Tag Archives: Corona Virus

You won’t die from Corona virus, unless you are already very sick

By Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Be rational, not reactionary!

Think, do not emote.

Otherwise, you will be sucked into the hype.

The latest statistics from Italy show that the Pandemic is simply Hype.

This is a follow up report to Why that 3.4% mortality rate is a lie, which showed by there is a shell game being played between hospital mortality rates for the Wuhan virus and mortality rates for the whole population. In that article I showed that for nearly everyone, it is easier to win the lottery or the raffle at your local parish or bingo hall. My report was confirmed subsequently by Joe Hoft of the Gateway Pundit and the statistician William M. Briggs, all of us working independently of one another.

Today Pier Paolo Flammini of Rivera Oggi, here in Italy, is reporting the latest statistics which confirm my suspicions, that no one healthy is dying of Corona Virus (statistically no one, as there is always the rare case of someone lacking immune responses for genetic or congenital reasons). He is citing the official daily bulletin of the Civil Protection Agency, here in Italy:

The other aspect which is very important is the fact that the victims have very often common pathologies like stroke, hyptertension, cancer, kidney disease, and dementia. We see that 48.5% of the persons examined (for corona virus) have 2 or more of these pathologies, 25.1% have two pathologies, and 25.1% have one pathology.

Only 0.8% have no pathologies.

Among the youngest (victims) we find persons who already at that age have cardiovascular problems, diabetes, obesity, kidney problems.  Hence, even the young (victims) are fragile.

Everyone needs to shout from the roof top these statistics.

Only 0.8% of those who died from Corona Virus had no pathologies, that is, were otherwise healthy persons — though this does not mean they were not malnourished or had eating disorders.

But  note that in the Civil Protection Agency report there is no specification of HIV infections. This is because in Italian law such persons are protected from being identified. So in the list of pathologies, cited above, you can presume HIV is one of them.

However, that 0.8% with no pathologies regards those admitted to hospital and diagnosed with Coronavirus and who died of coronavirus, or at least, were reported to have died from corona virus. This does not mean that they did. This also means that the rate in the general population will be 0.13% total, which is nearly that of the common flue, which is measured at 0.1% for the total population which gets infected, whether they come to the hospital or not.

Hence, all your civil rights and all your divine rights to the sacraments are being denied for something no more lethal than the annual winter flu!  This is how stupid or evil your leaders are.

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YouTube: We are “protecting” our workers and unleashing algorithmic censorship on you!

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Lefties’ default is always censorship, banning, restrictions, house arrest, etc..  The first sign of a Leftie is that in times of panic his reactions return to default, without any pretense.

YouTube showed their colors — not that they need to — today by announcing that “to protect” their workers, they were giving them leaves of absence and therefore, there will be fewer human beings to unblock you when their algorithms block your YouTube account.

Here is their official announcement (Source, remove white spaces: https ://youtube-creators.googleblog. com/2020/03/protecting-our-extended-workforce-and.html ):

Our Community Guidelines enforcement today is based on a combination of people and technology: Machine learning helps detect potentially harmful content and then sends it to human reviewers for assessment. As a result of the new measures we’re taking, we will temporarily start relying more on technology to help with some of the work normally done by reviewers. This means automated systems will start removing some content without human review, so we can continue to act quickly to remove violative content and protect our ecosystem, while we have workplace protections in place.

Somehow,  I get the sense that some YouTube employees will never return to work, even though they are now “protected”.

I also get the impression that the Management at YouTube sees the “crisis” caused by Wuhan-virus hype as their dream of dreams to implement Chinese like censorship.

Another sign that there is just too much political exploitation of the narrative to believe it anymore.

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CREDITS:  The Featured Image is a screenshot of the YouTube.com official Blog page for YouTube creators, who were notified this morning that increased censorship is now teh default on their platform.

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Melatonin, a cure for lethal Corona Virus pulmonary inflammation

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Doris Loh in a highly researched article, entitled, COVID-19, Pnemonia & Inflammasomes the Melatonin connection, traces out the scientific evidence of mortality caused by the Corona virus and proposes the cure the worst symptom suffered by those infected.

Please note that neither I nor Mrs. Loh are medical professionals and that nothing we say should be used for medical practice.

But the information she has gathered does indicate a startling simple preventative measure for those infected.

The chief cause death by the Wuhan virus is respiratory failure. That is, a person dies from suffocation. This is cause by the natural ability of the Corona virus to exacerbate or exaggerate the natural response of the human body to become inflamed so as to isolate infection.

This response is caused by inflammasomes, which Nature.com defines thus:

The inflammasome is a multiprotein intracellular complex that detects pathogenic microorganisms and sterile stressors, and that activates the highly pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1b (IL-1b) and IL-18. Inflammasomes also induce a form of cell death termed pyroptosis. Dysregulation of inflammasomes is associated with a number of autoinflammatory syndromes and autoimmune diseases.

Speaking about SARS, which is a corona virus, studies have shows that its lethalness depends in great part on its ability to cause an exaggerated response of inflammasomes in the human body. Doris Loh explains this:

Proinflammatory cytokines defend host cells from invading pathogens, but they are also capable of driving pathological inflammation [46].  During viral infections, inflammation can act in dynamically opposing antiviral and proviral roles. Inflammatory responses can inhibit viral replication and lower infection, but inflammation also has the capacity to release a large number of virions, further disseminating viral infection to cells like macrophages which will spread the virus to various other tissues and organs in the host [46].

SARS-CoV coronaviruses encode viroporin proteins to activate inflammasomes in order to facilitate viral dissemination. The recent discovery of the ORF3a viroporin further deepens understanding as to why SARS-CoV can exert so much damage when infecting hosts. 

Melatonin’s powerful effects on Inflammasome storms

Doris Loh explains that scientific studies have already demonstrated that Melatonin is the organic compound used by the human body to moderate inflammatory responses. She writes:

Melatonin is well known for its chronobiotic effects, regulating biological functions tied to circadian rhythms.  Numerous studies have revealed that melatonin exerts effects beyond the control of circadian oscillators. The NLRP3 inflammasome is now recognized as a target for melatonin! 

The fact that the pro-inflammatory cytokine storm effects are induced by the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes, the ability of melatonin to INHIBIT NLRP3 inflammasome elevates this powerful molecule to a truly unique position in the fight against COVID-19.  This also means that if a patient, regardless of age, has adequate melatonin, the infectiousness of COVID-19 will be greatly reduced, and the chances of developing ARDS/ALI significantly diminished.  

