This is an archived newsroll page on A Socialist In Canada, consisting of headlines and weblinks, with occasional news summary and brief analysis, for the indicated month(s) and year. See the current, ‘World news’ website page here. To find past stories on this and other news pages on this website, use the ‘find’ (word search) function on your web browser. Headlines in red denote items published on the main news page of A Socialist In Canada, mostly authored by Roger Annis.
World news headlines on A Socialist In Canada, March 2020
Montreal Heart Institute launches clinical study into prophylactic (preventive) treatment for Covid-19 illness using anti-inflammatory drug colchicine, CBC News, Mar 23, 2020
Related: Interview with Dr. Jean-Claude Tardiff, director of the Montreal Heart Institute’s clinical study into use of the anti-inflammatory drug colchicine for treating Covid-19 patients, broadcast on ‘White Coast, Black Art’, weekly medical program on CBC Radio One, Mar 27, 2020 (eight-minute interview, beginning at 16′ mark)
Workers in U.S. protest at Instacart, Amazon and Whole Foods for health protections and hazard pay, Washington Post, Mar 30, 2020
Related:
* Amazon’s poor treatment of workers is catching up to it during the coronavirus crisis, The Verge, Apr 1, 2020
* Whole Foods employees in U.S. are staging a nationwide ‘sick-out’, VICE Magazine, Mar 30, 2020
* Workers around the U.S. are walking off the job to protest a lack of protective equipment, safety measures, even soap, New York Times, Mar 30, 2020
* Countdown supermarket chain in New Zealand give essential workers a ten per cent pay rise, Radio New Zealand, Mar 30, 2020
* First Union calls for supermarket workers to be paid a living wage, interview with First Union leader Tali Williams, broadcast on the ‘Breakfast’ program of TVNZ1, Mar 29, 2020 [The minimum wage in New Zealand is $18.90 per hour as of April 1, 2020. It will rise to $20 on April 1, 2021. The current, estimated living wage in New Zealand is $21.15.]
The world over, stubborn believers don’t care about their survival, or yours, The Friendly Atheist, Mar 30, 2020
RT.com continues to peddle stories denying the gravity of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The latest such story is here: Covid-19 is meant to be a new Black Death, but in Britain no more people are dying than normal, RT.com, Mar 31, 2020 ….It is hard to believe that when this all blows over, the damage that will have been done by the shutdown measures – to businesses, to civil liberties, to individual lives and, of course, to the global economy – could have been for nothing. Nonetheless, it seems entirely possible based on the present data…
In New York, nurses are dying, doctors are falling sick and panic is rising, New York Times, Mar 29, 2020 …In Italy, the number of infected heath care workers is now twice the Chinese total. The National Federation of Orders of Surgeons and Dentists has compiled a list of 50 who have died. Nearly 14 per cent of Spain’s confirmed coronavirus cases are medical professionals…
Related:
* The fool in charge of the White House beats a retreat on ‘opening the country back up in April’ as grim coronavirus data and images images roll in. Report in Washington Post (page one), Mar 29, 2020
* The contrarian coronavirus theory and advocate that informed the Trump administration, The New Yorker, Mar 30, 2020
* Pompeo’s pandemic performance ensures his place among the worst secretaries of state ever, Washington Post, Mar 29, 2020
* As Trump declared coronavirus under control, local leaders faced confusion and chaos as cases piled up, Washington Post, Mar 29, 2020 …Across the country, state and local officials, frustrated by what they described as a lack of leadership in the White House and an absence of consistent guidance from federal agencies, took steps on their own to prepare for the pandemic and protect their communities. In some cases, these actions preceded federal directives by days or even weeks… With scant information about the virus and no warnings against large gatherings, cities such as New Orleans moved ahead in February with massive celebrations that may have turned them into hotspots for the virus… The city of San Francisco declared a state of emergency on February 24, one month before its first death; the national government only did so on March 13…
* An explosion of coronavirus cases cripples a federal prison in Louisiana, Washington Post, Mar 29, 2020
* ‘Essential’ farmworkers are putting food on your table with no insurance, no sick pay and few safety regulations, Vice News, Mar 30, 2020
How the U.S. stacks up to other countries in confirmed coronavirus cases, by Dylan Scott and Rani Molla, Vox.com, Mar 30, 2020 …As America implements dramatic measures to control the spread of Covid-19, with schools and businesses closing and general social distancing underway, the country still struggling to understand the full scope of the outbreak because of the slow start of testing. It has undeniably hindered the U.S. response. “The testing failure is putting additional strain on our already challenged health system,” Cynthia Cox, director of the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker, said. “The combination of all of these factors will make the US worse off than similar countries.” …
Related:
* Why Germany’s low Covid-19 death rate might be a mirage, CBC News, Mar 30, 2020 …If Germany has an advantage in the fight against Covid-19, it has probably been in its testing. Close to one million people have been swabbed and analyzed over the past three weeks; lab capacity is now up to half-a-million samples per week (still just a small fraction of the country’s population of 83 million). Compare that to Canada (37 million), which had tested a total 164,564 people as of March 27, Italy (61 million) with around 375,000 tests, or the United States (327 million), which now has the world’s biggest outbreak, but has tested 541,000 people…
* The Covid Tracking Project. Publishing daily data of each U.S. state
* Cornonavirus testing lessons from South Korea, where testing is widespread, and Japan, where it is not, Washington Post, Mar 29, 2020
Coronavirus collides with Latin America’s maid culture, Washington Post, Mar 29, 2020 …As the coronavirus moves deeper into Latin America, analysts expect the region’s everyday structural inequities to accelerate the spread of covid-19, the disease the virus causes. Imported by the wealthy, the virus is now reaching into impoverished communities…
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turns to working within the system, softening her critiques of her own Democratic Party. Report by Politico, Mar 30, 2020
Is factory farming to blame for coronavirus?, by Laura Spinney, The Guardian, Mar 28, 2020 …An expanding human population pushing into previously undisturbed ecosystems has contributed in recent decades to the increasing number of zoonoses (human infections of animal origin). That has been documented for Ebola and HIV, for example. But behind that shift has been another one–the way in which food is produced. Modern models of agribusiness are contributing to the emergence of zoonoses…
COVID-19 claims U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in exercises in Asia-Pacific, Breaking Defense, Mar 26, 2020
Related: With Iran tensions high, a US military command pushes a dubious carrier strategy, Defense News, Mar 24, 2020
Urban centers across the U.S. gird for catastrophic virus outbreak, Washington Post, Mar 28, 2020 …Still unable to conduct widespread testing, and fearful as the federal government fails to marshal critical supplies, officials in Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Milwaukee and Los Angeles are watching caseloads climb and taking extraordinary measures to prepare, all the while hoping that aggressive social-distancing measures might ward off the most dismal projections.“I’m worried that New York might not be the worst-case scenario when you think about other states that have even older and less-healthy populations, and fewer hospital beds available,” said Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology…
* New Orleans faces a virus nightmare, and Mardi Gras may be why, New York Times, Mar 26, 2020
* Lack of water for washing is harsh reality for many poor Americans, Washington Post, Mar 28, 2020
* Cities struggle to protect vulnerable homeless populations as coronavirus spreads, Washington Post, Mar 20, 2020 …The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness estimates that there are 567,700 homeless people in the country. The most underserved live in parts of Washington DC district, California, Maine, Oregon and Washington state, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration…
Three months into the pandemic, here’s how likely the coronavirus is to infect people, Washington Post, Mar 28, 2020
Coronavirus isolation brings grave new hardships for the world’s poor, Washington Post, Mar 28, 2020
The lost month of February 2020: How a failure to test blinded the U.S. to Covid-19, feature article in New York Times, Mar 28, 2020 …As the deadly virus from China [sic] spread with ferocity across the United States between late January and early March, large-scale testing of people who might have been infected did not happen… The result was a lost month, when the world’s richest country — armed with some of the most highly trained scientists and infectious disease specialists — squandered its best chance of containing the virus’s spread. Instead, Americans were left largely blind to the scale of a looming public health catastrophe…
Related:
* The U.S. tried to build an easier-to-use model of ventilators beginning 13 years ago. Contracts to build them were signed, but the mission failed, New York Times, Mar 29, 2020 …The contract was officially awarded a few months after the H1N1 outbreak in 2009 began to taper off the following year. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that in the United States, H1N1 infected 60 million and killed 12,000… [This story is a case of globalized capitalism run amok. It explodes the absurdities being propagated by Western governments and media that automobile assembly companies (!) and others manufacturers who have shut down production can turn on a dime and manufacture much-needed ventilators.]
Eight countries with one quarter of the world’s population appeal to United Nations to intervene to halt U.S. sanctions, by Alan Macleod, Mint Press News, Mar 27, 2020 The eight countries charge that Washington’s actions are undermining their response to the COVID–19 pandemic sweeping the planet.
Related: As coronavirus cases explode in Iran, U.S. sanctions hinder its access to drugs and medical equipment, Washington Post, Mar 29, 2020
The rush in Germany to develop rapid coronavirus tests, Deutsche Welle, Mar 28, 2020 …This week, the South Korean firm Celltrion announced that it was developing an antibody-based self-testing diagnostics kit that would deliver results in 20 minutes. But it will not come out on the market until this summer…
Related:
* A new COVID-19 test can return results in five minutes, The Verge, Mar 28, 2020
* Germany mulls mass testing for coronavirus immunity, Deutsche Welle, Mar 27, 2020 Researchers in Germany could begin mass testing for immunity against the novel coronavirus as early as April, Der Spiegel reported on March 27. The respected weekly news magazine said the test results would show how many people have been infected and developed antibodies as well as more accurate data about how many people have been killed out of all those infected…
Rattled by crisis, one of America’s worst weeks draws to a close, Washington Post, Mar 27, 2020
Related:
* Trump’s promised network of Covid-19 testing nowhere to be seen. Report in Washionton Post, Mar 27, 2020 Two weeks ago, President Trump promised a network of drive-through covid-19 testing sites across the country where people could be tested “very safely, quickly and conveniently.” In a Rose Garden news conference, chief executives of Target, Walgreens, Walmart and CVS said they would work with the government to provide space in store parking lots. While the four retailers have a combined 26,400 U.S. stores, this vision of a proliferation of coronavirus testing sites has yet to materialize…
* As pandemic surges in U.S., economist Jeffrey Sachs says Trump ‘understands nothing, listens to nothing’, interview with Jeffrey Sachs, broadcast on Democracy Now!, Sept 24, 2020 (23-minute interview. Jeffrey Sachs is the director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University in New York and special adviser to the UN secretary general on the Sustainable Development Goals.)
With unanious votes in Senate and House of Representatives, Trump rushes $2.2 trillion financial ‘stimulus’ bill into law to bail out cornoavirus-hobbled banks, airlines, oil industry and other industries. Report by Associated Press, Mar 27, 2020
Related:
* The Trump regime’s course for the U.S. economy: Bailouts for the rich, the virus for the rest of us, by Rob Urie, published in CounterPunch, Mar 27, 2020
* The ‘stimulus’ package halts the corporate trick of stock buybacks gouging workers, but it comes too late, op-ed by Gary Rivlin, in Washington Post, Mar 27, 2020
* The Trump regime’s stimulus bill–supported unanimously by the U.S. Senate–allows Federal Reserve to conduct meetings in secret; Gives Fed $454 Billion slush fund for Wall Street bailouts, by Pam Martens and Russ Martens, published on Wall Street on Parade, Mar 25, 2020
* Stimulus bill: The Fed and Treasury’s slush fund is actually $4 trillion, by Pam Martens and Russ Martens, published on Wall Street on Parade, Mar 25, 2020
* The Democratic Party ‘left’ makes a grudging peace with Trump regime’s rescue package for U.S. capitalism. Report in Washington Post, Mar 27, 2020 Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders rose to prominence via outrage over a $700 billion rescue for Wall Street in 2008. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) regularly rails against corporations as a member of the liberal “squad.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) co-chairs the House Progressive Caucus. Yet all four, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, backed the $2 trillion stimulus signed into law Friday. While that earlier package sparked fury and a rebirth of liberalism that remains a powerful force today, this year’s version is largely winning acceptance from the populist left… House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez considered opposing the measure but did not do so… Missing from the legislation are measures proposed by liberals, including a $200-a-month boost in Social Security payments, $10,000 in federal student loan debt cancellation, free health care for those sickened by the virus and a robust fund to create a vote-by-mail system for this year’s general election…
* Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasts corporate bailout ‘stimulus’ package signed into law by Trump on March 27 calling it ‘shameful’, but votes in favour because of aid payouts to workers and small business. Report by MTV News, Mar 28, 2020 [The $2 trillion relief package titled the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on March 26 and House of Representatives on March 27.]
Turkey and COVID-19: Is another Italy in the making in the NATO-member country? Report by Cengiz Candar, Al-Monitor, Mar 26, 2020
Related: Turkey imposes first curfew as coronavirus infections surge, by Ezgi Akin, Al-Monitor, Mar 27, 2020
Growing demands for food and the land base demanded by industrial agriculture, especially for more meat production is leading to species extinctions and more corona-like viruses, by Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News, Mar 24, 2020 As agriculture expands, habitats will shrink. That will likely lead to higher numbers of the species that transmit deadly diseases.
U.S. deaths from coronavirus top 1,000 amid incomplete reporting from authorities and anguish from those left behind, Washington Post, Mar 25, 2020 …The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which offers a well-regarded and oft-cited public weekly tracker for the annual influenza season, offers no similar real-time surveillance for the novel coronavirus. The analysis the agency does provide relies on spotty reporting by the states struggling to serve a surge of sick people…
Related:
* U.S. coronavirus testing hits milestone but still falls short, New York Times, Mar 26, 2020 …About 65,000 coronavirus tests are being performed on Americans each day — a meteoric rise from just 10 days ago. But public health experts say that about 150,000 tests are needed every day, so that infected patients can be quickly identified and separated. The United States cannot even test everyone who is sick because of a shortage of testing kits and personal protective equipment for health care workers…
* The coronavirus testing that wasn’t: How federal health officials misled state scientists and derailed the best chance at containment, USA Today, Mar 27, 2020 …America’s chance to contain the coronavirus crisis came and went in the past seven weeks after U.S. health officials botched the testing rollout and then misled scientists in state laboratories about this critical early failure. Federal regulators failed to recognize the spiraling disaster and were slow to relax the rules that prevented labs and major hospitals from advancing a backup…
* ‘We have a simple message to all countries—test, test, test… All countries should be able to test all suspected cases. They cannot fight this pandemic blindfolded.’ — World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, addressing a press conference on March 16, 2020
* Washington University analysis estimates coronavirus could kill 81,000 in U.S., begin to subside in June, Reuters, Mar 26, 2020
* Great unease and turmoil over cornovirus in the world’s prisons, Washington Post, Mar 26, 2020
* CNN and MSNBC bosses ignore staff pleas to cut Trump coronavirus press speakouts, The Daily Beast, Mar 26, 2020 …Despite internal handwringing among producers and journalists as the week unfolded, the bosses at MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News once again decided on March 26 to broadcast every moment of Trump’s self-congratulatory and largely fact-free cheerleading live as the United States achieved the dubious milestone of becoming the world’s No. 1 coronavirus-infected country — surpassing even China’s 81,000-plus cases by more than 2,000, with twice China’s death rate…
Boris Johnson’s coronavirus response condemned by Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, report by Yahoo News UK, Mar 27, 2020 … “We knew in the last week of January that this was coming. The message from China was absolutely clear that a new virus with pandemic potential was hitting cities, people were being admitted to hospital, admitted to intensive care units and dying and the mortality was growing… “We knew that 11 weeks ago and then we wasted February when we could have acted – time when we could have ramped up testing, time when we could have got personal protective equipment ready and disseminated. We didn’t do it… “I’m sorry to say this: it was preventable…”
[As of March 27, Britain was the seventh-highest country for Covid-19 deaths, at 759.]
The coronavirus pandemic poses fundamental challenges to all societies, by Prabir Purkayastha, published in Pressenza, Mar 25, 2020
Related:
* COVID-19, the exponential function and human survival, by Peter Cohen, published in CounterPunch, Mar 27, 2020 …COVID-19 is exposing the Growth Economy for what it is: the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on humankind. It is showing us that the perpetrators of the Ponzi scheme are in charge and that, as long as they are, nothing that threatens their profits will get done if there is any way to avoid it…
* The world squandered its first opportunity to stop the coronavirus pandemic, says head of World Health Organization, Global News, Mar 25, 2020
Coronavirus be damned: U.S. set to upgrade its nuclear weapons stationed in Germany, Deutsche Welle, Mar 26, 2020
Venezuela government condemns U.S. Justice Department ‘narco-terrorism’ accusations and sanctions against the country and its people, Venezuela Analysis, Mar 25, 2020 ‘At a time when humanity is facing a pandemic, Donald Trump attacks the Venezuelan people once more with miserable, vulgar and baseless accusations’–Venezuela gov’t statement
G20 virtual summit meeting ends with vague promises on coronavirus, nothing on the ‘other’ global emergency–global warming, Common Dreams, Mar 26, 2020
Related:
* At G20 leaders’ video meeting on March 26, Russian president proposes lifting sanctions on essential goods amid coronavirus pandemic, Telesur, Mar 26, 2020 [The English text of Vladimir Putin’s address to the G20 leaders’ video meeting on March 26, 2020 is here on the website of the president of Russia.]
* G-7 countries fail to agree on statement after U.S. insisted on divisive measure calling coronavirus outbreak ‘Wuhan virus’, Washington Post, Mar 25, 2020
China is lifting the last controls in Hubei province, center of the coronavirus outbreak, Associated Press, Mar 25, 2020
Related:
* As New York’s coronavirus crisis deepens, experts split over how to contain its spread to new areas, Washington Post, Mar 25, 2020 [New York now contains half of the Covid-19 cases across the U.S (more than 68,500). Governor Andrew Cuomo says he expects the virus will peak in New York state in about three weeks. At that point, the state may need 140,000 hospital beds, more than double current capacity.].
* What made New York city so hospitable for the coronavirus?, New York Times, Mar 25, 2020 (includes map of Covid-19 cases by U.S. state)
* Thousands of inmates released from state and country, but not federal, prisons in U.S., Washington Post, Mar 25, 2020
* What did Trump and Congress know about the coronavirus, and when did they know it?, commentary by George T. Conway and Carrie Cordero, Washington Post, Mar 25, 2020 (George T. Conway is a lawyer and adviser to the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC. Carrie Cordero is the Robert M. Gates senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.)
Quarantined in India: No soap, dirty toilets, not enough coronavirus tests, NPR, Mar 25, 2020
Coronavirus deaths in Spain now exceed 4,000, with 655 in just 24 hours, El Pais, Mar 26, 2020
Related: A deluged health care system in Spain leaves some elderly to die and rocks Spain’s self-image, New York Times, Mar 25, 2020 …El País, the country’s leading newspaper, wrote in an editorial that the deplorable situation in some nursing homes had exposed “a bitter black hole in our welfare state.” Another source of pride for the Spanish has been the country’s robust public health care system; last year, a study ranked Spain as the world’s healthiest country. But that part of the national self-image has also taken a beating from a pandemic that has overwhelmed many hospitals and sickened thousands of health care workers…
India’s prime minister decrees 21-day lockdown to curb virus, Associated Press, Mar 24, 2020
Related:
* China to lift lockdown in most of virus-hit Hubei province, Associated Press, Mar 24, 2020
* The world’s 70 million displaced people are the most threatened by cornoavirus pandemic, Washington Post, Mar 24, 2020
The New Cold War with China has cost lives against coronavirus, by Max Blumenthal, published in The Chicago Reader, Mar 24, 2020 More than any event since the financial crash, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the rotten foundation of American empire.
Related: ‘Forced labor’ stories on China brought to you by U.S. government, NATO and arms industry to drive cold war blitz, by Ajit Singh, The Grayzone, Mar 26, 2020 A recent surge in stories in the Western press accuse China of implementing an oppressive program of “forced labor” against the country’s Uyghur Muslim ethnic minority… Featured in Western news outlets from Foreign Policy to the Washington Post to Democracy Now!, the reports rely on a series of dubious studies by purportedly “independent, nonpartisan” think tanks and crank experts backed by the West’s military-intelligence apparatus…
‘Stimulus’ bill approved by Senate and now headed to unanimous support in Congress will bail out firms that avoided taxes, safety regulations and spent billions boosting their stock, Washington Post, Mar 25, 2020
Related:
* Senate aid package quietly carves out billions intended for Boeing, Washington Post, Mar 25, 2020 Lawmakers have inserted in the Senate’s $2 trillion stimulus package a little-noticed provision aimed at providing billions of dollars in emergency assistance to Boeing… The International Association of Machinists, a union that represents aerospace industry employees, has also said there should be financial assistance for the industry…
* House Democrats urged to remove ‘insidious attack’ on social security hidden within Senate coronavirus bill, Common Dreams, Mar 26, 2020 Progressives are demanding that the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives prioritize removing a little-noticed provision in the massive Senate-passed coronavirus stimulus bill that would allow employers to stop paying into Social Security for at least the rest of the year…
* U.S. Senate’s final stimulus bill won’t be enough to stabilize the U.S. economy, by Jack Rasmus, published on his website, Mar 25, 2020 Just after midnight on March 25, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill of fiscal spending to address the accelerating economic decline. Both Democrat and Republican Senate leaders agreed on the terms. The speaker of the House of Representatives indicated she would rush approval of the package in the House. Here’s what the terms of the stimulus package looks like.
Trump wants U.S. ‘opened up’ by mid-April despite warnings by health officials, New York Times, Mar 24, 2020 …Trump told a Fox News ‘virtual town hall’ on March 24, “You are going to lose a number of people to the flu, but you are going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression,” Mr. Trump said, misidentifying the virus. “You are going to have suicides by the thousands — you are going to have all sorts of things happen. You are going to have instability. You can’t just come in and say let’s close up the United States of America, the biggest, the most successful country in the world by far.” Public health officials were horrified by Mr. Trump’s statement, which threatened to send many Americans back into the public square just as the peak of the virus is expected…
Related:
* Trump wants U.S. economy ‘opened up and raring to go’ by mid-April, Washington Post, Mar 24, 2020 …Trump’s optimism about how quickly American life could return to normal also collided with a darkening reality. On March 24, the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the U.S. surpassed 50,000, continuing a rapid rise. More than 680 American deaths have been blamed on the disease, and the epicenter of the outbreak has shifted to the New York metropolitan area, which accounts now for more than 60 percent of the U.S. cases and where the disease is spreading at eight to 10 times the rate of anywhere else in the country. Globally, the tally of confirmed cases eclipsed 400,000, suggesting that the pace of infection continues to increase…
* Trump versus the scientists over coronavirus policy, Washington Post, Mar 24, 2020
* Trump is omnipresent in media but takes a back seat in key areas of coronavirus response, Washington Post, Mar 24, 2020
* Abortion providers in Texas scramble after state tells them to stop during pandemic, calling it a ‘non-essential’ health care service, Washington Post, Mar 24, 2020 …Abortion rights advocates say Texas leaders are taking advantage of a public health crisis to forge ahead on an ideologically driven agenda. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said last week the procedure is essential because of its time sensitivity and potential consequences on a woman’s health and well-being…
* Boeing suspends civilian aircraft production in Washington state but military production in U.S. is humming along as 2.5 million military industry workers ordered to stay on the job, Washington Post, Mar 24, 2020
Trump’s magical thinking: Snake oil, an Easter resurrection and killing nana for capitalism, by Heather Digby Parton, Salon.com, Mar 25, 2020 Trump is in way over his head. His own businesses are failing and his desperate flailing will kill people
Why Germany’s coronavirus death rate is so much lower than the rates in other countries, Washington Post, Mar 24, 2020 …The biggest reason for the difference, infectious disease experts say, is Germany’s work in the early days of its outbreak to track, test and contain infection clusters… Testing widely has been key. Germany, with 31,150 cases at midday March 24, appeared to have a larger outbreak than France, with 20,149. The higher death rate in France implies there were more undiagnosed cases there. France’s outbreak could be larger than Germany’s…
The coronavirus isn’t mutating quickly, suggesting a vaccine would offer lasting protection, Washington Post, Mar 24, 2020
WHO warns of ‘accelerating’ pandemic, Reuters, Mar 23, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on March 23, with more than 300,000 cases now recorded and infections reported from nearly every country… While it took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus, it took only 11 days for the second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said…
Related:
* World Health Organization: U.S. could be the next epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, The Hill, Mar 24, 2020 WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters on March 24 that the U.S. has the potential to be the next epicenter amid a large acceleration of cases in the nation
* Italy’s coronavirus deaths are staggering. They may be more preview than anomaly, Washington Post, Mar 23, 2020
Fear in New York as cornovirus cases soar but Trump talks of easing public health measures, AFP, Mar 24, 2020
Related:
* Madmen on the loose: Trump threatens to ease coronavirus public health measures, LA Times, Mar 23, 2020
* Madmen on the loose: Trump’s biggest supporters have decided it’s time to end coronavirus mitigation, no matter who dies, Buzzfeed News, Mar 23, 2020 ‘We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.’—Donald Trump
* Madmen on the loose: As Trump muses about easing COVID-19 public health measures, all eyes in Canada are on the U.S. border, CBC News, Mar 23, 2020 Canada may face additional pressure to re-examine its pandemic response border agreement with the United States if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on speculation that he might ease social distancing recommendations in the next week. However, Ottawa likely will be able to avoid making difficult decisions about additional restrictions thanks to the work of governors who are enforcing robust measures in their individual states, two former diplomats say…
* Madmen on the loose: Before Trump called for reevaluating lockdowns, they shuttered six of his top-earning clubs and resorts, Washington Post, Mar 23, 2020
* Madmen on the loose: Outrage after Texas Lieutenant Governor tells Fox News that seniors should accept relaxed public health measures for the sake of the ‘economy’, Common Dreams, Mar 23, 2020
* Madmen on the loose: Donald Trump says America’s ventilator shortage was ‘unforeseen’. Nothing could be further from the truth, by Nick Turse, The Intercept, Mar 24. 2020
* As coronavirus outbreak surges, nation faces tough start to a grim week, Washington Post, Mar 23, 2020
* At March 23 evening press briefing, Trump again touts the unproven ‘chloroquine phosphate’ for Covid-19 treatment, Common Dreams, Mar 23, 2020
* Suspecting he had Covid-19, U.S. Republican senator Rand Paul sought testing and then wandered everywhere for six days while awaiting result. Report in Washington Post, Mar 23, 2020 …On March 23, Paul was defiant that he did nothing wrong… Paul’s diagnosis has landed at least two other senators in self-quarantine and prompted others to seek medical guidance from the congressional physician. It has only deepened the sense of urgency and fear at an already panicked Capitol.. Lawmakers are scrambling to finalize a roughly $2 trillion package to rescue an economy that is at risk of cratering as the coronavirus continues to spread…
* CDC says coronavirus RNA found in Princess Cruise ship cabins for up to 17 days after passengers left, CNBC, Mar 23, 2020
Mass testing: The only sustainable and effective course for slowing and stopping the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., op-ed by Tim Searchinger, Anthony LaMantia and Gordon Douglas, in Washington Post, Mar 23, 2020 We suggest a strategy of massive testing that goes far beyond the group currently being tested — those most likely infected. Instead, we need to test as many people as possible. (Tim Searchinger is a research scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs at Princeton University; Anthony LaMantia is a professor at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Virginia Tech University; Gordon Douglas is professor emeritus of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.) …Although the U.S. health-care system is now struggling to produce enough tests even for those who are likely infected, we recommend a massive mobilization that would allow hundreds of millions to be tested…
Related:
* How COVID-19 tests work and what’s in development, by Professor Alexander Edwards (University of Reading), published in The Conversation, Mar 24, 2020
* No COVID-19 testing for cluster of illness after March 13 memorial service in Vancouver, CBC News, Mar 23, 2020 …Last week, the director-general of the World Health Organization urged nations to “test, test test every suspected case,” as the backbone of a COVID-19 response. But that is not what is happening in British Columbia, even though this province has been hailed as a leader with 17,912 tests as of March 20. Dr. Bonnie Henry, the province’s chief medical officer, says not everyone with symptoms needs a test, especially if the resulting advice would still be to self-isolate…
[On March 24, the ‘house doctor’ for CBC News, emergency room doctor Brian Goldman, told a network interviewer that the “single most important thing” that Canada’s public health authorities could do today is institute mass testing for Covid-19, including tracing all those who may have had contact with an infected person.]
* The infuriating story of how the U.S. government stalled coronavirus testing, GQ Magazine, Mar 16, 2020
Western leaders are terrified. Not of the virus but of us, by Jonathan Cook, published on his website blog, Mar 24, 2020 You can almost smell the fear-laden sweat oozing from the pores of television broadcasts and social media posts as it finally dawns on our political and media establishments what the coronavirus actually means. And I am not talking about the threat posed to our health…
Class war in the making? Coronavirus quarantines pit well-off hermits against serfs who supply them, commentary by Helen Buyniski, in RT.com, Mar 23, 2020 (Helen Buyniski is an American journalist and political commentator at RT.)
New York City Region is now an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, New York Times, Mar 22, 2020 New York city and its suburbs account for roughly five per cent of global cases, forcing officials to take urgent steps to stem the outbreak.
Related:
* Help is not coming fast enough, New York governor warns, Reuters, Mar 22, 2020
* The virus can be stopped, but only with harsh steps, experts say, New York Times, Mar 22, 2020
* As coronavirus spreads, so do doubts about America’s ability to rise to the moment, Washington Post, Mar 22, 2020 …Companies that celebrated tax cuts in 2017 by rewarding shareholders with record stock buybacks are preparing to lay off millions of workers while pleading for a government bailout… The president has vacillated in recent days between trying to strike a reassuring tone and lashing out at his perceived enemies while criticizing the press, seeming at times to view the public health emergency through the prism of his media coverage…
* Failures in the CDC’s coronavirus testing rollout are likely to haunt the U.S. for months to come, Kaiser Health News, Mar 23, 2020 [The illness and death numbers for Covid-19 in the U.S. as reported in this article dated March 23 are less than one half the actual numbers for this date. Early on March 23, the actual numbers are 35,070 illnesses, 458 deaths. The U.S. now has the third-highest numbers of Covid-19 illnesses in the world. For March 22, the U.S. reported twice as many new cases as Italy. source].
* In pro-Trump West Virginia, it’s a fight to convince residents a pandemic is coming, Washington Post, Mar 22, 2020 How to convince a county in West Virginia that voted 90 per cent for Trump that the Covid-19 threat is real and requires extraordinary public health measures?
* Pentagon records its first coronavirus death as U.S. troops and their families question what’s next, Washington Post, Mar 22, 2020
* Trump says he always knew virus was pandemic, fact check published by Associated Press, Mar 23, 2020
As coronavirus surges, a frantic Europe scrambles for hospital beds, ventilators, supplies, Washington Post, Mar 22, 2020
Related:
* Russia sends military medics, supplies to Italy’s Covid-19 war zone, by Eric Reguly, Globe and Mail, Mar 22, 2020
* Russian military planes with medics and supplies land in coronavirus-hit Italy, RT.com, Mar 23, 2020 Seven Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes carrying medical supplies and experts to help Italy battle its devastating Covid-19 crisis landed at the Italian air force base Pratica di Mare. The aircraft brought medics and specialists in infectious diseases from Russia, as well as equipment necessary for diagnostics and disinfection. The teams will immediately begin their work once the Italian side clarifies areas of deployment, the Russian Defense Ministry reported… In total, Moscow prepared nine cargo planes with emergency aid. The deployment was ordered by President Vladimir Putin after a phone call with Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on March 21…
* Cuban doctors arrive in Italy to battle coronavirus, Reuters, Mar 21, 2020 …The 52-strong medical brigade is the first time Cuba has sent an emergency contingent to Italy, one of the world’s richest countries, demonstrating the reach of its medical diplomacy. It’s the sixth medical brigade Cuba has sent in recent days to combat the spread of the new disease abroad. It has sent contingents to socialist allies Venezuela and Nicaragua as well as Jamaica, Suriname and Grenada…
* Cuba sends 144 health workers to combat Covid-19 in Jamaica, Telesur, Mar 21, 2020
* 28,268 Cuba’s medical brigades abroad count 28, 268 personnel; no Covid-19 cases reported among them, Granma (Cuban daily), Mar 17, 2020 (Cuba reports 35 Covid-19 cases and one death as of March 23.)
* Cuba in the time of the coronavirus, translated from the original Spanish and published in Open Democracy, Mar 23, 2020
* Nigerians poisoned after taking doses of chloroquine drugs praised by Trump, Globe and Mail, Mar 22, 2020 …Nigerian health authorities are rushing to clamp down on a wave of unauthorized use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that Mr. Trump is promoting as a treatment for COVID-19… The safety and effectiveness of the drug, and a related drug known as chloroquine, is unproven for use against the coronavirus. Chloroquine is known to be dangerous if used without medical supervision… In countries such as Nigeria, chloroquine tablets are easily available at pharmacies and other shops, without any need for a prescription, even though chloroquine was banned in 2005 after malaria became resistant to the drug…
Wakayama prefecture in Japan pioneered in the coronavirus fight by using extensive testing, becoming a ‘model’ in local action. Report in Washington Post, Mar 22, 2020 [Tracing and testing everyone with known contacts with infected persons was key to the successful fight against Covid-19 in Wakayama prefecture. In the U.S., Canada, and Europe, governments ignored or downplayed the urgency of producing testing kits. Some continue to downplay the role of testing, and in any event, they don’t have enough kits to introduce an effective strategy using testing.] Related:
* Why South Korea’s COVID-19 strategy is working, Al Jazeera, Mar 21, 2020 …According to John Hopkins University medical researchers, as of this week, the COVID-19 death rate is 0.97 percent in South Korea, compared to 7.94 percent in Italy, 3.98 percent in mainland China and Hong Kong, and 1.68 percent in the United States…
* Coronavirus success vs failure: A tale of two strategies, video presentation on Al Jazeera’s ‘Up Front’ program, video news report (25 minutes), Mar 20, 2020
* Ottawa to intervene in lagging regions amid COVID-19 test backlog, Globe and Mail, Mar 23, 2020 …To combat growing demands for tests, B.C. and Ontario officials have moved in recent days to increasingly tighten criteria for who can get a test. They are focusing on patients who are sick enough to be hospitalized and other high-risk groups, including health-care workers and long-term-care residents. Infectious disease experts have become increasingly concerned over the approach, with many singling out Ontario for what they describe as a response that is out of step with some best practices. In addition to tightening testing criteria, provincial officials have also declined to confirm COVID-19 is spreading locally in the province. Local spread refers to cases that are not linked to international travel…
[Corporate media in Canada and elsewhere in the West is doling out in tiny spoonfuls its reporting of failed coronavirus testing regimes. Above all, it is avoiding analysis of why the spreading coronavirus pandemic was ignored or downplayed by Western governments in its early stages (January and February 2020), including why the key role to be played by testing was ignored or downplayed.]
We were warned again and again, and we did nothing, by Nicoletta Dentico, published in the English edition of Il Manifesto (Italy), Mar 23, 2020 (translated from the original Italian in Il Manifesto)
In hard-hit areas of U.S., coronavirus testing is being restricted to health care workers, hospital patients, Washington Post, Mar 22, 2020 Health officials in New York, California and other hard-hit parts of the country are restricting coronavirus testing to health care workers and the severely ill, saying the battle to contain the virus is lost and the country is moving into a new phase of the pandemic response. As cases spike sharply in those places, they are bracing for an onslaught and directing scarce resources where they are needed most to save people’s lives. Instead of encouraging broad testing of the public, they’re focused on conserving masks, ventilators and intensive care beds — and on getting still-limited tests to health-care workers and the most vulnerable. The shift is further evidence that rising levels of infection and illness have begun to overwhelm the health care system…
[Coronavirus cases in the U.S. have soared to 26,909 as of the end of March 21; 349 people have died. source] Related:
* Trump administration is scrambling to offer guidance on what to do if hospitals run out of basic supplies for coronavirus, Washington Post, Mar 22, 2020
* The sick leave measures signed into law in the U.S. on March 18 don’t help the workers that need it most, Washington Post, Mar 19, 2020 Only 12 percent of workers in businesses that are likely to stay open will be affected
* Trump’s ambassador to South Africa was at March 7 dinner at Mar-A-Lago with infected Brazilian, she later told audience that Florida heat would protect her from virus, Washington Post, Mar 20, 2020
* Tracking Trump’s false or misleading coronavirus claims, Washington Post, last updated on Mar 17, 2020 The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus has confronted President Trump with a public health and economic crisis that requires consistent, accurate messaging to guide Americans. But the president often has played down the threats, offering false, misleading or ignorant statements. We have fact-checked many of these claims and recorded them in our database of all of Trump’s claims. But now we are starting a page to list the most notable coronavirus statements in one place, in chronological order. We intend to keep updating this page as the crisis unfolds…
Italy’s coronavirus death toll feeds fear of what lies ahead in Europe and the U.S., Washington Post, Mar 21, 2020
Brazil’s densely packed favelas brace for coronavirus, Washington Post, Mar 21, 2020
Related: Could the coronavirus topple Brazil’s far-right president?, Slate.com, Mar 20, 2020 …The Brazilian government has been harshly criticized for its handling of the crisis. While most world leaders have responded to the escalating number of cases and surging death toll by imposing restrictive measures such as closing borders, schools, and restaurants, Jair Bolsonaro seems to be in denial… [As of March 22, Brazil has 1201 Covid-19 illnesses–up 23 from the previous day–and 18 deaths. source]
Why does Russia, population 146 million and sharing a border with China, have fewer coronavirus cases than Luxembourg?, CNN, Mar 21, 2020 …Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s state consumer watchdog, said on March 21 that it has run more than 156,000 coronavirus tests in total. According to CDC figures, the United States only picked up the pace in testing at the beginning of March. Russia says it has been testing en masse since early February, including in airports, focusing on travelers from Iran, China, and South Korea… [As of March 22, Russia has 367 Covid-19 illnesses–up 61 from the previous day–and one death. source]
Coronavirus has shattered the myth that ‘the economy’ must come first, op-ed by Adam Tooze, in The Guardian, Mar 20, 2020
Worldwide death toll surges past 11,000, news update on Al Jazeera, Mar 21, 2020 Italy announces 627 more deaths by end of March 20, pushing its total to 4,032. Fatalities worldwide have surged past 11,000. The death toll from the new coronavirus has surpassed 5,000 in Europe, the new epicentre of the pandemic, with Italy, Spain and Germany reporting a steep rise in infections…
Related:
* Italy’s tally of coronavirus cases and deaths keeps rising, Associated Press, Mar 21, 2020 Italy has endured new daily records of coronavirus illnesses, on March 21: 793 dead and 6,557 new cases. That exceeds the record one day earlier of 627 deaths. The latest news bring Italy’s total coronavirus deaths to 4,875 and its reported cases to 53,578.
* Italy shuts down all non-essential businesses in desperate bid to contain coronavirus spread, RT.com, Mar 21, 2020
* Russia offers to send medical personnel & equipment to help Italy contain coronavirus outbreak, RT.com, Mar 21, 2020 and read: Report in the daily coronavirus news update by Associated Press, Mar 21, 2020: The Russian Defense Ministry says it is ready to fly its mobile medical teams and disinfection equipment to Italy to help it deal with the coronavirus epidemic. The ministry’s statement followed Saturday’s [March 21] phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in which the Russian leader offered to send military medical personnel and equipment to help Italy contain the outbreak of the new coronavirus. The Russian Defense Ministry says its transport planes stand ready to airlift eight mobile medical teams along with various medical equipment and aerosol disinfection trucks to Italy. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had a call with his Italian counterpart Lorenzo Guerini, who said Italy was ready to receive Russian planes with medical personnel and equipment starting Sunday.
* The coronavirus epidemic is a nightmare threat to the refugee camps in the Middle East, Washington Post, Mar 20, 2020
* One in five Americans facing ‘stay at home’ orders as pandemic accelerates, New York Times, Mar 20, 2020 and read: New York governor orders shutdown of all nonessential businesses, Washington Post, Mar 21, 2020 …According to a New York Times database as of the morning of March 21, there have been at least 17,962 cases of coronavirus in the U.S. confirmed by lab tests and 239 deaths…
* How early decisions on coronavirus testing helped shape a pandemic, Washington Post, Mar 21, 2020
* U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic, Washington Post, March 20, 2020
* Cruise ships kept sailing as coronavirus spread, Washington Post, Mar 21, 2020
* Robotics engineer crowd-sources designs for COVID-19 medical supplies to help out-of-stock hospitals, interview on CBC Radio One‘s ‘Day Six’ program with U.S. robotics engineer Gui Cavalcanti, Mar 21, 2020 [The ‘supply chains’ of globalized capitalism are failing massively in the face of the coronavirus emergency, but ordinary citizens are not taking that lying down.].
* Amid Covid-19 emergency, U.S. lawmakers pushing for ever-more military spending, Common Dreams, Mar 20, 2020
The best and the worst outlook for the coronavirus, by Nicholas Kristof, columnist, New York Times, Mar 20, 2020
…Dr. Neil M. Ferguson, a British epidemiologist who is regarded as one of the best disease modelers in the world, produced a sophisticated model [by the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team, in London] with a worst case of 2.2 million deaths in the United States. I asked Ferguson for his best case. “About 1.1 million deaths,” he said.
… Ferguson questions whether South Korea and other countries can sustain their success for 18 months until a vaccine is ready, even as new cases are constantly being imported. Indeed, a burst of new cases has been reported in recent days in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
As for the hope that the United States can emulate Singapore or South Korea, that may be a leap. America and South Korea reported their first Covid-19 cases on the same day in late January, but South Korea took the epidemic seriously, promptly created an effective test, used it widely and has seen cases go down more than 90 percent from the peak. In contrast, the United States badly bungled testing while President Trump repeatedly dismissed the coronavirus, saying it was “totally under control” and “will disappear,” and insisting he wasn’t “concerned at all.” The United States has still done only a bit more than 10 percent as many tests per capita as Canada, Austria and Denmark…
‘For unknown reasons they waited. and watched’: Lancet editor exposes devastating UK gov’t failure on coronavirus, Media Lens (UK), Mar 20, 2020 ‘Why did it take the UK government eight weeks to recognise the seriousness of what we now call Covid-19?’ …The herd immunity plan was always going to end up with 1000s of sick, infectious people swamping the hospitals…
‘U.S. wasted precious time China has bought’: Beijing shreds Washington over ‘racist’ coronavirus rhetoric, RT.com, Mar 20, 2020 ‘Over the last two months, Beijing has helped the U.S. buy time in its efforts to combat the coronavirus by providing timely information and other aid’–China Foreign Ministry
Related: As the U.S. blames China for the coronavirus pandemic, the rest of the world asks China for help, by Joel Penney, The Intercept, Mar 18, 2020 [This is an informative article, but the writer nonetheless sounds a derogatory, pro-imperialist trope in the following citation: “The Chinese government has been trying to project Chinese state power beyond its borders and establish China as a global leader, not dissimilar to what the U.S. government has been doing for the better part of a century [emphasis added] and the distribution of medical aid is part of this mission,” said Dr. Yangyang Cheng, a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University who writes the science and China column for SupChina.]
Washington Post stokes anti-Russia prejudice and threats in the midst of an out-of-control pandemic. Report in Washington Post, Mar 21, 2020, headlined: Suspected Russian hackers struck the last Olympics. Tokyo worries it could be next
Justin Trudeau calls on Canadian businesses to re-tool for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, but ‘business’ (the expansionist capitalist order) created the pandemic emergency in the first place. Report on CTV News, Mar 20, 2020, headlined, ‘Trudeau rallies industry to aid in COVID-19 fight’ “We are launching Canada’s plan to mobilize industry to fight Covid-19, to ensure that we can quickly produce here in Canada the things we need.” –Justin Trudeau speaking to daily press briefing in Ottawa on March 20, 2020. [Corporate media globally and in Canada is systematically ignoring how it is that the SARS-CoV-2 (‘Covid-19’ illness) pandemic came about in the first place. This,in turn, hides the stark reality that expansionist capitalism is threatening even worse civilization-ending emergencies in the near future, notably global warming and imperialist war.] Related:
* Asylum seekers to be turned back at Canada-U.S. border, Trudeau announces, The Canadian Press, Mar 20, 2020
* Ottawa prepares multi-billion dollar bailout of oil and gas industries, Globe and Mail, Mar 20, 2020
* Alberta gov’t rolls out the first wave of bailouts for its crude oil and tar sands industries. Report by Geoffrey Morgan, Financial Post, Mar 20, 2020 and read: Canadian gov’t analyzing the best path for bailing out the country’s airline industry. Report in Financial Post, Mar 20, 2020
* How the pandemic is highlighting Canada’s class divide, op-ed commentary by Dakshana Bascaramurty, The Globe and Mail, Mar 17, 2020
How soap and water annihilate the coronavirus, Vox, Mar 18, 2020
Related:
* The science of soap – here’s how it kills the coronavirus, commentary by Pall Thordarson, The Guardian, Mar 12, 2020 (Pall Thordarson is a professor of chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Sydney) …So why does soap work so well on the Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus and indeed most viruses? The short story: because the virus is a self-assembled nanoparticle in which the weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bilayer. Soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus falls apart like a house of cards and dies – or rather, we should say it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive…
* To understand coronavirus transmission, we have to understand our wastewater, commentary by Sarah Wolfe, Globe and Mail, Mar 18, 2020
Pentagon sends 2,600 Europe-based personnel into self-quarantine after 35 test positive for coronavirus, RT.com, Mar 20, 2020
Spain’s death toll surges past 1,000, Italy’s death toll still rising alarmingly and now exceeds China’s, news update by Al Jazeera, Mar 20, 2020
Related news:
* Italy’s coronavirus fatalities overtake China’s, government prolongs the tight quarantine, by Eric Reguly, Europe bureau chief, Globe and Mail, Mar 19, 2020
* Iran health ministry reports death toll jumped 149 on March 20 to 1,433, cases up 1,237 to 19,644, Reuters, Mar 20, 2020
* Mexico is frighteningly unprepared for the coronavirus, by Jordi Oliveres, Slate magazine, March 19, 2020 As the virus spreads, the government is still downplaying the danger
* Mapping the spread of coronavirus. Interactive maps published by New York Times
* Fighting COVID 19 in Cuba, China and the United States, by W. T. Whitney (retired pediatrician living in Maine), published in CounterPunch, Mar 20, 2020
* China urges int’l community to help Iran fight viral outbreak, Financial Tribune (Iran), Mar 16, 2020 [The U.S. empire and its satellite countries in Europe, Canada and Australasia are maintaining their unconscionable economic and political sanctions against the people and government of Iran. Iranian health officials announced on March 20 149 more deaths from the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,433. The number of confirmed infections increased by 1,237 to 19,644. (source)].
The epic failure of coronavirus testing in America, editorial, New York Times, Mar 19, 2020 The World Health Organization, for weeks now, has been making an emphatic plea to countries around the world: Social distancing is crucial to stopping the spread of coronavirus, but it is only half of the equation. To suppress and control a pandemic of this magnitude, countries also must find and isolate every person infected with Covid-19 — including those with mild cases of the disease who don’t turn up in doctor’s offices or hospitals…
[The ‘epic failure’ to anticipate the need for Covid-19 testing and rapidly put into place the mechanisms for it is not only evident in the United States. Nearly all of its imperialist allies are similarly culpable of criminal negligence.].
Related:
* New York state has over 40 per cent of U.S. coronavirus cases as reported infections soar, New York Times, Friday, Mar 20, 2020 [Reported infections have soared by 700 per cent in New York state during the past five days. In the United States overall, there were some 5,700 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States on March 17. Two days later, the number was above 13,000.].
* You’re in the U.S. and can’t get tested? You’re in the wrong country, New York Times, Mar 19, 2020
* Demands for resignations as more Republican senators accused of ‘smash and grab’ stock dumps, Common Dreams, Mar 20, 2020 and read: report in Pro-Publica, Mar 19, 2020
Suppression or mitigation: The two, starkly different policy choices proposed in the March 19, 2020 report by the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team, by Crawford Kilian, The Tyee (Vancouver), Mar 20, 2020
Previously reported on A Socialist In Canada:
* A chilling scientific paper from researchers in London upends deadly and bankrupt U.S. and UK coronavirus responses. Report in Washington Post Mar 17, 2020 [The Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team issued a 20-page report on March 16. The report is titled ‘Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce Covid-19 mortality and healthcare demand’ and can be read here.].
