Saturday, May 16, 2020

Coronavirus News (104)



Inside Trump’s coronavirus meltdown When the history is written of how America handled the global era’s first real pandemic, March 6 will leap out of the timeline. That was the day Donald Trump visited the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. His foray to the world’s best disease research body was meant to showcase that America had everything under control. ............ Shortly before the CDC visit, Trump said “within a couple of days, [infections are] going to be down to close to zero”. The US then had 15 cases. “One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” .........

That afternoon at the CDC provides an X-ray into Trump’s mind at the halfway point between denial and acceptance.

........ We now know that Covid-19 had already passed the breakout point in the US. The contagion had been spreading for weeks in New York, Washington state and other clusters. The curve was pointing sharply upwards. Trump’s goal in Atlanta was to assert the opposite............ In his 47-minute interaction with the press, Trump rattled through his greatest hits. ...... He dismissed CNN as fake news, boasted about his high Fox News viewership, cited the US stock market’s recent highs, called Washington state’s Democratic governor a “snake” and admitted he hadn’t known that large numbers of people could die from ordinary flu. He also misunderstood a question on whether he should cancel campaign rallies for public health reasons. “I haven’t had any problems filling [the stadiums],” Trump said...........

South Korea had its first infection on January 20, the same day as America’s first case, and was, he said, calling America for help.

“They have a lot of people that are infected; we don’t.” “All I say is, ‘Be calm,’” said the president. “Everyone is relying on us. The world is relying on us.” ........... South Korea, which has a population density nearly 15 times greater and is next door to China, has lost a total of 259 lives to the disease. There have been days when America has lost 10 times that number. The US death toll is now approaching 90,000. ......... a president who ignored increasingly urgent intelligence warnings from January, dismisses anyone who claims to know more than him and trusts no one outside a tiny coterie, led by his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner – the property developer who Trump has empowered to sideline the best-funded disaster response bureaucracy in the world...........

“America is first in the world in deaths, first in the world in infections and we stand out as an emblem of global incompetence. The damage to America’s influence and reputation will be very hard to undo.”

......... “Jared [Kushner] had been arguing that testing too many people, or ordering too many ventilators, would spook the markets and so we just shouldn’t do it” .......... “That advice worked far more powerfully on him than what the scientists were saying. He thinks they always exaggerate.” .......... Nobody expected this virus. It hit us like a meteor or a terrorist attack.” ........  Trump was warned countless times of the epidemic threat in his presidential daily briefings, by federal scientists, the health secretary Alex Azar, Peter Navarro, his trade adviser, Matt Pottinger, his Asia adviser, by business friends and the world at large. Any report would probably conclude that tens of thousands of deaths could have been prevented – even now as Trump pushes to “liberate” states from lockdown. ............. “It is as though we knew for a fact that 9/11 was going to happen for months, did nothing to prepare for it and then shrugged a few days later and said, ‘Oh well, there’s not much we can do about it,’” says Gregg Gonsalves, a public health scholar at Yale University.

“Trump could have prevented mass deaths and he didn’t.”

........... In fairness, other democracies, notably the UK, Italy and Spain, also wasted time failing to prepare for the approaching onslaught. Whoever was America’s president might have been equally ill-served by Washington infighting............ “Redfield is about the worst person you could think of to be heading the CDC at this time” .......... “He lets his prejudices interfere with the science, which you cannot afford during a pandemic.” ........ Dr Anthony Fauci – the infectious disease expert and now household name – is widely known to loathe Redfield, and vice versa. ........... Restrictions on testing narrow the options.

“Once you get to one per cent prevalence in any community, it is too late for non-pharmaceutical interventions to work”

......... Eleven days later, Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister contracted Covid-19. The disease nearly killed him. That was Johnson’s road-to-Damascus. ........... Trump’s mindset became increasingly surreal. He began to tout hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid-19. On March 19, at a

regular televised briefing, which he conducted daily for five weeks, often rambling for more than two hours

, he depicted the antimalarial drug as a potential magic bullet. It could be “one of the biggest game-changers in the history of medicine”, he later tweeted. .................. Scientists who demurred were punished. In April, Rick Bright,

the federal scientist in charge of developing a vaccine – arguably the most urgent role in government – was removed

after blocking efforts to promote hydroxychloroquine........... Other scientists have taken note of Bright’s fate. During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, when Obama’s administration sent 3,000 US military personnel to Africa to fight the epidemic, the CDC held a daily briefing about the state of progress. It has not held one since early March.

Scientists across Washington are terrified of saying anything that contradicts Trump.

........ “The way to keep your job is to out-loyal everyone else, which means you have to tolerate quackery” ........

“You have to flatter him in public and flatter him in private. Above all, you must never make him feel ignorant.”

