Saturday 30th of March 2024

the news had gone viral...

truth

Coronavirus fears lead to Eurovision cancellation as Boris Johnson closes schools to try and contain pandemic, live updates...


By Peter Marsh


British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says all schools will close from Friday and Eurovision has been cancelled as Europe ramps up measures to deal with COVID-19.


Follow all the latest updates as they happen in our live blog.

 

More:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-19/coronavirus-australia-live-update...

and the other viruses...

...

Across the aisle, Donald Trump appears unshakably strong within his own party.

He became the presumptive Republican nominee after securing wins in every state that went through the motions of holding a primary (some states cancelled their Republican contests and simply named Trump as the winner).

This came as no surprise. The few Republicans who tried to challenge Trump, namely former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, never polled higher than 15 per cent.

But it came at a good time morally for the President, who's been widely criticised for his initial attempts to downplay the threat of coronavirus.

With an economy hurtling towards a recession, his campaign team needs every win they can get.

5. The primary might fade away for a bit

Georgia, the next state to vote, elected to postpone its primary contest to June over public health concerns. 

The next election, in the US territory Puerto Rico, is also expected to be delayed.

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-18/biden-wins-more-primary-continues...

buying time...

 

No quarantine has overcome any disease


by Thierry Meyssan


You’re not an expert on Covid-19, but nobody is. Scientists don’t know everything. In this case, they’re just beginning their research. In the absence of hard data, we have to take theories as mere hypotheses. History teaches us that to date no disease has been overcome by quarantine measures. Quarantine measures can save time, not defeat the foe.


The Covid-19 outbreak awakens ancestral anxieties. Some of us suddenly perceive our neighbors, friends and families as threats. There is a real risk of violence in the near future.


In the face of any danger, we must first remain reasonable, not rational. These are two very different ways of thinking. We cannot think logically on the basis of incomplete data.


Covid-19 is a hitherto unknown disease which seems to be able to kill up to 1% of the world’s population, but which so far has killed only a few thousand people. Researchers are just beginning to study it scientifically. We know that it is caused by a virus that is transmitted through the mucous membranes of the face. No one knows how to prevent its spread, but everyone has their own preconceived ideas about it.


Depending on their culture, scientists have advised the authorities in their countries differently:


- The Chinese authorities have practiced population containment coupled with a home medical visit every two days. Those suspected of being infected were taken by force to hospital. This empirical method is consistent with the decrease of this disease. This does not mean that it has had any effectiveness, nor does it mean that the disease has been definitively eradicated. 

- The World Health Organization advocates the confinement of the population, without medical visits at home. The WHO assumes that children become healthy carriers of the disease and infect grandparents in whom the disease can develop acutely. 

- The Swedish authorities are trying a third method. They consider that only the elderly need to be protected and that there is no evidence that the disease is spread by children. They are therefore only confining the elderly and not closing down schools or businesses.


Which of these three schools is right, assuming that one of them is right? We cannot know until all three methods have been tried and tested over a long period of time.


However, we must remember that never in history has an epidemic been overcome by quarantines, but only by hygienic measures. Quarantines do not protect populations in which the disease is already present, they can only save a little time.


We must beware of the anguish that leads our political leaders to take the measures that they consider to be the most radical, i.e. the most traumatic, compared to those already taken by their neighbours. The escalation of these measures teaches us the level of panic of our leaders, not the means to fight the disease.


Moreover, as always, some political leaders are instrumenting the crisis according to their personal agendas.


Over the past twenty-five years, the developed world has experienced several episodes of collective delirium. During the mad cow crisis, we sacrificed cattle on huge bonfires; at the time of Y2K, we thought that planes would fall from the sky on our heads; in the face of 9/11, we thought that barbarians would destroy Western civilization; and so on and so forth. In retrospect, all of this seems ridiculous. Consult old newspapers and you will see the credulity of the public, not that of our ancestors, but of ourselves, a few years ago.


The West is less and less reasonable and more and more dogmatic. We have unknowingly adhered to a religious form of thought in which we have replaced the supposed divine will with supposed scientific knowledge.


Science tells us little about Covid-19 and nothing at all about how to prevent its spread. We are only at the stage of hypothesis.


Thierry Meyssan

Translation 

Roger Lagassé

 

Read more:

https://www.voltairenet.org/article209492.html

 

We hope that researchers find a way to "control" the epidemics, present and future...The bio-sciences are very advanced and know the "tricks" used by viruses. It's a game of ping-pong... In some way the tactic of "buying time" to delay the full force of the infection might give us a temporary solution till the next mutations of the virus...

latest update about the coronavirus coronocast...

Coronavirus cases worldwide have passed the 200,000 mark, with a large increase in the death toll in Italy, the hardest-hit European nation.

The economic fallout has also continued, with Qantas standing down 20,000 workers, Wall Street plunging as recession fears rise, and the Reserve Bank holding an emergency meeting today.

This story is regularly updated. You can also stay informed with the latest episode of the Coronacast podcast.

Thursday's key momentsMedicine sales will be restricted across Australia from today

Deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly says there are no medicine shortages in Australia, but restrictions are being put in place because unprecedented demand is putting strain on supplies. 

These are the measures that have been announced:

  • Some prescription medicines will be limited to one month's supply at the prescribed dose
  • Sales of certain over-the-counter medicines, including Ventolin and paracetamol, will be limited to one unit per purchase
  • Children's paracetamol will be kept behind the counter
No new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Wuhan, where it all began

For the first time since the coronavirus outbreak began, no new confirmed cases were reported yesterday in the Chinese province of Hubei or its capital Wuhan, the original epicentre of the global health crisis.

