corona virus alerts - Latest cruising Information for vessels/locations/rules

[Tonali99]

No need to worry about the 5G. Just line your ball cap with aluminimum foil.
But the Iluminati?
Or the knights Templar?
And what about those evangelicals? They go all over the world!
How can we ever go on?!

[Sand crab]

It's Bill Gates. I'm still pissed at him for Windows 8.

[Montanan]

White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere announced Mr Trump had issued a major disaster declaration for Wyoming on Saturday, meaning all 50 states have a major disaster declaration in effect for the first time in history.

[Montanan]

The elderly may have to remain in isolation until next year to protect themselves from coronavirus, the EU Commission president has told a German newspaper.

Ursula von der Leyen told Bild “we have to limit as much as possible contact with the elderly” until a vaccine against Covid-19 was developed.

Most experts say a vaccine that provides immunity to coronavirus will not be ready for mass production for at least a year.

Von der Leyen said she recognised the difficultly of isolation, but stressed when “it is a question of life or death, we have to remain disciplined and patient”.

"Children and young people will enjoy more freedom of movement earlier than elderly people and those with pre-existing medical conditions," she told Bild.

She said she hoped that a European laboratory would develop a vaccine towards the end of the year.

http://https://www.bbc.com/news/live...ost_type=share

[Montanan]

I just finished up a Zoom discussion with my family. One of my brothers is a senior executive at Smithfield which meat processing plants are considered essential business during the pandemic. His plant has not had any major outbreak of COVID-19 within the employees, YET! But one of the largest USA pork processing plants located in South Dakota has just been shut for two weeks as about 240 of the 3,700 employees have been tested positive for COVID-19; that is about 1/2 of the cases in the State of South Dakota. The shutdown is an attempt to let the disease cycle out of the employee base. That single plant accounts for about 4 to 5 percent of all the pork production in the USA. There is no shortage of pigs just an inability to slaughter and butcher the pigs.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/t...173657598.html


The world’s biggest pork producer is shuttering a major U.S. plant indefinitely after a coronavirus outbreak among employees, with the company warning that closures across the country are taking American meat supplies “perilously close to the edge” of shortfalls.

Smithfield Foods Inc. will idle its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pork-processing facility, which accounts for 4% to 5% of U.S. production, the company said in a statement Sunday. The move comes after state officials reported more than 200 cases of Covid-19 for plant employees, adding to a spike in infections that’s seen hundreds of American meat workers get sick. Plants have been forced to shutter or reduce output.

“The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,” Smithfield’s Chief Executive Officer Ken Sullivan said in the statement. “It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running.”

While it’s unclear whether the meat-employee infections have anything to do with the workplaces, the news exposes the vulnerability of global supply chains that are needed to keep grocers stocked after panic buying left shelves empty. The shuttered plants and sick workers are adding to other disruptions caused by the virus that’s making it harder for food to get from farm to table. Trucking bottlenecks, and snarled port traffic have also contributed to why shoppers are seeing empty shelves.

The surge in cases has also raised concerns over worker safety. Deaths have been reported for employees at meat facilities owned by JBS SA and Tyson Foods Inc. Laborers have, in some cases, staged walk-outs to protest working conditions. In meat plants, stations on processing lines can be close together, creating challenges for social distancing. Workers also share break and locker rooms.

Smithfield, owned by Hong Kong-listed WH Group, originally planned to shutter the South Dakota facility for three days. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem asked for the closure to be extended to at least 14 days, saying in a letter to the company that it needed to “do more.”

The Smithfield facility’s 3,700 employees will receive pay for at least two weeks during the shutdown.

The company said it will reopen the plant when it receives further direction from local, state and federal authorities.

“Unfortunately, Covid-19 cases are now ubiquitous across our country. The virus is afflicting communities everywhere. The agriculture and food sectors have not been immune,” Sullivan said. “We have continued to run our facilities for one reason: to sustain our nation’s food supply during this pandemic.”

Workers in other points of the food-supply chain have also started to get sick. In all likelihood, the number of cases will keep going up at meat plants, farms, warehouses and packaging factories across the globe. That’s pointing to an acute contradiction between the need to keep people safe, while also ensuring that the world has enough food.

To be clear, the output from a plant where infection pops up doesn’t pose health concerns because by all accounts Covid-19 isn’t a food-borne illness. Supplies from a farm or a production plant with a confirmed case can still be sent out for distribution.

And it’s important to note American inventories are still ample, including of frozen pork.

Still, there is a risk to continued production. When a worker gets sick, the employee and every person they’ve come into contact with has to be quarantined. Plants also needs to close for deep cleanings. A Cargill Inc. plant in Pennsylvania has also been closed temporarily because of an outbreak among employees.

Hundreds of U.S. Meat Workers Have Now Tested Positive for Virus

Some companies also had to slow down plants that are set up to supply restaurants, instead of supermarkets. Sanderson Farms Inc., the U.S.’s third-largest chicken processor, said earlier this month that it would run plants that process big birds for the food-services industry “well below capacity,” according to CEO Joe Sanderson.

Practically every food company has announced increased measures to protect employees, including meat giants like Smithfield and Cargill. Companies are enforcing hand washing and spraying down plants and break rooms. Shifts are staggered and lunch breaks are taken alone. It’s a tricky balance for producers who are prioritizing worker safety but also trying to meet the huge surge in demand that the virus has unleashed.

And while some producers have stepped up hiring to keep food supplies flowing, it’s not easy to find workers, even with rising unemployment. The industry has struggled with a reputation of difficult working conditions since the days of Upton Sinclair, the American author who wrote of abuses in his 1906 novel, “The Jungle.” Producers often rely heavily on immigrant workers to fill jobs that middle-class Americans shun.

If more cases mount and an increasing number of plants are forced to idle, it’s difficult to say what the tipping point will be in terms of supply shortfalls.

“We have a stark choice as a nation: we are either going to produce food or not, even in the face of Covid-19,” Sullivan said.

[Montanan]

Neel Kashkari, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, painted a rather gloomy picture in a CBS interview on Sunday morning of what lies ahead for the U.S. economy as the country continues to battle the coronavirus outbreak.

Kashkari, while acknowledging the downside of what a prolonged shutdown could mean for the economy, said the U.S., ‘barring some health-care miracle,’ is looking at an 18-month strategy of rolling shutdowns based on what has happened in other countries.

“We could have these waves of flareups, controls, flareups and controls until we actually get a therapy or a vaccine,” he said. “We need to find ways of getting the people who are healthy, who are at lower risk back to work and then providing the assistance to those who are most at risk, who are going to need to be quarantined or isolated for the foreseeable future.”

Looking ahead, Kashkari doesn’t envision a quick rebound for the U.S. economy, which has already endured more than 16 million job losses in the past three weeks.

“This could be a long, hard road that we have ahead of us until we get to either an effective therapy or a vaccine,” he said. “It’s hard for me to see a V-shaped recovery under that scenario.”

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by geoleo

Breaking News; Turns out that the USA government taxpayers--ie the NIH, has been funding the Chinas Wuhan Virology Laboratory in Wuhan China to the tune of $37000000 since funding started under Obama admin about 2014. They concentrated on bat produced Corona Viruses. This lab is close to Wuhans "wet market" where bats are sold for food. There are no bats close to Wuhan except those brought from 1000 miles away by this laboratoty. Nice EH.

Correction: The articles cite the funding was for 3.7 million, not $37 million.

In a report published by the Daily Mail, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was conducting the coronavirus experiments on mammals, with funds received from the United States National Institute of Health.

Responsible for the biomedical and public health research the NIH has been listed as a partner by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The other American institutes that have partnered with the research lab, include: University of Alabama, University of North Texas Eco Health Alliance, Harvard University, and the United States National Wildlife Federation.

http://https://www.ibtimes.sg/us-gav...rus-bats-42890

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Neel Kashkari, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, painted a rather gloomy picture in a CBS interview on Sunday morning of what lies ahead for the U.S. economy as the country continues to battle the coronavirus outbreak.

Kashkari, while acknowledging the downside of what a prolonged shutdown could mean for the economy, said the U.S., ‘barring some health-care miracle,’ is looking at an 18-month strategy of rolling shutdowns based on what has happened in other countries.

Is it wise to be taking epidimiological advice from a bank manager??

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Correction: The articles cite the funding was for 3.7 million, not $37 million.

In a report published by the Daily Mail, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was conducting the coronavirus experiments on mammals, with funds received from the United States National Institute of Health.

Responsible for the biomedical and public health research the NIH has been listed as a partner by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The other American institutes that have partnered with the research lab, include: University of Alabama, University of North Texas Eco Health Alliance, Harvard University, and the United States National Wildlife Federation.

http://https://www.ibtimes.sg/us-gav...rus-bats-42890

I thought this was suppose to be conspiracy theory? Now it’s even in the US news media’s.

[Nord Sal]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Is it wise to be taking epidimiological advice from a bank manager??

Well, central bankers are magic people after all.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

I thought this was suppose to be conspiracy theory? Now it’s even in the US news media’s.

US news media is 24 hours behind AR15.com, which gets its news from the hackers on 4chan, who read foreign news and, well, get it from places that don’t like to share info that might become news.

If you don’t like young, free thinking internet news, Straights Times is about as accurate as it’s going to get.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

US news media is 24 hours behind AR15.com, which gets its news from the hackers on 4chan, who read foreign news and, well, get it from places that don’t like to share info that might become news.

If you don’t like young, free thinking internet news, Straights Times is about as accurate as it’s going to get.

That was my point. I was referring to ‘China in Focus’ news. Who put out evidence W/documents, of the above, on April 8th.
Then it was tagged as conspiracy.

[transmitterdan]

https://apple.news/ATohVRAM5TEmEadMlfSWGKA

Some good news but also sad news. The two most important factors that correlated with needing hospitalization for COVID-19 in NY are:

1) age > 65
2) body mass index > 30

There is a typo in the article because the writer doesn’t know what BMI means.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by Montanan

http://https://www.ibtimes.sg/us-gav...rus-bats-42890

That link does not work for me?? Anyone have a working link?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by UFO

That link does not work for me?? Anyone have a working link?

US gave $3.7 million to Wuhan laboratory for conducting experiments using virus from bats
In a report published by the Daily Mail*, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was conducting the coronavirus experiments on mammals, with funds received from the United States National Institute of Health ...
Working link ➥ https://www.ibtimes.sg/us-gave-3-7-m...rus-bats-42890


* The Daily Mail (including its online version, dailymail.co.uk) is generally considered unreliable, due to numerous failed fact checks, poor sourcing of information, utilization of sensationalized headlines, with emotionally loaded wordings, and flat-out fabrication.
Wikipedia, for instance, prohibits the use of The Daily Mail as a source.
➥ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipe...Daily_Mail_RfC