic adviser Larry Kudlow, to go on television and preach confidence, according to five White House officials and Republicans interviewed by the Associated Press.

He also accused Democrats of using the coronavirus as "their new hoax", promised a vaccine much sooner than scientifically possible, prophesied that the virus will be killed off by warmer spring weather and kept comparing it to the common flu (though experts say coronavirus is 10 times more deadly). But the usual playbook of deny and distract proved futile against a nimble germ without an ego.

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 07:42:37 PM EST
Re: No Courage, Insight and Will Never Excel (none / 0)
Trump is a narcissist.

Narcissistic personality disorder... a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others.  --- Mayo Clinic

So no surprise

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 08:10:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ObamaCare vs Trump Doesn't Care (none / 0)
Right-wing Nationalist and Xenphobic Donald Trump follows the Mao Zedong's playbook of denial and downplaying the seriousness of CoV-2 virus: "I build a wall, we're invincible." Indeed, Trump has postured himself and US policy based on isolationism: "We don't fight them over there, our boys are coming home."

    A fatal period of hesitation regarding information-sharing and action spawned anxiety, panic, and rumor-mongering across the country and undermined the government's efforts to create a milder image of itself in the international arena.

The Chinese virus as a Democratic hoax!!

China: SARS Outbreak In 2002

The SARS Epidemic and Its Aftermath In China: A Political Perspective

In November 2002, a form of atypical pneumonia called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) began spreading rapidly around the world, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the ailment "a worldwide health threat." At the epicenter of the outbreak was China, where the outbreak of SARS infected more than 5,300 people and killed 349 nationwide (Ministry of Health, 2003). History is full of ironies: the epidemic caught China, at first, unprepared to defeat the disease 45 years after Mao Zedong bade "Farewell to the God of Plagues."

The SARS epidemic was not simply a public health problem. Indeed, it caused the most severe socio-political crisis for the Chinese leadership since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Outbreak of the disease fueled fears among economists that China's economy was headed for a serious downturn.

A fatal period of hesitation regarding information-sharing and action spawned anxiety, panic, and rumor-mongering across the country and undermined the government's efforts to create a milder image of itself in the international arena. As Premier Wen Jiabao pointed out in a cabinet meeting on the epidemic, "the health and security of the people, overall state of reform, development, and stability, and China's national interest and international image are at stake (Zhongguo xinwen wang, 2003a)."

In the weeks that followed, the Chinese government launched a crusade against SARS, effectively bringing the disease under control in late June and eliminating all known cases by mid-August.

Life in China recovers.

○ Trump dismissed coronavirus pandemic worry in January -- now claims he long warned about it | CNBC |

Trump says he trusts China's Xi on coronavirus and the US has it 'totally under control' | CNBC - Jan. 22, 2020 |

President Donald Trump told CNBC he trusts the information coming out of China on the coronavirus, which has killed nine people and sickened nearly 500 others in that country.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case in the United States.

"We have it totally under control," Trump told "Squawk Box" co-host Joe Kernen in an interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "It's one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It's going to be just fine."

The CDC on Tuesday said a resident of Snohomish County, Washington, who was returning from China on Jan. 15 was diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus.

Of course President Trump was on a political mission, pre-occupied with Business opportunities and the existential threat at home of the Impeachment Trial in Washington DC ...

Protected by his God and anointed by his Believers, Donald couldn't be bothered by a little bug from China ... We've got the BEST scientists at the CDC! I've got the WALL!

U.S. Congress wouldn't let White House NSC Advisor John Bolton testify ... he scrapped the Pandemic Response Team in 2018.

○ For Trump, Coronavirus Proves to Be an Enemy He Can't Tweet Away | NY Times |

○ Defense contractor death marks first military-related coronavirus fatality | The Hill - 2 mins ago |

by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 08:04:10 PM EST
Re: ObamaCare vs Trump Doesn't Care (none / 1)
by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 08:05:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
santayana second for w/o 22 Mar (4.00 / 3)
by Cat on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 08:18:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 1)
Palestinian PM Orders West Bank Lockdown; Coronavirus Cases in Israel Pass 1,000
by Cat on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 08:55:07 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to HISTORIOGRAPHY (none / 1)

"experience-based" therapeutic research

by Cat on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 09:32:05 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to HISTORIOGRAPHY (4.00 / 2)
Who is this guy?
He is postulating:
  1. The virus is man made
  2. Governments around the world are deliberately taking drugs that could cure the illness off the market
  3. Very efficacious Herbal cures that can't be patented will not be allowed to see the light of day
  4. 5G wifi is part of the cause
  5. Bill Gates is part of an international conspiracy to make people more reliant on computers and on-line procurement

Any one of the above propositions is plausible, but all five put together???

