We have commenters and readers here from California who have been weighing in on conditions in their state. I've been wondering when we'd get some transparency from California--not on strictly political matters, which is hopeless, but on the nearly related issue of Covid. We still don't have that transparency, but Steve Hayward at Powerline has offered some interesting perspective--Covid Bed Check. Read this excerpt in conjunction with the reports we've seen recently of Covid "defeating" the Flu:
Politico noted a few days ago that California, which has tried to impose some of the most stringent lockdowns in the nation, is not doing so well. This paragraph especially jumps out:
America’s most populous state has become one of the nation’s worst epicenters for the disease, setting new records for cases, hospitalizations and deaths almost every day. Things are so bad in Southern California that some patients are being treated in hospital tents, while doctors have begun discussing whether they need to ration care.
I don’t doubt that hospitals are badly strained at the moment. But is this really unprecedented? Check out this Los Angeles Times story from January 2018:
California hospitals face a ‘war zone’ of flu patients — and are setting up tents to treat them
. . . The huge numbers of sick people are also straining hospital staff who are confronting what could become California’s worst flu season in a decade.
Hospitals across the state are sending away ambulances, flying in nurses from out of state and not letting children visit their loved ones for fear they’ll spread the flu. Others are canceling surgeries and erecting tents in their parking lots so they can triage the hordes of flu patients. . . Many hospitals also say they’re too full to accept any more patients or ambulances.
ADDENDUM: In other California related news:
Human Sacrifice Devin Nunes: His Final Exit Interview
As noted at Big Scoop News:
At the time of this writing, no one from the Biden team or from Nunes’ Russian handlers has disputed B.S. News’ potentially accurate report, so it must be true.
COVID19 may be this year’s version of the seasonal flu, but it really is straining local hospitals. A big one that serves our area is not having space problems as much as it is having staffing problems. This was verified to us by a close family member who works for the hospital in a position where she knows the straight scoop.
ReplyDeleteAs for McCotter, I am usually a fan of his writings. This one makes me wonder what he’s drinking. Does he know New Year’s is over? Maybe he didn’t recover?
Was the flu vaccine unavailable to those in CA this year? Did Gov Newsom put a hold on flu vaccinations this past fall? If not, how many inoculations administered? Any stats available?
DeleteAC, flu vaccine has been available and freely given (it costs nothing at the pharmacies like CVS) for as many years as it has been available. Some years are worse than others. As I recall 2018 was a nasty year. Because vaccines are formulated based on previous year’s experience, a new mutation can mess up the works. The best they can offer is that it will generally result in a lesser case of flu - the patient will be not as sick and for not as long - if total immunity doesn’t happen. I haven’t had a flu shot for five years. An ugly and lasting adverse effect to a fluoroquinolone antibiotic made me and my trusted physician agree that I should skip them. In the past, if I got a flu bug, azthromycin (ZPak) and a bronchodilator, along with Mucinex and lots of good vitamins, took care of it. I try to avoid small children with runny noses. In the late 70s a child not my own gave me a horrific flu that lasted three months, eventually morphing into pneumonia.
DeleteThey still don’t know enough about this flu to fine tune prevention and treatment. Some things work on some, other things work on others. The fact that it came from China doesn’t help.
My husband and I wear masks where they are required. Markets, medical offices. Otherwise, no. So far we haven’t been arrested. :-)
(As a California native, I love to read the rubbish that is put out about California. Fine. It may keep a lot of the rabble away.)
Joe Biden Estimated 250,000 COVID Deaths This Month. He Was Off By 178,000
ReplyDeletePresident-elect Joe Biden spiked coronavirus hysteria early this month, warning Americans the nation would suffer 250,000 additional deaths from the novel Wuhan coronavirus by the end of the year.
“Christmas is going to be a lot harder,” Biden said during a small business roundtable on Dec. 2, a week after Thanksgiving. “I don’t want to scare anybody here, but understand the facts — we’re likely to lose another 250,000 people dead between now and January. You hear me?”
At that point, The Atlantic’s COVID Tracking Project reported nearly 262,000 Americans had succumbed to the virus, making Biden’s prediction a near doubling of the nation’s nine-month death toll within a 30-day period. According to the latest data from the COVID Tracking Project, however, the U.S. death toll stands at nearly 334,000, meaning Biden was off by about 178,000 with 72,000 deaths in December.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/31/joe-biden-estimated-250000-covid-deaths-this-month-he-was-off-by-178000/
Strained ICUs is a typical pattern this time of year. The fact that the flu has disappeared this year is interesting. For the single most grounded, straight-forward thing I've read on Covid over the past nine months, I recommend this piece by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick. Clearly Covid has driven excess deaths. Equally as clear, however, is that none of the mitigations tried anywhere have had quantifiable beneficial effects. The story that overall mortality numbers do NOT tell is all the avoidable deaths that will accrue from Covid in the coming months and years.
