To mask or not to mask, that’s the hell of a question

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NOTE:  In this medical news section we try to give our readers information about interesting and promising developments on the fight against this coronavirus (later we will extend this platform to all major medical conditions), but readers must keep in mind that we are often forced to publish materials originating within the US-style capitalist healthcare industry in which profits and not wellness is the main driver for action or inaction.


Respected voices, not to mention long-held cultural habits (as in Asia), continue to clash on the issue of mask-wearing during viral epidemics,, whether they be the common cold, influenza or the more dreaded SARS family of viruses, of which Covid-19 is the latest manifestation. Here's more food for thought, but no KO punch yet by either side.

AGAINST
ANTI-MASKERS: RIGHT OR SELFISH? 

The HighWire with Del Bigtree
Del Matthew Bigtree is an American television and film producer, and CEO of the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network, who produced the film Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe based on the discredited views of Andrew Wakefield on an alleged connection between vaccines and autism.
 

FOR

Do Masks Really Protect Against Covid?


The Jimmy Dore Show

James Patrick Anthony Dore is an American stand-up comedian and political commentator best known for hosting The Jimmy Dore Show.

Jun 21, 2020




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In the scramble for a cure for Covid-19 many are claiming being close to success.

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NOTE:  In this medical news section we try to give our readers information about interesting and promising developments on the fight against this coronavirus (later we will extend this platform to all major medical conditions), but readers must keep in mind that we are often forced to publish materials originating within the US-style capitalist healthcare industry in which profits and not wellness is the main driver for action or inaction. 

15 May 2020, 9:27 pm EDT By CJ Robles Tech Times

PERHAPS THE RACE TO FIND A CURE TO THIS AFFLICTION WILL STIMULATE VALUABLE RESEARCH IN OTHER AREAS
California Biotech Company Claims to Have Found 'The Cure' to Coronavirus, Social Distancing No Longer Needed

A California biotech company, Sorrento Therapeutics, claims to have discovered an antibody that can block the novel coronavirus. Therefore, according to them, social distancing is no longer required.

As reported by Fox News, the San Diego-based company claims its STI-1499 antibody completely blocks the coronavirus from entering the body.

Vials with blood samples are pictured at a clinic providing testing for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and antibodies, after authorities launched free mass screening for residents in the Russian capital, in Moscow, Russia May 15, 2020. (TechTimes.com)



The company is waiting for consent from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after filing for an emergency use approval.

Sorrento said in a press statement that it could produce up to 200,000 doses a month while the drug may be available sooner than a COVID-19 vaccine.

After making the claims, stocks for Sorrento skyrocketed by 244%. Closing at $549 on Thursday, the company's market value soared on Friday's intraday high to around $1.9 billion.

Finally a cure? Biotech Company Claims They Have Found an Antibody That Blocks the Coronavirus 

Like several antibodies, STI-1499 is set to be included in a drug "cocktail" the company is working on with Mt Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Sorrento CEO Dr. Henry Ji stressed that "there is a cure" and a solution that completely works. This announcement comes on the same day when social distancing rules expire and many states begin to reopen.

Ji also told Fox that social distancing may no longer be needed if there is a "neutralizing antibody" in the body. He added that "you can open up a society without fear."

This would be a relief after the World Health Organization recently stated that the coronavirus may just become an endemic virus in communities, which would never go away. Experts have also already warned about the possibility of a second wave of infections once restrictions are lifted.

However, the antibody was only seen to work in human cells during lab tests has not yet been tested on humans. This questions the company's claim that the antibody has blocked the virus 100%. After all, there is still no data on how it might behave inside the human body and its potential side effects.

The antibody cure

The STI-1499 antibody is an immune cell that neutralizes pathogens and it is seen to have some effects on coronavirus. A combination of antibodies serves as a "protective shield" blocking the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the ACE2 receptor, a receptor on the surface of human cells which is the primary entry point to the body.

Ji also told Fox that they have seen in the laboratory how the antibody "wraps around the virus" then takes it away. He added that if the virus cannot get inside the cell, it cannot replicate or survive.

Numerous companies and universities worldwide have been exploring on finding the cure to the coronavirus, including the use of antibodies. Sorrento's drug is classified as "neutralizing" or binding antibodies, which fully bind to a certain part of the virus.

Human tests

While tests using blood plasma from recovered patients to treat COVID-19 patients have already begun, there is still no specific date when STI-1499 will be subjected to human trials.

Earlier this month, the FDA gave emergency approval to Remdesivir, an antiviral from Gilead Sciences, which showed slim but promising benefits for survival and recovery times after a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study. However, there is still no proven cure for the coronavirus.

As of Thursday, May 15, according to John Hopkins, there are now more than 4.5 million cases of coronavirus worldwide, in which over 1.46 million are from the US. The death toll in the US has now reached more than 87,000. 




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A Viral Pandemic Or A Crime Scene?

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Gilad Atzmon A crosspost with The Unz Review



Dr Kyle-Sidell being interviewed by Dr John Whyte, MD, MPH, chief medical officer at WebMD.


[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e have recently heard from frontline medical physicians that the current global health crisis is something they have not been trained to deal with nor do they fully understand the spectrum of symptoms they encounter in hospitals and emergency centres. Earlier this week, Dr. Cameron Kyle-Sidell, an emergency physician affiliated with Maimonides Medical Center (Brooklyn), posted two insightful videos urging health practitioners to accept that COVID-19 does not cause any form of pneumonia. Instead, the virus causes a condition of oxygen deprivation, and ventilators as they are currently being used, may cause more harm than good for some patients.

What Dr. Kyle-Sidell suggests is a paradigm change in the perception of the current endemic. Kyle-Sidell is not alone, the few doctors who allow themselves to discuss the situation in a critical manner admit that medical science is perplexed by the virus.

One would assume that if the virus at the centre of the current epidemic was an unsavoury present from ‘mother nature’ we would be able to trace its evolution. We likely would have seen the gradual appearance of some of the new symptoms that have caught our medical establishment unprepared. It doesn’t seem this happened. In the view of many medical practitioners the new disease is in a category of its own. It is a novelty.

This means that it is possible that the Corona virus wasn’t created by nature but by creatures who believe themselves to be greater than nature.

In light of the above, I offer my paradigm change, one that is probably more radical than what Dr. Kyle-Sidell may have had in mind.

Since we do not know its provenance, we should treat the current epidemic as a potentially criminal act as well as a medical event. We must begin the search for the perpetrators who may be at the centre of this possible crime of global genocidal proportions.

While medical diagnosis is defined by:

  1. a determination of the nature of the cause of a disease.
  2. a concise technical description of the cause, nature, and/or manifestations of the symptoms.

Criminal investigations are primarily engaged with the human element. The criminal investigator seeks to ascertain the methods, motives, and identities of criminals, the identity of victims and may also search for and interrogate witnesses to the crime.

Treating the Corona virus as a crime would mean searching for possible offenders: individuals, institutions, or states that may have created the lethal virus as part of a research program or more directly, as an agent of biological warfare.

Law enforcement agencies often allocate dozens of investigators, officers, detectives and agents to untangle a single homicide. One would expect that following the deaths of tens of thousands around the globe, every police force, government and intelligence agency would join forces in the attempt to identify the possible culprit(s) at the root of the coronavirus crisis. We may be dealing with a negligent or criminal event on a massive scale.

While scientists and medical experts find it difficult to explain exactly how Covid-19 operates or how it came about, a few critical voices within the scientific community and the dissident media have pointed to alternative explanations that seem more explanatory than anything conventional medical thought has so far offered.

Some claim that G5 radiation is at the core of the new epidemic. I do not have any intention nor am in any position to comment on the topic, however, considering the scale of death we are dealing with, a criminal investigation may have to look closely into such a possibility: identifying the danger, identifying the possible motive and spotting the financial benefactors as well as beneficiaries.

A number of scientists have commented that laboratories and research centres have been engaged in the study of corona viruses and experimented with models that resemble the current virus. Specifically, some have pointed to a North Carolina laboratory that experimented with the viruses extracted from bats in 2015.

Back in 2015 USA Today published extensive research relating to the ongoing safety issues in biological laboratories in America and elsewhere. “Vials of bioterror bacteria have gone missing. Lab mice infected with deadly viruses have escaped, and wild rodents have been found making nests with research waste. Cattle infected in a university’s vaccine experiments were repeatedly sent to slaughter and their meat sold for human consumption. Gear meant to protect lab workers from lethal viruses such as Ebola and bird flu has failed, repeatedly.” The American outlet revealed that “hundreds of lab mistakes, safety violations and near-miss incidents have occurred in biological laboratories coast to coast in recent years, putting scientists, their colleagues and sometimes even the public at risk.” Naturally, safety failures in biological laboratories aren’t just an American problem. “A small, deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China in 2004 was traced to lab workers at the National Institute of Virology in Beijing. In 2007, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among cattle in England that required herds to be slaughtered was blamed on leaking drainage pipes at a nearby research complex.”

Treating the Corona virus outbreak as a crime ought to include a visit by the FBI to the office of the National Institute of Health and a careful review of all the files related to American laboratories conducting GOF experiments with Coronavirus. This investigative procedure must be exercised in every region and country in the world that has engaged in GOF experiments.

As soon as the Corona virus became the new disaster, Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military intelligence officer, was quick to point to China’s biowarfare program as a possible originator of the virus.

By now, with the exception of President Trump and his Pompeo character, not many are convinced that Covid-19 is a Chinese Virus (as Trump refers to it when he wants to annoy progressives). A criminal investigation would have to examine Chinese as well as Russian, British, French, German, etc. laboratories and their safety records. It should also verify whether Dany Shoham had any evidence for his assertion regarding China or whether he was attempting to divert attention from another possible suspect in this Corona affair.

As is true of nearly all US presidents and high foreign policy officials, Israel's leadership is similarly comprised of criminals, Benjamin Netanyahu (r) a glaring case in recent years.

Israel, with its extensive biological warfare laboratories and WMD facilities must also be subject to thorough scrutiny.

During his first term as Israel’s leader, Mr Netanyahu authorised a risky attempt to assassinate the Palestinian rising star and Hamas leader, Mr. Khaled Meshaal in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Five Mossad agents, posing as Canadian tourists, were sent to Amman. They ambushed Mr Meshaal on a street corner and sprayed poison into his left ear and expected him to die within 48 hours.

But their plan went wrong. One of Meshaal’s bodyguards chased the two Mossad agents who had carried out the operation and, with the help of a passing Palestinian Liberation Army officer, managed to capture them.

Instead of escaping over the border as they had planned, the rest of the Mossad team was trapped in the Israeli embassy in Amman. Mr Netanyahu was left with no option other than to negotiate with King Hussein of Jordan and plead for his assassins’ return. The king, who was dying of cancer, drove a hard bargain. Israel had to supply immediately the antidote to the poison that was killing Mr Meshaal. Netanyahu also had to agree to release nine Jordanians and sixty-one Palestinian prisoners amongst them Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas and at the time, Israel’s most hated foe.

But here is the astonishing piece of this saga. The poison used by Israel is a slow-acting but lethal poison that gradually shuts down the brain’s respiratory centre, leading to death. The doctor that revived Meshaal described his condition as respiratory oxygen deficiency. To date, it is not clear what type of agent was used by the Mossad against Meshaal, but a few facts are known. Israel employed a biological/chemical agent with a respiratory effect. Israel possessed the antidote to its lethal agent. Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli PM, authorised the botched assassination and the usage of a biological/chemical weapon.

