26251 replies to this topic

[Ismo07]

The US is doing exactly what we suggested we do. Young, healthy people are being infected in the summer while immune systems are at their highest and emergency wards are least busy. Lots of people infected but very few are getting seriously ill and the medical system is coping.  Keep this going until the end of summer and we may 30%+ immunity rates in the US compared to < 1% in Canada. We will then see who is in better shape come the fall when the second wave hits.

 

I'm not sure in the major hit areas the medical system is coping from reports, but time will tell.

[Greg]

The US is doing exactly what we suggested we do. Young, healthy people are being infected in the summer while immune systems are at their highest and emergency wards are least busy. Lots of people infected but very few are getting seriously ill and the medical system is coping.  Keep this going until the end of summer and we may 30%+ immunity rates in the US compared to < 1% in Canada. We will then see who is in better shape come the fall when the second wave hits.

 

How did you work out that 3x the number of cases per capita would equal 30x the herd immunity? That math seems, um, questionable.

[lanforod]

Maybe he's taking into account that their cases are growing fast and ours are pretty flat?

[Greg]

Maybe he's taking into account that their cases are growing fast and ours are pretty flat?

 

Well if it grows to 30x the number of cases (to get to the herd immunity numbers he cited) then you're looking at another two million deaths. There might be better plans.

[Rob Randall]

They're not even sure effective antibody immunity exists. Tests on survivors have been inconsistent and disappointing. There's a lot of crossed fingers and wishful thinking in Spanky's hypothesis.

[Victoria Watcher]

they don’t even know if asymprtomatic people spread it or if it survives 3 seconds or 3 days on hard surfaces.

it’s not wise to go with the most cautious approach. that’s already destroying much of the western world. to the glee of Democrats.

[todd]

^ Depends upon the mask. In other tests it shows the droplets shoot out the side of some masks but in that test petri dishes are always in front of him. Also not a bacteria.

should you cough should you cover your mask? Or at least apply pressure?

[amor de cosmos]

Well if it grows to 30x the number of cases (to get to the herd immunity numbers he cited) then you're looking at another two million deaths. There might be better plans.

  

They're not even sure effective antibody immunity exists. Tests on survivors have been inconsistent and disappointing. There's a lot of crossed fingers and wishful thinking in Spanky's hypothesis.

you guys are right. this is from the 18th:

Only a fraction of Sweden’s population has developed Covid-19 antibodies despite a significant number of infections across the country.

Antibodies were found in 6.1% of the samples collected nationwide in the week ending May 24, according to a survey presented by the Public Health Agency on Thursday.

The number confirms earlier studies that suggested Sweden is far from reaching the level of immunity that could bring the spread of the virus to a halt.

https://www.bloomber...softer-lockdown

[lanforod]

Well if it grows to 30x the number of cases (to get to the herd immunity numbers he cited) then you're looking at another two million deaths. There might be better plans.

 

Yeah, given all the various sources about what herd immunity requires, and the lack of antibodies in many survivor tests, likely the only way we will get to herd immunity is through a widely distributed vaccine. It's possible that an effective vaccine is not possible as well, in which case, we will just have to live with it.

[Victoria Watcher]

Mayor John Tory says that he will support a recommendation that would make it mandatory for residents to wear a face mask in all “indoor settings where the public gathers.”

 

Tory says that the bylaw will take effect on July 7, provided that it is approved by members of city council later today.

 

 

 

https://toronto.ctvn...doors-1.5005358

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 June 2020 - 05:18 AM.

[amor de cosmos]

50 Pics That Illustrate Why America Is #1 When It Comes To Coronavirus Cases





etc

https://www.boredpan...ica-number-one/

btw Rev 13:16-18 says this. 666 is an aramaic gematria that gives the numerical value of "Nero Caesar" (alap=1, bet=2, gamal=3, etc), so adding up the values of its letters gives 666, making emperor nero the antichrist. I have no idea what this has to do with COVID-19, I doubt those people do either:

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

22 Reasons Why America Is #1 In The World When It Comes To The Coronavirus

https://www.buzzfeed...rld-coronavirus

Cirque du Soleil files for creditor protection, terminates 3,480 jobs due to COVID-19
https://www.nanaimob...ue-to-covid-19/

SALT LAKE CITY - An overactive defense response may lead to increased blood clotting, disease severity, and death from COVID-19. A phenomenon called NETosis--in which infection-fighting cells emit a web-like substance to trap invading viruses--is part of an immune response that becomes increasingly hyperactive in people on ventilators and people who die from the disease.

