Wuhan Virus Watch: Dr. Fauci Cautions Against a Hyped-Up 75-150 Million Coronavirus Case Estimate
“Don’t panic,” says American woman who recovered from COVID-19.
Before I begin my daily update, I would like to officially state that I have never been so disgusted with the U.S. press as I am now.
I have spent the past ten years discussing their distortions, spin, obfuscations, and progressive pandering. But I never have fully appreciated full extent of the American media’s destructive abilities until this week.
Journalists and pundits rushed to hurt President Donald Trump and get clicks. Reporters have over-hyped the hazards associated with a coronavirus (a class of pathogen that has been studied and understood). They ginned up mortality rates based on errant statistical approaches, then sat back and gleefully reported on panic-selling on Wall Street and panic-buying at Costco.
Their antics now have directly hurt my son since the reports fail to underscore the limited risk to young people. Due to the fact politicians are running scared because of the drama, my son’s Junior ROTC Cadet Ball, which he has been looking forward to all year as part of his senior year activities, has been canceled.
No special memories. No banquet. Nada.
As a biosafety professional, I have been fielding questions from friends and clients for the past few days. One of my friends has a husband who wants to stop taking his arthritis medication because of its impact on the immune system. He was going to do it on his own, but I begged him to talk to a doctor first.
How much pain would he have to go through as a result of giving in to the fear?
When the outbreaks in China began, there was ample reason to worry. The disease seemed genuinely novel, and the Chinese were not forthcoming in their reports. However, American medical professionals have had time to evaluate the virus, ascertain the likely outcomes, and identify risk factors.
How many people will suffer and potentially die because of the press-induced stress the junk science coverage has caused?
Here is a handy reminder of another media stunt, this time covering its version of “climate science.”
“It’s OK guys, trust me when I talk about a potentially apocalyptic plague.“ pic.twitter.com/7d8FAg6JGV
— Patroning Saint Brimley trucker hat (@dirtytruckerhat) March 11, 2020
‘Don’t panic’ says US woman who recovered from coronavirus
As I have noted before, 80% of those infected have mild symptoms of illness and improve with no medical intervention.
An American woman who has recovered from the novel coronavirus has a simple message for people who are worried: Don’t panic — but do think about high-risk individuals and stay home if you feel ill.
Elizabeth Schneider lives in Seattle, the biggest city of Washington state, which has the most deaths in the United States from the disease sweeping the globe.
The 37-year-old, who has a PhD in bioengineering, said she was sharing her story “to give people a little bit of hope” through her own relatively mild experience with the infection, which she treated herself from home.
Her symptoms were fever, chills, and a headache.
Dr. Anthony Fauci cautions against a hyped-up 75-150 million coronavirus case estimate
We recently were treated to a classic example of how the American press does the math, as it related to Michael Bloomberg’s campaign spending. Here is Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warning about more math hype.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared Thursday to downplay the hype surrounding a congressional doctor’s estimate that the U.S. could see 70 million to 150 million coronavirus cases.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., asked Fauci about the estimate during a congressional hearing.
“Earlier this week, Congress’ attending physician told the Senate that he expects between 70 to 150 million people to contract the coronavirus in the United States,” said Tlaib, referring to figures reported by Axios on Wednesday. “Dr. Fauci, is he wrong?”
“I think we really need to be careful with those kinds of predictions, because that’s based on a model,” Fauci replied.
“So, all models are as good as the assumptions that you put into the model … it’s unpredictable. So, testing now is not going to tell me how many cases you are going to have. What will tell you what you’re going to have will be how you respond to it with containment and mitigation,” he continued.
Trump expected to require American-made medical supplies, drugs to fight coronavirus outbreak
President Donald Trump is expected to announce an executive order insisting on American-made medical supplies and pharmaceuticals in response to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a person familiar with the plan, as the White House begins to come to grips with the severity of the situation.
…In one order Trump issued Wednesday, he authorized Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to take whatever steps are necessary to allow doctors and nurses to use masks made for industrial use while those made specifically for health care are in short supply. Companies have been seeking legal cover for that.
