A health expert at Johns Hopkins University is warning that mask-wearing and some social distancing measures may be part of life in the United States for years to come.
Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, specializes in pandemic preparedness and has met with government officials all over the world about viral outbreaks such as the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.
Widespread vaccinations for the disease will not be available for years to come, and until then, Americans will have to adjust, Toner told <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/living-with-masks-for-years-covid-19-through-the-eyes-of-a-pandemic-expert/">CNET</a>.
“I think that mask wearing and some degree of social distancing, we will be living with &#8212; hopefully living with happily &#8212; for several years,” Toner said. “It&#8217;s actually pretty straightforward. If we cover our faces, and both you and anyone you&#8217;re interacting with are wearing a mask, the risk of transmission goes way down. Being outside, having distance between you and other people reduces the risk of transmission dramatically.”
“There are a lot of things you can do and maintain those conditions. If you spread out, if you maintain distance, if you avoid crowded places, you could go to a beach, you go to the mountains, you could go to a lake, you can do things outside without a problem,” Toner said.
States such as California, Texas, and Michigan that had begun to relax strict lockdown orders enacted after the outbreak of the coronavirus are putting some of those restrictions back in place as case numbers for those states begin to rise.
The rise in case numbers has not come with a corresponding rise in deaths, raising questions about whether rising case numbers justify a heavy-handed government response if vulnerable populations are not getting sick. In fact, deaths from the coronavirus have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/amid-percentage-of-deaths-having-declined-cdc-admits-coronavirus-on-verge-of-non-epidemic-status">fallen</a> in the U.S. for 10 consecutive weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Toner, however, says that masks will be a part of life for the foreseeable future, and for those that refuse to wear coverings, “They will get over it … It&#8217;s just a question of how many people get sick and die before they get over it.”
Toner’s comments appear to challenge the optimistic scenario pushed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and who was instrumental in shaping the United States’ response to the virus early on. Fauci has said that the U.S. could have 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of the year.
“We are going to start manufacturing doses of the vaccine way before we even know if the vaccine works,” Fauci <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fauci-u-s-on-track-to-have-close-to-100-million-doses-of-a-coronavirus-vaccine-by-december">said</a> in June. “The prediction of the statistical analysis and the projection of cases indicate that we may know whether it’s efficacious by maybe November, December … By that time, we hopefully would have close to 100 million doses.”
Later in the month, Fauci <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fauci-coronavirus-vaccine-unlikely-to-achieve-herd-immunity-because-of-anti-vaxxers">blunted</a> the news and said that although the vaccine would be ready for widespread use by the start of next year, it may not inoculate enough people to reach herd immunity in the U.S. because of “a general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling among some people in this country — an alarmingly large percentage of people, relatively speaking.”
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People walking on the beach in Miami, Florida

Health Expert: Mask Wearing, Some Social Distancing Will Continue For ‘Several Years’

Coronavirus

COVID-19

Face Mask

Health

Herd immunity. You&#8217;ve heard the term &#8212; and you&#8217;re about to hear it a lot more.
Under herd immunity, a virus begins to wane &#8212; with spread dramatically reduced &#8212; because so many people have already had it and thus built up immunity.
And several new studies show that we may be moving toward herd immunity more quickly than previous research suggests. While some of the studies use small sample sizes and the findings are not definitive &#8212; and while Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warns that even an effective coronavirus vaccine may not be enough to achieve herd immunity &#8212; the studies are at least promising.
&#8220;The prevalence of immunity to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 may be much higher than previous research suggests according to an intriguing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.29.174888">new study</a> by researchers associated with Karolinska Institute in Sweden,&#8221; <a href="https://reason.com/2020/07/01/covid-19-herd-immunity-is-much-closer-than-antibody-tests-suggest-say-2-new-studies/">Reason</a> magazine reported. &#8220;In addition, a new German <a href="https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-35331/v1">study</a> by researchers associated with the University Hospital Tübingen in Germany reports that people who have been previously infected with versions of the coronavirus that cause the common cold also have some immunity to the COVID-19 virus. If these reports stand up to further scrutiny, it would be very good news because they suggest that the pandemic could be over sooner and ultimately be less lethal than feared.&#8221;
<blockquote>In the Swedish study, researchers not only checked 200 participants for the presence of immunological proteins called antibodies produced in response to COVID-19 infections, but also for T-cells which are another virus-fighting component of the immune system. Detecting and evaluating T-cells is a bit trickier than measuring antibodies.
The Karolinska researchers, according to the accompanying <a href="https://news.ki.se/immunity-to-covid-19-is-probably-higher-than-tests-have-shown">press release</a>, &#8220;performed immunological analyses of samples from over 200 people, many of whom had mild or no symptoms of COVID-19.&#8221; The study tested COVID-19 patients, exposed asymptomatic family members, healthy blood donors who gave blood during 2020, and a 2019 donor control group.</blockquote>
“One interesting observation was that it wasn’t just individuals with verified COVID-19 who showed T-cell immunity but also many of their exposed asymptomatic family members,” Soo Aleman said in the release. “Moreover, roughly 30 per cent of the blood donors who’d given blood in May 2020 had COVID-19-specific T cells, a figure that’s much higher than previous antibody tests have shown.”
And another new model from Nottingham and Stockholm Universities suggests that such immunity might be closer than many in the mainstream media say. &#8220;According to their new mathematical model, far less people need to be infected with COVID-19 in order to reach herd immunity levels,&#8221; <a href="https://www.studyfinds.org/herd-immunity-covid-19-not-so-far-off-after-all-new-model-shows/">StudyFinds.com</a> reported.
&#8220;That model, which was specially designed just for this study, categorizes people into different groups based on age and social activity levels. Once those factors are incorporated into herd immunity projections, the percentage of a population that would have to become immune drops from 60% to 43%,&#8221; they said.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">member</a>.

2019-nCoV Negative

Herd Immunity To COVID-19 May Be Closer Than We Think, New Studies Say

Two state legislators in Michigan have introduced a resolution that would declare racism a public health crisis.
Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-lawmaker-michigan-racism-public-health-crisis">reported</a> that the state senators, Marshall Bullock (D-Detroit) and Erika Geiss (D-Taylor) requested Michigan “commit to working collaboratively with the Governor and every sector of society to develop an ongoing strategy to address, fund, and support solutions that strategically reduce the long-term impact that racism has on the quality of life and health for citizens of color.”
More from Fox:
<blockquote>Bullock said on the Senate floor that the coronavirus trends have been attributed to diabetes, high blood pressure and a lack of access to reliable health care, as well as crowded living situations.
But he said underlying health conditions in communities of color can be linked to social and economic factors like discriminatory housing and education policy.
“The only pre-existing condition that truly impacts black people and their health is racism,” Bullock said.</blockquote>
Geiss used terms from the coronavirus public health crisis when she discussed systemic racism, saying it “continues to be a pervasive sickness.”
“The primary vaccine for this public health crisis must lay in recognizing the crisis and intentionally working to destroy it,&#8221; she added.
As Fox reported, the “Senate resolution was co-sponsored by the rest of the Democrat caucus and one Republican, state Sen. Dale Zorn.” Zorn (R-Ida) <a href="https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/06/michigan-lawmakers-want-to-declare-racism-a-public-health-crisis.html">told</a> MLive in a statement that he joined the effort “because it’s the right thing to do.”
“I want to be a part of the solution going forward and I think this is one situation where I can help,” he said.
More from MLive:
<blockquote>The resolution was directed to the Senate Government Operations Committee. An identical resolution is set to be introduced in the House by Rep. Cynthia Johnson, D-Detroit, later Wednesday.
Resolutions are non-binding and do not have a direct impact on existing laws, but can be used by government bodies as a statement of priorities or to declare intentions.</blockquote>
The resolution was introduced as protests and riots spread across the country following the police-involved death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd. The officer who held his knee to Floyd’s death for nearly nine minutes, Derek Chauvin, was arrested within days of the incident, yet the protests and riots continue.
Michigan is not the first state to introduce a resolution likening racism to a disease.
“Ohio on Wednesday also <a href="https://fox8.com/news/ohio-statehouse-resolution-would-be-first-in-u-s-to-declare-racism-a-public-health-crisis/">introduced a statewide resolution</a> to declare racism a public health crisis, after cities like Cleveland and Columbus had already done so,” Fox reported. “The Indianapolis City-County Council <a href="https://fox59.com/news/proposal-would-declare-racism-a-public-health-crisis-in-marion-county/">unanimously passed</a> a proposal Monday night to declare racism a public health crisis in Marion County, Ind. Montgomery County, Md., will vote to <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/montgomery-county-introducing-resolution-to-declare-racism-a-public-health-crisis">declare racism a public health crisis</a> in the county next week.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Protests

Democrats In Michigan Introduce Resolution Declaring Racism A Public Health Crisis

Michigan

Systemic racism

Newly released emails show that Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer&#8217;s office gave the &#8220;green light&#8221; for taxpayer money to be awarded to Democrat groups as part of the state&#8217;s coronavirus tracing program.
&#8220;Whitmer’s office gave the &#8216;green light&#8217; for a COVID-19 contact tracing &#8216;arrangement&#8217; she denied knowledge of and canceled amid outcry over a contractor with Democratic ties,&#8221; Bridge Magazine, a local Michigan publication, <a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/emails-show-whitmer-team-okd-contact-tracing-firm-democratic-ties">reported</a>. &#8220;Emails obtained through a public records request appear to show Michigan officials tried to avoid controversy by shifting work to apolitical subsidiaries of firms with known partisan leanings.&#8221;
Andrea Taverna, a senior adviser in the Michigan Department of the Health and Human Services, said in an email to other Michigan government officials: “We got the green light from EOG [the executive office of the governor] to move forward with a slightly different organizational arrangement of the contact tracing volunteer work. This would still be working with Mike Kolehouse, so work there isn&#8217;t lost &#8211; it&#8217;s just organized somewhat differently &#8211; see below.”
In late April, The Washington Free Beacon <a href="https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/michigan-governor-whitmer-awards-coronavirus-contract-to-dem-consulting-firm/">reported</a> that Whitmer had given control of the state&#8217;s contact tracing program to &#8220;one of the left’s biggest technology firms&#8221; and that the move was seen as potential way of her &#8220;using the coronavirus to strengthen the Democratic Party’s data operation.&#8221;
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michigan-cancels-contract-with-two-democratic-linked-firms-that-had-been-tapped-to-track-coronavirus/2020/04/21/161a23ce-8413-11ea-ae26-989cfce1c7c7_story.html">reported</a> that the group that hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars were going to go &#8220;would be managed in coordination with EveryAction, a firm that is closely linked to NGP VAN, a technology provider that boasts that it powers &#8216;nearly every major Democratic campaign in America.'&#8221;
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel highlighted an alleged Facebook post from a Democrat operative who also revived a contract from Whitmer’s administration that stated: “I hope [Trump] gets Coronavirus ASAP. Can someone do the country a favor and cough on that man.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Kolehouse recently posted on social media that he hopes President Trump gets coronavirus.
This is who <a href="https://twitter.com/GovWhitmer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GovWhitmer</a> is giving state contracts to? <a href="https://t.co/KTjPcepuFD">pic.twitter.com/KTjPcepuFD</a>
&mdash; Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPChairwoman/status/1252716862816870400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Whitmer struggled to respond and had to resort to reading prepared notes when pressed during a news conference in April about why she awarded the contracts to partisan left-wing groups.
“When it was brought to my attention, I told them to cancel it,” Whitmer claimed. “This was an unnecessary distraction. Leadership is about solving problems. The correct process was not followed.”
Whitmer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/governor-gretchen-whitmer-grilled-over-contract-scandal-has-to-use-notes-to-answer">refused to answer</a> who was responsible for making the decision to use those companies.
Whitmer is currently facing <a href="https://www.wxyz.com/news/coronavirus/state-senator-lucido-calls-for-investigation-in-governor-whitmers-nursing-home-orders">calls</a> from Michigan state lawmakers to be investigated over her decision to send coronavirus patients to nursing homes.
The Detroit Free Press <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/05/17/nursing-home-data-needs-improvement-changes-coming/5199190002/">reported</a> that “thousands of nursing home residents across Michigan have fallen ill from the novel coronavirus and hundreds have died,” but the true extent of the devastation under Whitmer’s leadership is not known because “the state has yet to tally how many total nursing home residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the crisis began.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

New UAW President Addresses Annual UAW Convention

Emails Show Democrat Gretchen Whitmer’s Office Gave ‘Green Light’ To Give Taxpayer Money To Democrat Groups For Contact Tracing, Report Says

Gretchen Whitmer

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized on Tuesday with an infection that she reportedly sustained as the result of a gallbladder condition.
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent non-surgical treatment for acute cholecystitis, a benign gallbladder condition, this afternoon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland,” the Supreme Court said in a statement. “Following oral arguments on Monday, the Justice underwent outpatient tests at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., that confirmed she was suffering for a gallstone that had migrated to her cystic duct, blocking it and causing an infection.”
The statement continued by stating that Ginsburg would remain in the hospital for “a day or two” and that further updates “will be provided as they become available.”
Ginsburg, 87, has suffered from numerous health problems in recent years, including four bouts with cancer.
In 1999, Ginsburg was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/29/us/ginsburg-leaves-hospital-prognosis-on-cancer-is-good.html">diagnosed</a> with colon cancer and had to undergo surgery. In 2009, Ginsburg underwent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/washington/06ginsburg.html">surgery</a> for early-stage pancreatic cancer. In 2018, Ginsburg underwent surgery to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/us/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-cancer.html">remove</a> two cancerous nodules from her left lung. In 2019, underwent three weeks of radiation treatment to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/23/753699013/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-underwent-another-round-of-cancer-treatment-this-sum">treat</a> a localized cancerous tumor on her pancreas.
&#8220;Wednesday&#8217;s case &#8212; set to be argued via teleconference due to the coronavirus &#8212; has involved a lengthy battle spanning eight years with the Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious group serving the poor and elderly,&#8221; Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-hospitalized-with-infection-court-announces">reported</a>. &#8220;All justices are participating via phone, so Ginsburg should have no impediments to staying involved in the case.&#8221;
&#8220;Ginsburg has faced a slew of hurdles concerning her health, fueling speculation that her possible exit from the court could provide an opportunity for President Trump to appoint a third justice to the bench,&#8221; Fox News added. &#8220;However, she consistently has slapped down any notion that her departure from the nation&#8217;s highest court was imminent, insisting that she&#8217;d like to remain on the bench until she&#8217;s 90 years old.&#8221;
President Donald Trump has got to fill two Supreme Court seats with conservative justices during his first term in office and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has previously stated that he will fill any vacancy on the court during the 2020 election year.
If Trump gets the opportunity to fill a third vacancy of the Supreme Court during his first term in office it will likely shape the nation&#8217;s judicial system for decades to come.
The Economist <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/02/14/donald-trump-is-appointing-federal-judges-at-a-blistering-pace">reported</a>:
<blockquote>ON ALMOST ANY measure, Donald Trump ranks himself among the most successful presidents in history. In one area—making appointments to America’s federal court system—he may actually be right. In a little over three years, Mr Trump has nominated and won Senate confirmation for 192 federal judges, including 137 district-court judges, 51 appellate judges and two Supreme Court justices. No president since at least Ronald Reagan has racked up judicial appointments so quickly (the closest was Bill Clinton with 189 at this point in his presidency: see chart). By the end of the year, on current trends, a quarter of federal judges will be Mr Trump’s appointees. They may prove his most enduring legacy.</blockquote>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ‘Hospitalized With Infection,’ Supreme Court Says

