Chris Martenson issues an alert. I think that he's a really smart dude. Here's his write-up:
The coronavirus is currently sweeping across China. So far, it has all the hallmarks of a potential true pandemic outbreak.
While it could still (and hopefully will) be contained and burn itself out, the chances of that are slipping by the hour.
If an actual pandemic breaks out, expect the following to happen quickly:
A Quick Primer On Viruses
When I was getting my PhD through the Duke Medical school, there was a debate as to whether viruses even qualified as being a lifeform. That debate still carries on.
A virus is a protein encapsulated set of genetic instructions. Just some DNA or RNA surrounded by a complex shell that can ‘dock’ with a specific living host cell. All viruses completely lack the ability to reproduce themselves. They require the hijacking of the active replicating machinery of a host cell to reproduce and multiply.
Viruses are everywhere. A single drop of clear seawater may contain 10 million virus particles on average. You encounter them everyday. Your body already has natural immunity against hundreds of different virus types.
The problem comes in when a new virus enters the game, one which your body has not seen before, and against which you have no immunity.
An even bigger problem emerges when ‘the herd’ has not seen it before either and there’s no herd immunity to block its spread.
The biggest problem emerges when such a new virus emerges (usually by ‘jumping’ from a non-human species to humans) has the ability to spread easily between humans. By contrast, a virus that requires some sort of a host vector such as a mosquito or a tick is much more easily contained.
The Coronavirus
The coronavirus currently in question derives its name from the spiky crown of proteins (Corona = Crown) that are seen under magnification.
It first erupted on Wuhan China, and is thought to possibly have jumped from a snake species to humans:
Wuhan coronavirus may have been transmitted to people from snakes
Jan 22, 2020
A new coronavirus that has claimed 17 lives in Wuhan, China, may have been transmitted to people from snakes, according to a genetic analysis. The snakes may have caught the virus from bats in the food market in which both animals were sold.
This was bound to happen sooner or later. Especially among a tightly-packed human population with a proclivity for eating many different forms of wild animals.
This virus has all the statistical and virologic markers to be a true pandemic – the sort that the world has been luckily spared for many decades. But which nature and history shows us is always an inevitability.
According to the WHO’s guidance document on pandemics, this new coronavirus is already well on its way to being a full-blown pandemic:
We are already at Phase 4. Things get really serious at Phases 5 & 6.
All we need to move to Phase 5 is for another country to report a sustained outbreak — something that seems all but certain at this point. Then it will be Game On.
“It’s Contained!”
Early reports on the media have been underselling the severity. This is expected.
For some reason governments across the world long ago decided that ‘not panicking’ people was more important than providing timely, accurate, risk-balanced information.
The straight-up lying about the Fukushima disaster was one example.
China lied like crazy about the SARS outbreak a number of years ago. And they’re certainly being less than fully revealing about this outbreak.
As of this morning (6:35 am, 1/23/20) there are two major Chinese cities under a full quarantine. Wuhan with 11 million people and Huanggang with another 6 million people:
Health officials fear the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during week-long holidays for the Lunar New Year, which begins on Saturday.
The previously unknown virus strain is believed to have emerged late last year from illegally traded wildlife at an animal market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Most transport in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, was suspended on Thursday morning and people were told not to leave. Hours later, state media in neighboring Huanggang, a city of some 6 million people, said it was imposing a similar lockdown.
(Source – Reuters)
Compounding the difficulty for Chinese authorities is that all of this coincides with the Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions of Chinese typically travel about.
That’s just a recipe for disaster here.
More here:
ALERT: Coronavirus Pandemic Event Now A Serious Risk | Peak Prosperity
The coronavirus is currently sweeping across China. So far, it has all the hallmarks of a potential true pandemic outbreak.
While it could still (and hopefully will) be contained and burn itself out, the chances of that are slipping by the hour.
If an actual pandemic breaks out, expect the following to happen quickly:
- Travel within and especially between countries will be restricted if not completely banned
- Critical shortages of materials will develop, especially medical supplies, doubly especially antivirals.
- In cities with lockdowns or quarantines, food will disappear rapidly from shelves.
A Quick Primer On Viruses
When I was getting my PhD through the Duke Medical school, there was a debate as to whether viruses even qualified as being a lifeform. That debate still carries on.
A virus is a protein encapsulated set of genetic instructions. Just some DNA or RNA surrounded by a complex shell that can ‘dock’ with a specific living host cell. All viruses completely lack the ability to reproduce themselves. They require the hijacking of the active replicating machinery of a host cell to reproduce and multiply.
Viruses are everywhere. A single drop of clear seawater may contain 10 million virus particles on average. You encounter them everyday. Your body already has natural immunity against hundreds of different virus types.
The problem comes in when a new virus enters the game, one which your body has not seen before, and against which you have no immunity.
An even bigger problem emerges when ‘the herd’ has not seen it before either and there’s no herd immunity to block its spread.
The biggest problem emerges when such a new virus emerges (usually by ‘jumping’ from a non-human species to humans) has the ability to spread easily between humans. By contrast, a virus that requires some sort of a host vector such as a mosquito or a tick is much more easily contained.
The Coronavirus
The coronavirus currently in question derives its name from the spiky crown of proteins (Corona = Crown) that are seen under magnification.
It first erupted on Wuhan China, and is thought to possibly have jumped from a snake species to humans:
Wuhan coronavirus may have been transmitted to people from snakes
Jan 22, 2020
A new coronavirus that has claimed 17 lives in Wuhan, China, may have been transmitted to people from snakes, according to a genetic analysis. The snakes may have caught the virus from bats in the food market in which both animals were sold.
This was bound to happen sooner or later. Especially among a tightly-packed human population with a proclivity for eating many different forms of wild animals.
This virus has all the statistical and virologic markers to be a true pandemic – the sort that the world has been luckily spared for many decades. But which nature and history shows us is always an inevitability.
According to the WHO’s guidance document on pandemics, this new coronavirus is already well on its way to being a full-blown pandemic:
We are already at Phase 4. Things get really serious at Phases 5 & 6.
All we need to move to Phase 5 is for another country to report a sustained outbreak — something that seems all but certain at this point. Then it will be Game On.
“It’s Contained!”
Early reports on the media have been underselling the severity. This is expected.
For some reason governments across the world long ago decided that ‘not panicking’ people was more important than providing timely, accurate, risk-balanced information.
The straight-up lying about the Fukushima disaster was one example.
China lied like crazy about the SARS outbreak a number of years ago. And they’re certainly being less than fully revealing about this outbreak.
As of this morning (6:35 am, 1/23/20) there are two major Chinese cities under a full quarantine. Wuhan with 11 million people and Huanggang with another 6 million people:
Health officials fear the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during week-long holidays for the Lunar New Year, which begins on Saturday.
The previously unknown virus strain is believed to have emerged late last year from illegally traded wildlife at an animal market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Most transport in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, was suspended on Thursday morning and people were told not to leave. Hours later, state media in neighboring Huanggang, a city of some 6 million people, said it was imposing a similar lockdown.
(Source – Reuters)
Compounding the difficulty for Chinese authorities is that all of this coincides with the Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions of Chinese typically travel about.
That’s just a recipe for disaster here.
More here:
ALERT: Coronavirus Pandemic Event Now A Serious Risk | Peak Prosperity