Lest we forget, this godawful pandemic--like the 2003 SARS epidemic--was HUMAN-caused, a direct result of humans' gross mistreatment of animals, both wild and domestic. And now the chickens, as they say, are coming home to roost. If nothing else, COVID-19 should teach us all a much-needed lesson in compassion and concern for others, human and non-human alike.

A permanent cancellation of the Woodside Jr. Rodeo would be a good place to start...

Well okay but not exactly. SARS was walked out of a virus lab in China in 2002. It came from horseshoe bats. Bats harbor thousands of viruses that can kill humans. Politicians at least at the federal level - starting with Donald Trump - should have guarded against viral pandemics with the commitment of resources on the scale of the defense budget. More than three years into his term as President Trump will blame anyone but himself. Who does that? A mentally ill child. Help the child. Fire Trump

> A mentally ill child.

The GOP is going to be really bummed in mid-November when they realize they should have run a Pence/Haley ticket (or most anyone else than Mr Disinfectant.)

The Trump Pandemic Response will be studied for years as executive malfeasance beyond anything imagined by the National Pandemic Team (fired by Trump in 2018, of course.)

He sat at the Lincoln Memorial and whined for an hour.

Complete ignorance.

I misstated a point (above). I did not mean to say that massive research into preventing viral pandemics should have started in Trump's first 3 years in office. The research was started but was terribly inadequate - under prior administrations too. Of course, research labs are themselves risky places. As I stated, scientiists now agree that a coronovirus named SARS was walked out of a lab in mainland China by an infected lab worker in 2002. The current virus may also have jumped to a human in a lab - in Wuhan, China. Whether virus research labs in the USA or China double as bio-weapons labs, I don't know. So far, scientists have insisted that Covid-19 is not "man-made." But a virus need not be genetically engineered to be used as a weapon. In any event, here we are with a President seemingly concerned about retaining power - not saving lives. Humans, as corporations boast, are a "resource" that can always be replaced. Hence the term "human resources." There are too many humans in the world (nearly 8 billion). With advances in robotics, corporations even in the USA will need fewer and fewer workers. When this virus had infected 1 million Americans (actually diagnosed) last week, over 60,000 had died - mostly excruciating deaths. That's 6%. There are 330 million people in America. 6% will be 19.8 million. Could some or many people have Covid-19 and not (ever) even get symptoms? Yes. But at least random testing is required to find that out and it seems to be a low priority in the Trump campaign. Maybe only 1 million or 10 million Americans will be killed by this virus - this time around. We can hope!

Gary, stop reading conspiracy theory websites. Which "scientists agree" with your conspiracy theory? More reputable sources (Web Link say:

"On 16 November 2002, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) began in China's Guangdong province, bordering Hong Kong. A farmer in the Shunde district of Foshan County was likely the first case of infection."

Did that farmer moonlight as a "lab worker" in order to "walk it out of a lab in Mainland China"?

let’s all remember that trump closed the WH pandemic office in 2018. There is readily available intelligence that the US could have used to detect the first few cases out of Wuhan. Simply watch 60 minutes April 26. The federal government blew this and is criminally allowing people to die! We need a Manhattan style project to work on Covid 19 and a Marshall like project to help the economy. Neither of which we will get under the Republicans

@The anonymous poster calling himself or herself or itself "Conspiracy Theories" The link you provided to Wikipedia on SARS does suggest the first case was not out of a lab. It also says the mainland Chinese government covered up the outbreak in 2002. That involved a conspiracy. There are lots of articles about the lab involved. So perhaps it is in dispute. My intended point was that the threat of extermination by viruses is long-standing and has not been adequately addressed. But if you are an expert on the subject, chime in. Identify the virus research lab where you work.- or whatever your special qualifications. Or just cite Wikipedia some more if that's the extent of your expertise.

- the threat of extermination by viruses is long-standing and has not been adequately addressed.

Trump fired the national pandemic team.

So, yeah.

Gary, provide a link to one single source to back up your strong claim that "scientiists[sic] now agree that a coronovirus named SARS was walked out of a lab in mainland China by an infected lab worker in 2002."

Your blustering makes me think you're unlikely to have one.

There is an interesting Scientific America article about BATWOMAN - a researcher who went to bat caves starting during the first SARS pandemic in 2002-2004. I say the "first" because some scientists are now calling Covid-19: SARS-CoV-2. The experts saw this coming. Some politicians and corporate bigwigs maybe just didn't see the urgency or how they could profit personally.

Whether it was intentional, accidental or natural, the US had in place a group with protocols and plans on how to respond to pandemics, and it was removed, leaving us exposed to our enemy.

Trump lowered those shields and we now see the terrible national cost of being reactive rather than being proactive.

Gary wrote: "I say the "first" because some scientists are now calling Covid-19: SARS-CoV-2."

Mis-stated. For Gary and anyone else who doesn't yet know this, SARS-Cov-2 is the virus's official name and has been for some time. COVID-19 (for coronavirus disease 2019) denotes the *disease* condition (in a human). Two separate concepts.

See basic definitions at, for example, Web Link (there are more-official sources, but I like that one's no-nonsense style).

Great. SARS-Cov-2 is the virus - not the disease. Maybe anonymous "common sense" will next explain how the virus causes the "disease." Meanwhile, it appears we all agree that the governments of the world failed us. Progress.

Gary, we're all still waiting on that evidence that "scientiists[sic] now agree that a coronovirus named SARS was walked out of a lab in mainland China by an infected lab worker in 2002."

I have a feeling we'll be waiting a long time...

Complete and utter executive malfeasance. It will forever be known as The Failed Trump Pandemic Response.

If he has followed the Bush/Obama Plan and kept the National Pandemic Team, we might have been able to massively test and contact trace, like other countries.

It could have saved the economy from the worst of The Trump Depression.

More testing now - for anyone, free & immediate, so we can avoid further economic destruction from Trump.

Just now Googling it, I see many accounts that the Chinese government admitted in 2004 that SARS escaped from a lab causing a new breakout. But not the 2002 first case which has suspects other than a lab.

It sounds to me like "scientiists[sic] now agree that a coronovirus named SARS was walked out of a lab in mainland China by an infected lab worker in 2002" was a pretty inaccurate statement! Seems like we all could have saved a bunch of trouble if folks did a little Googling before posted conspiracy theories online.

Well. That's fine. But it was walked out of a lab in China in 2004 - at least. So labs have not been perfectly safe - although maybe any lab you now work at is better. I do not need to be right all of the time. As to your current handle "Conspiracy Theories," it is a phrase foreign subversives or other Trump promoters might use to make people think there are no conspiracies - just people acting without coordinating or communicating with others. It reminds me of the 9-11 attacks - the product of at least one conspiracy for sure. But when questions were raised about the advance knowledge and possible roll of persons beyond a handful of terrorists, what did you read and see on TV: those are just "conspiracy theories."

Role

Interesting, Gary. Could you clue the rest of us in as to the "possible role of persons beyond a handful of terrorists" in 9/11? Which persons were these?

@ Conspiracy Theories. You could start with the 9ll Commission report. Or you could check with the intelligence services in your country. The 911 Commission could somehow not agree on where the funding came from (such as Saudi Arabia) but blamed training camps in a country with heroin as its primary export. You might remember that President Bush (junior) was new to the job on 9-11-2001. He was learning to read with some young school children when planes hit in New York. We learned that hold-overs from the Bill Clinton administration had been warning about talk and the means of attack used. The twin towers were not the only buildings to be destroyed in New York. Bush and his VP Dick Cheney went to work on deflecting responsibility. Eventually, American intelligence agencies agreed on new procedures and powers in their operations. Maybe you and your two followers want to weigh in on 911 or get back to contributing to the discussion of viruses by calling everything CONSPIRACY THEORIES.

@ Comrade Conspiracy Theories. Checking online, I see it is 11:30 am in Moscow right now. So maybe you can get some help answering a few questions simple for anyone living on or near "Sylvan" in Mountain View, CA, USA: (1) how many marked crosswalks are there on Sylvan? (2) how was the Shell station at Sylvan and El Camino changed when recently rebuilt? (3) what business immediately preceded Palo Alto Medical at El Camino and The Americana?

This arguing about the source of the COVID 19 is simply a waste of energy.

It reminds me of Apollo 13 when Hayes and Swaggert were getting into each other faces after the explosion. Lovell simply told them, it was pointless because they still needed to survive the flight.

People are frustrated and angry because this disease is in effect destroying businesses and wealth. We all lived for the almighty god of CASH.

NOW a disease is in effect destroying the value of this god.

The people who headed major corporations thought they were the smartest people in the room and that established their ROYALTY and dominion over all others. COVID 19 is proving they were wrong.

The Government thought they were the smartest people in the room and that it established their AUTHORITY and dominion over all others. COVID 19 is proving they were wrong.

Even the Church thought they were the smartest people in the room and that established their SPIRITUALITY and dominion over all others. COVID 19 is proving they were wrong.

We all GRIEVING and it goes thorigh multiple phases, they start with :

1. Denial and isolation, this has been demonstrated by our president, our government and our financial systems.

2. Anger, this is demonstrated by our government, our financial systems, and even here on this forum

3. Bargaining, this is being demonstrated by those that want to simply allow the public health higher risks by trying to stop the only method of infection control we have now.

4. Depression, this is not only just emotional, but the depression of all aspects of our previous existence. This is the worst part of the grieving process. But this also deals with the fact that the previous phases do nothing to resolve the problems we have today.

Finally 5. Acceptance, the fact that we just have to find a treatment that has a greater than 95% effectiveness at least or a vaccine that also achieves 95%.

Simply put we are all stuck in the situation, and there is only the medical research to get us out of it.