The 1968 pandemic was caused by an influenza A (H3N2) virus comprised of two genes from an avian influenza A virus, including a new H3 hemagglutinin, but also contained the N2 neuraminidase from the 1957 H2N2 virus. It was first noted in the United States in September 1968. The estimated number of deaths was 1 million worldwide and about 100,000 in the United States. Most excess deaths were in people 65 years and older. The H3N2 virus continues to circulate worldwide as a seasonal influenza A virus. Seasonal H3N2 viruses, which are associated with severe illness in older people, undergo regular antigenic drift.
Archives for May 2020
Congresswoman Elaine Luria Demands Additional Funding for Virginia’s Fisheries Industries
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – Today, Congresswoman Elaine Luria led a bipartisan letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross urging at least $10 million in relief for Virginia’s fisheries and seeking transparency regarding the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s recently released funding allocation. NOAA, which oversees U.S. fisheries, is housed within the Department of Commerce.
“It is unacceptable that NOAA’s allocation decision does not reflect the dramatic losses Virginia watermen have faced as a result of this pandemic and does not accurately calculate the contribution of Virginia’s fisheries industries to the national seafood industry,” said Congresswoman Luria. “I urge NOAA to immediately revise its allocation formula to provide Virginia at least $10 million in CARES Act fisheries funding.”
In Section 12005 of the CARES Act, the Department of Commerce was directed to distribute $300 million to fishery industry businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. After a delay of more than a month, NOAA released its plan for distributing these funds last week. Under this plan, Virginia will only receive approximately $4.5 million, or 1.5% of the total allocation, which significantly undervalues Virginia’s contribution to the national seafood industry because Virginia’s fisheries industries account for 7.4% of the nation’s total aquaculture sales. NOAA’s current allocation formula means that Virginia watermen will receive far less per dollar of aquaculture sales and commercial fishery landings and less per seafood processing and wholesale worker than individuals in other states.
Congresswoman Luria was joined by her Virginia delegation colleagues Representatives Rob Wittman (VA-01), Bobby Scott (VA-03), Don McEachin (VA-04), Jennifer Wexton (VA-10), and Gerry Connolly (VA-11) in calling for a more equitable allocation of funding to Virginia’s fisheries.
Beaches Slowly Open across the US
Beachgoers in LA County can go to the beach, but you have to keep moving — walking, running or swimming. No sunbathing. No picnics. No volleyball. Parking lots, piers and a popular 22-mile (35.4-kilometer) bike path that strings together Santa Monica, Venice, Manhattan, and Torrance beaches are also closed.
Similar rules are in place throughout the state, as well as in Florida and Hawaii, though masks are not required at many beaches. Tanning and even picnics are permitted in some places, though people are generally told to only spend time with family members and not gather in large groups.
While beaches in South Florida — Miami and Hollywood — remain closed, beaches in Pinellas County on the Gulf of Mexico allow chairs and towels, but limit groups to no more than 10 people. Signs urge people who don’t live together to remain 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart.
Nursing Homes continue to be hit hardest by COVID
NEW YORK (AP) — As calls grow nationwide for mandatory coronavirus testing in nursing homes, New York facilities are sounding alarms about the state’s ambitious new demand to test roughly 185,000 workers twice a week.
The scale of what NY, NJ, PA, and other governors did with our seniors is only just now coming to light.
The New York State Department of Health acknowledged that the state has omitted an unknown number of coronavirus deaths in recent reports regarding residents of nursing home and adult care facilities.
This comes as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces criticism for ordering nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to accept patients from hospitals who had tested positive for coronavirus. Cuomo rescinded the March 25 order, which experts say led to higher levels of death among nursing home residents.
The NYSDOH confirmed to the DCNF that until around April 28, it was disclosing coronavirus deaths for all nursing home and adult care facility residents, regardless of whether the patient died at their long-term care facility or at a hospital.
Based on a new analysis of state-by-state COVID-19 fatality reports, it is clear that the most underappreciated aspect of the novel coronavirus pandemic is its effect on a specific population of Americans: those living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
SARS-CoV-2 affects the elderly far more severely, on average, than younger individuals.
But it turns out that among those who are elderly, deaths are concentrated even further among those living in long term care facilities.
40 percent of U.S. COVID-19 deaths have occurred in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The share of deaths occurring in nursing homes and assisted living facilities is highest in Minnesota, at 84 percent, using the latest data as of May 11, 2020. (Source: G. Girvan / FREOPP)
Are Lockdowns the wrong way to fight a virus?
Stanford School of Medicine Professor Michael Levitt, who teaches structural biology and won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems believes that coronavirus data shows that sweeping lockdown measures were an overreaction that may actually make things worse.
Levitt has been analyzing the COVID-19 outbreak from a statistical perspective since January and has been remarkably accurate in his predications. The data show that the outbreak never actually grew exponentially, suggesting harsh lockdown measures, which have drastically impacted the world economy, were probably unnecessary.
According to UnHerd:
His observation is a simple one: that in outbreak after outbreak of this disease, a similar mathematical pattern is observable regardless of government interventions. After around a two week exponential growth of cases (and, subsequently, deaths) some kind of break kicks in, and growth starts slowing down. The curve quickly becomes “sub-exponential”.
This may seem like a technical distinction, but its implications are profound. The ‘unmitigated’ scenarios modelled by (among others) Imperial College, and which tilted governments across the world into drastic action, relied on a presumption of continued exponential growth — that with a consistent R number of significantly above 1 and a consistent death rate, very quickly the majority of the population would be infected and huge numbers of deaths would be recorded. But Professor Levitt’s point is that that hasn’t actually happened anywhere, even in countries that have been relatively lax in their responses.
Instead of strict lockdown orders, Levitt told UnHerd that developing “herd immunity” is a better strategy to fighting a virus like COVID-19.
“I think the policy of herd immunity is the right policy. I think Britain was on exactly the right track before they were fed wrong numbers. And they made a huge mistake. I see the standout winners as Germany and Sweden. They didn’t practise too much lockdown and they got enough people sick to get some herd immunity,” Levitt explained.
36 million people have now sought jobless aid
36 million people have now sought jobless aid in just the two months since the virus first forced businesses to close down and shrink their workforces even though most states have now begun to let some businesses reopen.
The ongoing hemorrhage of jobs has heightened concerns that more government aid is needed to sustain the economy through the deep recession.
Without another rescue package, many economists worry that thousands of small businesses will go bankrupt, leaving millions of the unemployed with no livelihood to return to.
Instead, the Democratic-controlled House is still playing games, pressing ahead with votes on another massive rescue bill that would pump almost $1 trillion to states and local governments, renew $1,200 cash payments for individuals, and extend a $600 weekly supplemental federal unemployment benefit. It’s expected to pass on party lines. But the White House and Republican leadership are opposed.
3 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 3 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as the viral outbreak forced more companies to slash jobs even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen.
Roughly 36 million people have now sought jobless aid in just the two months since the coronavirus first forced businesses to close down and shrink their workforces, the government said Thursday. An additional 842,000 people applied for aid last week through a separate program for self-employed and gig workers.
All told, the figures point to a job market gripped by its worst crisis in decades and an economy that is sinking into a deep downturn. The pace of new applications for aid has declined over the past several weeks but is still four times the record high that prevailed before the coronavirus struck hard in March.
The waves of job cuts have heightened concerns that additional government aid, on top of the nearly $3 trillion already allocated, is necessary to sustain the economy. Without another aid package, many economists worry that thousands of small businesses will go bankrupt, leaving millions of the unemployed with no job to return to. And state and local governments, facing huge revenue shortfalls, could be forced to lay off millions more workers and cut services.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this week stressed his belief that Congress should consider providing additional rescue money to avoid prolonging an economic catastrophe.
