DAVID CLOUD'S "WAY OF LIFE" LATEST ARTICLES ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC BATTLE
America’s Hospital Super Ships
Mobilized for Covid-19 Relief
SEE: https://www.wayoflife.org/reports/americas_hospital_super_ships.php; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
In any great natural disaster, America is typically the first to provide help. When the great Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn visited America, he said, “The United States has long shown itself to be the most magnanimous, the most generous country in the world. Wherever there is a flood, an earthquake, a fire, a natural disaster, an epidemic, who is the first to help? The United States. Who helps the most and unselfishly? The United States.”
In 2011, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in an address to the U.S. Congress: “There is a reason the world always looked to America. Your city on a hill cannot be hidden. Your brave and free people have made you the masters of recovery and reinvention” (William Bennett, “America the Generous,” CNN, Dec. 15, 2011).
The U.S. Department of Defense is one of the world’s largest providers of international aid and disaster relief.
For example, the United States Navy operates two massive hospital ships, USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, which are tasked to support U.S. armed forces as well as to provide medical aid and humanitarian assistance. “Both serve as 70,000-metric-ton symbols of how much America cares as a nation and as a people” (“Hospital Ships,” navy.com).
In March 2020, they were assigned to assist in the covid-19 crisis, Comfort docking in New York City and Mercy in Los Angeles. “In addition to the hundreds of U.S. Navy and civil personnel already aboard the ships, more than 100 reservists are being called up to help with the unprecedented emergency virus treatment. ‘When we were asked to help find medical professionals to help support this mission, we received hundreds of volunteer requests from our Reserve medical community in less than 24 hours,’ said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John Schommer, deputy commander of Navy Reserve Force. ‘That’s extremely humbling.’ Indeed, America’s volunteer warriors are inspiring us with their willingness to step forward at great risk to their own health. Like doctors, nurses, first responders, delivery workers and countless others, the brave men and women of our military are performing brilliantly amid the uncertainty of a rapidly evolving public health crisis” (“Military’s Coronavirus Response Should Make All American’s Proud,” The Stream, Mar. 27, 2020).
The ships are huge, the second largest in the U.S. Navy fleet after the supercarriers and the fifth largest ships in the world. Converted from oil supertankers, the two ships originally cost $560 million.
The ships are 894-feet long (the length of three football fields) and the height of a 10-story building.
Each ship is a 1,000-bed hospital that carries 700 medical personnel at full capacity. Each has 12 operating rooms, four intensive care wards, an emergency/triage room, full medical labs, pharmacies, and are equipped with the latest technology such as CAT scanners and digital X-ray. They offer radiological, optometry, and dental services. They have their own medical oxygen producing plants, blood banks with a 5,000 unit capacity, and water distilling plants (300,000 US gallons per day). A flight crew operates the ship’s helicopter pad which can handle the Navy’s largest helicopters. Kitchens can provide meals for 1,000 personnel.
They assist in natural disasters such as the Southeast Asia tsunami of 2004 and the Haiti earthquake of 2010. On a visit to Southeast Asia in 2010, the USNS Mercy treated 109,754 patients and performed 1,580 surgeries. In 2015, the USNS Comfort provided care for more than 120,000 patients (including 1,200 surgeries) in 11 countries in the Caribbean and South and Central America. These projects are funded by the U.S. government with assistance by volunteer medical personnel and supplies donated by private organizations.
U.S. Marines are stationed around the world for rapid military deployment, but they also use this capacity to provide quick humanitarian aid in time of disaster. No other nation has this capacity. The Marines even have a medal called the Humanitarian Service Medal.
“... no one in the history of the world can declare that they have made such great strides in providing aid and relief like the Americans. ... Say what you want about us, but without that aid provided by hundreds of thousands of American service people and hundreds of millions of taxpayers, millions upon millions of people who have been fed, vaccinated, operated on, given shelter, given homes, bathed, birthed, and listened to would now be dead. Many more would not experience the quality of life they now experience” (Jon Davis, “Some mind-blowing facts about the U.S. military,” quora.com).
