The Western media quickly took the stage and laid out the official narrative for the outbreak of the new coronavirus which appeared to have begun in China, claiming it to have originated with animals at a wet market in Wuhan.
In fact the origin was for a long time unknown but it appears likely now, according to Chinese and Japanese reports, that the virus originated elsewhere, from multiple locations, but began to spread widely only after being introduced to the market.More to the point, it appears that the virus did not originate in China and, according to reports in Japanese and other media, may have originated in the US.
Comment: The author has written two follow-ups on this:
© APA Medical University of South Carolina public safety officer walks by the hospital's drive-through tent for patients who are being tested for the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Citadel Mall parking lot, March 13, 2020, in Charleston, S.C. Mic Smith
As the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis comes to dominate headlines,
little media attention has been given to the federal government's decision to classify top-level meetings on domestic coronavirus response and lean heavily "behind the scenes" on U.S. intelligence and the Pentagon in planning for an allegedly imminent explosion of cases.The classification of coronavirus planning meetings was first covered
by Reuters, which noted that
the decision to classify was "an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government's response to the contagion." Reuters further noted that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar, and his chief of staff had "resisted" the classification order, which was made in mid-January by the National Security Council (NSC), led by Robert O'Brien —
a longtime friend and colleague of his predecessor John Bolton.
Ellen Brown
TruthdigWed, 11 Mar 2020 12:00 UTC
© Mark Lennihan / APA man taking precautions amid the coronavirus outbreak walks past the New York Stock Exchange.
When the World Health Organization announced on February 24
th that it was time to prepare for a global pandemic, the stock market plummeted. Over the following week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by more than 3,500 points or over 10%.
In an attempt to contain the damage, on March 3rd the Federal Reserve slashed the fed funds rate from 1.5% to 1.0%, in their first emergency rate move and biggest one-time cut since the 2008 financial crisis. But rather than reassuring investors, the move fueled another panic sell-off.Exasperated commentators on CNBC wondered what the Fed was thinking. They said a half point rate cut would not stop the spread of the coronavirus or fix the broken Chinese supply chains that are driving US companies to the brink. A new report by corporate data analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet
calculates that some
51,000 companies around the world have one or more direct suppliers in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus. At least 5 million companies globally have one or more tier-two suppliers in the region, meaning their suppliers get their supplies there; and 938 of the Fortune 1000 companies have tier-one or tier-two suppliers there. Moreover, fully 80% of US pharmaceuticals are
made in China. A break in the supply chain can grind businesses to a halt.
Comment: The 'coronavirus crisis' is really the 2008 financial crisis continued.
See also:
Markus Salzmann
WSWSWed, 04 Mar 2020 04:00 UTC
© Marine Corps, Staff Sgt. Dengrier M. BaezU.S. Marines run to firing positions during live-fire training in Jordan
The largest deployment of troops across the Atlantic in 25 years
entered its main phase last weekend within the framework of the Defender Europe 2020 exercise. The scale of NATO's provocative military exercise underscores how far advanced the preparations for war are 75 years after the end of World War II.
The United States and 18 other countries are deploying large contingents of troops from America and Western Europe to the Russian border within a short period of time. In total, around 37,000 soldiers are participating in the exercise, which is to continue until June. Their objective is Poland and the Baltic states.
The freight ship Endurance docked in Bremerhaven last week together with four other vessels carrying US tanks and other heavy military equipment. The US alone is deploying 20,000 troops and their armaments to Europe.
Comment: Meanwhile parts of the EU are on 'lockdown'...
See also:
© APNew York Stock Exchange President Stacey Cunningham consults with specialist Peter Giacchi, left, on the floor of the NYSE, Monday, March 9, 2020.
Global stocks plunged yesterday in the worst sell-off since the global financial crisis of 2008, with indications that worse may still be yet to come as reflected in the fall in Asian markets when trading began today.
Yesterday, after falls across the Asia-Pacific, where the Tokyo and Sydney markets dropped by around 7 percent and similar sell-offs in Europe, Wall Street plunged on opening.
The fall was so large that it triggered a circuit breaker that suspended trading for 15 minutes in order to try to halt panic selling.The fall continued throughout the day with the Dow closing more than 2,000 points down,
its largest one-day point fall in history. There was a drop of more than 7 percent in all market indexes, taking Wall Street close to entering a bear market — defined as
a 20 percent fall — since its high in mid-February.
The downturn, initiated by the economic impact of the coronavirus, entered a new stage over the weekend with Saudi Arabia launching an oil price war. It boosted production and offered discount prices, following the breakdown of an agreement with Russia to limit supply and maintain prices.
The decision sent oil prices tumbling by between 25 and 30 percent when markets opened this week.
Bill Chappell
NPRWed, 11 Mar 2020 16:38 UTC
© Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty ImagesWorld Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gestures during a press briefing on evolution of new coronavirus epidemic on January 29, 2020 in Geneva.
The COVID-19 viral disease that has swept into at least 114 countries and killed more than 4,000 people is now officially a pandemic, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday.
"This is the first pandemic caused by coronavirus," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Eight countries — including the U.S. — are now each reporting more than 1,000 cases of COVID-19, caused by the virus that has infected more than 120,000 people worldwide.
A severe outbreak in Italy has now caused more than 630 deaths there, and the country's case total continues to rise sharply. It's now at 10,000 cases,
second only to China. There are 9,000 cases in Iran, and more than 7,700 in South Korea.
Those countries are all imposing drastic measures in an attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19 illness, which has a higher fatality rate for elderly people and those with underlying health conditions.
"In the Americas, Honduras, Jamaica and Panama are all confirming coronavirus infections for the first time," NPR's Jason Beaubien reports. "Elsewhere Mongolia and Cyprus are also now reporting cases."
Comment: "Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death," the director-general
said. Judging by the way people are behaving worldwide, it's safe to say that the word can and will case unreasonable fear. But in the words of that most helpful of books, the
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
don't panic. And if you simply can't
not panic, at least keep your head on straight and do so responsibly.
Meanwhile in Iran, 63 new deaths have been
recorded, including
five members of the IRGC. In Palestine, with its first case outside of Bethlehem (brining the total to 29), the PA is considering
shutting the border. Schools, universities, banks, hotels, restaurants all remain closed. The PA has
arrested some locals for spreading false information about the virus, including false reports about cases in cities with no confirmed cases. A similar
false report in India about the virus being transmitted through white meat led one poultry farmer to destroy nearly $800k worth of chickens and eggs:
Though unfounded, the rumor has spread like wildfire on messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, prompting many to drop chicken and eggs from their daily diet, while sending poultry sales plummeting by up to 80 percent across India, the third-largest producer of eggs and fourth-largest of chickens in the world.
Moscow has
banned large-scale events, and Kiev plans to
close schools and universities. Italy has
suspended mortgage payments after the entire country was placed on lockdown yesterday.
Here's how Italians are
shopping to stock up during the lockdown:
UK Health Minister Nadine Dorries tested
positive days after meeting with PM Johnson. Merkel put on her precognition hat to
predict that up to 70% of Germans will contract the virus if no vaccine is developed. Norway
cancelled NATO's Arctic Cold Response exercises. And the CFR
cancelled their coronavirus-themed conference in NYC - how fitting! Also in NY, the state has
deployed the National Guard to set up a containment area. Nancy Pelosi
shut down Nadler's request to flee DC (several lawmakers have already self-quarantined after coming in contact with individuals with the virus). Meanwhile the Trump administration is
considering a payroll tax holiday, promising to support businesses in covering paid time off for employees on sick-leave, as well as a promise that insurers will cover all coronavirus costs.
Panic is a strong force, you could even say it's elemental. So, to repeat, your mind is your own. Don't let something else run it for you.
See also:
RTWed, 11 Mar 2020 00:24 UTC
© Pixabay / succo
Democrat and Republican House leaders have paused their partisan sniping to do the real work of governing:
keeping unpopular surveillance programs, including roving NSA wiretaps and access to metadata, alive indefinitely.With just four days to go before congressional authorization for the controversial provisions expires, a bipartisan contingent has swooped in to save the NSA from experiencing one second of separation anxiety from Americans' private communications.
