Coronavirus Outbreak Leads CDC to Warn Hospitals to Prep Pandemic Plans

By Terry Sater. Coronavirus has now surpassed the number of people infected with Ebola, SARS and MERS combined.

As those numbers continue to climb, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now urging local hospitals to get out their pandemic plans and start preparing.

Doctors across the United States are using a novel coronavirus tracker created by Johns Hopkins University to prepare for a possible pandemic or outbreak. (Read more about the coronavirus outbreak HERE)

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CDC: Get Used to Coronavirus, it’s Not Going Away for Years

By Jacqueline Howard. “Right now we’re in an aggressive containment mode,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in an interview on Thursday.

“We don’t know a lot about this virus,” he said. “This virus is probably with us beyond this season, beyond this year, and I think eventually the virus will find a foothold and we will get community-based transmission” . . .

“The containment phase is really to give us more time. This virus will become a community virus at some point in time, this year or next year,” Redfield said. “We don’t have any evidence that this coronavirus is really embedded in the community at this time, but with that said, we want to intensify our surveillance so that we’re basing those conclusions based on data.” (Read more about the coronavirus outbreak HERE)

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Coronavirus Outbreak Reveals China’s Monopoly on Medical Supplies That United States is Dependent On

By Breitbart. The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the United States’ dangerous dependence on China for pharmaceutical and medical supplies, including an estimated 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients needed to produce drugs in the United States.

The economic repercussions of the coronavirus reveal the dangers of allowing one country to have a near monopoly on global manufacturing, David Dayen explains in an article at the American Prospect:

China is a source of not only finished goods, but also of input parts and raw materials. A substantial number of the materials needed for defense and electronic systems come from China, and that nation is “the single or sole supplier for a number of specialty chemicals,” according to a recent Defense Department report. Rare earth minerals, which are critical to electronics, are largely mined in China. As a result, Chinese disruptions don’t just hit Chinese manufacturing, they hit everyone’s. Automakers have already had to slow or shut down factories globally due to supply shortages.

Perhaps the biggest concern is over medical supplies. China produces and exports a large amount of pharmaceuticals to the U.S., including 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of the active ingredients used to make drugs here. Penicillin, ibuprofen, and aspirin largely come from China. Last month, the medical supply firm Cardinal Health recalled 2.9 million surgical gowns “cross contaminated” at a plant in China; the blood pressure drug valsartan also saw shortages recently, thanks to tainted active ingredients at one Chinese plant. The combination of supply chain disruptions and increased demand at hospitals if coronavirus spreads to the U.S. could prove devastating.

In a dark irony, most of the world’s face masks—now ubiquitous in China as a precaution—are made in China and Taiwan, and even for those made elsewhere, some component parts are Chinese-sourced. Shortages have led China to declare the masks a “strategic resource,” reserving them for medical workers. U.S. hospitals are “critically low” on respiratory masks, according to medical-supply middlemen. Lack of protective gear could increase vulnerability to the virus, and the one place on earth suffering from production shutdowns is the one place where most of the protective gear originates [emphasis added].

(Read more from “Coronavirus Outbreak Exposes China’s Monopoly on U.S. Drug, Medical Supplies” HERE)

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North Korea ‘Executes Trade Official for Visiting a Public Bath While He Was in Quarantine Over Coronavirus Fears After Returning From China’

By Daily Mail. A North Korean official has been executed for going to a public bath while he was meant to be in quarantine, a report in the South has claimed.

The trade official was arrested and immediately shot after risking the spread of coronavirus by visiting the public bath, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported.

The official had been placed in isolation after travelling to China, with Kim Jong-un imposing military law to enforce the lockdown, sources said.

North Korea has not yet confirmed any cases of the virus, but has taken drastic measures to stop it spreading over its border with China.

The trade official was reportedly quarantined under a policy of isolating anyone who had been to China or had contact with Chinese people. (Read more from “North Korea ‘Executes Trade Official for Visiting a Public Bath While He Was in Quarantine Over Coronavirus Fears After Returning From China'” HERE)
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Chinese Doc Says it Spreads Through the Eyes

By Vanessa Chalmers and Stephen Matthews. The killer coronavirus rapidly sweeping the world could be caught through the eyes, scientists have today warned.

Chinese doctor Wang Guangfa fears he may have contracted the SARS-like infection because he wasn’t wearing protective goggles.

Leading experts confirmed it is ‘absolutely possible’, saying the virus can enter the eyes by touching them – if it is on a patient’s hands.

And they even warned the virus – thought to be spread through sneezes and coughs – can roam through the body to reach the eye. (Read more about the coronavirus outbreak HERE)

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By Daily Wire. The Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, appeared to not deny that the coronavirus came from China’s biological warfare program on Sunday and instead suggested that the deadly virus could have come from a military lab in the U.S.

Tiankai made the remarks on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” in response to China’s struggle to stop the coronavirus from continuing to spread. It has now infected at least 37,198 and killed at least 811 in China.

“This week, Senator Tom Cotton, who sits on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committee, suggested that the virus may have come from China’s biological warfare program,” CBS News’ Margaret Brennan said. “That’s an extraordinary charge. How do you respond to that?”

“I think it’s true that a lot is still unknown and our scientists, Chinese scientists, American scientists, scientists of other countries are doing their best to learn more about the virus, but it’s very harmful,” Cui responded. “It’s very dangerous to stir up suspicion, rumors and spread them among the people. For one thing, this will create panic. Another thing that it will fend up racial discrimination, xenophobia, all these things, that will really harm our joint efforts to combat the virus.”

“Of course, there are all kinds of speculation and rumors,” Cui continued. “There are people who are saying that these virus are coming from some — some military lab, not of China, maybe in the United States. How — how can we believe all these crazy things?”

China's ambassador to the United States just went on CBS' "Face the Nation" and DID NOT deny that coronavirus stemmed from the Chinese military's biological warfare program.

Amb. Cui Tiankai then suggested that the virus could come from a US military lab. pic.twitter.com/z2g254iccz

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 9, 2020

(Read more from “WATCH: Chinese Ambassador Asked If Coronavirus Came From Biological Warfare Program” HERE)

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Coronavirus Has Killed More People Than SARS

By Market Watch. Two months into the epidemic, the coronavirus has proven to be more deadly than the SARS virus, but the fatality rate of the coronavirus is still less than one-quarter that of SARS. That, however, may also help explain why it’s spreading so quickly.

There are now 37,198 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide and at least 811 people have died, according to the latest figures from China’s National Health Commission released Sunday; 89 deaths and 2,656 new cases were reported over the previous 24-hour period.

The majority of illnesses and deaths are in Hubei Province where Wuhan — believed to be the epicenter of the outbreak — is located. The illness has now spread to 25 countries. (The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency.)

There are 12 confirmed cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An additional 14 Americans were confirmed to have contracted the virus; they are passengers on the quarantined cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, which arrived at a port in Yokohama, Japan on Sunday morning, Japan’s health ministry said. One of the 14 is a woman in her 70s who has joint Hong Kong residency and U.S. citizenship. Several cruise lines have issued quarantines for ships currently at sea, and have tested passengers for coronavirus. (Read more from “Coronavirus Has Killed More People Than SARS” HERE)

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