2020 Corona Virus

[Homesteader]

2 hours ago, TheCG said:

I've been calling trying to get a COVID test for the last 45 minutes.  Lines are busy.  That doesn't bode well.

 

I'm sorry you're sick. 

[Midnightmom]

On 1/24/2021 at 12:41 PM, Littlesister said:

Here in N. Suffolk where I am, We can't seem to get a true quote on how things are going with this virus.

 

Here in Cali, Gov Newsome has been reluctant to let anybody know HOW they have been determining which "tier" a region is in - because it is too "confusing."

 

Quote

January 22, 2021 04:01 PM

It's a secret: California keeps key virus data from public

Associated Press

Excerpt:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has from the start said his coronavirus policy decisions would be driven by data shared with the public to provide maximum transparency.

But with the state starting to emerge from its worst surge, his administration won’t disclose key information that will help determine when his latest stay-at-home order is lifted.

State health officials said they rely on a very complex set of measurements that would confuse and potentially mislead the public if they were made public.

https://www.modernhealthcare.com/government/its-secret-california-keeps-key-virus-data-public

 

 

 

Text of the blog attached to this FB post:

Quote

James Madison, father of the U.S. Constitution, said that “a popular Government, without popular information, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both.” That about sums up the reign of Gavin Newsom: A Tragic Farce.

 

Today, Newsom suddenly decided to lift the stay-at-home order statewide, “liberating” us to the purple tier. Of course, it’s a classic authoritarian move to deprive citizens of liberty and then award small doses at random to make them seem like gifts.

 

Just yesterday, Newsom was indicating he’d do the opposite. What’s actually going on is anyone’s guess: In a story headlined “It’s a secret: California keeps key virus data from public,” the AP reported Newsom isn’t giving the public access because we’d just be “confused.”

In other words, after nearly two and a half centuries of American history, Gavin Christopher Newsom has discerned that the Founders got it wrong. We are incapable of self-government. It’s just too complicated.

 

Newsom even refused to comply with a public records request for data to justify his lockdowns. The Center for American Liberty responded: “That is the peak of hubris. The idea that just because one works for a state agency makes one more qualified or more intelligent to understand data or scientific research, it’s just delusional.”

 

This disrespect for the people of California is a throughline in Newsom’s worst-in-the-nation COVID response. He’s essentially abolished representative government. He’s overridden the choices of local communities. He even just spent $80 million on what he called “smashmouth” public-education billboards with messages like, “Keep 6 pugs apart.”

 

Newsom has also consistently blamed the public for his own failures, saying “Don’t be selfish,” “It is our behaviors that are leading to these numbers,” and “some have developed a little amnesia.”

 

He’s now taking the same misanthropic approach to the Recall, with the infamous “California Coup” press conference claiming it’s somehow illegitimate for 1.2 million Californians to give the state new leadership through a 110-year-old constitutional process.

 

In truth, the Recall is bringing democracy to life in the most profound way. Whenever a corrupt political class has tried to tear our Constitution apart, the people have found a way to hold it together and make it stronger than before. Everywhere I go I see enthusiastic signature gatherers who are heirs to this American tradition.

 

It’s a movement not just to reject Gavin Newsom but to repudiate the arrogance and corruption he represents. It’s a movement driven not just by anger but aspiration – the belief that we can do so, so much better. Above all, it’s a movement to restore what is every American’s birthright: the right to govern ourselves.

https://www.facebook.com/KevinKileyCA/posts/3531137197011703

 

Today he said that ALL regions are out from under the "stay at home" orders.

 

 

 

I guess the recall petition is starting to worry him!

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Midnightmom

[TheCG]

It took about an hour to get through to a live person, but everything went smoothly after that.  The lady said there were only 2 of them answering the phones for scheduling!

 

Test came back negative, so just my usual respiratory crud.  Popping massive amounts of supplements to try to avoid antibiotics.

[snapshotmiki]

That's good news @TheCG

[Jeepers]

TheCG, glad you got through and even more so that you are negative! 

[Jeepers]

Our curfew was extended by an hour starting today. We go from 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm. Woo-hoo. There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight. 

 

The reason for the extension is because we are under 3,500 hospitalization per day now. Who ever thought 3,500 hospitalizations a day would be a low number! 