.......... An administration official says

advising Trump is like “bringing fruits to the volcano” – Trump being the lava source. “You’re trying to appease a great force that’s impervious to reason,”

says the official..... When Trump suggested in late April that people could stop Covid-19, or even cure themselves, by injecting disinfectant, such as Lysol or Dettol, his chief scientist, Deborah Birx, did not dare contradict him. The leading bleach companies issued statements urging customers not to inject or ingest disinfectant because it could be fatal. The CDC only issued a cryptic tweet advising Americans to: “Follow the instructions on the product label.” .......... “The CDC has led the response to every disease for decades. Now it has vanished from view.” ....... “People turn into wusses around Trump. If you stand up to him, you’ll never get back in. What you see in public is what you get in private. He is exactly the same.” ......... “You don’t turn off the hose in the middle of the fire, even if you dislike the fireman,” says Bernhard Schwartländer, chief of staff at the WHO. “This virus threatens every country in the world and will exploit any crack in our resolve.” The body, in other words, has fallen victim to US-China hostility.........

The WHO can no more insist on going into Wuhan to investigate the origins of Covid-19 than it can barge into Atlanta to investigate the CDC’s delay in producing a test.

......... Fauci and other scientists say the pathogen almost certainly came from a wet market in Wuhan. ........ His overriding goal is to revive the economy before the general election. Both Trump and Kushner have all but declared mission accomplished on the pandemic. “This is a great success story,” said Kushner in late April. “We have prevailed,” said Trump on Monday. ........ Every week since the start of the outbreak, he has said a vaccine is just around the corner. His latest estimate is that it will be ready by July. Scientists say it will take a year at best to produce an inoculation. Most say 18 months would be lucky. Even that would break all records. The previous fastest development was four years for mumps in the 1960s..........

his once double-digit lead over Biden among Americans over 65 has been wiped out. It turns out retirees are no fans of herd immunity.

......... Trump’s poll numbers have been steadily dropping over the last month. For the next six months, America’s microbial fate will be in the hands of its president’s erratic re-election strategy. There is more than a whiff of rising desperation........... “In my view he is a sociopath and a malignant narcissist. When a person suffering from these disorders feels the world closing in on them, their tendencies get worse. They lash out and fantasise and lose any ability to think rationally.” ......... Yet without exception, everyone I interviewed, including the most ardent Trump loyalists, made a similar point to Conway. Trump is deaf to advice, said one. He is his own worst enemy, said another. He only listens to family, said a third. He is mentally imbalanced, said a fourth. America, in other words, should brace itself for a turbulent six months ahead – with no assurance of a safe landing.

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Coronavirus News (103)



The Masked Versus the Unmasked How can Trump opponents take on people who will stop at nothing? ........ a neighbor in Colorado would tell me it was time for liberals to “gun up.” ......... Civil war, or something like it, is coming. Gun up, dude, before it’s too late. ........ the giveaway dress of the liberal egghead terrorized by the virus ....... The responsible crowd, with face half-hidden, confronting the unmasked live-free-or-die crowd across the vastness and fracture of an unled country. ..... Biking onto the Manhattan Bridge I pass a new piece of graffiti: “Bezos made the virus.”............

If he could deny the visible, like the number of people at his inauguration, imagine what he could do with the invisible. Or don’t imagine it, just look around.

.......... If he could deny the visible, like the number of people at his inauguration, imagine what he could do with the invisible. Or don’t imagine it, just look around. ....... Christian Drosten, a top German virologist with a popular podcast, receives death threats, like Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert. History, science, truth, the Enlightenment are under siege. Anything could happen in America between now and November. ........... I mean, anything. ......... think of “gun up” as get real, get tough, get registered, get mobilized, get implacable and vote Trump out

Large areas of London to be made car-free as lockdown eased Mayor Sadiq Khan says city needs to be repurposed for people as it emerges from coronavirus restrictions



Sweden Stayed Open. A Deadly Month Shows the Risks. Sweden’s outbreak has been far deadlier than those of its neighbors, but it’s still better off than many countries that enforced strict lockdown. ........ while Sweden has avoided the devastating tolls of outbreaks in Italy, Spain and Britain, it also has seen an extraordinary increase in deaths ........... While Sweden is the largest country in Scandinavia, all have strong public health care systems and low health inequality across the population. .......... Swedish officials chose not to implement a nationwide lockdown, trusting that people would do their part to stay safe. Schools, restaurants, gyms and bars remained open, with social distancing rules enforced, while gatherings were restricted to 50 people. ........ “Once you get into a lockdown, it’s difficult to get out of it,” Sweden’s state epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, said. “How do you reopen? When?” .........

As a whole, Swedes visited restaurants, retail shops and other recreation spots almost as little as residents of neighboring countries

........ In Italy, the virus tore through multigenerational households, where it easily spread from young people to their older relatives. ........ the country’s G.D.P. will contract by 7 to 10 percent this year ........ “Sweden will be judged at the finish line”

Former Coronavirus Skeptic Warns Others To Take Pandemic Seriously After Infection Brian Lee Hitchens said he used to believe COVID-19 was a “fake crisis.” Now he’s imploring people to listen to the experts. ........ A patient battling COVID-19 in Florida admits that he used to believe the pandemic was being blown out of proportion. But, after he and his wife were hospitalized with serious infections, he’s urging people to take coronavirus seriously. ....... “Many people still think that the Coronavirus is a fake crisis which at one time I did too,” he wrote. “And not that I thought it wasn’t a real virus going around but at one time I felt that it was blown out of proportion and it wasn’t that serious.” .......... following a stint in home isolation, they began to feel so fatigued and sick that they checked into the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center. They tested positive for the virus and were admitted to the intensive care unit. ......... He’s holding on to hope for his wife, who is still on a ventilator and has been for several weeks. The two aren’t able to see one another and don’t know when they might be discharged. ........ “Please listen to the authorities and heed the advice of the experts,” he implored people in his Facebook post.

“Looking back I should have wore a mask in the beginning but I didn’t and perhaps I’m paying the price for it now.”



Newly reopened South Florida seen as an emerging coronavirus hot spot
Why American life went on as normal during the killer pandemic of 1969 H3N2 (or the “Hong Kong flu,” as it was more popularly known) was an influenza strain that the New York Times described as “one of the worst in the nation’s history.” The first case of H3N2, which evolved from the H2N2 influenza strain that caused the 1957 pandemic, was reported in mid-July 1968 in Hong Kong. By September, it had infected Marines returning to the States from the Vietnam War. By mid-December, the Hong Kong flu had arrived in all fifty states. ....... the first wave ended by early March 1969, and it didn’t flare up again until November of that year........... by all projections, the coronavirus will surpass H3N2’s body count even with a global shutdown. ......... President Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Humphrey both fell ill from H3N2 and recovered ..........

The idea that a pandemic could be controlled with social distancing and public lockdowns is a relatively new one, said Tucker. It was first suggested in a 2006 study by New Mexico scientist Robert J. Glass, who got the idea from his 14-year-old daughter’s science project.

....... “If I were 48 in 1968, I would have most likely served in World War II,” said Moir. “I would have had a little brother who served in Korea, and possibly might have a son or daughter fighting in Vietnam.” Death, he said, was a bigger and in some ways more accepted part of American life............

Dining out, for instance, was a rare indulgence for most American families then. Today, “we spend as much eating out as we do preparing food at home”

........ In 2020, we feel that being denied music festivals and restaurants is an egregious attack on our liberty. “A big part of our freakout over COVID-19 is a reaction to everything in this country that we’ve taken for granted,” Moir said. “When it’s taken away, we lose our minds.”

Mobility Trends
Sailors on sidelined carrier get virus for second time
How a Plague Exposed the “Christian Nation” Myth The evidence is in. The United States can finally abandon the pretense that it is a Christian nation. ........ Since its inception, America has demonstrated many of the same strengths and character flaws as other colonial western nations. ....... But if COVID-19 has done anything, it’s revealed that the U.S. brand of Christianity doesn’t look anything like Jesus. .......... There’s a point in the gospels when Jesus reveals he’s going to die. Peter promptly rebukes him. After all, Jesus can’t die. They’ve put all their hope in him as the Messiah and they expect him to deliver them from Roman oppression. .......... the phrase “dying to self.” .. a difficult conviction to hold when your cultural ethos focuses on your individual right to pursue happiness. .......... In the Incarnation, Jesus laid aside his deity to identify with humanity (Philippians 2). And at Calvary, he laid down his human life to make reconciliation possible. In both actions—laying aside his deity and taking up his cross—he renounced his rights. .........

In a culture and economy that operates on consumption and acquisition, it’s difficult to convince Christians to renounce anything.

....... Christianity in America is so entangled with patriotism and exceptionalism. When asked to shelter in place, Christians don’t think it’s odd to deck themselves out in G.I. Joe cosplay complete with AR-15s to storm a government building and demand their rights. ............ When an unarmed black man or woman is shot and killed on camera, they instantly make excuses on behalf of authorities. ........ But when asked to stay home, patriots have no problem grabbing their guns and defying orders. The mixture of Christianity and Americanism is a troubling tincture, enabling people to cite Romans 13 to get others to obey authority while they stock up weapons to fight off a potentially tyrannical government. ..........

Any religion that demands that others take up their cross while we take up our sword is not Christianity.

......... It’s strange, but nothing reveals the rot at the center of American Christianity like the response people have had to wearing masks. It requires zero sacrifice to put a mask on—but that’s still too much of an ask for many Americans. .........