Elderly patients at a Southern California nursing home have been evacuated after staff failed to show up for work for the second day in a row.
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/us/california-nursing-home-evacuated/index.html">reported</a> that patients of Magnolia Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Riverside, California, had been evacuated to other nursing facilities. The center had been hit by the coronavirus, the outlet reported, and at least 34 out of the 84 patients contracted the virus along with five staff members.
A <a href="https://www.rivcoph.org/Portals/0/Documents/CoronaVirus/4.8.20%20SNF%20Magnolia%20Rehabilitation.pdf?ver=2020-04-08-085911-707&amp;timestamp=1586361636633">news release</a> from the Riverside County Public Health Department stated that all 84 patients were being moved to other facilities and that just one certified nursing assistant showed up for work in the past two days.
“For example, one certified nursing assistant of the 13 scheduled showed up to work at the Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, which prompted Riverside University Health System and Kaiser Permanente to send a total of 33 licensed vocational nurses and registered nurses to care for the residents at the facility. Staffing demands, however, require the patients be moved today,” the department stated.
Because of the number of COVID-19-positive patients being moved, the department announced protective measures for receiving nursing facilities.
“The receiving skilled nursing facilities will undergo standard COVID-19 containment measures. This includes closing the facilities to new patients, limitations on staff to not work at other facilities, the isolation of sick patients, and close monitoring of all patients by staff. All employees use personal protective equipment,” the department said.
The department also stated that Riverside County had more than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus. Twenty-eight people have died from the virus in the county, and 67 recovered.
“Rehabilitation facilities and nursing homes present a challenge for health officials due to the age and health conditions of the residents, as well as their close proximity to each other. The county prioritizes investigations in these facilities due to the high risk of serious illness that outbreaks pose,” the department said.
The Press Democrat <a href="https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10884395-181/riverside-nursing-facility-evacuated-after">reported</a> slightly different numbers than the press release, writing that health officials told the outlet 16 staff members at Magnolia tested positive for COVID-19. The news outlet also said that Extended Care Hospital of Riverside, a nearby nursing facility, saw 28 patients and 26 staff members infected with the virus.
“It may be the first such evacuation in the state,” the outlet reported. “An outbreak at a skilled nursing facility in neighboring San Bernardino County that infected more than 50 people and killed five caused staffing shortages but residents didn’t have to move.”
More from the Press Democrat:
<blockquote>In San Francisco’s East Bay region, nearly 60 residents and staff at Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward were confirmed with the infection and six residents have died, Alameda County health officials said Wednesday.
In the Central Valley, the Redwood Springs Healthcare Center in Visalia reported 57 cases and one death. The nursing home accounts for about one-third of all the infections in Tulare County.
More than 130 institutional settings, including skilled nursing facilities, have reported virus cases in Los Angeles County, and at least 37 people have died, Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said.</blockquote>

Patient on gurney

Nursing Home Evacuated After Staff Fail To Show Up For Two Days

California

During this week’s episode of “The Ben Shapiro Show: Sunday Special,” The Daily Wire editor-in-chief talked to three renowned experts — a distinguished professor of medicine, a healthcare policy researcher, and an economic advisor and president-elect of Queens College at Cambridge University — to offer an understanding of how the coronavirus epidemic affects the totality of American life. 
Public Health, With Dr. Bob Wachter
In the first of Shapiro’s three interviews, Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, speaks to the science behind personal health steps, including hand washing and the possibility of wearing masks in public becoming “the norm” in the United States. 
Dr. Wachter also breaks down the severity of infections and mortality rates as a percentage of the population, noting that about 80% of people who contract coronavirus “do just fine,” some of whom do not experience any symptoms, and others of whom only experience mild flu-like symptoms.  
Dr. Wachter says that approximately 15-20% of the remaining people will need to go to the hospital, and about 25-33% “might” need to enter an intensive care unit. This does not mean that they will require a ventilator, says the doctor, who explains that people who do end up on a ventilator have about a 50/50 chance of surviving.
“The overall death rate nationally in the U.S. is around 1% of all people who get the illness,” says Dr. Wachter. 
After Shapiro asks Dr. Wachter about the possibility of a second wave — a possibility that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House coronavirus expert, has warned about — Dr. Wachter contends that the best public health policy would involve “testing and contact tracing.”
“My analogy is that of a wildfire: You have tamped down the worst of the wildfire, and now you’re out there looking for embers. You see an ember, and it pops up and you stomp on it and make sure that it doesn’t spread,” says Dr. Wachter.
Public Health, With Dr. Scott Atlas
During the second conversation, Dr. Scott Atlas, a researcher at Stanford University&#8217;s Hoover Institution, talks about the problem with all models, across every field, and then touches on the possibility of the United States entering into a “new normal,” especially among people who deal with at-risk populations. 
Later in the discussion, Dr. Atlas touches on the subject of herd immunity, and also emphasizes the importance of not underestimating “the work being done on the drugs that are being used in the clinical trials,” and highlighted much of the work being done at the FDA. 
“We will start seeing results this month, meaning within a couple of weeks, perhaps even within one week,” says Dr. Atlas. “I believe there’s reasonable optimism to be held that we will be able to treat the disease, and given that, over time, that changes what happens next.”
After Shapiro asks about the federal and state preparedness for the coronavirus threat, Dr. Atlas contends that the United States had a “good but imperfect response.”
“The first issue was knowing as soon as possible that there was something serious going on, and that was imperfect,” says Dr. Atlas. “Decisions were made based on flawed information and that information was really, frankly, lies coming from China.”
Economic Policy, With Mohammad El-Erian
During the third conversation, Shapiro asks Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor to the financial services company Allianz, about the false dilemma that seems to crop up in online discussion, where Americans are seemingly asked to choose between public health and the economy, and later discusses the role of the stimulus package. 
“I think you have to think about this sequentially. It’s not an ‘either or’, it’s just a sequence over time,” says El-Erian. “Priority number one is to get control of the virus, contain it’s spread, treat the ill better, and hopefully increase immunity.”
“Until we get the first two things done, it’s going to be very hard to restart this economy without going into a ‘W,’ [where] you start and then we have to come down again,” he says. “Having said that, we have to protect the economy, and this stage is about relief, about containing the damage, and there will come a next stage, which is going to be about trying to return the economy to some sense of normalcy. 
Later in the conversation, Shapiro asks about how long the economy can survive amidst record unemployment rates, looming bankruptcies, high levels of borrowing. 
“It’s going to be horrific. It’s going to be worse than anything we’ve ever seen. There’s no hiding this,” says El-Erian. “We have to be honest with the American people that we are facing a very difficult economic outlook.”
“Now, the good news is that relative to every other country in the world, we can manage this awful journey a lot better. Not smoothly, but a lot better. Why is that? Because we are part of a neighborhood that is being hit hard, so we have better capacity to avoid the things you said, shortages, avoid temporary problems becoming permanent ones,” says El-Erian. 
Shapiro also asks how China should be treated after the coronavirus pandemic, prompting El-Erian to note that people have been waking up to the fact that China isn’t a “responsible player.”
“China does not play to the global rules, and we haven’t held China accountable for a very long time,” says El-Erian. “This is the moment to say enough is enough, we’ve tolerated intellectual property theft, we will not tolerate you being part of the export of a virus.”

Fed Meets As Speculation Builds On Possible Rate Cut

Public Health And The Economy: Shapiro Interviews Three Experts

Ben Shapiro

Economy

With everyone panicking about the coronavirus – stocking up on water and toilet paper, staying in their homes, and making their own hand sanitizer out of Tito’s vodka – it makes sense that delivery companies would want to ensure they are taking extra precautions. If people aren’t leaving their homes, they’re bound to use those delivery services at some point.
DoorDash CEO and co-founder Tony Xu sent an email to customers Friday morning explaining what steps the company would be taking to ensure food is delivered safely.
“Beyond simply monitoring the situation, we are taking active measures to make sure the food that gets delivered to your home is safe and secure. In affected areas, we have begun distributing hand sanitizer and gloves to Dashers. In our app, we are testing enhanced drop-off options for customers and Dashers to more easily enable a no-contact delivery, which we’ll roll out in the coming days. Today, customers who prefer a no-contact delivery can make that request in the delivery instructions,” he wrote.
He continued, saying “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have no reports of human illnesses that suggest COVID-19 can be transmitted by food or food packaging, but we remain vigilant in working with restaurants to ensure efficacy and safety remain the top priority.”
As for drivers who end up losing money due to increased demand, the company said it has introduced a COVID-19 Financial Assistance program, which would provide up to two weeks of financial assistance for drivers who test positive for the coronavirus and who must be quarantined. The service will be available for all employees in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, as well as Canada and Australia.
“Health and safety are all of our responsibilities. We encourage you to practice safety measures at home and when you&#8217;re out. Wash your hands with soap and water frequently, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or your elbow if you have to sneeze or cough, and please stay home if you are sick. Take measures to avoid unnecessary contact with large crowds and confined gatherings of people to help slow the spread of COVID-19,” Xu wrote.
The announcement from DoorDash came shortly before reports circulated that President Donald Trump was set to declare a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak. Bloomberg News <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-declare-national-emergency-speed-151931686.html">reported</a> that Trump would invoke the Stafford Act “to open the door to more federal aid for states and municipalities, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
“The move would allow the government to martial additional resources to combat the virus, and also marks a symbolic turning point for the president, who has repeatedly compared the coronavirus to the seasonal flu and insisted that his administration had the outbreak under control,” the outlet added.
White House coronavirus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci tried to allay fears that the U.S. would shut down like China or Italy.
“I’m not sure we’re going to get to that. I think that would be really rather dramatic, but I can tell you that all things are on the table. We just have to respond as things evolve over the days and the weeks,” he said.

DoorDash

Food Delivery Company DoorDash Announces Measures To Ease Coronavirus Fears

food

As the media continues to spread panic about the coronavirus, one emergency room doctor is warning people not to get too carried away.
Speaking on &#8220;America&#8217;s Newsroom&#8221; this week, Dr. James Phillips, operational medicine fellowship director at George Washington University, said that most people who contract the coronavirus will &#8220;do just fine.&#8221;
&#8220;Most of us are going to get this virus. It&#8217;s undeniable,&#8221; said Phillips. &#8220;You won&#8217;t find a single expert out there who is saying that this is going to be contained. &#8220;And, the more we learn about it, the more we see that the spread is going to be global and, for the most part, that&#8217;s OK because the data we know from China shows that roughly 98 to 99 percent of us are going to do very, very well.&#8221;
Phillips said that the main danger with coronavirus is how it affects the lower respiratory system, which presents itself as pneumonia. He called on everyone to just take a deep breath and calm down.
&#8220;The way that this virus tends to make people sick is really by giving people pneumonia. So, a lower respiratory illness as opposed to most colds that cause upper respiratory infections,&#8221; said Phillips. &#8220;The problem with pneumonia is pneumonia itself can be deadly. Everyone should take a deep breath.&#8221;
Here are some global statistics on the coronavirus from <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/james-phillips-americans-must-live-their-lives-99-of-people-who-get-cv-will-be-fine">Fox News</a>:
<blockquote>Thus far, there are <a href="https://apnews.com/435cb3786f0d6692c8143a07e29c3e79" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">over 95,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and over 3,300 deaths</a> worldwide. Of those cases, there are at least 129 cases and <a href="https://apnews.com/8a9f6fd50731fd4c63edb2b5f0e568f8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">11 deaths recorded</a> in the United States. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/us-regions/west/washington" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Washington state</a> has been hit especially hard by the virus, with nine deaths at a nursing home near Seattle. The death rate is about 3.4 percent.
Most of those taken by the COVID-19 virus are older, infirmed, or those with weak immune systems and Phillips conceded that there is a &#8220;certain percentage&#8221; of Americans who are &#8220;going to get more sick than others.&#8221;</blockquote>
Dr. Drew Pinsky <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-drew-media-needs-to-shut-up-about-coronavirus-youre-more-likely-to-die-of-influenza">has also called</a> on people to calm down amid the coronavirus threat and charged the media with talking too much about it.
“We are not overreacting; the press is overreacting, and it makes me furious. The press should not be reporting medical stories as though they know how to report it,” Dr. Drew said on Daily Beast Live. “If we have a pandemic, I won’t know how to tell that we’re actually having a pandemic because everything is an emergency. People that are infectious disease specialists, the CDC, the epidemiologist[s], need to take this very seriously. The press needs to shut up because you’re more likely to die of influenza right now.”
&#8220;Let me frame it this way: we have in the United States 24 million cases of flu-like illness, 180,000 hospitalizations, 16,000 dead from influenza. Why is that not being reported? Why isn’t the message: get your flu shot? We have zero deaths from coronavirus, we have almost no cases,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;It’s coming here. That community transmitted case you purported on from UC Davis, that means that it’s far milder than we know it is and there are people walking around out there with the virus that don’t even know they have it, it’s so mild. So, it’s going to be much more widespread than we knew, it’s going to be much milder than we knew, the 1.7 % fatality rate is going to fall.&#8221;

SWEDEN-HEALTH-VIRUS-EPIDEMIC

ER Doctor: 98 to 99 Percent Of Coronavirus Victims ‘Are Going To Do Very, Very Well’

The Washington Department of Health on Saturday confirmed the first U.S. coronavirus-related death, according to a press release.
The person lived in King County, which includes Seattle, according to the Washington Department of Health, <a href="https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/department-health-confirms-first-coronavirus-death-washington-state/XIDPHMLVOJAAREQ5YCL75367PU/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">KIRO 7</a> reported.
Washington state health officials will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. PST Saturday to give details.
“Health officials will be providing the latest updates regarding novel coronavirus cases in King County, including new people identified with the infection, one of whom died,” according to a news release issued by the state Department of Health and Public Health Seattle-King County on Saturday morning.
&#8220;It is a sad day in our state as we learn that a Washingtonian has died from COVID-19,&#8221; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said in a statement. &#8220;Our hearts go out to his family and friends. We will continue to work toward a day where no one dies from this virus.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;We are strengthening our preparedness and response efforts. I am committed to keeping Washingtonians healthy, safe and informed.&#8221;
&#8220;Three new confirmed or presumptive cases of the coronavirus illness COVID-19 contracted from an unknown source were reported Friday, bringing the total number of what could be &#8216;community spread&#8217; cases in the United States to four,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/number-coronavirus-cases-unknown-source-growing-u-s-n1145781">NBC News</a> reported.
<blockquote>The patients from these four cases have no known travel history or exposure to someone who had traveled or been infected. Not all four have been confirmed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testing, but they tested positive locally.
New cases were reported in Washington state, Oregon and California on Friday. Earlier this week, a patient at a Sacramento hospital with no known source of infection was confirmed by CDC testing to have the illness.</blockquote>
&#8220;The number of coronavirus cases in the United States is considered small. Worldwide, the number of people sickened by the virus hovered Friday around 83,000, and there were more than 2,800 deaths, most of them in China,&#8221; the <a href="https://apnews.com/f175d89567a26d59cab27725c9e8a0d7">Associated Press</a> reported.
<blockquote>Most infections result in mild symptoms, including coughing and fever, though some can become more serious and lead to pneumonia. Older people, especially those with chronic illnesses such as heart or lung disease, are especially vulnerable. Health officials think it spreads mainly from droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how the flu spreads.
Health officials in California, Oregon and Washington state worried about the novel coronavirus spreading through West Coast communities after confirming three patients were infected by unknown means.
The patients — an older Northern California woman with chronic health conditions, a high school student in Everett, Washington, and an employee at a Portland, Oregon-area school — hadn’t recently traveled overseas or had any known close contact with a traveler or an infected person, authorities said.
Earlier U.S. cases include three people who were evacuated from the central China city of Wuhan, epicenter of the outbreak; 14 people who returned from China, or their spouses; and 42 American passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, who were flown to U.S. military bases in California and Texas for quarantining.</blockquote>

Coronavirus, Tem

BREAKING: First Confirmed Coronavirus Death In U.S. Occurs

Washington

Is spreading mayonnaise on a sandwich too exhausting? Tired of having to open the darned jar? There&#8217;s got to be a better way!
And now there is! Scientists who eschewed the boring work involved in curing cancer have come up with a new sliceable mayonnaise, meaning and end to the drudgery of making an unnecessarily fattening sandwich. You don&#8217;t even need to change out of your sweatpants.
A Japanese food company called Bourbon (no, it doesn&#8217;t make corn mash) has come out with a new line of mayonnaise in slices, like a slice of Kraft American cheese. Dubbed a &#8220;sheet-like condiment&#8221; by the company, it comes in two horrible sounding flavors: a tuna mayonnaise sheet and a mayonnaise and mentaiko slice, which is a spicy cod roe.
&#8220;Bourbon says they’re particularly handy in the morning, since you can slap a slice down on a piece of bread, stick it in the toaster oven, and have a hot, tasty breakfast with just seconds of prep time,&#8221; <a href="https://soranews24.com/2020/02/21/sliced-mayonnaise-and-white-chocolate-now-exist-in-japan-bringing-sandwiches-to-glorious-new-era/">Sora News</a> reports.
And everyone knows that there&#8217;s nothing like a nice slice of toast covered with spicy cod fish eggs smeared on it for breakfast!
&#8220;If you’re feeling fancy, you can add sliced tomatoes, lettuce leaves or other veggies for some extra nutrition and color,&#8221; Sora reports.
Mayo is, apparently, big in Japan.
&#8220;Japan is obsessed with mayonnaise—well, their version of mayonnaise, anyway, a brand called Kewpie,&#8221; <a href="https://www.foodandwine.com/news/why-chefs-love-kewpie-mayo">Food and Wine</a> magazine wrote last year. &#8220;So it&#8217;s no surprise that they&#8217;re celebrating with mayo cafes in Tokyo and Nagoya.&#8221;
<blockquote>At the cafes, consumers can gaze adoringly at Kewpie bottles strung from broccoli trees, while noshing on vegetables smothered in limited edition Kewpie olive, basil, and tomato-flavored mayo, Kotaku reports. This is at least the second year this mayo has been so revered in pop-up cafes throughout the country.
Why does Kewpie inspire such devotion? The answer is actually pretty simple: It contains MSG. As chef and Momofuku founder David Chang once told Food &amp; Wine, Kewpie is &#8220;the best mayonnaise in the world, because it has MSG.&#8221;
Kewpie is a little different than American mayo, because it&#8217;s made with only egg yolks — not whole eggs — and with rice or apple vinegar and no added salt or sugar. It&#8217;s bottled in a slim red-and-clear container, with an emblematic baby for its logo. But the real secret to Kewpie&#8217;s cult-following is a healthy dose of MSG.</blockquote>
The Japanese love the condiment so much they even make mayo pudding and mayo ice cream bars.  &#8220;Calorie Monster Cherio Creamy Mayonnaise Flavor boasts a complex mix of cookie, white chocolate, and mayonnaise that might be just sweet and egg-y enough to work,&#8221; <a href="https://soranews24.com/2019/09/26/morinaga-milk-industry-unveils-japans-first-mayonnaise-flavored-ice-cream/">Sora</a> reported last year. The 300-calorie treat has a white-chocolate center that is &#8220;surrounded by mayonnaise-flavored ice cream, then encased in a shell of white chocolate and cookie crumbs.&#8221;
Sliceable mayo joins sliceable ketchup, which emerged last year after a KickStarter campaign. Bo&#8217;s Fine Foods created a thing they call &#8220;Slice of Sauce™: an All-Natural, No-Mess &#8216;Slice&#8217; of Ketchup.&#8221; Sliceable mustard has, we found out with a Google search, existed since 2012.
And that&#8217;s all great with a sandwich or a burger. But what on earth do you do with, say, a hot dog? Oh the humanity!

Mayonnaise

END DAYS: Scientists Create Sliceable Mayonnaise, Civilization Nears End

Crystal and Jarvis Bryant were typical first-time parents, doting on their child and panicking over every hint of distress. To add to their stress, their baby boy, Jace, had several medical issues that resulted in repeated trips to the emergency room and doctors.
Jace suffered from severe acid reflux and a condition known as dysphagia, which caused milk to travel down his wind pipe instead of his esophagus.
“When he was 3 weeks old, he spent 31 days in the hospital and had a feeding tube inserted into his nose and down to his stomach to help him get enough nutrients to survive. At almost 4 months old, Jace had surgery on his esophagus and to place a gastrostomy tube in his abdomen, so his parents could send formula straight to his stomach,” The Associated Press <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/colorado/articles/2020-02-16/parents-charged-with-abusing-child-until-bone-disorder-found">reported</a>. “Then, just before Thanksgiving 2018, Jace was diagnosed with a viral infection that was causing fever and diarrhea. While Crystal showered and did her hair upstairs in their apartment, Jarvis was giving Jace his second bath of the day. Jarvis laid the baby stomach-down along his forearm as he bent over the bathtub, pouring soapy water over Jace’s back. The baby slipped sideways off Jarvis’ arm, his knee hitting the bottom of the tub.”
Jarvis consoled Jace when he started crying, but didn’t think anything was serious enough to tell Crystal. Later that afternoon, however, Crystal noticed Jace was favoring the leg he had hit and was in pain when she picked him up. She was already set to take him back to the hospital since his fever and diarrhea hadn’t gone away. While there, Jace’s leg was X-rayed and doctor’s discovered he had a fractured femur. Jarvis then admitted to his wife that he had accidentally dropped Jace. The couple said they were immediately treated as suspects after the injury was discovered. A full-body workup revealed Jace also had 10 fractured ribs and fractures on both his wrists, all of which were older than the leg injury and had been healing.
Jace was taken from the Bryants and they were charged with felony child abuse. Crystal had just obtained her nursing certificate and had it revoked when the charges were filed. Jarvis who worked for the U.S. Army, had his security clearance revoked, causing him to be reassigned to desk duty.
For the Bryants, the charge of child abuse was a surprise.
“Because of Jace’s feeding problems, nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists — all required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse — had been to the Bryants’ home twice each week since he was 2 months old. They had stripped Jace naked weekly and weighed him on a portable scale placed on the table. Not one made any report of abuse or neglect,” the AP reported. “The baby had been to emergency rooms multiple times, often to replace the tube down his throat when his arms flailed and pulled out the tube, common for babies. Each time, medical staff took an X-ray to make sure it was in the right place. As a first-time mom and self-described ‘hovering parent,’ Crystal took Jace to the pediatrician at the first hint of illness.”
After Jace was taken, Jarvis began researching legal cases as well as medical cases. He came across the stories of two men who had been falsely accused of child abuse when their children actually had brittle bone disorder.
Two doctors looked at Jace’s X-rays. One discovered he wasn’t getting enough calcium due to the feeding tubes and suggested the age of the fractures meant they were actually caused by medical staff during one of his many medical procedures. Another doctor found that the acid reflux medication Jace was put on reduced his stomach acid, which also hurt his ability to absorb calcium.
Seven months later, Jace was returned to his parents. Three months after that, the criminal case against them was dropped.

Baby

They Were Charged With Abusing Their Child. Then Doctors Discovered A Rare Bone Disease.

Children

For 15 years, Walgreens customers in Fremont, Milpitas, and San Jose, California picked up their medications from Kim Thien Le.
Last year, they discovered one of their neighborhood pharmacists wasn’t licensed, yet had been entrusted to handle their medications. The Mercury News <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/30/unlicensed-bay-area-walgreens-pharmacist-issued-more-than-700000-prescriptions-watchdog-says/">reported</a> in January 2019 that California’s pharmacy board was investigating the possibility that the three Walgreens locations had employed someone without a pharmacist license and allowed them to verify and dispense more than 700,000 medications over 15 years.
“According to the pharmacy board’s complaint, 100,701 of those prescriptions were for controlled substances, many verified electronically and remotely. The complaint says the ‘greatest number of verifications had been performed in or for’ the Walgreens at 2600 Mowry Ave. in Fremont. The complaint did not specify how many verifications or where all the 395 stores are located. Walgreens operates at 622 locations in California, and nearly 10,000 across the U.S. and its territories,” the outlet reported at the time.
Le was also accused at the time of signing off on prescription forms that did not meet state requirements to ensure they were not counterfeit or being sold on the black market. At the Fremont store, Le apparently signed off on at least 11 prescriptions that did not meet requirements. The forms were mostly for anti-anxiety prescriptions and some didn’t have the necessary security watermarks to prevent counterfeiting.
Le was employed with Walgreens between 1999 through the fall of 2017, first as a pharmacist intern, and then as a pharmacist, eventually working her way up to the pharmacist-in-charge at different locations.
Le apparently had a pharmacist technician license that expired in 2008. Investigators, however, learned that the license number listed by her name in Walgreens’ records “actually belonged to another licensed pharmacist with a similar name, who was not employed by Walgreens,” The Mercury News reported.
Le was confronted about the discrepancy, and she claimed she had a different license number, which also belonged to a pharmacist with a similar name.
“Walgreens did not have or keep any proof of (Le’s) enrollment in or graduation from an accredited pharmacy school, nor did Walgreens have or keep copies of any of (Le’s) purported licenses,” the complaint against Walgreens said, according to The Mercury News.
The outlet reported on Tuesday that Walgreens “has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a consumer protection lawsuit.”
“Consumers depend on pharmacies to make sure that the person behind the counter preparing and giving out medical prescription drugs is trained, competent and licensed to do so,” said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tiyen Lin. “Their lives may depend on it.”
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office also released a statement, saying “Walgreens failed to vet Ms. Le thoroughly when it promoted her to positions requiring a license and failed to make sure that its internal systems were strong enough to prevent an employee from evading them.”
Walgreens has since re-verified the licenses of all its pharmacists nationwide, a spokesman told The Mercury News. Walgreens will also have “to create a verification program, post proof that all of its employees are licensed if their position requires one, conduct annual audits, and submit an annual compliance report to the Alameda County DA’s office,” the outlet reported.

