WuFlu Over the Cuckoos Nest

I've been accumulating interesting links on the Covid 19 pandemic, and I've just got to get rid off them. It's clear that cases have been increasing in the south, but why? Lots of opinions (they're like assholes, everyone has one. Well, someone had to say it; at Fox, Dr. Atlas: Coronavirus surges linked mostly to protests -- and proximity to US-Mexico border

Fresh today from Sauron's eye, CDC chief says Northerners heading South for vacation may be to blame for surge in coronavirus cases, not state reopenings,

“If you look at the South, everything happened around June 12 to June 16. It all simultaneously kind of popped,” he said in an interview Tuesday with Dr. Howard Bauchner of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Independent of state reopening plans, “we’re of the view that there was something else that was the driver. Maybe the Memorial Day, not weekend, but the Memorial Day week, where a lot of Northerners decided to go South for vacations.””

and curiously, the new cases in the country are genetically traceable to the strain that hit NewYork and the Northeast. WaEx, Travel from New York City seeded the nationwide COVID-19 crisis. Thanks, New York! Rich Lowery,  NYPo, It’s just nuts to praise New York’s ‘success’ against coronavirus. FEE, Why Sweden Succeeded in “Flattening the Curve” and New York Failed

WUWT has a couple of posts suggesting that areas with air conditioning may be increasing because hot weather is driving people in doors: Covid-19: The Winter Disease Which Hates Humid Summers? and Is Air Conditioning Contributing to Coronavirus Spread?.

Sundance at CTH, Florida Media Discover Widespread False Reports of Positive COVID Tests – Massive Data Disparities – Video and Report…



Sundance thinks it's a conspiracy; I say never assume evil when stupidity could be the reason.

James Hamblin at the Atlantic: A New Understanding of Herd Immunity The portion of the population that needs to get sick is not fixed. We can change it. Herd immunity could kick in at as low at 20% of the population. Fox, CDC's 'best estimate' is 40 percent COVID-19 infections are asymptomatic. Up from 35, and asymptomatic cases are less likely (but not a lot less likely) to spread it.

There's a lot of discussion about how long immunity lasts after a case of WuFlu, and what that means regarding the possibility of a vaccine. John Sexton at Hot Air, Study Suggests Coronavirus Immunity Only Lasts A Few Months (And A 2nd Infection Could Be Worse)  In one study, Coronavirus protective immunity is short-lasting researchers followed a large number of people through 30 years and found some people repeatedly infected by multiple strains of the common cold causing coronaviruses. Others not so much. Apparently one year immunity is pretty much routine.

In the current COVID-19 pandemic a key unsolved question is the duration of acquired immunity in recovered individuals. The recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 precludes a direct study on this virus, but the four seasonal human coronaviruses may reveal common characteristics applicable to all human coronaviruses. We monitored healthy subjects over a time span of 35 years (1985-2020), providing a total of 2473 follow up person-months, and determined a) the time to reinfection by the same seasonal coronavirus and b) the dynamics of coronavirus antibody depletion post-infection. An alarmingly short duration of protective immunity to coronaviruses was found. Reinfections occurred frequently at 12 months post-infection and there was for each virus a substantial reduction in antibody levels as soon as 6 months post-infection.

Yeesh! Well, I get a flu shot every year, so getting a WuFlu shot every year wouldn't be such a bad thing. But, on the other hand, Coronavirus: Why everyone was wrong - The immune response to the virus is stronger than everyone thought

So how's that vaccine coming?  Depends on whose talking I suppose. Yahoo!  Is too much hope being put into a coronavirus vaccine? and Merck CEO says raising COVID-19 vaccine hopes 'a grave disservice' - report. And yet, NYT,  First Coronavirus Vaccine Tested in Humans Shows Early Promise, NEJM, An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report and  Pittsburgh participants needed for COVID-19 vaccine trials while Bloomberg is touting an Astrozenica vaccine, Covid Vaccine Front-Runner Is Months Ahead of Her Competition.

On lock downs and the mask wearing: Babylon Bee,  Genius Trump Wears Mask Causing Media To Question Effectiveness Of Masks and The Mark of COVID by Dr. TANSTAAFL 

Masks are being mandated to place the Mark of COVID on all of us.  It is an easily seen mark that says we are compliant with what our betters tell us is good for us.  They have no scientific evidence, but they can force us to wear one to show that we will do what they say.  If we want to go to the grocery store, wear the Mark!  If we want to go to exercise, wear the Mark!   We are to take it on faith that a smarter, more omnipotent person who is employed by our government knows best.

The Mark of COVID is the warning that we have no rights.  We walk around feeling the mark. Others can see that we are adhering to the mark.  We walk outside and are defiant because we are not wearing the mark, or we are tacitly or actively agreeing to the mark rule if we wear a mask. Do we dislike or despise the person next to us who is not wearing a mask, or do we nod in agreement and feel more comfortable with not wearing a mask?

Michael Thau at Red State,  Literally Thousands of Doctors and Scientists Have Come Out Against Fauci’s Lockdowns Including a Nobel Prize-Winning Biophysicist. The Media Just Doesn’t Want You to Know. Yahoo! California is back on coronavirus lockdown. And we have no one to blame but ourselves

We partied, we protested, we patronized salons and stores. And too often, we did so without maintaining a safe distance from others or wearing a face mask. Businesses ignored infection-control rules in large numbers, and some county sheriffs refused to enforce the rules.

And — surprise, surprise — the virus took full advantage of our lowered defenses. COVID-19 cases have risen steadily over the past month, with Los Angeles as the hottest hot spot in the state. More troubling: Hospital admissions rose, too, as did the percentage of coronavirus tests that come back positive. Health officials said they expect to see the COVID-19 mortality rate, which has been decreasing, start rising again in the next few weeks.

Peter Navarro, Presidential Advisor,  Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on: Peter Navarro. To be fair, Fauci has been on practically every side of every WuFlu issue. He changes his mind as the data change, like a good scientist; but he only knows one treatment at this time; lock down, so that's what he advocates. He doesn't care much about the economy, or freedom. "once zee rockets are up, who cares vehr zee come down' thar's not my department, says Wehrner Von Braun.

Which of course, leads us to the question of kids going back to school in fall (or not). It's quite clear that children rarely catch WuFlu, and when they do, it's rarely serious. German Study: Almost No Coronavirus Spread at Schools That Reopened. Doug Ross, JAW-DROPPING NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE REPORT: School Closures Based on Politics, Not Science

“[E]ven if children do get infected, they are less likely to transmit the disease to others than adults. We have not found a single instance of a child infecting parents.“

So  President Trump expects schools to open in the fall, or else, so of course, the Democrats, and the teachers unions must be adamantly opposed: LA teachers union wants more money by defunding the police, calls for medicare for all. Hey, demand unicorn farts too!

“Police violence is a leading cause of death and trauma for Black people, and is a serious public health and moral issue,” the paper said, citing the American Public Health Association. “We must shift the astronomical amount of money devoted to policing, to education and other essential needs such as housing and public health.”

What bullshit! Paul Bedard at WaEx, ‘Absolutely' reopen schools: 5 of 5 pediatricians would send their kids back to class

And treatment? Another study supports the use of "the hydroxy" HCQ Helps Contain COVID-19 Cases: New Evidence and a Major Retraction

The Indian Express reports:

The administration has analysed a sample of over 1 lakh [lakh = 100,000] residents, who were mostly close contacts of positive persons and the effect of HCQ in containing the transmission of the virus. According to the analysis, of the 48,873 close contacts of positive patients who took one dose of HCQ, 102 turned Covid-19 positive and 12 succumbed to the infection whereas 48 of the 17,776 close contacts of positive patients who took two doses of HCQ turned positive and only one died. The study also states that of the 33,563 close contacts of patients who took three HCQ doses, 43 tested positive and one died.

Local health official Dr. Devesh Patel told the paper, “It has shown positive results. We have the numbers and not one person has complained of complications. The only side effect reported is mild gastritis, which is common with administering heavy medicines and can be effectively handled.”

But wait, there's more! Those dirty Jews at Hebrew U. scientist: Drug could eradicate COVID-19 from lungs in days. A fatty acid drug (it lower LDL and raises HSL). Weird!

"New research by Hebrew University Prof. Ya’acov Nahmias and Sinai’s Dr. Benjamin tenOever revealed that the FDA-approved drug Fenofibrate (Tricor) could reduce SARS-CoV-2’s ability to reproduce or even make it disappear."

Having trouble sleeping while you worry about WuFlu? Kill two birds with one stone! Melatonin Inhibits COVID-19-induced Cytokine Storm by Reversing Aerobic Glycolysis in Immune Cells: A Mechanistic Analysis (Pub Med).

Even the  Polio vaccine could give temporary protection against COVID-19, scientists hope. Or maybe the common tuberculosis vaccine? Tuberculosis vaccine ‘potential game-changer’ in Covid-19 fight. I'm guessing just a general increase in immune activity after a vaccination.