Category Archives: Of Interest

The Anti-Social Side of Social DIstancing

Posted on by

What’s lost when we’re too afraid to touch the world around us?

Author   

Associate Professor of German, University of California, Davis

Disclosure statement

Chunjie Zhang receives research funding from the University of California, Davis.

During one of my daily walks with my toddler, when we passed his favorite playground, I noticed a new sign warning that the coronavirus survives on all kinds of surfaces and that we should no longer use the playground. Since then, I’ve taken great pains to prevent him from touching things.

This hasn’t been easy. He loves to squeeze bike racks and graze tree trunks, jostle bushes and knock on picnic tables. He likes to run his fingers against bars around a swimming pool and pet the chickens at the neighborhood coop.

Whenever I bat his hand away or try to distract him from potentially absorbing these dreaded, invisible germs, I wonder: What’s being lost? How can he possibly indulge his curiosity and learn about the world without his sense of touch?

I find myself thinking about Johann Gottfried Herder, an 18th-century German philosopher who published a treatise on the sense of touch in 1778.

“Go into a nursery and see how the young child who is constantly gathering experience reaches out, grasping, lifting, weighing, touching and measuring things,” he wrote. In doing so, the child acquires “the most primary and necessary concepts, such as body, shape, size, space and distance.”

During the European Enlightenment, sight was considered by many to be the most important sense because it could perceive light, and light also symbolized scientific fact and philosophical truth. However, some thinkers, such as Herder and Denis Diderot, questioned sight’s predominance. Herder writes that “sight reveals merely shapes, but touch alone reveals bodies: that everything that has form is known only through the sense of touch and that sight reveals only … surfaces exposed to light.”

To Herder, our knowledge of the world – our relentless curiosity – is fundamentally transmitted and satiated through our skin. Herder argues that blind people are, in fact, privileged; they’re able to explore via touch without distraction and are “able to develop concepts of the properties of bodies that are far more complete than those acquired by the sighted.”

For Herder, touch was the only way to understand the form of things and grasp the shape of bodies. Herder changes René Descartes’ statement “I think, therefore I am” and claims: We touch, therefore we know. We touch, therefore we are.

Herder was onto something. Centuries later, neuroscientists like David Linden have been able to map out the power of touch – the first sense, he notes in his book “Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart, and Mind,” to develop in utero.

Linden writes that our skin is a social organ that cultivates cooperation, improves health and enhances development. He points to research showing that celebratory hugging among professional basketball players improves team performance, that premature babies are more likely to survive if they’re regularly held by their parents instead of being kept solely in incubators and that children severely deprived of touch end up with more developmental problems.

During this period of social distancing, what sort of void has been created? In our social lives, touches are often subtle and brief – a quick handshake or hug. Yet it seems as though these brief encounters contribute mightily to our emotional well-being.

As a professor, I know it’s been a huge advantage to have digital technology that enables remote learning. But my students are missing out on the little touches, intentional or accidental, from their friends and classmates, whether it’s in the classroom, in dining halls or in their dorms.

Perhaps not surprisingly, touch plays a bigger role in some cultures than in others. Psychologist Sidney Jourard observed the behavior of Puerto Ricans in a San Juan coffee shop and found that they touched one another an average of 180 times per hour. I wonder how they’re handling social distancing. Residents of Gainesville, Florida, are probably having an easier time; Jourard found they only touched twice per hour in a coffee shop.

Social distancing is crucial. But I’m already pining for the day when we can all engage with the world unimpeded, touching without anxiety or hesitation.

We’re more impoverished without it.

from:    https://theconversation.com/whats-lost-when-were-too-afraid-to-touch-the-world-around-us-135910

Truth Vs Facts & Responsibility

Posted on by

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Really? Democracies can die.

This is the sixth in a new series of columns by Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister on essential contemporary virtues. Posted on NCR online on 1/15/20

“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable” is a spin on John 8:32, popularized in the 1970s and often misattributed to James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, who served only for 200 days before being assassinated.

It’s a point worth taking seriously.

It’s been a long time since national life has seemed steady, seemed predictable. After all, we live in the “richest, most powerful nation in the world,” some tell us, so it seems we ought to be able to expect a lot more certainty than we’re getting right now. But being in the present social climate is like living in a political fun house, the chief feature of which is a rollercoaster ride that bucks and tilts and then denies being a ride at all.

Nothing is certain; little makes sense. The nation of immigrants wants to stop immigrants from coming. The country that extends from “sea to sea” now divideThe questions abound: Will we remove all troops from Iraq or not? Answer: No, if the Iraqis themselves want us to; yes, if they don’t?

Will we bring American industries back to the United States or not? And if so, how are we going to do that, since none have come?

Does the president still have a cabinet — that is, officials confirmed by the Senate — whose obligation it is to advise the president on major issues for the good of the entire nation? Or since nearly all the cabinet ministers have resigned, does the president run all the departments of the government himself?

And if that’s the case, do we have a democracy anymore or a citizen monarch without a crown?

Where is normal now? What is real? Most of all, what do we have to do to get normal, democratic, American again, if ever?

For weeks now, I’ve been inverting our national virtues to keep up with the implosion of one institution after another which, until now, were also considered immutable. Built on age-old pilings of cement and steel, bound together at the heart of the Constitution for the sake of the common good (we thought), the government — House, Senate, presidency and party system — is now at war with itself. This so-called guardian of the “United States” is pulling the country apart.

The only part of the political system left to emend the balance of the country now that the political system itself is failing us, lies in the hands of the electorate. Modern political virtues like anger, skepticism, bias, disavowal and extremism are the only voice, the only authority, the only power the voter has left.

The right of the citizen to pour disdain and depredation on the heads of public figures — to get angry at them — is limited. And should be. As a result, those who are supposed to be advancing the goals of the public, but are not, go blithely on, scot-free of accountability, until the next election. Whether that is due to modern indifference or the kind of distance people keep from public issues is anyone’s guess. Nevertheless, it is crucial.

Skepticism about the likelihood that any politician’s promises will be realized leaves us with little but experience and character to depend on as a candidates’ commitment to effectiveness and hope of integrity. But both matter greatly. If we vote against what we see and then wonder why this administration isn’t working for us the way we would like, as the mother was fond of telling her children, “You wanted it; you got it; now be quiet.” Then, if we’re lucky, whatever politicians do will at least be done with justice to every level of society.

It’s bias for equality and respect for the concerns of the other that makes a democracy work. Without them, there is no such thing as democracy.

Disavowal of past measures in the face of new realities — embracing climate change over the protection of fossil fuels, for instance — is what keeps the country healthy for everybody. To serve one of those elements without developing the other may save a politician’s seat in government, but it will destroy the government it purports to defend.

Extremism is the quality that keeps people invested in the politics upon which their futures depend. It means following the politics as well as the politicians. It means being informed, being involved in the public conversation, following the way politicians themselves vote on bills that will affect the future of the country, of the globe, of our children’s lives.

Finally, there is one more virtue necessary to the stability of the country. And it may well be the one most lacking in this society today. It is truth.

Honesty, verity, authenticity and factuality are the underpinnings of good, effective government. But facts alone are not its gold standard. We can use facts to prove that the stock market is rising, but that does not make it true that everyone in the country is paid a living wage. As Maya Angelou said in a 1989 interview, “There is a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.”

The facts upon which we make our decisions determine the quality and character of those decisions. But just as true is the fact that the political partisanship that is running this country at this time is the most dangerous that we’ve dealt with.

It threatens our sovereignty, it threatens our citizenship, it oppresses our people, it depresses our national welfare. It turns us into just one more failed phony cardboard cutout of the brilliant concept of government our forefathers launched in 1776. It makes us just like every other political saboteur who used the people and the levers of government to get power and money for themselves.

It is a fact, for instance, that the House has impeached the president. It is not true that every senator intends to participate in the process objectively if partisanship has already sealed the process.

From where I stand, it seems that we must become awake to the fact that democracies can die, have died, are dying and that we are not immune from that political plague ourselves. That’s the miserable truth of this time. Take it seriously.

from:    http://joanchittister.org/node/8816

Consider the Bees….

Posted on by

BEES

Important new study on bees:

MOBILE PHONE-INDUCED HONEYBEE WORKER PIPING

Image for Mobile Phone-Induced Honeybee Worker PipingA careful new study from Switzerland by Daniel Favre, published online April 13, 2011, demonstrates the effects of cell phones on honeybees.

More than 80 sound recordings were taken from 5 different hives during February through June 2009. A cell phone was place in the hives near the bees. When the cell phone was off, or on standby mode, the bees were not disturbed. When the cell phone was turned on, the effect was dramatic: within 25 to 40 minutes the sounds made by the bees increased in intensity and frequency, producing the “worker piping signal.” If the cell phone was turned off immediately, the bees calmed down within 2 or 3 minutes. If the cell phone was left on for 20 hours and then turned off, the piping signal continued for up to 12 hours more. The effect was consistent and repeatable.

Worker piping is usually produced by bees preparing to leave the hive in a swarm.

The author refers to another study recently done in India. In that study, when a mobile phone was kept continuously on near a beehive it resulted in collapse of the colony in 5 to 10 days, with the worker bees failing to return home.

genevalunch.com/files/2011/05/favre.pdf

CHANGES IN HONEYBEE BEHAVIOUR AND BIOLOGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF CELLPHONE RADIATIONS

Ved Parkash Sharma and Neelima R. Kumar.

http://media.withtank.com/a49823b5aa.pdf

BEES, BIRDS AND MANKIND DESTROYING NATURE BY `ELECTROSMOG´: EFFECTS OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES.

Ulrich Warnke2007 A Brochure Series authored by Ulrich Warnke, internationally renowned bioscientist at Saarland University

http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/papers/warnke_bbm.pdf 1.5MB

 

 

from:    https://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/bees/

5G and Virus Outbreaks – A Consideration

Posted on by

Could 5G be Triggering the Spread of the Coronavirus?

Posted on Wednesday, March 4, 2020

In his landmark book on electricity and life, “The Invisible Rainbow,” Arthur Firstenberg, traces an eerie connection between the advent of four new technologies and major influenza epidemics in 1889, 1918, 1958 and 1968.

Spanish Flu 1918

The most notable connection is the famous Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918, which killed more than 20 million people worldwide. This epidemic actually started on military bases in the US at about the same time the US military was rolling out a new form of wireless communications. Between 1917 and 1918, the US military built the world’s largest radio network. Meanwhile, the flu accelerated across military bases both stateside and overseas, and on ships equipped with the powerful wireless transmitters. As the troops and wireless equipment arrived in the European theatre during WWI, a sudden explosion of disease raced unabetted across Europe.

Wireless Impacts to the Earth’s Natural Electrical Field

As this influenza seemed to move too fast for historic disease models, dozens of scientists began to question the idea of a contagious virus. Testing was inconclusive as to whether the Spanish flu virus (H1N1) was actually being spread by germs, or something else. Firstenberg and others put forth the theory that wireless and other electrical fields may change the electrical nature of the earth’s atmosphere. The electrical core of the earth generates the earth’s electromagnetic field, which sends electromagnetic waves outward to the ionosphere, where they bounce back to earth and circumnavigate the globe. In its natural state, the earth emanates a 500 milligauss magnetic field at about 7.83 cycles per second. Yet, dramatic electrical changes to the earth’s atmosphere could disrupt the evolutionary balance of the electrical nature of the planet.

Could such an electrical shock to earth’s natural electrical field trigger dormant viruses in people and animals? After all, we are all electrical creatures. When we are healthy, 50 trillion cells in our bodies operate at around 70 millivolts. Could the new US military wireless signals, which had suddenly sprung up across the globe, have activated unnatural electrical activity in the already highly, electrically-charged ionosphere? And what effects could this have on our own body chemistry, which depends on a delicate electrical balance?

1889 Flu Epidemic

Firstenberg also connects the flu epidemic of 1889 with a new electrical innovation. This time it was the rapid expansion of the electrified railroad in the US. Until 1888, there were only 45 miles of electrified railroad in the US. Yet, in a single year, this network grew to over 1000 miles. These very low frequency waves can travel thousands of miles, bouncing off the ionosphere and virtually traveling around the world at the speed of light. That same year a vicious flu erupted virtually simultaneously in such far-flung places as Greenland, Uzbekistan and Northern Alberta. It then quickly appeared in even more disparate locations, such as Philadelphia, Australia and the Balkans. In the days of pre-air travel, it seemed impossible that a contagious disease could travel this fast to so many seemingly-unrelated geographies.

Flu becomes an Annual Phenomenon

By the end of 1889, the death toll had reached over one million worldwide.  Even more telling is that until then, influenza outbreaks had been a relatively rare occurrence. It had been nearly 30 years since the previous influenza outbreak in England. Firstenberg suggests that 1889 marked the beginning of influenza being an annual phenomenon for humans.

Missile Defense Systems and the Asian Flu of 1958

We now flash forward to 1958. In the heart of the Cold War, the US had just completed the build-out of the most powerful and extensive missile defense system the world had ever seen. Hundreds of high power radar stations which generated 1350 megahertz signals and included Doppler stations, operating at more than one kilowatt, were suddenly filling the heavens with unnatural levels of microwave radiation. The problem is that all these microwave signals bounce off the ionosphere and then come back to earth. The earth’s electrical envelope acts like a resonating chamber that traps all this electrical activity and propels it at light speed to all corners of the planet.

During the build-out the US triple-threat missile defense system, the Asian Flu was born in China. The death toll ultimately reached 4 million worldwide. Scientists associated this flu with the H2N2 virus, which was thought to be avian-related.

So, which is it? Is the flu caused by long dormant viruses, which are suddenly triggered by electrical disruptions in the atmosphere? Or, as it is generally believed, is the flu transmitted by viruses mainly found in birds, or poultry that somehow find their way into the human population?

Actually, both theories may be correct.

Immune System weakened from Wireless Radiation

In 2013, a Washington State University professor, Dr. Martin Pall published a landmark paper, “Electromagnetic fields act via activation of voltage-gated calcium channels to produce beneficial or adverse effects.” This paper shows how electrical changes to ion channels can lead to biological chaos in the body, including the proliferation of free-radicals and excess calcium ions. Excess calcium ions (electrically charged elements) can be toxic. Typical symptoms include nausea, fatigue, muscle pain and fuzzy thinking. Sound a little like the flu? Meanwhile the proliferation of free-radicals creates inflammation, neurological impacts, and a compromised immune system.

If both Pall and Firstenberg are right, the rapid spread of the flu is much more than just the exposure to the underlying virus. While the virus is real, it may be both triggered and accelerated by changes in the electrical environment.  Such changes undermine our immune response to these viruses and we are unable to fight them off.

The 5G Connection

This brings us to 5G. For those who are unfamiliar with 5G, it is the fifth generation of wireless and cellular technologies. It uniquely uses intense clusters of wireless transmitters, which produce extremely high frequency signals and raise radiation exposures to humans exponentially. The frequency levels of this new technology can be many, many times higher than current wireless standards. Noted physicist Maxwell Planck showed that the level of energy in an electrical source is proportional to its frequency. Thus, 5G stands to impose significantly higher biological effects on humans than any previous technology.

Now, is it any coincidence that Wuhan, China, a leading “Smart City”, and one of the earliest adopters of 5G transmitters, is the very source of Covid-19 – the Coronavirus?

Well, if you are still doubting the connection between 5G and the Coronavirus, check out this overlay map* which locates major 5G installations in China and the major outbreaks of the Corona virus there.

Maybe Firstenberg’s claim of a connection between influenza and wireless technology is not so far-fetched after all.

The red and blue circles below represent 5G installations in China and North Korea. The light pink shows the regions marking the spread of Coronavirus. The map was created by an independent researcher overlaying a map of the 5G rollout in China with a map of the Covid-19 outbreak, both downloaded as of 2/26/20. Understand, this is a crude gauge using what information was publicly available on that date, and it is presented here only as a means to suggest that further serious research correlating Covid-19 incidence with locations of the 5G infrastructure should be undertaken.  If greater incidence of the Coronavirus is occurring in locations where 5G technologies have been deployed, this will be of critical public health importance.

 

See recent write up on 5G risks, including mention of the Covid-19 by Dr. Martin Pall here.

Professor Emeritus Martin Pall, February 25, 2020: Massive Predicted Effects of 5G in the Context of Safety Guideline Failures: Very High Level VGCC Sensitivity to Low Intensity EMFs and Especially to Pulsations

from:    https://manhattanneighbors.org/5g-corona/

We All Have Time To Bake

Posted on by

Forget Sourdough! How to Make 10 of the World’s Easiest Breads

Keen to bake for your family or housemates, but put off by previous attempts? Here are delicious options – including some that don’t require yeast, and one that doesn’t even need an oven.

The Guardian

  • Dale Berning Sawa
GettyImages-104143296.jpg

Focaccia … ‘rarely fails’. Photography by Paula Thomas / Getty Images.

In times of great uncertainty, knowing how to make your own bread and thereby feed your family, is palpably reassuring. The very act of kneading dough is calming, like Play-Doh for adults. So, of course, newbie bakers are all over social media, obsessing about “bubbling mothers” (AKA sourdough starters).

Look a little closer, though, and they’re not very happy. “We are all baking bread and some of us are not so good at it,” tweeted one journalist, dejectedly. That’s because sourdough is high-maintenance baking. People write memoirs about mastering the technique. By contrast, watching Noji Gaylard making South African steamed bread (see below) is like hugging a baby. Three minutes and 30 seconds of pure calm. Her recipe, alongside the others included in our 10 basic breads, is easy enough for even the most inexperienced baker.

But first a note about yeast. As Adrian Chiles has noted, it appears to have been stockpiled right off all the shelves. So, if you do have any, set aside a portion of whatever leavened dough you make to leaven the next (variously called old dough and pâte fermentée; you’ll find plenty of instructions for this online). And, if you don’t, you could try making your own yeast. Lisa Bedford, the self-styled Survival Mom, has written a really thorough how-to. I appreciate that making your own yeast somewhat negates the premise of this piece, but you’ve got to admit it’s awesome that you can.

Also, reserve any pasta or potato cooking water for your bread baking. As Nigella tweeted: “It will help the bread’s texture and rise.”

Flatbreads

At its simplest, a flatbread is flour and water mixed into a dough, rolled into balls, rested, flattened and griddled. Dan Lepard tweeted the basic ratio: 500g of any wheat flour (white, wholemeal, self-raising, plain) to 300g cold water. Add some form of oil to the mix, and you get everything from chapatis and rotis (Meera Sodha fills hers with coconut, raisins and almonds) to tortillas and lavash. Jamie Oliver switches things up a bit, using yoghurt, self-raising flour and a little baking powder, and cooks with griddle pan over a high heat. Elsewhere, his coconut flatbreads are made with just coconut milk and self-raising flour and fried in butter.

Quick Bread

AKA batter bread, this is the base recipe used in such things as apple bread, banana bread and the French savoury cake studded with everything from bacon and olives. You mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) with wet ingredients (milk/buttermilk/yoghurt, oil and eggs) and flavour it any way you like. Kristin “Baker Bettie” Hoffmann gives you every option thinkable: sweet, savoury, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and without baking powder (she separates the eggs, and whips the whites to get the rise needed). Texture-wise, this is more on the muffin/cake side of things, so if that’s not what you’re after, read on.

Soda Bread

The original no-kneader, and as Chiles put it last week, a gift to the yeastless. The rise comes from bicarb, so that ingredient is a must, but flour-wise it’s flexible: wholemeal, oatmeal, rolled oats, plain, self-raising, rye or whatever mixture you can manage. Liquid-wise, milk, yoghurt, buttermilk, Nigella’s pasta water: they’ll all work, too. You’ll want a dollop of salt and sweetness (honey, soft brown sugar); Chiles flavours his with treacle and Marmite, and nothing has ever endeared a columnist to me more. And there’s nothing to say you can’t jazz it up further: Oliver puts dark chocolate and hazelnuts in his.

No-Knead Crusty Loaf

The New York Times calls this the world’s easiest yeasted loaf; a step-up from the already groundbreaking easy method devised by Jim Lahey (if you’re a budding bread person, I recommend his books). You mix plain flour with yeast, salt and lukewarm water into a loose dough, cover and let rise for two to five hours. Then you shape it and bake it. The crustiness comes from having a broiling panful of water – or a few ice cubes – in the bottom of the oven to steam the loaf while it cooks.

Pitta

Putting yeast in a wheaten flatbread essentially means it can puff up while baking, to create those soft pockets so perfect for picnics. Yotam Ottolenghi puts sugar in his dough and seven spices in his chicken filling, and, well, what more could you want? Although it is technically possible to make them completely lean, Felicity Cloake doesn’t recommend it: the fat contributes to flavour and shelf-life.

Hard Dough Bread

A Jamaican speciality, this is a plain-flour yeasted dough, enriched with butter and sugar. It takes a short knead (you want the dough nice and elastic) and a 45-minute rest. You then roll it out flat with a rolling pin and – to give it that moist, dense crumb – roll it right back up again into a tight log, tucking the ends in (DaJen Eat’s Jen and her grandmother Cynthia will show you how). Then, after a short rest, it is baked golden brown in a loaf pan.

Steamed Bread

The one loaf you don’t need an oven for. This South African beauty involves mixing a very sticky batter of plain flour, salt, sugar, yeast (no oil) and lukewarm water in a bowl with a wooden spoon. (Gaylard’s demo is quite possibly the most mesmerising cooking video I’ve ever come across. It’s now my lockdown backdrop.) Cover with a lid to let it rest, then beat it once more and let it rest again. Pour into a buttered bowl and place in a large pot for which you have a lid, with enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of your bowl, adding water when necessary to keep the steam going. It is cooked when, as with a cake, a knife stuck into the centre comes out clean.

Maple Oat Breakfast Bread

This takes a couple more ingredients (maple syrup and rolled oats) and an overnight rest (eight hours or more), but it makes, as Food52 notes, darn good toast. Much like in soda bread, the oats impart a welcome bite. As with the no-knead crusty loaf, you’ll need an oven-safe heavy-based pot with a lid to achieve consistent, high heat and a good seal so the moisture doesn’t escape.

Focaccia

Nigel Slater once said that he thought focaccia was the bread to attempt first, before any trad white loaf. “A batch rarely fails.” Now most recipes will ask for strong white bread flour and/or 00 flour (used for making pasta). But Marcella Hazan makes hers with plain flour, and she’s not someone to mess with. You’ll need a good amount of olive oil (River Cottage uses 150ml), some flaky salt and something like a baking stone – a heavy cookie sheet will do.

Bagels

Surprisingly easy to make at home, as Jennifer Garner demos in episode 15 of her aptly named Pretend Cooking show. Sure, there is the extra step of poaching before you bake, but you can use plain flour and honey for the dough (or strong bread flour and malt syrup, if you want to be fancy). Food52’s Kenzi Wilbur says the hardest part is waiting an excruciating 30 minutes once you have removed them from the oven. But I’ve never known anyone able to resist freshly baked anything, so why would you even attempt to do that here? Butter at the ready …

Dale Berning Sawa is a French-South-African freelance writer based in London, covering culture, food, health, tech and work.

from:    https://getpocket.com/explore/item/forget-sourdough-how-to-make-10-of-the-world-s-easiest-breads?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Would You Trust This Guy?

Posted on by

Bill Gates Continues To Push ‘Immunity Passports’ And Tech-Enabled Surveillance State To Combat COVID

Bill Gates has inserted himself into the national dialogue as a self-proclaimed coronavirus sage who will lead the world out of dark times through a digitally-assisted brave new world of testing, contact tracing, and of course – a vaccine.

Of course, some of this might not be such a bad idea if it wasn’t coming from Gates, who’s written an op-ed in the Washington Post to elaborate on his thoughts – which makes the whole thing seem even more nefarious.

‘Sure, my Dad was on the board of planed parenthood – an organization founded by a eugenecist, and yes, I’ve talked about the need for population reduction for years. And sure, I want you to take my vaccines and get chipped. And ok, maybe India kicked us out after our immunization campaign was blamed for paralyzing 490,000 kids. And yeah, there was that whole ‘coronavirus pandemic‘ simulation my foundation spearheaded late last year which modeled 65 million dead. BUT, hear me out…‘

All jokes aside, here’s what Gates proposes in his WaPo Op-Ed in order to ‘reopen the economy.’

Widespread, at-home testing – “We can’t defeat an enemy if we don’t know where it is,” says Gates, who advocates home testing kits which “produces results that are just as accurate” as nasal swabs performed by healthcare professionals. Ok, not evil. Probably a good idea.

Choosing who to test – Essential workers and symptomatic people, or those who have been in contact with someone who tested positive, should be prioritized, otherwise “we’re wasting a precious resources and potentially missing big reserves of the virus.” Asymptomatic people who aren’t in the above categories should not be tested until there are enough tests, according to Gates. Again, not a terrible idea.

Using technology to enable a surveillance state – ah, here we go. Gates says the United States needs to follow Germany’s example; “interview everyone who has tested positive and use a database to ensure someone follows up with all their contacts.” And how to ensure accuracy? Digital big brother tools!

An even better solution would be the broad, voluntary adoption of digital tools. For example, there are apps that will help you remember where you have been; if you ever test positive, you can review the history or choose to share it with whoever comes to interview you about your contacts. And some people have proposed allowing phones to detect other phones that are near them by using Bluetooth and emitting sounds that humans can’t hear. If someone tested positive, their phone would send a message to the other phones, and their owners could get tested. If most people chose to install this kind of application, it would probably help some. -Bill Gates

Gates suggests this would be voluntary, unlike South Korea – which forces COVID-19 positive patients to self-isolate and install a tracking app on their smartphones which will alert authorities when an infected person has left their home, while warning them to return immediately. Admittedly, South Korea – which also employed widespread testing and the use of face masks, has had just under 11,000 confirmed cases and 240 deaths.

Treatment options – Gates notes that while Hydroxychloroquine has ‘received a lot of attention,’ his foundation is funding a clinical trial which will determine if it works on COVID-19 by the end of May, and that “it appears the benefits will be modest at best,” despite overwhelming anecdotal evidence of its efficacy by doctors using it in the field.

We’re guessing Gates’ trial doesn’t include the use of zinc, much like most of the other studies which are ‘proving’ that the anti-malaria drug doesn’t work. This is disingenuous science, as HCQ acts as an ‘iononpore‘ which allows zinc into infected cells, disrupting virus replication. On its own, HCQ only allows low levels of zinc to enter cells, vs. the high-dose cocktail employed by doctors such as Vladimir Zelenko, who claims he’s cured over 700 patients with the combination.

Gates, meanwhile, is promoting the use of plasma therapy, which involves “drawing blood from patients who have recovered from covid-19, making sure it is free of the coronavirus and other infections, and giving the plasma (and the antibodies it contains) to sick people. Several major companies are working together to see whether this succeeds.”

If you want to get back to large gatherings, we need a vaccine! Perhaps, but immeasurably more creepy coming from Gates considering his history.

Every additional month that it takes to produce a vaccine is a month in which the economy cannot completely return to normal.

The new approach I’m most excited about is known as an RNA vaccine. (The first covid-19 vaccine to start human trials is an RNA vaccine.) Unlike a flu shot, which contains fragments of the influenza virus so your immune system can learn to attack them, an RNA vaccine gives your body the genetic code needed to produce viral fragments on its own. When the immune system sees these fragments, it learns how to attack them. An RNA vaccine essentially turns your body into its own vaccine manufacturing unit. -Bill Gates

Gates then says that distributing vaccines will be the next hurdle – and that governments which fund vaccine development, countries which test the vaccines, and hardest-hit regions “will all have a good case that they should receive priority,” and that “Ideally, there would be a global agreement about who should get the vaccine first.”

In short – get tracked, don’t trust hydroxychloroquine, and take the shot.

from:    https://www.zerohedge.com/health/bill-gates-continues-push-immunity-passports-and-tech-enabled-surveillance-state-combat

Looks Like the Restaurants are being Taken Out

Posted on by

The Next Major Battle Pits Restaurants Against Insurers

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

A big lobbyist fight is underway in Congress. It pits restaurants against insurers.

Hard-hit restaurants press business-interruption claims even on policies that excluded pandemics.

For example, Wolfgang Puck does not have a pandemic policy.

It expects Congress to take care of it.

The Wall Street Journal reports Restaurants vs. Insurers Shapes Up as Main Event In D.C. Lobbying Fight

Restaurants and their allies are lobbying President Trump and Congress to press insurance companies to cover “business interruption” claims stemming from the coronavirus, even where restaurants have policies that exclude losses from pandemics.

While insurers do offer coverage, those policies are significantly more expensive than standard business-interruption policies, and few restaurants carry them, industry representatives said. But restaurants and some U.S. lawmakers say the business-shutdown orders in states and cities should constitute business interruptions under their existing policies.

Insurers are pushing back hard with the help of some Republican senators and conservative groups, saying retroactive changes to coverage policies and threats of lawsuits from restaurants could undermine the nation’s insurance system.

“Big” Bedfellows

Cheatsheet reports Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has joined fellow renowned chefs Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Dominique Crenn to form BIG, (Business Interruption Group), a new national legal, political, and communications campaign launched in partnership with an industry-savvy insurance attorney.

The group has spoken by phone to President Trump for his assistance in communicating with insurance companies, who have, for the most part, denied restaurants assistance during the pandemic. Specifically, they are requesting the U.S. president to step in on their behalf. And it looks like Mr. Trump is sympathetic.

Puck said, “We were encouraged by our conversation with the president about the urgent need to help the restaurant industry. All of us paid business interruption insurance for years to protect the livelihood of our employees. If the restaurant industry collapses, it has a massive effect on the entire economy. . .”

Understanding the Legal Battle

Those with no business interruption policy have no claim.

  • Restaurants that do have business interruption policies ought to be covered unless the policy specifically excludes pandemics.
  • Policies cannot be changed after the fact by Congress or anyone else, except by universal agreement of all of those who the policy covers.

The disagreement is whether the shutdown is pandemic-related or government-related.

Lobbyists have taken sides.

I believe this should be up to a court of law with the decision depending on specific policy language.

It should not be up to Congress to interpret law, nor to make businesses whole for those companies with inadequate insurance, nor insurance companies who got burnt by offering pandemic insurance.

from:    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/next-major-battle-pits-restaurants-against-insurers

When Will States Reopen?

Posted on by

Here’s Where All 50 States Stand On Reopening Their Economies

As the debate about when, where and how to reopen the American economy rages on, here’s where all 50 states stand on reopening their economies, now that the White House has released its ‘guidelines’ and delegated ultimate authority to the governors of each state.

Here’s an (alphabetical) roundup of states’ plans:

Alabama

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s stay at home order is set to expire on April 30. The state’s Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth is in charge of a task force to decide when to reopen the state’s economy. The task force is expected to deliver a report on its findings later this week.

Ivey said April 14 she intends to work with other states and the Trump administration, but that “what works in Alabama works in Alabama.”

When the economy starts to reopen, Ivey said during a press briefing it will be a slow process over time, “segment by segment or region by region.”

Alaska

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered residents to stay at home until at least April 21. Dunleavy has said that Alaskans will be allowed to schedule elective surgeries on or after May 4; that also applies to doctors visits for non-urgent needs.

Arkansas

Arkansas is one of a handful of states that never faced a stay at home order. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has closed schools for the rest of the academic term, while fitness centers, bars, restaurants and other public spaces have been closed (though the media likes to treat these states as virtually free of any constraints).

Hutchinson told reporters on April 16 that he wants to bring back elective surgeries. “We want to get (hospitals) back to doing the important health-care delivery that is important in our communities,” he said.

California

Gov. Gavin Newsom was the first governor in the nation to issue a stay-at-home order, which he did more than a month ago, on March 19. It had no set expiration date.

Last week, Newsom announced during a joint briefing with Western States that Cali had formed a pact with Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee, promising that “health outcomes and science – not politics – will guide these decisions” to reopen the states.

Moving ahead to this week, Newsom outlined a framework for reopening the economy in California that he said was predicated on the state’s ability to do six things: expand testing to identify and isolate the infected, maintain vigilance to protect seniors and high risk individuals, meet future surges in hospital demand and continuing work on therapies and treatments, redrawing regulations to continue social distancing at businesses and schools and develop new enforcement mechanisms. How long that might take is anybodies’ guess.

Colorado

Gov. Jared Polis extended the state’s stay-at-home order to April 26 (it ends Sunday night).

Polis added on April 15 that the key information state officials needed to determine when parts of the economy can be reopened is likely to come within the next five days.

The governor warned that restrictions won’t all be lifted at the same time, and life will be different for some time. “The virus will be with us,” Polis said. “We have to find a sustainable way that will be adapted in real time to how we live with it.”

Connecticut

During an interview on “Squawk Box” Tuesday morning, Gov. Lamont said that May 20 is a line in the sand: He has promised that schools and businesses likely won’t start to reopen before then. “The presidential guidelines were pretty responsible,” Lamont said, adding that they gave the state “a yellow light” to start opening things up. “My instinct is we’re going to first focus on big manufacturing and outside construction – which Connecticut never closed down by the way – before we move on to retail, and opening them up on a limited basis.”

“The things that come later are the things that Georgia opened up first…those things that have close personal contact…bars, barber shops…there I think we’re going to have to wait until we have a little more testing, and more masks,” he said.

Delaware

Gov. John Carney issued a statewide stay-at-home order that will remain until May 15 or until the “public health threat is eliminated.”
Delaware has joined a coalition of six Northeastern states to coordinate the reopening of the regional economy.

The governor said April 17 that even after the state reopens, social distancing, face coverings in public, washing hands, limited gatherings and vulnerable populations sheltering in place will remain.

Washington DC

Mayor Muriel Bowser has extended the state’s lockdown until May 15.

Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stay-at-home order for Floridians until April 30 and plans to announce plans for reopening next week. He has already allowed some beaches in the state to reopen, a controversial move that was widely criticized by the NYT and MSNBC, among others.

Southeast Florida, the epicenter of the state’s outbreak, might reopen more slowly than the rest of the state.

Georgia

As we noted last night, Gov. Brian Kemp, who issued a statewide shelter-in-place order until April 30 and set a public emergency for schools in the state until May 13, announced plans for reopening the state by this time next week.

Hawaii

Gov. David Ige issued a stay-at-home order until at least April 30. He said last week that the state isn’t close to meeting the reopening criteria, and it’s not clear when that will happen.

Idaho

Gov. Brad Little amended his order April 15 to allow for some businesses and facilities to reopen for curbside pickup, drive-in and drive-thru service and for mailed or delivery services. It is now effective through the end of the month. As of now, the state’s “order to self-isolate” will expire on April 30, unless extended.

Little says the measures are working and Idaho is “truly seeing a flattening of the curve.”

Illinois

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order in effect through the end of the month unless extended.

Pritzker said during a media briefing Monday that he believes the current state in Illinois has been enough to slowly start lifting shelter-in-place orders so that some industry workers can go back to work, although he hasn’t laid out a clear timeline.

Indiana

Gov. Eric Holcomb extended his state’s stay-at-home order through May 1 to give it more time to look into what “the best way is to reopen sectors of the economy.”

He said he would work with the state hospital association to see when elective surgeries could resume. The state is also part of that “midwestern coalition” we have mentioned.

Iowa

Gov. Kim Reynolds has not declared a stay-at-home order, though she did issue a  “State of Public Health Disaster Emergency” on March 17, which was tantamount to a closure order, forcing ‘nonessential’ businesses to close until the end of the month. She also formed a task force to look into how to reopen schools and the economy. Reynolds on April 16 announced that residents of the state’s hottest hot spot won’t be allowed to congregate at least until next month.

Kansas

Gov. Laura Kelly has extended the closure order until May 3, with the state’s “peak” expected by the end of April.

Kentucky

Gov. Andy Beshear issued a “Healthy at Home” order March 25 with no end date. Oddly, Kentucky is actually part of the coalition of midwestern states working to reopen their economies together.

Louisiana

Gov. John Bel Edwards extended the state’s stay-at-home order through April 30. Residents will soon be able to start getting non-emergency surgeries.

Maine

Gov. Janet Mills issued a “Stay Healthy at Home” executive order through at least April 30, and has extended a civil state of emergency until May 15.

“We are in the midst of one of the greatest public health crises this world has seen in more than a century,” Mills said in a news release. “This virus will continue to sicken people across our state; our cases will only grow, and more people will die. I say this to be direct, to be as honest with you as I can. Because saving lives will depend on us.”

Maryland

Gov. Larry Hogan issued a statewide stay-at-home order on March 30. There is no current potential end date.
The governor said during his appearance on CNN Newsroom on April 13 that the state is discussing ways to safely reopen the state with health officials.

Massachusetts

Governor Charlie Baker has issued an emergency order requiring all nonessential businesses to remain closed until May 4. Mass is also part of the northeastern coalition.

Michigan

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said she “hopes” to start reopening May 1 despite her state being one of the hardest hit outside New York.

Minnesota

Gov. Tim Walz extended the state’s stay-at-home order through May 3, while extending a peacetime emergency for an additional 30 days until May 13.

Mississippi

Gov. Tate Reeves has extended a shelter-in-place order to April 27, but said some non-essential businesses could reopen by offering services via drive-thru, delivery or ‘outside’ shopping.

Missouri

Gov. Mike Parson on April 16 extended the stay-at-home order through May 3 and pledged to work with businesses and health-care providers on the reopening plan.

“Our reopening efforts will be careful, deliberate, and done in phases,” he said.

Montana

Bullock’s stay at home order for the state will expire on Friday, and the governor has said that the federal guidelines will allow it to reopen “sooner rather than later.”

Nebraska

Gov. Pete Ricketts issued the “21 Days to Stay Home and Stay Healthy” campaign on April 10, ordering all hair salons, tattoo parlors and strip clubs be closed through April 30. Nebraska is one of the states that has not issued a stay-at-home order.

Nevada

Gov. Steve Sisolak issued a stay-at-home order that expires April 30.

When asked about how he’d make his decision to reopen the economy, Sisolak said “positive testing is important but it’s not my number one parameter,” adding that “basis hospitalizations” are seen as an important metric for him.

New Hampshire

Gov. Chris Sununu issued a stay-at-home order until May 4, and told reporters that he’ll decide whether to extend it before it expires.

New Jersey

Gov. Phil Murphy issued a stay-at-home order on March 21 that has no specific end date. His state is part of the northeastern alliance.

New Mexico

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham extended the state’s emergency order to April 30, and said Thursday that her state is evaluating the federal guidelines but couldn’t risk putting “the cart before the horse” and are still working on developing a plan.

New York

Gov Cuomo’s “PAUSE” order is currently set to keep schools and businesses closed until at least May 15.

North Carolina

Gov. Roy Cooper issued a stay-at-home order for the state effective until April 29.

North Dakota

Gov. Doug Burgum is one of the governors who never issued a stay at home order, and has said he would like to reopen by May 1.

Ohio

Mike DeWine has said he hopes to start reopening on May 1.

Oklahoma

Gov. Kevin Stitt said April 15 that he is working on a plan to reopen the state’s economy, possibly as early as April 30.

Oregon

Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order directing Oregonians to stay at home that “remains in effect until ended by the governor.”

Pennsylvania

Gov. Tom Wolf issued stay-at-home orders across the state until April 30. It is part of the coalition of northeastern states.

Rhode Island

Gov. Gina Raimondo’s emergency order to keep the state closed is set to expire May 8.

South Carolina

The state’s governor said earlier he would push to start reopening by next Tuesday.

South Dakota

Gov. Kirsti Noem hasn’t issued a stay at home order.

Tennessee

Gov Bill Lee has said he plans to start reopening businesses as soon as Monday.

Texas

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered all Texans to stay home through April 30.

Utah

Gov. Gary Herbert extended the state’s “Stay Safe, Stay Home” directive through May 1. Schools will be closed for the remainder of the year.

Vermont

Gov. Phil Scott issued a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order that has been extended until May 15.

Scott on April 17 outlined a five-point plan to reopen the state while continuing to fight the spread of the coronavirus during a news conference.

Virginia

Gov. Ralph Northam issued a stay-at-home order effective until June 10.

Washington

Gov. Jay Inslee extended Washignton’s stay-at-home order until May 4, saying “We are yet to see the full toll of this virus in our state and the modeling we’ve seen could be much worse if we don’t continue what we’re doing to slow the spread.”

West Virginia

Gov. Jim Justice issued a stay-at-home order until further notice.

“That curve is the curve we’re looking for to be able to look at the possibility of backing things off and going forward. We’re not there yet,” Justice said on April 13.

Wisconsin

Gov. Tony Evers’ stay at home order will expire May 26, making his one of the latest dates in the country, along with Connecticut and the states that haven’t set a date.

Wyoming

Wyoming doesn’t have a stay at home order, and has been relatively unscathed by the outbreak. It was the last state to receive a federal disaster declaration.

from:    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/heres-where-all-50-states-stand-reopening-their-economies

And So Fall Oil Prices

Posted on by

What just happened to the price of oil?

Authors

CC BY ND

We have just witnessed an oil price crash like never before taking prices of West Texas Intermediate into deeply negative territory.

The spot price of West Texas, the US benchmark, reached minus US$40.32 a barrel and the May futures price (which is deliverable in a physical form) went to minus US$37.63 a barrel, the lowest price in the history of oil futures contracts.

There has been no better indicator of the extent of the economic impacts of coronavirus. With borders closed and much of the world’s population being urged to stay at home, transport has come to a near halt.

How can a price turn negative?

Oklahoma’s Cushing oil storage facility, the largest in the world. Crude Oil Daily

The industry has not been able to slow production fast enough to counter the drop in demand. The other mechanism that normally stabilises prices, US oil storage, appears to be nearing capacity.

West Texas Intermediate is typically stored at the Cushing facility in Oklahoma which is on the way to being full.

Cushing is said to be able to hold 62 million barrels of oil – enough to fill all the tanks of half the cars in United States.

That’s why prices have gone negative. Traders with contracts to take delivery of oil in May fear they won’t be able to store it. They are willing to pay not to have to take it and have nowhere to put it.

Not all oil contracts went negative. West Texas Intermediate contracts for June and subsequent months are still positive, reflecting a feeling that the supply and demand imbalance will soon be corrected.

Brent, the international price benchmark, remained positive, dropping to US$25.57 – a fall of about 9%. Unlike West Texas Intermediate, Brent deliveries can be put on ships and transported to storage facilities anywhere in the world.

Not confined to the US

There is no guarantee the problems of storage evident in the US won’t spread to other markets.

This is despite the decision of OPEC-Plus (the mainly Middle Eastern member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia and other former Soviet states) to respond to the free fall by cutting output by 9.7 million barrels per day, ending the recent duel over production levels between OPEC and Russia

Adding another element to the COVID-19 story, on March 9, the day of the Black Monday stock market crash, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange reported a new daily record for West Texas Intermediate trading, reaching 4.8 million contracts, surpassing the 4.3 million recorded on September 2019 following the drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.The future does not look good. With rising unemployment, stuttering economies, and collapsing financial markets the prospects for substantial recovery in the oil markets seems far away

The US, these days an exporter itself through shale oil, will suffer in the same way as traditional exporters in the Middle East.

Historically, oil markets have been considered good at predicting recessions, although in this case the causation might go the other way.

At this point the industry might be starting to consider that the best place to store oil is a natural one – leaving it in the ground.

from:    https://theconversation.com/what-just-happened-to-the-price-of-oil-136842

A Little Tonic & Zinc

Posted on by

Professor Didier Raoult Publishes Results of a Hydroxychloroquine Treatment Study on 1061 Patients

By     CE Staff Writer

In Brief

  • The Facts:Professor Didier Raoult has published his early results for Hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for moderate to severe COVID-19 patients. 973 patients out of 1063, according to him, have shown “a good clinical outcome.”
  • Reflect On:Why is there always so much controversy and politicization of science and treatments? Why are these treatments controversial within the mainstream, but vaccines cannot even be questioned?

In a new study performed at IHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France a  cohort of 1061 COVID-19 patients were treated for 3 days with the Hydroxychloroquine-Azithromycin (HCQ-AZ) combination. A follow-up of at least 9 days was investigated and the study found that no cardiac toxicity was observed. According to the abstract which was recently released:

“A good clinical outcome and virological cure was obtained in 973 (out of 1061) patients within 10 days (91.7%)…A poor outcome was observed for 46 patients (4.3 %); 10 were transferred to intensive care units, 5 patients died (0.47%) (74-95 years old) and 31 required 10 days of hospitalization or more…The HCQ-AZ combination, when started immediately after diagnosis, is a safe and efficient treatment for COVID-19, with a mortality rate of 0.5%, in elderly patients. It avoids worsening and clears virus persistence and contagiosity in most cases.” 

The original abstract can be accessed here.

Also, the researchers made this table available.

I came across this information via the Physicians For Informed Consent.

It’s not clear when the complete study will be made available. But there is another side to this story, Sciencemg  points out that:

The popular faith in hydroxychloroquine stands in stark contrast to the weakness of the data. Several studies of its efficacy against COVID-19 have delivered an equivocal or negative verdict, and it can have significant side effects, including heart arrhythmias. Raoult’s positive studies have been widely criticized for their limitations and methodological issues. The first included only 42 patients, and Raoult chose who received the drug or a placebo, a no-no in clinical research; the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy has distanced itself from the paper, published in the society’s International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. The second study, published as a preprint without peer review, didn’t have a control group at all.

They go on to mention that:

Raoult has dismissed the criticism and complained about the “dictatorship of the methodologists” who insist on randomization and control groups in clinical trials. In his hospital, every patient diagnosed with COVID-19 receives hydroxychloroquine combined with azithromycin, an antibiotic. Raoult claims this has resulted in a very low death rate, which he says he will document soon in a publication.

Raoult has also found some high-level support in the medical world. An online petition in support of hydroxychloroquine was started by cardiologist and former Minister of Health Philippe Douste-Blazy—France’s candidate to lead the World Health Organization in 2017—and Christian Perronne, head of infectious diseases at the renowned Raymond Poincaré University Hospital in Garches, near Paris. Ten other prominent figures from the medical community, including two members of the Academy of Medicine, have also co-signed the petition, which demands hydroxychloroquine be authorized in hospital settings.

This has become a highly controversial topic that’s been politicized, as with most other medications and drugs. Profit and corporate interests are at stake, and therefore mass perceptions of it are controlled using various tactics and media. Sometimes it can be hard to decipher truth.

These findings also correlate with others that have been gaining attention as well.

For example, Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, a board-certified family practitioner in New York, said in a video interview that a cocktail of Hydroxychloroquine, Zinc Sulfate and Azithromycin are showing phenomenon results with 900 coronavirus patients treated. (source)

In that video he stated that he believes it’s very important to “get this information out to the American people and to the world.”

Dr. Anthony Cardillo, an ER specialist and the CEO of Mend Urgent Care, has been prescribing the zinc and hydroxychloroquine combination on patients experiencing severe symptoms associated with COVID-19. In an interview with KABC-TV, Cardillo stated:

“Every patient I’ve prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free, […] So, clinically I am seeing a resolution.”

“We have to be cautious and mindful that we don’t prescribe it for patients who have COVID who are well,” he said. “It should be reserved for people who are really sick, in the hospital or at home very sick, who need that medication. Otherwise we’re going to blow through our supply for patients that take it regularly for other disease processes.”

According to Cardillo, it’s the combination of zinc and hydroxychloroquine that does the job. “[Hydrocychloroquine] opens the zinc channel” allowing the zinc to enter the cell, which then “blocks the replication of cellular machinery.”

President Donald Trump has also been quite outspoken about this treatment in some of his recent press conferences. We’ve seen many mainstream media publications, however, downplay the potential of this treatment which may be confusing people.

Cardillo added that the drug should only be prescribed to patients who are on the more severe side when it comes to symptoms. This will help keep the limited supply of the drug ready for those who truly need it.

In New Jersey, Physicians have called for more autonomy in treatment of COVID-19

“An additional group of doctors has contacted a New Jersey State Senator calling on the State to lift restrictions on the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for the therapeutic treatment and prophylactic early treatment of COVID-19. The doctors are echoing Senator Pennacchio’s appeal for New Jersey to accumulate a stockpile of the medication….Pennacchio also wants the State to immediately compile a priority list for the HCQ distribution, ensuring enough medication for those currently prescribed for maladies including Lupus and RA, distribution to patients who have developed COVID-19, and for citizens as a preventive treatment. ‘I am optimistic these measures would decrease the severity and duration of the disease,’ said Pennacchio. ‘The goal must be breaking the pandemic so people can be allowed to return to their normal lives.’ ‘Allow doctors to be doctors. Remove the State’s unnecessary shackles, and let them save lives,’ Pennacchio urged.” (source) 

In France,  a large study indicates combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin to be effective in treating COVID-19

“In 80 in-patients receiving a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, the team found a clinical improvement in all but one 86 year-old patient who died, and one 74-year old patient still in intensive care unit. The team also found that, by administering hydroxychloroquine combined with azithromycin, they were able to observe an improvement in all cases, except in one patient who arrived with an advanced form…The team went on to say: ‘Thus, in addition to its direct therapeutic role, this association can play a role in controlling the disease epidemic by limiting the duration of virus shedding, which can last for several weeks in the absence of specific treatment.’” (source)

 

All of this, of course, continues to raise the question: why is there such a strong push for a vaccine, and perhaps a mandated one, when there are other options available now? Why is the world listening to Bill Gates and his calls for further lockdown until the vaccine is ready? Is there something else going on here? Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed that things won’t go back to ‘normal’ until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed.” You can read more about that here.

Not only are the above treatments literally ignored by mainstream and not really well known about as they should be, Vitamin C is also being ignored. An article published by LiveScience, a mainstream science website, states that “Vitamin C is extremely unlikely to help people fight off the new coronavirus.” But how come  Medicine in Drug Discovery, of Elsevier, a major scientific publishing house, recently published an article on early and high-dose IVC in the treatment and prevention of Covid-19.   In the article, he states the following:

High-dose intravenous VC has also been successfully used in the treatment of 50 moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in China. The doses used varied between 2 g and 10 g per day, given over a period of 8–10 h. Additional VC bolus may be required among patients in critical conditions. The oxygenation index was improving in real time and all the patients eventually cured and were discharged. In fact, high-dose VC has been clinically used for several decades and a recent NIH expert panel document states clearly that this regimen (1.5 g/kg body weight) is safe and without major adverse events.

Again, all of this information should really raise some red flags and questions about what’s going on within governments, and their connection to pharmaceutical companies.  They’re the largest lobbying entity in Washington D.C. They have more lobbyists in Washington D.C. than there are congressman and senators combined. They give twice to Congress what the next largest lobbying entity is, which is oil and gas… Imagine the power they exercise over both republicans and democrats. You can read more about that here.

Why do we continue to turn to and rely on federal health regulatory agencies and companies that don’t make health a priority, and put profits ahead of health?

from:    https://www.collective-evolution.com/2020/04/14/professor-didier-raoult-publishes-results-of-a-hydroxychloroquine-treatment-study-on-1061-patients/