Israel is not a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention. It is generally assumed that the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona develops vaccines and antidotes for chemical and biological warfare. In 2012 Haaretz wrote of the Ness Ziona laboratory that it’s an “institution that very rarely finds itself in the news, and when it does, it’s usually because of some controversy or other. According to Israeli sources, the institute develops pharmaceuticals, vaccinations, treatments and antibodies to protect Israelis from chemical (gas) or biological weapons. That’s along with its civilian research projects.” Haaretz continues, “according to foreign reports, it also develops chemical and biological weapons. One of these reports said institute scientists had developed the poison that was meant to have eliminated Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal in the botched Mossad attack against him in Amman in 1997.” (The Israeli press is usually far more honest and outspoken about Israeli affairs and general political matters than its counterparts in the US, Britain or France.—Eds)

Any detectives who examine the Ness Ziona Lab will have to figure out how the Israeli institute is already so advanced in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine. According to the Israeli press, a novel corona virus vaccine is already being tested at the institute.

Ness Ziona is not alone at the front of the Corona vaccine race. Migal, another Israeli company, announced at the end of February that it was almost ready with a vaccine. Detectives should ascertain whether Migal, like other laboratories around the world, is a safe environment and that it wasn’t in the Galilee laboratory that a tiny but vicious virus escaped its guardians.

Foreign Policy Magazine revealed three weeks ago that the Corona virus’ early appearance in Iran that sickened government and military leaders caused some Iranian officials to believe that the Coronavirus was part of an ‘American-Zionist biowarfare military campaign’ against their republic and its leaders.

I am not in any position to produce incriminating evidence against any person, institution or a state, it isn’t my job nor it is my wish to do so. I am a writer not a detective. Yet I maintain that evaluating the corona crisis as a crime may make those who plan to survive the pandemic feel a little safer in a world that long ago has lost its way. 


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About the author(s)
jazzsaxophonist, novelist, political activist, and writer.[2][3][4][5][6]Atzmon has written novels, journalistic pieces for such publications as the Unz Review(where he has a regular column), CounterPunch,[7] Uruknet,[8] The Palestine Telegraph,[9] and polemical works on Jewish identity. His criticisms of Zionism, Jewish identity, and Judaism, as well as his controversial views on Holocaust denial and Jewish history, have led to allegations of antisemitism and racism[10][11] from both Zionists and some leading anti-Zionists.[12]  Atzmon was born in a secular Jewish family in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ashkenazi on his father's side,[13] and grew up in Jerusalem.[14] His great-grandmother was a victim of World War II, but he refuses to assign her death a special Holocaust status.[15] His grandfather was, he states, a commander in the paramilitary Irgun during the period of the British Mandate in Palestine, who subscribed to the doctrines of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, hated Germans, despised the British, was angry with Palestinians for living on land that God had given to Jews, and loathed Jewish leftists.[16] For Atzmon he was a 'veteran Zionist terrorist', and he himself grew up in what he describes as a 'happy childhood'[17] imbued with a spirit of 'militant enthusiasm.'[16] 



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OF INTEREST TO OUR READERS

Acclaimed by critics, Ron Ridenour’s incisive history of the struggle between the US and Russia, extending from the Bolshevik revolution to our day, plus a wide-ranging and comprehensive analysis of many cultural America features which continue to  bolster the US drive for world domination, is now available in print at a discount price. It’s 564 pages packed with information, many critical but practically unknown facts, and an uncompromising revolutionary perspective on the colossal challenges confronting this generation. (Click here or on the image below to order.)

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In search of a coronavirus killer: Can existing drugs really turn the tide in the Covid-19 pandemic?

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[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith confirmed cases approaching one million and no vaccine yet available, the Covid-19 virus has sparked worldwide panic — yet with the fear has come hope that existing drugs might hold a cure. Is it all just wishful thinking?

