COVID-19 MAY KILL THE CONSTITUTION AND STRIP US OF OUR FREEDOM AND RIGHTS

Pandemic drones that can detect fevers and coughing will soon take to the sky


Drones are being increasingly called into action during the COVID-19 crisis, primarily as surveillance tools and mobile speakers to remind people about the importance of lockdown. But there are other use-cases for drones, too. Last month, Digital Trends wrote about how Draganfly, one of the longest-serving commercial drone companies, was working on technology to use drones in the coronavirus pandemic — by utilizing an onboard thermal sensor and smart computer vision technology to allow them to make potential diagnoses from a distance.
Coronavirus-spotting drone is being tested by police in the U.S.Drones are being tested by police in the wider New York area as part of efforts to flatten the coronavirus curve by identifying potential violations of social distancing and detecting possible COVID-19 symptoms in one of America’s pandemic hotspots.

Cameras monitoring masks and social distancing, Robots delivering meals and DR’s in hazmat suits.The monitoring software has reportedly been installed at outdoor markets and on buses and there is anticipation that many other cities will likely adapt to this digital surveillance. According to the French firm Datakalab, it states that its software does not violate EU data privacy law.

A German journalist, who began her second quarantine in Beijing this year on Sunday after returning from Hubei’s capital Wuhan talked about how her building’s management reportedly installed a camera in front of her door to monitor her movements. “It’s quite scary how you get used to such things,” she told AFP.

SEE ALSO <HERE>.

CALIFORNIA, USA:

"WHAT WOULD YOU DO if your six year old son or daughter tested positive for COVID19 and was taken from your home to a quarantine center by Ventura Health Authorities?"

[CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO URL]

That question, complete with video explaining that can happen is not the only report of an intention to further quarantine Americans.

Robert Levin: "Some of the people we find are going to have a hard time being isolated. If they live in a home where there is only one bathroom and there are three or four other people living there and those people don’t have covid infections we’re not going to be able to keep that person in that home. Every person who we’re isolating needs to have their own bathroom. So we’ll be moving people like this in to other kinds of housing that we have available."



We saw hundreds taken to quarantine detention centers when this first started, many from cruise ships.
Did those detention centers have ONE bathroom per person?
NO.

WHY DOES HAVING THEIR OWN BATHROOM MATTER?
THEY'RE STILL IN THE SAME HOUSE, SHARING THE SAME AIR, SAME ENVIRONMENT INSIDE EACH HOUSE!
PATIENTS IN DOUBLE-OCCUPANCY HOSPITAL ROOMS SHARE A BATHROOM.

WHAT HE'S SPEAKING OF IS MORE LIKE SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN PRISON, ISN'T IT? 

Before I launch into this, please keep in mind two questions that this raised in my mind:
(1) Are they planning on anything similar for the far more virulent/deadly TUBERCULOSIS-POSITIVE population there, or for AIDS/HIV-POSITIVE patients, or for MRSA-POSITIVE,

(2) Do they realize that this 'rule' applies mainly to lower income households who can't afford larger homes with several bathrooms?
This basically excludes the upper middle class and higher, doesn't it? 

Dr. Robert Levin, the director of Ventura County Public Health, [spoke] before the board of supervisors Tuesday about a plan to hire up to 50 new “contact tracing investigators” to “find people who have COVID-19 and immediately isolate them, find every one of their contacts, make sure they stay quarantined and check in with them every day.”
“For instance, if they live in a home where there is only one bathroom and there are three or four other people living there and those people don’t have COVID infection, we’re not going to be able to keep the person in that home. Every person we’re isolating, for instance, needs to have their own bathroom. So, we’ll be moving people like this into other kinds of housing that we have available,"

Speaking to Fox News Wednesday, Natalie Hernandez, a Ventura County assistant public information officer, said local officials offer a “completely optional service” for family members who feel the need to self-isolate to protect loved ones.

“We’re not forcibly removing people,” she said, adding that contact investigators are licensed nurses who make phone calls notifying people who have come in contact with another individual who has tested positive so that they know to self-isolate.

Video circulated on social media showed Dr. Robert Levin, the director of Ventura County Public Health, speaking before the board of supervisors Tuesday about a plan to hire up to 50 new “contact tracing investigators” to “find people who have COVID-19 and immediately isolate them, find every one of their contacts, make sure they stay quarantined and check in with them every day.”

Levin admitted his poor messaging during another press conference Wednesday, stressing those who test positive or who are identified by officials as having come in contact with an infected person would not be forcibly removed from their homes.

“I either misspoke or it was misinterpreted – I’ll take the blame of having misspoke,” Levin said. “Yesterday, at this conference, at the Board of Supervisors, I gave people the impression that if you were isolated, you would be taken out of your home and put into a hotel room or a motel room or sequestered in some other way.”

“If I did do that, I am very sorry," he said. "That is an option. That is possible. If you become infected, you don’t want to stay in your home, you’re afraid that you’ll expose other people, we’ll work with you to find a place to stay. And, it’s likely to be a hotel of a motel. We will desire for you to have your own room in your place of residence and a bathroom that can be dedicated to just you. Now, not everyone is fortunate enough to have more than one bathroom, so we’ll work with you.”

Levin added that out of the county's some 600 confirmed coronavirus cases, "only in very, very unusual circumstances, we’ve had to put someone up in a hotel or motel and this was for reasons which have nothing to do with your choice of staying in your household."                

Further explaining himself Wednesday, Levin said: “Yesterday, yes, at the Board of Supervisors, I spoke to issues related to isolation and quarantine, and how we were going to step up our program. We were going to increase by 10, 20, maybe 50 people to help us locate people and make sure they’re in quarantine or make sure they’re in isolation.

"If you have the illness and you stay in your own quarters or in your hospital room, that’s called isolation," he continued.
“If you don’t have the illness, but you were exposed to someone who did, but we want to watch you for the period of incubation, where you might come down with the illness and might be contagious and give it to someone else, that’s called quarantine."

“We’re looking to not only isolate everyone, but we’re looking to quarantine the contacts of the isolates we have who have COVID disease. Now, we’re going to get – because of increased manpower and because of increased testing – more and more meticulous in our ability to do this," he said. “And, what we anticipate that’s going to happen as a result of this, is that we’re going to drive our numbers way down and that’s what we want to see.”

BUT IT WON'T END THERE WHEN WE THINK OF THE 'SNOWBALL EFFECT'.
'CITIZEN A' TESTS POSITIVE, WAS IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH 'CITIZENS B THROUGH Z'
CITIZENS B-Z WERE IN CONTACT WITH,SAY, 10 TO 30 OTHERS, EACH.
THEN THOSE WERE IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH HOW MANY?
IT DOESN'T END, DON'T YOU SEE?

IT GOES LIKE THIS, FROM SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI:  
Sixty-five people are currently in quarantine after an employee of a local company tested positive for coronavirus this week.

In a virtual briefing Friday, Greene County's health department director Clay Goddard declined to give the name of the company or any other information about it. Reporters were not present at the briefing and questions were submitted remotely.

MARYLAND:Maryland ups the ante on coronavirus quarantine enforcement with $5,000 fine or one year in PRISON


CHICAGO, ILLINOIS:
Chicago Mayor to people breaking social distancing orders: "We will shut you down, we will cite you and if we need to, we will arrest you and take you to jail."

SHE COULD BE ARRESTING MILLIONS THEN.

Remember, states that have begun doing the serological testing for antibodies are finding that their citizens are positive MAGNITUDES ABOVE what those almost worthless nasal swabs showed.

NEW YORK: 
Almost 14 percent of people tested in NY's new study were found to have antibodies to the disease it causes.

Cuomo found that over 2 million in New York City bouroughs alone had had the virus and recovered.

COLORADO:
State or local public health agencies may issue isolation and quarantine orders in some high-risk situations or if non-compliance is anticipated.

If people do not follow the orders, public health agencies can involve law enforcement.
If enforcement were to become necessary, the entity that issued the order (the state or local public health agency) could file an enforcement action in state district court asking a judge to enforce the order.

KENTUCKY: 
Ankle monitors ordered for Louisville, Kentucky residents exposed to Covid-19 who refuse to stay home.
EXPOSED, NOT YET TESTED POSITIVE. 

And another man was put under house arrest after he went out shopping despite having tested positive for the coronavirus, according to WDRB.
WDRB says Jefferson County courts have set up an on-call judge for these types of cases




HAWAII:Hawaii To Quarantine All Arrivals For 14 Days, Starting

Hawaii Is Considering Ankle Monitors For Quarantined Visitors


NOT JUST IN THE USA...WORLDWIDE
REMEMBER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT DUTERTE'S ORDER TO 'SHOOT TO KILL' ANY WHO DISOBEYED HIS QUARANTINE ORDERS? ONE MAN WAS SHOT YO DEATH AFTER THAT.

"The Philippines imposed an "enhanced community quarantine" on an area housing nearly 57 million people in the country's northern Luzon island which also houses capital Manila.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo informed journalists today that "enhanced community quarantine" would be imposed "immediately."

RUSSIA:
Coronavirus: Russia uses facial recognition to tackle Covid-19 As Russian cities go into lockdown to try to contain coronavirus, Moscow is using the latest technology to keep track of residents.

SINGAPORE:
New regulations in Singapore which threaten prison time for anyone found violating “social distancing” protocols exemplify the harsh rules being imposed around the world in the fight against coronavirus.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Health, Singaporeans who fail to maintain a distance of one meter from other people in “non-transient” public interactions can be fined up to 10,000 Singapore dollars ($6,985) and even risk a six-month jail sentence.

The strict measures come as nations around the world adopt similarly extreme provisions to halt the spread of coronavirus. 

JORDAN: 
Jordan introduced some of the most radical anti-coronavirus policies to date. The country initially imposed an around-the-clock lockdown, with officials promising to deliver bread and water to all citizens. Those who violated the strict quarantine were threatened with a year in prison. At least 800 were arrested over a span of several days, the Guardian reported.

ITALY:Authorities have begun to ratchet up efforts to stop quarantine violators in Italy. The country deployed more than 100 soldiers tasked with enforcing lockdown measures in Lombardy, the hardest-hit region in Europe. More than 90,000 Italians have been slapped with fines which can potentially reach €3,000 ($3,300). Italians can also end up behind bars for three months for flouting the stay-in-place protocols.

SPAIN:
Spain might have the most stringent rules in Europe.
Those found in violation of the rules face astronomical fines, with repeat offenders staring down the possibility of 3-18 months in prison. More than 30,000 fines have been issued and 900 arrests made for disobedience, according to reports.


UNITED KINGDOM:
Police in Britain have been given the power to forcefully make people return to their homes, as part of a nationwide lockdown. Those without a “reasonable excuse” to be out and about could be hit with a £60 ($73) fine. A second offense could cost you double that.
Derbyshire police are causing an uproar on social media for using drones to “shame” people allegedly violating social distancing rules.



CHINA:
"China takes desperate, “wartime” measures to stop coronavirus in Wuhan.
Quarantine deserters "will be nailed to the pillar of historical shame forever."
Chinese authorities in Wuhan Thursday said that they will conduct door-to-door home searches for people potentially infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and corral the sick into massive, makeshift quarantine camps around the city, according to a report in the New York Times.


SOUTH AFRICA - People who test positive for COVID-19 in KwaZulu-Natal will no longer be allowed to self-isolate.. The health department will move them to quarantine facilities.


INDIA- Patiala has put the maximum efforts in stemming the spread of COVOD-19 by quarantining 172 people so far for every single positive COVID-19 case, which is the highest in the state.


PAKISTAN- Amid strong protests by locals, the Pakistan Army has started to move COVID-19 positive patients from Punjab province to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit Baltistan - the two most marginalized areas under Pakistani occupation.


MEANWHILE STATES AND NATIONS CONTINUE TO STOP CHURCHES FROM OPENING THEIR DOORS AND GATHERING TO WORSHIP OR PRAY. 

THIS IS A VIOLATION OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO WORSHIP AS WE SEE FIT. 

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that everyone in the United States has the right to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
-- First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Will COVID-19 Kill the Constitution?"To “save the nation” from COVID-19, Cornell law professor Michael Dorf argued two weeks ago, Congress should suspend the writ of habeas corpus, an ancient common-law right that allows people detained by the government to demand a justification. Yet the Constitution says that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

Although neither of those circumstances applies, Dorf suggested that the spread of the COVID-19 virus from other countries to the United States could be construed as an invasion. While “no one knows” whether the courts would accept that interpretation, since “Congress has only ever suspended habeas in wartime,” Dorf said, “there is reason to think that the courts would dismiss a habeas case following nearly any congressional suspension.”

Politicians and the public are alarmingly willing to violate civil liberties in the name of fighting the epidemic."

Surrendering American values during the COVID-19 pandemic could destroy the Republic.

The virus is serious, but the headlong rush of politicians to ignore the U.S. Constitution is troubling.

There were those in recent years who suggested the day would come when our leaders would cancel elections. They were dismissed as paranoid by the rest of us, but it’s happening today in the name of public health. There were those who suggested that government would like to spy on and track every citizen’s moves to “protect our national security” and to defeat terrorism.

The public fought back against the idea, but, as I write this, the government is working with high tech companies to devise ways to track our every move to make sure we maintain the “social distance” they believe so important to halting the spread of the coronavirus.

"IT'S FOR YOUR SAFETY."

AS I PREVIOUSLY WROTE:    [Quoted  from another source]    

"When the State tells you it’s safe to go to Home Depot to buy a sponge but dangerous to go and buy a flower, it’s not about your health.

When the State shuts down millions of private businesses but doesn’t lay off a single government employee, it’s not about your health.

When the State bans dentists because its unsafe, but deems an abortion visit is safe, it’s not about your health.


When the State prevents you from buying cucumber seeds because it’s dangerous, but allows personal lottery ticket sales, it’s not about your health.

When the State tells you it’s dangerous to go golf alone, fish alone or be in a motor boat alone, but the Governor can get stage make-up done, and hair done for 5 TV appearances a week, it’s not about your health.


When the state puts you IN a jail cell for walking in a park with your child because it’s too dangerous but lets criminals OUT of jail cells for their health- It’s not about YOUR health!

When the state tells you it’s too dangerous to get treated by a doctor for chiropractic or physical therapy treatments yet deems a liquor store essential- It’s not about your health!

When the State lets you go to the grocery store or hardware store but is demanding mail-in voting, IT IS NOT ABOUT YOUR HEALTH.


WAKE UP PEOPLE — If you think this is all about your health you’re mistaken!
Please open your eyes! Stop being lead like blind sheep."


People agree to unlimited quarantine - checked.

People are begging for vaccines - checked.

People gave up their freedom - checked.

People agree to be tracked - checked. People do what government says - checked.

Ladies and gentlemen we're ready to roll out the New World Order 2.0.

The sheep WILL follow the wolf shepherds.


0.000336% OF THE WORLD HAS/HAD CV-19.
0.0693% OF THE INFECTED HAVE DIED.

The "common flu" infects 5–15% of the global population (340 million – 1.6 billion) EACH and kills 290,000 – 650,000 people EVERY year, according to the World Health Organization.


NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME AFTER THIS UNLESS ENOUGH AMERICANS DEMAND A RETURN TO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, TO FREE EXERCISE OF THE FREEDOMS GUARANTEED TO US EVEN BEFORE OUR CONSTITUTION WAS WRITTEN.  
AFTERWARD, WE HAD A DOCUMENT THAT REITERATED WHAT THOSE "INALIENABLE RIGHTS" WERE, ARE, ALWAYS MUST BE. 

HOW WE ALL RESPOND TO THIS "PLANNED PANDEMIC", THIS OVER-HYPED "KILLER VIRUS", SO SIMILAR TO THE 2002-2003 SARS SCARE, THE 2008-2009 SWINE FLU SCARE WHICH LED TO INVESTIGATIONS OF THE W.H.O. AND CDC FOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST. WILL DETERMINE IF THIS LITTLE TEST OF HOW COMPLIANT, HOW EASILY AMERICANS GIVE UP OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS WILL BE USED AGAINST US WHEN THE NEXT "PANDEMIC" IS TROTTED OUT TO FURTHER COLLAPSE THE WORLD'S ECONOMY. 

AS THE TRUTH BECOMES KNOWN, THAT THIS VIRUS HAS AN ACTUAL "DEATH RATE" OF LESS THAN 1%, WORLD POWERS, THOSE WHO WOULD MAKE US ALL "VASSAL STATES" UNDER STRICT CONTROL, WILL SCRAMBLE TO LOCK IN THE HERD, THE FLOCK OF HUMAN SHEEP, EVEN HARDER.



Covid-19 much more widespread than thought, and NO MORE DEADLY THAN FLU, new Stanford study suggests.

1) SARS-CoV-2 has a much lower fatality rate than we think (by an order of magnitude or more)

2) Population immunity is already building up.


WE WERE LIED TO JUST AS WEE WERE IN 2008-2009.


HOW WE RESPOND NOW WILL DECIDE HOW OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR HAVE TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD...
AS FREE PEOPLE OR SLAVES TO FEAR AND MEDIA PROPAGANDA AND MISINFORMATION.


WHERE WILL YOU STAND?  





______________________________________

END NOTES AND FURTHER READING:



-- CDC AND W.H.O. NEVER WANTED ANTIBODY TEATING.
WHY NOT?
PROOF OF INFECTED BUT RECOVERED PEOPLE LOWERS THE DEATH RATE.

"Rather than using PCR testing, “what should have been done is test for antibodies,” Mikovits says. This is what was done in South Korea. An antibody test will tell you whether you had the infection at some point, and have developed a strong immune response or immunological memory that will allow you to fight the infection should you encounter it again.

“Epidemiology is not done with PCR. In fact, Kary Mullis who invented PCR, Nobel Laureate, and others, said PCR was never intended for diagnostic testing. So that puts that to bed.

It takes nothing to develop a really good serology [i.e., antibody] test … [It takes] a few weeks. It's pretty easy because the people who have recovered have antibodies. So, you isolate those antibodies, you take their plasma, you purify the antibodies, and then you can grow them."


-- This pandemic has laid bare the intentions of our self-appointed betters in Washington, the media, and beyond. They have shown no desire for national unity, pushing policies to empower only themselves. They manipulate people’s worst fears, knowing that’s the surest way to get them to lay down their liberties.

We should be able to see a God-complex at work in all this control-freak behavior, and we should not fear calling out that behavior for what it is. If this seems over-the-top to American readers, that’s because we aren’t used to living under totalitarian rule.


MORE INFECTED, LESS SEVERE, ESTIMATES BY CDC/WHO WERE WRONG BY MAGNITUDES.
-- A recent study tested the blood of 3,300 volunteers in Santa Clara County, Calif., and found that between 2.5 and 4 percent of them had the antibodies that show they've recovered from COVID-19.

13.9% of people tested in a New York COVID-19 antibody study tested positive, meaning they had the virus, Cuomo says; that means up to 2.7 million people could have been infected statewide


New Model Shows COVID More Widespread, Less SevereThe New York Times reported that China’s estimated death rate was 17% in the first week of January, when Wuhan was in its peak, but only 0.7% by late February.


MASSACHUSETTS ANTIBODY TESTS
Around a third of participants in a Massachusetts study tested positive for antibodies linked with coronavirus, according to researchers. 
1 in 3 test positive for Covid-19 ANTIBODIES in pilot Massachusetts street study

If the goal is to restart the American economy, the United States isn’t performing anywhere near enough tests. Worse still, we are testing the wrong people. To safely reopen closed businesses and revive American social life, we need to perform many more tests—and focus them on the people most likely to spread COVID-19, not sick patients.
To shift the focus of testing away from the sickest patients and toward the people most likely to spread the coronavirus, we will have to conduct millions of tests a day.




//WW

FAMINE AFTER THE PANDEMIC?

Mountain of spuds discarded by Idaho farmers
Some farmers in Idaho have such extreme surpluses that they are dumping potato crops, and dairy farms have begun feeding the potatoes to their cattle.


Farmers Dump Milk, Break Eggs as Coronavirus Restaurant Closings Destroy DemandProducers are throttling back as the virus erases sales to restaurants, hotels and cafeterias; ‘It was heart-wrenching’. 


Thousands of acres of Florida fruits, veggies left to rot amid coronavirus pandemic
Farmers can't sell them to restaurants, theme parks or schools nationwide right now.
Other states are having the same issues — agriculture officials say leafy greens in California are being hit especially hard, and dairy farmers in Vermont and Wisconsin say they have had to dump a surplus of milk intended for restaurants.

For example, a few dozen people clamored to buy 25-pound boxes of Roma tomatoes direct from a packing plant over the weekend in Palmetto, a city on the western coast.

The cost per box? Just $5.

“This is a catastrophe,” tomato grower Tony DiMare, who owns farms in south Florida and the Tampa Bay area said. “We haven’t even started to calculate it. It’s going to be in the millions of dollars. Losses mount every day.”

Florida leads the U.S. in harvesting tomatoes, green beans, cabbage and peppers this time of year. While some of the crops are meant for grocery stores, many farmers cater solely to the so-called food service market — restaurants, schools and theme parks — hit hard as cities and states have ordered people to stay home and avoid others.

The loss has created a domino effect through the farming industry, Florida’s second-largest economic driver. It yields $155 billion in revenue and supports about 2 million jobs.

Many growers have donated produce to food banks, but there’s a limit on what the charities can accept and storage is an issue for perishable fruits and vegetables.


'Dairymen are really struggling': Pandemic forcing some Idaho dairy producers to dump milk


ADD TO THIS THE FLOODS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE NATION AND DROUGHTS IN PARTS OF FLORIDA AND THE WEST COAST, MAKING PLANTING DIFFICULT FOR MANY FARMS.


THE NEXT NEW 'PANDEMIC' WILL BE HUNGER, JUST AS WE SAW WHEN VENEZUELA'S ECONOMY COLLAPSED.
IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME. 

The world is facing widespread famine “of biblical proportions” because of the coronavirus pandemic, the chief of the UN’s food relief agency has warned, with a short time to act before hundreds of millions starve.

More than 30 countries in the developing world could experience widespread famine, and in 10 of those countries there are already more than 1 million people on the brink of starvation, said David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme.

“We are not talking about people going to bed hungry,” he told the Guardian in an interview. “We are talking about extreme conditions, emergency status – people literally marching to the brink of starvation. If we don’t get food to people, people will die.”

What appears to be certain is that the fragile healthcare systems of scores of developing countries will be unable to cope, and the economic disaster following in the wake of the pandemic will lead to huge strain on resources.


“This is truly more than just a pandemic – it is creating a hunger pandemic,” said Beasley. “This is a humanitarian and food catastrophe.”

Beasley took his message to the UN security council on Tuesday, warning world leaders that they must act quickly in a fast-deteriorating situation. He urged them to bring forward about $2bn (£1.6bn) of aid that has been pledged, so it can get to the frontline as quickly as possible.

Another $350m (£285m) is also needed to set up the logistics network to get food and medical supplies – including personal protective equipment – to where it is needed, including air bridges where ground transport is impossible.

Even before the Covid-19 crisis, Beasley was appealing to donor countries to up food relief funding to the poorest, because conflict and natural disaster were putting severe strain on food systems.

“I was already saying that 2020 would be the worst year since the second world war, on the basis of what we forecast at the end of last year,” he said. Added to that, earlier this year East Africa was hit by the worst locust swarms for decades, putting as many as 70 million people at risk.

But the Covid-19 pandemic, which no one could have foreseen, has “taken us to uncharted territory”, he said. “Now, my goodness, this is a perfect storm. We are looking at widespread famines of biblical proportions.”

According to a report produced by the UN and other organisations on Thursday, at least 265 million people are being pushed to the brink of starvation by the Covid-19 crisis, double the number under threat before the pandemic.

None of those looming deaths from starvation are inevitable, said Beasley. “If we get money, and we keep the supply chains open, we can avoid famine,” he said. “We can stop this if we act now.”

He said the situation even four weeks from now was impossible to forecast, stressing that donors must act with urgency. He urged countries not to put in place export bans or other restrictions on the supply of food across borders, which would lead to shortages.

But Beasley also warned that staving off the threat of famine would take months, so assistance would be needed well beyond the initial response. “Our grave concern is that we could begin to put Covid-19 behind us [in developed countries] in three or four months, and then the money runs out,” he said. “And if the money runs out people will die.”

Last year, the World Food Programme assisted about 100 million people in desperation, with a budget of about $7.5bn (£6bn). “I could easily see that need [for budget] doubling,” said Beasley.

Money alone will not be enough, he added. It is difficult for relief workers to get through lockdowns around the world and set up air bridges when transport is paralysed. “We need money and access – not one or the other, both.”

Also crucial is ensuring that supply chains stay open in the face of lockdowns and the difficulty of getting workers into the fields to tend crops if they are sick or unable to travel easily. “If the supply chain breaks down, people can’t get food – and if they can’t get food for long enough, they will die,” said Beasley.

“We are in this together. We can stop this becoming a widespread famine. But we need to act quickly and smartly.”


NOT LONG AGO, THE PHOTO BELOW WAS TAKEN FROM THE AIR WHEN A SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS FOOD BANK OPENED UP.

THERE WERE REPORTEDLY OVER 6,000 CARS LINED UP TO GET WHATEVER FOOD WAS TO BE HAD. 




Everything wrong with our food system has been made worse by the pandemic
More than two million euthanized chickens in Maryland, Delaware, and Minnesota recently joined the growing list of COVID-19 victims. Decreased demand for fresh food and workforce shortages caused by the pandemic are sending industrial food waste skyrocketing.

A pandemic-related spike in animal food waste and rising demand for plant-based alternatives brings more farmers to a critical crossroads: continue to raise animals, or grow crops instead. The millions of lost lives and countless pounds of dumped food exacerbate the existing problems of an already wasteful industry.


Five threats to US food supply chains

The coronavirus pandemic has upended food supply chains, led to closures of meat-producing plants, and left Americans with the unsettling experience of seeing empty shelves at supermarkets.

Here are five of the major challenges facing food supply chains.

1--Virus outbreaks at food plants

One vulnerable spot in the nation’s food supply chains is processing plants, where workers often stand in close quarters as they prepare food to be delivered to grocery stores and wholesale customers. The close proximity has increased the risk of outbreaks in the plants. Last week, Smithfield Foods [OWNED BY A CHINESE COMPANY. CHINA IS CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING A RISING SWINE FLU EPIDERMIC IN ITS PIGS] ], the world’s largest pork producer, shut down a pork processing plant that accounts for up to 5 percent of production after more than 500 of its workers were infected. One worker has died from COVID-19.

Other processors, including Tysons Food, Cargill and JBS, have also been forced to close plants after workers got sick.


2--Agricultural reliance on guest workers

President Trump announced Monday that he would “suspend immigration” but is reportedly not planning to include guest worker programs in the ban.

One likely reason is that America’s agricultural sector depends heavily on foreign workers to pick crops. Last year, nearly 250,000 foreign workers were employed in American agriculture.

The pandemic and some of the policies surrounding it could be a problem for farmers and their workers.


3--Supply chain mismatches

Even as some grocery store aisles are empty and food banks clamor for donations, some agricultural businesses are resorting to spilling or throwing away huge quantities of food.

Some $5 billion of fresh fruits and vegetables have already gone to waste, according to the Produce Marketing Association, an industry trade group. Some dairies have been pouring thousands of gallons of milk down the drain.

The reason is that the country's supply chains are set for normal times, when people get a significant amount of food from restaurants and many kids eat lunch and drink a carton of milk at school.

Those supply chains are struggling to adapt to the lockdown reality in which most Americans are confined to home.

Grocery stores don't have relationships with wholesale producers, which in turn do not have the facilities for packaging and selling food in a way people are used to seeing it on shelves.

The 50-pound bags of flour that mills sell to large bakeries, for example, are of little use to people buying for a family of four.


4--Increased food insecurity

Even before the pandemic began, 37 million people were considered food insecure, according to Monica Hake, a senior research manager at Feeding America, a hunger-prevention group.

The economic downturn from the coronavirus is only set to make that number rise.

In late March, Hake projected that a 7.6-point rise in the unemployment rate would increase the number of food-insecure people by 17.1 million.

So far, more than 20 million people have applied for unemployment, which economists say translates to a roughly 15 percent unemployment rate, up 11.5 points from before the pandemic.

But with most schools closed through the end of the year, children who often rely on school meals face particular challenges.

5--Crunch on delivery capacity

As more and more cities have locked down, the problem of how to get food into people's homes has grown.

People practicing stringent social distancing have resorted to grocery deliveries, leaving delivery services strapped for workers.

Grocery stores have had to implement new cleaning and social distancing guidelines and in many places are limiting the number of shoppers allowed in at a time. They require customers to wait in lines outside, six feet apart, and wear face masks in the stores.

That's taken a tough toll on the grocery store workers, whom states such as Minnesota have deemed essential.

Delivery people and grocery store workers alike face increased risks of getting sick.
Given the low pay and benefits often associated with the work, an uptick in COVID-19 cases among workers could make the positions harder to fill.
CONSIDER THE LONG-TERM EFFECT OF UNEMPLOYMENT DURING THIS PANDEMIC.

Famine among poor and vulnerable people can result from multiple causes, as Amartya Sen demonstrated in his book 'Poverty and Famines'.
Sen cited examples in which there was no decline in the total amount of food available.

The problem was its distribution among people and over time.
And here, markets and other institutions play a crucial role.

Lockdowns can disrupt the production and distribution of food, alongside a collapse in poor people's earnings and higher food prices.
We are learning that today's food supply chains have vulnerabilities, even in rich countries.

Limited state capacity will also aggravate many developing countries' challenges in combating the pandemic. Because public administration tends to be weaker in poorer countries, some of the measures that rich countries have introduced are simply not feasible. Adaptation to local administrative capabilities is essential.


When serious shortages begin appearing in more and more locations, and no restocking is taking place, that will be a big red flag that it’s about to get really bad.

Week after week, I find almost NO meat products in local grocery stores, few staples like rice, beans, pastas, still no toilet paper unless you're there when the doors open and the mad rush flows in. 
Produce just isn't coming back in quantity. 
It's just about impossible to find ingredients for a simple salad in our tiny rural community. 
I'm hoping local farmers will begin offering such items soon.
If not....

We may not see recovery from this soon enough. 
We may find ourselves in a situation comparable to when a hurricane hits an area, or a major flood happens....just nowhere to deliver food where it can be safely stored to keep it fresh, nowhere to go to buy it. 

Hopefully not.

Maybe not.

But keep your ears to the ground…
We've all read of sporadic mini-riots because of the inavailability of food when this first began, but when we hear of things like that DAILY, we likely won't be able to recover in time to prevent the panic spreading.

I PRAY BOTH I AND THE 'EXPERTS' ARE WRONG, BUT AS I'VE WRITTEN HERE MANY TIMES, "WHOEVER CONTROLS THE FOOD, CONTROLS THE WORLD", AND IT IS ALL ABOUT CONTROL, ISN'T IT?








//WW