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There are more questions than I have answers for.

We just don’t know.

How long has this virus been around? Certainly longer than we thought.

We now know that the first Bay Area COVID-19 death occurred on Feb 6.

Three weeks earlier than the first publicly reported US death. This suggests that it has been around a lot longer than people thought and that those cases must have been transmitted within their community.

Just how long can a person have the virus?

Chinese doctors in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December, say a growing number of cases in which people recover from the virus, but continue to test positive without showing symptoms, is one of their biggest challenges as the country moves into a new phase of its containment battle.

Those patients all tested negative for the virus at some point after recovering, but then tested positive again, some up to 70 days later, the doctors said. Many have done so over 50-60 days.

The prospect of people remaining positive for the virus, and therefore potentially infectious, is of international concern, as many countries seek to end lockdowns and resume economic activity as the spread of the virus slows. Currently, the globally recommended isolation period after exposure is 14 days.

So far, there have been no confirmations of newly positive patients infecting others, according to Chinese health officials.

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Typhoid Mary infected a number of people over a period of seven years from 1900 to 1907.

Is the SARS-CoV-2 mutating? Apparently there are variations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome.

A new report published on the preprint server medRxiv in April 2020 reveals that the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 shows the presence of new mutations acquired within infected human cases, which significantly increase its ability to cause human disease.

Seven betacoronaviruses cause disease in humans, in varying severity. The most variable part of the betacoronavirus genome is the part encoding the S protein’s receptor-binding domain (RBD). Multiple variations have been detected within the SARS-CoV-2 genome as well, with many of them comprising the addition, replacement, or deletion of single nucleotides – these are called single nucleotide variants (SNVs).

The current study deals with the question: are these mutations important as far as the pathogenicity of the virus is concerned?

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Why is it causing so many deaths? This is the most puzzling question to me at this point. Here is just one snapshot here in the Bay Area but If you compare deaths per year, last yer to this, the current number is much higher.

New data released to this news organization shows that deaths recorded by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office rose 20% last month, compared with March of 2019 — an increase that includes a 17% rise in the number of people who died at home. Overall, COVID-19 was listed as the cause of death or a significant condition for 32 people who died in the county in March — about half of the overall increase, though county officials acknowledge many more infections likely went undiagnosed.

County Executive Jeff Smith said the uptick in deaths may be even higher — up to 25% compared to March 2019, with a rise in deaths at home between 20% and 21% — and include more COVID-19 deaths than previously known. He said COVID-19 fatalities appear to have accounted for about 41% of the increase in the total number of deaths.

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In the meantime there is this...

Protectionist measures by national governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, the UN’s food body has warned.

Harvests have been good and the outlook for staple crops is promising, but a shortage of field workers brought on by the virus crisis and a move towards protectionism – tariffs and export bans – mean problems could quickly appear in the coming weeks, Maximo Torero, chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, told the Guardian.

This is compounded by quotas on wheat exports introduced by Kazakhstan and Romania's ban on wheat exports until mid-May

So, we are in for an interesting ride folks. This is all exaserbated by the possibility of a second term of the current Nutter.

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Lookout's picture

Another wet one here...one after another.

Last night the FL folk festival group got together on jitsi. There were 8 of us, one of whom is recovering from COVID-19. What is so odd about it, is we don't know if any of the rest of us had/have it and are not symptomatic. Anyway it was fun to see friends from all over the SE all at once. It is a laughing, joking crowd and that always does a soul good.

I've been thinking about the oil story this week and hope to explore that more this Sunday. The similarities of climate and corona denial are so clear to me. I've been wondering how many of the non-masked, crowded protesters will become infected.

Glad I got some mowing done yesterday, cause looks like I'm house bound today. Garden likes it, though. The tomatoes have not liked these cool spring nights. Still have plenty of plants and may re-plant them if it warms next week. If not I'll have to up pot them cause they are getting large. BTW if you plant a large tomato plant, plant it deep covering the bottom leaves (I don't trim them), and you will build a stronger root system and productive plant.
https://bonnieplants.com/gardening/plant-tomatoes-deep-deep-deep/

Take care and stay well!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

magiamma's picture

@Lookout

Low pressure here today and overcast now. It’s been a cool year so far and I worry about our Central Coast crops. Tomatoes love heat at night. During Open Studios people used to comment on my tomatoes as much as my art. The garden plot was next to a long cement drive that held the heat all night. They were so happy. I used to grow them up high on stakes because there was little space.

