“It’s not so much a question of — if this will happen in this country anymore (U.S.) — but a question of WHEN this will happen. We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this (COVID-19) might be bad.”
— Nancy Messonnier, M. D., Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
“Expelling out journalists exposes once again the China government’s issue that led to SARS and now the coronavirus, namely censorship. It can have deadly consequences. Had China permitted its own and foreign journalists and medical personnel to speak and investigate freely, Chinese officials and other nations would have been far better prepared to address the COVID-19 challenge. … All nations, including Iran, should tell the truth about the coronavirus and cooperate with international aid organizations.”
— Mike Pompeo, U. S. Secretary of State, State Dept. News Conference, Washington, D. C., February 25, 2020
“A pandemic is when you have an infectious disease that is consistently in sustained transmission from person to person through a wide range of regions and countries around the globe.”
— Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Inst. of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Feb. 23, 2020
Apple’s supply of smart phones “would be hurt because production was slowed by the outbreaks and demand for its products was being hurt in China by the huge lock downs of so many people.”
— Apple caution statement about impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic on its financial outlook, February 17, 2020
8:30 AM Mtn Feb. 26th Update — CDC: Americans “Prepare for Expectation That This COVID-19 Might Be Bad.” WHO: “The World Must Prepare for Pandemic.” See Earthfiles YouTube Livestream Tonight for Latest Details — LIVE Wednesdays @ 9:30pm Eastern/6:30pm Pacific — https://www.youtube.com/earthfiles
10:00 AM Mtn UPDATE, February 25, 2020 Albuquerque, New Mexico – South Korea Cases Jump to 1,000 with 11 deaths while Italy Virus Spreads South Infecting 287 and Killing 7. When Is COVID-19 A Pandemic with 80,376 Confirmed Cases and 2,707 Deaths in 40 Countries?
Today South Korea is struggling to contain the largest outbreak of COVID-19 outside China — nearing 1000 confirmed cases and 11 deaths. Currently, the world total is 80,377 confirmed COVID-19 infections and 2,707 deaths. Italy’s northern cases have spread south to Tuscany and Sicily bringing the total cases to 287 with 7 deaths. The result is more and more travel restrictions and quarantines.
Iran has also reported more deaths from the disease for current confirmed cases total to 95 with 15 deaths. But there are rumblings that Iran is not reporting the correct cases and deaths, but deliberately lowering them for political reasons. That is also a charge leveled at China since December. Both alleged deceptions provoked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to say in a State Department press conference this morning in Washington, D. C.: “Expelling out journalists exposes once again the China government’s issue that led to SARS and now the coronavirus, namely censorship. It can have deadly consequences. Had China permitted its own and foreign journalists and medical personnel to speak and investigate freely, Chinese officials and other nations would have been far better prepared to address the COVID-19 challenge. … All nations, including Iran, should tell the truth about the coronavirus and cooperate with international aid organizations.”
The United States total confirmed case count is 53 with no deaths to date. Yesterday on February 24th, the Trump administration asked Congress for several billion dollars specifically to handle the COVID-19 threat with more protective medical gear and urgency to develop a vaccine for the new coronavirus.
Isn’t COVID-19 A Pandemic Now?
The World Health Organization still calls COVID-19 “a global health emergency” instead of “pandemic.” But medical authorities are beginning to argue that this new and dangerous coronavirus is a pandemic because it has spread rapidly not only in China and Japan, but most recently South Korea, Iran and Italy challenging 40 countries now. Stock markets also seem worried that containment of the coronavirus has not been very effective to date and the American Dow closed on Monday, February 24, 2020, at -1,031.61 points lower, down 3.56% to 27,960.80.
9:00 AM Mtn UPDATE, February 24, 2020 Albuquerque, New Mexico – The Dow plunged 1,000 points today as the COVID-19 coronavirus spreads into Europe, Italy today reported 7 deaths from COVID-19, marking Europe’s first major outbreak. More than 200 cases erupted in the past few days, forcing the Italian authorities on Sunday, February 23rd, to lock down at least ten towns. Major cities such as Milan closed schools and cancelled sporting events. Even the historic Venice carnival was canceled. The biggest jump in cases to 90 confirmed has been in the Lombardy region where Milan is the capital.
On February 22, 2020, Japan, Iran and Italy reported more COVID-19 cases and South Korea’s more than doubled along with its second death from the coronavirus. South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control reported 433 total confirmed cases, more than doubling its 204 cases only 24 hours earlier. The source of the infections have come in two clusters: the Shincheonji Church and the Qingdao Daenam Hospital.
Worldometer — COVID-19 Confirmed Cases, Deaths and Recoveries At 9:00 AM Mtn on February 25, 2020
As the total COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths continue to rise, by 9:30 AM on February 24, 2020, there were 79,746 confirmed cases, 2,629 deaths and 25,267 recoveries. The Chinese Center for Disease and Prevention has posted online a fatality rate now of at least 2.3% (some estimates are higher). That is about 20% deadlier than the flu fatality rate in the United States of .1% each year. Some places in Hubei Province might be 5% death rate. So COVID-19 is deadlier than influenza.
What Has CLOVID-19 Done to Patients?
— 81% = mild illness like a runny nose cold.
— 14% = severe illness of high fever, nausea, coughing, forced breathing.
— 5% = critical illness that needs hospitalization.
What Has CLOVID-19 Done to Apple?
Apple has closed all of its stores in China due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus, now called Covid-19 by the World Health Organization, that has caused the huge lockdown of some million people in China where once-crowded streets and malls are empty as the quarantine enforcements persist. On February 17, 2020, Apple explained its supply of smart phones “would be hurt because production was slowed by the outbreaks and demand for its products was being hurt in China by the huge lock downs of so many people in Hubei province (where Wuhan is capital) and other multiple provinces totaling perhaps 100 million people not free to come and go from their homes.”
Where Did Lethal Coronavirus Come From?
The round pathogen surrounded by a corona of smaller circles likely evolved from bats. But on February 12, 2020, the journal Nature asked this question: “Did pangolins spread the China coronavirus to people?” The Chinese hunt pangolins for their meat, claws, and scales. Pangolin meat, which is considered a delicacy in parts of China and Vietnam, has been reported to sell for as high as U.S. $200 per kilogram. Other pangolin body parts are also used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Now scientists report that genetic sequencing of coronaviruses isolated from scaly pangolins turn out to be 99% similar to the genetic sequencing of the COVID-19 coronavirus threatening the world now.
On February 16, 2020, the U. K.’s Daily Mail headlined: “Did coronavirus originate in Chinese government laboratory?” South China University of Technology in Beijing alleges that the Wuhan Center for Disease Control (WHCDC) might be the source of the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus, which is not too far from the Huanan Seafood Market where it is suspected the first coronavirus contaminations took place.
World Map of COVID-19 Spread
to 32 countries as of February 22, 2020
Map by CDC.
United States Map of COVID-19 Spread
as of February 22, 2020, map by NBC News.
Diamond Princess Quarantine Was “Unprecedented Failure” — Became Petrie Dish for COVID-19 to Spread
Two passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that had been quarantined in Japan for nearly two weeks have died after contracting the COVID-19 coronavirus, the first deaths among the more than 600 people on board who tested positive for the coronavirus. The NYT reports that “the two people, both Japanese, were an 87-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman, the Japanese broadcaster NHK reported. They were taken to hospitals on Feb. 11 and 12, and both had underlying health issues, NHK said.”
The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants all Americans who were evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship to be tested for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
On Monday, February 17th — after nearly 2 weeks of quarantine to contain the COVID-19 coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship held in Yokohama Port near Tokyo, Japan — some 300 Americans were evacuated by the U. S. State Department and Dept. of Health and Human Services on two chartered planes headed for Lackland AFB in Texas and Travis AFB in California.
But on the rides to the airport, 14 American passengers tested positive for the dreaded coronavirus. The State Department approved those infected passengers could return to the United States in a “specialized containment area on the evacuation aircraft to isolate them.”
When the Diamond Princess infections reached 621 infections of the original 3,011 passengers and crew tested, that was an infection rate of 21% on that cruise ship!
Explaining his alarm to reporters, Tokyo, Japan’s Infectious Disease Specialist at the Navitas Clinic said: “The quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship ended up being an unprecedented failure. We should learn from this lesson that a quarantine on a (cruise) ship is impossible, and we should not repeat this in the future.”
More Information:
02-04-2020 – Feb. 4th 11:30 AM Mtn UPDATE – 427 Deaths and 20,707 Confirmed Cases in 28 Countries. 11 Cases in USA. Hong Kong Reports 1st Death Amid Calls to Shut Down Border. Hyundai Suspending Car Production in So. Korea.
01-31-2020 – Friday 8:45 PM Update – 7th Case in U.S.; Current Death Toll Now 259 and Confirmed Cases 11,791. Many Airlines Have Suspended All Flights to China. Russia Closed Down Border to China As W.H.O. Declares Wuhan Coronavirus “Global Public Health Emergency.”
01-25-2020 – Saturday AM UPDATE: New Wuhan Coronavirus Death Toll Now 41; More Than 1,287 Confirmed Cases, Including France. 2 Confirmed U. S. Cases.05-28-2009 – Updated – Is A/H1N1 Outbreak A “Herald Wave” Preceding More Serious Fall 2009 Epidemic?
03-21-2006 – One Way H5N1 Bird Flu Could Adapt to Humans
03-10-2006 – The Rapid Spread of H5N1 Bird Flu Virus
10-26-2005 – H5N1 Bird Flu – The Next Pandemic?
04-14-2003 – SARS Breakthrough – Genetic Sequencing of Coronavirus Linked to Killer Pneumonia
Websites:
“Coronavirus: Italy hunts for coronavirus superspreader as ‘7th person dies’ of COVID-19,” Sky News, February 24, 2020: https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-austria-considers-border-controls-over-coronavirus-outbreak-11941438
Worldometers Active COVID-19 Cases and Deaths: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
“Lung biopsy of deceased China patient shows SARS-like damage,” February 18, 2020, Japanese Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/18/asia-pacific/science-health-asia-pacific/lung-biopsy-deceased-china-patient-shows-sars-like-damage/#.Xky-KUN7k6c
“Stocks fall after Apple’s coronavirus warning; analyst says ‘worst is yet to come’ for markets,” February 18, 2020: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/18/coronavirus-latest-updates.html
COVID-19 Cases in U.S: CDC Latest Coronavirus Updates | Time: https://time.com/5783771/covid-19-us-cases/
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