* Months of school closures, social distancing needed to fight pandemic conclude researchers at U of Toronto, by Kate Allen, science and technology reporter, Toronto Star, Mar 18, 2020 …Outbreak modelling shows that four weeks of intensive social distancing interventions will be insufficient to suppress a sharp rise in new cases, hospitalizations, and critically ill patients in intensive care. The disruptive measures must continue for more than six months to slash the size of the epidemic peak by more than half and delay it long enough that a vaccine might become available, the model found… The team’s findings echo those of scientists at Imperial College London, which found that extreme social restrictions might need to last 18 months in the U.S. and UK to avert hundreds of thousands of deaths…
* New coronavirus data from Harvard U’s ‘Global Health Institute’ paint grim picture for U.S. hospitals, CBS News, Mar 17, 2020 A new data projection of the U.S’s best-case coronavirus scenario, where 20% of adults are infected over 18 months, paints a picture of strained hospitals operating at 95% capacity. The very worst-case scenario, with 60% infected over a six-month span, would mean the U.S. could need more than seven times the number of available hospital beds than it currently has…
Young people don’t get a pass with COVID-19, by Dr. André Picard, medical columnist, Globe and Mail, Mar 19, 2020 …It’s true that COVID-19 deaths are highest among people over the age of 80. But mortality isn’t the only measure that matters. COVID-19 causes more grave illness than death, and we don’t yet know the long-term prospects of survivors. Remember, one in four patients who survived SARS had permanent disability due to lung damage. Research published this week shows that younger adults are not only dying of of COVID-19, but being hospitalized and ending up in intensive care in significant numbers…
Related:
* Children not as protected from Covid-19 as reports have said, and they transmit the illness very well. Report in Washington Post, Mar 18, 2020 …A paper released this week in the journal Pediatrics, based on 2,143 young people in China, provides the most extensive evidence on the spread of the virus in children, and there is bad news and good news. The study provides confirmation that coronavirus infections are in fact generally less severe in kids, with more than 90 percent having mild to moderate disease or even being asymptomatic. But it contains worrisome information about one subset — infants — and suggests that children may be a critical factor in the disease’s rapid spread…
* Younger adults are large percentage of coronavirus hospitalizations in United States according to new CDC data, contradicting earlier reports that younger adults are much less susceptible than older ones. Washington Post, Mar 19, 2020
Civilization ruffled by another perfect epidemiological storm, by John Davis, published in CounterPunch, Mar 19, 2020
Coronavirus gives us a terrifying glimpse of the future – and highlights a chilling paradox, by Jeff Sparrow (Australia), published in The Guardian, Mar 17, 2020 Capitalism must expand or lapse into crisis. But perpetual growth pits humanity against nature
The world feared China over coronavirus. now the tables are turned, New York Times, Mar 19, 2020 [As Western imperialist countries face alarming rises in SARS-CoV-2 infections, their media is reluctantly reporting China’s success in combatting the virus. In the first several months of the epidemic-turned-pandemic, this same media was castigating the Chinese government and health authorities for the drastic, ultimately successful, measures they took to slow and now stop new, domestic infections.].
Related:
* Trump takes direct aim at China as known U.S. infections double and criticism mounts, Washington Post, Mar 19, 2020 …On the domestic front, after appearing sobered by the scale of the crisis earlier in the week, Trump bitterly attacked reporters and news organizations on March 19, saying they have failed to accurately report his accomplishments in confronting the virus. “We were very prepared. The only thing we weren’t prepared for was the, the media…”
* Lessons from East Asian countries in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, Washington Post, Mar 19, 2020
* Which countries are ‘flattening the curve’ (or not) of new coronavirus cases, interactive display published in New York Times, Mar 19, 2020
* How Taiwan and Singapore managed to contain COVID-19 while letting normal life go on, National Post, Mar 20, 2020 “It’s hard for people watching Canadians not take things seriously, knowing that in Singapore they took it very seriously from the start and therefore have the outbreak under control’
China bought the West time, but the West squandered it, by Ian Johnson, New York Times, Mar 13, 2020 Western countries watched the epidemic-become-pandemic unfold for weeks as though it was none of their concern (Ian Johnson is a writer based in Beijing.)
Donald Trump is lying about the coronavirus pandemic, analysis in New York Times, Mar 19, 2020 (four-minute video presentation)
Related:
* Shortages of medical supplies further slow coronavirus testing in U.S., Washington Post, Mar 18, 2020
* Production of more lifesaving ventilators in the U.S. is possible, but hospitals say they can’t afford them, Washington Post, Mar 19, 2020
* Trump ban on fetal tissue research blocks coronavirus treatment effort, Washington Post, Mar 18, 2020
The ‘herd immunity’ route to fighting coronavirus is unethical and potentially dangerous, by Arindam Basu, published in The Conversation, Mar 17, 2020 (Arindam Basu is an associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.)
Economists demand Trump immediately lift sanctions against Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and other countries, saying these ‘feed the coronavirus epidemic’, Common Dreams, Mar 19, 2020
How COVID-19 is like climate change, by Ben Santer, published in Scientific American blogs page, Mar 17, 2020 Both are existential challenges—and a president who belittles and neglects science has made them both tougher to address …Pandemics are not the only existential problem we face. Climate change endangers every present and future citizen of this planet. If we truly care about the health of our communities, countries and global commons, we must find ways of powering the planet without relying on fossil fuels. It would be a tragedy to survive the coronavirus but succumb to human-caused climate disruption. An abundance of caution demands that we address both problems. [In this informative commentary, the writer fails the test of “how complex systems respond to big perturbations” which he sets out to examine. He writes, ‘If we truly care about the health of our global commons, we must find ways of powering the planet without relying on fossil fuels.’ But reducing reliance on fossil fuels is not a prescription for mitigating the global warming emergency. That will require nothing less that a radical reduction of all of the ecology-damaging practices of globalized capitalism; in other words, a path of ‘degrowth’ (‘de-commodification’) that dismantles the capitalist system and its growth and expansion imperative.]
Destruction of habitat and loss of biodiversity are creating the perfect conditions for diseases like COVID-19 to emerge, by John Vidal, published on Ensia, Mar 17, 2020 (re-published in Scientific American, Mar 18, 2020) As habitat and biodiversity loss increase globally, the novel coronavirus outbreak may be just the beginning of mass pandemics
The ‘Coronavirus Shitshow’, video spoof by Juice Media.com (Australia), broadcast on Mar 14, 2020 (‘This has been a message from your local government franchise, authorized by the Department of Responding to Global Emergencies, When They Threaten the Stock Market.’)
The New York Times’ insidious, ongoing disinformation campaign on Russia and the 2020 U.S. elections, by Gareth Porter, Consortium News, Mar 17, 2020
Related: ‘Russiagate 3.0’ drowns out Trump’s reckless escalation of U.S.-Russia nuclear arms race, interview with Scott Ritter, braodcast on ‘Pushback’ (The Grayzone), with host Aaron Maté, Feb 23, 2020
I’m a doctor in Italy. We have never seen anything like this, my country’s health care system may soon collapse, by Dr. Marco Pavesi, New York Times, Mar 18, 2020 (Dr. Marco Pavesi is an anesthesiologist.)
Related:
I’m a doctor in Britain. We’re heading into the abyss, by Dr. Jessica Potter, New York Times, Mar 18, 2020 (Dr. Jessica Potter is a respiratory specialist in Britain’s National Health Service.) …After just one patient with Covid-19, a quarter of our junior staff are off with coughs and sniffles we would normally work through. A single case of the coronavirus has wreaked havoc in our hospital. It’s a microcosm of what may come. Britain has fewer intensive-care beds than most other European countries. Occupancy rates are high, and there’s a daily struggle to discharge enough people to make space for new patients. Even when a bed is available, we do not have the nurses to staff it. A decade of cuts and underfunding has left us dangerously exposed…
* Britain draws renewed flak for go-slow coronavirus strategy; Spain sees sharp rise in cases, by Paul Waldie, Globe and Mail, Mar 17, 2020 …Britain has yet to see the peak of infections. A study by researchers at London’s Imperial College [issued on March 16, 20-page report here] says as many as 250,000 people could die from the outbreak in Britain [should the government continue to follow ‘mitigation’ instead of ‘supression’ efforts]. Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, told the parliamentary committee that health officials are hoping that mitigation efforts by the government will keep deaths to around 20,000. He added that seasonal flu kills about 8,000 people annually. The Imperial College study also says government measures such as self-isolation and social distancing will likely have to remain in place for up to 18 months until a vaccine is ready…
U.S. lags in coronavirus testing after slow response to outbreak, New York Times, Mar 17, 2020
U.S. virus plan delivered to Trump regime on March 13 anticipates 18-month pandemic and widespread shortages, New York Times, Mar 18, 2020 …The 100-page plan, dated March 13, the same day President Trump declared a national emergency, laid out a grim prognosis for the spread of the virus and outlined a response that would activate agencies across the government and potentially employ special presidential powers to mobilize the private sector…
Related:
* White House takes new line on coronavirus threat after dire report on death toll, New York Times, Mar 16, 2020 [A report released on March 16 by an epidemic modeling group at Imperial College London warns that without action by the government and individuals to slow the spread of coronavirus and suppress new cases, 2.2 million people in the United States could die. The lead author of the study, Neil Ferguson, an epidemiology professor, said in an interview that his group had shared their projections with the White House task force about a week ago and that an early copy of the report was sent this past weekend.].
* Inside the coronavirus response in the U.S.: A case study of the White House under Trump, New York Times, Mar 16, 2020 Infighting, turf wars and a president more concerned with the stock market and media coverage than policy have defined the Trump White House. They have also defined how it has handled a pandemic
* Governors led as Trump minimized coronavirus pandemic, by Philip Rucker, Washington Post, Mar 16, 2020
* Concern that children in U.S. will go hungry as schools close over virus fears, Washington Post, Mar 16, 2020 …As the growing coronavirus pandemic shuts down school for millions of students, educators are worried not just about missed class time but missed meals. An estimated one in six children live in homes without enough food, and many families rely on schools to feed their children…
* Military recruitment and training will continue as Pentagon rejects proposals from military and health officials to put a halt, Washington Post, Mar 16, 2020
* Unsanitized: The COVID-19 Daily Report, The American Prospect, March 17, 2020
Ravaged by war, Middle Eastern countries face a new scourge, Associated Press, Mar 18, 2020
Related: Blockaded Gaza looks on wryly as the world erects barriers to itself, Reuters, Mar 18, 2020
How the coronavirus could take over your body (before you ever feel it), by Jeff Wise, in ‘Daily Intelligencer’, New York Magazine, Mar 17, 2020
Scientists see no quick end to the coronavirus battle, by Ivan Semeniuk, science reporter, Globe and Mail, Mar 16, 2020 …The statement by Canada’s chief medical officer reflects a well-studied relationship that suggests the peak of a pandemic can be reduced and delayed by public health measures that inhibit close contact among people and reduce transmission rates. What is much harder to forecast – and where many countries are now in uncharted territory – is the degree to which individuals, communities and economies can sustain such measures…
Related:
* Health experts stress value of coronavirus testing, citing example of South Korea; wealthy Western countries have failed that test, particularly the U.S. Report in Globe and Mail, Mar 16, 2020 …On March 16, the director-general of the World Health Organization admonished countries for failing to scale up testing in
a way that could help them mitigate and control outbreaks. “You cannot fight a fire blindfolded and we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said…
* UK government’s ‘herd immunity’ policy ditched as alarms sounded over rising infections, Irish Times, Mar 17, 2020
* I’m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire, by William Hanage, The Guardian, Mar 15, 2020 (Dr William Hanage is a professor of the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvard University.)
* How long will social distancing for coronavirus have to last? It depends on these factors, by William Wan, Washington Post, Mar 16, 2020 …“It depends if a week from now, we look like Italy or South Korea,” said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. It took China roughly two months from the beginning of its outbreak — and a month from the time the gravity of the situation was understood — for the country to reach its peak. It took South Korea roughly half a month…
* How U.S. coronavirus testing stalled: Flawed tests, red tape and resistance to using the millions of tests produced by the WHO, Washington Post, Mar 16, 2020 …U.S. efforts to distribute a working test stalled until Feb. 28, when federal officials revised the CDC test and began loosening up FDA rules that had limited who could develop coronavirus diagnostic tests. During that critical interval, the CDC repeatedly assured the public that progress was being made, even as public health officials around the country began to raise alarms about the shortage of tests…
A lesson coronavirus is about to teach the world, by Jonathan Cook, published on his website blog, Mar 17, 2020
Ten thoughts on the power of pandemics, by Andrew Nikiforuk, TheTyee.ca, Mar 17, 2020 They disrupt, reveal, renew. They give opportunity to rethink what we’ve come to believe is normal.
And by the same writer: COVID-19, brought to you by globalization, by Andrew Nikiforuk, TheTyee.ca, Mar 13, 2020 How the virus exploits traits of our economy extolled as modern triumphs
U.S. airline industry seeking more than $50 billion in government aid amid coronavirus crisis, Washington Post, Mar 16, 2020
Related:
* UK airlines call for multibillion bailout to survive Covid-19 crisis, The Guardian, Mar 15, 2020
* Here come the bailouts, starting with the airlines, ‘Deal Book’ newsletter by New York Times, Mar 17, 2020 …The five biggest U.S. carriers spent 96 percent of their free cash flow over the past decade on stock buybacks, according to Bloomberg…
* Don’t feel sorry for the airlines, commentary by Tim Wu, New York Times, Mar 15, 2020
How Iran failed to stop outbreak of the cornoavirus pandemic, Associated Press, Mar 17, 2020
Related: How U.S. sanctions intensify the spread of the coronavirus in Iran, by Keyvan Shafiei, The American Prospect, Mar 17, 2020 (Keyvan Shafiei is an Iranian American Ph.D. candidate in the Philosophy Department at Georgetown University.)
India scrambles to escape a coronavirus crisis. So far, it’s working, New York Times, Mar 16, 2020
Stocks record another day of double-digit losses, Wall St. has worse day in more than three decades, Associated Press, Mar 16, 2020 The S&P 500 has plummeted nearly 30 per cent since setting a record high less than one month ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 2,997 points, or 12.9 per cent, today, March 16.
Related: Lockdowns, tanking stocks as virus fight shifts to Europe, U.S., Associated Press, Mar 16, 2020
An epicenter of the pandemic will be jails and prisons if inaction continues, commentary by Dr. Amanda Klonsky, New York Times, Mar 16, 2020 …The American criminal legal system holds almost 2.3 million people in prisons, jails, detention centers and psychiatric hospitals. And they do not live under quarantine… In America’s jails and prisons, people share bathrooms, laundry and eating areas. The toilets in their cells rarely have lids. The toilet tank doubles as the sink for hand washing, tooth brushing and other hygiene. People bunked in the same cell — often as many as four — share these toilets and sinks… People are constantly churning through jail and prison facilities, being ushered to court hearings, and then being released to their communities — nearly 11 million every year…
Related:
* Fears mount about impact of coronavirus on homeless, Washington Post, Mar 15, 2020 …The White House and Department of Housing and Urban Development have to this point not moved to deploy emergency funding to help the homeless or housing shelters. The bipartisan agreement that was approved by the House late March 13 also did not include any measures aimed at the homeless, despite concerns raised by advocacy groups to congressional lawmakers…
* As coronavirus deepens inequality, inequality worsens its spread, New York Times, Mar 15, 2020
Surge in coronavirus patients threatens to swamp U.S. hospitals, Washington Post, Mar 15, 2020 …The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates a pandemic influenza, such as the one that hit the United States in 1957, would result in 38 million needing medical care, 1 million needing hospitalization and 200,000 needing to be in intensive care. In a severe scenario, such as in the 1918 influenza epidemic, the numbers would go up to 9.6 million hospitalizations and 2.9 million needing intensive care.The United States, in comparison, has only about 924,107 hospital beds and 97,776 intensive care beds, according to a 2018 American Hospital Association survey…
Related:
* Spiking U.S. coronavirus cases could force rationing of hospital beds and life-saving equipment similar to those made in Italy, China, Washington Post, Mar 15, 2020
* Coronavirus is exposing all of the weaknesses in the U.S. health system, VOX, Mar 16, 2020 High health care costs and low medical capacity made the US uniquely vulnerable to the coronavirus
A complete list of Trump’s attempts to play down coronavirus, commentary by David Leonhardt, New York Times, Mar 15, 2020 …I’ve reviewed all of Trump’s public statements and actions on coronavirus over the last two months and they show a president who put almost no priority on public health. Trump’s priorities were different: Making the virus sound like a minor nuisance. Exaggerating his administration’s response. Blaming foreigners and, anachronistically, the Obama administration. Claiming incorrectly that the situation was improving. Trying to cheer up stock market investors… Now that the severity of the virus is undeniable, Trump is already trying to present an alternate history of the last two months. Below are the facts — a timeline of what the president was saying, alongside statements from public-health experts as well as data on the virus…
Related:
* Trump is breaking every rule in the CDC’s 450-page playbook for health crisis, Washington Post, Mar 14, 2020
* Trump’s xenophobic travel ban causes chaos and severe infection threats at U.S. airports, Common Dreams, Mar 13, 2020
* At press conference on March 13, Trump bails out oil industry while families wait to see what support will happen for lost incomes, Common Dreams, Mar 14, 2020
U.S. Congressional representative Ilhan Omar calls for lifting of sanctions on Iran amid coronavirus outbreak, Middle East Eye, Mar 13, 2020 With more than 11,000 reported cases, the Islamic Republic is one of the worst affected by Covid-19 outside of China
Make no mistake: Italy’s runaway cornavirus spread is not an outlier in this global pandemic, by Dr. André Picard, health columnist, Globe and Mail, Mar 13, 2020 How much worse can the new coronavirus pandemic get? One would be hard-pressed to find anything but alarming answers to that question. Europe has now become the epicentre of the global pandemic – it is recording more cases daily than China did at the peak of its outbreak. This, despite having weeks to prepare. The grim epidemiological reality is that every Western country now faces the prospect of an Italy-like explosion of coronavirus…
Related:
* Spain, France impose tight controls as global coronavirus infections pass 150,000, Agence France presse (AFP), Mar 15, 2020
* Which country is ‘flattening the curve’ on coronavirus spread, and which isn’t? A global graphic comparison, by Ivan Semeniuk, science reporter, Globe and Mail, Mar 14, 2020
* How countries around the world have tried to contain the coronavirus, Washington Post, Mar 14, 2020
Coronavirus will linger after the pandemic ends. But it won’t be as bad, by Justin Lessler, Washington Post, Mar 14, 2020 (Justin Lessler is an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.)
It was the virus that did it, by Michael Roberts (Marxist economist in UK), published on his website, Mar 15, 2020 I’m sure when this disaster is over, mainstream economics and the authorities will claim that it was an exogenous crisis nothing to do with any inherent flaws in the capitalist mode of production and the social structure of society. It was the virus that did it. This was the argument of the mainstream after the Great Recession of 2008-9 and it will be repeated in 2020…
What can Covid-19 teach us?, by H. Bruce Franklin, published in CounterPunch, Mar 13, 2020 ‘Neither Covid-19 nor a major recession poses a threat to our survival as a species. We do, however, face two existential threats, both created by our species, and each featuring the U.S. in the lead role–nuclear holocaust and environmental devastation’
Alone against the virus, by Amy Kapczynski, Gregg Gonsalves, published in the Boston Review, Mar 13, 2020 …The press and social media have been awash in stories on the bumbling U.S. response to COVID-19. There is plenty to criticize, and disastrous leadership from the Trump administration may make this much worse than it needs to be. Yet many of the features that threaten to make COVID-19 so disruptive have much longer and deeper roots in our political and social order. This is nowhere more apparent than in the structural features of our health care and public health sectors that make an effective response so difficult…
Four reasons civilization won’t decline, it will collapse, by Craig Collins, published in CounterPunch, Mar 13, 2020 …The latent fear that civilization is living on borrowed time has also spawned a counter-market of “happily ever after” optimists who desperately cling to their belief in endless progress. Popular Pollyannas, like cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, provide this anxious crowd with soothing assurances that the titanic ship of progress is unsinkable… Pinker’s rosy statistics cleverly disguise the fatal flaw in his argument. The progress of the past was built by sacrificing the future—and the future is upon us…
Essay by David Wallace-Wells: ‘America is broken’, by David Wallace-Wells, from New York Magazine‘s ‘Daily Intelligencer’, Mar 13, 2020, re-published with background information on A Socialist In Canada
Latest news on coronavirus pandemic: Cases continue to drop in China as pandemic epicenter shifts to Europe, from Reuters, Mar 14, 2020 [The death toll in mainland China from the coronavirus reached 3,189 at the end of March 13, up by 13 from the previous day. All the latest deaths were in Hubei province, ten were in Wuhan city. The virus has infected 80,824 people in mainland China. Globally, more than 138,000 have been infected and over 5,000 have died. Italy is the worst affected country in Europe, reporting a total of 17,660 cases by March 13. That same day, the World Health Organization warned that Europe has now become the “epicentre” for the pandemic, with Italy reporting more daily cases than did China at the height of its outbreak (Al Jazeera).] Related:
* Trump regime declares national emergency as coronavirus shuts down American life and states try to battle outbreaks. Report in Washington Post, Mar 13, 2020
* Experts warn that much of Europe could face Italy-like surge within weeks, Washington Post, Mar 13, 2020 …If the virus continues to infect people at its current rate, which is not a certainty, a European country such as Spain, with 3,000 cases, could see 250,000 infected individuals in about a month, based on doubling times of five days. Benjamin Maier at the Robert Koch Institute has plotted the infection curves of countries in Europe and Asia that have seen outbreaks. Spain is showing galloping exponential growth, he said, while Britain, Germany and France are still on a steep trajectory. “You can see that many countries will follow Italy’s example if they don’t follow strict and stricter measures,” Maier said…
* Pollution is plummeting in Italy in the wake of coronavirus, emissions data show, Washington Post, Mar 13, 2020
* The coronavirus is about to expose just how broken Canada’s welfare state really is, by Taylor Scollon, publisher and co-founder, Passages, Mar 13, 2020
* What scientists are learning about COVID-19 spread, Washington Post, Mar 13, 2020
Capitalist agriculture and Covid-19: A deadly combination, interview with evolutionary biologist Rob Wallace, Mar 11, 2020 (Rob Wallace is the author of the 2016 book Big Farms Make Big Flu, Monthly Review Press.)
Russia and Turkey finalize details on ceasefire agreement in Syria’s Idlib, by Maxim A. Suchkov, Al-Monitor, Mar 13, 2020
COVID-19: The monster is at the door, by Mike Davis, published on the blog of Haymarket Books, Mar 12, 2020 Mike Davis has authored many books including Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster (1999) and The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu (2005).)
Related:
* The worst-case estimate for U.S. coronavirus deaths, by Sheri Fink, New York Times, Mar 13, 2020 Officials at the C.D.C. and epidemic experts conferred last month about what could happen in the U.S. [The New York Times is waving its paywall for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.]
* Italy’s health care system groans under coronavirus, a warning to the world, New York Times, Mar 12, 2020
* Accidental hero, NBA player Rudy Gobert, makes North America sit up and take notice of the coronavirus, commentary by Bruce Arthur, sports columnist, Toronto Star, Mar 12, 2020 read the commentary here in pdf format: Coronavirus accidental hero
Trump lies mount as coronavirus spreads across United States, Common Dreams, Mar 13, 2020
Related:
* When the world needed Donald Trump to step up, he let it down, by Edward Keenan, Washington bureau chief, Toronto Star, Mar 12, 2020 read the article here in pdf format: Trump lets down the world
* Trump blocks states from expanding Medicaid in response to coronavirus, Common Dreams, Mar 13, 2020
* Amid coronavirus crisis, Trump moves to take food stamps from over a million people, Common Dreams, Mar 13, 2020
* As coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, Trump authorizes new bombing campaign in the Middle East, Common Dreams, Mar 13, 2020
U.S. stock market suffers worst crash since 1987 as Americans wake up to a new normal of life, Washington Post, Mar 12, 2020 The stock market crashed to its worst day since 1987, shrugging off dramatic intervention by two central banks and a prime-time address by President Trump as Americans realized the coronavirus will impose new limits on their daily lives. The Dow Jones industrial average posted its largest one-day point loss in history, dropping almost 2,353 points to close at 21,200.62. In percentage terms, the 10 per cent loss marked the Dow’s worst day since the infamous October day known as ‘Black Monday’… In an epic day-long rout, European markets suffered similar declines, with exchanges in Paris and Frankfurt shedding more than 12 per cent and London’s FTSE index losing nearly 11 per cent… Wall Street’s stunning meltdown over the past month has erased almost all of the stock market gains since Trump’s November 2016 election… The March 12 declines reflected investor unease with the handling of the crisis by global leaders, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Trump, and the emergence of structural problems in financial markets that were overlooked during a record 11-year economic expansion.“It is the response to bad or absent leadership, particularly on the public health front, combined with unhelpful statements by the Trump administration, European Central Bank and others that’s fundamentally driving this,” said Adam Posen, a former member of the Bank of England’s rate-setting committee…
Related:
* News update on coronavirus pandemic, Al Jazeera, Mar 12, 2020
* World Health Organization declares that COVID-19 qualifies as a pandemic, National Public Radio, Mar 11, 2020 and read report by Associated Press, Mar 11, 2020
* Canadian prime minister and family in quarantine after Sophie Grégoire Trudeau tests postive for coronavirus following trip to UK, CBC, Mar 12, 2020 [Deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, an ardent defender of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi infested government and armed forces, takes charge of daily operations of the Canadian government.]
Confusion and chaos surround coronavirus testing in the U.S., by Yasemin Saplakoglu, staff writer, Science Direct, Mar 11, 2020
Related:
* Trump regime’s ban on travel from continental Europe escalates pain for airlines, Associated Press, Mar 11, 2020 [The Trump regime has exempted Britain from its ‘Europe’ travel ban. The regime is using xenophobic language to distract from its own ineptness in responding to what is now the coronavirus pandemic. Trump calls the virus causing COVID-19 a “foreign virus”. Secretary of State Miek Pompeo calls it “Wuhan virus”.]
* U.S. restricts travel from EU: What you need to know, Deutsche Welle, Mar 3, 2020 …Great Britain and Ireland, which are not part of the Schengen Zone, are not included in the travel ban. Neither are the European countries of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania…
* Media dutifully report Trump’s fiddling as coronavirus burns through world, by Neil deMause, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org), Mar 12, 2020
* Long list of canceled professional sports leagues suspend tournaments and schedules–basketball, hockey, baseball, tennis, soccer, Associated Press, Mar 12, 2020
‘Social distancing’ could go a long way toward slowing down COVID-19, researchers at University of Toronto report, by Kate Allen, science and technology reporter, Toronto Star, Mar 11, 2020 read the article here in pdf format: U of T study on social distancing and coronavirus
A fumbled global response to the virus in a leadership void, by Mark Landler, columnist, New York Times, Mar 11, 2020
Related: Senate Republicans delay vote on emergency paid sick leave bill as experts declare coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, Common Dreams, Mar 12, 2020
If politicians can unite to fight coronavirus, why not climate change?, by Martin Regg Cohn,columnist, Toronto Star, Mar 11, 2020
Social distancing could buy U.S. valuable time against coronavirus, Washington Post, Mar 10, 2020 (read the article here in pdf format: Social distancing and coronavirus)
Related: Coronavirus will spread faster in the U.S. due to lack of universal health care, by Joel Segal and Harvey Wasserman, Truthout.org, Mar 11, 2020
New coronavirus cases in China drop steeply while Italy and South Korea see the brunt of the epidemic, NPR, Mar 11, 2020
Related:
* Trump, germaphobe in chief, struggles to control the COVID-19 story, Vanity Fair, Mar 9, 2020
* The Trump administration is stalling an intel report that warns the U.S. isn’t ready for a global pandemic, TIME Magazine, Mar 9, 2020
U.S. and France significantly increase arms exports, by Ida Karlsson, Inter Press Service, Mar 11, 2020
Related: Trends in international arms tranfers, 2019, ‘SIPRI Fact Sheet’, published in March 2020 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Kremlin confident it can win oil price war, Asia Times, Mar 10, 2020 …According to an official statement, the Russian side offered to preserve the production cuts already in place until the second half of 2020 “in order to better understand the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy and oil demand.” However, the statement continues, “our OPEC partners decided to increase oil production and start a fight for market share.” Russia’s move has been widely interpreted as a calculated measure to prevent US shale-oil producers seizing a larger global market share. “The U.S. and other non-OPEC+ countries are ready to increase production. That is why the deal did not make sense from the point of view of Russia’s interests,” said Mikhail Leontiev, spokesperson at Russian state oil giant Rosneft…
Related:
* Oil price crash: Fifty per cent of U.S. shale (fracking) operations could go bankrupt, by Nick Cunningham, Oil Price.com, Mar 9, 2020
* Who will win the Saudi-Russia oil war? Russia’s chances look good, by Eric Reguly, Europe correspondent, Globe and Mail, Mar 10, 2020 (read the article here in pdf format: Russia-Saudi oil war)
* The new reality of shale oil (fracking): Almost all wells drilled now lose money, Bloomberg News, Mar 9, 2020
* Trump may bail out his billionaire oil industry pals, for him the true coronavirus victims, feature report by Bess Levin, Vanity Fair, Mar 10, 2020
A global financial asset deflation is underway. Is this a prelude to a next ‘great recession’?, by Jack Rasmus, published on his website, Mar 9, 2020
Democrats and their media allies impugned Biden’s cognitive fitness. Now they feign outrage, by Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept, Mar 9, 2020
Related: Joe Biden’s dementia symptoms, by Caitlin Johnstone, published in Consortium News, Mar 6, 2020 …I hate repeatedly writing about the obvious and undeniable fact that an old man is exhibiting obvious and undeniable symptoms of incipient dementia. It isn’t fun, and it doesn’t feel good. But the alternative is lying down and allowing the Democratic party and its allied media to gaslight people into believing it’s not a thing, as they are doing currently…
The coronavirus isn’t another Hurricane Katrina. It’s worse, by Michael Gerson, columnist, Washington Post, Mar 9, 2020 (read the column here in pdf format: Coronavirus threat)
Related:
* While the world deals with the coronavirus, Trump glorifies himself on Twitter, commentary by Eugene Robinson, associate editor, Washington Post, Mar 9, 2020 (read the commentary here: Trump and coronavirus)
* Inside South Korea’s ‘Shincheonji Church of Jesus’ at the center of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, New York Times, Mar 9, 2020
U.S. health experts say stricter measures are required to limit coronavirus’s spread, New York Times, Mar 9, 2020 With more than 500 cases in almost three dozen states, officials worry that containment efforts aren’t enough. Some former government officials say the Trump administration is not acting quickly enough to stop the virus from spreading. (read the article here in pdf format: Coronavirus in U.S.)
Related:
* While Biden says ‘happy to talk about that later’, Senator Sanders holds roundtable on coronavirus in Michigan with medical experts, Common Dreams, Mar 9, 2020 [The broadcast begins at the 46′ mark. Note that in his introduction, Senator Sanders unfortunately repeats the false claims that the initial responses to the coronavirus crisis in China made the crisis worse. This flatly contradicts the explanations of medical experts, including the World Health Organization. That said, in his introduction, the senator calls for free medical treatment for all those made ill by the coronavirus, including the cost of vaccine, and he calls for paid medicl leave for those who fall ill or are quarantined.]
* Iran releases 70,000 prisoners as coronovirus toll rises, Al Jazeera, Mar 9, 2020
* Italian prime minister orders the lockdown of the entire country, Associated Press, Monday, Mar 9, 2020 …Prime Minister Conte said Monday night that a new government decree will require people wishing to travel outside the areas where they live in the country of 60 million people to demonstrate a need to work, health conditions or other limited reasons. The restrictions will take effect on Tuesday and, like those already in place in northern Italy, will last until April 3…
* Coronavirus case at CPAC brings outbreak closer to Trump, threatening to upend his routine amid reelection bid, Washington Post, Mar 8, 2020 (in MSN News) A growing sense of concern and uncertainty about the reach of the novel coronavirus has begun to take hold in the White House, after an attendee at a recent political conference where President Trump spoke tested positive for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Trump was photographed shaking hands with Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, who confirmed that he had been in direct contact with the infected man during the Conservative Political Action Conference last month…
* As more virus cases trace their origins to Egypt, questions rise over government measures, Washington Post, Mar 9, 2020
* Egypt tries to reassure tourists as coronavirus cases rise, Washington Post, Mar 8, 2020 A sharp spike in coronavirus cases in Egypt is threatening one of the largest economies in the Middle East. The nation’s tourism industry is reeling from an outbreak on a Nile cruise ship that has affected more than a dozen American passengers. Egypt reported its first death related to the virus on March 8: a 60-year-old German tourist who had been in the country for seven days…
The virus and the working class, by Jack Rasmus, published on his website, Mar 8, 2020
Related:
* Companies are putting out hand sanitizer, but many have campaigned for years against sick pay, Washington Post, Mar 9, 2020 ‘About 24 per cent of U.S. workers, or more than 30 million people, lack access to paid sick leave. Many of them are low-wage workers whose jobs involve working closely with the public — restaurant and retail workers, health-care aides.’ …Since 2011, 13 states and the District of Columbia have required employers to offer sick pay: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Over the same period, more than dozen other states have passed legislation forbidding any such mandates: Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Republican governors in Florida and Wisconsin have conspired to veto sick pay provisions approved in referendum votes…
* Why I won’t stay at home when I’m sick, commentary by Mandy Pipher, Toronto Star, Mar 9, 2020 …Like a great many people in this country, I just can’t afford to stay home from work when I am sick. People in more privileged economic positions — including, I’m assuming, those responsible for telling the rest of us to stay home from work when we’re sick — don’t seem to truly understand what this means, so allow me to explain…
Inside the U.S.-backed World Uyghur Congress, by Ajit Singh, published in The Grayzone, Mar 5, 2020
Mexicans to strike on March 9 to condemn gender violence, Associated Press, Mar 9, 2020 Thousands of women across Mexico plan to stay home from work or school on March 9 for ‘A Day Without Women’, hours after an unprecedented number of them filled the streets to protest rampant gender violence on International Women’s Day… Government data shows 3,825 women met violent deaths last year, seven per cent more than in 2018. Thousands more have gone missing without a trace in recent years. Authorities seem incapable of preventing or properly investigating the crimes, very few of which result in convictions… The back-to-back protests mark an intensification of the struggle by Mexican women against violence and impunity in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for females. Women in Argentina and Chile have staged strikes in previous years and will do so again Monday…
Related: In Mexico, seething anger over violence against women spills into the streets on Int’l Womens Day, LA Times, Mar 8, 2020 …Police estimated the crowd at 80,000, making it the largest feminist street demonstration in Mexican history… Family members at the march were mourning women who vanished without a trace, presumed victims of violence. They are among more than 60,000 people listed as disappeared in Mexico.
Bending to U.S. demqnds, Syria’s Kurdish-led YPG forces refuse to protect Kurds, commentary by Robert Inlakesh, published in Press TV, Mar 9, 2020
India’s governing BJP party has incited hatred it can no longer stop, by Pragya Tiwari, Al Jazeera, Mar 9, 2020
Related: Do the Delhi riots spell the end of India’s secular identity?, interview with Kapil Komireddi, broadcast on CBC Radio One‘s ‘The Sunday Edition’, Mar 8, 2020 (24-minute interview) (Kapil Komireddi is a journalist and author of the 2019 book Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India.)
‘We’re just lost’: Why the U.S. still lags on COVID-19 testing, CBC News, Mar 7, 2020 …The Trump administration’s “chaotic” response to COVID-19 is the result of an inability to marshal government resources effectively, and the responsibility lies with the president himself, according to health policy analyst and journalist Laurie Garrett. “We’re in such a crude state of affairs with developing our ability to do surveillance and diagnosis, it’s pathetic,” said Garrett, a Pulitzer prize-winning author of books such as The Coming Plague…
* Trump’s bizarre conduct and statements while visiting Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta on March 6. Report by Associated Press, Mar 6, 2020
* Squandered time: How the Trump administration lost control of the coronavirus crisis, by Ashley Parker, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Lena H. Sun, Washington Post, Mar 6, 2020 (read the article here on MSN News)
Wuhan doctors’ report becomes valuable guide for treating critically ill coronavirus patients, by Willian Booth, Washington Post, Mar 7, 2020 (read the article here in pdf format: Wuhan doctors report …Specialists outside of China applaud the treatment given by the Chinese doctors to their patients in the study, saying that similar levels of care would be found in American and European critical care units… [China’s medical system and government have been praised by medical experts worldwide for their response to the COVID-19 coronavirus emergency. But the ‘experts’ that write and publish corporate and state media in the West have been cynically using the emergency to wage a campaign of anti-China disinformation. They say the Chinese government and medical system have been using the emergency primarily to bolster authoritarian political rule.]
Reported previously on A Socialist In Canada:
* Dr. Bruce Aylward reports on the COVID-19 mission to China of the World Health Organization, by Kate Allen, science and technology reporter, Toronto Star, Feb. 29, 2020 read the article here in pdf format: Dr. Bruce Aylward on WHO mission to China
* Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Feb 16 to 24, 2020, 40-page report
* ‘China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak has changed its course for the better’. Report on CBC News, Feb 28, 2020 …’It is the unanimous assessment of the team [the World Health Organization team that visited Wuhan, China this past week] that [the actions of Chinese government] have changed the course of this outbreak. It was a rapidly escalating outbreak. It has plateaued and is coming downward sooner than expected…’–Bruce Aylward, who led the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 mission to China Feb 16-24, 2020.
* China’s Wuhan lockdown helped limit global spread of coronavirus, says World Health Organisation, South China Morning Post, Feb 24, 2020 China’s decision to put Wuhan into lockdown a month ago helped limit the global spread of Covid-19 outbreak, a senior official from the World Health Organisation said on Monday. Bruce Aylward, head of a WHO team that visited the city over the weekend, also confirmed that the number of new cases had been falling… “Cases are falling and they are falling because of the actions that have been taken.” … Aylward described the “all-government, all-society approach” as “extraordinary” and “probably the most ambitious and agile” in history… While China reported fewer infections over the weekend, the disease has now spread to 29 countries and regions with South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran all reporting a surge in new cases…
Alarmed Italy locks down northern region, including Milan, to prevent spread of coronavirus, Reuters, Mar 8, 2020 …The new measures say people should not enter or leave Lombardy, Italy’s richest region, as well as 14 provinces in four other regions, including the cities of Venice, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Rimini. Prime Minister Conte said nobody would be allowed to move in or out of these areas, or within them, unless they had proven, work-related reasons for doing so, or health issues… [The affected areas produce about one third of the gross domestic product of Italy. Earlier, Italy’s government ordered the closure of all schools and universities until March 15.].
Related: Italy and France report biggest spike of COVID-19 cases since outbreak, Associated Press, Mar 7, 2020 …In its daily update, Italy’s civil protection agency said the number of people with the coronavirus rose by 1,247 in the last 24 hours, taking the total to at least 5,883. Another 36 people also died as a result of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, taking the total to 233. Italy has now reported more deaths from COVID-19 than both Iran and South Korea, the leading two hot-spots for the outbreak after China…
Unions seek to be kingmakers if Democrats are split at the national convention, by Annie Linskey, Washington Post, Mar 7, 2020 (in MSN News)
‘Like a ball of fire’: Andrew Cockburn on hypersonic weaponry, by Andrew Cockburn, in London Review of Books, print issue dated March 5, 2020 Vol 42, #5 Read the essay here in pdf format: Like a ball of fire
Related: Russia fears U.S under Trump now ready to use nuclear weapons as ‘viable political option’, Common Dreams, Mar 6, 2020
Truce brings relief to northern Syria, report by Associated Press, Mar 6, 2020 [Western media never reports two simple truths about the population in Syria’s Idlib province (governorate). Idlib’s population in 2010 numbered some 1.5 million; it has swelled to twice that number today. One, much if not all of the increased population are those refusing to live under Syria’s constitutional government, including the thousands of militia members and families who have migrated to Idlib. Two, Turkey and its allied, right-wing militias have conducted an ethnic cleansing of Idlib’s Kurdish population following Turkey’s 2018 military intervention into Idlib.] Related:
* Syrian army and residents block U.S. military convoy in northeast, while right-wing paramilitary grooups clash in ceasefire region in northwest, Press TV, Mar 8, 2020
* New Putin-Erdogan deal over northwest Syria is sugar-coating the Turks’ surrender, commentary by Scott Ritter, published in RT.com, Mar 6, 2020
* ‘Rare calm’ returns to Idlib following ceasefire deal as Damascus secures strategic gains, Press TV, Mar 6, 2020
* Syrian gov’t won’t let Turkish gov’t split any Syrian territory in embattled Idlib, declares Syria’s UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, Press TV, Mar 7, 2020 Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has lashed out at U.S. President Donald Trump for tightening “illegal” sanctions against Iran, saying such a move is aimed at draining the Islamic Republic’s resources required in the fight against the novel coronavirus…
* Erdogan’s dance with Putin: Humiliating but face-saving, by Cengiz Candar, Al-Monitor, Mar 6, 2020
* U.S. blocks UN Security Council statement backing Syria ceasefire, France 24, Mar 6, 2020
Greek government and many of the country’s people turn hostile to asylum seekers along Turkey side of the border, New York Times, Mar 6, 2020
Related: The EU is responsible for refugees on the Turkey-Greece border, by Shabbir Lakha, Counterfire, Mar, 2020 [Missing from this otherwise informative commentary is the pressing need for peace and a political settlement in Syria. This is a vital step in settling the refugee/asylum seekers crisis in Turkey and along its borders. The recent ceasefire agreement in Syria’s Idlib province, which the Turkish govenrment has been obliged to accept, is a key step towards a political settlement that respects the territorial integrity of Syria and accepts the legitimcay of its government.]
‘Counterfire’ left-wing group in UK calls for Syrian surrender to NATO and its regime-change war. [An article on the situation is Syria published on February 29 by the UK left-wing group ‘Counterfire’ concludes as follows: “…The desperate nine-year war in Syria has been inflamed and prolonged by foreign interventions on all sides. We are now facing another moment of extreme danger… As UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres has said, what is needed is an immediate cease-fire. Continued foreign interventions make that much less likely. The last thing the Syrian people need is great power rivalries once again being fought out on their territory. We must demand that NATO does not escalate and that Russia, Turkey and all foreign powers end their interventions.” But Russia is in Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government. It plays an essential military as well as political role in preventing violent regime change. The military presence of Turkey, on the other hand, is completely illegal and a violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian people and government. Not to speak of the military presence in Syria of Turkey’s NATO allies the United States and Britain, of which the Counterfire article is silent! The call by left-wing groups in the West for a ‘Russian withdrawal’ from Syria without an ccompanying, comprehensive political and military settlement is nothing less than a call for surrender by Syrians and their government. This is most decidedly not going to take place, so why do Western leftists persist?]
Putin and Erdogan reach agreement on de-escalation in Syrian province of Idlib after marathon Moscow talks, RT, Mar 5, 2020 …The document, signed after the negotiations, underlined that both Moscow and Ankara remained committed to maintaining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria. Both leaders acknowledged that the conflict in the country has no military solution and that it was up to the Syrians alone to decide the fate of their country. It was also agreed to facilitate efforts to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Idlib, while also creating conditions for the refugees to return to their homes…
[Western media outlets as well as soft-media outlets such as NPR, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye and Rudaw.net are failing to report a key clause in the ceasefire agreement reached by Russia and Turkey in Moscow on March 5. It commits both countries to “maintaining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria”. In past agreements with Russia, Turkey has agreed, under duress, to language respecting the territorial integrity of Syria and to sever its support to rightist paramilitaries seeking the overthrow of the Syrian government. But then the government proceeds to violate its promises. The latest agreement indicates the continued weakness of NATO-member Turkey’s regime-change ambitions for Syria. The precise text of the Russia-Syria agreement will be published on this news page when it becomes available.]
In story featuring Doctors Without Borders, Democracy Now! continues pushing regime-change for Syria, report broadcast on Democracy Now! on Feb 28, 2020 (14-minute report) …AMY GOODMAN: So, Avril Benoît, talk about the devastation of the children — I mean, The New York Times had this major piece on children freezing to death…
Exclusive: OPCW whistleblowers confront leadership’s attacks, cover-up of Douma deception, by Aaron Maté, published on The Grayzone, Mar 5, 2020 OPCW leadership tried to discredit two veteran officials who challenged a cover-up of its chemical weapons investigation in Douma, Syria. They respond in new letters obtained exclusively by The Grayzone.
The study by MIT researchers published last month in the Washington Post confirming the Oct 2019 coup in Bolivia was planned and illegal, news analysis by Joe Emersberger, Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting, Mar 4, 2020
‘Super Tuesday’ and the coming, irrevocable split in the Democratic Party, by Jack Rasmus, published on his website, Mar 3, 2020
Related: Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday revival, by Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, Mar 4, 2020
World Health Organization says the coronavirus global death rate is 3.4%, higher than earlier figures, Business Insider, Mar 5, 2020
Related:
* Death rate from coronavirus in China has been steadily dropping, National Public Radio (U.S.), Mar 4, 2020
* How does the new coronavirus compare with the flu?, by Rachael Rettner , senior writer, Live Science, Mar 3, 2020
* Coronavirus: Revenge of the pangolins, by Wufei Yu, op-ed in New York Times, Mar 5, 2020 China has banned the trade of wildlife, suspecting that exotic animals infected humans. It’s not the first time such a ban has been decreed.
World oil consumption to fall by largest volume on record, by Geoffrey Morgan, Financial Post (Canada), Mar 4, 2020 As coronavirus brings the world’s economy to a grinding halt, global oil demand is expected to decline by the largest volume in recorded history in the first quarter, dealing another blow to fiscally vulnerable Canadian oil producers.
Syrian govt. forces recapture key northwestern city from Turkish-backed militants, Press TV, Mar 2, 2020
Related:
* Russian military police deployed to Syria’s Saraqib, TASS news agency, Mar 2, 2020
* NATO unease over intervening on Turkey’s side in Idlib, Syria, by Scott Ritter, Feb 28, 2020 [Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and former UN weapons inspector (1991-98). This op-ed was published in the conservative RT.com.] Previously reported on A Socialist In Canada:
Russiagate 2.0 drowns out Trump’s reckless escalation of U.S.-Russia nuclear arms race, interview with Scott Ritter, broadcast on ‘Pushback’ (The Grayzone), with host Aaron Maté, Feb 23, 2020 (29-minute interview) Amid new fear-mongering about “Russian interference,” former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter on Trump’s overlooked, reckless escalation of the U.S.-Russia arms race
Iran warns Turkey to ‘behave wisely’ as Ankara wages drone, shelling attacks against northern Syria. Report in Press TV, Mar 2, 2020
Related:
* Turkey and Russia lock horns in Syria as fear of outright war escalates, by Mehmet Ozalp (Charles Sturt University, Australia), published in The Conversation, Mar 2, 2020
* Syrian Kurds ponder Afrin’s recapture in shadow of Idlib crisis, by Fehim Tastekin, Al-Monitor, Mar 2, 2020
Anti-Russia conspiracy in corporate media in U.S., Canada and Europe holding strong. Excerpt from an op-ed in March 3, 2020 Washington Post: …The November election is just around the corner and it’s cler the Russian government continues to wage an assault on our electoral process…
Chile’s U.S.-backed gov’t shooting anti-austerity protesters, blinding and maiming by the thousands, by Ben Norton, Consortium News, Mar 2, 2020
The armoured glass box that separates Julian Assange from his legal team and the courtroom where his extradition is being decided is an instrument of torture, by Craig Murray, published on his website, Mar 2, 2020 (See Craig Murray’s website for his reporting of the first phase, four days, of extradition hearing of Julian Assange held in Belmarsh Prison in London on Feb 25 to 29, 2020. The hearing will resume on May 18.)
