The Corona Travails Of Boris Johnson - A Timeline
Feb 28 - Boris Johnson makes surprise visit to hospital to join doctors amid coronavirus crisis
Feb 28 - Coronavirus: Boris Johnson says 'best advice' to stop COVID-19 is to wash your hands
Mar 3 - Boris Johnson ‘shook hands with everybody’ at hospital housing coronavirus patients
Mar 4 - Angela Rayner accuses Boris Johnson of lying about shaking hands with coronavirus patients
Mar 5 - Johnson is on the TV show This Morning. At the beginning of the talk the male anchor points out that Johnson shook his hand when he entered even as the anchor consciously did not offer it. At minute 6 of the 18 minutes long interview (vid) the moderator asks if the UK should be "trying to spread this out into the summer". Johnson then launches a test ballon:
"Well that is a very, very important question. That is were a lot of the debate has been and one of the theories is perhaps you could, sort of, take it on the chin. Take it all in one go and allow the disease as it were to move through the population without we taking as many draconian measures."
The anchors do not at all look excited about that plan and, seeing that, Johnson moves on to offer a compromise:
"I think we need to strike a balance. I think it is very important. We got a fantastic NHS. ..."
Johnson then says that 'it is better" to "just stop the peak of the disease that makes it difficult for the NHS".
But it is obvious from the scene (vid) that Johnson was trying to sell the 'fast herd immunity' plan of his advisor Dominic Cummings. When he then saw that the reaction to the idea was not good at all he added a bit of curve flattening measures on top.
Mar 12 - British government wants UK to acquire coronavirus 'herd immunity'
Mar 14 - Britain takes different approach to coronavirus outbreak, leaving some asking why
"I must level with you, the British public: Many more families are going to lose their loved ones before their time," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Mar 17 - COVID-19: Epidemic suppression is the only viable strategy at the current time
Mar 17 - Britain Drops Its Go-It-Alone Approach to Coronavirus
Johnson government admits its strategy of allowing the virus to spread and build up immunity was a failure but stops short of mandatory controls.
Mar 18 - Coronavirus: Chilling scientific paper upends Trump and Johnson's responses
Mar 22 - Allegation emerges that PM’s special adviser Dominic Cummings was callous about Coronavirus deaths
Mar 23 - Boris Johnson orders UK lockdown to be enforced by police
Mar 27 - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has coronavirus (symptoms and then tested)
Mar 27 - Dominic Cummings runs from Downing Street after Boris gets coronavirus
Mar 30 - UK PM's adviser Dominic Cummings 'isolates with virus symptoms'
Apr 5 - Boris Johnson admitted to hospital with coronavirus
Apr 7 - Officials: British PM Boris Johnson in intensive care, but not on ventilator
Apr 7 - UK PM Johnson 'stable' in intensive care, needed oxygen after COVID-19 symptoms worsened
Johnson, 55, was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital across the River Thames from the House of Commons late on Sunday after suffering persistent coronavirus symptoms, including a high temperature and a cough, for more than 10 days.But his condition rapidly deteriorated over the next 24 hours, and he was moved on Monday to an intensive care unit, where the most serious cases are treated, in case he needed to be put on a ventilator. He was still conscious, his office said.
"He is receiving standard oxygen treatment and breathing without any other assistance," Johnson's spokesman told reporters.
"The prime minister has been stable overnight and remains in good spirits," the spokesman said. "He has not required mechanical ventilation, or non-invasive respiratory support."
Downing Street has played down the situation at every step. One is not transferred to intensive care to receive oxygen. That can be done anywhere. Johnson is now in day twelve after the first onset of symptoms. By then covid-19 patients have typically developed a severe pneumonia and have severe breathing problems. They are not in 'good spirits'. It is likely that Johnson is on a mechanical ventilator. That he is described as 'stable' likely means that he is sedated and that the fight is ongoing.
The chance of people to survive after being transferred to intensive care for the covid-19 disease is 50 to 50. If their immune system overreacts to the virus with a cytokine storm they are likely to die. Some studies describe day 17 after the onset of symptoms as the most critical.
I wish the bastard good luck.
Downing Street 10 has turned into an epidemiological cluster.
Michael Gove: The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has a crucial job running Whitehall's response to the coronavirus — but announced on Tuesday that he too is self-isolating after a family member developed symptoms.
...
Matt Hancock: The 41-year-old health secretary caught the virus but was back at work a week later to announce a revamped strategy on testing ...
...
Dominic Cummings: The infamous chief adviser to Johnson has been self-isolating at home with symptoms.
...
Lee Cain: The Downing Street communications director was reported to have had symptoms last week but is now thought to be back in action.
...
Chris Whitty: The chief medical officer took time off work with coronavirus symptoms but returned on Monday and took part in the daily Downing Street press conference.
Johnson and those above had lots of personal contacts with other important and not so important people. They will have infected many others. Callousness has a price.
Posted by b on April 7, 2020 at 18:54 UTC | Permalink
next page »thanks b.. i also hope he regains his health and is back up and running.. i am still shocked the uk people voted for him, but that is another story.. it will be interesting to see how this plays out.. i don't know how healthy he was going into this.. he doesn't look like the healthiest of people, but appearances can be deceptive!
@ jc... thanks for your comment on the previous thread... this place is best served with tolerance for others viewpoints... the moment i see someone berating another for holding a viewpoint, i realize they're at the wrong bar and it's only a matter of time before they are gone..
Posted by: james | Apr 7 2020 19:09 utc | 2
Bojo of course precided over this clusterf*CKck, as has Trump. But Dominic Cummings deserves the biggest Dunning-Kruger prize, a trip to the ICU himself. Take it on the chin Dominic!
Posted by: Demo | Apr 7 2020 19:11 utc | 3
Stable genius in a stable condition. UK subjects can feel safe.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 7 2020 19:11 utc | 4
The Times of Moscow (pro-Western), one day ago:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman dismissed as disinformation a Russian media report Monday that he was to undergo artificial lung ventilation after being hospitalized with persistent coronavirus symptoms.
Johnson said he tested positive for coronavirus on March 27 and was due to re-emerge from seven days of self-isolation Friday. Downing Street announced Sunday that Johnson had been hospitalized for further tests as a precaution.
Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed British healthcare system source as saying early Monday that Johnson would need ventilation 10 days after testing positive for Covid-19.
“He will be given artificial ventilation of his lungs,” the unnamed source told RIA Novosti.
“That is disinformation,” Johnson’s spokesman said Monday in response to RIA’s report, according to Business Insider.
“Our specialist government units have seen a rise in false reports since the coronavirus outbreak started. It's vital that any [such] information is knocked down quickly,” the spokesman was quoted as saying. <-- The have specialist government units to tackle "Russian disinformation". Priorities blyad.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 7 2020 19:17 utc | 5
So, BoJo passes, the Deputy PM steps in, then how long before elections during the lockdown--3-4 months? I'd much rather see Blair depart than BoJo.
@1 - It's a perfect example of callous disregard for the safety of others, a symptom of self-centered privilege.
Posted by: norecovery | Apr 7 2020 19:25 utc | 7
It's rare for the powerful to experience the sort of suffering that they cause to others. If that happened more regularly the world would be a better place. Let's hope that Johnson recovers and, more importantly, mends his ways.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Apr 7 2020 19:29 utc | 8
On a weakly related note, I have seen a photo of Rouhani with top officials (military? I would need to search Twitter feed), everybody in a mask except the president himself, which is OK, I guess. That said, clerics of some rank have long dense beards in Iran, that really requires some special design. Perhaps a mesh keeping beard flat, like Sikhs do?
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 7 2020 19:29 utc | 9
What's the downside of the Elites being culled by COVID-19?
The concern the average bloke has for a good outcome is filtered through this thought: When does the Premier League start again?
Posted by: Tommy | Apr 7 2020 19:31 utc | 10
as a great russian philosopher once said...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFFo7xz69t0
he looks sickly, pale and bloated even for a british guy but just as cockroaches can survive nuclear war i'm sure this vermin will somehow survive.
Posted by: the pair | Apr 7 2020 19:36 utc | 11
This can also be a political stunt. Boris Johnson would earn a lot of empathy and sympathy if he's a PM who "rose like a phoenix" or "came back from the dead" (i.e. a "warrior" PM).
