Monday, March 23, 2020

FASTER, PLEASE: Paramedics will soon perform at-home coronavirus tests


In 1957, when flu swept through Hong Kong, Mr [Maurice] Hilleman identified the virus as a new form to which people had no natural immunity and passed on his findings to vaccine-makers. When the virus reached the United States a few months later 40m doses of vaccine were ready to limit its damage.
Here is more from The Economist, circa 2005, via Brian LaRocca.  How many of you have heard of Maurice Hilleman? He has other accomplishments, and according to Wikipedia “He is credited with saving more lives than any other medical scientist of the 20th century.”  I say he is underrated

FASTER, PLEASE: Paramedics will soon perform at-home coronavirus tests in Massachusetts

Spacial Distancing in action:

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that NSW will enforce lockdowns of non-essential activities.


Premier asks parents to keep children home but schools remain open



THE BUREAUCRATS ARE IN THE WAY:  Flattening the Coronavirus Curve Is Not Enough: Addressing the growing pandemic requires a new mindset and it requires it quickly. “When everything is laid out this way, the policy solution is obvious. If we can’t flatten the curve enough, we must dramatically increase health care capacity.”




First, many health experts, including the surgeon general of the United States, told the public simultaneously that masks weren’t necessary for protecting the general public and that health care workers needed the dwindling supply. This contradiction confuses an ordinary listener. How do these masks magically protect the wearers only and only if they work in a particular field?


BRYAN PRESTON:  We’ll Be Alright, and then We Must Reckon with Communist China

CHINESE VIRUS IS CHINESE:  Yes, the Virus Came from Wuhan.
Of course, I’m okay with calling it the CCP Virus.  If they keep pushing I’ll start calling it the Yellow Peril. What are the chances that this will cause a bunch of leftists to lose their ability to speak or drop dead of a heart attack? And in that case, do we count their deaths as attributable to the Chinese virus? Asking for a friend. Via instapundit 



Merkel in quarantine after doctor tests positive for coronavirus


PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS: CNN: “The Use of American companies to push Russian propaganda goes beyond social media sites like Facebook.” Also CNN:
Related: Is Russia running a coronavirus disinformation campaign?

ITALIAN VIROLOGIST SAYS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS DOOMED HIS COUNTRY’S CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE: Florence even launched a ‘Hug a Chinese’ Day initiative after Trump announced China travel restrictions.
Watch: Chinese Government Encourages Italians to Fight Coronavirus Racism by Hugging Strangers

HMM:  Majority of NYC’s coronavirus cases are men between 18 and 49 years old.“The demographics, from the city’s Health Department, were determined from an analysis of 3,954 positive cases on March 19. . . . Women are underrepresented in the city’s tally while men account for 59% of infected people. Men are more than twice as likely as women to die from the pathogen, White House coronavirus expert, Dr. Deborah Birx, said Friday citing mortality rates from Italy.”


 ‘Blood on their hands:’ Teachers say de Blasio and Carranza helped spread coronavirus.


A supermarket in Denmark got tired of people hoarding hand sanitizer, so came up with their own way of stopping it.
1 bottle kr40 (€5.50)
2 bottles kr1000 (€134.00) each bottle.
Hoarding stopped!
It’s crazy, but it just might work here.



FROM JOANN’S FABRIC, How To Make A Face Mask. Patterns and instructions.
Related:  Team Comes Together to Repair Thousands of N-95 Masks. “Tufts Medical Center needed more than 6,000 masks fixed fast, so Tufts students, staff, and alumni are jumping in, along with MIT and Harvard students, to make it happen.”
UPDATE: From the comments:
Glenn
Do you know there are crates of N95 masks in a USMC warehouse in Albany, Georgia? (side note, the masks are not the property of USMC). Thousands upon thousands of N95 masks.
They were marked Excess Property and are designated for humanitarian aid.
10 USC allows EP, such as those masks, to be used for domestic purposes.
However, the program (HAP EP) cannot unilaterally give those masks.
Sure would be great if someone in power knew about the thousands of N95 masks literally sitting in Albany, Georgia HAP EP warehouse, unused at a time when they are in critical need.