Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Syt]

Photos from a small protest in Vienna. The protest was actually not permitted due to health concerns and that the expected amount of people in the planned location wouldn't be able to keep enough distance from one another. The organizers registered for 5 people, but it was clear that more would show up.




"Give Gates no chance. The WHO is corrupt!"


Martin Sellner, head of the Identitarian Movement in Austria was also there




"Stop telling me what to do!"

[Valmy]

This Bill Gates business is the biggest display of "no good deed goes unpunished" I have ever seen.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Mild Max.

[Legbiter]

Mild Max.

We've only been living this new reality for what, 6 weeks now. The situation in 3 months might be considerably more volatile.

[Savonarola]

Insane Clown Posse cancel their annual Gather of the Juggalos, making them more responsible than some politicians, and alfred russel.

They also donated some of their merchandise to make masks.

[Razgovory]

Great, we live in world where meth clowns are canceling their parties out of the concern for human life and President of the US is talking about drinking bleach.

[Syt]

The Onion, a month ago:

https://local.theonion.com/man-just-buying-one-of-every-cleaning-product-in-case-t-1842493766

Man Just Buying One Of Every Cleaning Product In Case Trump Announces It's Coronavirus Cure

EVANSTON, WY—Throwing bottles of bleach, ammonia, and Drano into a cart at his local grocery store, area man Troy Mitchell was reportedly stocking up on one of every cleaning product he could find Wednesday in case President Donald Trump announces it is a coronavirus cure. "I got toilet bowl cleaner, carpet cleaner, Swiffer WetJet refills—you name it—just so me and my family will be ready if the president announces one of these things can treat Chinese virus," said Mitchell, indiscriminately throwing containers of laundry detergent, Scrubbing Bubbles, grout whitener, steel wool, Febreze, Tilex mold and mildew remover, and laptop screen wipes into the cart, the contents of which rang up to $2,513.67 at checkout. "I'm not getting caught without some oven degreaser should Trump say it's going to save us, so I better go ahead and grab me a bottle. After this, I'm hitting the hardware store to pick up a 5-gallon bucket of roof sealant to make sure I'm prepared in the event that turns out to be what gets rid of the Wuhan. Could just be 10 or 20 squirts of Windex into each nostril. You never know what might work in a pinch!" At press time, neighbors confirmed Mitchell had been found unresponsive on the floor of his bathroom with several empty aerosol cans of Rust-Oleum wax-and-tar-removing solvent by his head.

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/revealed-dominic-cummings-on-secret-scientific-advisory-group-for-covid-19

The prime minister's chief political adviser, Dominic Cummings, and a data scientist he worked with on the Vote Leave campaign for Brexit are on the secret scientific group advising the government on the coronavirus pandemic, according to a list leaked to the Guardian.

It reveals that both Cummings and Ben Warner were among 23 attendees present at a crucial convening of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on 23 March, the day Boris Johnson announced a nationwide lockdown in a televised address.

Multiple attendees of Sage told the Guardian that both Cummings and Warner had been taking part in meetings of the group as far back as February. The inclusion of Downing Street advisers on Sage will raise questions about the independence of its scientific advice.

There has been growing pressure on Downing Street in recent days to disclose more details about the group, which provides scientific advice to the upper echelons of government during emergencies. Both the membership of Sage and its advice to ministers on the Covid-19 outbreak is being kept secret.

Warner, a data scientist, was reportedly recruited to Downing Street last year by Cummings after running the Conservative party's general election campaign model. He is also said to have worked closely with Cummings on the data modelling used in the Vote Leave campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.

The government's former chief scientific adviser Sir David King said he was "shocked" to discover there were political advisers on Sage. "If you are giving science advice, your advice should be free of any political bias," he said. "That is just so critically important."

Told that Cummings was in the 23 March meeting, King replied: "Oh my goodness. Isn't this maybe why they don't want us to know who was there?"

King said political advisers were never on the equivalent committees of Sage when he chaired them and argued that Cummings, who is not a scientist, could report his own interpretation of Sage advice back to the prime minister.

Other former members of Sage also said they could not recall political appointees being on previous committees. David Lidington, a former Cabinet Office minister and de facto deputy to Theresa May when she was prime minister, said: "I'm not aware of any minister or special adviser, certainly not in Theresa May's time, ever having been involved in the scientific advisory panels."

[The Larch]

Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus 'cure' wrote to Trump this week
Mark Grenon wrote to Trump saying chlorine dioxide 'can rid the body of Covid-19' days before the president promoted disinfectant as treatment

The leader of the most prominent group in the US peddling potentially lethal industrial bleach as a "miracle cure" for coronavirus wrote to Donald Trump at the White House this week.

In his letter, Mark Grenon told Trump that chlorine dioxide – a powerful bleach used in industrial processes such as textile manufacturing that can have fatal side-effects when drunk – is "a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in the body". He added that it "can rid the body of Covid-19".

A few days after Grenon dispatched his letter, Trump went on national TV at his daily coronavirus briefing at the White House on Thursday and promoted the idea that disinfectant could be used as a treatment for the virus. To the astonishment of medical experts, the US president said that disinfectant "knocks it out in a minute. One minute!"

He went on to say: "Is there a way we can do something, by an injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it'd be interesting to check that."

Trump did not specify where the idea of using disinfectant as a possible remedy for Covid-19 came from, and the source for his notion remains obscure. But the Guardian has learned that peddlers of chlorine dioxide – industrial bleach – have been making direct approaches to the White House in recent days.

Grenon styles himself as "archbishop" of Genesis II – a Florida-based outfit that claims to be a church but which in fact is the largest producer and distributor of chlorine dioxide bleach as a "miracle cure" in the US. He brands the chemical as MMS, "miracle mineral solution", and claims fraudulently that it can cure 99% of all illnesses including cancer, malaria, HIV/Aids as well as autism.

Since the start of the pandemic, Genesis II has been marketing MMS as a cure to coronavirus. It advises users, including children, to mix three to six drops of bleach in water and drink it.

In his weekly televised radio show, posted online on Sunday, Grenon read out the letter he wrote to Trump. He said it began: "Dear Mr President, I am praying you read this letter and intervene."

Grenon said that 30 of his supporters have also written in the past few days to Trump at the White House urging him to take action to protect Genesis II in its bleach-peddling activities which they claim can cure coronavirus.

On Friday, hours after Trump talked about disinfectant on live TV, Grenon went further in a post on his Facebook page. He claimed that MMS had actually been sent to the White House. He wrote: "Trump has got the MMS and all the info!!! Things are happening folks! Lord help others to see the Truth!"

Paradoxically, Trump's outburst about the possible value of an "injection" of disinfectant into the lungs of Covid-19 sufferers came just days after a leading agency within the president's own administration took action to shut down the peddling of bleach as a coronavirus cure around the US.

Last week the US Food and Drug Administration obtained a federal court order barring Genesis II from selling what was described as "an unproven and potentially harmful treatment for Covid-19". The FDA also ordered a disciple of Genesis II, Kerri Rivera, to remove claims that MMS cured coronavirus from her website.

Last August the FDA issued an urgent warning urging Americans not to buy or drink MMS, which it said was a "dangerous bleach which has caused serious and potentially life-threatening side effects". Drinking MMS can cause nausea, diarrhea and severe dehydration that can lead to death, the federal agency said.

The Guardian contacted the White House asking whether Grenon's letter had influenced Trump's comments on disinfectant, but did not immediately receive a response.

Another advocate of bleach as a miracle cure who has been seeking to interest Trump in the treatment is Alan Keyes. He is a former ambassador and adviser to Ronald Reagan who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for the US Senate and on three occasions for the US presidency.

Keyes has featured Genesis II bleach products as a miracle cure on his online conservative TV show, Let's Talk America.

It is not known whether Keyes has discussed MMS with Trump. But the two men have overlapping interests.

Not only have they both featured in Republican party and presidential politics, but they were both leading proponents of the Birther conspiracy theory that wrongfully suggested Barack Obama was born outside America.

Keyes's TV show is hosted on IAMtv, a rightwing web-based channel. IAMtv's other leading anchor is Bob Sisson, who has also advertised Genesis II bleach products on air.

In one of his shows, first reported by the Daily Beast, Sisson held up two bottles of Genesis II MMS and said: "Gonna meet Trump, it's only a matter of time. President Trump's gonna invite us up there, when he finds out about this stuff."

On Friday Trump claimed he was being "sarcastic" in his remarks but there is no evidence to back up that claim and he appeared entirely serious as he made them.

[Savonarola]

[Josquius]

Just noticed active cases in Italy are on the decline now

[Barrister]

Just noticed active cases in Italy are on the decline now

Huzzah!

[Duque de Bragança]

Great, we live in world where meth clowns are canceling their parties out of the concern for human life and President of the US is talking about drinking bleach.

I am somewhat surprised Insane Clown Posse still exist.

[Sheilbh]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/revealed-dominic-cummings-on-secret-scientific-advisory-group-for-covid-19

I'm not sure I see an issue with Number 10's chief advisor being in on these meetings (they are advisory after all) - it strikes me as a good thing if there's someone from Number 10 who's attending the meetings so hearing the wider debate not just the consensus view and recommendation, also it's probably good if the scientific advisors are aware of what's causing concern for the politicians. Especially as only Whitty and Vallance, of the scientists on SAGE, attend COBRA meetings.

I think there's a lot going on with whether they're "on" SAGE or attending their meetings. For example there's always been special advisors from relevant decision making departments attending scientific advisory meetings but they normally have "observer" status - so they sit in and listen but don't really participate so they can feed back to the politicians who make decisions.

The minutes get released at the end of the "emergency" but I'd be surprised if DC said anything in these meetings. Arguably the bigger risk is I can definitely see him buying into a clever modelling analysis of how to respond (though - I'd note the Imperial model has been spot-on in their prediction of pressures on healthcare, so once they had the correct data it's not clear to me that basing your policy on models is a mistake), so I could see him being a cheerleader for that approach/advice.

[Sheilbh]

Sweden is very interesting: