1. Guns are sold out in shops all over Virginia in a surge of buying. Most are first time buyers. Maybe that is not so foolish.
2. Anti-Trumpers are planning a mass demonstration in Manhattan. One can only hope …
3. Mayor de Blasio sounds more hysterical every day, but today he is happy with the supplies and USNS Comfort tied up at a Manhattan pier. I wonder if he is still being chauffeured to his gym?
4. Democrats think Andrew Cuomo is a much, much better crisis manager than Trump. Seems to me they are both doing a good job.
5. Trump presented a plausible case for people in NY City selling PPE out the back door of hospitals for good money. And across the country as well. Anyone who has had a mess sergeant or supply sergeant sell food or other goodiesto civilians that you, as CO, are pecuniarily responsible for will tell you that it is quite possible that people are doing that.
6. The press at the daily COVID-19 WH pressers continue to act like the swine that most of them are. Their purpose for attendance is clearly to belittle and undermine Trump's leadership. How contemptible!
7. The FDA has cleared hydrochloroquine and the accompanying antibiotic for experimental and emergency use. This occurred over the objections and contemptuous disdain of medical "experts" who would rather see people die than have their precious "protocols" ignored.
8. Homage to the Corps of Engineers. They are working miracles in construction.
9. New Orleans (the Big Easy) is going to take it in the shorts after the great contamination at Mardi Gras, but the party will roll on. "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" Ainsi soit-il! pl
Glad to hear hydrochloroquine and the accompanying antibiotic are clear for experimental and emergency use. I hope they use it early on the infected instead of waiting until they are too damaged to recover fully. They will need to increase production quickly. Good news.
#1, there was a line of 9 at one of the larger shops here (just outside Tampa) Saturday, appaerntly only so many inside at a time and word on the street is they had a shipment of ammo of one caliber or another. A contact still in Michigan is saying the same thing, mostly first time buyers. Looks like politicians emptying jails and saying they won’t arrest or prosecute anyone for misdemeanors is working like a giant alarm clock to the woke up people.
Good summation. Pretty much how some of us endangered species on the Left Coast are viewing this too.
Though our Gov Hair Gel Newsom would rather get his face in front of Gov Cuomo, when the cameras start rolling. Meanwhile I continue to ponder The One Percent Doctrine- pros and cons, as it has applied to this particular election year “flu” season.
I think the real scenario happens after COV-19 dissipates somewhat and people are allowed to mix and mingle again. If we are content to go back to free trade global capitalism with open borders and national interdependence for all then we deserve what we get. Even now I hear that South Korea and Vietnam are mentioned by corporate America as a good place to exploit cheap labor and move industry to.(Vietnam? The same Vietnam 50,000 Americans died in?) There is a nexus in which Cultural Marxism and Free Trade Globalism Capitalism intersect.
Karl,
A Hanoi based company owned by a Vietnamese billionaire recently bought out the assets of GM both in that country and in Australia. Jim Deluca, former a GM VP, is CEO of the company. I’ve got a four page long job offer from them sitting in my inbox. (I passed on an opportunity with them two years ago so I suspect their expats are exiting asap and that they have cash flow issues.). So yes, they’re for rea; most of the industry growth is expansion of what is there as well as exits from China due to wage increases and government regulation, all pre-virus.
Gun and ammunition sales banned in Australia as of last night. Government was worried by an uptick in sales. They correctly identified the sales surge as self defence related and acted. There is no tradition of gun ownership for self defence in Australia, so while it may horrify Americans, the move is justified.
My personal experience of suburban non military trained shooters is that they are a danger to family and friends especially if trying to respond to a noise at night.
Do I own guns? Of course! I live in farming country.
In addition to the USS Theodore Roosevelt having COVID cases among carrier personnel, COVID is now onboard the USS Ronald Reagan off Japan.
Makes 2 carriers now infected with COVID.
DoD has ordered no more ‘public’ disclosures of COVID infections among DoD assets for fear of exploitation by the enemies of the United States.
Colonel,
The IC is facing a collection challenge with the traditional hard targets and their actual COVID topography.
