Dr. Fauci Reports That Alcohol May Help People Survive Coronavirus Briefings | The Borowitz Report

Fauci changes Trump's Twitter Password.


 “I was just waiting for the right opportunity.”  During the daily meeting of the coronavirus task force, the esteemed virologist noticed that, while Trump launched into an extended rant about former Vice-President Joe Biden, he left his phone unattended on the conference-room table.

Springing into action, Fauci surreptitiously took custody of Trump’s phone and changed his Twitter password in a matter of seconds.

“I’d never hacked into a Twitter account before,” he said. “My heart was beating like a rabbit’s.”

Fauci said that there was “little to no chance” of Trump being able to guess his new password. “I used a polysyllabic word,” Fauci said.

C.D.C. Director Says Coronavirus Effort Could Be Helped by Quarantining Pence

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that significant progress in battling the coronavirus could be achieved by today's blog is a parody of current events and is not true

Fauci watches the farce

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it a “promising development,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that alcohol may help people survive the most severe effects of coronavirus briefings.  He noted that proprietary brands such as Glenlivet single malt scotch showed the best results in clinical trials. with J.J. Corry Irish Whiskey coming in second. He discouraged using rubbing alcohol and frowned upon ingesting hand sanitizers. 

Noting that millions of Americans have been exposed to the daily briefings of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Fauci said that he had voluntarily submitted to a preliminary trial of the alcohol-based therapy.

“What we have found is that a single dosage before the briefing and as much as a double dosage after the briefing do much to alleviate the most acute suffering,” Fauci said.

The esteemed virologist said that if Americans are able to administer additional doses during the briefings, “Consider yourself lucky.”

But, even as Fauci hailed the benefits of the new treatment, he sounded a note of caution. “The effect of this medication is temporary,” he said. “Sadly.”

Fauci’s findings are in line with anecdotal reports indicating that Americans have been alleviating symptoms in a similar manner since November 2016.

Other comments from Anthony Fauci MD

Jared Kushner was missing for several days.  An Amber alert was issued, then cancelled when he was found locked in a restroom at Washington, D.C.s Dulles airport attempting to evade TSA agents.  He was found to have a flight reservation to Ukraine.  Fielding a question at the daily briefing by the Coronavirus Task Force, the esteemed virologist said that it was most likely “a regrettable accident” that resulted in Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law being trapped in the bathroom for nine hours.

“Doors get locked by mistake all the time,” Fauci said.

When a reporter pointed out that the bathroom door had been locked from the outside with a padlock, Fauci replied, “Whoa. That’s a different kettle of fish. I had not heard that. Padlock? That’s crazy.”

Dr. Fauci Says He Has No Idea Who Locked Jared Kushner in Bathroom

Calling his action “in the interest of public health,” Dr. Anthony Fauci changed Donald J. Trump’s Twitter password on Friday.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for weeks,” Fauci told reporters. “I was just waiting for the right opportunity.”

During the daily meeting of the coronavirus task force, the esteemed virologist noticed that, while Trump launched into an extended rant about former Vice-President Joe Biden, he left his phone unattended on the conference-room table.  Calling his action “in the interest of public health,” Dr. Anthony Fauci changed Donald J. Trump’s Twitter password on Friday.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for weeks,” Fauci told reporters.

CDC calls for quarantining Mike Pence

Speaking to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the C.D.C. director said that, given Pence’s record as a science denier who mishandled an aids outbreak while he was the governor of Indiana, an immediate quarantine of the Vice-President was “an essential first step". “Mike Pence should be sealed off in a secure area, where he will have no access to a phone or computer,” the director said. “That will go a long way toward containing the harm he might otherwise cause.”

The C.D.C. chief added that there were a number of places ideal for quarantining Pence, all of them in Antarctica.

Shortly after the C.D.C. director’s testimony, Pence forcefully took issue with the assessment. “The threat I pose to the nation has been wildly overstated, and I do not know how to use a computer,” he said.

Trump Screams at Pence for Not Praying Hard Enough to Make Biden Lose

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A harrowing scene unfolded at the White House on Tuesday night as Donald Trump screamed at Mike Pence for “not praying hard enough” to make Joe Biden lose the Super Tuesday primary contests, sources said.

Witnesses to the vituperative dressing-down of the Vice-President reported that the evening started badly after Trump saw the returns from Virginia, which Biden won handily.

“Mike, you were supposed to tell God to make Sleepy Joe lose,” Trump snapped. “A lot of good your ‘praying’ did.”

ALL TOPICS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A PARODY AND ARE NOT TRUE

WASH YOUR HANDS FREQUENTLY

Dr. Fauci Reports That Alcohol May Help People Survive Coronavirus Briefings | The New Yorker:

Coronavirus: Italy's hardest-hit city wants you to see how COVID-19 is affecting its hospitals | World News | Sky News

World News | Sky News:

Coronavirus: Italy's hardest-hit city wants you to see how COVID-19 is affecting its hospitals.   

The sheer number of people succumbing to the coronavirus is overwhelming every hospital in northern Italy. The sheer number of people succumbing to the coronavirus is overwhelming every hospital in northern Italy. The staff frantically wave us out of the way, pushing gurneys carrying men and women on mobile respirators - it's not chaos, but it is hectic. Masked, gloved and in a hazmat suit, my team and I are led through corridors full of gasping people who look terribly ill. The sheer number of people succumbing to the coronavirus is overwhelming every hospital in northern Italy - and it could easily overwhelm the rest of the country as well.  In groups, they crowd around the latest patients. Attaching monitors, drips and most importantly respirators. Without them, the patients will simply go downhill fast.

Really fast. Deadly fast.

The staff is working flat out trying to keep their patients from deteriorating further. They are trying to stop them from dying.

I ask what ward I am in.  "This isn't really a ward, it's a waiting room, we just have to use every bit of space," my guide, Vanna Toninelli, head of the hospital press office tells me. It looks like an intensive care unit (ICU), but it is actually just an emergency arrivals ward. The ICU is full. The people being treated are new arrivals, but they look far worse than that. 

"This isn't really a ward, it's a waiting room, we just have to use every bit of space," my guide, Vanna Toninelli, head of the hospital press office tells me.

The medical teams are fighting a war here and they are losing.

They rush past wards already rammed with beds all filled with people in terrible distress - gasping for air, clutching at their chests and at tubes pumping oxygen into their oxygen-starved lungs.  

I'm in the main hospital in Bergamo, the hardest-hit hospital in Italy in the hardest-hit town in the hardest-hit province, Lombardy - and it's just plain scary.

The Italian city of Bergamo, one of the worst-hit by the coronavirus outbreak, is having to transport its dead out of the city as its crematorium is struggling to cope. 

Army vehicles have been brought in to move dozens of coffins from Bergamo to other regions, according to Ansa news agency.

The wealthy city, northeast of Milan in Italy's Lombardy region, has recorded at least 93 coronavirus-related deaths as cases continue to grow relentlessly.

Coronavirus: Italy's hardest-hit city wants you to see how COVID-19 is affecting its hospitals |

Cepheid wins 1st FDA nod for point-of-care coronavirus test |

One of the most powerful engines in the United States is public-private collaboration. The symbiosis of government authority and funding along with the entrepreneurial motivation of industry leads to extraordinary results.  We saw this same occurrence. World War II when production facilities transitioned in a very short time to war output. Factories in Detroit, MI shut down automobile assembly lines to begin producing tanks, and jeeps.

Clinical laboratories and medical device manufacturers are tapping into today's high-speed broadband to accelerate testing for COVID-19.  Every great challenge mobilizes great advances in technology, production, and human interaction

The FDA has granted the use of the Cepheid  POS (point of service) for a variety of diseases, Critical Infectious Diseases such as those listed here can be tested in hospital and clinic without waiting for the return of results.

Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 (EUA), Covid-19
Xpert Xpress Strep A
Xpert Xpress Flu/RSV
Xpert Xpress Flu
Xpert MTB/RIF
Xpert-EV

HOW IT WORKS

• The test, run on Cepheid's GeneXpert systems, takes about 45 minutes to deliver results. The company said there are nearly 5,000 of the automated systems currently deployed throughout the U.S., with more than 23,000 around the world.
• With point-of-care testing, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement on Saturday ​results will be delivered to patients in "hospitals, urgent care centers and emergency rooms, instead of samples being sent to a laboratory" and will enable "patient access to more immediate results.” 
• The device, named Gene Expert System was already approved for rapid diagnostic procedures for Critical-Infectious-Diseases. 
• Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 (EUA) Covid-19
• Xpert Xpress Strep A
• Xpert Xpress Flu/RSV
• Xpert Xpress Flu
• Xpert MTB/RIF
• Xpert-EV
The test, run on Cepheid's GeneXpert systems, takes about 45 minutes to deliver results. The company said there are nearly 5,000 of the automated systems currently deployed throughout the U.S., with more than 23,000 around the world.
• While tests from clinical lab networks LabCorp and Quest have significantly increased the nation's coronavirus testing capacity in recent weeks, those services require a healthcare provider to send specimens to an external facility. In addition, patients with a suspected case of COVID-19 do not receive confirmed results for at least a few days.
• Another potential advantage of Cepheid's 45-minute test is that it can use a saline wash for testing if swabs are not available, according to the company. Some labs across the country are reporting a short supply of swabs, which are needed for collecting patient samples to test for coronavirus infection, as well as reagents.​
• "The test cartridge is a complete solution containing all the necessary reagents," according to Cepheid​. "This is different from some other test kits on the market which may require additional reagents such as extraction materials."
• FDA has updated its COVID-19 diagnostic testing FAQs, which now lists the clinical labs that are offering to test, the states that have chosen to authorize labs to develop and perform tests, as well as commercial manufacturers that are distributing test kits. ​
• EMERGENCY USE AUTHORIZATION

The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) authority allows the FDA to help strengthen the nation’s public health protections against CBRN threats by facilitating the availability and use of MCMs needed during public health emergencies. 


Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) UPDATE

Cepheid wins 1st FDA nod for point-of-care coronavirus test | MedTech Dive: MedTech industry news

Coronavirus pandemic could last over 18 months, according to a federal plan

The next year and a half could include "multiple waves of illness."

The coronavirus pandemic could last over 18 months, according to a 100-page federal government response plan recently shared with The New York Times.

The next year and a half could include "multiple waves of illness," according to the document. "The spread and severity of COVID-19 will be difficult to forecast and characterize." 

What's more, increasing COVID-19 cases in the U.S. will mean more hospitalizations among at-risk people, which could strain the health care system, they wrote. The document, dated March 13, is marked as "unclassified" but "for Official Use Only," and "Not For Public Distribution or Release." 

In the document, officials explore responses that the government could take in response to the outbreak, including steps already taken such as shutting down schools and invoking the Defense Production Act of 1950, a law dating back to the Korean War that authorizes action to force industry to increase production of crucial equipment and supplies.

On Wednesday (March 18), President Donald Trump announced he was invoking the Defense Production Act, and two days later said he had put it into effect, according to The Washington Post.

 The plan also predicts that product shortages will occur "impacting health care, emergency services, and other elements of critical infrastructure." What's more, state and local governments, critical infrastructure and communication channels "will be stressed and potentially less reliable," the plan read. 

Another report published on Monday (March 16) by the Imperial College of London gave another grim forecast that pushed both the U.K. and the U.S. into action: Uncontrolled spread of the virus could cause up to 510,000 deaths in Britain and up to 2.2 million deaths in the U.S., according to The New York Times.

"Whilst our understanding of infectious diseases and their prevention is now very different compared to in 1918 [the year H1N1 influenza called the Spanish flu caused a global pandemic], most of the countries across the world face the same challenge today with COVID-19, a virus with comparable lethality to H1N1 influenza in 1918," they wrote. To combat the current pandemic, the report focuses on two major strategies: "suppression," in which steps are taken to reduce the spread of the virus; and "mitigation," in which the final spread isn't decreased but it is slowed down.

Their results suggested that population-wide social distancing would have the largest impact, and in combination with other interventions, such as home isolation of people who have COVID-19 and school closures, has the potential to rapidly reduce spread, they wrote.

"To avoid a rebound in transmission, these policies will need to be maintained until large stocks of vaccine are available to immunize the population," which could be 18 months or more, according to the Imperial College of London report. 

From all current information, our social isolation will remain in effect and slowly be relaxed in stages to measure what long term cycles may recur.  This presumption is based upon previous seasonal influenza recurrences.

At least 8 states have issued stay-at-home orders

From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch

The following states, in order of population, have issued stay-at-home orders:

• California - 39.5 million – started Thursday
• New York - 19.5 million - effective Sunday evening
• Illinois - 12.7 million – started 5 p.m. Saturday
• Ohio - 11.6 million – effective 11:59 p.m. Monday
• New Jersey - 8.9 million – started 9 p.m. Saturday
• Louisiana - 4.6 million – effective 5 p.m. Monday
• Connecticut – 3.5 million – effective 8 p.m. Monday
• Delaware – 967,171 – effective Tuesday 8 a.m.

Source

Researchers in US give first shot to person in experimental COVID-19 vaccine test, Health News, ET HealthWorld

According to a report by the Associated Press (AP), scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle begin an 'anxiously awaited testing

As coronavirus cases continue to shoot up across the globe, researchers in the US gave first shot to the first person in a test of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.

Forty-three-year-old Jennifer Haller of Seattle, an operations manager at a tech company, received the injection inside an exam room.

Haller, the mother of two teenagers, termed it an "amazing opportunity" for her to "do something".

The said 'vaccine', codenamed mRNA-1273, was developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna Inc.

More than 1,50,000 people have been infected worldwide by the virus which originated in China last December and has claimed the lives of over 6,500 people.

"We are team coronavirus now. Everyone wants to do what they can in this emergency," Kaiser Permanente study leader Dr. Lisa Jackson was quoted as saying on the eve of the experiment.

Jackson said that from not even knowing that coronavirus was out there to have any vaccine in testing in about two months is 'unprecedented'. She, although, said that it is not at this stage where it would be "possible or prudent" to give it to the general population.

The tests came amid worldwide attempts to develop the vaccine for the deadly virus.

However, these vaccines are unlikely to be available for widespread use anytime for 12 to 18 months, said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the NIH.

Finding a vaccine "is an urgent public health priority," Dr. Fauci was quoted as saying.

According to the AP report, most of the vaccine research underway targets a protein aptly named "spike" that studs the surface of the new coronavirus and lets it invade human cells.

Other Developments

Indian medical researchers hit by US government shutdown
India declares Covid-19 a ‘Notified Disaster
Coronavirus: HIV drugs can be used in severe cases, says ICMR
Rajasthan turns into ‘learning ground’ as 7 Covid-19 patients declared ‘cured’
Ibuprofen vs Paracetamol: Which medicine to take in case you suspect coronavirus symptoms?
Coronavirus cases top 300,000 worldwide
All the senators are going to seek medical advice" after Rand Paul tests positive for coronavirus, Romney says
International Olympic Committee will consider rescheduling Olympics, says cancellation not on the agenda
Half of patients tested at one New York health care system yesterday were positive for Covid-19



Researchers in the US give first shot to a person in experimental COVID-19 vaccine test, Health News, ET HealthWorld:

Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak Across the World

                           

The coronavirus outbreak is now a pandemic, the World Health Organization declared on March 11, as global confirmed cases of Covid-19 now surpass 200,000 worldwide. The outbreak has spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan in late January to countries and territories—affecting every continent except Antarctica—in the course of a month. Cases in Europe now exceed the number in China. Efforts to prevent the pneumonia-like illness from spreading further have led to shuttered cities, widespread flight cancellations and shaken financial markets.

Updated March 20,2020

256,689 Confirmed cases worldwide
10,368 Deaths

Where

         Deaths           Cases

Italy 3,405 41,035
Mainland China 3,248 80,967
Iran 1,284 18,407
Spain 1,002 19,980
France 450 12,612
U.S. 206 15,973
U.K. 177 3,983
Netherlands 106 2,994
South Korea 91 8,565
Germany 49 18,607
Switzerland 43 4,176
Belgium 37 2,257
Japan 33 950
Indonesia 32 369
Philippines 18 230
Iraq 12 164
Sweden 10 1,423
Canada 10 846
Denmark 9 1,325
Greece 9 495
Diamond Princess Cruise 8 714
Algeria 8 82
Norway 7 1,742
Australia 7 709
Austria 6 2,388
Portugal 6 1,020
Brazil 6 621
Egypt 6 210
Luxembourg 5 484
Poland 5


This link includes numerous graphs and charts.

What Is Coronavirus: Mapping the Pneumonia-Like Respiratory Illness in China, Globally:

Social Distancing: This is Not a Snow Day - Ariadne Labs - Medium

 I know there is some confusion about what to do next in the midst of this unprecedented time of a pandemic, school closures, and widespread social disruption.  

Things are changing quickly as public health officials, state governments and local cities struggle to keep up with changing guidelines.  Driving this chaotic evolution is the fear of not having adequate beds, and ventilators to treat those who have life-threatening pneumonia.

Covid-19 is not influenza, as we have come to realize now that autopsies reveal the extent of pulmonary damage.  Today is March 21, 2020, just 8 days after this article, "Social Distancing: This is Not a Snow Day " was published on Medium.

Since then it has become a global pandemic spreading across Europe, Italy and the Americas with the two largest cities in the U.S. heavily impacted (New York City) and Los Angeles.

At this point there is open-ended guidance to shelter at home, most businesses are closed, theaters dark, and only take out food service.  Many parts of the country, smaller towns and rural areas may not be afflicted as yet.  Major city populations are now aware of the threat now that governments have ordered business to close.

Schools are now shuttered and the expected resumption of classes was changed from April 1st  to closed for the rest of the year.

To understand the Flattening the Curve this exhibit explains the epidemiology of pandemics.

How Much Worse the Coronavirus Could Get, in Charts (New York. Times) The article is interactive and displays the results of the timing of intervention. The bottom line is that the earlier isolation has begun the flatter the curve.








Social Distancing: This is Not a Snow Day - Ariadne Labs - Medium: