CORONA Main Coronavirus thread

Companies Plan to Boost Production of Controversial Malaria Drug as Demand Jumps
By
Josh Nathan-Kazis
March 24, 2020 9:57 am ET

Demand for hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug that President Trump has touted as a treatment for Covid-19 despite limited evidence, has already begun to increase, according to a note from SVB Leerink analyst Ami Fadia.

Fadia wrote that 10.2 million hydroxychloroquine pills were sold in the week ending March 13, according to data-science company Iqvia, well above the average weekly volume of 8.5 million pills.
Approved for use to prevent malaria and to treat some auto-immunte diseases, hydroxychloroquine is manufactured by a number of generic-drug makers. In her note, Fadia outlined the plans of a number of the largest generic manufacturers to increase their output of hydroxychloroquine pills, though the sales wouldn’t have a substantial impact on the companies.

“Hydroxychloroquine [is] unlikely to be a financial driver,” Fadia wrote. “However, in light of the negative news flow generic companies have been besieged with over the past few years, from anticompetitive price increases to opioid litigation…the efforts by these companies to step-in and make a treatment available to help combat a pandemic would be a good reminder for various constituents of their importance to the health-care system.”

Excitement grew over the possibility that hydroxychloroquine could be an effective treatment for Covid-19, following the publication of a study by French researchers that suggested that hydroxychloroquine in combination with another drug had shortened the duration of Covid-19 infections. Experts warned that the study was small, wasn’t randomized, and was limited in other ways. But President Trump has trumpeted the drug, saying in a tweet that it has “a real chance to be one of the biggest game-changers in the history of medicine.”

At least five clinical trials are set to study hydroxychloroquine in Covid-19 patients, according to a note Sunday from Piper Sandler analyst David Amsellem. Experts say there is limited evidence, as yet, that the therapy is effective. Monday night, Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat distributed an abstract of an unpublished Chinese trial of hydroxychloroquine in patients with mild Covid-19 that appears to have had disappointing results. According to Raffat, the study found that 87% of patients on hydroxychloroquine experienced virological clearance by day 7, compared with 93% of patients in the control arm.

Still, generic manufacturers have already made commitments to ramp up production of hydroxychloroquine. In her note, Fadia wrote that Amneal Pharmaceuticals (AMRX) has said it will make 20 million pills by mid-April, Mylan (MYL) could provide 50 million pills using the ingredients it has available, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA) will ship 6 million pills by the end of March and more than 10 million in total within a month. Novartis (NVS) subsidiary Sandoz has said it will donate 130 million doses if the drug is approved for Covid-19 patients, Fadia wrote.

All told, according to Fadia’s numbers, that would be enough doses for more than 6.7 million patients.

The increased demand measured by data available so far came before the publication of the French study, and could be attributable to other factors, such as stockpiling of pills by patients who use it for established treatments and are concerned about supply-chain issues during the epidemic. In the days since the president touted the drug as a possible cure for Covid-19, media reports have indicated a surge of sales of the drug. ProPublica reported that lupus patients who rely on the drug have had trouble filling their prescriptions.

In a note of caution, the Phoenix hospital system Banner Health said Monday evening that a man had died after apparently self-medicating with chloroquine phosphate, a chemical used to clean fish tanks that is different from hydroxychloroquine. Banner Health warned against any self medication for Covid-19.

For the companies planning to sell more hydroxychloroquine, the totals would be relatively small. The pills sell for 32 cents each, according to Fadia. She calculated that the sales for Mylan, for example, would be roughly $15 million. Teva’s sales would be roughly $3 million.
“Unless the market demand grows by an order of magnitude for an extended period of time (i.e., months), the financial implications are likely insignificant,” Fadia wrote.

But for a sector that has weathered damaging headlines associated with the opioid crisis and generic-drug price-fixing allegations, the benefits of helping to ease a global pandemic could go well beyond financial gain.

Senate Releases Full Text Of $2 Trillion Stimulus Bill: Here's What's In It

Wed, 03/25/2020 - 13:37

Update (2040ET): 12 hours after the Senate was supposed to originally release the full text - all 889 pages of it - of the $2 trillion stimulus bill, it finally did just that, detailing in a whopping 889 pages, detailing its plans to stimulate spending, push tax breaks and generally boost the U.S. economy during and after the coronavirus outbreak.

Here is the part most relevant to capital markets, discussing the limitations on dividends and buyback:

The Secretary may enter into agreements to make loans or loan guarantees to 1 or more eligible businesses... if the Secretary determines that, in the Secretary’s discretion—(A) the applicant is an eligible business for which credit is not reasonably available at the time of the transaction; (B) the intended obligation by the applicant is prudently incurred; (C) the loan or loan guarantee is sufficiently secured or is made at a rate that— (i) reflects the risk of the loan or loan guarantee; and (ii) is to the extent practicable, not less than an interest rate based on market conditions for comparable obligations prevalent prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19); (D) the duration of the loan or loan guarantee is as short as practicable and in any case not longer than 5 years...

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... and the punchline:

(F) the agreement provides that, until the date 12 months after the date the loan or loan guarantee is no longer outstanding, the eligible business shall not pay dividends or make other capital distributions with respect to the common stock of the eligible business.

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In other words, as noted earlier, no dividends or buybacks for any company that uses the bailout loan. By implication, it means that all other companies can continue to repurchase their stock.

And here, courtesy of Bloomberg, are some additional observations on the winners and losers:

• The plan includes $500 billion in loans and assistance for larger companies, as well as states and cities, according to the latest drafts being circulated.
• But the aid comes with strings attached after pressure from Democrats: Companies receiving a government loan would be subject to a ban on stock buybacks through the term of the loan plus one additional year. They also would have to limit executive bonuses and take steps to protect workers. The Treasury Department would have to disclose the terms of loans or other aid, and a new Treasury inspector general would oversee the lending program.
• The bill is largely a win for the retail, hotel and restaurant industries that initially viewed lawmakers as favoring the airline industry. Trade groups representing those sectors lobbied Congress hard for loans, grants and unemployment assistance because their businesses have also suffered coronavirus-related revenue losses. “We see it as an important win,” said Austen Jensen of the Retail Industry Leaders Association. “Yes airlines are in a tough spot, but the retail industry is equally in a difficult position.”

The winners:
Cash for citizens, gig workers

• The package provides direct payments to lower- and middle-income Americans of $1,200 for each adult, as well as $500 for each child. Democrats were able to secure a change from a previous version that allows low-income taxpayers to get the full $1,200 payment.
• Unemployment insurance payments were boosted and recipients would be eligible to receive those funds for an average of four months, up from three in the prior GOP plan. It also would extend eligibility to the self-employed and workers in the gig economy such as drivers for Uber Technologies Inc.

Airlines to get loans, cash-for-equity bailouts

• Struggling U.S. airlines would be eligible to receive federal loans and direct cash assistance if they are willing to give an option for an ownership stake to the government. The program allocates $25 billion to passenger carriers and $3 billion to airline contractors providing ground staff such as caterers, while cargo haulers would see $4 billion.
• The addition of direct cash relief, earmarked for payrolls, was sought by airline and industry unions, which feared massive job losses if loans were the only option. The legislation does not include emissions limits for airplanes that were sought by House Democrats, Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, said on a press call.
• Other transportation winners include rail and transit operators. Amtrak would get $1.02 billion to cover coronavirus-related revenue losses and support state-funded routes.
• Here is the controversial section on "air carrier or contractor" bailouts:

To be eligible for financial assistance under this subtitle, an air carrier or contractor shall enter into an agreement with the Secretary, or otherwise certify in such form and manner as the Secretary shall prescribe, that the air carrier or contractor shall— (1) refrain from conducting involuntary furloughs or reducing pay rates and benefits until September 30, 2020; (2) through September 30, 2021, ensure that neither the air carrier or contractor nor any affiliate of the air carrier or contractor may, in any transaction, purchase an equity security of the air carrier or contractor or the parent company of the air carrier or contractor that is listed on a national securities exchange; (3) through September 30, 2021, ensure that the air carrier or contractor shall not pay dividends, or make other capital distributions, with respect to the common stock (or equivalent interest) of the air carrier or contractor.

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• No surprises here either: an aircraft company getting bailout funds will not be allowed to fire workers or cut wages, nor pursue M&A or engage in buybacks and dividends.

Small businesses get cash injections

• The bill carves out more than $350 billion in aid for small businesses, much of which would be in loans through the Small Business Administration and banks, guaranteed by the federal government. The loans would be forgiven provided the businesses meet certain requirements, including limiting reductions in pay and layoffs, though with more flexibility for employers than the original Senate bill. Industry advocates previously said loans weren’t enough, especially for the smallest outfits, although some expressed more optimism on Wednesday.

Money for hospitals in healthcare ‘Marshall Plan’

• The legislation calls for $117 billion for hospitals and veterans’ health care, as well as $16 billion for personal protective equipment, ventilators and other medical supplies for federal and state response efforts. It also includes $11 billion for vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics and other medical needs, and at least $250 million to improve the capacity of health-care facilities to respond to medical events, according to a summary by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
• The bill would require insurers to cover tests for Covid-19. Labs would be required to post cash prices for the tests on public websites, and insurers would have to pay those prices or another privately negotiated rate. Any vaccines or other preventive services would have to be covered with no cost-sharing.
• The measure temporarily lifts Medicare payment cuts and includes a 20% increase in Medicare payments to hospitals for treating Covid-19 patients. The hospital industry supported the measure for providing emergency funds, boosting payments and suspending some funding cuts. But “more will need to be done to deal with the unprecedented challenge of this virus,” Rick Pollack, head of the American Hospital Association, said in a statement.

Mortgage relief for wide swath of borrowers

• Many U.S. homeowners and businesses could get relief from making their monthly mortgage payments through the bill. Borrowers with loans insured by government agencies such as the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs would be eligible for forbearance. Consumers whose mortgages are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would also be eligible to skip payments.
• U.S. regulators have already mandated forbearance to borrowers facing financial hardships due to coronavirus, in addition to suspending foreclosures and evictions through the end of April and in some cases longer. Under the bill, borrowers would be eligible for 60 days of forbearance if they can demonstrate virus-related financial stress. The relief can be extended for 30 days up to four times.
• Mortgage servicers, who collect homeowners’ monthly payments, couldn’t demand documentation proving economic hardship. Instead, borrowers would just have to attest that they’re struggling, according to the text of the legislation.
• Commercial borrowers with federally backed loans could skip payments for at least 30 days with a possible extension of up to 60 additional days. Unlike individual consumers, businesses would have to document financial hardship and they would be barred from evicting tenants as long as they are missing mortgage payments.

Emergency aid for farmers:

• The stimulus package includes up to $23.5 billion in farm aid. It would provide $9.5 billion in emergency funds for agriculture, including livestock producers and growers of specialty crops such as fruits and vegetables. And it would authorize $14 billion in new borrowing authority for the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Commodity Credit Corp., a Depression-era entity the Trump administration has used for its farm-bailout programs the past two years.

State and local governments get relief

• A coronavirus relief fund with $150 billion would be created for states, cities and other local governments. Additional funds will be set aside for territories, tribal governments and other entitites. The package includes $400 million for the Election Assistance Commission to provide grants in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The funds could be used to expand voting by mail, early voting and online registration and bolster in-person voting, according to a Senate aide. The bill doesn’t create a national requirement for voting by mail, which Republicans objected to.

The losers:

• No aid for Trump properties: Democrats won language that bars any business owned by President Donald Trump or his family from getting loans from Treasury. Businesses owned by members of Congress, heads of executive departments and Vice President Mike Pence also would be blocked from receiving aid under the stimulus program.
• Oil Industry: A $3 billion provision in the original GOP bill to buy oil for the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve was cut by negotiators. The funding for the emergency stockpiles had been requested by the Trump administration for the purchase of up to 77 million barrels of crude oil to support the domestic industry and boost reserves at cheap prices. Democrats sought to add billions in funding for clean energy in exchange and in the end both were scuttled. But the issue could arise as Congress takes up additional coronavirus-related legislation in coming weeks. Anne Bradbury, head of the American Exploration and Production Council that represents independent oil producers, said the group is “confident that DOE will be able to meet the president’s directive to purchase up to $3 billion in U.S.-produced crude.”
• Renewables: The omission of expanded tax incentives for renewable energy and spending on green infrastructure is a blow to advocates of solar, wind and electric vehicles who worry that a buildup of new federal debt from stimulus spending will discourage green investment and lending in the future.

Full text below: go to website

Here are the seven things that The Hill thinks are key to know.
Cash assistance

The Senate bill will provide a one-time $1,200 check for an individual making up to $75,000 per year or $2,400 for couples earning less than $150,000. After that, it will be scaled down until it reaches a $99,000 income threshold for an individual or $198,000 for a couple and then phased out altogether. It also provides an additional $500 per child.

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The idea quickly gained steam with both the administration and senators as they tried to figure out a way to provide direct financial assistance to Americans. Supporters say the funding could help cover short-term costs such as rent, groceries and utilities, while opponents argue it does little to stimulate the broader economy.

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Some Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) were vocal critics of the idea, instead pushing for expanded unemployment. Others, such as Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), took issue with a provision in the initial GOP draft that would have given those with little or no tax liability small checks — a minimum of $600. That restriction was ultimately dropped.

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President Trump

Democrats got a provision tucked into the massive legislation that prevents businesses controlled by President Trump from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs included in the bill.

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Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told CNN that it applies to not just Trump but also Vice President Pence, heads of executive departments and members of Congress, where four lawmakers have recently faced accusations of insider trading.

“We wrote a provision, not just the president, but any major figure in government, Cabinet, Senate, congressmen — if they have majority, they have majority control, they can't get grants or loans, and that makes sense. Those of us who write the law shouldn't benefit from the law,” Schumer told CNN during an interview on Wednesday.

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The provision would also apply to children, spouses and in-laws of the individuals affected.

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Unemployment

The bill provides four months of bolstered unemployment benefits as Congress braces for a spike in jobless claims, with the spread of the coronavirus curtailing businesses or closing them altogether.

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As part of the bipartisan package, the maximum unemployment benefit would be increased by $600. A GOP Finance Committee aide said the across-the-board increase was more practical because “each state has a different [unemployment insurance] program.”

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But the unemployment insurance provision is sparking an eleventh-hour fight, with four GOP senators pushing for an amendment vote that would cap unemployment insurance at 100 percent of wages.
They argue that, as currently written, the bill could incentivize individuals not to work. The aide rebutted that, saying, “Nothing in this bill incentivizes businesses to lay off employees. In fact it’s just the opposite.”

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Sens. Graham, Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) warned in a statement that they would oppose fast-tracking the bill over the provision unless they could get an amendment vote.

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Corporate fund

The bill includes a $500 billion corporate liquidity fund to help companies impacted by the coronavirus access credit.

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That includes $46 billion in direct financial assistance, with $25 billion for U.S. airlines, $4 billion for air cargo carriers and $17 billion for other distressed companies related to critical national security.

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The debate over what form of aid to give to airlines was one of the stickiest negotiations in the days-long fight over the stimulus package. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who was at the center of the negotiations, said that he favored giving airlines low-interest loans, but companies warned that the application process was not quick enough to prevent bankruptcy.

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“My preference would have been that like the other industries across America that will access credit through the 13(3) program — I would have preferred the direct funding from the Treasury to the airlines to be in the form of a loan, to be in the form of an extension of credit,” Toomey said.

Schumer, in a letter to his colleagues, outlined a list of restrictions on the aid, including appointing an inspector general to provide oversight, similar to TARP, and “real-time public reporting of Treasury transactions under the Act.”

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It would also, according to Schumer, ban stock buybacks for the length of government assistance plus one year for companies receiving loans and specifically prohibit airlines from stock buybacks or executive bonuses.

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Health care

In addition to economic assistance, the bill includes $100 billion for hospitals, which have warned they could soon be overwhelmed by the steady increase in coronavirus cases.

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The bill requires boosting medical supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile amid reports that the country is facing a shortfall of key items such as ventilators, masks and swabs used for coronavirus testing.

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It would also require health insurance companies to pay for coronavirus testing and increase funding for community health centers.

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Border wall

The Senate bill prevents the Pentagon from shifting $10.5 billion in coronavirus funding to a counterdrug account it has been using to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

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The bill would allow the Pentagon to transfer the coronavirus funds to other accounts “except for ‘Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities, Defense,’” according to a summary from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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A Democratic summary of the bill described the language as intended to “prevent funds in this title from being diverted to build a wall on the southern border.”

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Student loans

The bill would defer payments for federally owned student loans for six months, through Sept. 30.

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Democrats had wanted to go a step further by having the Education Department make federal student loan payments for the duration of the coronavirus health crisis. The department, under the Democratic plan, would then make an additional payment at the end to make sure every borrower had received $10,000 toward their student loan debt over the duration of the health emergency.

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Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2
Update (1600ET): Stocks tumbled into the bell after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) became the latest lawmaker to threaten to hold up the coronavirus stimulus package "until stronger conditions are imposed on the $500 billion corporate welfare fund."

"Unless Senators Graham (R-SC), Sasse (R-NE) and Time Scott (R-SC) drop their anti-worker objections to fast-tracking the emergency coronavirus legislation, I am prepared to put a hold on this bill until stronger conditions are imposed on the $500 billion corporate welfare fund," Sanders said over Twitter.


Bernie Sanders

Unless Republican Senators drop their objections to the coronavirus legislation, I am prepared to put a hold on this bill until stronger conditions are imposed on the $500 billion corporate welfare fund.

36.5K
12:29 PM - Mar 25, 2020


Looks like AOC wants to get in on the holdup as well.
Phil Mattingly

AOC warns she may force House members to return for stimulus vote, potentially delaying final passage, via @mkraju http://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-coronavirus-package-vote/index.html …

AOC warns she may force House members to return for stimulus vote, potentially delaying final...
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the high-profile freshman from New York, is leaving open the option of forcing House members to return to Washington to cast a vote on the $2 trillion stimulus package...
cnn.com
1,433
12:22 PM - Mar 25, 2020

Stocks were not happy at the news.


Viraj Patel@VPatelFX

Bernie Sanders doing his best to claim the 2020 sell-off in stocks

8
1:07 PM - Mar 25, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy[/QUOTE]
See Viraj Patel's other Tweets


* * *
Update (1415ET): GOP Senators have cautioned against fast-tracking the bill as it stands, which would "create a perverse incentive to sever the employer/employee relationship," according to a spokesman for Sen. Sasse (R-NE).

The Senators are working on an amendment which would ensure that the maximum unemployment benefit is 100% of someone's salary.
* * *
First it was Nancy Pelosi 'rode into town from her extended vacation' to kill the GOP coronavirus bill.

Now, despite what we were told was a done dea, three Republican Senators have demanded an "immediate fix" to a drafting error in the bill which may delay its passage.

Sens. Scott (SC), Sasse(NE) and Graham (SC) wrote in a Wednesday letter:
"A massive drafting error in the current version of the coronavirus relief legislation could have devastating consequences: Unless this bill is fixed, there is a strong incentive for employees to be laid off instead of going to work. This isn't an abstract, philosophical point -- it's an immediate, real-world problem."

According to the Senators, "If the federal government accidentally incentivizes layoffs, we risk life-threatening shortages in sectors were doctors, nurses and cooks are trying to get food to families' tables."
]
Jennifer Shutt
✔@JenniferShutt

Sens. Scott, Sasse and Graham "demand" a fix to the current version of the stimulus bill.

"Unless this bill is fixed, there is a strong incentive for employees to be laid off instead of going to work."

44
10:26 AM - Mar 25, 2020

Developing...

Blacknarwhal said:

Yeah, don't look for that to happen, Garcetti, you PUSTULE of a human being. It is most assuredly NOT "your city" either, regardless of what your insane power fantasies tell you.

Here's a shot of what Garcetti no doubt believes is "false hope." You can just imagine how hard they had to choke on this one.

Fair use cited so on and so forth.

Apologies, folks; put up the wrong one. Caught this on the Dan Bongino show tonight; it's a paywalled article from the Wall Street Journal that should have gone up. Basically, it's a matter of math; the only people who showed up for testing were the ones who were the sickest.

Opinion | Is the Coronavirus as Deadly as They Say?

