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  • The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate

    The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate

    By Reis Thebault ,
    Andrew Ba Tran and
    Vanessa Williams

    April 7 at 11:45 PM

    As the novel coronavirus sweeps across the United States, it appears to be infecting and killing black Americans at a disproportionately high rate, according to a Washington Post analysis of early data from jurisdictions across the country.

    The emerging stark racial disparity led the surgeon general Tuesday to acknowledge in personal terms the increased risk for African Americans amid growing demands that public-health officials release more data on the race of those who are sick, hospitalized and dying of a contagion that has killed more than 12,000 people in the United States.

    A Post analysis of available data and census demographics shows that counties that are majority-black have three times the rate of infections and almost six times the rate of deaths as counties where white residents are in the majority.

    African Americans by percentage of population and share of coronavirus deaths

    Only a few jurisdictions publicly report coronavirus cases and deaths by race.

    In Milwaukee County, home to Wisconsin’s largest city, African Americans account for about 70 percent of the dead but just 26 percent of the population. The disparity is similar in Louisiana, where 70 percent of the people who have died were black, although African Americans make up just 32 percent of the state’s population.

    In Michigan, where the state’s 845 reported deaths outrank all but New York’s and New Jersey’s, African Americans account for 33 percent of cases and roughly 40 percent of deaths, despite comprising only 14 percent of the population. The state does not offer a breakdown of race by county or city, but more than a quarter of deaths occurred in Detroit, where African Americans make up 79 percent of the population.

    And in Illinois, a disparity nearly identical to Michigan’s exists at the state level, but the picture becomes far starker when looking at data just from Chicago, where black residents have died at a rate six times that of white residents. Of the city’s 118 reported deaths, nearly 70 percent were black — a share 40 points greater than the percentage of African Americans living in Chicago.

    [Sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked in the newsletter are free to access.]

    County majority Counties Cases per 100k Deaths per 100k
    Asian 6 19.5 .4
    Black 131 137.5 6.3
    Hispanic 124 27.2 .6
    White 2,879 39.8 1.1
    Note: Data per 100k based on averages.
    Source: Johns Hopkins University and American Community Survey.

    President Trump publicly acknowledged for the first time the racial disparity at the White House task force briefing Tuesday.

    “We are doing everything in our power to address this challenge, and it’s a tremendous challenge,” Trump said. “It’s terrible.” He added that Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “is looking at it very strongly.”

    “Why is it three or four times more so for the black community as opposed to other people?” Trump said. “It doesn’t make sense, and I don’t like it, and we are going to have statistics over the next probably two to three days.”

    Detailed data on the race of coronavirus patients has been reported publicly in fewer than a dozen states and several more counties.

    African Americans’ higher rates of diabetes, heart disease and lung disease are well-documented, and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) noted that those health problems make people more vulnerable to the new respiratory disease. But there never has been a pandemic that brought the disparities so vividly into focus.

    The crisis is “shining a bright light on how unacceptable” those disparities are, Fauci said at the briefing. “There is nothing we can do about it right now except to try and give” African Americans “the best possible care to avoid complications.”

    “I’ve shared myself personally that I have high blood pressure,” said Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who is 45, “that I have heart disease and spent a week in the [intensive care unit] due to a heart condition, that I actually have asthma and I’m prediabetic, and so I represent that legacy of growing up poor and black in America.”

    U.S. Surgeon General: ‘I and many black Americans are at higher risk for covid’
    0:48
    On April 7, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, discussed the lack of health equity when it comes to the impact covid-19 may have on African Americans. (Reuters)

    Adams added, “It breaks my heart” to hear about higher covid-19 death rates in the black community, emphasizing that recommendations to stay at home to slow the spread are for everyone to follow.

    On Monday, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and hundreds of doctors joined a group of Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), in demanding that the federal government release daily race and ethnicity data on coronavirus testing, patients and their health outcomes.

    To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has only released figures by age and gender.

    [Covid-19 is ravaging black communities. A Milwaukee neighborhood is figuring out how to fight back.]

    Legislators, civic advocates and medical professionals say the information is needed to ensure that African Americans and other people of color have equal access to testing and treatment, and also to help to develop a public-health strategy to protect those who are more vulnerable.

    In its letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the Lawyers’ Committee said the Trump administration’s “alarming lack of transparency and data is preventing public health officials from understanding the full impact of this pandemic on Black communities and other communities of color.”

    As pressure mounted, a CDC spokesman said Tuesday that the agency plans to include covid-19 hospitalizations by race and ethnicity in its next Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, more than six weeks after the first American died of the disease.

    Health departments nationwide report coronavirus cases to the CDC using a standardized form that asks for a range of demographic information, including race and ethnicity. However, fields are often left blank and those local agencies are “under a tremendous amount of strain to collect and report case information,” said Scott Pauley, a CDC spokesman.

    As the disease has spread in the United States, information on age, gender and county of residence also has been reported inconsistently and sporadically.

    In some regions, lawmakers are pushing to fill the data gap on their own. Virginia reports the racial breakdown of its cases but not of its deaths. In neighboring Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Tuesday the state would begin to release data about race, a day after more than 80 members of the House of Delegates sent him a letter asking for the information.

    Del. Nick Mosby, a Democrat who represents Baltimore, has pushed for the data for weeks after he started hearing from friends, colleagues and his Omega Psi Phi fraternity brothers about black men who were infected or were dying of covid-19.

    “It was kind of frightening,” Mosby said. “I started receiving calls about people I knew personally.”

    In Washington, D.C., this week, district officials released race data for the first time, showing that the disease has killed African Americans in disproportionately high numbers. Nearly 60 percent of the District’s 22 fatalities were black, but African Americans make up about 46 percent of the city’s population.

    Like many other jurisdictions, the District’s health officials don’t know the race of many people who have tested positive. In an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said that the city lacked race data on half of all positive cases but that the existing data was enough for her to be “very fearful of the impact that this virus is going to have disproportionately on African Americans in our country.”

    “We know that underlying conditions, like hypertension and diabetes and heart disease, this virus is particularly hard on,” Bowser said. “And we know that African Americans are living with those underlying conditions every day, probably in larger proportions than most of our fellow Americans.”

    Although the disparities have garnered national attention in recent days, some predominantly black communities have been rocked by the outbreak for the past several weeks — and not just in the nation’s urban cities.

    Dougherty County and the city of Albany, in rural southwest Georgia, have recorded the highest number of deaths in Georgia. Dougherty, with a population of 90,000, had 973 positive cases and 56 deaths as of Tuesday.

    By contrast, Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and has a population of more than 1 million, had 1,185 cases and 39 deaths. Black residents make up 70 percent of Dougherty’s population and more than 90 percent of coronavirus deaths, said county coroner Michel Fowler.

    “Historically, when America catches a cold, black America catches pneumonia,” Albany City Commissioner Demetrius Young said last week.

    Elected officials and public-health experts have pointed to generations of discrimination and distrust between black communities and the health-care system. African Americans are also more likely to be uninsured and live in communities with inadequate health-care facilities.

    As a result, African Americans have historically been disproportionately diagnosed with chronic diseases such as asthma, hypertension and diabetes — underlying conditions that experts say make covid-19 more lethal.

    Critics of the public-health response have cited confusing messaging about how the virus is transmitted, such as an early emphasis on overseas travel, and have noted that some public officials were slow to issue stay-at-home directives to encourage social distancing.

    Even then, some activists argued, black people might have been more exposed because many held low-wage or essential jobs, such as food service, public transit and health care, that required them to continue to interact with the public.

    “This outbreak is exposing the deep structural inequities that make communities pushed to the margins more vulnerable to health crises in good times and in bad,” Dorianne Mason, the director of health equity at the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement. “These structural inequities in our health care system do not ignore racial and gender disparities — and neither should our response to this pandemic.”

    David Montgomery, Ovetta Wiggins, Samantha Pell and Darran Simon contributed to this report.

  • 3 Countries That Managed to Curb COVID-19 So Far

    3 Countries That Managed to Curb COVID-19 So Far

    By: Natalia Jones
     
    The world is engulfed by the Coronavirus Pandemic – all continents are affected and over 1.27 million cases of the disease and nearly 70,000 deaths have been reported as of April 6, 2020. And while it may seem to many that the situation is hopeless and the spread of the disease is out of control, it’s not entirely so if we look at the situation globally. The way the countries we’re about to discuss are handling the crisis, for example, proves that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that the harsh quarantines, the closed borders, and movement restrictions are effective when done right. These three exemplary countries make us hopeful for the future.

    Taiwan

    The country with the promptest and most successful response to the Novel Coronavirus thread is Taiwan. As of April 6, 2020, there are only 365 cases and 5 COVID-19-related deaths in the country, and this unprecedented success in fighting the SARS-CoV-2 virus is hardly coincidental.
    Due to the country’s proximity to China, Taiwan was severely affected by the 2003 SARS epidemic, which also originated in China and spread like wildfire in Taiwan, killing 71 people (making up nearly 10% of the global SARS fatalities). To prevent this from ever happening again, the government of Taiwan created a special epidemiological commission called the Central Epidemic Command Centers, the function of which was to track and deal with any new outbreaks, especially those coming from China. So, the country was pretty much ready for COVID-19, and the first actions towards limiting the outbreak in the country started in January.
    The country’s first actions were to restrict entrance to arrivals from Hong Kong and mandate strict 14-day self-quarantine measures to anyone arriving from China. These restrictions seemed excessive at first, but the recent reports suggesting that China may have been downplaying the magnitude of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak put Taiwan’s unusually quick response in perspective. With the spread of the virus, mask-wearing in public spaces was enforced, mass testing was conducted and televised daily briefings by the minister of health Chen Shih-Chung took place and helped raise morale and cooperation in the public. Other information systems were available to the public to ensure prompt diagnosis and quarantine measures.
    The combination of all these early measures managed to limit the spread of the disease throughout Taiwan dramatically despite the shared border with China and helped prevent the SARS 2003 scenario from repeating itself.
    Related Article: 7 Healthy Ways to Cope with Coronavirus Anxiety

    Germany

    The percentage of coronavirus-related deaths in Germany is paradoxically low, only 1.4% compared to at least 10% in surrounding countries like the UK, Spain, and France. Even though there are over 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Germany today, the healthcare system is managing to support those affected by the disease. Health officials in the country explain that a combination of fortunate events, mass testing, an abundance of hospital beds, ventilators and other equipment, as well as the country’s quick and organized reaction to the developing crisis, may account for the low death rates.
    “The first people that got infected in Germany tended to be younger than the average of the population … so we were hit later and with younger patients initially,” said Karl Lauterbach, a professor of health economics and epidemiology at the University of Cologne, in an interview with CNBC. This delay gave health officials the possibility to observe the development of the disease in younger patients, and they found that there is a “tipping point” at around a week after exhibiting the first symptoms of the disease. Patients with a risk of their lungs failing will typically start to deteriorate at around this time, and tracking the progress of these patients greatly helped to reduce the severity of many cases.
    Mass testing is another overarching difference in Germany, with around 350,000 coronavirus tests being conducted every week, which is the largest number of tests in any European country. The tests are conducted whether or not a person is exhibiting any symptoms, too, which helped curb the spread of the disease, as even many asymptomatic patients were sent into quarantine.
    Apart from reducing the number of fatalities, it seems like Germany’s Coronavirus strategy seems to also work at reducing the number of new patients, as in the past four days, the number of new COVID-19 cases has also started to decline.
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    South Korea

    The response of the public to the governmental restrictions imposed during this time is just as crucial as the restrictions themselves, and in all three countries we’ve discussed here, the public eagerly followed the lead of the government. In this respect, South Korea is definitely the prime example, as the country proved that a prompt response of the public can help flatten the curve without shutting down the economy.
    Like Germany, South Korea has a very low death rate compared to other countries – only 1.4%, with only 186 reported deaths from a total of 10,284 known cases of COVID-19. The first cases of the disease were recorded in January, and only a few weeks later, affordable tests became available throughout the country’s pharmacies, and in less than 3 weeks, 46,127 patients were tested.
    All in all, the government’s response included the usual steps we also observed in other countries – mass testing, tracking, and treating severe patients, but it was the mobilization of the public and their initiative to cooperate voluntarily that helped reduce the spread of the Coronavirus in the country. In fact, people started practicing social distancing and wore masks even before it was required by the government.
    One more difference in the way South Korea reacted to the pandemic is the development of publicly available data collections and GPS-tracking of patients. In fact, there are several apps available in the country that the patients’ anonymous location. “One such app — called the “Corona 100m” — alerted users when they came within 100 meters of the recent whereabouts of a coronavirus patient,” says The Diplomat.
    Like it is the case with Taiwan, this openness about the location of patients is influenced by previous negative experiences, namely that of the 2015 MERS epidemic that caused mass panic. The government learned from its mistake, and the reaction to the open and democratic approach it exercised this time around is widespread cooperation, which ended up being the defining feature of South Korea’s success at managing the current pandemic.
  • Lessons from Taiwan, Canada, South Korea, Georgia, and Iceland show that the coronavirus can be stopped.

    Lessons from Taiwan, Canada, South Korea, Georgia, and Iceland show that the coronavirus can be stopped.

    The Countries That Are Succeeding at Flattening the Curve

    Lessons from Taiwan, Canada, South Korea, Georgia, and Iceland show that the coronavirus can be stopped.

    By Audrey Wilson

    |

    Jon Benedict for Foreign Policy/Getty Images

    The United States is now an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with epidemiological models publicized on Tuesday suggesting the disease could infect millions of Americans in the coming months, killing between 100,000 and 240,000. Hospitals in the state of New York, where there are more than 75,000 confirmed cases, are already overwhelmed and experiencing shortages of critical medical equipment such as ventilators and protective gear. The grim projections indicate that the virus has not reached its peak and that the situation will get worse.

    Amid the pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders have faced criticism for their slow and ineffective response since it became clear that the coronavirus would not be contained to China, where it originated. Other countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea have been heralded as relative success stories for flattening the curve before infection rates soared exponentially. As countries brace for a monthslong crisis, we’ve collected our top reads and interviews from recent weeks on how governments and citizens around the world have responded to the threat of COVID-19 so far.

    Taiwan recorded its first case of the coronavirus on Jan. 21, but it has managed to keep its number of confirmed cases to just 329 with five deaths as of April 1. The country is effectively locked out of the World Health Organization (WHO), since membership is usually only accorded to countries that are members of the United Nations, which does not recognize Taiwan. But as Hilton Yip wrote on March 16, the government sprang into action as soon as news broke about a mysterious illness in Wuhan. Taiwan, which sits just 100 miles from mainland China, began inspecting travelers coming from the city on Dec. 31, set up a system to track those in self-quarantine, and ramped up production of medical equipment in January. (Taiwan has not yet resumed exports of the supplies, including surgical face masks.)

    Yip attributed Taiwan’s early and effective response to past experience. “Given that Taiwan has faced everything from its giant neighbor—the spreading of fake news, military threats, the withholding of vital medical information during the SARS outbreak in 2003—the country knows it must be on its fullest guard whenever any major problem emerges in China,” he wrote.

    [Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it’s affecting countries around the world.]

    South Korea, which had one of the largest initial outbreaks outside China, also managed to slow the spread of new coronavirus cases without instituting any lockdowns. Devi Sridhar argued on March 23 that the country’s exemplary model for mass diagnostic testing was the only way to contain the outbreak—and that other countries should look to East Asia for lessons. South Korea, which has a population of 51 million, tests more than 20,000 people daily at designated testing sites and uses isolation and widespread contact tracing to break chains of transmission—as recommended by WHO. “South Korea is showing how this model ultimately pays off in reducing spread, taking pressure off health services, and keeping its death rate one of the lowest in the world,” Sridhar wrote. 

    In the West, Canada managed to roll out more expansive testing than the neighboring United States, as Justin Ling wrote on March 13. In January and February, Canada began setting up the infrastructure to conduct tests and contact tracing. The early response in part came from the country’s experience during the SARS outbreak in 2003. (Then, Canada was the only country outside Asia to report deaths from the virus.) Canada has a well-funded public health care system, and its criteria for who can be tested for COVID-19 is not as limited as in the United States. “Canada has spent the past two decades preparing for this moment,” Ling wrote. “By catching cases early, and investigating their origins, Canada has blunted the impact of the virus thus far.”

     

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    Some success stories are unexpected. On the Don’t Touch Your Face podcast, Foreign Policy’s Amy Mackinnon singled out the early response of the country of Georgia. Despite its small size and struggling economy, the country began taking serious measures at the end of February, including closing schools and conducting widespread diagnostic tests. Georgia has so far confirmed 117 cases and no deaths from COVID-19. “I think the fact that the government took it seriously from the very start has helped,” the Georgian journalist Natalia Antelava told Mackinnon. So has Georgia’s mindset. “This is a country that is used to crisis, and it is a country that has lived through civil wars and the Russian invasion in 2008 and a very dark period through the ’90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Antelava said.

