Weekend Unthreaded

I believe there are other things happening in the world still .

I believe there are other things happening in the world still.
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March 22, 2020 at 05:58AM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--50 Specialist Doctors send shocking warning hospitals will be swamped 3 x capacity

The wave coming is not just a “ bit bigger ” than hospitals can handle Western Australian specialists estimate that at present rate , in 45 days Coronavirus cases will fill up their entire state hospital system .
Two weeks later Covid patients will also fill all the beds in the extra two copies of their entire state hospital network that haven ’ t been built yet .
Hospitals will need 20 times as many ventilators as they have .
“ Peak need for ventilators will be over four thousands in a system where we have less than two hundred @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a ventilator will die .
“ Perhaps we are overreacting ?
Western Australia is an example of what the rest of the West faces .
There are 2.5m people here , but only 120 confirmed cases .
In a state which took six years to build one hospital all we need to do is triple our hospital capacity in 6 weeks .
Laughing… The Doctors call for the immediate closure of borders .
Which was impossible a few days ago , in a state that only has two sealed roads out , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1:30pm ” .
( Presumably the new border guards have to drive out from [ … ]

The wave coming is not just a “bit bigger” than hospitals can handle
Western Australian specialists estimate that at present rate, in 45 days Coronavirus cases will fill up their entire state hospital system. Two weeks later Covid patients will also fill all the beds in the extra two copies of their entire state hospital network that haven’t been built yet.
Hospitals will need 20 times as many ventilators as they have.
“Peak need for ventilators will be over four thousands in a system where we have less than two hundred. Again, most of those needing a ventilator will die. “
Perhaps we are overreacting?
Western Australia is an example of what the rest of the West faces. There are 2.5m people here, but only 120 confirmed cases. In a state which took six years to build one hospital all we need to do is triple our hospital capacity in 6 weeks. Laughing…
The Doctors call for the immediate closure of borders. Which was impossible a few days ago, in a state that only has two sealed roads out, but is now happening on Tuesday “at 1:30pm”. (Presumably the new border guards have to drive out from […]
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March 22, 2020 at 05:44AM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Watch: Michael Shellenberger on how climate change alarmists see hope in coronavirus

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March 22, 2020 at 04:04AM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Inside No 10: Ten Days That Shook Britain — And Changed The Nation For Ever

How Boris Johnson changed his priorities : save lives first , and then salvage the economy There was a moment , when the decisions were made , when they wondered what on earth they had done , how far they had been forced to go .
A moment when they sat “ shellshocked ” , reflecting on choices that will change Britain for the rest of our lives .
“ It took us the weekend to get ourselves into the emotional position where we were comfortable taking the decisions we took , ” a minister said .
“ They were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so much overstatement .
Not this time .
Ten days ago the government was slowly gearing up its response to the coronavirus crisis , downplaying the need for drastic measures .
By Monday , Boris Johnson had ordered an expansion of the state not seen since the Second World War to save the National Health Service , an institution formed in the cauldron of that conflict .
A wartime-style lockdown of the capital was under active consideration .
This weekend , the events of the last week have already changed health policy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the people involved .
The last time the British state began a multiple service attack on a lurking enemy — D-Day in 1944 — it became known as The Longest Day .
On Thursday one cabinet minister reflected : “ It feels like the longest week .
It felt like Brexit was going to change the country but it is the coronavirus that will do that now.
” Senior figures in government are insistent that the changes they made to the virus clampdown were not “ a U-turn ” but a vehicle accelerating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In truth , they no more resemble what went before than the space shuttle did a Citroën 2CV .
Conversations with more than a dozen ministers and cabinet ministers , special advisers , Downing Street staff and civil servants reveal a human drama , of leaders tested as never before and of the single most frightening warning a British prime minister has received in eight decades .
A shock to the system The meeting that will change British society for a generation took place on the evening of Thursday , March 12 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of experts ( Sage in Whitehall parlance ) , the government ’ s committee of scientists and medics , gathered to examine modelling from experts at Imperial College London and other institutions .
The results were shattering .
A week earlier , councils had been warned to expect about 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 .
Now Chris Whitty , the chief medical officer , and Sir Patrick Vallance , the chief scientific adviser , realised the estimates were wrong .
“ Unmitigated , the death number was 510,000 , ” a senior figure said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was going to be 250,000 .
Once you see a figure of take no further action and a quarter of a million people die , the question you ask is , ‘ What action ?
’ ” Another insider said : “ There was a collision between the science and reality.
” Ministers had been on notice that drastic action might be needed since the virus first emerged in China ’ s Wuhan province in December .
In January , Whitty told the cabinet : “ It either stays in China or it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government had time to prepare , but Johnson ’ s instincts were to resist a life-changing crackdown .
“ There was a lot of talk about how this was just a bit of flu , ” one senior Tory recalled .
Dominic Cummings , the prime minister ’ s senior aide , became convinced that Britain would be better able to resist a lethal second wave of the disease next winter if Whitty ’ s prediction that 60 % to 80 % of the population became infected was right and the UK @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a private engagement at the end of February , Cummings outlined the government ’ s strategy .
Those present say it was “ herd immunity , protect the economy and if that means some pensioners die , too bad ” .
At the Sage meeting on March 12 , a moment now dubbed the “ Domoscene conversion ” , Cummings changed his mind .
In this “ penny-drop moment ” , he realised he had helped set a course for catastrophe .
Until this point , the rise in British infections had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were above it and on course to emulate Italy , where the picture was bleak .
A minister said : “ Seeing what was happening in Italy was the galvanising force across government.
” By Friday , March 13 , Cummings had become the most outspoken advocate of a tough crackdown .
“ Dominic himself had a conversion , ” a senior Tory said .
“ He ’ s gone from ‘ herd immunity and let the old people die ’ , to ‘ let ’ s shut down the country and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meeting of minds ” with Matt Hancock , the health secretary , who wanted stronger action to prevent NHS hospitals being swamped .
Department of Health officials had impressed on Hancock that the death rate in Wuhan province was 3.4 % when the hospitals were overrun and 0.7 % elsewhere in China .
Johnson had also been queasy about the previous original approach .
“ Boris hated the language of ‘ herd immunity ’ because it implied that it was OK for people to die , ” a senior source said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we had given up .
You ’ ve got to fight.
” The problem for the government was that at the moment herd immunity was being banished from policy , it had become the focus of publicity .
That Wednesday , David Halpern of the Whitehall “ nudge unit ” put the phrase in the public domain .
Two days later , Vallance repeated the idea on Radio 4 .
With Italy , France and Spain going into lockdown , the government ’ s critics accused Johnson of refusing to act because he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say it was “ very bumpy ” that Friday .
“ The meetings were very messy , ” said one source .
But when Johnson gathered his key advisers in the cabinet room at 9.15am last Saturday there was unanimity .
Whitty and Vallance explained that Britain had been four weeks behind Italy “ and now we are closer ” .
The two experts , together with Hancock and Cummings , all delivered to Johnson one message : “ Now is the moment to act.
” The prime minister agreed : “ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all necessary measures.
” One of those present said : “ The mood in the room was astonishing .
You could tell that something very significant had shifted.
” Flesh was added to the bones in another crunch meeting in Downing Street on Sunday night and again in the 9.15am meetings and bilaterals between Johnson and key cabinet ministers throughout last week .
The media was briefed that elderly and vulnerable people might have to self-isolate for a period of months and that everyone else would have to engage in “ social distancing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups and unnecessary outings .
Most significantly , without a gargantuan package of support for businesses , renters and the self-employed , millions of jobs would be lost and the economy would collapse .
The economic response On Tuesday morning , as he prepared to unveil details of Britain ’ s biggest peacetime financial package , Rishi Sunak , the chancellor , gathered his closest aides and officials in his book-lined study in 11 Downing Street .
“ The scale of what is required is beyond anyone ’ s current imagination , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remove all limiting assumptions.
” Over the weekend , Treasury officials worked through the night to prepare a package for business as if planning a full budget .
“ They did three months ’ work in 48 hours , ” a Treasury source said .
It helped that Charles Roxburgh , the second permanent secretary , and Andrew Bailey , the new governor of the Bank of England , were both veterans of the response to the 2008 financial crash .
When he walked out with Johnson for a Downing Street news conference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finalising Sunak ’ s comments as the statement came off the printer .
The chancellor had no time to rehearse or to prepare for questions but gave an assured performance as he outlined plans for £350bn of government-backed loans and cash grants for business .
“ We will do whatever it takes , ” he repeatedly intoned .
Colleagues say Sunak ’ s confidence came because he is deeply engaged “ in the weeds ” of the policy .
“ Some ministers set the broad parameters for 15 minutes and the officials go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said one source .
“ He ’ s more hands-on .
He prefers a 30 to 40-minute meeting where he can properly kick the tyres and help solve the problems .
He ’ s across the detail.
” Measures to help save jobs took longer , with a plan for the government to pay a high percentage of wages in cash-strapped firms finally being announced on Friday afternoon .
Sunak agreed the package in a meeting with Johnson on Thursday night in which the pair shared a vegetarian takeaway pizza .
The prime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government looked after the bankers .
Now we must make sure we look after the people first.
” At 11.30pm the chancellor was sending messages to his permanent secretary thanking him for the “ superb ” work of some officials .
A colleague said : “ He ’ s got the brainpower .
More importantly , he ’ s got the character for this moment.
” Sunak will need it because the risks are immense .
One friend said : “ Rishi is very acutely aware that we are in danger of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shutting everything up .
All this talk of bouncing straight back .
.
.
we will have no airlines to bounce straight back with if we ’ re not careful.
” The prime minister ’ s big decision on Wednesday was that schools would close on Friday , a decision arrived at with Gavin Williamson , the education secretary .
They decided to act as many schools took matters into their own hands , to try to ensure childcare for key workers .
It was another decision Johnson had resisted the week before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behind the scenes he has been far more decisive at crunch moments than his predecessor .
“ He ’ s been absolutely brilliant , ” said one .
“ He makes decisions fast.
” Another said : “ If Theresa May was still be in charge we would , by now , have just about signed off a request that people wash their hands.
” Another cabinet source added : “ And if Philip Hammond was still chancellor he would have refused even to pay for that.
” Nonetheless , even admirers admit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to project the same decisiveness in his somewhat hesitant public appearances .
“ He ’ s a naturally cheerful person , ” one colleague said .
“ He finds it difficult to deliver bad news.
” Business leaders were surprised during a conference call on Monday , when he was trying to persuade them to build ventilators , to hear him describe the effort as “ Operation Last Gasp ” .
Whitty and Vallance began their own press conferences at the end of the week amid concern that some of Johnson ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could “ turn the tide ” within 12 weeks — were not grounded in evidence .
“ Some of the experts are appalled by some of his claims , ” a Whitehall source said .
A Tory aide said : “ Boris looks haunted .
It ’ s like when George W Bush came in thinking he was going to be the education-reforming president and had to deal with the war on terror.
” Another senior Tory said : “ Boris is shellshocked.
” [ … ] Shaking the world Amid the frenzy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concluded that the decisions taken last week will change three key aspects of the way the world works .
One said : “ One is the debate around globalisation .
Is Trump right that we just need to build bigger walls , or is Gordon Brown right that global problems need global solutions ?
The second is Socialism v The Free Market .
Large parts of the economy are going to be socialised after this .
I fear it leads to nationalists and socialists winning , to national socialism.
” The third fissure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s the intergenerational question .
It is unsustainable to have people in their youth put their whole life on hold for months while the economy tanks to save a 91-year-old who would have died six months later anyway.
” Whatever the outcome , ministers have little doubt about the significance of the virus .
“ It ’ s shaking the world , ” one said .
Another , who has been up to his neck in the dramas of the past three years , was more prosaic : “ My obituary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sadness is that there will be many other obituaries to be written too .
The post Inside No 10 : Ten Days That Shook Britain — And Changed The Nation For Ever appeared first on The Global Warming Policy Forum ( GWPF ) .

How Boris Johnson changed his priorities: save lives first, and then salvage the economy
ILLUSTRATION: RUSSEL HERNEMAN, JULIAN OSBALDSTONE AND TONY BELL. APOLOGIES TO FOUGASSE
There was a moment, when the decisions were made, when they wondered what on earth they had done, how far they had been forced to go. A moment when they sat “shellshocked”, reflecting on choices that will change Britain for the rest of our lives. “It took us the weekend to get ourselves into the emotional position where we were comfortable taking the decisions we took,” a minister said. “They were massive.”
In politics, there is so much overstatement. Not this time. Ten days ago the government was slowly gearing up its response to the coronavirus crisis, downplaying the need for drastic measures. By Monday, Boris Johnson had ordered an expansion of the state not seen since the Second World War to save the National Health Service, an institution formed in the cauldron of that conflict. A wartime-style lockdown of the capital was under active consideration.
This weekend, the events of the last week have already changed health policy, changed the economy and are already changing the people involved.
The last time the British state began a multiple service attack on a lurking enemy — D-Day in 1944 — it became known as The Longest Day. On Thursday one cabinet minister reflected: “It feels like the longest week. It felt like Brexit was going to change the country but it is the coronavirus that will do that now.”
Senior figures in government are insistent that the changes they made to the virus clampdown were not “a U-turn” but a vehicle accelerating faster along a track already laid. In truth, they no more resemble what went before than the space shuttle did a Citroën 2CV.
Conversations with more than a dozen ministers and cabinet ministers, special advisers, Downing Street staff and civil servants reveal a human drama, of leaders tested as never before and of the single most frightening warning a British prime minister has received in eight decades.
A shock to the system
The meeting that will change British society for a generation took place on the evening of Thursday, March 12. That was when the strategic advisory group of experts (Sage in Whitehall parlance), the government’s committee of scientists and medics, gathered to examine modelling from experts at Imperial College London and other institutions.
The results were shattering. A week earlier, councils had been warned to expect about 100,000 deaths from Covid-19. Now Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, realised the estimates were wrong.
“Unmitigated, the death number was 510,000,” a senior figure said. “Mitigated we were told it was going to be 250,000. Once you see a figure of take no further action and a quarter of a million people die, the question you ask is, ‘What action?’” Another insider said: “There was a collision between the science and reality.”
Ministers had been on notice that drastic action might be needed since the virus first emerged in China’s Wuhan province in December. In January, Whitty told the cabinet: “It either stays in China or it will get everywhere.” For two months the government had time to prepare, but Johnson’s instincts were to resist a life-changing crackdown. “There was a lot of talk about how this was just a bit of flu,” one senior Tory recalled.
Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s senior aide, became convinced that Britain would be better able to resist a lethal second wave of the disease next winter if Whitty’s prediction that 60% to 80% of the population became infected was right and the UK developed “herd immunity”.
At a private engagement at the end of February, Cummings outlined the government’s strategy. Those present say it was “herd immunity, protect the economy and if that means some pensioners die, too bad”.
At the Sage meeting on March 12, a moment now dubbed the “Domoscene conversion”, Cummings changed his mind. In this “penny-drop moment”, he realised he had helped set a course for catastrophe. Until this point, the rise in British infections had been below the European average. Now they were above it and on course to emulate Italy, where the picture was bleak. A minister said: “Seeing what was happening in Italy was the galvanising force across government.”
By Friday, March 13, Cummings had become the most outspoken advocate of a tough crackdown. “Dominic himself had a conversion,” a senior Tory said. “He’s gone from ‘herd immunity and let the old people die’, to ‘let’s shut down the country and the economy.’”
Cummings had a “meeting of minds” with Matt Hancock, the health secretary, who wanted stronger action to prevent NHS hospitals being swamped. Department of Health officials had impressed on Hancock that the death rate in Wuhan province was 3.4% when the hospitals were overrun and 0.7% elsewhere in China.
Johnson had also been queasy about the previous original approach. “Boris hated the language of ‘herd immunity’ because it implied that it was OK for people to die,” a senior source said. “Matt hated the language because it implied we had given up. You’ve got to fight.”
Cabinet ministers say Johnson has been far more decisive at crunch moments than his predecessorLEON NEAL
Herd immunity
The problem for the government was that at the moment herd immunity was being banished from policy, it had become the focus of publicity. That Wednesday, David Halpern of the Whitehall “nudge unit” put the phrase in the public domain. Two days later, Vallance repeated the idea on Radio 4. With Italy, France and Spain going into lockdown, the government’s critics accused Johnson of refusing to act because he wanted people to get ill.
Insiders say it was “very bumpy” that Friday. “The meetings were very messy,” said one source. But when Johnson gathered his key advisers in the cabinet room at 9.15am last Saturday there was unanimity. Whitty and Vallance explained that Britain had been four weeks behind Italy “and now we are closer”.
The two experts, together with Hancock and Cummings, all delivered to Johnson one message: “Now is the moment to act.” The prime minister agreed: “We must work around the clock and take all necessary measures.” One of those present said: “The mood in the room was astonishing. You could tell that something very significant had shifted.”
Flesh was added to the bones in another crunch meeting in Downing Street on Sunday night and again in the 9.15am meetings and bilaterals between Johnson and key cabinet ministers throughout last week.
The media was briefed that elderly and vulnerable people might have to self-isolate for a period of months and that everyone else would have to engage in “social distancing” — working from home, avoiding groups and unnecessary outings. Most significantly, without a gargantuan package of support for businesses, renters and the self-employed, millions of jobs would be lost and the economy would collapse.
The economic response
On Tuesday morning, as he prepared to unveil details of Britain’s biggest peacetime financial package, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, gathered his closest aides and officials in his book-lined study in 11 Downing Street. “The scale of what is required is beyond anyone’s current imagination,” he said. “We have to remove all limiting assumptions.”
Over the weekend, Treasury officials worked through the night to prepare a package for business as if planning a full budget. “They did three months’ work in 48 hours,” a Treasury source said. It helped that Charles Roxburgh, the second permanent secretary, and Andrew Bailey, the new governor of the Bank of England, were both veterans of the response to the 2008 financial crash.
When he walked out with Johnson for a Downing Street news conference on Tuesday afternoon, aides were still finalising Sunak’s comments as the statement came off the printer. The chancellor had no time to rehearse or to prepare for questions but gave an assured performance as he outlined plans for £350bn of government-backed loans and cash grants for business. “We will do whatever it takes,” he repeatedly intoned.
Colleagues say Sunak’s confidence came because he is deeply engaged “in the weeds” of the policy. “Some ministers set the broad parameters for 15 minutes and the officials go away and do the work,” said one source. “He’s more hands-on. He prefers a 30 to 40-minute meeting where he can properly kick the tyres and help solve the problems. He’s across the detail.”
Measures to help save jobs took longer, with a plan for the government to pay a high percentage of wages in cash-strapped firms finally being announced on Friday afternoon. Sunak agreed the package in a meeting with Johnson on Thursday night in which the pair shared a vegetarian takeaway pizza. The prime minister said: “In 2008, the government looked after the bankers. Now we must make sure we look after the people first.”
At 11.30pm the chancellor was sending messages to his permanent secretary thanking him for the “superb” work of some officials. A colleague said: “He’s got the brainpower. More importantly, he’s got the character for this moment.”
Sunak will need it because the risks are immense. One friend said: “Rishi is very acutely aware that we are in danger of driving the economy off a cliff by shutting everything up. All this talk of bouncing straight back . . . we will have no airlines to bounce straight back with if we’re not careful.”
The prime minister’s big decision on Wednesday was that schools would close on Friday, a decision arrived at with Gavin Williamson, the education secretary. They decided to act as many schools took matters into their own hands, to try to ensure childcare for key workers.
It was another decision Johnson had resisted the week before, but cabinet ministers are clear that behind the scenes he has been far more decisive at crunch moments than his predecessor. “He’s been absolutely brilliant,” said one. “He makes decisions fast.” Another said: “If Theresa May was still be in charge we would, by now, have just about signed off a request that people wash their hands.” Another cabinet source added: “And if Philip Hammond was still chancellor he would have refused even to pay for that.”
Nonetheless, even admirers admit that Johnson is not finding it easy to project the same decisiveness in his somewhat hesitant public appearances. “He’s a naturally cheerful person,” one colleague said. “He finds it difficult to deliver bad news.” Business leaders were surprised during a conference call on Monday, when he was trying to persuade them to build ventilators, to hear him describe the effort as “Operation Last Gasp”.
Whitty and Vallance began their own press conferences at the end of the week amid concern that some of Johnson’s pronouncements — including a claim that they could “turn the tide” within 12 weeks — were not grounded in evidence. “Some of the experts are appalled by some of his claims,” a Whitehall source said. A Tory aide said: “Boris looks haunted. It’s like when George W Bush came in thinking he was going to be the education-reforming president and had to deal with the war on terror.” Another senior Tory said: “Boris is shellshocked.” […]
Shaking the world
Amid the frenzy of events, more thoughtful Tories have concluded that the decisions taken last week will change three key aspects of the way the world works. One said: “One is the debate around globalisation. Is Trump right that we just need to build bigger walls, or is Gordon Brown right that global problems need global solutions? The second is Socialism v The Free Market. Large parts of the economy are going to be socialised after this. I fear it leads to nationalists and socialists winning, to national socialism.”
The third fissure may yet be the worst. “It’s the intergenerational question. It is unsustainable to have people in their youth put their whole life on hold for months while the economy tanks to save a 91-year-old who would have died six months later anyway.”
Whatever the outcome, ministers have little doubt about the significance of the virus. “It’s shaking the world,” one said. Another, who has been up to his neck in the dramas of the past three years, was more prosaic: “My obituary gets more interesting every week.”
The sadness is that there will be many other obituaries to be written too.
The post Inside No 10: Ten Days That Shook Britain — And Changed The Nation For Ever appeared first on The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF).
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March 22, 2020 at 03:49AM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Lorrie Goldstein: We Gambled On The Wrong Threat — Climate Change

Wrong decisions have dire consequences .
We ’ re now facing them .
One of the key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is that for at least the past decade , we focused disproportionately , or rather our governments did , on one potential global threat — human-induced climate change — to the exclusion of all others .
Anthropogenic climate change became the issue that sucked up all the oxygen in the room when it came to a global crisis .
At the expense of , for example , a contagious and deadly virus becoming a pandemic , which public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for decades .
In Canada , our political leaders , have long ignored — perhaps the fairer word is “ downplayed ” — the health care threat posed by the fact our hospitals are chronically overcrowded , with thousands of patients being treated in hallways , year after year .
That ’ s why the greatest concern health-care experts have now is that our hospitals , overcrowded in normal times and routinely operating at or beyond their designated capacities — as opposed to 80 % of capacity to be able to handle a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — may soon be overrun by critically-ill patients .
Wrong decisions have dire consequences .
We ’ re now facing them .
That ’ s not to say concern about human-induced climate change ( not “ climate change ” as we obsessively and incorrectly describe it ) was entirely misplaced .
It ’ s one of many serious environmental challenges we face , such as the more than 900 billion litres of raw sewage we ’ ve dumped into our rivers , lakes and oceans since 2013 .
But while human-induced climate change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it has never been a so-called “ existential ” threat to humanity , meaning , a threat to human existence .
Neither is COVID-19 .
It will eventually burn itself out as have previous pandemics .
The question is how effectively and for how long can we contain it through aggressive social distancing — far harder to do in democracies than it sounds — and how many of us will die or suffer life-changing consequences before there ’ s a vaccine ?
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic , some who jumped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and hard , argue COVID-19 shows us what the world will be like if we don ’ t quickly abandon fossil fuels .
In reality , COVID-19 shows us what the world will be like if we abandon fossil fuels prematurely , without having reliable energy sources to replace them , compounded by the fact many opponents of fossil fuel energy also oppose nuclear power .
As Robert Bryce warns in Power Hungry : The Myths of ‘ Green ’ Energyand the Real Fuels of the Future : “ If you are anti-carbon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Consider what the world would be like today , in the face of COVID-19 , without fossil fuel ( and nuclear ) energy , a world climate radicals crave .
Without reliable , on-demand energy sufficient to power a modern , industrialized society — which neither wind nor solar power can provide at current levels of technology — our hospitals could not maintain sterile conditions .
Food and vaccines — when one for COVID-19 is developed — could not be preserved or transported .
Medical equipment to protect front-line health care workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients , could not be delivered where they ’ re needed , let alone manufactured in the first place .
Indeed , if you want to see what the world would be like if we prematurely abandon fossil fuels , all you have to do is look around , right now , in the age of COVID-19 .
The post Lorrie Goldstein : We Gambled On The Wrong Threat — Climate Change appeared first on The Global Warming Policy Forum ( GWPF ) .

Wrong decisions have dire consequences. We’re now facing them.
Protesters hold banners reading “180 degree turn ” and “coronavirus pandemic, the first step in the collapse of our civilization if we do not revolt today” during a recent demonstration against climate change in Bordeaux, France, despite government recommendations to limit gatherings amid the outbreak of COVID-19. (Photo by AFP, via Getty Images)
One of the key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is that for at least the past decade, we focused disproportionately, or rather our governments did, on one potential global threat — human-induced climate change — to the exclusion of all others.
Anthropogenic climate change became the issue that sucked up all the oxygen in the room when it came to a global crisis.
At the expense of, for example, a contagious and deadly virus becoming a pandemic, which public health experts have been warning us about for decades.
In Canada, our political leaders, have long ignored — perhaps the fairer word is “downplayed” — the health care threat posed by the fact our hospitals are chronically overcrowded, with thousands of patients being treated in hallways, year after year.
That’s why the greatest concern health-care experts have now is that our hospitals, overcrowded in normal times and routinely operating at or beyond their designated capacities — as opposed to 80% of capacity to be able to handle a “black swan” event like COVID-19 — may soon be overrun by critically-ill patients.
Wrong decisions have dire consequences. We’re now facing them.
That’s not to say concern about human-induced climate change (not “climate change” as we obsessively and incorrectly describe it) was entirely misplaced.
It’s one of many serious environmental challenges we face, such as the more than 900 billion litres of raw sewage we’ve dumped into our rivers, lakes and oceans since 2013.
But while human-induced climate change contributes to human suffering and death, it has never been a so-called “existential” threat to humanity, meaning, a threat to human existence.
Neither is COVID-19. It will eventually burn itself out as have previous pandemics.
The question is how effectively and for how long can we contain it through aggressive social distancing — far harder to do in democracies than it sounds — and how many of us will die or suffer life-changing consequences before there’s a vaccine?
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, some who jumped on the anthropogenic climate change bandwagon early and hard, argue COVID-19 shows us what the world will be like if we don’t quickly abandon fossil fuels.
In reality, COVID-19 shows us what the world will be like if we abandon fossil fuels prematurely, without having reliable energy sources to replace them, compounded by the fact many opponents of fossil fuel energy also oppose nuclear power.
As Robert Bryce warns in Power Hungry: The Myths of ‘Green’ Energyand the Real Fuels of the Future: “If you are anti-carbon dioxide and anti-nuclear, you are pro-blackout.”
Consider what the world would be like today, in the face of COVID-19, without fossil fuel (and nuclear) energy, a world climate radicals crave.
Without reliable, on-demand energy sufficient to power a modern, industrialized society — which neither wind nor solar power can provide at current levels of technology — our hospitals could not maintain sterile conditions.
Food and vaccines — when one for COVID-19 is developed — could not be preserved or transported.
Medical equipment to protect front-line health care workers from COVID-19, and respirators for critically-ill patients, could not be delivered where they’re needed, let alone manufactured in the first place.
Indeed, if you want to see what the world would be like if we prematurely abandon fossil fuels, all you have to do is look around, right now, in the age of COVID-19.
Toronto Sun, 21 March 2020
The post Lorrie Goldstein: We Gambled On The Wrong Threat — Climate Change appeared first on The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF).
via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
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March 22, 2020 at 03:21AM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--NO MAJORITY FOR TAX INCREASE TO FIGHT CLIMATE

This result should surprise no one .
Just up the left coast from California , in in one of the @ @ @ @ @ most progressive voting bases , have in Even Californians do not support tax increases to @ @ @ @ @ to this report

This result should surprise no one. Just up the left coast from California, in
in one of the bluest states with among the most progressive voting bases, have in
rejected in initiatives to impose a
emissions to fight climate change.
Even Californians do not support tax increases to prevent climate change, according to this report


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Last Gasp: Obsession With Subsidised Wind & Solar Leaves Australian Economy On Life Support

The coronavirus is hitting Australia ’ s economy , but it will pass ; whereas , its self-inflicted renewable energy @ @ @ @ @ .
Where the former was unforeseen and fatal for a few , the latter was @ @ @ @ @ calamitous effects for the many , and for generations to come .
What ’ s @ @ @ @ @ manufacturing and mineral [ … ]

The coronavirus is hitting Australia’s economy, but it will pass; whereas, its self-inflicted renewable energy calamity is here to stay. Where the former was unforeseen and fatal for a few, the latter was perfectly predictable and will have calamitous effects for the many, and for generations to come. What’s left of Australia’s manufacturing and mineral […]
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March 22, 2020 at 01:31AM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Texas Railroad Commissioner Fights Back Against Soviet Assault on US Oil Industry

By JOE CARROLL , GRANT SMITH AND RACHEL ADAMS-HEARD on 3/20/2020 HOUSTON ( Bloomberg ) –One of the most powerful officials in the biggest U.S. oil state has been invited to OPEC ’ s inner sanctum in June in a rare rapprochement between two historically antagonistic crude powers .
Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said Friday he was invited by OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo to attend the group ’ s summer meeting in Vienna .
But even as the surprise announcement reverberated across U.S. and international petroleum circles , Sitton ’ s proposal to curb Texas crude output for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into opposition from his own agency .
“ While I am open to any and all ideas to protect the Texas Miracle , as a free-market conservative I have a number of reservations about this approach , ” Wayne Christian , chairman of the Texas commission that oversees the oil industry , said in a statement .
If Texas cuts supply , “ there is no guarantee other nations , or even states will follow suit.
” “ We all agree an international deal must get done to ensure economic stability as we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a tweet after his conversation with Barkindo .
Although it remains little more than one man ’ s radical proposal at this point , the potential consequences of an OPEC-Texas agreement are hard to overstate .
The cartel ’ s primacy over world crude markets is unrivaled ; Texas pumps more than 40 % of U.S. oil and as a standalone entity gushes more than every member of the cartel except mighty Saudi Arabia .
Such a tie-up would also confront Russian President Vladimir Putin with a formidable and heretofore unimaginable foe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

Guest “Cold War jingoism” by David Middleton
OPEC secretary general invites Texas RRC’s Sitton to Vienna meeting
By JOE CARROLL, GRANT SMITH AND RACHEL ADAMS-HEARD on 3/20/2020
HOUSTON (Bloomberg) –One of the most powerful officials in the biggest U.S. oil state has been invited to OPEC’s inner sanctum in June in a rare rapprochement between two historically antagonistic crude powers.
Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said Friday he was invited by OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo to attend the group’s summer meeting in Vienna. But even as the surprise announcement reverberated across U.S. and international petroleum circles, Sitton’s proposal to curb Texas crude output for the first time since the 1970s ran into opposition from his own agency.
“While I am open to any and all ideas to protect the Texas Miracle, as a free-market conservative I have a number of reservations about this approach,” Wayne Christian, chairman of the Texas commission that oversees the oil industry, said in a statement. If Texas cuts supply, “there is no guarantee other nations, or even states will follow suit.”
[…]
“We all agree an international deal must get done to ensure economic stability as we recover from Covid-19,” Sitton said in a tweet after his conversation with Barkindo.
Although it remains little more than one man’s radical proposal at this point, the potential consequences of an OPEC-Texas agreement are hard to overstate. The cartel’s primacy over world crude markets is unrivaled; Texas pumps more than 40% of U.S. oil and as a standalone entity gushes more than every member of the cartel except mighty Saudi Arabia.
Such a tie-up would also confront Russian President Vladimir Putin with a formidable and heretofore unimaginable foe in using petroleum as a geopolitical weapon.
[…]


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--To save our economy roll out antibody testing alongside the active virus testing

Social distancing is very costly to our society and not everyone needs to be doing it .
The greater Seattle area alone is right now rapidly filling up with many thousands of people who have already gotten over the COVID-19 “ Chinese coronavirus ” and are thus not at significant risk either of catching this disease again or of passing it on .
We just need to make it easy for people to discover their already-had-it status .
Then as long as they wash their hands they should be out engaging in the public activities that keep our economy and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of drive-thru testing for active coronavirus infection is starting to identify some of the immune population .
Almost all of those who test positive will within a couple of weeks be well over their symptoms and no longer able transmit the disease .
But active virus testing by itself will leave the biggest part of the immune population unidentified .
First it can ’ t identify anybody who is already over the disease , which means anybody who caught Corona more than two weeks ago .
With the highly contagious “ Wuhan flu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers could be large and the people affected are the ones who can be stepping out to keep our economy running right now .
Going forward the live virus test will continue to miss most infections .
Current estimates are that about half of the Corona infections are asymptomatic , or nearly so .
In the words of Doctor Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins ( at 1:10 here ) : The silent spread of “ Kung Flu ” ( the moniker popularized by CBS reporter Weijia Jiang ) will be and probably already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to identify the large and important group of people who have been part of this expanding wave is to have a nationwide roll-out of antibody testing to anybody who wants it , a rollout on the same scale as the live virus testing .
Given the important social benefits we shouldn ’ t charge for it and we should try hard to really sell people on the personal benefits : Add antibody testing to drive through PCR and encourage everybody to do both The active virus test uses polymerase chain reaction testing ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to look for the RNA of the Chinese Coronavirus .
Antibody tests require a blood sample but are already available and , like the PCR tests , return results in a few hours .
Everybody who does one should probably also get the other .
Why ?
Because people whose current symptoms turn out to be an ordinary flu might nevertheless have already gotten over Corona so they should test for that too , even if they have no awareness of an earlier infection .
Similarly , currently symptomless people who want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might turn out to have an active infection .
The large social benefits of each say to do both and Biomedomics says that their rapid antibody test only requires a finger-prick blood sample so it could probably be done drive-through at the same time as the swab testing .
As Corona comes to look less dangerous our response is becoming more extreme The news from the frontlines of the Corona War looks good .
We already have strong indications of about 1 % mortality from the Diamond Princess and from South Korea .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ flu but there has also been great progress in finding effective remedies that could reduce the mortality by quite a bit .
Then there is the high estimated proportion of asymptomatic cases .
If borne out that will not only keep the Coronavirus mortality rate low but it will also mean that we already have a good start on herd immunity .
Logically it seems that we are not far from the point where we can declare the situation manageable and start rolling back the extremes of social distancing and economic shutdown that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t be in too much of a hurry .
The domestic testing data is finally starting to roll in and we need to look at it , but if we can get to the point where the risks can placed in the ballpark of an ordinary-flu ( or a modest multiple of an ordinary flu ) then we should drop all but the most basic social distancing ( stay home when sick ) , and stop incurring the serious economic harm that more drastic social distancing is already starting to cause .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and even a modest recession upends the lives of those who end up without work .
But while the news from the war front is good multiple levels of government are forging full speed ahead with even more drastic distancing and shut-down .
Multiple states have already committed to shutting down the rest of their public school years , California just locked all of its 40 million citizens in their houses and PA shut down its highway rest stops !
( Now they are only shutting down the bathrooms , yay .
One @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on in a mad rush .
A trillion dollar stimulus package is in the works and Congress is looking to enact responses into law .
Radical shut down plans are being floated from sources one would expect to be rational ( MITRE ) , going far beyond the original stated goal of trying to slow the spread of the Coronavirus and instead explicitly advocating efforts to stopping Corona from spreading at all .
To defeat Corona , we can ’ t let our own immune system kill us If the medical test data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news then a prolonged social distancing response could still turn out to be right , but people being people , extreme distancing could continue even if it is terribly wrong .
Remember how the Coronavirus kills ( in the rare cases where it does kill ) : by provoking an over-reaction from the host body ’ s immune system that attacks and destroys the host ’ s own cells .
That is exactly what our current “ immune response ” of shutting down the economy will quickly achieve if we follow it very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in terrible error .
The only way to survive going much further down this road is with mass antibody testing that releases those who have gotten over the Coronavirus from further social distancing .
If we are going to take this very dire economy-ravaging medicine , akin to subjecting the body to a 106° fever , it is crucial that we mitigate the harm by exempting those for whom it is completely unnecessary .
Those people are going to be our skeleton crews and their unconstrained mobility is going to be most important @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As their numbers grow they are going to pave our road back .
They are going to be our road back .
Eventually we will all be there .
A year or two from now when effective vaccines are finally available we will all have immunity .
But a year is a very long time to be flat on our back economically .
In the meantime we need the growing army of our immune countrymen to be our legs and we need to take steps to get those legs up and under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even contemplating continued social distancing it is imperative that we put mass antibody testing right at the top of our priority list .
We desperately need protection not just from the Coronavirus but also from the immune response that our society implements to attack the virus , or it won ’ t just get a few of us .
It will get all of us .
Does the possibility of reinfection change this analysis ?
Reinfection would seem to be a second order concern but it is something we need to investigate .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ different enough to strike again .
By then we should not only have vaccines but our vaccine industry should be developing vaccines much quicker than in the past , a change that is already emerging .
As for reinfection by a single strain , that should not happen with a healthy immune system and probably hasn ’ t happened .
“ If this acts like any other virus , once you recover , you won ’ t get reinfected , ” says Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible explanations for the few seeming cases of reinfection , such as incomplete recovery and tests that missed the still infected body parts .
But we do know of one possible danger on the multiple-strain front already .
Chinese researchers say that they have identified two major strains , a more aggressive “ L ” strain that was predominant in Wuhan but has since lost ground to a less aggressive “ S ” strain .
The small number of known cases of seeming reinfection suggest that there must be strong cross-immunity between whatever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that is not the explanation ?
Could the reason we aren ’ t seeing reinfection across the L and S strains be that they travelled off in different directions ?
Plausible or not , just take it as a worst case example where we would be forced to deal with in-effect two different flus at once .
Would it change our fundamental strategy ?
No .
Mass antibody testing would still be a top priority .
If both flus were beyond containment we would have to double all the testing , doing mass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both viruses .
Higher mortality and less immunity would make more social distancing necessary , which would impose more economic damage , making it all the more important to identify those people who don ’ t need to social distance .
The difference is that they would have to be immune to both strains , which means there would be far fewer of them , which would make them that much more valuable .
The shorter the supply of an economic input the higher its marginal productivity .
The first glass of water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The already immune are still going to have to fill crucial points of human contact so the fewer there are of them the more important finding them becomes .
Thus under all scenarios , until we decide that social distancing is no longer necessary , antibody testing will be a crucial tool for limiting the economic and social damage that social distancing inflicts .

