We can best see the peak in the death statistics, as global daily deaths begin to decline: However, we seem to have a prolonged inflexion, giving a linear growth since mid April, i.e. growth and saturation are in rough equipoise, though the very end is beginning to tip over: The pattern of doubling time has shifted, with major countries slowing significantly, e.g. here is the USA in immediate context: Daily fresh global cases shows the flattened peaking: National patterns show this too, with China showing secondary etc waves: It is noteworthy that the UK now views China’s data as questionable: The British government will no longer recognise the number of coronavirus deaths reported by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over Read More ›

In response to my last post (The Data Are in: A Nationwide Lockdown Was Never Necessary) Bob O’H got red in the face, stamped his feet, and apparently insisted that a nationwide lockdown was necessary. Was it? Here is an analysis performed by a friend: To put US COVID19 cases into perspective, it helps to separate the terrible outbreak in the five-state region of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts from the other 45 states. (Stats as of April 25.) Total PopulationNY-NJ-CT-RI-MA – 39.8 millionRest of US – 288 million COVID Cases – Total (per million people)NY-NJ-CT-RI-MA – 490,675 (12,312)Rest of US – 496,657 (1,722) COVID Deaths – Total (per million people)NY-NJ-CT-RI-MA – 33,262 (835)Rest of US Read More ›

There is a report that Azithromycin is far more than an antibiotic. Some may wish to watch an interview with Dr. Michael Lisanti on antibiotics for COVID-19 and cancer. But — without endorsing as “proved” fact — let’s cut to the chase scene: COVID-19 coronavirus is particularly dangerous for the elderly or those with aging-related senescent illnesses like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and lung disease. As Professor Lisanti said in a statement on his new paper in the journal Aging, “If you look at the host receptors of COVID-19, they are related to senescence. Two proteins have been proposed to be the cellular receptors of COVID-19: one is CD26 – a marker of senescence, and the other, ACE-2, is also Read More ›

According to a study discussed today in the Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall), the nationwide lockdown was never necessary. The vast majority of states should have followed Sweden’s example: We ran a simple one-variable correlation of deaths per million and days to shutdown, which ranged from minus-10 days (some states shut down before any sign of Covid-19) to 35 days for South Dakota, one of seven states with limited or no shutdown. The correlation coefficient was 5.5%—so low that the engineers I used to employ would have summarized it as “no correlation” and moved on to find the real cause of the problem. . . . Sweden is fighting coronavirus with common-sense guidelines that are much less economically destructive than Read More ›

A great physicist warned us, information precedes matter and energy: Bit before it: The COVID-19 virus contains about as much information as a sticker in WhatsApp. Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks and Dr. Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón explore a dreadful truth: “Human biology is so finely tuned that less than a kilobyte of information can stop the world.”: Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón: I really think that information is more fundamental to nature than matter and energy and what we are seeing here is how this small amount of information can produce a big change. Not only in a small area; it’s the whole world that is paralyzed… There is a primacy of information, as some physicists have said in the Read More ›

I am watching Waco on Netflix. I recommend it. My view of the Branch Davidian tragedy in a nutshell: David Koresh was an evil man who broke the law and needed to be stopped. The government’s actions to stop him were breathtakingly over-the-top cowboy antics that resulted in many needless deaths , including dozens of innocent children. I suppose I like the Netflix drama because its “no good guys” approach to the subject is similar to my own. The initial ATF raid stands as perhaps the most colossal law enforcement blunder in the last 50 years. Before the raid, Koresh was never “holed up” in the compound, and ATF could have arrested him without incident (much less loss of life) Read More ›

Ventilators are a key treatment for Covid-19, and there has been a wave of interest concerning development of low-cost ventilators; especially with a projected Covid-19 wave in excess of 100 millions for Africa. Here, then, is the Israel developed AmboVent, one of something like 300 fast-track initiatives to develop such globally: Video: This is of course one of several designs pivoting on the nearly ubiquitous manual respirator bulb, as per a suggestion that has been on the table for some time. Now we see a [near-?] commercial product. Video on the suggestion: Their blurb: The AmboVent initiative is led, by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) 108 electronic depot in partnership with Magen David Adom (MDA) (Israel’s red cross). The R&D Read More ›

This is the lede from an April 23 article in Science News: I don’t understand this at all. The article purports to account for all deaths. Yet it states the death tolls only for “men” and “women.” The question that goes entirely unaddressed — much less answered — is how many deaths there have been among the other 57 genders? The trans- homo- bi- phobic editors of that journal must be called out and shamed for this callous inequity. It is a national tragedy that deaths among these groups are apparently not even being tracked, let alone analyzed. Sarcasm ends. Here is the headline from the article: So science tells us that gender in humans is binary and the biological Read More ›

H’mm, it just may be feasible to use actinic radiation as a respiratory tract antiviral: Screenshot: U/D: From cache, another screen shot: Notice, AYTU is restricting bandwidth to UVA, UVA 400 nm – 320 nm, which is less damaging to us than shorter wavelength UV bands. Interesting concept, at minimum, though how they would get it deeper into the lungs is another question. Let’s not forget, radiation therapy — using X-Rays — is still used to destroy cancer. I guess, another use- it- early solution, if it works. END U/D, PS: I found a Fox News mention: