Another Anti-Vaccine Radio Host Is Killed By Covid—Adding To A Growing List
Tommy Beer Forbes Staff
Bob Enyart, a conservative radio talk show host in Denver who urged listeners to boycott Covid-19 vaccines and vowed never to get a shot, has lost his life after contracting the virus, one of his co-hosts announced earlier this week, in what is but the latest instance of a right-wing radio pundit succumbing to the coronavirus.
Bob Enyart reportedly used to “gleefully read obituaries of AIDS sufferers while cranking ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ by Queen,” and called for women who received an abortion to be sentenced to death. DP
Key Facts
On his show, entitled Real Science Radio, Enyart falsely claimed the vaccines were developed using aborted fetal cells and wrote on the show’s website blog in August advising “everyone to boycott Pfizer, Moderna and the Johnson to further increase social tension and put pressure on the child killers.”
According to a Washington Post report, Enyart “used to gleefully read obituaries of AIDS sufferers while cranking ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ by Queen,” and repeatedly called for women who received an abortion to be sentenced to death.
At least four other right-wing radio hosts have died of Covid-19 since early August after each previously cast doubt on the safety of vaccines or fought against mask mandates and other public health initiatives.
Dick Farrel, a Florida-based conservative radio host and anchor on Newsmax TV who had called vaccines “bogus bullsh*t” and characterized Dr. Anthony Fauci as a “lying freak,” died on August 4 due to complications from Covid-19.
In late August, Marc Bernier, who spoke out against Covid-19 vaccines and even called himself “Mr. Anti-Vax” on his radio show from Daytona Beach, died after battling the virus for weeks.
Jimmy DeYoung Sr., a religious radio broadcaster from Tennessee who published an interview advancing a conspiracy theory that the Pfizer vaccine would make women sterile and asked if the virus and vaccines were forms of governmental control, died on August 18 after contracting Covid.
Phil Valentine, a popular conservative talk radio host in Nashville who voiced vaccine skepticism and mocked Democrats’ efforts to encourage people to get the jab, was killed by the virus in mid-August after reportedly telling his brother he regretted not being a “more vocal advocate” of getting inoculated.
A detailed new study from the C.D.C. found that an unvaccinated elementary school teacher in Marin County, Calif., spread the coronavirus to half of her 24-student class in May and June when she lowered her mask to read aloud, in violation of the district’s rules.
Twelve of her students, who were masked but too young to be vaccinated, subsequently contracted the virus. The Delta variant outbreak subsequently spread to at least 26 people.
“I thought I respected its contagiousness,” Dr. Lisa Santora, deputy health officer the Marin Health and Human Services and an author of the report, said of the Delta variant. But its efficiency in overtaking the classroom “surprised and humbled” her.
Bibb County, Georgia, Schools sends classes home for remote learning
The district says they made the decision after seeing rising COVID-19 cases
“In reviewing the number of COVID-19 cases for schools each day, officials noticed the number of positive COVID-19 cases is slowly increasing in these schools,” according to a Bibb County Schools press release. “In order to ensure the safety and wellness of our students and staff, we made the decision to switch these schools to asynchronous learning for a brief period. This will help reduce any possible spread of COVID-19.”
Since moving to Atlanta after his wife began working at the CDC I have been following GM Alonso Zapata’s exploits on the Chessboard and we have been communicating via email. After his dismal, and uncharacteristic performance (Although the highest rated player, Alonso finished in a tie for 7th place after managing to draw 6 games while losing 3) at the recent Summer 2021 CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational held July 28-Aug 1, 2021 at the Charlotte Chess Club & Scholastic Center (https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2021/08/03/the-charlotte-chess-center-scholastic-academy-summer-2021-cccsa-gm-im-norm-invitational-extravaganza/) I sent Alonso an email which was not answered until last night. I have chosen to publish some of the email because it answers the questions posed in the above aforementioned post, and because the more information the Chess world has on what is happening with the dreaded virus the better decisions those who decide (that made me think of George Dubya Bush and the time he said:
Bush the Decider
Dear Michael Bacon.
