I just heard Jacob Ward* on CNN say a few interesting things. 1. That with the case of the woman patient in Northern California, 36 nurses had to be quarantined! That’s a lot of staff missing from duty. 2. That the travel ban is misdirected. (Could you guess that xemophobe Stephen Miller wrote Trump’s speech? “Foreign” Disease.” The Covid-19 virus is here in the US and elsewhere already already. (not sure if rest is from Jake Ward or another good guest) 3. TESTING TESTING TESTING (and no backlogs, please)! Testing allows epidemiologists to learn where our own hotspots are. We need to be able to plan & allocate resources. A few days ago, some expert said that one thing large scale testing for the Covid-19 virus does, is allow pretty good zeroing in on who’s got the virus, where they are. They (epidemiological detectives) can interview patients and use various paper, mobile phones and electronic tracking to help them figure out common trail and sources. (Cue up Forensic File music.) 4. One of the expert guests suggested, depending on how “hot” your area seems to be or likely will be, to postpone elective surgery to free up hospital beds. I guess my surgery is elective ;-/ but I am in significant discomfort/pain. I think it is a go home that day, but light general anesthesia or just put me in a coma. Small joint surgery. Alisande, Isn’t that laparoscopic gb surgery pretty much go home the next day? See what your docs advise. 5. The US has tested only a few hundred and there is a backlog on getting the tests processed. South Korea has tested a few thousand individuals, and weeks ago. The US has handled this situation so very poorly. The virus has exploded in such a short while. Maybe someone has accolades for the CDC leadership (Reddington (spelling), a nodding bobble head. Top leadership has been abysmal. Don’t hold out for a vaccine, even in 18 months. This is a tremendously difficult thing to achieve with a coronavirus. We can attempt to slow the spread, to flatten the curve, but this disease is going to sweep over us. “Social distancing” is one way to help slow things down. It is too late to stomp it out (on this planet anyway). Gird you’re loins, folks. Seniors congregated close together in nursing homes is a perfect set up for lots of very ill and dying citizens. It’s not going to be nice. ”We’re fighting an enemy and we don’t even know where it is,” says Ron Klain, former Obama Ebola czar, speaking of the incredible lack of testing. He also said that when you look at the Johns Hopkins virus map and see no red dots or blobs in an area (day Maine or Gondwanaland), it cannot be interpreted as meaning no Covid-19 there. Rather, it indicates that there has been no testing there. (Returning my tix to Gondwanaland.) * Jacob Ward is excellent. Smart, calm, trained, experienced.

Several species of animals have carried corona viruses "forever." Canine, equine, feline etc. What is new is the transmission of this particular strain from animal to human. That is why it's been traced to the Chinese wet markets. Nothing surprising here that the tiger tested positive. Another example of the media taking what scientists and people who work with animals already know and creating more hysteria.

Carol, that’s the point—-there are different ways of testing for the gene and none involve preference. If one can detect very small amounts of a bitter compound (long chemical name usually abbreviated as PROP) on a test strip that is a positive result, also the ability to identify and compare intensity of the taste of that compound across different sample strips. The ability to taste other compounds also is part of the phenotype, or expression of the gene. Its not expressed in exactly the same way in all people who have it. Genetic testing is obviously the definitive determination. The person who identified this supertaster ability was a psychologist, not a geneticist. The science has come a long way in the past 20 to 30 years and many popular articles are still written based on the original research on (and ideas about) the subject.

Went swimming at a fitness club with my grandkids. There was a woman in the pool wearing a blue disposal mask with a scarf over it. Both were soaked through. Amazing how some people believe in the magical protection of masks worn in the most ridiculous manner. I see people in stores with their masks below their noses and constantly fidgeting with them. People on trails with sweat soaked masks. Zero common sense.