Signs of Hope as Coronavirus Panic Sets In?; Chloroquine Is Being Touted as a Miracle Drug for Coronavirus, but There Are Reasons to Be Wary

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By Life Site News. Crises have a way of sorting out the good people, ideas, and institutions from the bad, and as the Wuhan virus spreads throughout the world, the sorting process is made easier. The decision to close our borders to China, criticized by the WHO, the left, and media as “racist,” has proven to be essential, and the bien pensant governments around the world are now following suit, shutting down their borders to aid in containment. . .

Speed of containment is of the essence, and the good news is that while the development of any vaccine against it requires more time, there are existing pharmaceuticals, some of which are readily available and not terribly expensive, that seem to be efficacious.

Among these are hydroxychloroquine (brand name Plaquinel) and chloroquine. Jeffrey Satinover reports that a “French clinical study with 24 patients and excellent 5 day elimination of the virus used” the more readily available Plaquinel. It must be taken under medical oversight because of the risk of interactions and the long-term “effects on the retina.” Plaquinel is produced by Teva, an Israeli company which will donate six million tablets through wholesalers to hospitals around the country by the end of the month and more than 10 million tablets within a month. Resochin has shown some potential in treating the virus as well, and Bayer just donated three million tablets.

In Italy, remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral drug produced by Gilead, proved effective. That drug, however, is in limited supply, though Gilead is working “to increase its stock a rapidly as possible.” Favipiravir, a Japanese-produced drug, reportedly has proven effective in China. There is certainly reason for optimism that with closed borders, self-isolation, and available drug treatments, we can stem the spread of this virus. (Read more from “Signs of Hope as Coronavirus Panic Sets In: Effective Drugs, Less Bureaucracy” HERE)

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Chloroquine Is Being Touted as a Miracle Drug for Coronavirus, but There Are Reasons to Be Wary

By Buzzfeed News. The start of a clinical trial to test the drug chloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus pandemic, announced over the weekend by President Donald Trump, provoked a clamor for the unproven drug, amid reports of shortages.

“There is a significant surge in demand of chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine and we are doing everything possible to work with manufacturers to increase production,” the FDA’s Michael Felberbaum told BuzzFeed News on Monday. “We are working with manufacturers to assess their supplies and are actively evaluating market demand for patients dependent on it for treatment of malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. But please know this is a fluctuating and dynamic situation we are actively engaged on.” . . .

Despite the excitement, medical experts including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Chief Anthony Fauci raised a host of cautions about widespread prescription of an unproved medication for a brand-new disease. Here are just a few. . .

Chloroquine was added to China’s formulary for treating COVID-19 in February, leading to its widespread use there and in South Korea. But Chinese data touting its efficacy is scant, resting on a study of monkey cells in test tubes and a consensus report from doctors in Guangdong province. . .

But they do have side effects like most drugs, some severe. The Mayo Clinic lists 14 drugs that shouldn’t be taken with chloroquine, whose side effects can include blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, cramps, headache, and diarrhea. Similar side effects are associated with hydroxychloroquine, another form of the drug, which is also linked to convulsions and “mental changes” by the US National Library of Medicine.

(Read more from “Chloroquine Is Being Touted as a Miracle Drug for Coronavirus, but There Are Reasons to Be Wary” HERE)

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Groups Representing 30,000 Physicians Sign Letter Demanding Abortions Be Suspended to Conserve Medical Resources During Pandemic (VIDEO)

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Groups representing 30,000 physicians signed a letter called for the suspension of abortions in order to preserve medical resources critical to fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

The letter was published on Monday as officials reported greater numbers of those infected and the stock market continued to tank.

The letter objected to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists classifying elective abortions as “essential healthcare,” and made the case to suspend abortions.

“In such an uncertain and tumultuous time, the entire healthcare profession is being called upon to conserve resources and healthcare professionals to an extent never seen before,” the letter read. “And yet, in the midst of this call, while hospitals are postponing elective procedures and many outpatient clinics are rescheduling non-essential office visits, the abortion industry continues with business as usual.”

(Read more from “Groups Representing 30,000 Physicians Sign Letter Demanding Abortions Be Suspended to Conserve Medical Resources During Pandemic” HERE)

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A Message of Hope: Rio’s Christ the Redeemer Lit Up with Flags of Countries Hit by Coronavirus (VIDEO)

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There’s a bright light looking over Rio de Janeiro in a dark time.

