1861

Read through this thread for links. Should be easy to google as I read similar confirmations several times already.

There’s two speculations I read from your link. One is the speculation about the Maryland bio lab.

Here is a video I saw about this topic and was very impressed with the author’s immense research and very logical explanation of evidence, but I never shared it because I don’t like to propagate conspiracy theories. It is a very interesting video nonetheless and I did my own verification of some of the things he said and they actually checked out unlike the Epoch Time conspiracies that I just debunked above. Fortunately, this guy has the decency to label it “CONSPIRACY” in CAPS and said “if you take these events and line them up on a time line, it can seem very nefarious, but none of it is actually proof”. Now this is what I call professional and RESPONSIBLE reporting. If it is a conspiracy theory, please label it that way and emphasize it is just speculation and not deceive your readers to think otherwise.

Regarding China’s foreign ministry spokesman saying “it might be US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan”, because the first case occurred several weeks after the Wuhan games. My take is it is plausible. But the US would not be the only culprit as there are 9,308 participants (excluding international spectators and support staff) from 110 countries that participated in the games so any other countries could also have brought it over and infected other participants that brought it back to their countries. It is also possible Wuhan already had it.

Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of a renowned medical research institute in Italy, spoke in an interview with U.S.’s National Public Radio that General Practitioners in Italy “seen very strange pneumonia, very severe, particularly in old people in December and even November,… This means that the virus was circulating, at least in [the northern region of] Lombardy and before we were aware of this outbreak occurring in China.” So it is possible the virus was introduced from Italy but it is also possible that Italy brought it back from Wuhan.

The speculation that COVID-19 is a bioweapon I would not believe given confirmation from true experts say it is not engineered. But the possibility that the virus occurred in other countries before China such as in the US is not impossible.

CDC director Robert Redfield admitted that the US had deaths from COVID-19 before they were able to test for it and even now test kits for the virus is in great shortage and people requesting to be tested for it has been denied. Therefore there’s no way we can tell if the assumed flu patients in the past few months are actually COVID-19 patients. The Atlantic could only verify 4,384 people as of 03-09-2020 have been tested for the Corona virus in the US, which is unacceptable considering even a small country like South Korea already tested over 100,000 during the same time averaging 15,000 test per day.

https://www.rt.com/news/482990-china-coronavirus-us-come-clean/

The CDC did all they can to prevent testing for this virus until the last week of February after a virologist in Seattle secretly tested assumed flu patients defying federal government orders not to test, which exposed that COVID-19 patients were hidden among assumed flu cases. With this data revealed to the public, the CDC have no choice but to officially allow testing in very limited numbers just this month, which is why we are seeing soaring number of cases in March.

Besides mind boggling low number of tests performed in the US, there is also severe sampling bias that muddles our understanding of the origin of the virus and how it has been transmitting around preventing us from devising containment strategies. The US CDC’s extremely narrow criteria for testing basically requires persons with direct travel to Hubei, China or direct contact with a known COVID-19 patient (which rules out almost everyone) to even be considered for testing, potentially creating an illusion that all identified strains genetically stem from the Wuhan strain. You pretty much have to be a celebrity or the testing facilities do not follow the CDC criteria strictly in order for you to have a chance to get tested.

Per the CDC, the number of hospitalized patients in the last 5 months due to flu-like and pneumonia like symptoms is 400,000 to 730,000 resulting in 24,000 to 62,000 deaths. Even in China, the total number of Corona virus cases is only about 80k (a good portion likely hospitalized) .

The death rate of hospitalized flu/pneumonia patients in the US is about 6-8.5% whereas Corona Virus death rate is reported at 1-3%. Also if the US hospitals did not have the ability/capacity to test for the virus, other countries that are not as advanced as the US in the medical field will likely also mix corona virus cases with the flu. Keep in mind, there are 38-54 MILLION flu-like cases in the US alone this flu season, which is many times more than the total global covid-19 cases. I also remember reading that WHO reported a global high flu season this year.

If the patient and/or medical institution did not know of the corona virus and did not have the capability to test for it, these cases would be treated as the common flu or pneumonia in which case, the patients would be staying at home instead of being hospitalized.

80% of people with COVID-19 only have mild symptoms and children seems to be “almost” immune to the virus. Age group 10-39 only see a death rate of 0.2% per China’s CDC which is not much higher than the common flu. For this age group people would likely be staying home treating it as the common flu. But for elderly patients, the Corona virus is much more serious. So for non senior age group, the majority of the people would be staying home and even a couple hundred thousand infections would not result in any tangible difference in the flu case numbers and its impact on medical facilities would not be noticeable if those cases are handled as flu cases.

The governor of Ohio made a statement early this month that although there are only 5 confirmed cases in Ohio, he estimates 100,000 infections in his state went undiagnosed due to lack of testing and he said other states are in the same situation. Though I think this number is exaggerated but for a state with only 11 million and a very low population density especially compared to China, it would take quite a long time to reach even 1/10 of this estimate, which is more than every state in China besides Wuhan, Hubei. Also the experts in Ohio must not think limited hospital capacity would contradict this belief probably for reasons similar to my theory above.

Anyways these are just my opinion. Biowarfare is ruled out by experts around the world. But global transmittance of the virus through the Wuhan military games whether it originated from China, US, Italy, Iran, etc. is a possibility. I believe the virus was spread unintentionally instead of foul play like all these bias-toned conspiracy/propaganda pieces want us to believe.

1862

Fixed:

1863

I agree.

1864

I ordered 6 boxes of surgical masks from Fireflies to donate to my wife’s hospital that is running out. May order more if they are good quality. Still waiting for them to post up a video of the testing.

1865

:+1: :+1: FANTASTIC info SKV89, I haven’t read all the links yet but will be perusing them later. The contributions you and others have made to this thread should really be pinned into the OP at some point perhaps, but I understand that’s a great deal of work to collate.

It’s always good to remind ourselves that humans are excellent at looking for patterns… and finding them where none exist.

1866

That is really interesting and I hadn’t heard it before, thanks.

1867

The reality is worse than that. If that student pushed a bit further his analysis, a portion of that virus looks like coming from a banana. Digging further you’ll see trace of peanuts too. Some RNA from ants should be there too. This is why this virus can crawl into your lungs and make the victim cough and scratch, because of nuts allergy. This virus is indeed a disaster, it only has peanuts trace without accompanying gene of chocolate and milk. A weird thing like that has to be man-made in a lab.

1868

I sure hope not.

1869

Yes, when I read the ‘student’ was ‘100% sure’, I had a little chuckle. Not all students are good students. Heck, half are below average.

1870

SKV89 :+1: :+1: :+1:

Really appreciate the extensive research and considered commentary. So many plot twists are possible. It’s great when possibilities are explored without going past what the evidence supports.

In other news, is anyone else enjoying the quietness, lack of bustling traffic and crowds, and the pleasant chirping sounds of spring? There’s talk of fear and panic, but I’m really liking the calm and serenity.

1871

This global slowdown should cut our carbon emissions for the year. :+1:

1872

Thanks for reading! When I read news, I try to keep a neutral and open mind. But most importantly, I am always aware that almost all news are biased and likely propaganda. This whole COVID-19 is a disinformation war. So I try to do independent fact checks whenever time allows. With all the information I gather, I can see a bigger, more complete picture instead of simply allowing the media’s biased narratives mold my perception.

1873

I also tend to agree. It would be great to be able to look at the numbers and rates in other countries to give us an indication of what we might expect but the reality is there are too many 'local factors' that come into play.

When I look at other countries and their numbers, I also think about :

1) What level of lockdown (if any) has been adopted in that country and when did they call it

2) Community Spread - how active is it in the community,...has a cruise ship recently been allowed to offboard and passengers allowed to roam free?

1874
1875

I’ve been going for lots of late night walks and getting to enjoy the brisk air and lack of traffic sounds at night (plus getting to crank up my lights without having to watch for cars :smiley: ).

1876

I think that fits here:

1877

The World Health Organization has officially declared the coronavirus a pandemic. Coronavirus may be spreading, but it isn’t necessary to randomly hoard supplies. Here’s everything you should have in your home emergency kit in case of a possible home quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic.

1. Food

For the home quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic, you should stock up at least a 14-day supply of food for every person. Focus on dry and canned goods that are easy to prepare. Frozen foods are an option, too.

2. Hygienic products

Enough household hygienic products like soap, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, tissues, feminine care products, and diapers are necessary. According to the CDC, keeping your hands clean is one of the best ways to protect yourself from the coronavirus.

3. Medicine and a first-aid kit

Make sure you have a 14-day supply of any prescription medications for those in your home. You may also want over-the-counter pain relievers, antacids, cough and cold medicines, and vitamins. Also, you should maintain a first-aid kit with supplies to treat common injuries, including cuts, scrapes, swelling, sprains, strains and more.

4. Flashlight or emergency light and spare battery

Put a flashlight or an emergency light near your bed, workplace, and car. Make sure the flashlight or emergency light has enough electricity or can be charged in time.

5. Masks, disposable medical gloves and goggles

Masks can isolate most viruses transmitted through droplets and aerosols.
So, not only this sudden coronavirus epidemic, we might as well get into the habit of wearing a mask at certain times and occasions. In the season when the flu prevails, wearing a mask in high-density confined spaces such as public transportation is also a good precaution.
In addition, medical gloves mainly deal with contact infection, because it’s too late to wash your hands due to some sudden contact infections. Goggles can prevent virus infection from the eyes.

6. Disinfection equipment

Perhaps have some disinfection equipment, such as UV disinfection lamp or Ozone generator to keep the family safe and clean.
XTAR new product AF1 Ozone Portable Sterilizer can purify the air, sterilize and kill viruses, and protect your family’s health. The principle of ozone killing viruses is through the direct destruction of RNA or DNA. Ozone has a wide range of sterilization and sterilization, which can kill bacterial propagules and spores, viruses, fungi, etc., and can also destroy botulinum toxins.

As mentioned above, some of our family’s emergency reserves are basically on hand, and some are the most important reserves after this pandemic. Establishing a family emergency reserve is the rational and scientific progress of civilization.

1878

Thanks for your good, “free” advice Mr Xtar… and remember kids, buy our products… no shame at all.

1879

BurningPlayd0h
I noticed the same thing. I was a bit on edge and couldn’t put my finger on what was not right. I finally realized it was too quiet due to the lack of traffic. Even in this neighborhood it seemed peaceful. It reminded me of a snowy period minus the cold and snow. My roll in a wheelchair turned into a stop in a wheelchair.

1880

I just read the definition of herd immunity. The way I am understanding it is, absent a vaccine, the only other way to achieve herd immunity is if enough people get the virus and survive it. So does this mean that when the curve flattens out and people go back out, the curve with go back up? If that is the case then a vaccine is the only hope to get the economy rolling again? Hope I am wrong.