The news is now pretty much wall-to-wall CV. Nothing else really matters at all.
That shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s not often we have a global pandemic, with thousands of people already dead, and millions quite likely soon to die. Everyone is bound to worry that they might be one of them.
And it’s everywhere, all over the world, simultaneously. So everyone in the world has the same worry. How often does that happen? About once every hundred years. How bad is it going to get? Nobody really knows.
I’m wondering whether it’s going to be a historic global event, like 9/11 or the JFK assassination or the sinking of the Titanic. But all those events took place in a single day. What’s happening now is something that started a month or more ago, and is still gathering momentum. It’s a process. It could take a year or more to fully play out. And leave a world that has been forever changed. And we’re all in it together.
It’s not as if there’s much happening. It’s more that things stop happening. People are stopping going to bars and restaurants. Airline traffic is drying up. Assorted headlines:
China Car Sales Crash 80% As Virus Paralyzes Auto Industry
UK May Shut Down Parliament For Months to Curb the Spread of the Coronavirus
Jet Fuel Prices Dive Amid Stalling Aviation Industry; Global Tourism Bust Imminent
Italy has confirmed that it will shut all schools from Thursday for 10 days as it battles to contain the coronavirus outbreak. And all professional sport, including Serie A football matches, will be played behind closed doors for a month.
Regardless of whether it turns into something worse than the Spanish flu, it’s already a global economic crisis, and rapidly becoming a global political crisis.
Frank Davis 
Yes.
And according to The Times today Sweden is imposing a total smoking ban in 2025. Ha ha ha ! I wonder how that will work ? !
Not what this report says:
Forbes
Smoking in Swedish bars and restaurants has been banned since 2005. Now the Scandinavian nation has introduced new laws limiting smoking in public places. From July 1, Swedes are not permitted to smoke in playgrounds, railway stations, and in outdoor sections of restaurants and bars.
The new Swedish ban, which includes e-cigarettes, is part of Sweden’s Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s aim for the country to become smoke-free by 2025.
The reaction to the new regulations will likely be a test for the new minority government. Stockholm city bosses have already said they will defy the ban by allowing three popular bars to continue their outdoor smoking areas.
O/T
Wee Mike doesn’t manage to accept he totally bombed. Hand picked audience, carefully edited video. His self pity manifests itself at about 3 minutes 20 seconds into an otherwise forgettable preach to the converted.
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=9QMyk_1583297178
I saw this video this morning – watching it again still makes me laugh again!!!!!
Smoking in Sweden is at a very low prevalence; only 11% of the total Swedish population (8% of men and 10% of women) smoked daily in 2016. Around another 10% smoke occasionally.
I do not really understand how they got this 11% of lot, in my count it is 28% ?
I’ve joked over the years that I sometimes feel like Cassandra wth her predictions. :/
Below excerpted from pgs 139/140 of Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains:
—–
Without the marker of tobacco smoke the customer cannot easily determine whether a healthy level of fresh air is being circulated … It’s ironic, but the true air quality in restaurants and airplanes may well have gone down since smoking bans appeared. It’s notable that the first instances of “sick building syndrome” appeared in concert with the spread of such bans and that the first time Consumers Union Reports devoted a cover story to the problem of “What’s Happened To Airplane Air?” was several years after (total bans)… (Consumer Reports August 1994).
… a 1989 D.O.T study found that the putative risks from secondary smoke on smoking flights were about 1/1000th of the risks due to increased cosmic radiation exposure on ordinary high altitude flights. Passengers are routinely assured that flying is safe, and yet the risk from cosmic radiation while flying is 1,000 times greater than the risks from the secondary smoke they are advised to be afraid of.
The same study also found that by some measures the air on smoking flights was actually healthier than the air on non-smoking ones! … nonsmoking flights had nine CFU/ m^3 (nine “colony forming units” of fungi per cubic meter) as opposed to only five or six CFU/m^3 on smoking flights! (Report to Congress: Airline Cabin Air Quality. U.S. D.O.T. 1989)
Such problems may now be even worse as airplanes take advantage of the absence of smoking and refresh the air of planes only 20% as often … This reduction in fresh air is not a vindictive act in any sense, merely a normal response to an opportunity for financial savings: fresh air at high altitudes costs money… and without smoke in the air the health risks are effectively invisible…
The increased health risks of epidemic diseases spreading in the confined and now heavily recirculated air of our planes will never be apparent until a disaster occurs… and by then it will be too late. The worldwide spread of an airborne infectious disease may someday be laid at the doorstep of the Great American Antismoking Crusade. An airborne Ebola, antibiotic-resistant pneumonia, or bio-terror horror could be the final legacy of those trying to save us from ourselves. {emphasis added}
—-
In my writings on Quora and elsewhere the last few weeks I’ve been stressing that the chances of catching Coronavirus are actually likely to be a LOT higher in smoke-banned venues than Free Choice venues. Why? Simply because without the fresh air ventilation needed to disperse clouds of smoke, people in planes, airports, restaurants, pubs etc. are likely to be breathing far greater concentrations of the virus than in Free Choice venues. Heh, plus there’s this whole aspect of things as far as vaping bans go:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/04/middleeast/iran-coronavirus-response-intl/index.html
Those clouds of virus-killing spray being sprayed around are supposedly pretty much the same stuff that your friendly neighborhood vapers are puffing into the air.
– MJM, who’s greatly appreciating Frank keeping up with all this!
The increased health risks of epidemic diseases spreading in the confined and now heavily recirculated air of our planes will never be apparent until a disaster occurs… and by then it will be too late. The worldwide spread of an airborne infectious disease may someday be laid at the doorstep of the Great American Antismoking Crusade. An airborne Ebola, antibiotic-resistant pneumonia, or bio-terror horror could be the final legacy of those trying to save us from ourselves.
Michael, you hit the nail on it’s head!!! Btw, this virus was a disaster in the making for decades.
Fell asleep early, woke up at 02:30 (I do worry about my family and friends in Germany, especially the healthist one who has dementia and will not be able to make much sense of what to do) and carried on ploughing through papers.
Back to basics.
For weeks it has been frustrating when collecting numbers. I often accused the ever growing list of becoming an orchestra – so much fiddling going on.
I have to retract that.
There are actually 2 forms of this virus, the ancestral and the “improved” version. The “improved” version is susceptible to human intervention, the ancestral, naturally, is far more resistant to it.
All of a sudden most of this table I keep checking is making sense.
Iran, I’m afraid doesn’t but I do think it’s government simply hasn’t got the real number of deaths for a number of reasons.
People of the USA, put a sock into your president’s (and advisers’) mouths and expand testing rapidly!!! You already have clusters!! 226 cases now, and 13 deaths.
France did another update last night. 423 cases; 7 deaths. I do dread the uncomfortable read I am going to get today.
And with respect to the anti-smoker & WHO idiocy like this : https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/04/middleeast/iran-coronavirus-response-intl/index.html
ABUSING the current situation to peddle more lies shows what low lives they all are. We have money to feed stupid “research”??? Where does it come from? From the purse of the recently by several countries donated cash to help countries unable to deal with the coming impact of the virus?
WHO, WE WANT TRANSPARENCY!!!!!!!
They need to be defunded.
Back to more reading.
Not a nice video. Seems the body count is bad in Iran and they seem unable to bury them. 75 seconds.
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=9268f_1583408010
Must read: CNN’s totally stupid article about the danger of THIRDHAND smoking and 880,000 deaths from SECONDHAND smoking !!! See here:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/04/health/thirdhand-smoke-wellness/index.html
Despite declines in smoking in some developed nations, there are still over a billion smokers worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
And these are still here unlike the ones lost/will be lost by the WHO’s negligence on 31.12.2019.
“Those potentially toxic chemicals, including nicotine,”
“People are substantial carriers of thirdhand smoke contaminants to other environments”
Looks like they will have to strip people down when they leave restaurants.
The CDC developed a gadget to test for cotinine in 1992 But it didn’t differentiate between tobacco and nicotine containing vegetables.
ESTIMATION OF ITS CONTRIBUTION TO RESPIRABLE SUSPENDED PARTICLES –
METHOD BASED ON SOLANESOL DETERMINATION
“Many plants of the Solanaceae family, which includes the genus Nicotiana, of which the tobacco plant is a member, contain solanesol; particularly those that contain trace amounts of nicotine.
These include the tomato, eggplant, potato, and pepper.
The potential interference due to these sources is negligible, cooking being the only likely potential source of interference. An interference of this type would bias results high, overestimating the contribution of ETS to RSP.
Click to access CRM_52.pdf
The Nicotine Content of Common Vegetables
1993
To the Editor:
“The presence of nicotine and its metabolite cotinine in the body fluids of nonsmokers is usually taken as evidence of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 800 people, both smokers and nonsmokers, all of whom tested positive for urinary cotinine”
Vegetable Nicotine in ng/g g per 1µg nicotine
Cauliflower 16.8 59.5
Eggplant (Aubergine) 100.0 10
Potatoes 7.1 140
Green tomatoes 42.8 23.4
Ripe tomatoes 4.3 233.0
Pureed tomatoes 52.0 19.2
https://web.archive.org/web/20130426142731/http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199308053290619
I mean, now it’s common knowledge that there are small amounts of nicotine in the things we eat everyday but there wasn’t then and these Thirdhander Smoke people encourage that old ignorance by omission.
Oddly I think this epidemic and people’s self-imposed isolation will intensify the fear that other people –most especially smokers–are toxic disease vectors. Just sayin
I have the same fear, Walt. And it seems like the timing of this new “thirdhand smoke” “study” in the news at the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic might be purposeful, in an attempt to cause readers to subconsciously create a link between the two.
About that thirdhand smoke study and there’s a link to the study itself and an equally hysterical article over at clash–the thing is that all human beings exhale this stuff all the time. Aside from CO2, there are 2500 chemical constituents in human exhalations, including carcinogenic volatile organic compounds . Among them, methanol, ethanol, DMS, toluene, benzene, α-pinene, β-pinene, d-limonene, ethane, n-pentane, acetone, propanol, butane, formaldehyde
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10473289.1999.10463831
See also
Click to access 729deb2011db1360a10ae417dbc54c6223e1.pdf
And finally, this:
https://formaldehyde.americanchemistry.com/Health-and-Safety/Does-Our-Breath-Cause-Cancer.html?fbclid=IwAR3oKJpR8xqymcJM-k2yMXMb2QUcIO-lqZ03D4vJ6cGl_y49S1scsSKSVHc
Maybe they just tried to find some explanation why non-smokers are less healthy than smokers? I have no dates, only facts from my own observations to support my thoughts. More often I have seen sick non-smokers than smokers. Well, now I know they are so sick because of us, smokers. Poor people and evil me.
Because even at the beginning of the last century Tobacco was an ancient herbal medicine
Medical Uses of Tobacco Past and Present
https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/docs/#id=ztdw0044
For some reason the UK has not reported a new case today as yet but Boris has already announced that there will enough food etc.
Thinking ahead? A refreshing attribute for a politician!
Germany has now 577 cases (+32) so far.
I watched the briefing (most of it) for Germany this morning. “Right, the epidemic is starting”.
He ladled out a lot of common sense advice, which basically reads: adapt to it, think ad hoc, adjust and re-adjust your strategy.
Healthcare staff takes priority when it comes to protective gear. Quarantining healthcare staff and colleagues depends on length of time and how close contact was.
Ad hoc manufacturing of protective gear already arranged.
Each individual state will now decide whether to cancel big events etc.
Vaccine: at least 1 year away.
Anti-viral drugs: currently being tried in Asia. If successful bureaucracy corners will be cut to be produced and made available asap.
The rest of the European countries seem to quickly follow suit and the USA is getting there, too.
Shall we scare our anti-smoking friend who is already panicking because he/she believes “smokers are making anti-smokers sick”?
Your funding may run out soon!!!!!!
UK:
So far today: 163 (+47); 2 deaths (+1); no serious cases.
Unfortunately the location of the cases are difficult to find but (sorry!!!) I do expect clusters all over the country.
————————————————–
USA
So far today: 240 cases (+19); 14 deaths (+2); 8 serious cases
Finally an extensive testing programme is rolled out!!!
3 people who attended a biotech meeting in Massachusetts have coronavirus
Three people who attended a meeting last week at Biogen Headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the company.
The patients “are doing well, improving and under the care of their healthcare providers,” the biotech company said in a statement.
Did they catch it there or did they bring it in there?
————————————————–
I was kind of hoping to see better numbers from Italy:
778 new cases and 49 new deaths in Italy.
Total cases: 4,636.
Total deaths: 197.
Active cases: 3,916, of which 462 (12%) in critical condition.
—————————————————–
I get the horrible feeling France will deliver another horrible update.
So far today: 577 cases (+154); 9 deaths (+2); 23 serious cases.
—————————————————-
Germany
So far today: 670 cases (+125); 8 serious cases.
[The winning picture received today is the new medicine packet called “Coronex-Ratiopharm” which is a high dose Anti-idioticum to be prescribed for cases of panic and panic-buying.]
—————————————————
Just as I thought the US government was taking coronavirus serious (NO, IT IS NOT FLU!!) ….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/06/coronavirus-update-latest-live-news-symptoms-cases-global-infection-rate-uk-usa-australia-italy-china-updates
A lot of people in the US are on Twitter complaining about how hard it is to get tested for coronavirus there, with the outbreak apparently spreading in the country.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ESYhUDWUwAErDTf?format=jpg&name=900×900
https ://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1235704384719327232
https ://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1235704384719327232
and so on….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/06/coronavirus-update-latest-live-news-symptoms-cases-global-infection-rate-uk-usa-australia-italy-china-updates
Demand for hand sanitiser has reached fever pitch in the UK, with one hospital reporting that and sanitising gel is being stolen by visitors on a daily basis. According to a report by the PA News Agency:
Bosses at Northampton General Hospital said sanitising gel had been disappearing from the ends of ward beds “every single day” this week.
Three wall-mounted dispensers have been ripped off, while visitors have used the hospital’s supply of sanitiser to “top up” their own bottles.
Business adventure or panic theft??
Panic theft I think, Brigitte, hand sanitiser seems to have become some kind of talisman to ward of all harm.
I did find a map of the cases in the UK:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274
(The BBC has to be good for something)
London (29 cases) is a little concerning; it’s a city with over 8 million inhabitants. In total I see 4 clusters forming (for now).