    Mackinnon also interviewed Jelena Ciric, a journalist in Iceland, which has one of the highest per capita rates of confirmed coronavirus cases. That’s because it has also tested more people per capita than anywhere else in the world—an effort led by a private medical research company based in Reykjavik. The research will be used to inform the global response to the pandemic. “What that gives us in Iceland is somewhat of a clearer picture of how the virus is spreading through the general population,” Ciric said. “Our growth has not actually become exponential due to these early measures of quarantining people who have likely been exposed to the virus.”

    Keep your eye on the ball.

    Sign up for Foreign Policy’s latest pop-up newsletter, While You Weren’t Looking, for a weekly update on the world beyond the coronavirus pandemic. Delivered Friday

    Elsewhere, citizens are not so trusting of their governments’ expertise. In Russia, daily life continued as normal until mid-March, when medical experts began questioning official statistics showing a low rate of COVID-19 infection. The government moved quickly to close the borders and announce a large economic stimulus plan, wrote Foreign Policy’s Reid Standish, reporting from Moscow. “Should the true scope of the virus prove to be higher than shown in official statistics, it would mean that the Russian government has missed its chance to slow the pandemic,” he wrote. Two weeks later, it appears that the coronavirus could present a serious political challenge for President Vladimir Putin, as Standish reported on March 30.

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    There is also significant doubt about the statistics in Iran, which officially reports 47,593 coronavirus cases and 3,036 deaths as of April 1. The real figures are almost certainly much higher—making Iran a coronavirus epicenter, Maysam Behravesh argues. As cases climbed in China in January, Iranian officials didn’t restrict travel between the countries and apparently delayed announcing an outbreak in the religious city of Qom until after the first COVID-19 deaths. Many high-ranking figures have since died from the virus. Behravesh attributes Iran’s failed response in part to misunderstanding.

    “Iran’s general neglect of the colossal public health threat posed by the coronavirus also emanates from its fundamental unfamiliarity with the nature of such a peril,” he writes. “After all, the virus isn’t a domestic revolt or foreign intervention aimed at regime change, but a creeping, invisible menace against the whole society that requires a science-centered response.”

    Audrey Wilson is an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @audreybwilson

  • China to lift lockdown on city of Wuhan two months after coronavirus outbreak

    China to lift lockdown on city of Wuhan two months after coronavirus outbreak

    By Jessica Schladebeck
    New York Daily News
    Mar 24, 2020 8:08 AM

    The millions of Chinese residents on lockdown in Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged before it spread across the globe, will soon be able to resume travel after months of tight restrictions imposed in an effort to curb the outbreak.

    Chinese authorities on Tuesday announced citizens with a clean bill of health will be allowed to leave the city starting on April 8, months after the virus emptied streets and forced residents inside their homes. Similar measures are also slated to be lifted at midnight on Wednesday for other cities in the Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital.

    People were banned from both entering and leaving the city of Wuhan starting on Jan. 23 — a surprise emergency order that was quickly extended to cover all 58 million residents across the province. Train services and flights were canceled and schools were closed down indefinitely, leaving the region, typically bubbling with activity for the Chinese New Year, uncharacteristically quiet.

    The announcement from Chinese authorities on Tuesday is the latest sign that the tight restrictions have been a factor in the successful slowing of the virus. In Hubei, new cases have dropped to zero for five consecutive days — down from the thousands of daily new cases coming in at the epidemic’s peak in February.

    The province on Tuesday also announced just one new case in Wuhan in a doctor at Hubei General Hospital.

    China’s National Health Commission additionally reported 78 new coronavirus cases, among which 74 were imported. The number highlights officials’ need to shift focus to those bringing in the virus from overseas.

    Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities have ordered mandatory 14-day quarantines for all returnees as part of further efforts to contain the sickness.

    Since the virus first emerged in late December, it has killed more than 2,500 people in the city Wuhan. The grim figure makes up nearly 80% of the nationwide total, which currently stands at more than 3,200.

    In China alone, there have been more than 81,000 cases of the potentially deadly disease with more than 73,000 recovered so far.

    [More on Coronavirus] National parks struggle to keep crowds away as coronavirus spreads

    The spread of the novel coronavirus has also prompted similar lockdowns in other nations also hoping to curb the pandemic, which has killed 17,000 people all over the world. Countries like the United States and Italy have issued stay-at-home orders and shut down cities indefinitely as they struggle to contain the disease.

    Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 392,000 people.

    With News Wire Services

    Latest coronavirus updates: Click here for our roundup of the most important developments from NYC and around the world.

  • KORONO VIRUS BILINMIYENLER – PERDE ARKASI YAYINLAR

    KORONO VIRUS BILINMIYENLER – PERDE ARKASI YAYINLAR

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    12,184 views

    Faheem Younus, MD

    So I’m hearing many myths about #COVID-19 and would like to quickly clear the record.

    Coronavirus will go away in Sumer months.

    Wrong. Previous pandemics didn’t follow weather patterns plus as we enter summer, there will be winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Virus is global.

    Myth #2: In summer, the virus will spread more due to mosquito bites.

    Wrong. This infection is spread via respiratory droplets, not blood. Mosquitos don’t increase spread.

    Myth #3: If you can hold your breath for ten seconds without discomfort, you don’t have COVID.

    Wrong: Most young patients with Coronavirus will be able to hold their breaths for much longer than 10 seconds. And many elderly without the virus won’t be able to do it.

    Myth #4: Since COVID testing is unavailable, we should donate blood. The blood bank will test for it.

    No blood bank is testing for Coronavirus so this attempt will fail. Blood donation is a sacred exercise; let’s make sure we are motivated by the right reasons.

    Myth #5: Coronavirus lives in the throat. So drink lots of water so the virus is pushed into the stomach where the acid will kill it.

    Virus may gain entry via throat but it penetrates into the host cells. You can’t wash it away. Excessive water will make you run to the toilet.

    Myth #6: All this social distancing is an over reaction. You’ll see that the virus won’t cause much damage.

    If we don’t see many infections (I hope) it actually will prove that social distancing worked. Not that the virus was never a big deal.

    Myth #7: Car accidents kill 30,000 people annually. What’s the big deal with COVID-19?

    Car accident are not contagious, their fatalities don’t double every three days, they don’t cause mass panic or a market crash.

    Myth #8: Hand sanitizers are better than soap and water.

    Wrong. Soap and water actually kills and washes away the virus from skin (it can not penetrate our skin cells) plus it also cleans visible soiling if hands. Don’t worry if Purrell was sold out at your supermarket.

    Myth #9: One of the best strategies to prevent COVID-19 is to clean every door knob in your home with disinfectants.

    Wrong. Hand washing/maintaining 6ft distance is best practice. Unless you’re caring for a COVID patient at home, your home surfaces should not be a big risk.

    Myth #10: COVID-19 was deliberately spread by (depending upon your politics) the American or Chinese military.

    Really???

    That’s it folks. Be well. Be kind. Have faith. See you on the other side. This too shall pass.
    <><><><><><><><><>><><><><><><><><><><><
    This is how life has changed in Russia…
    No tourists, closed museums and theaters, long lines for buckwheat… Sounds really sad! Read what is going on in Moscow in the times of the coronavirus outbreak.

    Did you know that humor strengthens the immune system? Check out Russian memes about the current situation.

    Even if you don’t follow or care about the Eurovision contest, don’t miss this year’s Russian entry: hit band Little Big! Their ‘UNO’ video has won the hearts of millions of people across the globe. Try to repeat their dance – and join the online flashmob!

     
  • February, The Japanese News : The Coronavirus Originated in The US

    February, The Japanese News : The Coronavirus Originated in The US

    …………“it appears that the virus did not originate in China ….

    ……..Trump’s “Made in China” coronavirus label almost immediately as of early February triggered a campaign against ethnic Chinese throughout the Western World……….\,.,.,.,

    ……In February, the Japanese Asahi news report (print and TV) claimed the coronavirus originated in the US, not in China, and that some (or many) of the 14,000 American deaths attributed to influenza may have in fact have resulted from the coronavirus………….

    ….US Army that brought epidemic to Wuhan………

    ……….coinciding with the coronavirus lockdown in Italy, 30,000 US troops have been dispatched to the EU, under US-NATO’s  “Defend Europe 2020” war games against Russia, in the largest military deployment since World War II. “Could the Defender become the Invader…?”…………………..

    ……..While the “Made in China” coronavirus label served as a pretext, the unspoken objective was to bring the Chinese economy to its knees………..

