Patients compensate for the low oxygen in their blood by breathing faster and deeper — and this happens without their realizing it. This silent hypoxia, and the patient’s physiological response to it, causes even more inflammation and more air sacs to collapse, and the pneumonia worsens until oxygen levels plummet. In effect, patients are injuring their own lungs by breathing harder and harder. Twenty percent of Covid pneumonia patients then go on to a second and deadlier phase of lung injury. Fluid builds up and the lungs become stiff, carbon dioxide rises, and patients develop acute respiratory failure.

The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients

Amazon has started using thermal cameras at its operations facilities to screen workers for fevers, a common symptom of the novel coronavirus.

Amazon is using thermal cameras for coronavirus temperature checks

The new coronavirus appears to be causing sudden strokes in adults in their 30s and 40s who are not otherwise terribly ill, doctors reported Wednesday.

Covid-19 causes sudden strokes in young adults, doctors say

Covid-19 is typically signaled by three symptoms: a fever, an insistent cough and shortness of breath. But older adults — the age group most at risk of severe complications or death from this condition ― may have none of these characteristics.

Seniors with Covid-19 show unusual symptoms, doctors say

The CDC recommends that all Americans wear face coverings in public.

See how far spit droplets travel through air when we talk

Antilockdown protester in Tennessee carries poster that says,

"Sacrifice the Weak, Re-Open TN"

We're so proud. /snark

I don't know about local grocery testing, but the last time I was in Publix next to campus it looked like every employee had on a mask. I don't think that is the case at Kroger and others.

He said that by Monday, May 11, every grocery store in the city should be able to demonstrate that every single employee has a recent negative COVID-19 test.

Duggan said that if grocery store employees do not get tested, the city will take appropriate legal action.

City of Detroit planning to crack down on COVID-19 testing for grocery store employees

~25% of customers but they were also rocking the clean carts like they have been at Krogers

As global death toll tops 200,000, WHO warns there's no evidence of coronavirus immunity

WHO warns against coronavirus "immunity passports"

"Immunity passports" in the context of COVID-19

Knox County

Tennessee Case Count

Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US - CNN
CDC case count

World case count - johns Hopkins

On New Year's Eve, a small company in Canada was among the first to raise the alarm about an infectious disease outbreak. Its computer algorithm calculated where the virus might spread next. The technology could change the way we fight another contagion.

The computer algorithm that was among the first to detect the coronavirus outbreak

Virus-notifying smartphone apps are gaining momentum around the world

Deaths across America spiked as Covid-19 began its spread, and many were never attributed to the new coronavirus, researchers reported Monday.

Patients already weakened by pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease may have had a death listed as being due to one of those causes, rather than coronavirus.

Deaths spiked as Covid-19 spread in March and April, new analysis finds

JetBlue to require face coverings for passengers; American giving out masks

As companies start planning their reopenings, business groups are pushing Congress to limit liability from potential lawsuits filed by workers and customers infected by the coronavirus.

Companies look to limit legal liability for coronavirus infections

All your questions about how to wear a face mask -- answered

Costco to require face coverings for shoppers

The San Antonio Zoo announced it is giving families the opportunity pack up their cars and drive-thru the park for a limited amount of time.

A Texas Zoo is opening back up to the public with a drive-thru experience

Unlike its European neighbors, Swedish officials did not institute lock down measures to combat the Covid-19 epidemic.

Deaths soar in country that didn't lock down. Officials identify big reason why.

Bears live it up after Yosemite Park closes

zoo has been trying to get two pandas to mate for 10 years

Sea turtles thriving with beaches closed due to COVID-19 outbreak

Rays, sharks, and dolphins enjoy new freedom as humans retreat from the oceans

Here’s what Dr. Fauci is concerned about as states reopen

Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and health economist at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, said cashiers "need N95 masks as much as health care workers." He believes that all stores also need to give their cashiers face shields because many coronavirus carriers are asymptomatic. In China, stores are sanitizing cash, and the United States "should as well at some point."

This is the most dangerous place in the grocery store

Widespread testing, intensive contact tracing and tracking apps have enabled South Korea to limit the spread of the virus without the extensive lockdowns seen in other countries.

After suffering the first major coronavirus outbreak outside China, South Korea has succeeded in lowering the daily rate of infections to around 10 or less, mostly imported.

Wearing masks, South Korean students to go back to school

A man wore what appeared to be a KKK white hood on a trip to the grocery store

Dollar Tree worker told a man he needed a mask

Three family members charged in shooting death of security guard who told a customer to put on a face mask

Oklahoma city backs off mask mandate after threats, as officials struggle to enforce public health rules

Had to go to the Dr. last FRI & as we left, the parking attendant - an older lady - wasn't wearing a mask. We asked her if she had any. "No" she replied, so we gave her a baggie that had 6 to 8 masks. She cried. God bless her.

Our neighbor has had a part of both of her lungs removed due to cancer. She had no masks. We gave her some N95 masks that I already had a number of before the pandemic, for use in my shop when sanding, grinding, painting, etc.. We also bought masks, gloves & toilet paper for my niece & my wife's brother.

If it is possible, we should be helping friends, family, neighbors, and YES - strangers. There is strength in unity & as they say, what goes around, comes around.

Furthermore - "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self"
Words to live by.

10 packs for $14.99. They're high, but available.

See how a mask affects how a cough travels

Today at a local convenience store in Rockford, TN (Four Corners Market) they had masks at the check out counter for $2 each. OUCH!

... without a road test

All of them got their licenses without taking an official road test. It's Georgia's way of handling the backlog of the thousands of road test requests that have been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly 20,000 teens in Georgia have received their driver licenses without a road test

Police told KOCO 5 that two people entered the lobby of the McDonald's near Southwest 89th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, where employees informed them that the dining room was closed because of safety precautions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. At some point, a gun was produced and two male employees were shot, police said.

Customers shoot 2 OKC McDonald's employees after being told dining room was closed, police say

In Louisiana, more than 30% of the state's coronavirus deaths are nursing home residents. In New Hampshire, long-term care facility residents make up nearly 80% of the state's cases.

The most alarming coronavirus numbers in some states are in prisons and nursing homes

Typically, these patients have experienced some Covid-19 symptoms for two to seven days before they show up at the hospital complaining of sudden chest tightness or an inability to breathe deeply, said Dr. Richard Levitan, who's been an emergency room physician for some 30 years.

Silent hypoxia: Covid-19 patients who should be gasping for air but aren't

Mediamatic ETEN, a restaurant in Amsterdam, is offering a four-course vegetarian menu for diners -- served to guests while they sit in their own personal quarantine greenhouses.

Waiters wear gloves and face shields to alleviate any risk of infections, the restaurant confirmed to CNN. They also use long boards to bring dishes into the greenhouses to diners.

This restaurant in Amsterdam introduced 'quarantine greenhouses' so diners can eat while social distancing

Currently, the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) contains about 15 million needles and syringes, about 2% of what will be needed, according to Bright’s complaint.

Shortage of needles, syringes looms in race to develop COVID-19 vaccine

Supply chain headache? Hundreds of millions of syringes will be needed to vaccinate U.S.

(link...)

Got it? Good. Read it, know it, live it.

Went to restaurant in Kingston Pike/Cedar Bluff area Sunday evening. None of kitchen staff nor some other staff preparing or handling food had masks. We got up and left. Is it a requirement for them to wear a mask?

Apologies if this is posted elsewhere here on this or another thread, but this looks like good data we all can use.

(link...)

Via Yamiche Alcindor - CONFIRMED: The White House has directed all West Wing staff to wear masks at all times in the building, except when they are at their own desks.

It will be interesting to see what they can come up with that will allow for them to reopen.

The CEO of the Walt Disney Company said this week that face masks for guests and workers will "likely" be one of the coronavirus precautions put in place when the company's U.S. parks reopen.

Disney parks in US will 'likely' require face masks when they reopen, CEO says

The Los Angeles County jail inmates had one goal in mind: get infected with the novel coronavirus so they could be released from custody. And they were going to do it together.

Inmates tried to infect themselves with the coronavirus to get early release, Los Angeles County sheriff says

Uber drivers will have to take a selfie with their mask on and submit it within the app for verification before they can begin a ride.

The Uber app already uses face-scanning technology to verify a driver’s ID before starting a ride, so this new mask verification is built off that framework.

Uber to use facial recognition tech to determine if drivers are wearing masks

...which environments have an increased risk of spreading coronavirus

Biologist: Avoid these places to protect against Covid-19

Marking a seismic shift in medicine, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is fully embracing telehealth, announcing Thursday that from now it will cover online medical consultations with in-network health care providers.

The Doctor Will Zoom You Now: BlueCross commits to covering online medical consults from now on

Ryan said the term "herd immunity" emerged from veterinary epidemiology, typically involving business decisions of whether to let animals die for the overall health of a herd.

"An individual animal in that sense doesn't matter, from the perspective of the brutal economics of that decision-making," Ryan said.

Can herd immunity help stop the coronavirus? Experts warn it's not that easy.

May 17, 2020, Texas reports largest single-day jump in coronavirus cases.

Texas reported 1,801 new coronavirus cases Saturday, reportedly marking the state’s largest single-day jump since the start of the coronavirus crisis.

“These counties’ new cases are largely from targeted testing of employees at meat plants in the area. More test results from plants are expected,” it tweeted.

US lockdown protests may have spread virus widely, cellphone data suggests

Devices associated with protesters travelled up to hundreds of miles after rallies where few precautions were taken

(link...)

A Florida man who thought the coronavirus was "a fake crisis" has changed his mind after he and his wife contracted COVID-19.

He thought the coronavirus was 'a fake crisis.' Then he contracted it and changed his mind.

A spike of on May 18 of new virus cases in Tennessee.

Tennessee Coronavirus Map and Case Count

623-case jump brings Tennessee’s confirmed COVID-19 cases above 18,000

Kai Kupferschmidt in Science Mag - Why do some COVID-19 patients infect many others, whereas most don’t spread the virus at all?

That’s why in addition to R, scientists use a value called the dispersion factor (k), which describes how much a disease clusters. The lower k is, the more transmission comes from a small number of people. In a seminal 2005 Nature paper, Lloyd-Smith and co-authors estimated that SARS—in which superspreading played a major role—had a k of 0.16. The estimated k for MERS, which emerged in 2012, is about 0.25. In the flu pandemic of 1918, in contrast, the value was about one, indicating that clusters played less of a role.

Estimates of k for SARS-CoV-2 vary. In January, Julien Riou and Christian Althaus at the University of Bern simulated the epidemic in China for different combinations of R and k and compared the outcomes with what had actually taken place. They concluded that k for COVID-19 is somewhat higher than for SARS and MERS. That seems about right, says Gabriel Leung, a modeler at the University of Hong Kong. “I don’t think this is quite like SARS or MERS, where we observed very large superspreading clusters,” Leung says. “But we are certainly seeing a lot of concentrated clusters where a small proportion of people are responsible for a large proportion of infections.” But in a recent preprint, Adam Kucharski of LSHTM estimated that k for COVID-19 is as low as 0.1. “Probably about 10% of cases lead to 80% of the spread,” Kucharski says.

Yes, I heard a small number of people can infect a huge number of people. Such as a grocery store worker and what does this mean for a waiter in a restaurant. And in case you hadn't heard, Calhouns sucks.

Closer look at how quickly germs can spread in restaurants through a science experiment designed to track germ droplets.

This is how sharing dinner table items can make you sick

A look at the potential long term effects of Covid-19

CDC Covid-19 opening plan

Sweden has revealed that despite adopting more relaxed measures to control coronavirus, only 7.3% of people in Stockholm had developed the antibodies needed to fight the disease by late April.

well below the 70-90% needed to create "herd immunity" in a population.

Sweden has now had 32,172 cases and 3,871 deaths, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Sweden is still nowhere near 'herd immunity,' even though it didn't go into lockdown

Trousdale County in Tennessee by far has the most in the list "Hot spots: Counties with the highest number of cases per resident" in the entire US, as of May 21.

Lake County has the 5th most, Bledsoe County the 8th most.

Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

A hair stylist in Springfield, Missouri, exposed as many as 91 people to coronavirus after working at a salon for eight days while symptomatic, health officials said Friday.

He warned residents who recently visited the same locations as the stylist, including a Dairy Queen, a Walmart and a CVS pharmacy, to look for COVID-19 symptoms and isolate themselves if they develop.

Missouri hair stylist with coronavirus worked while symptomatic, exposed dozens of clients

Bodner said California’s stay-at-home order has made it more difficult for traffickers to launder money and move around the city unseen.

“When there’s less hay in the haystack, it’s easier to find the needle,” he added. “It’s caused the drug cartels and money launderers to take more risks, and that’s where we can capitalize.”

COVID-19 is costing drug cartels millions of dollars

Everyone over age 10 will be required to wear face masks starting Friday inside public spaces in Virginia, an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday.

Masks to be required inside public places starting Friday, Northam says

Knox County has seen a "statistically significant" increase in positive COVID-19 cases for several days, a signal that's prompting more health employees to return to help with contact tracing to track the potential spread of the virus, Health Department Director Dr. Martha Buchanan said Wednesday.

Increase in positive Knox County virus cases draws Health Department's scrutiny

I started going to Publix at University Commons almost exclusively a month or so ago because all employees wore masks and they are on top of buggy and basket cleaning. I wasn't seeing that diligence at Krogers and Food City.

Grocer Kroger says three workers at its Cedar Bluff store on Kingston Pike have tested positive for COVID-19.

Kroger: Three workers test positive for coronavirus at Cedar Bluff store in Knoxville

Of course, we're dealing with an Executive branch of the federal government that is fact-averse, science averse, averse to proactive reasoning and studies that would guide us in such sudden crises, and which shut down virtually all budgeted efforts to learn and prepare for these things ahead of time. Even George W. Bush understood the value of doing the science.

So absence such preparation and while we have no leadership or competence at leading, and confronted with a mystery virus that academia is scrambling to learn new, different, and sometimes seemingly contradictory things about, what should we be doing instead?

Should every science study that gets something wrong about this novel virus result in punishment, defunding, etc. of the institution behind its publication? That would have a tragic and chilling effect. Unless there was intended fraud, which I don't believe is being alleged here, that would be just another self-inflicting wound to a country where expertise is already being dangerously but systematically dismantled by political right-wing ideology.

The federal government (at least the executive part, that, you know, executes government policy, programs and functions) is no longer functioning. Health care, pubic health, regulatory agencies, even the Post Office have been politicized and weaponized. Information is no longer reliable. No help is coming. Only lies.

Sadly, the incompetence and indifference is trickling down to Red State governments and even local governments.

Let's hope that the defense department is still functioning on at least some basic level of readiness. We are vulnerable.

Knox County hits red light on COVID-19 phased reopening plan

Several southern U.S. states reported sharp increases in COVID-19 infections, with Alabama, South Carolina and Virginia all seeing new cases rise 35% or more in the week ended May 31 compared with the prior week, according to a Reuters analysis.

Where U.S. coronavirus cases are on the rise

Let's also recognize AC for making an early, tough, personally and financially painful decision to cancel Big Ears in the interest of public health and safety. And, if I recall correctly, he did it before any official government action or guidance.

Indeed.

Indeed.

Thanks, Randy (and fischbobber and Roger). I appreciate that.

It was a difficult decision - we had, as always, put heart and soul into the 2020 festival, and it was selling out for the first time ever over two weeks in advance. It was amazing how fast things were moving that week however. What seemed sadly but clearly necessary to us (but not everyone) on Tuesday night was painfully evident to all within a day or two. By Thursday, concerts all across the county were being canceled and by the weekend venues everywhere were closing.

We had the benefit of a lot information - European friends, colleagues and artists were giving us almost minute-by-minute updates on what was going there and what was clearly coming here. Some American artists were returning from European tours with their heads spinning because things were changing so fast. I also have family - my sister-in-law and our two nieces who are all in medical profession in Germany - were providing additional information and insight.

It has been an extraordinary experience watching this pandemic unfold - and a sad and frustrating one to witness the lack of thoughtful, strong, intelligent, unified leadership here in the USA in addressing it. We still have some bold and exciting plans and hopes to return in early 2021, but my greatest fear is that the current strategy will backfire and extend the pain even further. I hope I'm wrong. Thanks again for the acknowledgment.

Anyone not following Andy Slavitt on this subject should check out his efforts. He also has a great podcast, In the Bubble.

First, the bad news: The number of new coronavirus cases reported in Florida each day has increased an average of roughly 46% over the past week, according to a national tracking website.

But the percentage of coronavirus test results that turn out to be positive is only 4%...

The World Health Organization has recommended governments stay at a "testing positivity" rate of 5% or lower for at least 14 days before reopening.

Just in time for summer, Florida's seeing a surge in coronavirus cases. But there's good news, too

Google Maps to alert users about COVID-19-related travel restrictions

Get around safely with these new Google Maps features

Alexis Madrigal & Robinson Meyer in the Atlantic - America Is Giving Up on the Pandemic

Americans have not fully grasped that we are not doing what countries that have returned to normal have done. Some countries have almost completely suppressed the virus. Others had large outbreaks, took intense measures, and have seen life return to normal. Americans, meanwhile, never stayed at home to the degree that most Europeans have, according to mobility data from Apple and Google. Our version of the spring lockdown looked more like Sweden’s looser approach than like the more substantial measures in Italy, or even the United Kingdom and France. Swedish public-health officials have acknowledged that this approach may not have been the best path forward.

It is hard to escape the fact that there are some real gaps in knowledge in regard to community spread of Covid-19 and the efficacy of policy. The states have been labs to some degree and the results are not showing what one might have hypothesized from conventional wisdom. A couple of months ago many were pointing to Kentucky as shutting things down more thoroughly and earlier that we did in Tennessee. Also two states with Republican governors - Ohio and Georgia took very different steps with Georgia's governor being lambasted as callously opening too much and too soon. But as the table below demonstrates the results don't necessarily support the hypotheses implied by the above. Tennessee has fewer deaths per capita than Kentucky. Likewise Georgia fares no worse than Ohio.

NBC: Corona Virus Deaths by State

It is too early for the data collection, hypothesis testing, and theory building that comprise the scientific method. I argued a month ago that we had no good models and that errors such as those that Moon cites may well lead to a collective eye roll when we are warned of a second wave.

Scientists need to explain models to build trust

The model building has been rushed, premature, and, not surprisingly, quite inaccurate. The assumptions change rapidly. Any modeling depends on capturing an almost infinite number of human decisions. The fact is that nobody has a handle on this.

I think Covid-19 is very serious. As a member of a vulnerable population I choose to wear a mask and carefully practice social distancing. But the science is not there yet to reliably guide policy. I find that especially troubling because trust in science is undercut when what is claimed to be science produces results so far from the mark. The last thing we need is to unwittingly undercut the scientific method as the basis of our knowledge of how are world functions.

Las Vegas reopened. People showed up.

Among others for the week ending June 7, 2020 ...

Total Cases Per 100k New Cases 1-week change
Tennessee 26,381 386 3,375 +18.0%

Where U.S. coronavirus cases are on the rise

Analysis: Data from 15M phones shows some Americans are gathering at pre-pandemic levels

"By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury," the disclaimer reads.

Trump campaign says it can't be held liable if rally attendees contract coronavirus

Record spikes in new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations sweep parts of U.S.

A cheap and widely-used steroid called dexamethasone has become the first drug shown to be able to save the lives of COVID-19 patients in what scientists said is a “major breakthrough” in the coronavirus pandemic

Steroid drug hailed as 'breakthrough' for seriously ill COVID-19 patients

Some Coronavirus Hot Spots Now Seeing Record Number Of Cases

No one was wearing masks; hardly anyone was social distancing. Meanwhile, the confirmed cases of COVID-19 jumped by 23 on Saturday to a total of 382.

"The people who aren't wearing masks, they're risking their lives and ours," said Betty Holms of Sevierville. "You've just got to stay away from the public and be smart."

Sevier County's COVID-19 cases are rising. What does that mean?

LAX implements thermal screening to scan passengers for coronavirus symptoms

The governor of Washington state on Tuesday ordered residents to wear face masks in public as officials across the country sought new means to control the coronavirus pandemic while easing clamp-downs on residents and reopening the economy.

Washington state makes face masks mandatory as some states see new coronavirus surge

Washington becomes the latest state to mandate wearing masks in public

Residents of Palm Beach County in Florida erupted in anger at a commissioner's meeting after an unanimous vote to make masks mandatory.

Angry residents erupt at meeting over new mask rule

Three sheriffs in North Carolina have declared that they will not be enforcing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's statewide mask mandate despite a growing number of coronavirus cases.

Several sheriffs in North Carolina say they won't enforce the state's mask mandate

Face mask debate turns fierce in St. Lucie County

The rethinking of how to safely reopen the US comes as 36 states have showed an upward trend in average new daily cases -- an increase of at least 10% -- over the last seven days, as of Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins.

These states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Two states saw average daily cases decline more than 10% over those seven days: New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Many states hit pause on reopening but experts say the spread of coronavirus is now hard to control

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University have experimented with different materials and styles of non-medical masks and found that a well-fitted stitched mask made from two layers of quilting fabric was the most effective in stopping the spread of droplets from emulated coughs and sneezes.

They found that droplets from a simulated uncovered cough were able to travel more than 8 feet; with a bandana they traveled 3 feet, with a folded cotton handkerchief, they traveled 1 foot, 3 inches; and with the cone-style mask, droplets traveled about 8 inches. With the stitched-quilting fabric mask, they traveled 2.5 inches.

The best DIY face mask material and fit? Quilting cotton beats bandana, new study suggests

Ahead of the July Fourth weekend, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Tuesday expanded travel advisories requiring people arriving from eight additional southern and midwestern states to quarantine for 14 days.

As of Tuesday, the Democratic governors from the tri-state area are requiring self-quarantine for travelers from: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. The requirement was first announced for eight states last week.

NY, NJ and CT expand quarantine advisories for travelers from 8 more states with high coronavirus rates

See how innovators are improving face masks so that preventing coronavirus is not the only thing they do

See ways innovators are making masks worth your while

"Our analysis suggests that the economic benefit from a face mask mandate and increased face mask usage could be sizable," Hatzius wrote.

Trump says masks are a 'double-edged sword.' Goldman Sachs says they could help save the economy

Reducing the spread of the virus through mask-wearing, the analysts found, could be a substitute for strict lockdown measures that would otherwise shave 5%—or $1 trillion—off the U.S. GDP.

A National Mask Mandate Could Save The U.S. Economy $1 Trillion, Goldman Sachs Says

Green, Yellow, Orange Or Red? This New Tool Shows COVID-19 Risk In Your County

Risk Level by State/County

(link...)

JPMorgan analyzed data from 30 million Chase cardholders and Johns Hopkins University’s case tracker and found that higher restaurant spending in a state predicted a rise in new infections there three weeks later.

In-person restaurant spending was “particularly predictive.”

Conversely, higher spending at supermarkets predicted a slower spread of the virus.

Mexican border states raise new concern about Americans bringing coronavirus south

As cases have increased in Southern California, Arizona and Texas, Mexican border states have increasingly come to see the outbreak in the United States as their biggest threat in controlling the epidemic.

..

On Thursday, the Mexican government said it would be installing “sanitary filters,” where travelers from the United States will have their temperatures checked at several border crossings. Those checkpoints have “the goal of protecting the health of the Mexican population, particularly those in the border states,” said a statement from the Mexico Foreign Ministry.

Crowds continue to pack bars around the US as coronavirus continues to spread.

GOP governor: I opened the bars too soon

The latest case numbers in Florida, which has yet to report statewide hospitalizations, surpassed the highest daily tally reported by any European county during the height of the coronavirus outbreak there.

In Texas, meanwhile, the number of new cases rose by a record 8,258 on Saturday. North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Idaho and Alabama all registered new daily highs on Friday.

Despite the rising number of infections, the average daily U.S. death toll has gradually declined in recent weeks, reflecting the growing proportion of positive tests among younger, healthier people less prone to severe illness when infected.

Florida, Texas post daily COVID-19 records as 'positivity' rates climb

Over 750 faculty at Georgia Tech signed a letter to the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents saying that the school's plan to reopen campus without face mask requirements is dangerous and not based on science.

Georgia Tech won't require students to wear masks on campus. Faculty aren't happy.

Qatar Airways has taken this a step further, announcing that its passengers will be required to wear a face shield -- in addition to a face mask or face covering.

The Middle East carrier says it will be issuing fliers with protection kits -- including face shields, hand sanitizer, a surgical face mask and disposable gloves -- before they board its airplanes.

Face shields AND face masks now mandatory on Qatar Airways

Wear masks and socially distance and this probably doesn't happen

As of Wednesday, restaurants in the county, the state's most populous, will be shut down -- again -- except for takeout and delivery, county Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced in a news release. The mayor's executive order will also close party venues, fitness centers and short-term accommodation rentals.

Miami-Dade to shut down restaurants again as Florida's Covid-19 hospitalizations surge

If demand continues to accelerate and shortages are not resolved, then turnaround times for test results will rise, tests will effectively be rationed, and the number of infections that are never counted in official statistics will grow. Any plan to contain the virus will depend on fast and accurate testing, which can identify newly infectious people before they set off new outbreaks. Without it, the U.S. is in the dark.

A Dire Warning From COVID-19 Test Providers

'Why is it taking so long?' | East Tennesseans wait for COVID-19 results as laboratories see influx of testing

About one in six state lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Dr. Thomas Dobbs of the Mississippi Health Department.

For weeks, politicians flouted mask recommendations inside the state Capitol. Twenty-six state legislators have now tested positive for Covid-19, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and State House Speaker Philip Gunn. Neither man wore a mask at a bill signing at the governor's mansion last week.

Dozens of Mississippi lawmakers have coronavirus after weeks of refusing to wear masks

Emma's on Sutherland Facebook page ...

We are closing for one week. We have had some positive tests come back today in our Knoxville stores and we want to get an idea of what we are dealing with.

The Burgers- Sutherland

Some Covid-19 patients are known to develop blood clotting issues, but the degree and the extent to which that occurs was described as "dramatic" by Rapkiewicz.

Pathologist found blood clots in 'almost every organ' during autopsies on Covid-19 patients

“When a university sneezes, the town gets pneumonia. Now when the university has pneumonia, what does that mean for the town?” Stephen Gavazzi, professor of human sciences at Ohio State University, said. “College towns have shops, bars, restaurants, hotels and apartments entirely dependent on students.”

Now, as campuses are unveiling their reopening plans to only hold a fraction of their usual capacity this fall, college towns face an existential threat.

COVID-19 turned college towns into ghost towns and businesses are struggling to survive

Immunity to covid-19 could disappear in months, a new study suggests

The study: Researchers at King’s College London repeatedly tested 96 patients and health-care workers at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust for antibodies between March and June. All the participants were confirmed to have had covid-19, either via a PCR test or a positive antibody test. The researchers found that levels of virus-fighting antibodies peaked about three weeks after symptoms started and then rapidly fell away. Although 60% of participants produced a “potent” antibody response while they had covid-19, only 17% had the same level of potency at the end of the three-month testing period. Antibody levels were higher and longer-lasting in people who had had more severe cases of covid-19. For some milder cases, it was impossible to detect any antibodies at all at the end of the three months. The research is published in a preprint paper in medRxiv, which means the findings have yet to be subjected to peer review.

What it means: The study raises the prospect that, like other coronaviruses, covid-19 could reinfect people repeatedly. If that’s the case, “herd immunity” may never arrive, either through a one-shot vaccine or through community spread of the virus, as any protective antibodies would wane with time. However, antibodies are not the only way people can fight off covid-19. T cells, which seek and destroy cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, could also provide some protection. In short, we have not yet generated enough data from patients to be able to draw conclusions on immunity with a high degree of certainty. There have been anecdotal reports of people catching covid-19 for a second time, but none have been confirmed.

The researchers found 32% of the total study population were medically vulnerable for severe Covid-19. However, when the group of participants who smoked cigarettes or e-cigarettes were taken out of the analysis, the medically vulnerable percentage decreased by half, to 16%.