A team led by University of Utah Health and PEEL Therapeutics, in collaboration with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Weill Cornell Medicine, report the findings in a new study published in the journal, Blood.

"This study tells us about a potential mechanism for lung injury in COVID-19 that had not previously been recognized as a possible target for treatment," says Elizabeth Middleton, M.D., the study's first author and a critical care specialist at U of U Health.

The investigation also reports that a naturally occurring protein--originally found in umbilical cord blood--quiets this NET immune response in laboratory experiments, potentially opening new avenues for treatment.

https://www.eurekale...h-ctc062920.php
 

LA JOLLA--A new study from researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) and Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) shows that even the sickest COVID-19 patients produce T cells that help fight the virus. The study offers further evidence that a COVID-19 vaccine will need to elicit T cells to work alongside antibodies.

The research, published June 26, 2020 in Science Immunology, also reveals that both Dutch and American patients have similar responses to the virus. "This is key to understanding how the immune response fights the virus," says LJI Professor Alessandro Sette, Dr. Biol. Sci., who co-led the study with Erasmus MC Virologist Rory de Vries, Ph.D. "You want vaccine approaches to be grounded in observations from rather diverse settings to ensure that the results are generally applicable."

https://www.eurekale...f-eit062920.php
 

Scientists have new evidence that overactive neutrophils--a common type of circulating immune cell--may drive the life-threatening blood clots and inflammation that occur in some patients with COVID-19. High levels of the sticky, pathogen-trapping webs produced by the cells were associated with the most severe cases of COVID-19 in a study reported online in the journal Blood.

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are a type of defense that the immune system deploys against certain pathogens--webs of DNA and toxins that ensnare and destroy viruses and bacteria. When too many of these NETs accumulate during a persistent infection, they can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, which leads many patients with COVID-19 to require intensive care.

https://www.eurekale...l-nef062920.php

Face coverings made from layered cotton fabric likely slow the spread of COVID-19 better than synthetics
https://phys.org/new...synthetics.html

No side effects seen for COVID-19 vaccine volunteers, says top Moscow medical university
https://tass.com/science/1173303

Two U.S. research groups have reported finding nearly 300 cases of an alarming apparent side effect of Covid-19 in children, a condition called multisystem inflammation syndrome, or MIS-C
https://www.statnews...n-covid19-misc/

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased and broadened inequality in psychological distress in the UK
https://voxeu.org/ar...cal-distress-uk

Inovio claims positive results on Covid-19 vaccine but critical data are missing
https://www.statnews...ta-are-missing/

Scientists link risk of COVID-19 infection to genetic predisposition
https://tass.com/science/1173199

40% of virus carriers in Italian town show no symptoms: study
https://medicalxpres...n-symptoms.html

Air conditioning may be factor in COVID-19 spread in the South
https://medicalxpres...ovid-south.html

On Monday, Houston mayor Sylvester Turner announced the first three additions to the city’s “Wall of Shame,” a collection of businesses that aren’t following the guidelines implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19
https://houston.eate...ylvester-turner

‘Oregon Businesses Will Not Be Able to Stay Open’ If COVID-19 Cases Continue to Climb
The governor’s office predicts that Fourth of July and summer harvest will put Oregonians at risk
https://pdx.eater.co...osing-potential

Researchers found that among nearly 38,000 patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 at Johns Hopkins Health System, 16% were positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.
That figure was much higher -- almost 43% -- among Hispanic patients, according to findings published online June 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
https://www.webmd.co...ard-by-covid-19

Nearly half of new COVID-19 cases in U.S. Louisiana among people under 30
http://www.ecns.cn/n...xc0873770.shtml

SEE? LIFTING THE LOCKDOWN IS NO BETTER FOR THE ECONOMY

The resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the United States is threatening to derail the nascent economic recovery as many states have either paused or partially reversed their staged re-openings, economists and officials have warned.

"Economic activity in states with the most significant increases in cases in recent days, including Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, appears to be rolling over," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, wrote Monday in an analysis.

"It is increasingly clear that many governors reopened their states too quickly, reigniting the virus and hurting their economies," Zandi wrote, adding containing the virus and supporting the economy are not mutually exclusive.

The bulk of the increase in U.S. COVID-19 infections has been in the South and West, with California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas accounting for the bulk of the increase, according to Wells Fargo Securities Economics Group.

"Some increase in COVID-19 cases was expected as the economy reopened and testing continued to ramp up. The rise in infections, however, has been greater than can be explained by testing alone," the Economics Group wrote Friday in a report, noting many states and metro areas have either paused or partially reversed their staged re-openings, which will weigh on economic growth this summer.

*snip*

A number of Federal Reserve officials have also warned that the U.S. economy is expected to grow more slowly than people had hoped months ago as the country cannot stop the community spread of COVID-19.

"My forecast assumes growth is held back by the response to intermittent localized outbreaks -- which might be made worse by the faster-than-expected reopenings," Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said last week, expecting the U.S. economy unlikely to return to its pre-pandemic level of output until late in 2022.

"So even after three years, my projected recovery places us below where the economy would have been had the virus not occurred. Unfortunately, I think some previously expected trend growth has been permanently lost," he said.

Eric Rosengren, president of Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, estimated that U.S. unemployment rate will remain in double digits by the end of this year as efforts to contain COVID-19 so far have not been particularly successful in the country.

"This lack of containment could ultimately lead to a need for more prolonged shut-downs, which result in reduced consumption and investment, and higher unemployment," Rosengren said earlier this month, adding the economic rebound in the second half of the year is likely to be less than what was hoped for at the outset of the pandemic.

longish
http://www.ecns.cn/n...xc0873758.shtml

Cluster of COVID-19 Cases in US Troops Emerges at Kuwaiti Air Base
https://www.military...i-air-base.html

Shell Warns Of Massive $22 Billion Write Down After Oil Crash
https://oilprice.com...-Oil-Crash.html

Michele Bachmann Blames Trump Administration Middle East Peace Plan for COVID-19, Civil Unrest
https://www.rightwin...9-civil-unrest/

Victoria locks down 36 Melbourne suburbs to try to control COVID-19 spike
https://theconversat...19-spike-141707
 

After six days, she tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel virus. Her treatment began shortly, followed by self isolation.

"I used to cough so much the entire building could hear me, but there was nothing we could do. It was as if my bones cracked whenever I coughed," she said.

"I isolated myself at home for 22 days and lived there all by myself.

"You do not have energy to eat your food. I was not able even to recognize the smell of a lemon," she said. "The pain was so severe that I was not able to raise my hands to my head..."

Despite testing negative for the virus twice, doctors suggested that she stays at home unless necessary.

Also, health professionals told her the traces of the disease were still visible in her lungs and they would not disappear for at least half a year.

To people complaining about having to wear a mask, she said: "Had I known, I'd have worn 10 masks all at once."

https://www.aa.com.t...urvivor/1894763

Greece to Open Land Border With Turkey as Countries Exit COVID-19 Lockdown Amid Simmering Tensions
https://sputniknews....ering-tensions/
 

But Asturias is still above the US, Brazil, and Russia in terms of per capita mortality.

So how did a region in one of the countries most devastated by the pandemic manage to get rid of new contagions for now?

To begin with, Spain underwent one of the strictest lockdowns in the western world. For several weeks, residents across the country were confined to their homes and not even allowed to exercise outdoors, as in most other countries.

The lockdown in Spain was strictly controlled, with authorities issuing around 20,000 steep fines and 100 arrests in Asturias during the state of alarm that ran from March 14 until June 21, according to local newspaper El Comercio.

Masks still remain mandatory in all situations where 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) of distance cannot be maintained between people.

Across the country, cases declined dramatically, although they have begun to inch up again since the lockdown ended – and over 1,900 cases were detected in the last two weeks nationwide.

Experts say other factors that have set Asturias apart, besides its geography and world-class testing driven by one of the country’s best microbiology labs, as well as its well-coordinated, well-funded public system and individual precautions.

https://www.aa.com.t...s-free-/1894782

MUMBAI: The Indian government will extend a free foodgrain distribution scheme for 800 million people amid the ongoing pandemic until the end of November
https://www.channeln...ttling-12886696

Israel reports highest daily rise in virus cases in months
Since midnight, 714 new cases of the pathogen were confirmed, the third-highest daily tally since the onset of the pandemic in Israel
https://www.ynetnews...icle/SkU11t8d08

Uzbekistan imposes new restrictions as COVID-19 cases rise again
https://www.channeln...-cases-12885912

New coronavirus wave hits Kazakhstan, president says
https://tass.com/world/1172903

Nearly 40 Russian diplomats contract coronavirus, one dies, Lavrov says
https://tass.com/society/1172811

سوريا.. 10 إصابات جديدة بفيروس كورونا ما يرفع عدد الإصابات المسجلة إلى 279 إصابة
syria has 10 new cases, bringing their grand total to a whopping 279
https://arabic.rt.co...-إلى-279-إصابة/
 

At just 25-years-old, nurse Soror Al-Husseini is leading the fight to beat the coronavirus pandemic in Mosul, with the northern Iraqi city's health system yet to recover more than three years after the Islamic State's brutal rule.

A nine-month long battle waged by Iraqi security forces and a US-led coalition to oust IS took a devastating toll on Mosul, with nine out of 13 hospitals in the city severely damaged. The city's healthcare system was all but destroyed and many hospitals still lack medical equipment.

In the aftermath, residents of Iraq's second largest city were virtually left alone to rebuild their ruined homes, receiving little support from either local or central government authorities. Amid these huge challenges, Maslawi youths like Al-Husseini are leading the charge.

As the pandemic swept across the city, she requested a transfer to work in Al-Shifa hospital in eastern Mosul, where the city's Covid-19 patients are being treated.

etc
https://english.alar...gainst-covid-19

Suspected case of bubonic plague reported in western Mongolia
http://www.ecns.cn/n...xc0873969.shtml

Venezuela Tightens Quarantine in COVID-19 Hotspots amid Record Daily Case Count
Thirty percent of the country returns to total lockdown as the national tally increases to 5,530
https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/1494

Iraq: Virus deaths near 2,000, cases close to 50,000
Health Ministry reports over 100 fatalities, more than 1,950 new COVID-19 cases
https://www.aa.com.t...-50-000/1894965
 

The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that all countries living with COVID-19 will be the new normal in the coming months, as the pandemic had already infected more than 10 million people worldwide, including nearly 500,000 deaths.

"The critical question that all countries will face in the coming months is how to live with this virus. That is the new normal," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a daily press briefing.

He added that although many countries have made some progress against the COVID-19, the pandemic is speeding up globally.

According to the latest WHO numbers, as of 3:15 p.m. CEST (1315 GMT) on Monday, the total infected population worldwide had reached 10,021,401, including 499,913 deaths.

"Six months ago, none of us could have imagined how our world -- and our lives -- would be thrown into turmoil by this new virus," the WHO chief said.

"The pandemic has brought out the best and the worst of humanity," he continued. "All over the world, we have seen heartwarming acts of resilience, inventiveness, solidarity, and kindness. But we have also seen concerning signs of stigma, misinformation and the politicization of the pandemic."

http://www.ecns.cn/n...xc0873544.shtml

Int'l airlines resuming flights to China amid relaxed COVID-19 restrictions on aviation
http://www.ecns.cn/n...xc0873898.shtml

[Rob Randall]

The empty Covid testing tent complex at the Cedar Hill Rec Centre has been taken down.

[RFS]

New positive case identified from woodgrove mall

https://nanaimonewsn...odgrove-centre/

[Lost password]

Well Boyz n Girlz, on the eve of Canada Day, I would like to share with one and all an email I received from Mother Earth!

 

She wishes all a Very Happy Canada Day, To the ancestors of the First Wave of Settlers, from Asia to the Westcoast many thousands of years ago, and to the Second Wave of Settlers from mainly Europe.

 

She also adds a PS: the virus lives too, and forget the name, it too came from over the sea many, many miles away from your/MY sweet Land/

Edited by Lost password, 30 June 2020 - 07:32 PM.

[RFS]

^someone has dipped into their canada day libations a little early I'd say

[Greg]

I made a little chart overlay to show why watching the change in daily deaths in the US over the next two weeks may end up being a little scary. If you assume, as most of the data suggests, that the death data trails the new cases data by about two weeks, things may start to get scary.

 

Some (but nowhere near all) of the increase in cases can be traced to increased testing. And maybe we are seeing some improvements in treating infections and in keeping the infections out of at risk populations (care homes). If all of those things are strongly true, then perhaps the deaths won't climb similar to the way new cases are climbing. But personally, I'm pretty concerned that deaths are going to start to shoot up over the next few days. If so, we may be wanting to keep that border closed for a long time.

 

[amor de cosmos]

USA WTF
 

KELOWNA, B.C. — The B.C. Fruit Growers Association says the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its industry has been devastating.

The association says a survey of its members shows more than 67 per cent of farmers have reduced fruit production because of uncertainties linked to the pandemic.

A statement from the association says there is a "real threat" to food security as producers cut crops to survive.

The survey shows 81 per cent of farmers are concerned about paying additional costs linked to public health guidelines in response to the pandemic.

It also finds 87 per cent of farmers worry they won't have enough hired labour to bring in their crops.

https://www.timescol...tion-1.24162537
 

New York, NY--June 30, 2020--SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing the global COVID-19 pandemic, uses a protein called polymerase to replicate its genome inside infected human cells. Terminating the polymerase reaction will stop the growth of the coronavirus, leading to its eradication by the human host's immune system.

Researchers at Columbia Engineering and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have identified a library of molecules that shut down the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase reaction, a key step that establishes the potential of these molecules as lead compounds to be further modified for the development of COVID-19 therapeutics. Five of these molecules are already FDA-approved for use in the treatment of other viral infections including HIV/AIDS, cytomegalovirus, and hepatitis B. The new study was published on June 18, 2020, in Antiviral Research.

*snip*

Prodrug medications of five of these nucleotide analogues (Cidofovir, Abacavir, Valganciclovir/Ganciclovir, Stavudine, and Entecavir) that terminate the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase reaction are FDA-approved for the treatment of other viral infections and their safety profiles are well established. Once the potency of the drugs to inhibit viral replication in cell culture is demonstrated in future investigations, then the candidate molecules and their modified forms may be evaluated for the development of potential COVID-19 therapies.

"In our efforts to help tackle this global emergency, we are very hopeful that the structural and chemical features of the molecules we identified, in correlation with their inhibitory activity to the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase, can be used as a guide to design and synthesize new compounds for the development of COVID-19 therapeutics," says Ju. "We are extremely grateful for the generous research support that enabled us to make rapid progress on this project. I am also grateful for the outstanding contributions made by each member of our collaborative research consortium."

https://www.eurekale...o-rim063020.php
 

According to a research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a new flu strain endemic to pigs with the potential to start a human pandemic of its own has recently emerged in China. The new strain is reportedly similar to the swine flu which had spread in 2009.

The recently emerged disease has already proven capable of jumping to human hosts, researchers found, and has the potential to mutate further in order to spread more easily.

While there is a vaccine for the last swine flu virus—known as A/H1N1pdm09—the new strain is sufficiently different to require a new vaccine.

The new virus—formally referred to as G4 EA H1N1—can apparently grow and multiply in the cells that line the human airways, and researchers found proof of recent human infections among abattoirs workers in China.

“The G4 virus has all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus” the study said.

https://www.vice.com...rning-new-virus

شركة إيرانية تصنع مكيف هواء قادر على قتل فيروس كورونا
iranian company claims to have built an air conditioner that uses nano- & carbon filters & a UV lamp to capture & kill the virus
https://www.almasirah.net/post/160993/

After eliminating temporary "hazard" pay raises, Amazon is saying "thank you" to its hourly workers with a one-time bonus of $500, while at least one Amazon warehouse has been found to have a COVID-19 rate four times higher than the general population nearby
https://arstechnica....time-500-bonus/

COVID-19 cases mount at the ends of the Earth in Timbuktu
https://medicalxpres...h-timbuktu.html

India's Top 4 Iconic Festival Celebrations Which Got Cancelled Due to the Pandemic
https://sputniknews....o-the-pandemic/

Tajikistan parliament approves amendments imposing fines, detentions for ‘false news’ amid COVID-19 pandemic
https://cpj.org/2020...id-19-pandemic/

Iran has identified a novel coronavirus vaccine candidate and would soon start clinical human trials
https://ifpnews.com/...cine-on-animals
 

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden on Tuesday announced a commission to evaluate its response to the novel coronavirus, reacting to criticism over a death toll that has far exceeded that of its neighbours.

More than 5,300 Swedes have died compared to around 250 in Norway, 600 in Denmark and 325 in Finland, all of which have populations around half the size.

Sweden, unlike the rest of Scandinavia, chose not to close schools and businesses to fight the spread of the virus.

“It is not a question of whether Sweden is going to change as a result of this - the question is how,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told a news conference.

https://www.reuters....e-idUSKBN2412YV

EU bars visitors from US where experts warn of potential virus surge
https://medicalxpres...-potential.html

Over 80 different batches of surgical face masks delivered to care homes and GP surgeries amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK have been recalled after faults with the straps and nose protection holding them in place
https://sputniknews....-with-covid-19/
 

Scotland could eliminate the coronavirus – if it weren't for England

SCOTLAND is only weeks away from suppressing the coronavirus altogether, a situation that highlights the different approaches taken by the nation and England in recent months. While Scotland initially made many of the same mistakes as England, since late March, its government has acted on its own scientific advice.

The two nations responded to the coronavirus similarly from January and up until March, says Devi Sridhar at the University of Edinburgh. “There are a couple of things where Scotland’s gone slightly earlier, but not radically.”

One early Scottish success came in community testing for the disease. When Kate Mark at the National Health Service Lothian in Edinburgh realised that suspected cases were increasing, her team began testing people in their homes and set up one of the world’s first drive-through testing centres. But on 12 March, the UK government abandoned all community testing efforts to focus on testing in hospitals and other healthcare settings, due to a lack of resources. From then on, the disease spread fast until, on 23 March, prime minister Boris Johnson announced a lockdown across the UK.

*snip*

Scotland has been slower to relax lockdown than England and has done so in a step-by-step way, so that each change’s effects can be measured. This differs from England’s rapid relaxation, says Sridhar.

Scotland has also been more successful at building up testing and contact tracing, without banking on the UK government’s much-delayed app. “We’ve stuck to our principles of old-fashioned, traditional, evidence-based contact tracing,” says Mark.

*snip*

Yet in practice, Scotland is unlikely to achieve full elimination in the near future, because it has a 154-kilometre border with England. “Many people cross that border every day,” says Sridhar. “I think we will probably never get, without England’s cooperation, to full elimination.”

https://www.newscien...nt-for-england/
 
China's Sinopharm Unit Completes New COVID-19 Vaccine Plant, Doubles Capacity
https://www.tasnimne...oubles-capacity
 

Unpaid salaries, mask shortages, threats from patients' families - doctors across Iraq are cracking under such conditions, just as they face a long-feared spike in coronavirus cases.

"We're collapsing," said Mohammed, a doctor at a Covid-19 ward in Baghdad who declined to use his full name so he could speak freely.

"I just can't work anymore. I can't even focus on the cases or the patients," he said, speaking to AFP at the end of a 48-hour shift.

Iraq has officially registered more than 47,000 coronavirus cases, with doctors increasingly infected.

"I personally know 16 doctors who caught it over the last month," Mohammed said.

The country's overall death toll is heading towards 2,000, with official daily fatalities starting to top 100 in the past week -- and doctors warn they cannot keep up.

In the autonomous Kurdish north, a surge in coronavirus infections has pushed the number of cases there to over 5,000 -- including at least 200 health workers -- and the death toll to more than 160.

https://english.alar...s-over-the-edge

Puerto Rico to require negative COVID-19 tests from all airport arrivals
https://medicalxpres...ive-covid-.html

FBI: Scammers Selling Fake COVID Antibody Tests
https://www.webmd.co...-antibody-tests

Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech shows positive results
https://www.statnews...sitive-results/
 

Hundreds of registered nurses marched outside the 478-bed Riverside Community Hospital in California for eight hours Monday during the fourth day of a 10-day strike. They accuse their administrators of ordering staff reductions that have resulted in dangerously high nurse-to-patient ratios that put themselves and their patients at risk.

The nurses say they're sometimes forced to work their 12-hour shifts without taking a break to eat, get a drink of water, or even use the bathroom.

It's all the more troubling as COVID-19 case counts and deaths recently spiked in that Southern California county, they said.

"You have to sneak the break in, or you get to the end of the day and it dawns on you that you're dehydrated and you haven't been to the bathroom all day," said Erik Andrews, RN, a rapid response team member at the hospital and vice president of the 1,200-member bargaining unit of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 121RN. He said he's held on for 10 hours without a bathroom break while wearing an airtight respiratory mask, feeling uncomfortable and dehydrated, yet without a backup if he steps away.

"Each nurse is entitled to three paid 15-minute breaks and a half an hour off the clock every day," Andrews said. "If I could find a single member who got all those breaks every day, I would keel over from shock because it doesn't happen. And now it's expected and accepted; we're just taking it ... when it doesn't need to be this way."

https://www.medpaget...e/nursing/87350
 

Texas recently reported a record-breaking 6,975 new infections of coronavirus. But Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he will not be taking the advice of top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“Locking down doesn’t work! If it did, [California and New York] would be doing better than Texas,” Patrick told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham. “Fauci said today that he’s concerned about states like Texas that skipped over certain things. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. We haven’t skipped over anything. The only thing I’m skipping over is listening to him. … He has been wrong every time on every issue. I don’t need his advice anymore.”

https://www.rawstory...advice-anymore/

White House officials don’t want Trump to talk about COVID-19 for fear he’d bring up bleach injections again
https://www.rawstory...-nyts-haberman/

Trump hotel fails coronavirus hygiene testing as Dr. Fauci warns of 100,000 cases a day
https://www.rawstory...00-cases-a-day/

U.S. employers announced an additional 170,219 job cuts in June as the recession caused by the COVID-19 depresses demand and pushes companies into bankruptcy
https://www.channeln...report-12891034

COVID-19: Rand Paul Doubts 'Group of Experts Somehow Knows What's Best For Everyone’
https://sputniknews....t-for-everyone/

DeSantis Insists Florida Is ‘Not Going Back’ On Reopening Despite COVID-19 Surge
https://talkingpoint...-back-reopening
 

Laura Ingraham attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci over his Congressional testimony on Tuesday, where he warned the nation’s lawmakers about the ongoing risk from the alarming spike in coronavirus cases. His statements, the Fox News host essentially claimed, were tantamount to a political betrayal of President Donald Trump.

*snip*

“Dr. Doom himself at a senate hearing today spreading more Covid panic,” Ingraham snarked, before throwing up a mock “Biden – Fauci 2020” graphic. “Can we admit that Fauci is working for the Biden campaign? For all we know, he could be Joe’s running mate. Why not.”

https://www.mediaite...biden-campaign/

WITH OR WITHOUT A LOCKDOWN

Rising employment and consumer spending underscore the strength of the U.S. economy, but the nation cannot fully recover until the novel coronavirus pandemic is contained, said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday.

The Fed chief said that continued government intervention — including low interest rates, bond-buying, small-business lending and aid for state and local governments — will therefore be needed to support an economy weakened by COVID-19, he said.

"The path forward for the economy is extraordinarily uncertain and will depend in large part on our success in containing the virus," Powell said in prepared remarks submitted to the House Financial Services Committee.

"A full recovery is unlikely until people are confident that it is safe to re-engage in a broad range of activities," he said. "The path forward will also depend on the policy actions taken at all levels of government to provide relief and to support the recovery for as long as needed."

http://www.ecns.cn/n...xc0874437.shtml

Texas protesters took to the streets outside the state Capitol in Austin on Tuesday to protest a new round of closures related to the coronavirus, with at least one wielding a sign that said, “Bar Lives Matter.”
https://www.mediaite...r-lives-matter/

90 out of 110 soldiers in a survival, evasion, resistance, and escape course just tested positive for COVID-19
https://taskandpurpo...avirus-positive

[Rob Randall]

CTV

 

Washington Post

[Mike K.]

Why is this data always absent of the volume of tests performed?

[Ismo07]

Why is this data always absent of the volume of tests performed?

Agreed, a graph for # of tests is important now...  1,000,000 tests will find more infected than 10,000....  its likely there have always been numerous infections undetected, even more than the numbers the US is finding now...