Melatonin is the reason why children under the age of 9 seldom exhibit severe symptoms. In fact, children may exhibit mild or even no symptoms at all, even though they have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 [73].  How significant is the difference in melatonin production between children, adults and the elderly?

For most people, peak melatonin production is between the hours of 2 am to 3 am.  The maximum melatonin levels measured in healthy adults between the ages of 65 to 70 years appeared to be around 49.3 picograms/ml (pg/ml).  Adults more than 75 years of age only have maximum production levels of 27.8 pg/ml [74].  

Young children, on the other hand, have extremely high melatonin levels, compared to adults.  The maximum levels recorded for children showed a decline as age increased. Children between the ages of 1 to 5 had peak melatonin at 325 pg/ml, while those between the ages of 5 to 11 already declined to 133 pg/ml [76].  

What makes the information presented by Doris Loh so convincing are the extensive citations to reputable sources. Her article contains more than 102 referenced and often linked footnotes.

Conclusion

This conclusion by Doris Loh does not mean that if you are young you cannot survive the Wuhan virus. But it does meant that as soon as anyone above 35 years of age, or who works at night, is infected, he should start receiving daily a dose of at least 1 mg of Melatonin to prevent the exaggerated response of inflammation in his lungs, which the Corona viruses are known to produce.

Melatonin, which is regularly sold in para-pharmacies and pharmacies for those wishing to benefit from its natural properties to aid in sleeping, is an easy solution to one symptom of Corona virus infection. It does not kill the virus, but it gives the body more time to do that job while insuring the lungs remain open to provide the necessary oxygen to the patient.

Why is such a simply solution not being used in hospitals? Because modern medical training does not prepare medical staff to be knowledgeable in how natural compounds, not sold by pharmaceutical companies can aid to cure disease.

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Multiple studies point to Chinese BioWarfare Lab in Wuhan as designer of COVID-19

FACTS NOT CONSPIRACY THEORIES

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

The Corona virus — which is called the Coronavirus, here in Italy — shows signs that its real name should be the Wuhan virus, and that was intentionally modified in the level 4 biowarfare laboratory in Wuhan China.

In this article, I will recite the evidence,  not the conspiracy theories.

In an article published by the Express on March 10, by Callum Hoare, geneticists publishing in ScienceDirect are reported to have discovered that the Wuhan virus has a particular and unheard of capacity to attach to a specific protein (furin) found in the lungs of humans.

This is not naturally occurring, because a virus cannot learn genetically to attach to a protein unless the protein is in its natural environment. And if the virus, as has been claimed, is 96% the same genetically as corona viruses in Chinese Bat populations, then it would have been impossible for it to acquire this function, unless it was living in a human host or in an animal which ate human lungs or had the same protein.

Dr. Pek, and eminent molecular biologist from the Czech Republic also is of the opinion that the virus has features which show human design or intervention in its genetic code, according to a report on Czech TV.

In an article published by the New York Post, on Feb. 22, Steve W. Mosher reviews multiple indications that this virus is not naturally occurring but is the product of research into Biological Warfare. He writes:

The evidence points to SARS-CoV-2 research being carried out at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The virus may have been carried out of the lab by an infected worker or crossed over into humans when they unknowingly dined on a lab animal. Whatever the vector, Beijing authorities are now clearly scrambling to correct the serious problems with the way their labs handle deadly pathogens.

In an article in the South China Morning Post, on March 3, published an article co-written by Minne Chang and William Zheng, which confirms that the Chinese government put their viral response in Wuhan in the capable hands of General Chen Wei, who is an expert in viral warfare for the Chinese Military. This would make no sense if the Chinese government believed the virus was natural in origin.

The Wall Street Journal, in an article published, on March 5, confirms that the Wuhan BioWarfare level 4 lab was intimately involved in the initial response to the Corona Virus outbreak, being desribed as being in the “forefront” of the response and for its “fast identification” of the virus.

Finally, I highly recommend watching the Video report at the Epoch Times, which ties these other reports together and reports that a scientist at the Wuhan BioWarfare Lab in 2015 admitted in a published paper in having achieved the modification of a Bat Coronavirus for human transmission.

Seeing that Wuhan Virus is especially likely to target elderly men with poor immune responses, it thus cannot be discounted that the Virus was intentionally transmitted to Europe for the purpose of attacking the clergy of the Catholic Church, which is considered the arch enemy of the Communist Regime in China.

Indeed, a bioagent which attacks mostly men over 50 years of age, would be a suitable weapon to take out the command and control of an opposing military force in the time of war.  Alas, the virus, having been brought back to Iran by a government agent on visit in China, has succeeded to do that among leading Iranian politicians, according to a report by the Jerusalem Post, on March 11, by Seth Franzmann.

Moreover, the response of the Catholic Clergy to this virus has been to do to the faithful, what the Chinese Government has done to the faithful in China: close the Churches and deny the sacraments. This is publicized as a way of protecting the faithful, but it probably has more to do with protecting the clergy.

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CREDITS:  The Featured Image is a screen shot of the webpage of the South China Times’ article praising General Ghen Wei, and is used here in accord with fair use standards for editorial commentary.

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Czech Microbiologist, inventor of test to identify Corona, says virus created in laboratory

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Dr. Soňa Pek is one of the top molecular biologists in the world. She was the first to develop a test to identify the presence of Coronavirus in the human body. It is called the simle test. She has also analyzed the virus at the molecular level.

Her finding is that the virus is man made, in a laboratory. That is, that its genetic code has been modified by human intervention.

The test she developed can detect the presence of COVID-19 in just one hour. She has published her findings and offered them free to medical experts around the world.

You can watch the TV program which discusses her findings this link, in the Czech language.

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CREDITS: The Featured Image is a screen shot of Dr. Peck, on the webpage of TA3i TV.

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The Fault is not the Faithful, it’s the ministers not distributing correctly

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Good liturgical practice is both prudence and charity. It is also respect. There was once a time when priests were properly trained in distributing the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and it needs to be brought back.

Closing Churches because you, as a Bishop, believe it is or could be the source of spreading Coronavirus is simply ignorance, sloth and unbelief all wrapped up into one. So since I make such a grave charge, it behooves me to explain why.

First, there is more risk in the doorknobs of the Church which are touched by everyone, than in the Sacrament which is touched only by the priest. I think an elementary student can understand this concept. Have doormen open and close doors, wearing gloves, so that no one needs to open any door with their own hands. Sanitize the pews after each mass and get rid of missalettes, teaching everyone to pray not read.