The Brazilian city’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue, which stands 125 feet tall atop the mountain known as Corcovado, has been lit up with a projection of the flags of every country affected by the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The landmark was also lit up with the message “pray together” in many different languages to emphasize the importance of communities across the world coming together amid the pandemic.

Orani João Tempesta, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, also held a mass atop the mountain, which is 2,329 feet tall and overlooks the famous Copacabana Beach.

A message posted to the Cardinal’s official Instagram account two days ago stated that the public should not gather in large groups for religious services in order to combat the spread of the virus. (Read more from “A Message of Hope: Rio’s Christ the Redeemer Lit Up with Flags of Countries Hit by Coronavirus” HERE)

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20-Year-Old Coronavirus Victim in Spain Was Reportedly Told by Doctors to Go Home and Not to Worry. He Died Less Than a Week Later.; Italy Stops Counting Bodies After Major Surge

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By The Blaze. A 20-year-old from Spain who recently died after contracting the coronavirus was allegedly sent home and told not to worry by doctors less than a week before the disease killed him.

Francisco Garcia, a youth soccer coach at Malaga club Atletico Portada Alta, initially thought he had the common cold when he went he first became ill on March 6, his family told the Sun in a recent interview. . .

Three days later, when Garcia still wasn’t recovering from the illness, Fernandez took him to a doctor who then allegedly told him to “take paracetamol [acetaminophen] and sent him home and said there was no need to worry.”

When his health deteriorated again overnight, Garcia’s family decided to take him to another doctor for a second opinion. That doctor sent him home again — this time with antibiotics. . .

Once at the hospital, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and was placed under a quarantine due to suspicion that he had contracted the coronavirus. The following day, he tested positive for COVID-19 as well as leukemia. Four days later he died. (Read more from “20-Year-Old Coronavirus Victim in Spain Was Reportedly Told by Doctors to Go Home and Not to Worry. He Died Less Than a Week Later.” HERE)

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Coronavirus in Italy: Health Care Workers Stop Counting Bodies

By New York Post. Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed China, with so many dead that soldiers were brought in to haul away coffins and health care workers said they stopped counting bodies.

Officials said Thursday that 427 new deaths were recorded over just 24 hours, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 3,403, nearly 200 more than China, where the virus originated.

This comes despite the fact that Italy has 41,035 confirmed cases — just over half as many as China.

“Unfortunately we can’t contain the situation in Lombardy,” said Daniela Confalonieri, a nurse in Milan. “There’s a high level of contagion and we’re not even counting the dead anymore.”

“Look at the news that’s coming out of Italy and take note of what the situation is like,” she said. “It’s unimaginable.” (Read more from “Coronavirus in Italy: Health Care Workers Stop Counting Bodies” HERE)

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The Red Cross Is Facing a ‘Severe Blood Shortage’ Because of the Coronavirus Response

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It may seem like most areas of American life are temporarily pausing right now because of the coronavirus — formally known as COVID-19 — but that hasn’t stopped people from needing blood donations. It has, however, stopped a lot of blood drives from taking place and led to a “severe blood shortage,” according to the American Red Cross.

“As the coronavirus pandemic has grown here in the U.S., blood drive cancellations have grown at an alarming rate,” the Red Cross said in a Tuesday news release. So far, the organization says that around 2,700 of its blood donation drives have been canceled around the United States because of “concerns about congregating at workplaces, college campuses and schools amidst the coronavirus outbreak.”

The organization says that those kinds of drives usually account for over 80% of the blood they collect and that the recent cancellations have caused them to fall short of an estimated 86,000 donations. And with the number of cancelations expected to continue, the shortage could end up hurting people like cancer patients, emergency victims, and those in need of surgery.

“I am looking at the refrigerator that contains only one day’s supply of blood for the hospital,” Dr. Robertson Davenport, director of Transfusion Medicine at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor, said in the release. “The hospital is full. There are patients who need blood and cannot wait.”

