Finally some sane reporting in among the insane hype and excessive fear mongering including from the WHO. (World Health Organization) That bastion of big pharma given an air of authority for your managed perception. And the US leadership under Donald Trump.Declaring a coronovirus emergency and quarantines aka medical martial law
– The Donald Trump administration declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a public health emergency in the United States on Friday, setting quarantines of Americans who have recently been to certain parts of China.
National Post
The apparently high initial mortality rates have shrunk as the number of infections grows, and many of the infected appear to have mild or no symptoms
If one thing has spread faster than the new coronavirus from Wuhan, China, it is worldwide fear of the novel bug.Surgical masks are being hoarded in Toronto, borders closed in Russia and conspiracy theories disseminated far and wide on Twitter.Meanwhile, the massive quarantines imposed in China are starting to threaten the global economy.
Economic warfare?
But as evidence of the severity and transmissabilty of 2019-nCoV trickles in, infectious-disease experts say it’s appearing less menacing than first thought, maybe more like seasonal flu than, say, SARS.
The apparently high mortality rates that dominated headlines initially have shrunk as the number of infections grows, and many of the infected appear to have mild or no symptoms.
To some scientists, the situation is reminiscent of the H1N1 pandemic flu of 2009, which burst onto the scene with a frightening spate of deaths in Mexico, only to be viewed as relatively innocuous by the time it petered out for the season.
I recall that panic very well having wrote extensively about it at the time- Here (scroll through the reports inc a few choice ones featured below)
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H1N1- The WHO gave a pandemic and it was a dismal failure
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WHO investigates their H1N1 response
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The swine flu swindle just keeps porkbarreling along
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Swine flu as elusive as WMD's
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'A Whole Industry Is Waiting For A Pandemic'
While those reports may be ten years old they are still relevant. In fact they may be more relevant then ever! National Post
“Upfront, what you tend to see is probably an over-representation of severe cases that are getting reported,” said Jason Kindrachuk, Canada Research Chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba.The people who bring a new infection to the fore are those ill enough to seek medical help and get tested, he noted.“But there are probably a ton of cases in the background that people just thought were mild cases of flu.” But the sense that the media, public and some nations have over-reacted is beginning to seep into conversation.The current global panic in reaction to the emergence of a fairly mild new virus is wholly unjustified
Beijing’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman complained Monday about the U.S. decision to ban anyone who had been in China recently, accusing it of spreading fear while not actually helping the country most affected by the virus.
As of Monday, the World Health Organization reported 17,391 laboratory-confirmed cases of the new coronavirus worldwide — the vast majority in China — and 362 deaths.That’s a death rate of two per cent, several times that of the seasonal flu in places like Canada, and much less than two other recently emerging coronaviruses: SARS (10 per cent); and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS (35 per cent).
But a recent article by University of Hong scientists published by the journal Lancet suggested the actual number of people infected is far higher. Their paper analyzed travel patterns in China and known cases of the virus and used mathematical formula to estimate that more like 75,000 people had contracted the bug there as of Jan. 28.
If the actual number of infected persons is higher then the WHO reports then the rate of death is vastly lower as well. The WHO should be aware of this reality.
That certainly would back up evidence that it spreads faster than SARS or MERS. But based on the number of reported deaths when the paper was published Friday, it would actually produce a mortality rate of just .2 per cent — akin to that of influenzas.
“We don’t freak out about seasonal flu, we experience it every year,” said Matthew Miller, a microbiologist who studies viruses at McMaster University. “The people most likely to die from seasonal flu are the elderly and the very young … The same is very likely to be true with this new coronavirus outbreak. The people who are at highest risk are the people at the highest risk for any type of infection.”
My comment to greencrow
Penny said...Hey GC:the whole coronavirus thing feels like another means of waging financial war against China.. I've been saying it to hubby since it began..It appears to serve some other purpose as wellPerhaps some forced vaccine regulations can be pushedAnd I find all this military evacuations- to military bases very strange.Leave the 'exposed' where they are. They can be 'quarantined' in place.It just seems so weird to go and pick these people up..and weird photos.... bus drivers driving these evacuees without masks or hazmat suits (globe and mail) Showed hubby and asked what's wrong with this photo?He spotted it.
is the bus driver earning danger pay?not one bus driver wearing hazmat or mask?From yesterday, cause contradictory reporting bugs me!