Four months after it originated in China’s Hubei province, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 180 countries and claimed more than 38,000 lives. With no proven treatment in sight, drastic measures have been taken by governments to contain its spread — but the world can’t rely on ‘social distancing’ and ‘self-isolation’ forever.

Amid the anxiety, there has been no shortage of drugs touted by the media and medical professionals as potential ‘game changer’ antidotes to the viral infection. RT took a look at some of the most widely-proffered options.

ALSO ON RT.COMScientists must look dispassionately at Covid-19 so they can see what it is, not what they fear: Rushed science can be bad science


Anti-malarial drugs (Trump’s choice)

Drugs usually used to treat malaria have been suggested as a potential “game changer” against the coronavirus infection by everyone from US President Donald Trump and the US Department of Health to Russian medical specialists

The high-profile promotions and panic-buying of the drugs by governments has already led to shortages for those who use them to treat other conditions, including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. The drugs, which suppress the immune system, are seen as potentially helpful against Covid-19 because the virus over-stimulates immune response which can cause organ failure. Yet, drugs like hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are unlikely to save the world from this rapidly-spreading viral infection since they appear to be ineffective against the virus itself.

One of the first studies promoting anti-malarial drugs as an effective treatment against coronavirus was led by French physician and microbiologist, Didier Raoult — but it has since been repeatedly criticized by other experts for “methodological flaws” and skewed data.

While Raoult cited instances of the drugs being effective against Covid-19 in China, they were apparently not particularly useful when used to treat patients in Italian hospitals, according to Dr. Giorgio Palu, one of the leading European experts in virology and former president of the European Society of Virology. “We just assume they can affect some viruses like SARS, yet they were not proved clinically,” he told RT.

Professor Sergey Netesov, who heads the Bio Nanotechnologies Laboratory at Russia’s Novosibirsk State University, also questioned the idea of using these medicines against coronavirus. “These drugs are not antiviral ones. Neither are they antibiotics,” he explained, adding that the one-celled organism that causes malaria is actually a parasite, so these drugs are anti-parasite medicines and should not normally be effective against viruses.

HIV drugs — a long shot

A combination of two drugs, lopinavir and ritonavir, that are used to treat HIV and sold under the brand name Kaletra, has also been widely considered as a viable option in the fight against coronavirus. It was listed as a potential treatment by reputable Dutch publishing and analytics company Elsevier, though its effectiveness was still described as “unclear.”

The theory was that this combination of drugs prevented the coronavirus from infecting new cells in a patient’s body by affecting a certain enzyme within the virus itself, in the same way it does with HIV. Yet, what appeared to be sound in theory turned out to be ineffective in practice.

A Chinese study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that “no benefit was observed with lopinavir–ritonavir treatment beyond standard care.” Its results were also supported by Palu, who said that Italian medics are abandoning this option of treatment for coronavirus patients. Netesov, meanwhile, said that the lopinavir–ritonavir option was never likely to be a success, since HIV is caused by retroviruses which are quite different to coronaviruses.

Professor George Lomonossoff, a microbiologist at the British John Innes Center, shared that view. “The [enzymes] are not identical between the two viruses so the efficacy is uncertain,” he told RT.


Ebola virus drugs?

A drug called remdesivir, originally developed to treat the Ebola virus, has been another widely discussed treatment option. Designated an ‘orphan drug’ (one which treats extremely rare conditions and is therefore commercially underdeveloped) by the FDA, remsedivir emerged as one of the “most promising” treatments in numerous Western media reports. In the US, the Pentagon even rushed to secure doses of the experimental drug for US troops who have contracted the virus.

The idea is that remdesivir gets into the viral RNA (ribonucleic acid) and halts viral replication, making it an ideal treatment — but that’s just the theory. Its practical efficiency is much less certain, experts say. “We still do not have clear positive results in coronavirus treatment,” Netesov said while Lomonosoff said it “needs to be tested” first. 

ALSO ON RT.COMCovid-19 vaccine: Difficult, uncertain and far-off, microbiologist says


Rheumatoid arthritis

It seems counterintuitive at first to suggest drugs that suppress the immune response can help fight an infection, but like the immune-suppressing anti-malarial drugs discussed above, a rheumatoid arthritis drug called tocilizumab has found its way onto the list of potential Covid-19 game changers.

This drug was first approved for use against coronavirus by China. Then Italian doctors reported that it helps patients suffering from severe pneumonia caused by the virus. Tocilizumab prevents the severe lung inflammation that has been seen in coronavirus sufferers and Palu believes it could be particularly effective in the “pre-severe” phase of the illness.

Lomonosoff explained that the drug doesn’t exactly inhibit the virus itself, but relieves the inflammation caused by the infection. In other words, Tocilizumab can’t help halt the global pandemic, but it could help at least a portion of the patients infected with Covid-19.


Interferon-based drugs

Another option involves exactly the opposite approach to the one envisioned with hydroxychloroquine and tocilizumab. This method involves stimulating immune response with interferon-based drugs, which are used for treating a variety of diseases from multiple sclerosis to cancer. 

With the coronavirus, the hope was that interferon-based drugs could block protein synthesis in human cells and stop the virus from replication – just as happens normally as part of an initial immune response. Yet, as Netesov warns, such an approach could bring more harm than good. 

Interferons “inhibit protein synthesis regardless of whether it involves proteins of a virus or a host,” he explained, adding that such drugs could not be used for a long time as they cause severe adverse effects. Such effects could involve disruption of blood cell replication or even suicidal ideation.

Besides, the drugs appear to be only effective in the first five days after a person becomes infected, since a virus usually develops a natural resistance to interferons beyond that point, the Russian specialist said. Since the first symptoms of Covid-19 tend to appear no sooner than 12 days after one contracts the virus, these drugs are unlikely to be particularly useful.


Can repurposing existing drugs work?

Medical experts have been “working on the hypothesis that combinations of drugs, working in ways that are different from their clinically prescribed roles” may be effective against Covid-19 or help to manage its symptoms, according to Ken Mills, professor of experimental haematology at Queen’s University Belfast, which was recently awarded a grant to fund Covid-19 treatment research.

The hope is that experts might identify treatments that can either prevent the virus infection or “reduce or alleviate” its symptoms, meaning fewer patients will become high-risk and need intensive treatment, Mills told RT.

Mills and his colleagues have been focusing on anti-viral and anti-inflammatory combinations but are keeping an “open mind” about which treatments could prove most useful when “repurposed” against the novel coronavirus.

Still, while multiple potential treatment options have been rapidly circulating in the media, none of them yet appears to be the cure that the world is searching for. It seems that for now, the preventive measures of social distancing and self-quarantine are the most reliable methods to limit the spread — and the quickest-possible development of a vaccine specifically to treat Covid-19 remains the holy grail.

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Living in the Covid-19 environment

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Cleaning a Covid-19 suspect area

 


Dateline: April 2, 2020

Accept as a fact the entire world is now a contaminated space and respect it as such. Starting with that view takes the guesswork out of everything you need to do. Normal people thrive in much more hazardous environments than this on a daily basis because they respect that fact.

::::::::

[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]ou've heard the US Surgeon General saying, "We should be acting as if we have the virus" to flatten the curve? How is this simple statement hugely relevant to protecting your loved ones and other people, helping medical staff in Malaysia and other countries desperately short of necessary protective equipment, doctors forming Facebook groups on social media to exchange advice on how to keep current patients alive based on their grim failures, and saving doctors in countries such as Philippines and Italy?

Understanding the new environment

I used to build decontamination chambers and work in hazardous environments, hence I'm familiar with hazmat protocols, including locked high radiation situations. People working in hazardous environments do so confidently because of the knowledge ensuring they can perceive their world without fear and the simple steps they take, to keep both them and their families safe.

If you perceive the world the same way, you take the fear of the unknown out of the equation and are taking all the proactive steps that are possible.

Fear of the unknown is the worst enemy you can have today. How you should react to Covid-19 is the unknown. While we don't know how the outbreak will turn out, there are reasonable, common sense, industry-proven concepts that can replace the stress this unknown brings. It can be done at little to no expense.

It is common sense that all information is subordinate to medical and government pronouncements. It is irresponsible to ignore those because the situation is rapidly developing. We are still at the beginning.

Beyond that, there are no caveats to applying best practices.

Divide the world into 3 parts. Contaminated space-Decontamination space Clean area

Accept as a fact the entire world is now a contaminated space and respect it as such. Starting with that view takes the guesswork out of everything you need to do. Normal people thrive in much more hazardous environments than this on a daily basis because they respect that fact.

Never forget some people will not try to understand or accept basic facts about this hazardous environment enough to take safeguards and protect themselves and you don't know who they are.

Decontaminated space is needed because you want to minimalize even the remote possibility of contamination from the hazardous environment entering your home. Everything outside regardless of the source has to be considered this way before it's brought in. Wipe it down.

The clean area is your home. You diminish the potential of contaminating it by simple steps, nothing extravagant is needed. It is the one place on earth you know that nothing can harm you. Protect it.

This is why people leaving areas with high infection rates are more at risk of contracting the virus than people who don't and are taking precautions. That's aside from becoming a new point of contagion.

The reason is simple. You are moving into areas and are in contact with unknown people and objects assuming they are safe because of geography. All you do in reality is throw all precautions away and move across a contaminated environment without safeguards. Doing so multiplies the odds of contagion by something as simple as touching the wrong doorknob or a gas station pump that a hundred people you don't know did before you.

The only safe place is the clean space you know about. That is the first rule of hazardous environments.

Contaminated Space

Contaminated space is every place in the world outside your home. Contaminated items include everything not already inside your home. Think of it as if you were living in space. Your own capsule (home) is the only safe environment until this subsides. The rest of the world and everything in it is part of a hostile environment (space). People in public space are part of this environment.

As an example, during my teen years in the US, we used to swim in water reservoirs. If the police caught you, the fine was more for swimming in bathing suits or shorts than swimming nude. The reason was the clothing you wore that morning going through public spaces had the potential to pick up and introduce any imaginable pathogen or contaminant into a source of public drinking water.

Every item whether it is your own clothes, wallet, watch, etc becomes part of this hostile environment in the same way as soon as it leaves your home. Have you ever noticed in movies that the white Tyvek suits worn in bad environments are a flat fabric? More detail is more surface area, which is something to consider.

If you start to think this way, you'll limit your exposure and minimalize what you bring into it. If you value something, leave it at home. Not exposing personal items is a common practice for hazardous environment work.

This point isn't about Draconian measures, merely about developing situational awareness in this unusual set of circumstances affecting many countries globally. You decide what's best for you. By creating a smaller footprint, you lessen the potential exposure exponentially.

During quarantines, households could have a designated person dealing with public activities like shopping. Masks should be mandatory if available and social distance practice in public is a must.

Sanitary wipes for hands are in reality a limited use item. Most of the virus stays intact on your hands and spreadable but it is still better than nothing at all. More than 20 seconds of real handwashing with soap and water is the best practice. Obviously, don't touch your face in this environment.

Decontamination space

This is important if you are in a high-risk area. You need to stop the potential at the doorstep so you don't bring contamination into your home. In this case, contamination includes any dirt or dust with the possibility of having the virus clinging to it.

Purchases should be wiped down before they enter your home.

Shoes should stay outside, because of the potential contact they have with the virus from public spaces. Particles on your shoes or clothes can become airborne in a normal environment. An alternate is washing your shoes with alcohol or other disinfectants. Leave them outside anyway.

The best practice would be to have public clothes and in-home clothes. So, change them before entering your home if possible. If not, try to separate clothes worn in public space from the living area and use a disinfectant spray if possible.

Masks should be left outside the living area. Last on the list is washing your hands and face with water before entering your home. This doesn't cost anything to set up. It is all done in a particular order for a reason.

Normally, a decon is 3-chambered. A dirty room where outside clothes are taken off. Next comes a shower where everything and everyone is washed down. Last is a clean room where respirators are taken off. This isn't feasible for most people.

Cleanroom

Take a shower after going to a public place. Try to make sure nothing enters your home without a decontaminating wipe-down first. If you purchased something, assume at least 20 other people you don't know contacted the item on its way to you.

This is where you live. Keep it clean.

The world

With all that said, please do your part and help others. I came across one small effort that should be a model for us all. In Australia, a young couple has elderly neighbors that are at high risk. They had their neighbors put a green sign in the window to indicate they were fine. A red one indicated they needed help, whether it was shopping or whatever.

Helping others do the same will increase the size of the clean areas to consist of your street, neighborhood, and finally city. Within a few weeks, taking these steps will cut the curve on the virus.

The entire world is in this together. By taking simple steps, you can protect yourself. Make sure everyone else around you can also do so. Every part matters. That part is what is going to help slow down the epidemic and make it manageable for doctors and nurses while they find a way through.

Do you think my advice sounds hysterical or irrelevant? Take a close look at what is happening in countries outside USA, Europe and the Middle East. And this is online.

Doctors frantically trying to exchange information online to save current and future patients, using social media groups such as Facebook {1}. Malaysian medical staff desperately short of PPE, therefore using dustbin liners, cling wrap and plastic bags which are clearly inadequate {2}. 61 doctors have died of Covid-19 in Italy, 12 doctors have died of Covid-19 in Philippines {3}. Hospitals in several countries are being overwhelmed by the numbers of patients in such a short span of time.

You do not have to be the Taiwanese anesthesiologist who invented the Aerosol box for anybody to use without profiting off it, which his fellow medical colleagues are replicating in countries such as the Philippines to try to protect themselves {4}. You do not have to be South Korea, which has 121 countries seeking their aid in Covid-19 testing{5}. You're not being asked to help sew masks or gowns in countries such as Russia {6}, although that will help.

Don't fall sick from Covid-19, by resorting to preventive measures as if you have already been infected with the virus. Being responsible includes knowing when to be civic-minded, knowing how to react mentally and emotionally and physically in a pandemic is vital {7}, and sharing accurate information in our highly-interconnected complex reality worldwide is always welcome.

Hope this helps.

{1} https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-24/covid-19-mysteries-yield-to-doctors-new-weapon-crowd-sourcing

{2} https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/03/23/doctors-nurses-turn-to-plastic-bags-cling-wrap-amid-shortage-of-ppe-in-mala/1849203

{3} https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/03/29/12-filipino-doctors-have-died-fighting-at-front-lines-against-coronavirus/

{4} https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/03/25/2003733342

{5} https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/coronavirus-covid19-countries-testing-south-korea-12598848

{6} https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/03/31/leaning-on-war-time-history-russian-factories-have-switched-to-sewing-masks-to-combat-coronavirus-a69793

{7} https://virologydownunder.com/past-time-to-tell-the-public-it-will-probably-go-pandemic-and-we-should-all-prepare-now/

(Article changed on April 3, 2020 at 02:26)

(Article changed on April 3, 2020 at 02:47)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George Eliason is an American journalist that lives and works in Donbass. He has been interviewed by and provided analysis for RT, the BBC, and Press-TV. His articles have been published in the Security Assistance Monitor, Washingtons Blog, OpedNews, the Saker, RT, Global Research, and RINF, and the Greanville Post along with many other publications.  He has been cited and republished by various academic blogs including Defending History, Michael Hudson, SWEDHR, Counterpunch, the Justice Integrity Project, along with many others.




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