Committee heads from both sides of the aisle wrangled enough votes within their own parties to deliver a reauthorization bill on Tuesday night which they believe will pass the entire House on Wednesday.
Lawmakers reportedly sweated for months over the legislation, which extends key elements of the USA Freedom Act, the 2015 replacement for the NSA's "StellarWind" program exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden - even though the NSA itself no longer uses the program. Indeed, it was the Trump administration, not Congress, that pleaded for its reauthorization, on the offchance it might be needed again in the future.
Dr. Richard Cheng claims high-dose Vitamin C has been officially included in the Shanghai Government Covid-19 treatment plan and that initial results from the IVC trial on Covid-19 is positive.
Does vitamin C cure Coronavirus? No? Can vitamin C treat Coronavirus? We can't say it does, but at the same time, we can't say it doesn't either. This is why
multiple clinical trials are underway in China to investigate whether or not vitamin C infusion has any effect against Coronavirus and those infected with it. The idea that vitamin C may help in treating the Coronavirus, at least here in the west, seems to be dubbed as 'fake news,' which is odd given the fact that authorities should be mentioning that at this point it's inconclusive.
There remains to be a clear yes or no answer but researchers are hypothesizing that it might have a positive effect which is why in Shanghai, China,
vitamin C is being named as part of their overall treatment plan, with official clinical trials underway.
Last month, the US National Library of Medicine posted the information about
their clinical trials on their website. The title of one of the trials is "Vitamin C Infusion for the Treatment of Severe 2019-nCoV Infected Pneumonia." The sponsor is ZhiYong Peng, and the responsible party is Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan University (ZNWU).
Great find by
Joe L:
...new study ... claims that of the 1,099 Chinese people who contracted 2019-nCoV which were studied, 85.4% (927 people) were never-smokers, while only 12.6% (137 people) were current smokers and only 1.9% (21 people) were ex-smokers.
Here's
a link to the pdf study. And here's part of Table 1 from the study (click to enlarge):
Comment: It's probably not as high a figure as that because the rate of smoking in China - across both sexes - is around 25%. It's certain that way more men than women smoke in China, but as we saw above, figures vary.
Using a different assumption then than the author used above, that just 25% of the population of Wuhan are smokers, then the sample of clinical data from this study suggests that
non-smokers are nearly 3 times more likely than smokers and ex-smokers to become infected.
However, something else to be factored back into this is that the above clinical data from Wuhan shows that
just 41.8% of the case studies in the study sample were female. It's early days, but if this outbreak plays out
like MERS and SARS did, then it too will affect (that is, infect and make ill) more men than women.
Depending on the extent to which it does so, this sex difference would increase our assumption of the percentage of smokers in Wuhan and thus push the figure back up to
3 or >3 times more likely than smokers and ex-smokers to become infected.
By the way, an even more interesting
study of clinical data from Wuhan - though from a much smaller sample of 140 patients - found that
just 1.4% of people hospitalized by the virus were current smokers...
For more on the health benefits of smoking tobacco, see:
We've had a couple of people BTL take issue with us regarding the case fatality rate (CFR) of the 1918 Spanish Flu. Citing Wikipedia and the CDC we gave that rate as being between 10-20%. A couple of commenters, however, insisted the actual CFR was 2-3%, and this led us to look further.
What we found was quite interesting.
This is the
pre-February 22 2020 opening paragraph of the 'Mortality' section on the Wiki page for the Spanish flu (our emphasis):
The global mortality rate from the 1918-1919 pandemic is not known, but an estimated 10% to 20% of those who were infected died (case-fatality ratio). About a third of the world population was infected, and 3% to 6% of the entire global population of over 1800 million[51] died.[2]
Comment: These changes to the Wikipedia page clearly show a manipulation for the purpose of making the coronavirus appear more dangerous than it actually is. Now why would they want to do something like that?
See also:
Comment: The author has written two follow-ups on this: