Fever might not be the most common coronavirus symptom

The smell sense of the brain is very near the face and eyes. The article mentioned below doesn't discount fever is a symptom but the one characteristic that sets the SARS-CoV-2 apart from others is it's brain involvement.

After receiving smell information from the nose’s sensory receptors, the olfactory bulb relays the information to a circuit of brain regions for processing.

May 18, 2020

Now, a study from the Harvard-affiliated Cambridge Health Alliance (click here) that was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings has examined 1,000 records from outpatients. The researchers were looking for differences between COVID-19 and other diseases that have similar common symptoms. What they found was that shortness of breath for COVID-19 patients gradually becomes worse over a few days, and that fever is not "a reliable indicator" for infection. The study also found that the disease can just start with coughing and no other symptoms at all....

...On top of that research, doctors from Europe examined 1,420 patients from 18 different hospitals, and what they found was that fever was only present in 45% of cases. The most common symptom out of all the patients was headaches at 70.3%, followed closely by a loss of smell at 70.2%....

The per capita income is $7,269.00.

The pointer in the upper right-hand corner is pointing north with the Navajo Nation overlaying it.

...Health care on the Navajo Nation (click here) is provided by many different public health systems that strive to work together, but which have no common oversight. Few understand what services are available across state lines on the reservation or how to access those services, especially as the state systems keep modernizing and changing. However, a comprehensive understanding of these interlinked systems is necessary in order to really assist tribal members....

May 18, 2020
By Hollie Silverman, Konstantin Toropin, Sara Sidner and Leslie Perrot

The Navajo Nation (click here) has surpassed New York and New Jersey for the highest per-capita coronavirus infection rate in the US -- another sign of Covid-19's disproportionate impact on minority communities.

The Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, reported a population of 173,667 on the 2010 census. As a result, with 4,002 cases, the Native American territory has 2,304.41 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people.

By contrast, New York state now has a rate of 1,806 cases per 100,000 and New Jersey is at 1,668 cases per 100,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez told CNN's Sara Sidner of its rate on the "Situation Room" Sunday night....

It is unclear how much PPE and ventilators they have at their health care facilities.

Hospitals: (click here)

The Navajo Area Indian Health Service (IHS) maintains 5 hospitals in "service units": Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility, Crownpoint Health Care Facility, Gallup Indian Medical Center, and Northern Navajo Medical Center (Shiprock, NM), totalling 222 hospital beds; and the Kayenta Health Center in Kayenta, AZ, an Alternative Rural Hospital with 10 short stay nursing beds and ambulatory surgery....

Israel is linked to a cyberattack on Iranian shipping.

There was an attack against Iranian backed fighters. The attack took place in East Syria. A retiring Israeli general stated Iran is withdrawing from Syria. The seven dead were Iraqi militiamen. It was in the Iraq-Syrian border. 

Where is Deash these days?

The dead fighters were brought to the border as reinforcements. Iraq needs to protect its borders and it is widely understood that Iraqi militias are vital to such operations by Iraq. There is a human rights group observing the region.

A One-Off for the EU.

May 18, 2020




Chancellor Angela Merkel (click here) of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France announced that they will launch a joint European Union recovery initiative on Monday.

Faced with economic recession and deep strains in the European Union over the coronavirus, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday agreed to what would amount to collective European debt to help those countries hit hardest by the pandemic.

Ms. Merkel joined with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to propose a 500 billion euro ($545 billion) recovery fund, financed by the European Union and repaid through the collective Brussels budget, to help European regions and economic sectors battered by the coronavirus.

The proposal must be agreed to by the other 25 member states of the bloc, some of which have also rejected collective indebtedness in the past....

Their parental rights should be in question.

Children have horrific symptoms from SARS-CoV-2. It is a fact that has been identified by the CDC. Any parent willing to expose their children, regardless of age, to any level of exposure is too dangerous to maintain their parental rights.

May 18, 2020
By Gregory Pratt

Pastor Joseph Wyrostek, 43, holds his 1-year-old son Titus while standing next to his wife Nancy and their daughters Bethany, 11, Joy, 3, and Hannah, 10, during a service at the Metro Praise International Church on Sunday.

The city (click here) will be fining churches that had more people than allowed under the statewide stay-at-home order, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday.

Which ones specifically will be determined later today, Lightfoot said.

Over the past week, Lightfoot had been asking churches to abide by social distancing rules and warning that she would take action against churches that refused.

But on Sunday, hundreds of people defied Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order to attend church anyway and the mayor’s office warned that violators may be cited after review....

Donald John Trump has a mental health problem.

Hydroxychloroquine (click here) is a very dangerous drug, ESPECIALLY over the long term.

I would never take that drug on a permanent basis. Trump is taking it because he is terrified of SARS-CoV-2.

Does he take bleach every morning in his morning juice?

Whoever prescribed it to him needs to be on review for the efficacy of a medical license.

Moderna has their own manufacturing facility, however, if their vaccine is successful the company will need to expand or contract additional manufacturing.

Go, Moderna, Go!

Moderna (click here)
Celebrating a Year of Progress at Norwood
July 17, 2019

By Juan Andres
Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer and the Norwood Leadership Team

Happy anniversary to our Moderna team at Norwood! One year ago, we opened our digitally-enabled and environmentally-sustainable 200,000 square foot clinical development manufacturing plant in Norwood, Massachusetts, to help advance Moderna’s pipeline of mRNA-based medicines....

May 18, 2020
By Carmen Reinicke

"Moderna" is soaring (click here) after an early trial of its coronavirus vaccine produced positive results, the company announced Monday. 

Shares of the pharmaceutical company surged as much as 39% in premarket trading Monday in New York after it announced that all 45 volunteers in a trial for its coronavirus vaccine produced antibodies that may help protect them against the disease.

The phase 1 trial was conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health....

More details.

May 18, 2020

Cambridge - Moderna, Inc., (Nasdaq: MRNA) a clinical stage biotechnology (click here) company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, today announced positive interim clinical data of mRNA-1273, its vaccine candidate against novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), from the Phase 1 study led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Immunogenicity data are currently available for the 25 µg and 100 µg dose level (ages 18-55) after two doses (day 43) and at the 250 µg level (ages 18-55) after one dose (day 29). Dose dependent increases in immunogenicity were seen across the three dose levels, and between prime and boost within the 25 µg and 100 µg dose levels. All participants ages 18-55 (n=15 per cohort) across all three dose levels seroconverted by day 15 after a single dose. At day 43, two weeks following the second dose, at the 25 µg dose level (n=15), levels of binding antibodies were at the levels seen in convalescent sera (blood samples from people who have recovered from COVID-19) tested in the same assay. At day 43, at the 100 µg dose level (n=10), levels of binding antibodies significantly exceeded the levels seen in convalescent sera. Samples are not yet available for remaining participants....

News from Massachusetts

May 18, 2020
By Carmen Reinicke

"Moderna" is soaring (click here) after an early trial of its coronavirus vaccine produced positive results, the company announced Monday. 

Shares of the pharmaceutical company surged as much as 39% in premarket trading Monday in New York after it announced that all 45 volunteers in a trial for its coronavirus vaccine produced antibodies that may help protect them against the disease.

The phase 1 trial was conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health....

More details.

May 18, 2020

Cambridge - Moderna, Inc., (Nasdaq: MRNA) a clinical stage biotechnology (click here) company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, today announced positive interim clinical data of mRNA-1273, its vaccine candidate against novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), from the Phase 1 study led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Immunogenicity data are currently available for the 25 µg and 100 µg dose level (ages 18-55) after two doses (day 43) and at the 250 µg level (ages 18-55) after one dose (day 29). Dose dependent increases in immunogenicity were seen across the three dose levels, and between prime and boost within the 25 µg and 100 µg dose levels. All participants ages 18-55 (n=15 per cohort) across all three dose levels seroconverted by day 15 after a single dose. At day 43, two weeks following the second dose, at the 25 µg dose level (n=15), levels of binding antibodies were at the levels seen in convalescent sera (blood samples from people who have recovered from COVID-19) tested in the same assay. At day 43, at the 100 µg dose level (n=10), levels of binding antibodies significantly exceeded the levels seen in convalescent sera. Samples are not yet available for remaining participants....

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

Okeydoke

There is every indication the US Postal Service will have to be provided vigilance for changes in regulations that will dismantle election ballots for the upcoming 2020 election in November.

California has already decided to issue mail-in ballots to all it's citizens for elections. Someone in the State Attorney General's Office will have to monitor changes that are adverse to the electorate and elections. It is normally the Secretary of State that is responsible for election integrity, however, an assistant from the AG's office will allow the Secretary to move directly to court should there be adverse regulations instituted. The adverse regulations are expected to occur as Trump has completely corrupted the Post Master General's office and the Board of Governors.

I am quite certain A RIGHT TO SIT IN ON THE MEETINGS of the Board of Governors will be important to intercede as quickly as possible.

7-7.1 Federal Laws Applicable to the Postal Service (click here)

"Good Night, Moon"

The waning crescent 

25.3 day old moon

18.7 percent lit

The USA has ordered 18 engines for moon missions. No one talks about any of this. Four engines are used for liftoff.

The RS-25 is half of the powerful, (click here) proven SLS propulsion systems designed to launch humans and large exploration payloads to the Moon and ultimately to Mars and beyond. Four RS-25 engines, along with two 5-segment solid rocket boosters, will give SLS approximately 8.8 million pounds of thrust during launch – more lift than any current launch vehicle and 15 percent more than the Saturn V rockets that launched astronauts on journeys to the moon.

With unmatched payload mass and volume capability, the advanced, super heavy-lift SLS is the only rocket that can send the Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and a large cargo to the Moon on a single mission. This reduces the number and complexity of in-space operations and increases the chances of mission success....

The first Artemis rocket stage (click here) is guided toward NASA’s Pegasus barge Jan. 8 ahead of its forthcoming journey to NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Teams rolled out, or moved, the completed core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to the barge in preparation for the core stage Green Run test series. Pegasus, which was modified to ferry SLS rocket hardware, will transport the core stage more than 40 miles from Michoud to Stennis for the comprehensive core stage Green Run test series. Green Run, named for its testing of new, or green, hardware progressively, is the final test campaign ahead of the first Artemis launch.

Watch Chairman Powell's testimony before Congress on Tuesday.

Seriously. Americans need to understand and know what the future looks like and move in that direction. If we had done what New Zealand had done this would have been over already. BUT, it didn't go that way and now we have a Congress that cares about American lives effected by a really dangerous virus.

We have to put the puzzle pieces together and find a way. If nothing else, it's been a great ride. We are alive. The kids are home and safe. Americans are capable. Tomorrow looks different than before, but, we are better and stronger for it.

QAnon. It is where Trump finds his conspiracy theories.

May 15, 2020
Rachel E. Greenspan

...Pfeiffer (click here) is a follower of QAnon, the conspiracy theory movement that believes an embedded "deep state" operative sympathetic to the Trump administration is sending coded messages fateful for our culture and politics via an anonymous message board. Of the movement's many bizarre theories, most revolve around the idea that there is a secret plot against President Donald Trump....

No lie. This is where Trump gets his ideas about the "Deep State" and these are real voters he wants to attract. Bleach and all.

...What does the group believe? (click here)

There are several conspiracy theories this group has latched on to, especially the belief there is a network of people, including in the U.S. government, that wants to take down Trump and his administration, according to The New York Times.

With the outbreak of the Coronavirus, QAnon followers have begun to spread false "treatments" for the virus. Furthermore, the group have accused liberal billionaire George Soros of rigging the Iowa Democratic caucuses following its flawed outcome.

A previous theory, according to NPR, held that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was not actually investigating allegations of Russian interference and collusion in the 2016 election. Rather, the former FBI director looked into prominent Democrats — including former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 opponent — and their relationship with Russia or potential connections to a massive (unsubstantiated) pedophile ring....

May 16, 2020
By Alla Elassar

An extremely rare blue bee (click here) that was last seen four years ago has been rediscovered by a researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

The metallic navy insect, a blue calamintha bee, had only been previously found in four areas "totaling just 16 square miles of pine scrub habitat at Central Florida's Lake Wales Ridge," the Florida Museum said in a news release.

The discovery marks an incredible breakthrough as scientists race to learn more about the blue bee, which is currently listed by Florida's State Wildlife Action Plan as a species of greatest conservation need.

"I was open to the possibility that we may not find the bee at all so that first moment when we spotted it in the field was really exciting," postdoctoral researcher Chase Kimmel, who found the bee, said in the release....

Brookings

March 27, 2020
By Grace Enda, William G. Gale and Clare Haldeman

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, (click here) passed by the Senate on March 25 and expected to be rapidly approved by the House and President, is the largest aid package in history. The bipartisan deal allocates $2 trillion in an effort to mitigate the mounting fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, including $1.5 trillion in spending and tax cuts and $500 billion in loans—$454 billion of which was allocated to the Federal Reserve as the basis for additional lending.

The Act hits the mark in several key respects. It is big, it is timely, and it directly helps individuals, businesses, and state and local governments. Naturally, a mammoth package that moves rapidly through the Congress will have shortcomings. But the CARES Act is not the last COVID-19-based package Congress will need to enact, so there will be opportunities to correct mistakes and fix oversights. Here are 10 perspectives on the Act.

1. RELIEF MORE THAN STIMULUS

Though many have compared this legislation to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Congress and President Obama enacted during the Great Recession, CARES is more appropriately thought of as relief—not stimulus.

What’s the difference? Relief addresses immediate fallout while stimulus aims to restore robust economic activity. This bill is relief; it ­cushions people and businesses from the immediate losses caused by COVID-19 and makes it easier for them to comply with public health guidelines and mandates. Stimulus programs will come later. Only after the disease is under control can pre-pandemic levels of economic activity be safely restored....

Of course, it is someone else's fault.

May 13, 2020
By Ben Winck

Some prominent investors (click here) using media platforms to warn of a stock market crash are doing so to pad their short positions, President Donald Trump alleged in a Wednesday tweet.

"When the so-called 'rich guys' speak negatively about the market, you must always remember that some are betting big against it, and make a lot of money if it goes down," the president wrote. "Then they go positive, get big publicity, and make it going up."

He continued: "They get you both ways. Barely legal?"...

Let's see what Warren Buffet has to say. Warren doesn't tweet that I know of. Warren makes purchases of stock and makes investments the old fashioned way, based on company GDP. I betcha we can find Warren's pearls of wisdom that Trump was talking about.

Warren Buffett (click here) has navigated multiple market crashes including Black Monday in 1987, the dot-com crash in 2000, and the 2008 financial crisis. As a result, many people are looking to the famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO for guidance on how to protect and grow their wealth during the coronavirus pandemic.

Buffett has shared plenty of tips during past downturns. They include acting boldly when others are scared, capitalizing on cheaper stock prices, and not waiting too long to buy or trying to time the market. He also warned against panic selling and betting against America at Berkshire's recent shareholder meeting.

"If you owned the businesses you liked prior to the virus arriving, it changed prices, but nobody's forcing you to sell."

"Investors and managers are in a game that is heavily stacked in their favor. Charlie and I believe it's a terrible mistake to try to dance in and out of it based upon the turn of tarot cards, the predictions of "experts," or the ebb and flow of business activity. The risks of being out of the game are huge compared to the risks of being in it."

"Bad news is an investor's best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America's future at a marked-down price."

"Like Cinderella at the ball, you must heed one warning or everything will turn into pumpkins and mice: Mr. Market is there to serve you, not to guide you."

"When hamburgers go down in price, we sing the "Hallelujah Chorus" in the Buffett household. When hamburgers go up, we weep."

"If you wait for the robins, spring will be over."

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful."

"Never bet against America. That is as true today as it was in 1789, during the Civil War, and in the depths of the Depression."

Well, what do you think? Are those words of wisdom barely legal? It isn't as though there wasn't a virus. Honestly, who else is he going to blame?

May 13, 2020
By Carmen Reinicke

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell (click here) cautioned on Wednesday that the US economic recovery from the fallout of the coronavirus would likely be slow and require more fiscal stimulus.

The recovery "may take some time to gather momentum, and the passage of time can turn liquidity problems into solvency problems," Powell said in an event for the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

He continued: "Additional fiscal support could be costly but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery."...

FINALLY, climate stereotypes are going away.

May 16, 2020
By Matthew Cappuci

Average path length of tornadoes within 25 miles of a point. Note that while the greatest density of tornadoes occurs in Oklahoma, tornadoes in Mississippi carve longer tracks, and the risk of being impacted there is greater. Tornado data between 1950 and 2018 was utilized.

Anyone who’s ever seen the movie “Twister” (click here) is aware of Tornado Alley — known for its reliable and, at times, hyperactive swarms of tornadoes that swirl across the landscape like clockwork each spring. The term brings to mind the strip of land stretching across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas. But meteorologists fear that imaginary zone may be leaving out areas at an even greater risk for damaging tornadoes.

In recent years, the South has come to prominence for its encounters with violent tornadoes. As recently as Easter weekend, an outbreak of more than 150 tornadoes wrought havoc across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and even into the Carolinas. A week later, a high-end EF4 tornado struck near the previous hardest-hit counties in Mississippi, marking the third EF4 to hit within a 15-mile radius over the course of seven days....

The powers that be met, decided and the big financial aspects of the USA are just fine.

May 12, 2020
By Ben Winck

The Federal Reserve announced Monday (click here) that it will begin buying corporate-debt exchange-traded funds on May 12 to further aid markets buffeted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The ETF purchases were first announced on March 23, when the central bank unveiled its Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility alongside a spate of emergency lending pools. Though the program's reveal was enough to lift credit stresses, markets have been eagerly anticipating its rollout as firms grapple with the pandemic's economic toll.

The facility will buy up funds "whose investment objective is to provide broad exposure to the market" for corporate debt, the Fed said in a Monday statement. Direct purchases of corporate bonds through a separate facility will begin "in the near future," the authority added....

March 16, 2020
By James Chen

What Is an ETF? (click here)

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of security that involves a collection of securities—such as stocks—that often tracks an underlying index, although they can invest in any number of industry sectors or use various strategies. ETFs are in many ways similar to mutual funds; however, they are listed on exchanges and ETF shares trade throughout the day just like ordinary stock.

Some well-known example is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 Index. ETFs can contain many types of investments, including stocks, commodities, bonds, or a mixture of investment types. An exchange-traded fund is a marketable security, meaning it has an associated price that allows it to be easily bought and sold....

May 14, 2020
By Michael Hawthrone

Weeks of clear skies over Los Angeles (click here), New Delhi, Wuhan and other smoggy, soot-choked cities are signs of how the coronavirus lockdown improved air quality around the planet.

Animated satellite maps and daily reports from monitoring networks back what people see with their own eyes. In city after city, levels of lung-damaging, life-shortening pollution dropped abruptly as COVID-19 restricted daily commuting and grounded national economies to a halt.

But for reasons that have yet to be fully explained, people in Chicago and its suburbs aren’t breathing dramatically cleaner air during the pandemic.

Average daily soot concentrations in the region declined by only 1% last month compared with April 2019, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of federal and state monitoring data....

To the right is a picture from 2016. The air in Chicago still looks better today than in 2016.

July 27, 2016
By Rueben Unrae

In response (click here) to the National Weather Service’s air quality alert, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has declared an Air Pollution Action Day for the Chicago area on Wednesday....

The CARES Act is a huge lesson for this country about emergencies.

The Federal Reserve is where huge amounts of money are accounted for and handled. It is very capable of taking care of big banks and big companies. It does nothing to directly assist communities or the banks that serve them. The Federal Reserve is not the place for such a policy either. The policies that care for the American people come from Congress. Congress giving huge sums of money to big banks and businesses is simply the wrong ane leaves the American people abandoned.

March 24, 2020
By Breedan Greeley

While the Federal Reserve (click here) has promised to pump trillions of dollars through large banks to keep financial markets moving, and rolled out support for large company debt, perhaps the most serious economic aspect of the coronavirus crisis is yet to be solved: how to get funds all the way to families and small businesses bearing the brunt of the shutdowns across America.

The country’s thousands of community banks and regional banks may be part of the answer.

Using a playbook they have developed over years dealing with crises from floods and tornadoes to superstorm Sandy, which ravaged the east coast in 2012, many have already started to help their own customers.

OceanFirst, a 118-year-old bank with $10.2bn in assets headquartered in the coastal town of Toms River, New Jersey, confirmed with the Fed on March 15, a Sunday, that it would grant 90 days of forbearance to customers on both mortgages and business loans....