Or this can simply be case of over-cautioness with a very powerful man: the British are known to being very class sensitive, so it wouldn't be that farfetched to speculate Boris Johnson is simply receiving preferential treatment in the system.
Or... it could all be truth. Boris Johnson really is in a ventilator (therefore, in induced coma), and his life really is at risk.
--//--
In other news, it seems my prophecy is being fulfilled. I'm seeing more and more news articles cheerleading for an end to the quarantine. They range from proposing a "smart quarantine", to rushing the anticorps testing and giving out immunity certificates, to simply sell the use of masks the the silver bullet against the pandemic. Some people at forums and comment sections are even beginning to doubt the efficacy of a lockdown, using some random excess death numbers.
As the old saying goes: killing your own people is wrong only when the communists are doing it. Otherwise is "common sense".
--//--
As I feared, Japan is now in effective lockdown:
Emergency declared in Japan for Tokyo, Osaka and five other virus hot spots
The hotspots are precisely along the Tokyo-Osaka megalopolis. Tokyo's governor Koike "asked" (read: ordered) her people to self-isolate until May 6th. That goes way beyond the capitalist forecasts of April 30th the latest. That extra week will put a significant dent on the Japanese economy.
The First World will suffer a lot more with the pandemic than China for two reasons: 1) they are capitalist, so any disruption in its reproductive cycle is always more catastrophic and chaotic and 2) they are services economies, which are much more sensible to lockdowns (even Germany is now a majoritarily services economy).
--//--
This is curious:
Bond investors swarm to China, a safe harbor
China's "reform and opening up" doctrine is all about becoming a financial superpower, thus de facto inaugurating a multipolar world order.
The big question is: once the USA recovers, will those capital flux revert back? We'll see.
Just heard from a US friend whose daughter is a nurse: A patient removed the mask connect to her ventilator while on, because it was too uncomfortable, infecting the entire ward. Took more than a day to disinfect and be back to business.
Then there is THAT.
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Apr 7 2020 19:40 utc | 13
karlofi, we don't need a proper election here in the UK if a PM dies or retires. All that happens is that the largest party in Parliament has a new election among its members for a new leader and that person will automatically become PM. Potentially no General Election for 4-5 years. They could probably do it all by postal votes if push came to shove.
Until then the Cabinet should operate as a committee with the senior Secretary of State, the Foreign Secretary, acting as Chairman, but without the absolute power to ran through decisions that a PM has. If he tried against the wishes of a majority there would be collapse. This is likely to be rule by assent. If it works it could run for months.
Now Boris has gone this far experience shows that it will be many weeks before he is up to doing much at all. A figurehead really. Brexit negotiations are going to be interesting.
Posted by: JohninMK | Apr 7 2020 19:42 utc | 14
Russia's RIA Novosti reported Johnson's deterioration before any British media outlet.
It was slammed as "Fake News", "Disinformation" and "Propaganda".
The Prime Minster's spokesman even declared
“We are working closely with social media companies to stem the spread of falsehoods and rumours.”
But then Johnson was transferred to intensive care.
So it would seem the initial reports were correct and the British Government have simply admitted to working with social media companies to censor the news.
Fake news indeed.
Good luck though BoJo. I remember when he applauded Assad for saving Palmyra at a time when the then British Government continued to support those who sought to destroy it. A toast for Boris.
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Apr 7 2020 19:48 utc | 15
Looks like Trump has is a stockholder on the USA's main hydroxycloroquine producer:
Trump’s Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical Community
The scheme is as follows: Trump has a participation on Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose main share in its portfolio is Sanofi, "the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine."
And Sanofi is not the only name in town. According to the same article, "several generic drugmakers are gearing up to produce hydroxychloroquine pills, including Amneal Pharmaceuticals, whose co-founder Chirag Patel is a member of Trump National Golf Course Bedminster in New Jersey and has golfed with Mr. Trump at least twice since he became president, according to a person who saw them."
The petit bourgeoisie likes to see the world through divine lens and under a messianic microscope. But they are, too, mere pawns in big business' Great Game.
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Apr 7 2020 19:48 utc | 15
That's what I notice, the habit of lying continuously about everything no matter what. Everything must be spun. So Trump-like.
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 7 2020 20:00 utc | 17
I’ll save my sympathy for the victims of grenfail towers, for the people fleeing U.K. wars and economic exploitation around the world! The onece proud British work force reduced to almost (not quite) slavery ! And deprived of any intelligence by lying propaganda!
The younger generations still to come, robbed of there future.
Do not resuscitate!!!
Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 7 2020 20:01 utc | 18
There is a view that bring put on ventilators for Covid-19 us a death sentence, if so and if Boris Johnson is on a ventilator then he us likely to die.
Johnson is preferable (least worst option) as a Prime Minster to any other Conservative and very much preferable to Sir Kier.
Posted by: ADKC | Apr 7 2020 20:01 utc | 19
What can one hope more, in this life, than to die doing what they believe in? Sir Boris The Brave took it on the chin, like a man!
Of course, getting out of it, and riding the sympathy wave to a crushing electoral victory could also work! I'm surprised more politicians aren't doing it!
[I'm not saying he is pretending, I think him dying from this would be an epic final act]
Posted by: Tod | Apr 7 2020 20:03 utc | 20
@18 mark2.. good point.. same deal assange... the uk is f@d in the head on a number of levels...
Posted by: james | Apr 7 2020 20:08 utc | 21
@Piotr Berman <-- The have specialist government units to tackle "Russian disinformation".
Integrity Initiative, Bellingcat, ... (BBC?)
The US has polygraph.info, VoA, ... (NYT, WaPo ?)
Posted by: Keith McClary | Apr 7 2020 20:08 utc | 22
There is a view that bring put on ventilators for Covid-19 us a death sentence, if so and if Boris Johnson is on a ventilator then he us likely to die.
Johnson is preferable (least worst option) as a Prime Minster to any other Conservative and very much preferable to Sir Kier.
Posted by: ADKC | Apr 7 2020 20:01 utc | 19
I think that if it were so grim, there would be no fight for getting more ventilator (although in USA, they can be valuable as cash cows for hospitals). There are various levels of breathing assistance, and needing "full-blown" ventilator is dire news, but the stats are skewed by octogenarians. My guess, Johnson is getting oxygen but still breaths using his own muscles. The denied Russian news was about prognosis, I guess that the lung function deteriorates gradually and doctors apply least invasive measures. One grim aspect is that with heavily damaged lungs, ventilators may succeed keeping a person alive, but with a cognitive damage -- the brain is damn oxygen hungry. With some luminaries of American politics it would be hard to tell a difference, but Johnson was quite quick, if not exactly bright.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 7 2020 20:24 utc | 23
Appalling practice breaches at Fort Detrick detailed. these led to its biolab closure in 2019.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2020 20:24 utc | 24
If Johnson survives such a close call, he might become a bit more willing to improve the NHS and to fight the pandemic - and possibly a better appreciation of the plight of his fellow common British people. One might hope. At least, I think a post-covid BoJo wouldn't be worse than his current line of succession. And he's quite young to die of this - which would put to rest not only the "It's just a flu" bullshit, but also the "Only those above 75 with a critical precondition are at serious risk" claim.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 7 2020 20:26 utc | 25
From the little I know, hydroxychloroquine or similar drugs (Russia is using a similar compound) is often effective, but it has nasty side effects that can be too much for some people. It is necessary to have several drugs to choose.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 7 2020 20:29 utc | 26
16 vk on Trump/Sanofi
that fits perfectly with the undermining of the problem through February by the French and the US gov, in turn. Even the war vocabulary used by Macron in his first TV speech "we are at war (6 times)" and the next day by one of his ministers "the invisible ennemy" was taken over by Trump himself and some in his gang immediately in the days after.
