Author: BigGuy

Covid-19 has transformed the way Americans go about their day-to-day lives, but experts believe they will have to continue to endure the pandemic and dramatically change their working habits. The US is now the hardest-hit nation on Earth, with the number of confirmed cases now exceeding 3million and its coronavirus death toll standing at more than 133,000. It is estimated to have roughly one-fifth of all Covid-related deaths in the entire world – followed by Brazil with nearly 70,000 fatalities. Record-breaking numbers of cases have been recorded over the past few weeks after the US failed to stop the spread of the deadly virus. American’s will have to change their habits for years if the coronavirus remains Footage of packed beaches and parks in the country over the Fourth of July weekend has also sent shivers down the spines of health officials. US chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci described it as a “serious situation that we need to address immediately”. The recent surge in cases within the US appears to have been spread by younger people, with the average age of the infected coming down 15 years. Only four states managed to record a decline in the number of new cases – those being Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The report, named Covid-19: The CIDRAP Viewpoint, led by Dr Kristine Moore said the pandemic would likely remain in the US for between 18 to 24 months when compared to previous flu pandemics. “Risk communication messaging from government officials should incorporate the concept that this pandemic will not be over soon and that people need to be prepared for possible periodic resurgences of disease over the next two years.” While the coronavirus is likely to linger in the US, and the world, for years – there is some hope its severity will wane. US President Donald Trump has been blasted over his handling of the crisis. The study continued: “We must be prepared for at least another 18 to 24 months of significant Covid-19 activity, with hot spots popping periodically in diverse geographic areas. “As the pandemic wanes, it is likely that coronavirus will circulate in the human population and will synchronise to a seasonal pattern with diminished severity over time, as with other less pathogenic coronaviruses, such as betacoronavirus.” Another report, did however, highlight a “blind spot” was poor ventilation in indoor spaces. While it admitted that regular handwashing and social distancing were effective behaviours to provide protection, it was “not enough”. “They also advise avoiding crowding, especially on public transportation and in buildings.”

The impact could dramatically change the American way of life, with hundreds of thousands of workplaces, schools, hospitals and homes having to renovate their buildings entirely.

Doc warns US will suffer ‘tremendous deaths if lockdowns aren’t put back on’ as county sees another record spike

A LEADING doctor has warned the United States will see “tremendous deaths” if coronavirus lockdowns are not imposed. Physician and Rutgers medical professor Dr Bob Lahita was making the ominous prediction after more than 69,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported — an all-time, single-day high. The surge in coronavirus cases has been driven by states that have fast-tracked the reopening of their economies, such as California, Texas and Florida.

Dr Bob Lahita said there will be “tremendous deaths” in those areas and said it was a “very good idea” to imposed new lockdowns.

He said: “I’m hoping that the governors use some common sense and close up again.”It comes close to irresponsible, reopening, until we have absolute proof that the disease is under control.” The rampaging virus that has killed more than 136,000 Americans and in excess of 3.2 million have been infected.

It comes close to irresponsible, reopening, until we have absolute proof that the disease is under control

Professor Dr Bob Lahita

Dr Bob Lahita believes even though pandemic is still ravaging the country, doctors and experts have been “pushed to the side” and reopenings have become an “economic issue”. He said: “I understand that some of these meetings at the governors’ mansions have included eight businesspeople versus one epidemiologist or one doctor. “Prioritization for a lot of the governors are to get the economy rolling again.” Meanwhile a single record was chalked up yesterday with more than 69,000 new Covid-19 cases nationwide. At least 33 US states experienced increases compared to last week. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says things will get worse in the state as more than 10,000 patients are now hospitalized with the coronavirus. The state is now one of coronavirus hotspots, with new confirmed cases surging to around 14 per cent of the country’s total. On the Texas-Mexico border, Starr County Judge Eloy Vera says his rural community is trying to get a refrigerated trailer because the local funeral home can’t keep up with more than two bodies a day. Texas members of Congress are also asking the Trump administration for a field hospital in the Rio Grande Valley. Meanwhile California has experienced one of its toughest weeks yet in the battle against coronavirus, with the state recording its two deadliest days since the start of the pandemic as cases numbers continue to explode. Florida is also facing an alarming surge in Covid-19, two months after businesses began reopening. Hospitals in June and July have seen their numbers of coronavirus patients triple.

Trump Said He Was Disinclined To Lock Down The Country Again

The President and his minions have announced as the death toll hits a record everyday and new infections are out of control that they won’t use the only tool that works. And that is total lockdown. These are the kind of mistakes that can bring down an empire. There is no leadership and the infection rate can get high enough that there is no stopping it.

With Texas continuing to break records for new coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations this week, Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated Friday afternoon that things will continue to get worse. And if people keep flouting his new statewide mask mandate, he said, the next step could be another economic lockdown. “Things will get worse, and let me explain why,” he told KLBK TV in Lubbock. “The deaths that we’re seeing announced today and yesterday — which are now over 100 — those are people who likely contracted COVID-19 in late May.

“The worst is yet to come as we work our way through that massive increase in people testing positive.”

Texans will also likely see an increase in cases next week, Abbott said, and people abiding by his face mask requirement might be the only thing standing between businesses remaining open and another shutdown. “The public needs to understand this was a very tough decision for me to make,” Abbott told KLBK of his face mask mandate. “I made clear that I made this tough decision for one reason: It was our last best effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. If we do not slow the spread of COVID-19 … the next step would have to be a lockdown.” Abbott has pushed that message repeatedly in television interviews this week. But he emphasized Friday that another shutdown was not imminent and he pointed to steps he has taken so far to scale back reopening in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, including the mask order and a requirement that bars, once again, close their doors. He has also tightened restaurant capacity limits. Texas reported 100 more coronavirus deaths on Thursday, another record. In three live television appearances Friday afternoon, Abbott acknowledged that his mask order — that Texans in counties with more than 20 cases wear masks in public — was neither popular nor convenient, but said it was important for everyone to join in the effort. His plea to Texans comes as nearly 80 Texas counties have opted out of the order order, while others are refusing to enforce it. “It’s disappointing,” Abbott told CBS Tyler of government entities who defy his mandate. “I realize that a murderer or rapist or robber is far more serious to concentrate on. However, I know this also: If we do not all join together and unite in this one cause for a short period of time of adopting the masks, it will lead to the necessity of having to close Texas back down,” he said. “That should be the last thing that any government wants.”

As of Thursday afternoon, 2,918 Texas had died of COVID-19. The state also reported nearly another 10,000 new cases of the disease.

Nearly 9,700 people were in Texas hospitals on Thursday, too, the highest number since the pandemic began. With cases of the virus and related hospitalizations rising at alarming rates, Abbott expanded his ban on elective medical procedures Thursday to cover more than 100 counties across much of the state. On Friday afternoon, he also extended his disaster declaration for all Texas counties in response to COVID-19. “If we can get people across the state … to wear face masks, we will be able to keep the state open,” Abbott said in an interview with KSAT. “We will be able to reduce hospitalizations. But if this is not encouraged, if people do not adopt the best practice of wearing a face covering, it will lead to an increase in this rapid spread of COVID-19.”

Atlanta mayor orders city to return to Phase 1 Lockdown as Georgia breaks record for new daily coronavirus cases

Georgia set a new single-day record for new coronavirus cases on Friday, reporting more than 4,400 new infections. The skyrocketing case numbers prompted Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to order the city to reverse its reopening plan and return to Phase 1. Georgia reported 4,484 cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 111,211, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. The state’s total deaths increased to 2,965. Georgia is far from the only state facing an uptick in cases. The United States reported 63,200 coronavirus cases on Thursday – another all-time, single-day high for new confirmed infections. Bottoms issued an order on Friday evening that says Atlanta will return to Phase 1, effective immediately, “in response to the alarming increase” in cases. The city was previously in Phase 2. “Based upon the surge of COVID-19 cases and other data trends, pursuant to the recommendations of our Reopening Advisory Committee, Atlanta will return to Phase I of our reopening plan,” the mayor said in a press release. “Georgia reopened in a reckless manner and the people of our city and state are suffering the consequences.”

Businesses must continue teleworking, and restaurants and retail stores can only remain open for to-go and curbside pickups. All non-essential city facilities will remain closed. Following the announcement, Governor Brian Kemp criticized Bottoms’ decision and said it was “legally unenforceable.” “Atlanta Mayor @KeishaBottoms’ action today is merely guidance – both non-binding and legally unenforceable,” Kemp tweeted. “As clearly stated in my executive orders, no local action can be more or less restrictive, and that rule applies statewide.” “If the Mayor actually wants to flatten the curve in Atlanta, she should start enforcing state restrictions, which she has failed to do,” he continued.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a clash among medical experts over disease transmission that stretches back nearly a century – to the very origins of germ theory.

The Geneva-based World Health Organization acknowledged this week that the novel coronavirus can spread through tiny droplets floating in the air, a nod to more than 200 experts in aerosol science who publicly complained that the U.N. agency had failed to warn the public about this risk.

Yet the WHO still insists on more definitive proof that the novel coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19, can be transmitted through the air, a trait that would put it on par with measles and tuberculosis and require even more stringent measures to contain its spread.

“WHO’s slow motion on this issue is unfortunately slowing the control of the pandemic,” said Jose Jimenez, a University of Colorado chemist who signed the public letter urging the agency to change its guidance.

