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The co-founder of the ReOpen Maryland movement says he has tested posted for the coronavirus.

Tim Walters posted a series of Facebook videos about his illness, but said he would not cooperate with contact-tracing efforts by public health officials, reported The Baltimore Sun.

“I was diagnosed yesterday at the ER with COVID-19,” Walters said, “and here I am months after not wearing a mask at rallies, churches and so on, and so it’s funny how capricious this thing is.”

The two-time Republican candidate for the General Assembly helped organized protests in Annapolis and elsewhere against shutdown orders implemented by Gov. Larry Hogan in hopes of containing the pandemic.

The 53-year-old Walters said he has diabetes and has not maintained good health habits since leaving the U.S. Navy, and admitted in one video to having a dry cough since March that had recently worsened and now included a headache, fever and a loss of focus in one eye.

“I just want to educate people,” Walters said. “Don’t live in fear, chances are that everyone is going to get this.”

Florida reports nearly 9,000 new cases of COVID-19, shattering single-day record
State reports 39 new deaths, 212 hospitalizations

Florida has now spent about three weeks under phase two of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ reopening plan and newly reported cases of COVID-19 continue to create concern as they accelerate beyond numbers seen when the pandemic first began.

Across the state, new cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported by the thousands daily, with infection numbers surpassing those seen when the pandemic first caused the state to shut down.

On Friday, the Florida Department of Health reported 8,942 new cases of COVID-19, as well as 39 new deaths and 212 additional hospitalizations. The state reported a 13.5% positivity rate for new tests conducted.

The number of newly reported cases shattered the record for the most cases of COVID-19 reported in a single day. The previous record was set on Wednesday when the state reported 5,511 cases.

The new statistics bring the total number of reported COVID-19 cases in Florida since the disease was first reported in the state on March 1 to 122,960 with a total of 3,366 deaths and 13,987 hospitalizations.

The woman came to the San Fernando Valley store Friday wearing a mask ... the manager tells TMZ. At some point, as she was shopping the mask disappeared from her face. She says she has a breathing problem and that's why she took the mask off, but her lungs were filled with anger as her voice billowed through the store.

Either way ... we're told employees approached the woman and asked her to cover her face, but she refused. At that point, she goes insane, suggesting this was some sort of conspiracy by Democrats.

She was ordered to leave the store -- which she did.

Nutso wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:36 am Masks are for sheep!

Gilead Sciences announced Monday the much-anticipated pricing for its coronavirus treatment remdesivir, saying it will cost $3,120 for a typical U.S. patient with commercial insurance.

The company announced its pricing plans in preparation for it to begin charging for the antiviral drug in July. The company has been donating doses to the U.S. government for distribution since it received emergency use authorization in May.

The drugmaker said it will sell remdesivir for $390 per vial to governments “of developed countries” around the world, and the price for U.S. private insurance companies will stand at $520 per vial. In the U.S., that means Gilead will charge a lower price for government programs like Medicare and a higher price for privately insured people.

“Whether you’re covered by a private insurer, whether you’re covered by a government insurer, whether you’re uninsured with Covid-19, there will not be an issue for access with remdesivir,” Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day said in an interview with CNBC’s Meg Tirrell on “Squawk Box.”

Every drug in the U.S. has two list prices due to the country’s health care system, O’Day said, adding that he stands by the pricing structure and that it will ensure access for those who need it. Its government price of $390 per vial was determined based on the developed countries with the lowest purchasing power, O’Day said, to avoid negotiations with each country that could slow down access to the drug.

The company said it has entered into agreements with generic manufacturers to provide the drug at a “substantially lower cost” in developing countries.

Shares of Gilead rose more than 2% in premarket trading Monday on the news.

A new strain of flu that has the potential to become pandemic has been identified in China by scientists.

It emerged recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say.

The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak.

They say it has "all the hallmarks" of being highly adapted to infect humans - and needs close monitoring.

As it's new, people could have little or no immunity to the virus.
Pandemic threat

A bad new strain of influenza is among the top disease threats that experts are watching for, even as the world attempts to bring to an end the current coronavirus pandemic.

The last pandemic flu the world encountered - the swine flu outbreak of 2009 that began in Mexico - was less deadly than initially feared, largely because many older people had some immunity to it, probably because of its similarity to other flu viruses that had circulated years before.

Coronavirus: This is not the last pandemic

That virus, called A/H1N1pdm09, is now covered by the annual flu vaccine to make sure people are protected.

The new flu strain that has been identified in China is similar to 2009 swine flu, but with some new changes.

So far, it hasn't posed a big threat, but Prof Kin-Chow Chang and colleagues who have been studying it, say it is one to keep an eye on.

The virus, which the researchers call G4 EA H1N1, can grow and multiply in the cells that line the human airways.

They found evidence of recent infection starting in people who worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China.

Current flu vaccines do not appear to protect against it, although they could be adapted to do so if needed.

Nutso wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2020 2:26 pm

McAvoy wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:30 pm Only in America where you will find people comparing not wearing masks to freedom of a whole country. Masks! It's only masks.

Haven't seen anyone make a big deal out of having to wear shirts or shoes inside stores...