Ah, yes. My father, an army sergeant in WW II, told me all about the fun and games of the sergeants and warrant officers. They ran the black market. The sergeants’ mess got the best food. The officers got second best, but nicely served on china with polished cutlery. The other ranks got what was left over. To keep the other ranks from mutiny, some egg shells were crushed, every few weeks, and mixed in with the powdered eggs for breakfast. Apparently, it convinced the poor squaddies that they were having real eggs once in a while. The Phil Silvers Show (Sgt. Bilko) was a whitewash. Kelly’s Heroes a bit closer.
P.S. the effectiveness of chloroquine has been known for 15 years. https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-2-69
Sean
Sounds like the British or Canadian Army. the US does not have Sergeants’ messes.
I dont know how Trump can be assessed as doing a decent job in handling this mess.
Countries which have controlled Covid19 outbreaks without total lock downs (singapore, taiwan, hk, south korea) all acted very early as soon as the Wuhan lock down was confirmed.
TDS is real and live in the press conferences, but this does not pardon the Trump administration (and many western govs for that matter) for not using the 1-2 months lead time to prepare. Even if you are of the camp that govs are overreacting with lockdowns, there is no way customers will keep spending/going out when photos/reports of hospitals being overwhelmed are circulated.
Failure to act early will now be paid in huge economic damage. The sheer stupidity of it all is that there was ample warning.
COVID has spread to shipping container fleets. A Danish shipping container vessel crew are hospitalized for COVID.
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/covid-19-confirmed-on-gjertrud-maersk
A real hard nail in the wood
Sit tight said the medicine man
Got some powders in the pan
Gonna mix them up and cook them right
Blow your mind outta sight
In the morning you’ll be good
A real hard nail in the wood.
Posted by: Seán | 30 March 2020 at 11:56 PM
you link more arbitrarily, I guess, to a 2005 expert/studies/science abstract.
Since then vaccine against flu or flu related viruses seems to have become some type of annual standard, trying to catch at least to most virulent. …
you noticed anything of Sars (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003? I only noticed we seem to have been offered annual vaccines for the annual flu season since then, in hindsight.
Neither did I, notice. Arbitrarily, and no I didn’t even read the article below, I may do now. But yes, as with 9/11 loads and loads of unknowns, likewise the human biological system is a realm of many unknowns in itself, and yes this is a new virus:
https://qz.com/1820422/coronavirus-why-wont-who-use-the-name-sars-cov-2/
Registered in China? Chinese journalist? Alarm bells?
As to medical supplies going out the back door, there’s an opportunity – even a duty – to establish evidence, rather than assert an opinion about a possibility. In a national emergency, I prefer to hear reports from the Executive Branch based upon verified facts.
Chinese biological experiments to infect humans with coronavirus reported in 2015 by Italian State Media:
https://twitter.com/lienomail/status/1244270492598624257
ked
http://thesaker.is/why-france-is-hiding-a-cheap-and-tested-virus-cure/?fbclid=IwAR1QAD5vmCMj68Iu-usvtvLnHTQqiTY3gQBulgLWFxjz4VQulPubAA2GBdU
Regarding mess sergeants and “trading”. My understanding was that the U.S. Army was severe on this subject. Much more severe than Australia.
Australian Army was occasionally quite entrepreneurial in my experience. Surplus ammo was traded for steaks, traded for helicopter time, range time traded with Navy for platoon ocean experience and so on. Almost like “Catch 22 -“ – everybody won. I still fondly remember as an officer cadet going to pick up some of the units ammunition allocation with RQMS Tubby Gunson.
JL – all western countries were slow to react. All are now going all out to combat the virus. The various efforts will be different because the various countries have such different administrative and health systems.
It hit Italy hard, or hit Italy hard first, maybe because Italy has a large Chinese population and had extensive trade and communication links with China. We wait to see whether the Italian experience is replicated elsewhere.
The economic damage is great but was foreordained as soon as the disease started to spread. Consumers won’t be feeling like spending much in these circumstances and many can’t in any case. Whatever governments do won’t get us spending as much soon.
You mention TDS. That’s been a fact of life for the last four years. I’m finding it rather more irritating than usual. The Progressives and the cronies have good cause to hate Trump and since they virtually own the media that’s the normal background noise to our political discourse. But it’s now going beyond all reason.
Biden’s campaign is being pulverized into fine talcum powder.
He is mostly being ignored but when he does speak, less than impressive. He also has the misfortune of being compared to both Trump and Cuomo. The establishment Dem’s did a fine job. Trump will have to step on a landmine to lose the next election. Trump does have some psychotic loons on his staff but so far he has avoided the precipice.
Walrus,
My experience from decades of life in the US, with 100,000,000+ gun owning citizens,: There’s no bloodbath. Criminals do what criminals do with weapons available and are not concerned with papwerwork or gun free zone signs. Many state and local governments’ positions here seems to be the more helpless you are, the safer you will be, the police are only minutes away! Oh, and many are releaseing criminals from jail due to the CovRed virus and have suspended police arrests for crimes like theft and prosecutors have said they don’t plan any prosecutions and judges have shut down speedy trials, essential trials altogether. Not to worry, the mayor of our republic’s capital will have the Metropolitan police arrest you if you
exercise your constitutional right to free movement or public assemblyleave home without permission and in Tampa the Hillsborough County Sheriff has already arrested one religous leader for holding service in excess of government approved capacity limits. I congratulate you on being able to defend yourself while other fellow citizens can’t, I’m sure in the US I can rely on Antifa and the like to patrol “their” turf and keep people in line. See, I feel safer already.Ked, Hope this helps:
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=61338
Ked, you asekd were is the proof? This was not done maliciously, but for humnistarian intent. Because most did assume this was a local China issue, not a global issue at the time.
So yes, US supplies were “going out the back door” in the early stages when this was seen as a Wuhan problem – according to this report about the Direct Relief organization based in Southern California and reported in “The Independent”:
…..”Direct Relief has been involved in the worldwide effort to contain and mitigate the virus since it hit China late last year, Morain noted. It distributed 800,000 masks in China, but since the United States has emerged as the epicenter of COVID-19 infection, the international disaster relief nonprofit has shifted its focus to the United States.
“We’re getting calls from every single state, from major hospitals and small clinics, from doctors, from doctor’s spouses, from nurses, and from mothers of nurses,” he said. “This is unlike anything we’ve dealt with before.” Morain said Direct Relief had 500,000 masks in inventory at one point, but now it’s dwindled to 10,000……”
I think the President’s continued confusion about the numbers of masks, etc. needed relates to a lack of understanding that all of these supplies are disposable and are thrown out after every patient examination….in best practices, too avoid cross contamination from room-to-room. Our local hospital noted that under normal circumstances they go thru 25-50 masks a day (less contagion and masks not used for every interaction.) As of 3 days ago, they were going thru 800 masks a day and our city only has 88 cases and 6 people in ICU. (More proactive protocols and highly infectious environment.)
It is kind of hard to wrap your mind around that quick of an uptick…but not impossible. I wonder if Trump has ever actually been in a regular hospital emergency room under any circumstances. One of his greatest weaknesses seems to be a lack of experience in the “real” world—the place most of us without billions of dollars live. The uber wealthy live in a much more controlled environment and the White House is way beyond that! Not necessarily his fault at all–just a fact.
As Mark Blyth said
“The Hamptons is not a defensible position. People will come for you.”
I’d sure like to know more about this:
“But about 100 million masks in the stockpile were deployed in 2009 in the fight against the H1N1 flu pandemic, and the government never bothered to replace them. This month, Alex Azar, secretary of health and human services, testified that there are only about 40 million masks in the stockpile — around 1 percent of the projected national need.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/opinion/coronavirus-face-mask.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&fbclid=IwAR2zFKXzjz5UcDpPK496mmX0rEWqNWJhBZwd0Q8BgrjrC6FKISPWJRf8FPU
And it’s not just the USA. All Western countries seem to have inadequate stockpiles. Any suggestions why? Too much time spent being “diverse” and getting gender-neutral toilets?
