This does not seem farfetched at ALL. While our understanding is not God's, it sure makes sense. With my trip rescheduled for September, I sure am hopeful!!
Some history of the spread of the virus in Italy from the beginning: First confirmed cases[edit] On 31 January, the first two cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Rome. A Chinese couple, originally from Wuhan, who had arrived in Italy on January 23 via Milan Malpensa Airport travelled from the airport to Verona, then to Parma, arriving in Rome on 28 January. The next afternoon, they developed a cough, and by evening the man had a fever; the couple was brought to Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases where they tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were hospitalised.[15][2] The Italian government suspended all flights to and from China and declared a state of emergency. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy was the first EU country to take this kind of precautionary measure.[16] The government also introduced thermal scanners and temperature checks on international passengers arriving at Italian airports.[17] On 6 February, an Italian repatriated from Wuhan tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in Italy to three.[18] On 22 February, the repatriated Italian recovered and was discharged from the hospital.[19]On 22 and 26 February, the two previously infected Chinese tourists tested negative for COVID-19 at Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute in Rome.[20] Lombardy cluster[edit] The Lombardy outbreak came to light when a 38-year-old Italian tested positive in Codogno, a comune in the province of Lodi. According to his wife, he had met an Italian friend who had returned from China on 21 January, who subsequently tested negative.[21]On 14 February, he felt unwell and went to a doctor in Castiglione d'Adda. He was prescribed treatments for influenza.[21] On 16 February, as the man's condition worsened, he went to Codogno Hospital, reporting respiratory problems.[21] Initially there was no suspicion of COVID-19, so no additional precautionary measures were taken, and the virus was able to infect other patients and health workers.[22] Later, the patient, his pregnant wife and a friend tested positive.[21] Three more cases were confirmed on the same day after the patients reported symptoms of pneumonia.[23] Thereafter, extensive screenings and checks were performed on everyone that had possibly been in contact with or near the infected subjects.[24] The 38-year-old man was asymptomatic for weeks, reportedly led an active social life and potentially interacted with dozens of people before spreading the virus at Codogno Hospital.[21][22]Afterward, he was transferred to Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia,[25] and his wife to Sacco Hospital in Milan.[26][27] Civil Protection volunteers carrying out health checks at the Guglielmo Marconi Airport in Bologna On 21 February, sixteen more cases were confirmed – fourteen in Lombardy, including the doctor who prescribed treatments to the 38-year-old Codogno man,[21] and two in Veneto. On 22 February, a 77-year-old woman from Casalpusterlengo who suffered from pneumonia and visited the same emergency room as the 38-year-old from Codogno died in Lombardy.[28] Including the 78-year-old man who died in Veneto, the number of cases in Italy rose to 79.[5][29] Of the 76 newly discovered cases, 54 were found in Lombardy, including one patient in San Raffaele Hospital in Milan[30] and eight patients in Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia,[31] seventeen in Veneto, two in Emilia-Romagna, two in Lazio and one in Piedmont.[32] (cont'd below)
(cont'd from above) On 23 February, a 68-year-old woman with cancer from Trescore Cremasco died in Crema. The number of cases in Italy rose to 152, including fourteen patients being treated at Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia.[33][34] On 24 February, an 84-year-old man with pre-existing medical conditions from Villa di Serio died in Bergamo while hospitalised in the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital.[35] An 88-year-old man from Caselle Landi who resided in Codogno died on the same day.[36][37] An 80-year-old man from Castiglione d’Adda died at the Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan. He was previously hospitalised in Lodi because of a heart attack, and then transferred to Milan when confirmed as positive.[37][38][39] A 62-year-old man with pre-existing medical conditions from Castiglione d'Adda died in Sant'Anna Hospital in Como.[40]Lombardy governor Attilio Fontana announced that the number of cases in Lombardy had risen to 172, with a total of 229 confirmed in Italy.[41][42][43] On 25 February, an 84-year-old man from Nembro, a 91-year-old man from San Fiorano and an 83-year-old woman from Codogno died from complications caused by the infections.[44][45][46] The number of cases in Emilia-Romagna rose to 23, spreading through the provinces of Piacenza, Parma, Modena and Rimini. These were all linked to the Lombardy cluster.[47][48][49][50][51] A new case linked to the outbreak in Lombardy appeared in Palermo, Sicily when a 60-year-old woman from Bergamo tested positive and was admitted to Cervello Hospital.[52][53] A 49-year-old man who previously visited Codogno tested positive in Pescia, Tuscany.[54] Officials in Liguria confirmed that a 72-year-old female tourist from Castiglione d'Adda tested positive in Alassio while she was staying in a hotel. The woman was treated at a hospital in Genoa.[55]Later in the day, a second case in Liguria was confirmed, a 54-year-old man who had visited Codogno for work and tested positive in La Spezia.[56][57][58] On 26 February, a 69-year-old man from Lodi with pre-existing medical conditions died in Emilia-Romagna.[59] The mayor of Borgonovo Val Tidone, Pietro Mazzocchi, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and underwent a voluntary isolation at home.[60] Additional cases involving six minors were identified in Lombardy. A 4-year-old girl from Castiglione d'Adda was admitted to Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia, and a 15-year-old was hospitalised in Seriate Hospital in Bergamo. Two 10-year-olds from Cremona and Lodi tested positive and were discharged. A 17-year-old from Valtellina who attended a school in Codogno, and a school friend from Sondrio, also tested positive.[20][59][61] Officials in Apulia confirmed that a 33-year-old man from Taranto, who returned from Codogno on 23 January, tested positive and was admitted to San Giuseppe Moscati Hospital.[62] A close advisor to Lombardy governor Attilio Fontana tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Although Fontana tested negative, he decided to put himself in preventive isolation as well.[63] (cont'd below)
(cont'd from above) Officials in Campania confirmed two new cases. A 24-year-old woman from Caserta, who had visited Milan, tested positive. A 25-year-old Ukrainian woman from Cremona, who previously visited Lombardy, tested positive at a hospital in Vallo della Lucania. Both were transferred to Hospital Domenico Cotugno in Naples, where they underwent isolation.[64] On 26 February, a woman that had returned from Milan in the days before the emergency in Lombardy started tested positive for the virus in Catania, Sicily.[65] On 27 February, two 88-year-olds and an 80-year old died in Lombardy.[66] Officials in Abruzzo confirmed that a 50-year-old man from Brianza, Lombardy tested positive and was admitted to the intensive-care unit at Giuseppe Mazzini Hospital at Teramo. He and his family were staying in his holiday home at Roseto degli Abruzzi.[56][67] On 28 February, four people died, including an 85-year-old Lombardy resident in one of the quarantine zones at a hospital in Piacenza, a 77-year-old and two others over the age of 80.[56] As of 1 March, there were 984 confirmed cases and 73 recoveries in Lombardy.[56][68] On 4 March, Emilia-Romagna's regional minister of health, Raffaele Donini, and minister for territories, Barbara Lori, were declared positive for COVID-19.[69] Governor Stefano Bonaccini and the other members of the regional government tested negative.[70] On 8 March, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended the quarantine lockdown to cover all the region of Lombardy and 14 other northern provinces.[71] On 10 March, Prime Minister Conte increased the quarantine lockdown to cover all of Italy, including travel restrictions and a ban on public gatherings. [72]
Military Surgeon: ‘Trump Is Right’ on the Seasonal Flu Being More Dangerous than Coronavirus Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul A. Friedrichs, Joint Staff Surgeon, said Tuesday at a Pentagon briefing that President Trump is “right” that the seasonal flu is more dangerous than the coronavirus. “So, the president is right. I know you’re shocked that I said that, but the president is right,” Friedrichs said to a reporter. “There are more people ill with the seasonal flu than there are ill with coronavirus worldwide and in the United States and in the military.” He added: The reasons that we are taking the precautions that you are seeing is that this is a new virus and we are continuing to learn about this virus, about how easy it is to spread the virus, and in particular and in an environment like this in close spaces, we’re trying to figure out the best way to mitigate the risk until we have solid data on that. You know the military is good on planning, we’re also good on trying to decrease risk. So we’d rather mitigate that risk up front than wait and find out that we should have done it because multiple people got sick along the way. The reporter had asked him what the difference in impact on the Pentagon is of the coronavirus than the seasonal flu, since it seemed the Pentagon was taking it more “seriously than the flu.” The reporter added, “the president himself thinks that the seasonal flu is more dangerous, and he actually tweeted about that,” prompting Friedrichs’ response. Trump tweeted on Monday: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” https://www.breitbart.com/politics/...al-flu-being-more-dangerous-than-coronavirus/
Some encouraging news from Medjugorje. Praised be Jesus and Mary. https://spiritdailyblog.com/news/from-the-mystic-post-seer-virus-wont-last-long
Yes, I knew some people who looked forward to Cheltenham every year. That was their annual holiday even when they couldn't afford to go there. The punters would be mostly regular folk but I'm not so sure that could be said of the owners and trainers although I suppose that most of them wouldn't be flying around in private jets or helicopters. Passing by a TV set today, I saw a few scenes from the races. There was great excitement because I think the winner of the big race was Irish owned and/or trained, and the odds were good. Looking at the people packed into the stands, all I could think of was a giant petrie dish sailing into Dun Laoire at the end of the week. I remember coming home from a trip to England during a foot & mouth scare. There were warning notices about staying away from farms and I'm pretty sure that where we drove off the ferry they had rigged up some means of disinfecting our cars. I can't recall whether it was just for the tyres or whether there was also a sprayer. I'm sure the restriction on funeral services won't be the only weird decision made before this crisis is over.
Oops!! Nearly gave away the location of my private island. I bought a Euromillions lottery ticket yesterday. They're always advertising it showing potential winners buying an island in the sun. The slogan is "It could be you". Since this virus hit us, the message from our government is "If you wash your hands, it won't be you". That lottery advertisement is far more appealing to me. We'll have a big MoG party on my island in the sun when my numbers come up. Forget the hand sanitiser and stock up on the sunscreen. Is St. Peter's closed? I thought that Rome's churches were open - just not for Mass.
I suspect the momentum of this virus is slowing, if reports from China and South Korea have any credibility. However, in every new location that the virus hits, it seems to me there will be an initial surge that must run its course. I think it very likely that the exposure and infection rate is much higher than many realise. This is not as bad as it sounds, indeed it's not bad news at all. Many exposed to the virus, perhaps the great majority, will probably not even be aware of it. Some will develop mild symptoms, some not at all. In being exposed their immune system will develop antibodies and they will become resistant. As more become resistant the rate of spread will slow. However, when the virus comes to an unexposed community, nobody has developed antibodies and the spread will be much more rapid until an equilibrium develops. In these situations, the most vulnerable will be quickly 'found out' and the disease will be at its most severe. Eventually, slower spread, the lesser prevalence of the most vulnerable (having unfortunately met their demise in the initial wave) and precautions and prevention will reduce considerably the morbidity and mortality rate. I have read, from a doctor, that the S. Koreans, a competent bunch, have done the most work on fatality rates and that their results are about 0.6%, considerably lower than some reports. For example, the fatality-rate in Wuhan is estimated at 4%, but this was the initial planetary outbreak upon a population previously wholly unexposed. Infection rates in such a densely-populated city, without any prior warnings or precautions, would be necessarily very high. The most vulnerable would have been quickly 'found out' and the initial fatality rate consequently high. Also, this rate is based on an infection rate that is quite likely underestimated. Much has yet to be learned about this epidemic and it's very difficult right in the middle of a chaotic flux combined with multiple, conflicting sources of information/disinformation. Unfortunately, media hype and increased diagnosis will give the impression for a period that this cooling-off isn't happening. Nor is this optimism any use to those poor people who die from the disease or suffer great debility, nor their loved ones. Best advice is still 'pray, hope and don't worry'. Hard not to worry, all the same. That's why I keep referring back here.
Omg! I never thought about holy week celebrations!! Imagine.... it doesn't bear thinking about. The church hierarchy - both locally and nationally, have time to prepare something. Anything! A daily program of masses which could be aired on radio or TV that we could follow.. even so, the loss of the church-based celebrations on holy week will be detrimental to my children. To my teaching them to follow the manners and customs of the church... we need to pray for holy week and that our priests stay healthy.
I read somewhere too, that the better weather due soon --hopefully-- will assist in curtailing its spread...
Garabandal, this was the initial post in this thread. You posted it on January 22. I wonder when posted it, did you think that it would become so prevalent, so serious....