In 2011, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in an address to the U.S. Congress: “There is a reason the world always looked to America. Your city on a hill cannot be hidden. Your brave and free people have made you the masters of recovery and reinvention” (William Bennett, “America the Generous,” CNN, Dec. 15, 2011).
The U.S. Department of Defense is one of the world’s largest providers of international aid and disaster relief.
For example, the United States Navy operates two massive hospital ships, USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, which are tasked to support U.S. armed forces as well as to provide medical aid and humanitarian assistance. “Both serve as 70,000-metric-ton symbols of how much America cares as a nation and as a people” (“Hospital Ships,” navy.com).
In March 2020, they were assigned to assist in the covid-19 crisis, Comfort docking in New York City and Mercy in Los Angeles. “In addition to the hundreds of U.S. Navy and civil personnel already aboard the ships, more than 100 reservists are being called up to help with the unprecedented emergency virus treatment. ‘When we were asked to help find medical professionals to help support this mission, we received hundreds of volunteer requests from our Reserve medical community in less than 24 hours,’ said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John Schommer, deputy commander of Navy Reserve Force. ‘That’s extremely humbling.’ Indeed, America’s volunteer warriors are inspiring us with their willingness to step forward at great risk to their own health. Like doctors, nurses, first responders, delivery workers and countless others, the brave men and women of our military are performing brilliantly amid the uncertainty of a rapidly evolving public health crisis” (“Military’s Coronavirus Response Should Make All American’s Proud,” The Stream, Mar. 27, 2020).
The ships are huge, the second largest in the U.S. Navy fleet after the supercarriers and the fifth largest ships in the world. Converted from oil supertankers, the two ships originally cost $560 million.
The ships are 894-feet long (the length of three football fields) and the height of a 10-story building.
Each ship is a 1,000-bed hospital that carries 700 medical personnel at full capacity. Each has 12 operating rooms, four intensive care wards, an emergency/triage room, full medical labs, pharmacies, and are equipped with the latest technology such as CAT scanners and digital X-ray. They offer radiological, optometry, and dental services. They have their own medical oxygen producing plants, blood banks with a 5,000 unit capacity, and water distilling plants (300,000 US gallons per day). A flight crew operates the ship’s helicopter pad which can handle the Navy’s largest helicopters. Kitchens can provide meals for 1,000 personnel.
They assist in natural disasters such as the Southeast Asia tsunami of 2004 and the Haiti earthquake of 2010. On a visit to Southeast Asia in 2010, the USNS Mercy treated 109,754 patients and performed 1,580 surgeries. In 2015, the USNS Comfort provided care for more than 120,000 patients (including 1,200 surgeries) in 11 countries in the Caribbean and South and Central America. These projects are funded by the U.S. government with assistance by volunteer medical personnel and supplies donated by private organizations.
U.S. Marines are stationed around the world for rapid military deployment, but they also use this capacity to provide quick humanitarian aid in time of disaster. No other nation has this capacity. The Marines even have a medal called the Humanitarian Service Medal.
“... no one in the history of the world can declare that they have made such great strides in providing aid and relief like the Americans. ... Say what you want about us, but without that aid provided by hundreds of thousands of American service people and hundreds of millions of taxpayers, millions upon millions of people who have been fed, vaccinated, operated on, given shelter, given homes, bathed, birthed, and listened to would now be dead. Many more would not experience the quality of life they now experience” (Jon Davis, “Some mind-blowing facts about the U.S. military,” quora.com).
