I’ve updated my Covid-19 graph.  I’ve started tracking active cases as well as confirmed cases.  Active cases are in red.  It’s as close to perfect as I can get it, and the fit hasn’t changed since my last post of the curve.

David Codrea.

“[N]ew court documents revealed that the model and actress is accusing Renner of threatening to kill her and himself. As detailed in the docs, Pacheco maintains that after a night of hard partying last November, including drinking and cocaine use, Renner returned home where he allegedly threatened her with a gun and put the gun in his mouth. He reportedly said at the time that he ‘could not deal with her anymore, and he just wanted to be gone.’ In another instance, Pacheco says, a nanny overheard Renner say he planned to kill her and himself because ‘it was better that Ava had no parents than to have [Pacheco] as a mother.’”

[ … ]

… with other privileged celebrities, came out in full support of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence/Bloomberg Mayors Against Illegal Guns agenda to “Demand a Plan.”

Sorry Jeremy.  I guess you have to rely on those highly paid personal body guards for protection.  As for the rest of us?  Well, we have to defend ourselves from threats.  That’s why we’ll always oppose your ungodly disarmament advocacy.

On second thought, no, I’m not really sorry.  It’s good you see how the power you helped to create treats people, assuming the things she said were lies.

This rule is backwards from the 5.56mm versus .223 rule, in which a chambering for 5.56mm can shoot both, but not necessarily the other way around.

Via Instapundit, masks work.

Masks reduce the spread of infectious disease by catching microbes expelled by the wearer and protecting the wearer from microbes in their environment. When we cough, sneeze, talk, or simply breathe we emit a plume of air and droplets, which are largely composed of saliva, mucus, salts, and—if we are infected—potentially dangerous microbes. The smallest of these droplets, sometimes called aerosols, may hover or drift through the air for hours, potentially exposing anyone who enters that airspace. Larger droplets may travel only a few feet—or up to 26 feet if propelled by a sneeze—before falling to the ground or onto another surface, such as someone’s skin or clothes.

So why don’t we have any?

Last week, a Trump administration official working to secure much-needed protective gear for doctors and nurses in the United States had a startling encounter with counterparts in Thailand.

The official asked the Thais for help—only to be informed by the puzzled voices on the other side of the line that a U.S. shipment of the same supplies, the second of two so far, was already on its way to Bangkok.

Trump aides were alarmed when they learned of the exchange, and immediately put the shipment on hold while they ordered a review of U.S. aid procedures. Crossed wires would only confuse our allies, they worried, or worse—offend them. And Americans confronting a surging death toll and shortages of medical equipment back home would likely be outraged.

[ … ]

The administration has also placed a moratorium on overseas shipments of USAID’s stockpiles of protective gear and is asking that the equipment be sent to the U.S. instead, other officials said.

“It’s a good thing that we’re taking a holistic look at where and when we’re sending PPE as we’re looking to fulfill needs here at home,” said Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller.

President Donald Trump seems attuned to the political hazards. During Monday’s task force briefing, he emphasized that the U.S. was sending only “things that we don’t need” to other countries. “We’re going to be sending approximately $100 million worth of things – of surgical and medical and hospital things to Italy,” he announced.

[ … ]

“They’re really trying to walk a fine line between making sure Americans get everything they need and then starting to provide assistance elsewhere, and the vice president’s oversight is slowing down the decision-making process,” one person close to USAID said.

As usual for Politico, the article eventually turns into a tiring and monotonous blast piece against the administration.  But that fine line being discussed is, to me, unnecessary.  It shouldn’t exist.  PPEs should be directed towards America first.  Only when America has enough should we even consider shipping PPEs overseas.  What to the pols is a fine line should be a big bold border.

I think I mentioned that I know a health care provider who showed up for work wearing an N95 mask, only to be told by hospital administration that personal PPEs weren’t allowed.  “Fine,” this health care provider said, “Then give me one.”  “Oh, we don’t have any.”

And why is there such a thing as a sewing group who has to sew cloth masks for health care providers?  Cotton is cellulose, and N95 masks, like HEPA filters in nuclear power plants, work by interception of particles with electrostatic charge.  That’s why they can’t be decontaminated with alcohol.  They lose their charge.

So who’s running this show anyway?

Via WiscoDave, news from Florida.

A Hillsborough County pastor was arrested Monday after he intentionally and repeatedly violated orders that no gatherings of 10 or more people he held in order to stop of the spread of COVID-19 by holding services at his megachurch, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister announced Monday afternoon.

The sheriff’s office received an anonymous tip on Friday that Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, the pastor of the megachurch River at Tampa Bay Church in Riverview, refused to stop holding mass gatherings and instead was encouraging people to come to services.

[…] “His reckless disregard for human life put hundreds of people in his congregation at risk and thousands of residents who may interact with them in danger,” Chronister said.

Next up, news from North Carolina.

On Sunday, we reported that four men were arrested outside a Greensboro, N.C., abortion clinic, where they were conducting a prayer walk. Despite the fact that that a pro-life group, Love Life, had canceled its group meeting and everyone was following the rules for social distancing, the Greensboro Police Department arrested them and charged them with violating Guilford County’s stay-at-home order.

Apparently not happy with violating the First Amendment rights of four prayer warriors, the Greensboro Police Department arrested seven more people on Monday after they were caught praying in public in front of a facility that makes its money by slaughtering innocent children.

Gotta make sure we can kill children, no social distancing for that.  But praying outside the murder-mill, nope.  Worship services?  No to that too.

There is no question that all of this involves a gigantic power grab by not just the FedGov, but state and local governments as well.

And it isn’t a good precedent.

What if the government decides to shut down a church because of threats of violence by Muslim gangs or Antifa?  How many pastors would honor such a shutdown?  How long would it last?

Don’t balk.  The church in Mesopotamia – there for thousands of years – was eradicated by Shi’ite militia.

We’ve previously seen the work by French doctors using hydroxychloroquine as a therapeutic for Coronavirus.  Those studies have been supplemented by another 80 patients.

For an Israeli doctor in Italy, “the hospital where he works has also seen positive results from the antiviral drug Remdesivir.”  He adds, “One technique he said had yielded dramatic results was to have patients lie on their stomach instead of on their back while on a ventilator. “Suddenly the oxygen level in the blood jumped by hundreds of percents,” he said.

But there is also copious data from doctors in New York concerning this new treatment protocol.

Last Wednesday, we published the success story from Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, a board-certified family practitioner in New York, after he successfully treated 350 coronavirus patients with 100 percent success using a cocktail of drugs: hydroxychloroquine, in combination with azithromycin (Z-Pak), an antibiotic to treat secondary infections, and zinc sulfate.  Dr. Zelenko said he saw the symptom of shortness of breath resolved within four to six hours after treatment.

Now, Dr. Zelenko provides updates on the treatment after he successfully treated 699 COVID-19 patients in New York. In an exclusive interview with former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, Dr. Vladmir Zelenko shares the results of his latest study, which showed that out of his 699 patients treated, zero patients died, zero patients intubated, and four hospitalizations.

Dr. Zelenko said the whole treatment costs only $20 over a period of 5 days with 100% success. He defines success as “Not to die.” Dr. Zelenko first posted his Facebook video message last week calling on President Trump to “advise the country that they should be taking this medication.”

There are many other success stories about hydroxychloroquine across the country. Last week, Dr. William Grace, an oncologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said they’ve not had a single death in their hospital because of  hydroxychloroquine. “Thanks to hydroxychloroquine, we have not had a death in our hospital,’ Dr. Grace said.

Also, in a study conducted by the National Institute of Health (NIH) also confirmed some of Dr. Dr. Zelenko’s findings. The study by NIH showed that Zinc supplementation decreases the morbidity of lower respiratory tract infection in pediatric patients in the developing world. A second study also conducted by NIH titled: “In Vitro Antiviral Activity and Projection of Optimized Dosing Design of Hydroxychloroquine for the Treatment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),” also showed hydroxychloroquine to be more potent in killing the virus off in vitro (in the test tube and not in the body).

He has participated in an instructive video to explain his position.  There is hope with these protocol, but it’s clear from the data and information that the intent isn’t to wait until the patient isn’t responsive to other treatment.

Contrary to that, I’ve mentioned that I am personally aware of one local hospital that takes the position that only a pulmonologist can prescribe these drugs, and then, only as “rescue adjunctive therapy” after ARDS has already begun to occur.  In other words, he must wait until it’s too late to invoke this protocol.

Who knows why?  Perhaps this is because doctors are slow to accept these protocol, perhaps it’s because they are loath to accept treatment protocol that hasn’t been taught to them in medical school or accepted by the FDA.  But for whatever reason, this shows that America still isn’t prepared for this pandemic, and won’t be until doctors are willing to think outside their boxes and listen to others who have gone before them.

Politics may be standing in the way of the health and safety of the public.

UPDATE:

FDA Authorizes Use.

The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs championed by President Donald Trump for coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence.

“Scientists in America and around the world have identified multiple potential therapeutics for COVID19, including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar tweeted on Sunday night, praising Trump and the EUA.

Career scientists have been skeptical of the effort, noting the lack of data on the drugs’ efficacy for coronavirus care and worried that it would siphon medication away from patients who need it for other conditions, calling instead for the agency to pursue its usual clinical trials.

What else would you expect from Politico.  “Despite scant evidence.”

Career scientists want to control what is administered to whom, when, under what conditions, and to ensure they get the credit for it.

I’m beginning to smell a rat.  My daughter observes to me that the potential side effects are nausea.  It isn’t like the drug can kill people when administered under the direction of a health care provider.

Do you think that perhaps some of this is political, and possibly a turf war, with American lives hanging in the balance?

David Codrea.

“You will see that I have been authorized to collect all military arms of Pennsylvania at my own expense for the purpose of remodeling, and then to be returned again to regular organized companies,” a June 12, 1861 letter from Maj. O.H. Wheeler to Maj. [unintelligible] Carothers ordered. You are deputized by me to demand and collect from whose hands the same may be found, all military arms both good and bad in the county of [Beaver]… and give receipts.”

A major had the authority to do that?  What law or executive or martial law order was passed to allow for the military to compel civilians to surrender their arms? And noting the space where “Beaver” was filled in was a blank on a form letter, was the entire state subject to the order? What about other states in the Union? And people were OK with that?

The way I take David’s article, Lincoln used firearms confiscations from civilians to arm his troops, or at least, he intended to.

To me, there isn’t much difference between that and the mandate to quarter troops.  I believe the war of independence was fought over just such reasons as those.

This article galled me.

Lineberger anticipates sales will start to fall off with the stay-at-home order. He’ll continue to be open for business as he received assurances from Gaston County Sheriff Alan Cloninger and Tracy Philbeck, chairman of the Gaston County Commissioners, that his business was considered essential.

“We do supply firearms and ammunition to the (local) police departments. We must remain open,” Lineberger said.

To which I responded, “Mr. Lineberger, your business is essential regardless of supplying LEOs. LEOs are citizens, and every citizen has the God-given RKBA. If you didn’t supply a single firearm or round of ammunition to LEOs, your business would still be essential.”

David Codrea links a recent AG decision in Texas, in which the AG states as follows.

“Notwithstanding any other law, … a municipality may not adopt regulations relating to:

“(1) the transfer, possession, wearing, carrying, ownership, storage, transportation, licensing, or registration of firearms, air guns, knives, ammunition, or firearm or air gun supplies or accessories;

“(2) commerce in firearms, air guns, knives, ammunition, or firearm or air gun supplies or accessories; or

“(3) the discharge of a firearm or air gun at a sport shooting range.”

And that’s righteous, regardless of the locale.  The N.C. emergency declaration reads “except that this subdivision does not authorize prohibitions or restrictions on lawfully possessed firearms or ammunition. As used in this subdivision, the term “dangerous weapons and substances” has the same meaning as it does under G.S. 14-288.1. As used in this subdivision, the term “firearm” has the same meaning as it does under G.S. 14-409.39(2).”

This is weaker language than the statute in Texas, probably because of the progressives and their republican slave boys in North Carolina.

But it still reads the way it does, and it would be ripe for litigation should anyone declare gun stores to be closed during “stay at home” orders.  Not to mention the fact that it would be wicked.

Reader 41mag sends these pictures, with the warning “we had 3 bobcats come into our backyard over New Years. They’re about the size of large breed dog, bigger than our German Short Haired Pointer.”  This is from Arizona, and one of the pictures is from a neighbor’s roof.

More News from Arizona.

The Arizona Daily Star reports the Sun City, Arizona, man was attacked Thursday while he was working on a bike or motorcycle in his garage.

Risks: Health and welfare of your children, health and welfare of you, and health and welfare of your pets.  So what’s the issue?  Carry.  You don’t drive without auto insurance, do you?

@Fred, no, you can’t pet them.  They won’t purr at you.  They aren’t your friend.