Free Republic

Mayor Bill de Blasio thinks this is the wrong time for second-guessing about who made what calls before the coronavirus became a clear crisis — except that, if he made any errors, it was President Trump’s fault. Got it? Seriously: That was the mayor’s tack Sunday when CNN’s Jake Tapper came at him about his calls for New Yorkers to keep on as normal even as (it’s now clear) the virus was spreading across the city. De Blasio kept to that line as late as March 13, about a week before the city shut down all nonessential functions. “We should...

Gov. Cuomo for veep? Well, never say never — but it’s ­unlikely. Yes, the governor is up to his neck in five-star reviews for his management of the corona­virus crisis. His TV presence radiates calm competence. Clearly, he has gotten the poetry of governance in a maelstrom right; whether he is on top of the prose of it remains to be seen, but it certainly seems so. And of such stuff are political superstars born. So it’s no surprise that people are talking him up as a potential partner to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. If ever a candidacy...

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — With the coronavirus quickly spreading in Washington state in early March, leaders of the Skagit Valley Chorale debated whether to go ahead with weekly rehearsal. The virus was already killing people in the Seattle area, about an hour’s drive to the south. But Skagit County hadn’t reported any cases, schools and business remained open, and prohibitions on large gatherings had yet to be announced. On March 6, Adam Burdick, the choir’s conductor, informed the 121 members in an email that amid the “stress and strain of concerns about the virus,” practice would proceed as scheduled at...

President Trump on Sunday said if his administration can keep the coronavirus death toll to 100,000 in the United States, it will have done a "very good job." Earlier in the day, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the coronavirus pandemic could cause between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths in the United States. Trump said while 100,000 is "a horrible number," if the U.S. can keep its death toll to "100,000, so we have between 100,000 and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job." Trump also announced he is extending...

LAFAYETTE, Colo. (KDVR) – The family of a Lafayette man who died from coronavirus complications has a warning to others: take the threat seriously. "You know, I was one of the ones who downplayed it and thought it was funny, reading the memes and making jokes about it," admits Myke Rivera, whose father Dan Vigil died Sunday at a hospital in Lafayette. "You know, it hits you right in the face, how quickly it happens," Rivera told FOX31’s Jeremy Hubbard. About 10 days ago, Vigil was experiencing symptoms and had to be rushed by ambulance to the emergency room. "Basically,...

A projection of how many will die from Covid-19 infection in the United States and the President signaling a longer duration for the coronavirus situation but first A riot broke out at a prison in northeastern Syria housing Islamic State detainees and operated by Kurdish elements of the "Syrian Democratic Forces". Some prisoners escaped and others took over a floor of the prison.... The shape of a new "unity" government in Israel is emerging that will raise the profile of the political faction headed by the former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz that calls itself the Israel...

Yesterday we discussed the fact that the Governor of Rhode Island had sought legal advice as to whether or not she could close the borders of her state to people arriving from New York City, effectively instituting a travel ban on people who live in or had visited Gotham. That turned out not to be possible because of pesky constitutional considerations. But what if a governor wanted to set up such a ban inside of their own state? That’s a question that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo may have to deal with this week. It’s not just people in...

When John Sexton wrote about New York City residents failing at social distancing, I don’t think he expected it to go this far. Stopping New Yorkers from keeping the party going in the city that never sleeps is proving even harder than expected. As John pointed out, the Mayor still hasn’t closed the parks, so people are out there jogging, congregating and taking in the spring weather together. But that doesn’t hold a candle to Big Apple resident Lucian Wintrich, who you may remember as a reporter for the Gateway Pundit.Lucian decided to make the best of a bad...

FDA issues emergency use authorization for donated hydroxychloroquine sulfate, chloroquine phosphate The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today accepted 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate donated by Sandoz, the Novartis generics and biosimilars division, and one million doses of chloroquine phosphate donated by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, for possible use in treating patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or for use in clinical trials. These and other companies may donate additional doses, and companies have ramped up production to provide additional supplies of the medication to the commercial market. “President Trump is taking every possible step to protect Americans from the...

Looks like the party’s definitely over. A father in New York reportedly banned his son from the family home after the college student went on a spring break trip amidst the coronavirus pandemic. According to the father, it’s just too risky. I spoke with him every day and told him that maybe they should come home,” Peter told the New York Post. “I was aggravated. The news here was getting worse and worse. Matt sent me pictures of him and his friends congregating outdoors and listening to live music. It’s the scene you would not want to be in.” Matt and his friends apparently...

It is generally accepted that widespread testing will be key to successful control of Covid-19. Identifying where the virus has (and has not) spread, who is infected, and who may be immune are all important. The tracing and isolation of infected and potentially infected individuals is essential if quarantine and containment efforts are to be targeted. Yet as ProPublica reports: "The lack of testing continues to be a source of deep frustration across the country, with worried patients unable to find out whether they have the ordinary flu, the coronavirus or something else entirely. The availability of testing in regions...

(CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The drugs — which are used to treat malaria and other conditions — have been called game changers by President Donald Trump. But thus far, there is little scientific evidence that chloroquine, or its closely-related analogue hydroxychloroquine, are effective in treating Covid-19. What happened? The authorization came in a letter dated Saturday, but the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acknowledged the FDA’s action in a Sunday news release. The FDA limited the...

Independent Chinese media outlet Caixin Global revealed that Chinese laboratories had in fact identified a mystery virus — later identified as COVID-19 — to be a highly infectious new pathogen by late December 2019. But they were ordered to stop further testing, destroy samples, and suppress the news to the fullest extent possible.

The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs championed by President Donald Trump for coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence. The agency allowed for the drugs to be "donated to the Strategic National Stockpile to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible," HHS said in a statement, announcing that Sandoz donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to the stockpile and Bayer donated 1 million doses of chloroquine. (Please see link, for full...

Federal law enforcement officials are reportedly investigating a series of stock market transactions that were made by U.S. lawmakers prior to the stock market tanking as a result of the coronavirus rapidly spreading throughout the U.S. “The inquiry, which is still in its early stages and being done in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has so far included outreach from the FBI to at least one lawmaker, Sen. Richard Burr, seeking information about the trades, according to one of the sources,” CNN reported. “Public scrutiny of the lawmakers’ market activity has centered on whether members of Congress sought...

With all the bad news and negativity during this time of crisis, I'm confident that some of us have experienced kind words and deeds from our fellow human beings. I'd like to start a post documenting common (or uncommon) acts of kindness amid the chaos. Please share your experiences here. I'm sure there are many. I'll start with a video.Creativity and Kindness amid Coronavirus Pandemic Music, humor, scripture, uplifting quotes and stories are all welcome here. Just no negativity. (There is plenty of that on other threads.) We can get through this with faith, hope, love, and good cheer.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said his Sandoz generics unit's malaria, lupus and arthritis drug hydroxychloroquine is the company's biggest hope against the coronavirus, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday. Novartis has pledged to donate 130 million doses and is supporting clinical trials needed before the medicine, which U.S. President Donald Trump also has been promoting, can be approved for use against the coronavirus. Other companies including Bayer and Teva have also agreed to donate hydroxychloroquine or similar drugs, while Gilead Sciences is testing its experimental drug remdesivir against coronavirus. (Please see link, for full story)

Italy Has Been Chastised. But by Whom? As things now stand, worldwide the number of reported cases of the viral disease misdescribed as “the coronavirus” — there are many coronaviruses circulating in the world, including the one that causes the common cold — stands at 576,000, while the fatalities attributed to the disease stand at 26,000. That’s a fatality rate of 4.5%, but that is based on a tiny sample of the world’s population of 7 billion with a large selection bias in favor of those who are sick or very sick and have sought medical attention. In fact, among...

Watchman on the wall. Weekly prophecy update.

Very enthused for Trump: 52% Very enthused for Biden: 24%