ReplyDeletehttps://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2020/12/30/what-is-left-to-say/
@PD Quig. Thanks for the Dr. Kendrick post. Exceedingly lucid and honest.
DeleteThis may be a good link to see what's really going on in hospitals: https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/hospital-capacity
ReplyDeleteThis one is good too: https://rt.live/
I just got back from a motorcycle ride around the Rose Bowl. I noticed a stark disparity among 2 different groups of people:
ReplyDeletejoggers/walkers wearing face-diapers. 100%
golfers wearing face-diapers. 0% (zero)
I never (almost) wear a face-diaper, and I own a set of golf clubs.
Doesn't matter. None of this has to do with actual public health. Like the Election Steal the "in your face" part is a feature, not a bug.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/01/02/brooks-weve-let-each-other-down-by-not-shutting-down-the-way-other-nations-did/#
Self-humiliation is always the big pay-off for narcisstarians.
Tom S.
My guesses on why Ca is so bad:
ReplyDeleteI am frustrated with the lack of good information...
1. Lockdown has gone in too long. We are 10 months into 2 weeks to flatten the curve. Gathering rules are being ignored.
2. Face masks don’t work, especially how they are used, and give a false sense of security. Some are worse than others.
3. Border is still open if you are Mexican Citizen.
4. Hcq very hard to get in Ca.
5. Tests not reliable.
6. Government officials Have destroyed their credibility. Newsom French Laubdry, etc. LA County top health person has their position due to being a Latina. And if you question the narrative, you may lose your job.
7. Edicts for show, that are not implemented. LAX requires you fill something out before you land. Nobody asks for it after landing.
8. Blm gatherings are ok.
9. Lockdown rules that are ineffective. Like not allowing people on the beach, outdoors, etc.
10. Mask rules that increase your chance of getting Covid.
11. No apparent real evidence on what works / does not work, especially for disinfecting being communicated. Taiwan is so far ahead of the us in good information.
12. Homeless are out of control and are ignored for Vovid Restrictions. And hotels used to house them.
Ray, stats out in the Pasadena Star-News show the preponderance of the Covid cases are Hispanics. Attributed to their living in close quarters. Their communities are very tight and within those communities there can be many family members of various generations living in one not necessarily large residence. It is not hitting the blacks as hard as the whites, who are a distant #2 behind the Hispanics. For those ready to jump, these are not necessarily illegals…
DeleteOne other thing that my son has noticed where he lives - the Hispanics in his neighborhood continue to be major party people, filling their homes and yards with music, dancing, drinking and the works until the wee smalls. A cultural thing.
BTW, I have seen no evidence that HCQ is hard to get. It’s up to the doctors to decide the treatment. And because it is used in combination with azithromycin, it may not be right for all. Some with existing arryhthmias cannot take azythromycin because it might exacerbate them. Best to have a doctor one trusts and who knows your body, and not try to call the shots based upon internet info.
The time has come for Cantafordya to go away like the albatross it is.
ReplyDeleteThe land of fruits and nuts is a disgrace to civilized people.
What a silly remark.
DeletePlease share with us the name of the Paradise where you live...
Bebe, I beg to differ with you on this. It's not a "silly remark" -- it's moronic remark. And I've about had it with his act.
DeleteOff subject
ReplyDeleteExcellent PureTalk - Doug Wade Interviews Seth Keshel (military intell) talking about the irregularities of the election.
https://youtu.be/xXMW9VNMPT4
@Mike
DeleteI have watched the interview. Keshel makes a strong case for the likelihood of fraud, but its pretty frustrating to watch because statistical anomalies don't seem to be sufficient to conclusively prove fraud. As Ted Cruz seems to be saying, only an 'audit' can establish fraud.
Audits have already been done and proved fraud in Antrim County and Arizona, and in Georgia we've probably all seen the video surveillance of the late-night ballot stuffing. The State officials who administered the fraud deny it, even after audits and video proof.
DeleteThe issue is now is whether Pence will acquiesce to the fraud. If he does, the issue will be what will our and Trump's reaction be as citizens ruled by in-your-face criminals.
Or how about this: The result of such an outcome is that we will no longer be citizens but simply subjects.
DeleteThe problem with audits etc. is that the keepers of the keys of every layer that is supposed to, or has Constitutional authority to, stop this Coup has already declared either openly for authoritarianism or simply ignores it. I have to admit it boggles my mind that, of all the weasels in congress, it appears most are quite willing to go on record with an official vote to dissolve the pretense of a republic, not the Union just the republic part. That is is what I see the certification vote as. Up or down, yea or nay; their name in history.
DeleteTom S.
You are left with one of two things at this point..
ReplyDeleteA. Covid has completely cured the incurable influenza
B. Influenza is being recorded as covid
Both can not be true.
I had hoped when courts actually started ruling against covid tests for their inaccuracies this would back off but to hell with that pesky science'ncy stuff.
They are taking in BILLIONS on this sham! Global warming never had it so good!!!
Pretty much it. I highly recommend the Reiss and Bhakti book. Straightforward explanation of the science and how it doesn't remotely jibe with the public policy.
DeleteMy personal belief is that the Covid tests have done more harm than good.
Deletehttps://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/01/was_a_covid19_vaccine_developed_before_the_first_covid19_case_was_discovered_in_america.html
ReplyDeleteCivil servants? Working a grift? Nah, can't happen, not in America.
Tom S.
I marked that to read and was just about to start. At breakfast I told my wife about the thesis and we both agreed that, after what we've seen in the Trump years, very little if anything would surprise us from our rulers.
DeleteInasmuch as this is a novel coronavirus, not the FIRST coronavirus to show up here, it is possible that something that already existed in concept or whatever (I am not a biochemist) might have been adapted to this particular “novel” one? Perhaps they didn’t have to start from scratch?
DeleteIt takes zero imagination to tie Fauci’s fearmongering re Covid19 and flogging of (his) vaccine to his own materialism and need for public acclaim and all that goes with both. $$$$$$$$$$$$ Subtle and clever, he ain’t...
DeleteA vaccine "in concept" for ... variations on the common cold? I really don't think so.
DeleteRe the supposed "novelty" of this coronavirus, I really do recommend Reiss and Bhakti. They're recognized experts in the field. Their book is easy reading but very informative.
I may not use acceptable language, but I don’t believe what I was thinking of was beyond the realm of possibility.
DeleteVaccines for SARS-CoV-2: Lessons from Other Coronavirus Strains
Abstract. The emergence of the strain of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and its impact on global health have made imperative the development of effective and safe vaccines for this lethal strain. SARS-CoV-2 now adds to the list of coronavirus diseases that have threatened global health, along with the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) coronaviruses that emerged in 2002/2003 and 2012, respectively. As of April 2020, no vaccine is commercially available for these coronavirus strains. Nevertheless, the knowledge obtained from the vaccine development efforts for MERS and SARS can be of high value for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). Here, we review the past and ongoing vaccine development efforts for clinically relevant coronavirus strains with the intention that this information helps in the development of effective and safe vaccines for COVID-19. In addition, information from naturally exposed individuals and animal models to coronavirus strains is described for the same purpose of helping into the development of effective vaccines against COVID-19.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7177048/?report=reader
Author Eriko Padron-Regalado is at the University of Oxford.
My point was that research that was already ongoing might have given them a leg up in formulating a vaccine for this new strain. Whether a vaccine is appropriate is another story.
And my point is: How do years long failed vaccine attempts lead to a success overnight with a "novel" virus? Please read the Reiss and Bhakti book. They explain that coronaviruses are poor candidates for vaccines to begin with. Worse than flu. You'll be glad to you read the book.
DeleteSARS came out in 2003. 17 years later, no vaccine. And a vaccine for the 2019 version of SARS was developed in 25 days?
DeleteNot only that, but a completely new approach to how vaccines work. Could be they were experimenting with this technique using ordinary coronavirus and just stepped up their game.
DeleteThe trouble is that once it is proven that institutions place a higher premium on populace control than facts, across the board, what rational person would believe/trust any of them? By association DoJ has done as much to destroy CDC's cred. as Fauci, and that's saying something.
As an aside: whatever became of the story that ChiCom Croup had been discovered in Red Cross whole blood drawn in October/early November from Washington state to Maine? Haven't read anything about that being either disproven or mass dumping of blood supplies? Then again if a kiwi (the fruit not the bird) can contract CCP-SARS-2 I wouldn't be surprised to learn it can open the frig and burrow into plastic bags.
Tom S.
Conventional medical wisdom is that viruses are poor candidates for vaccines. Not just coronaviruses.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the first case of SARS was found in a human being in 2003, and MERS showed up in a human (believed to have come from an infected camel in Egypt) in 2012, coronaviruses and other RNA viruses have been around in birds and mammals for a long time…
A Case for the Ancient Origin of Coronaviruses
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3676139/#:~:text=Coronaviruses%20are%20found%20in%20a,around%2010000%20years%20ago.
I have read a fair amount of the book you recommend, Mark. I was not particularly interested in the parts specifically related to Germany.
As for the time it would take to develop a protein-related vaccine, I haven’t a clue. As I said, I’m not a biochemist. I do know that biochemists often build on work done by others. Even work that might not have been entirely successful.
"I’m not a biochemist."
DeleteInterestingly, neither is Fauci. He's a humble MD. No advanced degrees of any sort. Went straight into the bureaucracy from his residency in internal medicine in 1968. That's another part of the Covid hoax--the notion that Fauci is science personified.
How ironic is it that, while the Left was ranting about Trump’s being a dictator, a despot, they found Fauci to be God’s gift the the world.
Deletehttp://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dhs/1070348_DHSCOVID-19Dashboard.pdf
ReplyDeleteLA county report on hospitalization.
Via who works at a Hospital:
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2020/12/anecdotally-keeping-it-real-yo.html?m=1
Page 6: ethnicity of hospitalizations in the LA County public hospitals, 3/1/20-present:
72% Hispanic. 2% white.
Per Wikipedia LA county is around 42% Hispanic.
I’m surprised Blacks are 6% hospitalized, about 8% of population,
20% are others - White, mixed, and/or Middle Eastern?
Swag - Why Hispanics are over represented:
1. Born in Mexico not as uptight as US born over deaths.
2. Weight issues in large % of population.
3. Parties / gatherings - a Hispanic caterer I know has been booked solid for the last month.
4. Working in jobs with lots of people contact including home care, rest homes, etc.
5. Culture of ignoring laws
6. Not enough vitamin D for those working in doors.
7. Swap meet in Riverside was packed today (Sunday).
I don’t think hcq is being given regularly in Ca for Covid.
Pasadena has its own Health Department so manages its own statistics. The local paper has just reported:
DeleteOut of 1,809 new cases reported between Dec. 17 and Dec. 31:
292 new cases involved white patients;
819 new cases involved Latino patients;
92 new cases involved Black or African American patients;
101 new cases involved Asian or Pacific Islander patients;
42 new cases involved patients of another race.; and
463 new cases are still under investigation; the backlog sits at 1,245 cases.
What is your source for those 1-6 points (assuming you were at that swap meet?)…
The dashboard of Department of Health Services Hospitals is kind of misleading as there are numbers of other large non-County DHS hospitals in Greater Los Angeles as well as Los Angeles County that are not represented there.
How would any of us know how much HCQ was "being given regularly in CA for Covid”? It is given only when a patient is not sick enough to be hospitalized (counter to what was believed in the beginning when it was thought to be appropriate for only in-hospital use). They are also giving outpatient doses of monoclonal antibodies now. Unlikely we’d see stats on that sort of thing, in or out of hospital.
The blogger appears to me to be a weak resource...
Does Wikipedia report the actual Latino population, as in legal plus illegal, or only the legal Latinos?
DeleteAdding in the illegals would skew your figures immensely.
Personal observations from people I interact with on 1-6 for my business in the inland empire.
ReplyDeleteOn the swap meet my wife and her Father (85) drove there, but decided not to go in after they observed the crowd. I could see The parking lot was packed from the 60 freeway.
>What is your source for those 1-6 points
> (assuming you were at that swap meet?)…
In hcq Ca Government was down very strongly against it. Threatening license suspension for off label use. And the the Ama and a pharmacy association was against it. A Hispanic renter I know when she potentially got Covid a couple of months ago was told just rest. One of her cousins died from it, and the funeral was done via Zoom.
I have had a very hard time getting good information on Hcq in California.
I read this article and took a lap around my 2 local hospitals in Southern California, Little Company of Mary and Torrance Memorial, no tents, packed parking lots or lines. So I parked my car to go into the ER of Torrance Memorial, 10 people in a room that can hold 100. None of what is being reported makes sense...
ReplyDeleteThat is very interesting, because those two hospitals were named as being overburdened just a week or so ago. I was concerned because my brother, a cancer patient, goes to Torrance Memorial.
DeleteJust The News has an interesting article:
ReplyDeleteThe missing flu riddle: 'Influenza has been renamed COVID,' maverick epidemiologist says
As influenza levels continue cratering, some cite COVID measures — even as COVID rates have multiplied nearly sevenfold since the spring in spite of enhanced mitigation policies.
From Unz reader DanHessinMD:
Delete"... The problem is, that the public has been completely failed by those who would guide public thinking.
Florida has been open normally for most of the year, while New York has been on lockdown for most of the year.
Masks are not required in Florida, and schools are open. The opposite is true in New York. Florida has a larger and older population than New York. Yet Florida has had 1/2 a many COVID deaths as New York.
How many people even know this? If you follow mainstream media, you would think that Florida has had far worse outcomes that New York, but instead Florida’s outcomes have been far better, while having virtually no restrictions.
Can the public be blamed for giving up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, when they aren’t even allowed to know the truth?
The most *obvious* remedy for respiratory infections, *humidifying* living spaces in winter, has gotten virtually no traction.
A curious person could learn about the respiratory system, and figure out within days, that *moist* air is of paramount importance.
No matter how low your opinion of our thought leaders, it should be lower still....
Masks were utter ignored for the first many weeks of the pandemic, until suddenly in an instant they became the state religion.
It is comical to watch a video of Fauci mocking masks in mid-March, and then worshiping them now, but he is nothing more than a reflection of prevailing groupthink...."
https://www.unz.com/anepigone/the-war-on-covid/#comment-4366255
I recall reading and then writing about the fact that in Florida pretty much right from the start the authorities were looking out for the old people. Very different from Cuomo's genocidal policies.
DeleteCurious to know the breakdown of numbers for those admitted to hospital/ICU vs those not by smokers/nonsmokers. My experience has been that the Hispanic population has a higher percentage of smokers, but that's purely anecdotal. Wondering how that aligns?
ReplyDeleteTom S.
@Tom S.
DeleteWhen covid hit, I assumed China would be decimated because of the high proportion of smokers, esp among older males. Yet...nothing.
So many questions!
So are the Asians big smokers. The problem with any theorizing on Latino smokers would be the high price of cigarettes vs. their low income status. I haven’t seen anyone smoking (except in old movies on TMC) for a long time.
DeleteI once saw the newly dissected lung of a hardcore smoker in the USC anatomy lab. I would imagine the person who owned that hard, shrunken lung would have had a difficult time with Covid19.
From Richard Fernandez at PJ Media:
ReplyDeleteEven as some are cadging drugs, the Los Angeles Times reports that many American health care workers paradoxically want to refuse it. “So many frontline workers in Riverside County have refused the vaccine — an estimated 50% — that hospital and public officials met to strategize how best to distribute the unused doses.”
The vaccine doubts swirling among healthcare workers across the country come as a surprise to researchers, who assumed hospital staff would be among those most in tune with the scientific data backing the vaccines. …
The extent to which healthcare workers are refusing the vaccine is unclear, but … A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 29% of healthcare workers were “vaccine hesitant,” a figure slightly higher than the percentage of the general population, 27%.
More here:
https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2021/01/03/the-pandemic-narrative-mutates-n1296657
"...(counter to what was believed in the beginning when it was thought to be appropriate for only in-hospital use).
ReplyDeleteI read anecdotal accounts by at least a half dozen Doctors in the early days, perhaps as many as a dozen I didn't try to keep count. Every single one had the same message. Administer HCQ as soon as possible after onset of symptoms. Everyone of them said after admission to hospital was to late, and after admission to ICU it might actually be counter-productive. No one, with actual experience with actual patients, said administer after hospitalization. When "official" studies started being published (CDC, FDA, AMA, etc.) every single one of them said HCQ was ineffective based on administering it in hospital/ICU. Exactly opposite of what working Doctors were finding. Curious that not a single study involved HCQ as an early mitigator. Accordingly all "official" organizations made HCQ off limits as a mitigator for ChiCom Croup, essentially voiding a Doctors insurance in the case of a bad outcome for any reason, and any Doctor will tell you liability insurance is a very huge deal in the medical world.
I don't know what anyone "believed" about HCQ but it is very clear that what was thought about HCQ was what people were "officially" told to think about its efficacy. Just as we are "officially" told what think about ACC, transgenderism, CRT, and elections.
Tom S.