Guest post by Alec Rawls
Social distancing is very costly to our society and not everyone needs to be doing it. The greater Seattle area alone is right now rapidly filling up with many thousands of people who have already gotten over the COVID-19 “Chinese coronavirus” and are thus not at significant risk either of catching this disease again or of passing it on. We just need to make it easy for people to discover their already-had-it status. Then as long as they wash their hands they should be out engaging in the public activities that keep our economy and our society going.
The nationwide rollout of drive-thru testing for active coronavirus infection is starting to identify some of the immune population. Almost all of those who test positive will within a couple of weeks be well over their symptoms and no longer able transmit the disease. But active virus testing by itself will leave the biggest part of the immune population unidentified.
First it can’t identify anybody who is already over the disease, which means anybody who caught Corona more than two weeks ago. With the highly contagious “Wuhan flu” circulating since at least mid-January those numbers could be large and the people affected are the ones who can be stepping out to keep our economy running right now.
Going forward the live virus test will continue to miss most infections. Current estimates are that about half of the Corona infections are asymptomatic, or nearly so. In the words of Doctor Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins (at 1:10 here):
We do know, if we look at the Diamond Princess and other examples, that about half of people probably have no symptoms or mild symptoms.
The silent spread of “Kung Flu” (the moniker popularized by CBS reporter Weijia Jiang) will be and probably already has been vast. The only way to identify the large and important group of people who have been part of this expanding wave is to have a nationwide roll-out of antibody testing to anybody who wants it, a rollout on the same scale as the live virus testing.
Given the important social benefits we shouldn’t charge for it and we should try hard to really sell people on the personal benefits:
“Hear ye, hear ye! Get you antibody check here! If you’ve already got Corona antibodies then you’ve have a “get out of social-distance-jail free” card. Go out dancing! Go to the movies! Go to the restaurant! And most importantly, go back to work.”
Add antibody testing to drive through PCR and encourage everybody to do both
The active virus test uses polymerase chain reaction testing (PCR) on nasal and throat swabs to look for the RNA of the Chinese Coronavirus. Antibody tests require a blood sample but are already available and, like the PCR tests, return results in a few hours. Everybody who does one should probably also get the other.
Why? Because people whose current symptoms turn out to be an ordinary flu might nevertheless have already gotten over Corona so they should test for that too, even if they have no awareness of an earlier infection. Similarly, currently symptomless people who want to find out if they already had Corona might turn out to have an active infection.
The large social benefits of each say to do both and Biomedomics says that their rapid antibody test only requires a finger-prick blood sample so it could probably be done drive-through at the same time as the swab testing.
As Corona comes to look less dangerous our response is becoming more extreme
The news from the frontlines of the Corona War looks good. We already have strong indications of about 1% mortality from the Diamond Princess and from South Korea. That’s high for an ordinary flu but there has also been great progress in finding effective remedies that could reduce the mortality by quite a bit. Then there is the high estimated proportion of asymptomatic cases. If borne out that will not only keep the Coronavirus mortality rate low but it will also mean that we already have a good start on herd immunity.
Logically it seems that we are not far from the point where we can declare the situation manageable and start rolling back the extremes of social distancing and economic shutdown that are now in place. We shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry. The domestic testing data is finally starting to roll in and we need to look at it, but if we can get to the point where the risks can placed in the ballpark of an ordinary-flu (or a modest multiple of an ordinary flu) then we should drop all but the most basic social distancing (stay home when sick), and stop incurring the serious economic harm that more drastic social distancing is already starting to cause. Nothing kills as many people as poverty and even a modest recession upends the lives of those who end up without work.
But while the news from the war front is good multiple levels of government are forging full speed ahead with even more drastic distancing and shut-down. Multiple states have already committed to shutting down the rest of their public school years, California just locked all of its 40 million citizens in their houses and PA shut down its highway rest stops! (Now they are only shutting down the bathrooms, yay. One cheer.)
It goes on and on in a mad rush. A trillion dollar stimulus package is in the works and Congress is looking to enact responses into law. Radical shut down plans are being floated from sources one would expect to be rational (MITRE), going far beyond the original stated goal of trying to slow the spread of the Coronavirus and instead explicitly advocating efforts to stopping Corona from spreading at all.
To defeat Corona, we can’t let our own immune system kill us
If the medical test data now coming in reveals some terrible bad news then a prolonged social distancing response could still turn out to be right, but people being people, extreme distancing could continue even if it is terribly wrong.
Remember how the Coronavirus kills (in the rare cases where it does kill): by provoking an over-reaction from the host body’s immune system that attacks and destroys the host’s own cells. That is exactly what our current “immune response” of shutting down the economy will quickly achieve if we follow it very long, whether on solid grounds or in terrible error.
The only way to survive going much further down this road is with mass antibody testing that releases those who have gotten over the Coronavirus from further social distancing. If we are going to take this very dire economy-ravaging medicine, akin to subjecting the body to a 106° fever, it is crucial that we mitigate the harm by exempting those for whom it is completely unnecessary.
Those people are going to be our skeleton crews and their unconstrained mobility is going to be most important when we are at our lowest point. As their numbers grow they are going to pave our road back. They are going to be our road back.
Eventually we will all be there. A year or two from now when effective vaccines are finally available we will all have immunity. But a year is a very long time to be flat on our back economically. In the meantime we need the growing army of our immune countrymen to be our legs and we need to take steps to get those legs up and under us.
So long as we are even contemplating continued social distancing it is imperative that we put mass antibody testing right at the top of our priority list. We desperately need protection not just from the Coronavirus but also from the immune response that our society implements to attack the virus, or it won’t just get a few of us. It will get all of us.
Does the possibility of reinfection change this analysis?
Reinfection would seem to be a second order concern but it is something we need to investigate. Flus always mutate, eventually coming back different enough to strike again. By then we should not only have vaccines but our vaccine industry should be developing vaccines much quicker than in the past, a change that is already emerging.
As for reinfection by a single strain, that should not happen with a healthy immune system and probably hasn’t happened. “If this acts like any other virus, once you recover, you won’t get reinfected,” says Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and there are other possible explanations for the few seeming cases of reinfection, such as incomplete recovery and tests that missed the still infected body parts.
But we do know of one possible danger on the multiple-strain front already. Chinese researchers say that they have identified two major strains, a more aggressive “L” strain that was predominant in Wuhan but has since lost ground to a less aggressive “S” strain.
The small number of known cases of seeming reinfection suggest that there must be strong cross-immunity between whatever different strains exist, but what if that is not the explanation? Could the reason we aren’t seeing reinfection across the L and S strains be that they travelled off in different directions?
Plausible or not, just take it as a worst case example where we would be forced to deal with in-effect two different flus at once. Would it change our fundamental strategy? No. Mass antibody testing would still be a top priority.
If both flus were beyond containment we would have to double all the testing, doing mass PCR tests and mass antibody tests for both viruses. Higher mortality and less immunity would make more social distancing necessary, which would impose more economic damage, making it all the more important to identify those people who don’t need to social distance.
The difference is that they would have to be immune to both strains, which means there would be far fewer of them, which would make them that much more valuable. The shorter the supply of an economic input the higher its marginal productivity. The first glass of water in the desert is the most important.
The already immune are still going to have to fill crucial points of human contact so the fewer there are of them the more important finding them becomes. Thus under all scenarios, until we decide that social distancing is no longer necessary, antibody testing will be a crucial tool for limiting the economic and social damage that social distancing inflicts.


