Remember the H1N1 Swine flu back in 2009? There were something like 1000 deaths before Obama, who waited 6 months, did anything at all! 22 Million Cases of Swine Flu in U.S. Nov. 12, 2009 -- H1N1 swine flu has killed more than 4,000 Americans -- perhaps as many as 6,000, the CDC now estimates. Shockingly, 14 million to 34 million U.S. residents -- the CDC's best guess is 22 million -- came down with H1N1 swine flu by Oct. 17, the six-month anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic. There were about 98,000 hospitalizations (estimates range from 63,000 to 153,000). In the four weeks since Oct. 17, H1N1 swine flu has been widespread across the nation. That means the new estimates, which greatly increase previous counts, will have risen sharply. "We do think we are having a substantial number of deaths," CDC immunizationand respiratory disease chief Anne Schuchat, MD, said at a news conference. "The numbers are only through Oct. 17, and we have seen a lot of deaths since then. Unfortunately, we will see more. ... I do believe the pediatric death toll will be extensive and much more than we have seen with seasonal flu." How much the numbers have gone up will only be known when CDC epidemiologists are able to update the figures, which the CDC will do "every three or four weeks." However, it's becoming clear that a huge fraction of the population will have become ill before the flu season ends. CDC data from Aug. 30 to Oct. 31 show flu activity is "substantially above historic levels in all U.S. surveillance systems," according to today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Nationwide, the number of flu patients showing up in doctors' offices and clinics was higher in September and October than at the peak of any flu season since record keeping began in 1997. "We have tracked influenza for years. What we are seeing in 2009 is unprecedented," Schuchat said. "To have very high rates of flu in September and October is extremely unusual. ... If we look back, we don't see a fall like this." Previous CDC estimates of H1N1 swine flu cases have been based on laboratory-confirmed infection. But not everyone who gets the flu is hospitalized with the flu, and not everyone who dies of the flu was tested. And the tests miss many people who actually do have flu. To correct these underestimates, the CDC bases the new estimates on detailed clinical information reported by the Emerging Infections Network, a collaboration of 62 counties in 10 states, and on aggregate data reported from all states. This data is the used to derive estimates for the entire U.S. "This is not a switch or a change, just a bigger picture," Schuchat said. https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20091112/over-22-million-in-us-had-h1n1-swine-flu#1
Oh no! Take care Mary's child. I have close family who work in healthcare. They are telling me that there are many 'presumed' corona cases are showing up at the Urgent Care and the ER. As it stands now only the patients who are sick enough to be admitted are being tested in my area, it may be different elsewhere. In our state, COVID-19 testing is a slow process. The doctor must contact the Department of Public Health before the patient is tested, and then the specimens are sent out to the state lab. We have family and friends who are very sick, and have gone to their doctors with coronavirus symptoms. All of them have tested negative for flu. It is a scary situation when you are sent home with bad respiratory symptoms, and you have no idea whether or not you are truly infected. The delay in testing could be our downfall, and I pray that this situation is resolved very soon. Anyone who meets the criteria for COVID-19 symptoms should be tested.
Further perspective here, is it me, or are we getting our collective butts kicked for the Amazon Synod & "Pachamama incident?"
https://www.axios.com/cdc-lab-coronavirus-contaminated-6dc9726d-dea3-423f-b5ad-eb7b1e44c2e2.html Scoop: Lab for coronavirus test kits may have been contaminated A top federal scientist sounded the alarm about what he feared was contamination in an Atlanta lab where the government made test kits for the coronavirus, according to sources familiar with the situation in Atlanta. Driving the news: The Trump administration has ordered an independent investigation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab, and manufacturing of the virus test kits has been moved, the sources said. Why it matters: At the time the administration is under scrutiny for its early preparations for the virus, the potential problems at the lab became a top internal priority for some officials. But the Trump administration did not talk publicly about the Food and Drug Administration’s specific concerns about the Atlanta lab. Senior officials are still not saying exactly what the FDA regulator found at the Atlanta lab. The CDC lab in Atlanta developed the testing formula for the coronavirus test — which the government says works — and was manufacturing relatively small amounts of testing kits for laboratories around the country. This is where the lab ran into problems, per sources familiar with the situation. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said, in a statement to Axios, that government agencies have already worked together to resolve the problems with the coronavirus tests. “Upon learning about the test issue from CDC, FDA worked with CDC to determine that problems with certain test components were due to a manufacturing issue,” he said. “We worked hand in hand with CDC to resolve the issues with manufacturing. FDA has confidence in the design and current manufacturing of the test that already have and are continuing to be distributed. These tests have passed extensive quality control procedures and will provide the high-level of diagnostic accuracy we need during this coronavirus outbreak.” The big picture: The FDA says it now has full confidence in the coronavirus diagnostic kit, but a slew of new cases announced over the weekend suggest the virus has spread throughout the country while the U.S. government tested only a narrow subset of the population for it. The U.S. government had admitted to problems with its diagnostic tests — which have put the U.S. well behind China and South Korea in doing large-scale testing of the American public for the coronavirus. But the U.S. has now tested more than 3,600 people for the virus, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The big question: It was not immediately clear if or how possible contamination in the Atlanta lab played a role in delays or problems with testing. Nor was it clear how significant or systemic the contamination concerns may be; whether it was a one-time issue that’s easily resolved, or a broader concern involving protocols, safeguards or leadership. Behind the scenes: The FDA official who visited the Atlanta lab, Timothy Stenzel, is the director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health. About a week ago, when the Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar was under extreme pressure over the delays in getting coronavirus testing kits to market, Stenzel traveled to Atlanta to help troubleshoot whatever technical problems might have been occurring with the tests. Stenzel was alarmed by the procedures he witnessed in the Atlanta laboratory and raised concerns with multiple CDC officials, per a source familiar with the situation in Atlanta. Stenzel is a highly-regarded scientist and diagnostics expert. He was on the ground in Atlanta to deal with technical issues and happened to stumble upon the inappropriate procedures and possible contaminants. He is not a laboratory inspector and thus was not charged with producing an inspection report on the lab conditions. But he raised the concerns and they have been taken seriously and risen to the highest levels of the U.S. government. On Thursday afternoon, the concerns about the Atlanta laboratory were raised in a conference call that included senior government officials from multiple agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. The call’s purpose was to figure out ways to mass produce the testing kits and get them to market quickly. The Trump administration says it’s now figured out how to get over those hurdles. An HHS spokesperson promised that by the end of this week, “we will have the capacity to test up to 75,000 individuals” for the coronavirus What's next: The FDA’s manufacturing concerns — which include the possible contamination of testing kits — have also resulted in the Trump administration ordering an independent investigation of the CDC’s Atlanta laboratory, according to senior officials. “HHS has launched an investigation and is assembling a team of non-CDC scientists to better understand the nature and source of the manufacturing defect in the first batch of COVID-19 test kits that were distributed to state health departments and others,” said an HHS spokesperson. “HHS/CDC have been transparent with the American people regarding the issue with the manufacturing of the diagnostic and will be transparent with the findings of this investigation.” (But the administration was not transparent about the senior FDA official's concerns about the conditions and procedures in the Atlanta laboratory.) A senior administration official added that the government also moved the manufacturing of the coronavirus tests out of the Atlanta laboratory of CDC. The official said that the CDC engaged with a third party contractor on Feb. 20 to help manufacture the testing kits. The official added that the FDA regulator, Stenzel, visited the Atlanta laboratory on Feb. 22. Between the lines: Until Thursday, the CDC’s guidance was to only test Americans for the coronavirus if they’d recently traveled to China — or had close contact with someone known to have the virus — and were symptomatic. Under this policy, the CDC initially refused to test a California patient who didn’t fit this criteria but had the coronavirus, although the CDC disputes that it denied doctors’ testing request. As of Friday, South Korea had tested 65,000 people for the coronavirus; the U.S. had tested only 459, per Science Magazine. China can reportedly conduct up to 1.6 million tests a week. Although the World Health Organization has sent testing kits to 57 other countries, the U.S. decided to make its own. There have also been problems with the tests themselves. On Feb. 12, the FDA announced that health labs across the country were having problems validating the CDC's diagnostic test, Science reports in an in-depth account of what went wrong with the tests. The FDA announced yesterday that public health labs can create their own diagnostic test. Scott Becker, the CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told Science that he expects that public health labs will be able to do 10,000 tests a day by the end of the week.
https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-t...age-46e3d541-0ae9-437f-83cd-7dc64e446e80.html U.S. coronavirus testing threatened by lab materials shortage Caitlin Owens Diagnostic testing for the coronavirus is threatened yet again, this time by a shortage of critical lab materials, Politico reports. Why it matters: The testing capabilities in the U.S. are still grossly behind those of other countries. This latest problem could set us even further back, allowing the coronavirus to continue to spread undetected through communities. The state of play: U.S. labs may not have enough of the supplies used to extract generic material from any virus in a patient's sample, which is a key part of the test. Qiagen, a supplier of these "RNA extraction" kits, confirmed to Politico that the product is backordered. What's next: CDC director Robert Redfield told Politico that he didn't know how the agency would deal with a shortage of the kits. He added that he is hopeful "there will be mechanisms between multiple manufacturers to correct" it.
MC where are you in NH? Is this separate from the Hanover area? Please stay safe. I am praying and have been praying for your safety and will continue.
