China Wave

Posted on by Thor

China’s Zero COVID policy has crumbled after protests in the streets over what the American media called a draconian policy. The same people who considered the zero COVID policy as heavy handed are now gleefully pointing out that millions will become infected once that policy was reversed. China is going to far as to insist that people go to work even if they know they are infected.

I for one was happy to see China trying to do something about the pandemic. However Omicron is so infectious that a zero COVID policy was impossible to enforce. Up until the Zero COVID policy reversal, China saw few infections since the initial outbreak in Wuhan. The Chinese New Year was a massively effective way that the virus spread in the first weeks of the pandemic. Chinese workers would travel far to be with family for the new year celebrations.The same mass exodus is about to happen now that the virus is spreading rapidly in the vaccinated and population. The Chinese New Year celebrations are on January 22, 2022, it will be a super spreader event.

Spiraling infections in China have led to shortages of cold medicine, long lines at fever clinics, and at-capacity emergency rooms turning away patients. China has stopped genomic sequencing of the virus strains in the country.The danger is a new variant of the virus developing.

America has decided that it needs to insist that any person flying from China must test negative for COVID. Italy has also decided to test all passengers coming in from China. On a recent flight into Italy half of the passengers tested positive for COVID-19. The virus does not respect borders or walls. Had flight been stopped in the first week of the pandemic then the virus might have been contained, but that opportunity has long passed. Around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID-19, UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on December 29, 2022.

If there is a new variant coming in from China it will have free reign to spread in America in a few weeks. No border wall will stop it.

Corpses Carry COVID

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Since the beginning of the pandemic, people have suspected that corpses carry COVID. Now there is a study that verifies this. A corps is infectious up to 17 days after death according to a study published in the International Journal of Legal Medicine. The study shows that a corpse can carry a significant amount of the virus. They found that dead hamsters can transmit the virus to cage mates.

Researchers found that six of the 11 corpses they tested had high amounts of virus in their noses and lungs after they died. Researchers found the most virus in the lungs, as opposed to the upper respiratory tract, and said gases that build up after death can be released through any orifice, including the mouth, and may carry disease.

Embalming can help prevent transmission, as will the Japanese practice of “angel care,” which is plugging the mouth, nose, ears, and anus with cotton pads.

Those who are most at risk are morticians and health care workers. If you are at a funeral, you should be cautious around your loved one’s remains. Of course you are much more likely to become infected from friends and relatives at a funeral rather than a corpse. You should take the usual precautions at a funeral, wear a quality and well fitted kn95 or n95 mask indoors. If there is poor ventilation indoors then step outside for air. Social distance, and wash your hands often.

New Year 2023

Posted on by Thor

Complacency settled in by the end of 2022 as people yearned for some semblance of pre pandemic normalcy. The Unites States dropped all forms of control measures. Masks were stripped off and people gathered in large groups once more. The virus is now free to board any plane and spread around the world.

The virus began in China and now it is ripping though that country once again. Research models are predicting on million deaths in China over the course of the new year. China is not a highly vaccinated country, so the population has no immunity to fight infection.

Like the waves crashing against the shore the COVID waves have continued ceaselessly over the past three years. Rather than diminishing in side they remain large and overwhelming to the world population. Over 400 people continue to die every day in America from COVID with the average rising %15 from last week. That is like 4 plane crashes every day will everyone on board dying.

In 2023 new variants of the virus will continue to emerge. Many countries around the worlds only have 25% of their population vaccinated. That is not enough to stop the continued spread. What happens in China will happen another nations in the following weeks.

Just as most of the population have surrendered to the virus and are ignorantly wishing it away. The health care professionals are abandoning hope and getting out of the profession. So what lies ahead in 2023? More of the same I am afraid, until people and governments get their heads out of the sand and promote simple health guidelines. Improve indoor air filtration, mask indoors, social distance and wash hands. It is all so simple yet politics got in the way of people caring about one another.

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.

COVID Dummies

Posted on by Thor

A new study in  The American Journal of Medicine has shown that people who have not gotten the latest COVID vaccine are assholes on the roadways. People who have skipped getting a COVID vaccine are more likely to get into a car crash according to the study.

During the summer of 2021, Canadian researchers examined the encrypted government-held records of more than 11 million adults, 16% of whom hadn’t received the COVID vaccine. They found that the unvaccinated people were 72% more likely to be involved in a severe traffic crash—in which at least one person was transported to the hospital—than those who were vaccinated.

Of course, skipping a COVID vaccine does not mean that someone will get into a car crash. Instead, the authors theorize that people who resist public health recommendations might also “neglect basic road safety guidelines.” In other words they are assholes.

Why would they ignore the rules of the road? Distrust of the government, a belief in freedom, misconceptions of daily risks, “faith in natural protection,” “antipathy toward regulation,” poverty, misinformation, a lack of resources, and personal beliefs are potential reasons proposed by the authors.

The authors advise, that that primary care doctors should consider counseling unvaccinated patients on traffic safety—and insurance companies might base changes to insurance policies on vaccination data.

After Pulse: Bryan Batien

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Bryan Batien is a psychologist at the Orlando Veterans Administration Medical Center. After the Pulse nightclub massacre the Orlando VA offered significant volunteer counseling to members of the community, victims families and survivors.

The morning after the Pulse nightclub shooting Brian’s wife turned on the TV. News of the shooting was on all of the channels. They sat and watched all of the updates, feeling helpless. His wife is also a psychologist and they are used to working with trauma so they knew how devastating this would be for the community. They both wanted to help. They both work with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and realized this might trigger some of the vets they work with. They realized there might be a flood of people going to the Lake Nona clinic.

He texted his chief of psychology and said he could go into the VA if needed. Half an hour later he got a text back about the emergency response team. Bryan had been to the Institute of Disaster Mental Health so he and his wife had training in psychological first aid and responding to disasters and emergencies. The text response asked if he could get to the Hampton Inn in 45 minutes. This is where the families of victims and survivors were meeting. He had no idea what he would be doing at the location.

The Va sent several giant buses that can be used as portable offices and medical exam rooms. Families were there because they could not get a hold of their loved ones. Families were starting to collect there and waited, not knowing. A briefing was vague, they were asked to do what they can and answer questions. Give people water, guide them if they don’t know where to go. Just be there if people need to talk. As they identified the victims,  both in the hospital and deceased, they slowly figured out how to notify families. That went on throughout the night.

The second day they went to the Beardall Center and the process was much the same. They pulled in families one at a time, and the psychologists would be there with the family. Families saw other families come out of those rooms, so they suspected the outcome. But there is always the hope that their loved on was recovering in the hospital.

This was the first time he had to be involved in giving death notifications. The first time he entered one of the rooms with a family, he didn’t know what to expect. After being told, the family would be in the room for quite a while.  When hope was shattered there would be a floodgate of emotion, grief, sadness, loss, and pain. It took a long time to get to a place where they could leave. As a psychologist he is used to working towards a goal, but here, he could do nothing. The process became a blur.

 

 

After Pulse: Benjamin Lehnertz

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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.

Father Benjamin Lehnertz is a Roman Catholic priest of the diocese of Orlando. On Sunday June 12, 2016, he had finished his first mass, and parishioners were gathered in the narthex. They asked him if he had heard about the shooting at Pulse. This was the first he heard about it. That was about 25 minutes from where he lived. He visits people in the hospital right down the street from the nightclub. That hit close to home.

He then got a text from his brother who lives in Australia. Early in the day, the numbers were about 15 to 20 people dead, That number climbed through the day. It kept getting worst and worst. More details came from people throughout the morning as the 12:15 mass approached. The heaviness of it descended on the parish.

Benjamin lived in Colorado when Columbine happened. He was in middle school. He had learned how to brace for the news of a mass shooting. He thought to himself, “we are not going to let them make us scared.”

By the afternoon he was seated with this mother, and stepfather. he felt powerless and shell shocked. What could he do to help? A deacon called, and said, they needed Spanish speaking ministers. Benjamin knows enough Spanish to get by, he holds mass in Spanish, he can read Spanish.

So he and his parents went down to the Hampton Inn. They both have crisis management expertise in their backgrounds. There was a sea of people, many traumatized. Family were trying to find where their loved ones were. It is always better to know what you are dealing with. Questions weigh on people. That was a very unique scenario to walk into. It is not a scene he would ever want to revisit.

Organizationally it was a nightmare. There were plenty of counselors and plenty of ministers, deacons and priests. There were some confirmed deaths, and they were trying to notify family members. Someone was coordinating clergy. He had been to hospitals so he was familiar with breaking such news to family. It was a very slow process. The family would need to be identified and the brought to a room in the hotel where the news was forwarded. They would react as they needed.

Clergy huddled in the hallway. If the family had a catholic background then someone would come out and ask, “Can you come and be with us?” Over the course of three hours they saw like 3 families. He decided that waiting in the hallway was a waist of time so he went downstairs to see if people needed to talk. He sat with people who were crying or alone. His was there to listen and offer pastoral support. His parents did the same, they found one person and talked to them.

Late in the day he had to get back to the church for the evening mass. He left his car with his parents and had the deacon drive him back. The evenings homily was very different than the morning homily. The church was packed that night. He spoke from the heart. He asked all to pray for the families. For the first time he put his head in his hands and sobbed.