I have some friendly fools marching in at the moment, of course stricly stricly hygienic and contact avoiding:
My dear sister was buing fresh locally roasted good coffee today and was so friendly to buy a pack for me also.
Now, since she is a teacher she is also sentenced to home office though she is spared to be regularly visited by a hysterical horde of pupils at home. She has as a result also some time for really practical things beyond preparing teaching – she is en passant making herself face masks.
Apparently she has a little over poduction. I will get my fine java coffee but she has insisted that I would only get the coffee with a face mask. In a way that’s kind, but I most certainly won’t wear that mask while drinking that coffee.
walrus
The company commander is held responsible in the US Army for both property entered on the unit property book and consumables. COs often trade things like plywood, paint, housekeeping supplies that are consumables. OTOH unit property for which he/she is personally financially responsible on the property book is normally not traded because the CO will have to account for it in a change of command and either pay for it after depreciation is applied in a “report of survey” made by battalion or simply get blown away in an effectiveness report. This includes food in a unit where there is a field ration mess that feeds the troops with rations issued by a “ration break down point” at the installation level. This issues food with which to cook by the daily Army master menu world wide. Rations issued must balance rations consumed by headcount certified by the unit’s mess OFFICER, not the mess sergeant. I once gave the mess sergeant of a mess that I had recently taken over the choice of paying for 1200 rations that he was short by headcount or facing court-martial for theft. He paid and then retired. In combat all that goes out the window and everything is basically considered expended when issued to troops in combat. There are exceptions; trucks in a motor pool for example. In VN a warrant officer motor officer there “sold” the unit’s trucks to a VN company and then departed for CONUS to retire. This cleverness fell apart when the new “owners” showed up to take possession. He was recalled to active duty and returned under guard for trial. With regard to the troop messes, officers, warrant officers and sergeants not living in barracks can eat in these meals after signing a cash collection sheet and paying what is really a very reasonable charge. Their dependents get the same deal. I learned to love army food as a kid.
pl
I remember vast quantities of US packaged food stuffs in the Marche Noir in Saigon, also great tools. We used to buy things like whole boned out turkeys and steaks. At what point were these likely to have been diverted from their route to the troops?
jjackson
Diverted from the troops or out the backdoor of the US Army Commissary store in Saigon (only for civilian employees of the government), from things like the larders of USAID employees and the USAID hotel kitchen. Should I continue?
The heavy US regulatory state (aka the deep state) with its own self-protective agenda has prevented quick action which is slowly getting broken down under this President.
Case in point, CDC (FDA?) prevented and then limited the re-use of masks because they had not officially approved a particularly mass sterilization process. Trump helped push past those restrictions, while other limited restrictions left over from prior administrations are revealed every day.
Some are valid and intended to protect; others are just plain regulatory dross built up over time and fundamentally meaningless except to officious paper pushers who avoid making any decisions that puts their own government employment at risk.
Lots of things are getting ‘stress tested” right now -it will be one of the bright sides of this very curious election year “flu” mess.
There is (1) the actual corona virus which is showing itself not be be exeptionally deadly, deadly but not exceptionally so; (2)there is the intentional media semantic hyperbole about the corona virus; (3) there are various government reactions to corona; and (4) finally there is a very fertile public willingness to accept corona is Zombie Apocalypse.
The only wrinkle is the unwillingness of the Zombie Apocalypse believers to wash their hands, stop sticking their fingers into their noses, mouths and eyes, and to cover their own coughs and senses.
All of that would make them personally responsible for both the spread and protection of this disease. It would require them giving up blame and partisan martyrdom. That is our real sickness – blame and self-imposed martyrdom – I can see how this sickness developed in the US, but it does surprise me it is now also well established globally.
Deap
Most people are sheep driven by BS. This is universal.
A question for those with experience to answer . . .
Given the clearly severe penalties involved for getting caught stealing or diverting food or other things from their proper military supply and consumption and accounting-for channels, why would people take the risks to do it?
Could it really only be for personal free stuff or free pleasure?
Or did it also involve seeking the “thrill of getting away with it” or relief from boredom and tension?
Deap,
Here is a schematic “cutaway” view picture of someone getting a swab test taken for COVID or not. Here is a link to the picture.
https://twitter.com/DrPeckPNP/status/1244062665535864832/photo/1
Dr. Peck put it on her twitter thinking maybe it would look uncomfortable enough to the viewers that it would encourage them to
wash their hands. And No Touch Facee.
Deap re.
“(1) the actual corona virus which is showing itself not be be exeptionally deadly, deadly but not exceptionally so”
Where would you rate it?
I am having difficulty of thinking of any other human pathogen which is as deadly? In history yes but we have eradicated or controlled all of these. There are much higher case fatality rates in pathogens like Ebola but their transmission method is not as efficient so they do not kill the same numbers.
The bigger problem is the time over which they do their killing. Their nearest rival, in terms of their ability to strain the health system, is seasonal flu. This is what the health system is set up to deal with, a winter flu serge. The US deaths for this flu season have already been surpassed by COVID deaths and most of these came from either Washington state or the areas around NY & LA. No State has this under control and the deaths today were from patients who became symptomatic two weeks ago, when the US was reporting under 2,000 new cases/day now it is 22,500 and all of these have to work through the system. Assuming they get the same level of care that is about 5000 deaths/day, if the level of care drops the numbers go up. The CDC data for flu deaths over the last 10 years varied between 12 and 61 thousand. So two weeks at those levels would be past the worst flu year in a decade.
JJackson,
How do you know the case fatality rate? The denominator (the number of cases) is unknown at this time. Only very sick people in the US have been tested.
My data says the flu has killed many more than COVID-19 this season. COVID has claimed 4K lives since Jan 19, when it was first identified in the US. So < 2K/month. The Flu has been killing an avg of approx. 4.5K a month this season. Even the CDC shows similar figures.
Medical “experts” who would rather see people die than have their precious “protocols” ignored.
Also, HC and AZ both generic. No money to be made there for Big Pharma, thus the effort to sideline it. The big money will be in whatever vaccine is rolled out. Cheap and effective treatment that undermines vaccine price.
BTW, Li’l Greta on her Rothschild yacht called for a ban on international jet travel. Funny, here it is.
Eric
I posted a link to my post on epidemiology and testing which you said you read. I am unclear where your question about the CFR came from as it played no part in the calculations I made. I did say that the CFR is lower than Ebola which I do not think anybody doubts. CFR is calculated as the number of patients who die from a disease divided by the number who develop a disease, it does not include asymptomatic cases. In the US we do not have a handle on the denominator at present due to not having the ability to test all suspect cases but we did at the outset and other countries like China, Singapore and S Korea can. This gives us a fairly clear picture which is roughly 80% self limiting, 20% requiring hospitalisation and oxygen support of whom a quarter go on to need invasive mechanical ventilation. My calculations are all based on CDC data either from their flu web site, in the MMWRs (Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Reports) or as provided by the CDC to WHO and published in their daily Sit-Reps. Your calculation of monthly deaths from flu make sense as they are based on a predictable and fairly steady influx of patients but 2k a month for COVID based on the beginning of an outbreak with exponential growth is meaningless. Take a look at this graph which plots MMWR death curves for influenza week by week going back years and the COVID deaths by week since the start of the outbreak. https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/-2019-ncov-new-coronavirus/united-states-2019-ncov/842586-comparing-flu-and-covid-19-deaths
All the US data is suspect at present not only are we not getting a full picture of the new mild cases, your denominator, but also the numerator as not all deaths due to COVID are being listed as such as not all of these have been tested and returned as positive at the time of death. To get a better handle on these numbers we will have to wait for the cause of death listed on death certificates which have a longer time lag. The UK is just beginning to add in the first batch of these which are deaths outside of NHS hospitals principally from nursing homes which are run privately or by local authorities.