Here is a list of what floodwaters can contain... Stay away from floodwaters!!

Growing up in the 50's, I remember the terror regarding polio. My mother would not let us go to the swimming pool because "children who went to public pools got polio." We wanted to go because it was so hot and we had no air conditioning. Turned out, my mother and the others were right. Polio was overwhelmingly spread through minute amounts of oral fecal transmission.  Once we got our polio shots (2), we were good to go. We were immune from polio. No one said , don't go back to swimming pools. Once vaccinated, no one got the disease, not even a mild case. The above is background for my comments pertaining to the CDC's latest announcement.  Federal officials have been acting more oddly than usual over the last ten days. For example, this photo of Dr. Jill Biden greeting American Olympic athletes in Tokyo. They are, 1) outdoors, 2) everyone in the photo is vaccinated, 3) there are no spectators in the stands; and yet, Mrs. Biden is masked. The photo virtually shouts...

Story here .

Marty Makary M.D.     @MartyMakary 2m Hospitals: Stop worrying about offending your state dept of health and do the right thing! Get vaccines in the arms vulnerable community members quickly!

[Updated, 6/29, 12:20pm] Unbelievable . Good grief, what is next?! Why does anyone have faith in our government? ! [Original Post] First it was wearing masks in the wide-open outdoors. I have written about that nonsense here , here , and here , among other places. Then, it was Dr. Fauci and others deliberately lying to us about the use of masks indoors. I don't care whether it was intended as a "noble" lie or not. It was a lie and he, and the others, knew it at the time. People may have died as a result. Now, we learn this: Headline From "WattsUpWithThat" So, physicians are going to limit the use of general anesthetic ," not because it is in the best interest of the patient but because those gases ' contribute to global warming .' Except they don't. The quantities used for medical care are so minuscule that they don't matter for climatological considerations. Regardless, patient care should be the sole consideration in t...

Up until this week, the " narrative " was: Yet, the latest (politically correct) precautions , issued today,  exempt  people of color: The destruction of the credibility of the field of public health continues apace.

I'm pleased to announce that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted U.S. Patent 10,679,482 to me and my three co-inventors. The patent's abstract: A system that stores a user profile that associates a wearable alert device with a user and includes contact information for an emergency contact, receives information indicative of a real-time location of the wearable alert device and information indicating that the user of the wearable alert device is potentially experiencing an abnormal physiological condition, and outputs an alert for transmittal to the emergency contact that includes an indication that the user is potentially experiencing the abnormal physiological condition and the real-time location of the wearable alert device. For licensing information, please contact Michael Root .

The MSM continues to publish science-free stories urging us to wear masks outdoors. As usual, the CDC did not provide any scientific evidence behind its 'encouragement.'  The above article is here . A similar science-free "use masks outdoors" article is here . Note: I'm not looking for peer-reviewed study specifically for novel coronavirus. I'm looking for any  study that shows masks are necessary to prevent the study to prevent the outdoor transmission of viruses. As far as I can tell, they don't exist. Meanwhile, the circumstantial evidence that it is extremely difficult to contract COVID-19 outdoors is looking very strong. 1. New , from Seattle , analysis here . After repeated outdoor protests with thousands crowded together, the number of cases went down.  2. Repeating my earlier commentary pertaining to the Memorial Day Lake of the Ozarks party and the complete lack of cases that resulted . [Update: 12:30pm, 6/15. There was one person w...

I've been to Yosemite. It is vast and indescribably beautiful. People have called it a wilderness "church." The description is apt. Until a few minutes ago, I had no idea anyone would have the insane idea to close Yosemite for coronavirus, let alone actually do such a thing. It is just too absurd to imagine. It is as if public health officials had regressed to the 19th Century " miasma theory " (mysterious, almost supernatural, "bad air" caused diseases) when dealing with coronavirus (CV). Look at the photo above. Then, look at the photo (from one of yesterday's George Floyd protests) below. Yet, according to public health officials, protesting is fine but you must have a reservation for the vastness of Yosemite?! Have they forgotten everything science has learned about how viral illness spreads? In today's "throw something at the wall and see if it sticks" news from the field of public health, the World Health Organizati...

I want my medical advice to be free of politics  and political correctness.  I don't care whether Dr. Fauci wants to "make it a symbol" or not. I don't care whether he thinks it shows "respect" or not. More and more, I question Dr. Fauci's priorities . A physician prescribing or recommending a mask or other medical advice should be based  solely  on whether it will prove a patient with a health benefit or whether it will provide a public health benefit to others. "Gestures," "respect." and "symbols" have nothing to do with it. San Francisco's absurd new order mandating masks whenever anyone is within 30 feet -- even outdoors  -- is nothing but authoritarianism. In  The Home of the Brave and the Land of the Fre e,  this should not stand.

No kidding.  Come on, Governor Kelly In March, when we thought coronavirus was much more communicable than flu and 26 times more likely to be fatal, "Stay Home. Stay Safe. Save Lives." was a sensible slogan. Yesterday, when this image was captured, it had morphed into politically correct B.S. and, in my opinion, a cowardly thing to promote. It is long past time to be hiding in the basement. There is now no reason to "stay home." Kansas is very low risk . Out of a population of 2.9+ million, we've had fewer than 10,000 cases. Deaths have been a small fraction of what was originally forecasted. It is summer. Cases are decreasing rapidly (below). Now, Kansans need jobs, recreation, and a restoration of collegiality among friends, neighbors and families. This is not a D vs R issue. By far, the most effective Kansas Governor of my lifetime was Democrat Robert Docking. Kansas has a chance to get out ahead of other states by  opening up quickly. Let...

Weather science has learned a great deal from social science pertaining to how people react in pressure storm warning situations. I'm listing the lessons meteorologists have learned, in no particular order, in case they are helpful in the cornonavirus (CV) situation.  Stop telling people, "don't panic." It is both patronizing and unhelpful. Social scientists know genuine panic is rare. When does it occur? Two situations: a) When people's lives are threatened and they don't know how to save them; and b) When something prevents people from taking the measures they know are needed to save their lives or things dear to them. Want to prevent panic? Then, tell people what they need to do and enable them to do it.  There seems  to be a developing gap between what we are being told about CV and the actual situation. Last week, we were being told CV is 6-9 times more contagious than regular flu and 10 to 25 times more lethal. Various publications stated this would...

Regardless of politics, Joe Biden is an elderly man. Being surrounded like this when people are being asked to "spread out" (my term) because of coronavirus is just not smart for any of the people involved. I would like to see all of the Presidential campaigns cease activities like these. The CDC has issued a new set of recommendations for the elderly and people with certain health issues. You will find them  here .

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen some tweets sent to me that played down the threat of the coronavirus. I'd like to make some comments here because I believe this is an important topic. As meteorologists know better than anyone, forecasting the future is hard.  We are in just the first ten days of this in the United States. Whether it is a "big deal" will not be known for at least another 2 to 4 weeks.  Depending on the source, coronavirus appears to be 10 to 25 times more lethal than influenza. That is a huge difference and makes corona highly dangerous, especially for those above the age of 60 or who have other medical issues.  No, coronavirus is not a minor problem because influenza killed 38,000 so far this year. Again, we don't know how many cornonavirus is going to kill.  But, regardless, that contention misses the point. The people who died had the option of getting a flu shot .  While the flu shot is not completely effective, it o...

Highly recommended reading from a man who adopted a girl from China. The above is pertinent after seeing the figures (from yesterday) below. After reading the above link, please watch Milton Friedman from :30 to 3:00.  Finally, after viewing the above, give this a quick read .

The feather-raising story is here .

A fascinating article about an unsung hero of science . An excerpt: Doctors were missing signs that a baby was, for example, starved of oxygen, a factor in half of newborn deaths. Some doctors assumed that babies that were underweight or struggling to breathe should be left to die. “It was considered better not to be aggressive. You dried them, you shook them and some doctors patted them on the backside and that was it,” said Professor Alan Fleischman, professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.  There was a dire need for a system that checked vital signs, such as heartbeat and breathing rate, from the minute a baby was born. That way, the appropriate special care could be put into place before it was too late.  Virginia’s eureka moment occurred one morning while she was having breakfast in the hospital canteen. One of her medical students asked her how to evaluate newborn babies’ wellbeing. Virginia replied, “That’s easy. You would...

While readers of this blog have had a preview, we are officially announcing Diseasecast.com . DiseaseCast is a consumer focused disease forecasting site and mobile application.  The site is powered by Big Data Media, a subsidiary of Luminar Media Group.  Data presented at DiseaseCast is provided by flu outbreak forecaster Ascel Bio.   DiseaseCast presents America’s only zip code specific forecast for chronic and infectious disease risks.   Multiple models for risks are displayed for human an avian influenza risk, foodborne and waterborne diseases, mosquito diseases, as well as heart attack risks.  The site has unique visualizations that look exactly like weather maps.  The risk maps are derived from reliable environmental and public health data, and Ascel Bio uses operationally proven and peer reviewed assessment approaches.  Models and approaches were first used by Ascel Bio in clinical settings since 2011.   At the site, there ar...

Before I was allowed to invest in Ascel Bio , they required me to read two books on the topic of public health. I had no idea of the appalling (by today's standards) disease and other issues caused by (to put it delicately) improper treatment of sewage. According to Bill Gates, more than half of the world uses inadequate sewage handling which causes millions of lives. So, I recommend reading his story of flying halfway around the world to look at a toilet .

West Nile is a very serious disease, borne by mosquitos, as reported here . The article was published earlier today. Here is Ascel Bio's latest forecast for mosquito-borne illnesses: You can get the latest forecasts for the risk of flu, mosquito-borne illnesses and others here:  diseasecast.com .