Monday, March 9, 2020

How long can coronavirus survive on surfaces? Experts aren’t sure

As a new coronavirus spreads quickly around the world, U.S. health officials say they are “aggressively” assessing how long it can survive on surfaces to better understand the risk of transmission.

Based on what is known about similar coronaviruses, disease experts say the new outbreak of the virus, named COVID-19, is mainly spread from person to person through coughing or sneezing. Contact with fecal matter from an infected person may also transmit the virus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it may be possible for a person to become infected by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or eyes.

An analysis of 22 earlier studies of similar coronaviruses, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) published online this month in the Journal of Hospital Infection, concluded that human coronaviruses can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces for up to nine days at room temperature. However, they can quickly be rendered inactive using common disinfectants, and may also dissipate at higher temperatures, the authors wrote. It is not yet clear, however, whether the new coronavirus behaves in a similar way.

“On copper and steel it’s pretty typical, it’s pretty much about two hours,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, referring to how long the new coronavirus may be active on those types of materials. “But I will say on other surfaces – cardboard or plastic – it’s longer, and so we are looking at this.”

The agency said there is likely a very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures.

A CDC spokeswoman, in an emailed statement, said the agency is still looking into how contagious the virus can be when deposited on more common, everyday surfaces.

The Food and Drug Administration this week said it has no evidence that COVID-19 has been transmitted from imported goods, but the situation remains “dynamic” and the agency said it will assess and update guidance as needed.

“The important big take-home message is that this is probably a small proportion of the transmission of respiratory viruses,” said Dr. Timothy Brewer, professor of epidemiology and medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Out in the community, these viruses are probably not surviving for a long time on surfaces.”

Brewer explained that such viruses tend to survive the longest in low-temperature, low-humidity environments, “that is why you see lots of respiratory viruses during the winter.”

Vinegar, Bleach and the Coronavirus

Does Vinegar Disinfect as Well as Bleach? Some people are afraid of bleach and prefer to use vinegar as a disinfectant but is it as effective?

Does Vinegar Disinfect As Well As Bleach?

When mom mentioned that you should disinfect your countertops with bleach we received a lot of comments about how great it is to use vinegar instead of bleach.

We would like to state our position on this.

We do not want to knowingly put incorrect or dangerous information on our website, so in situations like this we will refer to the best places we know to get the correct information. Usually it will be a government agency in that area. Also even the sites who recommend the use of vinegar say that the testing for it is very unclear because it has not been tested like bleach has.

Regarding bleach working as well as vinegar, vinegar is NOT as effective as bleach and does NOT kill as many germs. Vinegar does kill some things but it is only 90% effective against bacteria and 80%-83% effective against viruses and mold/mildew. Bleach kills 99.9% of bacteria, viruses and mold/mildew. This information came from the health department. I encourage you to contact your local health department to confirm if you don’t believe these statistics.

Another thing to consider is that using soap and water kills more germs than vinegar so, unless you are trying to get rid of soap scum, residue or mineral build up in laundry, why are you even messing with vinegar?

We are not suggesting that you use an entire gallon of bleach every day to clean your home. I wash whites two times a week using bleach. I generally disinfect every few days to a week or once a day when there is sickness in the house. A gallon of bleach lasts me 3-4 months! People say they can’t clean with bleach because the fumes take their breath away. If this is happening, it is usually not the bleach. Many people simply use way more bleach than they should. I also have to ask– Has no one smelled vinegar lately? The smell from it really takes my breath away and burns my nose.

I know there are people who believe that illnesses have increased because people are using products line bleach and other disinfectants. I have to say that I do not agree and think that we should be thankful that we have products that kill life threatening bacteria and viruses now.

I once heard a person from Africa say, in response to people who want to ban pesticides, “You rich Americans want to try and force us to stop using pesticides, but you aren’t dying from the diseases that these bugs carry.”

I think the same is true with the use of bleach. It has been 60-70 years since a lot of people were dying from major illnesses that are preventable. This generation has not had to go through the pain of losing family members to these diseases so many people haven’t heard the stories and aren’t often reminded about how very lucky we are to have things like bleach and pesticides.

If you are concerned about bleach and the environment, you might want to check out these facts from Clorox.com:

Household bleach is derived from sodium chloride, also known as common table salt.
Clorox® Bleach begins and ends as salt water: 95–98% of household bleach quickly breaks down into salt and water, while the remaining byproducts are effectively treated by sewer or septic systems.
No bleach gets to the environment. Studies have shown that dioxins are not produced when sodium hypochlorite bleach is manufactured, used in laundry or in household cleaning.
The main ingredients in Clorox® Regular-Bleach are sodium hypochlorite, a form of salt, and water. There is no free chlorine in Clorox® Regular-Bleach.

Most people simply use too much bleach when cleaning. Here is the proper way to clean with it:

If you are going to use bleach in your dishwater, make sure that your soap can be mixed with bleach. Look on the back of the bottle to make sure it doesn’t say “Do not mix with bleach.” Some of the new scented dish soaps will set off toxic fumes if mixed with bleach.

To disinfect correctly, follow these directions from Clorox:

To Disinfect Surfaces: Use 1/4 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water, or as directed on the label, to disinfect hard, nonporous surfaces in your home.
To Disinfect Water: If you need to purify water during an emergency, (and don’t have the means to boil it for 3–5 minutes), you can disinfect your water using bleach:
- For clear water—add 8 drops (1/8 tsp.) of bleach per gallon of water
- For cloudy water—add 16 drops (1/4 tsp.) of bleach per gallon of water
  Mix the solution thoroughly and let it stand for about 30 minutes before using it. Properly treated water should have a slight chlorine odor. If it doesn’t, repeat dosage and allow water to stand an additional 15 minutes. The treated water can be made drinkable by pouring it between clean containers several times.
Would you like to serve food that will lower your grocery bill and your family will love to eat?

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

Face Masks: Do They Protect You From Coronavirus? Yes They Do!

With mounting concern about the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from China, many people are trying to figure out the best ways to protect themselves and their loved ones from infection. Two big questions many people have are: Will wearing a face mask keep us safe? And if so, what kind?

The most important thing to understand is that researchers are still trying to work out the ways that this new coronavirus is transmitted. In the meantime, the best advice based on CDC recommendations is to:

Wash your hands thoroughly regularly throughout the day
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
Avoid contact with people who are sick.

This advice will help protect you from a whole host of infections, including 2019-CoV.

Face masks can play a role in preventing the infection, but that role is limited in real world situations. There is some evidence that wearing a face mask can protect you from transmitting the virus from your hands to your mouth, probably because you are paying more attention to NOT touching your face when you’re wearing it. You also have some protection from “splash” droplets if an infected person sneezes or coughs around you.

The biggest concern that doctors have around recommending masks is the false sense of security that might come along with wearing one. There are a lot of reasons why face masks are not ideal. For example, it’s really hard to find one that fits perfectly around your nose and mouth or to keep it on for a long period of time. The minute you scratch your nose or touch your mouth behind the mask, you’ve lost the protection that the mask is supposed to offer.

In medical settings, there are very specific guidelines about when to use masks and what kind of protection to wear depending on the type of infection patients have.

Droplet precautions: Use a rectangular surgical face mask for an infection that spreads by large droplets when someone coughs, sneezes, or talks. Infections like flu, whooping cough, and certain types of bacterial meningitis fall into this category. Both the person who is infected and the people caring for them should wear a face mask. It is really important that caregivers dispose of the mask after every interaction and use a new one any time they are in close confines with an infected person.

Airborne precautions: Some lung or throat infections spread when small viral or bacterial particles stay suspended in the air and are breathed in by others. 2019-CoV, measles, SARS, chickenpox and tuberculosis are a part of this category. In these cases, the infected person should wear a face mask. And all people coming into close contact should wear an N95 respirator, masks with a special air filter designed to protect from tiny airborne particles. These masks fit to a person’s face and are usually rounded in shape.

While researchers continue to learn more about how this new coronavirus spreads, the recommendations around masks focus on people who have the infection or are highly likely to be exposed. People who have the infection or are at high risk for being exposed should wear a surgical face mask. Anyone caring for someone infected in a medical setting should wear a respirator mask as part of airborne precautions.

For the rest of us, the best protection -- hand washing, avoiding sick people, and not touching our face with unwashed hands -- also helps prevent colds and the flu. If you choose to wear a surgical mask, make sure you have the best fit possible around your mouth and nose. Properly dispose of the mask and put on a new one anytime someone coughing or sneezing around you contaminates it. It is also incredibly important to share your travel history with your doctors and reach out for early medical help if you have a fever, cough, trouble breathing.

Fat Bastardo's Op Ed: Wear a fucking mask whenever you are in public unless you are a Trump supporter.

Face masks: How they work, the two types, who should wear ...

Trump 'Can't Bluff His Way Through' This Crisis, Conservative News Site Says

Donald Trump is revealing how “deeply unsuited he is to deal with a genuine crisis that he can’t bluff his way through,” according to an editorial published Sunday in the Washington Examiner, a conservative political news site and weekly magazine that often has the president’s back.

This time, the Examiner had a serious problem with the president’s deceitful approach to the coronavirus threat.

“It’s one thing for Trump to insist he had a ‘perfect’ phone call [to Ukraine] and have all his Republican minions fall in line. It’s another thing to downplay a growing epidemic as more and more Americans get sick,” wrote the Examiner’s executive editor Philip Klein.

Trump’s comments on Friday while touring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were particularly disturbing, the Examiner noted. Instead of making sober, steadying statements about the concrete steps being taken to protect Americans, Trump attacked CNN, called Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) a “snake” for criticizing the administration’s handling of a disease that has killed 14 people in Inslee’s state and asked about ratings for his Fox News town hall meeting.

Trump also claimed tests devised by the CDC were perfect and that anyone who needed one could get it, even though CDC and other federal officials revealed that early tests were flawed and that demand for tests had outstripped supply.

Most stunning, Klein noted, was Trump’s reluctance to allow the passengers, including some 1,000 Americans, to leave the Grand Princess cruise ship, which is carrying nearly two dozen people who are sick with coronavirus, because it would increase the reported numbers of cases.

“Trump appears to be more concerned with numbers that might make him look bad in the short-term, then [sic] he is with actually taking the most prudent measures to save lives over time,” Klein wrote.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that the coronavirus threat is all but over, even as cases continued to mount. He also claimed that the 15 domestic cases reported last month would “go down close to zero.” As of Sunday, there were more than 500 cases — and 22 deaths.

“Trump will be judged on his handling of the spread of a virus,” Klein warned. “And the outcome will be clear no matter how many things he makes up, no matter how confident he pretends to be, and no matter how many insults he heaves.”

Read the editorial here.

Trump’s prick licking surgeon general ridiculed for claiming president is healthy ‘despite rarely sleeping’

The Trump administration’s surgeon general has been ridiculed for suggesting Donald Trump is healthier than he is – even though the president is nearly 30 years his senior.

Appearing on CNN, Jerome Adams was being interviewed about the government’s advice to Americans as the coronavirus outbreak continues.

“The three people who might be president in January 2021 – president Trump, senator Sanders and vice president Biden – all of them are in their seventies, they have had various health questions. Should those three stop travelling? Should they stop holding rallies?”

In response, Mr Adams reassured viewers of Mr Trump’s health: “I was with the president on Friday and I said ‘sir, when was the last time you washed your hands?’ and he said, ‘I just washed my hands a few minutes ago ...’

“The president – he sleeps less than I do and he’s healthier than what I am.”

The response from many quarters was incredulous. “Is not sleeping a sign of good health?” asked Matthew Yglesias. The Daily Beast’s Matt Willstein wrote “First, do no harm (to the president’s massive ego)”.

Others pointed out the that if Mr Adams is in worse health than Mr Trump, he must be in poor health indeed.

Responding to the fallout on Twitter, Mr Adams said that he “should not have made this comparison” – and that he takes “five times as many meds as the president reportedly does”.

The septuagenarian Mr Trump has long been suspected to be vulnerable to various health problems, in particular given his weight and famously vegetable-free diet (which sees him consume as many as 12 cans of Diet Coke per day).

In 2015, as his campaign built up a head of steam, Mr Trump’s doctor released a euphoric report on his health in which he called Mr Trump’s physical strength and stamina “extraordinary” and described his test results “astonishingly excellent”.

“If elected, Mr Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” read the letter.

However, in 2018, the doctor behind the letter revealed that Mr Trump had in fact dictated it. He described it as a piece of “black humour”.

Mr Adams served as Indiana’s state health commissioner under then-governor Mike Pence, who as vice president has now been tapped by Mr Trump to oversee the government’s response to the coronavirus epidemic despite his lack of public health expertise.

While Mr Pence was governor of Indiana, he was forced to respond to an HIV outbreak in the southeast of the state. He was accused of overseeing an unduly slow response because of his views on needle exchanges. Hundreds of people were ultimately infected.

Will Trump's Massive Ego Kill Him? Don't Sneeze on Trump!

President Donald Trump shakes hands with supporters upon arrival at the Orlando Sanford International Airport, Monday, March 9, 2020 in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

‘Avoid crowds,’ CDC says as Trump greets crowd in Orlando

Rainy Day

Rainy day is symbolic of the right wing and greedy corporate trash that has destroyed the American dream. John Fogerty asked who'll stop the rain. Patriots will stop the rain by removing the oligarchs and all the boot licking errand boys who do their bidding.

The billionaire class need to be gone.

The Incredible Immorality of the Billionaire Class • Money ...

Trash like this belongs in a burn pit.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Oh Happy Day! Coronavirus May Infect Trump White House!

UPDATE: Four Whitehouse staff members have now tested positive for COVID-19. Oh happy day.

COVID 19 Statistics

United States cases

Updated May 16 at 2:40 PM local

Confirmed

1,473,415

+13,256

Deaths

88,237

+1,019

Recovered

260,146

+5,159

Coronavirus (COVID-19) statistics

United States cases

Updated May 16 at 7:50 PM local

Confirmed

1,496,632

+24,206

Deaths

89,404

+1,260

Recovered

272,386

+13,348

From May 16 2:40 pm to May 16 7:50 pm 1167 Americans have died from COVID-19. That is over 1000 people every 5 hours who have died from COVID-19. That's over 5000 Americans per day who are killed by COVID-19

Sorry Trump and sorry MAGAts, COVID 19 is not a hoax so shut your filthy lie holes!

A person has tested positive for coronavirus after attending a conservative conference where White House officials were present!

An attendee of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference last month has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, conference organizers announced Saturday.
A number of White House officials attended the conference, as did some 19,000 other people.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both spoke at CPAC, but the conference organizers said the attendee had no interaction with either of them.

The American Conservative Union, which organized the conference from February 26 to 29, said in a statement on Saturday the attendee did not have any interaction with Trump or Pence, nor did the person attend events in the main hall.

The Washington Post reported that ACU's chairman, Matt Schlapp, interacted with the infected person at CPAC. Though it's unclear when the interaction occurred, The Post noted that Schlapp shook Trump's hand on stage on the final day of the conference.

The infected attendee was exposed to the coronavirus before attending the conference, and was later diagnosed at a New Jersey hospital. The person is now under quarantine, ACU said.

The organizers said the Trump administration was "aware of the situation," and urged attendees not to panic.

"Our children, spouses, extended family, and friends attended CPAC," ACU said. "During this time, we need to remain calm, listen to health care professionals, and support each other."

The conference frequently draws thousands of conservatives from across the country, including politicians, conservative icons, and media figures.

Several CPAC attendees spoke with Business Insider at the conference about their perception of the coronavirus threat, saying they believed mainstream news organizations were exaggerating the threat and that Trump had the situation under control.

Trump has faced backlash in recent weeks over his administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak. So far, 19 people have died and 401 people have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Besides a nationwide testing shortage that has likely underestimated the true amount of cases in the US, Trump himself has been accused of frequently downplaying the risk the virus poses to the population.

Bigger Fatter Politics