One MILLION N-95 Masks

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On Twitter some anti-science conspiracy theorist was offering money for people to stop following Tern, a Twitter user who follows the latest COVID research. People kept writing in to see just how much money was being offered. Of course the anti science nerd had no actual figure in mind.

Then my diabolical mind started spinning, Just how much would it take for me to completely ignore the science and return to life as normal as if the virus didn’t exist? I decided my price would be one MILLION N-95 masks. Even the science deniers might have a turn of mind as people keep dying around them. Of course many science deniers have already died.

A study found that twice as many Republicans have died of COVID than Democrats. A refusal to take a simple vaccine is the major cause of those deaths.e

Of course 1,099,866 masks would have been preferable. One for each person in America who died needlessly from an airborne virus. Their lives are worth an unimaginable fortune.

Child COVID Resevoir

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Children spread COVID-19. Children’s ability to fight off infections of all kinds is damaged for months by COVID. We are forcing them to catch the virus repeatedly.

Babies under age 1 might be at higher risk of severe illness with COVID-19 than older children. Newborns can get COVID-19 during childbirth or by exposure to sick caregivers after delivery. If you have COVID-19 or are waiting for test results due to symptoms during your stay in the hospital after childbirth, wear a well-fitting face mask and have clean hands when caring for your newborn. Keeping your newborn’s crib by your bed while you are in the hospital is OK, but maintain a reasonable distance from your baby when possible. When these steps are taken, the risk of a newborn getting COVID-19 is low. However, if you are severely ill with COVID-19, you might need to be temporarily separated from your newborn.

Infants who have COVID-19 but no symptoms might be sent home from the hospital, depending on the circumstances. It’s recommended that the baby’s caregivers wear face masks and wash their hands to protect themselves. Frequent follow-up with the baby’s health care provider is needed — by phone, virtual visits or in-office visits — for 14 days. Infants who test negative for COVID-19 can be sent home from the hospital.

Children with COVID-19 might have many symptoms, only a few symptoms or no symptoms. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 in children are cough and fever. Possible signs and symptoms include:

  • Fever
  • Cough that becomes productive
  • Chest pain
  • New loss of taste or smell
  • Changes in the skin, such as discolored areas on the feet and hands
  • Sore throat
  • Nausea, vomiting, belly pain or diarrhea
  • Chills
  • Muscle aches and pain
  • Extreme fatigue
  • New severe headache
  • New nasal congestion

Anyone who has had COVID-19 can develop a post-COVID-19 condition. Research suggests that children with both mild and severe COVID-19 have experienced long-term symptoms. The most common symptoms in children include:

  • Tiredness or fatigue
  • Headache
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Trouble concentrating
  • Muscle and joint pain
  • Cough

These symptoms could affect your child’s ability to attend school or do his or her usual activities. If your child is experiencing long-term symptoms, consider talking to your child’s teachers about his or her needs.

Animal Reservoirs

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Some have theorized that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was circulating widely in populations of mice before it found its way back into human hosts. That would explain why the variant was so completely different that the previous variants of COVID. It came out of left field, unrelated to strains of the virus that had been mutating in the human population.

Humans as a rule tend to think of themselves as the center of the universe. They are however only a fraction of the life on the planet. Scientists have known for a long time that animals can catch COVID-19. However research has been scant as to exactly which animals have contracted the virus and more importantly how often animals have passed the virus back to humans.

Undoubtedly people have passed the virus to their pets as they become infected multiple times. COVID may have infected over 500 other mammal species. Humans have become complacent about the virus spreading from human to human so of course there is little concern about the virus spreading among animals. The only problem is that the virus tends to mutate differently in other mammals. COVID is not a human virus it is a virus that attacks many species. Mutants of the virus could become more transmissible but no one knows it that has happened.

17 million mink were murdered in Finland in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. China began killing pet store hamsters in another effort stop the spread. It is fascinating how murder is often considered the best solution to a public health issue. Animals who get the virus are often asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. That is another reason people seem blissfully ignorant of this issue.

White tailed deer in America have been rather susceptible to the scourge of the virus. Since hunters wander the woods to kill the deer they might be the ones spreading the disease to the deer population. Researchers test some of the deer killed and an amazing number are infected. Of 481 deer tested, 30% were infected. Another surprise is the the variants found are different that those circulating among humans. One bit of advice to hunters is that they should not eat the brains of their kill.

Sars Ani-Vis has built a site that shows the animal species that are becoming infected and where they are found. The deer population in America has the largest number of documented cases followed by dogs and cats. The numbers however are very small compared to the millions of humans that have died from COVID-19. Not many researchers are following this lead. There is probably not much money in knowing animals are getting infected.

Monkey Business

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The race to develop new COVID vaccines has enriched monkey poachers. Orient Biomedical Center and it’s competitors are being accused by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of an international monkey smuggling ring which is trapping endangered primates and shipping them to United States bio medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies.

Last month the Justice Department charged eight people, including two Cambodian wildlife officials  who conspired to poach monkeys from the wild and supply them to researchers in the United States with false papers saying they had been bread in captivity.

There is a massive demand for monkeys at research facilities in America so this poaching has been going on for years. The recent cases are just the tip of the iceberg. The race for a COVID vaccine exponentially accelerated the demand much like a COVID wave. The U.S. leads the world in its demand for endangered Macaque monkeys for research.

China was the lead supplier of monkeys before the start of the pandemic but they banned the export of monkeys after the spread of the deadly virus. Because of the pandemic demand, a single long tailed monkey could fetch up to $40,000 whereas it cost $3,000 just a couple of years earlier.

Conservationists bcgan to notice an increase in reports of monkeys being pulled of of the wild in Cambodia and South East Asia. In 2019 Cambodia supplied 8,571 monkeys and by 2021 that number had more than doubled to 18,870 monkeys.

In July 2022 the population of Macaque monkeys went from being vulnerable to endangered, because they are being hunted to extinction of the sake of research. Most monkeys die in research facilities. There is money in monkeys, so the dark trade will continue.

After Pulse: Zebra Coalition

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Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Heather Wilke is the director at Zebra Coalition. After the Pulse nightclub massacre the Zebra Coalition provided significant services for the LGBT community. Zebra assists LGBT youth. Heather was at Zebra for about a year and experienced an exciting year of growth and then Pulse happened. Things turned for the entire community. Zebra was suddenly in the spotlight. Everyone was in crisis. For two weeks media was swarming everywhere. As the director she kept getting calls from media for at least six months.

The night before the shooting Heather went to bed at 9pm. She announced on Facebook that she was putting her eye mask on and turning the phone off. With a small child, sleep becomes precious. It was 6 am when she got up and first looked at her phone. She checked on family and friends and then the Zebra kids and staff. Everyone she contacted was fine.

She went to the Center at 8:30am. There was a press conference with LGBT leaders at 10am. That evening there was supposed to be a dinner with friends. That went on hold. The day was a blur of response and reactions. Everyone was in crisis mode. The streets were blocked off in every direction down by Pulse and media was swarming. Police had to redirect traffic on Mills because of the Center across the street. At the Center board members were scrambling to figure out what could be done.

The Center was packed. People needed a community. They needed to physically be around people and have a place to gather. The Center became that. It was a beautiful thing to witness.  Security came out to figure out who could go in. People brought food. Overflow supplies went to the Zebra Coalition.

The Zebra Coalition put everything aside and responded to the community needs. They responded to survivors, youth that were in the club at the time of the shooting. Zebra became the hotline for two weeks. They already had a 24 hour hotline that then was directed towards the crisis. Mental heath counselors in the community all stepped up. All the volunteers were organized. People rotated through Zebra. Counselors came in for 3 to 4 hour shifts 24 hour a day. Many of the calls were not from youth but instead from people who wanted to help.

People started bringing water to the coalition. They had water from floor to ceiling in the back room. Startbucks came by every day with coffee. Universal Studios brought lunch every day. Church groups and school groups came by delivering trinkets. At one point all the windows at Zebra were full of art. One group delivered rainbows so there were rainbows everywhere. Therapists made “You Matter” cards. The school of holistic medicine brought by essential oils.

After several weeks the Orlando United Assistance Center (OUAC) took over the organizational aspects of donations and distribution. Zebra went back to business as usual with a different lens. They were always supporting youth in crisis, but now they had this trauma lens. Youth felt unsafe. It was about a week before many regulars started coming back. They were scared, they didn’t want to leave their houses. When they already had anxiety and depression issues, they wanted to get them back to actively engage with them. That fear lingers. The past Pride, people didn’t want to go into massive group gatherings. People felt they have a target on them.

