Janet Magneson (Engelhardt)

Thanks, Tim, for the cartoon.  This is a great venue to share these funny postings.  We can all use a good laugh during this difficult time.

Tom Chavez

Moderate Excercise May Save Your Life BUT

Don't Knock Yourself Out

A large study showed that mild to moderate exercise – performed about three times a week – reduced the risk of dying during the Hong Kong flu outbreak in 1998. People who did no exercise at all or too much exercise (over five days of exercise per week) were at greatest risk of dying compared with people who exercised moderately.

Additionally, studies performed on mice demonstrated that regular exercise performed two to three months prior to an infection reduced illness severity and viral load in obese and non-obese mice.

Thus, limited animal and human data cautiously suggest that exercise up to three days per week, two to three months prior, better prepares the immune system to fight a viral infection.

What if we have not exercised regularly? Will restarting an exercise routine be good or bad? Limited data, also obtained from mice, suggests that moderate exercise for 20 to 30 minutes a day after being infected with the influenza virus improves the chances of surviving. In fact, 82% of the mice who exercised 20-30 minutes a day during the incubation period, or the time between getting infected with flu and showing symptoms, survived. In contrast, only 43% of the sedentary mice and 30% of the mice who performed strenuous exercise – or 2.5 hours of exercise a day – survived.

Therefore, at least in laboratory mice, mild to moderate exercise may also be protective after we get infected with the flu virus, whereas no exercise – or too much exercise – is bad.

Tim Jones (Jones)

Thanks Janet, ha Ha!  

On the subject of exercise, well I think it's critical to keeping yourself physically and mentally healthy.  I've been an avid cyclist all my life but stopped riding when I got my dog....well, because he has a habit of cutting in front of me.  

I walk Tito a bit over a mile every day. Bought some batteries on my last trip to Costco and in so doing got my blood pressure monitor working again. Average B/P 125 over 68. I'm good with those numbers and credit those numbers to my daily walks. 

Have my bike tuned up so will cut out for a ride early before Tito gets up.  He sleeps late.

Take care out there and stay healthy.

Tim

Tom Chavez

From Chuck Butler: Buy Gold Now

Longtime readers know that I have great dislike for Lola (aka Goldman Sachs). But there are times when Lola, who always gets what Lola wants, says things that I agree with… And the folks at MarketWatch tell us that Lola is bullish on Gold…. (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-sachs-says-it-is-time-to-buy-gold-the-currency-of-last-resort-2020-03-24)

Here’s a snippet: The current coronavirus-induced economic and financial market turmoil is seemingly the perfect environment for gold.

“We have long argued that gold is the currency of last resort, acting as a hedge against currency debasement when policy makers act to accommodate shocks such as the one being experienced now,” said analysts at Goldman Sachs led by Jeffrey Currie.

Chuck Again….  The important thing to remember folks, is when a Big Investment House such as Lola says you need to buy something it tells you that they are long the “something”, and they need you to buy to make their investment more profitable…..   But in this case, Lola is also helping investors who would normally not listen to anyone else but Lola….

Gregg Wilson

Tom,

Without any help from Chuck or Lola, I have been buying gold for a long time.

The Federal Government and Congress always throw mountains of money at any problem. Where does it come from? The Federal Reserve prints it (whether in actual bills or on the books). The government has always used more paper money to aleviate its debt

You cannot print gold, so it retains its value. I read Henry Hazlitt.

Tim Jones (Jones)

Invisible Virus!  Where?

Gregg Wilson

Hell hath no fury.........

Al Peffley

We went to a Walmart on Tuesday morning to participate in early shopping time for "Seniors"...won't be doing that again.

Tom Chavez

Bill Hamilton

Tim,

Assuming the stimulus package is signed into law as currently written everyone will get some amount of money if they meet the following three criteria.  1. Filed a tax return for 2018 or 2019 tax years.  2. File their tax return using a Social Security Number, (you can not use a tax identification number, which few people use).  3. Your adjusted gross income falls under the $75,000/person, $150,000/couple limit.  If a person did not file a tax return in 2018 or 2019 tax years because they did not have reportable income and/or did not have withholding to report, they can still file a tax return.  Just file a return showing what little/no income you had and that owed no taxes.  This is all it takes to receive a stimulus check from the IRS.

Tom Chavez

Washington State is doing something right!

Tom Chavez

Washington State Subdues the First Outbreak of Coronavirus

EvergreenHealth CEO Jeff Tomlin, whose hospital has handled 40 of Washington state’s more than 130 virus-related deaths, reports that the hospital is no longer overwhelmed, though it still lacks supplies. 

While the number of cases in Washington state grew by as much as 28 percent in one day on March 15 — it has since slowed significantly statewide, as have hospitalizations and deaths. 

Kirkland Chief Joseph Sanford and his counterparts in local government have begun to take stock of what worked, and what they might pass on to other communities. Out of 95 EMS personnel, just one has tested positive for covid-19.

Rather than enter a potentially infected nursing home, Kirkland first responders asked staff to bring patients out into the fresh air to reduce risk. They used electrostatic foggers to lay down disinfectant in big coats. Tweaks reduced the cleaning process from 40 minutes to five.

EvergreenHealth officials this week have been drafting a report on best practices, in an effort to educate hospitals around the country on what worked in Kirkland. 

EvergreenHealth advises the strongest feasible limits on visitors at the outset — banning them — until the situation allows for family members to safely enter the hospital. That way, the hospital never has to walk back less-stringent policies.

While the medical community urges caution, many Kirkland residents have begun to look beyond the virus to the looming economic threat from a mandated shutdown of “nonessential” businesses.

The clash between economic forces and medical concerns mirrors the debate inside the White House, and echoes questions across the country about the risk of societal shutdown for an extended period.

The $2-trillion coronavirus bill aims to alleviate that risk threat. Let's hope it works out without creating too many other problems.

Gregg Wilson

The most important path is to have enough equipment, materials and personnel to test and determine those who are infected and those who are not. Isolate the infected ones and let the not infected to go back into the workforce and get businesses operating.

If we cannot segregate than the economy will not recover.

Al Peffley

Tom Chavez

National Geographic on 1918 'Spanish Flu' Epidemic

Gregg, you are right that the best path is to test and segregate, but we don't have enough testing kits. How to segregate when carriers may be asymptomatic? Our next best option is strict social distancing until tests are available or covid-19 cases subside.

This graph from National Geographic shows the risk of relaxing restrictions prematurely. With the $2-trillion support of the coronavirus bill the economy should be able to tolerate a pause until tests are ready without irreparable damage.

Bill Engelhardt

Al Peffley

I have been looking at the Washington DoH website and the DoH data from our state's confirmed infection population. Our county is reporting 10 confirmed infections as of Thursday morning (one is a young, late 20's ER nurse that we know who works at St. Johns Hospital.) However, the WA DoH table still showed 7 confirmed cases in Cowlitz County yesterday evening after the daily update. If the DoH reporting sample is indicative of a national trend in infected individuals by age bracket, then the age group of 50-59 is most likely to contract a severe case of 2019nCoV and may become sicker than any other age group (18% of 3,723 confirmed cases to DoH as of 28 March 2020.) The rest of the age groups are in the 13-15% range, except the <19 bracket. Recent summary reports from New York have indicated that the average age of confirmed infected individuals is 59 years old (similar data has been reported out of Italy.) It seems to fit the trend of the reported Washington State DoH data. This information does not fit with the "...only seniors are the most vulnerable to be infected" message repeated in some of the mass media. The deaths reported in WA DoH table does currently spike in the oldest age group of 80+ (54% of 175 deaths), and is skewed towards infected people above the 30-39 bracket. We have not peaked yet in CONUS. This should come as no surprise with the deadly effects of confinement and prior health issues in seniors living at dense population nursing homes 24/7. Responders are at high risk as this pandemic infection continues to peak across the US. If only the people with serious symptoms are tested, then we will lose more irreplaceable responders from the ER and ICU healthcare "front lines". This all hits close to home because our son and a couple who are very close friends have socially interacted within the last two weeks with the infected hospital nurse.

Staying at home may infect entire families or small groups living communal in a small residence. Those who do not distance will suffer the consequences of increased vulnerability and long term infection. This one stays in infected lung cells very similar to the way HIV strains 1 & 2 infect human cell tissue. Your imune system kills infected cells that host any quick replacating pathogen virus. After a certain number of cells are overwhelmed by the virus, some antiviral medications can become "toxic" according to UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine's website about their HIV research.

I went to local Grocery Outlet store yesterday for some "comfort" food supplies. There was a group of three tall young men in their late 20's taunting customers and store staff about the store's distancing rules. They appeared to be acting out for their own childish group entertainment. They probably could not go to work and seemed to be looking for some social antics "fun" (a high "AH factor" because they are defiant and bored?) Distancing and business shutdowns seem to be bringing out the worst in some dysfunctional and/or abnormally obnoxious people. They bought nothing from the store. They mocked people in the parking lot as they left the store to get into their truck.

Bill Engelhardt

Money talks. Trouble is, mine only knows one word -- goodbye. 

Al Peffley

I quit gambling my Boeing voluntary investment plan pension funds when I lost over a third of it during the Dot-com bubble burst in the late 1990's. Since the next market bubble burst in the mid-2000's, I have placed all of my remaining added pension funds into guaranteed, low-yield 3-5% earning investment portfolios that have minimal loss risk and made a real property purchase investment. My stock market shares trading & bond conversion manipulation days are over...

Gregg Wilson

There is the St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham. One of the ER doctors announced that the hospital had not prepared for the coronavirus.

They fired him.

How incredibly intelligent!!!

Tom Chavez

Advice from China CDC: Use Masks and Thermometers

“The big mistake in the US and Europe, in my opinion, is that people aren’t wearing masks,” Gao Fu, director general head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview with Science Magazine, one of the world’s leading academic journals.

“This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact,” he said. “Droplets play a very important role – you’ve got to wear a mask, because when you speak, there are always droplets coming out of your mouth.”

Not everyone agrees, however. The World Health Organisation (WHO), for instance, says that only people showing symptoms of infection or those caring for someone that has Covid-19 needs to wear a face mask.

The European and US disease control and prevention centers take a similar view.

But Gao said people should err on the side of caution.

“Many people have asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic infections,” he said. “If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.”

In its latest public advisory issued on March 22, the Chinese CDC said that people need not wear face masks when they are at home, in the open air, or in an environment where there is good airflow and no crowds. However, they should still wear them in the office, meeting rooms, elevators and on public transport.

As well as advocating the use of face masks, Gao called for more thermometers in public places in Europe and the US.

“Anywhere you go inside in China, there are thermometers,” he said. “You have to try to take people’s temperature as often as you can to make sure that whoever has a high fever stays out.”

He said that social distancing, restricting people’s movements, and isolating suspected and confirmed cases and those with whom they had been in contact were also important in combating Covid-19.

In January, Gao was part of the Chinese team that isolated and sequenced the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19. He also co-authored two of the first papers on the subject, both of which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

< From South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) >

Al Peffley

The non-intrusive skin contact thermometers at social locations for screening sound like a good idea. Mask wearing, if properly fitted and clean, have their benefits, IF you can buy them after hoarders have stock-piled them for excessive personal gain and social (ego-motivated) control. PPE Mask designs  and function should improve because of this pandemic. Points well taken, Tom. I read Friday that there are new riots happening in Wuhan. Have you heard anything about public rioting and why it's happening, Tom?

A Little Humor

For those of you who have adult "children", watch this video of Mrs. Hughes at the Ice House on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWrj9TaA0Mc

It brought smiles to our faces on this Sunday morning.

Inspiration & Contemplation

A good Sunday read for Christians, and those who might be open to some word from God during these pandemic tribulation times: Psalm 91

Cheers!

Tom Chavez

Okay, Al, this is your intrepid China reporter direct from … Houston?!

After the city of Wuhan and Province of Hubei were locked down for two months, people were finally allowed to come out into the open as the lockdown was lifted on Friday. People from outside Wuhan and Hubei province were allowed to enter and hundreds started arriving by trains into Wuhan. 

But when Hubei residents tried to leave Hubei Province to enter neighboring Jiangxi province they were informed that they could not do so until April 8th. Authorities and people in other provinces are afraid that people from Wuhan and Hubei will carry coronavirus. 

Jiangxi Police blocked a bridge over the Yangtze River which crosses from Hubei into Jiangxi. Hubei people clashed with police and overturned a bus, according to media reports and videos posted on social media.

On Friday evening, digital maps showed the afore-mentioned bridge closed on both sides for “construction.”

In a brief commentary published on its Twitter-like Weibo account, the state-owned People’s Daily called the bridge conflict “regrettable.”

“The people of Hubei have made great efforts and significant contributions to winning the battle against the epidemic,” the commentary said. “People from all sectors of society have also been calling for the acceptance of Hubei’s migrant workers. However, it’s undeniable that some individuals of some regions have intentionally or unintentionally discriminated against Hubei people, and set up obstacles for them to return to work”.

Linda Pompeo (Worden)

Thank you all for the good information and the humor..  We sure can use both.  

As my long gone aunt used to say..."This too will pass dear... this too will pass".  We  all need to heed the advice to stay well to make sure that we "don't pass" with this virus.

God bless you....each and every one.

Al Peffley

Here is more information about Hubei Province impacts from inside China sources that I found this morning:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8165717/Locals-Wuhan-believe-42-000-people-died-coronavirus.html

The media report sounds believable considering the reported lethality of this pandemic virus outbreak and satellite sensor data transmissions from NASA atmospheric surveillance satellites of cremation gas [and smoke] emmisions around Wuhan. (Edited on 31 March, 2020. There! Is that better sentence structure?)

Some of our state governors are using the pandemic orders for political leverage and supressing "essential" commercial public services. Distancing makes sense, but some people are angry and acting out inappropriately. We don't need a police state to handle distancing guidelines, just public cooperation and social awareness and shopper warnings enforcement. The jails are full enough with bad people without adding misdemeanor violators to the jails' population.