Li Lanjuan, the director of China's State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, said the lockdown in the city could be gradually lifted if no new cases were reported for 14 consecutive days.

"After the lockdown is loosened, we still need to strictly carry out routine measures to prevent and control the virus to prevent a possible rebound of the outbreak," she told the state-backed China Daily.

Wuhan, population 11 million, saw just one domestic transmission per day on Monday and Tuesday. The rest of Hubei has had no new infections for almost two weeks.

Mainland China as a whole reported 34 new cases yesterday, with eight deaths.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in mainland China stands at 80,928, with 3,245 deaths.

40 new coronavirus infections in NSW, another 28 in Victoria

Health authorities in NSW have confirmed 40 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state total to 307.

Earlier, Victoria confirmed it had recorded another 28 cases of COVID-19, taking the state total to 149.

Yesterday, the total number of cases across Australia rose above 500.

Travellers to Tasmania will need to quarantine for 14 days

The Tasmanian Government says it will declare a state of emergency in response to coronavirus today.

From midnight tomorrow, only "essential travellers" — including people required to keep the state's health system and trade operational — will be allowed into the state without having to quarantine for 14 days.

All others, including returning Tasmanians, will be required to go into quarantine, with the possible exception of people travelling for medical treatment.

Tasmania has had 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Qantas stands down 20,000 workers

 

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-19/coronavirus-update-australia-covi...

 

 

Pray god for mercy and a few toilet rolls...

sick in the USA...

 

Total Cost of Her COVID-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

 

BY ABIGAIL ABRAMS 


 MARCH 19, 2020

When Danni Askini started feeling chest pain, shortness of breath and a migraine all at once on a Saturday in late February, she called the oncologist who had been treating her lymphoma. Her doctor thought she might be reacting poorly to a new medication, so she sent Askini to a Boston-area emergency room. There, doctors told her it was likely pneumonia and sent her home.


Over the next several days, Askini saw her temperature spike and drop dangerously, and she developed a cough that gurgled because of all the liquid in her lungs. After two more trips to the ER that week, Askini was given a final test on the seventh day of her illness, and once doctors helped manage her flu and pneumonia symptoms, they again sent her home to recover. She waited another three days for a lab to process her test, and at last she had a diagnosis: COVID-19.


A few days later, Askini got the bills for her testing and treatment: $34,927.43. “I was pretty sticker-shocked,” she says. “I personally don’t know anybody who has that kind of money.”

 

Read more:

https://time.com/5806312/coronavirus-treatment-cost/

 

Read from top...

stay at home...

The world is headed for a global recession of “perhaps record dimensions” as the threat of coronavirus forces widespread business shutdowns and jobs losses.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres issued the warning as major financial cities such as New York went into lockdown, international borders closed and the UK ordered the closure of cafes, pubs and restaurants.

On Saturday morning (Australian time), British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government would cover workers’ wages for the first time in history to alleviate the financial consequences of the drastic shutdown.

After initially being criticised for reacting too slowly to the virus outbreak, Mr Johnson told cafes, pubs, restaurants, cinemas, theatres and gyms to close indefinitely to help slow the spread.

“We are telling cafes, bars and restaurants to close tonight as soon as they reasonably can and not to open tomorrow,” said Mr Johnson.

“Though to be clear, they can continue to provide take-out services.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2020/03/21/coronavirus-global-rece...

 

Read from top

bless the gold coast health system and private jets...

tom

Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson have arrived back home in Los Angeles after both tested positive for coronavirus and spent weeks in isolation in Australia.

The actor was seen stretching down to touch the tarmac then doing a celebration dance before entering a terminal after he and Wilson touched down in Los Angeles by private jet. The couple was then photographed driving together, with Hanks behind the wheel of a Range Rover, through LA back to their home.

Hanks and Wilson, both 63, were in Australia for the pre-production of Biz Lurhmann’s Elvis Presley film when they revealed earlier this month they had tested positive for the virus.

They were briefly hospitalized before being released into isolation at an undisclosed Australian residence. And he had tweeted this week that they were both feeling better before jetting back home.

Hanks shared multiple updates on Twitter during the ordeal to remind his followers of the importance of self-quarantine to stem the pandemic.

 

Read more:

https://pagesix.com/2020/03/27/tom-hanks-and-rita-wilson-return-to-the-u...

 

 

Read from top.

and now, the weather...


The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is shaping up to be a doozy, with four major hurricanes predicted along with a higher-than-average number of named storms.

The forecast, from meteorologists at Colorado State University, is for 16 named storms to strike during the season, which runs from June through November, up from the seasonal average of 12 named storms.

Eight of those 16 named storms will intensify into hurricanes, with four reaching major hurricane force with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour or greater, the forecast predicts.

The forecasters say there is a 69 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall somewhere along the US coastline.

“The team predicts that 2020 hurricane activity will be about 140 percent of the average season,” the forecast warns.

“By comparison, 2019’s hurricane activity was about 120 percent of the average season.”

The 2019 season was notable for Hurricane Dorian, which devastated the northwestern Bahamas, and for Tropical Storm Imelda, which caused tremendous flooding in portions of southeast Texas.

Warming waters in the tropical Atlantic will contribute to the heightened storm risk, the forecasters say.

Warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures — and the moister air this causes — fuel storm formation, the forecasters say.

The last time four major hurricanes struck in one season was in 2017, the year that brought Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate.

 

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/4-major-hurricanes-predicted-as-part-of-ab...

 

Read from top.

 

According to Gus, 2021 will be worse...