JUST 8 “BLUE” STATES ACCOUNT FOR 72% OF ALL U.S. CORONAVIRUS CASES

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Mar 18, 2020 – The world is in the middle of the worst pandemic of our time. Statistics pour in every hour from across the nation and around the world showing that the coronavirus seems to be spreading faster than a wild fire. Markets are crashing. People are losing jobs and businesses.

Yet in the midst of all this mayhem an interesting pattern emerges in the U.S.  One which has more to do with our political than physical world.

• “BLUE” STATES – LIBERAL, DEMOCRATIC
• “RED” STATES – CONSERVATIVE, REPUBLICAN

Eight “blue” states at the moment account for 72% of all coronavirus cases in our country (8,024 right now), with New York leading all with 2,370.  Washington state, California, New Jersey, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Colorado and  follow New York on this ranking of “blue” viral infamy.

Yet Texas, for example, a “red” state with six million more residents than New York (25 million vs. 19 million), has only 81 cases. Arizona, with 7 million residents, has only 26 cases. Ohio, with 13 million people, has 88 cases.

Why is that?

That’s the question I have been asking myself for several days now. Because this pattern has continued even though the numbers have grown everywhere during this time.

The Trump administration Monday night issued several pages of tips for navigating the coronavirus, organizing a set of recommendations for schools, businesses, homes and offices into a document that resembles easy-on-the-eye restaurant food-safety charts.

The simple behaviors recommended in the guidelines — like washing hands, managing air flow, protecting food and carving out private space in a home — show how federal health officials believe the virus could influence everyday life.

“These are really simple, low-tech things,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, said at a White House news briefing. “There’s nothing in there that’s complicated. But it’s just stated in a way that’s clear, that people can understand.”

All of the above are just good common sense practices for every day hygiene, not just those in the midst of a pandemic.

Does it mean the the liberals are more careless (because they travel more), less hygienic, more sociable, less disciplined?

I don’t know. Logic 101 would suggest that. Or maybe there are other explanations? If you can think of some, do let us know.

Just don’t tell us this is a “coincidence.” You know that line from Goldfinger, an early James Bond movie:

“Once is a happenstance, twice is a coincidence, the third time – it’s enemy action.” 🙂

Maybe the liberals are their own worst enemies?

• 

• 

*****

WE CAN LEARN FROM CHINA HOW TO CONTAIN CORONAVIRUS, NOT BLAME IT FOR IT

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Mar 23, 2020 – Some people are blaming China for the coronavirus crisis, claiming they are using it because they want to “rule the world.” Certain American politicians, Donald Trump among them, are helping incite hatred against the Chinese calling by calling COVID-19 the “China Virus.”

Instead, there is much to be admired about how bravely and wisely the Chinese confronted this invisible enemy which attacked them first. And now, while the rest of the world is gripped in fear, the Chinese are sending planeloads of medical materiel and lending their own expertise to countries like Italy, France, Belgium, USA and others.

You saw from my March 18 article on the early spread of virus in the US that the main reason this was happening was that the people were lackadaisical about it, especially in the liberal (“blue”) states. By contrast, the Chinese reacted with great urgency and vigor right from the start.

Thye immediately locked down the Wuhan province where the virus had started back in January, and used 7,000 workers to build giant field hospitals in just a week.

wo months later, these hospitals are now closed and dismantled. Why? Because there are no patients left. The Chinese have beaten the Corona Bug. Meanwhile, Europe and the US and others dilly-dallied until COVID-19 exploded in their midst .

Check out this article in the SCIENCE magazine of Mar 3, 2020 . Here’s an excerpt:

On 10 February, when the advance team of the WHO-China Joint Mission began its work, China reported 2478 new cases. Two weeks later, when the foreign experts packed their bags, that number had dropped to 409 cases. (Yesterday, China reported only 206 new cases, and the rest of the world combined had almost nine times that number.) The epidemic in China appears to have peaked in late January, according to the report.

The group also reviewed the massive data set that Chinese scientists have compiled. (The country still accounts for more than 90% of the global total of the 90,000 confirmed cases.) They learned that about 80% of infected people had mild to moderate disease, 13.8% had severe symptoms, and 6.1% had life-threatening episodes of respiratory failure, septic shock, or organ failure. The case fatality rate was highest for people over age 80 (21.9%), and people who had heart disease, diabetes, or hypertension. Fever and dry cough were the most common symptoms. Surprisingly, only 4.8% of infected people had runny noses. Children made up a mere 2.4% of the cases, and almost none was severely ill. For the mild and moderate cases, it took 2 weeks on average to recover.

Much of the report focuses on understanding how China achieved what many public health experts thought was impossible: containing the spread of a widely circulating respiratory virus. “China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history,” the report notes.

The most dramatic—and controversial—measure was the lockdown of Wuhan and nearby cities in Hubei province, which has put at least 50 million people under a mandatory quarantine since 23 January. That has “effectively prevented further exportation of infected individuals to the rest of the country,” the report concludes. In other regions of mainland China, people voluntarily quarantined and were monitored by appointed leaders in neighborhoods.

Chinese authorities also built two dedicated hospitals in Wuhan in just over 1 week. Health care workers from all over China were sent to the outbreak’s center. The government launched an unprecedented effort to trace contacts of confirmed cases. In Wuhan alone, more than 1800 teams of five or more people traced tens of thousands of contacts.

Aggressive “social distancing” measures implemented in the entire country included canceling sporting events and shuttering theaters. Schools extended breaks that began in mid-January for the Lunar New Year. Many businesses closed shop. Anyone who went outdoors had to wear a mask.

To read more, click on…. shorturl.at/wxDH4

GLOBAL COVID-19 HEADLINE NEWS ROUNDUP

• Meanwhile, more than 1.7 billion people have been asked to stay home in over 50 countries and territories around the world, including 700 million people in India alone.
• France announces new restrictions, with Prime Minister Edouard Phlippe saying confinement could last “several more weeks”.
• Italy, which is also in lockdown, bans domestic travel and shuts down a range of industries.
• South Africa announces a three-week national lockdown from Thursday, while the Netherlands extends a ban on public gatherings until June 1.

Trump fears for economy, but does not see the forest for the trees

However, US President Donald Trump warns against the economic shutdown caused by mass quarantine measures, tweeting “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.”

Well, we cannot let a leader who cannot see the forest for the trees. Unless we apply the harsh quarantine measures as China did, the virus will make minced meat of Trump’s “economy.” And us within it.