The shortage has prompted top U.S. health officials to point out that, while some people may be concerned about the ongoing spread of the coronavirus, it is still safe to donate blood and those who can should to take the time to do so. (Read more from “The Red Cross Is Facing a ‘Severe Blood Shortage’ Because of the Coronavirus Response” HERE)

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Don’t Self Isolate Alone: Animal Shelter Encourages Fostering a Pet During Coronavirus Pandemic; San Francisco Residents Required to Stay Home Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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By People. Americans are being told to stay at home and avoid gatherings of people in an effort to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

Social distancing is an important step to curbing the coronavirus pandemic, but you don’t have to do it totally alone.

“If you don’t have a pet and are thinking about getting one, now is the perfect time to ‘try it on’ by fostering from your local shelter. Shelters and pet adoption facilities nationwide need people to foster pets on a temporary basis,” Julie Castle the CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, told PEOPLE about how they can help rescue pets and themselves during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the American Veterinary Medical Association have all stated that pets are not at risk of spreading COVID-19, and science has shown time and time again that adding an animal to your life makes your happier and healthier. . .

“Animal shelters across the country are having to deal with an increase of dogs and cats in need of homes because fewer people are visiting shelters right now, and in some cases, shelters are having to temporarily close to the public,” Castle added. “Some animal shelters are already seeing an increase in intake, and many are bracing themselves for the possibility of fewer adoptions and fewer foster homes, and are concerned about limited space.” (Read more from “Don’t Self Isolate Alone: Animal Shelter Encourages Fostering a Pet During Coronavirus Pandemic” HERE)

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San Francisco Residents Required to Stay Home Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

By NBC Bay Area. San Francisco on Monday issued a public health order requiring all residents to stay home as the city and county strives to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Residents are asked to only leave their homes for “essential needs,” which include visiting a doctor, getting food and supplies, and caring for a family member in another household, among other activities, according to Mayor London Breed’s office. Click here for a detailed breakdown of “essential needs.”

The order takes effect midnight Tuesday and will remain in effect until April 7, or until it is extended, according to the mayor’s office. (Read more from “San Francisco Residents Required to Stay Home Amid Coronavirus Pandemic” HERE)

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Taco Bell Prepares to Go ‘Drive-Thru and Delivery Only’ Amid Coronavirus Outbreak; Oregon Distillery Giving Away Free Hand Sanitizer

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By Fox News. Taco Bell doesn’t plan to close during the coronavirus pandemic, but restaurant dining rooms may soon be off-limits.

The fast-food chain recently announced that it’s taking steps to close dining areas, operating only through drive-thru and delivery options.

Mark King, CEO of Taco Bell Corp., posted a letter Saturday stating that the company has “an obligation to do something to help stop this from spreading.”

Taco Bell has been doing more to clean its restaurants, but King said additional action must be taken.

“As regions of the U.S. begin to mandate public closures and self-quarantine, we are equipping our restaurants to serve our guests via drive-thru and delivery only where necessary,” he wrote. “ Should we need to  temporarily close  our dining rooms, we would be limiting millions of guest interactions and further enabling social distancing.” (Read more from “Taco Bell Prepares to Go ‘Drive-Thru and Delivery Only’ Amid Coronavirus Outbreak” HERE)

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Oregon Distillery Giving Away Free Hand Sanitizer

By Fox News. . .As people across the country try to prepare and stock up for possible quarantines, certain products are becoming harder and harder to find. With hand sanitizer being one of the most sought after items, some companies are starting to find new ways to serve their customers.

The Shine Distillery and Grill in Portland, Ore., has started producing its own homemade hand sanitizer. According to a post on their Facebook page, bottles of the cleaning product are available for their customers.

On Facebook, the distillery posted, “House distilled hand cleaner made at Shine- stop by if you’re in need. We’re handing out free bottles while the supplies last!”

According to Fox 12 Oregon, the sanitizer is made from a product the distillery produces while making drinkable alcohol. During the process, some of the liquid produced isn’t for consumption and the distillery normally uses it as a cleaner. (Read more from “Oregon Distillery Giving Away Free Hand Sanitizer” HERE)

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DESPICABLE: Nancy Pelosi Tries to Sneak Abortion Funding Into Coronavirus Bill, Acting as Chinese Agent, too

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By PJ Media. If you needed more proof that Democrats see the coronavirus outbreak as a political opportunity, look no further than the COVID-19 economic stimulus package. It appears that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats attempted to sneak in a loophole for the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal dollars from being used to pay for abortions, into the legislation. . .