Prescriptions

Walgreens To Pay $7.5 Million After Unlicensed Pharmacist Works For 15 Years

Prescription Drugs

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global emergency over the spread of the deadly coronavirus epidemic, as thousands of new cases have been reported and the death toll closes in on 200 people.
&#8220;The decision reversed the organization’s decision just a week ago to hold off such a declaration,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/health/coronavirus-world-health-organization.html">reported</a>. &#8220;Since then, W.H.O. officials said, thousands of new cases in China and clear human-to-human transmission in several other countries — now including the United States — warranted a reconsideration of that decision by the agency’s expert committee.&#8221;
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday that is had confirmed the first person-to-person of the coronavirus in the U.S.
&#8220;The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed that the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has spread between two people in the United States, representing the first instance of person-to-person spread with this new virus here,&#8221; the CDC said in a statement. &#8220;Previously, all confirmed U.S. cases had been associated with travel to Wuhan, China, where an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by this novel coronavirus has been ongoing since December 2019. However, this latest 2019-nCoV patient has no history of travel to Wuhan, but shared a household with the patient diagnosed with 2019-nCoV infection on January 21, 2020.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today CDC and <a href="https://twitter.com/IDPH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IDPH</a> confirmed diagnosis of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/2019nCoV?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#2019nCoV</a> in a patient who had not traveled from China but had close contact with a traveler previously confirmed with the novel <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a>. Read the press release: <a href="https://t.co/d7FyZLzRed">https://t.co/d7FyZLzRed</a>. <a href="https://t.co/WSzdgpcgrU">pic.twitter.com/WSzdgpcgrU</a>
&mdash; CDC (@CDCgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/CDCgov/status/1222979023623553024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The latest <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/30/coronavirus-cases-top-8200-surpassing-2003-sars-outbreak-in-less-than-a-month.html">figures</a> to come out of communist China indicate that more than 8,100 people have been infected with the virus &#8212; a tenfold increase in just one week &#8212; with at least 170 dead as the virus has now officially spread more rapidly than the SARS virus did in 2002 and 2003.
&#8220;The Committee agreed that the outbreak now meets the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and proposed the following advice to be issued as Temporary Recommendations,&#8221; WHO said in a statement. &#8220;As this is a new coronavirus, and it has been previously shown that similar coronaviruses required substantial efforts to enable regular information sharing and research, the global community should continue to demonstrate solidarity and cooperation, in compliance with Article 44 of the IHR (2005), in supporting each other on the identification of the source of this new virus, its full potential for human-to-human transmission, preparedness for potential importation of cases, and research for developing necessary treatment.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Full statement on the meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/2019nCoV?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#2019nCoV</a> 👉 <a href="https://t.co/Ia5pFPn3Qi">https://t.co/Ia5pFPn3Qi</a> <a href="https://t.co/YhlPG2YwOJ">pic.twitter.com/YhlPG2YwOJ</a>
&mdash; World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1222975329360392215?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Financial Times reported on Thursday that Russia closed its borders with China to prevent the virus from spreading into Russia.
&#8220;Russia on Thursday ordered the closure of its huge land border with China as Moscow scrambles to prevent the deadly coronavirus infection spreading from its southern neighbor,&#8221; The Financial Times <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/75adafb6-4306-11ea-abea-0c7a29cd66fe">reported</a>. &#8220;There have been no confirmed cases of the respiratory illness in Russia but Vladimir Putin’s government is anxious to prevent the virus from crossing a land border that stretches for more than 4,000km. Moscow has already blocked Chinese tour groups from entering the country.&#8221;
President Donald Trump weighed in on the overall situation on Thursday, writing on Twitter: &#8220;Working closely with China and others on Coronavirus outbreak. Only 5 people in U.S., all in good recovery.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Working closely with China and others on Coronavirus outbreak. Only 5 people in U.S., all in good recovery.
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1223004106408833025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2020</a></blockquote>
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This report has been updated to include additional information and corrected to note that the SARS virus outbreak was from 2002-2003, not 2012-2013.

Health care members make first aid to people as they cover

Global Emergency Declared Over Coronavirus; First Transmission Confirmed In U.S.

China

Health Care

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) has admitted it made an error last week when it classified the global risk of China’s new coronavirus &#8212; which can lead to SARS &#8212; as “moderate.” The organization on Monday released a new report late Sunday that stated the risk was actually “very high in China, high at the regional level and high at the global level.&#8221;
The Agence France-Presse (AFP) <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/who-tries-to-correct-wuhan-coronavirus-risk-level/amp">reported</a> Tuesday that a footnote in the WHO report stated the group had “incorrectly” stated the global risk was merely “moderate.”
“The correction of the global risk assessment does not mean that an international health emergency has been declared,” the outlet reported. “The WHO on Thursday stopped short of declaring the novel coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern &#8211; a rare designation used only for the worst outbreaks that would trigger more concerted global action.”
Eighty-one people have died so far &#8212; all in China &#8212; due to the virus, while at least 2,700 people have been infected worldwide.
Reporters on Thursday questioned WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus about the decision not to declare an emergency. He said the assessment could always change but that right now the risk was “high” but not “very high.”
&#8220;This is an emergency in China but it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one,&#8221; he said. &#8220;WHO&#8217;s risk assessment is that the outbreak is a very high risk in China, and a high risk regionally and globally.&#8221;
The organization also said the current coronavirus assessment was “a global evaluation of risk, covering severity, spread and capacity to cope,” and added that three situation reports contained an “error in the wording,” suggesting the risk was merely moderate.
Co-director of the Swiss School of Public Health told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) of the miscalculation: &#8220;It&#8217;s a mistake. It&#8217;s definitely a sizeable one, &#8230; but I really think it&#8217;s a mistake that has now been corrected.”
More from the AFP:
<blockquote>WHO&#8217;s cautious approach to the outbreak, which has been challenged by some critics, can be seen in the context of past criticism over its slow or too hasty use of the term, first used for the deadly 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic.
During that outbreak, the UN health agency was criticised for sparking panic-buying of vaccines with its announcement that year that the outbreak had reached pandemic proportions, and then anger when it turned out the virus was not nearly as dangerous as first thought.
But in 2014, the WHO met harsh criticism for dragging its feet and downplaying the severity of the Ebola epidemic that ravaged three West Africa countries, claiming more than 11,300 lives by the time it ended in 2016.</blockquote>
It should be noted that despite the media attention to the new corona virus, influenza (the flu) has killed far more people than the virus in China. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm#ILIActivityMap">estimated</a> that 8,200 people have already died and 140,000 have been hospitalized so far during the 2019-2020 flu season.

World Health Organization: We Blew It. Risk Of Coronavirus Risk Actually ‘Very High’

On Friday, freshman Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who is very outspoken on the 21s century geopolitical threat <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/end-forever-wars-and-face-chinas-threat-11574634656">posed by China</a>, raised with leading Trump administration officials the possibility of restricting or temporarily outright cutting off travel with the country due to the coronavirus that recently emanated from there.
Hawley &#8220;sent a letter Friday to the heads of four government agencies to ask whether the Trump administration was considering any potential Chinese travel ban to prevent an American outbreak of the coronavirus,&#8221; National Review <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak-josh-hawley-asks-trump-administration-for-possible-china-travel-ban/">reported</a>.
Specifically, Hawley tweeted: &#8220;As deadly #coronavirus spreads, this morning I’ve written to the Secretary of State and others to ask whether temporary travel restrictions from affected areas in China may be necessary, and if they are, when American travelers will be notified. Public safety must be #1 priority.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
As deadly <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> spreads, this morning I’ve written to the Secretary of State and others to ask whether temporary travel restrictions from affected areas in China may be necessary, and if they are, when American travelers will be notified. Public safety must be #1 priority
&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1220726263956021248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The tweet accompanied a <a href="https://www.hawley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-01/Hawley-Letter-Coronavirus-Departments-Health-Homeland-Security-State-Transportation-Travel.pdf">letter</a> that Hawley sent on Friday to four Cabinet secretaries or acting secretaries: Alex Azar of the Department of Health and Human Services, Chad Wolf of the Department of Homeland Security, Elaine Chao of the Department of Transportation, and Mike Pompeo of the State Department.
Hawley&#8217;s letter concludes by asking four questions of the Cabinet secretaries:
<ol>
<li>Does the federal government have in place procedures and evaluative criteria to guide decisions about restrictions on air travel in the event of disease outbreaks such as this one?</li>
<li>Given the rate at which public health officials are capable of gaining insight into the severity of such an outbreak, can you offer guidance as to when and how the federal government would decide to implement travel restrictions in the event that an outbreak like this one merited them?</li>
<li>Have you begun exploring the means by which the federal government might continue to assist China and the international community in containing this outbreak in the event of restrictions on commercial air travel? If not, why not?</li>
<li>In the event that federal officials make a preliminary determination to rule out restrictions on air travel, will you commit to inform the public that such a determination has been made in the interests of transparency and appropriate public scrutiny?</li>
</ol>
&#8220;The virus, which, causes pneumonia-like symptoms, is related to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, a virus that originated in China and killed hundreds of people in 2002 and 2003,&#8221; National Review also noted.
Since the virus&#8217;s breakout, China has quarantined the entire city of Wuhan in an attempt to staunch the virus&#8217;s pernicious spread.
Conservative commentator Daniel Horowitz, of Blaze Media, <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/will-trump-consider-suspending-travel-china-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/">wrote</a> today in support of a Chinese travel ban: &#8220;One would expect that the first course of action of the government would be to prevent Chinese from traveling here or Americans from traveling to China and returning, or at least to impose a travel ban on parts of China. That is the first step to ensuring that the disease doesn’t spread like wildfire in our country. Yet, as with epidemics of the past, there doesn’t seem to be any imminent warning of suspending travel.&#8221;
Taking a somewhat different approach, Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-the-media-wants-you-to-panic-over-the-coronavirus-dont-fall-for-it-here-are-the-real-facts">chalked up</a> the coronavirus as much ado about nothing: &#8220;I don’t mean to spoil the twist ending, but here’s how to protect yourself from the coronavirus if you live in America: Do nothing special at all. Carry on with your life. Wash your hands. Avoid ingesting the bodily fluids of strangers, as much as possible. Do all of the normal things you would do to maintain a healthy life. Media reports indicate that face masks are an &#8216;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-face-masks-not-entirely-effective-2020-1" data-reader-unique-id="14">ineffective&#8217;</a> way of preventing the spread of the virus. What the reports forget to mention is that it would be a sign of delusional paranoia if a person in the United States went around wearing a mask for fear of a disease that almost nobody in this hemisphere actually has.&#8221;

Cargo containers with China and united States flag in the harbor.

Josh Hawley Proposes Possible China Travel Ban In Response To Coronavirus

Immigration

Josh Hawley

It is rather a surprise to learn that we are all going to die from a viral pandemic, considering that we have all already died from swine flu, bird flu, SARS, and that one time when four people had Ebola. Nonetheless, if media reports are to be believed, we are on the verge of yet another planet-wide outbreak. This time, the imaginary global destruction will happen courtesy of the coronavirus.
Back in realityville, the coronavirus has infected 2,700 people, or about .00003% of the global population. Almost all of the cases are in China, where the death toll has reached 82. The majority of these deaths were people who had the misfortune of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/world/asia/coronavirus-victims-wuhan.html">already being old and sick</a> before they contracted the virus, compounded by the disadvantage of living with China&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/ticking-time-bombs-chinas-health-care-system-faces-issues-of-access-quality-and-cost/">ailing&#8221;</a> health care system. Outside of China, there have been around 50 cases, none of them fatal. So far, five people in the United States have been diagnosed and none have died. Of the approximately 327,000,000 people in the U.S., approximately 326,999,995 do not have the coronavirus. There is no good reason to think that the latter number will significantly shrink, as the infected people pose a &#8220;<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/24/799208865/a-second-u-s-case-of-wuhan-coronavirus-is-confirmed">low risk</a>&#8221; to the public, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still, none of this has stopped the media from printing <a href="https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-01-27-20-intl-hnk/h_76586a6e47e65a67a3c18ccf644ae736">scary graphics</a> showing how the disease you almost certainly will not contract will affect you if it does, giving <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/chicago-confirms-coronavirus-case-heres-how-to-stay-safe-165352163.html">tips</a> on how to &#8220;stay safe,&#8221; putting terrifying things in their <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/26/containing-new-coronavirus-may-not-be-feasible-experts-say/">headlines</a> like &#8220;containing new coronavirus may not be feasible, using the word &#8220;<a href="https://nypost.com/2020/01/25/inside-the-horrific-inhumane-animal-markets-behind-pandemics-like-coronavirus/">pandemic</a>&#8221; to describe something that is not actually a pandemic, running fantasy <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/scientist-who-simulated-the-global-impact-of-a-coronavirus-outbreak-says-the-cats-already-out-of-the-bag-and-chinas-efforts-to-contain-the-disease-unlikely-to-be-effective-2020-01-24">simulations</a> to show what might happen in a &#8220;hypothetical&#8221; worst-case scenario, and urging the public to &#8220;<a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article239657838.html">protect</a>&#8221; itself.
I don&#8217;t mean to spoil the twist ending, but here&#8217;s how to protect yourself from the coronavirus if you live in America: Do nothing special at all. Carry on with your life. Wash your hands. Avoid ingesting the bodily fluids of strangers, as much as possible. Do all of the normal things you would do to maintain a healthy life. Media reports indicate that face masks are an &#8220;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-face-masks-not-entirely-effective-2020-1">ineffective</a>&#8221; way of preventing the spread of the virus. What the reports forget to mention is that it would be a sign of delusional paranoia if a person in the United States went around wearing a mask for fear of a disease that almost nobody in this hemisphere actually has.
I am not downplaying the significance of this illness. For people who live in China, especially in or near Wuhan, this is a very real public health emergency. But many parts of the world are plagued by many illnesses that either rarely make it onto our shores, or are easily contained and treated when they do. <a href="http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2019/03/tb-us-all-time-low-global-decline-small">Tuberculosis</a> still kills millions across the globe while comparatively few die from it in this country. <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180315091833.htm">Meningitis</a> is a major killer in Africa but claims only a few hundred lives annually in the United States. For all the lumps our health care system takes, deserved and undeserved, the fact is that we generally don&#8217;t die from a great many diseases that kill a great many people elsewhere on Earth. And that is why the relatively high mortality rate of the coronavirus is not proof that the disease itself is significantly deadlier than garden-variety pneumonia. All we know is that it is potentially deadlier in Wuhan, where every disease is potentially deadlier.
If you&#8217;re a U.S. citizen looking for a disease to worry about, I could suggest more relevant options. The common flu, for example, <a href="http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2019/04/us-flu-still-elevated-dropping-deaths-high-57000">killed 57,000 people</a> in the U.S. alone last year, which is actually significantly lower than the death toll the year before. That&#8217;s a body count nearly 1,000 times higher than the current figure for the coronavirus. And we&#8217;re talking about U.S. deaths, in this case. True, most people who die of the flu are either very old or very young. But the same is the case for the coronavirus. Even the aforementioned tuberculosis and meningitis are more reasonable candidates for public panic. Pretty much any disease would be, considering the current death toll for the coronavirus in America is zero. If that number jumps from zero to one, or three, or even fifteen, there still would be no reason for panic. The media wants you to panic because panic means clicks, and clicks generate revenue. Don&#8217;t fall for it. Again.

Office worker tearing up papers and screaming out

WALSH: The Media Wants You To Panic Over The Coronavirus. Don’t Fall For It. Here Are The Real Facts.

Media

The news is grim &#8212; and keeps getting grimmer.
Jonathan Read, a British expert on the transmission and evolutionary dynamics of infectious diseases, predicts that hundreds of thousands of people will soon be infected with the coronvirus sweeping across China and moving already to other countries around the world.
&#8220;In 14 days’ time (4 February 2020), our model predicts the number of infected people in Wuhan to be greater than 190 thousand (prediction interval, 132,751 to 273,649),&#8221; Read and other researchers wrote in a <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.23.20018549v1.full.pdf">new paper</a> titled &#8220;Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV: early estimation of epidemiological parameters and epidemic predictions.&#8221;
&#8220;We predict the cities with the largest outbreaks elsewhere in China to be Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Chengdu. We also predict that by 4 Feb 2020, the countries or special administrative regions at greatest risk of importing infections through air travel are Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea,&#8221; the researchers wrote.
Among other key findings in the paper:
<ul>
<li>We estimate that only 5.1% (95%CI, 4.8–5.5) of infections in Wuhan are identified, indicating a large number of infections in the community, and also reflecting the difficulty in detecting cases of this new disease. Surveillance for this novel pathogen has been launched very quickly by public health authorities in China, allowing for rapid assessment of the speed of increase of cases in Wuhan and other areas.</li>
<li>Our model suggests that travel restrictions from and to Wuhan city are unlikely to be effective in halting transmission across China; with a 99% effective reduction in travel, the size of the epidemic outside of Wuhan may only be reduced by 24.9% on 4 February.</li>
<li>We estimate the basic reproduction number of the infection (𝑅𝑅0) to be significantly greater than one. We estimate it to be between 3.6 and 4.0, indicating that 72-75% of transmissions must be prevented by control measures for infections to stop increasing.</li>
</ul>
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday warned that the spread of a deadly new virus &#8212; which starts with a fever and a  dry cough and then, about a week later, leads to shortness of breath, with some patients needing hospital treatment &#8212; is accelerating. The coronavirus has killed at least 41 people and infected some 1,400 since its discovery in the city of Wuhan. There is no known cure or vaccine.
Other projections for similar viruses are far worse. A pandemic simulation conducted late last year, <a href="http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/media" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">called Event 201</a>, showed devastating results. Put together by the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins, the World Economic Forum, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Event 21 used a made-up coronavirus.
&#8220;The pretend outbreak started small: Farmers began coming down with symptoms that resembled the flu or pneumonia. From there, the virus spread to crowded and impoverished urban neighborhoods in South America,&#8221; Yahoo News reported. &#8220;Flights were canceled, and travel bookings dipped by 45%. People disseminated false information on social media. After six months, the virus had spread around the globe. A year later, it had killed 65 million people.&#8221;
According to Yahoo! News, the simulated pandemic “also triggered a global financial crisis” that saw stock markets collapse and “global domestic product plunged by 11 percent.” Eric Toner, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins’ Center for Health Security told <a href="https://www.axios.com/who-emerging-health-challenges-pandemic-climate-change-inequalities-f83e0dd1-6d00-40c4-aaca-11523270648c.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Axios</a> the threats from infectious disease outbreaks and another pandemic are “very real.”
“As we demonstrated in our Event 201 exercise in October, the world is ill-prepared for a severe pandemic. Such a global disease outbreak would not only cause widespread illness and death but there would be severe societal and economic consequences as well,” Toner told Axios.

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The Department of Transportation has <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/resources/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/359646/traveling-air-service-animals-nprm.pdf">proposed</a> relaxing a federal rule that forces airlines to accommodate, free of charge, people traveling with pets classified as emotional-support animals. 
According to the Department of Transportation website, airline companies would now have the authority to “treat emotional support animals, which are not trained to do work or perform a task for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, as pets.” The rule change, which is currently undergoing a 60-day public comment period, would not apply to service dogs. 
The proposal has been designed to curb an influx of passengers who have taken to traveling with a range of untrained pets that they say emotionally support them in various ways. The department cites a number of exotic animals that have caused trouble for airlines and flight crew, including peacocks, ducks, turkeys, and pigs. 
In 2016, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3406823/This-pig-really-DOES-fly-Meet-Hamlet-hog-provides-comfort-owner-30-000-feet.html">Daily Mail</a> wrote a profile on a pig named “Hamlet” who accompanies his owner, Megan Peabody, on flights around the world. “I love flying, but I suffer with anxiety, so being able to pick Hamlet up, to hold, pet and comfort him makes me feel more comfortable and provides a lovely distraction,” Peabody told the news agency. 
In 2018, a woman made headlines after she was barred from taking her emotional support peacock on a flight, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/airplane-mode/emotional-support-peacock-denied-flight-united-airlines-n842971">NBC News</a>. While the 70-pound bird was denied boarding because it “did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size,” the new proposed rule would allow airlines to reject future peacocks outright. 
Disability rights activists have taken different stances on the proposed rule change. 
“We acknowledge that some people have misrepresented themselves and their pets as people with disabilities with service or emotional support animals. But it is rare,&#8221; Curt Decker, the president of the National Disability Rights Network, said in a statement obtained by <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2020/01/22/emotional-support-animals-new-dot-rule-would-let-airlines-refuse-them/4540901002/">USA Today</a>. &#8220;These proposals are a vast overreaction to an uncommon problem.&#8221;
Albert Rizzi, founder of My Blind Spot, a nonprofit organization that promotes accessibility for blind people, has called the move a “wonderful step in the right direction for people like myself who are dependent on and reliant on legitimate service animals,” according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/c78235bd8a3408e39de28847c482ff84">Associated Press</a>. 
However, the perspective from airlines and flight crew has been closer to unanimous. They are largely unified in support of the proposed rule.
Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight attendants, has commended the bill, exalting that “the days of Noah’s Ark in the air are hopefully coming to an end,” reports the news agency. 
Nicholas Calio, president of Airlines for America, has drawn attention to the public health focus of the proposal, saying that “the proposed rule will go a long way in ensuring a safer and healthier experience for everyone,” reports the news agency. 
In the proposal, the Department has also drawn attention to the ways that the new rules will improve economic efficiency since “passengers currently have an incentive to claim pets as emotional support animals” for the cost savings.

Art Installation Of Pollution Pods At Brownsea Island

Proposal Would Allow Airlines To Ban Emotional Support Pigs, Peacocks

The deadly coronavirus bringing back fears of SARS to China may have originated with native snakes.
CNN <a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/01/22/health/snakes-wuhan-coronavirus-outbreak-conversation-partner/index.html">reported</a> that the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra have been linked to the virus, which has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/remember-sars-new-virus-spreading-in-china-kills-sixth-person">killed at least six people</a> so far this winter.
“Using samples of the virus isolated from patients, scientists in China have determined the genetic code of the virus and used microscopes to photograph it. The pathogen responsible for this pandemic is a new coronavirus. It&#8217;s in the same family of viruses as the well-known severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which have killed hundreds of people in the past 17 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV,” the outlet reported.
The outlet went on to report that both SARS and MERS are “zoonotic viral diseases, meaning the first patients who were infected acquired these viruses directly from animals.”
“This was possible because while in the animal host, the virus had acquired a series of genetic mutations that allowed it to infect and multiply inside humans,” the outlet continued.
Once transmitted to humans from animals, the virus can then be transmitted to other humans, creating the spread of the disease we see in China now. As The Daily Wire previously reported, the latest version of the coronavirus has killed at least six people, with China confirming more than 300 cases earlier this week, a day-over-day jump since Sunday.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-coronavirus-kills-third-person-spreads-to-more-cities-11579494221">reported</a> that it has “spread quickly around the country and across Asia, infecting 156 new patients in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other densely-populated cities, and reaching South Korea for the first time—a major escalation in the pneumonia-like disease’s transmission.”
CNN previously <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/21/asia/china-china-coronavirus-sars-intl-hnk/index.html">reported</a>: “Tour agencies have been banned from taking groups out of Wuhan and the number of thermal monitors and screening areas in public spaces will be increased. Traffic police will also conduct spot checks on private vehicles coming in and out of the city to look for live poultry or wild animals, after the virus was linked to a seafood and live animal market, according to a report by state media outlet the People’s Daily, citing Wuhan’s Municipal Health Commission.”
The outlet more recently reported that the virus may have transmitted from snakes to humans, but that bats may have been the actual originators:
<blockquote>The researchers used an analysis of the protein codes favored by the new coronavirus and compared it to the protein codes from coronaviruses found in different animal hosts, like birds, snakes, marmots, hedgehogs, manis, bats and humans. Surprisingly, they found that the protein codes in the 2019-nCoV are most similar to those used in snakes.
Snakes often hunt for bats in wild. Reports indicate that snakes were sold in the local seafood market in Wuhan, raising the possibility that the 2019-nCoV might have jumped from the host species &#8212; bats &#8212; to snakes and then to humans at the beginning of this coronavirus outbreak. However, how the virus could adapt to both the cold-blooded and warm-blooded hosts remains a mystery.</blockquote>

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