Republicans in Congress are locked in a standoff with Democrats, who have proposed trillions more in aid. Republican leaders say they want to first see how the previous rescue packages affect the economy and have expressed skepticism about approving much more spending now. That sentiment has alarmed some economists.IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY:
Mother dies during childbirth, unable to access services due to coronavirus
A New York woman died during childbirth last month, and her husband said she tried to get treatment for the condition that killed her, but couldn’t because of coronavirus restrictions in hospitals, according to People magazine.
Amber Rose Isaac, 26, died on April 21 when her heart stopped shortly after giving birth to her son, Elias. The child’s father, Bruce McIntyre, called the death “100% preventable” if she had been able to get an in-person appointment in the months leading up to her death.
Isaac began noticing her platelet levels decreasing beginning in February, McIntyre said, but she couldn’t get an in-person appointment despite being seven months pregnant. Her regular check-ups were handled virtually, with her filling out a questionnaire and checking her blood pressure.
OBAMAGATE: Starting to get real
One of the most fascinating things about the Russia Hoax has been the extent to which those with fancy titles and decades of Russia subject matter expertise fell for it, and became some of the most enthusiastic consumers of BS.
The media and government, similar to Covid-19, have pretended to fall for the Russia hoax, rather than actually fell for it, for the purpose of harming Trump. This may be true, but it is worrisome that they really were that weak in their critical thinking.
The chips are beginning to fall.
Reports that the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and other top Obama administration officials had been involved in the effort to “unmask” ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn — mounting evidence notes that the Obama administration engaged in misconduct regarding the opening the “collusion” investigation.
That investigation was based on an opposition-research document filled with fabulism and, most likely, Russian disinformation. We know the Department of Justice withheld contradictory evidence when it began spying on those in Trump’s campaign.
We have proof that many of the relevant warrant applications were based on “fabricated” evidence or riddled with errors. We know that members of the Obama administration, who had no genuine role in counterintelligence operations, repeatedly unmasked Trump’s allies. And we now know that, despite a dearth of evidence, the FBI railroaded Michael Flynn.
By 2016, the Obama administration’s intelligence community had normalized domestic spying. Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, lied about snooping on American citizens to Congress. His CIA director, John Brennan, oversaw an agency that felt comfortable spying on the Senate, with at least five of his underlings breaking into congressional computer files.
His attorney general, Eric Holder, invoked the Espionage Act to spy on a Fox News journalist, shopping his case to three judges until he found one who let him name the reporter as a co-conspirator. The Obama administration also spied on Associated Press reporters, which the news organization called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.”
Obama officials were caught monitoring the conversations of Iran-deal opponents in Congress.
We know that Barack Obama was keenly interested in the Russian-collusion investigation’s progress.
In her very last hour in office, National Security Adviser Susan Rice wrote a self-preserving e-mail to herself, noting that she’d attended a meeting with the president, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, FBI Director James Comey and Vice President Joe Biden in which Obama stressed that everything in the investigation should proceed “by the book.”
This all matters, because, Biden is the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee. He’s running as the heir to Obama’s legacy, and he was at that meeting with Rice. He had denied even knowing anything about the FBI investigation into Flynn before being forced to correct himself after ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pointed out that he was mentioned in Rice’s e-mail. It’s completely legitimate to wonder what he knew about the investigation.
Likewise in 2016. As the FBI agents involved in the case noted, they wanted to have an “insurance policy” if the unthinkable happened. And indeed, the unthinkable did happen, and we’re still dealing with the fallout four years later. We don’t know where this scandal will end up, but it could be fun to watch.
Samuel Pepys and How I stopped worrying and learned to love Covid-19
One of the best things the coronavirus has done for our society is to expose just how bad we do government. Complete idiots, yet many cowered in their homes believing these clowns actually knew what their best interests were. We should have less faith than ever in the ability of “experts” and politicians to protect us- but millions of Americans have taken the wrong lessons from this catastrophe, and are completely devoted to national lockdown, outdoor masks, and obeying any order no matter how stupid.
Why is the beach closed? You can’t get this stuff outside unless you really make an effort like the close talker (Judge Reinhold) on Seinfeld. Getting a tan is the best way to build up the immune system. Really people?
