Nutty Flavor Virus Blog

Let's continue the conversation!

Let's continue the conversation!

Let's continue the conversation!

Let's continue the conversation!

Some European countries have already begun to re-open, and it looks like some US states will partially re-open soon as well. Let's continue the conversation!

Good morning. Interesting information this morning suggesting that one reason Taiwan was so far ahead of the Covid Crisis was that the deputy director of its CDC found information on the Taiwanese version of Reddit in late December. Some of that information came from doctors within Wuhan, information that was quickly repressed by the Chinese Communist party. Fascinating that even the people in charge need to turn to alternate media to source information these days. Let's continue the conversation.

Let's continue the conversation! _____ I've noticed some quibbling in yesterday's blog. Please do not attack each other. All reasonable opinions are welcome here.

Let's continue the conversation!

Happy Easter everyone - and sorry for the late post! Great article by the Telegraph's China correspondent, Sophia Yan: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/11/coronavirus-diary-postcard-wuhanwhat-really-happened/ Wuhan's hidden death toll: My week of tests, suspicion and threats in trying to uncover the truth The Telegraph's China correspondent spends a week in Wuhan as it emerges from lockdown - and finds that many questions remain Monday The guard at the station eyes my ticket: Beijing to Wuhan, the locked-down  ground zero of the coronavirus pandemic . “You sure? No mistake?” he asks. “No mistake,” I say. My colleague and I disinfect our seats with a wad of wipes the minute we get on the five-hour high-speed train. I worry coming to Wuhan will change my “green” health code –  a contagion risk profile , which determines the difference between going out to dinner or government quarantine.  When I get there, traffic is sparse, though busier tha...

It's a new day - let's hope for good news. Let's continue the conversation.

The good news today is that Boris Johnson appears to be on the mend, and has been moved out of the ICU, although he remains in hospital. Unfortunately, the death toll from the coronavirus continues to grow. Let's continue the conversation.

It was a quiet start to the Jewish Holiday Passover yesterday. A succession of quiet Good Friday and Easter holidays are coming up this week. A quiet Ramadan will begin on April 23 - Saudi Arabia, the home of Mecca, says it fears 200,000 cases among its 33 million residents. How sad that these joyous holidays, which are all connected with some kind of feasting and togetherness, should be celebrated in isolation. Let's continue the conversation. 

Good morning!  A few European countries seem to be approaching the downside of the coronavirus wave - Austria and Denmark, for example, are beginning to open schools again.  (China is also opening some cities, but it is hard to know if this is being done for scientific or symbolic purposes.) Lockdown continues in many parts of the US, UK and France - Paris has now prohibited outdoor exercise.  Let's continue the conversation. 

Shocking news last night that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to Intensive Care as he fights the Coronavirus. Boris is such an energetic, ebullient man, with a baby on the way. Here's wishing him a speedy recovery. Let's continue the conversation.

Wonderful speech by the Queen last night, offering tributes to the NHS and all of the other British citizens and residents working hard to save lives.  The speech dovetailed with the shocking news that Boris Johnson has been taken to the hospital due to persistent coronavirus symptoms . His partner Carrie, who is expecting a baby, is also suffering from coronavirus, but she is recovering at home. Let's continue the conversation. 

It's been interesting to watch the way rich people are spending their money during this crisis. Bill Gates says he'll fund factories for 7 different vaccines , even though some will certainly prove to be ineffective. Jeff Bezos is sending $100 million to food banks . Mark Zuckerberg and his wife are sending $30 million to a vaccine accelerator project. Baseball player Justin Verlander, who was slated to make $33 million this year, says he and his wife - the model Kate Upton - will donate his weekly paycheck to a different charity each week . Other rich people are paying their own employees for not working, such as Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and sports team owner Mark Cuban. What do you think the world's wealthy should be doing to help the cause? Let's continue the conversation.

The Coronovirus pandemic continues. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are suffering from the symptoms, among them both of Princess Eugenie's in-laws . Mr. Brooksbank is in the ICU; Mrs. Brooksbank is recovering at home, apparently with the assistance of Eugenie and Jack. Meanwhile, the Washington Post has put a mainstream media endorsement on the idea that China has vastly undercounted its dead. According to reporter Anna Fifield , "official Chinese statistics put Wuhan's coronavirus death toll at 2563. Evidence coming out of the city suggests it was actually more than 40,000." So much for all those stories saying "The UK now has more deaths than China!" or "The US now has more deaths than China!" Finally, I found myself wanting to wear a mask for the first time yesterday. I was at the grocery store - retrospectively, a poor choice, since the first Friday of the month is bound to attract a lot of newly-paid shoppers. The stor...

Good morning! As the coronavirus intensifies, the media are full of stories about this politician or that politician not doing the right thing, either in the present tense or the past tense. In my opinion, it's difficult to know what the "right thing" is, since we are in uncharted waters now. (Even people like Bill Gates, who have been encouraging us to prepare for a pandemic, couldn't have told us precisely what equipment we would need, or how much, or when. For example, California stockpiled 21 million N95 masks, all of which were found to have expired. ) At times like these, I'm grateful for a free press that can hold politicians to account - even if they're often focusing on the wrong things, in my opinion, like whether or not politicians are being mean to reporters . Finally, for a little light humor as the weekend approaches, meet the orangutang Sandra. Sandra saw her humans regularly washing her hands, so she decided to get serious about wa...

Good evening!  A late post today. The most interesting thing I saw today was a map of New York City that showed the correlation between long subway commutes - from the outer boroughs to Manhattan - and coronavirus cases. The people with the longest commutes, often the poor, had the highest rates of infection, while the wealthy people who lived downtown (and could often walk to work) had some of the lowest. Areas where the subway does not run also had very few outbreaks. Thought-provoking. The second-most interesting thing I saw today was this Tweet from Sean Ono Lennon . Unlike his parents, Sean is not a political guy, so this was surprising. (Also, when I went to look up the link, I saw this previous Tweet from Sean - " Although delightful, please know it is not absolutely necessary to quote the lyrics of Imagine to me as a response to each and every tweet I make. It may come as a shock to you but I am vaguely familiar with both the music AND the lyrics of this tune....

A new month - and so much has changed within the past month! Today's news is rough, with New York and London overwhelmed, and Sweden - which took a "relaxed" approach to the disease, keeping schools and gyms and restaurants open - suddenly overwhelmed with cases in Stockholm. There's also the terrible case of students from the University of Texas at Austin who took a flight to Mexico on spring break just ten days ago. Seventy students travelled and 28 now have the virus - not counting all the Mexicans they came in contact with and might have infected. Some even flew back separately on commercial flights. What arrogance. (Ironic that the image in the link shows the UT Tower, which is the site of the very first school mass shootings in 1966.) Let's continue the conversation.