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republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research
purposes:
As the covid-19 crisis continues and economic problems mount, there is good news. For the redeemed of the Lord, there is always good news in Holy Scripture. LATEST The FDA has approved emergency use of a new coronavirus test that delivers positive results in 5 minutes and negative result in 13. The device, produced by Abbott Laboratories, is the size of a small toaster, and the company will ramp up production to make 50,000 units per day beginning next week (Business Insider, Mar. 28, 2020). President Donald Trump tweeted on March 29, 2020, “With the courage of our doctors and nurses, with the skill of our scientists and innovators, with the determination of the American People, and with the grace of God, WE WILL WIN THIS WAR. When we achieve this victory, we will emerge stronger and more united than ever before!” For the child of God walking with God, there is nothing to fear but fear itself. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). By drawing near to God, we find power, love, and a sound mind, and fear flees away. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8). The U.S. military is stepping up to the front lines to help America in this crisis. “Two massive U.S. Navy hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, are being mobilized to treat COVID-19 patients off the coasts of Los Angeles and New York, respectively. In addition to the hundreds of U.S. Navy and civil personnel already aboard the ships, more than 100 reservists are being called up to help with the unprecedented emergency virus treatment. ‘When we were asked to help find medical professionals to help support this mission, we received hundreds of volunteer requests from our Reserve medical community in less than 24 hours,’ said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John Schommer, deputy commander of Navy Reserve Force. ‘That’s extremely humbling.’ Indeed, America’s volunteer warriors are inspiring us with their willingness to step forward at great risk to their own health. Like doctors, nurses, first responders, delivery workers and countless others, the brave men and women of our military are performing brilliantly amid the uncertainty of a rapidly evolving public health crisis” (“Military’s Coronavirus Response Should Make All American’s Proud,” The Stream, Mar. 27, 2020). Because of market sell-off, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which has $125 billion in cash, could afford to purchase almost any of America’s public companies, including McDonald’s ($125 billion), PayPal ($118b), Boeing ($102b), IBM ($100B), Tesla ($97b), and Starbucks ($82b). Buffett believes in financial security and “has pledged always to hold at least $20 billion to guard against external calamities” (“Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway,” Business Insider, Mar. 28, 2020). “For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD” (Psalm 31:22-24). The UK’s former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on world leaders to form a “temporary” global government to resolve the current medical and economic crises. He wants “an emergency body with executive powers” and an increase in funding for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (“Gordon Brown calls for global government to tackle coronavirus, The Guardian, Mar. 26, 2020). British scientist Neil Ferguson, whose March 16 computer-modeled prediction of the deaths of 2.2 million Americans and half a million British due to covid-19, was a major element in the global shut downs, has now backed off of his original doomsday estimates. Earlier he warned that critical care (ICU) bed capacity would exceed maximum supply by 30 times. He called for a shut down for 18 months! Now he says, “The UK should be able to cope with the spread of the covid-19 virus and UK deaths are not unlikely to exceed 20,000, AND COULD BE MUCH LOWER” (“UK has enough intensive care units for coronavirus,” New Scientist, Mar. 25, 2020). He also said an 18 month shut down is not possible. As of March 29, 1228 people in the United Kingdom had died from the coronavirus with 19,500 confirmed cases. Stanford University professors Eran Bendavid and Jay Bhattacharya have stated that CURRENT ESTIMATES OF THE FATALITY RATE “MAY BE TOO HIGH BY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE.” They said, “If it’s true that the novel coronavirus would kill millions without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines, then the extraordinary measures being carried out in cities and states around the country are surely justified. But there’s little evidence to confirm that premise—and projections of the death toll could plausibly be orders of magnitude too high” (“Is the Coronavirus as deadly as they say?” Wall Street Journal, Mar. 24. 2020). A new computer model by Oxford University suggests the covid-19 pandemic is in a later stage than previously thought and estimated the virus has already infected at least millions of people worldwide. The head of the study is professor Sunetra Gupta, an Oxford theoretical epidemiologist. “If her work is accurate, that would likely mean a large swath of the population has built up resistance to the virus. Theoretically, then, social restrictions could ease sooner than anticipated. What needs to be done now, Gupta said, is a whole lot of antibody testing to figure out who may have contracted the virus. Her research team is working with groups from the University of Cambridge and the University of Kent to start those tests for the general population as quickly as possible” (“New Oxford study,” TheWeek.com, Mar. 24, 2020). Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, a Jewish doctor in New York, has treated at least 500 covid-19 patients with near 100% success rate. “It's an out-patient treatment combining the common anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine with the popular antibotic azithromycin (known as Z-Pak) and zinc sulfate. ... Zelenko explained that there are two different diseases, the covid-19 infection and the catastrophic lung injury, called acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS. ARDS is the affliction requiring the use of hospital beds and ventilators, which has become a hot political issue because of the severe lack of supply. His protocol won't treat ARDS, but it can keep people from ever developing it. ‘I believe it lowers the viral load and decreases the amount of virus that the immune system needs to deal with,’ he said. ‘It gives it time to overcome the development of the infection prior to development of ARDS or lung injury.’ Zelenko said the results are “remarkable." "I'm seeing respiratory symptoms resolve as fast as four hours. That's not the norm," he said. "It takes 12 hours on average, in my experience. "But I've seen remarkable results, and I have now colleagues who are implementing this as well and they are reporting the same anecdotal data.” The colleagues include Dr. William Grace of the hematology and oncology department at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City” (“Doctor: White House has my successful coronavirus treatment,” WorldNetDaily, Mar. 25, 2020). Dr. Ian Lipkin, an infectious disease expert from Columbia University, has announced that a blood-plasma therapy is showing good success in treating coronavirus patients. “About a week ago, I got a paper from a friend of mine, the former minister of health... telling me that he had treated 10 patients with plasma therapy – antibodies that have been taken from patients who'd recovered. All 10 of these patients did well. This is an old method that we used before we had antibiotics, and it'll work here too. One of the things that we're going to be trying to do is to ask people who have recovered from this infection to volunteer to provide plasma--there are a number of people who're beginning to think about this--so that we can use actually use this to treat other citizens, other people around the world who are infected, This is something that we think will make a huge difference in morbidity and mortality. This is available right now” (“Potential new coronavirus treatment,” Fox News, Mar. 27, 2020). Ford announced on March 26 that it plans to restart its plant in Mexico on April 6 and plants in Michigan, Kentucky, Kansas City, and Ohio on April 14, “while introducing additional safety measures to protect returning workers” (Business Insider, Mar. 26, 2020). Many CEOs and presidents of corporations are donating their salaries to their employees and companies. These include W. Kent Taylor of Texas Roadhouse, Arne Sorenson of Mariott (plus all executives are taking a 50% pay cut), Mark Hoplamaxian of Hyatt, John Zimmer and Logan Green of Lyft, Ed Bastian of Delta, Brad Tilden of Alaska Air, Oscar Munoz and Scott Kirby of United, Maurice Gallagher and John Redmond of Allegiant, Lawrence Culp of GE, and Bahram Akradi of LifeTime (Yahoo Finance, Mar. 20, 2020). Many others are taking major pay cuts. Donald Trump has donated his entire presidential salary ($400,000 annually) to various causes since his inauguration in 2017. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). South Korea successfully “flattened the curve” of covid-19 infections without shutting down the nation’s economy. The New York Times reports, “At the peak, medical workers identified 909 new cases in a single day, Feb. 29, and the country of 50 million people appeared on the verge of being overwhelmed. But less than a week later, the number of new cases halved. Within four days, it halved again — and again the next day. On Sunday, South Korea reported only 64 new cases, the fewest in nearly a month, even as infections in other countries continue to soar by the thousands daily, devastating health care systems and economies. Italy records several hundred deaths daily; South Korea has not had more than eight in a day.” The Daily Wire continues, “So how has South Korea pulled it off so far? It was not through draconian or economy-crushing measures implemented by the likes of China and now an increasing number of countries across the globe, including the U.S. The answer is four key measures: 1) rapid intervention before the pandemic is a full crisis; 2) implement widespread testing; 3) contact tracing and isolation; and 4) get the public to help” (“How South Korea Flattened the Curve,” The Daily Wire, Mar. 26, 2020). Pope Francis has announced that a general absolution of sin can be obtained by confessing directly to God, instead of to a priest, during the covid-19 crisis. Speaking at a live-streamed mass on March 20, the pope said, “This is the right time, the opportune moment. An act of contrition done well, and our souls will become white like the snow” (“If you can’t go to confession,” Crux, Mar. 20, 2020). Directly to God? What a brilliant idea! The problem is that the pope prescribed a false path to cleansing. The only way to become “white like the snow” is to approach God in His prescribed way, which is by repentance and saving faith in Christ, not by “an act of contrition,” sacraments, priests, Mary, and saints. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Ro. 10:9-11). Cal Pierce, founder of International Association of Healing Rooms, prophesied on March 13 that the coronavirus would be gone in 10 days. Pierce was having a recorded conversation with Steven Strang, founder of Charisma magazine. The prophesy was based on the Word of Faith heresy that believers have the power to create reality with their words. Pierce said, “So, we have authority that Jesus has given us. He’s our head; we’re his body. He works through us, because we have authority. So, when we decree something which is the will of God or the Word of God, our decree or the sound of our voice becomes God’s will into the natural realm” (“See Covid-19 from the Perspective of Spiritual Warfare,” Charismapodcast, Mar. 13, 2020). Pierce proclaimed the “word of faith” that covid-19 would be gone in 10 days. Obviously the man is one of the false prophets that the Bible so frequently warns about. “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22). Chuck Pierce, another Pentecostal “prophet” (and an apostle, to boot!) says that he knows this isn’t the end of the world because “the Lord’s shown me through 2026, so I know this isn’t the end of time” (“This is not the end of the world,” The Washington Post, Mar. 17, 2020). PREVIOUS Covid-19 is still a small thing compared to influenza, which has infected 36 to 51 million, hospitalized about one-half million and killed 22,000 and 55,000 in America alone since October (“Influenza Preliminary In-Season 2019-2020,” Centers for Disease Control). In 2018, there were 80,000 flu deaths in America, which was about 450 deaths per day. Worldwide, influenza kills about 500,000 annually during the flu season. That is about 6,250 deaths per day or 260 PER HOUR. The largest global infectious pandemic is tuberculosis (TB), which sickens 10 million and kills 1.5 million annually (a death every 21 seconds). It is the world’s No. 1 infectious killer and the ninth-leading cause of death worldwide. WHO estimates that 1.8 billion people are infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB. It is a global disease, found in every country in the world. “TB is an airborne disease that can be spread by coughing or sneezing and is the leading cause of infectious disease worldwide. There is growing resistance to available drugs, which means the disease is becoming more deadly and difficult to treat. There were more than half a million cases of drug resistant TB last year” (TBAlliance.org). The Wuhan district of China, ground zero for covid-19, is getting back to work, temporary hospitals are closing, and travel restrictions are being lifted. All of China had zero new infections on March 18-19. The fatality rate for covid-19 is smaller than WHO reports originally showed. Large numbers of those who have contracted the respiratory virus are not part of the statistics because the symptoms are often so mild. The current statistic is 1.4 percent even in Wuhan (“Coronavirus latest news,” New Scientist, Mar 19, 2020). Time magazine said, “That means the total number of reported cases is very likely an underestimate—and by not counting many mild or asymptomatic cases, we’re likely overestimating the disease’s overall mortality rate. ... covid-19 LOOKS A LOT CLOSER TO THE SEASONAL FLU THAN TO PREVIOUS CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAKS. A more complete—and, hopefully, less severe—picture of covid-19 will likely emerge as the outbreak continues, testing capacity increases and data are refined” (“The WHO estimated covid-19 mortality,” Time, Mar. 9, 2020). Schools reopened in Singapore on March 23 under wise, no-panic rules (The Straits Times, Mar. 20, 2020). The government has an eye on the sustainability of its educational system. Sustainability is an important concept in this crisis. Many factors must be weighed, including the economy. CURES AND BLOCKERS The anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin is proving successful in treating coronavirus patients in tests in Australia, France, and elsewhere. “A French study with a small sample size showed it to be 100 percent effective. The French study, led by researcher Didier Raoult and his team, has received worldwide attention. In it, six mpatients were given Plaquenil – a brand-name hydroxychloroquine drug – in tandem with the antibiotic drug azithromycin, Forbes reported. All six patients tested negative for covid-19 by day six. In Australia, a University of Queensland study that used the anti-malaria drug in combination with an anti-HIV drug also was highly effective. The Queensland team is now using the drugs in a clinical trial. ‘Prior to the clinical trials going ahead, the medications were given to some of the first Australian patients infected with covid-19, and all have completely recovered without any trace of the virus left in their system,’ David Paterson of the University of Queensland said in a press release. ‘These medications have the potential to be a real cure for all, unlike the random anecdotal experiences of some people.’ The university’s press release called it a ‘coronavirus cure’” (“Patients ‘Completely Recovered,’” Christian Headlines, Mar. 19, 2020). President Trump is streamlining the testing of hydroxychloroquine for covid-19 patients and has instructed the CDC to cut all red tape. The Israeli company Teva is donating 16 million hydroxychloroquine tablets to hospitals in America for testing purposes (6 million immediately and 10 million more within a month). Teva is a global leader in generic and speciality medicines. Following is the testimony of a man whose life was saved by hydroxychloroquine: “Rio Giardinieri, 52, who is vice-president of a company that manufactures cooking equipment at high-end restaurants in LA and around the world, thinks he contracted covid-19 at a conference in New York. He had a fever for five days, horrendous back pain, headache, cough, and tiredness. ... Doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia and coronavirus. They put him on oxygen in the ICU but he says he was still unable to breathe. ... Friday evening, he said goodbye to his wife and three children. ... A dear friend immediately sent him a recent article about hydroxychloroquine ... So, Giardinieri reached out to an infectious disease doctor. ‘He gave me all the reasons why I would probably not want to try it because there are no trials, there’s no testing, it was not something that was approved. And I said look I don’t know if I’m going to make it until the morning because at that point I really thought I was coming to the end because I couldn’t breathe anymore. He agreed and authorized the use of it and 30 minutes later the nurse gave it to me. ... they gave me some Benadryl [that allowed me to go to sleep and when I woke up at exactly 4:45 in the morning, I woke up like nothing ever happened.’ Miraculously, he’s since had no fever or pain, feels fine and he’s able to breathe again” (“A man with coronavirus,” Fox10 Phoenix, Mar. 23, 2020). Remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug that holds out hope as a covid-19 blocker, is undergoing large human trials in China and the US. Kaletra, a combination of anti-HIV drugs that stops viral replication, has shown some effectiveness in trials in China. India’s Chief Medical and Health Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh announced on March 16 that three covid-19 patients have recovered by means of a combination of HIV drugs. “It appears it is working because three patients have recovered. Good thing is that all the three patients are elderly and the successful result of the drug patients of such age is a big thing” (“Combination of two anti-HIV drugs proved crucial,” The Economic Times, Mar. 16, 2020). Israel’s Institute of Technology (Technion) announced a new covid-19 testing procedure that can test more than 60 patients at one time. The institute said they have “successfully tested a method that will dramatically increase the current covid-19 testing capacity using existing available resources” (“Technion, Weizmann Institute,” No Camels, Mar. 18, 2020). VACCINES The first covid-19 vaccine (by the company Moderna) has begun human testing in Washington state (“Biotech company ships first batches of vaccine,” Fox News, Mar. 16, 2020). Israel’s Ministry of Science and Technology branch at Galilee (MIGAL) has a vaccine that it hopes will achieve safety approval in a short time through expedited trials and fast-track approvals (“Israeli breakthrough in coronavirus vaccine imminent,” Israel Today, Mar. 16, 2020). MIGAL’s vaccine is a by-product of the development of a vaccine against Avian coronavirus. Other companies have vaccines ready for testing. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is backing a vaccine developed by Oxford University and one by the US company Inovio, which had a vaccine ready three hours after the gene sequence was published in January. “It plans clinical trials in April and to have a million doses by December, if the approach works” (“The race to test coronavirus antiviral drugs and vaccines,” New Scientist, Mar. 11, 2020). The French company Sanofi Pasteur is hybridizing the covid-19 virus with a baculovirus already approved for its flu vaccine as a possible fast track to a vaccine that could be quickly mass produced. With $87 million backing from the European Commission, German firm CureVac is promising a vaccine in around six months by fast track. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke of her hope to bring a vaccine to market “perhaps before autumn” (“More Firms Enter Race for Vaccine as EU Suggests Accelerated Trials Process,” CNSNews.com, Mar. 18, 2020). MISCELLANEOUS Some companies in America are hiring large numbers of new workers to keep up with increased demands caused by the coronavirus crisis. Walmart announced on March 20 that it is hiring 150,000 additional workers and has expedited the hiring process from two weeks to 24 hours. Walmart is raising the wage for entry level workers and is also providing $550 million in cash bonuses to its hourly employees. Amazon is hiring 100,000 new workers for its American warehouse and delivery wings. CVS Pharmacy is hiring 50,000 and paying some workers bonuses of $500. Domino’s pizza is hiring 10,000. Walgreens is hiring 9,500. Pepsi is hiring 6,000 new full-time employees. Dollar Tree is hiring 25,000. 7-Eleven is hiring 20,000. Kroger, Costco, Albertson’s, and Aldi are hiring. The coronavirus crisis has resulted in a massive increase in government surveillance of citizens. It looks like a trial run for a one-world government, and it is working very well. Ten countries are tracking phone data. Poland is requiring home quarantined patients to use a special app to take regular selfies to prove they are indoors; failure results in a visit from police (“Poland made an app,” Business Insider, Mar. 23, 2020). Taiwan has introduced “electronic fences” which alert police if suspected patients leave their homes (“Taiwan’s New Electronic Fence,” New York Times, Mar. 20, 2020). A religious Jew who stole an antiquities artifact in Israel 15 years ago returned it, fearing that the end of the world is at hand. He was a teenager when he took the Roman ballista stone from an archaeological exhibition. It is from the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70. Now married with children, the man is seeking to have a clear conscience when he stands before God (“‘It’s the End of the World,’ Says Repentant Israeli Antiquities Thief,” Israel Today, Mar. 18, 2020). If he would read his Bible with open eyes, he would see that he will give account for every sin against God in thought and deed and therefore there is no possibility of being justified by one’s deeds; only through the Messiah’s vicarious atonement can a sinner be justified. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ec. 12:14). “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:5-6). Iran has scaled back its terrorist activity across the Middle East because of the coronavirus (“IDF indicates Iran scaling back,” The Times of Israel, Mar. 17, 2020). For the redeemed, the Bible is full of wonderful promises from God our Saviour. “But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand...” (Psalm 31:14-15). Susannah Spurgeon, wife of Charles, commented on this promise as follows: “Not one or two important epochs of my history only, but everything that concerns me;—joys that I had not expected,—sorrows that must have crushed me if they could have been anticipated,—sufferings which might have terrified me by their grimness had I looked upon them,—surprises which infinite love had prepared for me,—services of which I could not have imagined myself capable;—all these lay in that mighty hand as the purposes of God’s eternal will for me” (cited from Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon by Ray Rhodes Jr.). The best news is that any individual infected by the deadly virus of sin can be healed through saving faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and escape certain eternal death. Sin has a 100% mortality rate, but Dr. Jesus has a 100% success rate for those who come to Him by the door of saving faith. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
