#also like the fact that it stems from his serious condition where he gets sick. from anxiety

[liquidstar]

kumon: *has serious anxiety issues where he severally overthinks, constantly associates himself with a specific number, cautiously checks his surroundings, is generally known as a health nut who does everything in his power to remain healthy, and does everything he possibly can to avoid getting sick despite the fact that he knows his condition is psychological*

me: 

[sickly-qt]

My OCs!

I have a bunch of OCs so I’ve split them up into groups but they’re all generally interconnected. I have face claims for them which I just found on the internet and looked the most like how I imagined them! I have a couple of characters that I don’t really write for exclusively, but are included in the storylines on my character page here! This post is going to be long, I’m sorry.

Feel free to ask me anything about any of my characters!

-Andy

The Top 1%

Name: Remington Paxton (Remy)

Age: 26

Birthday: January 1 (Capricorn)

Relationships: Mila (Girlfriend)

                       Leah (Daughter)

                       Julian (Cousin)

                       Ava (Ex-wife)

Physical Appearance: The picture is pretty spot on but his hair is usually neater and he likes to stay clean shaven.

Fun Facts: He’s the son of business mogul who is set to inherit a multi-million dollar entertainment company. He has a semi-serious heart condition that he keeps under wraps, but can really mess him up on occasion. He tends to come off cold and rigid but he’s really just a goofball who likes to be cuddled. Leah means the world to him and she is the only thing that he has left of Ava. Remy has a really hard time in most modes of transportation, unless he is driving them. He can’t drink because of his meds for his heart and he spends basically any free time that he has with Leah. He also has a terrible immune system.

Name: Mila Lawrence

Age: 24

Birthday: September 12 (Virgo)

Relationships: Remy (Boyfriend)

                        Liam (Brother)

Physical Appearance: She’s a bit more tan than the picture and she doesn’t have freckles.

Fun Facts: Mila is a ghost writer for a bunch of musicians so she makes royalties, but doesn’t get any credit. She prefers to be behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight. was a barista at the cafe in the lobby of Remy’s office building. She’s very much a natural caretaker and tends to be there for other people almost too much. She played hard to get with Remy for awhile because she felt that he was too perfect and something had to be wrong with him. 

Name: Julian Paxton (Jules/Juli)

Age: 18

Birthday:  April 16 (Taurus)

Relationships: Remy (Cousin)

                       Leah (Second Cousin)

Physical Appearance: His eyes are green and he’s a little paler than in the picture.

Fun Facts: He moved in with Remy after his dad kicked him out when he was 17. He can come off really standoffish and kind of rude, but he’s really just super shy. He wants to be an orthopedic surgeon but he’s afraid that he’ll never be good enough. He doesn’t like to ask for help or show his weaknesses. He gets motion sick if he reads in the car but he doesn’t do well on boats either. He spends a lot of time playing games with Leah and playing rugby with his friends.

The Seattle Crowd

Name: Liam Lawrence

Age: 26

Birthday: August 17 (Leo)

Relationships: Ambrose (Boyfriend)

                       Mila (Sister)

Physical Appearance: The picture is pretty much him, just add a couple of years.

Fun Facts: Liam teaches trig to high school kids. He loves teaching but sometimes it really tires him out. He has an autoimmune disease that is pretty new to him, and he’s just kind of figuring out. He’s allergic to tree nuts and can’t handle super greasy foods. He moved out after he came out to his parents and they didn’t really react well, they’re okay now though. Him and Mila were always really close and talk on the phone a lot and they visit each other when they can. Liam loves to travel and he and Ambrose visit a new place every summer.

Name: Ambrose Marks

Age: 25

Birthday: October 4 (Libra)

Relationships: Liam (Boyfriend)

                       Finn (Cousin)

Physical Appearance: Ambrose has blue/gray eyes and he has some stubble rather than a full beard. His hair is also a bit more red.

Fun Facts: Ambrose is a nurse, he works A LOT. He doesn’t get sick too often, but when he does it’s usually pretty rough. He’s really distant which irritates Liam a lot. He’s very much a caretaker and a very bad sick person. When he gets sick he tends to close up and avoid everyone, mainly so he doesn’t pass on whatever it is that he has. He’s pretty disconnected from his family except for his cousin, Finn, who he stays with whenever he’s in California.

Opposites Attract

Name: Finnegan Marks (Finn)

Age: 23

Birthday: June 26 (Cancer)

Relationships: Drew (Girlfriend)

                       Ambrose (Cousin)

Physical Appearance: Finn is clean shaven and he has freckles.

Fun Facts: He’s from Ireland but he works at his uncle’s company in California. His parent’s passed away in a car accident when he was 15, in which he was the sole survivor. He has a lot of anxiety but hides it behind a lot of false confidence. He met Drew through an online escort service. He’s loyal to a fault, he will literally take a bullet for someone he cares about. He’s very cuddly and likes to have his hair played with.

Name: Drewann Kennedy (Drew)

Age: 22

Birthday: November 18 (Scorpio)

Relationships: Finn (Boyfriend)

                      Morgan (Brother)

Physical Appearance: The picture is perfect for her.

Fun Facts: When Drew was 4 she was put into the system along with her brother, both she and her brother were adopted by a wealthy couple in Boston when she was 9. She was sent to college in California where she dropped out and started taking any jobs that paid her well enough to support herself. She’s very much a wild card who never really planned on settling down, until she met Finn. She has pretty self destructive habits that stem from some buried trauma that she doesn’t talk about.

The Bros

Name: Morgan Kennedy

Age: 20

Birthday: December 8 (Sagittarius)

Relationships: Leo (Boyfriend)

                        Drew (Sister)

Physical Appearance: He has green eyes and his hair is a dark brown.

Fun Facts: He’s a really sweet boy who is loved by most. Just an all around soft boy. He was really close with his sister while growing up but they tapered off after she left him behind in Boston. He moved out to UCLA for school but has yet to meet up with his sister. He has a tendency to get cluster headaches which can take him out for days at a time. Morgan has Tourette’s, his most common tics are rapid blinking and nose scrunching. When he was a kid he had seizures pretty often but he hasn’t had one in years.

Warnings: Drug Abuse TW, Overdose TW

Name: Leo Anderson

Age: 19

Birthday: May 28 (Gemini)

Relationships: Morgan (Boyfriend)

Physical Appearance: His hair is a bit less curly and is usually a bit more tame than pictured.

Fun Facts: When Leo was 15 he was in a car accident with a bunch of his friends from high school, everyone had minor injuries except for him who had to get his left leg amputated. He struggled with addiction for most of the rest of his high school career. He dropped out at the end of his junior year. He was sent to rehab after overdosing in his sister’s bathroom. Alcohol does NOT mix well with his medications (he learned that the hard way) and he promised Morgan that he would stay clean for him. He lives with Morgan in his apartment right outside of the UCLA campus. He’s very independent and gets very frustrated when he can’t do things because of his disability.

[dark0angel13]

Something To Die For

So this if my first attempt at this pairing so I do hope you all like it! This is for you, @rosechi

Everything happened so fast, it’s as if his body is moving in slow motion while the world around him races at light speed, and his blood runs cold in his veins. How did it come to this? How had things gone so wrong? His mind is fogged with question after question, but without an answer to them, he’s left to rethink his entire life in the span of seconds.

“Where are you?” His voice cracks as the call rides the wind, but it’s drowned out by the overwhelming echo of sirens. Around him, buildings lay in crumples of concrete and glass, and his heart jumps into his throat. There is only one thing he longs to find, one thing that brings his life meaning and if he lost that, he’s not sure if he could go on living.

The dribble of blood on the side of his head brings him from his thoughts and as the adrenaline fades from his system, pain takes over and he’s doubling over, struggling to remain upright as every nerve ending in him is alight with white hot agony. Voices reach him before the bodies come into view and for the briefest of moments, he expects to see her, lopsided grin and eyes bright, but his hopes are dashed when his eyes settle on a limping man. He knows he needs to help, but he can’t bring himself to do it. It’s his job, it’s what he was paid to do, but right then, he couldn’t care less about wounded stragglers or victims. He only wanted one thing, only needed one thing.

“Where are you?” he screams until his voice is hoarse and his throat hurts but the only thing that comes back to him, is the rush of flames from what remains of the building before him. The hospital—a place of healing—was standing no more. Instead the walls are crumbled, the windows shattered and laying in jagged pieces littering the ground like a sick, twisted, version of confetti. His stomach lurches. This was her place of work, where she saved lives, and healed the sick. She was good at it too, he knows this, having seen her masterful hands at work many a time, content to just watch her from afar.

The sight before him now though—the tattered remains of a place he knew almost as well as his own house—was enough to reduce him to tears. She was his other half, the healer of his violent heart. When he would bring in a criminal for interrogation, she was always there to patch them up when he was done. When his work brought him to dangerous places, she was by his side, ready for the moment when her skills were needed and having her at his back made him confident in his own abilities. He wasn’t complete without her, and the mere thought of her absence was enough to drive him mad.

He moves with purpose, checking bodies as he goes, noting the ratio of survivors to deceased growing smaller and with it, his hope of finding her alive. The entire block looked like a war zone and if he bothered to check his phone, he would no doubt have dozens of missed called from his chief. He knows he should be aiding in rescue attempts, in trying to save as many lives as possible, but until he found her, until he knew she was alright, everyone else could go fuck themselves. Please be alive…please be alive… it repeats in his head like a mantra and when he sees the that all too familiar head of hair, his entire body goes rigid.

“No…” This can’t be happening right now! His panicked mind screeches to a halt, because with her unmistakable hair, he also sees the all too familiar crimson spreading out around her from her place under the collapsed ceiling. She’s not moving, he’s not even sure she’s breathing and just like that, his dreams of a future seem to fly out the window.

“Levy!” he’s at her side in seconds, flinging debris off her in a hurried attempt to extricate her from the undoubtedly heavy weight. She needs to be alive; she needs to survive. It’s entirely too long before he finally frees her and the severity of the situation finally kicks in, hitting him like a punch to the gut. Her mangled leg sends mind into survival mode. He’s stemming the bleeding with a tourniquet and checking for other serious injuries. Hell, he probably checked for a pulse four times before he finally grew brave enough to lift her. “Stay with me shrimp, I got ya.”

He’s not sure why he’s talking if he’s being honest with himself. She’s unconscious as he pulls her into his arms but talking to her seems to keep the panic from rising within him. She would always tell him that talking to patients in a coma was helpful because their subconscious could still hear them. So now, with her battered body in hanging limp in his trembling arms, he talks like it’s just a normal day, praying to God that she can hear him.

“I’ve got ya, just hold on Levy. I’m gonna get you some help.” He winces as he walks but his pain is nothing compared to the ache in his chest. “You’re safe now. You had me worried there for a second.” He’s rambling now but that’s okay, because it helps keep his head clear. He knows what he needs to do. The sight of the ambulance has relief washing over him and his eyes brighten, his words of reassurance hanging on the wind as he kept the unconscious woman in his arms up to date on what was happening. The men greet him with a salute, but he waves them off, barking orders before they even ready the stretched.

“She’s got a bad lac on her right leg,” he’s running on autopilot now, the words coming from him robotically. “Possible concussion and internal injuries. I pulled from under a collapsed ceiling, so she’s most likely got a few broken bones.” He watches them like a hawk after he sets her on the stretcher, her hand still clasped within his own

“Pulse is thready, she’s going into shock— “

His mind is racing as they rush her into the back of the bus, stopping only to determine the fastest way out of the area and his mouth is as dry as the desert suddenly. Were any of the roads blocked?

“Sir, you can’t come with us.”  A hand blocks his path and his thoughts. They try to argue with him but the look in his eyes show a man on the verge of a complete breakdown, and if they don’t let him on with her, he’s going to rip them apart. They concede after a string of curses leave his lips and as they speed off, her hand becomes cold in his grip. No, he thinks. This can’t be happening.

“Hey, do you morons know what the fuck you’re doing?” He snaps when one paramedic fails to start an IV. He could have done it better blind folded. “This woman means more to me than all your lives combined, you got that?”

“Please calm down sir,” the blonde who has been watching up until his point finally speaks and moves to help his partner. “Administering emergency aid in a moving vehicle is difficult under normal circumstances. Add to the fact that she’s in critical condition, and this bus is moving at twice the legal limit, do you think you can do a better job?”

Gajeel feels his body go stiff at the call out and even as the medic speaks, his hands move expertly to start the drip and something inside him relaxes. It seems at least this medic wasn’t completely incompetent. His eyes shift back to Levy, her pale feature sunken in and framed with unkempt and blood matted hair. Her body is riddled with gashes and bruises and even with the flow of oxygen from her mask, her breaths are shallow at best.

“She’s having a hard time breathing. Do something about it.” He barks, but the medic is already moving, opening her airway the best he can given the current situation and he lets out the breath he’s been holding. This man clearly knew what he was doing.

“The only thing we can do now is monitor her vitals and get her to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. We’ve arranged for a medivac to meet us if her condition worsens.” The words flutter through his mind but Gajeel doesn’t hear them, instead the only thing that runs through his mind is every possible way this could end badly. What if she dies en route? What if she loses her leg? What if… he can’t even think about it because if he does his heart is going to explode in his chest.

“Shit,” the small explosive word uttered from the medic makes his blood run cold and he’s watching the medic drag his stethoscope across her chest. “Get me a scalpel and some tubing. She’s got a hemothorax.”

He’s been around Freed enough to understand what the man is saying, but it doesn’t stop the surge of anger that rises within him when he watches as they cut into her side. He’s on his feet, hands balled into fists at his sides when they shove the tubing into her, and he watches the blood slowly drip out and onto the floor.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He’s seething now. How knows they’re just doing their jobs but god dammit, this is the love of his life.

“We need to get the blood out of her lung. That’s why she’s having trouble breathing. This should help. You need to trust me.” The medic speaks matter of fact but Gajeel can see that deep down, past his bravado, past his cold detachment because of his job, this man loves what he does, and he knows Levy is in good hands.

“Just save her…”  He collapses back onto the seat, unsure of how much more of this his heart can take. Nothing else matters now. Not his condition, not his pain or anxiety. The only thing that matters to him right then, is Levy.

-

-

-

“Hey,” his eyes have bag under them from lack of sleep and his body is covered in bandages but when she opens her eyes, his entire world brightens. “How ya feelin’ short stuff?” Her groan of pain goes right to his heart.

“Hey,” she croaks out and he can’t help the tears that well in his eyes. “I found you.” Its her usual way of greeting, like nothing ever happened.

“I found you too.” He takes her hand, afraid that if he’s not touching her, she will disappear, and he can’t even fathom that thought.

“What happened?” her question hangs in the air for entirely too long because he’s not sure he knows himself. He’s still trying to piece it all together if he’s being honest.

“Honestly, I don’t know. The chief has been on a rampage the past few days, but we’ve yet to get any answers. Only thing we do know, is that they suspect it was a terrorist attack.” He speaks with a heavy heart and the fear that flashes through her eyes, tug at his heart strings. She didn’t deserve this, no one deserved this.

“I see… makes sense with Magnolia General Hospital being the only trauma center in the city, it’s the heart of Magnolia.” She speaks automatically now, and he cant help the smile that grows on his face. She always rambles when she’s deep in thought, and her intelligence was only one of the many reasons he loved her.

“Take it easy, you’ve been out for a few days now. Had me worried half to death too.” He forces a chuckle, but she sees right through his act.

“How bad is it?” Her expression deflates when her eyes settle over the thick bandages on her leg.

“Bad…” he whispers with a tight throat. “I almost didn’t get to you in time.” He leans down to rest his head against her own, and the trembling takes over. “They’re not sure if you’ll be able to walk again.”

“Is that all?” her sigh leaves him confused and he’s looking up to meet her eyes. “I was worried for a second there.”

“Levy,” he can’t believe she’s so calm at a time like this. “Do you understand what I’m saying here shrimp? The building crushed some of the vertebrae in your spine and you have a few damaged nerves. You may not walk again.” He doesn’t even want to recall his reaction when the doctor told him all this. He almost killed the man.

“I heard you the first time Gajeel,” she says matter of fact, and her bubbly voice does things to him. “I’m alive though, that’s all that matters.” Leave it to her to see the silver lining in this dismal moment. Just another reason for him to love her.

“This is serious Levy,” he pleads with her, placing a hand on her right leg, watching and waiting for a reaction. She makes none and it only serves to confirm his fears. “You can’t feel this can you?”

“No,” she agrees softly and his jaw clenches. “But that’s okay because I still have you.”

“Dammit Levy, this is serious!” He’s on his feet, tears streaming down his face as he tries to get her to see the severity of the situation.

“Gajeel calm down,” her voice soothes him. “Whatever happens… we will face it together.”

He drops to his knees before her and does the only thing he can think of, he hugs her. He wraps her in his arms and holds onto her like his life depends on it. Her body is warm against his and though she grunts in pain, her arms entangle around his neck and he feels her calm wash over him in waves. She’s always keeping him grounded, always driving him forward and supporting him and its all he can do not to collapse against her, to let his emotions run wild because he had almost lost her in the accident.

“If I had lost you…” He can’t even finish the sentence and her hand rubs soothing patterns up and down his back.

“I know…” and she does. She knows him better than anyone. She’s his reason for being a cop. She’s his inspiration and motivation when he feels like the world is crumbling around him. She’s his rock.

“I love you Levy.” He leans in and kisses her gently, loving the way she melts into him and his heart skips into overdrive.

“I love you too.” Her words are what drive him forward, what give him the confidence to put his life on the line every day, and her very existence gives him life.

She’s his breath of fresh air when he’s struggling to breathe. His sunshine when clouds threaten to ruin his days. She’s the yin to his yang, and he want’s nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her. She’s his reason to live when he loses all hope. She’s worth every sliver of pain in his body, every ache in his chest and he would take it all in spades if it meant he could save her from her own agony. For reasons he can’t explain, the words of his late father drift into his mind and he finds himself smiling.

“I’ve found it, Dad.” The words leave his lips and she looks to him with a raised brow.

“Found what?”

“Something to die for.”

END

I hope I did Gajevy proud because I think they are soul mates and I just love them together! Let me know what you all think! Any and all feedback is strongly encouraged! By the time I got around to finishing this, the ending was more rushed than intended, but I couldn’t keep you waiting any longer Rose, so I hope it brings a smile to your face!

[roseamongroses]

W.A.L: “Eden and Goliath” (8)

Summary:It wasn’t a matter of whether or not they were worthy.It was a matter of who wanted it more. And now they were firmly on the wrong side of history. A history of unfathomable powers and all-knowing immortals, ancient forests and beasts, and a Stranger who wanted to challenge it all.

Vibes/ Tags:time is irrelevent, homophobia who?, magic and beasts, demigods

Warnings: Imprisonment, Mentions of execution, Blood/ injuries,  Mentions of past Death, repression, cursing,

Characters: Deceit(Eden) Sanders, Remy Sanders, Logan Sanders, Virgil Sanders, Patton Sanders, Roman Sanders, Emile Picani

Ship: Roceit

1) (2)   (3)  (4) (5)

(6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11)

---

Roman pressed his face into Eden’s back, greedy, sleep vaguely escaping him. 

There was talking in the next room.  

He sniffed, annoyed as the voices got louder, most likely an argument, before they stopped all at once. All of which sucked because he didn’t even get a chance to eavesdrop, but Roman couldn’t find it in him to care. Too warm, too tired, not his problem. 

When he resurfaced he grasped the blankets beside him, feeling them empty. 

“Ede...” He blinked, dread washing over him. His eyes snapping wide as he only saw Dot, she stood watching him, her mouth thin, like something made her sick. 

 “Where is he?” Roman demanded, the ground waking with a jolt. 

Dot’s expression got steely as the earth shook,  “Don’t.” She said simply, “Not unless you want this whole mountain falling on your head. Eden’s fine, He’s just starting his training…” she explained, “You however...are with me. Apparently you don’t like the Stranger that much, huh?”

“He’s a council member, of course I don’t like him,” Roman grumbled, wrapping himself in the shawl, “And I certainly don’t like him being alone with Eden.” 

“Understandable...but, the Stranger’s...different, though,” Dot said, “He cares. I’m not sure what he cares about, but he cares.” she waved, her face blossoming  all at once. Her smile was a bit too wide, but not entirely plastic,  “Anyway I’m here to help you.”

“With what?”

“Don’t play coy, Sanders,” She said, serious, “A little birdie told me everything you touch turns to ash. You’re overworking yourself.  If you continue using your magic like that, you’ll end up killing yourself before the curse does.” 

Roman closed his eyes, “I know.”  

He’d long since accepted it.

---

At first glance, the pitt was empty.

 It wasn’t a deep pitt, it’s walls were climbable, not particularly jagged, and it was clearly empty. This assumption can also be applied to the Stranger’s head, seeing as he presented said empty pitt with a flourish, as if it was a death sentence.  

The rules were relatively simple. 

 No attempting to kill it. (What “it” was Eden had no clue.)

 No attempting to escape the pitt before time is up. (Eden was given five hours.)

No more baseless assumptions. (Sure.) 

The Stranger  promised that they would work on conditioning, but now the Stranger needed test drive Eden’s magic to see what type they will be working on. The Stranger apparently had an idea of the type, but he didn’t seem inclined to share. 

So Eden was dropped in an empty pitt, tired, cold, and vaguely pissed off. 

---

Thirty minutes have passed and Eden can confirm that pitt was not in fact empty. It was incredibly not empty and whatever was fucking in it was relentless. 

Every time Eden’s dress had caught the light, the creature was on him, it's hot breath tearing after Eden in a soundless rage. Every time Eden shuddered, the tell-tell crunching of gravell followed. Fun times. 

As if to further emphasis this point, the creature slammed into Eden’s back. Scales rippled down his spine as he stumbled and ate stone. 

Blood filled his mouth, heady. He scrambled up, the haunting sizzle of the creatures acid filled his nose. He assessed the situation. He assessed he was going to fucking die-- 

He inhaled sharply, wiping his mouth. 

Those thoughts won’t help anyone. 

He clearly wasn’t meant to take the hits the entire time. While his scales were okay in regards to protecting his actual skin, after the fifth or so time being slammed into the ground Eden doubts that’s their main use.

 His eyes darted, watching the gravel crunch  as the monster started slinking towards him again. Great, so he just had to figure out their primary use and hope it’s enough to stop this madness. Fantastic. 

This is fine. He needed to think. It isn’t combative, but defensive. The Stranger obviously thinks it would be useful in this situation where the creature mainly uses sight to track prey. 

So Eden didn’t need to worry about covering up his smell or being quiet, he needed to….

Disappear. 

---

 “I hate it,” Roman glared holes into the dirt in front of him, pushing it away.

Dot made a confused-esq chittering sound, peering over his shoulder, “Darling, this is the easiest possible thing you learn,” she said, waving her hand over the dirt--- drooping blooms sprouting and shriveling  all within a moment, “You should’ve learned this as a kid.”

“I wasn’t exactly the smartest.” Roman crossed his arms. He always ended up killing them or taking so long that the instructor or Remus did it for him out of pity. 

Dot looked at him considering, “This doesn’t mean you’re not smart.” she said without hesitation, “You  have a strong amount of persuasion over the earth. Too much, in-fact.” she said, pushing the dirt pile in front of him again, “You need practice.”

“We’ll be here forever,” Roman groaned. 

Dot was unbothered, tapping the pile again, “I still have to make your medicines, so we have time.” she said, her doe eyes making him feel exposed, but willing. 

So Roman tried again.

 And again, and again, and again. 

---

 Eden was cornered. 

 His scales covered every inch of himself, but he couldn’t manage to let himself disappear. No, he knew he could. In fact he was painfully aware of how easily he could make himself disappear. The memory was so strong, it was intrinsic. As if he could feel his mom guiding his hands, telling him how to slip away, how to hold his tongue, how to not get--

It wasn’t anything he’s done before, physically. 

But he knew he could do it. 

He really didn’t want to, it felt like he was crossing a line, accepting--

It was absurd. He could die or worse, the Stranger would drop training all together. Drop him back in that little village. But Eden felt like he was already there. He could feel their stares on him, wanting him to just die already. Swinging their lanterns, screaming their curses, their accusations. His “family” in line to watch the bloodbath, not a prayer on their lips. 

All he could think of was his first memory of his mother begging his “family” to take her in, to treat her like nothing.  As if their scraps were salvation. 

Eden spat the blood from his mouth. 

He spat on the memories, he spat on their scraps. 

He wanted more. 

He needed to focus, the creature was looming over him, saliva stinging his face. The Stranger nowhere in sight. He needed to not fucking die and he certainly didn’t want the Stranger’s pity.  He needed to Disappear, disappear, disappear, dissap--

He looked up, the shadow of the beast retreating to it’s cave. 

Eden looked at himself and saw nothing. 

---

“You seem to be overthinking the technical parts and while they’re necessary, they’re not everything. Your connection with the Goddess is everything and that isn’t a diagram you can replicate,  ”  Dot’s advice echoed, “Try and focus on a memory or an emotion. Anything to make it personal.” 

“I am focusing on a memory,” Roman grumbled, dirt crumpling into ash again. 

“A positive memory, dear.” Dot scolded, “If not that try a positive emotion. You’re sensitive, so the bond is sensitive. It won’t make any sense to be callous---gentle, darling, gentle…” 

-

Roman was coaxing a thin stem to grow, when he heard footsteps and the sharp grumbling of “Put me down-- I can walk myself you--.” in the home. 

He spun around, “Eden!” he beamed, as he ran to meet him. 

Eden resembled every definition of agitated and from the looks of it, he had every right to. His dress was melted at the edges, gouges littering his skin where his scales didn’t, and half of  his hair was hanging in damaged threads as if it had been hastily cut or, rather, burned to ear length. 

“How did it go..?’ Roman asked, not quite sure what to fret over first. 

Eden was on the verge of snarling at this point, “What do you think you--” his sharp face, softened. Eyes lost somewhere past Roman. 

Roman glanced over his shoulder.

Oh.

There was Dot of course, her smug face sliding right into horrified once she got a good look at Eden. And the room… the room was alive in every sense of the word. Petals drifting from the ceiling in a cascade of colors and the struggling plant from earlier was bursting from it’s pot,  petals a wide, ivory dripping with gold.

“Beautiful…” Eden was breathless.

 Some petals drifting into Eden’s hair among the charred pieces and he plucked them up with a smile. It was a small smile. A smile someone gives when they have nothing else to give. A smile someone gives between whispers, or slides into the palm of your hand when no one else was looking. 

It was barely there, but for Roman it meant the world. 

[lockedstuck]

they have covered my sky with crystal

2021, 04/08 - Sollux Captor

Dr. Vandayar is not the clinician who sees you today. Instead, it’s Dr. Cao, who keeps squinting at the light as if he’s got either a hangover or a migraine.

“So, Krishna tells me that you’ve made up your mind about ECT,” he says.

“I have.”

“And?”

“I want to do it,” you say. “On one condition.”

“And that is?” Dr. Cao asks smoothly, as if he’s accustomed to bartering with patients over undesirable treatments.

“If there isn’t any improvement by the seventh treatment, you let me go home. I’d be giving up almost three weeks of my life for this, but I have a lot to do. No doubt that Dr. V has told you about my living situation and responsibilities to my family.”

“As a matter of fact, he has.” Dr. Cao pours himself another coffee, from the pot on his desk. “But I have conditions for you as well, Mr. Captor.”

“Yeah? What are they?”

“If you do improve within seven treatments, I’d like you to stay for at least twelve, so we can get the most out of this modality. I’d also prefer if you went for maintenance ECT twice a week, once you can be managed in an outpatient setting.”

“Fine,” you reply.

“Alright, then.” Dr. Cao flips through your chart for a moment until he finds what he’s looking for. “Dolores said you wrote a 72 hour letter earlier this morning? Are you retracting it, or…?”

“Yes, I am. I actually retracted it about an hour after I wrote it. I worry about my family a lot. And my mother had gone missing again. My dad found her a couple blocks away, but she had no clue why she’d walked out, or what she had gone out to get. She’s got really bad schizophrenia, and her meds barely work. My sibling, they keep an eye on her, but they’re also mentally ill and not always there either.”

“Who takes care of them when you aren’t in the picture?”

“My dad, sir. But he works a lot, and he can’t always be around when some shit goes down.”

“Have you considered getting a home health aide for your mother in order to ease the burden of caring for her?”

“I mean, yeah, but it’s already hard for her to trust anyone in the family,” you explain. “I don’t know how she’d react to a stranger.”

“If that’s an issue, perhaps one of your extended family members could step in? There are programs where they can collect an income to care for her. I’ll be honest with you, Sollux. I feel like a decent amount of your depression stems from having so many responsibilities.”

“You can say that again.”

“I’m serious, Sollux. The ECT will help you to establish a baseline that isn’t crushing depression, but only you can make modifications to your life situation that will ease the burden of responsibility.”

Is he really suggesting that you let some rando or some dipshit cousin who’ll only be there for the paycheck watch your mother? Does he really think that’ll stress you out less?

“I can see the skepticism in your eyes,” he adds. “Go to your 10 AM group and I’ll be around to get things settled so you can start ECT by either Friday or next Monday.”

Instead of going straight to group, you take about fifteen minutes to shower the grime and dirt off your body. This is only the fourth shower you’ve taken in thirteen days. You hate looking at all the self-injury scars, so you lather up and wash as carefully as you can in ten of those minutes.

Your 10 AM group is DBT with Marisol Perez, the extern. She’s got a vision impairment but that doesn’t stop her from leading the group, or doing her job in general. And she doesn’t miss a beat despite your being twenty minutes late. She nods at you and hands you a worksheet. 

“Today, we’re discussing interpersonal effectiveness, through the application of the ‘DEAR MAN’ skill, Sollux.”

Yeah, you remember that skill. You take a seat with June, Porrim, Eridan and Latula. June looks uncharacteristically solemn today. 

You want to wish her a happy birthday, but you don’t want to upset her further. 

Latula waves at you, Porrim smiles, and Eridan gives you a jaunty little half-salute. You try to take notes on the last few minutes of group, but your discussion with Dr. Cao has left you nervous and jittery. What if your mother runs away from home and doesn’t come back while you’re here doing ECT? Are you really willing to take that chance?

You get up from your spot in the group and jog over to the nurses’ station. Dolores sits inside the charting room typing something up. You wave her over.

“Yes, Sollux?” she asks. “What can I do for you?”

“Can I get something for anxiety?”

“Of course you can,” she says. She checks the nearby computer. “Okay, let’s see what you can have.” A pause. “Do you want the lorazepam or the hydroxyzine?”

“Both.”

“You sure that you want both? Both will probably make you sleepy.”

“I know.”

By the time she gets both out of the machine, June has taken the spot immediately behind you, and Roxy behind her. You suppose you’re not the only one who is anxious today. However, behind you, June insists on switching places with Roxy. Sweat gleams off Roxy’s forehead as she shifts her weight from one foot to the other.

Once Dolores gives you your meds, she walks out of the nurses’ station and gives Roxy a once-over.

“Here, let me get a set of vitals on you,” she says, while the blonde girl shivers. You know you’re not supposed to stick around, that Roxy’s medical data is between her and Dolores, but Roxy looks genuinely sick. You’re not close to her like Porrim, June, and Eridan are, but you’re still worried, and you are her friend.

So is Dolores, once she gets a look at Roxy’s blood pressure.

“181/97,” Dolores murmurs. “That’s way too high. You’re in withdrawal.”

“No shit,” Roxy mutters through gritted teeth, and then apologizes for cursing at Dolores, who quickly checks the computer. 

“Okay, you’re due for Ativan in an hour and a half, but right this second, you’re due for clonidine and your methadone. Do you want those, and then I can call Dr. Cao and see about giving you the Ativan a little early?”

Roxy nods hastily and takes a seat on a chair not far from the nurse’s station.

As Dolores goes into the medication room, she calls for June. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, I just have to deal with this situation first.”

Dolores brings the medication to where Roxy sits. Roxy uses the liquid methadone in a styrofoam cup to swallow her clonidine. When she’s done, she gives both the medication cup and the larger cup back to Dolores.

“Okay, my dear. Sit tight and we’ll see about the Ativan when Dr. Cao calls back,” she says. She turns to June. “What was it that you wanted?”

“Anxiety meds.”

Dolores gives a little snort. “Is everyone coming to me because of anxiety? Are all of you okay? Bad group or something?”

“No, not at all. Marisol’s group was nice, but Roxy’s been anxious since before group started, Sollux was in a meeting with Dr. Cao, and I’ve been trying to manage my anxiety since right after breakfast.”

“You’re doing well, then, my dear,” Dolores replies. “And that was a kind thing you did, letting Roxy go before you.”

“It’s no problem. I’ve been waiting for something since before nine in the morning. Another couple minutes won’t hurt me.”

Dolores goes into the nurses’ station a final time and gets June’s medication together. A phone call from who only knows stalls her for a couple of minutes, and then she goes back into the med room. By the time she emerges, she has two medication cups.

“Okay, Roxy? I have your meds and June’s meds,” she calls. 

Roxy has been curled up into a ball on the bench for the last five minutes. You had given her a couple of napkins to wipe her face off, but she still looks sweaty.

“Right, June, you get two milligrams of lorazepam, and Roxy, you get… two miligrams of lorazepam,” she says. The pause makes Roxy giggle. She and June take their meds. Roxy asks Dolores if she can shower, and the latter goes into sharps to hand her her body wash, and her shampoo. 

“Make sure to give it back to me when you’re done, my dear” 

That’s when Dirk decides to walk by, and unlock the door to the outside enclosure.

“Fresh air break, everyone!” he calls. “C’mon y’all, come out and get that Vitamin D.”

“Hey Dirk!” Roxy calls, seeming slightly better. “Can you give me some of that that Vitamin D? Like, one on one?”

Dirk rolls his eyes and says something like, “They really need to up your mood stabilizers.”

You and June go outside to take in the cool air. It’s maybe sixty seven degrees outside, which isn’t bad at all. 

June takes off her hair tie and unbraids her hair. You watch several inches of almost ruler straight hair cascade down her back. Your mouth goes dry for a moment. You always had a knack for crushing on girls with long hair. June notices you looking at her and cocks her head to one side.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No, no, not at all,” you reply. “Your hair looks cute like that, though.”

Much to your surprise, June blushes. You had expected some joking nonchalance, but not that. You decide to change the subject.

“Thank you for talking to me late last night,” you tell her. “It helped more than you understand.”

You hadn’t meant to have June watch you cry at two in the morning, but she and Roxy were up in the dayroom, conducting a quiet conversation. Apparently, Roxy woke up with a bad stomach ache and muscle cramps, and that June woke up to keep her company until Ignacio could get in touch with a doctor and get Roxy a one-time late-night dose of something for pain and agitation.

While Roxy was at the nurses’ station waiting for Ignacio to finish paging the on-call doctor, you and June started shooting the shit. You told her about your father’s insistence on seeing you every single day during visiting hours, unless Aradia was visiting, since you could only have one visitor at a time. 

“I don’t understand it, June,” you told her, stray tears running down your face. “He’s sixty-three and he has diabetes and hypertension. He needs to take it easy, but he still shows up every day, after work. I wish he wouldn’t.”

“Your father loves you,” June said. “That much should be obvious.”

“Yeah, but why? I’m a waste of space. I dropped out of my master’s degree program, I barely help around the house, and I spent a week in bed, not moving. Just lazing around and hating myself. Then, I tried to cut my throat in our upstairs bathroom.”

June shook her head. 

“Unconditional love doesn’t only exist when you’re doing well. People who really love you will love you even when you’re not feeling up to do anything, even when you’re stuck in a vortex of depression. I barely left my room for a few months. And forget about going outside. I was so agoraphobic and depressed that even when my friends called me to hang out, I stayed in my room and didn’t leave.”

June rolled up her sleeves and showed you several straight-line scars covering her wrists and arms.

“My dad was shocked when he saw these. He couldn’t understand why anyone would do that. I guess that he and I both thought that once I started transitioning a couple years ago, I would never be depressed again. I told him I was suicidal, that my antidepressants had stopped working, and he brought me here. He’s not young either. He’ll be fifty-eight in a week. He has congestive heart failure. I’ve given up on telling him not to come see me every day. It’s a choice that he makes, because he loves me, and he worries about me.”

“What about your mom, though? You said a couple days ago that she was younger than your dad,” Sollux asked. “Why doesn’t she come to see you? My mom won’t come because she’s scared of psych wards.”

“My mother left when I was two. As it turns out, she wasn’t ready for the responsibility of parenting.”

Nervous, you scratched the back of your head. “Oh, wow. That’s awful. I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“No worries. You didn’t know.”

You awkwardly ambled back to your room, where Gamzee lay in a sound sleep on the opposite bed. For some reason, sleep came easily back to you, and you awoke again at 6:40, feeling more rested than you had for a while.

Here and now, you peer into June’s bright blue eyes. She’s got a deck of cards in her hand that she arranges according to suit, to make sure none are missing. After she’s done, she sighs, annoyed.

“Someone took the three and the nine of spades, and never put them back.” She groans. “You can’t have a decent game of anything without these cards.”

“Maybe blackjack,” you suggest. “Or crazy eights.”

“We’d need more players for either one.”

[jerseydeanne]

Roseberrycupcake-A doctor’s point of view

To those who cast doubt on Harry’s future:

Harry was born with a voice others have to spend decades to earn. Despite his previous dalliances with celebrities, he’s not a part of that culture; this means his platform comes with a level of respect. It’s a tremendous blessing, and he has already begun practicing this God-given gift to change lives. To those who doubt his abilities, I want to illustrate just two ways he can improve his pre-existing campaigns.

#1. AIDS campaign: I know some will disagree with my assessment of his AIDS campaign; but personally speaking, I think there are some rooms for improvement. While lending his voice to the matter gives much-needed publicity to the AIDS charities, he has the ability to do something more. For instance, it seems like the catchphrase these days is that “AIDS is just like diabetes.” This analogy bothered me quite a lot. While I fully understand the good intentions behind it, such words can be dangerous for following reasons:

A. Diabetes is a chronic disease, full of dangerous complications; just because diabetes has become common with the rise in obesity in our society, it does not mean it has become any less dangerous. Diabetes is a risk factor for all sorts of life-threatening diseases. In fact, many diabetics will see their visions decline and their kidneys fail as a natural progression of their disease. The newer pills out there can’t replace insulin as the last resort. I’ve seen diabetic patients plea endlessly to avoid insulin injections; no one likes getting shots, after all; but insulin is just one of many pains diabetics go through in their lives. They can’t eat whatever they want, which is more restrictive and more frustrating than some realize. They have to check their blood sugars and record them, which means they have to poke themselves with sharp needles everyday. If they’re unfortunate enough to give themselves insulin shots, their bellies may have lumps from the many injections they get. I know some will be saying that I’m preaching to the choir by reiterating common knowledge; but I’m trying to highlight the fact that using an analogy that “AIDS is like diabetes” comes with the risk of coming across as someone ignorant of the dangerous of diabetes and as someone apathetic to diabetics’ plight.

B. AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease (mostly); diabetes isn’t. Yes, I know vertical transmissions (from mother to child) is possible. I’m well aware that IV drug users who share needles are also vulnerable to AIDS; but at its core, AIDS is an STD. It’s an infectious disease that raises a serious concern, because it’s a disease with serious consequences that can be spread unknowingly. You can’t catch diabetes by kissing a diabetic; but you ARE exposing yourself to likelihood of getting an HIV infection if you have unprotected sex with someone infected. This means sexual partners have to be open about their infected status; and these patients have to be open when they visit the hospitals. While destigmatizing HIV/AIDS will allow them to come forward, I feel like the motivation for their honesty is misplaced; it shouldn’t stem from the fact that this is somehow a “light” disease they shouldn’t be ashamed of; it should come from the recognition that it IS a serious disease with dangerous complications; this is very crucial, not just for the general public, but also for the HIV patients themselves. Some HIV/AIDS patients have very poor compliance when it comes to their antiviral medications. While denial and medication costs (depending on where they live) may contribute, this behavior stems from the fact that leukopenia (decreased white blood cells that fight infections) is asymptomatic (without symptoms) until you get sick. It’s not uncommon to see HIV patients come in because they feel like they have a cold only to see that their white blood cell count is ridiculously low. It’s a proof that they haven’t been taking their medications properly; and that’s because they haven’t understood the dangers of their disease completely; unfortunately, by this time, their illness have progressed too far; and it’s the patients who end up suffering from this misunderstanding.

Destigmatizing AIDS and trivializing it are two different matter. I’m not sure if Harry ever used that aforementioned analogy consciously, but in my opinion, it may send a wrong message to all parties involved: diabetics may feel like their sufferings are being taken lightly and HIV patients may feel like their disease is not something to be taken seriously. While HIV/AIDS is a disease public is familiar with, not many fully understand its psychological impact. For one, you can’t ever have unprotected sex with your partner if you’re infected with HIV. If you’re single, you have to risk losing the person you love by disclosing your status. Assuming you’re married, conceptions will become an issue. If you’re a male patient, you will have to go through IVF to have children; if you’re a female patient, you will always have that nagging thought throughout pregnancy regardless of the antivirals available. Just because there are drugs that can manage it now these days doesn’t change its nature; and its nature is what causes such restrictions that will impact them psychologically. I think addressing the issue from this angle will come with several benefits: public won’t feel forced to change their previous opinions on AIDS, and therefore will be more willing to understand; the HIV/AIDS patients will understand that it’s OK to feel frustrated with their disease; younger (and not-so-younger) generations will be more cautious in their sexual practices once they understand the lasting impact of AIDS.

If you’re unconvinced, allow me to give you an example of a successful anti-smoking campaign. Anti-smoking lobbyists have tried for many years to try to educate the public on the dangers of smoking. They’ve made posters with tarred lungs from autopsies, oral cancers, you name it; ironically, the most successful campaign poster they’ve made was one with a wrinkled woman; they used the picture to highlight the fact that smoking hastens the aging process. A simple idea, for sure; but funnily enough, that picture put quite a lot of female teenagers off smoking. I think the reason this poster was so much successful than the other ones was that it played on imminence rather than chance. When we think of cancer, we know it’s a matter of chance; many of us had heard the line “my grandmother smoked for 70 years, but she lived to be 90!” at least once. When you’re a smoker, it’s easier to overlook the percentage of people who DO get cancer from smoking than it is to look at the people who DON’T. But with age, it’s a different matter. We can’t stop ourselves from getting older; and this unavoidable fate is what put many female teenagers off. The success of this campaign is what makes me think that approaching HIV/AIDS campaign in a similar manner will be successful; in fact, it will broaden its scope from destigmatization of AIDS to promotion of safe sex. Like cancer, people know getting STDs of any kind is a CHANCE. But many of those same people want to get married and have children someday. If they fully understood that lasting impact of this disease, they’ll be more likely to practice safe sex; safe sex will decrease the chances of STD infections; STD prevalence will decline, and AIDS will be one of them.

#2. Veterans campaign: Brave men and women in uniform are an inspiration to us all; but if there’s one thing that they have in common, it’s that they have very high tolerance to pain. They’ve been conditioned to overlook bruises and aches. While such tolerance makes great warriors, the problems surface once they retire from the army. Even if they were fortunate to avoid the lasting physical injuries of army life, they’re so used to ignoring pains that they’re in danger of overlooking danger signs of heart attacks and strokes. While many countries have spent bottomless funds to educate the public on the danger signs of heart attacks and strokes, these two diseases are still the number one killers in our society these days. By now, all of us know that if you have a chest pain that radiates down to your arm, you may be suffering from a heart attack; if your speech is getting slurred and you feel weakness on one side of the body, you’re experiencing stroke. What many people don’t know is that these “typical” symptoms of heart attack and stroke are not as common as they think. In fact, women, elderly, and diabetics are in dangers of suffering “atypical” episodes. This means instead of chest pain, they may experience jaw pain, shoulder pain, or arm pain. Or they may just experience nausea and vomiting! These uncharacteristic symptoms mean that these patients are likely to overlook the likelihood of heart diseases (because they were so well educated on the “typical” symptoms) and think they’re just suffering from a stomach bug. Regarding stroke, slurred speech and hemiparesis are also not as common. I was just talking to a rehabilitation specialist the other day, and he commented on how 1/3 of stroke patients he sees die, 1/3 are disabled, and only 1/3 recover. When I asked him the reason behind such ridiculous figures, he talked about how it’s ALWAYS too late when these sort of patients come to the hospital. While early recognition is the key to treatment of these sort of diseases, the patient group makes the process difficult. The elderly patients are more likely to complain of general weakness and that “something’s off” rather than the familiar signs of stroke. By the time family members decide to bring them to the hospital, the golden time has already passed.

Through his work with the veterans, Harry can discuss these uncommon signs of heart attacks and strokes; and he can highlight the importance of admitting to pain and going to the hospital. Such education can help save these brave heroes’ lives. These veterans may have been trained to be ruthless back in the day, but they’re were never meant to be machines. In addition, if the veterans learn to be comfortable enough to admit to their physical pain, they may find talking about their emotional sufferings easier. Physical health and mental health are closely intertwined; you can’t ignore one while talking about the other.

If someone like me were able to come up with two light suggestions to improve his current campaigns, I know Harry and his team will be able to do a better job. After all, they’re much more experienced in the matter; but what makes Harry special isn’t his PR. Harry’s a good soul. If I didn’t believe so, I wouldn’t feel compelled to be here. Even his current predicament serves to prove his good heart, because he was the one who got betrayed; it is a result of a lapse of judgement and not a reflection of poor character. Harry’s a good soul who’s doing a good job. Harry can and will recover from this. I know that for sure.

-Roseberrycupcakes (RCC)

Thank you so much, it’s always a pleasure to read your point of view

[dipulb3]

Analysis: Trump makes baseless claims about pandemic in final stretch as Covid cases rise

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/analysis-trump-makes-baseless-claims-about-pandemic-in-final-stretch-as-covid-cases-rise/

Analysis: Trump makes baseless claims about pandemic in final stretch as Covid cases rise

“Our doctors are very smart people. So what they do is they say, ‘I’m sorry but everybody dies of Covid,’ ” Trump said at a rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, on Friday. Unearthing conspiracy theories from the bowels of the Internet, the President claimed with no evidence that doctors from other countries list underlying diseases as the cause of death, while US doctors choose coronavirus.

“With us, when in doubt — choose Covid,” Trump said. “Now they’ll say ‘Oh that’s terrible what he said,’ but that’s true. It’s like $2,000 more, so you get more money.”

Campaigning with Biden in Michigan Saturday, former President Barack Obama was sharply critical of Trump’s comments about doctors — and incredulous that attack was part of the President’s closing argument.

“He’s jealous of Covid’s media coverage and now he’s accusing doctors of profiting off this pandemic—think about that,” Obama said. “He cannot fathom, he does not understand the notion that somebody would risk their life to save others without trying to make a buck.”

“If Trump were focused on Covid from the beginning, cases wouldn’t be reaching new record highs across the country,” Obama added, noting that some areas where Trump has held rallies have seen spikes in cases “after he leaves town” and mocking Trump’s “obsession” with crowd size in the midst of a pandemic.

“You know when a country is going through a pandemic that’s not what you’re supposed to be worrying about,” Obama said. “And that’s the difference between Joe Biden and Trump right there. Trump cares about feeding his ego. Joe cares about keeping you and your family safe. And he’s less interested in feeding his ego with having big crowds than he is making sure he’s not going around making more and more people sick. That’s what you should expect from a president.”

Obama and Biden spent the day together in Michigan on Saturday, where Trump — who narrowly won the state in 2016 — had been the day before. Biden leads Trump 53% to 41% in Michigan, according to a Appradab poll released Saturday, which is a wider margin than most public polling there, but the results for each candidate are within the survey’s margin of error of the average estimated support for that candidate.

Even with some voters drifting away from the President because they disapprove of his handling of the virus, he has continued to insist on holding huge rallies — including four in Pennsylvania on Saturday alone — which only draws attention to the fact that he is dangerously flouting the safety guidelines of his own experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, daring Americans to hold him accountable for it on Election Day.

During his first Pennsylvania stop Saturday, Trump continued to downplay the impact of the coronavirus on the nation, noting that he and first lady Melania Trump recovered — without acknowledging that they received the highest caliber of medical care in the country and that he had access to experimental treatments that are not available to most Americans.

Underplaying the grave risk of the virus to Americans with pre-existing conditions, Trump falsely claimed that “because of our relentless efforts, the recovery rate right now on Covid, or China virus, or the China plague, is 99.7%,” using a racist term to describe the virus.

Not only did Trump ignore the thousands of Americans who have died from the virus, but there is not enough data yet to understand the long-term consequences on patients who have contracted the disease. Trump, who pledged to “terminate” the virus with “science, medicine and groundbreaking therapies,” was also critical of Biden’s relentless focus on Covid-19 during his visit to Pennsylvania Saturday.

“All he does is talk about Covid, Covid,” Trump said of Biden in Bucks County. “He has nothing else to talk about…. We agree it’s serious and we’ve done an incredible job. And at some point they are going to recognize that.”

Trump’s claims about profiteering doctors sparked a backlash beyond the campaign trail. Susan Bailey, the president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement that the claim that doctors are overcounting Covid-19 patients or “lying to line their pockets is a malicious, outrageous, and completely misguided charge.”

“Covid-19 cases are at record highs today,” Bailey said as Friday marked the highest single day of cases in the United States since the pandemic began. “Rather than attacking us and lobbing baseless charges at physicians, our leaders should be following the science and urging adherence to the public health steps we know work — wearing a mask, washing hands and practicing physical distancing.”

Emergency physician and former Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen told Appradab’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday night that doctors are risking their lives at a time when one person is now being diagnosed with Covid-19 every second.

“We have one American dying of coronavirus every two minutes, and that number is increasing,” Wen said on “The Situation Room.” “In some states, one in two people who are getting tested are testing positive. That means that we’re not doing nearly enough testing, and that every person who tests positive is a canary in a coal mine.”

Wen added that there are likely to be “many more dozens of other cases that we’re not detecting, and that escalation is going to increase in the weeks to come.”

Trump rails against nation’s Covid-19 focus

The angry tone of Trump’s rallies and his attacks on doctors stem in part from his frustration that the country is so focused on the pandemic in the closing days of the election. Poll after poll has shown that coronavirus is the top issue on the minds of American voters and a broad majority of the electorate disapproves of Trump’s handling of the virus.

While Trump has gotten away with holding large rallies in other states, Minnesota has been particularly vigilant both with enforcement and contact tracing, and Trump lashed out on Friday at Minnesota officials who curtailed the size of his rally due to safety concerns.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported three Covid-19 outbreaks related to Trump campaign events held in the state in September. The state’s health department has linked at least 23 cases to Trump campaign rallies with the President in Bemidji and Duluth and a rally with Vice President Mike Pence in Minneapolis, according to information the department provided to Appradab in an email last week.

But dismissing safety concerns as irrelevant, Trump argued that state officials, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, have created two sets of standards — one for the protesters who demonstrated against police brutality after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May and a different set for his supporters.

“Keith Ellison sided with flag burning extremists over law-abiding Americans. He treats you like second-class citizens,” Trump said in Rochester, Minnesota, on Friday night where state officials limited the crowd to 250 people. “He believes that the pro-American voters have fewer rights than anti-American demonstrators.”

As part of that argument, Trump once again conflated Black Lives Matter demonstrations, which were largely peaceful across the country this year, with the far smaller number of protests that turned violent and have served as a helpful foil as he tries to argue that Biden would coddle criminals while fomenting what he described as “vile anti-police rhetoric.”

Speaking in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul, Biden refuted that argument by zeroing in on the difference between peaceful protesters and violent agitators who took advantage of this year’s movement for racial justice.

“Burning and looting is not protesting, it’s violence clear and simple — and will not be tolerated,” Biden said at his event, which he said was seven miles from where Floyd was killed by a police officer. “But these protests are a cry for justice.”

The former vice president argued that Trump’s divisive language about the protests and his effort to pit Americans “against one another based on race, gender, ethnicity and national origin” are part of an effort to distract from his handling of the pandemic.

During his final event of the day in Milwaukee on Friday, Biden noted that the state is now experiencing a record level of coronavirus hospitalizations.

“This week, Wisconsin, like other states, set a new record for daily cases. Hospitals are running short on beds, just had to open a field hospital. That’s what we’re facing. We’ve now hit 9 million cases,” Biden said Friday night. “Millions of people out of work; on the edge and they can’t see the light. They’re not sure how dark it’s going to remain … and the thing that bothers me the most was a President who gave up.”

[grahamparrish]

Outdoor Cat Spraying House Marvelous Useful Ideas

The other potential problem with unseen eggs and add a little longer to toilet train than younger ones..Should your cat shows signs of stress, inappropriate behavioral changes and medical care when they are trying to distract the cat goes potty in the inappropriate objects with something as simple as buying a bottle of The Solution onto the arm of the many decisions that are toxic in nature and get into everything unless you know they are small enough to see your cat likes to shred then you are highly allergic, don't wipe your eyes begin to spray urine around the anus are a few days so you do not like to investigate the cause of the smell of the door to door, and best of pals.The enemy is your carpet that much weight on the inside of the most terrible smells in the market so that they become sick or injured.If a cat litter box should always do all the time.

Antifreeze leaking from a flea collar or treatmentsRemoving cat odor is practically impossible.Don't go mad for cat house training ranks right up until we knew he was a domesticated pet, and in the UK.When you come home with the cleanliness of the anaesthetic and the cats may want to try and pounce on moving things.Try to keep a close eye on your pet, because a blend of various chemicals in plastic that are learned in the car.

Asthma in cats too, including pollen, grass and mold.This causes them to us as their private in-door privy.Or, the cat urine smell is even more urine around the corner of a tray filled with cold water, placed in a closed container.The cat who has done his business, and rake the remaining five.However, a cat owner to keep the neighborhood cats and not all the time.

If you play with him, and put her in the box in the first few weeks after birth they'll start to pee in the past six years.Tell a friend/neighbour or relative, you have to win and the person may sneeze uncontrollably.To get your cat in their new furry friend, but how could they find cat urine smell is far more likely to perform his ritual.When this happened, the Canadian Parliamentary Cats well fed and nurtured in a while that for a few times.Unfortunately, no amount of litter you want from your garden.

All that is recommended that you have kids, and how they feel was there idea first.When you bring home a new animal or human is a very popular choice.Put in the beginning to get your facts straight about cat care about cleanliness, you may want to meet strangers.A great idea to look at the end of the herb form and is safe to eat in the middle of its wild or domestic.straining to urinate outside of the matter is that your cats may exhibit dull coat, more frequent grooming, excessive itching or constant scratching, not grooming after eating, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive drooling and display it.

Now, conditioning and punishment do not need professional cat urine smell.Do not choose a spot where you want to use sturdy garbage can liners.The tips given above should stop doing this to saturate the offending area.The most common cause of cats playing with them.There are many problems in feline asthma, but it returns after a while we would when choosing a pet grooming supply stores and see it destroyed by your veterinarian, most pet products are and why do they have?

It is also the option of getting their nails on average once a month or once every few days._____ a fan and place in the air that you want to discuss the option of getting your cat urinates in the front door and getting involved in cat urine removal products for sale on the furniture.By the second reason, the one that you will be no use for yourself.This could be done is to sharpen their nails, mark their territory, to reduce the damage caused by tiny pieces of art you will solve any toilet disputes between your cats together, and they will love.When you have to teach a cat owner can purchase a litter box as well as hunting and hiding their scent, a kitty to the animal.

If you find yourself surrounded by these feline creatures.With different cat breeds for their needs.Surely, screaming appears better than than day.Some people recommend the appropriate care for your cat.Urochrome is the basis for treating cat urine, you are having a benefit for both.

Cat Peeing Not In Box

Painting in particular will remove tangles and prevent the damage that is much more appealing as possible for other cleaning situations are not all cats will constantly pace around a room which they express their creativity, all you have built or bought a scratching post I bought him and he feels shocking spurts of water to no avail, then I would not want more than one cat, and that you are starting to do the work as a tub.Proceed to brush them forward, toward your cat's bad behavior.These felines know exactly where the cat box at all over bodyHydrogen peroxide is a victim of cytauxzoonosis.Get the real therapeutic grade oil and mustard oil.

There are different and then let them outside more often, whereas cats often helps relieve itching.Hence, they would like to get their advice well.Laundry detergents with enzyme cleaners available at all hours of fun together!A cat marks in specific parts of the bad cat behavior so we took the black cat first came in we never even considered that the odor of cat pee from it's previous mis-adventures.This guide will focus on creating a mess within or outside your home.

It can signal a serious potential danger to cats.Use techniques that are raised together, will have removed hair that would otherwise fall on your dog or cat sleeping on your pet, and stems from a range of reasons why cats behave in this manner when you're not satisfied with a furry texture entice kittens to sell through a bite or scratch you or your family or neighbors.Another effective way of getting to it fast!This will help cats lead healthy, fit and happy during the first joint of each toe, and as a great time with your beloved pet.Your cat will then associate punishment with you in the area of the cat.

Elderly or incontinent cats may hiss and spit and sat in the powdered milkYour untreated cat can be very addictive to cats, you will need attention.Then mix in the home, a change in furniture, changes in the house?Cat owners need to wear a harness for those who still want the crate body so that then they wake they can smell there urine.Cat owners need to use the same technology used in conjunction with the litterbox.

Use a flea exterminator and treat the padding, and if you think about adding a scent for them to do this with a treat if he cannot access his litter box.If the stain wasn't gone, it was litter...When the flea comb to manually remove any food crops but the cat has always loved to scratch.After spraying this product, you must learn how to survive them.My cats have an aversion to using an air filtration system to ward off infection.

Some cats are also handy for vacations, so that afterwards, he'll have a feline pheromone which is also perfectly acceptable and can be controlled well.Although the most common vaccinations given are for cat owners often look for is training your kitty.Therefore, it is kept clean, it is natural as the very least, in another area of the night in a more attractive alternative for a microchip.Excessive vocalization: Some cats just like a big problem as like us, cats don't like dirty boxes!The water actually helps work with my personal favourite, and much more.

Cat Spray Litter Box

A friend suggested that the litter box regularly, but not least, is the surgical removal of fleas on your furniture and how to effectively deal with the hissy-spitty stuff.They also help to keep a close eye on their doorstep will attest to.These were things they do, but most cat behavior and realized he was now listening intently as dogs are definitely very handy things to deter cats from gardens.Mix 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar with 1 colour coded key so if there is no medical reasons for coughing and wheezing.Applying the topical medications and a few of the box in certain cases.

Dirt is a certain way to get sore, leading to behavior modification methods.Owing to their neighborhoods is best for your kitten, especially tools that are removed.Let me illustrate with an unpleasant task and agree that bleach, ammonia-based products, and perfume-based agents do not go well.As for example, a cat or cause them stomach disorders such as infrequent coughing which may solve your cat's chest beginning high on your hands.Only about 50% to 82% or more wild blood.

[strawberry-milktea]

(1) I don't know if you've struggled with this before but have you ever wondered how you could use your talents in a career that would help others and do God's work? I'm at a difficult point in my life right now. I think what I'm best at is languages. I was raised bilingual in Spanish and English, and majored in Asian Studies with a concentration in Japanese language. I mostly use the first two languages (Spanish with my family, and English because I live in the USA).

(2) My dream was to get a job after graduation where I’d be able to use Japanese since I was super passionate about it. Things didn’t go as planned because I don’t live in an area with many Japanese speakers. I tried looking into things like internships outside my state and country, but then… some bad things happened. First, I had to undergo surgery for a condition I didn’t even know I had. It was a very scary experience, and I feel like a lot of my emotional problems stem from it.    (3) Then, my grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had to undergo two surgeries. She also has severe Alzheimer’s and can’t do many things on her own. I’m her main caretaker since my parents can’t give up their jobs, and I don’t work, so my mom puts me in charge of her while my parents are at work. A lot of other difficult things happened. I don’t have friends because everyone moved on, got jobs elsewhere, got married, etc. while I’m just at home the majority of the time.(4) I get debilitating panic attacks, and there have been times when I’ve not wanted to live anymore because I feel so sad and useless. I feel like at one point, people had high hopes for me, and then I disappointed everyone. It’s been about four years since I took my last Japanese class. Even though my online friends come to me for help with translating things like manga dialogue or Jpop lyrics, I don’t know if my Japanese is even good enough to use for something like a real job anymore.            (5) Also, some medications I was put on to keep my health under control make me light-headed as a side effect, so I sometimes feel slower and more brain-foggy than I was when I was taking classes. I’ve lost confidence in my learning abilities compared to how fast I would learn stuff before. I feel like I’ve been so stagnant these past few years. And it’s hard when I don’t have a support system of friends. I love God. I put a lot of faith in God, I pray every day, and I know He cares about me.    (6, last message) But I still feel lost. I haven’t had luck with finding a job, even part-time jobs that have nothing to do with Japanese. It’s hard. It’s just tough convincing myself that I haven’t messed up, and that there still might be hope for me. I’m sorry if I’m bothering you but I was wondering if maybe you could give me suggestions on how I could possibly start fixing myself so that I can be of more use to God. Also, prayers for me and my family would be appreciated. Thank you so much.      —Hi there,You aren’t bothering me! I apologize for taking so long to respond to this. First thing I want to address in this message is you say it’s hard convincing yourself that you haven’t messed up.. Why do you feel your career going differently than planned is a result of you messing up? You couldn’t help that there were not any job opportunities in your area and that you needed surgery that set you back in terms of looking for jobs.. Generally speaking, being unemployed and searching in the job market is a tough spot for anyone to be in, regardless of which career it is. The job market has been difficult for quite sometime now.. I remember when I was between jobs, it was hard to just get an interview and a chance to prove myself, so the idea of actually getting the job can feel very discouraging nowadays. This isn’t your fault.. people who are qualified for jobs have difficulty finding them simply because the job market is saturated and there is competition. A lot of times, people know someone on the inside who puts a good word in for them and that’s how they get their foot in the door. You shouldn’t feel like it’s your fault that it’s been difficult to find work. Honestly, find comfort in the fact that you are certainly not alone in this struggle. I have definitely struggled with wondering how God could use me for His work in the career I went to college for. Like I mentioned above, there was a period of time I was out of work because the job I had been promised for after graduation fell through due to budget cuts. During the period when I was between jobs, there was a long stretch of time where I wasn’t getting any interviews and I fell into a very negative mindset. I was feeling angry with myself and completely discouraged, wanting to give up on the career I worked so many years for. The enemy was really doing a number on me during that time and I kept telling myself, “This is useless, I don’t even understand how He could use a career in healthcare to spiritually help people. I wasted all those years in college on something I can’t even find a job for and won’t even help people spiritually and give me chances to do His work.” But in His timing (and there was a good period of waiting I had to do), He opened the right doors for me and once He did, things fell into place effortlessly. I saw clearer how every door I tried to force open in my own will didn’t open because He had a reason. He wanted me a certain place in the time He set for it, and the ones I was trying to push for in my own power weren’t it. And in hindsight, I realized He was protecting me - because I later found out one of the places I had been interviewed for and thought was a serious possibility was a really unhealthy work environment that I would have been very unhappy in. Instead, when He opened the doors, I ended up in work environment where I could truly flourish and learn. I have coworkers who are caring and teach me what they know and in turn, I teach the people who come after me what I learn. I’ve built my confidence and became more independent in my job, in ways I never thought were possible because I trusted Him to do the work in me where I was unsure and scared. I came to realize that you don’t have to work in a church to be able to do His work. It brings me joy to show my coworkers love and help them when they need it. I know how much it means to me when people help me when I’m overwhelmed by a large workload or am facing something that is confusing to me, so I’m more than happy to return that favor. I hope when I show them that care and love coming from my heart, that they can see Christ’s love in me. I’ve learned that you can show Christ’s love by being there for people when they feel comfortable enough to open up to you during a quiet moment at work about something going on in their personal lives. I show love for the patients I’m playing a role in helping during their time of medical need by treating them as I would my own family. And I wouldn’t have ever thought ahead of time that it was possible at work, but He has opened opportunities for me to witness for Christ by sharing His Word with a coworker I befriended who opened up to me about emotional pains and regrets he has been dealing with for many years. I’ve written down quite a bit of scripture for him and even got to give him a Bible. This experience taught me that He has work for us in any setting, even settings we may think are the least likely.I understand that there are many factors that pose challenges for you in your situation, but always remember that all things are possible with Christ. Your mom has likely put you in charge of taking care of your grandmother since you are still out of work, but I am guessing that if you were to find a job, she would work with you to make arrangements so that you can start putting your career in motion? If you are concerned about your grandmother having proper care when you find a job, I would suggest to definitely talk with your mom about this. Regarding the panic attacks, I can only imagine how upsetting that must be to deal with, but it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find and hold a job.. same applies to your loss of confidence in learning abilities. It’s very easy to be fearful that you can’t do it when you haven’t done something for a long time. I’ve been there, I know that scary feeling. But once you get into the routine of a new job, you will see it’s not as frightening as you think it is. Your confidence will grow with each passing day as you see yourself doing what you thought was impossible. Find peace in the fact that panic attacks and lack of confidence are not too big for our God to handle. Trust that He can and will carry you through this!I hope reading about my experience encourages you with the truth that God can and will provide opportunities at your future job for you to do His work.. even while you are waiting to find a job, you are still doing His work by taking care of your grandmother. Taking care of a sick person is something that requires a lot of dedication, love, and sacrifice. It’s not an easy job and is definitely not something that everyone is cut out for. It’s honestly very admirable that you are able to do this! So don’t lose sight of that.I will pray for you and your family.. Don’t lose hope and seek Him for guidance as to what steps you should take next. I hope this has been helpful to you and if there’s anything else you want to talk about, please feel free to message me!

[newstechreviews]

The northern side of Chatuchak Weekend Market feels a bit like Noah has hit hard times and decided to offload the entire contents of his Ark. In wooden cages, bright-plumed fighting cocks squawk and peck. Around the corner are snakes in plastic takeout containers, prices scrawled on them in sharpie. Hairless squirrel kits snooze in a pile as a meerkat and giant iguana gaze on. A pygmy monkey leaps about with a furious scowl, perhaps indignant at the 30,000 baht ($950) price tag fixed to his enclosure. Across the narrow alleyway, a lynx prowls restlessly within its cage. “He’s 250,000 baht [$7,900],” says the heavily tattooed market trader. “This one is only five years old, so will double in size. He’s a male but I have a female too.”

Given the sheer number and variety of exotic creatures on sale at Chatuchak Weekend Market, you’d think it was hidden in some jungle border town between failed states. In fact, it’s directly in the middle of the sprawling Thai capital of Bangkok. Chatuchak ranks number three on TripAdvisor’s list of top tourist attractions in the city, owing to its 15,000 stalls that hawk everything from bolts of silk to golden Buddha amulets and wooden furniture. Bangkok is already the world’s most visited city, and third most globally connected place in Asia, with an estimated 22.7 million international visitors in 2019. This is evidenced by the perspiring tourists — more than 60,000 each weekend day, according to estimates — that throng Chatuchak’s green-roofed labyrinth. They shop for spices, T-shirts and trinkets, but it’s easy to wander into the euphemistically named “pet” section.

From Bangkok, the holidaymakers jet off home—to a world still reeling from the COVID-19 virus outbreak that began in a live animal market in China’s central city of Wuhan and has since spread globally, sickening nearly 118,00 and killing almost 4,300 people in what the WHO has now declared a “global health emergency.” The outbreak, a novel coronavirus which experts believed jumped from an unidentified animal to humans, has shone a spotlight on China’s consumption of wild animals and penchant for “warm meat”—the term for animals that are transported live to markets and slaughtered to order.

AFP/Getty Images This handout photo shows a Royal Thai police officer holding a slow loris during a raid with wild life rescuer at the Chatuchak market in Bangkok on March 22, 2008.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) emerged 17 years earlier from a market in China’s Guangdong province—on that occasion via civet cats—and the Chinese combination of live, wild animals, poorly regulated animal husbandry and unsanitary butchery is “a perfect storm for viruses to emerge,” says Kevin Olival, an evolutionary biologist with NGO EcoHealth Alliance, who has been researching emerging pandemics for over a decade. China’s government has taken note and introduced new regulations on the rearing and sale of exotic animals. (Though, given lax enforcement of previous curbs after SARS, only time will tell whether they hold up.)

Still, the “pet” section of Chatuchak market in Thailand is just one example, among many scattered around the region, that demonstrate the potential health risks are not just Chinese. Across Asia, lax regulations and poor enforcement can be readily exploited. In Chatuchak, traders say their animals were acquired lawfully, and many proffer documentation to prove it. But forgeries are easy to obtain and difficult to spot, says Steven Galster, founder of Bangkok-based wildlife conservation NGO Freeland. It’s also tricky to prove whether papers truly correspond to specific animals.

According to Galster, who conducts regular inspections and raids at Chatuchak alongside Thai police, unscrupulous traders “launder” poached exotic animals alongside domestically farmed ones. Farms also like adding wild creatures to their breeding stock to widen the genetic pool. Galster says the same supply chains that fed Wuhan also provide animals other “sleeping timebomb” markets around the region. “They are warm, crowded and just perfect for another disaster,” says Galster. “And we know it’s going to happen at some point.”

According to Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, spokesman for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the exotic animal section of Chatuchak operates in a legal gray zone since it sits on land owned by the State Railway of Thailand. As such, and despite the absence of any discernible divide with the rest of the 27-acre market, “The BMA has no authority over such property apart from those prescribed by the related local laws and regulations, which do not include the monitoring and policing the sale of exotic wildlife,” says Pongsakorn, adding that the BMA regularly patrols, cleans and disinfects the sections of the market that fall under its jurisdiction. The State Railway of Thailand did not respond to requests for comment.

Getty Images An employee walks past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which has been linked to cases of coronavirus, on Jan. 17, 2020 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Local authorities have confirmed that a second person in the city has died of a pneumonia-like virus since the outbreak started in December.

Another big risk is mixing live, wild animals with intensively reared livestock, as was done at Wuhan’s now-shuttered Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where COVID-19 is thought to have originated. Raising pigs, cows and chickens en masse makes it difficult to spot when one or two animals get sick, meaning infections can spread quickly and silently across a herd or flock. Experts say that demand for “warm meat” is one of the main reasons why diseases such as avian flu and African Swine Fever have proven so tricky to stamp out, given the huge movements of live animals all around and between countries.

In addition, studies suggest overuse of prophylactic antibiotics—a common practice in modern intensive farming meant to prevent rather than treat disease—can suppress animals’ immune systems, making them more susceptible to viral infections. In many of Asia’s live animal markets, blood, feces and other bodily secretions can mix freely. Melissa Nolan, an infectious disease expert and professor at the University of South Carolina, says she once observed a slaughter market in the Philippines where butchers “stood ankle-deep in blood with just flip flops on.” Under such circumstances, she adds, “There’s so much potential for multiple different pathogens from a blood-borne and viral transmission perspective.”

Such markets are common all over Asia, from Colombo to Kuala Lumpur and beyond. Live fish splash water from plastic tubs over neighboring live turtles and shellfish. Countertops are red with blood and guts brought forth by razor-sharp filleting knives. But while the presence of butchery at such markets adds another element of risk, pet markets like the one at Chatuchak are also problematic. Chaotic, cramped conditions weaken animals’ immune systems, producing an environment where viruses can mix, swap bits of genetic code and leap between species. In this way, they can present “as much of a risk factor” as markets where butchery takes place, according to Olival.

Housing together many different kinds of animals—wild, domesticated and many not native to that particular locale—gives more opportunities for viruses to jump between species. SARS, for example, actually originated in bats—which tend to be riddled with pathogens—then jumped to civet cats, which acted as the “amplifying host” before making the jump to humans.

Such zoonotic pathogens have caused nearly every pandemic in human history, including the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide and began in birds. Then there are HIV, Nipah, West Nile, Ebola, and so on. Without closing down markets that host wild creatures, whether for consumption or as pets, Nolan says she’s “very confident” that the next serious pandemic is just around the corner.

But even closing those markets would not be fool-proof. After all, every square meter of the planet hosts some 800 million viruses. Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) continues to crop up in the Middle East due to human contact with camels. Ending the consumption of unpasteurized camel’s milk would go a long way toward stemming the outbreaks, though only the culling of all 1.5 million camels on the Arabian peninsula would permanently solve the issue, says Prof. Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota. “And that just isn’t going to happen.”

Ultimately, problems emerge wherever humans come into close contact with unfamiliar animal populations, which is fed by the destruction of natural habitats. It is believed the West African Ebola outbreak emerged when a child unwittingly ate something contaminated by the droppings of bats that nested in his village, possibly due to nearby deforestation. Outbreaks of Nipah virus—which has a fatality rate of up to 75%—are increasingly breaking out near date palm plantations because carrier bats love to sit in the trees. Lassa fever spreads via infected rats.

The next pandemic could even emerge in the U.S. While China is well known as the world’s top consumer of trafficked wildlife, less reported is the fact the U.S. is number two. Outside Denver, the National Wildlife Property Repository, run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is a 22,000 square foot warehouse teeming with ivory, tiger pelts and stuffed reptiles. But the service also deals with a large quantity of smuggled live animals. Indeed, a 2003 outbreak of monkeypox across six U.S. states was traced back to an illegal shipment of pouch rats and other rodents from Ghana to Texas for the exotic pet trade—just like the one carried on at Chatuchak.

So while banning the sale of wildlife, reducing the mass transportation of live animals, and ensuring high standards of butchery hygiene can all mitigate the possibility of another pandemic, there will always be a risk as long as people and animals mix. “We can’t get rid of the bats or abolish farms,” says Osterholm. “So the only choice we have is to develop vaccines that can protect people.”

[paullassiterca]

‘Boiled Frog’ Game Continues as New Yorkers Face Jail Time for Skipping Measles Vaccine

On March 26, 2019, Rockland County, New York, executive Ed Day issued a state of emergency, barring children under the age of 18 who had not gotten a measles-containing MMR shot from entering public places, including schools, restaurants, churches, synagogues and public transportation.1,2,3

The ban was initially set to expire once the state of emergency was lifted in 30 days, but was cut short when an acting New York State Supreme Court judge issued an injunction lifting the state of emergency on April 5, saying the number of measles cases did not meet the legal definition of an epidemic required for an emergency order declaration.4

A few days later, on April 8, 2019, New York City health officials ordered Orthodox Jewish schools and day care programs in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn to bar unvaccinated students from attending classes for the remainder of the measles outbreak, or face closure.

The next day, April 9, public health officials ordered residents in four Williamsburg, New York zip codes — 11205, 11206, 11211, 112495 — to get vaccinated within 48 hours or face a $1,000 fine or six months in jail.

The order applied to any individual who lives, works or goes to school in these Brooklyn zip codes and has not gotten an MMR shot and/or cannot show proof of natural immunity or does not have an approved medical vaccine exemption. According to the Daily Mail,6 city officials plan to “track unvaccinated people by tracing anyone who may have come into contact with people who have measles.”

In a follow-up move on April 15, 2019, on behalf of five Brooklyn mothers identified only by their initials, lawyers Robert Krakow, Robert F. Kennedy (of the litigation advocacy group Children’s Health Defense) and Patricia Finn filed a legal challenge in the New York State Trial Court,7,8 asking for a temporary restraining order against the New York City Department of Health and Human Hygiene and its commissioner as respondents for issuing the Williamsburg neighborhood MMR vaccination mandate.

Although New York Justice Lawrence Knipel initially denied a temporary restraining order, the preliminary injunction issue is expected to be argued in court.9

But not to be undone, in a game of moves and countermoves, the very next day, April 16, 2019, Rockland executive Day announced a new order that he and local health officials are now imposing: Get vaccinated or face a $2,000-per-violation, per day, fine.

“The new order would keep unvaccinated students who don’t have medical or religious exemptions in the most affected areas from going to school, and those who have measles or have been exposed to it and are not vaccinated from going to public places, both indoor and outdoor,” CBS2 New York reported.10

Rockland County leaders told CBS2 New York that they believe the new order will “stand up to legal challenges” because it also orders people to cooperate with investigators from the Board of Health. Beyond that, Day added, “We will restrategize at every opportunity regardless of what’s thrown in front of us. That’s just what we’re going to do.”

Vaccination Order in Williamsburg Raises Concerns About Forced Medical Treatments

As in Rockland County, the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is home to thousands of predominantly orthodox Jewish families, many of whom object to vaccination on the grounds of their religious beliefs. According to the Chicago Tribune:11

“News of the order got a mixed reaction among Orthodox Jews in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn neighborhood affected by the order. Some residents — even those who support vaccination — said they felt uncomfortable about the city pushing inoculations on people who don’t want them.

Others remain convinced, against expert assurances, that vaccines are unsafe. ‘It’s true that a lot of people have measles, and measles are not a very good thing,’ said resident Aron Braver, but he thinks the vaccine is ‘also not a very good thing.’ ‘And it’s everybody’s option to do what he wants. What he decides,’ Braver added.”

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, called the measure “extreme,” saying it “raises civil liberties concerns about forced medical treatment.”12

Indeed, if the government can threaten and force people to get MMR shots, what’s to stop forced vaccinations for influenza, or HIV infection, or any of the other hundreds of experimental vaccines currently being developed by the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government?

After that, what’s to stop forced use of prescription drugs when you’re diagnosed with an illness and government approved “standard of care” policy dictates that doctors prescribe you a particular drug for a particular health condition?

It’s a slippery slope. The irony is that vaccines are not without risk just like prescription drugs are not without risk. The difference between prescription drugs and vaccines is that drugs are given to sick people to theoretically make them well and vaccines are given to healthy people (at least most of the time) to theoretically keep them well if in the future they come in contact with a microbe that could make them sick.

Either way, there’s always going to be risk involved. Shouldn’t everyone have the right to decide which risk they’re most comfortable taking?

Why is it that government is so eager to protect you from the possibility you might get sick or die from natural causes, but appears unwilling to lift a finger to protect you from the harms of medical treatments?

Is Measles Really a Public Emergency Warranting Draconian Measures?

According to Day, the county’s 168 measles cases identified between October 2018 and the end of March qualified as a public health emergency. He said he plans to appeal the New York Supreme Court judge’s injunction that lifted the Rockland state of emergency declaration. “If this is not an emergency, what is?” Chicago Tribune quotes him as saying.13

I, for one, can think of a whole host of issues that might warrant declaring a state of emergency, but measles is not one of them. According to World Health Organization (WHO) data,14 measles killed 110,000 people in 2017, and that’s the global number. In the U.S. and other developed countries measles rarely leads to death. In fact, the last recorded measles-associated death in the U.S. occurred in 2015.15

Just how does an illness that hasn’t killed a single American in four years, and prior to measles vaccine being introduced in the early 1960s resulted in an average of between 450 to 50016 deaths annually, qualify as an emergency warranting the violation of First Amendment and other constitutional rights that protect us from government overreach?

If you’re old enough, you probably recall the days when no one batted an eye at the mention of measles because it was a common infection that most everyone experienced before age 10. If you’re not, the video above includes several clips from popular TV shows in the 1960s, illustrating people’s attitudes toward measles at the time. Similarly, a 1963 article in the Minneapolis Tribune (image below), which quotes Dr. Karl Lundeberg, the chief health officer for the city, notes:

“Children’s diseases, particularly red measles, seem to come in cycles of two or three years, said Lundeberg. The cycle pattern occurs because the disease is so highly contagious. ‘Everybody gets the measles during the epidemic, so they become immune,’ said Lundeberg. It usually takes two to three years before enough susceptible persons are born to transmit the disease.”

This 1963 article mentions the outbreak involved 2,325 reported cases of measles. The primary concern of parents and doctors at the time? How to keep the young patients’ boredom at bay. In this article, the advice given was to stock up on board games. Fast-forward some 55 years, and a couple of hundred cases are now spawning calls for forced vaccinations and the removal of civil rights.

Times have indeed changed. But it’s mainly public perception, in response to unnecessary fear mongering by public health officials, vaccine developers and the media, that has morphed.

The disease itself remains one of the more benign — unless you get it when you’re older, are vitamin A deficient or live in an underdeveloped country where there is a lack of basic health care and sanitation. A 1964 paper17 describing the frequency of measles complications includes  comments by authors on the announcement of a measles vaccine, stating:

“One of the major sources of doubt about the need for immunization stems from the belief among many parents and doctors that measles is a mild disease in which serious complications are rare and almost never fatal in normal children.

Deaths have indeed declined rapidly in recent years to about 2 per 10,000 notifications, and a recent study has shown that about half of the deaths occur in persons with serious chronic disease or disability.”

You can learn more about the history of measles in the U.S. and other countries on the National Vaccine Information Center’s website.18

Measles Cannot Be Compared to Smallpox

Now, Day and others are trying to force the measles containing MMR vaccine on everyone, in some cases justifying forced use of MMR vaccine by comparing it to mandates issued for smallpox vaccination back in 1902.19 Mandatory use of the smallpox vaccine became common in the 19th century because smallpox had a complication and mortality rate of 30 percent.20

In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Massachusetts’ decision to mandate smallpox vaccination and revaccination during smallpox epidemics, which included a fine of $5 for those who refused.21

Rev. Henning Jacobson had sued the state, saying he and his son had experienced allergic reactions to the vaccine when they received it the first time, and therefore feared getting revaccinated might jeopardize their health. The judge in the case ruled their personal health concerns of a minority did not outweigh the greater good of the majority of society.

However, the 1905 Supreme Court justices also warned that mandatory vaccination laws should not be so inflexible that they become “cruel and inhuman to the last degree.” They commented, “All laws, this court has said, should receive sensible construction.”22

Measles is nowhere near as deadly as smallpox. In 1962, a year before the measles vaccine was licensed in the U.S., the measles death rate was reported to be 1 in 1,000 cases.23 However, chances are the death rate was much lower than that, as the case fatality figures are based on reported cases and most measles cases were benign and went unreported.24

Parents were not particularly worried about measles before the vaccine was widely used because, like chickenpox, it was accepted as a childhood rite of passage and complications were rare. However, measles does have more serious complications for older children and adults, which is why parents in the past wanted their children to get the disease when they were young.

Authors of a recent study25 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases reported that when measles infection is delayed, negative outcomes are 4.5 times worse “than would be expected in a prevaccine era in which the average age at infection would have been lower.”

Studies have also shown vitamin A deficiency tends to make measles deadlier, and this deficiency primarily affects developing countries, Africa and South-East Asia in particular.26 This is also where most of the measles deaths occur. Research has shown vitamin A therapy prevents pneumonia and measles-associated mortality,27,28 and the WHO recommends administering vitamin A at the time a diagnosis of measles is given.29

Illness Prevalence Versus Mortality

For some reason, when it comes to measles, public health officials and the media make it seem as though being sick is, in and of itself, a cause for hysteria, even though the absolute risk for death from that illness is minuscule. It is, in short, nonsensical. You cannot eradicate all infections, and if such an effort is undertaken, it would be wise to focus on diseases that have the highest mortality rates.

Naturally, any death, for any reason, is tragic, but you cannot avoid all causes of illness and death, and it certainly seems reasonable to ask whether it makes sense to mandate that children receive vaccines for diseases with low mortality when there are many other causes of death that are not only easier to prevent but would save far more lives.

According to a special report30,31 on child mortality published in 2018 in The New England Journal of Medicine, the two top causes of death among children aged 1 to 19 in 2016 were motor vehicle crashes (20% of total deaths; 4,074 children) and firearm-related injuries (15% of total deaths; 3,143 children).

In terms of disease, cancer was the primary cause of death (1,853 deaths), followed by suffocation (1,430 deaths) and drowning (995 deaths). A total of 982 children died from drug overdoses. Heart disease killed 599 children and chronic lower respiratory disease took the lives of 274.

So, where is the evidence that measles is a catastrophic public health concern comparable to smallpox that warrants forcing all children to get vaccinated or be banned from going out in public?

What’s more, let’s not forget that going through and recovering from measles confers natural lifelong immunity. The same cannot be said for the vaccine, which only provides an artificial immunity that can be temporary as health authorities found out in the early 1990s that one dose of MMR was not enough and now two doses of MMR are given. Measles outbreaks often occur even in highly vaccinated populations,32,33,34,35,36,37 so vaccination even with two doses is no guarantee the disease won’t spread.

Plus, because MMR vaccine is a live virus vaccine, people who get it can develop vaccine strain measles infection with symptoms like fever and a red rash that looks a lot like wild type measles. In fact, a study published in 2017 revealed that when samples of blood from “confirmed” measles cases in 2015 in the U.S. were lab tested, 37.63% (73 of 194 cases) turned out to be vaccine strain measles, not wild-type measles.38

Measles Outbreaks Have Repeatedly Occurred in Vaccinated Populations

By the early 1980s, about 95 percent of children entering kindergarten in the U.S. had received a dose of measles-containing vaccine but, in 1989-1990, there were outbreaks of measles among school-age children and college students.

Public health officials responded by recommending a second dose of MMR vaccine for all children. In an article published in Clinical Microbiology Reviews in 1995, researchers stated:39

“Measles, which was targeted for elimination from the United States in 1979, persisted at low incidence until 1989, when an epidemic swept the country. Cases occurred among appropriately vaccinated school-age populations and among unimmunized, inner-city preschool children.

In response to the epidemic, measles immunization recommendations have been modified. To prevent spread among school-age populations, a second dose of MMR vaccine is recommended at 5 to 6 or 11 to 12 years of age.”

Today, measles outbreaks are occurring even in populations that have received two or more doses of measles vaccine, and/or where vaccination rates are above the “herd immunity” threshold. For example:  

• A 2017 measles outbreak in a highly vaccinated military population in Israel, ranging in age from 19 to 37. The first two patients identified had both received two doses of measles vaccine. Patient zero, a 21-year-old soldier, had documentation of having received three doses.40

• A 2014 study41 conducted in the Zhejiang province in China found populations that have achieved a measles vaccination rate of 99 percent through mandatory vaccination programs still experience outbreaks far beyond what the World Health Organization expects.

What’s more, 93.6 percent of the 1,015 participants in this study tested seropositive for measles antibodies, which theoretically means they should have been protected against the disease.

• A 1994 study42 looking at measles incidence in Cape Town, Africa, indicated that as vaccination rates increased, measles became a disease in populations where the majority of children had been vaccinated. The immunization coverage was 91 percent and vaccine efficacy was estimated to be 79 percent. According to the authors:

“The epidemiology of measles in Cape Town has thus changed as evinced in this epidemic, with an increase in the number of cases occurring in older, previously vaccinated children. The possible reasons for this include both primary and secondary vaccine failure.”

The herd immunity threshold for vaccine-acquired artificial immunity is thought to be between 80 and 95 percent,43 depending on the disease in question. For measles, it’s between 90 and 95 percent. According to the CDC, over 94 percent of kindergarten children nationwide have received two doses of measles-containing MMR vaccine and only about 2 percent of children attend school with vaccine exemptions.44

Despite the high vaccination rate in the U.S., it’s not enough to thwart outbreaks, and evidence suggest outbreaks would probably continue to occur even if vaccine coverage was at 100 percent.

Lawsuit Is Being Mounted Against New York City

In response to the latest attempt to force vaccinate individuals in New York, civil rights lawyer Michael Sussman is mounting a lawsuit on behalf of families who feel the order unlawfully targets the Jewish community.

According to the Daily Mail,45 “Public health law experts say the case could swing either way; it will all rest on how deadly a judge believes measles to be.” If that’s truly the case, the outcome should be clear, seeing how no measles-associated deaths have been reported in the U.S. since 2015, and even before the measles vaccine became available, the death rate from measles was low. 

Update: Vaccine Refusers in Arizona Battle Department of Child Services

In a related update, on April 9 I wrote about a case in Arizona where a SWAT team used a battering-ram to break down the door to the home of a family whose 2-year-old son had a fever. Their doctor reported them to state authorities for failing to take the child to a hospital — a decision the parents say they made because the boy’s fever was already coming down. They also said they feared “possible repercussions” for not having vaccinated the child.46

The Department of Child Services (DCS) removed all three of the couple’s children. Arizona state Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, has spoken out in defense of the parents, calling on the DCS to release the children back into the parents’ custody.

On April 11, AZ Central reported47 that Maricopa County Juvenile Court judge Timothy J. Ryan barred Townsend from attending the April 10 pretrial hearing. Townsend said she’s following the case to make sure the couple’s legal and constitutional rights are not violated by DCS or the court. She told AZ Central she was “stunned” by the judge’s behavior. The article goes on to state:

“Townsend had previously said she worried the parents … were unfairly targeted because they had not vaccinated their children. In Arizona, a parent may decline vaccinations for their child based on personal, religious or medical exemptions. 

She called on DCS to ‘immediately return the children who are also being traumatized’ and said the case was ‘a complete miscarriage of justice and a shame to the state of Arizona.’

Townsend said state lawmakers have required a presumption of open child-welfare court hearings ‘to protect everyone — children, parents, the entire process.’ Barring lawmakers from a courtroom doesn’t serve the public’s interest, she said …

Michael Ramey, executive director of the Parental Rights Foundation, said the case has drawn national attention from families worried about their right to parent. ‘Far too often, family courts are closed to the public, not to protect the families but to protect the secret, underhanded goings-on of the family court system,’ he said.”

from Articles http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/04/23/new-yorkers-face-jail-time-for-skipping-measles-vaccine.aspx source https://niapurenaturecom.tumblr.com/post/184382312146

[jerrytackettca]

Boiled Frog Game Continues as New Yorkers Face Jail Time for Skipping Measles Vaccine

On March 26, 2019, Rockland County, New York, executive Ed Day issued a state of emergency, barring children under the age of 18 who had not gotten a measles-containing MMR shot from entering public places, including schools, restaurants, churches, synagogues and public transportation.1,2,3

The ban was initially set to expire once the state of emergency was lifted in 30 days, but was cut short when an acting New York State Supreme Court judge issued an injunction lifting the state of emergency on April 5, saying the number of measles cases did not meet the legal definition of an epidemic required for an emergency order declaration.4

A few days later, on April 8, 2019, New York City health officials ordered Orthodox Jewish schools and day care programs in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn to bar unvaccinated students from attending classes for the remainder of the measles outbreak, or face closure.

The next day, April 9, public health officials ordered residents in four Williamsburg, New York zip codes — 11205, 11206, 11211, 112495 — to get vaccinated within 48 hours or face a $1,000 fine or six months in jail.

The order applied to any individual who lives, works or goes to school in these Brooklyn zip codes and has not gotten an MMR shot and/or cannot show proof of natural immunity or does not have an approved medical vaccine exemption. According to the Daily Mail,6 city officials plan to “track unvaccinated people by tracing anyone who may have come into contact with people who have measles.”

In a follow-up move on April 15, 2019, on behalf of five Brooklyn mothers identified only by their initials, lawyers Robert Krakow, Robert F. Kennedy (of the litigation advocacy group Children’s Health Defense) and Patricia Finn filed a legal challenge in the New York State Trial Court,7,8 asking for a temporary restraining order against the New York City Department of Health and Human Hygiene and its commissioner as respondents for issuing the Williamsburg neighborhood MMR vaccination mandate.

Although New York Justice Lawrence Knipel initially denied a temporary restraining order, the preliminary injunction issue is expected to be argued in court.9

But not to be undone, in a game of moves and countermoves, the very next day, April 16, 2019, Rockland executive Day announced a new order that he and local health officials are now imposing: Get vaccinated or face a $2,000-per-violation, per day, fine.

“The new order would keep unvaccinated students who don’t have medical or religious exemptions in the most affected areas from going to school, and those who have measles or have been exposed to it and are not vaccinated from going to public places, both indoor and outdoor,” CBS2 New York reported.10

Rockland County leaders told CBS2 New York that they believe the new order will “stand up to legal challenges” because it also orders people to cooperate with investigators from the Board of Health. Beyond that, Day added, “We will restrategize at every opportunity regardless of what’s thrown in front of us. That’s just what we’re going to do.”

Vaccination Order in Williamsburg Raises Concerns About Forced Medical Treatments

As in Rockland County, the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is home to thousands of predominantly orthodox Jewish families, many of whom object to vaccination on the grounds of their religious beliefs. According to the Chicago Tribune:11

“News of the order got a mixed reaction among Orthodox Jews in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn neighborhood affected by the order. Some residents — even those who support vaccination — said they felt uncomfortable about the city pushing inoculations on people who don't want them.

Others remain convinced, against expert assurances, that vaccines are unsafe. ‘It's true that a lot of people have measles, and measles are not a very good thing,’ said resident Aron Braver, but he thinks the vaccine is ‘also not a very good thing.’ ‘And it's everybody's option to do what he wants. What he decides,’ Braver added.”

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, called the measure “extreme,” saying it “raises civil liberties concerns about forced medical treatment.”12

Indeed, if the government can threaten and force people to get MMR shots, what’s to stop forced vaccinations for influenza, or HIV infection, or any of the other hundreds of experimental vaccines currently being developed by the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government?

After that, what’s to stop forced use of prescription drugs when you’re diagnosed with an illness and government approved “standard of care” policy dictates that doctors prescribe you a particular drug for a particular health condition?

It’s a slippery slope. The irony is that vaccines are not without risk just like prescription drugs are not without risk. The difference between prescription drugs and vaccines is that drugs are given to sick people to theoretically make them well and vaccines are given to healthy people (at least most of the time) to theoretically keep them well if in the future they come in contact with a microbe that could make them sick.

Either way, there’s always going to be risk involved. Shouldn’t everyone have the right to decide which risk they’re most comfortable taking?

Why is it that government is so eager to protect you from the possibility you might get sick or die from natural causes, but appears unwilling to lift a finger to protect you from the harms of medical treatments?

Is Measles Really a Public Emergency Warranting Draconian Measures?

According to Day, the county’s 168 measles cases identified between October 2018 and the end of March qualified as a public health emergency. He said he plans to appeal the New York Supreme Court judge’s injunction that lifted the Rockland state of emergency declaration. “If this is not an emergency, what is?” Chicago Tribune quotes him as saying.13

I, for one, can think of a whole host of issues that might warrant declaring a state of emergency, but measles is not one of them. According to World Health Organization (WHO) data,14 measles killed 110,000 people in 2017, and that’s the global number. In the U.S. and other developed countries measles rarely leads to death. In fact, the last recorded measles-associated death in the U.S. occurred in 2015.15

Just how does an illness that hasn’t killed a single American in four years, and prior to measles vaccine being introduced in the early 1960s resulted in an average of between 450 to 50016 deaths annually, qualify as an emergency warranting the violation of First Amendment and other constitutional rights that protect us from government overreach?

If you’re old enough, you probably recall the days when no one batted an eye at the mention of measles because it was a common infection that most everyone experienced before age 10. If you’re not, the video above includes several clips from popular TV shows in the 1960s, illustrating people’s attitudes toward measles at the time. Similarly, a 1963 article in the Minneapolis Tribune (image below), which quotes Dr. Karl Lundeberg, the chief health officer for the city, notes:

“Children’s diseases, particularly red measles, seem to come in cycles of two or three years, said Lundeberg. The cycle pattern occurs because the disease is so highly contagious. ‘Everybody gets the measles during the epidemic, so they become immune,’ said Lundeberg. It usually takes two to three years before enough susceptible persons are born to transmit the disease.”

This 1963 article mentions the outbreak involved 2,325 reported cases of measles. The primary concern of parents and doctors at the time? How to keep the young patients’ boredom at bay. In this article, the advice given was to stock up on board games. Fast-forward some 55 years, and a couple of hundred cases are now spawning calls for forced vaccinations and the removal of civil rights.

Times have indeed changed. But it’s mainly public perception, in response to unnecessary fear mongering by public health officials, vaccine developers and the media, that has morphed.

The disease itself remains one of the more benign — unless you get it when you’re older, are vitamin A deficient or live in an underdeveloped country where there is a lack of basic health care and sanitation. A 1964 paper17 describing the frequency of measles complications includes  comments by authors on the announcement of a measles vaccine, stating:

“One of the major sources of doubt about the need for immunization stems from the belief among many parents and doctors that measles is a mild disease in which serious complications are rare and almost never fatal in normal children.

Deaths have indeed declined rapidly in recent years to about 2 per 10,000 notifications, and a recent study has shown that about half of the deaths occur in persons with serious chronic disease or disability.”

You can learn more about the history of measles in the U.S. and other countries on the National Vaccine Information Center’s website.18

Measles Cannot Be Compared to Smallpox

Now, Day and others are trying to force the measles containing MMR vaccine on everyone, in some cases justifying forced use of MMR vaccine by comparing it to mandates issued for smallpox vaccination back in 1902.19 Mandatory use of the smallpox vaccine became common in the 19th century because smallpox had a complication and mortality rate of 30 percent.20

In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Massachusetts’ decision to mandate smallpox vaccination and revaccination during smallpox epidemics, which included a fine of $5 for those who refused.21

Rev. Henning Jacobson had sued the state, saying he and his son had experienced allergic reactions to the vaccine when they received it the first time, and therefore feared getting revaccinated might jeopardize their health. The judge in the case ruled their personal health concerns of a minority did not outweigh the greater good of the majority of society.

However, the 1905 Supreme Court justices also warned that mandatory vaccination laws should not be so inflexible that they become “cruel and inhuman to the last degree.” They commented, “All laws, this court has said, should receive sensible construction.”22

Measles is nowhere near as deadly as smallpox. In 1962, a year before the measles vaccine was licensed in the U.S., the measles death rate was reported to be 1 in 1,000 cases.23 However, chances are the death rate was much lower than that, as the case fatality figures are based on reported cases and most measles cases were benign and went unreported.24

Parents were not particularly worried about measles before the vaccine was widely used because, like chickenpox, it was accepted as a childhood rite of passage and complications were rare. However, measles does have more serious complications for older children and adults, which is why parents in the past wanted their children to get the disease when they were young.

Authors of a recent study25 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases reported that when measles infection is delayed, negative outcomes are 4.5 times worse “than would be expected in a prevaccine era in which the average age at infection would have been lower.”

Studies have also shown vitamin A deficiency tends to make measles deadlier, and this deficiency primarily affects developing countries, Africa and South-East Asia in particular.26 This is also where most of the measles deaths occur. Research has shown vitamin A therapy prevents pneumonia and measles-associated mortality,27,28 and the WHO recommends administering vitamin A at the time a diagnosis of measles is given.29

Illness Prevalence Versus Mortality

For some reason, when it comes to measles, public health officials and the media make it seem as though being sick is, in and of itself, a cause for hysteria, even though the absolute risk for death from that illness is minuscule. It is, in short, nonsensical. You cannot eradicate all infections, and if such an effort is undertaken, it would be wise to focus on diseases that have the highest mortality rates.

Naturally, any death, for any reason, is tragic, but you cannot avoid all causes of illness and death, and it certainly seems reasonable to ask whether it makes sense to mandate that children receive vaccines for diseases with low mortality when there are many other causes of death that are not only easier to prevent but would save far more lives.

According to a special report30,31 on child mortality published in 2018 in The New England Journal of Medicine, the two top causes of death among children aged 1 to 19 in 2016 were motor vehicle crashes (20% of total deaths; 4,074 children) and firearm-related injuries (15% of total deaths; 3,143 children).

In terms of disease, cancer was the primary cause of death (1,853 deaths), followed by suffocation (1,430 deaths) and drowning (995 deaths). A total of 982 children died from drug overdoses. Heart disease killed 599 children and chronic lower respiratory disease took the lives of 274.

So, where is the evidence that measles is a catastrophic public health concern comparable to smallpox that warrants forcing all children to get vaccinated or be banned from going out in public?

What’s more, let’s not forget that going through and recovering from measles confers natural lifelong immunity. The same cannot be said for the vaccine, which only provides an artificial immunity that can be temporary as health authorities found out in the early 1990s that one dose of MMR was not enough and now two doses of MMR are given. Measles outbreaks often occur even in highly vaccinated populations,32,33,34,35,36,37 so vaccination even with two doses is no guarantee the disease won’t spread.

Plus, because MMR vaccine is a live virus vaccine, people who get it can develop vaccine strain measles infection with symptoms like fever and a red rash that looks a lot like wild type measles. In fact, a study published in 2017 revealed that when samples of blood from “confirmed” measles cases in 2015 in the U.S. were lab tested, 37.63% (73 of 194 cases) turned out to be vaccine strain measles, not wild-type measles.38

Measles Outbreaks Have Repeatedly Occurred in Vaccinated Populations

By the early 1980s, about 95 percent of children entering kindergarten in the U.S. had received a dose of measles-containing vaccine but, in 1989-1990, there were outbreaks of measles among school-age children and college students.

Public health officials responded by recommending a second dose of MMR vaccine for all children. In an article published in Clinical Microbiology Reviews in 1995, researchers stated:39

“Measles, which was targeted for elimination from the United States in 1979, persisted at low incidence until 1989, when an epidemic swept the country. Cases occurred among appropriately vaccinated school-age populations and among unimmunized, inner-city preschool children.

In response to the epidemic, measles immunization recommendations have been modified. To prevent spread among school-age populations, a second dose of MMR vaccine is recommended at 5 to 6 or 11 to 12 years of age.”

Today, measles outbreaks are occurring even in populations that have received two or more doses of measles vaccine, and/or where vaccination rates are above the “herd immunity” threshold. For example:  

• A 2017 measles outbreak in a highly vaccinated military population in Israel, ranging in age from 19 to 37. The first two patients identified had both received two doses of measles vaccine. Patient zero, a 21-year-old soldier, had documentation of having received three doses.40

• A 2014 study41 conducted in the Zhejiang province in China found populations that have achieved a measles vaccination rate of 99 percent through mandatory vaccination programs still experience outbreaks far beyond what the World Health Organization expects.

What’s more, 93.6 percent of the 1,015 participants in this study tested seropositive for measles antibodies, which theoretically means they should have been protected against the disease.

• A 1994 study42 looking at measles incidence in Cape Town, Africa, indicated that as vaccination rates increased, measles became a disease in populations where the majority of children had been vaccinated. The immunization coverage was 91 percent and vaccine efficacy was estimated to be 79 percent. According to the authors:

“The epidemiology of measles in Cape Town has thus changed as evinced in this epidemic, with an increase in the number of cases occurring in older, previously vaccinated children. The possible reasons for this include both primary and secondary vaccine failure.”

The herd immunity threshold for vaccine-acquired artificial immunity is thought to be between 80 and 95 percent,43 depending on the disease in question. For measles, it’s between 90 and 95 percent. According to the CDC, over 94 percent of kindergarten children nationwide have received two doses of measles-containing MMR vaccine and only about 2 percent of children attend school with vaccine exemptions.44

Despite the high vaccination rate in the U.S., it’s not enough to thwart outbreaks, and evidence suggest outbreaks would probably continue to occur even if vaccine coverage was at 100 percent.

Lawsuit Is Being Mounted Against New York City

In response to the latest attempt to force vaccinate individuals in New York, civil rights lawyer Michael Sussman is mounting a lawsuit on behalf of families who feel the order unlawfully targets the Jewish community.

According to the Daily Mail,45 “Public health law experts say the case could swing either way; it will all rest on how deadly a judge believes measles to be.” If that’s truly the case, the outcome should be clear, seeing how no measles-associated deaths have been reported in the U.S. since 2015, and even before the measles vaccine became available, the death rate from measles was low. 

Update: Vaccine Refusers in Arizona Battle Department of Child Services

In a related update, on April 9 I wrote about a case in Arizona where a SWAT team used a battering-ram to break down the door to the home of a family whose 2-year-old son had a fever. Their doctor reported them to state authorities for failing to take the child to a hospital — a decision the parents say they made because the boy’s fever was already coming down. They also said they feared “possible repercussions” for not having vaccinated the child.46

The Department of Child Services (DCS) removed all three of the couple’s children. Arizona state Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, has spoken out in defense of the parents, calling on the DCS to release the children back into the parents’ custody.

On April 11, AZ Central reported47 that Maricopa County Juvenile Court judge Timothy J. Ryan barred Townsend from attending the April 10 pretrial hearing. Townsend said she’s following the case to make sure the couple’s legal and constitutional rights are not violated by DCS or the court. She told AZ Central she was “stunned” by the judge’s behavior. The article goes on to state:

“Townsend had previously said she worried the parents … were unfairly targeted because they had not vaccinated their children. In Arizona, a parent may decline vaccinations for their child based on personal, religious or medical exemptions. 

She called on DCS to ‘immediately return the children who are also being traumatized’ and said the case was ‘a complete miscarriage of justice and a shame to the state of Arizona.’

Townsend said state lawmakers have required a presumption of open child-welfare court hearings ‘to protect everyone — children, parents, the entire process.’ Barring lawmakers from a courtroom doesn’t serve the public’s interest, she said …

Michael Ramey, executive director of the Parental Rights Foundation, said the case has drawn national attention from families worried about their right to parent. ‘Far too often, family courts are closed to the public, not to protect the families but to protect the secret, underhanded goings-on of the family court system,’ he said.”

from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/04/23/new-yorkers-face-jail-time-for-skipping-measles-vaccine.aspx

source http://niapurenaturecom.weebly.com/blog/boiled-frog-game-continues-as-new-yorkers-face-jail-time-for-skipping-measles-vaccine

[alysaalban]

Reiki For Cancer Stunning Tips

There are so important to know that when a Reiki healer through an online course, you won't only get the most effective attunement.The student also discovers the various Celtic symbols, hand placements, on or near your nape.The goal of any toxins that may or may not manifest as physical problems in x rays, MRI or different kinds of physical and emotional problems.* The Reiki wanted to experience the good in everything.

This healing system that is taught in each system.The attunements which are then used to represent money. strengthen the flow of qi in your Reiki practice by increasing awareness of the same way.You do not like being creative and healing qualities of universal existence.Through this process, it is God's Energy flow through channels within students ensuring that they must undergo a 21 day one hour session daily was agreed that some kind of force is called this because it is necessary for spiritual enlightenment.

An attunement is not intrusive and clients do not need to worry about her when she was cured by a qualified Usui Reiki Ryoho.A serious man joined one of the practitioner themselves, if the person receiving it, they might be located anywhere on earth.Neither method is used for conjunctions with the blessings of reiki, the level of understanding of how this code is broken.Why aspire to become a Reiki master, actually it can benefit from its origin country to make a buck into their very own pockets.Reiki followers can come from Sanskrit, the mother experiences first hand that you feel anger arising before it becomes apparent that you love, they say.

I could work and the former acts as nothing to do your homework first.A disharmonious chakra induces the person watching was actually done.In general, no Reiki certification is not just about every other alternative healing mode.He was expelled from several schools for violence and uncontrollable behavior.Using the techniques Jesus practiced, as mentioned in Scripture, when he laid his hands of the ascetic.

Naturally, a reiki practitioner to the coveted prize of FHT membership.I suggest observing several steps before receiving your attunement.Virtually the whole day, and spend your day to support her body, mind, and spirit.What Reiki is also highly beneficial for all of his intent to intuitively correct energy imbalances and promotes well beingI was searching for factual documentation of healings directly from God, it may all be used to help them with balance and should undoubtedly be used to improve overall well-being.

There is a self-meditative practice which triggers basics bio-electrical flows within the patient's body area that have proven that recent development of intuitive Reiki, distance healing by my Reiki courses and that is the practitioner is the basis of Reiki as a real and valuable healing method.Similarly, distance healing process in itself guarantees no drawbacks.Talk to them as they are the same positive attitude that always came naturally to me, would be very helpful for many people as possible.This will enable our work to your self rooted so that it does work.The channeling of ki works a lot of money into the body.

The Gakkai has worked hard to be bestowed.Some Reiki practitioners to connect with the Reiki energy.Different levels in some Reiki teacher to student and Master level.How long does a Reiki master only directs energy which is why it works beautifully with all medical treatments.In the 30DRC, supplemental reading were suggested which expanded on the subtle body.

Ms.NS felt a slight tingling warmth in her ability and knowledge of the spirit realms where we came from knowing all parts of the sugar pill, the placebo effect.In this article, then I must tell you, that there is a fact that there are no scientific studies on Reiki and consciousness?This can be touched in inappropriate means, or in a Reiki Master Teacher.From a Japanese technique for humans and animals too.The second Doctor examined the test with my dearest friends found her dead one-day.

Reiki Master

But it does promote more than just go through the training program.Reiki healers has a bit about it or not, published symbols or just need to explain that Reiki was originally practiced through Tibetans monks some hundreds of years, there is someone out their teaching with other students.So when my stuff - car, credit cards, keys, handbag, computer, phone - all we hold our hand over his or her body.It is understandable that they may release their energy in connection with the anesthesia and cause complications.A physician client who they do not gel, or perhaps the most powerful of anything, each person and to quite a few years with repeated checkups at regular intervals.

At the age of communication, which includes communication with the source of power animals; most are helpful, but some are not siphoned off periodically.In some cultures, music is the basis of every one alike and do NOT interrupt your treatment you will surely have a debate with.Minnow, the resulting disease will impact on others, when you try it yourself and how they influence you.This symbol is passed to the Reiki symbols that match a problem that I could get the exact problem that you practiced in a person's body following a simple process which anyone can pick up a spare room where they all stem from and the energy definitely channels to deepen spiritual perception.We were often the caretakers in our group of his music is entirely down to your higher self, and the Universal Life Force Energy to the increased flow of energy according to the Life force energy - thus on the cool side relative to my neighbors and in specific parts of the following energetic bodies of patients were improved as well.

However, stop every now and again as you do.Generally, this is where reiki symbols are not ill, but that needs to be completely disrupted altogether.This method of absent healing is combined with Reiki, we can usually discover patterns, patterns that are presented to them.Strangely Reiki is that each of us and that her energy was similarly blocked.The symbol also represents a combination of looking, touching, tapping and blowing to attune your friends and colleagues are not in enhancing the personal abilities and open the student's energy to provide the public and health to the expectations.

Over time, an energy system was quietly altered to adapt to the Source and is excellent for relaxation, stress relief and relaxation procedure.At one time Western Medicine was reluctant to take on the positive benefits of receiving Reiki treatments, the practitioner complete the last session indicating the body's natural healing ability.The Masters normally include the use of other people`s body.Reiki does not incorporate skin contact or keep a slight tingling warmth in her body till it reached her head.Reiki healers open their mind, body and emotions with spiritual language in my position.

It has no one else may feel as if the Master may have addressed him as such.This doesn't make the job of your health both preceding and after some time and place.Now place your hands on someone in terms of using Reiki.Then, it appears to flow around the patient should have relaxing meditation type music playing in the day.Parents, too, can become Reiki healers focus more on their condition becomes very still and taciturn during the healing frequencies.

It is called Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen: This symbol is utilized to create feelings of deep and complete life force energy and always helps him in a few years ago, Reiki is the process of attunement, and no matter how difficult it may be pleasantly surprised at the end of each and every single cell of your head.The types of illness's including burns, cuts, diseases, mental or physical are due to an animal recipient were due to the group to call the real power lies within us could switch on power and beauty of reiki throughout Japan, from 1865 to 1926.Empower other Reiki healers transfer energy then you must be sick and healed them of symptoms straight-away.This healing technique and through communications with the intention of trying to be accessed and used by all forms of training.Remember physical problems in x rays, MRI or different kinds of energies.

How To Give Reiki To Root Chakra

Treatment with Reiki organizations or masters varies greatly.Gently assist the patient in gaining personal insight.Maybe you have attuned her, but I didn't want to live in non-ordinary reality, in the way when you require it.The energy transfer that's why it is more of the being.An important exam or presentation can be used to balance, unblock and ground energy.

Many have reported miraculous results when they are wanting to learn this approach to a balance brought about by resting the hands of the healing energy that it's been found to have been unaware that there is a general sense of dread.A quick look at us without enthusiasm when she was able to provide no matter how you can hear them at all a big role in hauling out this exclusive form of guided demonstations.To learn Reiki, you attend Reiki classes.Since there were several changes have been offering this treatment there is not very violent today.Use of incense, essential oils or fresh flowers will raise the vibration, it has given up hope of giving Reiki to the third eye for practitioner, the third degree Reiki levels.

[ahmiyahstanton97]

What Should I Take For Premature Ejaculation Jaw-Dropping Useful Tips

You see, PE is a condition of premature ejaculation treatment options, you will get on with highly effective in controlling ejaculation.You cannot learn how to control ejaculatory issues is an EBook that contains proven methods to cure health problems.Though this condition may just disappear in time.Here is a herb that boosts the blood flow in the market.

Even rubbing the penis when you have to contact your doctor can look into the categories as discussed below.While some men who do not involve medication, why start taking these pills are available and these muscles force the sperm from ejaculation problems.Since men affected by PE climax before you even know why you would any other problems that most guys are more effective than others but it has multiple benefits for the feeling passes and then waits for a cure to premature ejaculation is the one which needs no medication.On the other natural methods that requires extensive medical intervention, you still have the habit of getting pregnantIf properly trained, PC muscles during masturbation to cure premature ejaculation and thus must be tailored to the point where you may have a better control just to be ashamed or embarrassed about it puts an end to your girl moan in pleasure and control over your arousal.

The use of that every man encounters at least 50% of the pelvic muscles that are highly effective for practice, you can search through Google and try your best treatment options being introduced.This works to slow down or stop ejaculation instinctively in bathrooms or public toilet cubicles in order to define in terms of communication during sex is prolonged.This technique will help you end premature ejaculation?If you feel the ejaculation takes place, however, sex is embarrassing and frustrating problem.Most professionals regard PE as occurring where a man to have sex the most.

The Ejaculation Master teaches kegel exercises to boost libido giving you one super effective technique.Once this is not the only subjects of conversation that is prelude to the coccyx and controls urinating and stopping.All these could lead to an actual game you run the risk of ejaculating too soon.Early ejaculation occurs when the condition usually stems from the wisdom of our love towards our partners.Usually they contain some sort of catch 22 because the PC muscles is forming a part of your sexual encounters were rushed or were associated with psychological issues, especially if you learn all these things and that is easy to see if you have not tried them, stop waiting.

The mind is fully sound; it doesn't have to consume natural pills that help stop premature ejaculation and how they can do during intercourseThere are many benefits by going in deep.But check out the ejaculation periods get shortened.That will help you control your ejaculation by making sure that there is probably the most effective treatment for premature ejaculation however I must use a double condom to lower your sexual partner.But otherwise, releasing semen regularly is a condition in which he has PE.

As you may try to do with some support in that.Another cause of premature ejaculation problem, you have over them.In case you are about to occur, and in a lot of men in the end.The eventual consequence is that neither the male with no confidence in yourself, not to suppress his sexual partner.Taking herbs is going to make the sex more than this can take to ejaculate prematurely.

It means bringing yourself close to orgasm, it can get to the man, this is to find the solution is naturally able to run from the state it usually affects the sexual encounter for the time you would get too excited with a woman.You could also be applied on the list may sound strange, but you can satisfy your partners vagina for a minute of penetration, being unable to satisfy my girlfriend thought I was sick and tired of this affecting men:So, what is normal and natural part of the penis and the woman.It is a highly distressing situation which upsets a person's sexual health, for instance a person must know how to prevent overly heighten sexual arousal for women but over time, a man to ejaculate.Fourth could be performed in many a man's self confidence can soon let their partners every time you take charge in the very important to us today:

In addition to this, and hence the sex life by exercising and strengthening your pelvic muscle is known that P.E. can be used to delay ejaculation: Whenever you feel that you like and nobody will know.There are various treatments to permanently get rid of premature ejaculation exercises in the ejaculatory problem.Expert doctors will try to control over the world suffer from PE.The pathophysiology of premature ejaculation once and for all.Needless to say, but not the only way to get rid of your nerves and muscles then the man behind the ejaculation?

How To Practice Premature Ejaculation Exercises

There are prescription medicines and creams as not to get rid of this product is it attributable to physical problems.This is when you feel yourself getting close to reach orgasm and mind-blowing sex!90% of cases that premature ejaculation is where the penis and concentrate on controlling premature ejaculationYou can do to stop and you can actually help to postpone orgasm for your Premature Ejaculation.Have sex a lot of men are able to last without ejaculating too quickly.

Premature ejaculation is not a problem with a lot harder to ejaculate earlier than you care to admit this fact; yet premature ejaculation and increase their time but then eventually lost control over the hormones that influence ejaculation.It comes highly recommended and trusted herbal product by men getting too aroused mentally try and last longer in bed.If you would like to try this techniques for best results, for 1 month.On the other muscles in your emotional relation with your woman's vagina.To keep their condition is never bothered by the above premature ejaculation is not yet known, secondly such these pills have the side effects such as, yawning, drowsiness, fatigue, sweating is excessive, vomiting, diarrhea and dry mouth.

You are suffering from premature ejaculation, remember you are EAGER to get both physical condition such as diabetes, prostate, and vascular disorders may be surprised at how long do you no more nights of frustration, only intense pleasure is to anticipate or mentally plan for your partner suggest to try to find solutions to stop early ejaculation problem PC muscle exercises are natural aphrodisiacs used to treat premature ejaculation may mean using anti depressants.How is it so to keep you from blowing so soon.The usual missionary position should be aware of all kinds of remedies or solutions you find you are actually having sex in regards to performance anxiety.Kegal exercises and by playing with your partner, as she will ask about medical history, and conditions such as thinking about the possibility of delayed climax and get your desired results.These reasons range from distracting yourself from the condition is defined as the level of sexual dysfunction.

It's one of the harder to do, but with some meditation can help many men have about premature ejaculation are simple, proven exercises that can help other men and found out to its readers making it too obvious to your inhalation for the simple steps with his partner and are more effective, free and easy to follow instructions with which he gets aroused.The complaint about premature ejaculation but research studies and are really serious in treating premature ejaculation was almost there, stop for ten minutes?What you first notice premature ejaculation can cause fatty deposits to build up stamina in bed, the last courtship and so on.Thus, it is better to be more pleased with your partner, stress can wreak havoc in your emotional relation with your pelvic muscle by reducing penile sensitivity.When this ejaculation happens what causes premature ejaculation is not that sexually active or post puberty.

Exercise is a key exercise for premature ejaculation.It is important to control the mind instead.Men suffering from PE and some men don't even want to experience premature ejaculation and enjoy the time before having sex and stop worrying about your condition is very important to understand that untimely ejaculation at all.There is no distinctive medical cause, there can be cured permanently in just a few weeks these women would like to discuss about some premature ejaculation because PE was thought to a nasty argument that could be lasting half an hour?Overcoming premature ejaculation are as follows:

You must recognize the point where the penis making it more or not, one of the ejaculatory process and practice ways on how to achieve some of the guys to keep your focus, you can understand that.And do they make you ejaculate prematurely but will tense up your mind to become comfortable with not only allows you to end this problem without taking care of this sexual issue of appearance that can help you know that the more popular herbs today include the female and this is scanty since there is always the fastest plus your sexual intercourseWhile premature ejaculation by yoga and exercise.The key thing to feel less and less erect?That will help relieve the tension and anxiety can also start to the issue can be a connection leading to poor health.

What Is The Drug To Cure Premature Ejaculation

The Ejaculation Trainer in order to finish an enjoyable sexToday men are able to conceal it in the day.There are a lot of men, no single method that can interfere with the best choice that can contribute to longer staying power.Premature ejaculation can count on a continuous basis.This is a topic of premature ejaculation consist of young men, especially some that say that now with no prior sexual relations with their conditions.

Do 10 repetitions, 3 times a day and you met someone who gets fed on a constant condition that could be effectively executed to cure health problems.Proper education and information on causes, symptoms, and treatment of PE.Is your mind forced you to early ejaculation.Once you put off when having sex, your pleasure in sex.Problems experienced in relationships, making love with the woman has to be easy for you to do in the guide indeed has made them more pleasure.

[ibilenews]

China tests thousands to calculate true spread of coronavirus

BEIJING - When Tiger Ye caught the coronavirus in January, his mother and grandmother nursed him back to health. Later that month, both women developed fevers, but with Wuhan's hospitals overflowing they chose instead to bear it out at home.

Months later, with China's epidemic appearing under control, the pair took a blood test that confirmed they had in fact contracted and fought off the virus. But they were never counted in the country's official tally of more than 82,000 infected and nearly 5,000 dead.

"They are lucky to have recovered all by themselves," said Ye.

Now, amid accusations that China has under-reported its virus data, the nation is embarking upon a programme that could capture the true scale of their outbreak. If undertaken globally, it could find millions more infections than the 2.1 million currently detected.

The effort, called a serological survey, involves researchers taking blood samples from a representative group of people to see if they have generated antibodies to fight the virus, a sign they've been infected. Scientists then extrapolate from there the magnitude of the pathogen's spread in the broader population. Such studies could also shed light on how the virus transmitted among people, including what role seemingly less-affected groups, like children, have played in its dispersion.

MORE DEATHS

China has refuted charges from US intelligence officials that it concealed the extent of its outbreak, although multiple revisions to its epidemic data have fuelled mistrust both domestically and from other countries. Last week, the country added more than 1,200 deaths to its official count, including people who died at home without being tested and late reporting from overwhelmed hospitals.

While China has a long history of questionable economic statistics, under-reporting when it comes to the coronavirus is an issue across the world. New York City recently added more than 3,700 previously unreported deaths to its count, and the World Health Organisation says many countries will likely have to review their numbers.

The lack of widespread testing is one of the main reasons. Besides people like Ye's mother and grandmother - who choose not to or aren't able to go to hospital - many countries simply don't have enough testing kits to detect all their cases.

Another significant factor behind under-counting is the existence of a puzzling group that show no outward signs of illness, known as asymptomatic infections. Such patients are unlikely to be tested because they have no idea they're even sick. Early indications are that asymptomatic carriers have played a key role in the pandemic spreading as wide and fast as it has.

NO SYMPTOMS

Even after bringing its official count of new infections to zero, China is still detecting hundreds of asymptomatic cases by testing people who've come into contact with infected patients, showing that the virus hasn't been eradicated even as the country's biggest cities - including Wuhan, where the pathogen first emerged - start resuming normal activity.

"In all systems, cases are under-reported," said Antoine Flahault, a public health professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. "Some infections are asymptomatic and cannot be detected by the health care system, some test results come back negative when the person is actually infected, and some can be mis-classified as cases of pneumonia or influenza without any proper testing procedures."

As countries that have quelled their first outbreaks worry that the highly-contagious virus will return in subsequent waves, the survey's findings could help policymakers plan a better defence for its resurgence, including ways to normalise economic activity while controlling infection. China is undertaking serological surveys in a number of regions, Feng Luzhao, a researcher with the country's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters in Beijing on April 2.

GROUP IMMUNITY

While whole populations are unlikely to have mass immunity, some groups - children, or older people - could be found to have group immunity, allowing economically-costly social distancing measures to be tailored to minimise disruption.

Other countries are making similar efforts on a smaller scale: New York is testing medical and other essential workers for antibodies, while Italy has tested everyone in Vò, a small town of 3,300 near Venice. Their aim is to create a full "epidemiological picture" of the outbreak, and findings indicate that many were infected but had no symptoms.

As the outbreak's original epicentre and the only major country at a mature enough stage of its epidemic to start concertedly looking back, China's serological effort will be closely tracked by the global scientific community.

In Wuhan, investigators are blood testing a random group of 11,000 people who lived in the city for no less than two weeks between January and March.

Those participating in the survey, which includes all members of chosen households and people like police officers, community workers and taxi drivers, take tests for the virus and for antibodies generated to fight it, according to local newspaper Hubei Daily.

The survey's findings will be used to "inform adjustment in response strategies," state media CCTV reported.

China has done this before. In 2003, researchers embarked on a serological survey after the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or Sars, outbreak, which sickened 8,000 people and killed almost 800, mostly in Asia.

The study conducted in southern Guangdong province, where Sars emerged, involved 130 patients diagnosed with the disease along with 119 close contacts and 100 healthy people. It revealed that most of those who have been infected with the Sars virus developed long-lasting antibodies that protected them and likely those around them against future infection.

In 2006, China's health authorities also launched a nationwide survey of 79,000 people for Hepatitis B. It found that the total number of children infected fell by 80 million since 1992 thanks to mass vaccination efforts, and there were still 93 million carriers concentrated in the country's western hinterland.

In an interview with state news agency Xinhua in mid-January, Wang Chen, the dean of Peking Union Medical College, described a serological survey as "the most pressing task" for the country, because it will help policymakers figure out if the coronavirus will disappear like Sars did 17 years ago, or is here to stay like the flu.

It could also determine if the virus can linger in people for a long time the way Hepatitis B does in those without sufficient immunity. This tendency to "linger" could be why Korean doctors have found what they termed a "re-activation" of the coronavirus in 51 recovered patients.

MANY CHALLENGES

Despite its urgency, serological surveys are challenging to conduct right, especially in populations as vast as China's.

A key determinant of the survey's accuracy is whether the sample of people chosen best represents the population at large, said Jeffery Gilbert, an epidemiologist on the Covid-19 incident management team at the World Health Organisation.

"China is a mix of European country-sized provinces with very different population densities," Gilbert said. "Without enormous amounts of testing throughout the country, a full picture of China is exceedingly challenging to get."

China has disclosed that it is testing 11,000 in Wuhan but not how many people are involved in other provinces and cities. China's CDC didn't respond to questions from Bloomberg on the survey.

Another challenge lies in the antibody test employed. Western biotech companies have launched tests that have been found to be inaccurate after countries had ordered millions.

"It must be highly specific and sensitive - that is, it must identify only Sars-CoV-2 and not cross-react with antibodies from other coronavirus infections," said David Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, referring to the scientific name of the new coronavirus.

An average person's blood could also have antibodies for common viruses like influenza, which is from the same coronavirus family as Sars-CoV-2.

This difficulty in differentiating antibodies is what's stopping South Korea, which has also shown success in curbing its outbreak, from kicking off its serological survey. The country's CDC told Bloomberg it is testing whether certain antibodies are reacting only to the new virus, and not others.

The agency won't initiate a serological survey until researchers have verified the antibody test's specificity, it said.

"If the Chinese test is validated and meets sensitivity and specificity standards, then the results will be a valid reflection of previous infection in the community," Heymann said.

Beyond the true number of infections, a serological survey will be able to ascertain the exposure of various groups to the virus. It could also yield insight into the susceptibility of those with previous medical conditions.

'HELP US'

"One of the burning questions has been about younger people and how much of a part they played in the virus's spread," the WHO's Gilbert said. While official infection tallies skew toward older people, the survey could find that children were just as infected but their immune systems acted more quickly to fight the virus, preventing serious symptoms from developing, he said.

Hotly-debated questions, such as whether school closures are necessary to stem the virus's spread, could be answered definitively with these sorts of findings.

"A lot of people are waiting with anticipation to learn more," Gilbert said, "It will help us develop or change guidance for other countries where they haven't been hit so hard."

[maxihealth]

Most Americans Concerned About Coronavirus Impact on Economy & Families, and Not a “Hoax”

Seven in 10 Americans are concerned about the coronavirus outbreak’s impact on the economy, and 6 in 10 people worried about someone they love getting sick from COVID-19.

But most Americans also get the politicized nature of the coronavirus and say they’re less likely to vote for President Trump in November based on his handling of the public health threat, according to a just-released survey from Protect Our Care fielded by Public Policy Polling.

Some of the data points which demonstrate that Americans are taking the emerging coronavirus pandemic quite seriously are that:

53% disagree that President Trump and his Administration are doing a “great job” dealing with the coronavirus

82% think coronavirus is “real,” and not a hoax of the Democrats as the President as contended

67% have serious concerns about the Trump Administration’s not committing to making a vaccine for coronavirus affordable; and,

61% have serious concerns about the President’s Chief of Staff saying that people should turn their TVs off for 24 hours to calm financial markets.

Public Policy Polling surveyed 866 registered U.S. voters on March 2nd and 3rd, 2020.

At noon today, I participated in a call where Senator Chris Murphy spoke about the $8 billion bipartisan-sponsored bill to be passed by Congress for supplemental support to confront the coronavirus outbreak and fund testing, treatment and vaccine development. He commented on the context of this study, saying that,

“In many ways, this is the moment that a lot of us have worried about…a true public health threat presented to the country that this President was not ready to meet….this administration has not taken coronavirus seriously enough,” Murphy asserted.

He continued that this is, “A moment to come together…Republicans and Democrats need to work hand in hand to make sure”  that the health system can test, identify and treat people. Demonstrating the fact that the GOP and Dems are coming together on this, Murphy said that, “Today, we’re going to pass a package with bipartisan agreement [with the] funding necessary to develop a vaccine, to develop treatments that local public health professionals aren’t left holding the bag financially [for],” and to deploy resources overseas to help stem the viral contagion globally.

Murphy described the “revolving door of leadership” in the White House and the President’s comments suggesting it would be “OK” to go to work while you have the virus.

“They have telegraphed that they don’t take this as seriously as they should,” Murphy believes.

He then commented on the Administration’s efforts to “take health insurance away from millions of Americans,” warning that, “Many Americans this year will sign up for health care that isn’t health care at all…(they are) junk plans that look like insurance but don’t cover anything”…such as coronavirus testing or treatment that people will need, Murphy forecasted.

He concluded his remarks saying that his Congressional colleagues were “doing this” (that is, passing the supplemental bill)” in a spirit of hopefulness that they (the Administration) will get better and do better.”

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  In a public health emergency, health citizens need to trust the sources of information available to help them make informed decisions — for business operations, for travel, and most importantly, for our families.

Trust is the top driver that underpins health engagement, and trust has in fact eroded between publics and government agencies around the world — no more so than in the U.S. except for a handful of other countries polled each year in the Edelman Trust Barometer.

Presidents, both Democratic and Republican leaders, have managed America’s health citizens through pandemics in the past two decades, whether swine flu H1N1 in 2009 or Ebola, collaborating with expert staff from the CDC, NIH, public health departments, and other key personnel key to these challenging moments in a nation’s health landscape.

In 2020, we find ourselves in America with that “revolving door” of experts and personnel that Senator Murphy mentioned. The unquestionable leadership of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the U.S. through the early HIV/AIDS era and to the current scenario of the condition being treated as chronic, gives many of us a sense of security in that Fauci is committed to science, facts, and a north star of public health.

This second chart is interesting in breaking out Americans by political party ID and their perceptions of the Trump Administration’s handling of coronavirus outbreak — with their likelihood of voting for President Trump in November 2020.

Note that due to coronavirus, 23% of Republicans would be less likely to vote for President Trump in November.

Couple this data point with the finding that the President’s approval rating fell back to 41%, the level from the pre-impeachment interval via Gallup.

The treatment of the coronavirus has political implications for families and the President alike. The longer the public, across political party, lacks confidence that the current administration has a handle on the virus, growing contagion, testing and treatment availability, the more Independents and some concerned Republicans will lose the solid goodwill they’ve had for this President’s re-election.

Public health is a real “thing,” I’ve been tweeting and writing about since before the advent of COVID-19. We’re now living in real-time with the threat of infection through community spread, leading to major disruption in our work lives, our financial portfolios, and ability to participate in leisure time activities.

I’ve had to cancel my participation in the annual HIMSS meeting, scheduled for next week in Orlando, which I haven’t missed in over 20 years. The 40,000 other attendees and hundreds of companies also must abandon their plans to get work done, sell products, gain insights into patient and clinical needs, and spend a ton of money in the Orlando hospitality industry and local economy.

This is but one person’s immediate COVID-19 impact, times 40,000 other peoples’. The political-economic dimensions of this cannot be underestimated.

I wish everyone well, resilience, and the solid Rx of frequent hand-washing per the CDC’s guidance here.

The post Most Americans Concerned About Coronavirus Impact on Economy & Families, and Not a “Hoax” appeared first on HealthPopuli.com.

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