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Just 1.2 percent of those who died had no other ailments

The very last sentence – yes , the very last sentence !
– in this article on MSN.com presents this ( comparatively ) good news .
But the sensational headline read “ Italy ’ s virus toll tops 4,000 after new one-day record.
” Those who never read to the end of an article , and there are many , would never have learned any of the following : “ The overwhelming majority of Italy ’ s fatal cases involved elderly people with at least one pre-existing condition.
” ( This was the 4th to last sentence . )
What @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The National Health Institute ( ISS ) said Friday that the average age of Italy first 3,200 victims was 78.5.
” ( This was the third to last sentence . )
Three or more pre-existing conditions “ Almost 49 percent of them had three or more pre-existing conditions.
” ( This was the 2nd to last sentence . )
“ Just 1.2 percent of those who died had no other ailments.
” ( And this was the very last sentence . )
Would you say that the media is driving the panic ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ who died had no other ailments appeared first on Ice Age Now .

The very last sentence – yes, the very last sentence! – in this article on MSN.com presents this (comparatively) good news.
But the sensational headline read “Italy’s virus toll tops 4,000 after new one-day record.”
Those who never read to the end of an article, and there are many, would never have learned any of the following:
“The overwhelming majority of Italy’s fatal cases involved elderly people with at least one pre-existing condition.” (This was the 4th to last sentence.)
What do they mean by elderly?
“The National Health Institute (ISS) said Friday that the average age of Italy first 3,200 victims was 78.5.” (This was the third to last sentence.)
Three or more pre-existing conditions
“Almost 49 percent of them had three or more pre-existing conditions.” (This was the 2nd to last sentence.)
“Just 1.2 percent of those who died had no other ailments.” (And this was the very last sentence.)
Would you say that the media is driving the panic?
Here’s the full article:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/italys-virus-toll-tops-4000-after-new-one-day-record/ar-BB11tDJ3?li=BBnb7Kz
The post Just 1.2 percent of those who died had no other ailments appeared first on Ice Age Now.
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March 22, 2020 at 05:35PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--The real reasons Africa has another locust plague

The UN , environmentalist pressure groups and their financial backers have a lot to answer for The ChiCom coronavirus and COVID-19 outbreaks , deaths and responses continue to dominate US , European and Asian news .
Meanwhile , a very different infestation is devastating East African crops and leaving tens of millions at risk of starvation and death .
If COVID hits these weakened populations , amid their malaria and other systemic diseases , it would bring tragedy on unimaginable scales .
“ Across Somalia , desert locusts in a swarm the size of Manhattan have destroyed a swath of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Wall Street Journal ’ s Nicholas Bariyo reports .
“ In Kenya , billions-strong clouds of the insects have eaten through 800 square miles of crops and survived a weeks-long spraying campaign .
They have “ swept across more than 10 nations on two continents.
” In parts of East Africa they “ are destroying some 1.8 million metric tons of vegetation every day , enough food to feed 81 million people.
” East Africa has a Desert Locust Control Organization .
But it , the region and the individual countries were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hordes were coming , irresponsibly underfunded , with almost no pesticides or aircraft to spray them .
By the time they acted , it was too little , too late .
The massive swarms are hardly unprecedented .
Locusts “ covered the face of the whole earth , so that the land was darkened ; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left .
So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Exodus 10:15 ] Locusts pillaged long before that , and have returned hundreds of times since .
The 1986-87 plague was calamitous .
As the late entomologist Dr. J. Gordon Edwards noted in 1988 , four major locust species hatched simultaneously in 15 countries , and the crops were so totally devastated that the UN Food and Agricultural Organization predicted 50 million Africans and Asians might starve to death .
Malnourished survivors would suffer reduced mental capacity and have greater susceptibility to diseases .
Other near-biblical infestations have ravaged Africa with predictable regularity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , essential question is this : In this era of amazing modern agriculture , aviation and pest control technologies , how could Africa have reached this frightening precipice yet again ?
These 2019-2020 swarms originated in the vast deserts of Oman , Somalia and Yemen , parts of which are lawless and war-torn .
That made it difficult and dangerous to monitor them for the emergence of billions of “ hoppers , ” following tumultuous downpours two years ago – or to spray them with insecticides when they were most vulnerable , before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thousands of miles .
But it also means East African countries needed to work together , despite these obstacles , to prevent such plagues .
These are horrifically poor countries , where bureaucrats live relatively well largely on outside donor funds , often corrupt top-gun politicians live very well on the same money , and some 90 % of the people exist on a few dollars a day , on the edge of starvation and debilitating disease , tilling tiny patches of land .
Too often their governments ’ ability to plan for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their priorities are skewed to whatever the donors want , and funding for insect control is minimal at best .
Eritrea , Somalia , Sudan and Uganda didn ’ t even pay their Locust Control membership dues for years , or decades – much less acquire the aircraft and pesticides they would need for the inevitable next locust plague .
Their focus was on elections ( getting reelected ) , essential or just showy infrastructure projects , and climate change .
Indeed , it seems nothing will be allowed to get in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmentalist obsession with climate change as the single greatest threat facing humanity and planet .
But climate cataclysms exist in models and headlines , are decades away , are hardly unprecedented for East Africa , and can hardly be worse than these recurring locust cataclysms .
But UN , EU , World Bank and eco-centered foundation money drives the agenda and pays Africa ’ s leaders and bureaucrats .
So recurring real-world crises get short shrift .
When it comes to insect control , the driving force is aid money totally skewed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ food sovereignty , ” and “ traditional subsistence farming ” with wood plows and oxen , “ in harmony with nature , ” free from Western seeds , fertilizers , tractors and , above all , pesticides .
The new moniker is clever , but the ideology and donor-driven attitudes are nothing new .
Dr. Edwards documented them in his 1988 article .
The FAO , USAID , USEPA , World Bank , Environmental Defense Fund and other organizations were pushing “ all-natural , biological , integrated pest management ” practices back then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the use of dieldrin and other insecticides that actually work .
They keep families , communities , clinics and hospitals dependent on minimalist wind and solar electricity .
Just as today , their focus back then was on alleged , possible side effects from modern insecticides , which used properly by trained applicators are safe for people , livestock , wildlife and most non-target insects .
The key is having the necessary staff , equipment and chemicals ahead of time .
Under pressure by all these external forces , East Africa failed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is reaping the proverbial whirlwind .
The donor agencies and pressure groups ’ attitude is akin to demanding that chemotherapy for cancer be banned , because the chemicals impair patient ’ s immune systems and cause hair to fall out .
Saving their lives is inarguably far more important than these side effects – just as saving millions from starvation and associated diseases , and preventing total crop and habitat annihilation , is inarguably far more important than the temporary loss of some insects or even slight risks to cattle , wildlife or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1987 , Dr. Edwards noted , Senegal requested and received the loan of four American DC-7 transport aircraft that could hold 18,400 pounds of cargo ( 8.4 metric tons ) .
They sprayed two million acres and killed 95 % of that country ’ s immature locusts .
But elsewhere FAO anti-pesticide ideologies prevailed , and billions of locusts matured , flew off , mated and produced tens of billions of locusts the following year .
They destroyed croplands , wildlife habitats , communities and lives in a dozen other African countries .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ too little , far too late .
Kenya has eight small crop-spraying aircraft operating around the clock ; the Locust Control consortium has four antiquated little planes .
They ’ re apparently spraying fenitrothion ( an effective locust killer ) , pyrethroids ( somewhat effective ) and malathion ( also somewhat effective though it breaks down within a few hours under Africa ’ s hot , humid conditions ) .
But they didn ’ t get the hoppers .
They waited until swarms the size of Manhattan were upon them .
Against those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ equipment is useless .
A dozen small crop dusters makes almost no difference .
And traditional methods like banging on pots are a sick joke .
However , there could still be hope .
A single Lockheed KC-130 Hercules tanker plane equipped with Modular Aerial Spray Systems can cover up to 150,000 acres a day .
Each plane can carry 2,000 gallons of the most appropriate pesticide-water mixture .
The benefits would be immediate and tremendous .
President Trump could order the Air Force to provide a KC-130 or two and enough fenitrothion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few weeks of locust-eradication spraying .
He could save millions of lives – and help change attitudes , policies and practices across Africa and the world .
The President could also order his US Agency for International Development ( USAID ) , State Department and other agencies to end their funding of climate and agro-ecology programs , and start making the East Africa Desert Locust Control Organization the forward-thinking , effective operation it was meant to be .
He could have blunt discussions with the heads of EU nations about their agro-ecology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practices and import restrictions toward Africa – which are an undeniable crime against humanity .
Finally , he could direct the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service to review ( and terminate ) the tax-exempt status of organizations and foundations engaged in lethal , eco-imperialistic lies and pressure campaigns in Africa , Asia and South America .
The locust plagues , starvation and deaths from readily preventable diseases like malaria must end – now .
The poorest people in these impoverished countries should not be the ones paying the price , too often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the very few politicians who could make these changes happen .
Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and author of Eco-Imperialism : Green power-black death , and articles on environmental and human rights issues .

The UN, environmentalist pressure groups and their financial backers have a lot to answer for
Paul Driessen
The ChiCom coronavirus and COVID-19 outbreaks, deaths and responses continue to dominate US, European and Asian news. Meanwhile, a very different infestation is devastating East African crops and leaving tens of millions at risk of starvation and death. If COVID hits these weakened populations, amid their malaria and other systemic diseases, it would bring tragedy on unimaginable scales.
“Across Somalia, desert locusts in a swarm the size of Manhattan have destroyed a swath of farmland as big as Oklahoma,” the Wall Street Journal’s Nicholas Bariyo reports. “In Kenya, billions-strong clouds of the insects have eaten through 800 square miles of crops and survived a weeks-long spraying campaign. They have “swept across more than 10 nations on two continents.” In parts of East Africa they “are destroying some 1.8 million metric tons of vegetation every day, enough food to feed 81 million people.”
East Africa has a Desert Locust Control Organization. But it, the region and the individual countries were totally unprepared for the onslaught, unaware the hordes were coming, irresponsibly underfunded, with almost no pesticides or aircraft to spray them. By the time they acted, it was too little, too late.
The massive swarms are hardly unprecedented. Locusts “covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.” [Exodus 10:15] Locusts pillaged long before that, and have returned hundreds of times since.
The 1986-87 plague was calamitous. As the late entomologist Dr. J. Gordon Edwards noted in 1988, four major locust species hatched simultaneously in 15 countries, and the crops were so totally devastated that the UN Food and Agricultural Organization predicted 50 million Africans and Asians might starve to death. Malnourished survivors would suffer reduced mental capacity and have greater susceptibility to diseases. Other near-biblical infestations have ravaged Africa with predictable regularity and results.
The obvious, burning, essential question is this: In this era of amazing modern agriculture, aviation and pest control technologies, how could Africa have reached this frightening precipice yet again?
These 2019-2020 swarms originated in the vast deserts of Oman, Somalia and Yemen, parts of which are lawless and war-torn. That made it difficult and dangerous to monitor them for the emergence of billions of “hoppers,” following tumultuous downpours two years ago – or to spray them with insecticides when they were most vulnerable, before their wings matured and they could fly thousands of miles. But it also means East African countries needed to work together, despite these obstacles, to prevent such plagues.
These are horrifically poor countries, where bureaucrats live relatively well largely on outside donor funds, often corrupt top-gun politicians live very well on the same money, and some 90% of the people exist on a few dollars a day, on the edge of starvation and debilitating disease, tilling tiny patches of land.
Too often their governments’ ability to plan for recurring crises like this are minimal, their priorities are skewed to whatever the donors want, and funding for insect control is minimal at best. Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda didn’t even pay their Locust Control membership dues for years, or decades – much less acquire the aircraft and pesticides they would need for the inevitable next locust plague. Their focus was on elections (getting reelected), essential or just showy infrastructure projects, and climate change.
Indeed, it seems nothing will be allowed to get in the way of the UN, EU and environmentalist obsession with climate change as the single greatest threat facing humanity and planet. But climate cataclysms exist in models and headlines, are decades away, are hardly unprecedented for East Africa, and can hardly be worse than these recurring locust cataclysms. But UN, EU, World Bank and eco-centered foundation money drives the agenda and pays Africa’s leaders and bureaucrats. So recurring real-world crises get short shrift.
When it comes to insect control, the driving force is aid money totally skewed to agro-ecology and its perverse focus on “food sovereignty,” and “traditional subsistence farming” with wood plows and oxen, “in harmony with nature,” free from Western seeds, fertilizers, tractors and, above all, pesticides.
The new moniker is clever, but the ideology and donor-driven attitudes are nothing new. Dr. Edwards documented them in his 1988 article. The FAO, USAID, USEPA, World Bank, Environmental Defense Fund and other organizations were pushing “all-natural, biological, integrated pest management” practices back then, too. They were totally opposed to the use of dieldrin and other insecticides that actually work. They keep families, communities, clinics and hospitals dependent on minimalist wind and solar electricity.
Just as today, their focus back then was on alleged, possible side effects from modern insecticides, which used properly by trained applicators are safe for people, livestock, wildlife and most non-target insects. The key is having the necessary staff, equipment and chemicals ahead of time. Under pressure by all these external forces, East Africa failed to do that – and now it is reaping the proverbial whirlwind.
The donor agencies and pressure groups’ attitude is akin to demanding that chemotherapy for cancer be banned, because the chemicals impair patient’s immune systems and cause hair to fall out. Saving their lives is inarguably far more important than these side effects – just as saving millions from starvation and associated diseases, and preventing total crop and habitat annihilation, is inarguably far more important than the temporary loss of some insects or even slight risks to cattle, wildlife or people from the sprays.
(An upcoming article will document who is behind the eco-manslaughter today, and who is funding them: from US, EU and UN organizations to their Swiss, Swedish, pseudo-African and other counterparts.)
Back in 1987, Dr. Edwards noted, Senegal requested and received the loan of four American DC-7 transport aircraft that could hold 18,400 pounds of cargo (8.4 metric tons). They sprayed two million acres and killed 95% of that country’s immature locusts. But elsewhere FAO anti-pesticide ideologies prevailed, and billions of locusts matured, flew off, mated and produced tens of billions of locusts the following year. They destroyed croplands, wildlife habitats, communities and lives in a dozen other African countries.
This year’s efforts are far too little, far too late. Kenya has eight small crop-spraying aircraft operating around the clock; the Locust Control consortium has four antiquated little planes. They’re apparently spraying fenitrothion (an effective locust killer), pyrethroids (somewhat effective) and malathion (also somewhat effective though it breaks down within a few hours under Africa’s hot, humid conditions).
But they didn’t get the hoppers. They waited until swarms the size of Manhattan were upon them. Against those countless billions of voracious locusts, ground-based equipment is useless. A dozen small crop dusters makes almost no difference. And traditional methods like banging on pots are a sick joke.
However, there could still be hope. A single Lockheed KC-130 Hercules tanker plane equipped with Modular Aerial Spray Systems can cover up to 150,000 acres a day. Each plane can carry 2,000 gallons of the most appropriate pesticide-water mixture. The benefits would be immediate and tremendous.
President Trump could order the Air Force to provide a KC-130 or two and enough fenitrothion, Lorsban or other effective insecticide for a few weeks of locust-eradication spraying. He could save millions of lives – and help change attitudes, policies and practices across Africa and the world.
The President could also order his US Agency for International Development (USAID), State Department and other agencies to end their funding of climate and agro-ecology programs, and start making the East Africa Desert Locust Control Organization the forward-thinking, effective operation it was meant to be.
He could have blunt discussions with the heads of EU nations about their agro-ecology, anti-pesticide and anti-biotechnology policies, funding practices and import restrictions toward Africa – which are an undeniable crime against humanity. Finally, he could direct the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service to review (and terminate) the tax-exempt status of organizations and foundations engaged in lethal, eco-imperialistic lies and pressure campaigns in Africa, Asia and South America.
The locust plagues, starvation and deaths from readily preventable diseases like malaria must end – now. The poorest people in these impoverished countries should not be the ones paying the price, too often with their lives. This president is one of the very few politicians who could make these changes happen.
Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power-black death, and articles on environmental and human rights issues.