[Ambergris]

Where deaths increased the most in the last week (a week ago)

For the week ending Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021

	DEATHS TO DATE		ONE-WEEK TOTAL
State	Total deaths	Per 100K	New deaths	Per 100K	1-wk chg.
Alaska	259	35	30	4.1	+500.0%
Montana	1,151	108	59	5.5	+63.9%
Hawaii	342	24	20	1.4	+53.8%
Wyoming	571	99	49	8.5	+48.5%
Kentucky	3,421	77	294	6.6	+30.1%
Oklahoma	3,279	83	292	7.4	+29.2%
Indiana	9,716	144	406	6.0	+24.9%
North Carolina	8,695	83	612	5.8	+18.6%
New Mexico	3,145	150	213	10.2	+16.4%
Georgia	13,250	125	954	9.0	+13.8%
Arkansas	4,606	153	295	9.8	+10.1%
Louisiana	8,565	184	362	7.8	+9.7%
Texas	35,144	121	2,354	8.1	+9.4%
Washington	4,114	54	211	2.8	+2.9%
Utah	1,595	50	102	3.2	+1.0%
Maryland	6,865	114	298	4.9	+1.0%
Virginia	6,078	71	349	4.1	+0.9%
Vermont	170	27	7	1.1	+0%
California	36,745	93	3,479	8.8	–1.4%
Michigan	15,181	152	512	5.1	–2.3%
New York	42,059	216	1,325	6.8	–3.1%
Missouri	6,548	107	294	4.8	–3.9%
Massachusetts	14,133	205	481	7.0	–4.0%
Puerto Rico	1,773	56	70	2.2	–4.1%
Florida	25,693	120	1,178	5.5	–6.1%
United States	418,967	128	21,644	6.6	–6.6%
New Jersey	20,951	236	512	5.8	–7.4%
Ohio	10,711	92	511	4.4	–10.8%
Iowa	4,488	142	165	5.2	–10.8%
Rhode Island	2,083	197	78	7.4	–12.4%
Arizona	12,238	168	972	13.4	–13.6%
Pennsylvania	20,609	161	1,299	10.1	–15.1%
Idaho	1,669	93	62	3.5	–15.1%
Wisconsin	6,190	106	284	4.9	–15.5%
North Dakota	1,411	185	27	3.5	–15.6%
New Hampshire	987	73	54	4.0	–15.6%
Connecticut	6,819	191	225	6.3	–16.7%
Illinois	20,680	163	630	5.0	–16.8%
Nevada	4,026	131	247	8.0	–20.8%
Tennessee	8,859	130	468	6.9	–22.8%
Minnesota	6,095	108	168	3.0	–23.6%
Colorado	5,505	96	126	2.2	–26.3%
South Carolina	6,547	127	310	6.0	–27.2%
Mississippi	5,772	194	251	8.4	–29.1%
South Dakota	1,705	193	49	5.5	–31.0%
Alabama	6,660	136	540	11.0	–31.3%
Washington, D.C.	872	124	22	3.1	–33.3%
West Virginia	1,895	106	119	6.6	–38.7%
Delaware	1,041	107	25	2.6	–43.2%
Nebraska	1,879	97	42	2.2	–45.5%
Maine	544	41	33	2.5	–58.2%
Oregon	1,880	45	80	1.9	–59.0%
Kansas	3,598	124	96	3.3	–72.9%

Edited January 28, 2021 by Ambergris
information is almost a week old

[Ambergris]

Where the positive test rate is highest

For the week ending Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021

	TESTS TO DATE		ONE-WEEK TOTAL
State	Total tests	Per 100K	New tests	Per 100K	Positive rate
Iowa	1,235,059	39,145	18,366	582.1	43.5%
Alabama	2,086,555	42,555	57,067	1,163.9	32.5%
Pennsylvania	4,362,597	34,078	123,791	967.0	29.2%
Idaho	589,629	32,994	13,621	762.2	29.0%
Kansas	1,137,411	39,042	37,046	1,271.6	28.4%
South Dakota	397,239	44,903	5,817	657.5	27.6%
Mississippi	1,520,334	51,084	44,933	1,509.8	26.1%
Kentucky	3,503,064	78,409	102,323	2,290.3	19.5%
Georgia	6,208,860	58,478	283,419	2,669.4	17.9%
Utah	2,529,796	78,909	71,063	2,216.6	17.7%
Arkansas	2,347,388	77,785	74,690	2,475.0	17.3%
Oklahoma	3,063,804	77,428	107,825	2,724.9	16.8%
Virginia	5,007,050	58,661	199,654	2,339.1	16.6%
Texas	16,561,140	57,116	843,119	2,907.7	15.0%
Tennessee	6,289,451	92,097	161,393	2,363.3	14.5%
Arizona	6,385,219	87,725	355,699	4,886.8	13.7%
Ohio	8,777,871	75,095	299,834	2,565.1	12.5%
South Carolina	3,985,112	77,400	271,204	5,267.4	11.1%
Florida	18,397,824	85,660	743,740	3,462.8	10.5%
Nevada	2,419,035	78,536	89,359	2,901.1	10.4%
Missouri	4,051,388	66,011	117,932	1,921.5	10.2%
North Carolina	8,524,547	81,278	437,118	4,167.8	10.1%
New Jersey	9,058,487	101,985	370,554	4,171.9	9.6%
New Hampshire	1,205,021	88,623	58,444	4,298.3	9.4%
California	40,285,715	101,958	2,057,100	5,206.2	9.1%
Louisiana	4,815,570	103,588	177,224	3,812.3	8.4%
Montana	911,686	85,302	31,958	2,990.1	7.1%
Delaware	1,176,841	120,855	60,679	6,231.4	7.1%
West Virginia	1,860,337	103,805	92,837	5,180.2	7.0%
Wisconsin	5,990,470	102,886	192,398	3,304.4	6.9%
Indiana	6,738,341	100,091	307,156	4,562.5	6.8%
Wyoming	573,868	99,155	24,063	4,157.7	6.4%
New Mexico	2,245,108	107,072	87,590	4,177.3	6.4%
New York	30,543,012	157,005	1,563,514	8,037.2	6.0%
Maryland	6,723,502	111,212	268,454	4,440.4	5.6%
Michigan	9,086,109	90,981	278,495	2,788.6	5.4%
Washington	4,373,646	57,435	193,813	2,545.2	5.3%
Illinois	15,409,832	121,607	645,839	5,096.7	5.1%
Massachusetts	12,967,924	188,145	619,261	8,984.6	4.8%
Colorado	5,246,911	91,112	239,785	4,163.8	4.7%
North Dakota	1,325,891	173,987	20,603	2,703.6	4.6%
Minnesota	6,052,223	107,316	189,005	3,351.4	4.6%
Nebraska	2,021,416	104,498	112,724	5,827.3	4.6%
Maine	1,309,014	97,382	69,689	5,184.4	4.4%
Rhode Island	2,410,025	227,498	130,239	12,294.1	4.1%
Oregon	3,043,792	72,167	124,226	2,945.3	4.0%
Washington, D.C.	1,048,951	148,630	39,559	5,605.3	3.7%
Alaska	1,453,470	198,685	48,714	6,659.1	2.8%
Hawaii	942,303	66,553	31,524	2,226.5	2.5%
Connecticut	5,453,614	152,964	572,678	16,062.6	2.5%
Vermont	847,983	135,897	42,964	6,885.4	2.3%

[Ambergris]

Where cases increased the most in the last week

For the week ending Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021

	CASES TO DATE		ONE-WEEK TOTAL
State	Total cases	Per 100K	New cases	Per 100K	1-wk chg.
New Hampshire	62,337	4,585	5,473	402.5	+4.0%
Puerto Rico	156,835	4,911	7,491	234.6	+0.6%
Iowa	313,140	9,925	7,989	253.2	–5.7%
Georgia	866,725	8,163	50,715	477.7	–10.2%
Alabama	441,170	8,998	18,572	378.8	–10.3%
Vermont	11,033	1,768	976	156.4	–10.5%
South Carolina	418,325	8,125	30,141	585.4	–10.5%
Arizona	722,574	9,927	48,692	669.0	–12.0%
Minnesota	454,989	8,068	8,609	152.7	–12.2%
Mississippi	264,219	8,878	11,744	394.6	–12.3%
New York	1,331,914	6,847	93,651	481.4	–12.5%
Nebraska	187,147	9,675	5,169	267.2	–13.2%
Kentucky	346,586	7,758	19,911	445.7	–13.6%
North Carolina	718,812	6,854	44,175	421.2	–14.1%
Delaware	74,575	7,658	4,281	439.6	–14.7%
West Virginia	115,307	6,434	6,486	361.9	–14.8%
Missouri	449,535	7,325	11,986	195.3	–15.7%
New Jersey	662,808	7,462	35,587	400.7	–16.1%
North Dakota	96,817	12,705	953	125.1	–17.0%
Florida	1,649,449	7,680	78,170	364.0	–17.1%
Connecticut	237,815	6,670	14,393	403.7	–17.4%
Illinois	1,103,749	8,710	33,078	261.0	–17.7%
Texas	2,248,689	7,755	126,351	435.8	–17.9%
Virginia	472,447	5,535	33,142	388.3	–18.1%
Colorado	386,285	6,708	11,304	196.3	–18.3%
Arkansas	284,066	9,413	12,912	427.9	–19.7%
Alaska	53,315	7,288	1,377	188.2	–19.9%
Massachusetts	500,037	7,255	29,897	433.8	–20.0%
Hawaii	25,154	1,777	801	56.6	–20.8%
United States	25,147,907	7,662	1,208,608	368.2	–20.8%
Indiana	611,415	9,082	20,830	309.4	–21.6%
Michigan	596,746	5,975	14,961	149.8	–22.2%
Rhode Island	109,735	10,359	5,292	499.5	–22.5%
Oklahoma	373,090	9,429	18,111	457.7	–23.3%
Pennsylvania	808,951	6,319	36,204	282.8	–23.4%
Kansas	266,653	9,153	10,519	361.1	–23.8%
Maryland	341,627	5,651	15,009	248.3	–24.1%
Ohio	864,322	7,394	37,568	321.4	–24.4%
Tennessee	708,717	10,378	23,396	342.6	–25.6%
New Mexico	169,205	8,070	5,568	265.5	–25.6%
Wisconsin	581,377	9,985	13,211	226.9	–26.2%
Montana	91,652	8,575	2,259	211.4	–26.4%
South Dakota	107,148	12,112	1,604	181.3	–27.9%
Nevada	270,907	8,795	9,334	303.0	–28.2%
Maine	36,598	2,723	3,039	226.1	–28.7%
Utah	336,405	10,493	12,568	392.0	–29.5%
Washington, D.C.	35,301	5,002	1,450	205.5	–29.6%
California	3,138,375	7,943	187,913	475.6	–32.2%
Louisiana	383,862	8,257	14,882	320.1	–32.8%
Idaho	159,506	8,926	3,952	221.1	–32.9%
Oregon	138,168	3,276	4,963	117.7	–34.0%
Wyoming	50,898	8,794	1,535	265.2	–39.4%
Washington	300,198	3,942	10,259	134.7	–44.1%

[Ambergris]

I'm looking forward to seeing how these new charts (above) change in the next couple of days and how the changes match the data below:

 

State/Territory	Cases in Last 7 Days
California	150,543
Texas	126,449
Florida	73,667
New York*	50,783
Georgia	48,956
Arizona	48,017
North Carolina	42,098
New York City*	39,121
Ohio	35,851
New Jersey	35,397
Pennsylvania	35,199
Virginia	34,070
Illinois	30,827
South Carolina	27,388
Massachusetts	26,550
Tennessee	21,515
Alabama	19,431
Indiana	18,863
Kentucky	18,622
Oklahoma	17,937
Louisiana	17,834
Michigan	14,364
Maryland	14,230
Connecticut	13,205
Arkansas	12,850
Missouri	12,784
Wisconsin	12,481
Utah	12,376
Mississippi	11,359
Washington	11,272
Colorado	11,031
Kansas	9,105
Nevada	8,730
Minnesota	7,825
Iowa	7,504
West Virginia	6,098
New Mexico	5,212
Rhode Island	5,133
Oregon	4,921
Nebraska	4,302
New Hampshire	4,125
Delaware	4,057
Puerto Rico	3,813
Idaho	3,624
Maine	2,817
Montana	2,276
South Dakota	1,545
District of Columbia	1,462
Wyoming	1,244
Alaska	1,219
North Dakota	935
Vermont	908
Hawaii	777
Virgin Islands	68
Guam	51
Northern Mariana Islands	3

 

State/Territory	Average Daily Cases per 100k in Last 7 Days
Arizona	94.2
South Carolina	76
Rhode Island	69.2
New York City*	66.5
Georgia	65.9
New York*	65.6
Oklahoma	64.8
Texas	62.3
Arkansas	60.8
Kentucky	59.6
Delaware	59.5
North Carolina	57.3
Virginia	57
New Jersey	56.9
Alabama	56.6
Utah	55.2
Massachusetts	55
Louisiana	54.8
Mississippi	54.5
California	54.4
Connecticut	52.9
Florida	49
West Virginia	48.6
Tennessee	45
Kansas	44.7
Ohio	43.8
New Hampshire	43.3
Nevada	40.5
Indiana	40
Pennsylvania	39.3
New Mexico	35.5
Illinois	34.8
Iowa	34
Maryland	33.6
Nebraska	31.8
Wyoming	30.7
Wisconsin	30.6
Montana	30.4
Maine	29.9
Missouri	29.8
District of Columbia	29.6
Idaho	29
Colorado	27.4
South Dakota	25
Alaska	23.8
Washington	21.2
Vermont	20.8
Michigan	20.6
Minnesota	19.8
North Dakota	17.5
Puerto Rico	17.1
Oregon	16.7
Virgin Islands	9.3
Hawaii	7.8
Guam	4.4
Northern Mariana Islands	0.8

 

State/Territory	Deaths in Last 7 Days
California	3,791
Texas	2,324
Florida	1,255
Pennsylvania	1,237
Arizona	1,115
Alabama	889
Georgia	865
New York*	782
Tennessee	760
North Carolina	715
Illinois	664
New Jersey	556
Michigan	544
New York City*	524
Ohio	522
Massachusetts	466
Virginia	369
South Carolina	345
Indiana	316
Louisiana	305
Maryland	302
Arkansas	301
Kentucky	299
Oklahoma	284
Mississippi	277
Nevada	271
Washington	271
Wisconsin	267
Missouri	264
Connecticut	250
New Mexico	189
Minnesota	145
Kansas	143
Colorado	130
West Virginia	117
Montana	107
Iowa	106
Utah	103
Oregon	92
Hawaii	79
Idaho	79
Rhode Island	77
South Dakota	72
Puerto Rico	69
New Hampshire	56
Nebraska	55
Delaware	46
Wyoming	46
District of Columbia	32
Maine	32
North Dakota	17
Alaska	8
Vermont	7
Guam	1

 

State/Territory	Average Daily Deaths per 100k in Last 7 Days
Alabama	2.6
Arizona	2.2
Tennessee	1.6
Arkansas	1.4
California	1.4
Montana	1.4
Pennsylvania	1.4
Mississippi	1.3
New Mexico	1.3
Nevada	1.3
Georgia	1.2
South Dakota	1.2
Texas	1.1
Wyoming	1.1
Connecticut	1
Kentucky	1
Massachusetts	1
North Carolina	1
New York*	1
Oklahoma	1
Rhode Island	1
South Carolina	1
Louisiana	0.9
New Jersey	0.9
New York City*	0.9
West Virginia	0.9
Florida	0.8
Hawaii	0.8
Illinois	0.8
Michigan	0.8
District of Columbia	0.7
Delaware	0.7
Indiana	0.7
Kansas	0.7
Maryland	0.7
Wisconsin	0.7
Idaho	0.6
Missouri	0.6
New Hampshire	0.6
Ohio	0.6
Virginia	0.6
Iowa	0.5
Utah	0.5
Washington	0.5
Minnesota	0.4
Nebraska	0.4
Colorado	0.3
Maine	0.3
North Dakota	0.3
Oregon	0.3
Puerto Rico	0.3
Alaska	0.2
Vermont	0.2
Guam	0.1

 

Identified cases of English Covid (B.1.1.7) Excuse my earlier post calling this California Covid.  This isn't it.

Location	Cases
Alabama	0
Alaska	1
American Samoa	0
Arizona	0
Arkansas	0
California	92
Colorado	9
Connecticut	8
Delaware	0
Florida	92
Georgia	14
Guam	0
Hawaii	0
Idaho	0
Illinois	9
Indiana	4
Iowa	0
Kansas	0
Kentucky	2
Louisiana	1
Maine	0
Marshall Islands	0
Maryland	4
Massachusetts	3
Michigan	17
Micronesia	0
Minnesota	8
Mississippi	0
Missouri	0
Montana	0
Nebraska	0
Nevada	1
New Hampshire	0
New Jersey	2
New Mexico	2
New York	22
North Carolina	1
North Dakota	0
Northern Marianas	0
Ohio	0
Oklahoma	0
Oregon	1
Palau	0
Pennsylvania	5
Puerto Rico	0
Rhode Island	0
South Carolina	0
South Dakota	0
Tennessee	2
Texas	7
Utah	1
Vermont	0
Virgin Islands	0
Virginia	1
Washington	3
West Virginia	0
Wisconsin	1
Wyoming	2

 

Tonight's numbers, January 28, 2021.Download Data (CSV)

Edited January 29, 2021 by Ambergris

[Jeepers]

Thanks for the updates Amber! 

[Mother]

Thanks so much, Ambergris.  It's much easier to follow the numbers when they are all together like this.  You have such a good grasp of them I wonder if you'd give us your idea of what they all mean.  I believe we all need to get a handle on the realities of this pandemic. 

[Ambergris]

I'm waiting for Sunday's figures, Mother. 

 

Meanwhile, Florida's vaccine rollout has been compared to many things other than a well-oiled machine.  The governor decided that the vaccines would be made available only at the pharmacy of a certain major grocery store chain (one that provides major contributions to his political party) even though that grocery store chain is not present in every county.  After an uproar, he agreed to allow limited distribution outside of that grocery store in the unserved rural counties.  Before the grocery store plan, when hospitals were giving shots, some of them were giving a first dose and holding one back for the second dose; he said the fact they had these doses in reserve proved they did not need any more vaccine and refused to send them any more even after being advised that all the vaccine in house was earmarked for second doses for people who already had appointments.  When the feds offered use of FEMA sites to speed up vaccination, he said no, he had plenty of sites--the problem was he needed to be sent more vaccine.  The feds pointed out he had not used even half of what he had been sent.  He said he was holding back the rest of it for second doses, meaning either he had just learned that this was a good idea or he had been jerking the hospitals' chains for some unstated reason.

Some friends of mine had a first dose of Pfizer and a second of Moderna (or vice versa, I forget which), although they are DIFFERENT vaccines with different timelines etc. because the proper medication was not available and was not expected to be available anytime soon.

[Mt_Rider]

[TheCG]

On 1/30/2021 at 7:30 AM, Ambergris said:

Some friends of mine had a first dose of Pfizer and a second of Moderna (or vice versa, I forget which), although they are DIFFERENT vaccines with different timelines etc. because the proper medication was not available and was not expected to be available anytime soon.

That makes me twitch in so many different ways.  

 

1.  Neither vaccine has gone through the standard safety testing by itself.

2. They definitely haven't been studied for safety together.

3.  They definitely haven't been studied for efficacy together, even by the "reduction of symptoms" definition of efficacy.

 

What if they end up stimulating the immune system in an unexpected way?

[Jeepers]

21 minutes ago, TheCG said:

What if they end up stimulating the immune system in an unexpected way?

I remember when Covid was new. They were telling people to not take elderberry products because it would boost your immune system which is counterproductive concerning this virus. 

 

And what if it boosts your immune system to the point where It is replicating cells at a faster rate. Cancer is just cells gone wild. 

[Mother]

Thanks Ambergris.  I look forward to that today.  

 

Elderberry.  I can't take elderberry because it does boost my already overactive immune system. It can be used if you have a weak immune system, especially to help you ward off a virus but you have to know when and how to use it and other herbs.   A better modulator might be to find out if your Vitamin D is low.  Mine is but I even have trouble taking that.  I am just attempting to stay away from it by staying home and being cautious.  But I sure wish it would subside soon.  These walls are looking a bit close lately. 

 

[Jeepers]

My vit. D-3 is extremely low. 

 

I heard a blurb on the radio yesterday. They were talking about travel restrictions. Mostly into this country. You must test negative three days before you travel. Then they said that people should stay home and not travel anywhere at all. Then they said that there is no restriction on state to state travel 'yet' but they will consider it if the virus doesn't stop spreading and mutating. Border patrol between Indiana and Ohio? Same three day negative test to cross the border. Guess I'd have to take route 30 and avoid the toll road. More time and more gas money. Good luck truckers. 

 

I don't know how they would enforce such a thing. Then again, I never thought a lot of things would happen. 

 

I'd better update my passport and get a Visa for Indiana.  

[Mt_Rider]

I tested low for Vit D last January.  Doc wanted to see that up.  Hey....it's winter   ... hard to expose enough skin.   So we've been taking a couple different supplements.  Herbal - low dose and a usual gummy type.  All 2020 and continuing.  Also have made effort to expose some skin and eyes [not looking directly] to the sun since that report.  I assume I'll have a yearly appt. in mebbe Feb?  I'll see then what these measures have done.   

 

MtRider   

[Midnightmom]

 

 

Quote

Top infectious diseases expert says double masking may actually increase COVID infection: 'May do more harm'
 

Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert, said Sunday that wearing two face masks as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus may actually increase the chances of becoming infected.

 

What's the background?

As public health experts fear the spread of potentially more contagious COVID-19 variants, Dr. Anthony Fauci endorsed last week the practice of "double masking" — wearing a cloth face covering over a surgical face mask.

Speaking on NBC's "Today" show last week, Fauci called double masking "common sense."

"If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective and that's the reason why you see people either double masking or doing a version of an N-95," Fauci said.

 

But what is Osterholm saying?

Osterholm, who served on President Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board during the presidential transition, explained on NBC's "Meet The Press" that double masking could enhance infection.

 

"When we talk about double masking, remember what we're really talking about is just trying to prevent the virus from being excreted by me into the air or me inhaling the virus from someone else in the air, and it's both a function of face fit and face filtration," Osterholm said.

 

Osterholm, who is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, used swimming goggles as an analogy to explain the downside to double masking.

"Think about your swim goggles. When's the last time anybody leaked at the lenses? They leak at the fit," Osterholm began.

"So, what we're concerned about is that many of these face cloth coverings do have already compromised fit or filtration capacity," he continued. "If you add on another mask, you may actually make it tougher for the air to move through the two cloth area, and then at that point, it causes more air to actually leak around the sides, which actually enhances your ability to get infected."

In fact, Osterholm claimed that double masking may do "more harm" than good.

I'm not saying that some couldn't be used in a better way. But at the same time, there are many that actually, you may do more harm. Let me just say right now one thing that's really, to me, very important is we see up to 25% of people who wear it under their nose. You know, that's like fixing three of the five screen doors in your submarine. You know, what's going on there? We've got to get people to start using these right. That would help right there tremendously.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet issued guidance about double masking.

Current CDC guidance says that cloth face masks (as opposed to the disposable paper kind) should "have two or more layers of washable, breathable fabric" and should "fit snugly against the sides of your face and don't have gaps."

Meanwhile, Fauci, who is Biden's chief medical adviser, has since backtracked on double masking being "common sense."

"There's no data that indicates that that is going to make a difference," Fauci said of double masking.

 

 

https://www.theblaze.com/news/top-infectious-diseases-expert-says-double-masking-may-actually-increase-covid-infection-may-do-more-harm?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210201Trending-Biden2000Stimulus&utm_term=ACTIVE LIST - TheBlaze Breaking News

[Midnightmom]

Maybe all of those "covid" hospital deaths weren't from the virus at all. There is a fungus afoot, too.

 

Quote

Next Epidemic Could Be a Potentially Deadly Fungus

BY JACK PHILLIPS

 

January 31, 2021 Updated: January 31, 2021

biggersmaller 

Print

The next pandemic could be a sometimes deadly fungal infection called Candida auris, according to experts with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The yeast-like fungus can be fatal if it enters the bloodstream, experts said, namely if it enters the body via healthcare and hospital settings.

According to reports, the deadly infection has become the cause of hospitalizations in Florida in recent months and has spread in COVID-19 wards.

“Candida auris can spread in healthcare settings through contact with contaminated environmental surfaces or equipment, or from person to person. More work is needed to further understand how it spreads,” said the CDC’s report.

Earlier this month, the CDC and Florida Department of Health carried out a joint investigation focused on infection prevention. They said that enhanced cleaning and disinfection measures killed off the Candida auris.

“Outbreaks such as that described in this report highlight the importance of adhering to recommended infection control and PPE practices and continuing surveillance for novel pathogens like Candida Auris,” the report concluded, reported WION.

“One of the things that makes Candida auris so scary is the fact it can linger on inanimate surfaces for long periods and withstand whatever you throw at it,” Johanna Rhodes, an epidemiologist with London’s Imperial College, told the New Scientist several weeks ago.

Dr. Tom Chiller, who runs the CDC’s anti-fungal division, said it’s unclear where the fungus originated.

“It is a creature from the black lagoon. It bubbled up and now it is everywhere,” he said, according to the New York Post over the weekend.

Experts said it’s time to invest and develop treatment methods against Candida auris.

“We need to invest more in research and development, and prepare our defenses—against all types of infectious pathogens,” said Mahmoud Ghannoum, a fungal disease specialist at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, as reported by the Post.

The fungus has now been documented in more than 30 countries, and more than 1,500 U.S. cases were reported to the CDC as of Oct. 31 of last year, WION reported.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/next-epidemic-could-be-a-possibly-deadly-fungus_3679344.html?utm_source=share-btn-copylink&st=

[Jeepers]

Crimony. 

[Homesteader]

Good old Dr. Fauci, the highest paid federal employee that we have.  

 

I don't wear one mask. Why would I even consider wearing two masks?     It keeps getting more ridiculous by the month, and they're testing to see how high you will jump. 

[Mt_Rider]

    ......and every 18th time sheeple jump, they fall down. 

 

 

[Ambergris]

BRAZIL

Even in a year of horrendous suffering, what is unfolding in Brazil stands out. In the rainforest city of Manaus, home to 2 million people, bodies are reportedly being dropped into mass graves as quickly as they can be dug. Hospitals have run out of oxygen, and people with potentially treatable cases of COVID-19 are dying of asphyxia. This nature and scale of mortality have not been seen since the first months of the pandemic.

This is happening in a very unlikely place. Manaus saw a devastating outbreak last April that similarly overwhelmed systems, infecting the majority of the city. Because the morbidity was so ubiquitous, many scientists believed the population had since developed a high level of immunity that would preclude another devastating wave of infection. On the whole, Brazil has already reported the second-highest death toll in the world (though half that of the United States). As the country headed into summer, the worst was thought to be behind it.

Data seemed to support the idea that herd immunity in Manaus was near. In Science this month, researchers mapped the virus’s takeover last year: In April, blood tests found that 4.8 percent of the city’s population had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. By June, the number was up to 52.5 percent. Since people who get infected do not always test positive for antibodies, the researchers estimated that by June about two-thirds of the city had been infected. By November, the estimate was about 76 percent. In The Lancet this week, a team of Brazilian researchers noted that even if these estimates were off by a large margin, infection on this scale “should confer important population immunity to avoid a larger outbreak.” Indeed, it seemed to. The city was able to largely reopen and remain open throughout its winter with low levels of COVID-19 cases.
Yet now, the nightmare scenario is happening a second time. The situation defies expert expectations about how immunity would help protect the hardest-hit populations. By estimates of leading infectious-disease specialists, such as Anthony Fauci, when roughly 70 to 75 percent of the population is immune, there can still be clusters of cases, but sustaining a large-scale outbreak becomes mathematically impossible. Still somehow, according to The Washington Post, hospitals in Manaus that had thought they were well prepared are now overwhelmed.

Though many questions remain, one plausible explanation is that people who have already been infected by the virus are getting sick—and not mildly so. That possibility has been long feared throughout the pandemic, yet not previously seen on any significant scale. It comes at a time when variants of SARS-CoV-2 are being identified around the world, including a report in Minnesota of a case of the variant that has become dominant in Brazil. Although no known variants have been found to pose an immediate threat to vaccinated people, the capacity for reinfection to any significant degree would reshape the pandemic’s trajectory.

Two important factors seem to be playing a role in Brazil’s resurgence. The first is that, after a COVID-19 infection, the natural immunity that our bodies develop seems to vary in strength and permanence. Protection wanes after infection with most respiratory viruses, including coronaviruses. A recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that health-care workers in the U.K. had very low rates of repeated infection in the first six months after getting COVID-19, but cases did occur. Other studies have found that antibodies in our blood decrease over time, so people who were infected last year may now be experiencing declines in immunity. The new wave of COVID-19 cases in Manaus occurred about eight months after the initial wave. People might have lost some degree of immunity during that window.

Read: Immunology is where intuition goes to die

But that’s likely only part of the picture. The second factor is the virus itself. Several newsworthy variants exist, including those in the U.K., South Africa, and California. (So it’s easy to lose track, as much alarm has been raised over their various mutations.) But the variant in Brazil, known as the P.1 (or B.1.1.248) lineage, has a potent combination of mutations. Not only does this variant seem to be more transmissible; its lineage carries mutations that help it escape the antibodies that we develop in response to older lineages of the coronavirus. That is, it at least has a capacity to infect people who have already recovered from COVID-19, even if their defenses protect them against other versions of the virus. One case of reinfection with this new lineage has already been documented, even though very little genomic sequencing is being done.

The mutations that help the virus spread and evade immune responses have arisen independently in multiple places. Combined with waning immunity, these factors underscore the challenge before the world: Populations may still be vulnerable to disaster scenarios just when things seem to be getting better. It’s not yet known how many of the people currently infected in Manaus have previously recovered from COVID-19. Early data suggest that the P.1 variant is now dominant in the city, but this does not mean the variant will take over everywhere. Each place and population is unique, and susceptibility will vary based on which variants have already spread. Still, the virus’s capacity to cause such a deadly second surge in Brazil suggests a dangerous evolutionary potential.

As the virus evolves, the threat is not encapsulated by any single variant. New, dangerous variants are all but inevitable when there are extremely high levels of transmission of the virus. As more people gain immunity, the selective pressure on the virus will favor the variants that can most effectively evade immune responses. Whether the Brazil variant manages to widely evade human immune responses, or whether some future variant does, the basic nature of evolutionary biology means that the virus should be expected to evolve in ways that circumvent defense mechanisms. Evidence that it is already doing so has been clear in the latest vaccine trial data.

The solution, then, depends on vaccination. The immune response that the vaccines create is generally more robust than the immune response we get after being infected by a virus, and should buy a population more protected time than would a surge in exposure to the virus. Wealthy countries have time to avoid a fate like Brazil’s through immediate, efficient vaccination. In most places, however, this is not close to happening. And as of last week, only one of the world’s 29 poorest countries had vaccinated anyone at all. A study in the journal BMJ estimated that vaccines will not be available to more than a fifth of the world’s population until 2022.

The coronavirus’s constantly evolving nature is a stark reminder that the entire world is in this crisis together. Vaccine distribution is more than just an issue of justice or morality. Ensuring that every human is vaccinated is in everyone’s interest, as global distribution of vaccines is the most effective way to drive down the virus’s capacity to replicate and evolve. The key will be bringing down the global rates of transmission as quickly as possible—not getting any single country to 100 percent vaccination while dozens of countries roil.

“It is truly confounding that wealthier nations think that hoarding vaccines is the way to protect their citizens from a global pandemic that doesn’t respect borders,” the global-health researcher Marine Buissonnière said in a Physicians for Human Rights meeting on Friday. As the virus currently surges across Africa, some 2.5 million health-care workers are unvaccinated. “Clearly, the failure to address vaccine allocation based on health and epidemiological needs, rather than national interest, is now promising to have a dire impact on the world’s ability to achieve rapid, global control of COVID,” Buissonnière said.

The coming year could be a story of two worlds undermining each other. Certain countries will approach herd immunity by vaccinating almost every citizen. Other countries could see mass casualties and catastrophic waves of reinfection—potentially with variants that evolved in response to the immunity conferred by the very vaccines to which these populations do not have access. In the process, these hot spots themselves will facilitate rapid evolution, giving rise to even more variants that could make the vaccinated populations susceptible to disease once again. In a recursive loop, the virus could come back to haunt the vaccinated, leading to new surges and lockdowns in coming years. The countries that hoard the vaccine without a plan to help others do so at their own peril.