In case you missed it, yesterday, Federal Agents arrested Dr. Charles Lieber, chair of Harvard University's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, with lying to the Department of Defense about secret monthly payments of $50,000.00 paid by China and receipt of millions more to help set up a chemical/biological “Research” laboratory in China.

Also arrested were two Chinese “Students” working as research assistants, one of whom was actually a lieutenant in the Chinese Army, the other captured at Logan Airport as he tried to catch a flight to China - smuggling 21 vials of “Sensitive Biological Samples” according to the FBI.

Oh, almost forgot. The research lab the good professor had helped set up? It’s located at the Wuhan University of Technology. Wuhan China is ground zero to the potentially global pandemic known as the “Coronavirus”which is both spreading rapidly and killing people.

This is Stephen Coonts international spy novel stuff happening in real life - and it has barely made the news.

^^^ Previous page

As if the coronavirus wasn’t bad enough, a new outbreak of bird flu (H5N1) is emerging to add to their problems. Bird flu would be very bad if it makes the species jump as it is highly contagious and potentially deadly with around a 60% mortality rate. Luckily, it doesn’t make that jump often but it isn’t what China needs right now.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/w...-highly-2020-2%3famp

Holy Flying Corona Batman

I was just in Boston yesterday attending my daughters audition at Boston University and woke up this morning to a report of a case of coronavirus there.

On a side note, I own a pest control business and routinely order dust masks and respirators for my employees. Went to place an order today and found that supplies are low and the prices went up. Won't be surprised if supplies dry up in the short term. We have seen this type of behavior before.

“It can spread person to person, even if someone is showing no symptoms. The next in line can continue to pass it on. The incubation period is so long that people may not know where or when they picked it up.

Details that emerged last week about the new virus from China show how challenging it could be to control this outbreak, health experts say.

At first, some were relieved that the virus hasn’t proved fatal as often as those that caused SARS, Ebola or some other recent menaces. Now there’s worry that it still might cause a lot of deaths if it spreads far more than those other viruses did.

“The level of concern has been growing” with the new revelations about viral spread, said Marc Lipsitch of Harvard’s School of Public Health…”

https://apnews.com/910032f504fd6931ec1750939c4e862d

I'm going to wait this out at the bottom on my pool. 15,000 gallons of chlorinated water will keep me safe, right?

Another interesting nugget of information- the Chinese were aware of the virus as far back as early December, but sat on it for political reasons.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/...r-BBZyiSz?ocid=ientp

One of the best synopsis of how this shit got started in the first place...




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/DM_hRWVNcMk

The Chinese have quarantined over 50 million in China but criticize the US for putting a travel ban in place for people coming from China... hmm, what’s wrong with this picture? Does this seem, I don’t know, like they’re TRYING to spread it to us or do I need to go out and pick up more heavy duty Reynolds wrap?

Maybe BS- not sure of the website but there is supposedly a successful treatment. Who knows if the patient would’ve been ok without it but I figured you guys would like to see it.

http://sabahdai.ly/mn4e30

Well that's really gross, I assume that this is not the only method. If so great news, wash your hands and don't eat out and you're safe.
Coronavirus may transmit through digestive tract, report finds

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
The Chinese have quarantined over 50 million in China but criticize the US for putting a travel ban in place for people coming from China... hmm, what’s wrong with this picture? Does this seem, I don’t know, like they’re TRYING to spread it to us or do I need to go out and pick up more heavy duty Reynolds wrap?

They may not be TRYING to spread it but they are hypocritical. The death totals aren't all that significant (at least not yet) but this thing is doing major damage to their economy.

The big question I have is whether or not this was an engineered bio-weapon that got loose.

quote:

Well that's really gross, I assume that this is not the only method. If so great news, wash your hands and don't eat out and you're safe.

We have far better hygiene in the US so I'm not particularly worried about it getting out of control here.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
The big question I have is whether or not this was an engineered bio-weapon that got loose.

A highly contagious two week incubation period makes one wonder, however, any ideas of a bio-weapon thoughts I think are just a WAG.

quote:

quote:

Well that's really gross, I assume that this is not the only method. If so great news, wash your hands and don't eat out and you're safe.

We have far better hygiene in the US so I'm not particularly worried about it getting out of control here.

Basic hygiene both personal and commercial are issues, contrast it to places in Taiwan, Singapore, even Hong Kong, there's a difference. Open markets don't have their meats separated so, you'll see pork, poultry and seafood co-mingled. In general, inconsistent and poor hand washing, open mouth coughing/sneezing are routine, mucous spitting and children defecating in the open aren't uncommon. Garbage disposal is also an issue, as the public will dump anything and everything into the street sewer systems. These issue are more pronounced as you distance yourself from urban, metro areas. Like most things in China, enforcement is a sliding scale, it all depends on who you are (political connections, foreigner), and your status (wealth, social record).

My parents visited a cemetery in Nanjing where there's over 2000 Americans buried there, many associated with the Flying Tigers. In the park adjacent, families picnicked all around, they noticed a couple of parents, taking their kids behind a bush or up against a tree to relieve themselves..in a park, in public.

I fully agree that the atrocious hygiene habits of the Chinese are probably allowing it to spread there.

quote:

Originally posted by BigNC:
Maybe BS- not sure of the website but there is supposedly a successful treatment. Who knows if the patient would’ve been ok without it but I figured you guys would like to see it.

http://sabahdai.ly/mn4e30

This report plus the amino acid sequencing reported earlier (now the paper has been withdrawn for "revision") leads me to believe that the genome of this virus has been purposely altered for reasons known only to the researchers. Bio-weapon or research tool? No one knows. (This was an area related to my doctoral research.)

Now this is purely conjecture on my part based upon what can be described as anecdotal evidence, but coupled with the Harvard professor's arrest for essentially espionage, I believe China is getting what it richly deserves.

Our task is keeping it from getting a foothold here.

RMD

China is grade A fucked at this point. This monster will destroy their economy and probably start huge civil unrest pretty soon when the food runs out. Most experts believe that they are under reporting cases ten or twenty fold. So 400 “reported” deaths is likely 4,000 to 8,000 at this point REAL cases. They are WAY under reporting. Many are not being diagnosed due to lack of test kits and are just dying of “common pneumonia” according to the Chinese and thus not getting counted.

Several highly educated epidemiologist think it’s too late to stop and this thing is going world wide... with drastic consequences. We will know in the next few weeks.

Some of the post early in this thread just scream “normalcy bias” which is unfortunate. (SARS, MERS, and Ebola didn’t amount to anything so this will be the same.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias

quote:

Several highly educated epidemiologist think it’s too late to stop and this thing is going world wide... with drastic consequences. We will know in the next few weeks.

I think you're right about the impact on China.
They are covering up the extent of this.

But outside of China, so far, it has only resulted in one death.

I watched a presentation this morning via Webex on the Corona Virus given by our head of infectious diseases, and also a WHO physician.

He didn't think that the mortality rate for this virus was going to be any worse than that of the flu in the US. 99% of the deaths have occurred in China. He expects much worse in Africa and the Middle East.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
Some of the post early in this thread just scream “normalcy bias” which is unfortunate. (SARS, MERS, and Ebola didn’t amount to anything so this will be the same.)

Normalcy bias is normally (almost always) right.
Panicky bias is normally (almost always) wrong.
I'd rather be right 99% of the time than wrong 99% of the time.

That said, over 99.9% of the time, I don't get into a traffic accident when I drive. But I still wear a seat-belt. There is no harm in a little preparation for a Black Swan. Just don't go overboard.