Second, if the priest does not know how to place the Sacrament in the mouth without touching the communicant, he should not be distributing, he should be taking a course on how to distribute.

Third, the clergy brought this problem on themselves by abolishing the communion rail, where the faithful who wait patiently in a stable position, and when those priest would have an acolyte follow him with a patent which would duly indicate to the communicant to keep his distance as it was placed near the throat.

Fourth, the failure to preach that no one should receive without first confessing has produced innumerable sacrilegious communions, in addition to the idea that everyone has to go up for communion to make Sunday Mass worthwhile. This is causing the priests to be overwhelmed at communion.

Fifth, everyone needs to be patient and the communicants need to learn how to receive. Most stick out their tongue. But I believe that opening the mouth wide and keeping the tongue inside is the better practice. Tilting the head backwards slightly, and receiving on the knees, because that way the priest is in total control: he needs only drop the Sacrament in the mouth. And the priest should not be ashamed to instruct each faithful who is not doing it correctly, at the time of communion. The faithful will listen and good hygienic practice in this manner redounds to the good of all.

Sixth, a priest should have a sacred respect for his own hands, and the faithful too, for his hands. He should touch nothing but what is sacred and no one should be shaking his hand before or after mass. Mass is not a time for social networking with your priest. It is the time to worship God Almighty.

Seventh, temporarily suppress altar servers who are minors. Only have adult men who observe high levels of hygienic protocol. Let them use a bathroom different from the priest. Let them touch nothing which a priest touches, without holding it by means of a linen cloth.

Eighth, air our your Churches! One of the biggest problems in North America, for example, is that the same air remains in the Church for months  on end. They are not designed to be aired out. But this is a problem which can be solved in a week by a window expert, and by opening doors on a regular basis.

Ninth, and most importantly, we need to recognize that Our God is the Author of Life and He knows more about medicine than anyone. In fact, no microbe can do anything unless He will it. We need to have faith that the Sacraments are hygienic because they come from the God of Life. If there is anything not hygienic at your local parish, its man’s fault, not the fault of God. But since it is man’s fault, it can be solved.

Tenth, if the problem is the lack of sufficient space between persons at your parish Church, then the priest can solve this quickly by celebrating outdoors. The Faithful who really believe will come and if the priest needs it, he can put a space heater near the altar to see that the wine and water do not freeze. The Orthodox use hot water and use a low temperature heater to keep the wine warm before use.

So for all these reasons, there is no reason to close Churches or stop the celebration of the Sacraments. Just an occasion to use some common sense and pro-active measures, like this intelligent and charitable priest is doing:

https://twitter.com/catholiccam17/status/1239528459828854786

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CREDITS: The Featured Image is a photo by Br. Bugnolo of a chancel grate at a side chapel of Saint John Lateran’s, here at Rome.

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Br. Bugnolo: FromRome.Info will take a stand against the hype and panic of Coronavirus

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Mass panic is one of the greatest evils that can befall a society. It causes people to act irrationally, not out of facts or evidence, but out of fear and precieved necessity to preserve self interest. As panic increases people become inclined to do even more an more exaggerated things in response to what they perceive in the short term to be a solution to some need they have.

Since mass panic can cause civil unrest and mass murder and mayhem, it is the greatest moral failure of leaders and media to promote panic. It is a sign of not just a failure of leadership, but the complete lack of moral capacity to lead.

The constant harping on numbers of victims from a disease which has not yet even killed 10% of those who die of the winter flue each year, is totally irresponsible.

The reactions to such irresponsible reporting are also irresponsible.

For this reason, as editor of FromRome.Info I am going to pledge to all my readers to reject calls to panic and publish  series of articles which show what the facts say, as I have already begun to do.

My assessment of Coronavirus is that it is complete hype to turn this into a pandemic or plague. The causes may be because the ruling elites have no immune systems with strong responses. The motives may be also because they want to grab power and impose tyranny.

But whatever is the cause of their irrational behavior, as Catholics we should oppose their mistaken approach with Faith in God and confidence that if we respond rationally we will overcome whatever minor threat Coronavirus 19 presents, while not loosing track of the more important things of our Religion, our human lives and the needs of society.

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Why 80% men, 20% women victims of Corona Virus in Italy?

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

First, let me ask everyone to pray for the dead and for the living. This is our first duty as Christians and human beings.  The articles I am publishing on mortality rates should not be but a passing observation or interest. Our real interest should always be in caring for others, body and soul, as much as we can, but especially with those whom we have an obligation.  If you have grandfathers and grandmothers, or aged parents, you should be making time or plans to make time, to help them and be near them, or take them into your own home if they have no one to care for them where they live.

Gender ratios

The ratio I reported yesterday from Ramuzzi and Ramuzzi regarding the victims of Corona virus being 80% male and 20% female has sparked my curiosity as an Anthropologist who was trained in the statistics of social phenomena.

The reason why this ratio merits attention, is that it tells us something about the virus which has not yet been reported and which will help us react to this crisis rationally. And I am not the only one who has noticed anomalies in the statistics for Coronavirus in Italy.

Scientifically, we know that a virus has no brain and therefore cannot willingly chose men over women.  So there has to be something about the virus genetically or about its manner of transmission or about the medical conditions of men and women which put men at higher risk than women by a 4 to 1 ratio overall.

Overall is a hard number to be imbalanced

This ratio of 4 to 1 is way out of balance for an overall statistic.  To arrive at such a balance there has to be factors which are much higher than 4 to 1, which impact this statistic in a partial way, so that when averaged out with all the other causative factors, the ration falls to 4 to 1.

So this has put me on the path to search for them.

Ratio of males to females in Italy

Obviously the first statistic to look at is the ratio of men to women in Italy, to determine if this fundamental ratio has anything to do with what we are seeing in this imbalance.  This is because if a town has 50 men and 50 women, then you are likely to see even ratios for any accident or disease which is not associated with gender. But if the town has 80 men and 20 women, you are apt to see that same ratio in all accidents and diseases which are not associated with gender.

In Italy there are 30.974 million women and 29.384 million men, according to Statista.com. Not a perfect balance, but obviously a ratio which cannot be causing the imbalance we are looking at in Coronavirus victims.

Ratio of males to females in Infected Areas

However, one cannot discount this demographic ratio all together, because in all parts of Italy this ratio will not prevail. There will be local variations. Perhaps some are causitive.

Lombardy, the epicenter of Coronavirus infection in Italy — on account of an Italian citizen bringing it back from Munich, Bavaria in the 3rd week of January, is the first place to consider, especially because for the common winter influenza it is also the epicenter in Italy for numbers of infections.

In Lombardy, then, let us look to see what that ratio is, because Lombardy is the region most affected by Coronavirus. According to TuttaItalia.com, in 2019 the gender ratio in Lombardy is 4.9 million men and 5.1 million women. Not much different than the national ratio.

HIV infections by gender

The first presumption I have is that this ratio of 4 to 1, which I am investigating, has a lot to do with HIV infections in the Italian population. And in fact, in a peer reviewed Journal paper at BioMed Research International, authored by Dr. Camoni et al. in 2014, it was reported that the ratio of HIV infection in the general population is 0.10 per 100 for males, and 0.02 per 100 for females, or a ratio of 5:1. The total population of those infected over 15 years of age is 115,000 to 150,000. Lacking immune system health on account of the ravages of this virus, these individuals will be highly prone to risk from coronavirus. The fact that those who contract HIV have high levels of personal interaction in an unprotected manner with others who act similarly — this is the primary cause of HIV infection — also means that one is likely to expect that members of this population will be rapidly infected with Coronavirus as soon as it becomes prevalent in their locale.

Since this ratio is 5:1, greater than the anomaly we are seeing in Coronavirus 19 deaths in Italy, then it is a likely candidate to be a causative factor, because it is more imbalanced, and that is necessary because there will be undoubtedly many factors causing this imbalance, but of them all there will be those with more or less the same ratio, so when you find a possible causative factor which is more imbalanced, of which there are few such factors, it becomes more probable a fact which is producing the anomaly — though this is pure speculation on a merely statistical factor. However, when one considers that HIV reduces immunity response and that immunity response is essential to defending against Coronavirus 19, then one cannot discount it.

Mortality by gender for known risk factors

Another aspect to look at is whether the mortality rates for known risk factors for Coronavirus, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus or cancer have an imbalance among men and women, because if they do, they could be causing the imbalance we are seeing among Coronavirus victims.

According to the Instituto Nazionale di Statistica (National Institute for Statistics), the  gender ratios for for Cardiovascular disease mortality in 2012, for persons ages 65-84, was 158,000 men to 124,000 women. This is a ratio of 5 to 4, and thus might be influential, but not as other factors.

According to the Ministry of Health report Genere come determinante di salute, published in 2016, p. 39. the ratio in 2009 of those who smoke tobacco, is was 28.9% of all men and 22%  of all women.  This is nearly a ratio of 4:3. However, if you look at the graphs on p. 40 of that report, you see that the mortality for chronic smokers increases exponentially for both age groups at similar ratios.  This is unlike Coronavirus 19, which peaks at 70-79 years of age and then falls for those who are 80-89 or older.

Mortality for Cardiovascular disease by gender

As can be seen, specific conditions can have different ratios of mortality according to gender. This is even more true in cardiovascular diseases, the ratios of mortality of which, by gender, vary wildly. Here is just one graphic, which I excerpt from the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, from a paper entitled, Cardiovascular Health in Italy etc.., published in 2015:

Screenshot_2020-03-16 Cardiovascular health in Italy Ten-year surveillance of cardiovascular diseases and risk factors Osse[...]

Such conditions as myocardial infraction and left ventricular hypertrophy show ratios nearing 4:1 for men to women.

Conclusion

As can be seen, this simple statistic of Coronavirus mortality being 80% among men and only 20% among women can lead to the discovery of not only who is at risk but why those who are infected die. While a rigorous scientific study cannot yet be done, the data I have reported here can give us perhaps a preliminary look at what might be likely.

As regards to the response to the Coronavirus, the extremity and panic among journalists, politicians and clergy — three groups known also to have high rates of HIV infection — also seems to indicate that this crisis is very personal to them, though are not telling the public why that it is the case.

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Why that 3.4% Mortality rate is a lie

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

The Hype is a lie. The Big Lie.  We have been bombarded for several weeks now with the claim that the mortality rate from Coronavirus 19 is 2.4, 2.8, 3.4 or 3.8%

This is a lie, and I will demonstrate it.

The mortality rate from any viral infection has to be calculated over the entire population which becomes infected.  But this statistic — I will take the latest — of 3.4% does NOT apply to the entire population. It applies only to the population of serious cases which enter health facilities where their infection is recorded.

As I reported the other day, Medical authorities admit that 80% of those who are registered as infected by Coronavirus 19 never develop serious conditions.  And the symptoms of Coronavirus 19 are no different in such cases than the common cold.

That means that a very large population will contract and has contracted Coronavirus, but does not know it.

And since only those who go to hospitals or medical facilities go there when they fear they have something serious.  Now, publish reports say that 2 to 5 percent of the population are prone to fear being ill when they are not. This condition is called hypochondria.  Certainly a panic can increase this kind of psychological response. As I reported the other day, there has been a 250% increase in the number of patients going to walk in medical services in the United States during the Coronavirus 19 scare.  So I seems safe to say that that 2 to 5 percent is 5 to 12.5% right now.

If those are the persons who are being recorded as the 80% who never get really sick from Coronavirus 19, then we can downplay significantly the real mortality rates.

But as I reported yesterday, the surprising statistic is that 66% of those who actually die from Coronavirus 19 and who succumb due to respiratory failure are thoee who were smokers or have lung problems are at high risk, as well as those who suffer from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Also, 80% of those who die are men. So women have only 25% the risk that men do.  This statistic is amazing to me as an Anthropologist, because women are the ones who are more likely to enter into intimate proximity to family members when they are sick. So this statistic does not make sense. It is telling us something important. Perhaps, that proper nutrition is the best defense against Coronavirus, or being a person in the family who is more likely to get care from those around them.

But the statistics which really downplay the mortality risk are those which I reported yesterday, namely that only 0.2% of those who die from Coronavirus 19 are under 50 years of age.  This is a disease which is of minimal risk to most of the population. So calm down.

Calculating the Real Mortality rate

So with all these statistics I will here calculate the mortality rate for all those who get infected, by age group and sex and existing medical condition, to show you what your real risk is, and how this is not a pandemic destined to wipe out humanity.

M = Male       F=Female

Percentages of those who died
from Corona Virus by age and condition

Explanation:  In this first table I took the actual mortality by age group and broke it out by the reports that 80% of victims are men and 66% of victims have risk factors, presuming that these two percentages hold evenly through each age group and risk category.