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s wife diagnosed with COVID-19 after experiencing ‘mild’ symptoms
We wish both her a speedy recovery, and hope that the Canadian press does better in its coverage than ours.
The prime minister’s wife has tested positive for the new coronavirus.
In a statement Thursday night, Justin Trudeau’s office said: “Following medical recommendations, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau was tested for COVID-19 today. The test came back positive.”
The statement says she will remain in isolation.
“She is feeling well, is taking all the recommended precautions and her symptoms remain mild,” it said.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Don’t panic? That has been the whole point behind all this-panic. Once in panic a population can be made to believe anything, especially in an election year.
The American “news” media love to ride the hype wave of any scandal or crisis, bu they have ZERO talent for delivering information of substance.
In all the news reports of the run on toilet paper I saw no report indicating that this was a stupid, pointless exercise in panic. Some TV reports and news articles made fun of people, but none of them suggested people don’t need to stock up on a year’s supply of Charmin.
Remember the Hillary e-mail scandal? Again, no reporting of substance, of why there was concern about what she did, it was all just inside baseball politicking.
Sad. The Founding Fathers would be ashamed of what has become of the 4th Estate.
No, they wouldn’t. But they would be shocked that reporters have arrogated to themselves such a title. They founded a republic with only one estate, governed by a constitution in which reporters play no roll.
How many people have realized that their
barber, hair stylist, and even manicurists
have to have more “certification” and state licensing than “journalists” and “reporters”……………
you can’t spell pandemic without out panic
“You can’t spell Pandemic without “Panic”
Apparently you can’t spell it without “Dem” either.
“You can’t spell Pandemic without “Panic”
Apparently you can’t spell it without “Dem” either.
ace.mu.nu/archives/dempanic.jpg
PANDEMIC = DEM PANIC
I fully support the use of American-made medicines, or at least ones made by reputable sources in nations not our enemy. Chinese-made dijoxin nearly killed my mother in 2008.
My own Losartan / hydrochlorothyazide combined tablets were recalled three times in ten months. I tried several different pharmacies: the story was the same everywhere. It all was contaminated with carcinogens, all was from China.
The US has reached a very low point when it needs the Chinese to make common meds.
Get Liz Warren’s medicine man on the case
Anyone ever read a book called Dread? This is exactly that the book projected would happen.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6064961-dread
As Philip Alcabes persuasively argues in Dread, our anxieties about epidemics are created not so much by the germ or microbe in question—or the actual risks of contagion—but by the unknown, the undesirable, and the misunderstood.Alcabes examines epidemics through history to show how they reflect the particular social and cultural anxieties of their times. From Typhoid Mary to bioterrorism, as new outbreaks are unleashed or imagined, new fears surface, new enemies are born, and new behaviors emerge. Dread dissects the fascinating story of the imagined epidemic: the one that we think is happening, or might happen; the one that disguises moral judgments and political agendas, the one that ultimately expresses our deepest fears.
Mark, have not checked the book out yet, will get back to you.
I generally appreciate reading recommendations from commenters at LI.
But from your comment, a thought passing through my mind on a tangent to this;
I am displeased with the hypocrisy of “wealthy rag jeans” fads. There have been many.
There (probably always) seems to be a fad of “MY bad times are WORSE than anyones.”
Dystopia’s comment on the snowflakes fits.
There are untold numbers of truly impoverished peoples worldwide who are having very bad times, this is in addition to their daily bad day.
It is disrespectful to panic horde toilet paper in America when, even here, there are people who do not have enough money to buy more than their one roll each week.
Bad snowflakes, Bad, Bad. Grow a set. (BTW, snowflakes come in every age category.)
Thanks for citing this. Philip Alcabes published a COVID-19 “primer” earlier this week. It’s reassuring on a health level. Less so on a public policy level. https://theamericanscholar.org/covid-19-a-primer/#.XmwYrZNKhn0
Carl Bernstein, media folk hero of Watergate fame, to an assembled group of journOlists around the time of President Donald J Trump’s inauguration: “You have a moral obligation to destroy Donald Trump”
Just doing what they were told.
Carl always was the dishonest OAC of his time.
But now his time is up.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2013/03/truth-about-bob-woodward-conrad-black/
Forty years after Watergate, the myth is unraveling.
Gradually, inexorably, the great Watergate fraud is unraveling. The Knights of Revelation, 40 years onward, are being exposed, in the light of analysis unclouded by cant and emotionalism, as the myth-makers they always were. Bob Woodward, unable to resist the temptation to try again and again to be at the forefront of investigative journalism, is being steadily exposed as a chronically dishonest myth-maker. Carl Bernstein, his Watergate partner, is at least cautious enough not to tempt the fates with a regime of endless returns to the well of public gratitude for spurious and destructive exposés….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjnUUA83Mms
Carl Bernstein A Disgraceful Journalist Called Out By President Trump – Fake News
As someone who is pursuing a music degree it is unbelievably frustrating to see your entire class schedule – which I’m paying for – get nuked because one person MIGHT have the virus in the state. What the hell.
Just a side note to wish you the best with your studies.
-signed- 5th year piano student pushing close to age 71.
I can’t imagine that online would work well for lessons or performance, though theory and history could probably be done successfully.
Best wishes from a former music student.
Skype? Video Conferencing? Don’t know how good or bad the audio for those are though.
Me, me, me, me,…
Keep practicing; use online connections for lessons and classes.
This will blow over, and you will miraculously find that you have enhanced access to the very best instructors and collaborators.
If you are using blackboard like my university, the blackboard collaborate tool seems to help a good bit with publishing and recording live sessions.
I know the acoustics are not the same but we work with what we can right now.
Can’t wait till this is over.
Students have legal standing to sue.
Class action lawsuit.
This switch and bait.
Students bought a product and now they’re being swindled or defrauded out of what they were promised they were buying.
No cough or congestion? I keep hearing the phrase “Flu-like symptoms” but a cough and congestion/excess mucous are the first symptoms that come to mind when I recall the flus I’ve had in the past.
What exactly is the symptom profile of Coronavirus?
From what I’ve read so far, if you’ve got sinus and nasal congestion, it’s *not* because of COVID (though I suppose you could have it at the same time). They do tend to specify a “dry” cough.
From cdc.gov ( https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/symptoms.html ):
The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure:
– Fever
– Cough
– Shortness of breath
Wonder if Mrs beebs – Sophie – will be getting treated / tested in Canada – or Cuba. Always good to have good options.
She will go to Cuba where she can get a good hard man. Justin is a bottom.
Hey. Remember back in 2012 when NBC selectively edited the George Zimmerman 911 call to smear him a a racist?
https://www.businessinsider.com/nbc-apologizes-to-george-zimmerman-for-editing-a-911-call-to-make-him-sound-really-racist-2012-4
CNN is the worst, yet some ‘conservative’ news gators still link to their articles – as if THIS TIME they’re unbiased and truthful. WTH?
Our nation, thanks to lose morals that raised a generation of snowflakes is suffering from TFS – Toxic Fear Syndrome. Previous generations dealt with the Spanish Flu, Polio and the possibility of nuclear confrontation with far more grace and dignity.
We are now going through a massive expansion of the “cancel culture”. We are being chased out of our normal social activity and told too stay away from people in general. And no touching!
This is a very useful demonstration for easy is it for these tyrants to dominate our lives. We just act like sheep and go along. Cancel everything! Stay home! That’s all it takes?
A friend’s wife tried to schedule a cruise for 2021 thinking there would be discounted rates. Nope. For those still booking, rates are discounted only through April.
In Oakland as infected Princess cruise ship passengers were disembarking, they were polled as to whether they would ever take another cruise and more than 50% said they would. I would like to see a breakdown of those who said said “no” but I’ll bet a chunk of them were on their first cruise or were there on an organized cruise “event”. I have no doubt that things will be humming again in a couple of months.
The main thing we will remember from this will be how much damage evil politicians can do when we act like sheep. It’s time for Americans to grow up!
November can’t come fast enough.
Yes, Grow Up and Stop Being the spineless B*tches of Marketing.
In the UK consumers do not respond to “Fear” marketing. They resent it and will not respond to it. But look at your television and note how the majority of ads all operate on FEAR to manipulate the Sheeple……
Comedian Liz Smith in Bisto Ad, 2001, UK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=strVgVgOo_0
The US press isn’t a charity. It runs on clicks. Be interesting or die.
It was last a public service in the 70s, when it was made a profit center.
Leslie, I look forward to your remarks. They are a sane glimmer in an insane environment, just like Legal Insurrection is an honest blog where honest information is available. Sorry about your son and do hope something can be done at some point to make up for this lost opportunity for memories.
This, the Conservative Treehouse and a few other sites are my “go to” sites for information, not hype.
What the media doing is flagrantly dangerous and there is a special place in hell reserved for these bastards.
“Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources.” — Abba Eba, 1967
This too shall pass… Stay calm, wash your hands, and stay home if you are sick..
Wuhan just closed the last of their 16 temporary hospitals. as the number of Covid-19 patients continues to drop in the city… Before the last batch of patients was discharged, nurse Yang Xiaoyan sang songs with them and encouraged them to keep positive..
Apple reopens 90% of their stores in China.. with the coronavirus outbreak showing signs of abating.
This result, if true, was obtained by military-style quarantine enforcement. Americans rely on co-operation.
“This result, if true, was obtained by military-style quarantine enforcement. Americans rely on co-operation.”
No.
No, really. This result, if true, (that China is suddenly over it all), was not obtained by quarantine enforcement. It was obtained by everyone getting sick all at once. And now they’re over it.
We’re trying to slow the spread which will draw it all out much longer so that we can deal with those who get sick enough to need medical care without having to resort to triage for the elderly.
The idea that perhaps China was BETTER at this because they are an oppressive dictatorial horror is not just wrong. It’s insidious.
In fact, the only part of the response in the US that seems to be entirely fubar is the parts of the response that depend on large, overarching, and controlling government agencies.
A few simple questions I have not heard asked by the media.
1. How many test kits can a lab tech process in a day. Is it mostly a manual operation or is there much automation to the process?
2. How long does the sample taken remain valid?
3. How much lab space is available to conduct tests?
4. How long does it take to train new people to process the test kits?
5. How long does it take to get back a preliminary result and how accurate is the preliminary result?
By taking resources away from other testing, is there a more serious disease / virus out there that is not getting the attention it deserves.
Thank you buck61 for an excellent question list.
I would also be interested in knowing the time frame and who should be tested when.
Given the lag for symptoms, is symptomatic an appropriate test now condition.
And who should triage the testing, Front line and First Responders need info.
Do I? I can make useful personal decisions to not add to the problem…sigh.
And why is any of the emergency Covid19 funding going to anything other than direct Covid19 medical resources. Sigh, again.
After some digging I found this from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland can test 500 people per day now, hopefully up to 1000 next week. I don’t know if testing means just getting a sample and processing it or just getting a sample. They also state that they can get a result back in 8-10 hours.
https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/03/cleveland-clinic-identifies-handful-of-positive-coronavirus-cases-after-one-day-of-testing.html
There was a press story about the Thunder players and staff and they will be tested at the “appropriate time frame” as recommended by the state health department.
There must be a time delay between exposure & contamination and having enough viral material in your throat & nose to get an accurate test. I just haven’t heard about that time frame which would explain the reasoning to test after there are some symptoms.
But it also makes sense to first test for the flu & strep since those quick tests are currently available.
What is better for the system – a false negative or a false positive test? Probably a false positive since that would put the person at home for a quarantine. A false negative because of early testing send the person back into the world to potentially infect more people.
Let’s make certain to panic about all the “panic” going on, the Mad Max gangs roving the streets, the breakdown in law and order, fires and destruction raging out of control. Yes, all the “panic” over nothing, “the flu is worse”, “I don’t know anyone personally who’s died from this”, etc.
Snort… Bwahaha, thanks CptNerd.
I have always wondered why people seem to want to live MadMax…
California is going nuts, but …..
the key problem, they assert, is lack of “reagents” for the “test kits.” The newspapers are saying they can’t run tests for coronavirus.
If that’s true, the cancellation of events etc., makes more sense.
Without the tests kits to tell who is infected, our only way to contain the virus is to essentially quarantine everybody.
If we do this quarantine right, lack of reagents won’t matter, because the whole thing will be over and done in 4 weeks.
My understanding is that the CDC test kits were lacking enough of some of the reagents, but that private and academic test providers have been able to make good tests. The main issue was getting the CDC and FDA out of the way so they could be used. That roadblock cleared up Monday, and we’ve been seeing a major ramp up in clinic testing capacity and test rates, but yes, we’re about a month behind where we could have been. Given that state of affairs, mass quarantine until testing capacity and reach is up to speed is best.
Basically we’ve got two main tracks we can take. The South Korea track is to test everyone possible and quarantine anyone who has it, while the Italian track is to test sparsly and quarantine large sections of the population. Until testing is up to speed, we have to follow the latter profile.
Isn’t it time we privatize the CDC???????
I would like to officially state that I have never been so disgusted with the U.S. press as I am now.
Well, maybe, but there’s a lot of competition . . . An idiot senator, Andrew May (D-KY), disclosed info about Japanese depth charge settings in 1943. That leak is now blamed for the loss of some 10 USN subs (of the 50 lost in the war) and some 800 crewmen. The idiot’s damage would never have had consequence if his comments hadn’t been disseminated by the idiot press.
And how can we forget Walter Cronkite et al‘s reporting on the Tet Offensive, and the declaration that a crushing defeat for the Communists was actually a victory?
The US press sucks. It always has. And I expect it always will.
Meanwhile, back in the present, I’m starting to have my suspicions about this coronavirus test. I don’t believe I’ve seen a published figure for false positives. But positives are popping up in the damndest places. An FDA Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers mentions both false positives and false negatives, but gives no numbers for either. Perhaps we need examination of populations which are isolated from the Chinese or other carriers. Maybe the Amish, or headhunters in Ecuador.
I came here to say just this. Good thing I read through the comments first, because you took the words out of my mouth. The reporting trade has always been scum.
Agree with MH, was going to say much the same.
The “press” has always sucked.
How many people have realized that their
barber, hair stylist, and even manicurists
have to have more “certification” and state licensing than “journalists” and “reporters?”
I suspect that the reason for the 75-150 million cases estimate is that the worst UN-sponsored global virus was swine flu which infected 64 million and killed 26-27 million. There was not panic for that one.
The current virus clearly doesn’t warrant the panic our “betters” have triggered so they need a narrative justifying their doom-and-gloom narrative. BTW, the swine flu hit younger people really hard while so far, no one under 50 has died in the US nor under 30 globally with the median age reportedly 80. Wuhan flu is proving to be a milder version of its cousin, the common cold.
Correction:
“I suspect that the reason for the 75-150 million cases estimate is that the worst UN-sponsored global virus was swine flu which infected 64 million and killed 18 THOUSAND.”
It is good to be right. I have stated from thee beginning of this reporting that the Wuhan coronavirus reports were BS. And, I am proven right as we get more and more verifiable facts concerning the virus.
The facts remain the same. A novel virus appeared in Wuhan Provence, China, in late 2019. The Chinese medical/political establishment, through a combination of ignorance and secrecy to protect its public face, allowed the virus to get out of hand. The ease of international travel allowed this virus to spread across the planet. Now, due to the fact that the Chinese authorities failed to either identify the main at-risk groups, where COVID–19 was concerned, or because it was ignored by the media, deaths within this group were inferred to be the same as could be expected within the general population. So, the fuse was lit on the COVID panic bomb.
Now, this was initially running below the radar of the media and chattering monkey political class in the US. But, when the story broke, those monkeys who wanted to dethrone the ruling politician or simply increase their own prestige, jumped on the bandwagon and began throwing poop at the man in charge. The charge was that he had failed to protect the nation from an apocalyptic disease. However, facts and time were working against them and they did not want any of the blame to rub off on them. So begins the knee-jerk reactions. Quarantines which actually do nothing to lessen the spread of the virus and, in some cases, actually increase the harm it causes. Demands for millions of tests which have no real diagnostic purpose. Cancellations of large gatherings, including sporting events, which will have little effect upon the spread of the virus in a largely urban/suburban society. Sequestering and limiting contact with the at-risk population will likely reduce the fatality rate, but quarantining those showing exposure is not going to do much, except cause hardship for those quarantined. The only thing which is going to stop the spread of this virus is the generation of natural antibodies against it in the general population. But, if you are a member of a profession which is based upon handling crisis or reporting on them, then you can not make any money by simply saying let nature take its course.
Don’t forget, it was below the radar because they spent all of December and January on Impeachment. They couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time.
Hear Hear!
We have had a COUP Attempt in this country – starting before election night November 2016..
I could fully believe the Lyin’ DEMS fully colluded with the Communist Chinese Government to create and carry this out.
Truth is Stranger than Fiction…….
Once this blows over, the Dems and the Media will quickly rise to the task of blaming Trump for the hysteria.
Of course it’s his fault.
Every time he tried to urge calm, he was feeding into the impression that he wasn’t doing anything about it!
At least I assume that will be the spin.
There will be some positives to this panic.
1. Drug making will return to the US
2. Many supply chains will be reviewed and modified to prevent reliance on one country.
3. The federal health agencies will be reviewed and hopefully streamlined with a return to the their correct purposes.
4. Regulations will be reviewed, modified, deleted so that more power returns to the states.
5. Attitudes will change to realize that the free market system is the best to provide quick response to issues and not a centralized big government.
6. More people will realize the importance of having that emergency supply of food,water, basic living stuff. They tell us every storm season to be prepared, but it is really being prepared at all times.
Any more? Or am I being unrealistic?
I fear once the storm has passed, most will resume their regularly-scheduled poo-flinging and ignore the lessons available to be learned.
DEMS and their Media haven’t stopped poo flinging for a split second since Trump announced he was running in 2015.
Thought of another one – online classes for university and homeschooling for K-12 will become more common. And there will be a reduction of colleges because of going bankrupt.
You can even do home schooling college now.
Number 5 seems optimistic. Anyone who believed in government solutions before will be even more convinced now, and vice versa.
From Rabbi Aron Moss , Sydney, Australia.
Question of the Week:
This coronavirus thing has really thrown me. I feel like I’ve lost all sense of certainty. No one knows what will happen next. How do we stay sane when we don’t know what’s lurking around the corner?
Answer:
It is not that we have lost our sense of certainty. We have lost our illusion of certainty. We never had it to begin with. This could be majorly unsettling, or amazingly liberating.
This tiny virus of 125 nanometres has sent the entire world into chaos. All of our plans are up in the air, markets are going crazy, entire countries shutting down, and we have no clue what the future holds.
But that is always the case. We never know what the future holds. We only think we do, and keep getting surprised when things don’t pan out the way we expected. Now the mask is off. We have to admit our vulnerability.
What will happen next? We don’t know. Our experts don’t know. Our leaders don’t know. Only G-d knows. And that is the point. Only G-d knows.
Close your eyes and feel the uncertainty, make peace with it, let yourself be taken by it. Embrace your cluelessness. Because in all the confusion there is one thing you know for sure. You are in G-d’s hands.
Keep calm. Panic and fear are also contagious. Take every precaution as advised by health authorities. Wash your hands well. And every time you do, remember Whose hands you are in.
Good Shabbos
Rabbi Moss
Good advice.
Get a load of this.
Former New York Times “Reporter” Jim Roberts Tweets, “The Dow Has Fallen 300 points Since Trump Started Speaking,” Then Stealth-Deletes as Down Rises Nearly 10%, Nearly 2000 Points
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=386331
Ibib.
It used to be the tweet that led to this genius “serious question.”
Update: Now he’s deleted his “serious question,” too.
Formerly, it read:
Serious question about drive-thru testing: What happens if you don�t have a car?
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) March 13, 2020
Has this guy been partying with Andrew Gillum and HoneyHammock?
He started celebrating, immediately, that the Dow had a brief small fall. He claimed it was due to Trump’s speech — Without Evidence, as CNN would say.
As the Dow zoomed higher and higher, his grave-dancing tweet appeared premature.
So he just deleted it. He didn’t explain why. He just zapped it, and hoped no one noticed.
Well, I did…..