    …………………….It was an act of “economic warfare”, which has contributed to undermining both China’s  economy as well as that of  most Western countries (allies of the US), leading to a wave of bankruptcies, not to mention unemployment, collapse of the tourist industry,  etc……….

     

    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>><><><><><>

    Coronavirus COVID-19: “Made in China” or “Made in America”?

    By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
    Global Research, March 14, 2020
    Region: Asia, USA
    Theme: Global Economy, Intelligence, Media Disinformation, Police State & Civil Rights
    Screenshot 2020 03 11 at 09.39.38

    Trump contends that the coronavirus was “Made in China”.  And that China threatens America.

    The president of the US wants Americans to believe that the coronavirus pandemic carries the “Made in China” label.

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refers to it as the “Wuhan coronavirus.” 

    “The Big Lie” started on January 30th when the WHO Director General pressured by powerful US economic interests declared a global public health emergency with only 150 “confirmed cases” (by the WHO) outside China with only six cases in the USA. And it was called a pandemic. 

    “Fake media” immediately went into high gear. China was held responsible for “spreading infection” Worldwide.

    On the following day (January 31, 2020), Trump announced that he would deny entry to the US of both Chinese and foreign nationals “who have traveled in China in the last 14 days”. This immediately triggered a crisis in air travel,  transportation, US-China business relations as well as freight and shipping transactions.

    While the “Made in China” coronavirus label served as a pretext, the unspoken objective was to bring the Chinese economy to its knees.

    It was an act of “economic warfare”, which has contributed to undermining both China’s  economy as well as that of  most Western countries (allies of the US), leading to a wave of bankruptcies, not to mention unemployment, collapse of the tourist industry,  etc.

    Moreover, Trump’s “Made in China” coronavirus label almost immediately as of early February triggered a campaign against ethnic Chinese throughout the Western World.

    Stage 2.0: “Infections Transmitted by Europeans”? 

    On March 11, a new phase was launched. The Trump administration imposed a 30-day ban on Europeans entering the United States through the suspension of air-travel with the EU (with the exception of Britain).

    America is now waging its “economic  war” against Western Europe, while using COVID-19 as a justification.

    European governments have been co-opted. In Italy a lockdown prevails, ordered by the Prime Minister, large cities in Northern Italy including Milano and Torino have literally closed down.

    Confusion, Fear and intimidation prevail.

    It’s “Damage Made in America”.

    Late February: Financial manipulation characterizes stock market transactions Worldwide.

    The stock value of airlines companies collapses overnight. Those who had  “foreknowledge” of Trump’s March 11 decision to ban transatlantic flights from EU countries made a bundle of money. It’s called “short-selling” in the derivative market among other speculative ops. Institutional speculators including hedge funds with “inside info” had already placed their bets.

    More generally, a massive transfer of money wealth has occurred, among the largest in World history, leading to countless bankruptcies, not to mention the loss of lifelong savings engineered through the collapse of financial markets.

    This process is ongoing. It would be naive to believe that these occurrences are spontaneous, based on market forces. They are deliberate. They are part of a carefully designed plan involving powerful financial interests.

    COVID-19: “Made in China” or “Made in America”? 

    And now a new bombshell has emerged: The White House rhetoric of accusing China of spreading the “Wuhan virus” Worldwide has been refuted by both Japanese and Chinese reports. Scientific analysis revealed by Larry Romanoff  suggests that the virus was “Made in America”:

    “it appears that the virus did not originate in China and, according to reports in Japanese and other media, may have originated in the US.  …

    In February, the Japanese Asahi news report (print and TV) claimed the coronavirus originated in the US, not in China, and that some (or many) of the 14,000 American deaths attributed to influenza may have in fact have resulted from the coronavirus.

    Screen Shot 2020 03 02 at 14.09.46

    And on March 12, in a statement to the US Congress (House Oversight Committee), CDC Director Robert Redfield unwittingly “spilled the beans”. He candidly admitted, yes, some cases diagnosed as seasonal flu could have been coronavirus.

    When did this occur? In October, November? What is the chronology.  It is worth noting that Redfield’s statement is corroborated by both Japanese and Taiwanese virologists.  Two countries which are staunch allies of the USA.

