Consumed by the Coronavirus

Everyday we hear about it, people are talking about it in their local communities, many are experiencing it whether they know or not. There are many things we know about it and they are many things we don’t know about it. It has altered the way we currently live in our daily lives. And for some people it will alter their lives permanently one way or another. Millions have lost their jobs as their companies had to shutdown, some temporarily while others it might be permanent but many wonder when is normal coming back. We are consumed by the coronavirus! This is not your typical subject matter that is discussed here but since this is a major worldwide epidemic disease that has impacted many people all over the world in different ways and will change economies and perhaps governments as we know them, I decided to address what has been going on and address some very important things you need to know concerning the coronavirus!

In December 2019, word leaked out about an outbreak of people getting sick in Wuhan, Hubei Provence, China. The Chinese government decided to suppressed the discovery by arresting the doctor who originally discovered the virus and charged him with spreading rumors. They considered the new disease a threat to their power on the world stage because it could weaken their economy which was struggling already for other reasons. Later on, the doctor who was arrested and then put in jail for a time supposedly died from the Coronavirus. Some say he was killed either way he died. The story got little attention from the corporate media like CNN and MSNBC and in some regards Fox News.

During the original cover up, China allowed five million people to travel from the affected area to other areas for about a month. And acted as though nothing had happened. This, in turn, allowed the virus to spread from one city to the next eventually people from other countries were infected within one month. China’s decision was intentional, the Communist government in China wanted to share the virus with the rest of the world so it wouldn’t be the only country to feel its negative impact.

Then on January 31st, 2020 the United States bans non-citizens from China from entering the country. The ban did not include US citizens who were warned about traveling to China by the CDC on January 8th and were encouraged to take precautions. Prior to that on January 14, 2020 at 5:18am the World Health Organization countered the seriousness of the outbreak which was growing by tweeting this from their twitter account…

“Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in Wuhan, China.”

Helping The Spread: Racial Identity Politics

The World Health Organization tweet helped fuel racial identity politics show its ugly head because it encouraged people not to social distance and those who did were considered racists. It was also being used to criticize the Trump administration’s taking the virus seriously along with the new travel ban policy as being racist. NY leaders had downplayed the virus comparing it to a common cold or the flu while using racial identity politics. Here is an example, take a look on what the Mayor of NY tweeted in the beginning of March 2020…

“We want New Yorkers to go about their everyday lives — use the subway, take the bus, etc.,” city Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said, explaining that COVID-19 “is not an illness that can be easily spread through casual contact.” From AP report, “Officials try to calm nerves as NY reports 1st COVID-19 case” March 2nd, 2020.

A week later the Mayor doubled down on his advice but the following week he accused the Trump administration of abandoning his city where the virus was infecting many New Yorkers who were getting sick and some were dying. Since then on April 4th, 2020, slightly over a month later since the first case was confirmed, NY York city has 63,000+ inflections with 500 to 700 new cases a day as well as over 1500+ deaths! Not only that but there are 307,000+ cases in the United States alone! Those numbers are expected to increase substantially for another week or more. And it wasn’t just the Mayor of New York, this failure had to do with preparation and this time it wasn’t the Mayor of the city of New York but the Governor of New York! The New York Health Department published a report guidelines for ventilator allocation in November 2015. It reads as follows…

“…during a severe influenza pandemic there is likely to be a shortfall of ventilators during peak week demand”

Governor Andrew Cuomo during that time decides not to buy more ventilators despite what his own health department warned about in the report! The Governor instead ordered his commission to find ways to ration what ventilators they had which was about 2,000. In other words, during that time, having a sufficient amount of ventilators in time for a severe flu outbreak was not a priority for the ones who voted him into office. Perhaps when a crisis would arise, he would rather have the Federal government supply his state while he could spend New York’s tax money on other things he found to be more important like a 750 million dollar solar project. This policy hurt his voters big time when the coronavirus rapidly spread throughout his state and the rest of the country and world which created a high volume of demand for ventilators that caused shortages!

So here you have the mayor NY encouraging crowds along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi encouraging people to gather in the streets for the Chinese New Year, a NY State Senator doing the same and you have a governor who did not want to buy much needed supplies for medical reasons, helped increase a major disaster for New York as well as for the rest of the country! Many people flow in and out of New York before social distancing was finally accepted and practiced there!

Six days later after the World Health Organization’s tweet downplaying the virus, WHO does a complete flip much like the mayor of the city of New York did a little over a month later as the cover up became uncovered, people were getting infected and sick by the Coronavirus all over the world! On January 20th, 2020 the World Health Organization called it a “public health emergency of international concern”. The United States creates a Coronavirus Task Force on January 29th. By January 31st the Coronavirus was declared a pandemic!

I went on vacation in Florida in February 2020, at the time, a Japanese Cruise Ship was infected by the virus, people were not allowed to leave the ship. Confined to their cabins with a crew that was serving them was also infected! As a result, more and more people got infected on the ship. Cases began to surface in the United States but it was hard to tell how fast it was spreading. Because it was against the law to use test kits not made by the CDC (Center for Disease Control), also it was against the law for private companies to manufacture the test kits even those proven to be reliable.

The CDC test kit creation did not work originally, often to referred to as a snag which slowed down testing of the virus in the United States! This is one of the reasons why too much government control can be harmful to people’s health and hinder a response to the pandemic. Instead of using test kits that already were working and allowing private companies to produce them right away, they had to follow the law and do it this way which was a diseaser. The CDC did fix the problem and test kits were allowed to be manufactured by private companies as the Trump Administration relaxed the laws, but precious time was wasted with all the red tape that had to be cleared which took time! The virus with its novelty was spreading faster than anyone could have predicted!

Coronavirus Ever Growing Diverse Profile

Like some Americans, I’m an essential worker. I have continued to work while this crisis is going on. I have to take a health screening test everyday for work as well as for physical therapy. My health remains in good shape. Because we don’t know a lot about the virus, these screenings have been narrowed a bit, and in some cases broaden. Broaden in a sense that if you are sick even if it’s not the virus, you stay home until you are well enough to come back. Being sick doesn’t automatically mean you have the virus. Although it does makes you more vulnerable to the virus if you are sick! Since the human body is complex and different for each person, the virus tends to have different effects on people which is why it has a diverse profile of symptoms. However, a recent discovery about the coronavirus that is not unique is the loss of taste and smell. So if this happens to you, there is a good chance that you have the virus.

A List of Symptoms

The most common symptoms which is generally connected with the most serve cases is shortness of breath, fever, temperature of 104, coughing, and sneezing. A non-common symptom one of which I have been tested on and that is holding your breath for 10 seconds and releasing. Do you feel a burning sensation? Do you feel dizzy after doing that? If the answer is no, you passed this test. But if not, there is a chance that you have the virus which likes to attack your lungs! More symptoms are being added as we learn more about the virus so try to keep updated.

Protecting Yourself & Others

Help stop the spread! You hear this a thousand times, some of you need the constant reminding but it is very important to practice social distancing and wash your hands. Only travel out of necessity and not for luxury until the crisis is over. This is a very infectious virus, one that we do not fully understand. Having said that, we should not panic. I have noticed and so of many of you that may be reading this but people have been hoarding certain items. Some fear a major shutdown.

You have to understand, this is not the end of the world. If people take what they generally need with some extra in case they get sick, the shelves would be filled more like normal and people wouldn’t have to stress looking for items or wondering if they will ever get to buy those items. These items would be available like normal if people buy smartly. And what I mean by buying some extra is not buying a month’s supply in one week! A little extra here and there each week if you haven’t prepared will go a long way. Don’t worry as the suppliers are still working and will eventually catch up with the demand.

The US government is now suggesting face masks but not the N95 ones. Paper face masks do not work, the coronavirus is small enough to go through those. A scarf or cloth. Also, I want to point out, just a face mask will not prevent you from getting the coronavirus. It helps not to give the virus to people but it doesn’t totally protect you. I saw one man in the store wearing an n95 mask but his eyes were exposed which means he could still get the virus. Yep, your eyes are connected to your respiratory system and if the virus can get on your eyes if can infect you that way so if you really want to protect yourself, you cover not only your mouth and nose but your eyes too.

I want to conclude this post with this. God is in control of all things, and it’s Him we should rely on which is why I believe He allows such things like this to happen. We will get through this crisis with His help. Christians are not alone, God is always here to help!

There might be more on this topic in the coming weeks along with other topics, so stay tuned!

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New Discoveries About Neanderthals Continues to Falsify Old Assumptions

Neanderthals for many years have this story about them based on the hypothesis of evolution. Yes, hypothesis because I’m not longer calling evolution a “theory” because usually most theories have so much more scientific evidence than what evolution provides.

Neanderthals is a clear example of Paleoanthropologists making up behaviors, how Neanderthals lived, their level of intelligence and what they may have sounded like and often referred to as “brutes” was all based on evolution and you know what? They have been so way off the mark because of their belief in evolution!

In Spain, discoveries were found that Neanderthals had ancient tools like drills and scrapers which they used to process minerals in the caves. Neanderthals created artwork which gave us some insight on how they really lived. They also had their own language which didn’t entail grunting noises as suggested! In the Smithsonian Magazine published on May 19, 2019 said that for years (evolutionists and some non-evolutionists) people described Neanderthals as “stocky, stooped figures, preternaturally low-browed, who became extinct as sapiens inherited the earth.” Basically the fairytale suggested that Neanderthals were too primitive so they went extinct.

In the beginning, if researchers had used the scientific method like they were supposed to do rather than use the discovery for the evolutionary tree without evidence, Neanderthals would have been considered fully human and all this falsification that we have witnessed over the years in recent times would not exist.

As the Smithsonian Magazine correctly points out…

“Through advances in archaeology, dating, genetics, biological anthropology and many related disciplines we now know that Neanderthals not only had bigger brains than sapiens, but also walked upright and had a greater lung capacity. These ice age Eurasians were skilled toolmakers and big-game hunters who lived in large social groups, built shelters, traded jewelry, wore clothing, ate plants and cooked them, and made sticky pitch to secure their spear points by heating birch bark. Evidence is mounting that Neanderthals had a complex language and even, given the care with which they buried their dead, some form of spirituality. And as the cave art in Spain demonstrates, these early settlers had the chutzpah to enter an unwelcoming underground environment, using fire to light the way.”

Now that sounds like ancient humans related to the human race of today! And I suspect more discoveries on how fully human they always were will also surface. But these discoveries haven’t overturned the dating problem that is used by evolutionists. Neanderthal DNA is still around! DNA is organic, we know it decays rapidly. Well, evolutionists believe Neanderthals lived about 40,000 to 400,000 years ago and somehow the organic material (DNA) survived through all them years under extreme conditions. Plus DNA mutates about 100 new mutations every generation! The half life of DNA is estimated at 521 years along with DNA not being stable outside of a living cell!

Courts have ruled that DNA many decades old is too damaged to be used as evidence in a court of law! Just look up cases that involve reconstruction of old DNA for criminal cases. There are even debates in college campuses about the reliability of old DNA. So there are issues in the modern times about how quickly DNA can get damaged, 40,000 to 400,000 years ago would be so damaged thus rendering it unrecognizable rather than remaining intact and in fairly good shape as we see with the Neanderthal DNA today!

Getting Insight On Mars

Landing on Mars is no easy task for a spacecraft traveling about 300 million miles from Earth in the vast cold darkness of space. Using a protective heat shield, a parachute, and rockets to enter the atmosphere, and then go from 12,000 miles an hour down to 5 miles an hour within minutes. Considered a nailbiter to land, this intelligently designed spacecraft and a very expensive one at that (814 million dollars) was able to make a landing on Mars!

The InSight lander in its cruise stage configuration prior to undergoing acoustic testing at Lockheed Martin.

Why was this so significant? Why did the NASA folks stand up and applaud when the landing was confirmed? Because 60 percent of the landings are unsuccessful! Only 40 percent make it to the ground intact. “It is just a matter of time before humans land on Mars” one commenter from the Today show echoed to their audience.

It’s highly unlikely that humans will be visiting Mars! In fact, I will predict, it will never happen. Not that I wouldn’t want it to happen or that it’s unbiblical to land on Mars, there are too many other things that make it impractical for reality. As we already discussed, the landings are extremely dangerous. But also habitation is not practical. Mars has less mass than Earth, therefore, it has less gravity. If you were 200 pounds on Earth, your weight would be 76 pounds on Mars. Less gravity causes muscle deterioration and osteoporosis. The great men and women who operate the international space station above Earth experience 30 percent loss of muscle performance and a 15 percent loss in muscle mass within 4 to 6 months!

Traveling and exploring Mars for the rest of their lives or attempting to come back would take years! What about the promise that those brave men and women would have scientific countermeasures? This is merely a promise, no countermeasures have been proposed and successfully tested for use. No doubt they are working on them but what they come out with remains to be seen.

Dust would be a danger to humans who are trying to live on Mars because dust as we found out with going to the moon, it can get into everything causing the instruments to not function at all. Mars has a lot of dust storms which lasts for weeks sometimes for months. The dust could render their life support systems useless which would result in their demise.

Radation could also kill humans on Mars by causing cancer. NASA did a lab test on mice using similar radiation found on Mars and the mice died. So you could imagine would that would do to humans over a long period of time! The goal is to land on Mars by 2030 which I predict will be postponed until further notice due to the country’s financial situation or lack of technology to make it safe enough to attempt it or both.

Other than that, it’s an exciting mission! Space exploration is a great way to learn more about the intelligently designed universe which God can only do!

Is The Stem Cell Debate Over?

Harvesting embryonic cells for research had sparked a debate with the pro-life movement. Not with the research itself but how the stem cells were obtained. Years ago, I can remember some friends of mine who were highly critical of George W. Bush for withdrawing funding for the research along with celebrities like Michael J Fox who had Parkinson’s disease. All of which was found to be a non-issue with the discovery in 2007 when scientists were able to reprogram adult stem cells back to their embryonic state.

In the last few years, there hasn’t been much news about stem cell research in general. Here are a few new developments in the field… Wildfires have been raging in California, fighting fires like these often times result in injuries. Canadian researchers have devised a way to grow stem cells from the burnt victims own skin in order to increase the recovery time.

From Medical Xpress…

“Until now, almost nobody thought of looking for viable cells in the burned skin itself, which is normally considered medical waste. When the U of T researchers began looking in the first pieces of discarded skin, they hoped to find even one living cell. They were exhilarated by the discovery of thousands of cells – in some cases up to one million cells.”

“Much faster healing would be a major step forward.”

Not only would faster healing be a tremendous accomplishment but also limit the rejection rate. Prior to this proposed research, stem cells used in this type of treatment came from other people’s bodies. The rejection rate is very high for the patients who obtained this type of treatment which is something critics of the pro-life movement failed to take into an account.

Who would have thought to use burned skin? Practically nobody but these Canadian researchers decided to think outside the box and will put into practice next year as they test their new theory! This is great research hopefully they will get good results!

The debate over harvesting embryonic cells for research isn’t quite dead, despite the fact that stem cells can be used from a patient’s own body whether that be reprogramed stem cells or adult stem cells, in general, which produces a much greater success for recovery. Some Scientists are trying to be a little sneaky about using embryonic cells which are considered to be human. They changed the term to “hES” cells rather than calling it “human embryonic stem cells”., Of course, there is an ethical issue with their experiment so even though they admit as much, they still try and hide it. So if are a patient of this research, be aware of the terms used so you know what you are getting because it’s not only your life (because your immune system can perceive them as “foreign,” and reject them) but someone else’s life too.

Scientists do not have to be sneaky, in fact, it’s unethical to be that sneaky! They can use better alternatives like the Canadian researchers are planning on doing next year. Another indication that the debate is not over is the fact that there is a rising popularity with cloning. By cloning the person, embryonic cells would have a much better chance of being accepted by the patient’s body. However, when Human Embryonic cells were injected into mice, the mice got tumors which were cancerous. There is no margin for error, if just one cell doesn’t reproduce the right way, it would mean death for the patient. So the treatment may someday cure someone with one disease but then kill them with another.

Reprogrammed cells have not eliminated the cancer threat. If scientists can reprogram adult stem cells without altering the DNA which may reduce the risk of cancer, you might see the pro-life movement and those against it on the same side on this issue!