Age M no Risk M at risk  F no risk F at risk
90+ 3.13% 6.25% 0.94% 1.88%
80-89 14.033% 28.067% 3.508% 7.017%
70-79 8.64% 17.28% 6.48% 4.32%
60-69 2.1% 4.2% 0.7% 1.4%
50-59 0.7% 1.4% 0.233% 0.467%
under 50 0.034% 0.067% 0.016% 0.034%

Now I will take the reported overall mortality rate of 3.4% for all who are identified as infected, presuming that just as 80% never get serious symptoms, so those 80% represent 5 to 12.5% of the actual infected population, on account of the effect of a hypochondriac response. This means the infected population is actually 640% greater than the identified population.  So the 3.4% get diluted to 0.51325%, and then is diluted according to the statistics in the table above, to produce

Truer risk of death for all age groups and conditions

These numbers are so small I will list them as persons per 10 thousand infected

M no Risk M at risk  F no risk F at risk
90+ 1.60 3.2 0.482 0.964
80-89 7.19 14.28 1.796 3.52
70-79 4.43 8.86 2.208 4.416
60-69 1.07 2.15 0.27 0.54
50-59 0.35 0.72 0.0875 0.175
under 50 0.017 0.034 0.004 0.009

So when you are considering whether YOU should panic or not, remember, the real chance of dying from Coronavirus 19 is for many of us is insignificant.

To explain, look at Women under 50 years of age who have high risk factors. Only 9 out of every 10 million who contract Coronavirus 19 will die from it!

Or take Men with risk factors who are 80 to 89 years of age. Only 14 out of every 10,000 infected will die from it.  That means your grandpa who smoked his whole life, or has diabetes, or a heart condition, has a very low chance of risk. Watch over his health and make sure he eats well and stays warm and calm.

I must conclude then that the Coronvirus 19 Panic is a Main Stream Media engineered event for the political manipulation of nations. And that China and the World Health Organization have a lot of responsibility for not giving the public the true rates of mortality, categorized has I have done over the whole population of those infected.

Show this to your pastors

This analysis shows that there is no risk for the Catholic Church in opening Her churches and celebrating Her Sacraments. It is not going to cause a plague or significantly put anyone at risk. The Church should only advise those with compromised immune systems to stay away. But if the Bishops did that, it would be obvious to the faithful, how many of the clergy are not faithful to Christ, I think.

The statistics presented here are not scientific nor rigorous but are estimations and derivatives based on the assumptions in the article. Use them only to assess whether you should be entertaining panic, but not to put yourself at risk.

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Scientists question the validity of the Pandemic classification

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

As the main stream media and leftist politicians and religious leaders go into absolute panic mode, voices of sane individuals in the medical, scientific and statistical fields are questioning the underlying characteristics of Corona virus epidemic.

On Feb. 24, 2020, the Italian Insider published one of the first calls against the Panic Syndrome, by Dr. Gismondo, Diretor of Clinical Macrobiology, Virology and Bioemergency Diagnostics at Sacco Hopital in Milan:

However, Maria Rita Gismondo, director of Clinical Macrobiology, Virology and Bioemergency Diagnostics at the Sacco Hospital in Milan where possible coronavirus cases are analyzed, has said that many cases look more like serious flu than coronavirus. “It’s not a pandemic! Mortality from influenza is at 217 deaths per day during the past week! For Coronavirus one!!!” she wrote in a widely reported Facebook status.

Jackson Ryan, writing for Cnet, the internet magazine, on March 11, was one of the few to cite the extreme danger of labeling an infection a pandemic, citing no less than the head of the World Health Organization himself:

Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, at a press briefing.

This same WHO Director, according to Ryan, has put major doubt into the mass media reporting of 3.4% mortality rate for Corona virus infections. As I observed yesterday, from only a brief study of the data — I hold a degree in Cultural Anthropology and am trained in statistical analysis of social phenomena — when he quoted Ghebreyesus discounting the numbers:

“Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference on March 3. “By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.” However, experts are unconvinced, because limited testing across the world, along with the mild symptoms that many infected experience suggests there may be many people currently undiagnosed with COVID-19 and this would push the fatality rate lower. On the other hand, if deaths are under-reported, perhaps 3% is conservative. 

Moreover, it seems that COVID-19 does not even merit the fears of a pandemic. As Ryan cites:

A widely shared Twitter thread by Eric Feigl-Ding, a Harvard University epidemiologist, suggested the new coronavirus is “thermonuclear pandemic level bad” based on a metric known as the “r nought” (R0) value. This metric helps determine the basic reproduction number of an infectious disease. In the simplest terms, the value relates to how many people can be infected by one person carrying the disease. It was widely criticized before being deleted.

The criticism, however, confirms what Dr. Feighl-Ding said, as the reporter at The Atlantic reported:

First, the R0 estimates for the new coronavirus are in line with those for many other diseases. They’re similar to those for SARS (2 to 5) and HIV (also 2 to 5), and considerably lower than those for measles (12 to 16).

As we know, from HIV, the World Health Organization never declare a pandemic. There is probably a political reason, too, for HIV, because a protected political elite class is involved, but the R0 Values also tell a story.

The top experts in the Medical profession also are betraying that they are not convinced that COVID-19 is transmissable through the air, as Ryan reports:

On Feb. 29, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued a plea on Twitter for people to stop indiscriminately snapping up masks. “Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!” the tweet said. “They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”

Jeremy Brown, writing at The Atlantic, confirms that face masks are not really helping anyone. They should be used only by those who are actually infected, as Ryan of Cnet remarks, but Brown explains why most are wearing them, in his article comparing Corona Virus with the Spanish Flu of 1918:

If the terrible influenza pandemic of 1918 and the current coronavirus outbreak share one feature, it is this: People are terribly afraid. In December 1918, in the midst of the pandemic, 1,000 public-health officials gathered in Chicago to discuss the disease which had by then killed an estimated 400,000 people over three months. They did not know the cause of the epidemic, they had no treatments, and they had little idea how to control its spread. Face masks, which were then being worn by a large portion of the general public, offered no guarantee of protection (and that remains true of face masks today). Many health officials believed that the masks provided a false sense of security. Perhaps that was correct, but there was still a value in providing any kind of security. Chicago’s health commissioner made this clear. “It is our duty,” he said, “to keep the people from fear. Worry kills more people than the epidemic. For my part, let them wear a rabbit’s foot on a gold watch chain if they want it, and if it will help them to get rid of the physiological action of fear.”

As Statisticians in the USA have widely reported, the fear mongering and fear acceptance of possible pandemic are related with the political affiliations of individuals. With a much higher level of panic among left wingers, than conservatives.

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I have my doubts … about the Corona panic

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Now that the Marxists have us right where they have always dreamed, in their wildest of dreams, to have us, I have my doubts that they will ever let us go.

I am speaking about the shutting down and locking of all Catholic Churches and the house to house detention which is now enforce in Italy.

We are deprived of all meaningful human interaction with every other person or neighbor, friend or relative. We are forced to get all our information through the internet or TV, media which are highly controlled or filtered or capable of being such.

Seeing that lefties have no interior life, no morals, no ethics and no scruples, what motive would they ever have in giving us back the liberties which we were using to oppose them?

I do not want to be alarmist, but I have my doubts.

No one ever gave the Italian Prime Minister any authority to impose martial law on the nation. He is not even the President of Italy, who alone has this power according to the constitution.

And the Prime Minister certainly does not have the right to suspend the Constitutional rights of the citizens regardless of what calamity befalls Italy.

So I have my doubts, and as this sort of raw and vicious grab for power spreads round the world, making us all like denizens of the Maoist Tyranny of China, I think you should cultivate some doubt too.

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7 Reasons not to panic over Corona Virus 19

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

There are at least 7 reasons not to panic over corona virus 19.

First reason not to panic

The pathogen is of a family of corona viruses already known to man, as the World Health Organization explains:

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

What they do not say, is how large a family of virus they are. But Wikipedia does, in the article on Coronaviridae:

The family Coronaviridae is organized in 2 sub-families, 5 genera, 23 sub-genera and about 40 species:[2]

Note, that each species can have variations, some more potent than others. But of these 40 species, and all their variations, only 3 rare forms were know to be lethal to man. Corona Virus 19 is just the one discovered in 2019.

Second Reason not to Panic

The infection rates are a lot lower than are being reported. There is no definitive test for corona virus being used in emergency room admissions at hospitals. Many patients may be suffering from other kinds of infections.  This is because the symptoms of Corona virus infection are similar to many other pathogens. Thus, identifying someone as infected by symptoms is unscientific.

Third Reason not to Panic

The mortality rates being reported are statistically being misrepresented.  They regard the rates of mortality of patients admitted to hospitals suffering from influenza like symptoms which are presumed to be Corona virus. Thus, the current rates being reported of 3.4% do not regard only the Corona virus. Also, death may not result from the virus but from other symptoms. A highly rigorous analysis of causes of death is needed, and this cannot be done daily, this requires months of statistical analysis and has to be conducted in highly controlled environments. None of that is happening.

Fourth Reason not to Panic

The mortality rates being reported are being used by the Media to cause panic by misinterpreting them.  A mortality rate of 3.4% of those presumed to be infected and who are admitted to Hospitals for grave symptoms, means that 3.4% of only that population dies. It does not refer to the entire population. You cannot multiply 3.4% by the entire population of your city, province, or Nation to extrapolate anything.

Since most never go to hospital for influenza like symptoms, and most have good enough immune systems to resist corona virus, the actual mortality rate for the entire population of your country will be a tiny fraction. The Ministry of Health data published yesterday here in Italy confirms this. While the press has claimed hundreds of thousands are infected, the Ministry confirms only 10 thousand, and 848 deaths, but they say that of these deaths there can be no certitude that they were caused by the corona virus without a rigorous study.

Thus, in Italy, with 60.48 million people, only 1.65% of 1% of the entire population is actually infected. While, La Verità today, is reporting that the first case came to Italy from Munich, Bavaria, when an Italian visited the city in January about the time of the Acies Ordinata event in that city, on January 18, 2020. Thus, in 8 weeks, a minuscule number of infections and deaths. While in Italy in 2017, 25 thousand died of the influenza from November to March, at a rate of 5000 a month, or 1250 a week, which would in the same period of time be a mortality of 10,000 or 12.5 times more lethal than corona virus 19.

Fifth Reason not to Panic

This particular strain of corona virus, cannot survive summer heat. Already in Singapore, the number of infections has fallen dramatically. This means, in northern countries which have well heated homes and public spaces, the possibility of infection will be almost non existent.  Italy is suffering higher rates than the rest of Europe because heating in private and public places is abysmal. Italians turn heat on for about 1 hour a day, or two at most. And most public buildings are not heated or only to about 60 degrees. So the true mortality rates in Italy will not occur in other nations.

Sixth reason not to panic

Nothing happens except God will it. Disease is a punishment for the sin of Adam and the sins of individuals. Confessing your sins and staying in God’s grace will give you real protection from an unprovided for death. And if God has sent this pathogen to punish sinners, then it makes sense to repent and stop being a sinner.

Seventh reason not to panic

Finally, if you want to put the Corona Virus scare into historical context, just read about the Spanish Fever of 1917 or the Black Death, to see that the corona virus is not a plague or a pandemic of any level of real threat. Nations, Churches, businesses and cities should not be shut down on its account. Corona virus is not going to cause any noticeably higher death rate. You won’t see your friends dropping off or more funerals than normal, as the national rates of death from other causes are 10 to 100 times higher, as can be seen from this report about mortality in Italy.

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Italian Taxi Driver: This decree against Masses will destroy us

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Rome, March 8, 2020:  As I traveled back and forth to the Vatican, this morning, to file my report on the suspension of Masses (2nd, 1st), I took the opportunity to speak with two taxi drivers about the state of their profession.

The Health Measures decreed by the government have caused us to lose 70% of our business: said one taxi-man. He explained to me that there has already been a fall off of tourists to the city in recent months, but now with corona virus they have disappeared.

In regard to the decree from the Italian Episcopal Conference which was not published on the internet but sent electronically to Bishops and clergy: to stop all religious services in Italy, I asked another cabbie his views.

He told me: Yes, with this decision to stop all the masses, the pilgrims simply won’t come to Rome. It is a decision that will destroy us.

I wondered if there is any basis to all these fears. I thought to myself that if there was, the Taxi Company Cooperatives would give instructions to taxi cab drivers on how to avoid the Corona Virus. So I asked the second taxi cab driver: Have they issued to you any special instructions on how to protect yourselves as cab drivers?

No, he said. None at all.

If one simply looks at the sidewalks in the city, one can see that NO BODY is observing the new Decree from the Council of Ministers which says persons should not approach others closer than 1 meter.

The real penalties are that businesses such a bars and restaurants which are considered not observing the decree can lose their licenses to operate.  But I saw none observing them. Yes, there were much fewer locals at bars and shops, but the ones which were out and about, were moving normally. Only a few per thousand were wearing medical masks.

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Marxist Corona strikes the Marxist Crowns of Italy

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

The Italian press is reporting that the first high level politician to come down with the Corona Virus. His name is Nicola Zingaretti, and he is the head of the Italian Democratico Party, a Marxist party of the Gramescian kill-your-nation-slowly kind.

The Corona Virus which is now spreading in Italy came to the country from the People’s Republic of China, a Marxist tyranny.

Connecting the dots, who can fault Catholics for saying that this Epidemic is a punishment from God for the godless elites of their own nation?

Bergoglio is also sick with the flu, but the Vatican is denying that it is corona, even though the Head of the Vatican Press office confirmed yesterday, that the Corona Virus had been brought to the Vatican more than week ago, when Bergoglio was still moving about the micro-state.

But Zingaretti’s now confirmed infection is spreading panic through the ruling government.  Italy is a Republic ruled by a parliamentary system. The government is the political coalition in power in Parliament which selects the Presidente del Consiglio (Prime Minister) and the Ministers of the various departments of the national government.

That Zingaretti met with nearly all the heads of the ruling government in the week prior to being positively diagnosed means that there is a very high probability that they have all been infected.

Talk about precision Divine bombardment! — There is no immunity from prosecution in Divine Law!

The potentially infected individuals are as follows:  Giuseppe Conte (Prime Minister), the ministers: Roberto Gualtieri (Economy & Finance), Paolo De Micheli (Infrastructure & Transport), the mayors Virginia Raggi (Rome) and Giuseppe Sala (Milan), the governors Giovanni Toti (Liguria), Alberto Cirio (Piedmonte), Stefano Bonaccini (Emilia-Romagna), the party leaders Andrea Orlando (Democratico) and Dario Franceschini (Democratico, Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism) and the union leaders Maurizio Landini (CGIL) and Annamaria Furlan (CISL).

Matteo Salvini, who is the leader of the Lega party, also participated in a TV program with some of these, but is not reported sick.

Meanwhile, the ruling government is working on a decree which will require mandatory imprisonment for several years for anyone who disparages sodomy or sodomites.

They have also placed the entire region of Lombardy under quarantine until April 3. No one can enter or leave the 5 provinces of that region without urgent necessity.

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CREDITS: The Featured Image is the photo of a page from today’s La Verità Newspaper, which, if you live in Italy, is worthy buying today for its extensive coverage of the Corona Virus epidemic which is sweeping the country. It is used here as a free advertisement of that Newspaper.

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Corona Virus arrived at Vatican at AI Conference

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

As reported yesterday, the Head of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, the Corona Virus has officially arrived at the Vatican.

Bruni confirmed that “there has been temporarily suspended all the walk-in services of the Office for the Direction of Health and Hygene to enable the sterilization of offices. However, there remains in operation the station for Emergency care.”

The Corona Virus arrived, ironically, via the Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Those attending have been informed of possible infection. Patient 0 was a priest from Bergamo, in Northern Italy, who unwittingly arrived infected. Ironically, the Conference was held from Feb. 27 to Feb. 28, marking the 7th anniversary of the departure of Pope Benedict. The news, this Thursday, that the infection was positively identified as the Corona Virus means that the contagion has had 7 days to spread at the Vatican unnoticed.

As a consequence, Vatican authorities ordered the sterilization of the offices of the Secretary of State (the Vatican Foreign Office), the I.O.R. (the Vatican Bank), the Apostolic Archives and the Vatican Bookstore.

This last place is widely visited by many pilgrims to the Vatican.

Those who might be infected have been notified by email, according to the Vatican spokesman. But panic is reigning in the micro-state, as Ambulances were hear running to and fro in the narrow streets of Saint Peter’s Patrimony all day yesterday.

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CREDITS: The Featured Image is of Saint Peter’s Basilica seen from the end of the Via Conciliazione, near the Castel Sant’Angelo. Photo by Br. Bugnolo.

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The Corona Virus & the Next Conclave?

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

There has been a lot of speculation by Catholics about the next Conclave.

Will Benedict die before Bergoglio, or Bergoglio before Benedict?

If Benedict before Bergoglio, will any Cardinal Elector break with the others and elect a successor to Benedict? — Only 1 is required.

If Bergoglio before Benedict, will the Cardinals proceed to a Conclave, or will the recognize that Benedict was always the pope?

Who would be the next Pope? Someone made a Cardinal by Bergoglio or someone made a Cardinal by Benedict or John Paul II.

But so far, I have not seen any Vaticanista or even blogger approach the question of what role the Corona Virus might play in the next Conclave.

So here goes.

The Corona Virus was reported in one patient at the out-patient clinic at the Vatican yesterday. Today, the entire office of the Secretary of State was sanitized.

Panic is spreading at the Vatican. If they sanitized the Secretary of State offices, then the infection probably has spread to the entire Roman Curia and all of the Vatican, since the Secretary of State is the beehive, as it were, of the entire Vatican apparatus. Numerous officials go in and out on a hourly basis. Numerous officials go from the Secretary of State to all parts of the Vatican. Not to mention the mail, which is processed by the Vatican Post Office in restricted spaces above and below ground.

So we can be certain that the Corona Virus will spread at the Vatican in the next 14 days.

Before the arrival of the Corona Virus at the Vatican it was widely reported that Jorge Mario Bergoglio has the flu. This years flu is very powerful. Those who grew up in the New World, like myself and Bergoglio, won’t have resistance to it.

Thankfully, I already had the flu. I was sick for 10 days, in bed constantly. And for another 10 days, I was so weak I was in bed most of the time. I had a lot of time to think of eternity, and when I was nearly recovered, I decided to start FromRome.Info as a full time apostolate advocating for Pope Benedict.

Those who catch this influence are likely to be harmed particularly severely if they catch the Corona Virus at the same time. Its not polite to speculate about a specific person dying at the Vatican, so I won’t.

But not only Bergoglio but every Cardinal who works in the Roman Curia might fall sick.

Thus, the scenario of a new Conclave this spring is now very likely.

Pope Benedict XVI is under quarantine and I think he will have a better chance of surviving the Corona Virus, since he has lived his whole life in Europe and has much more robust antibody preparation.

The prospect of a new Conclave this spring probably sends chills of terror down the spines of many Cardinals. They would have to come to Italy, and remain in the confined quarters of Santa Marta and the Sistine Chapel for several weeks, making their infection by the Corona Virus highly likely. Others might already have succumbed at the Vatican, changing entirely the political dynamic of the next conclave.

Many probably will decide not to participate.

Others will have a lot of reasons to think of Judgement of God.

Also, who will want to be pope? He will have to live at one of the major epicenters of the Corona Virus?

You can be sure that all those Cardinals who might have weakened immune systems will opt out.

The ones who do have the courage might very well be inclined to act on the kind of proposal which I based my Letter to the Cardinal Dean on, or upon that which my proposal to relect Pope Benedict contained.

Because the consequences of electing another pope, while Benedict XVI lives, is having another antipope. And who wants to risk the Corona Virus to be an antipope or have a dubious claim to the papacy? That would not be a good ending to an ecclesiastical career which aimed for real achievements.

But on account of the epidemic, the College might simply refuse to convene, and leave the Church with Pope Benedict on the one hand, and a sede vacante in the Bergoglio Church on the other. And that would make the crisis in the Church even more confusing.

In any event, God is in control and this corona virus might be the divine intervention that some Bishops and Cardinals — who refuse to look at Canon Law and — prayed for instead, which is sent in reply, but not quite the kind they expected.

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CREDITS:  The Featured Image is a photo of the funeral mass of Pope John Paul II, presided over by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in his capacity as Dean of the College of Cardinals, and attended by the entire College of Cardinals. Source and rights, here.

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It seems the Virus knows where it is going

Rome, March 6, 2020:  Reuters International is reporting that the first case of Corona Virus has been reported in the outpatient clinic at the Vatican. This would not be the first case in the city of Rome.

The case of Corona Virus was reported late Thursday, that is, yesterday.

With Bergoglio suffering already from this winter’s influenza, the presence of Corona Virus in the Vatican clinic caused panic. The entire facility was sterilized after positive confirmation of the infection present in one patient. Those with influenza are highly susceptible to succumbing from Corona Virus due to their reduced states of health.

So far in the Roman Region know as Lazio, there are 44 cases and one death. The victim was infected by a relative who visited from Northern Italy.

The Virus is highly contagious. Several hospital workers at Rome have tested positive. Source of contagion unknown, but presumed to be the waiting rooms of emergency entrances.

There are few cases in Europe. But many in China. The virus has not taken long to get to the Vatican.

It is almost as if it knows where it is going, or if an Angel of Divine Vengeance is pouring out a green vial of infection upon those against whom the Divine Wrath is kindled.

Let us pray for the innocents who are infected or who have succumbed.

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Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for Italy!

Corona Virus on the way to becoming a Pandemic

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Today marks the first day that all schools in Italy will be closed for 2 weeks, to prevent the spread of Corona Virus-19 a new strain that is more deadly than the one in China.

The danger is not to children, however. It is to the elderly.  Italy has the highest concentration of elderly persons, over 65, than any country in Europe.

The latest statistics show that the mortality rate of Corona-19 is 3.5% of the total population, but a large chunk of the population does not develop symptoms which would lead to hospitalization.

The mortality rate, however, among the elderly is much higher. For those 70-79 it is 8%, and for those who are 80+ it is 14%.

Corona Virus 19, therefore, will be a true place against the most vulnerable and best members of our race: our grandfathers and grandmothers, our fathers and mothers. Those who have the most wisdom and prudence, acquired over many years.

Keep yourself informed! The news develops daily. This virus can mutate every 48 hours into a new strain, more or less deadly, depending on how its genes change.

In Italy the percentage of elderly over 65 years of age is 25%. This means that 15.125 million Italians are at risk of a mortality rate of at least 3.8%. Or a death toll of 150 thousand this year, about 6 times higher than the normal death toll for this demographic.

There is a real scare now in Italy, and I think if these stats are reliable, on mortality rates, that it is justified.

Pope Benedict XVI has been put under special quarantine on account of his advanced age. Pilgrims to the Vatican have nearly totally disappeared. Bergoglio has a bad case of this winter’s flu and if he be exposed to the Corona Virus, his chances of survival would be much reduced.

Moreover, 36% of the 32 thousand priests in Italy are over 70 years of age. So we could be seeing around as 1000 priests fall to the Corona Virus. Priests are especially vulnerable since they are in constant contact with the general population.

For the laity, however, most Italian senior citizens live on limited budgets, they do not eat well or heat their homes sufficiently in order to save money. They are thus highly vulnerable. They are also more likely to get sick on account of germs spread by their grand children, germs which the children spread in Schools.

So I think that the Italian government did the right thing, but, the problem is, that the virus will spread and eventually infect everyone.

For this reason, I ask everyone of my readers to join me in praying to Our Lady of Lourdes for the people of Italy.

I buried my mom just 16 months ago, so I am very sensitive to the needs of the elderly. And when I see so many of them walk by me on the side walk, who look malnourished, lonely and without hope, I can see that the Corona Virus pandemic will ravage Italy’s best of the best.

Pray, therefore, to Our Lady to spare all of them, but especially those who are not yet ready to meet the Lord. And to grant the grace to all to make a good confession and have a change of heart!

And let us not doubt that this virus as been allowed by God to punish the wicked and call men to repentance. So go to confession, while priests are still hearing confessions!

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Socci: Bergoglio is not acting as the Vicar of Christ, but as an agent of Peking

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

“Devastating” is not the word. “Frontal attack” would be the better term to describe Antonio Socci’s editorial yesterday criticizing Bergoglio’s manner of governing, or lack thereof. What irks Socci, as an Italian — for Italians have a wonderful sense of human compassion as their principal concern  before all others — is the victims of the Corona Virus in Italy and their families, about which Bergoglio said nothing in his Sunday addresses.

And so Socci goes for the jugular, as we say in American English:

Bergoglio does not react as a pastor, a father, a Vicar of Christ, but rather as a politician.

Harsher words were never said of a Roman Pontiff in a thousand years. And again, speaking of him and the Chinese President:

There is one thing that unites Bergoglio and Xi Jinping, according to the analysis of Antonio Pilati, and it is also applicable to the current ruling government in Italy: The government is already tottering, it has stood and is standing solely because of the forces which support it. One is China, the other is the Vatican, which today has a politic very much directed toward China.

Socci makes other cogent observations worth reading. His editorial can be summed up as an Italian way of asking the question and answering it at the same time: Who put you in power? is proven by whom you serve when in power.

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CREDITS: The Featured Image is a screen shot of the page from Antonio Socci’s personal website, AntonioSocci.com, which is used here according to fair use standards for editorial commentary. In the Featured Image you can see the photos of the two dictators mentioned in Socci’s editorial.

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