I have been wondering if I also have had The Virus. I got sick the day after we stopped the campaign up on campus. One of the two deaths here was one of the bus drivers. I had all the symptoms including a temperature. I found out later that I run low so my temperature was actually up in the low 100s. But I am prone to respiratory reactions because of past fun with bronze casting so I have a bevy of tricks to prevent things from progressing in that direction.

Echinacea, Oregon Grape Root, Goldenseal, and Myrrh tinctures every six hours, 1/4 of a dropper of the first two and 1/8 of the second two. I immediately start breathing steam with one drop Tea Tree oil in it when it starts to hit my bronchi. I use a small pot, just the size of my face with a 1/4 inch of water, bring to a boil, pull off the stove, put a drop of oil in and breathe in deeply. Has worked for me for years.

Good to connect with folks, especially if you can laugh. And play music. Right? I meet weekly with the climate folks on zoom and monthly with the Bernie folks. Just enough for me.

The image at the end of the post is one I put together from pictures that were sent to the SC Climate Actin Network. Our fearless leader is behind the green E. My fave is the N at the end of carbon. Brett made it with a bicycle tire. Cute, no?

Thanks for all you do. Stay safe in these days of The Virus. Be well and have a good one.

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@Lookout
more thunderstorms on the way. Hope you have your own generator. I have a backup generator here in Illinois and wouldn't be without it. Winter temperatures are often lethal here. Last summer, summer was too. IIRC, over 110 sustained will kill you without cooling.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lookout's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

for about 3 hours. I do have a generator, but didn't bother to crank it. All is well. Thanks for the note.

Got about 1.3 inches of rain.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
We had winds higher than that last week but no power outage and no trees uprooted.

Power lines are underground here. My daughter tells me most of Calhoun County has overhead power lines. She says Oxford is mostly underground.

The other is that the uprooted trees were BIG, but with shallow roots by our standards. That confirms my suspicion that Alabama soils are thin. Extremely thin by MidWest standards.
I did know that that deep black loam is unique to the middle of the country. Explains the general lack of basements. Digging a basement probably requires dynamite.

I feel sorry for the people. However it's nothing like what I saw in Joplin after the tornado. the first thing I saw was a hundred foot tree with a twenty feet wide rootball lying at the side of the interstate like a stalk of celery that been pulled out. Except for the lack or scorching, the town looked like the aftermath of a WW II bombing raid.

In AL, too many people with big trees right next to house. When you plant a tree always consider how big it will get and what might happen if it falls. My little 6 to 8 foot trees would do any more than damage the vinyl siding. Thickest trunk is on the Siberian cherry. about two inches wide at the base. i keep it trimmed to six feet tall.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lookout's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

due to decades of cotton farming with wide 3+ft rows to allow the mules between to cultivate.

However there is a crescent of deep black soils in the center of the state, the so called black belt. It was the bread basket of the confederacy.

Our soil on the mountain is fairly thin, but rather deep in the limestone valleys. All of them are highly leached since they've been around since before the dinosaurs. Another factor is that the oaks are getting a root disease which allows them to blow over easily. Our house is surrounded by hickory trees. I believe they will out last us. However I didn't consider the clonk, tinkle, tinkle of the nuts hitting and rolling off the house. It is better since we spray foamed the metal roof - more of a thud now.

All the best to you and yours!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
I was surprised when I first heard of them, but they make more sense than shingles in high wind areas. Mine are Florida Hurricane rated.
In Virginia I had a black shingle roof. If I went into the attic in summer I would get dizzy within 20 seconds (I timed it).

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

The unknown answers to life and death questions even more so.
Oh, well, my numb and limp hand is tingling, and if I concentrate, in can lift my hand about half an inch.
I must sign several instruments today. This should get interesting.
An er doctor chewed me out for refusing to take a cat scan. He assured me that he could give me an IV, be on stand by to intubate me if I had an allergic reaction to the iodine and stopped breathing. He stormed out of the room, asking why I bothered to even waste his time.
4 drs. and 2 ers later, we can all conclude this is all my fault.
There are days when I can become overwhelmed, and yesterday was one of them.
Hope everyone is well, and that your dr. can hold his or her tongue.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

magiamma's picture

@on the cusp
Sending you light. So sorry about your hand. I am sure we all feel helpless and wish we could do something, anything. Bratty doctors should just stfu. It's your body and you know what you need. They often, not always, just want to sell procedures. So buyer beware. It sounds like it's your 'signing' hand. That should be fun. Not.

Wishing you the best and good luck with your signing. Take good care of your body and your mind. It is all such a weird dance.

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@magiamma as well as possible, and they would approve it.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

magiamma's picture

@on the cusp
that's great news

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wendy davis's picture

@magiamma

advice is not always welcome...

it sounds to me as though you likely have a swollen disc at the base of your cervical spine that may be impeding nerve signals to your arm and hand. there are home health tools to help (thera canes and ma rollers), plus topicals like stopain xstrength and celadrin creme (longer acting).

but in the meantime you could massage any sore points at the base of your neck, then ventral sore spots both above and below your elbow. then with your thumb on the dorsal part of your forearm, fingers on the ventral (front) side, massage all the way to your fingers between your radius and ulna.

well, at least i hope i haven't mixed up the anatomical sides...(being a bear of very little brain by now).

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@wendy davis @wendy davis in the event you meant that for me, I have no sore spots, no pain anywhere.
That is why 3 of the 4 drs. are suspecting some stroke event.
I am agile, active, just have a weird hand.
I went to the drive thru bank window, and the banker and 2 tellers all waved at me with limp hands in solidarity! Too damn funny!
* I have represented the bank in a lawsuit, am the personal attorney for the bank owner, the banker manager, the former bank manager, and 2 tellers, 1 loan officer.
They are ready to bring me food! lol!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

wendy davis's picture

@on the cusp

dunno how it went to magiamma. well, then; sorry to hear it might be a stroke. but one can be agile, active, and still get acute neurological/neuromuscular conditions.

best to you. and by the by, every time you edit, you get another @wendy and so on. you can always delete all but the primary one, add an extra space (enter) below it.

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@wendy davis We got our points clumsily across.
Take good care of your and yours!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp
I would have done the CAT scan. I've had them with and without dye.
But it is your life.
Only you know your health and the risks you are willing to take.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Raggedy Ann's picture

Ah, this is such a great time for introspection! It's time to re-think our priorities. It is a time to stop being rigid in our thinking and to be flexible and versatile in all ways. Remember during the depression and WWII, there were rations, so we've been through these things before. We must elevate ourselves the best we can. We must accept a new perspective. We can find ways round anything, really. Empower yourselves.

Let's all live in the present and live in love.

Enjoy your day and be grateful, everyone! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

magiamma's picture

@Raggedy Ann
I think the reality is starting to sink in and folks are just adjusting to the new normal. It is a big change and a hard one in many ways.
Like I said there is a lot we don't know and so being very careful is just smart. Life goes on.

I watched the new Michael Moore documentary and it just blew my mind. We humans are so uncaring and unconscious as to the repercussions of our actions.

This is a really important film to watch. I think it will go a long way towards waking people up.

The question is, as always, what can we the people do about changing the pillaging that is going on.

Best we all take good care of ourselves and those we love now. Thanks for your good cheer. Be well, take good care, and have a good one.

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Or is this concern just more hot air?

Swan said, "Luckily, we wear a mask, which covers our farts all the time," he said, referring to the protective garments of underwear, pants, dresses, shorts, and others. "I think that what we should do in terms of social distancing and being safe is that… you don't fart close to other people, and that you don't fart with your bottom bare."

Australian emergency physician Dr. Andy Tagg, asked on Twitter, "So, can the bottom-based emissions of someone with coronavirus be silent and deadly?" He said that farting could be an "aerosol-generating procedure."

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200422/Lifting-the-lid-on-coronaviru...

Fortunately we normally keep our posteriors covered in public so there is no need to sew special posterior protectors.

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magiamma's picture

@ScienceTeacher
Yes. In a word, yes. Novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 does spread through fecal matter. There was an interview early on with a Stanford teaching doctor where she spoke about this. I am pretty sure I posted the link in one of my earlier essays on this.

Our city has just passed a law requiring all people to wear masks. The streets are a bit less empty this week but still very empty. Only essential businesses are open. We are on the left coast after all. Heh.

Take good care and have a good one.

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@magiamma
will be increased when it comes to this mechanism of viral transmission. Bring on the beans.

Maybe a major antiviral benefit of high levels of garlic consumption would also be an increase in social distancing?

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@ScienceTeacher
Georgia and the Lt. Governor of Texas will almost certainly spread SARS-Cov-2.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

magiamma's picture

@UntimelyRippd
There you have it. Good point. Lol

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Lily O Lady's picture

@UntimelyRippd

under the bus. That’ll teach him to refuse to appoint Trump’s preferred choice to the US Senate! Instead Kemp went with Kelly Loeffler who is busy trying to buy a full term in DC. Oh what a tangled web . . ..

