Dear SDA Readers, we have two intriguing questions for you:
This sounds promising.
Researchers at Emory University Hospital, led by Dr. Mohammad Khan, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, treated five COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia who were requiring supplemental oxygen and whose health was visibly deteriorating. Their median age was 90 with a range from 64 to 94, four were female, four were African-American, and one was Caucasian.
These patients were given a single low-dose of radiation (1.5 Gy) to both lungs, delivered by a front and back beam configuration. Patients were in an out of the Radiotherapy Department in 10 to 15 minutes.
Within 24 hours, four of the patients showed rapid improvement in oxygenation and mental status (more awake, alert and talkative) and were being discharged from the hospital 12 days later. Blood tests and repeated imaging of the lungs confirmed that the radiation was safe and effective, and did not cause adverse effects – no acute skin, pulmonary, gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicities.
The gray (Gy) is a dose unit of ionizing radiation defined as the absorption of one joule of radiation energy per kilogram of matter. The Gy replaces the older unit of the rad, and 1 Gy = 100 Rad.
It’s cheap, easy, and most hospitals already have the equipment. It’s going nowhere.
“Don’t touch your face” and “wash your hands” really meant “don’t stick your finger all the way up your nostril”.
Our results show that the airborne transmission route is highly virulent and dominant for the spread of COVID-19. The mitigation measures are discernable from the trends of the pandemic. Our analysis reveals that the difference with and without mandated face covering represents the determinant in shaping the trends of the pandemic. This protective measure significantly reduces the number of infections. Other mitigation measures, such as social distancing implemented in the United States, are insufficient by themselves in protecting the public.
From a research article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America titled: “We Really Have No Fucking Clue. Keep Sending Money And Check Again Next Week.”
“How’s your computer?”
On April 26th, I directed you to a lengthy Medium article titled Lab-Made? SARS-CoV-2 Genealogy Through the Lens of Gain-of-Function Research and have been following the story through Deigin’s twitter account.
If you didn’t read it the first time around, I recommend you set an hour aside because the case he made is gaining support with every passing week.
Yuri Diegin was interviewed today by Bret Weinstein on Darkhorse. It gets off to a bit of a shaky start. Deigin is Russian, with the natural reluctance of Russians to venture into controversy, but he loosens up as the interview develops. Stick with it through the technical discussions, it’s not that difficult and the conversation moves on to the broader implications of what has been going on in virology research labs, along with efforts to suppress the increasing number of hands going up, saying “hey, wait a second…”
The video begins a the 42 minute mark to picque interest, but I recommend you watch from the beginning.
I’ll repost the inteview on Saturday for those who find it difficult to make time on weekdays.
The politicians and ‘experts’ have not yet comprehended the damage they did to their own credibility by shifting messaging on lockdowns based on politics. For many people, this is waking them up to how truly dishonest and despicable the government has become.
— Spencer Fernando 🇨🇦 (@SpencerFernando) June 5, 2020
Nursing homes didn’t “matter”.
The confused and heartbroken seniors who thought families had forgotten them, the shuttered emergency rooms, the cancelled surgeries, the Easter services forbidden, the graduations uncelebrated, the bars and restaurants and other small businesses that struggled to survive for eleven long weeks in a province wide effort to protect our vulnerable?
Didn’t matter.
Now, after those eleven long weeks we learn that not one Saskatchewan senior, not one health care worker, not one businessperson, not one employee in this province was as important as some dead guy in Minneapolis.
That a random criminal turned network news celebrity corpse, who met a tragic end while high on meth and fentanyl, with a rap sheet that included five incarcerations and a home invasion (during which he held a pregnant woman at gunpoint) — would “matter” more than any of us.
Have never seen a crowd like this in Saskatchewan #skpoli #BlackLivesMatter ✊✊🏾 https://t.co/dPXCV0uPxV
— Tyler Willox (@tylerwillox) June 5, 2020
To Premier Scott Moe: as you hold your breath over the next couple of weeks over a potential new outbreak from these demonstrations know just this one thing — we’re not going back to “Phase Two“.
Just a few days ago, Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, was literally accusing President Trump of “genocide” for not taking stronger measures to contain Covid-19. Today, he signed the “protests against racism are more important than stopping the spread of Covid-19” letter.
(h/t Dwayne)
A mysterious company’s coronavirus papers in top medical journals may be unraveling
On its face, it was a major finding: Antimalarial drugs touted by the White House as possible COVID-19 treatments looked to be not just ineffective, but downright deadly. A study published on 22 May in The Lancet used hospital records procured by a little-known data analytics company called Surgisphere to conclude that coronavirus patients taking chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine were more likely to show an irregular heart rhythm—a known side effect thought to be rare—and were more likely to die in the hospital.
Within days, some large randomized trials of the drugs—the type that might prove or disprove the retrospective study’s analysis—screeched to a halt. Solidarity, the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) megatrial of potential COVID-19 treatments, paused recruitment into its hydroxychloroquine arm, for example.
But just as quickly, the Lancet results have begun to unravel—and Surgisphere, which provided patient data for two other high-profile COVID-19 papers, has come under withering online scrutiny from researchers and amateur sleuths. They have pointed out many red flags in the Lancet paper, including the astonishing number of patients involved and details about their demographics and prescribed dosing that seem implausible. “It began to stretch and stretch and stretch credulity,” says Nicholas White, a malaria researcher at Mahidol University in Bangkok.
All hail the Queen of Michigan!
We return to irregular programming.
Does the Government have a snitch line for Bombardier? Asking for a friend.
All Aboard The Gravy Train: Gordon Brown urges G20 countries to back $2.5tn coronavirus plan .
Look everybody! It’s someone who trusts data from Iran.
This may spark protests: experts say the pandemic has also exacerbated existing economic disparities and raised fresh concerns about the survival of black businesses.
Your related cynicism in the comments.
No more money for you.
We are terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization, which acts at the behest of China. pic.twitter.com/QmTKmsLSbP
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 29, 2020
The apoplectic press remains apoplectic.
5/n whose RdRp fragment is 88.4% close to SARS, but they consider 4991 “uninteresting” and never return to it until 2020, as per Peter Daszak? Even though there were 6 cases of potential human zoonotic jumps in that mine – the proverbial Holy Grail of virological surveillance?
— Yuri Deigin (@ydeigin) May 28, 2020
The complete thread is here.
Update: China says Wuhan wet market was site of ‘superspreader’ event, not ground zero
Every “fact” that comes out of China has an expiry date.
It’s probably nothing: Monkeys ‘escape with COVID-19 samples’ after attacking lab assistant
Without fossil fuels, we’d be drowning in lung juice.
China keeps giving the West new reasons to decouple.
One Flu Out Of The Wuhan Nest: So they kept returning to the Tongguan mine, the source of RaTG13, collecting more and more samples. Here’s a 2018 paper in Chinese. “Uninteresting”, riiiight.
Related items are invited in the comments.
There is now talk of American Election Day turning into Election Week this year. This would be an alternative to the notion of nefarious mail-in ballots.
Of course, the Democrats and their comrades are against this common sense idea … and we all know why.
The virus outbreak and the subsequent reaction to it has revealed the great division between folks on the left and folks on the right. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course, but these poll numbers reveal some stark differences. It would be most interesting to learn what conclusions SDA readers draw from these poll results.
Illinois Judge Michael McHaney injected some sanity into the Covid-19 Lockdown debate in Illinois in an epic condemnation of Governor J.B. Pritzker:
Since the inception of this insanity, the following regulations, rules or consequences have occurred: I won’t get COVID if I get an abortion but I will get COVID if I get a colonoscopy. Selling pot is essential but selling goods and services at a family-owned business is not. Pot wasn’t even legal and pot dispensaries didn’t even exist in this state until five months ago and, in that five months, they have become essential but a family-owned business in existence for five generations is not.
A family of six can pile in their car and drive to Carlyle Lake without contracting COVID but, if they all get in the same boat, they will. We are told that kids rarely contract the virus and sunlight kills it, but summer youth programs, sports programs are cancelled. Four people can drive to the golf course and not get COVID but, if they play in a foursome, they will. If I go to Walmart, I won’t get COVID but, if I go to church, I will. Murderers are released from custody while small business owners are threatened with arrest if they have the audacity to attempt to feed their families.
“A $50 million class action lawsuit was launched against Revera earlier this month on behalf of the families of COVID-19 victims at the company’s long-term care facilities in Ontario. The company is being sued for negligence and breach of contract.
The plaintiffs allege the facilities lacked “proper sanitation protocols and adequate testing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
The statement of claim also alleges Revera did not properly inform residents or families of any measures it was taking to keep its facilities safe. The allegations against Revera have not been tested in court and the application still needs to be certified by a judge.
Another $25-million class-action lawsuit has been filed against Revera over its operation of the McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre in Calgary, where COVID-19 killed 21 residents and infected 63 others as well as 44 employees. The suit, which has not been certified, alleges the company was negligent and did not follow proper protocols to prevent the outbreak.
PSP Investments reports to Parliament through Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos, who ultimately is responsible for the Crown corporation.
The company’s board of directors is appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet through orders in council.”
More: If you’re wondering why troops became whistle blowers… they were deeply concerned nothing was going to be done about the conditions they were reporting. They didn’t understand why the federal govt had not moved given the May 14th letter.