Posted by: Mina | Apr 7 2020 20:31 utc | 27
Piotr Berman #23
Oxygen support does not imply Intensive Care ward. Easy done at bedside or in chair. An old buddy had a mask on and pottered about his house for months with a long thin hose connected to the oxygen generator gadget. Intensive care re COVID - 19 is for mechanical assisted breathing and support from people skilled in keeping you 30 seconds from brain damage or death from lung drowning.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2020 20:33 utc | 28
" Boris Johnson would earn a lot of empathy and sympathy if he's a PM who "rose like a phoenix" or "came back from the dead" (i.e. a "warrior" PM)."
You are right about that, vk. And if he dies he will be a martyr to many who will say that 'he would be alive today but he shook everybody's hands'
"..so it wouldn't be that farfetched to speculate Boris Johnson is simply receiving preferential treatment in the system." vk
Not far fetched at all. The NHS is being run down and broken up for profiteers because the wealthy don't use it. They use Private Insurance schemes, private hospitals and the best treatment in the most salubrious conditions. Of course they will use the NHS for stuff like free hearing aids and other advantages, including subsidised prescriptions.
John in MK@14:
As you say no need for an election but would this not be the perfect opportunity to bring in a National government with Starmer and his mates part of a government formed to fight the virus (and preserve the capitalist system while strengthening imperialism)?
I've been waiting for such a government since about 2002 when it became clear that there were no political differences between the Blairites and the Tories, just friendly rivalry over who gets first dibs at the trough.
Great article at the WSWS on Sir Keir, full details of the sort of career that would have made him too right wing for the Tories.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/07/star-a07.html
Posted by: bevin | Apr 7 2020 20:43 utc | 29
B: "I wish the bastard good luck."
I don't. But then I'm as mean as a lot of the people here who'd prefer me to die so they can go to the ball game or keep their job. The latter I understand - the former I despise.
Does Boris Johnson have any health conditions?
https://tinyurl.com/tcqfjwp
Apparently he's 55, overweight, but not entirely "unfit."
However, "According to a report published last week, more than 70 percent of patients placed in intensive care after being infected with coronavirus were overweight, obese or severely obese on the body mass index scale."
In fall 2017, I got Piriformis syndrome - basically that muscle clamps on the sciatica nerve, causing serious pain in the butt (ironic, I know, given my personality) down the leg. I weighed around 200 lbs at 5'8" and am very sedentary - which is why I got the problem. So I go to the doctor (in spring 2018 after making the condition worse by over exercising while trying to fix the problem myself), get put on gabbapentin for the pain. Got diagnosed as diabetic and put on Metformin rather than insulin.
I then went on a diet from around April, 2018, to December, 2018. I lost 45 pounds, got down to 155. My cholesterol cleared up and my blood sugar level dropped from 9 to 5.6 (prediabetic level).
Now I pig out for a few days, gain 5-10 pounds, go back on a strict keto diet, and lose that weight over the next week or so. Trying to adjust the diet so I can eat stuff I like while still keeping the carbs and calories low and the cost low - that ain't easy by a long shot.
I say all that to say this: thank God for the piriformis syndrome or I might still be obese and have an even greater risk factor for the virus. Could be a problem that was extremely painful could turn out to be a life saver.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 7 2020 20:45 utc | 30
Sadly, the idiocy continues.
We have the technology to move from a virus mitigation strategy to a virus suppression strategy: quick, cheap tests and cheap effective medication (when administered early).
Telling people to self-isolate when they are sick is also callous. Once the virus progresses to the point that they are having trouble breathing, the cheap medicine is less effective and stonger, expensive meds from Big Pharma are likely to be necessary. And some will die unnecessarily.
How much longer will TPTB delay a change in strategy?
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 7 2020 20:50 utc | 31
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2020 20:33 utc | 28 Piotr Berman #23 Oxygen support does not imply Intensive Care ward.
The article I posted above specifically states Johnson was moved to ICU.
Quoting an article I just read posted 2 hours ago at Business Insider:
The spokesman also said the prime minister did not have pneumonia. Johnson's spokesman previously said the prime minister was moved into intensive care as a precautionary measure in case he needed ventilation. The Times of London on Tuesday had reported that sources inside the hospital suggested the prime minister "needed 4 liters of oxygen in intensive care" but had not yet been intubated — the process by which a tube is inserted into the windpipe before ventilation.
So you are correct that this doesn't mean he's on either intubation or ECMO - yet. That will depend on his condition over the next few days - which in turn depends on his immune system.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 7 2020 20:52 utc | 32
Just a thought !
Is Boris Johnson being treated on the National Health Service or is he paying for private health care ?
I only ask becouse a few months before the Brixit referendum, our now priminster moved most of his wealth to an off-shore Tax-haven, namily Southern Ireland (not part of U.K.)
————-
Here in the U.K. we are facing the biggest crises since the Black Death
No one seems to question where it came from ?
No one seems to have thought about what will enevitable happen any week/month now ?
The shocking truth is what ever tactic or strategy we take now, will make no difference to the outcome ! Population reduction by 50% The poorest ! If that includes you ! Better wake up pretty dam quick.
Person in charge of trearge did they vote Corbyn ?
Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 7 2020 20:54 utc | 33
Piotr Berman @26
Regarding the latest version of quinine treatment- prescribed by those well known pharmacists Jackrabbit and Trump Inc- there is a fairly detailed article in The Guardian today- hard though that might be to swallow.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/hydroxychloroquine-trump-coronavirus-drug
Posted by: bevin | Apr 7 2020 20:54 utc | 34
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 7 2020 20:24 utc | 23 There are various levels of breathing assistance, and needing "full-blown" ventilator is dire news, but the stats are skewed by octogenarians.
Actually, according to three studies in an article I posted in one of the other threads, probably only 30-50% survive intubation oxygenation (oxygen provided via a ventilator through a tube in the throat.) And those who *do* survive have damaged lungs and may never be able to breath on their own or without carrying around an oxygen tank for the rest of their lives. In fact, the *ventilation process* itself can damage the lungs.
"I guess that the lung function deteriorates gradually and doctors apply least invasive measures." Yes. But once the deterioration starts, it can be very fast - within 24 hours in some cases, I've read.
Being put on a ventilator is not a death sentence - your prognosis becomes very bad. The end result depends almost entirely on the immune system. The Chinese pumped Vitamin C in large doses into their ventilator patients. A review study showed that it reduces time on the ventilator from 14-25%.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 7 2020 21:00 utc | 35
JohninMK @14--
Thanks for your detailed description. I was correct about an election, it's just not a General Election. Who might be best in the likely event in several months of a resetting of the International Financial System?
The novel corona virus is an equal oppo 'bug.'
So, many *rich* ppl, those who mingle at parties, politicians who meet hundreds every day, talk, shake hands, those who take 6 plane flights every two weeks, and so on, are more likely to get infected than your regular bloke who hangs out at home, in the grocery store, at the local pub.
In GB, infected, for ex. Prince Charles.
Matt Hancock the Health Secretary, Nadine X, Junior Health Minister.
Now BoJo and his pregnant GF.
This article in F, from Le Temps, CH, emblematic story, details how Russians and Ukrainians share their time in the F ski station of Courchevel on ‘spring break’ and ‘women’s day.’
Rich Ukrainians are now in total panic. Politicians, top Biz ppl, were infected. They, in a night-club, dance on tables, drink from Champ. bottles they pass around, etc. A ‘cluster’ was created in the Ukr. parliament. Locally, only a trickle of news.. (goog. Ukr. Cov. etc.)
https://www.letemps.ch/monde/lelite-ukrainienne-contaminee-courchevel
Their panic is at least not misguided.
In the Anglo world (not only of course!), top pols consider themselves above the plebs, their own orders don’t apply to them.
Ex. Health Min. of New Zealand, David Clark, who rushed down to the beach with his family while telling everyone else to stay at home (have it all for yourself I guess) and Scotland’s chief Medical officer Catherine Calderwood who went twice with family to her holiday home (pal of Nicola Stugeon, now forced to quit.)
Money and privilege aren’t much use, as there is no cure, palliative, only stabilisation, comfort offering. Once intubed on a ventilator survival rates are very dismal.
Posted by: Noirette | Apr 7 2020 21:04 utc | 37
Posted by: Noirette | Apr 7 2020 21:04 utc | 37
Yes, the little virus does not care about anybody's illusions. Globalization and tourist-travel create a fertile environment for such bugs to develop and spread in too. What to do? What to do? The lag time between infection and symptoms makes it necessary to have a test for infection and use it early and often, or else you have to resort to dramatic measures to slow/stop the spread. It is like a perfect pin to pop the globalist balloon.
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 7 2020 21:24 utc | 38
Bevin @29
It might be the perfect opportunity as you say for some kind of National Government but, given our election system and power structure, whilst a Party has as many votes in hand as this one does there isn't a bat in Hell's chance. Ignoring Scotland the only part of the country the Tories missed was London and I don't think that matters. Its not even as if Labour could bring in some well known and trusted figures, Milliband is about it, no-one on the street knows who Starmer their new leader is. No it won't happen even if Boris pops his clogs.
I don't know where you get the idea that the NHS is being run down because it isn't. There may be many things wrong with it but lack of money ain't one of them and neither is staff shortage, its the wrong staff.. I hope that this total planning and organisational shambles that we are going through puts a rocket under someone in power to sort it out. Thousands of administration jobs need to go.
They knew in Jan that this was heading our way and did they stock up to upper stock levels all the PPE? Of course they didn't, they sat around in meetings, monthly of course, and talked about it and then in mid March they panicked so the Government had little time to do anything other than what they did. Just compare what those poor bastards in our hospitals wear compared to the Chinese, incredible difference. NHS Administrators (all working from home of course) are sending them in to fight with virtually no protection, a death sentence for many. Someone should sue the bastards.
You know why they are telling us not to bother with masks? Its not their functionality its that there aren't enough and they don't want to create another panic as per toilet rolls. They didn't start buying in advance, there aren't enough for the medics let alone us so some of us will die or get ill or permanently injured needlessly. In the meantime they probably believe their bullshit, no the wearing of masks all over the Far East has no real impact on transmission rates. WTF.
Posted by: JohninMK | Apr 7 2020 21:25 utc | 39
Just more fake wrestling theater people. His spokesman told reporters on Tuesday that the PM hasn't been diagnosed with pneumonia, and although he has received supplementary oxygen, he likely won't be needing a respirator.
Based on that he shouldn't be in hospital let alone ICU. You can bet nobody else but a PM or other big shot gets an ICU bed without pneumonia.
Posted by: Pft | Apr 7 2020 21:27 utc | 40
New York has passed Italy and is going to pass Spain in a day or two for nCOV mortality per 10M population: 2824 vs. 2817 vs. 2994
Note again: New York was at 998 on April 1...
Other European countries are also rapidly increasing, particularly France: 1586; Belgium: 1785; Netherlands: 1236; UK: 940
Sweden is at 623
Germany and US are still doing relatively well: 246 and 386. US without New York: 232
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 7 2020 21:29 utc | 41
I think it won't be long before a WHO whistle-blower shows up. Who knows.. at this pace maybe some visitors in a couple of years will say "it used to be a whiskey bar but they started adding lemon, ginger and other stuff as they were getting old".
Posted by: Mina | Apr 7 2020 21:31 utc | 42
I have to agree with b that people aren't put into intensive care to breathe oxygen in order to sustain their 'good spirits'. Intensive Care is for people whom the medics believe will die if they get any worse...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 7 2020 21:34 utc | 43
Isn't the very idea of moving 7,000 tourists on a cruise (multiplied by dozens? hundreds? of cruises) the perfect factory for a winter flu-mix? Could it provoke more and more pandemias? Especially when the guests come from a latitude which is in winter and travel to the other half of the world?
Posted by: Mina | Apr 7 2020 21:39 utc | 44
karlof1 #36
Who might be best in the likely event in several months of a resetting of the International Financial System?
Michael Hudson
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2020 21:40 utc | 45
Ukraine, Rio...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/04/brazils-super-rich-and-the-exclusive-club-at-the-heart-of-a-coronavirus-hotspot
Posted by: Mina | Apr 7 2020 21:40 utc | 46
UK Office for National Statistics
Great stuff in this link. Look at the top two lines on the 2020 spreadsheet. Total deaths, all ages. Next line is Total deaths: average of corresponding week over the previous 5 years. In response to the COVID panic they have deaths by respiratory disease. There is another one underneath that where they are beginning to put it on death certificates. Deaths by respiratory disease have been trending down since the beginning of January. We are still waiting for a spike in total deaths! It has gone up the final two weeks so hopefully we see at least something? I mean somebody needs to be dying for the entire world to have to stop! The West had absolutely no problem waging war on the Iraqi people for the last 30 years resulting in an incredible amount of death, destruction, homelessness, and refugees. We get a new virus and spin up in a total panic that people might die? I don't know. I guess I wish it were true. I'm sad that is probably isn't. A lot of you deserve to die. The CDC and WHO widely exaggerated the spread and danger of SARS, MERS, and Ebola. They have a terrible track record of predicting final outcomes of diseases that occur. These "experts" are holding the world captive. LMAO
Posted by: goldhoarder | Apr 7 2020 21:43 utc | 47
Karlofi your question @36 is a really, really good one. Who indeed?
I suspect that few of us here doubt that the Grand Reset is on its way, dramatically accelerated by COVID-19. I don't think that anyone we have ever heard of has got the ability or balls to pull it off. The credibility of all we do know will have gone. Someone is going to emerge out of the chaos, almost certainly involved in what comes forth as the stabilizer.
I am not sure I want to be here when it happens but it is going to be a hell of a ride.
Posted by: JohninMK | Apr 7 2020 21:43 utc | 48
Posted by: goldhoarder | Apr 7 2020 21:43 utc | 47
"A lot of you deserve to die."
Are you out to convince or to piss people off? Not getting enough attention, maybe?
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 7 2020 21:52 utc | 49
If any misfortunates need a ventilator they could be refused as Bojo might need one. He'll be taking up entire floor by himself to boot.
Posted by: Jagsfan | Apr 7 2020 22:03 utc | 50
Johnson is a bit overweight, not a good thing to be when fighting this virus.
I agree, this is serious.
Right wing ideology always gets its azz kicked by reality.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Apr 7 2020 22:04 utc | 51
This could be a problem depending on how long this lasts - and if in fact food-related people do eventually lack PPE...
Coronavirus may cause some food shortages, warns government task force
https://tinyurl.com/tgqba3v
I've noticed definite changes in the availability of certain common food items in various stores.
For instance, Target at the Metreon in central San Francisco usually has a fair amount of reasonably priced ground beef from their "Market Pantry" brand out on the frozen food shelf. The last few times I've gone down there, there is *none* out. They appear to have replaced it with higher priced specialty steak meats and other stuff. The only ground beef I can get is the bagged stuff in the freezer - which is fine, but potentially in low supply as noted on their Web site for that store.
Interestingly, most of the ice cream and frozen snack stuff is virtually cleaned out. More "comfort eating" among the quarantined?
FoodsCo also has reduced supplies of ground beef the last time I was there. Still plenty of steak, though. I can't afford steak, however. I prefer ground beef which in 93% lean has a reasonable number of calories compared to 80% and of course no carbs for my keto diet. But if my favorite and best quality food I can afford ends up getting scarce, this is going to be a problem.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 7 2020 22:05 utc | 52
Then we have more elected officials trying to spoon-feed their contributors with pork...
Bad Idea Is Bad: Senator Sasse Wants To Give Whoever Patents COVID-19 Treatments 10 Extra Years Of Patent Protection
https://tinyurl.com/wv3ff4q
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 7 2020 22:09 utc | 53
Any good detective knows you start with an ‘informed hunch’ based on your known facts, and proceed to investigate until you find evedence
to prove or disprove your suspicion !
The facts are people like Boris Johnson, Teresa May, David Cameron, Trump and Obama Are really Just low pay grade and expendable footsolders !
Is Boris Johnson a victem of (((a grander plan)))
With the help of ‘the Israeli lobby the U.K. opposition party have just been distroyed !
Who gains ?
Trump ? Israel ? Both ?
With out Boris or Corbyn Just how much would the Israeli U.S. benifit regarding U.K. govenment ?
Boris Kohnson is ‘a bit of a lad’ no one knows how many children he has ! not even him apparently !
Did he know Epstein ?
Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 7 2020 22:28 utc | 54
Just a general point about Boris in an NHS hospital. He, as PM, is Head of Government so, although he doesn't have the title, he is also the Head of the NHS. As such, like the boss of any large organisation, he will automatically qualify for special treatment like a private room, paying for it privately like the rest of us would have to will never even be considered. He also will have armed security guards near him.
It sounds as if he is on a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) oxyren machine which are in widescale use and can be used almost anywhere.
Posted by: JohninMK | Apr 7 2020 22:28 utc | 55
Trump, like Boris the clown was playing down the danger of coronavirus when it was mostly confined to China. Publicly at least he has ignored all of what China learned and made public, though by his early endorsement of the anti malaria drugs he is most likely very aware of the headway made by China.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration was considering cutting its payments to the World Health Organization budget, accusing the United Nations agency of pro-China bias.During a press conference Tuesday, Trump said the US would be refusing to help fund the World Health Organization (WHO) because it is 'China-centric."
"We're going to put on hold money spent to the WHO," Trump said. "They could have called it much earlier, they would have known, and they should have known, and they probably didn't know."
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 7 2020 22:29 utc | 56
Syrian jihadis spread COVID-19 in Libya courtesy of Turkey Army .
That leaves a continuous infection trail within those Turkish aircraft and Naval vessels that transported them. Now that is one way of losing a battle. Good thinking from the Turkish army and Erdogan. How long does it take to disinfect a naval vessel?
The GNA and its military commanders must be ecstatic about their new friend in Turkey. Shall we call these Jihadis the Covid Army?
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2020 22:35 utc | 57
I just watched the Matrix again tonight. Highly recommend it, especially in these surreal times. If you believe the horseshit we're being fed daily by the MSM, then I despair. And as for Boris, I couldn't give a shit what happens to him, but I suspect he will emerge unscathed but the spin will be done. Stay home!!!! Can't miss the message, it's like being brainwashed. Sorry, it IS being brainwashed. Bye bye civil liberties, wish we'd appreciated you more...
Posted by: H | Apr 7 2020 22:45 utc | 58
Been talking to myself on the week in review thread about the videos I watched today. They're all linked there. Who will manage the reset? IMO, it will be a Eurasian, or group of Eurasians. The bases for both geoeconomic and geopolitical power are now located there along with Morality and respect for the Rule of Law. The talks for the reset will occur in Shanghai, with the wreckers of the past system relegated to being onlookers, not actual participants, much like Keynes at Bretton Woods. If we're fortunate, no war will be waged by the Exceptionals to try and preserve their status and the paradigm change will be mostly peaceful, although millions of people will experience a great deal of violence related to their impoverishment--much like the collapse of the USSR.
If I were a young man, I'd go West from Oregon across the Pacific to Russia's Far East for that's where the future lays. The Titanic's analogy is apt--It was an exceptional ship, but not unsinkable, nor could it offer protection for its entire complement of passengers and crew. The expendables were locked away below decks so the upper classes wouldn't have to compete for lifeboat space. Funny that those without rights--women and children--were told to get into the lifeboats first; that won't be repeated. But the System has a lot of inertia, so it may take a while for it to crash to the ground. Quien Sabe? There's a way to save the ship, but the crew will need to mutiny in order to change its direction.
Peter AU1 #56
The WHO cant win here. One side is claiming that the WHO early call of a COVID-19 global threat was an indicator of its acting in a global conspiracy to destroy the global economy.
Now USA, who have contributed more to destroying the global economy over past decades and with its present $$$ Trillion 'bailout' binge is accusing WHO of acting too late. Meanwhile most of the planetary occupants are vaguely grateful that we have at least the rudiments of a world health monitoring body.
The ideologues who drive this western agenda are a threat to humanity.
b frankly I don't give a shite for Boris. I would appreciate a deeper look at how the elite are driving the herd with wars and economic lunacy. Perhaps you might consider an interview with Michael Hudson? or Mark Blyth. You have extraordinary position to facilitate such an information piece.
Lets consider the deeper picture.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2020 22:50 utc | 60
Somehow i don't think this is the time to be taking pot-shots at Boris Johnson.
maybe in a few years time, after he has made a full recovery, and this entire crisis
has been laid to rest, and we might be dealing with another crisis,
which is certainly going to be the mother of all economic crises.
Posted by: chris m | Apr 7 2020 22:54 utc | 61
Trump, like Boris the clown
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 7 2020 22:29 utc | 56
We are in the midst of a brutal global health crisis. Do we have to denigrate with these labels?
Yes there are failures in UK and USA.
LONDON (Reuters) - It was early spring when British scientists laid out the bald truth to their government. It was “highly likely,” they said, that there was now “sustained transmission” of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.
If unconstrained and if the virus behaved as in China, up to four-fifths of Britons could be infected and one in a hundred might die, wrote the scientists, members of an official committee set up to model the spread of pandemic flu, on March 2. Their assessment didn’t spell it out, but that was a prediction of over 500,000 deaths in this nation of nearly 70 million.Yet the next day, March 3, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was his cheery self. He joked that he was still shaking hands with everyone, including at a hospital treating coronavirus patients.
========
And US President Trump:
{that his administration was considering cutting its payments to the World Health Organization budget, accusing the United Nations agency of pro-China bias.}
As he continues to blame China manipulating WHO. The U.S. government (U.S.) has long been actively engaged with WHO, providing financial and technical support as well as participating in its governance structure.
Here is the thingy:
Trump's Trade Adviser Warned White House of Possible Coronavirus Pandemic in US in January -
[The] US president's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, on 29 January drafted a memo warning that the novel coronavirus could become a major pandemic, hitting Americans particularly hard, if measures were not taken, The New York Times reported, citing the document.The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on US soil. This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans", the memo reportedly said.
The media said that the memo is alleged to have circulated the White House, but it is unclear if POTUS read it. The memo was allegedly drafted not long after Trump assured the US that the situation was "totally under control", adding that he placed his full trust in China's reporting of the outbreak. The last comment of Trump's drastically changed after the number of new COVID-19 cases began to spike on American soil.[.]
Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 7 2020 23:00 utc | 62
A brief history of how we got here and why
A one hour + exposition by Mark Blyth. The warm up lasts about one minute with attempts at dry wit then...
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2020 23:15 utc | 63
Looks like auld Boris is getting a proper dose of herd immunity hisself.
I wish him well.
Posted by: HossCara | Apr 7 2020 23:20 utc | 64
Karlofi @ 59
Very nicely put !!!
Here’s just a small example of what people power can do !
https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-test-all-frontline-care-workers-for-coronavirus/u/26285589?
Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 7 2020 23:23 utc | 65
I just had a scare with my 86 year old grandma who has mild Altimers and lives with us, she could not walk by herself we had to carry her, her temp rose to 103. We tried calling her doctor no answer. We didnt want to take her to ER cuz hospitals are lock down and we would be able to go with her or see her while she there, she doesn't speak English well and altimers,she would be scared. My mom's cousin is a doctor we called him on his personal cell phone be told us get her urine and bring it to him he will get it checked. So it turns out she had a UTI and he gave us antibiotic to give her, we decided we keeping her home and care for her. She got better the next day, and she fully recovered. This was over weekend. Thank god
Posted by: Bob burger | Apr 7 2020 23:32 utc | 66
Imagine how scared she would of been with altimers and confused with these hooded figures walking around in bio suits.
Posted by: Bob burger | Apr 7 2020 23:33 utc | 67
Boris should have stuck to his original plan because that is the plan Bill Gates doesn’t want.
https://theduran.com/did-bill-gates-just-reveal-the-real-reason-behind-the-lock-downs/
This is the creepiest interview I have ever heard. He exudes EVIL.
Posted by: William H Warrick MD | Apr 7 2020 23:34 utc | 68
Likklemore
I have e always called him Boris the clown. Mostly due to some of his earlier antics in political life, but also due to things like herd immunity. I don't see any reason to use another name just because he is acquiring herd immunity.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 7 2020 23:34 utc | 69
Mina @ 44:
Read this article on air pollution on cruise ships and shudder.
