Are you ready for information...or attacks?
Do you want to be informed...or have your senses dulled?
If it’s the latter...you might want to head somewhere else.
If it’s information you want - information you won’t get on any other Montana site - then keep reading.
Do you want to be informed...or have your senses dulled?
If it’s the latter...you might want to head somewhere else.
If it’s information you want - information you won’t get on any other Montana site - then keep reading.
Yesterday we learned that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been conducting research on bats from Yunnan, which is 1,200 miles to the north of Wuhan.
The Institute is located just three miles from the wet market that’s being blamed for this outbreak.
What’s more, we learned that the Institute had received $3.7 million from the US government to fund that bat study.
What goes around comes around - Americans funded this research before bats at the Institute sprayed scientists “with blood containing the virus.” These scientists then “passed it on to the local community.”
Wow, what a story!
China is currently deleting all the online material they can find that points to any kind of Chinese origin to this virus.
Iran has lost about 4,500 to this virus, and they’ve also lost 4 million jobs.
They’re beginning to realize what’s more dangerous.
On Saturday that country’s president said that the economy needs to reopen, and they’ll start with “low-risk” activities.
This rollout will happen in certain areas of the country before coming to the capital of Tehran on April 18.
Sweden has become a world leader in how it’s responded to this virus and the crisis of fear it created.
The country decided not to self-quarantine; decided not to destroy their economy. They have 10,000 cases of the virus, which doesn’t make sense.
If we don’t self-isolate...isn’t it supposed to spread out of control and kill everyone?
Alas, that’s just not the case.
The country has also kept its schools open, and not a single school-aged child has gotten the virus. In fact, just 25 people under the age of 30 have gotten it.
Sweden understands how sickness works, and they’re acting accordingly:
“Sweden is developing herd immunity by refusing to panic. By not requiring social isolation, Sweden's young people spread the virus, mostly asymptomatically, as is supposed to happen in a normal flu season. They will generate protective antibodies that make it harder and harder for the Wuhan virus to reach and infect the frail and elderly who have serious underlying conditions. For perspective, the current COVID-19 death rate in Sweden (40 deaths per million of population) is substantially lower than the Swedish death rate in a normal flu season (in 2018, for instance, about 80 per million of population).”
Testing kits and anti-Coronavirus drugs.
How much do these cost...how much should they cost?
I could find very little on the cost or where these things are made. One report from mid-March told us that a Texas company makes them, one named Everylywell. They figured they’d be able to do 250,000 test kits a week, at a cost of $135 to consumers.
On April 6 we learned that New Jersey’s Quest Diagnostics had a backlog of 80,000 testing kits, meaning its production capacity can’t keep up with demand.
Personally, I think after this crisis we’ll pull a lot of our manufacturing back to the US from overseas, at least for critical products. At least I hope so.
Here in America we’re unable to meet demand, and even when we do, prices are out of control.
But do they have to be out of control?
We know that hydroxychloroquine costs $15 at local drugstores. It actually costs just 8 cents to produce.
Remdesivir is another drug that’s showing promise, and it can be produced for 93 cents. Favipiravir is another drug option, one that costs $1.45 to produce.
A big problem with these cheap drugs is that they don’t make Big Pharma a lot of profits. I’m sure they - and the politicians they hire - will find a work-around for that.
People are beginning to lose it.
On Friday, we saw a young man’s fragile grip on reality break as he went on an assaulting spree on Mount Sentinel, sending one poor woman to the hospital. Police have yet to identify a suspect, though I suspect it might be a transient or a recently laid-off service worker.
Transients are doing the most damage right now, and I suspect this is because they’re growing desperate. Fewer people are out on the streets to give them loose change, after all.
Here’s one that was caught assaulting two people on Saturday morning near the homeless shelter. He’s a 25-year-old with tattoos that scream, ‘I don’t ever want to be a productive member of society.’
I’m saddened and ashamed that we have so many strong, able-bodied young men in this country that would rather abuse drugs and alcohol all day than work and contribute to this country’s future. I’m saddened that we have a social-safety-net, non-profit-welfare system that enables them to do that all day.
Then when they do commit crimes and get caught, they’re typically back out on the streets in hours. There really is a double-standard in this country for those that have something and those that have nothing.
Our courts can’t make any money off that 25-year-old, so they turn him loose.
Now, it’s not all transients.
Yesterday we had another 30-something man get caught for taking pictures of young girls in the Target bathroom.
In Helena, former rep Jenny Eck expects a big uptick in domestic abuse and violence. She mentions that it’s up 30% in France and 20% in Spain.
On top of this, we know that the National Crisis Textline has already seen twice the number of texts they usually do, while in Oregon calls to the suicide help line are up 23%. Suicides in the UK went up to a 19-year high at the end of the year.
I know a lot of people don’t want to hear it right now, but self-isolation will cause more damage to this country than the virus.
We don’t want to admit it now, but as time goes on, it’ll become abundantly clear.
There are so many things to say, and I’m sure I’m missing some huge stories. But we’ll have to save those for another day.
