The experts’ assessments are bleak. News shared on social media as dour. TV chatter is no longer sensationalised. Now when they report COVID-19 is fast-spreading and deadly, it is actually that. People are queuing up to hoard supplies for their families; there is a sense of panic in grocery stores and supermarkets but the rest of the shops in the malls are deathly quiet. Reality has set in the public’s minds. People are being denied COVID-19 testing even in Adelaide. But, President Trump is still in denial. He is still lying through his teeth, and in doing so, it surely is costing lives in America.
Trump: Anybody that needs a test, gets a test.
Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: We are not set up for that.
Trump: We are testing. We have a tremendous testing set up.
Dr Fauci: We do not have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand.
Trump: We have thousands of people who get better by just sitting around or going to work.
Dr Fauci: This is 10 times as lethal as seasonal flu.
Trump: The vaccine is coming along well, and we think this is something that we can develop fairly rapidly.
Dr Fauci: The ability to scale up even if we have the vaccine will take a year to a year and a half.
Trump: You know, in April, supposedly it dies with the hotter weather.
Health experts say there is no evidence that this new virus will simply go away with warmer weather.
Trump: We are prepared and we’re doing a great job with it.
Trump: It will go away. Just stay calm. It will wash through. It will flow through. It goes away. It’s going away.
Dr Fauci: Bottom line, it is going to get worse.
Trump: Now, the Democrats are politicising the coronavirus. This is their new hoax.
Official stats as at March 17 for the US: 6515 confirmed cases, 115 deaths
These are the stats for today (March 17):
182,555 confirmed cases (+12,945, an 8% increase since yesterday)
79,881 recovered (+2,105; a 3% increase since yesterday)
7,166 deaths (+648, +10%; 8% mortality rate)
US Congressional doctor, Dr Brian Monahan on March 11 said up to 50% of Americans will contract the virus (150 million people). On the same day, Angela Merkel warned that 70% of Germany could be infected (58 million people). Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly conceded 20-60% of Aussies could get the disease – that is 5 million to 15 million people infected. At a 3% mortality rate, that is 150,000 to 450,000 deaths. Scarily too many.
For once I strongly applaud the authorities to promote speed. The old adage that “Speed Kills” cannot be more accurate. Only with speedy decision-making, fast implementation of lockdowns and movement restriction measures will we see the “flattening of the curve” – epidemiology catchphrase for social distancing measures that keep the daily number of disease cases at a manageable level for medical providers. Yet, the UK government is worried about “behavioural fatigue” – if restrictions were implemented too early, people could become increasingly uncooperative and less vigilant, just as the outbreak switches into high gear. The UK’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said the UK would suppress the virus “but not get rid of it completely”, and as a consequence, the majority of their citizens will become immune to the virus. This “herd immunity” would reduce transmission in the event of a winter resurgence. He later added that “probably about 60 percent” of people would need to be infected to achieve herd immunity. He failed to mention that without a vaccine, a herd immunity will result in many millions dying.
Malaysia announced a partial lockdown from midnight tonight. They now have the largest number of cases in SE Asia after the recent Tabligh gathering of some 16,000 followers. The number of cases almost tripled since the weekend with the majority of new cases linked to a cluster at the Sri Petaling Mosque. So far, 428 out of 673 infections have been linked to the gathering. There was no pandemonium but long queues formed in supermarkets (even though they are specifically excluded from closure), at the causeway (some 300,000 Malaysians work in Singapore and commute daily), and at police stations (to seek permission to travel interstate). This was the exact opposite result of the goal to practise social distancing. *The ban to travel interstate was rescinded the following morning.
During the House Oversight Committee discussion on the novel coronavirus response on March 11, the Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield said some deaths from COVID-19 have been diagnosed posthumously. I held my breath as I waited for Rep. Harley Rouda to ask the next obvious question. But, he never did. He only thanked Robert Redfield for answering his questions. Why did no one ask him when those deaths occurred? Were they before or after the “zero” patient in Wuhan? This is a truth that can be easily ascertained. Why is the question not asked? I think the CDC owes it to the whole world to divulge this important piece of information. Did those people die of COVID-19 before the first case was observed in Hubei province on November 17, 2019? View video from https://www.globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-covid-19-made-in-china-or-made-in-america/5706272
Assuming the posthumous results in the US were after this first case in Hubei, then the US would be the 3rd country to be exposed to COVID-19, on January 21, two days before Wuhan (a city of 11 million) went into lockdown. There were 495 confirmed cases in Wuhan at the time they went into lockdown. Too many countries went into lockdown when the confirmed cases were escalating at alarming rates – their mortality rate will undoubtedly be higher as their health systems buckle. The number of COVID-19 tests performed in the US is terribly low, in fact 201 times less than in South Korea on a per capita basis. If the cases over number of tests as a percentage is much higher than the average, it may very well indicate that the lack of tests is hiding the true magnitude of infections. The following data shows the number of tests carried out as at March 12 or 13 – there are no published national figures for many countries, including Canada, China, Spain and Australia. I have included the number of cases and deaths as at today, to show the magnitude of increases in some countries in just five days. Of particular concern is the US, where the cases have increased by almost seven-fold, and the UK’s cases quadrupling over the last five days. Per https://ourworldindata.org/covid-testing, and https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/20200312-sitrep-52-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=e2bfc9c0_2:
South Korea: 248,647 (4,831 tests/million people) 7,869 confirmed cases (3.1% of those tested) 66 deaths (8413 cases, 84 deaths as at 17/3)
Italy: 86,011 (1,420 tests/million), 12,462 cases (14.4%), 827 deaths (31,506 cases, 2503 deaths as at 17/3)
Russia: 76,963 (532 tests/million), 20 cases, 0 deaths (114 cases, o deaths as at 17/3)
UK: 29,764 (450 tests/million), 460 cases (1.5%), 6 deaths (1950 cases, 71 deaths as at 17/3)
US: 7,934 (24 tests/million), 987 cases (12.4%), 29 deaths (6515 cases, 115 deaths as at 17/3)
Malaysia: 4,010 (126 tests/million), 129 cases (3.2%), 0 death (673 cases, 2 deaths as at 17/3)
China: no tests published, 80,894 cases and 3,237 deaths as at 18/3
My eyes see a sea of red just like in the Faroe Islands where dozens of whales and dolphins were slaughtered. A red field much like the one I visualised when I read about the killing fields of Cambodia. A red field. Where is Robert Redfield? He needs to come out and tell the world the truth before he is clamped shut. Did the fields turn red early in his last fall?
Urghhlings 