Coronavirus Today, Lest Anyone Think It's Over

Following are all current reports today, Sunday, July 5, 2020.

Miami mayor says city 'breaking record after record after record' of coronavirus cases

Miami-Dade mayor: Residents 'kind of let their guard down' during reopening

Phoenix mayor: 

'We opened way too early in Arizona'

Public health expert: 'Mixed messaging' on masks, social distancing contributed to 'perilous moment' for US

Austin mayor: Trump's 'ambiguous' messaging 'makes me angry'

Texas hits another record f

or daily new coronavirus cases

Houston mayor: Hospitals will be overwhelmed 'if we don't get our hands around this virus quickly'

Republican governor on Mt. Rushmore event: 'There should have been face coverings'

FDA commissioner says he can't predict when vaccine will be ready after Trump's timeline claims

FDA commissioner declines to confirm Trump claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are 'harmless'

Gottlieb: 'The total number of deaths is going to start going up again'

New Jersey governor: 'We went through hell. We cannot afford to go through hell again'

Note, too, they are all from one source, The Hill, which is not an overly emotional nor one-sided, Left or Right Wing source for stories. My point being, I didn't go all over the internet to get these stories.  I think this gives a good, cold, if sobering overview of where we stand right now, as a nation and even in our area, the Kansas City metropolitan area, on this pandemic.

(Note: The Gottleib mentioned above is Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb).

Have a great day, everyone. Enjoy your Sunday.

Stay safe.

Here's Libertarianism for you

If you've been following the news lately, you may have, likely have heard the story about the people who've been exposed to and some even killed by, having received medication from what we now hear is a "compound pharmacy":

‘High risk’ drug making is at center of meningitis inquiry

Federal officials are investigating practices at New England Compounding Center in Framingham, a compounding pharmacy that has been linked to an outbreak of fungal meningitis. The outbreak has been blamed in 24 deaths.

Inside its sprawling red brick offices, New England Compounding Center engaged in the most hazardous type of pharmacy drug making. The company bought unsterilized powders and turned them into liquid steroids and other medicine supposedly pristine enough to inject into a patient.

It’s called “high-risk compounding,” and doing this safely, industry specialists say, requires elaborate and expensive manufacturing processes, sensitive tests for sterility and potency, and exacting attention to detail.

At the center of the federal and state investigation into New England Compounding, whose steroids were contaminated with a fungus that led to an outbreak of meningitis that has killed 24 people nationally, is whether the company violated these procedures.

My point?

My point is, this is yet one more example, like the BP oil blowout and spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the 2008 financial collapse that nearly took down the nation's and world's economies, that we need at least some government oversight and--gasp--regulations.

Without government and without that oversight and without regulations the Libertarians and so many Republicans and Right Wingers and "Conservatives" abhor, we--the people--are left exposed to the greed of we-don't-know-who.

No, thanks.

Leave me out, please.

I'll take some regulation, thank you.

Links: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/PA-lacks-patient-protection-against-sterile-compounding-errors.html

http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/10/25/framingham-pharmacy-engaged-high-risk-compounding-higher-chance-contamination/BxwAtkfmCg9rW7EsJqv7HM/story.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/PA-lacks-patient-protection-against-sterile-compounding-errors.html

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/25/163641002/after-meningitis-deaths-a-look-at-drug-safety

Upcoming documentary

Remember, 3/4 of the grocery store is utterly unnecessary. Vegetables, some meat and/or fish--if you eat it--some pasta(s) and the freshest breads you can get, either at home or the store. After that, a few condiments--maybe--some seasoning(s) and everything with as little sugar, if any at all, and as few ingredients as possible. Nothing processed. It's easy. Easier than it sounds, too. It's great for your health, great for your wasteline, far less expensive, potentially, simple and you'll feel terrific. Take back your food. Take back your body. Take back your life.

"Vanishing of the Bees" Documentary: maybe we should pay attention?

Radiation from Japan: that's how brief a time it took

How long did you think it would take before we'd start detecting at least some radiation in our--the US'--food chain?  Longer than this?

Low levels of radiation found in US milk

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press 

WASHINGTON – Very low levels of radiation turned up in a sample of milk from Washington state, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, but federal officials assured consumers not to worry.

Right.  That's how all the "officials" in Japan and here, both, end all the statements--"don't worry" and "we've got it under control" and "the levels detected are safe."

So reassuring.

Link to original story:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110330/ap_on_re_us/us_japan_earthquake_us_milk

Nature wasn't good enough? We have to "genetically alter" fish?

There are articles all over the internet today (NPR, Alternet, etc.) about "genetically altered" salmon that may be okayed by the FDA and about to be released into nature. And why would anyone genetically alter salmon, you ask? Why, so they grow faster and companies can make more money, of course? Isn't that why we do everything? Naturally, the company responsible for these salmon insist they're a-okay. Scientists, however, aren't totally sure yet: Michael Hansen, a senior staff scientist with Consumers Union, disagrees. "They need more data. They need more data on the allergy question, and I think most any allergy scientist would say the same thing,” he says. And then there's this: Another contentious issue being debated Monday is what will happen if these salmon escape from fish farms into the wild. People are concerned about whether they would mate with wild fish, out-compete them for food or irreversibly change their habitats. The fact is, this same Michael Hansen, Senior Scientist at Consumers Union Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen calls the FDA's work on this salmon "'sloppy,' 'misleading,' and 'woefully inadequate.'" From NPR's article "Weird Facts About Genetically Engineered Salmon: The engineered fish are sterile, have three sets of chromosomes and are exclusively female. I am personally of a couple different thoughts here. First, screwing with nature doesn't seem like a great idea but, second, we certainly screwed--big time--with chickens and we seem to be okay there. Third, growing salmon faster might be a good way to feed more people---provided, of course, it's safe. This seems to be one of those situations where, once again, we need to be calm and rational and patient and let the true science work this one out. Link to original stories: http://www.alternet.org/food/148156/the_creepy_science_behind_genetically_engineered_%22frankenfish%22_about_to_enter_our_food_supply_unlabeled/; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129939819; http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/09/20/129993900/weird-facts-about-genetically-engineered-salmon; http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap_on_bi_ge/us_modified_salmon

The day of abortions is nearly over

From the Associated Press and Yahoo! News earlier this evening: FDA OKs new, five-day emergency contraceptive By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Business Writer WASHINGTON – Federal health officials on Friday approved a new type of morning-after contraceptive that works longer than the current leading drug on the market. The pill ella from HRA Pharma reduces the chance of pregnancy up to five days after sex. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Friday as a prescription-only birth control option. The ruling clears the way for U.S. sales of the drug, which is already approved in Europe. Back to me: This should be nothing but good news to all of us out here in the world who don't want to see or hear about abortions out there in the world, for whatever reason. Right? But you watch--all the Catholics and holier-than-thou chuckleheads who don't want to lose their single-issue problem they can rail about and against will declare that this, too, is an abortion and will want it banned, young women's lives be damned. Seriously, they need to get over it just like they need to get over stem cell research. Science and technology have made stem cells now available from common, everyday, living cells from you and I, walking around on terra firma. Science and technology has also made these "morning after" pills like RU486 and now this "Plan B" pill so women can take them after having had sex, take the pill and avoid the situation of needing or wanting an abortion. And no, please don't say I'm advocating young people having indiscriminate sex. It's just that they're young, their hormones are raging and it's going to happen so wouldn't it be better that they have some way of protecting themselves and a possible child from an abortion? Wouldn't it? Of course it would. But I'm sure these single-issue abortion people won't agree with us. (Slapping forehead in disbelief and frustration). Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100813/ap_on_bi_ge/us_birth_control_pill_fda