“While schools are closing and hospitals are gearing up, Speaker Pelosi is waging unnecessary culture wars. Speaker Pelosi should be fighting the coronavirus pandemic, not politicizing emergency funding by fighting against the bipartisan Hyde Amendment,” Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) told National Review in a statement. “We need to be ramping up our diagnostic testing, not waging culture wars at the behest of Planned Parenthood. Good grief.”

Pelosi tried to include provisions into the package that would mandate $1 billion to reimburse laboratories, which the White House claims would establish a precedent that all health claims for any procedure, including abortion, could be reimbursed with taxpayer dollars, effectively bypassing the restrictions of the Hyde Amendment.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spun the situation differently when she was interviewed on Fox News Thursday evening. She told Brett Baier that “right now we are hearing that some of the fights and some of the gridlock is because people are trying to put pro-life provisions into this.”

(Read more from “Despicable: Nancy Pelosi Tries to Sneak Abortion Funding Into Coronavirus Bill” HERE)

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Is Pelosi a Chinese Agent?

By Jeffrey Lord. Fox News reported:

Chinese officials are pushing back on the expression “Wuhan coronavirus” — saying the name used frequently by American conservative leaders and commentators to describe the place COVID-19 originated unfairly stigmatizes the Asian nation and borders on being racist. . .

And like clockwork, here come House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and socialist Reps. Ilhan Omar and Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez.

Pelosi tweeted to House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who had used the phrase “Wuhan virus”: “Bigoted statements which spread misinformation and blame Asians and the Asian American community for #coronavirus make us all less safe. @GOPLeader must delete this tweet and apologize immediately.”

Omar said, “Viruses don’t have nationalities. This is racist” . . .

In other words? In other words Pelosi and her leftist comrades are doing exactly what the Chinese Communist Party demands: taking a perfectly logical name for the coronavirus — its place of origin — and making it a racial issue. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Human Smugglers Leave Pregnant Migrant, Unborn Child to Die After Fall From U.S. Border Wall

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Mexican cartel-connected human smugglers abandoned a pregnant Guatemalan woman at a border wall near Clint, Texas, on Saturday night and encouraged her to climb the 20-foot barrier. She fell and landed on her back, causing injuries that eventually took her life and that of her unborn child.

El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents patrolling near Clint came upon a critically injured pregnant woman who fell from the barrier according to her male companion, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials reported. Doctors were unable to save the unborn child as well.

“Despite the best efforts of our Border Patrol agents and medical professionals, sadly more lives have perished at the hands of human smugglers,” El Paso Sector Chief Gloria Chavez said in a written statement. “Someone in Mexico guided this eight-month pregnant woman from Guatemala to this section of the border and encouraged her and helped her climb the steel mesh border barrier. We will engage our law enforcement partners in Mexico to find those responsible for placing these lives in danger.”

CBP officials said the human smugglers encouraged her to try and climb the wall, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters that the woman, identified by Guatemalan officials as Mirian Stephany Girón Luna and her male partner were taken to the border by smugglers and left them there in the darkness. He said they were attempting to climb the barrier when she fell. (Read more from “Human Smugglers Leave Pregnant Migrant, Unborn Child to Die After Fall From U.S. Border Wall” HERE)

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Teenager Suspended From School for Selling Squirts of Hand Sanitizer

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Hand sanitizer is now the hottest item on the market because of coronavirus. Even in the United States, where the outbreak is relatively new, you might have trouble finding any on the shelves of most major stores.

In the United Kingdom, one teenager decided to try to capitalize on that demand by selling squirts of hand sanitizer to his classmates — and he got suspended for it.

The teenager was sent home after selling hand sanitizer for about $0.64 per squirt, and he made around $11 before his business was shut down. His mother posted about the incident on Facebook.

“Well the little turd has just been expelled from school for the day after been caught charging students 50p a squirt for hand sanitiser to protect themselfs from the bloody corona virus!!” Jenny Tompkins posted. “Very hard to discipline this behaviour when his dad phones him from work to call him a f***ing legend.” . . .

Tompkins said her son used the money to buy a multipack of Doritos and was going to buy a kebab later. (Read more from “Teenager Suspended From School for Selling Squirts of Hand Sanitizer” HERE)

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