After mass his mom had driven back from the Hampton Inn. She hugged him an cried. She said, “Ben, it was so awful.” The room was full of people who had not been notified at the end of the day. Someone in a uniform stood up on a desk and said, “everyone be quiet and listen closely.” He then he proceeded to read a list of names. No one knew what that list was. Someone would hear their child’s name and they didn’t know weather to panic or be consoled. Chatter drowned out the announcement. People could not hear the names. Finally he announced that the names were people who were injured but survived the shooting. Staff from the hospital were outside. People who heard the name of a loved one were asked to exit the hotel. Hospital staff would give more information.

90% of the people remained in the room. They were told that there was no information about their loved ones. People were told to go to the Beardall Center the next day. Everyone walked out to a wall of news cameras and the worst question of their lives looming in their minds.

After Pulse: Myra Brazell

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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.

Myra Brazell is a social worker. She grew up with in a family that was very service oriented. Her father was in the service and on holiday’s there were always younger airmen who were invited into the home. Her father is a 60 year Mason, and a 50 year Shriner. Those fraternal organizations are very service oriented. Her mother is an Eastern Star affiliated with the masonic family and service oriented. She grew up in the mindset of serving others.

A suicide prevention coordinator position opened in the Orlando Veterans Administration. She started in 2009. She had worked with children earlier in her career and the new position was more intense involving all ages. She now has clients who are children and adults. There is a crisis line so she handles those as well. Originally she had a grant to go into the community with police as a mental health professional to help police decide if someone should be placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold, known as a Baker Act. She would also offer services on the spot to help with a less restrictive environment.

On June 11, 2016, the day before the Pulse Nightclub shooting, she was in Panama City with her grand children. She was driving on I-75 when her phone started blowing up. She works closely with the LGBT program manager. Suicide is a major issue in the LGBT community. She attends the come out with pride walk each year and keeps a table. She attends the trans gender day of remembrance each year. She is also on the directors 50 which is the disaster response team at the VA.

A call that day deployed her to the Beardall Center. She got to the Beardall about 4:30 after her long drive on I-75. Others had been there all day. Inside the center there was controlled chaos. No one group seemed to be in charge. She started walking around and listened. If she heard someone in distress, she would talk to them. She got tissues, got water, cried with people, hugged them. She tried to meet them where they were. No one is going to take the news of this type of disaster well.

About 6:30 they started to do death notifications at homes. She stayed through the night. She rode in the back seat of a police car and drove to homes. She said nothing. Her roll was to watch and provide support.

In one house the man was all alone. He had lost a brother. He kept asking the police man to check with the morgue. He might have seen a white shirt, but was it a white shirt with a pattern? Then he needed to know what the socks looked like. There were four calls to the morgue. The person had already been positively identified with a drivers license in his pocket. They were empathetic, kind and  professional. They understood this man’s need to know. Most of his family was gathered and waiting for more family to fly in from Puerto Rico. They stayed with him for an hour to be sure he was alright.

She went to three notifications that night.

The families banded together. They were there for one another. It was such a privilege to be there.

Joseph Patrick, Annie Jane Corr

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Patrick Joseph Corr died before I was born. Annie Jane Farmer-Corr died just 3 years after I was born, so I have no memory of my grandparents. Both of them were born in New York City, Joseph in 1870 and Annie Jane in 1874. Joseph’s family lived on West 25th street and Annie Jane was baptized a block away on West 26th street so it is safe to assume they lived close together in what is now Chelsea, NYC.

In 1898 they got married at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 142 Street and 7th Avenue, New York City. The clergyman was listed as living at 211 West 141 Street which is today the site of the Harlem Cathedral, St. Charles Borromeo. The church where Joseph and Annie Jane were married was sold and the new Cathedral built a block away. I haven’t been able to find out what the original church looked like yet.

The couple moved up to Harlem in NYC on the East side to raise their family. Joseph Patrick Corr supported the family as a plumber. They had 4 children while living in NYC. One son only lived a year. The building was an average five story apartment building four windows wide. Elevated train tracks built of dark iron stood as tall as the building. I imagine the roar would have been deafening as the trains clanked up 8th Avenue in front of their windows. The apartment building no longer stands, having been replaced by a huge public housing  complex. The elevated trains were moved underground.

Between 1905 and 1910 the couple decided to move to Bergen County, New Jersey. By 1918 they were living in Dumont, New Jersey and they stayed in that home for the rest of their lives. They had one more child in the New Jersey suburbs. Their home had raw exposed stonework and a large front porch. The house underwent extensive renovations recently and now sports boring aluminum siding.

I have a childhood memory of watching a July 4th parade from in front of my grandparent’s home. The only thing I remember is that the drums from the marching bands were frighteningly loud. I had to cover my ears.