COVID-19, a virus on a mission has essentially revealed everyone that’s a huge pussy and wants to live like a good little slave and everyone who is not.
Here’s the kind of the human garbage that lives in Cape Charles. Covid is showing us who these people are. This was posted by a reader, “Got snitching going on at the pub. Had a girl with her grandmother begging to use the bathroom (nothing open in town), she had to help her walk to it and then they(4) sat down outside unbeknownst to use inside to just rest. Well, that took the pub’s total over 10 and within minutes the police showed up. They were just doing their job after it was reported by someone. Those that are snitching shame on you.“
The fact that many of you are willing to snitch on your neighbors for violating these arbitrary yet nonsensical shelter-in-place orders… shows that we are absolutely not in this together. So please, shut up with that.
While this virus reminds many of only death, as I watched American college students on spring break, oblivious to the gathering danger and drunk out of their minds, getting ready to have sex they may or may not remember, it reminded me there is just as much life as there is death. I thought of Samuel Pepys dancing and drinking with them.
Pepys, of course, is known for his documenting the bubonic plague of 1665 -67. “The plague is got to Amsterdam,” Pepys wrote, in fall 1663, “brought by a ship by Argier.” As ways to fight the disease, there are “some saying one thing, some another,” he wrote.
Pepys took terrible risks and did not shy from the streets, or the bedrooms of his sexual liaisons. He viewed the plague, even if it killed him, as an opportunity to expand the scope of his thoughts, to become a man of greater sophistication and nuance. He wrote to find answers, and he recorded his fear.
He observed corpses being taken to their burial in the streets, and a number of his acquaintances died, including his own physician.
In summer, he drew up his will, writing, “that I shall be in much better state of soul, I hope, if it should please the Lord to call me away this sickly time.” Later, he wrote of deserted streets; the pedestrians he encountered were “walking like people that had taken leave of the world.” At the end of August, he recorded 6,102 victims but feared “that the true number of the dead this week is near 10,000,” mostly because the victims among the urban poor weren’t counted. A week later, he noted the official number of 6,978 in one week, “a most dreadfull Number.”
For Pepys, to master fear is to learn to live with it, knowing that it exists for a purpose. Pepys thought that his inner life was more important than what might happen to his material body and that this justified the risks he took. His family did not approve. They begged him to leave London and join them upcountry. He had the money to flee but stayed and worked.
What he feared most was the life unlived—the life of mere existence.
Even with his many walks to plague filled haunts, he was still all about life, “Thus ends this year, to my great joy, in this manner,” he wrote on New Year’s Eve, 1665. “I have raised my estate from 1300l in this year to 4400l. I have got myself greater interest, I think, by my diligence; and my imployments encreased by that of Treasurer for Tanger and Surveyor of the Victuals.” He really loved working and making money.
And so, we’ve reached almost two months of sheltering in place. What are we really hiding from? I’d call those in charge a bunch of wankers, but then we’d have to admit we are ruled by a bunch of wankers. To add insult to injury, we are now expected to go out and vote on May 19th for another confederacy of dunces. If you do vote, man up and do it in person.
Our once great country is completely gutted, destroyed by fearful suburban women and over-feminized men. Everything we have done has been out of fear. We have done probably the exact opposite if we are to build some form of herd immunity, and have done a poor job of protecting the most vulnerable, the elderly in nursing homes and continued care. Protect with our lives the ones that need it, but young, healthy people need to be out. Covid is the best, I believe there is no way to avoid contracting it–it’s how we deal with the contractions that matter.
Remember how much freedom we gave up trying to hide from the Al Quida Boogey Man, the Patriot Act? That’s going to seem like Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood when it’s all said and done (under the guise of safety).
The irony, for a population that is so fearful of their own deaths, the death toll nobody talks about is the ~900,000 abortion kills a year in the U.S. Maybe it’s karma? COVID-19 does seem like it’s really, really good at what it does.
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