    It is worth noting that the Taiwan virologist (referred to above)

    “stated that the US has recently [?] had more than 200 “pulmonary fibrosis” cases that resulted in death due to patients’ inability to breathe, … He said he .. informed the US health authorities to consider seriously those deaths as resulting from the coronavirus, … [He] then stated the virus outbreak may have begun earlier than assumed, suggesting  “We must look to September of 2019”. (quoted in Larry Romanoff, op cit)

    China’s Foreign Ministry has reacted to CDC Robert Redfield’s statements intimating that the virus could have originated in the US.

    “When Did “Patient Zero” Begin in the US?” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian.

    Of course “WHEN” is the fundamental question.

    “How many people are infected, what are the names of the hospitals, It might be US Army that brought epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent, US owe us an explanation”

    See below

    China Foreign Ministry COVID 19

    The World is at the Crossroads of the Most Serious Social and Economic Crisis in Modern History

    People Worldwide are being misled. They are told: “It’s going to get worse”. Angela Merkel has stated without a shred of evidence that “70% of the German population could contract coronavirus if more isn’t done to stop its spread.”

    In several countries, the economy has closed down. Supermarkets, shopping malls, offices, factories, schools, universities are at a standstill. People are confined to their homes. Fear and intimidation prevail.

    In the meantime, coinciding with the coronavirus lockdown in Italy, 30,000 US troops have been dispatched to the EU, under US-NATO’s  “Defend Europe 2020” war games against Russia, in the largest military deployment since World War II. “Could the Defender become the Invader…?”

    Let’s be clear: The coronavirus pandemic is not the “cause” of this unfolding economic and social crisis. It is the “pretext” for the implementation of a carefully designed “operation” (supported by media disinformation) which destabilizes national economies, impoverishes large sectors of the World population and literally undermines the lives of millions of people. What we are dealing with is “An Act of War”.

    While COVID-19 is an important Public Health concern, the lockdown coupled with an ongoing fear campaign does not constitute an effective means to combating the virus, i.e. by providing target medical assistance and health services to those affected.

    For further details see:

    COVID-19 Coronavirus “Fake” Pandemic: Timeline and Analysis 

    By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, March 08, 2020

    What Happens Next: The Potential Impacts of a Continued Freeze of US Trade with China

    The geopolitics are complex. How will economic events unfold? We will essentially focus briefly on US-China relations.

    Those who formulated America’s “undeclared economic war” against China, failed to envisage the potential backlash on the US economy.

    Screen Shot 2020 03 13 at 20.16.27It’s an “Economic Harakiri” i.e. “Suicide American Style”

    In a matter of  months, if normal US-China trade relations and transportation are not resumed, the impacts on the national economies of Western countries could be devastating.

    A large share of goods displayed in America’s shopping malls, including major brands are  “Made in China”.

    “Made in China” is the backbone of retail trade in the USA which indelibly sustains household consumption in virtually all major commodity categories from clothing, footwear, hardware, electronics, toys, jewellery, household fixtures, medical supplies, medicine and prescription drugs,,  TV sets, cell phones, etc.

    “Made in China” also dominates the production of a wide range of industrial inputs, advanced technology, machinery, building materials, automotive, parts and accessories, etc. not to mention the extensive sub-contracting of Chinese companies on behalf of US conglomerates.

    While the US has a powerful and sophisticated financial apparatus (which has the ability to manipulate trade and stock markets Worldwide), America’s Real Economy is in a shambles.

    Production does not take place in the USA. The producers have given up production.

    The US trade deficit with China is instrumental in fuelling the profit driven consumer economy which relies on “Made in China” consumer goods. Meanwhile China holds a large part of the US public debt which they can readily convert into real assets overnight.

    www.Made-In-China.com

    At this juncture of the coronavirus crisis, Beijing policy makers are fully aware that the US economy is fragile and heavily dependent on “Made in China”.  Moreover, China has overtaken the US in several high tech areas including 5G.

    And with an internal market of 1.4 billion people, coupled with a global export market under the “Belt and Road” initiative, the Chinese economy will have the upper hand.

    The original source of this article is Global Research
    Copyright © Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2020
    Articles by:Prof Michel Chossudovsky

    About the author:

    Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research.  He has taught as visiting professor in Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Latin America. He has served as economic adviser to governments of developing countries and has acted as a consultant for several international organizations. He is the author of eleven books including The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003), America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005), The Global Economic Crisis, The Great Depression of the Twenty-first Century (2009) (Editor), Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War (2011), The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity (2015). He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.  His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO’s war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at crgeditor@yahoo.com