Hello John and Doves,
The U.S. has announced the
3rd and 4th 'community spreading' positive coronavirus
infections - these have no known origin - no travel to
China themselves, and no known contact with a person
positive with this coronavirus. The states in which
these people were infected are: California, Oregon
and Washington. (California, at last check, as 8,400
residents under some sort of self-quarantine.)
The CDC has put
out updates over the last few weeks - always noting 'no
community spreading'. That is because they never
tested for it! (See past letters to Doves.)
In early February, the CDC
sent out test kits for this coronavirus to labs across the
U.S. - when the labs went to use the kits, the results
came back 'inconclusive.' For the CDC to have test
kits that aren't working is ridiculous! I do not
believe the CDC is that incompetent or that incapable of
getting working test kits. Japan has working
kits. Republic of Korea has working kits and
drive-thru testing. As does the UK! Plus
numerous other countries have working kits.
Just our country doesn't have working kits!
A month later, the CDC
announced only 5 states had working kits:
California, Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada and
Tennessee. (Each test kit can test 700-800 people -
so there was a possibility of testing more people, but the
CDC criteria was too strict (had to have symptoms,
including cough and fever, recently traveled to China or
had contact with an infected individual.)
To add to this debacle of
test kits not working property, the CDC had a very
stringent testing criteria. "Only certain people can
take the SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test. The CDC
requires that patients with suspected COVID-19 meet a
certain criteria before being tested, including having a
fever. But people with mild cases of the virus might
not have a fever, Schaffner (infectious-disease specialist
at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee). .."These
strict protocols may explain, in part, why as of Feb.
26, just 445 people have been tested for SARS-CoV-2 in
the U.S., not including travelers who have returned on
evacuation flights, such as those from the Diamond
Princess cruise ship. In contrast, as of
Feb. 25, South Korea has tested more than 35,000 people
for the Virus, the Washington Post reported." "We're
not remotely prepared," Dr. Alex Greninger, an
assistant professor in the Department of Laboratory
Medicine and an assistant director of the Clinical
Virology Laboratory at the University of Washington
Medical Center, told Live Science.
https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-coronovirus-test.html
US
isn't 'remotely prepared' to test for coronavirus,
experts say | Live Science
The article goes on "It's
impossible to understand the breadth of the virus if the
U.S. doesn't test for milder cases, which will help
doctors determine the ratio of mild to severe infections,
said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease specialist
and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for
Health Security in Baltimore....the U.S. dropped
the ball in getting tests out quickly and making them
widely available, the experts told Live
Science."
All 50 states had been
sent test kits by the CDC - then the states told CDC the
kits were reporting 'inconclusive' results...the CDC said
'one of the components in the kit was not working
properly. And would need to be replaced...at some
point.
"In a letter, Stanton,
D-Ariz, said "top public health officials" told him that
kits sent February 11 from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention to the Arizona State Public Health
Laboratory don't work as needed......"As a result, Arizona
officials have not had the tools necessary to quickly
confirm (coronavirus) cases, and must continue to send
their patient samples across the country to Atlanta,
Georgia, in order to be tested by the CDC," he
wrote. "Officials in my state have been forced
to wait upwards of nearly two weeks to receive coronavirus
test results. "This is outrageous and
unacceptable."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rep-greg-stanton-says-maricopa-county-received-defective-test-kits-for-new-coronavirus/ar-BB10yI3T
Rep.
Greg Stanton says Maricopa County received defective
test kits for new coronavirus
This means all of the
samples to be tested for coronavirus have had to go to the
CDC. So CDC controls the number positive, and CDC
controls the narrative.
Just this last week, the
CDC announced that the kits have been updated with the
correct component, the kits will now be able to be used
for testing. "The test kit had three components..two
which tested for the novel coronavirus and a third that
tested for a host of other viruses. In dozens of
labs, the test kit correctly yielded results for the
coronavirus - but came back inconclusive for the other
viruses, which made the federal health officials question
the integrity of the entire kit... - at least that's the
CDC's story.)
Meanwhile, at UC Davis
Medical Center, a severely ill woman has not been allowed
to have the test due to the strict criteria - she did not
appear to have close contact with any known coronavris
patients and had not traveled to China. The doctors
wanted her to be tested, but could not get her tested.
Now this woman is
positive, thanks to the expanded criteria! UC Davis
Medical Center announced that at least 124 registered
nurses and other health care workers were sent home for
'self-quarantine" and the dozens of people that had close
contact with the woman - have been were urged to
quarantine themselves at home or 'isolate'
themselves. One hospital has lost a large number of
their health care providers now because of this
incompetent criteria of the CDC's!
This last week, CDC has
"modified the testing protocol, expanding the criteria for
who could be tested (it now includes patients with no
clear source of exposure as well as those who had recently
traveled to Italy, Iran, Japan or South Korea) and worked
out the technical problems with the tests, positioning
more state and local laboratories to finally have the
ability to test for COVID-19..The number of U.S. cases so
far has been low: Sixty-three as of Friday, nearly
three-quarters from a stricken cruise ship overseas.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/after-missteps-cdc-says-its-coronavirus-test-kit-is-ready-for-primetime/ar-BB10xi1g
After
missteps, CDC says its coronavirus test kit is ready for
primetime
The CDC had declined
testing for this California woman - and then lied about
declining to test the woman! (Check out the msn link
above about this.)
With the corrected kits
now sent out, 40 labs across the country are able to use
their kits.
This debacle with the CDC
is amazing to me. Too tight criteria has allowed for
the spreading of this virus to thousands of people -
health care workers, students, the public, family
members.
The U.K. has tested some
7,100 tests as of Wednesday, 2/26. They even have
drive-thru coronavirus testing! South Korea has
drive-thru testing and have already conducted more than
300,000 tests. Even Canada has tested more than the
entire U.S. at 629!
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-has-the-us-cdc-done-so-little-coronavirus-testing.html
Why
Hasn’t the U.S. Done More Coronavirus Tests?
This lack of competence
and confidence in the CDC has resulted in numerous state
public health laboratories across the U.S. request to buy
kits from Japan, etc and/or create their own test kits
based on the CDC kits. According to Azar, the HHS
Secretary, private labs will soon be able to create their
own kits. Finally!!!
Now, because of this
expanded criteria of the CDC's, an elementary teacher in
Oregon is positive for the coronavirus...her symptoms
started 9 days ago...the school is closed for
disinfecting; another case of community spreading.
And, a Washington state
high school student who was attending classes has been
removed from class after testing positive...this school
will be shut down for 3 days and 'disinfected' and those
in contact with this student will be doing the '14 day
quarantine'...this is yet another case of community
spreading.
That's four people
positive for the coronavirus SINCE the CDC allowed for
community spreading testing! This type of spreading
has probably been going on for weeks. You don't test
for it, you don't see it.
Breaking news:
as I'm writing this, today, 2/29, Washington State
Department of Health announced the first U.S. death due to
COVID-19. I did not find any more information about
this person (ex. were they infected by community
spreading?, etc.)
On Friday, 2/28, the U.S.
State Department issued Level 3 Travel Warnings for China,
SK, Italy and Iran.
Japan has closed all
schools - elementary through college until early
April.
Iran is having a hard time
with this virus: some 7 high-up government officials are
positive for this virus - the Health Minister is
positive, the Iranian parliament's national security and
foreign affairs committee head is positive, an MP is
positive (he just died from this), along with a Vice
President of Iran "who advises President Rouhani on family
and women's matters was placed under quarantine." (I
read that President Rouhani is positive also, but haven't
seen that in the MSM.) "The government has closed
down educations and cultural institutions across the
country, and reportedly distributed hundreds of thousands
of "sanitation packs" to help contain the virus..."
https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2020-02-27/irans-vice-president-tests-positive-for-coronavirus
Iran’s
Vice President Tests Positive for Coronavirus | World
Report | US News
Turkey, Armenia, Pakistan,
and Afghanistan have closed their borders with Iran.
The U.S. adds travel restrictions on Iran now (also Italy,
SK)
Watch for positive cases
of COVID-19 to increase across the U.S. due to the CDC
relaxing the criteria for testing. Replacing the
defective kits is a big positive - states can test in a
timely manner now.
The CDC is responsible for
the bad kits and the too tight testing criteria and the
CDC is briefing the President of the United States on this
virus and it's spread in the U.S.! I am
praying that Vice President Pence relies upon MORE
competent sources for his addressing this virus in the
U.S.
Many believe that the Four
Horses of the Apocalypse in The Revelation appear on earth
during the Tribulation. That may be...but it sure
looks like birth pangs are leading up to their soon
release! This has not peaked and the economic damage
is only starting.
Prayers for those infected
by this virus and for those who will be infected.
God help us all.
Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance