China Deploys 40 Mobile Incinerators to Wuhan
February 19th, 2020In other news: China’s Coronavirus Figures Don’t Add Up. ‘This Never Happens With Real Data’:
A statistical analysis of China’s coronavirus casualty data shows a near-perfect prediction model that data analysts say isn’t likely to naturally occur, casting doubt over the reliability of the numbers being reported to the World Health Organization.
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Barron’s re-created the regression analysis of total deaths caused by the virus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year, and found similarly high variance. We ran it by Melody Goodman, associate professor of biostatistics at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.
“I have never in my years seen an r-squared of 0.99,” Goodman says. “As a statistician, it makes me question the data.”
Real human data are never perfectly predictive when it comes to something like an epidemic, Goodman says, since there are countless ways that a person could come into contact with the virus.
For context, Goodman says a “really good” r-squared, in terms of public health data, would be a 0.7. “Anything like 0.99,” she said, “would make me think that someone is simulating data. It would mean you already know what is going to happen.”
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And now…
Via: Daily Star:
China has reportedly deployed 40 industrial incinerators to the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak Wuhan.
Chinese media reports that the furnaces have been shipped to the city amid ongoing fears the death toll is being covered up.
NTD reports that the cabins are for the disposal of animal carcasses, while China Ship news reports the incinerators are for medical waste.
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Sources quoted in Chinese media raise questions over whether or not the incinerators are for animals, or will be used to dispose of human remains.
Thousands of Frozen Meat Containers Pile Up at Chinese Ports
February 18th, 2020Via: Bloomberg:
Thousands of containers of frozen pork, chicken and beef are piling up at some major Chinese ports as transport disruptions and labor shortages slow operations, people familiar with the matter said.
Deliveries are mounting at ports including Tianjin, Shanghai and Ningbo because there aren’t enough truck drivers to collect containers due to travel curbs imposed in the country to control the coronavirus, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
Ports are also starting to run out of electricity points to freeze the containers and some ships have been told to reroute to other destinations in mainland China and Hong Kong, the people said.
China is a massive importer of meat from South America, Europe and also the U.S., and has been boosting purchases to help ease shortages caused by African swine fever. The country increased imports of meat and offal by almost 50% in 2019 to a record of about 6.2 million tons, customs data show.
Coronavirus Could Impact 5 Million Companies Worldwide
February 18th, 2020Via: CNBC:
The new coronavirus outbreak and subsequent shutdown of huge swathes of China could impact more than 5 million businesses worldwide, according to a new study.
A special briefing issued by global data analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet analyzed the Chinese provinces most impacted by the virus, and found they are intricately linked to the global business network.
The affected areas with 100 or more confirmed cases as of February 5 are home to more than 90% of all active businesses in China, according to the report, and around 49,000 businesses in these regions are branches and subsidiaries of foreign companies.
Almost half (49%) of the companies with subsidiaries in impacted regions are headquartered in Hong Kong, while the U.S. accounts for 19%, Japan 12% and Germany 5%.
Singapore Imposes Strict “Stay Home Notice” for Anyone Entering Country from China
February 18th, 2020Via: Straits Times:
A new Stay-Home Notice will be introduced for Singapore residents and long-term pass holders returning from mainland China.
They will be required to remain at home at all times for 14 days, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong told reporters on Monday (Feb 17).
The new scheme will take effect from Feb 18 at 11.59pm, and apply to all returnees with recent travel history to China, outside of Hubei province, within the last 14 days.
This will be stricter than the current leave of absence (LOA), which has allowed those returning to leave their homes briefly, for example, for their meals or to buy household supplies.
Boy Scouts Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy – Facing Thousands of Child Abuse Allegations
February 18th, 2020Via: USA Today:
Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection early today amid declining membership and a drumbeat of child sexual abuse allegations that have illuminated the depth of the problem within the organization and Scouts’ failure to get a handle on it.
A Virus Called Wuhan-400 Causes Outbreak in Dean Koontz Thriller from 1981
February 17th, 2020Via: South China Morning Post:
The Eyes of Darkness, a 1981 thriller by bestselling suspense author Dean Koontz, tells of a Chinese military lab that creates a virus as part of its biological weapons programme. The lab is located in Wuhan, which lends the virus its name, Wuhan-400.
Japanese Health Minister: Avoid Crowds and “Non-Essential Gatherings”
February 17th, 2020Via: AFP:
Japan’s health minister on Sunday urged the public to avoid crowds and “non-essential gatherings”, including notoriously packed commuter trains, to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading in the country.
Katsunobu Kato warned the nation was “entering a new phase” in the outbreak of the virus, which has infected nearly 60 people in Japan so far.
“We want to ask the public to avoid non-urgent, non-essential gatherings. We want elderly and those with pre-existing conditions to avoid crowded places,” Kato said after a meeting of a panel of experts.
3D Printing Is Changing the World
February 16th, 2020Bio-inspired metal object printing.
Via: Vice:
Ghislaine Maxwell Still Hiding
February 16th, 2020New York Post:
Jeffrey Epstein crony Ghislaine Maxwell is so impossible to find that a Manhattan judge has taken the rare step of allowing her to be served with a new lawsuit — by email, according to a federal court filing Friday.
Lawyers for Epstein sex-assault-accuser Annie Farmer had griped to federal Judge Debra Freeman that they’ve been trying to find the disgraced British socialite to serve her with the complaint, filed in November, but that she’s done such a good job of hiding that they haven’t been able to get to her, court documents show.
“Plaintiff has attempted to locate and personally serve Maxwell to no avail. Her counsel has conducted extensive public records searches and located various addresses for Maxwell,” Farmer’s lawyers wrote in a Jan. 27 motion imploring Freeman to allow them to serve Maxwell using “alternate” means.
On Wednesday, Freeman granted the motion, acknowledging that Farmer has “adequately demonstrated that personal service would be impracticable” and ordered Maxwell to be served by email and through her lawyers representing her in a lawsuit involving another key Epstein accuser, Virginia Giuffre.
Diamond Princess: Another 70 People Test Positive for Coronavirus on Ship in Japan
February 15th, 2020Via: Reuters:
Another 70 people on board a quarantined cruise ship in Japan have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases from the vessel to 355, Japanese health minister Katsunobu Kato said on Sunday.
The Diamond Princess, owned by Carnival Corp, has been quarantined since arriving in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, on Feb. 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong before it traveled to Japan was diagnosed with the virus.
The ship, with some 3,700 passengers and crew on board, has the most coronavirus infections outside China. Those testing positive are transferred to Japanese hospitals.