Zebra did work with several youth who were in the club at the time of the shooting. Noises can trigger the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). One youth didn’t reach out for help until six months later. For the most part however, OUAC handled survivors and families of the victims.

For six months Heather was working in non stop crisis mode. After six months she finally got some time to decompress and the enormity of what had happened sank in.

 

 

 

After Pulse: Magic

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Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Alex Martins is the CEO of the Orlando Magic and served as chair of the board of directors for the One Orlando Fund.

On June 12, 2016, his phone started buzzing early in the morning. It was off season for the Magic so there was no reason for all the calls. On those early hours there was a lack of information combined with speculation. Was it a terrorist attack or a mass shooting? There were so many questions. As the news spread beyond Orlando there were notes and calls from family and others from around the country to check and be sure everyone was safe.

There was a vast amount of helicopter activity. As the morning wore on and information came out, the mayor held a press briefing and the significance of what had occurred became a reality. Besides shock, there was anger and concern. He stayed glued to the news coverage.

He reached out to Mayor Dyer to see how the Magic could help. Out of those conversations the request was born for him to chair the One Orlando Fund. On June 17, 2016 the fund to help the victims was announced. There were more questions than details but there was forward momentum to help.

The Magic made a significant donation to the one Orlando Fund. That is the one area where they could assist the most. He had to learn how these victims relief funds had been dealt with in other tragedies. Getting the counsel of Ken Feinberg who had experience in handling this before was one of the best decisions the Mayor made to get the One Orlando Fund on track.

There was representation from the largest downers as well as from the LGBT community and Hispanic community. Who would best be served by the funds? Would the funds be for the victims who were in the Pulse Nightclub or the business down the street that got shut down for weeks? Every board member had a voice. There was much debate. The board decided to disperse the funds only to the victims in several different categories based on injuries or death and the victim’s families of those who were killed.

The approval process had to be vetted. Proof had to be provided through the FBI and the local authorities that the victims were at the Pulse nightclub that night. These types of tragedies also bring out the worst in people. There have been fraudulent activities in victim compensation funds in other cities. the burden of proof had to be there.

Funds were distributed according to a tiered system based on the amount of impact that each applicant had from the tragedy. Families received the largest individual shares. Those in the hospital the longest were the next tier. Time in the hospital would be a proxy for how much would be dispersed.

People needed help. The first disbursement was within 30 days. After that disbursement, funds kept coming in. A second wave of checks went to victims. This tragedy brought our community together in a way that it had never com together before.

Town Square

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Under Musk‘s ownership, Twitter stopped taking action against tweets breaching its Covid rules, as of Wednesday, 23 Nov 2022. Twitter had previously suspended more than 11,000 accounts for Covid misinformation as of September 2022.

The former president who promoted and supported an attack on the Capitol to stop the certification of the presidential election was also invited back. His account was permanently suspended after the insurrection. Apparently 62,000 suspended accounts have been re-instated. Twitter also reinstated the personal account of US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, banned in January 2022. Now that accounts that spread misinformation have been given amnesty, it is unclear if they will return, or new ones will be emboldened to share incorrect information, that could influence the decisions people make about their health.

I have used Twitter extensively throughout the pandemic to learn about the latest research and trends as the virus spread. I have been seeing these Twitter feeds report that they are loosing thousands of followers after Musk took control of the company. Republican politicians on the other hand are gaining thousands of followers. Notably Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Representative Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif.; and Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., lost about 100,000 Twitter followers since Musk bought Twitter, while Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, gained more than 300,000. Exactly what is causing these trends is not yet known.

Musk fired thousands of employees which will clearly result in far less moderation of hate speech and the resulting violence. He was forced to pause the initial launch of an $8 per month Twitter Blue service after users abused the system by purchasing blue check marks to impersonate brands and famous people. Drug company Eli Lilly, who manufactures Insulin, had to apologized for a misleading tweet in which someone pretending to be the company wrote, “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.”  After that debacle, the drug company suspended advertising on Twitter worth millions of dollars. Musk banned some impersonators before he shut the service down, raising questions about his definition of free speech.

Experts have argued that there has been an exponential increase in hate speech, harassment and misinformation on the platform since the billionaire purchased the social media site. Barbara F. Walter, has written about the potential for social media to fuel a decentralized civil war. She studied civil wars and insurrections in foreign countries for the CIA and realized that eh United States is backsliding towards armed conflict as well thanks in part to social media promoting extremism. Extremism generates more clicks.

 

 

 

Multi System Cluster Bomb

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Research led by Monash University has highlighted the need for General practitioners and physicians to know the COVID history of patients they treat. The study published in MJA looked at hospitalizations that had causes other than respiratory complications. COVID-19 is not a simple respiratory disease. CODID is not a cold or the flu.

Data from laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases prior to the vaccine rollout were compared to hospital admission data prior to Omicron. “The incidence of hospitalization within 89 days of onset of COVID-19 was higher than during the baseline period for several conditions, including myocarditis and pericarditis, thrombocytopenia, pulmonary embolism, acute myocardial infarction, and cerebral infarction.” Simply stated “there are considerable risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection beyond the initial COVID-19 illness”, said epidemiologist and PhD candidate Stacey Rowe.

“You are 15 times more likely to acquire myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) requiring hospitalizations following COVID-19 compared with beforehand,” she said. “Things like heart attacks, or acute myocardial infarction occur quite proximally to getting COVID infection, but other conditions such as the clotting conditions – pulmonary embolism, for example — that risk was highest later in the course of COVID illness, highest around 14 to 60 days following COVID illness.”

COVID-19 is a multi-organ disease, it’s not just a respiratory infection. Rowe and colleagues recommend vaccination and “other mitigation strategies”. You are better off not getting COVID. The problem of course is that Americans are done with mitigation strategies of any type. In a pandemic, 15% of people make decisions that help, 15% make decisions that hinder their survival, the rest just follow the herd. The herd has decided to let the virus rip.

Foxconn

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Protests erupted at Foxconn the huge iPhone manufacturing plant in Zhenvgzhou China.Police in hazmat suits clubbed the factory workers protesting.

Last month, the factory was locked down due to rising COVID cases. Some workers scaled the fences to break out and go home. Former workers estimate that thousands have fled the factory campus. The company then recruited new workers with the promise of generous bonuses.

Rumors circulated that new recruits were being asked to share dormitories with workers who were Covid-positive. When new workers arrived they were told they would not get the bonuses promised until they had worked at the much lower pay for several weeks. One protestor via a live stream said, “They changed the contract so that we could not get the subsidy as they had promised. They quarantine us but don’t provide food.”

Foxconn has established closed loop operations at the plant, keeping it isolated from the wider city of Zhengzhou. Workers are not supposed to leave. The Zhengzhou plant employs more than 200,000 people. It is not known how many are infected with COVID. “It’s now evident that closed-loop production in Foxconn only helps in preventing COVID from spreading to the city, but does nothing (if not make it even worse) for the workers in the factory,” Aiden Chau of China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based advocacy group, said in an email.

Foxconn has apologized for a “technical error” in its payment systems, a day after its iPhone factory in China was rocked by angry protests. The iPhone factory apologized for the violence against employees. One new employee was paid 8,000 yuan ($1,120) and was set to receive another 2,000 yuan ($280).

China has recorded its highest number of daily Covid cases since the pandemic began,

 

COVID-19 Orphans

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A paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association out of the University of Oxford, reported that 10.5 million children world wide have lost parents or care givers due to COVID-19 from January 1, 2020 to May 1. 2022. 7.5 million children were left orphaned with both parents dying from COVID-19. The Imperial College of London offers a daily report on the number of children who have lost a care giver on any given day. As of September 13, 2022 that number has risen to 10.6 million children.

40.6% of these children are in South East Asia, 24.3% are in Africa, 14% in the Americas, 14.6 in the Eastern Mediterranean, 4.7% in Europe, and 1.8% in the Western Pacific region. In India there are 3.5 million orphaned children due to COVID-19.

In America from April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, data suggest that more than 140,000 children under age 18 in the United States lost a parent, custodial grandparent, or grandparent caregiver who provided the child’s home and basic needs, including love, security, and daily care. Approximately 1 out of 500 children in the United States has experienced COVID-19-associated orphan hood or death of a grandparent caregiver. “Children facing orphan hood as a result of COVID is a hidden, global pandemic that has sadly not spared the United States,” said Susan Hillis, CDC researcher and lead author of the study.

With America’s COVID-19 relief funding being cut by the Senate across the board, there is no help for these children who have lost everything. Florida’s “Stunt Governor” Ron DeathSantis has vowed to coerce as many of Florida’s COVID orphans as he can onto a plane to Martha’s Vineyard to gain notoriety in his bid to run for president.