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Is the COVID-19 Economic Downturn Affecting Atmospheric CO2? Mauna Loa Data Say, Not Yet

Some global warming alarmists are celebrating the current economic downturn as just what is needed to avert climate catastrophe .
I ’ ve seen a couple estimates that China ’ s manufacturing and commerce might have seen up at 40 % reduction recently .
The current global crisis will be a test of just how much economic pain is required to substantially reduce CO2 emissions ( assuming there is no reasonably affordable and practical replacement for fossil fuels ) .
I already know that some of my “ deep skeptic ” acquaintances ( you know who you are ) who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ natural will claim a continuing CO2 rise in the face of a decrease in economic activity supports their case .
I have previously shown that a simple model of the CO2 variations since 1959 forced with anthropogenic emissions accurately explain the Mauna Loa observations ( see Fig .
2 , explanation here ) .
It will take considerable evidence to convince me that the long-term rise in not anthropogenic , and maybe the current “ coronavirus experiment ” will provide some contrarian evidence .
Of course , for anthropogenic CO2 emissions reductions to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to show up in the atmosphere .
The most widely cited monitoring location for CO2 is on Mauna Loa in Hawaii .
It is at high elevation in a persistent subtropical high pressure zone that should be able to detect large emissions changes in several weeks time as weather systems move around the world .
I ’ ve had several requests , and seen numerous social media comments , suggesting this is something that should be looked at .
So , I ’ ve analyzed the Mauna Loa CO2 data ( updated monthly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there is any hint of a CO2 concentration downturn ( or , more accurately , reduced rate of rise ) .
The short answer is : No… at least not yet .
While an anthropogenic source of CO2 can explain the long-term rise in CO2 , the trouble with finding an anthropogenic signal on time scale of a few months to a couple years is that natural variations swamp any anthropogenic changes on short time scales .
The monthly data ( arbitrarily starting 1996 , below ) shows a continuing long-term rise that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1958 .
Also seen is the strong seasonal cycle as the vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere goes through its normal seasonal variations in growth and decay .
Obviously , not much can be discerned from the raw monthly average data in the above plot because the seasonal cycle is so strong .
So , the first step is to remove the seasonal cycle .
I did this by subtracting out a 4th order polynomial fit before removing the average seasonal cycle , then adding that statistical fit back in : Next , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to El Nino and La Nina ( ENSO ) activity , and if we remove an average statistical estimate of that ( a time lag and averaging is involved to increase signal ) , we can get a little better idea of whether the most recent month ( February 2020 ) is out of the ordinary .
I have zeroed in on just the most recent 5 years for clarity .
The polynomial fit to the data ( thin dotted line ) shows what we might expect for the coming months , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet departing from the expected values .
Of course , there are a variety of natural variations that impact global average CO2 on a month-to-month basis : Interannual variations in wildfire activity , land vegetation and sea surface temperatures , variations in El Nino and La Nina effects , and short-term fluctuations in anthropogenic emissions immediately come to mind .
( The Pinatubo and El Chichon volcano eruptions actually caused a reduction in global CO2 , probably due to post-eruption vegetation effects from an increase in diffuse sunlight penetration of forest canopies ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ analysis every month as long as the issue is of sufficient interest .

Some global warming alarmists are celebrating the current economic downturn as just what is needed to avert climate catastrophe. I’ve seen a couple estimates that China’s manufacturing and commerce might have seen up at 40% reduction recently.
The current global crisis will be a test of just how much economic pain is required to substantially reduce CO2 emissions (assuming there is no reasonably affordable and practical replacement for fossil fuels).
I already know that some of my “deep skeptic” acquaintances (you know who you are) who believe the global CO2 increase is mostly natural will claim a continuing CO2 rise in the face of a decrease in economic activity supports their case. I have previously shown that a simple model of the CO2 variations since 1959 forced with anthropogenic emissions accurately explain the Mauna Loa observations (see Fig. 2 , explanation here). It will take considerable evidence to convince me that the long-term rise in not anthropogenic, and maybe the current “coronavirus experiment” will provide some contrarian evidence.
Of course, for anthropogenic CO2 emissions reductions to have any effect, they actually have to show up in the atmosphere. The most widely cited monitoring location for CO2 is on Mauna Loa in Hawaii. It is at high elevation in a persistent subtropical high pressure zone that should be able to detect large emissions changes in several weeks time as weather systems move around the world.
I’ve had several requests, and seen numerous social media comments, suggesting this is something that should be looked at. So, I’ve analyzed the Mauna Loa CO2 data (updated monthly) through February 2020 to see if there is any hint of a CO2 concentration downturn (or, more accurately, reduced rate of rise).
The short answer is: No… at least not yet.
The Mauna Loa Data: Removing Seasonal and ENSO Effects
While an anthropogenic source of CO2 can explain the long-term rise in CO2, the trouble with finding an anthropogenic signal on time scale of a few months to a couple years is that natural variations swamp any anthropogenic changes on short time scales.
The monthly data (arbitrarily starting 1996, below) shows a continuing long-term rise that has been occurring since monitoring began in 1958. Also seen is the strong seasonal cycle as the vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere goes through its normal seasonal variations in growth and decay.
Obviously, not much can be discerned from the raw monthly average data in the above plot because the seasonal cycle is so strong. So, the first step is to remove the seasonal cycle. I did this by subtracting out a 4th order polynomial fit before removing the average seasonal cycle, then adding that statistical fit back in:
Next, there are some wiggles in the data due to El Nino and La Nina (ENSO) activity, and if we remove an average statistical estimate of that (a time lag and averaging is involved to increase signal), we can get a little better idea of whether the most recent month (February 2020) is out of the ordinary. I have zeroed in on just the most recent 5 years for clarity.
The polynomial fit to the data (thin dotted line) shows what we might expect for the coming months, and we can see that February is not yet departing from the expected values.
Of course, there are a variety of natural variations that impact global average CO2 on a month-to-month basis: Interannual variations in wildfire activity, land vegetation and sea surface temperatures, variations in El Nino and La Nina effects, and short-term fluctuations in anthropogenic emissions immediately come to mind. (The Pinatubo and El Chichon volcano eruptions actually caused a reduction in global CO2, probably due to post-eruption vegetation effects from an increase in diffuse sunlight penetration of forest canopies).
I will try to update this analysis every month as long as the issue is of sufficient interest.
via Roy Spencer, PhD.
https://ift.tt/3a6VEjv
March 22, 2020 at 02:45PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Chinese CDC data suggests that most people will NOT develop life-threatening illness

In China , 87 % of the more than 80,000 people sickened by the virus have already recovered from COVID-19 , says this article in the Daily Mail .
More than 80 % of coronavirus patients get only mild symptoms , like cough , fever , some aches and pains , and most recover quickly , Chinese data suggests .
Coronavirus became severe in 15 percent of cases and critical in five percent , but on the whole , only 2.3 percent of infected people died and most were over age 80 .
( I ’ m not sure the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ word here , but for those who think billions of people are going to die , perhaps it is . )
Since 20 % of hospitalized patients in the US are between ages 20 and 44 , the fact that most China deaths occurred in the over-80 age bracket could give them reason for hope .
Another cause for optimism is that some studies suggest that people become ‘ low risk ’ for transmitting virus within just 10 days of starting to feel sick .
This gives me great hope that self-quarantining procedures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time .
Thanks to Stephen Bird for this link The post Chinese CDC data suggests that most people will NOT develop life-threatening illness appeared first on Ice Age Now .

In China, 87% of the more than 80,000 people sickened by the virus have already recovered from COVID-19, says this article in the Daily Mail.
More than 80% of coronavirus patients get only mild symptoms, like cough, fever, some aches and pains, and most recover quickly, Chinese data suggests.
Coronavirus became severe in 15 percent of cases and critical in five percent, but on the whole, only 2.3 percent of infected people died and most were over age 80. (I’m not sure the word ‘only’ is the appropriate word here, but for those who think billions of people are going to die, perhaps it is.)
Since 20% of hospitalized patients in the US are between ages 20 and 44, the fact that most China deaths occurred in the over-80 age bracket could give them reason for hope.
Another cause for optimism is that some studies suggest that people become ‘low risk’ for transmitting virus within just 10 days of starting to feel sick.
This gives me great hope that self-quarantining procedures may help tremendously in a very short time.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8134929/More-80-coronavirus-patients-mild-symptoms.html
Thanks to Stephen Bird for this link
The post Chinese CDC data suggests that most people will NOT develop life-threatening illness appeared first on Ice Age Now.
via Ice Age Now
https://ift.tt/2UehcW5
March 22, 2020 at 01:34PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-03-22--Avi Lewis – In the Dark on Renewables

Avi Lewis – In the Dark on Renewables

Contributed by Michelle Stirling © March 2020 Michelle Stirling is the Communications Manager for Friends of Science Society .
An @ @ @ @ @ Mail written by Avi Lewis , … Continue reading

Contributed by Michelle Stirling © March 2020
Michelle Stirling is the Communications Manager for Friends of Science Society.
An op-ed in the Globe and Mail written by Avi Lewis, … Continue reading
via Friends of Science Calgary
https://ift.tt/39haAdO
March 22, 2020 at 01:16PM