Mask wearing is really the perfect litmus test for self-denial. It’s something we do for others. My mask protects you, and your mask protects me. It’s not only a legitimate way to stop the spread of germs, but it also communicates our care for others.

........ It’s such a low bar for denying one’s self. And yet, there are people all over the country who refuse this small act of solidarity. ............

Jesus suffered the indignity of an unfair trial in a kangaroo court. The Sanhedrin was looking for any excuse to kill him.

....... Following his example, every one of the disciples stoically endured horrible treatment from officials and their countrymen. But they had renounced the expectation to be treated fairly. They didn’t take up swords and demand their rights. They modeled themselves after their king.



The sun has entered a ‘lockdown’ period, which could cause freezing weather, famine Our sun has gone into lockdown, which could cause freezing weather, earthquakes and famine, scientists say. .......... The sun is currently in a period of “solar minimum,” meaning activity on its surface has fallen dramatically. ......

we are about to enter the deepest period of sunshine “recession” ever recorded as sunspots have virtually disappeared

.......... The sun’s magnetic field has become weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system ........

NASA scientists fear it could be a repeat of the Dalton Minimum, which happened between 1790 and 1830 — leading to periods of brutal cold, crop loss, famine and powerful volcanic eruptions.

......... Temperatures plummeted by up to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over 20 years, devastating the world’s food production. ...... On April 10, 1815, the second-largest volcanic eruption in 2,000 years happened at Mount Tambora in Indonesia, killing at least 71,000 people...... It also led to the so-called Year Without a Summer in 1816 — also nicknamed “eighteen hundred and froze to death” — when

there was snow in July

. ...... So far this year, the sun has been “blank” with no sunspots 76 percent of the time, a rate surpassed only once before in the Space Age — last year, when it was 77 percent blank.

Dalton minimum Dalton minimum, also called Modern minimum, period of reduced sunspot activity that occurred between roughly 1790 and 1830. ......... As with the Maunder minimum (1645–1715), a period of almost no sunspots that coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, the Dalton minimum coincided with a period of cooler temperatures around the world. ........ Parts of the Northern Hemisphere experienced sporadic periods of heavy snow and killing frost through June, July, and August 1816, which came to be known there as the “year without a summer.”)



American believers see coronavirus as sign from God to change ways The poll found 31% of Americans who believe in God feel "strongly" that the virus is God's way of telling us to "change how we are living" .......... Two-thirds of U.S. residents who believe in God see the pandemic as a divine message urging us to change our lifestyles ........ Evangelical Protestants are most likely to feel strongly that the virus contains deeper religious meaning, with 43 percent expressing that belief. Just 28 percent of both Catholics and mainline Protestants felt the same. ........ African Americans were most likely among racial backgrounds sampled to believe the virus was a sign from God to change. Forty-seven percent say they feel that strongly, compared with 37% of Latino and 27% of white Americans responders

Nearly 420,000 of NYC's richest residents have fled the city amid the pandemic with smartphone data showing Upper East Side and West Village populations down by 40 percent Five percent of New York City's population, or 420,000 people, left between March 1 and May 1 amid the coronavirus pandemic ...... Some neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side, SoHo and the West Village emptied by at least 40% ..... The majority fled to vacation homes in places such as Long Island, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, the Jersey Shore and Florida ....... Residents who fled typically were white, had rents of more than $2,000 per month, had college degrees or higher and earned incomes of more than $100,000 .......New York City is home to 8.399 million people

A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection. ....... cloth masks should not be recommended for HCWs, particularly in high-risk situations



The Risks - Know Them - Avoid Them It seems many people are breathing some relief, and I’m not sure why. ............

Assuming we have just crested in deaths at 70k, it is possible that we lose another 70,000 people over the next 6 weeks as we come off that peak. That's what's going to happen with a lockdown. .......... As states reopen, and we give the virus more fuel, all bets are off. I understand the reasons for reopening the economy, but I've said before, if you don't solve the biology, the economy won't recover.

........... There are very few states that have demonstrated a sustained decline in numbers of new infections. Indeed, as of May 3rd the majority are still increasing and reopening. ........

throughout most of the country we are going to add fuel to the viral fire by reopening

......... most people get infected in their own home. A household member contracts the virus in the community and brings it into the house where sustained contact between household members leads to infection. ......... Infection could occur, through 1000 infectious viral particles you receive in one breath or from one eye-rub, or 100 viral particles inhaled with each breath over 10 breaths, or 10 viral particles with 100 breaths. Each of these situations can lead to an infection. ...........

A single cough releases about 3,000 droplets and droplets travels at 50 miles per hour.

Most droplets are large, and fall quickly (gravity), but many do stay in the air and can travel across a room in a few seconds. .........