Current estimates about the Covid-19 fatality rate may be too high by orders of magnitude.

www.wsj.com

The relevant part from Dan is about 40 minutes in.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50kZ4vi2LU4

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The reality is the virus is a laser guided weapon. with 20 % kill rates among certain groups 80 plus with several issues like high blood pressure heart issues diabetes etc. The argument about kill percentages is useless for years into the future. You have a ZERO kill rate fro. Zero to ten and a 20 % one at age 80. In some places, like a nursing home with 80 year old sick people with multiple health issues you have damn near a 85 percent kill rate. Years before we average all of that out to get one rate. Waste of time and energy to obsess on kill rates. Do these clowns think a nursing g home has a 3 % kill rate?

Update on my grt grandson Carter. His fever is finally gone...cough still remains. He will be seen by Dr. tomorrow. Thank you all for caring.

CapeCMom said:

One of the girls in the Cape Cod COVID group said she called her mortgage company to ask about delaying her mortgage payment. They said fine she could do it for three months...but at the end of the three months she had to pay it back in full....what a bunch of ass wipes! How are people supposed to do That?

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Ok I get it banks are bad, but look how easily they said ok doesn’t sound like they hassled or threw 30 pages of bs to sign and read. IF you are in need AND no penalty take the breather why not a lot can change in 3 month’s especially if they need more stimulus. Do you think the banks want a non performing repo’d property on their books or a ‘performing’ loan even if they have to make a new arrangement in 3 month’s. But if out of work and no income at this time and savings to fall back on what choice is there. Risk if financial decides to total jerk in 3 month’s, Rule 1 keep communicating update them before the end of grace period with circumstances is what I would do to negotiate what can be done to make both parties winners.

(Not personal banking advice and I don’t sell Gold, hell can’t even buy cause local dealer closed until April)

We are still working remotely so still paying bills.

What pisses me off is the people still working and wanting to back out of their signed commitments and wanting free stuff because they are short sighted selfish bastards and they think they are owed stuff. What we seem to be owed is a good swift kick.

If you are out of work or furloughed take advantage of every freakin program your entitled too, Uncle Sugar is about to drop helicopter money to people in need, it may seem disjointed but look for new programs soon.

Neighbors use RC car to drive beer to each other to maintain social distancing
By Michael Hollan | Fox News

Video

Everyone needs to stay stocked up on the essentials.

Video footage was uploaded to social media showing two neighbors sharing a beer while also still practicing social distancing. Since they live across the street from each other, however, they had to get a little creative.

View: https://www.facebook.com/trevor.reinke.3/videos/10222577989786473/


Trevor Reinke, from Milwaukee, Wisc., shared the footage of the beer's trip across the street on his Facebook page. In the video, his neighbor Eric Trzcinski uses an RC car to drive the beer from one house, across the street and right up Reinke's driveway.

Trzcinski recently had the idea while driving home from work, Fox 6 reports. According to the news outlet, the self-proclaimed "car guy" strapped a spare exhaust tip to the back of an RC car, which made for the perfect beer bottle holder.

He then reportedly called up Reinke and told him to start filming once Trzcinski's garage door started to open.

Fortunately, Trzcinski was able to navigate the car around traffic and successfully drive the beer to his neighbor. Since the footage was first uploaded, it's garnered over 6 million views.

Of course, there are other ways to get drinks delivered, if you're so inclined.

As bars, restaurants and other venues across the nation are facing shut down orders due to the coronavirus pandemic, Americans are turning to breweries and other outlets to have beer delivered right to their homes.

States like Alabama and Mississippi have loosened laws involving the sale of beer to go, with the former state allowing restaurants to sell unopened containers of alcohol with curbside orders.

delete

Louisiana Church Continues Large Services Despite COVID-19 Safety Orders From Governor
By Frank CampDailyWire.com
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

On Sunday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards issued a “Stay at Home” order prohibiting gatherings of more than ten people in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.

This order comes on the heels of two previous orders – one from March 13 that limited gatherings to 250 people or fewer, and one from March 16 that limited gatherings to 50 people or fewer.

Despite the orders from the governor, a church in Louisiana has continued to hold large services. On March 17, Life Tabernacle Church in Central, Louisiana, gathered for worship with more than 300 in attendance, according to Pastor Tony Spell.

Video footage of the Tuesday service posted on Facebook shows dozens of parishioners gathering near the stage, hugging and laying hands on each other. None appear to be wearing face masks or gloves.

During the service, Spell had ushers pass out “anointed clothes” to those in attendance, which he said would bring “healing virtue” and “the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost” with them.

A video posted to Facebook on March 17 shows Spell exiting the church and speaking briefly with a police officer outside. Although the audio of the exchange is too poor to understand, Spell spoke directly to the camera immediately after.

Spell told the cameraman:

He basically said the National Guard is gonna come and break our group up of more than 50 people. He’s not gonna do anything. He respects what we’re doing. He stands behind what we’re doing … I said if the National Guard comes, they’re gonna find us doing more of what we’re doing tonight. We’re gonna continue to assemble under our rights of the Constitution, as a church, and as a local body of Christ.

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Spell was asked by the man running the camera if he could be arrested. The pastor replied that he didn’t know, but added, “We’re taking persecution from friends, family, threat of lawsuits, threat of jail – nothing is gonna deter us from our religious conviction of worshipping and assembling and gathering.”

Despite what Spell claims the police officer told him, according to NBC affiliate WAFB, Louisiana National Guard Colonel Ed Bush said that the organization wouldn’t be enforcing gathering prohibitions. “The National Guard has not been tasked with enforcing any of the curfew, social distancing or meeting requirements as set by the governor,” Bush stated.

Additionally, Central Police Department Chief Roger Corcoran told CNN: “That was never told to the pastor by my officer.”

In a YouTube message on Thursday, Spell spoke about the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the book of Daniel, then stated that the church wouldn’t be “in defiance of any codes, of any government mandates.”

We have the support of our federal, local, and statewide governments. We will have the support of our law enforcement. I’ve met with these individuals who are the leaders of our state, of our city parish, of our nation … we’re in compliance with what they’re asking of us to do, which is to control the spread of this virus, to flatten the curve of the spread of the virus.

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Spell added that the buses bringing people to services would have no more than 50 people, and that the busses would be disinfected.

On Sunday, Life Tabernacle Church held services outside under tents. In a video posted to Facebook, a large number of parishioners can be seen worshiping, with only a few wearing basic surgical masks. Proper social distancing was not occurring.

Spell said COVID-19 doesn’t “concern” him, according to WAFB. “The virus, we believe, is politically motivated. We hold our religious rights dear and we are going to assemble no matter what someone says,” Spell reportedly stated.
WAFB notes that “East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore says those violating the governor’s proclamation could face prosecution as a last resort.”

In response to the continuation of the church’s large services, a petition has been launched to have Spell prosecuted for “reckless endangerment.” More than 6,000 people have signed.

As of Saturday, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has seen 75 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and three deaths, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) Global Cases map. The virus has infected more than 66,000 Americans, leading to 947 deaths.

The Daily Wire reached out to Central Police and Pastor Tony Spell for comment, but as of publication, we have not received a reply from either.
Governor Edwards’ March 22 order reads in part:

In an effort to reduce and limit the spread of COVID-19 in Louisiana, and to preserve the health and safety of all members of the public, all gatherings of 10 people or more shall be postponed or canceled. This applies only to gatherings in a single space at the same time where individuals will be in close proximity to one another…

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All individuals within the state of Louisiana are under a general stay-at-home order and are directed to stay home unless performing an essential activity. An activity is essential if the purpose of the activity is one of the following:

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A. Obtaining food, medicine, and other similar goods necessary for the individual or a family member of the individual.
B. Obtaining non-elective medical care and treatment and other similar vital services for an individual or a family member of the individual.
C. Going to and from an individual’s workplace to perform a job function necessary to provide goods or services being sought in Subsections (A) and (B) of this section, or as otherwise deemed essential worker functions…
E. Going to and from an individual’s place of worship.
F. Engaging in outdoor activity, provided individuals maintain a distance of six feet from one another and abide by the 10-person limitation on gathering size established in this proclamation.

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Governor Edwards’ previously issued order prohibiting public gatherings of more than 250 people included worship services.

When asked about the limit during a press conference, Edwards said: “This prohibition does apply to churches and houses of worship with congregations that exceed 250 in a single service. However, churches and places of worship can engage in multiple services and bring the number of people in them below 250.”
The governor explained his decision to include churches in the prohibition:

It is important, and this is probably the one time a week where we know that the most number of elderly people and people with chronic health conditions are sitting in pews next to others for at least an hour. And so while it’s a very heavy decision, it was one that was deliberate to include churches…

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On March 16, when Governor Edwards announced further limitations on public gatherings to fewer than 50 people, he stated in part: “These limitations were difficult to make, but they are necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, protect the health of Louisianans, and flatten the curve.”

marsh said:

What is an ‘Essential’ or ‘Non-Essential’ Employee under Coronavirus Stay Home Orders? – California Globe

californiaglobe.com

What Is An ‘Essential’ Or ‘Non-Essential’ Employee Under Coronavirus Stay Home Orders?

Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)

What is an ‘Essential’ or ‘Non-Essential’ Employee under Coronavirus Stay Home Orders?

Gov. Newsom’s Executive Order directing residents to stay home exempts ‘essential’ workers

By Katy Grimes, March 24, 2020 1:39 pm

On March 19, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-33-20 directing all residents immediately to heed current State public health directives to stay home, except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of essential critical infrastructure sectors and additional sectors as the State Public Health Officer may designate as critical to protect health and well-being of all Californians.

Heed means “to give consideration, attention to.”

In accordance with this order, the State Public Health Officer has designated the following list of “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” to help state, local, tribal, and industry partners as they work to protect communities, while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security.

The Healthcare and Public Health Sector considered Essential:

• Workers providing COVID-19 testing
• physicians, dentists, psychologists, mid-level practitioners, nurses and assistants, infection control and quality assurance personnel, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists and assistants, social workers, speech pathologists and diagnostic and therapeutic technicians and technologists.
• Hospital and laboratory personnel.
• Workers in other medical facilities (including Ambulatory Health and Surgical, Blood Banks, Clinics, Community Mental Health, Comprehensive Outpatient rehabilitation, End Stage Renal Disease, Health Departments, Home Health care, Hospices, Hospitals, Long Term Care, Organ Pharmacies, Procurement Organizations, Psychiatric, Residential, Rural Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers, cannabis retailers).
• Manufacturers, technicians, logistics and warehouse operators, and distributors of medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), medical gases, pharmaceuticals, blood and blood products, vaccines, testing materials, laboratory supplies, cleaning, sanitizing, disinfecting or sterilization supplies, personal care/hygiene products, and tissue and paper towel products.
• Pharmacy employees.
• …and many more you can find HERE.

Emergency Services Sector Essential Workforce:

• Law Enforcement, Public Safety and First Responders.

Public Works sector Essential workforce:

• Workers who support the operation, inspection, and maintenance of essential dams, locks and levees.
• Workers who support the operation, inspection, and maintenance of essential public works facilities and operations, including bridges, water and sewer main breaks, fleet maintenance personnel, construction of critical or strategic infrastructure, construction material suppliers, traffic signal maintenance, emergency location services for buried utilities, maintenance of digital systems infrastructure supporting public works operations, and other emergent issues
• Workers such as plumbers, electricians, exterminators, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences.
• Support, such as road and line clearing, to ensure the availability of needed facilities, transportation, energy and communications Support to ensure the effective removal, storage, and disposal of residential and commercial solid waste and hazardous waste.

Food and Agriculture sector Essential Workforce:

• Workers supporting groceries, pharmacies, and other retail that sells food and beverage products.
• Restaurant carry-out and quick serve food operations – including food preparation, carry-out and delivery food employees.
• Food manufacturer employees and their supplier employees.
• Farm workers.
• Workers who provide sanitation of all food manufacturing processes and operations from wholesale to retail.
• Animal agriculture workers.

Energy sector Essential Workforce:

• Workers who maintain, ensure, or restore the generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power, including call centers, utility workers, reliability engineers and fleet maintenance technicians.
• all other workers employed by energy companies.

Essential Workforce – Petroleum workers – all workers
Essential Workforce – Natural and propane gas workers
Water and Wastewater sector Essential Workforce:

• Operational staff at water authorities
• Operational staff at community water systems
• Operational staff at wastewater treatment facilities
• Workers repairing water and wastewater conveyances and performing required sampling or monitoring.

The Transportation Systems Sector consists of seven key subsectors, or modes:

• Aviation
• Highway and Motor Carrier
• Maritime Transportation System
• Mass Transit and Passenger Rail
• Pipeline Systems consist of pipelines carrying natural gas hazardous liquids
• Freight Rail
• Postal and Shipping

Financial Services Sector includes thousands of depository institutions, providers of investment products, insurance companies, other credit and financing organizations, and the providers of the critical financial utilities and services that support these functions.
Communications and Information Technology sector Essential Workforce:

• Maintenance of communications infrastructure
• Workers who support radio, television, and media service, including, but not limited to front line news reporters, studio, and technicians for newsgathering and reporting
• Workers at Independent System Operators and Regional Transmission Organizations, and Network Operations staff, engineers and/or technicians to manage the network or operate facilities.
• Workers who support command centers, including, but not limited to Network Operations Command Center, Broadcast Operations Control Center and Security Operations Command Center
• Data center operators, including system administrators, HVAC & electrical engineers, security personnel, IT managers, data transfer solutions engineers, software and hardware engineers, and database administrators.
• Customer service and support staff.

There are more sectors including County government workers, critical manufacturing and hazardous materials. For any lingering questions, see the Governor’s Essential Critical Workers listing.

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Interesting that although my manager at my company thought we might be considered essentral workers, we did not show up in their list of the hospital people. But these folk are probably not thinking about us just yet, and this is just one state.

He actually did recommend us to take our hospital badges with us if we go away during the furlough, because we might be able to use them to prove we're essential workers and get back into the state.

Doc Niman coming up next on Rense for nightly update. That Blue Island presser sending police dept home sick really hit home. Everybody is just doing an outstanding job of sharing news here as its just too much for tv news channels to keep up.

• 7 patients have died: Who are the victims?
• At least 630 patients have tested positive for the coronavirus in Wisconsin since the outbreak began.
  • 333 patients in Milwaukee County -- Community spread identified
    • 254 patients live within the city of Milwaukee
  • 88 patients in Dane County -- Community spread identified

Analysis: How South Korea Flattened The Curve Without Shutting Down Its Economy
By James BarrettDailyWire.com
ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images

An analysis published by The New York Times this week takes a close look at South Korea’s successful efforts to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 infections without shutting down the nation’s economy and presents four key lessons from the country’s response. The study concludes by addressing the question of whether South Korea’s response is transferrable to other countries, including the U.S.

The report, written by Max Fisher and Choe Sang-Hun, begins by highlighting just how successful in comparison to other countries South Korea’s response to coronavirus has been.

“At the peak, medical workers identified 909 new cases in a single day, Feb. 29, and the country of 50 million people appeared on the verge of being overwhelmed,” the journalists write. “But less than a week later, the number of new cases halved. Within four days, it halved again — and again the next day. On Sunday, South Korea reported only 64 new cases, the fewest in nearly a month, even as infections in other countries continue to soar by the thousands daily, devastating health care systems and economies. Italy records several hundred deaths daily; South Korea has not had more than eight in a day.”

So how has South Korea pulled it off so far? It was not through draconian or economy-crushing measures implemented by the likes of China and now an increasing number of countries across the globe, including the U.S.

The answer is four key measures: 1) rapid intervention before the pandemic is a full crisis; 2) implement widespread testing; 3) contact tracing and isolation; and 4) get the public to help.

The Times piece breaks down how South Korea implemented each of these measures, the first: “Intervene Fast, Before It’s a Crisis” (formatting adjusted):

Just one week after the country’s first case was diagnosed in late January, government officials met with representatives from several medical companies. They urged the companies to begin immediately developing coronavirus test kits for mass production, promising emergency approval. Within two weeks, though South Korea’s confirmed cases remained in the double digits, thousands of test kits were shipping daily.

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Officials also imposed strategically targeted emergency measures on a particularly hard-hit city, Daegu.

Early, frequent, safe and centralized testing is another key response measure:

South Korea has tested far more people for the coronavirus than any other country, enabling it to isolate and treat many people soon after they are infected. The country has conducted over 300,000 tests, for a per-capita rate more than 40 times that of the United States.

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“Testing is central because that leads to early detection, it minimizes further spread and it quickly treats those found with the virus,” Kang Kyung-wha, South Korea’s foreign minister, told the BBC, calling the tests “the key behind our very low fatality rate as well.”

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The Times notes that South Korea opened up some 600 testing centers to minimize the burden on hospitals and clinics. Thermal image cameras were also widely used to help detect symptoms, with restaurants and other establishments often scanning customers.

A third step was tracing the contact of those who were infected and then isolating and surveilling those who were in contact with the infected persons. South Korea’s approach to this was heavily informed by the MERS outbreak, which taught the country to aggressively track contacts by “retrac[ing] patients’ movements using security camera footage, credit card records, even GPS data from their cars and cellphones.”

When the outbreak expanded too much to do this effectively, the Times explains, government officials turned to increased mass messaging via emergency alerts to residents when new cases were discovered in their districts. The government ordered self-quarantines for those who believed they might have had contact with infected individuals and fines for failure to do so were imposed.

Finally, South Korea also effectively enlisted the public’s help, the Times explains:

Leaders concluded that subduing the outbreak required keeping citizens fully informed and asking for their cooperation, said Mr. Kim, the vice health minister. Television broadcasts, subway station announcements and smartphone alerts provide endless reminders to wear face masks, pointers on social distancing and the day’s transmission data.

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The big question is how much of South Korea’s response is transferrable to other countries. For the U.S. some of the early detection and widespread testing is coming potentially too late to be as effective as South Korea’s response, a sentiment expressed by former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a ten-part Twitter thread on March 12 (below).

In an update on the testing situation on Wednesday, President Trump announced significant progress on that front. “Just reported that the United States has done far more ‘testing’ than any other nation, by far!” Trump tweeted. “In fact, over an eight day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight week span. Great job!”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1242824631230308353

Just reported that the United States has done far more “testing” than any other nation, by far! In fact, over an eight day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight week span. Great job!

163K
7:44 AM - Mar 25, 2020

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Below is Gottlieb’s outline of how America should aggressively address the pandemic (formatting adjusted):

In U.S. we face two alternative but hard outlooks with [COVID-19]: that we follow a path similar to South Korea or one closer to Italy. We probably lost chance to have an outcome like South Korea. We must do everything to avert the tragic suffering being borne by Italy.

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It starts with aggressive screening to get people diagnosed. While testing capacity expands its not evenly distributed to places most needed, we’re far behind current caseloads. To many people still can’t get screened. So we can’t identify clusters and isolate disease.

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In some respects our fate rests on the entities that are capable of sharply ramping testing and distributing the services nationally.

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Academic labs can serve their institutions. Only big national clinical labs like LabCorp and Quest can fill the void. A lot rides on them now. These are great American companies led by outstanding management teams, staffed with deeply committed, public health mind people who live in communities hurt by this virus. The national interest turns on their efforts. We must scale their ability to sharply expand screening.

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That means getting diagnostic kits approved that the companies can run on their automated platforms to dramatically scale testing. Only these big national chains have throughput, scale, and ordering systems to fill the void that was created. We look to them now. We need them.
Public health labs have been an outstanding pillar. They’re working around the clock. They’re the nation’s backbone of response. But they aren’t richly funded and are being maxed out against current facilities. Only clinical labs have ability to sharply scale the efforts.

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Business is leading the way on mitigation and social distancing, filling a void left by policy makers. But shutting down NBA games is not enough. This must be practiced in places large and small. Small gatherings, parties, all should be postponed for the next month or two.
We need to create surge capacity in hospitals. Congress must support the effort. Patients and providers can too. Elective procedures should be postponed for next few months. Hospitals should lower volumes everywhere they can. We need to prepare for an influx of cases.

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Social separation works. Every day we delay hard decisions, every day leaders don’t demand collective action, the depth of epidemic will be larger. We must act now. We have narrow window to avert a worse outcome. The virus is firmly rooted in our cities. We’re losing time.
We’ll get through this. It’ll end. We have two hard months ahead of us. We need to sacrifice some of the trappings of normal life to reduce the scope and severity of what’s ahead. We must protect the vulnerable. We must act collectively in common interest. We must work together.

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This article has been updated to include President Trump’s tweet on testing.

My brother who lives in Mexico for the winter just flew from Guadalajara into Kannapolis, NC last night. He said they don't have any virus issues where he was living along the coast. He's now staying at my older brother's house. I think he said he has to stay in self quarantine for a while. Kannapolis just issued a stay at home order for the next few weeks. I tried to tell my brother to stock up on food but he never listens. Store shelves are also bare around his area.

I found this video I thought might be helpful to some here.

Safe Grocery Shopping in COVID-19 Pandemic

rafter said:

Thought that was a normal occurrence. Head over to Gallup and it is worse.

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I go through Gallup all the time. I really wasn't trying to be a jerk. Pointing out the facts isn't racism or ignorance. White shitheads get no slack from me either. But they aren't a pertinent item until we start talking about Durango.

I will run this plague gauntlet with a smile on my face knowing that for those that get through the other side, nearly all of the politically correct deviant SJW will be greasy stains at the feet of their pet diversity. Who will no longer get to rob, rape and destroy with impunity. Then and only then, can we return this country to what it used to be.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Claim they're going shopping: Border officials allow hundreds of Mexican vehicles to cross despite Trump ban
by Anna Giaritelli

|Updated Mar 22, 2020



"Customs and Border Protection officials are defying the Trump administration’s directive to block all nonessential foreign travel into the ited States from Mexico, allowing noncitizens claiming to be on shopping trips to continue entering, according to two officials involved in the implementation of the order.

CBP employees in Arizona told the Washington Examiner Saturday they were instructed Friday night at the start of the executive order and again this morning not to turn around noncitizens who said they were coming in to shop, visit family, or for medical appointments. By Saturday morning, “hundreds” of vehicles that should have been blocked at the port of entry had been allowed through, two officials said.

“We're letting them through. And that's pretty much the gist of it,” one official said. “Nobody's enforcing it. It was put up — the president put it out. The chief patrol put it out. And we're just not doing it.”

“In plain English, it was a giant shit show," said a second official. "Nobody followed the directive, a plain and simple directive. You’re trying to keep the coronavirus from going north ... yet you just let it bleed through anyway, so you’re not doing the job you’re directed to. That’s what’s aggravating.”

CBP’s Office of Field Operations officers who inspect vehicles at the border crossings were supposed to begin at 9 p.m. PT Friday turning away all noncitizens unless they had a permit to work in the U.S., are a legal permanent resident, or are a student. However, officers were told by supervisors not to do so, according to sources.

Border Patrol agents familiar with operations at highway checkpoints located north of the ports of entry said employees at checkpoints were caught off guard late Friday when cars with Mexican license plates continued arriving since they should have been blocked at the border.
Agents continued to see vehicles with plates from the Mexican state of Sonora, which runs up along the entirety of Arizona.

“I’m asking in Spanish and English, whatever they can understand, ‘Where are you guys going?’ And it was either they’re going shopping at Walmart, or they’re going to visit family, which is not essential," said a Border Patrol agent. This source added that he was confused about why people who had passed Walmart after crossing the border were driving further north instead of returning to Mexico. Others who passed through overnight claimed to have doctor's appointments.
Agents said Border Patrol managers ordered them against turning around any cars. In more than 10 hours, not a single vehicle was turned around out of hundreds that passed through and did not meet U.S. standards for admission.

“The customs agents told us their supervisors told them to continue to let them go north because they don't want the Mexican citizens to get mad at them,” an agent said.
“Another customs guy, he said flat out, ‘There was an issue between the first-line supers and second-line,’” the agent said, referring to senior supervisors and junior supervisors. “Basically, second-line didn’t want to make the public angry. That’s pretty much your job at the port — to make people angry.”

CBP referred the Washington Examiner to its Federal Register notice, which defines essential travelers as including those “individuals traveling for medical purposes (e.g., to receive medical treatment in the United States)." It describes “individuals traveling for tourism purposes (e.g., sightseeing, recreation, gambling, or attending cultural events)” as engaging in nonessential travel.
As of Saturday morning, port of entry officers were still sending through noncitizens entering for nonessential travel, the officials said.

UPDATE: Saturday night, after publication of this story, sources used for this article said agents in the areas they were aware of had started turning away Mexicans claiming they wanted to enter to shop or for tourism."

Krayola said:

I think most reasonable people would understand doctors wanting to reserve some of this (reportedly) life-saving medicine for the medical folks on the front lines. One reason this has such bad optics is that the doctors are also writing prescriptions for other folks (not patients) that are not in the medical field/working on the front lines and who are currently not sick.

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Oooookay, but isn't it clear that by the time symptoms appear, a victim may also have been spreading for a while?

Best way to keep first responders/warriors in the field is to assure them that their families are safe.

Is this better or worse than some Governors deciding they know best, better than Doctors as to who should receive which meds?

Instead of focusing on this, why don't we give some thought to the Companies which are foregoing their normal lines of business to produce much needed PPE, Ventilators, and hopefully, medications?

If we feel like bitchin' about something, how about bitchin' at the CDC for screwing up so badly, or the FDA to Giddiup! and clear the way for meds to be approved for treatment, and work with Pharmaceutical companies to coordinate and produce the necessary meds?

Of course, this is TB, we've always got plenty of bitchin' to go around, I guess.



Anyway, best to you all, and I hope that this bug passes over each of your houses, and you and yours are safe.

NCGirl said:

Via PM yes...

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thanks,
HD

Matt said:

I go through Gallup all the time. I really wasn't trying to be a jerk. Pointing out the facts isn't racism or ignorance. White shitheads get no slack from me either. But they aren't a pertinent item until we start talking about Durango.

I will run this plague gauntlet with a smile on my face knowing that for those that get through the other side, nearly all of the politically correct deviant SJW will be greasy stains at the feet of their pet diversity. Who will no longer get to rob, rape and destroy with impunity. Then and only then, can we return this country to what it used to be.

Click to expand...

Really, never saw the problem in Durango and knew a lot of kids that went to the college since they go for free. I'm not being a smart ass either, I have many Navajo friends and have worked with many. Actually I envy them for the fact they know their heritage and as being white...I don't.

hummer said:

Update on my grt grandson Carter. His fever is finally gone...cough still remains. He will be seen by Dr. tomorrow. Thank you all for caring.

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This is great news. Thanks for sharing it, we can all use good news right about now!
HD

rafter said:

Actually I envy them for the fact they know their heritage and as being white...I don't.

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I know my heritage, but since it involves lutefisk I #walkedaway.

bw said:

I know my heritage, but since it involves lutefisk I #walkedaway.

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Pickled herring is pretty good.
Maybe substitute?

LA County Sheriff’s Effort to Close Gun Stores Gets Shut Down
Josh Lefkowitz/Getty ImagesAWR HAWKINS25 Mar 2020237

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s efforts to close all gun stores in the county have been suspended pending Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) reconsideration of what constitutes an “essential business.”

On March 24, 2020, Fox 11 reported Villanueva’s order to close gun stores.

The sheriff attempted to justify the store closures by intimating that all the first-time gun buyers emerging amid the coronavirus crisis create a perilous situation: “I’m a supporter of the 2nd amendment, I’m a gun owner myself, but now you have the mixture of people that are not formerly gun owners and you have a lot more people at home and anytime you introduce a firearm in a home, from what I understand from CDC studies, it increases fourfold the chance that someone is gonna get shot.”

On March 25, 2020, the Los Angles Times reported that Villanueva’s effort to close gun stores was halted by news that Newsom would be rethinking whether such stores fell under the “essential business” protections.

Alex Villanueva

✔@LACoSheriff
https://twitter.com/LACoSheriff/status/1242750540158603265

LA County Sheriff’s Dept. Enforcement efforts to close non-essential businesses have been suspended. CA Gov. Gavin Newsom to determine what qualifies as a non-essential business. Please click to view story https://www.facebook.com/225060950854159/posts/3439146156112273/?vh=e&d=n …
Facebook Watch ‎@FacebookWatch



68
2:49 AM - Mar 25, 2020

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Breitbart News reported on Villanueva’s gun store closure order, pointing to the Fox 11 report showing that the sheriff’s effort coincided with his release of 1,700 inmates.

Esto Perpetua said:

They're gonna cheat like a soap opera villain!

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Yeah, wouldn’t want to be a Republican in any part of that leftist dystopia.

marsh said:

Louisiana Church Continues Large Services Despite COVID-19 Safety Orders From Governor | The Daily Wire

www.dailywire.com

Louisiana Church Continues Large Services Despite COVID-19 Safety Orders From Governor
By Frank CampDailyWire.com

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

On Sunday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards issued a “Stay at Home” order prohibiting gatherings of more than ten people in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.

This order comes on the heels of two previous orders – one from March 13 that limited gatherings to 250 people or fewer, and one from March 16 that limited gatherings to 50 people or fewer.

Despite the orders from the governor, a church in Louisiana has continued to hold large services. On March 17, Life Tabernacle Church in Central, Louisiana, gathered for worship with more than 300 in attendance, according to Pastor Tony Spell.

Video footage of the Tuesday service posted on Facebook shows dozens of parishioners gathering near the stage, hugging and laying hands on each other. None appear to be wearing face masks or gloves.

During the service, Spell had ushers pass out “anointed clothes” to those in attendance, which he said would bring “healing virtue” and “the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost” with them.

A video posted to Facebook on March 17 shows Spell exiting the church and speaking briefly with a police officer outside. Although the audio of the exchange is too poor to understand, Spell spoke directly to the camera immediately after.

Spell told the cameraman:

Spell was asked by the man running the camera if he could be arrested. The pastor replied that he didn’t know, but added, “We’re taking persecution from friends, family, threat of lawsuits, threat of jail – nothing is gonna deter us from our religious conviction of worshipping and assembling and gathering.”

Despite what Spell claims the police officer told him, according to NBC affiliate WAFB, Louisiana National Guard Colonel Ed Bush said that the organization wouldn’t be enforcing gathering prohibitions. “The National Guard has not been tasked with enforcing any of the curfew, social distancing or meeting requirements as set by the governor,” Bush stated.

Additionally, Central Police Department Chief Roger Corcoran told CNN: “That was never told to the pastor by my officer.”

In a YouTube message on Thursday, Spell spoke about the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the book of Daniel, then stated that the church wouldn’t be “in defiance of any codes, of any government mandates.”

Spell added that the buses bringing people to services would have no more than 50 people, and that the busses would be disinfected.

On Sunday, Life Tabernacle Church held services outside under tents. In a video posted to Facebook, a large number of parishioners can be seen worshiping, with only a few wearing basic surgical masks. Proper social distancing was not occurring.

Spell said COVID-19 doesn’t “concern” him, according to WAFB. “The virus, we believe, is politically motivated. We hold our religious rights dear and we are going to assemble no matter what someone says,” Spell reportedly stated.
WAFB notes that “East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore says those violating the governor’s proclamation could face prosecution as a last resort.”

In response to the continuation of the church’s large services, a petition has been launched to have Spell prosecuted for “reckless endangerment.” More than 6,000 people have signed.

As of Saturday, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has seen 75 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and three deaths, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) Global Cases map. The virus has infected more than 66,000 Americans, leading to 947 deaths.

The Daily Wire reached out to Central Police and Pastor Tony Spell for comment, but as of publication, we have not received a reply from either.
Governor Edwards’ March 22 order reads in part:



Governor Edwards’ previously issued order prohibiting public gatherings of more than 250 people included worship services.

When asked about the limit during a press conference, Edwards said: “This prohibition does apply to churches and houses of worship with congregations that exceed 250 in a single service. However, churches and places of worship can engage in multiple services and bring the number of people in them below 250.”
The governor explained his decision to include churches in the prohibition:

On March 16, when Governor Edwards announced further limitations on public gatherings to fewer than 50 people, he stated in part: “These limitations were difficult to make, but they are necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, protect the health of Louisianans, and flatten the curve.”

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Ya gotta get them to church or the offering plate is empty

Marsha Blackburn: End the Control the ‘Madmen in Beijing’ Have over America’s Drug Industry

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called on the United States to rebuild its domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in order to end China’s monopoly on the drugs Americans rely on.

“I encourage my colleagues to support the bipartisan Securing America’s Medicine Cabinet Act,” Blackburn said in a floor speech on Wednesday, as the Senate discussed the coronavirus relief bill.

Blackburn opened her remarks by acknowledging the “gross malfeasance” of China’s communist regime in handling the coronavirus pandemic.

“After we acknowledge Beijing’s gross malfeasance,” Blackburn said, “we’re going to adjust the way we think about China in the context of the economy, of our national defense, technology, human rights, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
She continued:

When you think about it, the fact that Beijing intentionally downplayed the deadly nature of COVID-19 should come as no surprise. For decades … it has been their business to search out our vulnerabilities, exploit those vulnerabilities, and what did they try to do? They tried to use that as leverage against us. So it is time for us to say, “No more.”
Now, here is another component. I’ve talked about in this week on the floor: our pharmaceutical supply chain.

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On February 22, 2020, the F.D.A. announced the shortage of a drug used to treat victims of COVID-19. Imagine that, there was a drug shortage. They attributed the shortage of getting the active ingredient in this pharmaceutical. They are called APIs. They couldn’t get it from the site in China which is the site that manufactured it because that site had been affected by COVID-19. So here we are. We need this component to go into a pharmaceutical. We didn’t get it because the factory that produces this has been affected by COVID-19. And it’s not the first time that this has happened.

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In 2016, we saw a shortage of an important antibiotic when the sole source of its production — the only place on the globe that produced this antibiotic — was in China, and that factory was shut down, couldn’t get it. Our vulnerability is not limited to one drug or even just a handful of drugs.

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In 2007 and 2008, 246 people died after taking a contaminated blood thinner that came directly from a factory in China. They died — 246 people — just like that. Routine inspections didn’t catch the contaminant, and the drugs flowed right into our medicine cabinets.

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[In] 2010, regulators also found serious problems with batches of thyroid medication, muscle relaxers, antibiotics, and this week I got an e-mail from a Tennessean. He said, “I saw what you said on the floor, and I want to let you know I take a heart medication, and it was just recalled because it contained a carcinogen and it was made in China.”

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Think about this. These are the pharmaceuticals we take to return ourselves to health and wellness, to manage chronic conditions. And here we have example after example of things that are contaminated, are not what they are intended to be. These are basic, common medications.

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In 2018, the F.D.A. recalled several blood pressure medications made in China that were contaminated with cancer-causing toxins. Now, I would imagine there are a few people that come to work every day in this building that take a blood pressure medication. What if you had been taking one for a period of time, and it contained the cancer-causing toxins?

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Americans deserve better than this from their pharmaceutical supply chain. If we allow this to continue, we are going to do so at our own peril.

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I encourage my colleagues to support the bipartisan Securing America’s Medicine Cabinet Act. Sen. Menendez has worked on this legislation with me, and I’m grateful to him for his support. Mr. President, you are working on legislation that would address some of these issues. Bring this pharmaceutical manufacturing back into the United States of America.

Click to expand...

We need to end Chinese control over our health and wellness in this pharmaceutical supply chain. This may seem like something that is too large or too risky an undertaking, but we have already paid dearly for our reliance on Chinese drug manufacturers, and it’s not going to stop because that vulnerability is leverage in the hands of madmen in Beijing who seek nothing but power and will go to any lengths to acquire that power. They don’t care who they hurt. It’s clear with this global pandemic. They don’t care if it is innocent people that are sick or maybe even that lose their life. And they defy us, they defy us when we try to stop them.

Click to expand...

It’s time that we rise to the challenge and that we return this supply chain.

Click to expand...

As Breitbart News reported in February, the coronavirus pandemic has brought increased attention to the United States’ dangerous dependence on China for pharmaceutical and medical supplies, including an estimated 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients needed to produce drugs in the United States.
The 2019 report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission notes that China is “the world’s largest producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The United States is heavily dependent on drugs that are either sourced from China or include APIs sourced from China.” The report further explains that although India is the world’s leading supplier of generic drugs, India gets 80 percent of its active pharmaceutical ingredients directly from China. The United States also imports 80 percent of its APIs from overseas (primarily from India and China) and “a substantial portion” of its generic drugs “either directly from China or from third countries like India that use APIs sourced from China.”

In other words, almost all pharmaceutical roads lead to China.

Furthermore, the report notes that China’s dominance of the chemical industry and global manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients means that “the world is becoming increasingly dependent on China as the single source for life-saving drugs.”

China achieved this dominance in the pharmaceutical industry by the same methods it employed to dominate the steel industry – through anti-competitive trade practices that dumped cheap state-subsidized products on foreign markets to drive competitors out of business.

Pharmaceutical industry expert Rosemary Gibson, the author of China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine, told Breitbart News that the only way to end China’s “global chokehold” on the world’s pharmaceutical supply chains is to actively invest in our own domestic manufacturing through an industrial policy.

“I would have our federal government invest in helping to rebuild our industrial base using advanced manufacturing technology that can produce our medicines much more cheaply, safely, with less environmental footprint, and fully, from soup to nuts from those core raw materials to finished drug in one location all here in the United States,” Gibson said.

Gibson added, “There will be opponents who say, ‘No, we should let the market do it.’ The market will never do this. They’ll never make this investment. So we have to decide as a country, do we want to have some degree of self-sufficiency in our ability to make medicine? Do we want our military not to be dependent on China for pharmaceuticals to treat chemical and biological agents?”

“Some are saying, ‘Let the free market fix it,’” Gibson said. “There is no free market. We wouldn’t allow this for our nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers to operate, because we’d be making them in China. We need to think of our medicines as a strategic asset, not as something cheap that we outsource to a country that has a lot of problems.”

Gibson noted that the ordinary principles of the free market do not apply when dealing with China because the communist regime subsidizes its industries.

“It’s not a free market,” Gibson said. “They cheated [with] subsidies to these Chinese companies, so it’s very hard for any U.S. or western company to compete, because you’re competing not with Chinese companies; you’re competing with the Chinese government.”

Hospitals across U.S. consider universal do-not-resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients

• Author: Ariana Eunjung Cha, The Washington Post
  

A nurse holds swabs and test tube to test people for COVID-19 at a drive through station set up in the parking lot of the Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., Monday, March 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic are engaged in a heated private debate over a calculation few have encountered in their lifetimes - how to weigh the “save at all costs” approach to resuscitating a dying patient against the real danger of exposing doctors and nurses to the contagion of coronavirus.

The conversations are driven by the realization that the risk to staff amid dwindling stores of protective equipment - such as masks, gowns and gloves - may be too great to justify the conventional response when a patient "codes," and their heart or breathing stops.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago has been discussing a universal do-not-resuscitate policy for infected patients, regardless of the wishes of the patient or their family members - a wrenching decision to prioritize the lives of the many over the one.

Richard Wunderink, one of Northwestern's intensive-care medical directors, said hospital administrators have asked Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for help in clarifying state law and whether it permits the policy shift.

"It's a major concern for everyone," he said. "This is something about which we have had lots of communication with families, and I think they are very aware of the grave circumstances."

Officials at George Washington University Hospital in Washington say they have had similar conversations, but for now will continue to resuscitate covid-19 patients using modified procedures, such as putting plastic sheeting over the patient to create a barrier. The University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, one of the country's major hot spots for infections, is dealing with the problem by severely limiting the number of responders to a contagious patient in cardiac or respiratory arrest.

Several large hospital systems - Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Geisinger in Pennsylvania and regional Kaiser Permanente networks - are looking at guidelines that would allow doctors to override the wishes of the coronavirus patient or family members on a case-by-case basis due to the risk to doctors and nurses, or a shortage of protective equipment, say ethicists and doctors involved in those conversations. But they would stop short of imposing a do-not-resuscitate order on every coronavirus patient. The companies declined to comment.

Lewis Kaplan, president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and a University of Pennsylvania surgeon, described how colleagues at different institutions are sharing draft policies to address their changed reality.

"We are now on crisis footing," he said. "What you take as first-come, first-served, no-holds-barred, everything-that-is-available-should-be-applied medicine is not where we are. We are now facing some difficult choices in how we apply medical resources - including staff."

The new protocols are part of a larger rationing of lifesaving procedures and equipment - including ventilators - that is quickly become a reality here as in other parts of the world battling the virus. The concerns are not just about health-care workers getting sick but also about them potentially carrying the virus to other patients in the hospital.

Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin-Madison bioethicist, said that while the idea of withholding treatments may be unsettling, especially in a country as wealthy as ours, it is pragmatic. "It doesn't help anybody if our doctors and nurses are felled by this virus and not able to care for us," she said. "The code process is one that puts them at an enhanced risk."

Wunderink said all of the most critically ill patients in the 12 days since they had their first coronavirus case have experienced steady declines rather than a sudden crash. That allowed medical staff to talk with families about the risk to workers and how having to put on protective gear delays a response and decreases the chance of saving someone's life.

A consequence of those conversations, he said, is that many family members are making the difficult choice to sign do-not-resuscitate orders.

- - -
Health-care providers are bound by oath - and in some states, by law - to do everything they can within the bounds of modern technology to save a patient's life, absent an order, such as a DNR, to do otherwise. But as cases mount amid a national shortage of personal protective equipment, or PPE, hospitals are beginning to implement emergency measures that will either minimize, modify or completely stop the use of certain procedures on patients with covid-19.

Some of the most anxiety-provoking minutes in a health-care worker's day involve participating in procedures that send virus-laced droplets from a patient's airways all over the room.

These include endoscopies, bronchoscopes and other procedures in which tubes or cameras are sent down the throat and are routine in ICUs to look for bleeds or examine the inside of the lungs.

Changing or eliminating those protocols is likely to decrease some patients' chances for survival. But hospital administrators and doctors say the measures are necessary to save the most lives.

The most extreme of these situations is when a patient, in hospital lingo, "codes."

When a code blue alarm is activated, it signals that a patient has gone into cardiopulmonary arrest and typically all available personnel - usually somewhere around eight but sometimes as many as 30 people - rush into the room to begin live-saving procedures without which the person would almost certainly perish.

"It's extremely dangerous in terms of infection risk because it involves multiple bodily fluids," explained one ICU physician in the Midwest, who did not want her name used because she was not authorized to speak by her hospital.
Fred Wyese, an ICU nurse in Muskegon, Michigan, describes it like a storm:

A team of nurses and doctors, trading off every two minutes, begin the chest compressions that are part of cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR. Someone punctures the neck and arms to access blood vessels to put in new intravenous lines. Someone else grabs a "crash cart" stocked with a variety of lifesaving medications and equipment ranging from epinephrine injectors to a defibrillator to restart the heart.

As soon as possible, a breathing tube will be placed down the throat and the person will be hooked up to a mechanical ventilator. Even in the best of times, a patient who is coding presents an ethical maze; there's often no clear cut answer for when there's still hope and when it's too late.

In the process, heaps of protective equipment are used - often many dozens of gloves, gowns, masks, and more.

Bruno Petinaux, chief medical officer at George Washington University Hospital, said the hospital has had a lot of discussion about how - and whether - to resuscitate covid-19 patients who are coding.

"From a safety perspective you can make the argument that the safest thing is to do nothing," he said. "I don't believe that is necessarily the right approach. So we have decided not to go in that direction. What we are doing is what can be done safely."

However, he said, the decision comes down to a hospital's resources and "every hospital has to assess and evaluate for themselves." It's still early in the outbreak in the Washington, D.C. area, and GW still has sufficient equipment and manpower. Petinaux said he cannot rule out a change in protocol if things get worse.

GW's procedure for responding to coronavirus patients who are coding includes using a machine called a Lucas device, which looks like a bumper, to deliver chest compressions. But the hospital has only two. If the Lucas devices are not readily accessible, doctors and nurses have been told to drape plastic sheeting - the 7-millimeter kind available at Home Depot or Lowe's - over the patient's body to minimize the spread of droplets and then proceed with chest compressions. Because the patient would presumably be on a ventilator, there is no risk of suffocation.

In Washington state which had the nation's first covid-19 cases, UW Medicine's chief medical officer, Tim Dellit, said the decision to send in fewer doctors and nurses to help a coding patient is about "minimizing use of PPE as we go into the surge." He said the hospital is monitoring health-care workers' health closely. So far, the percentage of infections among those tested is less than in the general population, which, he hopes, means their precautions are working.


A woman exits a COVID-19 testing site while hundreds wait in line at Elmhurst Hospital Center, Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo sounded his most dire warning yet about the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, saying the infection rate in New York is accelerating and the state could be as close as two weeks away from a crisis that sees 40,000 people in intensive care. Such a surge would overwhelm hospitals, which now have just 3,000 intensive care unit beds statewide. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
- - -
Bioethicist Scott Halpern at the University of Pennsylvania is the author of one widely circulated model guideline being considered by many hospitals. In an interview, he said a blanket stop to resuscitations for infected patients is too "draconian" and may end up sacrificing a young person who is otherwise in good health. However, health-care workers and limited protective equipment cannot be ignored.

"If we risk their well-being in service of one patient, we detract from the care of future patients, which is unfair," he said.

Halpern's document calls for two physicians, the one directly taking care of a patient and one who is not, to sign off on do-not-resuscitate orders. They must document the reason for the decision, and the family must be informed but does not have to agree.

Wyese, the Michigan ICU nurse, said his own hospital has been thinking about these issues for years but still is unprepared.

"They made us do all kinds of mandatory education and fittings and made it sound like they are prepared," he said. "But when it hits the fan, they don't have the supplies so the plans they had in place aren't working."

Over the weekend, Wyese said, a suspected covid-19 patient was rushed in and put into a negative pressure room to prevent the virus spread. In normal times, a nurse in full hazmat-type gear would sit with the patient to care for him, but there was little equipment to spare. So Wyese had to monitor him from the outside. Before he walked inside, he said, he would have to put on a face shield, N95 mask, and other equipment and slather antibacterial foam on his bald head as the hospital did not have any more head coverings. Only one powered air-purifying respirator or PAPR was available for the room and others nearby that could be used when performing an invasive procedure - but it was 150 feet away.

While he said his hospital's policy still called for a full response to patients whose heart or breathing stopped, he worried any efforts would be challenging, if not futile.

"By the time you get all gowned up and double-gloved the patient is going to be dead," he said. "We are going to be coding dead people. It is a nightmare."
- - -
The Washington Post’s Ben Guarino in New York and Desmond Butler contributed to this report.

Protesters in Mexico block lanes at Arizona border crossing to demand stricter coronavirus screenings
Rafael Carranza
Arizona Republic



TUCSON, Ariz. — Protesters on the Mexican side of the border blocked the Mexico-bound lanes in the twin border cities of Ambos Nogales for several hours Wednesday to express their displeasure with the Mexican government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The protesters demanded greater controls and screenings on southbound traffic at the U.S.-Mexico border out of concern that travelers from the U.S. could import new cases of the coronavirus into Mexico.

Less than a dozen people wearing face masks and carrying signs used two of their vehicles for a blockade of the two southbound lanes at the DeConcini crossing, several hundred feet into the Mexican side of the border, video taken by Mexican media showed.

Some of the signs asked U.S. residents to "stay at home." Others called on Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to step up controls and restrictions along the U.S.-Mexico border to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The number of confirmed cases in the U.S., the third highest in the world, is significantly higher than Mexico, a situation that is also true along the states on both sides of the border.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Arizona's Department of Health Services has confirmed more than 400 cases, including at least six deaths resulting from the coronavirus. All four Arizona border counties confirmed additional cases Wednesday, including Santa Cruz County, which includes Nogales.

Sonora, Arizona's neighbor to the south, has confirmed a total of four cases of COVID-19 statewide, according to state health officials. None of those cases are from Sonora's border communities.

Blockade is 'first warning' for Mexico president

Jose Luis Hernandez, with the group called Sonorenses por la Salud y la Vida (Sonorans for Health and Life), explained the reason for Wednesday’s blockade. He called it the “first warning” for López Obrador.

“There are no health screenings by the federal government to deal with this pandemic,” he said. “That’s why we’re here in Nogales. We’ve taken this action to call on the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to act now.”

The group presented a set of demands, warning that they would take similar action again if the Mexican government fails to act. Their demands mirror a set of restrictions that the U.S. government began enforcing at the border over the weekend.

The demands call for a temporary ban on visits for tourism and minor medical procedures in Mexico for both U.S. citizens as well as Mexicans living in the U.S. The group is asking for Mexican health officials to step up screenings of everybody crossing the border for symptoms of COVID-19.

The protesters emphasized the risk to border communities if health officials don't properly screen all migrants that U.S. border officials are deporting or sending back into Mexico.

Hernandez said the restrictions shouldn’t impact trade and commerce, including the region’s profitable winter produce industry and the manufacturing plants that employ thousands in Mexico.

"This is for your health. This is for your family," Hernandez said. "Or what do you want to happen? That this becomes worse given the irresponsibility of the Mexican government? Of course not. That’s why were here."
Last week, the U.S. and Mexico governments agreed to restrict travel along the border, limiting it to "essential" reasons, such as medical emergencies, school or work.

However, few controls are in place at the border crossings on the Mexican side of the border to enforce those restrictions.

State health officials in Sonora separately deployed its staff to border crossings last week, including at the DeConcini crossing. But they were mostly stationed at the pedestrian crossings.

Few cars were able to maneuver around the blockade, forcing a bottleneck in southbound traffic in downtown Nogales, Arizona.

Officers with the Nogales Police Department in Arizona began redirecting Mexico-bound traffic at Crawford Street, several hundred yards north of the entrance to the DeConcini port of entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Nogales said the traffic at the DeConcini crossing had reopened at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Nogales, Arizona, issued a statement Wednesday acknowledging the blockade on the Mexican side of the border and warning of potentially negative impacts on the city if it continued.

"Nogales Police anticipates demonstrations may continue tomorrow. The closure of any Port of Entry will negatively impact commerce and the way of life in Nogales," the city's statement said.

López Obrador widely criticized

López Obrador has been widely criticized in Mexico for his tepid response to the coronavirus pandemic. He has continued to hold mass rallies around the country, where he shakes hands with supporters and kisses babies.

Last week, during one of his morning news conferences, he said that "honesty" was the best protection against the virus, and then proceeded to pull out two religious icons from his wallet.

"These are my bodyguards," López Obrador told reporters.

On Sunday, he once again drew widespread condemnation throughout the country when he said that Mexican culture made them "very resistant to all calamities."

López Obrador also urged Mexicans to continue going out for dinner with their families to support the economy, defying the advice from medical professionals in Mexico and around the globe who have instead called on people to stay home as a best practice to avoid the spread of the COVID-19.

"We are still in the first phase," López Obrador said. "I will tell you when not to go out anymore.

This week, as Mexico entered the second phase of community transmission, federal health officials in Mexico City finally called for stricter measures in Mexico, such as limiting large gatherings.

Several Mexican states, including Sonora, introduced these types measures days or weeks ago.

On March 16, Sonora Gov. Claudia Pavlovich implemented a series of restrictions after the state confirmed its first case, an elderly man who had traveled in the days prior to the United States.