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

@UntimelyRippd
I am in Florida. We had all better try not to get downwind of the governor here either.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@ScienceTeacher

farting could be an "aerosol-generating procedure."

; as in "not impossible, but also not remotely quantifiable"

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@ScienceTeacher @ScienceTeacher trump.

Darn it, that was supposed to be a response to UntimelyRippd.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

magiamma's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness
because likely the people behind him will be making more rational decisions and that seems better than knee-jerk irrational decisions. Neither is a good choice, clearly. Not liking where we have ended up. There is also The Climate Change factor. Right? And a possible second pandemic due to lack of food. Very hard to see which way to whole shebang will lurch. And lurch she will. That much we can count on. My sense is that this is just the beginning. I would like to be very wrong about that. Anyway, you asked. Just my rambling thoughts bouncing off the ever expanding edges of a very fast moving universe. Lol

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snoopydawg's picture

@magiamma

And he is giving him economic advice. Summers was in Clinton's administration and he got him to deregulate the banks. He was in Obama's administration and was appointed by ByeDone to the cat food commission.

Just saying.

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

lotlizard's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness  
Cheney & Co. pulling the strings. Plus, the New York Fed banker boys for whose benefit Obama crushed Occupy and id-polled away the pitchforks.

The question nobody is asking: Does the United States have the operational capability to mobilize, no matter the party in charge? I know that for some this may verge on nihilism, but the alternative to Trump is not a heroic team from America’s past of the New Deal, World War II, or the Apollo program, but whatever team the Democrat Party would put in place. Is “leadership” that will chivvy or wrangle a corrupt and sclerotic system into an acceptable response really the answer — unless the leader be a Robespierre, a Lenin, or even an FDR, clearly not on offer? Anywhere other than the Business Section of airport bookstores? What would the Democrat team that replaced Trump’s team look like? Would Donna Shalala be on it? How about the team that ran Clinton’s campaign? Or the team that launched the ObamaCare marketplace website without testing it? Or the team that ran HAMP? Or the team that ran Obama’s pathetically inadequate response to the Crash, which lost them the Senate and paved the way for Trump? And if such a team existed, would it not have already come together to pose a coherent alternative? And I don’t mean Op-Eds (ka-ching) or NGO white papers (ka-ching) or campaign statements (ka-ching), I mean an actual team of qualified individuals presenting an alternative plan and a timeline, with the full weight of the Democrat Party behind it.

— Lambert Strether
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/04/200pm-water-cooler-4-23-2020.html

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magiamma's picture

@lotlizard
We lose either way.

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Bisbonian's picture

@magiamma I see, at best, a complete collapse of our government, and an opportunity for another to rise from the ashes. Or several others.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

magiamma's picture

@Bisbonian
none will be easy though

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enhydra lutris's picture

quite early for some groceries. Nothing extravagant, but changing up our menus has resulted in changing our consumption rates of certain comestibles, which need replenishment earlier than they used to. Also, some things like flour and corn meal have been ultra scarce to unobtainable since about the time that isolation became a word of interest. Sometimes I feel like capitalizing on our fruit production and standing on a corner with a sign saying "will trade 5 gallons of fresh oranges for 10 pounds of King Arthur Bread Flour", but not there yet, it's better to just use them. My wife just made a great rhubarb cake yesterday, which serves us far better than anything we could trade the rhubarb for would. Just wish I'd have planted taters over the winter. All the same, we're pretty lucky, even though we lost our lemon last year. Our neighbors still have one and don't mind sharing, especially since we have given them tons of oranges over the years.

GMTA - as I was reading I was just about to copy part of a graph to refer to Typhoid Mary (asymptomatic carrier extraordinaire) when, voila, you segued right to her. Something to definitely be concerned about today. This bit is interesting in that context -

So far, there have been no confirmations of newly positive patients infecting others, according to Chinese health officials.

Could it somehow be possible that the immune system of those who get reinfected somehow disables the virii they carry in some critical manner?

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

@enhydra lutris
Todas esta bien, ojalá.

Rhubarb cake! Well, let them eat rhubarb cake? Lol Sounds yummy.

Did you watch the Michael Moore doc yet? Way too many trees being cut. Wtf?

Here in the the Left Bay Smile things are social distancing along, as it were. Most folks are okay. But the ones that aren't are being assholes. Trying my patience. Glass way half full. Just do not like folks being rude. The city passed a 'rule' (there's a better term, but not an ordinance) that folks must wear masks. So far I have made only one. Need to make more for friends and family asap.

