WHEN Did Coronavirus Begin in the U.S.? and Why It Matters

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The entire political focus of yesterday’s news cycle was the legislative imbroglio between Republicans and Democrats over the coronavirus rescue package. Republicans believe we should presuppose and even continue encouraging an indefinite shutdown while spending trillions to treat it. Democrats believe the same thing and also want to add all their other extraneous progressive policies too. But nobody is asking: Do we really need to intensify the shutdown before we understand the data and projections of the actual virus itself?

Given that the virus was discovered in Wuhan on November 17 (at the latest), when did coronavirus really begin in this country? Roughly how many cases do we think occurred before we began testing during the first week in March, and how many fatalities occurred? How many of the presumed flu deaths, and particularly the presumed pneumonia deaths during what was thought of as a bad flu season, were really due to coronavirus?

These are not mere academic questions. They should determine our public policy response. Knowing when the virus began and what we think occurred in January and February (and perhaps even December) will help determine not only how severe this virus is, but how far along we are into the epidemic. If we really had hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of cases, along with several thousand more fatalities prior to testing, that would mean that the mortality rate is even lower than the 1.2% post-testing average so far. It would also mean we are farther along in the epidemic and that many have already been exposed to it, thereby making a categorical and nationwide lockdown counterintuitive at this point.

What led our government and the governments of many other countries into panic was a single Imperial College of U.K. study, funded by global warming activists, that predicted 2.2 million deaths if we didn’t lock down the country. In addition, the reported 8-9% death rate in Italy scared us into thinking there was some other mutation of this virus that they got, which might have come here. Together with the fact that we were finally testing and had the ability to actually report new cases, we thought we were headed for a death spiral. But again, as my colleague Steve Deace pointed out, we can’t flatten a curve if we don’t know when the curve started. . .

You see an insanely dangerous trajectory of cases taking off in March. But what exactly happened in March? The virus was introduced in Wuhan in November. And even without testing, we did detect a handful of cases here, the first known case being on January 21. So why would we suddenly experience the outbreak in March? It’s quite evident that the culprit for the spike in the chart is simply because that is when the testing began because Trump dropped the FDA regulation barring private testing after the government testing didn’t work.

Thus, we know with certainty that people were clearly contracting coronavirus and were likely dying some time before March, but we’re still not sure how long before or how many people. Given the overlap with the general flu and pneumonia season, we really have no way of knowing that the January 21 case of the individual flying from Wuhan to Spokane, Washington, was the first active case – patient zero.

It’s truly inconceivable that it would take so long for the virus to come here after it broke out in China in November. We likely had hundreds of thousands of travelers coming here and countless tens of thousands of Chinese nationals flying back even before Customs and Border Protection introduced any health care screening per CDC guidance on January 17. There are roughly 3.4 million Chinese admissions every year, not counting the numerous Americans who fly there and back. If we divide that by six to account for a two-month period before Trump shut off travel but after the virus had developed in Wuhan, that would be nearly 600,000 Chinese nationals.

It’s safe to say that as January wore on, the numbers likely dropped a lot from the Chinese side, but it’s still a statistical improbability that the virus wasn’t brought in earlier and in greater numbers than CDC has thus far detected and documented. Moreover, Chinese students in particular, including those from Wuhan, traveled back in mid-January for the new semester.

As Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of Trump’s coronavirus response task force, said yesterday of the spread in New York City, “Clearly the virus had to have been circulating for a number of weeks in order to have this level of penetrance in the community.”

If some of the pneumonia cases and deaths earlier this year were from coronavirus, that would mean that the death rate is much lower than predicted. Even the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was the ultimate petri dish of recycled air circulating an infection, with an elderly population, experienced a 1.25% fatality rate. New York, which seems to be, by far, the worst hot spot now, has a mortality rate hovering between 0.75% and 0.80%, and it is going down as they test more cases. That compares to 1.2% nationwide, which helps show that wherever we test and identify the virus, the numbers go way up, but the mortality goes down.

According to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York accounts for 25 percent of the nation’s testing. That means if every other state tested a larger sample of those who actually have the virus, their death rates would likely be as low as New York’s. This is what we are seeing in Germany, which tested more people than any other Western country, but has a mortality rate of 0.3%, despite having almost as large a proportion of seniors as Italy.

A mortality rate of 0.75% would still be three times higher than H1N1, which is very serious, but does it warrant a nationwide shutdown indefinitely, with governors closing school for the remainder of the year and others, like Gov. Cuomo, taking about this going on for nine months? Given the evidence in front of us on the mortality rate, the fact that so many more likely have had it or were exposed to it, and the fact that the Asian countries are already getting over the worst of it, why would we continue destroying our economy without studying more data? Why pass bankrupting legislation presupposing such a long-term shutdown? Even in Italy, the virus is showing signs of peaking after four weeks.

Shouldn’t this be the top debate item in Congress, given that the truth behind these questions will determine our needed fiscal response? Let’s face it, either way, Congress’ proposals will bankrupt us, but if our governments continue demanding indefinite lockdown, no amount of money in the world could solve this problem.

What about Italy? Why is its mortality rate so high? Some have suggested that it’s due to the high elderly population, but that doesn’t explain why the Diamond Princess had elderly mortality rates in line with the rest of the world. I don’t have the answer to that, but a plausible theory has been offered by Prof. Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italy’s minister of health, that Italy is overcounting deaths. “On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died have at least one pre-morbidity – many had two or three,” said Ricciardi, according to the U.K. Telegraph.

Remember, Germany has just a 0.3% fatality rate, and Israel has just 1 death out of nearly 1,700 cases. Germany’s demographic is almost as old as Italy’s, while Israel’s demographic is young. Thus, other factors are at play here.

Clearly, we need answers before we destroy our way of life and our economy indefinitely. Yet these are the only answers the bipartisan cabal in Washington is uninterested in discovering.

Here’s the ultimate question they need to answer: What would be the value added for locking down all Americans rather than allowing most healthy Americans in most parts of the country to go back to work by next week with proper precautionary measures? Where is their evidence that, given the virus has already been in the country for months, further lockdown will save more lives and that the economic depression won’t cost more lives? In order to answer those questions, we need more information on how we got here. (For more from the author of “When Did Coronavirus Begin in the U.S.? and Why It Matters” please click HERE)

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With so Many Americans Hurting, Trump Must Cancel the H-1B Visa Lottery

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Nothing demonstrates the darkness of the liberal agenda in the shutting down of America’s economy than the push for more foreign labor. If they are saying we need to spend trillions of dollars to help hurting Americans who are out of jobs, you’d think it would be a no-brainer to cancel foreign worker visas, not talk about increasing them.

This week, President Trump has an opportunity to draw a bold contrast on rebuilding the country with American labor. The H-1B visa program and its lawless sister program, Optional Practical Training (OPT) work permits, have gerrymandered Americans out of entry-level white-collar jobs – from programming and engineering to pharmacy and nursing. They are also responsible for creating a brain gain for countries like China at our expense, leading to the offshoring that is exacerbating our crisis in the medical supply chain. Now is the time for Trump to finally end these visas, and next week he has the perfect mechanism to do so.

Every year, the government holds an H-1B lottery on April 1, in which USCIS randomly selects 85,000 foreign visa applicants to take basic white-collar jobs from Americans. Along with those visa winners are their spouses, who are given H-4 visas. Through a lawless administrative loophole, every year roughly 50,000 of the spouses wind up also receiving employment authorization documents enabling them to compete with American workers.

With everything being canceled for Americans, isn’t it prudent to cancel the lottery to bring in more foreign workers? Even before the crisis, 71 percent of jobs in Silicon Valley went to foreign workers, and 74% of American STEM graduates overall failed to land jobs in STEM fields. “Let’s be clear – these workers were never needed, and the law has never required employers asking for white-collar contract workers to show that they couldn’t find U.S. workers,” said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies in an interview with CR. “Most of these workers are brought in because they are cheaper, not because of a labor shortage or skills gap. They have already directly displaced hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers over the years.”

Vaughan noted that now is the perfect time to end the racket. “Now, the case for them is even thinner, with forecasts of double-digit unemployment rates due to the response to the pandemic,” said Vaughan, who has been studying this issue for decades. “How can anyone argue with a straight face that we need [foreign] workers of any kind right now, with so many American businesses shutting down?”

Shockingly, page 64 of Nancy Pelosi’s 1,100-page pandemic panic bill contains a provision extending H-1B work permits for 100,000 foreign workers for three years. You read that right. The very same people who are now going overboard and mandating unconstitutional shutdowns of all businesses, even those that don’t engender public gatherings, are now replacing us with foreign workers. It’s rooted in the same perverted ideology as placing Americans under house arrest, but releasing criminals from prison.

The combination of these actions taken by the Left demonstrates that this is not being done out of prudence to contain the spread of an epidemic, but as a means of putting law-abiding American taxpayers and workers last at every turn.

Trump can end this racket by simply canceling the lottery this year and preventing the importation of 85,000 new foreign workers at a time when every job will matter to Americans. Moreover, he should cancel the unauthorized OPT program, which allows hundreds of thousands of foreign students who graduate in American universities to take American jobs without costing employers payroll taxes.

The need to further incentivize companies to hire Americans comes out of news reported by investigative journalist Paul Sperry last week that Wells Fargo and Bank of America are facing severe worker shortages. Why? Because India shut down its offices, and Indian workers don’t have the telecommuting capabilities that most Americans do. This problem will spread, because India just announced a nationwide lockdown for three weeks. Now would be a perfect time to cut off the foreign worker visa-to-outsourcing pipeline and rebuild these companies with American workers – and protect our supply chains to boot.

At the same time, the politicians are pushing for more H-2B low-skilled visas as well. DHS Secretary Chad Wolf announced a 35,000 expansion of H-2B visas on March 5, pursuant to unlimited authorization DHS was granted by Congress to raise the caps. But it’s not too late to pull them back. Republicans must shut off these visas in whatever bill they wind up passing the Senate.

One thing is clear: liberals can’t have it both ways. They can’t push endless redistribution of wealth during a potential great depression under the guise of helping workers and then bring in more foreign workers to take jobs. It’s time for Trump to call them out on it and use his authority to end the sellout of the American worker once and for all. (For more from the author of “With so Many Americans Hurting, Trump Must Cancel the H-1B Visa Lottery” please click HERE)

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Report: China Concealed 43,000 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

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The number of “silent carriers” – people who are infected by the new coronavirus but show delayed or no symptoms – could be as high as one-third of those who test positive, according to classified Chinese government data seen by the South China Morning Post.

That could further complicate the strategies being used by countries to contain the virus, which has infected more than 300,000 people and killed more than 14,000 globally.

More than 43,000 people in China had tested positive for Covid-19 by the end of February but had no immediate symptoms, a condition typically known as asymptomatic, according to the data. They were placed in quarantine and monitored but were not included in the official tally of confirmed cases, which stood at about 80,000 at the time.

Scientists have been unable to agree on what role asymptomatic transmission plays in spreading the disease. A patient usually develops symptoms in five days, though the incubation period can be as long as three weeks in some rare cases. . .

A growing number of studies are now questioning the WHO’s earlier statement that asymptomatic transmission was “extremely rare”. A report by the WHO’s international mission after a trip to China estimated that asymptomatic infections accounted for 1 to 3 per cent of cases, according to a European Union paper. (Read more from “Report: China Concealed 43,000 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases” HERE)

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Conservatives Fear ‘Temporary Relief’ Spending Will Lock in New Government Programs Forever

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As a multitrillion dollar emergency coronavirus spending package ground toward passage Tuesday, conservative activists worried that this temporary measure to keep the economy afloat during the pandemic will instead lead to a permanent expansion of the federal government. . .

A repeatedly expressed fear was that new benefits will prove difficult to take away once enacted, even after the economy improves, and elevated spending will be difficult to claw back to pre-coronavirus levels once the crisis is averted.

“Conservatives believe economic freedom is essential to limiting the current economic crisis and accommodating a fast recovery following the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus,” the Club for Growth, a leading conservative group, said in a statement. “And above all, whatever Congress does, it should first and foremost follow the Hippocratic Oath and ‘DO NO HARM.’” The Club is still reviewing the current bill, according to a spokesperson.

Democrats and Republicans have sparred over the exact contents of the emergency legislation, with each accusing the other of prioritizing pet programs over cash-strapped businesses and workers stuck at home in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. But President Trump and lawmakers mostly agree on new federal spending to avert a coronavirus-induced economic collapse, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin playing a significant role in negotiating with Senate Democrats. And Senate Republicans have repeatedly rebuked their Democratic colleagues for blocking a bill.

This has put conservative groups and lawmakers who are supportive of Trump, but critical of excessive spending, in an awkward position. While conservative opposition to the red ink billowing from Washington intensified under the Democratic administration of Barack Obama, much of this infrastructure was created in response to the bipartisan bank bailout signed into law by the previous Republican president, George W. Bush. These groups in turn helped elect members of Congress who promised to be more consistently fiscally conservative, some defeating pro-bailout incumbents in Republican primaries. (Read more from “Conservatives Fear ‘Temporary Relief’ Spending Will Lock in New Government Programs Forever” HERE)

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Trump Announces Postponed Deadline on Real ID Requirements

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President Trump announced that the federal government will delay the compliance deadline for Real ID travel requirements, minimizing the need for drivers to update their licenses in person. . .

“I’m also announcing that we’re postponing the deadline for compliance with Real ID requirements. At a time where we’re asking Americans to maintain social distancing, we do want to require people to go to their local DMV,” he said. “We will be announcing the new deadline very soon.”

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said last week that he would propose legislation that would delay the federal Real ID requirements for travel “until at least” September 2021, citing the coronavirus. He said the bill has bipartisan agreement, including from Republican Sens. Steve Daines and Ron Johnson. (Read more from “Trump Announces Postponed Deadline on Real ID Requirements” HERE)

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Chinese Propaganda Video Cites CNN, Democratic Politicians to Push Regime Narrative

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China’s state-run propaganda outlets are using coronavirus coverage by U.S. media and Democratic politicians to push the regime narrative that the Chinese government bears no responsibility for the ongoing pandemic and that sourcing the origin of the virus to Wuhan is politically motivated.

A video posted Monday by the Global Times, a tabloid run by the Communist Party of China, uses footage of numerous American media outlets and Democratic politicians to portray criticism of China’s handling of the coronavirus as racist. In addition to citing CNN’s Chris Cuomo and NBC’s Richard Engel, the video highlights tweets from two-time failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio parroting regime talking points.

“It is easy to scapegoat people, and that is what has always happened when there have been pandemics or epidemics,” Engel says in the clip featured in the video. “This is a virus that came from the territory of China but came from bats. This is a bat virus, not a China virus.”

In another video posted Sunday, Global Times editor in chief Hu Xijin highlights a CNN opinion piece by Chris Cillizza that argues President Donald Trump is “weaponizing bigotry” to shift blame away from his administration. After questioning the virus’s point of origin in Wuhan, Xijin cites Cillizza’s piece as evidence that Trump is using China as a political “scapegoat for his government’s slow response.”

(Read more from “Chinese Propaganda Video Cites CNN, Democratic Politicians to Push Regime Narrative” HERE)

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President Trump Announces a General Timeframe for Re-Opening American Businesses; Health Officials Want Trump to ‘Double Down, Not Lighten up’ Restrictions

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By Townhall. Speaking from the White House Monday evening, President Donald Trump announced America will be “open for business very soon” as the country continues to battle the Wuhan coronavirus.

“America will again and soon be open for business. Very soon, a lot sooner than three or four months as someone was suggesting. We’re not going to let the cure be worse than the problem itself. We’re not going to let the cure be worse than the problem,” Trump said. “This was a medical problem, we are not going to let it turn into a long lasting financial problem.” . . .

The tension between medical decisions and a cratering economy are increasing by the day as millions lose their jobs. President Trump urged Americans to continue the 15-day “stop the spread” plan, which includes social distancing and hygiene efforts.

“I want Americans to know that we will get through this challenge. The hardship will end, it will end soon, normal life will return and our economy will rebound very very strongly but right now in the midst of this great national trial, Americans must remain united in purpose and focused on victory,” Trump said. “To every single American please know that the sacrifice you are making at this time is saving lives.” (Read more from “President Trump Announces a General Timeframe for Re-Opening American Businesses” HERE)

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Health Officials Want Trump to ‘Double Down, Not Lighten up’ Restrictions

By Politico. Rattled health officials are trying to fight off ascendant voices around Donald Trump pressing the president to restart the economy as soon as Monday to stem severe business and job losses.

The prospect of resuming typical business so soon has horrified these public health leaders, who see the debate as premature amid a crisis that the administration is just beginning to wrangle, according to eight people with knowledge of the administration’s discussions about its coronavirus guidelines.

Health experts are contending the fallout will be worse if the White House declares victory now, only to have the virus resurface weeks or months from now. The government, they argue, has yet to definitively answer key questions that would dictate how to reactivate the economy: Do those who recover from coronavirus become immune? How do underlying health conditions affect the severity of the virus? And, most important, how widely has it spread?

Others have stressed the political risks facing Trump and his reelection campaign if the outbreak worsens significantly, warning that it would be catastrophic if the virus made a comeback closer to the November election — especially after Trump declared himself a “wartime” president and assured the public that his administration was in control. (Read more from “Health Officials Want Trump to ‘Double Down, Not Lighten up’ Restrictions” HERE)

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When the Hunter Gets Hunted: Video of Fight Between Mongoose and Cobra Has Netizens Hooked

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While many would dither in fighting a venomous cobra, the mongoose is not one of them. In fact, mongooses are known to be fearless slayers of snakes, especially cobras and now a video has now gone viral on social media showing an encounter between them. In the video, a mongoose can be seen approaching a cobra in an attempt to devour the reptile.

The 1.02-minute clip was tweeted by Indian Forest Officer Susanta Nanda along with a caption that read, “Animals trying to kill a snake is akin to suicide, but mongoose has tricks of their own. Residing for millions of years alongside them, they have adopted to its venom. Agility, thick coats and glycoprotein production makes it immune to venom. Thick jaws bring cobra down in seconds.”

(Read more from “When the Hunter Gets Hunted: Video of Fight Between Mongoose and Cobra Has Netizens Hooked” HERE)

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Returning Troops Denied Water, Bathrooms Under Quarantine; Army Had ‘Quarantined’ Troops Mingle With Healthy Ones

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By AP. It wasn’t the welcome home that U.S. soldiers expected when they returned from war zones in the Middle East in the past week.

When their planes landed at Fort Bliss, Texas, they were herded into buses, denied water and the use of bathrooms, then quarantined in packed barracks, with little food or access to the outdoors. “This is no way to treat Soldiers returning from war,” one soldier told The Associated Press in an email.

The soldiers posted notes on social media about the poor conditions. Their complaints got quick attention from senior Army and Pentagon leaders. Now changes are under way at Fort Bliss and at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where the first soldiers placed under quarantine also complained of poor, cramped conditions. (Read more from “Returning Troops Denied Water, Bathrooms Under Quarantine” HERE)

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Army Had ‘Quarantined’ Troops Mingle With Healthy Ones

By Daily Beast. After a nine-month deployment to the Middle East, military policemen from a Missouri National Guard company arrived at Ft. Bliss, Texas on Mar. 6 to demobilize and proceed home. They spent a week and a half moving freely around the sprawling base—until, hours before they were supposed to fly home, they were ordered into coronavirus quarantine.

It wasn’t just Ft. Bliss. A different National Guard unit returning from its own deployment entered quarantine at Ft. Hood, Texas on Sunday. But its quarantine didn’t seem to provide for social distancing. Pictures provided to The Daily Beast show soldiers from Ft. Hood—troops outside the quarantine and presumed to be uninfected—serving meals up close to those in the quarantine.

While the guardsmen question the point of their porous quarantines, the commands running those bases are scrambling to fix the problem. Both the initial disarray and the rapid corrections the bases are implementing are improvisational attempts at handling the wide-ranging disruption created by the novel coronavirus outbreak. Their collective experiences this week represent another inside indication into how the U.S. military is attempting to tackle a problem that it, like much of the country, did not anticipate dealing with. (Read more from “Army Had ‘Quarantined’ Troops Mingle With Healthy Ones” HERE)

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WATCH: Christian Rockers Send Messages of Hope Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

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John Cooper, the frontman for the Christian rock band Skillet, and Colton Dixon, singer-songwriter and former “American Idol” contestant, offered some inspiring messages for Americans at a difficult time in the country.

“During this crazy, crazy time that we are here, it is easy and it is tempting to not trust God,” said Cooper on Fox Nation’s new series, “Bible Study: Messages of Hope.” “I have found in my life that trusting God is actually the No. 1, the hardest, biggest, temptation in my life. It is my truest vice.”

“I prefer, honestly, to trust myself more than I trust God,” he admitted. “Not because I’m good at meeting my needs. I’m horrible at meeting my needs. I don’t like that feeling of unsurety. I don’t like the feeling of not knowing where my meal is coming from. I don’t like the uncertainty of knowing when the coronavirus is going to go away.”

“I’m missing income right now. I’m not playing concerts. What are we going to do?” he asked rhetorically. “I would encourage people out there to remember this: If you know Jesus, then we are called to trust in God. That’s what the Bible says. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, not your own understanding. I’ve found that that is one of the hardest things, but it is the one most freeing thing.”

Christian artist Colton Dixon also cautioned folks to control their own anxiety over the coronavirus outbreak, and use this time in self-isolation for self-improvement. (Read more from “WATCH: Christian Rockers Send Messages of Hope Amid Coronavirus Outbreak” HERE)

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