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 11:12:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to HISTORIOGRAPHY (none / 0)
Has been exposed by "quack watch" ... one of many! ☠️
by Oui on Sun Mar 22nd, 2020 at 11:32:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Atalanta Bergamo: One Match Too Many (none / 1)
CORONAVIRUS. ATALANTA-VALENCIA POSSIBILE FOCOLAIO, SI INDAGA

Atalanta v Valencia identified as main source of coronavirus spread in Italy

Emergenza coronavirus

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 12:16:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to HISTORIOGRAPHY (none / 1)
Well, the webinar starts out with survey of conventional peer-reviewed medical journals and clinical experience. Then, more or less slides into controversial "holistic" remedies ("APIs"). Holistic medical is the arch-enemy of synthetic pharmaceutical ("biologic") industry, finessed worldwide by, you guessed it, Research Triangle, USA investors and invidious "medicalization" of every malady and comestible, from cradle to grave. amirite.

What's so hilarious in that segment is, despite the doctor's sultry, teutonic tone, I'm immediately reminded of homely British health care encounters which have complemented NHS srvc since its estabishment, I gathered. This ahh subaltern culture attending "gardening" pastimes was something of a shock to me, while I acclimating to London. When I got back to USA, COME TO FIND OUT, my Robert (M.D.) had while some months in our absence had added cert'd acupuncture [!] treatment to his ahh arsenal. Cold foundation in physics and chem; a more cynical man I've yet to meet.

< wipes tears >

Me? I can't abide needles of any sort except knitting. Having lived with incurable disease for 23 years without benefit of some ahh conventional medicine, I've grown particularly sensitive to market claims, dodgy phase trial stats, and truculent "specialists". Totally out there! In the margin! Total "outlier". I am the control, few want to hear from. I feel for people like my father who've been persuaded by REPUTABLE SCIENTISTS that somehow 40-days irradiation is a cure for a disease he didn't have. I feel for Herr Dr. Klinghart trying to do no harm in the USA.

by Cat on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 01:39:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to HISTORIOGRAPHY (none / 1)
I know people working in the "complementary medicine" field and have the height of respect for them. I do appreciate they feel threatened by big pharma allied to big government and some are prone to conspiracy theories. However I have also had some remarkable results myself, and would never knock something if it works. It is never irrational to try something else when conventional medicine fails, as it does so often.

That said, Dr. Klinghardt does his cause no good by citing conspiracy theories against 5G and Bill Gates which might have some populist appeal but no substantial evidence in support. It tends to undermine his credibility in general, as does the regulatory action taken against him which result in his licence to practice being suspended for a time even though it related to wrong doing by another medic at a seminar organised by Dr. Klinghardt.

I have a basic problem with "for profit" medical and pharmaceutical systems which have an incentive to maximise profit rather than actually make people well - which ends their revenue stream - and I appreciate anyone advocating for alternative therapies can have very unfair corporate actions taken against them and can have great difficulty making themselves heard above the din of corporate interests. But that does not mean their claims should be beyond scrutiny.

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 09:59:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to HISTORIOGRAPHY (none / 1)

< pick teeth, suck vigorously >

alt-title: Facebook Donates Emergency Wildfire Mask Stash, Musk Also Aiding
So. Srsly. Are Americans assuming that "scarcity" of resources justifies "value added" because corp inventory or COVID19 Fauci NO MASKS! fu?

by Cat on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 05:35:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to HISTORIOGRAPHY (none / 1)
None of those propositions is plausible.  Merely the ranting of deranged fool.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 08:12:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (4.00 / 4)
by generic on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 09:25:12 AM EST
Farmers Protest In The Hague Last October (none / 0)
Proposals to Limit Agriculture by 50%

Tjeerd de Groot of Liberal Democrats D66 en Jesse Klaver of GreenLeft party were whistled and booed on the Malieveld in The Hague. The farmers disagree with the statements made by MPs. Jesse Klaver: "You can turn your back on me, you can raise the middle finger to me, you don't have to agree with me."

Dutch Farmers Protest - WikiPedia

A few months later ...

○ Airlines and airports wake up to confusion with Trump's Coronavirus Travel Ban | Forbes |

Flight Radar: Schiphol Airport is trying to survive ...

Dutch logistics and transport hub -2040- opportunities ...

(Dated image)

Key words: Stikstof protest

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 10:36:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Production of Lifesaving Ventilators Increases (4.00 / 2)
Philips Targets Four-Fold Increase in Output of Ventilators | Bloomberg |

With countries in desperate need of ventilators, it's making choices: It favors places where hospitals are confronted with many coronavirus patients -- so-called category 3 and 4 regions -- over countries that are proactively building up stocks in case Covid-19 escalates, Chief Executive Officer Frans van Houten said in a phone interview.

China, Italy

It first delivered to China, then Italy, and now Switzerland, France, Spain and New York, while increasing production "to try to keep pace with the development of the outbreak," he said.

Germany called for help from its car makers, like Volkswagen AG, which had shut down factories, asking them to shift production to ventilators and masks. Ferrari NV and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV are in talks with Italy's biggest ventilator manufacturer to help boost its output.

Also Philips's rival Medtronic Plc might have found common cause with a car maker. Elton Musk, head of Tesla Inc., who initially downplayed the risks posed by the virus. He tweeted Saturday that he had talked with the Dublin-based manufacturer about making ventilators.

Germany Asks Auto Giants to Make Medical Gear to Fight Virus

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 09:52:32 AM EST
At will employment (4.00 / 4)

Wouldn't want to slow down hiring in an expansion wouldn't we?

by generic on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 10:27:52 AM EST
Re: At will employment (4.00 / 2)
Fed Official Warns of 30% Unemployment

A senior Federal Reserve official believes unemployment could hit 30% in the months ahead as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - and the widespread business closures that have been adopted to stem its spread - wreaks havoc on the U.S. economy.

At the height of the Great Depression unemployment has been estimated at 24.9%

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 08:22:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Life comes at you fast (4.00 / 3)
by generic on Tue Mar 24th, 2020 at 11:20:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Life comes at you fast (none / 1)
by Oui on Tue Mar 24th, 2020 at 02:20:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Update on this (none / 1)
by generic on Thu Mar 26th, 2020 at 01:45:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (4.00 / 2)
Lockdown in New Zealand
New Zealand is preparing to enter a month-long nationwide lockdown from Wednesday night, with the entire country ordered to stay home apart from those in essential services.
On Monday the nation was given two days to prepare for schools, businesses and community services to turn off the lights in a desperate bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The move came after the number of cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand rose past 100.

Note : lockdown after 100 cases. Most countries have waited until they had a couple of hundred deaths.

Getting it right is easier when you've got an extra couple of weeks of lead time. It also helps if you're not handicapped by a "shrink the state" psychosis.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 11:33:02 AM EST
CoV-19: Unprepared, Unprotected for Hospital Staff (none / 1)

○ Survey of Nation's Frontline Registered Nurses Shows Hospitals Unprepared For COVID-19
○ CoV-19: 4,000 nurses and 500 doctors return to NHS in first 48 hours after Matt Hancock's appeal

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 11:45:48 AM EST
Call for More Staff to the Frontlines (none / 0)
New York Today

Philadelphia -- More, More Nurses!!

Nursing During the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918

○ Penn and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic
○ How U.S. Cities Tried to Halt the Spread of the 1918 Spanish Flu

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 12:00:57 PM EST
Re: Call for More Staff to the Frontlines (none / 0)
by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 12:20:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 0)
by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 01:30:09 PM EST
FOB CDC China - Axed July 2019 (none / 1)
Preoccupied with re-election bid, Ukraine push for prosecution Bidens, sending in corruption mayor Giuliani ... the President took it upon himself to dismiss the decades old CDC post in Beijing and close cooperation for epidemic watch. Fighting them over there before it shows up at our borders.

AMERICA FIRST!!

Trump's China CDC dismissal reveals more U.S. pandemic negligence | CGTN |

A breaking report from Reuters on Friday evening revealed that U.S President Donald Trump had "eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China." "It was heartbreaking to watch," said Bao-Ping Zhu, a former official in the role, which was funded by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster."

The position, removed last July, comes amid a relentless public relations campaign by the Trump administration to attribute responsibility to China amid the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, which now amasses over 38,000 cases.

The President has repeatedly referred to the pathogen as the "Chinese virus" while a chorus of messaging from other senior American officials, departments and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have also sought to set the same narrative.

The development of course is nevertheless another piece of evidence that Trump's own decision-making and attitude towards public health issues, both at home and abroad, is in fact negligent, and combined with other cuts made to the U.S. CDC, shows just how serious the presidency took the risks of potential pandemics.

In this case, once again responsibility lies with the White House and it also further exposes the administration's dishonesty in claiming that it wanted to help China, both in prevention and treatment.

○ China, International Society, and Global Health Governance

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 03:16:31 PM EST
Re: FOB CDC China - Axed July 2019 (none / 0)
by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 03:17:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
CDC vs CHC "expertise" (none / 1)
In the last 24 hours, two samples of US "journalism" stand out

Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak
Laden with real and imagined details, this reporting re-enforces US gov supposition that China gov hid a "cluster" of 27 deaths of unknown etiology from ... one to five [?] US gov employees who were guests, observers "training," the gov of China in CDC practical epidemiology.

and a simple headline question "framing," as the youngsters say, "false narrative" or rational discourse.

The body of the report doesn't competently answer the question posed; and the hypothetical opportunities for US gov epidemic mediation, SARS (suspected U.S. SARS cases was 115/8,000+ worlwide) and Ebola (confirmed U.S. cases was 11/11K+ worldwide, which did not in fact occur.

While H1N1 a/k/a "Bird Flu"" mediation was a CDC disaster in the USA second only to HIV/AIDS.

by Cat on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 04:53:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: CDC vs CHC "expertise" (none / 1)
Legend of the US Ebola Crisis
Even during the Ebola scare--for a disease that barely appeared on American shores--we used head-to-toe impermeable garb that left not one single inch of skin exposed. Despite the fact that a U.S. citizen was more likely to die from a vending machine falling on them than from Ebola, we did serious drills on how to don and doff these spaceman-like suits. I remember having to get checked off on my donning and doffing proficiency before I was allowed to be responsible for any potential Ebola patients. Now, if we still have these wonder suits in our hospitals, they are not being brought out. Why are we comparatively so much less frightened about the coronavirus, which is more ubiquitous and has already killed significantly greater numbers of people?
UK police chiefs: coronavirus could bring out worst in HUMANITY
by Cat on Tue Mar 24th, 2020 at 10:39:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: FOB CDC China - Axed July 2019 (none / 0)
.

 
Combination strategies for pandemic influenza response - a systematic review of mathematical modeling studies

Robert Koch Institute - Berlin

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 05:23:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
CDC vs CHC "expertise" (none / 0)
The influenza A (H1N1-2009) pandemic has underscored the importance of such plans, with the World Health Organization (WHO) calling for the activation of pandemic plans worldwide [2].

Made in USA.

by Cat on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 06:23:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Dutch Commerce: HuaweiNL Donates 800K Facemasks (none / 0)
by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 06:30:41 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 1)
3M CEO on COVID-19 response: We have a unique and critical responsibility

3M CEO: 'Disappointing' to see N95 respirator masks at retail stores instead of hospitals| CNBC |

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 06:44:08 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 1)
So. 3M CEO lets slip that FDA and CDC regulation of respirators had been a long-standing barrier to PPE specs available to hospitals. That is until 2 March the PREP Act (2005) "expansion" of N95 applications for health care delivery in USA.

That's interesting. That is some truly interesting emergency management and INFECTIOUS DISEASE expertise--political economy even--at work in this great nation. It certainly shines hot light on sophomoric APsplainin China's manufacture and export failures in matching EXCLUSIVE US demand for PPE (minus US tariffs, workforce quarantines, laborforce deaths, resource allocation in the period US fed gov was getting its war on). Don't get me started on US corp "factoryless" accounting and re-imports.

Imports of medical supplies plummet as demand in US soars

tbh, my regard for AP editorial management has hit rock bottom.

by Cat on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 08:55:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 0)

Dutch declare tougher rules and enforcement social distancing | NL Times |

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 07:22:23 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 0)
Refused by the U.S. ... read some idiotic posts from U.S. readers to the offer from China!

○ Millions of face masks donated by China's richest man Jack Ma arrive in coronavirus-riddled Europe as the number of deaths accelerates

Belgian TV News said a total of 9 million masks arrived ... the difference must be consigned to the other part of Belgium, French speaking. Separation of language goes to the extreme ... crisis, or no crisis.

New delivery of mouth masks for health care workers | VRT |

A delivery of over 6 million mouth masks has arrived at Liège Airport.  Most of the masks are surgical masks, but a shipment of 150,000 FFP2 masks are intended for health care staff in direct contact with corona patients.

by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 09:20:35 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (4.00 / 2)
read some idiotic posts from U.S. readers

Don't have to.  I get them in Real Time.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 10:13:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 0)
by Oui on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 10:37:45 PM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 0)
Wuhan virus traveled the available Silk Route ... fashion to Milan, Italy ...

Coronavirus: How China is building a silk road of health | Gulf News |

Italy is home of football, Serie A and the Champions League ... very unfortunate that the match Atalanta Bergamo vs Valencia, Spain ... an explosion of the Covid-19 outbreak ...

by Oui on Tue Mar 24th, 2020 at 02:22:21 AM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (none / 0)
by Oui on Tue Mar 24th, 2020 at 02:35:49 AM EST
Re: From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic (4.00 / 2)
From Spain Foreign Minister to NL Foreign Minister:

by Bernard on Sat Mar 28th, 2020 at 05:42:12 PM EST
From Outbreak to a Global Pandemic | 66 comments (66 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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