Category: Uncategorized

Coronavirus: How Bad Is It Really?

The number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has officially reached 30,877, with 636 deaths, according to the interactive map provided by Johns Hopkins CSSE (Center for Systems Science and Engineering). The “total recovered” is listed as 1,503. One can only guess about has happened or will happen to the other 28,748 cases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website states: The new coronavirus has “resulted in thousands of confirmed cases in China, including cases outside Wuhan City. Additional cases have been identified in a growing number of other international locations, including the United States.” The CDC has not posted first-hand reports from China. Have officials been allowed to visit?

Figures that transiently appeared  on Tencent’s “Epidemic Situation Tracker” were 10 times higher than government reports, with the death toll reaching nearly 25,000. Just a “fat finger” mistyping? Or is there double bookkeeping?

Bodies transferred directly from hospitals are reportedly lined up at crematoria to await incineration.

In other news:

  • The CDC will be sending test kits to some 100 testing stations in the U.S.
  • Panic buyers in Hong Kong are snapping up toilet paper, rice, and pasta.
  • The origin of the 2019-nCoV is said to be from bats. The genetic make-up of virus from Chinese patients is reportedly 96% similar to one found in bats. (The human genome is 98.8% similar to that of chimpanzees.) This does not rule out deliberate bioengineering.
  • Dr. Li Wenliang, a Chinese physician sanctioned for purportedly “spreading rumors” when he sounded an early alarm about a SARS-like illness cropping up in Wuhan, has died of the novel coronavirus.
  • Some medical supply stocks are soaring as suppliers run out of masks and gloves. China is a major producer of protective equipment and the sole source for many drug precursors.

For more about pandemic preparedness and links to information on protecting yourself and your family, see Doctors for Disaster Preparedness Newsletter, September 2019.

Are the “One Percent” Preppers Paranoid, or Are We Missing Something, Asks PCD

Benjamin Domenec’s popular blog, “The Transom,” featured a tour of a luxury bomb shelter in a secret location. At a cost of $35,000 per place, the elite are planning to be able to live in comfort for a year after Doomsday.

Robert Vicino, founder and CEO of survival prep company the Vivos Group, ticked off a list of scenarios (financial collapse, pandemic, magnetic pole shift, collision with Planet X, nuclear war, etc.). He has been building survival bunkers since 2007.

At the time of the tour, the facility was unoccupied. It is not clear what will signal people to head for shelter—or how they will get there. Continue reading “Are the “One Percent” Preppers Paranoid, or Are We Missing Something, Asks PCD”

‘Air Bridge’ for Ebola to U.S. Is Disastrous, States Physicians for Civil Defense

As Ebola cases continue to double every 3 weeks in West Africa, and 10,000 new cases per week are anticipated, the U.S. military is sending some 4,000 troops to help build hospital facilities with about 1,700 total beds. This is part of President Obama’s effort to build an “air bridge” to West Africa.

While at first it was stated that troops would not come into direct contact with Ebola victims, some will be working in mobile laboratory facilities.

Israel will send civilian aid, but declined to send troops, citing fears of bringing infection into Israel.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) claims that the disease can’t be transmitted by asymptomatic persons, that its protective protocols are adequate, and that the disease is not “airborne.”

So far, it is not known how the Dallas nurse caring for the index Ebola patient from Liberia became infected despite protective gear. The World Health Organization states that work with Ebola needs to be done in BSL-4 (biosafety level 4) containment facilities, with self-contained air for breathing and negative pressure to prevent escape of air from the isolation room. Very few hospitals are capable of these precautions.

What kind of protective gear will our troops be using? Doctors without Borders states that personal protective equipment is intolerable for more than 40 minutes.

Will troops be quarantined for 21 days in an Ebola-free location before returning to the U.S. and their families?

“The only sure way to prevent an Ebola epidemic is to keep potentially infected persons out of the area,” stated Physicians for Civil Defense president Jane M Orient, M.D. “We need to restrict entry via the ‘bridges’ we already have, not build additional ones.”

Physicians for Civil Defense has long advocated better preparedness for disasters, including natural epidemics and biological warfare.