By Bob Fredericks, NY POST
President Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the widening coronavirus outbreak in the US.
“To unleash the full power of the federal government, I’m officially declaring a national emergency. Two very big words. The action I am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion of … very important and a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease,” Trump said, at a White House Rose Garden press conference Friday as the death toll in the US topped 40.
“And in furtherance of the order I’m urging every state to set up emergency operation centers effectively immediately. I’m also asking every hospital in this country to activate emergency preparedness plan to meet the needs of Americans everywhere,” the president continued.
Trump noted that he had been working with the individual state leaders, including New York. “I just spoke with Gov. Cuomo, we had a very good conversation and we’re working very strongly with many states including New York,” he said, adding that he was also expanding the power of Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar.
“Orders I’m issuing today will also confer broad new authority to the secretary of Health and Human Services. The secretary of HHS will be able to immediately waive provisions of applicable laws and regulations to give doctors and all hospitals and health care providers maximum flexibility to respond to the virus and care for patients,” he said.
And he again promised that the federal government would greatly expand testing, and that 1.4 million test kits would be available next week.
FDA issues emergency approval for coronavirus test
Trump invoked the national emergency under both the Stafford Act and the National Emergencies Act. That allows tens of billions of dollars to be quickly spent to help federal and state governments fight the rapidly spreading pandemic.
Invoking an emergency under the Stafford Act unleashes assistance to states from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It also allows Trump to make good on his Wednesday night vow to let people and businesses defer tax payments without interest or penalties, a senior official said.
The National Emergencies Act declaration allows the Department of Health and Human Services to repurpose broad swaths of federal dollars used for programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the official told The Post.
The virus has infected almost 135,000 people and killed more than 4,900 worldwide.
@ Reader:
Freedom of speech is exactly what it is. Obviously you have a problem with freedom of speech.
@ Reader:
I’m not that old. I was in elementary school in the 70’s.
Stalinist or mao follower describes yourself. After all, you are the one defending the chicoms. As for Trump, he’s been the best president we’ve had since Reagan. Is it any wonder the establishment wants him out. If you are a supporter of Israel, you should be grateful to Trump, the only one with the balls to move our embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Israel has never had a better friend in DC. But with all the good fortune for Israel in recent years, the Jews once again are going to self-destruct and oust Bibi after all the progress he and Trump have made for Israel.
@ Michael S:
“Laura… …has been trolling us for years”
I suspected that.
I came back to posting here after a break of a few years so I couldn’t know for sure but a troll is easy to spot.
“Laura” doesn’t even understand that she would make a perfect Stalinist in the USSR in the 30s or a fanatical Mao follower in China the same way she is climbing the barricades now for Trump.
Maybe she was psychologically traumatized in the elementary school when her teacher told the children to hide under their desks from the Soviet nuclear attack?
Who knows? I just don’t appreciate her abuse, to say the least. Although she probably calls it “freedom of speech”.
Finally we have a president who dared to push back against China after decades. It’s not farfetched to believe China deliberately waged germ warfare against us in retaliation and in hopes it would end the Trump presidency. In a nation of a billion people, it would be a small price to pay for the commie regime to risk the lives of thousands of its own people who they brutally oppress anyway. Dictatorships don’t care about the well-being of their populace, only their own power.
@ Reader:
That technology that they STOLE from America where it was actually developed. Those goods manufactured because our corrupt political leadership sent our manufacturing base to China and allowed those chicom bastards to rip us off for decades and as a result became wealthy and powerful enough to menace the entire world. Thank you Edgar for being one other voice of reason in this comment section and being unafraid of being politically incorrect. That anyone would defend those commie bastards is beyond disgraceful.
@ Reader:
I told the truth, so FU.
@ Reader:
Reader,
Laura is an old potty mouth, who has been trolling us for years. It’s best to ignore her.
“FDA issues emergency approval for coronavirus test”.
So, there wasn’t a coronavirus test before the approval?
Then how do we know that all those cases were, in fact, coronavirus?
And if there was a test (in the US), what is meant by the above sentence?
@ Edgar G.:
Why don’t you say Tsk-Tsk to Laura?
She behaved quite abominably, in my opinion (assuming it’s a “she”).
Because you like what she called me and Michael and you share her views?
@ Edgar G.:
“The Damned Disease began in China” and what if it began in Israel? What if someone decided that all the Jews are immune carriers (as with the plague)? And started the unwarranted hysterics (same as today)?
I can bet a few bucks that if it it weren’t politically expedient and useful for a few very powerful people, the damn virus would just pass unnoticed under the umbrella of a regular flu epidemic (the deaths and complications are common among the elderly and the ill – as with any infectious disease). But someone needed to shine floodlights on it and do a “rile up and rule the mob” rehearsal (notice, how each time there are more restrictions which the mob carefully obeys).
I didn’t expect YOU, Edgar, to defend Laura who was the one INITIATING the insults (TROLLING?).
@ Edgar G.:
“And all in defence of the most ruthless ideology and dictatorship in modern history.”
Oh, dear!
Again, why don’t you and Laura put your money where you mouth is and boycott the “dictatorship’s blood-soaked goods and technology”?
Easy! And not at all hypocritical.
@ Edgar G.:
Michael S. is absolutely right. Why do you criticize him and not that old dirty mouth troll Laura? So far, she’s insulted both of us (if not everyone on this site) several times, and those were clear provocations which “Laura” seems to delight in.
@ Michael S:
I never thought that you, an educated man, could/would be so vulgar and common. I had a considerable respect for you….. But these days, anything can be expected. Many, if not most, of our male members are American I believe, and they all show as gentlemen. You are a good example of the Rabbinic dictum “Respect….but Suspect”….
And all in defence of the most ruthless ideology and dictatorship in modern history.
@ Michael S:
What are you bringing the Jews into it for……trying to “widen the subject”…???? The Damned Disease began in China, and it’s perfectly legitimate to strongly criticise them for their devious, criminally dangerous behaviour We still don’t know if it escaped from their very suspect bio-laboratory-right there in Wuhan…..!!!
To call someone “white trash”, is a grievous thing to do, especially you, who normally are extremely polite. Just because your family is there surely doesn’t mean you support that Heinous Dictatorship…..does it…?
You sound like an old Southern Plantation owner, not a retired very “Christian” scientist, (no pun intended) with family in the major affected Chinese area. Concentrate on them, please, because perhaps Ha’Shem may allow your ill-wishes to rebound on you…G-D Forbid.
As well, I suppose that a totalitarian govt with few democratic freedoms allowed to the people except to breathe, could be called “Commie Bastards”…because, at least in this case, having already been responsible for many thousands of innocent deaths, (and still rising), as well as ruining the whole world’s economy almost overnight, it’s merited.
So, Mr. (normally “butter-wouldn’t melt-in-my-mouth, spreading-light-wherever-I-go”) Michael S. Simmer Down.
I don’t suppose the “S” stands for “Saint”…..??…….does it…..?? What a nasty mouth…!!Use Lysol
And ONE “racist” (you must be a Schumer Democrat) doesn’t make racist blog !!
Ted, your site has turned into a piece of racist crap.
Laura, I know masks are in short supply; but when you substitute a menstrous cloth, make sure it’s clean first.
Furthermore, people don’t hesitate to attack our president and VP, our pharma companies and insurance companies, our health care system, the CDC etc. But don’t dare attack the source of the virus, China, because that’s racist. Well I say BS to that!
Furthermore, the China commie regime covered up about the virus for months, endangering the entire world. Why anyone here defends them is beyond me. The worlds wrath needs to turn against China and hold them to account.
@ Michael S:
I’m white. The difference is that the Jews were NOT responsible, it was a lie and a blood libel. It is a FACT that the wuhan virus started in China, whether from a lab or from those wild animal markets. So FU “Reader” and Michael S.
Too damn bad for those of you defending China if you don’t like what I said. The truth is the truth. China is a menace. China is 100% at fault for the wuhan Chinese virus. Shame on you commie China apologists.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
MontyPython are great!
@ Michael S:
Laura,
I’m sorry I used what’s apparently a racist slur against you. I don’t know what race you are, whether it’s white or something else. You’re a trashmonger, whatever your color. You’re doing exactly the same thing people did to the Jews during the great plagues — accusing them of “poisoning the wells”, because the Jews weren’t dying but the white people were. The current plague is not
racial”. The Chinese people were the first VICTIMS of it, followed by the Iranians and Europeans. The latter have gone on to infect more people than the Chinese did: People in India, Africa and Latin America. Do you propose that the Italians get nuked, because of this? You are behaving like an unhinged woman.
@ Laura:
Laura, fess up. You’re nothing but a racist piece of white trash,
@ Laura:
Monty Python: “Monty Python – I Like Chinese (Official Lyric Video)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DqvweTYTI0
@ Laura:
I have a suggestion to make. Why don’t you personally start boycotting all the goods made in China? May be able to start a movement. Oh, I forgot. Go, hide under the table – the Chinese atomic bombing is imminent!
@ adamdalgliesh:
Don’t you realize that the panic is to the politicians’ advantage? If they cared for the people, they would have behaved differently.
@ Reader:
China is being rightfully trashed because that’s where the virus originated and those commies covered it up for months. Whether from disgusting cultural practices or purposely created in a lab, China is 100% to blame. The question is why are you defending them?
@ Reader:
Because Trump dared to stand up to them. Stop defending those commie bastards.
@ Michael S:
How do they know it’s coronavirus if they have no means of testing people for coronavirus in Oregon?
@ Laura:
Why would the Chinese wage “germ warfare against us”? The US is probably their largest market. Killing their best customers?
@ Laura:
You are paranoid. The US, the UN and other Western countries CREATED modern China by encouraging its economic development and moving most of their manufacturing there to take advantage of the cheap labor and to set it against the FSU/Russia. Until this “pandemic” of “135,000 [infected] people and… …more than 4,900 [deaths] worldwide [7 BILLION people]” no one said a word about “communist China”.
China is simply being trashed now by the US because we want to MAGA!
As to how the virus got there – no one will ever find that one out.
“How Coronavirus Compares to the Flu
According to CDC, coronavirus and the flu share commonalities. “COVID-19 symptoms are similar to those of influenza (e.g., fever, cough, and shortness of breath), and the current outbreak is occurring during a time of year when respiratory illnesses from influenza and other viruses, including other coronaviruses that cause the ‘common cold,’ are highly prevalent,” the site reports.
BBC notes that it’s impossible to get a true mortality rate for the flu because “people with mild flu symptoms choose never to visit a doctor.”
What’s the death rate from the flu? How many people die from it? Some estimates give the case fatality rate with seasonal flu in the United States as less than 0.1%. Mortality rate for SARS was 10%, and for MERS 34%. The New York Times puts the death rate for flu at typically around 0.1% in the U.S., according to The New York Times.
From October 1, 2019, through February 22, 2020, the CDC estimates there have been:
32,000,000 – 45,000,000
flu illnesses
14,000,000 – 21,000,000
flu medical visits
310,000 – 560,000
flu hospitalizations
18,000 – 46,000
flu deaths
“Flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and sometimes the lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The best way to prevent flu is by getting a flu vaccine each year,” says CDC.
How widespread is the flu? “On average, about 8% of the U.S. population gets sick from flu each season, with a range of between 3% and 11%, depending on the season,” reports CDC. Children are mostly likely to get sick from the flu, with older adults less likely. However, people over age 65 and those under 5, as well as those with other ailments, are least likely to recover from flu.”
I found this on the heavy.com website. Plainly the medical authorities in the U.S. and worldwide have not the faintest idea how many people die of the flue every year, and consequently. whether the flu death rare is less or greater than COVID-19. The assumption is that many people who get the flue never see a doctor and their illness never gets in the record books. But for all we know , that could be equally true of COVID 19.
According to this site, the death rates from both SARS and MERS were much higher than from COVID-19. Yet there were no comparably severe measures put in place to deal with those illnesses. Also, no mss panic and no stock market crash.
🙂
@ Edgar G.: The Italian Ministry of Health has finally published a figure for the number of deaths from COVID-19. But take note of the qualification:
1441 have died, however this number can be confirmed only after the Istituto Superiore di Sanità has established the actual cause of the death.”
@ adamdalgliesh:
I believe that the reflexive panic has been caused by the extreme speed and ease with which the virus has spread. Almost like a miasmic cloud. And that it came from China where many of the worst epidemics originate..
Besides, being new, no natural immunity can have been built up….
Just idle speculation….but containing logical points.
@ riverfred123: Also good points, Riverfred. I doubt if they have made much of an effort to test the homeless.
I have read that the living conditions of the homeless may give rise to bubonic plague, which is far more dangerous than COVID-19.
@ riverfred123:Good points, Riverfred.
“Illnesses[from seasonal influenza types A,B,C and D] range from mild to severe and even death. Hospitalization and death occur mainly among high risk groups. Worldwide, these annual epidemics are estimated to result in about 3 to 5 million cases of severe illness, and about 290 000 to 650 000 respiratory deaths.
In industrialized countries most deaths associated with influenza occur among people age 65 or older (1). Epidemics can result in high levels of worker/school absenteeism and productivity losses. Clinics and hospitals can be overwhelmed during peak illness periods.
The effects of seasonal influenza epidemics in developing countries are not fully known, but research estimates that 99% of deaths in children under 5 years of age with influenza related lower respiratory tract infections are found in developing countries (2).”
This is from the WHO web site. Suggests to me that coronavirus, which has killed slightly more than 10,000 people worldwide so far this “flu season,” may simply be part of what the site calls a yearly seasonal epidemic of flu and similar repiratory diseases. So far, it is not clear that the COVID-19 virus has a higher death rate than other seasonally-related respiratory illness, or that the outbreak of this disease will significantly increase the total death toll from seasonal respiratory illnesses. Unfortunately, we will never know the answer to these questions because almost no countries keep accurate records on the annual death toll from infectious respiratory diseases other than COVID-19.
This means that the extreme governmental responses to the COVID-19 outbreak are based on panic, not knowledge. And that is a bad thing. The national health authorities in the U.S. and all other countries should have first determined whether there had been an over-all increase in seasonally related acute respiratory diseases, such as influenza, bronchitis and pneumonia, since December, when the first COVID-19 cases were reported. If there has notbeen such an increase, it would mean that coronavirus is simply a new strain of flue, neither more nor less dangerous than other strains. If there has been a significant spike in deaths and serious respiratory illness, then the severe measures being adopted are justified. But the governments, including the USG, should have found out what was going on before adopting severe restrictions that may wreck our economy and cause a huge increase in stress-related illnesses.
@ Edgar G.: Edgar, the report is accurate as far as what Arutz Sheva reported. However, I have not been able to find confirmation of this number on either the WHO (World Heath Organization) site or the Italian Ministry of Health site (as translated into English by Google). Both sites give the total number of coronavirus casesin Italy, but not the number of deaths. The number of cases is given at both sites at about 17,670.
It is somewhat baffling why Italy has a much higher rate of reported cases than any other country, even more than China proportionate to population. One possibility that has occurred to me (and that is just speculation) is that Italy has more refugees and illegal migrants living in it than in any other European country, except possibly Greece. Many of these refugees are living in camps behind barbed wire. Hygienic conditions are unlikely to be good, people are very crowded together, and viruses could spread much more rapidly in such camps than in the general population. But this is just my speculation.
@ adamdalgliesh:
Los Angeles County has 10 million population as of 3-13-2020 there were 40 cases. The media mass hysteria is to harm Trump.
Now we know how Republicans can win the war- just take away all the toilet paper. The Demonuts will surrender in record time.
How come we aren’t hearing stories of a record number of homeless dying from coronavirus? Does pooping on the street, alcohol or shooting up inoculate you from the virus? The CDC must do a study on this ASAP, perhaps this is the solution.
From the Italian Ministry of Health (Google Translation): “According to Iss report: lethality at 5.8%, higher in men
Ministry of Health
The second report (biweekly) of the Higher Institute of Health on the characteristics of patients with Covid-19 is online. The focus is on lethality, understood as the number of deaths out of the total number of patients. At the moment in Italy it is 5.8%. The average age of Covid-19 deceased and positive patients is 80 years, about 15 years higher than the positive ones and women are 28.4%.
Two positive Covid-19 patients died under the age of 40. It is a person of 39 years of age, male, with pre-existing psychiatric diseases, diabetes and obesity, who died at home and a 39-year-old person of female sex, with pre-existing neoplastic diseases deceased in the hospital. Women who died after contracting the infection are older than men (median ages: women 84.2 – men 80.3) and lethality increases markedly after the age of 70. “The lethality stratified by age group is not higher than that of other countries – underlines Graziano Onder, director of the cardiovascular, dysmetabolic and aging of the ISS department -. We discount a very high average age and a significant percentage of the population that has multiple diseases, a factor that increases the risk of death. It is no coincidence that the average number of pathologies observed in the deceased is 2.7 Some more details on lethality are present in the epidemiological bulletin .
In men, lethality is higher, 7.2%, while in women it is 4.1%. The difference in the number of cases reported by gender increases progressively in favor of male subjects up to the age group ?70-79. In the age group ? 90 years the number of female cases exceeds that of male cases probably due to the demographic structure of the population.
View:
Epicenter
Release date: March 14, 2020 , latest update March 14, 2020″
It would seem that not everyone is in danger from coronavirus. Not even in Italy.
More from the us news.com report, reprinting from HealthDay News:
Hospitalized Coronavirus Patients Develop Pneumonia, About 10% Die: Study
More
By E.J. Mundell
(HEALTHDAY)
HealthDay ReporterWEDNESDAY, Jan. 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) — It’s still the early days, but a report on the first 99 cases of the new coronavirus treated at a hospital in Wuhan, China, finds severe respiratory infection that proved fatal in about 10% of cases.
It should be noted that the report only involved patients sick enough to warrant hospitalization with 2019-nCoV — the overall death rate from the infection remains much lower than that recorded in this study. As of Wednesday, Chinese authorities report that nearly 6,000 cases have been reported, including 132 deaths. That’s a death rate of about 2% — roughly similar to that seen with the flu.
The Top 10 Causes of Death in the U.S.
“All of the patients in China were admitted during the earliest stage of the outbreak, between Jan. 1 and Jan. 20, at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, close to the seafood market where it’s thought the 2019-nCoV pathogen emerged in late December.
All had pneumonia when they were admitted, and most (75%) had pneumonia in both lungs, said a team reporting in the Jan. 29 issue of The Lancet medical journal.
The typical patient was male (two-thirds of those treated), middle-aged or older (average age was 55.5 years) and almost half had underlying chronic diseases such as heart disease or diabetes, said a team led by Li Zhang, of the Tuberculosis and Respiratory Department at Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital.
Besides pneumonia, most patients had fever and coughing, and about a third had shortness of breath.
But the large majority — 88 — have survived their coronavirus infection, the group noted, and patients were treated with antiviral or antibiotic drugs and/or oxygen therapy.”
So did they die of COVID-19 or pneumonia? How many people contracted COVID-19 but never developed pneomia? How many contracted “ordinary” influenza who then developed pneumonia? We just don’t know. And nobody is telling us.
This report is about coronavisus in China, not Italy. Still, it is interesting. It is from Usnews in late January:By E.J. Mundell
“(HEALTHDAY)
HealthDay ReporterWEDNESDAY, Jan. 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) — It’s still the early days, but a report on the first 99 cases of the new coronavirus treated at a hospital in Wuhan, China, finds severe respiratory infection that proved fatal in about 10% of cases.
It should be noted that the report only involved patients sick enough to warrant hospitalization with 2019-nCoV — the overall death rate from the infection remains much lower than that recorded in this study. As of Wednesday, Chinese authorities report that nearly 6,000 cases have been reported, including 132 deaths. That’s a death rate of about 2% — roughly similar to that seen with the flu.”
The web site Europa, published by the EU, reports that there were 46,000 deaths from respiratory infections in Italy in 2016, or 7.5% of all deaths in that country. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Causes_of_death_—_diseases_of_the_respiratory_system,_residents,_2016_Health2019.png.
Has there Has the over-all death rate significantly increased? Until and unless we have more data on this subject, we have no way of knowing whether there really is a “pandemic” or not. And the people who either know or should know aren’t saying.
@ Edgar G.: Your right, Edgar. My statistics were wrong. But there are still a lot of facts that have not been reported in the press that we do not know. For example, how many deaths in Italy over-all have their been from respiratory infections for which symptoms first appeared within a few weeks from when the person died? (I am trying to exclude deaths from long-term infections like tuberculosis), In other words, how many people over-all have died of flu-like and pneumonia-like symptoms in Italy this flu season? Has there been any major spike? Have over-all hospital admissions increased dramatically? How do they know how many people died from coronavirus when test kits are said to be in short supply?
The only way we can really know if there is a serious “pandemic” is whether there has been a major spike in over-all deaths in the countries where outbreaks have been reported, whether there has been in major spike in deaths from respiratory iillnesses, etc. And the press has reported absolutely no data about these crucial facts. If there has been no major increase in deaths from respiatory illnesses, and no significant rise in the over-all death rate, then the supposed pandemic is a hoax.
@ adamdalgliesh:
Adam, did you not read in today’s Arutz 7 that in Italy alone, there have been 1270 (approx) deaths. Is this not an accurate report ??
TED- The Disqus math has disappeared….This comment posted with no problem……..
Suits me better; for some reason it seemed to me that Disqus was in the wrong position, and I kept having to reverse to fill it in -a damned nuisance
@ Michael S:
PS. My mistake. There aren’t 6,000 free hospital beds in Oregon; there are 6,000 total beds, 2/3 of which are already occupied.
Adam and Laura, you have convinced me that mankind is incapable of rational thinking. It’s no reflection on you two; in fact, I’m calling what you say NORMAL!
Now, please suffer me to babble on, with my irrational thinking — the absurdity I call “reality”.
1. Absurd thought #1. A friend of mine, age 91, being increasingly debilitated, told me he wanted to be admitted to a veterans’ home. He then changed his mind, which is a good thing — right now, the facility is in lock-down, the new epicenter of the coronavirus in Oregon.
2. Oregon Governor Kate Brown has called a state of emergency to deal with the virus, which seems to target people in my age group. Nobody know the extent of it, because we have no test kits to see who’s sick and who isn’t — not even enough to test all the patients and staff at the VA home. much less the hundreds of people they have daily come in contact with, and the dozens of people who daily come in contact with them. So we don’t know who’s got the virus at the center or in the community; in fact, we don’t even know the person or persons the patients got the virus from; and cases have been popping up all over OR — identified cases, even though hardly anyone in this state has been tested.
3. Guesses are all over the board, about how many cases we are dealing with; the number 75,000 has been put forth by one of our saner heads. To care for them, we have
— about 6000 free hospital beds, and
— about 600 ventilators, and
— very little protective clothing, even for health care workers.
4. Gov. Brown has decreed that all the schools be closed, including three major universities that draw students from all over the world. When they are released to go home, or to extended “Spring breaks”, they will be coming to neighborhoods near you. They aren’t visibly sick, like the old veterans; they look and act very, very healthy; but they are carrying with them a deadly virus. Welcome them with open arms. Give them hugs, and kisses. Then give your parents and grandparents the kiss of death. Don’t blame the governor for this one; those students would have been fanning out to where they were going anyway, only without any warning that they might be carrying death with them.
5, My daughter and grandchildren have been spending the past several weeks on lock-down in China, looking out their windows at once-bustling cities, which had become scenes from Armageddon movies. This also is coming to neighborhoods near you.
Ah, to be normal, and not, as you see I am, deranged! Enjoy your reality, while it lasts.
“Lower respiratory infections remained the most deadly communicable disease, causing 3.0 million deaths worldwide in 2016. The death rate from diarrhoeal diseases decreased by almost 1 million between 2000 and 2016, but still caused 1.4 million deaths in 2016. Similarly, the number of tuberculosis deaths decreased during the same period, but is still among the top 10 causes with a death toll of 1.3 million. HIV/AIDS is no longer among the world’s top 10 causes of death, having killed 1.0 million people in 2016 compared with 1.5 million in 2000.” From the World Health Organization (WHO) web site.
Airborne respiratory diseases kill about 4.6 million people worldwide in a typical year. 3.0 million from lower respiratory infections alone (like pneumonia and coronavirus). 1,000 deaths from COVID-19 so far over the past 3 months. At this pace, maybe a max of 4,000 deaths over 12 months if the present pace of spread of the illness continues throughout the year. That would mean 1 in 750 deaths from lower respiratory illnesses worldwide would result from COVID-19. Since viruses usually burn themselves out and become rare after about 6 months, we may reasonably expect the total death toll will be between 2,000 and 3,000, or less than one in a thousand deaths from all lower respiratory infections (such as “ordinary”pneumonia). Hardly the apocalypse. We don’t close down the world in order to stop the spread of pneumonia, which has been around for thousands of years. Why this obsession with COVID-19? Madness.
The fact that China is spreading conspiracy theories that the Wuhan virus was created by us, makes me all the more convinced that it was in fact created in a lab by the Chinese communists to wage germ warfare against us. That it wound up infecting their own population was an unintended consequence and in no way disproves that the Chicoms could have created it. So while the democrats and our worthless media are busy attacking our president, they refuse to criticize and in fact are covering for the Chicoms, the ones who are responsible for the virus in the first place and who covered up the truth for months.
According to the web site MedIndia, an average of 56 million people die every ear worldwide. Over 11 million have already died this year. The total goes up every second. So far COVID-19 has killed roughly 1,000 people worldwide. That is about 1 in 11,000 of the total number of deaths this year from all causes. Clearly we are dealing with an irrational mass panic. World leaders are misleading everyone in the world and leading all of us over a cliff.