And then read this article on the working conditions of cruise-ship employees (especially of cleaners, bartenders and restaurant staff), view the teeny-tiny cabins many of them have to live in, and try not to pass out thinking what a perfect environment huge passenger cruise ships are for COVID-19 disease to thrive in.
Currently here in Australia a criminal case has been opened into what happened or supposedly happened when NSW Health (government state health department in New South Wales) allowed passengers to disembark from the Ruby Princess (owned by Carnival Corporation) in Sydney while still awaiting test results for COVID-19. The case concerns whether Carnival Australia, part of the Carnival Corporation) lied about the presence or not of coronavirus onboard and if the company broke biosecurity laws. I am not holding my breath though that the Australian case against Carnival Australia will delve in any way into how the living conditions of passenger cruise ship employees had any influence on how COVID-19 spread among the Ruby Princess passengers.
Spare a thought also for the crews of naval ships (some of them carry crews of nearly 10,000) and submarines. Some of these are bound to be eventual death-traps on the high seas.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 7 2020 23:35 utc | 70
Mark2 @65--
Thanks for your reply and petition link!
Trump's an exceptionally large rock. He just cut funding for the WHO:
"U.S. President Donald Trump says he will 'put a hold' on U.S. funding to the World Health Organisation claiming 'they missed the call' on the covid-19 pandemic."
Nice short vid with chart at tweet. Lying yet again to try and deflect well deserved criticism. Yet the Ds are just as bad. I know there are a few decent politicos, but how can they stand to be in the same room with the immoral squids?
Dominic Cummings' uncle Sir John Laws has died of Covid-19
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/apr/05/retired-senior-judge-sir-john-laws-dies-after-contracting-coronavirus
The British press always portrays him as brilliant/genious. Haha another clown that has been favored by connections and nepotism..
Posted by: Nick | Apr 8 2020 0:02 utc | 72
Karlofi @ 71
That short vid speaks more than a thousand words !
In answer to you last question- - -
It takes a brave brave person to wade through that political swap and and still hold on to their integrity, knowing they will likely fail. I can think of two with the initials JC ! Neither ended well !
Or
How about the poem ‘ if ‘ by Rudyard Kipling. good guide to liife, but sadly just another Brit empire tool. Racist too.
Or—-‘ though I walk through the valley of death I fear no evel.
Perhaps ——— a coward dies a thousand times a brave man but once !!
All apt and on topic I think.
Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 8 2020 0:14 utc | 73
Herd immunity is not "free." To the extent Boris believes in this, he gave himself for the cause. The country will need many who sacrifice themselves the country can develop herd immunity.
I am "agnostic" about whether we should go the route of "herd immunity" or "quarantine shutdown". I leave it to future historians to figure that out. But we shouldn't morn for Boris should he pass. If it's not him, then it would be someone else ... so the country can get herd immunity. Just because you are a politician doesn't mean you should be spared the cost of establishing "herd immunity."
@ RSH
"I then went on a diet from around April, 2018, to December, 2018. I lost 45 pounds, got down to 155........
Now I pig out for a few days, gain 5-10 pounds, go back on a strict keto diet, "
RSH, good to see you are still at it (from going to tehran blog)..
just as a side note, rather than dieting, you might want to consider/look into Intermittent fasting. eat during a 6-8 hrs window, fast for the other 14-16, nothing but water. the first few days would take some adjusting. very simply, eating often, will keep your insulin spiked and keeps you in an eating frenzy state. fasting, will keep insulin down and force your body to use the body fat for its source of energy. has other benefits as well. good luck
Posted by: Rd | Apr 8 2020 0:28 utc | 75
Anti-Russia "fact check" organ ("Polygraph.info is a fact-checking website produced by Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.") had to clarify it's dismissal of a Sputnik report "Sputnik Falsely Says Boris Johnson on Lung Ventilation"
"On April 5, the Russian state-owned media outlet Sputnik News reported that U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had earlier tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus, had been admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. Sputnik said that Johnson would “undergo artificial lung ventilation,” citing an unnamed source “close to the U.K. healthcare authorities.”"
"On Monday, April 6, the U.K. government denied the story and labeled it “disinformation.”"
"Update, 3:35 pm EST: Later on Monday, UK officials said Johnson's condition worsened and he was moved into intensive care.
"Sputnik also ran another story on Monday citing the spokesperson’s statement that Johnson had not required a ventilator. Still, the article with the original claim remained up on the internet, as well as the tweets linking to it from Sputnik’s official Twitter account."
And how are the Skripals?
Posted by: daffyDuct | Apr 8 2020 0:33 utc | 76
To: Bob burger@66
Glad it was "just" UTI and treatable. I'm looking forward to the normal things like listeria, salmonella, lead in the water.
Posted by: daffyDuct | Apr 8 2020 0:39 utc | 77
Mark2 @73--
Thanks for your reply!
The paradigm change to a Multipolar world never promised to be smooth, although many still hope it will be mostly peaceful. I gaze at those occupying the top of the hierarchy within the West, both government and business, and see that none have the tools to manage the coming paradigm change, so steeped are they in the ideological structure of what they currently try to manage that they don't know what to do despite knowing they must do something. I believe the bull needs to ransack the china shop so we--society--can then see what's worth saving and what needs to be left behind: Say goodbye to the old while welcoming the unknown new. Certain to be terrifying for some yet thrilling for others.
Nick @ 72
"The Prime Minister’s senior adviser was filmed running across Downing Street today, shortly after Boris Johnson announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus."
https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/27/dominic-cummings-runs-downing-street-boris-gets-coronavirus-12467131/
Posted by: daffyDuct | Apr 8 2020 0:43 utc | 79
No boundaries in the Information War
Radio Free Asia
https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/04/07/report-wuhan-funeral-homes-burned-people-alive/
This story is so vile, I cannot even bring myself to summarize it. I don't believe it. I know the Pompeo clan are liars and they produced the story but the Breitbart crowd has fallen for it hard.
Even if you are still gullible enough to take the US govt on their word, to accept such a sensationalistic story at face value makes you wonder, is their anything they won't believe? 'Chinese steal Christian babies to use teeth as aphrodesiac'. Not going to bother responding. I've done this before, on FOX news, it's never gone well.
Posted by: Christian J Chuba | Apr 8 2020 0:48 utc | 80
I sincerely hope BJ recovers, I don't wish ill upon anyone, and dying in a slow and grueling struggle has to be particularly horrible.
If he recovers and has a change of heart about all the little people, he would be shuttled out the nearest exit pronto.
I have very little hope that anything good will come out of any of this. America has been on the edge of collapse for quite some time, and I think this is the final nudge. Literally everything is falling apart right now, health care, supply lines for just about everything, political and legal systems. I am dealing with unemployment insurance, it is literally impossible to call them, most of the time you cant get through, and when you do you just get a recording saying that we cant take your call, try again later. I have a police precinct and a fire station about a half mile from my house. I used to hear the sirens every few hours, now I don't even hear them every day. I wonder why that is. I wonder if they are still coming to work.
The economy is pretty screwed whether we stay the course to fight the pandemic, or if we all go back to work tomorrow (those of us who still have jobs that is). It is almost a matter of pick your poison.
The weather here is getting nice, almost 70F today, I saw my first bumblebee of the year. I look across the street at the park, there must be 50 or 60 cars there. Dozens of families on the playground, dozens of kids on the basketball courts. As the weather continues to get nice, more and more people are going to refuse to isolate.
And even with isolation, it is only slowing the spread. People who work at the grocery stores are getting sick, the people who are delivering the goods to homes are getting sick, the first responders are getting sick.
Our leadership so totally fumbled this from the get go that we have no chance now, everyone is going to catch the virus. And frankly, I can't imagine how our leadership could be any worse, I mean that literally. And somehow our leading buffoon has a 44% favorability rating.
One can only hope that one is lucky enough to not get really sick when they catch the virus, and also hope that one does indeed become immune to it once exposed.
Very interesting times we live in.
Posted by: David F | Apr 8 2020 0:52 utc | 81
>>>I wish the bastard good luck.
I don't.
There are far too many of his victims I will reserve that for.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 8 2020 0:53 utc | 82
Trump's Trade Adviser Warned White House of Possible Coronavirus Pandemic in US in January -
[The] US president's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, on 29 January drafted a memo warning that the novel coronavirus could become a major pandemic, hitting Americans particularly hard, if measures were not taken, The New York Times reported, citing the document.
Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 7 2020 23:00 utc | 62
One of the complains of the Administration was that China was hiding knowledge of an epidemic blowing up and used that to order 2.2 billion masks from abroad. Masks are cheap, but 2.2 billion is not a transaction that may be hidden. People who watch trade pattern, CIA, trade advisers, will know, and interpretation is easy. However, who would listen to a lowly trade advisor when president is the tip-top and topmost expert on trade himself?
In any case, Iran had to cope with the epidemic in a cheap way, so all officials show up in masks, photo from Tehran shows everybody in a mask, other photos show chadored women making masks, and they brought the infection rate down. Probably Iran can afford only the less fancy drug combinations, and they probably work in most cases. Civilization in Iran is older than in China but it does not stop them from learning from China when warranted. Unlike stable geniuses in some countries.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 8 2020 1:09 utc | 83
Likklemore 62 "We are in the midst of a brutal global health crisis. Do we have to denigrate with these labels?"
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43772719
Air strikes in Syria were about saying "enough is enough" over the use of chemical weapons, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said.Mr Johnson said the action by the US, UK and France would not "turn the tide" of the conflict and was not about regime change.
But he said he hoped it would act as a deterrent to more "barbaric" chemical attacks.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/b
Boris Johnson said the UK would consider bombing the Syrian government if it was proved to have used gas on civilians.The British foreign secretary's warning to President Bashar al-Assad came as his forces continued to launch attacks on the besieged, rebel-held region of Eastern Ghouta.
Johnson said he hoped Britain would not stand by in the event of a chemical attack, voicing support for limited strikes if there is "incontrovertible evidence" of Syrian government involvement.
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/836181164222197761
Congratulations to White Helmets
@SyriaCivilDef team for #Oscar2017 winning documentary. UK supports their heroic work in #Syria
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 8 2020 1:16 utc | 84
One can quote an English poet (libretto of Mikado):
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found
I've got a little list — I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!
Then the song lists all kinds of people who fit the singing character, freshly elevated to the exalted position of the Lord High Executioner.
Privately, I would add Minister of whatever (Agriculture and Forestry?) in Poland who just last week banned walking in public forests because of corona virus situation.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 8 2020 1:19 utc | 85
William H Warrick MD #68
This is the creepiest interview I have ever heard. He exudes EVIL.
Thank you and this is the clearest interview I have heard. Bill and Melinda Gates would likely terminate this wonderful man.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 8 2020 1:31 utc | 86
Boris Johnson is stupid dum politician , he and other ignorant and self centered persons has to under virus and physic have no respect for any one no matter who he is .
He did not respect the opinion of his medical advisers and medical scientists .
He is going to pay the price . A lot of people will be happy to see him gone , another ignorant British asshole think he is above every one .
Posted by: Bobby | Apr 8 2020 1:31 utc | 87
james | Apr 7 2020 19:09 utc | 2:
You're assuming elections are not rigged. It's evident to me that it's been rigged for some time by watching the shitshow as it unfolds in the US.
Posted by: Ian2 | Apr 8 2020 2:03 utc | 88
The G..d has spoken:
>>“coronavirus is a divine punishment for homosexuality" said Israel’s Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who has later been infected with #COVID19 (2 days ago), along with his wife.<<
Proportional representation has disturbing implication when no party has majority and a coalition has to be formed. In many countries it leads to unbelievable idiots occupying posts because each party in the coalition has to get something. Part of Israeli public, as racist etc. as their "right wing" brothers, had enough of Netanyahu, ostensibly because of his corruption (rather tame variety if I recall) but mostly because of his reliance on coalition partners like Health Minister Yaakov Litzman. But thanks to selfless heroics of Benny Ganz (political suicide), Litzman will remain Minister of Health, and if illness incapacites him, another idiot from the same party.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 8 2020 2:27 utc | 90
The idiocy of institutions. I looked up SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 trials the CDC website the other day. They listed the trials in progress and intended around the world including Iran and China. Most Trials are looking at time frames of several moths to a year or more. Some trials include using placebo even amongst those that will develop severe symptoms.
In the meantime though, the pro big pharma crowd and bureaucrat crowd insist everything should be done 'by the book' as in not using drugs off label that show good results against coronavirus in vitro and promise in use. Reports by frontline doctors it seems are purely anecdotal.
US deaths yesterday UTC time 1,970. US Deaths for the last 30 days or so 12,854.
I see on the updated CBC page on therapeutic options, Remdesivir heads the list.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/therapeutic-options.html
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 8 2020 2:33 utc | 91
Nice anodyne conversation here at the bar.
Posted by: Ghost | Apr 8 2020 1:35 utc | 88
+++++
Yep.
Very nice now.
Most of the comments gone POOF!
No more disruptions from people like me,
saying that some people can sniff out a troll.
Posted by: Really?? | Apr 8 2020 2:48 utc | 92
https://wjla.com/news/local/cdc-shut-down-army-germ-lab-health-concerns
this site does not respond to my browser. ..
anyone with a copy of its content? or know were another site is..
I think it fair to remind and disdain the wars, sanctions, threats and the like as well as stealing about 6 billion from the American Tax payer for feudal corporate lords was on going. while Trump was deciding he better look like he was doing something to appease the covid 19 issue. but as this article
Trump's Trade Adviser Warned White House of Possible Coronavirus Pandemic in US in January -
[The] US president's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, on 29 January drafted a memo warning that the novel coronavirus could become a major pandemic, hitting Americans particularly hard, if measures were not taken, The New York Times reported, citing the document. by: Likklemore @ 62 and responded to as follows by Piotr Berman @ 83.
One of the complains of the Administration was that China was hiding knowledge of an epidemic blowing up and used that to order 2.2 billion masks from abroad. Masks are cheap, but 2.2 billion is not a transaction that may be hidden. People who watch trade pattern, CIA, trade advisers, will know, and interpretation is easy. However, who would listen to a lowly trade advisor when president is the tip-top and topmost expert on trade himself?
In any case, Iran had to cope with the epidemic in a cheap way, so all officials show up in masks, photo from Tehran shows everybody in a mask, other photos show chadored women making masks, and they brought the infection rate down. Probably Iran can afford only the less fancy drug combinations, and they probably work in most cases. Civilization in Iran is older than in China but it does not stop them from learning from China when warranted. Unlike stable geniuses in some countries. by: Piotr Berman @ 83
but CNN shown in the link says.
here is the link itself. ==> https://www.veteranstoday.com/2020/04/07/devastating-breaking-trump-knew-everything-in-january-navarro-memo-obliterates-criminal-presidency/ <== words in link that caught my eye "while lining his own pockets..."
Posted by: snake | Apr 8 2020 2:52 utc | 93
Reply to karlof1 #36: Who might be best in the likely event in several months of a resetting of the International Financial System? and to uncle tungsten #45: Michael Hudson.
As part of Hudson's team I suggest Ellen Brown.
Posted by: Coldish | Apr 8 2020 2:53 utc | 94
I wish the bastard good luck.
You know how many lives Bozo put at risk with his cavalier attitude? And I won't even get into what I thought of him before Coronavirus.
I have to admit, DNR has crossed my mind just a wee bit.
Posted by: Circe | Apr 8 2020 3:01 utc | 95
Posted by: Rd | Apr 8 2020 0:28 utc | 75 RSH, good to see you are still at it (from going to tehran blog)..
Ah, someone from the old days...I wonder what the Leveretts are doing these days. I'm not aware of them being on alternative media except a few times on Russian-oriented sites.
"you might want to consider/look into Intermittent fasting"
Yes, I have any number of books on that subject, too. Just haven't committed to it yet. I tend to stay up late and snack, so my last "meal" is somewhere around midnight. Then I remain up until around 4AM, then get at least 8-9 hours "sleep" (actually 4 sleeping and the rest tossung and turning.) By the time I get up it's 1-2PM in the afternoon. Then I futz around on the Internet and only get to actually eating between 2 and 4, sometimes later. So actually I'm eating only about 2 meals a deal within an 8-10 hour window. I think this is one reason my weight loss diet works so well.
Then when I'm on the diet, I'm eating perhaps 900 calories instead of my "pig out" days where it's more like 2,000-3,000. That's well under the 1,400 or so a sedentary person like me should be eating.
Interesting that when I was on a diet in 2018, I wasn't on a keto diet, just a low-calorie one. It took me a week to lose one pound. On the keto diet now, I drop a pound a *day* on average. I suspect much of that is water loss. When I pig out and eat 2-3K calories, I gain 2-3 pounds the next day. If I do that for 3 or 4 days, I gain 10 pounds. Now based on the discredited 3,500 calories a pound notion, it should be impossible to gain 10 pounds in 3-4 days at 3,000 calories a day. So I suspect at least half that is water retention for some reason. Haven't bothered to research it yet. I have read that one pees a lot on a keto diet.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 8 2020 3:05 utc | 96
Well, this was a bad day... If I didn't have coronavirus this morning, I bet I've got it now...
So it's food run day, down to FoodsCo, the cheapest discount chain in San Francisco (AFAIK). I set off a little after 5PM (having intended to go much earlier - and probably should have - or not at all...read on.)
I get to the store and there's a line to get in...First bad news. Fortunately the line moves fast - every time someone leaves, someone enters. Remember Mad Max Thunderdome? "Two men enter...one man leaves..." I think that's how it's going to work out...
First, I'm told I can't bring in the two bags I always bring to haul the groceries. I have to stash them at the entrance. They're handing out bags - one bag - and only at the counter. So I have to go hunt up a shopping cart - always a nightmare since the idiots never retrieve them from the parking lot. No biggie.
So I check the ground beef - almost nothing. Did find one 85% lean and one 93% lean. Got a couple packs of low-carb chicken hot dogs, some snacks for pig out day, etc.
Finally notice the lines... They stretch all the way to back of the store. The longest lines I have ever seen in that store. They have 3 lanes open out of 10 possible (usually have five or more open.) So it's an *hour* wait - in line - with people only half of whom have masks and almost none are adhering to the six foot rule. And even if you did, there are tons of people walking back and forth up the line anyway because the line is blocking where a lot of the groceries are. It's *impossible* to separate six feet. And if you did, the line would stretch out the back warehouse...
I should also mention that this store is south of Market on Folsom a block or so off Mission. This means, being a discount store, ninety percent of the patrons are Latino with a fair number of blacks.
After an hour I get up to the checkout. I notice *none* of the checkout people are wearing masks. What they have is a stupid see-through plastic screen between the checker and the customer. I calmly informed the checker that if she coughs a *cloud* will envelope that stupid screen and roll right around it.
My considered opinion: that store is *death trap*. I'm not going there again until this crisis is over.
I notice the nearby Target store - not the one in central San Francisco, this is a new one just opened a couple months ago - also has a line because they are apparently limiting the number of persons allowed in at a time. Will check out the central store in the next couple days to see if they've started doing that - they weren't before. Maybe it's a new city rule...
Then you wouldn't believe the increase in the amount of extra homeless tents and garbage strewn around my block and nearby blocks just in the last couple days. The City has yet to do *anything* about the homeless situation.
If this continues for another few weeks, San Francisco is going to get a surprise. They think they rate of infection is slowing. LOL My prediction is that the SROs, the homeless, and places like FoodsCo are going to cause a massive *surge* of new cases over the next few weeks. My guess is at least *half* of the 17,000 homeless are going to go in hospital and most of them are going to die. And I suspect another unknown percentage of poor people in the SROs are going to die. This should produce death statistics approaching New York.
This is a time bomb at the heart of the city.
Whether they count them in the end death statistics will be interesting. Only a few bother to count how many die of hyperthermia every winter in this town.
Fortunately for me I have five KN95 masks going in next week, plus 3 70ml bottles of hand sanitizer plus 1,000 pairs of plastic disposable food service gloves, plus another 10 masks coming in two weeks.
Assuming I don't get the virus from today's wonderful excursion to the land of the morons...
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 8 2020 3:26 utc | 97
snake #94
ABC7 has received documents from the CDC outlining violations they discovered during a series of inspections that year, some of which were labeled "serious."
Earlier that year, the US Army Medical Research Institute had announced an experiment at the Fort Detrick laboratory that would involve infecting rhesus macaque monkeys with active Ebola virus to test a cure they were developing.
Several of the laboratory violations the CDC noted in 2019 concerned "non-human primates" infected with a "select agent", the identity of which is unknown — it was redacted in all received documents, because disclosing the identity and location of the agent would endanger public health or safety, the agency says. In addition to Ebola, the lab works with other deadly agents like anthrax and smallpox.
Select agents are defined by the CDC as “biological agents and toxins that have been determined to have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, to animal and plant health, or to animal or plant products.”
Here are some of the violations the CDC observed during inspections of Fort Detrick that year:
I posted that link earlier. The link functions from your post fine so your browser might be constipated.
There follows seven points of violations
OBSERVATION 1
Severity level: Serious
The CDC reported that an individual partially entered a room multiple times without the required respiratory protection while other people in that room were performing procedures with a non-human primate on a necropsy table.
“This deviation from entity procedures resulted in a respiratory occupational exposure to select agent aerosols,” the CDC wrote.
OBSERVATION 2
Severity level: Serious
The CDC reported that the lab did not ensure that employee training was properly verified when it came to toxins and select agents.
“These failures were recognized through video review of laboratorians’ working in BSL3 and ABSL3 labs,” their report said. “[These] indicate the [lab]’s means used to verify personnel understood the training had not been effective, leading to increased risk of occupational exposures.”
The CDC went on to specify that a laboratorian who was not wearing appropriate respiratory protection was seen multiple times “partially entering” a room where non-human primates that were infected with [redacted] were “housed in open caging.” They also observed a laboratorian disposing of waste in a biohazardous waste bin without gloves on.
OBSERVATION 3
Severity level: Moderate
In this violation observation, the CDC went into more detail on the incident of the worker not wearing gloves while disposing of biohazardous waste, writing that “biosafety and containment procedures must be sufficient to contain the select agent or toxin.”
The corrective action they recommended was to confirm that relevant personnel have been trained to wear gloves to prevent exposure to hazardous materials.
OBSERVATION 4
Severity level: Serious
In this observation, the CDC notes that the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases had “systematically failed to ensure implementation of biosafety and containment procedures commensurate with the risks associated with working with select agents and toxins.”
The violation specifically observed involved “entity personnel [...] propping open” a door while removing “large amounts of biohazardous waste” from an adjacent room, “[increasing] the risk of contaminated air from [the room] escaping and being drawn into the [redacted]” where the people working “typically do not wear respiratory protection.”
OBSERVATION 5
Severity level: Moderate
The CDC reported that the laboratory failed to safeguard against unauthorized access to select against. They wrote that personal protective equipment worn while decontaminating something contaminated by a select agent had been stored in open biohazard bags, in an area of the facility that the CDC has redacted for security reasons.
“By storing regulated waste in this area, the entity did not limit access to those with access approval,” they wrote.
OBSERVATION 6
Severity level: Moderate
The CDC reports that someone at the lab did not maintain an accurate or current inventory for a toxin.
OBSERVATION 7
Severity level: Low
The CDC reports that a building at the Fort Detrick laboratory didn’t have a “sealed surface to facilitate cleaning and decontamination.” This included cracks around a conduit box, cracks in the ceiling, and a crack in the seam above a biological safety cabinet.
So there you have it.
Apologies to all for a long post but this is disastrous information.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 8 2020 3:26 utc | 98
- "We.ve got a fantastic NHS" ???
- What has Blo-Jo been smoking ? I hope it is legal ..............
Posted by: Willy2 | Apr 8 2020 3:28 utc | 99
Posted by: Willy2 | Apr 8 2020 3:28 utc | 100 - "We.ve got a fantastic NHS" ??? - What has Blo-Jo been smoking ? I hope it is legal ..............
I hope it's ruined his immune system.
Hey, I'm an anarchist - I don't like politicians.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 8 2020 3:32 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Don't like your use of the word Callousness.
Posted by: DM | Apr 7 2020 19:05 utc | 1