Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #48

[NuttMegg]

Carnival Executives Knew They Had a Virus Problem, But Kept the Party Going

"Although Arison has spoken with Trump during the crisis, Carnival and its rivals were left out of a federal bailout of U.S. businesses, in part because they aren’t, legally speaking, U.S. businesses. Carnival paid $71 million in taxes on $20.8 billion in revenue last year to Panama, where it’s technically incorporated. “There was very strong bipartisan opposition to a cruise industry bailout, and there will continue to be,” says Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. “They have flown under international flags, and abated or skirted taxes, with a record of predatory conduct. They need to prove that they’re going to follow American norms and laws.”

"Donald acknowledges that his company doesn’t pay the IRS like a typical company. “It’s true that as a corporation, we don’t pay income tax,” he says. But he says Americans benefit from the port and harbor fees that Carnival pays....... "

 

[Teche]

Zoom Video Conferencing - Don't Use It!

I need to make a comment about this software. For the last month, I said it was okay to use as long as security settings were managed. I was wrong. Do not use this software. If you have an account, close it and do everything you can to eliminate it.

I have an account through work. This morning I received an email from Zoom telling me that my cloud recordings were available. I didn't make any recordings at 5AM today. The recording is of a child, roughly 10-12 years old, speaking Arabic and there's a woman speaking in the background. My name, work email, password and personal information have been stolen and sold on the darkweb. I'm waiting for security at work to provide guidance about what to do next.

"Cyble said it was able to purchase roughly 530,000 Zoom accounts for $0.0020 each, obtaining email addresses, passwords, personal meeting URLs, and host keys (the six-digit PIN that Zoom meeting hosts can use). It said some of the accounts belonged to companies including Chase and Citibank, as well as educational institutions."​

Researchers found and bought more than 500,000 Zoom passwords on the dark web for less than a cent each

Wow!

I'll go with the records, Tony.

Tony’s attorney tested positive. The attorney attended church services on Palm Sunday and shook hands with Tony. Sorry I don’t have a link.

 

[Kensie]

Carnival Executives Knew They Had a Virus Problem, But Kept the Party Going

I read that article earlier today and I cannot believe the Executives risked people's lives. It is scary. I just want to hibernate.

First time in my life that being an introvert has been good. I love the quiet , don't get bored and I am fine staying home. Now that I have been home for 5 weeks and I cannot stand clutter, my house is staying clean and I am still working 40 hours/wk.

 

[NuttMegg]

sbm

First time in my life that being an introvert has been good. I love the quiet , don't get bored and I am fine staying home.

Me too. For sure.

 

[margarita25]

Coronavirus demand: Whole Foods converts some stores to online-only

 

[10ofRods]

I keep thinking about that video from earlier today which showed the micro-droplets escaping from peoples mouth’s under a high tech camera. I don’t know if I’ll ever get that vision out of my head now whenever I’m talking to someone.

Reference:

I remember seeing videos like that back in graduate school. Life-changing. Maybe that's why most people in health professions are rather non-social? I think about it every once in awhile. They taught us that pandemics were inevitable, with probabilities increasing every year that our own population growth was exponential (which it was from 1950 to 2010, slowing up at this point - as predicted).

At any rate, yeah, it's permanently in our heads now. I think we need to give up shaking hands and talking right in each others' faces, frankly. I remember Garrison Keillor making gentle fun of Swedes for not talking as much or standing side by side gazing out at the horizon, instead of right in each others' faces.

Of course, joke telling and making faces might not work as well. And I'm fine with that.

 

[10ofRods]

I guess if you can find lysol wipes and use those and kind of squat would be okay.

It's the volume of air in a public restaurant X the number of people who BREATHED in it, not peed in it. People aren't getting CV19 from toilet seats - but they are more likely to get it if they enter an enclosed space where lots of other people have been in the last 4-5 days. Like a public restroom or elevator or lobby or classroom without opening windows, etc.

 

[RoadToSerfdom]

I think he used the word "impossible"...

Fauci did not say it was not man made. He basically said some people studied it and concluded that it was "consistent" with not being man made. Fauci never said it was not man made so he never really answered the question. He kind of side stepped it which is interesting.

Basically some scientists are saying it is man made and has HIV parts in it. Others are saying it is not man made so it is too early to say.

Here is the exact source you can see for yourself he never says "no" to the questions is it man made.

Go to 2:33:00 here:

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There is a growing consensus that it escaped from the lab in China that was studying this virus and even if not man made we know people went into the caves and collected bats and brought to lab to extract and study the virus. Then a researcher was infected, infected his girlfriedn, and she infected the nearby wet market.

China has disappeared/killed many of the lab workers and others researching early on and they destroyed the evidence (the viruses in the lab).

 

[Henry2326]

Fauci did not say it was not man made. He basically said some people studied it and concluded that it was "consistent" with not being man made. Fauci never said it was not man made so he never really answered the question. He kind of side stepped it which is interesting.

Basically some scientists are saying it is man made and has HIV parts in it. Others are saying it is not man made so it is too early to say.

Here is the exact source you can see for yourself he never says "no" to the questions is it man made.

Go to 2:33:00 here:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

There is a growing consensus that it escaped from the lab in China that was studying this virus and even if not man made we know people went into the caves and collected bats and brought to lab to extract and study the virus. Then a researcher was infected, infected his girlfriedn, and she infected the nearby wet market.

China has disappeared/killed many of the lab workers and others researching early on and they destroyed the evidence (the viruses in the lab).

I watched the presser....he ended the discussion. There isn't anything to talk about.
This paper basically ends the discussion too.

Evidence for natural evolution

The scientists found that the RBD portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins had evolved to effectively target a molecular feature on the outside of human cells called ACE2, a receptor involved in regulating blood pressure. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was so effective at binding the human cells, in fact, that the scientists concluded it was the result of natural selection and not the product of genetic engineering.

This evidence for natural evolution was supported by data on SARS-CoV-2's backbone -- its overall molecular structure. If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness. But the scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 backbone differed substantially from those of already known coronaviruses and mostly resembled related viruses found in bats and pangolins.

"These two features of the virus, the mutations in the RBD portion of the spike protein and its distinct backbone, rules out laboratory manipulation as a potential origin for SARS-CoV-2" said Andersen.

Josie Golding, PhD, epidemics lead at UK-based Wellcome Trust, said the findings by Andersen and his colleagues are "crucially important to bring an evidence-based view to the rumors that have been circulating about the origins of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) causing COVID-19."

"They conclude that the virus is the product of natural evolution," Goulding adds, "ending any speculation about deliberate genetic engineering."

COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic has a natural origin

 

[Henry2326]

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 96-year-old Austin woman died of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the victim of the worst global pandemic since the 1918 Spanish flu, which took the life of her sister over a century earlier.

Selma Esther Ryan died Tuesday at an Austin assisted living facility. She wasn’t yet born when her five-year-old sister, Esther, died of the Spanish flu 102 years ago.

Ryan had lived at the assisted living facility for the last three years, her daughter Vicki said.

Sisters die 102 years apart, each from global pandemics

 

[10ofRods]

More on the rate of asymptomatic carriers:

Mortality associated with COVID-19 outbreaks in care homes: early international evidence

About half in the US, with Belgium care homes having rates of over 75% asymptomatic for staff, and interestingly something like 69% of the mostly elderly patients were also asymptomatic.

 

[Kensie]

For those of you in Texas:
(I used to live in Texas).

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says schools to remain closed for rest of academic year but eases some coronavirus restrictions

 

[margarita25]

What kind of “waves” have SARS and MERS had, I wonder...something to look at later.
Any input is appreciated if anyone finds this of interest.

I’ve pulled my stove and fridge out and vacuuming all the kibble nasty crumbs back there. That’s my recommended project for the day if someone is looking for something constructive to do.

 

[KALI]

The results from this "gift" from China for this virus is going to hurt people and industries in ways we cannot even fathom.
Pretty much everywhere on our planet.
With China re-opening their wet markets, something needs to be done in a global way.
The time to start drafting plans to hold China accountable needs to start now.
Not when, we start forgetting how awful this was.
In my opinion the WHO needs to step up and be the leader here.
If they won't, then every country needs to stop funding them, put them out of business, open a new World Health Organization, with new leadership, funded by all nations possible, that will NOT tolerate playing around with viruses that can kill.
They will need to, and must expose dangerous practices that endanger this world.
If a country refuses to let them in to see what they are doing, then those countries should be brought to their financial knees with huge tarrifs.
This is not a time to pussy foot around with ancient dangerous customs.
Enough.

This link should answer a lot of questions about troubles in food supply chain:

Food Makers Get Shot of Reality Now that Panic Buying Has Waned

After weeks of consumer hoarding, panic buying is abating and the lack of demand from shuttered restaurants, schools and coffee shops is starting to set in. Sanderson Farms Inc., the U.S.’s third-largest chicken producer, is slowing production at plants that supply restaurants, and protein giant Cargill Inc. has idled an egg facility due to the lack of demand from the food services industry.

Americans spend more than half of their food budget eating out, and an increase in retail among grocery stores can’t fully compensate for the lack of demand from restaurants. Every 10% decline in out-of-home food spending translates into a gain of just 3% in the retail channel, according to Rabobank, one of the largest lenders to the food and agriculture industry.

Nowhere is the effect of restaurant shutdowns more obvious than in the dairy industry, with almost 50% of American cheese production going to food services. Farmers in top-producing Wisconsin are being asked to dump milk to boost low prices with overall demand for dairy products expected to drop 10% to 15% in the second quarter, according to Mary Ledman, a global diary strategist at Rabobank.

...

Prices for chicken wings have taken a hit from the lack of sporting events and the pork industry is also under pressure, with some 25% of production being sold through food service outlets, according to David Herring, a hog farmer and board member for the National Pork Producers Council.

“Demand was great for about 10 days, then it just stopped,” he said, adding that the biggest hit was to bacon, with 70% being consumed out of home. “We’re basically producing 425,000 hogs a week that there is no market for because of Covid-19.”

Even your daily cup of coffee could be hit as job losses mount and restaurants close, said Christian Wolthers, president of importers Wolthers Doque in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Some coffee shop chains have already asked to delay their shipments to later this year. For instance, the coffee they were going to get in July or August, they now want it in the last two months of the year, he said.

“We are only going to feel this incredible low in sales sometime in the middle of summer,” Wolthers said. “The stores that closed and the volumes at hotel and restaurants and K-cups were not sold, and this will show in inventories building more than usual.”

Some companies are having to slow down or shut plants because they can’t easily turn them into facilities that produce for retail. For instance, a can of tomatoes that goes to restaurants is a different size from the ones that hit supermarket shelves. Others are reluctant to invest in changes that will only yield returns during the pandemic lockdowns, before things get back to normal.

 

[Boston Corbett]

George Conway Retweeted
Trip Gabriel@tripgabriel
·
Rise in coronavirus cases in states without stay-home orders, in the past week:
OK +53%
AR +60%
NB. +74%
IA. +82%
SD. +205%

Heartland hotspots: A sudden rise in coronavirus cases is hitting rural states without stay-at-home orders CNN

 

[Kensie]

US Running out of Frozen Pizzas Amid Ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic

Interesting. Did not notice if Walmart had any or not. Was not on the aisle.

 

[Trino]

Wow!

Tony’s attorney tested positive. The attorney attended church services on Palm Sunday and shook hands with Tony. Sorry I don’t have a link.

Smirk. Smirk. https://nypost.com/2020/04/17/lawye...efiantly-held-church-service-has-coronavirus/

 

[RoadToSerfdom]

I watched the presser....he ended the discussion. There isn't anything to talk about.
This paper basically ends the discussion too.

Evidence for natural evolution

The scientists found that the RBD portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins had evolved to effectively target a molecular feature on the outside of human cells called ACE2, a receptor involved in regulating blood pressure. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was so effective at binding the human cells, in fact, that the scientists concluded it was the result of natural selection and not the product of genetic engineering.

This evidence for natural evolution was supported by data on SARS-CoV-2's backbone -- its overall molecular structure. If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness. But the scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 backbone differed substantially from those of already known coronaviruses and mostly resembled related viruses found in bats and pangolins.

"These two features of the virus, the mutations in the RBD portion of the spike protein and its distinct backbone, rules out laboratory manipulation as a potential origin for SARS-CoV-2" said Andersen.

Josie Golding, PhD, epidemics lead at UK-based Wellcome Trust, said the findings by Andersen and his colleagues are "crucially important to bring an evidence-based view to the rumors that have been circulating about the origins of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) causing COVID-19."

"They conclude that the virus is the product of natural evolution," Goulding adds, "ending any speculation about deliberate genetic engineering."

COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic has a natural origin

That is just one group of researchers of unknown motives. Assuming it was man made it is normal to be a lot of push-back from those with a vested interested in it not being man made. The USA send this Wuhan lab $3 million in 2015 and later cutoff funding after they visited the lab and were disturbed by lack of safety. Fauci was in charge at the time so I am sure he does not want it to be true that he funded the development of this virus.

Man-made or not a secondary issue. The lab was studying this bat virus. It was near the wet market. It almost certainly is the source regardless of whether they modified it after collecting it from the bats

 

[KALI]

OT. If you are thinking about buying any items via the advertising on this website.
Do your due diligence and check these advertisers out. A simple google search of
Name of business with reviews, will quickly let you know what purchasers think of them.
I have. I love websleuths. But... do your diligence. As in. Buyer beware.

 

[LadyL]

What kind of “waves” have SARS and MERS had, I wonder...something to look at later.
Any input is appreciated if anyone finds this of interest.

I’ve pulled my stove and fridge out and vacuuming all the kibble nasty crumbs back there. That’s my recommended project for the day if someone is looking for something constructive to do.

I can't even give myself a facial (it's been on my to-do list for a week or more) much less clean thoroughly.