Jimenez and other experts in aerosol transmission have said the WHO is holding too dearly to the notion that germs are spread primarily though contact with a contaminated person or object. That idea was a foundation of modern medicine, and explicitly rejected the obsolete miasma theory that originated in the Middle Ages postulating that poisonous, foul-smelling vapors made up of decaying matter caused diseases such as cholera and the Black Death. “It’s part of the culture of medicine from the early 20th century. To accept something was airborne requires this very high level of proof,” said Dr. Donald Milton, a University of Maryland aerobiologist and a lead author of the open letter. Such proof could involve studies in which laboratory animals become sickened by exposure to the virus in the air, or studies showing viable virus particles in air samples – a level of proof not required for other modes of transmission such as contact with contaminated surfaces, the letter’s signatories said. For the WHO, such proof is necessary as it advises countries of every income and resource level to take more drastic measures against a pandemic that has killed more than 550,000 people globally, with more than 12 million confirmed infections. For example, hospitals would have to provide more healthcare personnel with heavy-duty N95 respiratory masks – personal protective gear already in short supply – and businesses and schools would need to make improvements to ventilation systems and require wearing masks indoors at all times.

“It would affect our entire way of life. And that’s why it’s a very important question,” said Dr. John Conly, a University of Calgary infectious disease expert who is part of the WHO’s group of experts advising on coronavirus guidelines.

The WHO’s latest guidance document, released on Thursday, called for more research on coronavirus aerosol transmission, which it said “has not been demonstrated.” The agency also repeated a firm cutoff on the size of infectious droplets expelled in coughing and sneezing, noting that most larger droplets are unlikely to travel beyond one meter (3.3 feet) – the basis for their one-meter social distancing guidelines. Milton and others have said larger particles have been shown to spread much farther.Conly and others maintain that if the virus were truly airborne like measles, there would already be many more cases.

WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris rejected the claim by critics that the agency is biased against the idea of aerosol transmission, saying it recognized the possibility of airborne transmission during medical procedures from early on in the pandemic. Harris said it is “quite possible” that aerosolization is a factor in some so-called super-spreading events in which one infected person infects many others in close quarters. Many of these events have occurred in places such as nightclubs where people are packed together and are not likely to be careful about protecting themselves or others from infection. “Most super-spreading events have occurred in indoor places with poor ventilation, with crowding, where it’s very difficult for people to socially distance,” Harris said. That is why, Harris said, the agency has called for urgent studies to figure out “what really happened in these clusters and what were the big factors.”

The June 28 email to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ominous: A senior adviser to a top Health and Human Services Department official accused the CDC of “undermining the President” by putting out a report about the potential risks of the coronavirus to pregnant women. The adviser, Paul Alexander, criticized the agency’s methods and said its warning to pregnant women “reads in a way to frighten women . . . as if the President and his administration can’t fix this and it is getting worse.” As the country enters a frightening phase of the pandemic with new daily cases surpassing 57,000 on Thursday, the CDC, the nation’s top public health agency, is coming under intense pressure from President Trump and his allies, who are downplaying the dangers in a bid to revive the economy ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election. In a White House guided by the president’s instincts, rather than by evidence-based policy, the CDC finds itself forced constantly to backtrack or sidelined from pivotal decisions. The latest clash between the White House and its top public health advisers erupted Wednesday, when the president slammed the agency’s recommendation that schools planning to reopen should keep students’ desks six feet apart, among other steps to reduce infection risks. In a tweet, Trump — who has demanded schools at all levels hold in-person classes this fall — called the advice “very tough & expensive.” “While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” Trump tweeted Wednesday. The CDC was already planning to issue new guidelines in the coming days. But Vice President Pence on Wednesday explicitly tied the effort to Trump’s ire. “The president said today we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough,” Pence told reporters. “And that’s the reason next week the CDC is going to be issuing a new set of tools.” Analysts say the deepening divide is undermining the authority of one of the world’s premier public health agencies, which previously led fights against malaria, smallpox and HIV/AIDS. Amid the worst public health crisis in a century, the CDC has in recent months altered or rescinded recommendations on topics including wearing masks and safely reopening restaurants and houses of worship as a result of conflicts with top administration officials. “At a time when our country needs an orchestrated, all-hands-on-deck response, there is simply no hand on the tiller,” said Beth Cameron, former senior director for global health security and biodefense on the White House National Security Council. In the absence of strong federal leadership, state and local officials have been left to figure things out for themselves, leading to conflicting messaging and chaotic responses. Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization further undermined efforts to influence global strategies against the coronavirus, including how vaccines will be distributed. The CDC, meanwhile, is increasingly isolated — a function both of its growing differences with the White House and of its own significant missteps earlier in the outbreak. Those stumbles include the botched rollout of test kits likely contaminated at a CDC lab in late January, which led to critical delays in states’ ability to know where the virus was circulating. And the CDC’s initial decision to test only a narrow set of people gave the virus a head start spreading undetected across the country. During a May lunch with Senate Republicans, Trump told the group the CDC “blew it” on the coronavirus test and that he’d installed a team of “geniuses” led by his son-in-law Jared Kushner to handle much of the response, according to two people familiar with the lunch who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Knowledge is an enormous burden. Ignorance is indeed bliss. The CDC figures are a understated joke. Here are real numbers from John Hopkins University of the real positiviety rate read them and wheep:

• Data Source:Testing data from The COVID Tracking Project