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Japan wins virus fight by ignoring rulebook

https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/1923028/japan-wins-virus-fight-by-ignoring-rulebook

TOKYO: Japan’s state of emergency is nearing its end with new cases of the coronavirus dwindling to mere dozens. It got there despite largely ignoring the default playbook.

No restrictions were placed on residents’ movements, and businesses from restaurants to hairdressers stayed open. No high-tech apps that tracked people’s movements were deployed. The country doesn’t have a centre for disease control.

And even as nations were exhorted to “test, test, test”, Japan has tested just 0.2% of its population — one of the lowest rates among developed countries.

“You can’t say the Japan response was amazing,” said Norio Sugaya, a visiting professor at Keio University’s School of Medicine in Tokyo and a member of a World Health Organization panel advising on pandemic influenza. “If you look at the other Asian countries, they all had a death rate that was about 1/100th of Western countries.”

Japan rejected lockdown because virus will resurge, says expert

https://www.ft.com/content/9bac4ad5-22e3-4bcd-b07b-8a248fe44465

The doctor leading Japan’s response to coronavirus has defended the decision not to implement a national lockdown, saying that elimination of the virus was impossible and it was necessary to limit the damage to the economy.

The comments by Shigeru Omi, chair of the expert committee that advises prime minister Shinzo Abe, highlight the country’s distinctive approach to the epidemic. Japan, along with Sweden, has sought to limit cases without putting a total freeze on economic activity or making social distancing mandatory. 

“Japan wants to bring down the number of cases but it’s impossible to bring it down to zero because of the nature of the disease,” said Dr Omi. He added that the severity of future waves would depend on how public behaviour adapted to the virus.

“Maybe there’ll be another small wave or a big wave depending on how people behave. I think that will continue for some time,” he said. “That’s why we want to balance the maintenance of socio-economic activity with managing this outbreak.”

Japan Ends Coronavirus Emergency With 850 Deaths and No Lockdown

https://www.newsweek.com/japan-ends-coronavirus-emergency-850-deaths-no-lockdown-1506336

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced the end of his state of emergency declaration for the novel coronavirus pandemic, with just 851 deaths reported and without ever implementing a lockdown.

Trump blasts Jeff Sessions as 'not mentally qualified to be attorney general'

Some Americans take a holiday from social distancing and officials fear future spikes in coronavirus cases

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/25/health/us-coronavirus-memorial-day/index.html

Crowds packed beaches in Florida, Maryland, Georgia, Virginia and Indiana over the Memorial Day weekend -- many venturing out without masks and others failing to keep their distance even as officials highlighted the continued importance of both in order to prevent another surge of infections.

 

It wasn't just the beaches. Pictures posted on social media showed mostly unmasked people crowded together at ACE Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina, on Saturday.

בג"ץ ביטל את הרס ביתו של המחבל שרצח את דביר שורק

https://www.kikar.co.il/361281.html

בדעת רוב, עליה חתומים שני שופטים המוכרים כ'ליברלים ואקטיביסטים' - מול דעת מיעוט של השופט הדתי - ביטל בג"ץ את הריסת ביתו של המחבל שרצח באכזריות את דביר

 

Mike Pence says coronavirus pandemic will be 'largely' behind us by Memorial Day - as Texas prepares to re-open retailers this week

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mike-pence-says-coronavirus-pandemic-will-be-largely-behind-us-by-memorial-day-as-texas-prepares-to-re-open-retailers-this-week/ar-BB1372jv

Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic could be 'largely' behind Americans as early as Memorial Day Weekend. 

Pence's remarks come as Texas partially re-opened its economy this week despite the number of COVID-19 infections still rising. 

'Am I going to be on my boat and fishing in early June, Mr. Vice President?' asked Geraldo Rivera of Fox News on his radio show.

'If you look at the trends today, I think by Memorial Day Weekend we will largely have this coronavirus epidemic behind us,' Pence said.

Hydroxychloroquine trial begins in the UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52737169

Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine or a placebo will be given to more than 40,000 healthcare workers from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.

 

The first UK participants in the global trial are being enrolled on Thursday at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

They will be given either hydroxychloroquine or a placebo for three months. At sites in Asia, participants will be given chloroquine or a placebo.

These are the first of a planned 25 UK sites, with results expected by the end of the year. 

One of the study's leaders, Prof Nicholas White at the University of Oxford said: "We really do not know if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are beneficial or harmful against Covid-19."

While the University of Oxford trial is taking place in a controlled clinical environment, the World Health Organization has warned that some individuals were self-medicating and risked causing themselves serious harm.

It has not yet been shown to be safe and effective in the prevention or treatment of coronavirus and can cause dangerous heart arrhythmias.

The trial also involves researchers from the UK, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Italy.

Texas Coronavirus Cases Rise as Houston Mayor Says 'We're Not Equipped' to Handle Projected Surge

https://www.newsweek.com/texas-houston-coronavirus-rise-warning-beaches-bars-clubs-1506312

The city of Houston can't handle a sudden surge of COVID-19 cases, the city's mayor warned as infections in the reopening state rise.

Texas has so far recorded more than 56,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,533 deaths. On May 23 there were more than 1,000 new cases, preceded by 928 on May 22, 1,258 on May 21 and 1,103 on May 20. May 15 saw over 1,800 infections in a single day.

Large Study Finds No Benefit — and Potential Harm — in Using Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19

https://time.com/5841545/hydroxychloroquine-covid-study/

In the largest observational study thus far investigating the drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, researchers found little evidence that it helps, and worrying evidence that the medication may cause harm.

In a study published May 22 in the journal Lancet, scientists in the U.S. and Switzerland report on an analysis of more than 96,000 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 in 671 hospitals on six continents. Nearly 15,000 patients were treated with one of the following: chloroquine (which is an older version of hydroxychloroquine), hydroxychloroquine, or either of those drugs in combination

People in any of the four treatment groups were more likely to die during their hospitalization than those not treated. People receiving either chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine alone were 16% to 18% more likely to die in the hospital compared to those not receiving the medications, and those treated with these medications in combination with an antibiotic were 22% to 24% more likely to die in the hospital. These risks remained significant even after the researchers controlled for factors such as smoking, underlying heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, or immune conditions.

with an antibiotic. The remainder did not receive any of these medications and served as the control.

Twitter remains silent about Trump's appalling attack against Joe Scarborough

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/24/media/twitter-donald-trump-joe-scarborough-reliable-sources/index.html

President Trump's appalling tweets have real world consequences.

Take his reckless posts about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. For the past few weeks, Trump has been insinuating that Scarborough was responsible for the 2001 death of Lori Klausutis, who worked in his Florida office when he was a GOP congressman.

This conspiracy theory, ironically, fueled left-wing attacks against Scarborough in 2001. It was debunked back then, but it's been revived now, by right-wing attackers, because Scarborough and his show "Morning Joe" are vociferous critics of Trump. Trump claimed on Sunday that there's "a lot of interest in this story about Psycho Joe."

This is beyond the pale, and every honest broker in politics and media knows it. As Mediaite's Josh Feldman noted here, Trump is being "roundly trashed" for pushing the conspiracy. If you're unsure about the facts, read the old fact checks from the AP and other news outlets.

 

GOP lawmaker calls on Trump to stop promoting Scarborough conspiracy theory: 'It will destroy us'

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/499387-gop-lawmaker-calls-on-trump-to-stop-promoting-scarborough-conspiracy-theory-it

 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) called on President Trump to stop promoting the "completely unfounded conspiracy" theory regarding the death of an intern for MSNBC "Morning Joe" anchor Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida.

Kinzinger has condemned Trump’s rhetoric in interviews but had said he backs the president and has voted in line with him 93.3 percent of the time throughout his career, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Why Donald Trump's wild weekend can't be normalized

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/donald-trump-tweets-joe-biden-comments/index.html

President Donald Trump -- and his allies -- seized on the Biden comment expressing their horror that the presumptive Democratic nominee would so glibly take the votes of African Americans for granted. Trump's campaign quickly produced "You Ain't Black" t-shirts and sent their surrogates out to condemn the former vice president.

 

So, you can see why the shock and horror that Trumpworld is expressing over Biden's admittedly dumb comment is a little bit hard to take. If you want to act like Biden's "you ain't black" remark is the worst thing you've ever heard while simply ignoring the President of the United States suggesting a) a former Congressman -- and now cable TV host -- committed a murder (with zero evidence) b) the former Secretary of State is a "skank" c) a former gubernatorial nominee is overweight and d) the Speaker of the House has a drinking problem, it's going to be very hard for me to consider your upset as genuine.

And, by the way, you don't get off the hook by simply rolling your eyes and saying something like "That's just how Trump talks." Yes, it is. But, to give Trump some sort of pass because he has so lowered the bar of acceptable behavior in a president is to normalize him -- and in so doing allow him to be judged by a different standard than Biden is being held to.

 

Trump's behavior -- this weekend and almost all the time -- is not normal. It doesn't make what Biden said right. It isn't. But it sure as heck calls into question those Republicans who are shocked -- SHOCKED! -- at Biden's comment and choose to somehow miss all of the offensive things the President says.