Sonora banned gatherings larger than 10 people, and called for the closures of all schools and non-essential businesses such as gyms, bars and movie theaters.

From my friend the Congressman:

The US Senate passes the virus disaster bill a bit ago, 96-0. On to the House, for some level of debate and vote maybe Friday or more likely Saturday.

Some great news.

There is a new baby girl in the family. Born at 11:26 this morning. Mother and baby are doing fine even after 36 hours of labor. Mom is in her thirties and her first baby.

Dad (DS) survived. Dad is in his forties.

They married last spring. Baby making didn't take long. They live in the north Dallas Suburbs in Denton County. Son, daughter in law and I are carefully watching the spread of the virus to determine when necessary for the three of them to come to SE Okieland. Dallas County and Denton County have issued isolation orders.

We now have three grandchildren. Grandson turning 21 in June, granddaughter 14 years old and a new born granddaughter. Life is wonderful and continues.

Just how many more babies will be born December thru February?

Life does go on even during this crisis.

Prayed for a safe and healthy mom and baby and was my prayers were answered.

God does hear our prayers.

God is fantastic.

Texican....

Rio's Favela Gangs Impose Strict Curfews To Fight Spread Of "Disease Of The Rich"

Wed, 03/25/2020 - 23:30

Brazilian newspaper Extra says gangsters and militias in Cidade de Deus, Brazil, have deployed vehicles with massive loudspeakers blaring prerecorded messages to inform residents in the slums that they must shelter in place amid the COVID-19 outbreak, reported Reuters.

"We're imposing a curfew because nobody is taking this seriously," the message said, according to Extra.

Click to expand...

"Whoever is in the street screwing around or going for a walk will receive a corrective and serve as an example. Better to stay home doing nothing. The message has been given."

Click to expand...

Cidade de Deus is a West Zone neighborhood of the Rio de Janeiro city, known for lawless favelas.



Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticized for his slow response to the outbreak, as more than 2,274 confirmed cases and 47 deaths had been reported in the South American country.

There was speculation earlier this month that Bolsonaro tested positive for the virus, though, later reports revealed that was false.

JUST IN: Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has tested negative for coronavirus, according to a post on his Facebook page pic.twitter.com/xOP7zo61S9
— QuickTake by Bloomberg (@QuickTake) March 13, 2020

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Reuters notes, while Extra is a "well-sourced Rio newspaper," they could not verify the recorded message that was played to residents.

Criminal gangs and militias often act as de facto authorities in favelas, one where the government has very little oversight. Favela residents have called COVID-19: "the disease of the rich," due mostly because wealthier Brazilians returning from Europe brought the virus over.

Manda quem pode, obedece quem tem juízo.

QUARENTENA na Cidade de Deus após às 20:00hrs. pic.twitter.com/TH5oJCRjCM
— ÁKA TRANSGRESSORES - DOIDEIR@ (@Aka_da_tijuca) March 24, 2020

Click to expand...

Since the government has been unprepared to fight the virus in the country, but more importantly favelas like Cidade de Deus, it has been up to gangs and militia to make sure residents obey social distancing rules. Another issue, and one that gangs cannot solve, is the access to healthcare, the area does not have a modern hospital system.

Across all of Brazil, 40 million people lack clean water. At the same time, 100 million, or about half the population, don't have access to public sewage, increasing fears that the lack of basic sanitation and weak immune systems could lead to a significant outbreak.

"Basic sanitation is terrible," said Jefferson Maia, a 27-year-old resident of Cidade de Deus. "Sometimes, we don't even have water to wash our hands properly. We are very concerned with the coronavirus issue."

RIO - Coronavírus “sobe morro”:

Cidade de Deus tem 1° caso de COVID-19 / Gazeta do Brasil

pic.twitter.com/xPBWMhEDok
— Nelson Carvalheira (@N_Carvalheira) March 22, 2020

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Thamiris Deveza, a family doctor, working in Rio's Alemao complex of slums, told Reuters that the fast-spreading virus could wreak havoc in favelas.

Bolsonaro has followed President Trump's playbook in attempting to keep the economy open and restore normal life as quickly as possible.

Bolsonaro has defied advice from the medical community to implement a nationwide lockdown, has also lashed out at local governors who have closed their economies to slowdown infections.

On Tuesday, Rio's Governor Wilson Witzel reduced public transportation while shuttering local shops and even closed the beach.

Witzel recently warned that Rio's public health system was at risk of "collapse."
Edmilson Migowski, a virologist at Rio's Federal University, said favelas across the country could be the epicenter of the virus outbreak.

Texican said:

Some great news.

There is a new baby girl in the family. Born at 11:26 this morning. Mother and baby are doing fine even after 36 hours of labor. Mom is in her thirties and her first baby.

Dad (DS) survived. Dad is in his forties.

They married last spring. Baby making didn't take long. They live in the north Dallas Suburbs in Denton County. Son, daughter in law and I are carefully watching the spread of the virus to determine when necessary for the three of them to come to SE Okieland. Dallas County and Denton County have issued isolation orders.

We now have three grandchildren. Grandson turning 21 in June, granddaughter 14 years old and a new born granddaughter. Life is wonderful and continues.

Just how many more babies will be born December thru February?

Life does go on even during this crisis.

Prayed for a safe and healthy mom and baby and was my prayers were answered.

God does hear our prayers.

God is fantastic.

Texican....

Click to expand...

Congratulations grandpa!

NBC News Health - March 25, 2020
In California, protective equipment shortage pushes nurses to consider drastic action
"We are really afraid now — there are nurses writing their wills," said an Oakland nurse.
View: https://twitter.com/NBCNewsHealth/status/1242975073964785673

New emergency alert in DC:
View: https://twitter.com/frankthorp/status/1242968241414127616

The US reported 233 coronavirus deaths today, making it the deadliest day so far

From CNN’s Dave Alsup and Joe Sutton

The United States has now reported at least 65,273 cases of the novel coronavirus and 938 deaths, according to CNN's tally.

The national total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as all repatriated cases from overseas.

Today was the deadliest day of the pandemic in the US so far -- there were at least 233 new deaths reported Wednesday nationwide.


===
.

marsh said:

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Cidade de Deus is a West Zone neighborhood of the Rio de Janeiro city, known for lawless favelas.

Click to expand...

They've got a "no-no square." Maybe we all need a "no-no square." Wonder if I could get Gov. Sisolak to declare Las Vegas a 'no-no square." Bet he'd go for it with the right pitch.

Not trying to be silly or weird, this is an honest question ...

Most of the communications (in addition to isolation and such) is focusing in on not touching your eyes (nose, mouth, etc.); So, my question(s):
1.) Are those of you who wear contacts doing anything differently?
2.) Has anyone seen any correlating stats between those sick and contact wearers?

Just popped into my head, so I thought I'd ask.

HB

Former HHS official says CDC lied to Trump admin about testing
By
M. Dowling
-
March 24, 2020

According to ABC News 30/40, former assistant secretary of Human and Health Services (HHS) Chris Meekins told James Rosen, a Sinclair investigative reporter, that the CDC lied to President Trump and HHS Secretary Alex Azar about its ability to produce a Wuhan coronavirus test.

Trump and his administration were condemned over tests for lack of availability and unreliability.

THE ALLEGATION
In making the allegation, Chris Meekins, a former assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for preparedness and response, cited private discussions he has held in recent weeks with top federal officials and physicians and scientists employed in private-sector industries that are active in the anti-coronavirus effort. Meekins described his contacts on the White House Coronavirus Task Force as “friends,” some of whom he has known for many years.

“From my conversations with members of the task force, both inside and outside the administration,” Meekins told Sinclair in an exclusive interview, “The U.S. government, from Secretary Azar to the president relied on the Centers for Disease Control to produce a test; they failed….CDC said they would handle it….What we have found out is that these leaders at the CDC lied to both the HHS secretary and, by extension, the president. And as a result, the nation got weeks behind.”

CDC has acknowledged that its initial stab at mass production of the test kits encountered “a problem,” and that federal deployment of safe testing equipment lagged as a result.

They blamed the problem on a defect in the “manufacturing of one of the reagents.”

This disaster caused the President to turn to the private sector which is now in partnership with the CDC. The President has been lifting regulations and working with the FDA to get drugs approved.

Why do we have to rely on the government for everything? It doesn’t work.
It could just be a misinterpretation. It’s hard to believe they would lie.

CDC OFFICIAL SAYS IT’S NOT TRUE

A CDC official, Dr. Robert Redfield said it was not true and Meekins is deceiving the public.

“CDC rapidly developed a diagnostic test for CDC and the nation’s public health labs,” the statement said. “Today, more than 89 public health labs in 50 states and the District of Columbia are using the COVID-19 test.

The White House declined to comment. A spokesman at HHS, asked about Meekins’s claim that Secretary Azar was deceived by CDC leadership, declined to provide any substantive response. The spokesman instead issued a statement affirming that “all of our leaders bring highly valuable experience and expertise to this effort,” and that officials at CDC and FDA are “working together to correct the issue with the diagnostic in a timely manner,” ABC News reported’

Watch, the story is backed up by Helen Chu, a Seattle Infectious Disease expert:

WATCH:

View: https://youtu.be/ZpYOPde_XkA
6:10 min

video on site 2:34 min

PanBear said:

New emergency alert in DC:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1242968241414127616

View: https://twitter.com/frankthorp/status/1242968241414127616

Click to expand...

Interesting timing, as Colorado sent out a similar alert a couple of hours ago, state-wide lockdown starting tomorrow morning at 8am, though I believe ours only extends until April 11th.

Steve308

Texican said:

Some great news.

There is a new baby girl in the family. Born at 11:26 this morning. Mother and baby are doing fine even after 36 hours of labor. Mom is in her thirties and her first baby.

Dad (DS) survived. Dad is in his forties.

They married last spring. Baby making didn't take long. They live in the north Dallas Suburbs in Denton County. Son, daughter in law and I are carefully watching the spread of the virus to determine when necessary for the three of them to come to SE Okieland. Dallas County and Denton County have issued isolation orders.

We now have three grandchildren. Grandson turning 21 in June, granddaughter 14 years old and a new born granddaughter. Life is wonderful and continues.

Just how many more babies will be born December thru February?

Life does go on even during this crisis.

Prayed for a safe and healthy mom and baby and was my prayers were answered.

God does hear our prayers.

God is fantastic.

Texican....

Click to expand...

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!