Author: BlackMask Financial

Before pushing to reopen schools, consider how many Florida kids are testing positive for COVID-19

Health officials in Florida have started reporting a truly scary trend: They say 31.1 percent, or nearly one-third, of children in Florida who are tested for COVID-19 end up returning a positive result. With as many questions as we still have about how this virus affects children — and their role in spreading it to the adults we already know are vulnerable to more severe infections — this is pretty alarming, especially considering the national push to reopen schools in time for the fall semester, which is just weeks away in some states. State data from Florida shows that the 31.1 percent positivity rate is much higher than the overall statewide rate, which is around 11 percent. That means almost three times as many children who are tested are getting positive results than adults who are tested. That creates two main concerns for health officials: First, it shows that COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly among children than adults. And second, it creates huge fears because of how little we know about the virus’s long-term effects, especially in kids. There’s already evidence that COVID-19 causes lasting lung damage in adults, even if they don’t have severe cases.

“They are seeing there is damage to the lungs in these asymptomatic children. … We don’t know how that is going to manifest a year from now or two years from now,” Alina Alonso, the health department director of Palm Beach County, told reporters this week. “Is that child going to have chronic pulmonary problems or not?”  Nick Note: It is insanity that they will open the schools. Virtual educations is the future. With powerful search engines you can learn what ever you want. Unless your a loser boozer drug user party person. Its anther example of killing the rats. Its ok if they are fool enough to open the schools they will close them right back down again when they kill off the teachers…..  even if Trump won’t let them report the deaths.

12 staffers test positive for COVID-19 – even though they ALL passed the building’s checks and protocols

TALLAHASSEE — Florida officials shut down the state’s emergency operations center on Thursday after 12 staffers tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks. The building, which functions as the state’s command center during statewide emergencies, is closed until Monday and will undergo a deep cleaning, according to the Division of Emergency Management, which operates the center. The positive cases were discovered after the state started testing employees for COVID-19 twice per week in June. All 12 were not displaying symptoms and passed the building’s screening protocols, which include a questionnaire and temperature checks, according to division Director Jared Moskowitz. None of them caught the virus from being in the building, and they’re now isolating at home, Moskowitz said.

The center, about 20 minutes from the Capitol, is typically activated during hurricanes and operates around the clock. But state officials activated it in March, after the state reported its first cases of COVID-19. Since then, staffers, which come from multiple state agencies, have been working around the clock to procure and distribute medical supplies around the state and, recently, dispatching nurses to hospitals that need them, Moskowitz said. The center has been at Level 1 — its highest level — longer than for any other disaster. To help state workers adapt, officials have allowed them time off and to bring their dogs to work.

“There’s no light at the end of the tunnel for them,” Moskowitz said.

Until the center reopens on Monday, staffers are working from home or at their individual offices nearby. Moskowitz said those private offices are safer than the emergency operations center, which mostly consists of a large, shared workspace.

Washington The United States marked a record number of coronavirus cases Friday for the third consecutive day, notching 77,638 new infections in 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The country also recorded 927 deaths in one day, according to the count by the Baltimore-based university at 8:30 pm (00:30 GMT Saturday). The country, the hardest-hit by the coronavirus in the world in absolute terms, has suffered 139,128 total fatalities out of 3.64 million confirmed cases. Experts believe the United States never emerged from its first wave of infections, and cases have been surging again in recent weeks, particularly across the south and west in states that pushed to lift lockdown restrictions early. In California, Los Angeles County reported 4,592 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, a single-day record.

“Without aggressive action on the part of every person, we will not get back to slowing the spread,” Barbara Ferrer, the county public health director, said in a statement.

In Texas and Arizona, which are dealing with stark surges in virus cases and deaths, authorities are bringing in refrigerated trucks to cope with the body count. Nick Note: As you can see world leaders are sleeping at the switch. THEIR IS A CURE AND A MEDICINE ITS CALLED:  LOCKDOWN a bitter pill indeed.

 

President Donald Trump’s niece Mary Trump – a psychologist whose recently published book criticises the President and his family – asserted on Friday that her uncle’s childhood is affecting his ability to govern in a crisis.

“Donald is a psychologically deeply damaged man, based on his upbringing and the situation with his parents,” she told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Friday on “Cuomo Prime Time.”

“He is not going to get better and he is without question going to get worse,” she added.

 

The stinging assertion is another blistering comment from one of Trump’s family members who has been interviewed often this week after her book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” went on sale. The book paints the President in an unflattering light and traces his governing style back to his childhood. When asked if the President was known among family members as someone who didn’t tell the truth, Mary Trump asserted that he “does on some levels know what he’s doing” and pointed to issues such as not wearing a mask. She said her uncle is not anti-science but will ignore facts in order to spin his preferred narrative.

“I think one of the reasons he’s sort of unravelling a bit now is because what he’s always done in the past, that used to work, isn’t really working as effectively anymore, so it has him scrambling a bit,” she said.

“Knowing, not knowing; educated, not educated as you say — ultimately it is irrelevant,” Mary Trump added. “Just as in the grand schemes of things — although I think it’s extremely useful in some ways to understand his psychology — it’s irrelevant compared to what he’s doing, that’s what we need to focus on.” Trump, after days of silence about her, called her “a mess” earlier on Friday and alleged that she wrote “untruthful things.” In a series of tweets Friday, he accused her of breaking an unspecified law and lambasted her for criticising his parents who, he added, “couldn’t stand her!” Mary Trump, in turn, asserted that she was legally in the right. “I never had Donald’s tax returns in my possession, so I could not have revealed them to anybody,” she told Cuomo. She and her grandmother “were very close,” she said. “I really loved (my grandmother) and believe that she loved me. My grandfather, I don’t think was really, had real positive feelings towards anybody except perhaps Donald.” She called the assertion that she was a mess “an attack he hurls, predominantly, I think, about women”. “Honestly, I’m in very good company,” she added. “I believe he’s said the same thing about Nancy Pelosi, and I’m fine with that.”

She has faced litigation from Robert Trump, the President’s brother, who argued in court that the book violated a confidentiality agreement related to Fred Trump’s estate. But a New York judge ultimately allowed its release. It sold a staggering 950,000 copies by the end of its first day on sale, publisher Simon & Schuster said Thursday. Mary Trump has made damning allegations against the President in recent TV appearances, including claiming she’s heard Trump use racial slurs. The White House has denied her claims. In the series of tweets Friday, Trump also had choice words for John Bolton, calling his former national security adviser a “lowlife dummy.” Bolton recently published a book about his time in the White House and called the President “naive and dangerous.” The President wrote: “I am the ultimate member of The Book of the Month Club. First I have lowlife dummy John Bolton, a war mongering fool, violating the law (he released massive amounts of Classified Information) and an NDA in order to build badly needed credibility and make a few dollars, which will all end up going to the government anyway.” “Many books have been written about me, some good, some bad. Both happily and sadly, there will be more to come!” the President wrote, in conclusion. Nick Note: The coronavirus is Trumps Waterloo. It will be his downfall and unfortunately million will die. And a billion people will be infected. The wrong man, in the wrong place at the wrong time. With a NEW threat that the “experts” really do not know how to deal with. This is a war against a little know enemy. A enemy that can not be swayed by public opinion or political spin. You can cook the books on infection rates. Hide the pile of bodies in refrigerated shipping containers. You can let the fools go to work and have idiot parents that want  their kids back in school (crazy shit) simply for  day care. Bottom line this is the deadliest plague mankind has seen since The parallels to the Black Death that ravished the world during the middle ages is astonishing.   Known as the Bubonic Plague. The plague created religious, social, and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history.  To be clear here its came out of China and like the present plague it killed people by phenomena. And this time their will be VAST social upheavals. What old again is new again!

(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating to a record low for an 11th week in a row though they have slowed the reductions as some consider returning to the well pad with crude prices up from historic lows. The U.S. oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by five to an all-time low of 253 in the week to July 17, according to data on Friday from energy services firm Baker Hughes Co going back to 1940. That was 701 rigs, or 73%, below this time last year. Even though U.S. oil prices are still down about 34% since the start of the year due to coronavirus demand destruction, U.S. crude futures have jumped 115% over the past three months to around $40 a barrel on Friday on hopes global economies will snap back as governments lift lockdowns.

Rig Count Overview & Summary Count

CHINA has sealed off a city of 3.5million people with its “toughest ever” coronavirus lockdown amid fears of a second wave.

Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, recorded five new coronavirus cases after registering its first Covid-19 infection in five months yesterday. The eastern province of Zhejiang also reported an asymptomatic case involving a traveller from Xinjiang. Urumqi also reported eight new asymptomatic cases on Friday- taking the province’s tally to six infections and 11 asymptomatic cases. Subway services were also suspended from Thursday and more than 600 scheduled flights at the international airport – equivalent to more than 80% of the day’s total – were cancelled, according to aviation data from Variflight. Juneyao Airlines and Shenzhen Donghai Airlines have today announced that all passengers travelling to and from Urumqi must show negative nucleic acid test results taken within seven days, Global Times reports. All passengers planning to fly to Xinjiang will be required to display negative Covid-19 nucleic acid test results taken within seven days and a green health card, Nick Bit: Compare this to the joke US airlines temperature checks at the gate. At best a indication that 2 weeks ago you were not infected. Chinese Eastern Airlines said on Wednesday. A green health card means that people are not required to be under quarantine and can travel freely. Bus services in a district neighbouring Urumqi closed down and all workers are required to undergo Covid-19 tests, state media reports. Some social media users in the city said that they could not leave their houses and others claimed people were stopped leaving or entering Kashgar, another city in Xinjiang, BBC reports.

“We must resolutely cut off the channel of transmission, focus on key people and key areas, take the most determined, decisive and strictest measures to ensure that all investigations and inspections are conducted to resolutely curb the spread of the epidemic,” Xinjiang’s Communist Party said on Thursday.

Officials pledged to ‘strictly implement provision and control measures’ by monitoring who enters the region. Highly populated communities will also be monitored. “We must strengthen the control of crowded places, the grid management of communities and villages, and carry out stringent screening in the fever clinics and hospitals,” the government said. The Chinese government has long struggled with its 11-million-strong Uighur population, an ethnic Turkic minority native to the northwestern region of Xinjiang. Nick Note: This latest report has several thing to teach us. Remember China has the most experience fighting this plague. It is a brutal regime with total control over its population. First with relative small infection rates they lock down their cities and throw away the key. Second people movement controls (contact tracing) is total and complete. Third observe how fast testing is done and their health card system. Now compare that to YOUR supreme leader Trump who has lit off a national debate about a near useless paper mask. I have a cure for the coronavirus…..The medicine is ISOLATION!

 

 

IMF. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revealed on Friday that the United States’ economy plunged 37% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year and that it will tumble 6.6% at the end of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong’s new outbreak has surpassed the scale of its previous wave of infections, signaling that the worst of the pandemic may be yet to come. In Spain, officials slapped new restrictions on movement and gatherings in Barcelona, while countries globally grapple with a fresh surge in infections.

A poll showed that more than half of the American public “strongly” disapproves of President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic.

Global Tracker: Cases top 13.8 million; deaths top 590,000U.S

Barcelona Hit With New Curbs (7:51 a.m. NY)

Catalan officials imposed new curbs on movement and gatherings in Barcelona after the business and tourism hub suffered an upsurge in new cases. Bars and restaurants will be limited to 50% capacity and night clubs, gyms, swimming pools, cinemas and theaters closed, Meritxell Budo, a regional government spokeswoman, said at a news conference. Gatherings of more than 10 people will also be forbidden. People should stay at home unless going out is absolutely necessary, Budo said. The number of new cases in Barcelona jumped to 494 last week, tripling those recorded the week before, according to data published by the regional government.

Singapore Tightens Rules for Some Travelers (7:20 a.m. NY)

Singapore will tighten rules on travelers who had been in coronavirus hotspots including Japan, Hong Kong and Australia’s Victoria state, mandating quarantine in dedicated facilities from July 20. Travelers who have been in those regions in the 14 days prior to entering Singapore won’t be able to serve their quarantine at their residence, the island’s authorities said on Friday.

Fewer Americans Approve of Trump’s Handling of Covid-19 (7 a.m. NY)

President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak has the approval of 38% of Americans, down from 46% in May and 51% in March, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC poll. More than half of the public, or 52%, now disapproves “strongly” of Trump’s handling of the outbreak, roughly double the percentage who say they strongly approve and an increase from 36% in strong disapproval since March.

Luxembourg’s Second Wave (6:20 a.m. NY)

Luxembourg is in the middle of a second wave of infections, its health minister said this week. No other EU nation is testing as much as the tiny Grand-Duchy, which has been sending invites to citizens across the nation to get tested since May. With the number of daily tests rising, new infections have been rising day to day as well, meaning that several EU nations — Slovenia is the latest country to do so — have added Luxembourg to a red list. Germany’s Robert Koch Institute also placed Luxembourg on its list of risk countries this week.

Austrian New Cases at Highest Since April 12 (5:20 p.m. HK)

Austria had 169 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily rise since April 12. The number of active coronavirus infections has risen almost four-fold to 1,393 since the low of 373 on June 14, driven by clusters around evangelical churches in Linz and Wiener Neustadt, a pork-processing plant near the Czech border, and cases in Vienna.

Hong Kong’s New Outbreak Tops Earlier Waves (4:58 p.m. HK)

Hong Kong’s fresh coronavirus outbreak has surpassed the magnitude of its previous waves of infection, in a cautionary tale that the worst may be yet to come in the global pandemic. Authorities reported 50 local virus cases on Friday, bringing total infections to over 350, making the Asian financial hub one of the first places in the region to see a new wave dwarf previous outbreaks.

The resurgence comes after a long stretch during which residents returned to work and normal life. About a third of infections in the new outbreak are of unknown origins, signaling that hidden chains of transmission are widespread.

Israel to Close Beaches, Shops at Weekends (4:24 p.m. HK)

Israel’s government approved new restrictions that will shutter non-essential businesses on weekends to slow a surge of cases. Visiting the beach will be banned from Friday afternoons to Sunday mornings from next weekend.

More general regulations throughout the week will close gyms, prohibit restaurants from seating customers and limit the size of gatherings. Israel now has at least 44,000 confirmed cases and nearly 380 deaths, according to health ministry data, while the unemployment rate stands at above 21%.

Movement in Xinjiang Capital Limited (4:02 p.m. HK)

China locked down housing compounds across Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi. The city of 3.5 million reported six confirmed infections on Thursday and Friday, along with 11 cases where the people didn’t display any symptoms, breaking a 10-day streak of zero new domestic cases in China. The source of the new infections is unclear and the local government did not say if the cases are linked.

Tokyo Virus Cases Hit Record for a Second Day (2:50 p.m. HK)

Tokyo saw a second straight day of record coronavirus cases Friday, with 293 reported amid growing concern about the ability of authorities to suppress the outbreak. The city had 286 cases Thursday.

India Crosses 1 Million Case Mark (12:05 p.m. HK)

India saw its coronavirus cases exceed 1 million, becoming the third country to cross that mark, according to its health ministry, as the virus continues to spread rapidly in the world’s second most-populous nation.

Australia’s Most-Populous State Tightens Restrictions (9:36 a.m. HK)

Australia’s most-populous state — New South Wales — will further tighten restrictions for gatherings and venues, including clubs and cafes, Premier Gladys Berejikliantells told reporters.

Meanwhile, Australia’s second-most populous state, Victoria, recorded its second day of a spike in coronavirus cases as its capital city Melbourne is gripped by a second wave of infections. It had 428 new cases in the past 24 hours, Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters Friday. That’s the largest single-day increase for any of Australia’s states and territories, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Nick Note: slowly but finely the mills of the Gods grind. And the vast majority of people are in denial. Soon it will be lockdowns again and then the mobs will come fighting for a potato,