My transplanted taters are doing well. So, what should I cover them with. Not Euc leaves. Thoughts? More dirt?

Be well, take good care and have a good one.

Edit to add - very weird this

no confirmations of newly positive patients infecting others, according to Chinese health officials.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@magiamma

w/o embedded weed seeds. Dirt always works too.

My transplanted taters are doing well. So, what should I cover them with. Not Euc leaves. Thoughts? More dirt?

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

today, and then later on might or might not have written some plays and sonnets of note.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

enhydra lutris's picture

@UntimelyRippd

witches, ghosts, mobile forests and persons born by C-section?

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

@UntimelyRippd
"There are many events in the womb of time, which will be delivered."

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@magiamma
one after another after another. Bam! Bam! Bam!

And some of them are just right on the money, given our current situation (presumably that's not an accident, but was deliberate on the part of the performers).

If you're ever planning to be in South Central Wisconsin in the summer, I cannot be too emphatic in encouraging you to check out APT. (A great way to spend too much money in one day is to take an afternoon tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin, and then catch a play in the woods at APT -- they're just a couple of miles apart.)

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6 users have voted.

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

magiamma's picture

@UntimelyRippd

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mimi's picture

these days.

I wished I had godly powers and help mankind to overcome the pandemic. Just wanted to say that I love you all, loved this site, and wish you all survive.

Thanks.

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magiamma's picture

@mimi
You are a jewel. Thank you for all your comments and being here. This is a place of sanity in a whirlwind of insanity, a respite. May we all be strong.

Take good care and be well.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

...on the coronavirus. Now that the the China Hoax has caught fire in the US, it's time to go pro and front-run the Neocons.

I have documented answers for a couple of your questions:

I have traced Covid-19 back to November 15, 2019. The patient was not in Wuhan, but in the far north of China, near the Siberian border. Mind you, I am only looking in China. There may have been four that were infected. The tiny town was locked down, and that was also in November. Two of the patients were sent to Beijing for treatment. They were from Siberia. I have four sources plus the doctor. One of the sources is the NCMI, a little-known US medical Intelligence Agency. They didn't cover their trail and tagged it as an epidemic. (They knew what they were looking for and where to look.) NATO and Israel were in this loop; China was not.

The November 15th date upends most of the propaganda coming out of the US, ginning up war with China.

As for the deaths, this is a lot more unpleasant. Apparently, the blood in deceased patients bodies is clotted. It turns to gel in the circulatory system. It seems impossible that this went unnoticed, but medical experts say that it is plausible. In any event, as of yesterday, just about everybody admitted for Covid-19 gets a blood thinner and a cardiologist. Treatment is changing, too. One 41 year old-actor had his leg amputated yesterday in New York to treat Covid-19. This may explain some of the weird pains people are reporting. Story is still developing. I have three sources.

China kept really great clinical notes during the epidemic chaos (they are big data experts with quantum computers). Medical experts around the world are pouring over this data right now. I suspect that this after-the-fact analysis will become very important very soon.

I have some theories, too. But that's a whole different story. Smile

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magiamma's picture

@Pluto's Republic
Alarmed as COVID patients' blood thickened, New York doctors try new treatments

“It’s very striking how much this disease causes clots to form,” Dr. J Mocco, a Mount Sinai neurosurgeon, said in an interview, describing how some doctors think COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, is more than a lung disease. In some cases, Mocco said, a stroke was a young patient’s first symptom of COVID-19.

As colleagues from various specialties pooled their observations, they developed a new treatment protocol. Patients now receive high doses of a blood-thinning drug even before any evidence of clotting appears.

“Maybe, just maybe, if you prevent the clotting, you can make the disease less severe,” said Dr. David Reich, the hospital president. The new protocol will not be used on certain high-risk patients because blood thinners can lead to bleeding in the brain and other organs.

In the three weeks beginning mid-March, Mocco saw 32 stroke patients with large blood blockages in the brain, double the usual number for that period.

Worth reading the whole thing. Take good care and have a good one.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

Thanks, @magiamma

I think if patients know this symptom, they will sense it.

We have a bunch of coronavirus diagnostic dogs now, ready to deploy. Have you seen that? The dogs can pick someone with Covid-19 out of a crowd. But I'm thinking, "what stinks?" It's an invisible virus inside some of your cells. It doesn't have time to stink.

But if infected cells are expressing a protein that causes your blood to clot — that could be something a dog might notice.

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magiamma's picture

@Pluto's Republic
Very cool. No idea. And how did they figure out that particular scent? I wish them well. That would be good news indeed.

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@magiamma
I saw a special once on bloodhounds. They said a bloodhound's nose is as far above an ordinary dog's as the ordinary dog's is above ours.
They showed a bloodhound tracking a car across town by the scent of it's tires on the pavement!

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@Pluto's Republic
the phenomenon of "coagulopathy" in Covid-19 (don't know whether it's paywalled for the hoi polloi). One important point: Currently, clinicians aren't certain whether thrombosis and related symptoms are characteristic of the virus itself, or are downstream phenomena caused by other aspects of the disease:

... Collectively, these hemostatic changes indicate some forms of coagulopathy that may predispose to thrombotic events (Central Illustration), although the cause is uncertain.
Nevertheless, it is yet unknown whether these hemostatic changes are a specific effect of SARS-CoV-2 or are a consequence of cytokine storm that precipitates the onset of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), as observed in other viral disease (30-33). Another consideration which has not yet been investigated is that the hemostatic changes seen with COVID-19 infection are related to liver dysfunction (34). A recent study reported 3 cases with severe COVID-19 and cerebral infarction, one associated with bilateral limb ischemia, in the setting of elevated antiphospholipid antibodies. Whether antiphospholipid antibodies play a major role in pathophysiology of thrombosis associated with COVID-19 requires further investigation (35).

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Pluto's Republic's picture

Thanks, @UntimelyRippd I just read it again. I also saw a partial transcript from an inter-hospital conference call about this. It was dramatic as it started to slowly dawn on various doctors what they had actually seen. They lost patients, which is troubling anyway. But they don't autopsy them. I suspect no one looks under the hood. Too much infection. Too much chaos. The whole thing is disturbing on so many levels. And there's this weird feeling that the virus is somehow 'smart.'

Coincidently, I thought of you yesterday. I ran across a story about this Israeli physicist who says he can predict the precise timeline of a local cover-19 infection from beginning to end. I like his approach but it's not something I can't judge. He does have some major credentials. None of them medical.

This is how it is all over the world. Both in countries where they have taken closure steps, like Italy, and in countries that have not had closures, like Taiwan or Singapore. In such countries, there is an increase until the fourth to sixth week, and immediately thereafter, moderation until during the eighth week, it disappears.

.
(If he's right, it could make options trading fun again. Dirol )

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@Pluto's Republic
Most places in the world have only had significant outbreaks for about 8 weeks, so we don't really know what they're going to look like after another 4 weeks. Maybe they'll all be falling off, or maybe the infections will get a second wind -- which may depend very much on the choices those countries make about relaxing stay-at-home policies.

And of course, with somewhere as large as the US, there's no particular magic to our national borders, so it makes more sense to look at things regionally. California, which clamped down relatively early, has seen slow but steady growth in the number of new cases daily. They're only 7 weeks in. I'll be pretty surprised if new cases suddenly drop off next weekend -- but we'll see.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Granma's picture

@UntimelyRippd But this and comments above have convinced me I am going to have to pay for grocery delivery. This is the nastiest disease I have ever heard of, I think. Blood turning to gel? Worse, the scientists and doctors can't even tell who is going to get a mild or asymptomatic case and who is going to get a severe case. There are patients breaking pretty much every rule they think they know about this disease. 105 year old man recovered, previously healthy young adults die. This has killed my inner Pollyanna for now.

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CB's picture

@Pluto's Republic
Long essay from the Saker:

The AngloZionists are launching a strategic PSYOP against China
April 22, 2020

Maybe the “the Russians did it” narrative is getting stale. Or maybe the leaders of the Empire have finally figured out that China is even more dangerous to the Empire than Russia. But my personal gut feeling is simply that the AngloZionists are freaking out about the “full-spectrum” loss of face they suffered with their massive mishandling (medically and, even more so, politically!) of this pandemic-induced socio-economic crisis and that they now are pointing fingers pretty much at everybody (including each other).
...
While there are very few truly intelligent people left in the US government, there are still plenty of “horizontally clever” ones and it did not take them long to find out that this pandemic gave then a golden opportunity to pin all their own failures and mistakes on China. The elements? Simple really:

  1. Anti-Chinese propaganda has a long history in the USA and it was really easy to re-kindle it.
  2. Most US Americans have a completely irrational reaction to the word “Communist” so it is really easy for any US propaganda outlet to mention the CCP and “lies” in the same sentence and sound credible, irrespective of what else the sentence claims (like, say, factual evidence).
  3. The US plutocracy is terrified of the Chinese economic and industrial power, hence the vilification of companies like Huawei or DJI which are declared a national security threat to the USA. Blame everything on the Chinese and the US oligarchs will love it!
  4. China and Russia are in a relationship which is even far deeper than an alliance. I call it a “symbiosis” while the Chinese speak of a “Strategic comprehensive partnership of coordination for the new era” while the Russians speak of a “crucial alliance”. The terms don’t really matter here, what matters is that Russia and China are standing together ( that is what they mean by “coordinating”) against the Empire and that the (admittedly few and clumsy) US attempts are breaking this alliance have totally failed.
  5. As with any new pandemic, it did take China time to figure out the nature of what was happening and it was extremely easy to accuse China of deliberate obfuscation (while keeping the fact that China did inform the world as early as December 31st is, obviously omitted, as is the presence of a multi-national WHO delegation to investigate this issue. In reality, one might as well accuse China of being TOO open, and allowing various estimates and hypotheses to circulate even before the Chinese government had all the facts established. It is a perfect case of dammed if you do and damned if you don’t.
  6. The US political culture is that 99.99% of US Americans will believe literally ANY lie, no matter how self-evidently stupid, about the rest of the world than accepting any unpleasant truth about the USA. So scapegoating another power, especially a Communist one, gets a knee-jerk reaction of approval from the overwhelming majority of US Americans.
  7. When the WHO clearly did not buy into the US propaganda, it was a great move for Trump to defund it. Not only did the USA already owe the WHO millions of dollars (50-200, depending on who you ask), so the easy pretext not to pay was to accuse it of being pro-Chinese. It is obvious that Trump has no use for the UN other than as a whipping boy, and this was a prefect way to target it again.
  8. As with any scary event, a true tsunami of completely unsubstantiated and outright silly rumors began as soon as it was clear that this was a major event and all the US propaganda machine had to do was to speak in serious tones about some of these rumors and to make it appear that the media was “just reporting” rather than planting stories.
  9. China is also a major threat to US interests in Asia, and this pandemic provided a perfect opportunity for the USA to present reports from Taiwan as reports from China (that is an old trick). As for the Taiwanese government, they were more than happy to find yet another pretext to hate on China, nothing new here either.
  10. Finally, US economists did not take long to figure out that this pandemic would have devastating effect on the “best economy in the history of the galaxy” so preemptively blaming it all on China is the perfect way for Trump and his Neocon masters to deflect the blame from them.

The stories which were then planted were truly magnificent. Here are a few of my personal favorites

  • FBI Says Foreign States Hacked US Research Centers Seeking COVID-19 Breakthroughs (though this article points the finger at Iran, not Russia or China, it sets the “we are under attack” tone very well: notice the plural in “foreign states“).
  • US Launches ‘Full-Scale Investigation’ Into Wuhan Lab
  • Has a study proven that the coronavirus was a human creation, as claimed by a French Nobel Prize winner in medicine? (excellent move, it gives authority to the argument by quoting a celebrity, nevermind that there are many more credible voices saying that this theory is baloney).

There are many more, I am sure that you have seen them too.
...
History will show that we all, our entire planet, did not take this and many other warnings seriously. Ask yourself, what is easier for a politician: to accept that our entire socio-political order is unsustainable and outright dangerous (or “out of balance” to use Garrett’s expression), or to blame it all on the Chinese commies and their “secret biowarfare program”?

I think that the answer is self-evident.

The Saker

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wendy davis's picture

@CB

against china (now russia, as per barack obomba) continues. but the US congress has opened it's own FBI investigation of 'china as culprit'. and michigan (or is it missouri?) is suing the chinese government for: coronavirus.

yeah, stir in military war games in china, fort dietrick, and we got us whole 'nother ball game, and the WEF's oct, 2019 event 201: hello, bill gates and his quest for digital ID for all citizens of the planet, and a supranational Imperial health and police force.

shhhh; that's conspiratorial thinking.

anyhoo, magi, it seems that the US is counting coron-19 deaths as italy does:

At Tuesday's White House coronavirus press conference, task force member Dr. Deborah Birx said that while some countries are reporting coronavirus fatality numbers differently, in the U.S. you are counted as a victim of the pandemic if you die while testing positive for the virus, even if something else causes your death.

as well as these whistleblowers (i'd been looking for the minnesota senator's name and this pooped up: Whistleblower – How CDC Is Manipulating COVID-19 Death Toll

A Montana based physician has blown the whistle on how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is exaggerating the COVID-19 death toll by manipulating Coronavirus death certificates. Dr. Annie Bukacek, MD, is a longtime Montana physician with over 30 years of experience practicing medicine. Signing death certificates is a routine part of her job.

Similar claims have also been made by Senator Dr. Scott Jensen from Minnesota who said Hospitals are getting paid more to list patients as COVID-19.

as dick cheney would say: 'there are too many Known Unknowns...to know (something or other).

but i've seen indications that all deaths from pneumonia are now being attributed to Covid-19; i suspect it's possible.

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CB's picture

@wendy davis
the easier it will be to get the hoi polloi primed and pumped to go after China. And there are other benefits. It's easier to manipulate and control a populace living in fear. Maybe they will even accept a Bill Gates tattoo in order to be able to walk around freely to go shopping at the mall?

I don't think the PTB in Washington have developed a full rational plan on how to actually handle the pandemic at this time. Too many in Washington are only thinking how to exploit the situation for their own personal political and financial gain. Compared to the worst affected countries in the world, the US figures have gone off the chart.

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magiamma's picture

@wendy davis
there is no consistency in much of what is said and recorded and so impossible to have an accurate picture. At least on the left coast there are a few places that are making an effort.

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magiamma's picture

@CB
Probably true

[They are] freaking out about the “full-spectrum” loss of face they suffered with their massive mishandling (medically and, even more so, politically!) of this pandemic-induced socio-economic crisis and that they now are pointing fingers pretty much at everybody (including each other).

I think a lot of things are out of control of 'hands' at this point. It is hard for me to see where we are going to land.

Take good care and have a good one.

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smiley7's picture


“Millions of people, especially those living in cities, have experienced for the first time what it’s like to breathe fresh air and to see the stars at night.” ~ Jane Goodall

Bacterial co-infections such as pneumonia pose a serious threat to high-risk COVID-19 patients, with many factors coming together to create severe, life-threatening and, in some cases, deadly complications that cannot be ignored by the health care community. Most at-risk are older adults and those with preexisting conditions as they’re more likely to be hospitalized for longer periods of time and require use of medical devices such as ventilators.

When these high-risk individuals end up in critical care, they are more likely to stay there for an extended period of time, increasing the risk for exposure to secondary bacterial infections. An estimated one in seven COVID-19 patients will develop a secondary infection while hospitalized. Further, a separate study found that only about 50 percent of patient deaths were due to the original viral infection, while the other 50 percent were caused by subsequent secondary infections.

Even when hospitals observe strict infection-control practices, it’s easy for viral and bacterial co-infections to make their way around, infecting multiple patients living in close quarters and attended to by the same staff. What’s more, the most severely ill coronavirus patients end up requiring mechanical ventilation, which, although a lifesaving procedure, will exacerbate the risk of bacterial infection when used over long periods.

This all boils down to a very dangerous situation for hospitalized patientshttps://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/covid-19-patients-need...

Thank you for this compilation of good information. Occurs to me, best ask one of the CH pulmo docs about the efficacy of being on a ventilator, have a phone appt coming up in May, will do so.

Hope your tomatoes get some sunshine; snow forecast for tomorrow here and i'm concerned about the local apple trees having driven around to see their beautiful and bountiful blossoms the other day.

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magiamma's picture

@smiley7
from what I remember of what I have read, people with heart conditions have a higher rate of death than people with respiratory conditions. I have such and made a mental note of it. If I find a reference I will save it for next week.

There is this in Bloomberg

New Study Shows Nearly 9 in 10 Covid-19 Patients on Ventilators Don’t Make It

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is one of the largest reviews published to date of Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the U.S. The researchers examined outcomes for coronavirus patients who were admitted between March 1 and April 4 to 12 hospitals in New York City and Long Island that are part of the Northwell Health system.

Overall, the researchers reported that 553 patients died, or 21%. But among the 12% of very sick patients that needed ventilators to breathe, the death rate rose to 88%. The rate was particularly awful for patients over 65 who were placed on a machine, with just 3% of those patients surviving, according to the results. Men had a higher mortality rate than women.
...
The mortality rate in the study may not represent the ultimate picture that emerges. That’s because the study only included patients for whom a definite outcome is known-- those who died or were discharged. It didn’t include patients still being treated at hospitals. Outcome data were available for just 2,634 of 5,700 patients admitted during the study period.

It would be interesting to hear what your folks say.

Sunny here for the last two days and hot for this time. Mornings have been covered with the marine layer which means that the valley over the hill must be really hot.

Take good care and have a good one.

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