This is a little over 15-minute video of the Joe Rogan Show. Michael Osterholm explains how the epidemic is unfolding.

"As they race to test an experimental coronavirus vaccine, researchers aren’t waiting to see how well it prevents infection in animals before trying it in people, breaking from the usual protocol."

"The EU nations impacted include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

This is a prudent step because these are EU nations, under their collective assembly, who permit unrestricted travel without border enforcement or containment measures."

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that up to 70% of the German population will likely contract the coronavirus, suggesting that the government’s priority is about “slowing its spread.”"

Despite the author's dislike of President Trump, he is actually advocating for one of his policies, bring jobs home. Oh, the Irony!

"The coronavirus will eventually pass, but the same cannot be said for the Panglossian phenomenon known as “globalization.” Stripped of the romantic notion of a global village, the ugly process we’ve experienced over the past 40 years has been a case of governmental institutions being eclipsed by multinational corporations, acting to maximize profit in support of shareholders. To billions of us, it has resembled a looting process, of our social wealth, and political meaning. "

"Sometimes, as the lawyers say, res ipsa loquitur, meaning “the thing speaks for itself”. I believe these three excepts, both individually and in juxtaposition, say a great deal about the war against coronavirus."

"A sobering analysis of how coronavirus is likely to impact the US healthcare system suggests that hospitals will be quickly overwhelmed with patients, and that all available beds will be filled by around May 8th if the virus tracks with Italy's figures and 10% of patients require an ICU."

"Of note, the Straits Times reported last week that thousands of people were waiting for hospital beds in South Korea as the disease surges.

Liz Specht, a Ph.D. in biology and the associate director of Science and Technology for the Good Food Institute laid out her concerns in a lengthy Twitter thread on Friday, which you can see here on Twitter, or continue reading below."

"Update (1620ET): Canadian officials have confirmed six new cases of the virus in British Columbia on Saturday, bringing the total cases in Canada to 57.

Update (1420ET): Following in the footsteps of China and South Korea, both of which eventually locked down the local epicenter(s) of the coronavirus breakout by imposing draconian quasi-quarantines, moments ago Italy announced that on the day the number of new cases in the country exploded by 1,247 hitting a total of 5,883, the federal government has placed the entire region of Lombardy, the province with the most Italian coronavirus infections, on lockdown.   

Update (1350ET): Washington state officials are reportedly considering taking over a nursing home in Kirkland where at least six residents have died, possibly the first example in US history of the federal government nationalizing a nursing home, WSJ reports."

"As face masks, hand sanitizers and rubber gloves fly off store shelves, pharmacists are quietly fretting over a looming shortage of vital prescription medications.

On Thursday pharmaceutical manufacturer AmeriSource Bergen sent to its pharmacists a list of respiratory medications that it’s placing on back order because they are in short supply, The Post has learned.

The $168 billion publicly traded company flagged nebulizer solutions and two types of generic respiratory medications used for asthma and other breathing disorders, sources said. The Valley Forge, Pa.-based company did not return requests for comment."

"A study by a Chinese research group has emerged that offers concrete proof of race differences in susceptibility to Corona virus are very real. The authors explain that “2019-nCov was reported to share the same receptor, Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)” as the SARS disease, an outbreak of which in 2003 seemed almost exclusively to kill Northeast Asians. Based on “the public database and the state-of-the-art single-cell RNA-Seq technique” the Chinese scientists “analyzed the ACE2 RNA expression profile in the normal human lungs.” Crucially, they further found (in a comparison of eight individual samples) that the “Asian male one has an extremely large number of ACE2-expressing cells in the lung” in comparison to other races."

Key Takeaway: This study has not been peer-reviewed. The thesis is that there are roughly 5 times more ACE2 receptors in the lungs of Asian males than in White of African males. This may explain some of the morbidity statistics that we are seeing.