A single sneeze releases about 30,000 droplets, with droplets traveling at up to 200 miles per hour.

Most droplets are small and travel great distances (easily across a room)........... If a person is infected, the droplets in a single cough or sneeze may contain as many as 200,000,000 (two hundred million) virus particles which can all be dispersed into the environment around them.......... But even if that cough or sneeze was not directed at you, some infected droplets--the smallest of small--can hang in the air for a few minutes, filling every corner of a modest sized room with infectious viral particles. All you have to do is enter that room within a few minutes of the cough/sneeze and take a few breaths and you have potentially received enough virus to establish an infection. ........... This is also why it is critical for people who are symptomatic to stay home. Your sneezes and your coughs expel so much virus that you can infect a whole room of people. ........ at least 44% of all infections--and the majority of community-acquired transmissions--occur from people without any symptoms (asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic people). You can be shedding the virus into the environment for up to 5 days before symptoms begin......... Viral load generally builds up to the point where the person becomes symptomatic. So just prior to symptoms showing, you are releasing the most virus into the environment. Interestingly, the data shows that just 20% of infected people are responsible for 99% of viral load that could potentially be released into the environment .......... the biggest outbreaks are in prisons, religious ceremonies, and workplaces, such as meat packing facilities and call centers. Any environment that is enclosed, with poor air circulation and high density of people, spells trouble. ........... Bob was infected but didn't know. Bob shared a takeout meal, served from common serving dishes, with 2 family members. The dinner lasted 3 hours. The next day, Bob attended a funeral, hugging family members and others in attendance to express condolences. Within 4 days, both family members who shared the meal are sick. A third family member, who hugged Bob at the funeral became sick. But Bob wasn't done. Bob attended a birthday party with 9 other people. They hugged and shared food at the 3 hour party. Seven of those people became ill. Over the next few days Bob became sick, he was hospitalized, ventilated, and died........ Social distancing guidelines don't hold in indoor spaces where you spend a lot of time, as people on the opposite side of the room were infected. ........

Social distancing rules are really to protect you with brief exposures or outdoor exposures

........ The effects of sunlight, heat, and humidity on viral survival, all serve to minimize the risk to everyone when outside. ...... If you are sitting in a well ventilated space, with few people, the risk is low. ...... please don't forget surfaces. Those infected respiratory droplets land somewhere. Wash your hands often and stop touching your face!

Donald Trump And The Fed Could Be About To Crash The U.S. Dollar president Trump is piling pressure on Fed chair Jerome Powell to go further—taking interest rates below zero and weakening the U.S. dollar............. following the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank into negative territory. .......

Negative rates can spur banks to lend by penalising them for hoarding cash. However, they also severely limit bank lending profits and the interest on savers' deposits.

........ "The inflation created to make negative rates possible will hurt wage earners," Euro Pacific Capital chief executive and gold investor Peter Schiff replied to Trump, adding "the overall economy will be less productive and living standards will be lower as a result." ........ Harvard University professor Kenneth Rogoff thinks the Fed should use "deep" negative interest rates to kick-start the economy, calling on the Fed to lower rates to -3%. ........... "For those who viewed negative interest rates as a bridge too far for central banks, it might be time to think again," Rogoff wrote in a Project Syndicate column, arguing

"a weaker dollar, stronger global growth, and a reduction in capital flight would help [emerging and developing economies]

.

Has The Coronavirus Pandemic Sealed The Dollar’s Fate?

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated and accelerated many global trends.

......... The U.S. dollar, which has so far weathered the coronavirus storm, has suddenly come under unexpected pressure—with its dominant position as the world's reserve currency looking precarious. ......... Americans should brace for more bleak unemployment and economic news before the coronavirus pandemic is over. ........ the massive action from both the Federal Reserve and Congress, as well as other governments and central banks around the world, has sparked fears over inflation and out-of-control debt. ..........

"The depth and magnitude of the economic drop-off took modern monetary theory—or the direct monetization of massive fiscal spending—from the theoretical to practice without any debate.

It has happened globally with such speed that even a market veteran like myself was left speechless." ........... Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency with a fixed supply of 21 million, has been one of the best performing assets since the broad coronavirus market crash in March, with the bitcoin price more than doubling from lows of around $4,000. ....... Jones, who is now known to have allocated at least 1% of his assets to bitcoin, described cash as a "wasting asset in your hand" due to inflation ...... the economic and financial disruption caused by the coronavirus could have weakened the dollar long term. ........

PayPal reported its largest single day of transactions ever on May 1.

........ Last year, Chinese customers made some $50 trillion worth of purchases via mobile, up 35 fold on 2013 ...........

Two of China's biggest tech firms, Alibaba and Tencent, have built "parallel banking systems," in order to help the country control the flow of money in the developing world

.......... China is also thought to have begun internally testing a digital yuan with its four largest commercial banks and has lined up a raft of international corporate partners including coffee chain Starbucks and fast food giant McDonald's......... Digital currencies are expected to work just like regular coins and notes issued by central banks but exist entirely online. Instead of printing or minting currency, the central banks would issue digital dollars via online accounts—allowing both online and in-person payments and easing the flow of international trade.......

while the U.S. has been wrestling with the coronavirus, China is back at work.

..... The U.S. dollar, out of shape and sickening, is being forced into a fight it's unprepared for—one that it can't afford to lose.

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Coronavirus News (102)





The sun has entered a ‘lockdown’ period, which could cause freezing weather, famine
Nearly 420,000 of NYC's richest residents have fled the city amid the pandemic with smartphone data showing Upper East Side and West Village populations down by 40 percent Five percent of New York City's population, or 420,000 people, left between March 1 and May 1 amid the coronavirus pandemic ....... Some neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side, SoHo and the West Village emptied by at least 40% ...... The majority fled to vacation homes in places such as Long Island, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, the Jersey Shore and Florida ....... Residents who fled typically were white, had rents of more than $2,000 per month, had college degrees or higher and earned incomes of more than $100,000 ...... New York City is home to 8.399 million people, according to 2018 census data




Posted by Ministry of Health and Population-Nepal on Saturday, May 16, 2020


Blood-soaked wet markets selling bats, dogs and snakes continue to operate across South-East Asia as coronavirus pandemic ravages the globe
A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers
The Risks - Know Them - Avoid Them
Donald Trump And The Fed Could Be About To Crash The U.S. Dollar


Posted by Pravin Moktan on Friday, May 15, 2020
Posted by Ashmina Ranjit on Friday, May 15, 2020
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Friday, May 15, 2020

Coronavirus News (101)



America’s Cities Could House Everyone, if They Chose To

Our housing crisis is a symptom of America’s wealth, and its indifference.

......... Tonight, more than half a million Americans will sleep in public places because they lack private spaces. They will huddle in crowded New York City shelters, or pitch tents under highways in Washington, D.C., or curl up in the doorways of San Francisco office towers, or dig holes in the high desert of northern Los Angeles County. ....... The federal government could render homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring. The cure for homelessness is housing, and, as it happens, the money is available:

Congress could shift billions in annual federal subsidies from rich homeowners to people who don’t have homes

. ......... Government programs focus on palliative care: Annual spending on shelters has reached $12 billion a year ......... Rather than provide housing for the homeless, cities offer showers, day care centers and bag checks. ........ More than 36 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the last two months; almost

40 percent of workers in households making less than $40,000 a year have lost work

...... in recent decades, wealth and homelessness have both increased ........ The rise of homelessness is often portrayed as a collection of personal tragedies, the result of bad choices or bad luck. But the first law of real estate applies to homelessness, too: Location, location, location. The nation’s homeless population is concentrated in New York, the cities of coastal California and a few other islands of prosperity. ........... While there are roughly 80,000 homeless people in New York on any given night, more than 800,000 New Yorkers — more than 10 times as many people — are scraping by, spending more than half their income on rent. ............. Those who do end up homeless are often those with additional burdens. They are disproportionately graduates of foster care or the prison system; victims of domestic abuse or discrimination; veterans; and people with mental and physical disabilities. Some end up on the street because of addictions; some develop addictions because they are on the street. .............

a $100 increase in the average monthly rent in a large metro area is associated with a 15 percent increase in homelessness

............ Countries confronting homelessness with greater success than the United States, including Finland and Japan,

begin by treating housing as a human right

. ........ Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise to New York last December “to end long-term street homelessness as we know it” is a classic of the genre; most homeless people in the city live in shelters, not on the street. ...................

Reframing the debate

— asking what is necessary to end homelessness — is an important first step ......... the government annually provides more than $70 billion in tax breaks to homeowners, including a deduction for mortgage interest payments and a free pass on some capital gains from home sales.

Let’s end homelessness instead of subsidizing mansions

............ Without a significant expansion in the supply of housing, adding vouchers would be like adding players to a game of musical chairs without increasing the number of chairs. ....... Market-rate construction can help: More housing would slow the upward march of housing prices. New York and San Francisco are the nation’s most tightly regulated markets for housing construction, and it is not a coincidence that they also are the most expensive. Tokyo, often cited as an international model for its permissive development policies, has expanded its supply of homes by roughly 2 percent a year in recent years, while New York’s housing supply has expanded by roughly 0.5 percent a year. Over the last two decades, housing prices in Tokyo held steady as New York prices soared. ......... the troubled public housing projects of the mid-20th century. They offer one clear lesson: Avoid housing that concentrates poverty. ........

Even if the cost per person were twice as high, the nation’s homeless population could be housed for $10 billion a year — less than the price of one aircraft carrier.

........ there is worse to come. Homelessness rises during recessions, the federal funding is temporary and state and local governments face huge drops in tax revenue. ........ Having failed to address homelessness during the longest economic expansion in American history, the nation now faces a greater challenge under more difficult circumstances. Yet the imperative remains: Everyone needs a home. No one should be left to die on the street......

Addressing homelessness is within our power. The question is whether we are ready to act.



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Coronavirus News (100)







Amitabh Bachchan, 51-Years-Old In Bollywood, "Amazed" At Gulabo Sitabo's Digital Release After tweeting about the film's digital release, an excited Mr Bachchan wrote in a post that he is "honoured" to be part of yet "another challenge" ......... Amitabh Bachchan, who marked his 51st year in Bollywood this year, will witness something for the first time - the worldwide premiere of his film on a digital platform. ......... Big B plays the role of an aged landlord (Gulabo) while Ayushmann has been cast as his tenant (Sitabo) in the movie. Mr Bachchan described the storyline of Gulabo Sitabo in these words: "Ek izzatdaar janaab aur uske anokhe kirayedar ki kahaani."



















The coronavirus slayer! How Kerala's rock star health minister helped save it from Covid-19 KK Shailaja has been hailed as the reason a state of 35 million people has only lost four to the virus. Here’s how the former teacher did it ........... Four months later, Kerala has reported only 524 cases of Covid-19, four deaths and – according to Shailaja –

no community transmission

. The state has a population of about 35 million and a GDP per capita of only £2,200. By contrast, the UK (double the population, GDP per capita of £33,100) has reported more than 40,000 deaths, while the US (10 times the population, GDP per capita of £51,000) has reported more than 82,000 deaths; both countries have rampant community transmission. ........ has attracted some new nicknames in recent weeks – Coronavirus Slayer and Rockstar Health Minister among them. ......... former secondary school science teacher, but they reflect the widespread admiration she has drawn for demonstrating that

effective disease containment is possible not only in a democracy, but in a poor one

. ...... By the time the first case arrived, on 27 January, via a plane from Wuhan, the state had already adopted the World Health Organization’s protocol of test, trace, isolate and support. ....... At the height of the virus in Kerala, 170,000 people were quarantined and placed under strict surveillance by visiting health workers, with those who lacked an inside bathroom housed in improvised isolation units at the state government’s expense. That number has shrunk to 21,000. “We have also been accommodating and feeding 150,000 migrant workers from neighbouring states who were trapped here by the lockdown,” she says. “We fed them properly – three meals a day for six weeks.” Those workers are now being sent home on charter trains. ........ Shailaja was already a celebrity of sorts in India before Covid-19. Last year, a movie called Virus was released, inspired by her handling of an outbreak of an even deadlier viral disease, Nipah, in 2018. (She found the character who played her a little too worried-looking; in reality, she has said, she couldn’t afford to show fear.) She was praised not only for her proactive response, but also for visiting the village at the centre of the outbreak.

स्वास्थ्य अनुसन्धान परिषदले कोरोना विरुध्दको संघर्षमा सङक्रमणको जाँच जस्तो खतरनाक र रोकथामको उपायबारेको जिम्मेवारी वहन...

Posted by Brikhesh Chandra Lal on Thursday, May 14, 2020

यसरी देखिन्छ उपत्यकाबाट सागरमाथा (चोमोलोङ्गमा, एभरेस्ट). Here is the pic of Everest / Sagarmatha / Cholongma as seen...

Posted by Kanak Mani Dixit on Friday, May 15, 2020

Follow these steps.

Posted by Satendra Sah on Sunday, April 12, 2020

As long as an abnormal person remains the president of USA, I am not optamistic that the world will go back to normal.

Posted by Tsewang Sherpalama on Friday, May 15, 2020
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Thursday, May 14, 2020

Coronavirus News (99)



The economic devastation wrought by the pandemic could ultimately kill more people than the virus itself The economic devastation the pandemic wreaks on the ultra-poor could ultimately kill more people than the virus itself. ....... The United Nations predicts that a global recession will reverse a three-decade trend in rising living standards and plunge as many as 420 million people into extreme poverty, defined as earning less than $2 a day. ....... As for the 734 million people already there, the economic tsunami will make it harder for them to ever climb out. .......... Hunger is already rising in the poorest parts of the world, where lockdowns and social distancing measures have erased incomes and put even basic food items out of reach. ........ Recent phone surveys in places as disparate as Senegal and rural China suggest that large swaths of society have lost their livelihoods and, as a result, are eating less. ....... The U.N. predicts the coronavirus could push an additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020. World Vision, an international Christian aid organization, warns that

30 million children are at risk of dying

.......... “I want to stress that we are not only facing a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe” ....... The pandemic, which began in an industrial Chinese city but has since spread to even the remotest corners of the Amazon rainforest, has exposed the radical interdependence of the modern world — causing disruptions in everything from manufacturing to the global narcotics trade. .........

In many of the world’s poorest places, the lockdowns have proved more destructive than the virus itself.

........ Clean water is scarce, and families live 10 to a room in moldy cinder-block shacks.

The recommended separation for social distancing — six feet — is the length of some apartments.

....... “Hunger has more victims now than corona.” ....... “I’ve entered houses where the people have no bread, no cans of food, no sugar, no cooking gas,” said Mohammad S Al-Zawahreh, a Jordanian civil society activist. “It’s not going to work to tell these people to develop yourself — learn Skype or Zoom — while their children are starving.” .........

The U.N. and private aid groups have raised the alarm in recent weeks, saying a concerted international strategy is needed.

....... Last week U.N. officials increased the size of their coronavirus aid appeal from $2 billion to $6.7 billion, cautioning that “the specter of multiple famines” looms on the horizon. ........ “Unless we take action now, we should be prepared for a significant rise in conflict, hunger and poverty” ......... At risk is three decades of progress. Since 1990, more than 1 billion people — 13% of the world’s population — have risen out of extreme poverty .......... Longtime debates in the development world over the importance of hiring local foreign aid workers and the usefulness of cash transfers — as opposed to the donation of goods — may be settled by new travel restrictions.



Wisconsin Bars Packed After State Supreme Court Lifts Stay-At-Home Orders
‘Trump was right’: President claims pandemic has proved his economic theories The remarks represent a reinforcement of the White House’s largely isolationist foreign policy outlook.
Rick Bright, ousted director of vaccine agency, warns that administration lacks 'centralized, coordinated plan'

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Facing The Pandemic Head On

Only a closely coordinated global response makes sense. Otherwise, humanity faces defeat.

You determine the course of action, and you get it done.

By now, no one can claim they have not been warned. There are almost a million and a half infected (a vast undercount) and more than 300,000 dead in countries across the world. That is plenty of notice. But if the world does not act now, the Fall and winter will be a major disaster. If it is, it will have been an unnecessary one.

You can't just wish for coordinated global action. You have to create a mechanism that will deliver. That much-needed mechanism is a world government created at zip speed.

The first act of the world government would be to coordinate something like a 3-4 week stay at home order for the entire global population. Since testing can not be taken to everybody immediately, this will have to do for testing.

Essential workers would be exempt. Food workers are essential. Health workers are essential. There are some other categories.

Those 3-4 weeks would be time for relentless messaging. Engage people in conversation. Explain why this is being done.

Take food to every home free of cost. The world can afford this. At the same time, ramp up food production everywhere. Don't pay farmers subsidies to grow less. Instead buy their surplus for global distribution. This thing could go on for 6-12 months. The message that food is on the way will calm nerves. Not one person anywhere should go hungry.

Immediately all national armies have to get into formation to work like battalions in one global army to go erect tent hospitals in every village, every hamlet, every slum, every town.

During those 3-4 weeks, those with cough, cold and fever continue to stay home. The rest come out slowly to get back to work, but only after they have been trained in things like social distancing, mask-wearing, handwashing and the like. But even then, as soon as you start showing those early symptoms, you get to go back to your home isolation.

Any additional symptoms and you get to go to the tent hospitals.

Those 3-4 weeks are time to take drastic measures like possibly stopping the clock on finance. People should be extended rent, mortgage and bank loan vacations. Those could last three months, those could come back again for another 3-4 months during winter as necessary.

Those 3-4 weeks would be time to engage in manufacturing essentials like masks and tents on a war footing.

Polar bears hibernate during winter. It is between that and death.



Once the situation has been stabilized, the world should then turn its attention to try and turn the crisis into an opportunity.

Elon Musk is threatening to go to jail for the wrong company. Nobody is buying cars right now. The air has become clean without electric cars for now. He and others like him need to double down on satellite internet companies to connect every point on earth to the Internet.

Because we need contact tracing and we need it in a hurry. With massive testing and contact tracing that is fully scaled, we can go back to work even before we have a vaccine.

We need to give everyone on the planet a biometric ID. And a cheap solar phone. And the world government needs to enact a bill of rights that declares data collected around an individual is the property of that individual. Companies may monetize it but may only keep 30% of the money. 70 goes to the individual. This will pay for a Universal Basic Income.

All humanity will fast forward to a knowledge economy. Literacy is overrated. A lot of people prefer to learn orally. People can learn in audio in their first languages.

If we do this much, the global GDP will be growing at double digit rates in about a year or two, with or without a vaccine. But we do want a vaccine.

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