Florida Insurrectionists

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The January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol as clearly a superspreader event gone wild. Jonathan Fielding, a professor at the schools of Public Health and Medicine at UCLA, told the Washington Post, “If you wanted to organize an event to maximize the spread of COVID it would be difficult to find one better than the one we witnessed,” he said.

CDC Director Robert Redfield said “The storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump on Wednesday was probably a superspreader event that “will have public health consequences.”

Contact tracing will be nearly impossible. Protesters came from all over the country and few of them were identified or arrested. This, allowing the mask less rioters to take planes and cars home to their home states spreading the virus across the country.

As rioters are arrested there will likely be outbreaks in the Washington D.C. prisons and jails. As well as prisons all across the country. Epidemiologist will find it challenging to track the spread since the anti masking MAGAts are not likely to cooperate with health experts.

There were quite a few Florida idiots were among the horde that descended on the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the counting of the Electoral votes. I included 10 of those idiots in my illustration allowing them to breath each others viral filth. Who knows exactly how many more are out there.

Half Mast for Rush

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Florida Governor Ron DuhSantis said he will order flags flown at half mast for the passing of the late conservative radio host, Rush Limbaugh. Rush died at the age of 70 from lung cancer. He was a long time denier of the risks of smoking. As he put it, “Smokers aren’t killing anybody.”

Rush’s hate filled radio take show helped fuel the divide that allowed the former 45th president to rise to power. Rush was the king of polarization and hate. The former president followed in his foot steps and gave his mentor a Medal of Freedom in return.

Usually flags are only flown at half mast in the event of the death of a present or former official of the Florida State government or the death of a member of the Armed Forces from Florida who dies while serving on active duty.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) called the governor’s decision “an embarrassment to Florida.”
“Rush Limbaugh weaponized his platform to spread racism, xenophobia and homophobia across the nation,” she said in a tweet. “His constant hateful rhetoric caused untold damage to our political landscape.
Florida Senate Democratic leader Gary Farmer issued a statement in which he said, in part, “I condemn the governor’s decision in no uncertain terms. Any move to lower our flag in deference to a man who helped drive the hatred and inflame the prejudices against marginalized groups, people of color, women, and anyone who did not look like him or think like him is wrong, and should be rescinded.”
DeSantis made his flag statement February 19, 2021 at a fundraiser he was holding for more than 100 mostly maskless donors at Hilton Palm Beach Airport Hotel. Palm Beach County has a mask mandate aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19. The mask mandate is in effect in the county until March 19, 2021. Facial coverings must be worn by anyone obtaining any goods or services, or otherwise visiting or working in any business or establishment in the county. The hotel is now under investigation to see if they should face fines and penalties.
There were 5117 new cases of COVID-19 in Palm Beach County and 219 people died on the day of the flag announcement. In my illustration, Sanford Florida firefighter Andrew Williams, who was photographed inside the Capitol points at the flags. He pleaded not guilty to two charges connected to the Capitol riots in a Washington federal court on January 19, 2021. He is facing one count of unlawful entry of a restricted building and one count of disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. The FBI has two videos and one still picture of Williams inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. According to the filing, in one of the videos, Williams allegedly turns the camera on himself and then says, “We are storming the Capitol. Yeah baby!” Rush would be proud.

Neanderthal DNA

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Some people have a 22% lower risk of having a severe case of COVID-19 thanks t their Neanderthal DNA. Hugo Zeberg from Karolinska Institute in Sweden has done  done extensive research into these ancient genes. Neanderthal DNA makes up 1% to 2% of the genomes of many people of European and Asian descent.

The advantage comes from a single haplotype a long block of DNA on chromosome 12. The same haplotype has been shown to protect people against West Nile, hepatitis C, and SAR.

Zeberg along with Svante Pääbo at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology relied on the genomes of three Neanderthals, two whose remains were found in southern Siberia and one from Croatia. The DNA dates back 50,000 to 120,000 years. They compared those Neanderthal genomes to the DNA of thousands of people with severe COVID-19. Zeberg’s research suggests that around 25% to 30% of people in Europe and Asia carry the protective haplotype.

However, a prior study from Zeberg and Pääbo, published in September 2020, showed that not all Neanderthal DNA confers an advantage. In that research, they found that some modern humans have inherited a haplotype on chromosome 3 that puts them at higher risk of respiratory failure due to COVID-19. That particular gene cluster was found in the Neanderthal from Croatia. About 16% of people in Europe carry the dangerous one.

If you aren’t sure of your Neanderthal DNA sequence, be sure to wear a mask, social distance and wash your hand often. Thankfully many of us in this century have running water.

MIS-C

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Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) cases in children have been on the rise possibly from the holiday season COVID-19 surge. Hospitals in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Colorado, Nebraska and New Jersey have reported an increase in cases.

The uptick in MIS-C cases coincides with a decrease in COVID-19 cases nationwide, in the wake of a post-holiday surge. Experts believe that there is often a lag — sometimes three to four weeks — between COVID-19 infections and the onset of MIS-C symptoms.

Most children infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. While MIS-C is rare, its effects can be devastating and life-threatening, with some patients experiencing inflammation of the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs.

“The rise in MIS-C cases is likely due to the rise in number of COVID-19 infections, ultimately from the recent holiday surges like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and the Super Bowl,” said Dr. Todd Ellerin, an ABC News contributor and infectious disease specialist at South Shore Health. According to the CDC, at least 2.8 million U.S. cases of COVID-19 have been in children. There have been about 2,060 cases of MIS-C, to which 30 deaths have been attributed.

L.A. County reported a 35% increase in children with MIS-C over the last two weeks.

Capitol Police Infected

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38 Capitol Police have tested positive for COVID-19 after the attack on January 6, 2021. Health officials have worried that the thousands of unmasked Trump supporters who  stormed the Capitol would cause a super-spreader event that could expose local residents and law enforcement officers to coronavirus. The new cases at the Capitol Police, which were first reported by the New York Times, mark the highest spike among force in months.

The officer’s union could also not confirm that those officers were on duty the day of the attack. Several police officers were directly assaulted during the insurrection.

Approximately 150 National Guard troops have also tested positive since the attack, CBS News reported.

Gus Papathanasiou, chairman of the U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee said, “The union had been pushing the department for testing and recently pushing for vaccines, but the incompetence of the USCP chiefs of police, both former and current with the new acting chief and assistant chiefs, speaks volumes of the lack of leadership at the top of the USCP,” in an emailed statement to DCist/WAMU he said. “The continued systemic failures ‎of this Department is unacceptable and the congressional community as well as the officers that put their lives on the line every day deserve better than being led by inept chiefs of police.”

Steven Sund, the Capitol Police chief, stepped down from his role following the riots, and Yogananda Pittman was named acting chief, becoming the first woman and first Black officer to lead the force. A number of Capitol Police officers were suspended and at least a dozen were investigated for their involvement in or support of the violence.

The Metropolitan Police Department, which at one point led the effort to clear the angry mob from the Capitol, has also seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases. As of January 6, 2021 a total of 498 MPD personnel had tested positive over the course of the pandemic. By Jan. 21, that number had jumped by 82, reaching 580 total cases. It appears to be one of the biggest jumps in positive cases in the recent data.

 

B117 Ground Zero

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In The United States, Florida is ground zero for the highly contagious British variant of the COVID-19 virus known as B117. The number of cases in Florida had quadrupled  in the last month. Thee are 380 cases as of February 17, 2021. B117 is much more contagious than the initial version of COVID-19. It has also been found to be up to 70% more lethal that the initial version of COVID-19.  South Florida leads the state in the number of cases with Broward County showing the biggest numbers. B117, is one of several strains, including ones first detected in Brazil and South Africa, that could spread and kill more efficiently than their predecessors, making it more difficult for the world to emerge from the pandemic. With Florida wide open for business, it can spread among the population at ease.

Country wide the number of COVID cases has been dropping, but this new variant might reverse that trend where it gains a foothold. Researchers fear that B117 will become the predominant strain of the virus in America by March 2021. So far, research suggests current vaccines work just as well against the U.K. variant.

“Florida is leading the way in terms of one of the fastest rates of B117,” Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist with the Federation of American Scientists, told CBS12 News. “Every exhalation of breath has [a] more higher concentration of the virus. And that is why it is so much more transmissible.” Florida does not place any restrictions on capacity or enforce social distancing in businesses. Mask mandates are in place but individuals can’t be fined for not wearing a mask.

Despite the spread of B117 in Florida, tourists have flown into the state in droves and are more than happy to fly back home bringing B117 back with them.

Florida Men Invade Capitol

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Florida Man, Adam Johnson was photographed stealing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s lectern on January 6, 2021 during the insurrection of Donald J. Trump. Johnson was arrested in Bradenton Florida and released on $25,000 bond on January 8, 2021 awaiting trail. He has been charged with three felonies.

He was released on conditions that his wife co-sign his $25,000 bond and that he abides by a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew with GPS monitoring. He also was ordered to surrender all firearms and other dangerous weapons and any travel documents including his passport.

His travel will be restricted to the Middle District of Florida and Washington, D.C. – the latter only for court matters. He is also required to submit to substance abuse testing and evaluation as determined appropriate by pretrial services.

Johnson’s next appearance is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2021 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Other Florida Men arrested for their actions on January 6 , 2021 include, include,

Joseph R. Biggs 37, Ormond Beach, FL, a Florida-based organizer of Proud Boys events. Arrested on January 17, 2021. He was granted a $25,000 unsecured bond in Orlando.

Samuel Camargo, 26, Broward County, FL. He was arrested at Biden’s inauguration Wednesday after police failed to find him in his Broward County home. A former classmate and social media friend tipped off the FBI that Camargo had posted pictures and content on his Instagram and Facebook pages showing him participating in the rally and riot on Jan. 6.

Matthew Council 49, Riverview, FL allegedly pushed an officer after unlawfully entering the Capitol building, according to the Department of Justice.

Michael Curzio 35, Summerfield, Marion County, FL, He was released from prison in February 2019 following an 8 year sentence for attempted first-degree murder, according to records from the Florida Department of Corrections. He was initially arrested on January 6, 2021 when he was caught near the House atrium during a riot at the Capitol. He was arrested again January 11, 2021 in Marion County Florida.

Gabriel Augustin Garcia, FL was a former Army captain. The FBI said that Gabriel Augustin Garcia published live footage from inside the building. He is a reported member of the right-wing group Proud Boys. He was arrested on January 16, 2021. Garcia turned the camera to himself while filming and said: “We just went ahead and stormed the Capitol. It’s about to get ugly.” A crowd around him chanted “Our house!”

Vitali Goss Jankowski, Honeycutt, FL is a deaf man. In a publicly available video, he is shown near an entrance to the U.S. Capitol building, assisting with passing ballistic shields away, and possessing a black-colored handheld Taser that was handed to him. He activating the Taser multiple times, and pushing himself towards the police line that was protecting the entrance to the U.S. Capitol building.

Rachel Lynn Pert 40, and Dana Joe Winn 45, Middleburg FL, a couple live-streamed their drive to D.C. for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “We’re on our way to DC because us as American patriots, we’re tired of this shit,” Winn allegedly said in their live-stream. “It’s time to make a stand. I never really knew how deep and corrupt all this crap was and how far back it’s gone. But American needs to wake up. We’re on the verge of fucking losing it.”

Steve Omar Maldanado, 40, Central FL. He was arrested by FBI agents February 10, 2021 at the Orlando International Airport. Maldonado was identified by three unidentified acquaintances who have known him “for many years.” He was released on a $25,000 bond in Orlando Florida, and his case was removed to a court in Washington, D.C.

Anthony Mariotto, 52, Fort Pierce FL. His next court date is set for March 30, 2021. He took a photo of himself in the house chambers. His Facebook post stated, “This is our house.”

Felipe Marquez 25, Coral Springs, Fl drove his Tesla to DC to be a part of the insurrection. He posted several videos of himself at the scene onto the social media app Snapchat.

Jesus D. Rivera, Pensacola FL was arrested January 17, 2021. Rivera uploaded a five-minute video to his Facebook account on Jan. 6, in which he can be identified among people involved in the Capitol riot. Earlier the day of the riot, Rivera made two Facebook live broadcasts showing him approach the Capitol, and the building surrounded by protesters. Rivera was scheduled to appear in court at 3 p.m.January 17, 2021 before Chief United States Magistrate Judge Elizabeth M. Timothy at the U.S. Courthouse in Pensacola Florida.

Michael Stepakoff 55, Palm Harbor, Fl, Messianic rabbi. In Capitol surveillance video, the DOJ said he could be seen taking approximately eight photos with his cell phone. A person familiar with Stepakoff for roughly 20 years was able to identify him to officials. He took a selfie showing him outside the Capitol in a large group of people. Stepakoff’s wife commented on one of his posts saying, “please continue to [pray] for his protection and to be safe. He texted me privately and said he is okay but it’s very dangerous where he is- He was inside the Capital Building.”

Bradley Weeks 43, Macclenny, Baker County, FL faced a federal magistrate in Jacksonville February 8, 2021. He was released on a $5,000 “signature bond,” where no cash was paid up-front but he could be forced to pay if he violated terms of his release.

Andrew Williams, Sanford FL, firefighter and paramedic. He was arrested January 9, 2021 by federal law enforcement. He was brought to the federal courthouse in Orlando in shackles. Williams was released from custody January 9, 2021 and ordered to have a psychiatric and mental health evaluation. He also must stay in the state’s Middle District, except to attend court proceedings in Washington, D.C.

Cheersport Nationals

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Gimme a C, gimme an O, gimme a V, gimme an I, gimme a D! Whats that spell?! COVID!!!!!!  40,000 fans are expected to converge on Atlanta Georgia, for the Cheersport Nationals. Though event organizers are taking some precautions against COVID-19, it doesn’t take an expert to figure out that it will likely be a superspreader event. By CDC standards, the event is at the highest risk of Covid-19 transmission.

A CDC study from October found that indoor sporting events — even those with far fewer players than the cheerleading competition — can easily turn into superspreading events.

10,000 competitors are expected to take part in the annual Cheersport Nationals event, about half the number of competitors who usually attend. Georgia just recorded its highest single-day COVID-19 death toll. Atlanta where the cheer event is taking place, has seen a 9.8% Covid-19 positivity rate over the last two weeks, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health’s most recent report.

Public health doctors are worried that competitors and their families could further spread the virus in between competitions and around town. After the competition they then will return home and seed the virus all across the country.

The convention center where the event is being held also houses Covid-19 patients with mild to moderate illness. Attendees “assume all risks related to exposure to Covid-19” by taking part. All coaches and cheer performers are required to wear a mask to enter the building and “during the transitions” between practice and performance. The cheerers don’t need to wear masks during their performance.

 

Pre-Pandemic: New York City Subway

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In October of 2019, Pam and I traveled to NYC because she was meeting with colleagues at the 9-11 Museum. I got to attend the 9-11 museum for the first time, but don’t have a window in which to get a sketch done. The huge 9-11 Memorial reflecting pools inhabit the footprints where the towers used to stand. They were a moving tribute to those who were lost. Names were etched in the granite surrounding the dark voids. Photos never quite capture the immensity of this memorial.

I believe this sketch as done as we went up to my old neighborhood, Washington Heights to visit the Cloisters. Pam was disgusted by what she saw on the subway ride. Some guy using his cell phone, wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand, then pinched more snot out of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. He then played with his phone and reached out with the snot covered hand to grab a support bar. As she said, “He was F%&king gross.” She said she could never live in the big apple after seeing that guy on the subway.

We both got sick on this trip with what we called the plague. It was a really bad cold that lasted for months. It started to clear up by New Years day of 2020. Who knew that 2020 would be the start of the very real world wide plague of COVID-19.

COVID Cytokine Storm

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COVID-19 can cause a strange lingering condition referred to as Brain Fog. People have reported feeling not like themselves: experiencing short-term memory loss, confusion, an inability to concentrate, and just feeling differently than they did before contracting the infection. About a third of patients will have some type of neurological illness associated with COVID-19.

Neurological symptoms have been reported as a common symptom of COVID-19. Coronavirus can enter the brain.

Researchers identified Brain Fog to be a condition medically called encephalopathy. This condition is also experienced by patients who undergo a kind of immunotherapy called chimeric antibody receptor T cell therapy, which is a treatment for blood cancer. The therapy causes immune cells to release molecules called cytokines.In the study, 18 patients had spinal taps to look for the virus, but it was not found. In the rest of the fluid, researchers saw persistent inflammation and high levels of cytokines. A cytokine storm is a well-observed symptom in many COVID-19 cases. Brain fog may be caused by the release of cytokines by immune cells.

Preliminary data shows that COVID-19 is neuro-invasive, meaning the virus itself can invade the brain and nearby nerves. Something as simple as loss of smell, which is a symptom of COVID-19, indicates a neuro invasion because the nerves that are responsible for smell are in direct connection with brain.

A third of people will have complete recovery with no issues. Roughly another third will have lingering effects that improve after therapy and time, and then another third may have permanent effects, especially in cases where the patient has been intubated, has had multiple organ failure or has been under anesthesia for a while.