Canceling Public Masses in Rome is Not the Answer to Coronavirus “Be ready to abandon this mortal life rather than the people committed to your care. Go forward among the plague-stricken as to life, as to a reward, even if there is only one soul to be won to Christ.” —St. Charles Borromeo Msgr. Charles Pope https://www.ncregister.com/blog/msgr-pope/coronavirus The Scriptures warn us of a most serious threat to our spiritual well-being, which is the fear of death: Now since the children have flesh and blood, [Jesus] too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Yet now, we are manifesting an almost worldwide panic attack over a virus that, however bad it might be, has no power of itself to “separate us from the love of Christ” (Romans 8:35). One may excuse unbelievers, whom St. Paul describes as “those who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13), but what are we to say of bishops and other Church leaders who have succumbed to pressure to cancel public Masses while bars and restaurants remain open (albeit on a reduced basis)? Food and drink are essential to our physical survival, but the Holy Eucharist is even more essential to our spiritual survival: Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you (John 6:53). And thus we are confronted with deep indignation over the lack of hand sanitizer and surgical masks but too little indignation over the astonishing limits and outright refusal to offer the sacraments to God’s faithful. Where are our priorities? We are obsessed over a virus but give little attention to the sinful drives that can kill our souls eternally. Too many pastors who have long refused to delineate the requirements of worthy reception of Holy Communion have suddenly discovered a reason to restrict access to Holy Communion from people who, even in a very remote and merely potential way, might incur physical threats to their health. I simply ask you: Are we majoring in the minors? Physical health has its place, but spiritual health does too — and its place is vastly more important. “Be ready to abandon this mortal life rather than the people committed to your care,” St. Charles of Borromeo told priests as the Plague of 1576 swept through Milan. “Go forward among the plague-stricken as to life, as to a reward, even if there is only one soul to be won to Christ.” I am concerned that we have lost our courage and our faith and subordinated holy things to the state in this matter. Canceling Mass while bars and restaurants remain open during the day is obtuse and seems to demonstrate a lack of resolve among our leaders. St. Charles Borromeo did not hunker down during the plague outbreak of his day — he went among the faithful and cared for them as a priest should do. He also told the unbelieving civil leaders of his day to acknowledge that faith, public repentance and worship were essential parts of any solution. We have far less than plague today and are far too willing to let a secular government tell us to cancel our public prayers. Some will call me irresponsible for calling for public and communal Masses to resume. “People are dying,” they will say. I can only respond by saying that souls are dying due to fear and worldly obsession with death. Death will come to all of us, and not likely by coronavirus. The deeper and more important question is this: Are you ready to die and face judgment? Let’s take reasonable precautions. Wash your hands; avoid touching your face; respect that some do not want to shake hands just now. But above all, do not be afraid and think that God is no longer in control. Go to Mass and trust God! Now is the time for faith, not an unwise abandonment of the liturgy which remains our help for salvation in a sin-soaked and unholy world. Run to God! Do not run from him and his sacraments. Lord, save us from foolish and unfaithful preoccupations! Give us health. But, above all, give us a faith that does not fear the mere attacks on the body but soberly recalls that attacks on the soul are far more serious than the world thinks. Help us to be most concerned in what matters to you. Our bodies will die but our souls will endure. By your grace may we tend to our souls so that our bodies may one day rise to glory. +
Given our recent history, we cannot complain if we get a good slap. Some good may come of it, with FG, the party of state child appropriation, homosexual attempted marriage and abortion, receiving most of the blame.
Unfortunately, there would be a lot of Masses attended by less than a hundred. How is it going to be enforced? Will all Masses be made all-ticket? Will there be bouncers, presumably numerate, at the door? Will the Guards be deployed to regulate it? Will people be jailed for attempting to go to Mass? If there is a police raid and more than a hundred are found at Mass, who determines the ones who are over-quota? Will the same rules apply to supermarkets, sporting venues, mosques, Protestant Churches? The issue is potentially electorally disastrous if handled the wrong way. Many are inevitably going to feel victimised. The Catholic vote in Ireland has certainly shrunk, but it's still substantial and might even be growing a little at present in the face of possible imminent death. Hopefully Varadkar will choose to work remotely...very remotely. This child-murderer, virtue-signalling now with all his might.
The madness begins I just tried to book my weekly grocery delivery I tried three different stores two of them have no delivery slots available until tuesday 17th the other stores website has crashed due to high volumes of traffic...
I was thinking and praying about the Churches being closed and the masses being stopped. On a human level it seems such a very sane, wise way of looking at it. I misdoubted myself and went to the Lord in prayer about it to double check on it. The answer I got back was this. Imagine a husband and wife and the wife worked as a nurse in a hospital. Clearly she is at very high risk of infection. The husband is very concerned that his wife might bring home the infection and so when the wife returns one evening she finds the doors and windows all closed up and the locks changed. The husband shouts out at his wife and tells her she cannot come in while the plague lasts that she is a Health and Safety issue and should stay at an hotel until the danger passes. Would he be right in doing so? On one very logical level; yes he would be right. She does pose an increased risk. On another level no. Firstly he gives his spouse no choice. He simply locks the door and turns her away. Secondly in marriage, mystically the two become one, they are family. For richer or poorer , in sickness and health. The Sacrament is not an opt out agreement. It is a mystical reality. The same goes for closing Churches. We are not being given a choice ; we are simply being locked out. Also the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. We are family. Without the mass there is no Church, just as a family that locks a mother out is no longer a true family. It becomes just a collection of individuals out for themselves. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...hurches-should-stay-open-like-church-england/
It’s difficult to know whether he means indoor mass gatherings or gatherings indoors for mass? On the RTÉ page he also includes mass gatherings outside of over 500 people.
I hope there are no new cases.and I hope all of you at the trauma center have proper protective gear. Praying.
