Free Republic

Public health leaders in Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties say their departments will no longer recommend isolation or quarantine for people exposed to someone with COVID-19, as they now will focus on reducing the risk to populations at the greatest risk of dying from the respiratory illness. In an interview Monday, Dr. Peter Beilenson, head of Sacramento County’s Department of Health Services, said public health officials quarantined the sick and those who came into close contact with them as a way to slow spread of the disease, but as the number of cases increase statewide, public health has to acknowledge...

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 5:43 P.M. EDT THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. We’ve just completed today’s meeting of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and I couldn’t be more proud of the efforts of the men and women standing behind me or all of those standing behind them. President Trump said from early on that this would be a whole-of-government approach. And today gives evidence of the fact that it is also a whole-of-America approach. We’re bringing the full resources of the federal government and the full resources of — of this great economy and our great business...

... State health officials joined Chu in asking the CDC and Food and Drug Administration to waive privacy rules and allow clinical tests in a research lab, citing the threat of significant loss of life. The CDC and FDA said no. "We felt like we were sitting, waiting for the pandemic to emerge," Chu told the Times. "We could help. We couldn't do anything." They held off for a couple of weeks, but on Feb. 25, Chu and her colleagues "began performing coronavirus tests, without government approval," the Times reports. They found a positive case pretty quickly, and after discussing...

The White House Coronavirus Task Force today recommended 30-day mitigation strategies for Seattle-King, Pierce, and Snohomish County, Washington, and Santa Clara County, California due to widespread transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These mitigation activities are designed to address the effects of COVID-19 on areas that are experiencing community spread.“President Trump has made clear that the Task Force must move decisively to protect the health and safety of the American people,” said Vice President Mike Pence. “These recommendations outline a whole-of-community approach to immediately minimize the impacts of coronavirus in these cities and towns. I look forward to the...

There's good news and bad news about Coronavirus. First, there's reason for optimism. The virus struck only four months ago, yet we already know its genetic features. It took scientists years to get that far with HIV/AIDS. Antiviral drugs are in development, and a vaccine could be available within 18 months. The pace of scientific progress is breathtaking. So is human ingenuity. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will soon offer home coronavirus testing kits, starting in the hard-hit Seattle area. Anyone who's worried can fill out an online questionnaire, receive a nasal swab kit in the mail, use it...

Despite having had more time to prepare, most authorities in the US and EU are responding to the coronavirus spread with such ineffectual and wrong-minded measures that they're just making a terrible situation worse. In today's video, Chris walks through the 'gold standard' process for how a country should act to contain a pandemic like this. How many countries come anywhere close to this standard? Depressingly few. And he shows case after case after case of authorities -- at both the national and local levels -- pushing policies that endanger the public. Why is the official response to such a...

An analysis of the novel coronavirus’ spread inside the United States suggests that thousands of Americans are already infected, dimming the prospects for stomping out the outbreak in its earliest stages. Researchers estimate that by March 1, the virus had already infected about 1,000 to 10,000 people who have not yet been accounted for. At the start of this month, about 80 U.S. cases had been confirmed and officials were still expressing confidence they could contain the new virus. Quarantines, contact tracing and other public health measures have likely tamped down the COVID-19 outbreak here, the researchers said. But from...

Dr. Helen Y. Chu, an infectious disease expert in Seattle, knew that the United States did not have much time. In late January, the first confirmed American case of the coronavirus had landed in her area. Critical questions needed answers: Had the man infected anyone else? Was the deadly virus already lurking in other communities and spreading? As luck would have it, Dr. Chu had a way to monitor the region. For months, as part of a research project into the flu, she and a team of researchers had been collecting nasal swabs from residents experiencing symptoms throughout the Puget...

Assuming the number of people who have reportedly died from COVID-19 is reasonably accurate, then the percentage of infected people who die from the disease (the death rate) must surely have been much lower than the 2–3% estimates commonly reported. That is because the number of infected people is much larger than the number tested and reported. The triangle graph, from a February 10 study from Imperial College London, shows that most people infected by COVID-19 are never counted as being infected. That is because, the Imperial College study explains, “the bottom of the pyramid represents the likely largest population...

The coronavirus epidemic is an economic calamity of historical proportions. The stock-market collapse Monday rivaled the worst days of the 2008 financial crisis. Oil prices dropped faster than at any time since the Persian Gulf War in 1991. The yield on U.S. bonds approached zero percent, the lowest ever. It needn't have happened, not at this scale. History shows that a concerted show of force from the world's leading governments could have stopped the panic. But no such demonstration came, suggesting the world's inward turn over the past half-decade is making the coronavirus crisis worse. As COVID-19 spread, politicians mostly...

The scope of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is expanding, but it’s vital for U.S. policymakers and citizens to act rationally, work together, and keep what’s happening in proper context. People have many legitimate concerns, including mitigating the spread, manufacturing enough test kits to detect the virus in sick people, finding an effective treatment, preventing shortages of protective gear for medical personnel, and offsetting potential costs to the taxpayers and to the economy, among many others. As Virginia’s former secretary of health and human resources, I know how critical it is for federal, state, and local governments to work together in...

As countries around the world grapple with the coronavirus, Taiwan may offer valuable lessons on how to curb its spread. Just 81 miles away, the island is a short flight to mainland China, where COVID-19 is believed to have originated in the city of Wuhan. As the outbreak took hold in January, many Taiwanese business people and their families based in China were returning to celebrate the Lunar New Year, and up to 2,000 Chinese tourists a day visited the island, potentially bringing the virus with them. And yet, Taiwan has had only 47 cases of COVID-19 and one death...

South Korea had 7,513 Covid-19 cases as of Monday, with daily infections falling for a fourth consecutive day Officials attribute the decrease to mass testing, improved public communication and the use of advanced technology ===================================================================== South Korea has seen a steady decrease in new coronavirus cases for four consecutive days, despite being one of the worst-affected countries outside China , although global attention has shifted towards outbreaks in Italy and Iran . As of end-Monday, it had 7,513 cases and 54 deaths. The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said there was an increase of 131 cases from...