"Recent evidence indicates that smoking is associated with a higher likelihood of COVID-19 progression, including increased illness severity, ICU admission or death," said Sally Adams, lead author of the study and a specialist at University of California, San Francisco's National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center, in a press release. "Smoking may have significant effects in young adults, who typically have low rates for most chronic diseases."

1 in 3 young adults vulnerable to severe Covid-19 — and smoking plays a big part, research finds

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon announced Monday the city will be allowing restaurants to apply for temporary permits to add and expand outdoor seating to private parking lots, public parking spaces, and nearby underutilized public/private property.

Knoxville allowing restaurants to seat customers outdoors in parking lots with temp permits

Walmart will start requiring customers in US stores to wear masks

People Not Wearing Masks Can Get $100 Fine in Miami-Dade County

“The idea that every mayor, every governor, every local official, should figure out their own pandemic response and what to do and not to do is crazy,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, who led research on Ebola and currently advises policymakers on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jha explained the best way to respond to a pandemic is through national and state level guidance that is customized to local needs, which states ultimately did in the Northeast when they faced their spikes early on — though he noted that governors there waited a week or two too long to react.

Southern mayors push back on state coronavirus response

If people washed their hands regularly, wore masks, and kept their social distance from each other, these three simple behaviors could stop most all of the Covid-19 pandemic, even without a vaccine or additional treatments, according to a new study

"If we have that degree of compliance with these simple measures, our models say that's really as good as shutting it down," Giroir said. "These simple facts can really shut down the outbreak without completely shutting down your local area."

Three simple acts can stop Covid-19 outbreaks, study finds

Sick of working from home? Work at a hotel instead

Motor vehicle fatalities surged by 23.5 percent in May, as drivers took advantage of open roads to push to autobahn speeds, a situation made easier by the fact that authorities in many communities were pulling back on enforcement, in part, to avoid risking the possibility of their officers becoming exposed to the coronavirus.

Highway deaths spike for third-straight month as drivers take advantage of empty roads

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx privately told a group of state and local health officials Wednesday about a concerning rise in coronavirus cases in 12 cities as President Donald Trump continues to tout progress amid the coronavirus pandemic at scripted, on-message briefings this week.

"There are cities that are lagging behind and we have new increases in Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas, San Jose, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Baltimore, so we're tracking this very closely.

Birx warns of concerning rise in coronavirus cases in 12 cities as Trump paints a rosy picture

MarketWatch: I presume you are not hanging out in restaurants or bars. Is it really more dangerous to eat indoors at a restaurant than outdoors?

Fauci: Yes, absolutely. Indoors is much worse than outdoors. If you’re going to go to a restaurant, try as best as you can to have outdoor seating that is properly spaced between the tables.

MarketWatch: So you’re not going to restaurants? You wouldn’t risk it?

Fauci: I am not going to restaurants right now.

Fauci tells MarketWatch: I would not get on a plane or eat inside a restaurant

Covid-19 is driving millennials out of cities and into first homes

At an acrylic fiber factory in Callao, Peru, surveillance cameras and artificial intelligence are tackling a pandemic-era challenge: making sure workers are wearing face masks and staying at least six feet apart.

Cameras that were already in place in the factory provide video that is analyzed by Camio's AI software, pointing out behaviors that would normally seem innocuous but could contribute to the spread of coronavirus. This can range from people walking together in a hallway toward a cafeteria for lunch to a supervisor approaching a worker to have a conversation.

An algorithm may warn you to keep your distance from others

The makers of a new test say that you can use a simple swab to find out in 48 hours if any surface is contaminated with the virus that causes COVID-19.

New test allows people to swab for coronavirus on surfaces in public places

Margot Kagan, of Teaneck, told police she was using a fax machine at the store when a woman with a mask pulled down below her mouth approached a machine next to her. Kagan, who, according to police, had a liver transplant four months ago and was walking with a cane, told the woman to put her mask on.

Mask dispute leaves Staples customer with broken leg after woman throws her to ground

Jordan is is just wasting time

Dr. Fauci and Jim Jordan get in heated exchange over protests

Welcome to the drive-in concert, a potential cure for heartsick music fans who yearn for live shows amid the coronavirus.

Third Eye Blind and other bands are playing parking lots to give heartsick fans their fix

Good for Delta

Delta Turns Flight Around After Multiple Passengers Refuse to Wear Masks

Delta Has Placed over 100 People on No-fly List for Refusing to Wear a Mask, CEO Says

The CDC says new deaths are likely to increase in Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Tennessee and Washington. Some of these states previously reported progress in their coronavirus numbers but are now raising their alarm again.

20,000 more Americans could die from Covid-19 in the next 21 days, CDC ensemble forecast shows

Of the 38 deaths in the county, 33 have occurred since the beginning of July

Coronavirus in Tennessee: Knox County reports 83 new cases, three new deaths Sunday

Knox County has now reported 12 new deaths in the last five days. Of the 39 deaths in the county, 34 have occurred since the beginning of July.

Coronavirus in Tennessee: Knox County reports 12th death in last five days

I contacted the Board of Health after the July 30 meeting (the morning of July 31) and got an e-mailed response from Dr. Buchanon that I would be added to the list. Mayor Jacobs had said during the meeting that he and the Board of Health would "work something out." When calling to confirm location and time this morning, I was informed that Mayor Jacobs had taken over this part of the meeting and that he would determine who did and didn't speak. I will call in the morning to sign up, but I suspect the process has been rigged. Mayor Jacobs is clearly organizing a mob and aside from the very real risk of infection, there is also the very real danger of physical threats in this situation. Any advice or feedback from people more experienced in this sort of thing would be appreciated.

It’s not enough that Jacobs is trying to rig the forum, he’s forcing all those who wish to speak to a super spreader event. I guess I’ll get ready to get my ass whipped, catch a deadly disease, and die. We all gotta go sometime from something I guess.

Remember when one of the popular political slogans used by many now in the anti-mask constituency was "Freedom isn't Free"? It's almost as if they never believed in real shared sacrifice.

Way to go fischbobber!

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Knox Co. video, first speaker...

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A man with Covid-19 went to church in mid-June, then 91 other people got sick, including 53 who were at the service, according to Ohio's governor.

"It spread like wildfire, wildfire. Very, very scary," Gov. MIke De Wine said Tuesday

Almost 100 people in Ohio were infected with coronavirus after man attended church service

Over the last seven days, a grim new COVID-19 calculus has emerged: one person died every 80 seconds from the coronavirus in America.

One death every 80 seconds: The grim new toll of COVID-19 in America

Georgia student suspended after posting a photo of a crowded school hallway says it was 'good and necessary trouble'

Welp, looks like expecting the bar owners to act in good faith and shut down at ten isn't going to work. At 11:15 all but three bars I saw, out of roughly twenty, were open and operating. Police presence was heavy, but there was no enforcement of the ordinance.

I don't with illness on anyone but this could be a case where Darwin's law will come into play and solve the situation without any leadership from anybody.

The most effective mask was the fitted N95. Three-layer surgical masks and cotton masks, which many people have been making at home, also performed well.

Neck fleeces, also called gaiter masks and often used by runners, were the least effective. In fact, wearing a fleece mask resulted in a higher number of respiratory droplets because the material seemed to break down larger droplets into smaller particles that are more easily carried away with air.

Folded bandanas and knitted masks also performed poorly and did not offer much protection.

"We were extremely surprised to find that the number of particles measured with the fleece actually exceeded the number of particles measured without wearing any mask,"

Researchers created a test to determine which masks are the least effective

It's been pretty cool to watch the Board of Health operate. These folks are smart and fair. The integrity issues really stand out. This tinkering with regulation and looking for coordinated data points to factor in is not easy to measure. So one has a chance to build an observed data base. The restaurant and bar owners, as a group, show very little interest nor aptitude for policing themselves. This was certainly something the Board needed to know before making a decision. I've still got this little voice in my head saying, "If we could just get those ba**ards to go all in on masks for six weeks, we still got a shot at football."The big voice says I'm dreaming.

It was imperative to know the level of seriousness with which the restaurant industry, as a group, was going to respond to this collective crisis. They have been given their chance. As a group, they've done poorly. There were interesting and notable exceptions to that general observation, both from a high end integrity statement and a pretty creative cheating standpoint. This will be an important fact to consider in the event that the UT start-up goes poorly from an outbreak standpoint. No on-premise alcohol sales after 10:00 for anyone would appear to be the smart move.

I have gotten the sense in the last few weeks that awareness is up. And people are getting the message. Folks my age are happy about not getting sneezed on, most of us grumble about masks. Mask use is growing in visibility, anyway. The more visible it is, the more people wear masks, the more people that wear masks, the fewer people get sick. The less people sick, the easier it is to reopen and retool business plans. You have customers.

Drinking masks are the obvious next move and bars should be given notice that mask designs for drinkers should be in all their plans. The next re-open will have to be better run than this one. The reasons should be obvious.

What's been cool about watching the Board operate though, is how much further ahead of the game they are than I am, as in "Whoa. Didn't see that one coming." sort of constant coming from them. These folks are smart. People should be paying attention.

Crowds down, mask usage up. Not sure if it was the ordinances or lack of customers driving that, but necessary and good to see. West side bars were up a bit.

This week, he and other hospitality workers are staging food giveaways for fellow workers in need — right in front of the offices of key US senators who have opposed extending unemployment benefits.

Laid-off workers set up soup kitchens in front of senators who oppose extending $600 checks

Assaulting a worker who is enforcing face mask policies can now be prosecuted as aggravated battery in Illinois – a felony charge.

It's now a felony in Illinois to assault a retail worker who is enforcing face mask rules

Assaulting a worker who's enforcing masks is now a felony under a new Illinois law

Woman accused of assaulting gate agent at Phoenix airport after not wearing mask

Donde Plowman, the chancellor of University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said there were a total of 28 active cases, 20 of which were students and eight were employees. More than 150 people were in self-isolation last week, most of whom were non-residential students and employees.

"Part of what we look at to make decisions about campus operations are our ability to isolate and quarantine residential students as well as keeping up with contact tracing," Plowman said.

As students head back to campus, US colleges try to prevent and combat Covid-19 cases

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Monday that it was converting to all virtual classes after reporting 135 new COVID-19 cases and four clusters within a week of starting in-person classes for the fall semester — an outcome many critics feared when the university decided to reopen.

UNC-Chapel Hill goes to remote learning after 135 COVID-19 cases within week of starting classes

How come the UT and County schools numbers aren't reflected in Knox County numbers? Or am I just missing the connection?

It’s Wednesday. Bearden shut down football last Friday. The team/school is just now getting around to advising all players to quarantine and isolate. Apparently this disease is contagious. Who knew?

Edit: Update on the young man at Bearden. Looked like he was getting better for a day, then fever went back up and hallucinations set in. Hopefully, there is no imminent danger, nor long term effects. It’s scary.

It appears four coaches and an undetermined number of players have tested positive. Look for a similar situation to go down at Powell.

The affected cities are Del Rio, Texas; Dubuque, Iowa; Florence, South Carolina; Greenville, North Carolina; Huntington, West Virginia, Joplin, MiIssouri; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Lake Charles, Louisiana; New Haven, Connecticut; New Windsor, New York; Roswell, New Mexico; Sioux City, Iowa; Springfield, Illinois; Stillwater, Oklahoma; and Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

American Airlines is dropping service to these 15 cities. This is likely only the beginning

One explanation for the apparently low risk level is that the air in modern aircraft cabins is replaced with new fresh air every two to three minutes, and most planes are fitted with air filters designed to trap 99.99% of particles.

According to his findings, based on short haul flights in the US on aircraft configured with three seats on either side of the aisle, such as the Airbus 320 and the Boeing 737 -- and assuming everyone is wearing a mask -- the risk of catching the virus on a full flight is just 1 in 4,300. Those odds fall to 1 in 7,700 if the middle seat is vacant.

The odds of catching Covid-19 on an airplane are slimmer than you think, scientists say

Boston University has deployed a high-tech weapon in its struggle to keep the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading on campus — robots.

Eight of them are now processing some 6,000 coronavirus tests per day out of a laboratory built and operated by BU researchers — and they are providing next-day results, NBC Boston reported.

Boston University, other schools deploy robots so campuses can safely reopen during pandemic

Researchers equipped each volunteer with contact tracers to record their routes in the arena and track the path of the aerosols — the small particles that could carry the virus — they emitted as they mingled and talked. Fluorescent disinfectants were used to highlight which surfaces at the mock concert were touched most frequently.

The results of the study are expected in four to six weeks, he said.

How does coronavirus spread at a concert? Germans do a test

Eighth District Commissioner Richie Beeler tested positive for the virus and two other commissioners, Carson Dailey and Charles Busler, who work closely with him have been asked to stay home until the end of August.

Knox County commissioner tests positive for COVID-19, two others in quarantine

Oklahoma State tracks the location data of students and staff who are signed on to campus Wi-Fi routers. The school also uses student card swipes, campus purchases and course attendance to complete contact tracing.

At Oklahoma State University, students' steps are tracked to stop the coronavirus

A 17-year-old worker at a Pennsylvania theme park suffered a displaced jaw and will require surgery after he was assaulted by a couple he asked to wear masks, police said.

Mask dispute leads to couple's assault on teen Sesame Place worker, police say

First, it’s important to understand that human beings are driven by immediate benefits, rather than far-off consequences.

COVID-19's threat of death keeps masks and other preventive measures from being used

University of Alabama over 500 Covid cases one week into classes

US carrier Delta Air Lines has added around 240 people to its no-fly list in recent weeks because they refused to wear a face mask.

Delta’s No-Fly List Has Grown By 240 Because Of Mask Refusals

It will be interesting to see to what degree UT handles both the spread of covid through the college campus and how it impacts the community. It will be equally as interesting to see to what degree business owners hold each other accountable for operating in the best interest of the market.

It will be interesting to see if these kids will grasp the concept of, "This isn't the last time you'll deal with something like this, it's the first." I know they don't grasp the concept of, "This one's really contagious." It's a global warming thing.A small deviation in temperature makes all the difference in the world, in a chemical reaction. We're going into uncharted territory.

It will be fascinating to watch how the downtown business owners keep coming together. I can see a "high dollar mask required doing the best we can, and hey, we got fans atmosphere." Do key fob in town contact tracing. When your bar's full, send customers to the next guy.If you patronize downtown businesses, they will be doing all they can to ensure that the disease isn't being spread, and in the inevitable situation that they find it in the restaurant district, those exposed can and will be informed. This would have to be a city initiative. I don't think the Board of Health has the staffing to handle something like this. Allow bar/restaurant owners holding privileges to key fobs, unless they were needed for tracing.

I think that's how you make the most money in Knoxville. Run it with a strict scientific policy, and back it up with the level of regulation it needs. That, quite frankly, has been the problem with Glenn Jacobs. He keeps acting like things are going to go back to how they were if he just does nothing. All he had to do was get on board with a mask policy when he seized Indya Kincannon's power, back at the end of April. That's all he had to do. Indya had done the heavy lifting, took the heat for being tough, never got the credit for what she accomplished. Between her and Dr. Buchanan, they got active cases down to thirteen before the anti-masker protests started showing up in the numbers. They were a good team. All Glenn Jacobs had to do was get on board with doing the right thing. All he had to do was the smart thing. All he had to do was his job. The work had all been done. All he had to do was let it go on, and take the credit. All he had to do was not screw it up. Had Glenn Jacobs done that, had he gotten behind a strong, bold, fashionable, Voltriotic, working plan involving masks, we'd be discussing how to make things up to overflow fans, not whether or not the UT students could infect the whole town.

Starting September with 2316 active cases. 58 Deaths. 3.17% death rate in 65-74 year old range. 8.99% hospitalization (bankruptcy?) rate. 16 deaths, 1.02% death rate on my group, 45-64. 6.34% bankruptcy rate. This doesn't look good. Glenn Jacobs has turned what should have been the prime of our lives into some sort of dystopian nightmare whereby the younger generation infects the old and takes their money. This is what we get to live through in our prime of life? When is this guy going to start offering solutions, instead of ways to make this situation worse?

It's going to be a long, sickly September.

I know I worked late, and that it was raining, and that it was Tuesday, but tonight was the first night, since Indya was running the city's show that this town showed an indication that it could defeat the virus and still stay open. Masks work. Social distancing works. 10 o'clock curfews are a good idea to reduce the rate of infection. This should be measured and permitted accordingly.

I think that, right now, if what it takes to make it happen gets done, we've got a shot at football season. I also think the active case count will rise this week. This needs to be dealt with swiftly.

But in the dark, I saw hope. We can stay apart and holler through whatever is over our face, and still have football. We can day drink and go home. Plan our bad judgement and reduce the odds accordingly. We can control this situation if we work together as a community.

Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver has died of complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19, the National Baseball Hall of Fame said in a statement Wednesday. He was 75.

Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver dies of COVID-19, dementia at 75

Big, tough, healthy guy with a warning...

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Coronavirus spreading fast at frat, sorority houses at Indiana Univ., which wants them closed

University of South Carolina records 1,026 COVID cases

For the numbers nerds (like me) that pay attention to active cases, hospitalizations and deaths everyday, which I then cross check with what I observe with my own eyes on a nightly survey, you may have noticed a rather dramatic shift (a couple actually) in our active case numbers. A new metric is being used which drops a case from active to recovered in 14 days instead of 21.

Since I'm not a statistician, nor a pandemic expert, I don't feel qualified to offer an opinion as to whether of not the change was justified, but as a guy that tracks these numbers and compares them to what I see on the streets, I can tell you they are significant. On September 4th, 900 active cases were simply dropped from active to inactive (about 125 a day). This will affect the look of the numbers in two ways. First, it is a huge daily drop right off the bat. (Where did these 900 cases go?) Second, it will make the upcoming week appear to be a statistical nightmare (It was going to be bad to begin with.) The real effect it will have is masking just how bad this week is.

We are coming out of a pretty significant downturn. The mask ordinance and alcohol curfew had both translated into lower daily case numbers. I found the alcohol curfew most interesting because, until now, it has been self regulating. It was a unique experiment into what happens when you allow businesses the opportunity to do the right thing and regulate themselves. When taken as a whole, downtown businesses responded surprisingly well. While there are obvious and notable exceptions, by and large, downtown businesses have shown the capacity to recognize our situation for what it is and adjust their business plans accordingly. While clearly not having a perfect response, they have shown the capacity to adapt to the current climate. Most (over half) of them anyway. There has been an attempt to operate within the spirit , if not the letter, of the law. I always try to remember that the object of any regulation is to reduce the spread of the virus, not destroy the life of business of people the regulation affects.

The rest of our town can make no such boasts. Those attempting to comply are the exception, rather than the rule. The exceptions are there, but their neighbors are doing as much to kill their business as any regulation could. Move-in weekend and week was not that bad. I was rather surprised, and found a bit of hope, in that. Starting the following weekend, it became the wild, wild west. The Strip has turned into a nightly superspreader event and various so-called restaurants in other areas of town have begun packing in a late night crowd that appears to be far more interested into packing in a small area and drinking rather than social distancing and enjoying a meal.

We have begun another uptick, and this surge looks to be worse than the July surge. Our lack of enforcement of the 10 o'clock curfew is fixing to bite us in the butt. This would appear to be our largest surge yet, with three weeks of much larger numbers facing us in the short term. We've had 660 new cases in the last four days and that trend should hold for at least a couple weeks. It could get worse.

There may be a way to curb this surge without a complete 10 o'clock curfew on on premise alcohol sales, but I don't see it. And if something doesn't get done, there may be no alternative except a shut down. Something's going to have to happen. The numbers are unsustainable once again.

Knox County reports record-high 224 new COVID-19 cases, 50 current hospitalizations

In a statement, university officials said the decision was made "in direct response to a recent increase in positive cases in students on the Morgantown campus, as well as concern for the probability of increased cases following several reports of parties held this holiday weekend where groups should have been in quarantine."

West Virginia University suspends in-person undergrad classes amid spike in COVID cases

Unless I am reading this wrong, a Tennessee county, Wayne, has by far the largest
number of virus cases the last 7 days. 1,189 cases the last 7 days. The second most is 323.

Counties with the highest number of recent cases per resident

Following a surge of coronavirus cases, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Monday that undergraduate students must restrict in-person interactions to “essential activities."

University of Wisconsin-Madison restricts student movement after coronavirus surge

Following a surge of coronavirus cases, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Monday that undergraduate students must restrict in-person interactions to “essential activities."

University of Wisconsin-Madison restricts student movement after coronavirus surge

The silver lining? The pace at which the new coronavirus deaths were accumulating was somewhat slower than it was after the first week in August, when one person died of the coronavirus every 80 seconds over a seven-day period.

U.S. closes in on grim pandemic milestone: the 200,000th COVID-19 death

With America struggling to get the coronavirus under control and Washington deadlocked over new relief measures, states face a difficult choice: open the businesses most likely to spread the coronavirus, especially bars and restaurants, or keep them closed and risk a wave of bankruptcies.

With Washington silent, states are torn between saving bars and stopping coronavirus

All this stuff is coming to light about who knew what in February. As I recall, just concern became an issue on this forum in late February.

I wonder if there's a way to go through archived facebook postings?

Is there a way to cross-reference on this site?

Please pardon me if these are basic, stupid, ignorant questions. I just write and look shit up with a computer, I don't really know how to use one.

People who tested positive for COVID-19 were more than twice as likely to report eating or drinking at a bar or restaurant in the past two weeks.

"Even if I'm sitting at a table and the food hasn't arrived yet, I still wear a mask. I won't sit at a table that's next to somebody else," Rice said, adding that he also asks to be seated outside.

As states lift restaurant restrictions, CDC report links dining out to increased COVID-19 risk

We will have to rebuild a rural/regional Hospital system should pandemics become an issue.

I just did the math and so far this virus has a 3.4% death rate. Figure there's 1500 people working at the City/County building. A year from the time the virus was introduced, 50.6 of those people have deceased. (The .6 is Ellen from accounting. She's hanging in there, but we just don't know if she's going to make it.) 3.4% is a huge death rate.

A lot can happen in between now and November.

I feel like I'm a part of a primary source historical document.

One takes a lot of abuse these days from people who's education about covid seems to have hit a wall in March. I was curious how far back we went. Trump could not have gotten away with lying like he did about the seriousness of the issue if his followers hadn't been so willfully ignorant.

Thanks Randy and Biz for all you do. This forum has consistently lead the way on coverage of this issue. I'm honored and humbled to be a part of it.

Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics

With many teachers opting out of returning to the classroom because of the coronavirus, schools around the U.S. are scrambling to find replacements and in some places lowering certification requirements to help get substitutes in the door.

Teacher departures leave schools scrambling for substitutes amid COVID-19

The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak linked to an indoor wedding and reception in Maine has risen to seven, with the number of cases connected to the event up to 176.

Coronavirus death toll from Maine wedding rises to 7, with over 175 infected

CDC head says masks may be better at halting spread than vaccine

We'll be at 200 deaths by January. That's the kind of death toll that affects most members of a community our size.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Friday that Florida, hard hit by coronavirus pandemic this summer, was moving into Phase 3 of reopening, lifting all restrictions on restaurants and businesses.

On Friday, Florida reported 2,541 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the state total to nearly 700,000 total confirmed cases. 177 deaths were recorded on Friday, bringing the cumulative state total to 13,914.

Florida, hard hit by coronavirus this summer, will reopen bars and restaurants with no restrictions

Beginning this week, the Maps app will display seven-day averages of new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people. The chosen areas will show if cases are increasing or decreasing and be shaded with one of six colors to signify how many new cases were reported.

Google is pulling data from three sources: Johns Hopkins University, the New York Times, and Wikipedia. They receive their data from the World Health Organization and other public or government health organizations. Information is available for all 220 countries that Google Maps works in.

To use it, open the app, press the layers button (two squares on top of each other) on the top right and press "Covid-19 Info" button. That will reveal the color-coded app showing case counts.

Google updates Maps to show how bad Covid is in your area

Knox County Charter, State Law, and Extracts of Attorney General Opinions on County Boards of Health
Knox County Charter
Sec. 38-33. - County board of health.
(a)There is hereby created a county board of health. It shall have all of the powers and duties as required and provided for by state law.
(b)The director of the department of health shall report to, and work in concert with, the county board of health, in addition to reporting to and working with the county executive.
TCA on Public Health Boards
68-2-601. County board of health — Members — Powers and duties.
f) The powers and duties of county boards of health are to:
(1) Govern the policies of full-time county health departments established in accordance with this chapter;
(2) Through the county health director or the county health officer, or both, enforce such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the commissioner essential to the control of preventable diseases and the promotion and maintenance of the general health of the county;
(3) Adopt rules and regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to protect the general health and safety of the citizens of the county. The regulations shall be at least as stringent as the standard established by a state law or regulation as applicable to the same or similar subject matter. Regulations of a county board of health supersede less stringent or conflicting local ordinances; and
(4) Require that an annual budget be prepared and, when this budget has been approved by the county board of health, submit the same to the county legislative body for consideration and subsequent provision of necessary funds to meet all obligations under the adopted budgets.
68-2-602. Violations of rules and regulations of county board — Penalty.
Any person who violates a county board of health regulation commits a Class C misdemeanor.
68-2-603. Establishment of county health department — County health director — County health officer.
(2) The county health director shall be appointed by the commissioner of health or by the commissioner's designee, act as the administrative officer of the county health department, take actions and make determinations necessary to properly execute the state department of health's programs, and adequately enforce the rules and regulations established by the commissioner and the county board of health.
68-2-609. Orders of county health officer.
The county health officer is empowered to order:
(1) The quarantine of any place or person, if the county health officer finds that quarantine is necessary to protect the public health from an epidemic;
(2) The closure of any public establishment, facility or building if the county health officer finds unsanitary conditions of such a nature and extent to significantly threaten the public health; or
(3) The closure of any public establishment, facility or building, if the county health officer is otherwise authorized by law to take that action.
Attorney General Opinions
Below is an extract of state law from an opinion of the Attorney General on the powers of a local board of health and health department in non-state of emergency situation
The General Assembly has, however, authorized local health departments to adopt regulations more stringent or restrictive than those provided by state law or regulation. Tenn.Code Ann.§68-2-601(f)(3)(authorizing adoption of regulations to “protect the general health and safety of the citizens of the county” that “shall be at least as stringent as the standard established by a state law or regulation as applicable to the same or similar subject matter”). And the Commissioner of the Department of Health, acting under statutory authority to promulgate rules to prevent the spread of disease, Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 68-1-201, 68-5-104, has given local health officers confronted with an epidemic the power—indeed, the obligation—to “[e]stablish appropriate control measures which may include examination, treatment, isolation, quarantine, exclusion, disinfection, immunization, disease surveillance, closure of establishment, education, and other measures considered appropriate by medical experts for the protection of the public’s health.” Tenn.Comp.R.&Regs.1200-14-01-.15. Actions by local health departments under this authority have the force and effect of law in the absence of action by the Governor.
In state of emergencies, below is another extract from an Attorney General opinion in 2020.
The General Assembly has vested the Governor with exclusive responsibility and authority to assume control over all aspects of the State’s response to an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Tenn.CodeAnn.§58-2-107(a)(1). Because the executive orders that the Governor issues pursuant to that authority have the force and effect of law, Tenn. Code Ann. § 58-2- 107(a)(2), the Governor’s directives in response to an emergency supersede and preempt any action taken by political subdivisions of the State.
Just as the Governor may exercise his authority under Tenn. Code Ann. § 58-2-107(a)(1) to delegate to a local governmental entity or to the local health department “such powers as the governor may deem prudent,” the Governor may exercise his emergency powers to expressly authorize, or recognize the authority of, county health departments to take necessary actions. The Governor’s power to issue these executive orders is grounded in the broad grant of authority—a responsibility and authority that the General Assembly has vested solely in the office of the governor—to assume control over all aspects of the State’s response to an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic:
Pertinent here, on May 22, 2020, Governor Lee issued Executive Order 38 whichauthorizes the six counties with locally-run county health departments—i.e., Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Shelby, and Sullivan—to issue “additional orders or measures related to the containment or management of the spread of COVID- 19, which may permit to a greater degree, or restrict to a greater degree, the opening, closure, or operation of businesses, organizations, or venues in those counties or the gathering of persons.
Executive Order 54, issued on July 6, 2020, expanded the scope of Executive Order 38 and provides that nothing in Executive Order 38 (or Executive Order 54 itself) preempts or supersedes the authority of bodies in the six counties with locally-run county health departments to issue or enact orders, ordinances, rules, or law to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Thanks to Senator Briggs

!0/2/20. This is despite two large downward adjustments to the formula determining active cases over the last month. I believe the metric states 27-47 for a full reopen. The pro-infection (I'm still struggling with figuring out exactly what terminology to use for a group of people attempting to infect unwilling citizens)is insisting that is impossible and we should open without restrictions after disbanding the Board of Health.

These were the same people that applauded the full (underground) opening of the bars May 2 despite restrictions being in place until June. They said then we only had five deaths and face masks violated their rights. Jacobs was warned that deaths would skyrocket as a direct result of his actions. We now have 84 deaths, all statistically correlating with move Jacobs has made that increased the infection rate and undermined mitigation effort. Over 5000 people have viewed an economic pushback measure.

What do we call these people?

I got off late and didn't get to start home until well after eleven. I was kind of looking forward to a Tom Waits'y drive home. I've been taking the same route home since March. I set it up like we set up the acid deposition study in the early nineties. Do the same thing and observe, every night, and see what happens.

It doesn't look like the eleven o'clock curfew as it is being instituted will make a statistical influence. Ironically, the solution to that is to move it back to ten, because it is statistically impossible for this measure to not show up. Somebody is jacking the numbers around. Like maybe the guys keeping their bars open.

We are in a trough. We tend to surge and trough rather regularly. We are getting ready to surge, by how much, is anyone's guess. Our plateau levels between surge and trough keep rising. We can't sustain that.

Honestly, for a capitalist, free market approach to this problem to work, there will be work shutdowns and consumer boycotts. Our consumer market isn't making its voice heard, and when they do, the market will adjust.

So restaurants/bars can seat folks at bar now?

At Texas Roadhouse in Kingston Pike and they are seating at bar.

Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering

Working the Holy Homburg Trifecta this weekend. I think the town will be dependent on the various suburbs to keep our covid numbers down. Old City and downtown were shutting down or shut down around 11:30. I not only thought it was encouraging, but could observe dispersal behavior to see how this worked.

The Strip was a work in progress when I went through. That being said, that is the business community that shut this problem down and made football happen, at all and for all. There are problems, but this town owes the three high volume nightspots, that have been working toward a solution a huge debt of gratitude. Hopefully game days will make up for your effort. Use masks. Sell masks. Have a smart plan.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday numbers should tell the tale of the next month.

The South Carolina spike showed today, right on time. Could have been worse, we needed it to be better. We have our work cut out for us.

County commission bump is next. That should show in the next three days. The thing is, that first commission number Sunday should also have a secondary influence from the game.

I find my mind wandering back to High School math classes and listening to people cry, "What are we ever gonna use this for?" and then I look at these statistics I'm trying to learn how to pattern and I think, I wish I'd have listened closer and applied myself more in my math and statistics classes.

Covid map of Tennessee and other states

Restaurants across the U.S. are using tents, bubbles and more to keep diners comfortable as temperatures drop. Experts caution that more walls mean greater risk for Covid-19 spread, and say heat lamps are likely the safest option.

Restaurants find creative winter outdoor dining solutions, but experts cite concerns

Nice work Delta

In a letter to Delta employees Thursday, CEO Ed Bastian said that 460 customers who refused to wear face coverings amid the coronavirus pandemic were added to the airline's "no-fly list."

Delta adds 460 passengers who refused masks to 'no-fly' list

People with Down syndrome have 10 times the risk of dying from Covid-19 compared to those without the disability, a team of researchers reported Thursday.

They also found a fourfold increased risk of coronavirus-related hospitalizations for those with Down syndrome, "a group that is not currently strategically protected," according to the report in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

People with Down syndrome have 10 times the risk of death from Covid-19 as those without, study finds

COVID-19 Mortality Risk in Down Syndrome: Results From a Cohort Study Of 8 Million Adults

The 100th death occurred from covid-19 in Knox County. Monday night, we will hear Debbi, the nurse from Halls explain why this is a hoax and why we should ignore the experts and listen to her because she is a nurse or some sort of health professional. There is a reason the 37918 zip code continues to expand in cases faster than anywhere else in Knox County.

He must have a lot of free time

The Harford County Board of Elections has a designated area for voters who are unable or unwilling to wear a mask while voting.

Maryland Voter Arrested After Refusing To Wear Mask At Polling Location In Harford County, Police Say

Two sisters are being held on attempted first-degree murder charges in Illinois for allegedly stabbing a store security guard after being told they needed to wear a mask and use hand sanitizer.

Their argument became physical when Jessica Hill, 21, pulled out a knife and stabbed him in his back, neck, and arms 27 times, according to the criminal complaint.

Her sister, 18-year-old Jayla Hill, held the victim down by his hair while the attack occurred, according to the complaint.

Sisters charged for allegedly stabbing store security guard 27 times after he told them to wear a mask

On a day that saw record high deaths from COVID-19 complications, the virus also hit East Tennessee hard.

Blount County saw five new deaths Friday from the virus, bringing its total to 41.

Record day for COVID-19-related deaths in TN; Blount County sees 5 more

The US just reported 102,831 new Covid-19 infections in 1 day. That's an all-time high

The US just reported 102,831 new Covid-19 infections in 1 day. That's an all-time high

Some of the earliest insights into how COVID-19 can act like a vascular disease came from studying the aftermath of the most serious infections. Those reveal that the virus warps a critical piece of our vascular infrastructure: the single layer of cells lining the inside of every blood vessel, known as the endothelial cells or simply the endothelium.

Clots, Strokes And Rashes. Is COVID-19 A Disease Of The Blood Vessels?

On Saturday, there were 126,742 new coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. The record marked the fourth day last week that new cases totaled more than 100,000 and the third day in a row that new cases topped more than 120,000, according to a CNN analysis.

US has hit the highest daily number of new cases since the pandemic began

U.S. Hits New Coronavirus Case Record for Third Straight Day

Dr. Fauci reacts to Pfizer's vaccine announcement

The Lone Star State has now identified 1,010,364 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began. At least 19,337 people there have died...

Texas just became the first US state to hit 1 million cases of Covid-19

'Breakthrough finding' reveals why certain Covid-19 patients die

65 Covid cases reported in WHO staff based at Geneva headquarters

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"As of Nov. 12, a total of 1,039,464 children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic. In the one-week period ending Nov. 12, there were 111,946 new cases in children, which is substantially larger than any previous week in the pandemic," the groups said in a joint statement.

Over 1 million US children have been diagnosed with Covid-19, pediatricians say

Jodi Doering, a nurse from South Dakota who says some of her coronavirus patients often don't want to believe that Covid-19 is real, even in their dying moments

Nurse: Some patients who test positive refuse to believe they have Covid-19

More than eight months into the pandemic, the very isolation that is meant to protect nursing home residents from Covid-19 is also contributing to their deaths. Confined to their rooms and largely cut off from visitors, many residents are experiencing serious mental and physical decline. Three women stand up to fight for leniency in New York state visitation policies, in the hopes of saving their loved ones.

The hidden Covid-19 crisis: Elderly people are dying from isolation

More than 900 Mayo Clinic staff in Midwest diagnosed with Covid-19 in past two weeks

It's one of the main reasons mask use is so important, the CDC said.

"CDC and others estimate that more than 50% of all infections are transmitted from people who are not exhibiting symptoms," it added in the guidance posted Friday.

Most coronavirus cases are spread by people without symptoms, CDC now says

There was a 28% increase in child Covid-19 cases over the last two weeks, American Academy of Pediatrics says

More than 1,300 nursing homes across the U.S. reported having three or more confirmed Covid-19 cases during the first week of November — the highest number ever reported in a single week, according to an NBC News analysis of federal data. The figure does not include outbreaks at assisted living facilities, which the federal government does not track.

Covid-19 outbreaks in nursing homes hit record high

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Does this mean Glenn Jacob's cult various assaults on innocent citizens activities are now constitutionally protected? How long until they declare themselves a religion?

Happy Thanksgiving.

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The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects.

New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces

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Slowly but surely we're adding to our body of knowledge.

The U.S. reported 3,157 deaths from COVID-19 Wednesday, by far the most for any one day in the pandemic. It comes as a record number of people are hospitalized or in intensive care.

Wednesday's death toll, according to data by Johns Hopkins University, is about 20% higher than the previous record of 2,607 deaths recorded on April 15. More than 5,700 COVID-19 deaths have been reported by JHU over the past two days.

US reports more than 3,100 coronavirus deaths, shattering single-day record

President Donald Trump says his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for coronavirus.

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani tests positive for COVID

LONDON — At 6.31 a.m. on Tuesday, 334 days after the first reported Covid-19 death in China, Margaret Keenan, 90, became the first person in the world to receive a clinically approved vaccine.

First in line will be anyone over the age of 80 who is already in hospital.

Britain becomes first to roll out clinically approved BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine

And in the You Can't Make This Stuff Up department, the second vaccine recipient was William Shakespeare.

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This literally pisses me off about our state leaders.
The Texas secretary of state is trying to overturn elections in Georgia, Michigan, Pennslvania and Wisconsin in hopes that Trump will grant him a pardon from the alleged crimes he's committed if he can help keep Trump in office. I think it's a crime that our state is supporting this crook. This is literally a destruction of our democracy being assisted by our state leaders

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Why is the FBI doing this now and not waiting til after Biden has been inaugurated? It's like throwing gas on a fire. It's just one more thing Trump and his supporters are going to use to say the election should be overturned. It reminds me of when James Comey brought up Hillary's emails right before the 2016 election which ended up being baseless nonsense that cost her the election.

"Activity in the investigation had gone covert in recent months due to Justice Department guidelines prohibiting overt actions that could affect an election"

To me then, this investigation is illegal because Biden isn't officially in office yet.

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Mt. Juliet is in Wilson County, to the east of Nashville. And like other more rural areas across the country, it's seeing a surge in coronavirus cases.

Vaccines on horizon as virus surges through Trump country. And the political debate is as heated as ever

Do you have Christmas packages that are delayed in shipping? I do one was mailed from Atlanta and sent to Memphis where it's been sitting idle at a USPS warehouse for five days. Memphis??? When Atlanta is only three hours away?
Just keep this in mind, these delays were brought to you by Trump and DeJoy his appointed Postmaster General in their alledged ongoing sabotage of the US Postal Service.

And by the way, Christmas presents bought online shouldn't be counted as real Christmas presents because they were sent by mail and Texas doesn't believe the rules should be changed about how gifts are given.

When the Proud Boys and other Trump supporting protesters commit acts of violence to try to overturn the election? Are they or are they not committing treason? Until somehow the election is overturned in court, which at this juncture, is highly unlikely. Any person committing a violent act against someone who is defending Biden's win is committing a treasonous act against our constitution. We are a country of laws and the constitution is our highest law. And if a person committing the violence a member of a group, doesn't this mean the group is in essence declaring war on our democracy?
Just asking.

... for competitive sports athletes, high school athletes and recreational "masters athletes" — that is, people over age 35 who train for or participate in running, swimming, cycling, weightlifting or other competitions designed for adults in their age category.

Overall, the recommendations endorse physician consultations and heart screenings — using electrocardiograms, echocardiograms and troponin blood tests — for athletes who had moderate to severe Covid-19. Heart screening isn't recommended for people who had cases that were asymptomatic or mild.

“Cardiac injury is quite common and prevalent among sicker patients who are hospitalized with Covid-19 infection, upwards of 20 percent prevalence of cardiac injury," said Dr. Jonathan Kim, chief of sports cardiology at Emory University in Atlanta ...

Some recovered Covid patients may need heart screening before exercising again

French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for Covid-19 after experiencing symptoms and will self-isolate for a week, his office said Thursday,

France's Emmanuel Macron tests positive for Covid-19, sending other European leaders into quarantine

Current shipping situation.
I ordered a small item on the 3rd of December which was being shipped from Atlanta. From there it was shipped to Memphis which is farther away, where it sat for 12 days. It is currently sitting in Tallahassee Florida which is even farther away. Luckily it's not a Christmas gift but I had planed to use it for Christmas.

Thanks Dejoy for making our postal service better.

Makes one wonder if there could be millions more Biden votes floating around out there?

Tenn. Dept. of Health reporting 44 deaths in East TN nursing homes since Dec. 11

The New York Times has a COVID-19 tracking site, which lists the top 20 cities where COVID-19 is growing at fast rates. Almost half of the cities listed are located in Tennessee.

-No. 3 Sevierville

-No. 6 Cleveland

-No. 7 Athens

-No. 8 Tullahoma

-No. 9 Greeneville

-No. 11 Crossville

-No. 12 Morristown

-No. 17 Cookeville

-No. 18 Nashville

-No. 19 Johnson City

Tenn. identified as worst location in the nation for COVID-19 infections

Trump has now pardoned four Blackwater security guards jailed for the mas killing of 14 Iraqi civilians which included 2 children in Bagdad in 2007.
Why would he do this? Is he trying to build his own personal army? Or is he at least planning to use them as hit men to threaten lawmakers to go along with his crazy scheme for a coup attempt of the US government? Did he pardon them knowing these guys will now be grateful and loyal? One was in jail for life, the others had 30 year prison sentences. What do they have to lose? And Trump knows committing atrocities are not beneath them. The US Military must keep a watchful eye on these four after their release.

Shoe repair stores used to be a good way to make a living. Then, the pandemic sent corporate workers home

A mother is pleading with the community to wear a mask after her son died from COVID-19 a week before Christmas.

‘It’s so simple,’ Knoxville mother pleads the community wear masks after son dies from COVID-19

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This place has been cited seven times for violating the 10:00 curfew. But there's no need for the Sheriff to participate in enforcement. The customers will take care of it.

Dawn Wells, Mary Ann on 'Gilligan's Island,' dies of Covid-19 complications at 82

Dialysis clinics to administer Covid-19 antibody drugs

The tests are usually offered in partnership with a local laboratory or medical company, and for the most part are at the guest’s own expense. Now that a negative Covid test is required for crossing so many state and country borders, hotels hoping to stand out are adding medical testing to their list of amenities.

Newest amenity at hotels? Covid-19 test at check-in or before your flight

This bar is in the City of Knoxville and enforcement should be the responsibility Knoxville's mayor and City Council.

The US Federal budget for the whole fiscal year of 2020 was set at roughly $4.8 trillion. Which is almost the same as the 5.9 trillion miles light travels in a year. Thats a little over $1 for each mile light travels. Which has nothing to do with anything other than geez that's a lot of money.
I guess you could say the US spends dollars at the speed of light

Covid variant found in Florida; more cases identified in California

But the green light from the World Health Organization (WHO) means countries without their own regulatory bodies, or the means to rigorously assess the efficacy and safety of vaccines, can expedite their own approval processes and begin rolling out vaccination programs.

In a statement Thursday, the WHO said organizations like UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organization could now procure the vaccine for distribution to countries in need.

WHO approves Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in breakthrough for developing nations

Rep-elect on Trump's Electoral College challenge: 'There's no question in my mind that I think he(Trump) won'

There's a huge difference between thinking and knowing! And these politicians who only think Trump won without actually knowing he won, is destroying our democracy.

Funniest thing I've seen today.
I was reading an article on CNN about Josh Hawley, the Missouri Senator who jumped on board the Trump election coup train, and his picture was having trouble loading onto the page. The spinning loading icon was positioned right over his nose and it was brown which I thought was very appropriate.
I even question if CNN was doing it on purpose.

Why are they letting him host a superspreader event at Cotton Eyed Joes?

Virginia state senator dies at age 60 after contracting Covid-19

Over the past week, the US has averaged 2,637 coronavirus deaths every day, according to Johns Hopkins University.

That's an average of one Covid-19 death every 33 seconds.

One American dies from Covid-19 every 33 seconds as the vaccine rollout hits snags

The concern now is what Trump will do in his final days in the whitehouse? I've heard he still has control of our nuclear arsonal.
I'm curious if there's a way for our lawmakers to completely cut the electrical power to the whitehouse. And I mean all power! And somehow transfer the nuclear codes to Pence? Although, I don't want Trump having access, someone needs to have control or it could leave our nation vulnerable in these waning moments before the inauguration.

Considering the information he has been given as president over course of presidency, that is a concern. Also those people he brought in as Cabinet and other staff and advisors. They have information that it carries with it a responsibility from now on.

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) announced he has tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, Jan. 10.

In a statement, Fleischmann said he has been in quarantine since Wednesday night when he learned another member of Congress, with whom he shares a residence in DC, had tested positive.

Congressman Chuck Fleischmann tests positive for COVID-19

The crowd-sourced review platform is expanding its Covid-19 section on profile pages to include information about enforcement of social distancing and if staff are wearing masks with new indicators activated by user reports. Yelp said Tuesday that the changes aim to "instill confidence in consumers to continue supporting local businesses."

Yelp will tell you if local businesses are enforcing masks and social distancing

In Los Angeles County, 10 people on average test positive for the coronavirus every minute. Every six minutes, someone dies from Covid-19, according to county public health data.

1 person dies every 6 minutes: How L.A. became the nation's largest coronavirus hot spot

Coalfield community mourns 2nd football coach after losing battle to COVID-19

All the selfish people that refuse to wear masks, including the ignorant and disgraceful members of Congress, deserve to be isolated and locked up until the end of this terrible pandemic. Exposing others by their selfish action is certainly the un-Christian and mindless thing to do. It is a contradiction of what Jesus taught for many of these people who claim to be Christians. What a twisted group of people that only think of themselves and have such disregard for life.

A drug that could protect high-risk Covid-19 patients from developing severe illness is sitting on shelves unused as a record number of people are hospitalized in the U.S.

Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made drugs meant to mimic natural antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. They're recommended for people who are at high risk of getting very sick from the virus, including anyone over age 65 and people with underlying health conditions.

Monoclonal antibodies could ease record Covid hospitalizations. Why are they going unused?

UT Athletics just fired Head football coach Jeremy Pruitt.
I wonder if he'll send in a lot of rioting thugs to try and overturn that decision?

Update: Fulmer has resigned. I thoroughly hate this.

Wyoming Chair is talking secession If Trump is impeached. If Wyoming wants out, I say, fine! Let em out! Put border agents all the away around their state and don't allow them to fly over US air space. I say why wait? Go ahead and do it. I'm tired of all this bull.