Thanks for your email.
Before, I want to mention that I participated in looking to improve my rating. I had already experienced a similar event before, and I did very well, gaining a considerable rating.
You are right; I played very poorly, even I did not understand how with so many positions with huge advantages, even very close to winning (as in the one you mention), I could not define. Michael, I didn’t answer you because I’ve been depressed these days. In the tournament, I felt lacking in energy and concentration. My chess didn’t flow, I slept little, and it affected my self-confidence.
Once the tournament was over, I returned home; after driving for about 4.5 hours, my symptoms became more noticeable: runny nose, cough, malaise, fever, discouragement. I thought it was an unpleasant flu; I was calm because I had the two Pfizer vaccines against Covid -19.
To not extend the story, after a couple of days without improving, I took the test, and it came out positive for Covid-19. I immediately called the Tournament Organizer in Charlotte, Grant Owen, to inform him, hoping that no one else had picked it up. To my peace of mind, there was no other sick player.
(Redacted)
Fortunately, I already feel recovered.
I want to add that competing with Coronavirus disease is a terrible nightmare!
My best wishes, Alonso Zapata
Of course I answered immediately, offering condolences and expressing sympathy, while being pleased he had recovered. Then after having watched some of the evening bluews, as I have come to think of it, I sat down to punch ‘n poke this into my daily log: News from Macon is a 4 year old boy is in hospital with Covid fighting for his life…Young woman died in a Baton Rouge hospital from Covid after delivering a 4 pound three ounce baby. She did not take the vaccine because those in charge had not yet given the OK for pregnant women to take the vaccine…Parents are marching in an attempt to get school boards to require masks be worn…This after the idiot Republican Governor of our state Brian Kemp
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order Thursday that bans cities from requiring businesses to enforce local restrictions aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic. Credit John Bazemore / AP Photo
He stands towering over me beside my bed Losing his head Tells me I must take him seriously Droning on the usual way He’s such a clever guy And I wonder should I laugh or cry
He’s (he’s) dressed (dressed) in the striped pajamas that I bought Trousers too short Gives (gives) me (me) of his small philosophy Carries on the way he does And me I get so tired And I wonder should I laugh or cry High and mighty his banner flies A fool’s pride in his eyes Standin’ there on his toes to grow in size (All I see is) All I see is a big balloon Halfway up to the moon He’s wrapped up in the warm and safe cocoon Of an eternal lie So should I laugh or cry
Strange (strange) how (how) dangerously indifferent I have grown Cold as a stone No (no) more (more) pain where there was pain before Far away he rambles on, I feel my throat go dry And I wonder should I laugh or cry
High and mighty his banner flies A fool’s pride in his eyes Standin’ there on his toes to grow in size (All I see is) All I see is a big balloon Halfway up to the moon He’s wrapped up in a warm and safe cocoon Of an eternal lie So should I laugh or cry
While the majority of the attention of the Chess World has been focused on the World Cup I have been focusing my attention on the US Senior, and US Junior, championships being contested in St. Louis, which is now considered a Covid “hot spot.” St. Louis County Is Now A ‘Red Zone’ For COVID-19, According To The CDC. A third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is coming, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force warned yesterday. (https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2021/07/21/st-louis-county-is-now-a-red-zone-for-covid-19-according-to-the-cdc)
The hottest Chess spot in the USA is at the St. Louis Chess Club, where the intrepid boys, girls, and Men are battling it out over a Chess board in three separate tournaments, the US Senior; US Junior; and a completely separate “US Girls Junior Championship.”
Before the US Senior began I predicted the winner to be either Alexander Shabalov, or Larry Christiansen,
a man with whom I stayed up all night playing Backgammon, after he beat me handily at a simultaneous exhibition sponsored by Church’s Fried Chicken in the 1970s. I won the Backgammon battle. Larry kept looking at me with a look that said, “I beat this chumpy-lumpy like a drum at Chess. Why am I losing to the guy at Backgammon?” The stake was only a quarter a point, far below the stake for which I usually played, but it was Larry C., and Chess players don’t have much money, even those traveling the country giving simuls. Larry spent the night at the home of former Georgia Chess Champion Michael Decker, which is where we “rolled the bones.” Still, that twenty five cents would now be worth about two bucks, Chuck, if you get my drift…
Yesterday Larry had to face the Kentucky Lion, Gregory Kaidanov,
who had run away from the field, scoring 5 1/2 points in the first 6 rounds! He was a full point ahead of Larry C. at 4 1/2, who was a point and a half ahead of the four players with 3 points. Larry C. was in need of a victory. What do you play against an opponent who is obviously in form in that situation? You bring out “The truth as it was known in those far off days.”
Larry Christiansen (2634) Age: 65 vs Gregory Kaidanov (2626) Age: 61
e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 (SF plays 3…c6) 4. Nc3 (SF plays 4 Nf3) 4….Bb4 5. Ne2 (SF 080221 @depth50 plays this move, but the same engine chuggin’ only one more ply would play 5 Nf3) 5…d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Be6 8. Bxd5 Bxd5 9. f4 f6 (SF 13 @depth 41 plays the game move, but SF 14 @depth 33 would play 9…Bxc3) 10. fxe5 Nxe5 (SF takes with the knight, but Houdini would take with the pawn. There is only one game, found at 365Chess, with 10…fxe5, which can be found below) 11. Nxd5
(Komodo shows this move, but Deep Fritz would play 11 d4, which was played in:
GM Alexander Zaitsev 2473 RUS vs GM Klementy Sychev 2537 RUS
Wch Blitz 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.d3 Bb4 5.Ne2 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.O-O Be6 8.Bxd5 Bxd5 9.f4 f6 10.fxe5 Nxe5 11.d4 Nc6 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.c3 Bd6 14.Nf4 Bxf4 15.Bxf4 O-O-O 16.Qf3 Qxf3 17.Rxf3 Rhe8 18.Kf2 Rd7 19.Re3 Rxe3 20.Bxe3 a5 21.a4 Re7 22.g4 Kd7 23.Rg1 Rf7 24.h4 Ne7 25.c4 Nc6 26.Bd2 Nxd4 27.Bxa5 Nc6 28.Bc3 f5 29.g5 g6 30.b4 Re7 31.Rd1+ Kc8 32.Bf6 Re8 33.b5 Ne5 34.c5 Ng4+ 35.Kf3 Ne5+ 36.Kf2 c6 37.h5 Nd7 38.Bd4 Re4 39.hxg6 hxg6 40.Kf3 Rg4 41.bxc6 bxc6 42.Bf6 Nxc5 43.Rc1 Ne6 44.Rxc6+ Kd7 45.Ra6 Nxg5+ 46.Ke2 Ne4 47.Be5 Nc5 48.Rd6+ Ke7 49.a5 Re4+ 50.Kf3 Rxe5 51.Rxg6 Ne6 52.Rg8 Rxa5 0-1) 11.Qxd5 12. c3 Bd6 13. Nf4 (SF and Houey play 13 d4) 13….Qf7 14. d4 O-O-O 15. Qa4 (SF 12 @depth 43 would play a move near and dear to my heart, 15 Qe2!) 15…a6 16. dxe5 (SF 31 @depth 31 would play 16 Qb3, but the SF program churning at ChessBomb would play the move Larry played in the game) 16…Bc5+ 17. Kh1 fxe5 18. Re1 (This is a TN, but not the best move. 18 Qe4 was played in the Mons vs Raggar game given below. Given the chance SF 170521 @depth 49 would play 18 Rf3)
Risto Eskola (2153) vs Antti Lehto Event: FIN-chT 0203 Site: Finland Date: 10/20/2002 Round: 3 ECO: C24 Bishop’s opening, Berlin defence
Leon Mons (2554) vs Markus Ragger (2701) Event: TCh-AUT 2018-19 Site: Austria AUT Date: 01/18/2019 Round: 6.5 ECO: C24 Bishop’s opening, Berlin defence
The South May See the Largest Share of Coronavirus Misery
By: Christine Vestal April 13, 2020
The French Quarter of New Orleans was deserted last month, amid restrictions in place to help deal with the pandemic.
Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press
It looks increasingly likely the South will endure more death and economic loss from COVID-19 than any other region in the country — and not just because Southern governors were slow to shut down businesses and order people to stay at home.
Southern poverty rates are high, social welfare programs spotty and health care infrastructure threadbare. Last year, 120 rural U.S. hospitals closed their doors; 75 of them were in the South.
And emerging data from some cities and states shows that black people — more than half of whom live in the South — are contracting and dying from the virus at a disproportionately high rate.
Because of poverty and limited access to health care, African Americans more often have underlying health conditions — such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, obesity and asthma — that increase the risk of death from COVID-19. In addition, African Americans more often work in essential frontline jobs that make social distancing impossible.
“The South is expected to be hit hard, because African Americans are expected to be hit hard,” said Dr. Harry Heiman, a professor at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health. “There’s no getting around that.”
Still, he and other advocates for low-income people say it’s not too late for elected leaders in the South to enact policies that could substantially improve the region’s chances for recovery.
Medicaid Politics
Expanding Medicaid is at the top of every advocate’s wish list. Of the 14 states that still refuse federal money to extend the low-income health plan to thousands of adults, nine are in the South.
Medicaid expansion, which would provide health insurance to hundreds of thousands of low-income people with the federal government paying 90% of the cost, is the best way for Southern states to boost their budgets, according to a study by researchers at Harvard University published last month in response to the coronavirus crisis.
“There is no moment in recent memory more critical than now to bolster Medicaid,” they wrote. “Covering more people in Medicaid is a rapid way to bring needed resources into the health care system and infuse federal dollars into state economies on the verge of a major downturn.”
Virus hot spots in South poised for disproportionate suffering
With equipment shortages coast to coast, local officials are left begging residents to stay indoors.
An street in New Orleans is empty due to the coronavirus pandemic. | Chris Graythen/Getty Images
By DAN GOLDBERG and ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
St. John the Baptist Parish, just southeast of Baton Rouge, La., has a population of just over 43,000 — and the highest per capita coronavirus mortality rate in the nation.
Frantic local officials instituted an overnight curfew just this week and are begging residents to stay home. But in largely rural Southern states like Louisiana — where social distancing has been spotty, widespread testing is unavailable and hospitals are poorer and farther apart — the response may be coming too late to avoid a public health crisis as bad as the one now engulfing New York.
Hot spots like St. John the Baptist are erupting across the South. The virus is also poised to consume the area around Norfolk, Va., a rural county in Tennessee just north of Nashville and parts of southwest Georgia near Albany, according to models assembled by Columbia University epidemiologists. And without the resources of major cities, these areas are poised to see disproportionate suffering, economic hardship and death when cases peak.
“There is no city anywhere in the world that can withstand the outbreak that would occur if there isn’t rigorous social distancing,” said Tom Frieden, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director.
Investigators arrested a California train engineer Tuesday after he allegedly derailed a train in a bid to crash into the USNS Mercy,
the hospital ship treating non-COVID-19 patients at the Port of Los Angeles to lessen the burden on area hospitals, prosecutors said.
Eduardo Moreno, 44, was expected to appear in court Wednesday for arraignment on train wrecking charges.
Around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Moreno allegedly ran the train at full speed off the end of the tracks near the Navy medical boat, smashing through several concrete and chain barriers, before sliding through a parking lot nearly 250 yards from the Mercy, according to the criminal complaint.
Prosecutors say Moreno was “suspicious of the USNS Mercy,” believing officials were lying about its true purpose. He believed “it had an alternate purpose related to covid-19 or a government takeover,” they said.
Moreno told detectives he had been “putting the pieces together.” He no longer believed “the ship is what they say it’s for.” He believed “they are segregating us, and it needs to be put in the open,” according to the affidavit, which doesn’t explain what Moreno might have meant by that.
He was pushing his last train of the day, a cargo bound for Vietnam, when the idea hit him: He could “draw the world’s attention” to the USNS Mercy if he derailed the train, and then “people could see for themselves,” according to the affidavit. He could “wake people up.”
Recently appointed new girl of the US Senate Kelly Loeffler
is at it again. She is “fessin” up and “coming clean” as we say down South with new disclosures about the massive amount of money she and her aiding and abetting CEO husband have had someone else make trades for them. Yeah, right. If you believe that after reading the article you are dumber than this blond:
Keep this in mind while reading excerpts from the article:
A $1,000 emergency would push many Americans into debt by Annie Nova and Published Wed, Jan 23
Loeffler reports more stock sales amid insider trading allegations
By
Tia Mitchell & Chris Joyner, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s most recent financial disclosures show that millions of dollars in stocks were sold on her behalf at the same time Congress was dealing with the impact of the coronavirus.
The largest transactions — and the most politically problematic — involve $18.7 million in sales of Intercontinental Exchange stock in three separate deals dated Feb. 26 and March 11. Loeffler is a former executive with ICE, and her husband, Jeff Sprecher, is the CEO of the company, which owns the New York Stock Exchange among other financial marketplaces.
During the same time period reflected on reports filed late Tuesday, the couple also sold shares in retail stores such as Lululemon and T.J. Maxx and invested in a company that makes COVID-19 protective garments. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution got the first look at these reports, covering mid-February through mid-March and shedding new light on Loeffler’s financial transactions during the pandemic. Previous reports — which have put Loeffler in the national spotlight — covered her trading during the first six weeks of 2020.
Loeffler provided the numbers to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and they were more exact than what would appear on a federal campaign finance disclosure.
The newer stock sales came as the broader markets were diving, and they are likely to fuel allegations that Georgia’s new senator used her insider knowledge about the severity of the pandemic to dump holdings while simultaneously releasing statements about the strength of the American economy and complimenting President Donald Trump on his response. The STOCK Act, a law that went into effect in 2012, makes it illegal for senators to use inside information for financial gain.
Chester Spatt, a professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University, said all these senators could have avoided controversy by declining to buy or sell stocks in individual companies. Spatt, who served as an SEC economist from 2004 through 2007, said senators now must deal with the erosion of public confidence as a result of these transactions.
“This is why senators shouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “The burden is on them to demonstrate they were not using insider information.”
Details of individual transactions are less important than the overall perception that senators were making investment decisions at the same time they were receiving private information about the coronavirus pandemic, said attorney Walter Jospin, who for three years served as director of the SEC’s regional office in Atlanta. He said the senators, their spouses and advisers are likely to face questions about whether members shared private information or directed transactions.
Jospin is a donor to Democratic candidates and organizations.
“I have no idea whether these senators violated the federal securities laws,” he said. “I am sure that the SEC will conduct a full and fair investigation. With that said, these trades were, in the context of a worldwide health and economic crisis, certainly unseemly.”
is the World Chess Co-Champion of Classical Chess, by his own admission. Magnus was unable to win even one classical game in the last match for the the World Human Chess Championship with Fabiano Caruana.
only once in the previous match. He did, though, also lose one game. Magnus is considered World Human Chess Champion only because he happens to be better at playing ‘hurry up and get it over’ Chess.
Mr. Carlsen is proof positive that Chess does not make one “smart.” From the Chess24 article:
Carlsen on Kramnik (and Lawrence’s) suggestion to give Radjabov a 2022 wild card
“This is just my opinion. I think if he had wanted to play the tournament he would have played it.”
Lawrence: You think he didn’t want to play it, not related to the crisis?
“I think it’s partly but not fully. That is just my opinion. I think he was very happy to win the World Cup but he didn’t particularly fancy playing the Candidates, which I can understand. It’s an ordeal, and he had a rough time the last time [in the 2013 London Candidates Radjabov lost 7 games and finished last, 2 points behind the next player]. Obviously the corona situation gave his already I would think pre-existing opinion that he didn’t particularly want to play a lot of substance, that now he had a legitimate reason not to play. I’m not saying that his reason was not legitimate, I’m just saying that all the other guys did play and I’m sure they had concerns as well. That is just my take.
You can see that with Maxime, for instance. He stepped in on short notice and he’s not been one of the guys who’s complained at all about the situation. He’s just happy to be there, he wants to play and all of that stuff about it being a difficult situation and so on – yeah, of course it’s a difficult situation, of course it’s not the best atmosphere for a chess tournament, but you chose to be there, and so if you choose to be there then you play, you do your job and you have to trust the authorities there to make the decisions – FIDE, the Russian government and so on. As long as they feel that it’s safe to hold the tournament then you’re holding it.
Obviously the situation we have now is not ideal, but I think giving Radjabov the wild card for 2022 – that I would find just ridiculous. You could make the case that he should actually play in this one now that it’s been postponed and the situation is different. I don’t feel that way, I don’t know the law, I don’t know what is supposed to happen there, but to me it doesn’t feel justified that he should play even if it resumes, but I would understand it. But 2022… no!”
Evidently the World Co-Chess Champ of Classical Chess is a mind reader. Mr. Carlsen mentions a bad tournament by Mr. Radjabov SEVEN YEARS AGO! AS we go through life we change. An example would be the article, How your personality changes as you age, in which we find, “Our personalities were long thought to be fixed by the time we reach our 30s, but the latest research suggests they change throughout our lives.” (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200313-how-your-personality-changes-as-you-age)
is a different person than he was in 2013. Could it be that Magnus, after playing over the recent games of Mr. Radjabov would prefer to NOT have to face Mr. Radjabov? Magnus Carlsen is twenty nine years of age and in Chess terms getting a little long in the tooth.
Consider this reply by KoustavChatterjee1:
“It’s amazing how arrogant some chess players are. They still say that Rajdabov withdrawing was because he was afraid of playing in the Candidates, even though there’s so much evidence to the contrary (him hiring seconds, the amount of prep etc).
Rajdabov is completely validated in his decision to withdraw from the event, as health and safety matters way more than chess. The players who went and played, didn’t do anything brave. They were just thinking about their careers and acting as professionals. Rajdabov sacrificed one of the best opportunities of his career for the greater good.
This thread is a perfect example as to how playing chess doesn’t correlate with being generally smart – proven by the World champ, and multiple people who commented here – who don’t realize that a tournament (no matter how important) is not worth the potential risks that a deadly pandemic entails.” (https://chess24.com/en/read/news/carlsen-dvorkovich-kramnik-on-ending-the-candidates)
Then there is this from BabarBouzouardo:
“Carlsen speaking of Radjabov: “That is just my opinion. I think he was very happy to win the World Cup, but he didn’t particularly fancy playing the Candidates, which I can understand. It’s an ordeal, and he had a rough time the last time [in the 2013 London Candidates Radjabov lost 7 games and finished last, 2 points behind the next player]. Obviously the corona situation gave his already I would think pre-existing opinion that he didn’t particularly want to play a lot of substance, that now he had a legitimate reason not to play.” … Bravo chess genius, you figured out everything about all subjects! Indeed you are a genius …! At first, Carlsen looked polite, respectful and rather kind. It was the time when, as a teenager, he was accompanied to chess tournaments by his father. He then gradually became a young man and his father was no longer in the picture; at this point you could see a change in his character. He became more and more provocative, aggressive. Now that he has become world champion and is on the threshold of the 30 year age group, he clearly got a swollen head/ego and he has become an arrogant character full of himself. Is Carlsen infected with the Trumpitis virus? … Or, is he just a chess genius and simply an idiot? … Carlsen can now, disrespect competitors and fart higher than his ass as long as he is champion and get away with it, and with no consequences! But even the great Kasparov had to give way to a younger player by the age of 37 and even retire at 40! …. So what could an idiotic Carlen do, he who has not learned a thing, or known something, about reality and life. Once his chess lights will dim out, what will he do and how will he live in society? … I guess in contempt and bitterness!” (https://chess24.com/en/read/news/carlsen-dvorkovich-kramnik-on-ending-the-candidates)
I have been amazed at some of the things heard and read. WAKE UP PEOPLE! COVID-19 is not simply going to blow away with the wind. Things will most definitely NOT return to normal, whatever your interpretation of what is ‘normal’. For example:
Scientists warn we may need to live with social distancing for a year or more
“Americans need to prepare for the possibility of COVID-19 coming back as a seasonal illness,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a White House press briefing on Wednesday.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said there have been cases in Africa and the Southern Hemisphere, which is approaching colder seasons.
“If they have a substantial outbreak, it will be inevitable that we’ll get a cycle around the second time,” he said.”
I applaud your decision to end the 2020 Candidates tournament while regretting the tournament has only been postponed in lieu of terminated. As I posted in a comment at ChessBase:
The tournament should have been declared null and void. As far as what happens in the future that should be determined in the future because the sad fact of the matter is that one, or some, of the participants may not be alive in the aftermath of the COVID-19 devastation. In addition, there is the question of whether or not Chess will survive in the future. People of the future may have much more important things, such as survival, to occupy their time. https://en.chessbase.com/post/breaking-news-fide-stops-the-candidates-tournament
You and I are old, Vladimir. There is much more sand in the bottom of our hour glasses than the top. For those we leave behind I think of the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King,
I urge you to turn your swords into plowshares (https://biblehub.com/isaiah/2-4.htm), as I urge each and every other country to do the same. Be a force for good, not evil. It is time for the leaders of the world to, as the Beatles sang, “come together” in a spirit of cooperation. Give peace a chance. Be a force for construction, not destruction. As John F. Kennedy so eloquently said:
“Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
Before heading into dreamland last night, which did not come easy, I decided to concentrate on writing a few posts concerning Chess, as I have two book reviews to complete, one of which was begun, then stopped because it has been difficult focusing on Chess these daze…Checking my inbox this morning found this from the Mulfish, a very religious man whom I know will be mentioning Irina in his prayers. If you believe in that sort of thing, now is the time for prayer:
Michael Mulford <mmulfish@yahoo.com>
To:Michael Bacon
Sun, Mar 22 at 11:57 PM
Were you aware Irina Krush is positive?
An internet check found this at The Chess Mind, a blog by Dennis Monokroussos:
American GM Irina Krush
isn’t particularly old – she turned 36 last December – but she not only contracted the novel coronavirus but started experiencing serious, atypical symptoms. From her Facebook page:
“Last Wed night, March 11th, I started to feel a little bit under the weather. On Thursday I had an unpleasant temperature, 37.6, spent some extra time sleeping, but it got better after that. My temperature never went up again as high, it actually fluctuated between 36.7 and 37. I should also mention, by Friday night, but definitely by Saturday I lost my sense of smell completely. I could not smell the cup of coffee right in front of my nose. I could not taste what I was eating. That was a depressing symptom…happy to say that my sense of smell/taste is coming back to me now! On Sunday I felt well enough to take an hour walk on the boardwalk. But on Monday evening, I felt a shortness of breath, a symptom I’ve never experienced before. I just had to take deeper breaths to get the air in. It was definitely worrying, especially given I had absolutely no other symptoms like fever or coughing. On Tuesday morning, I had an internet lesson just like I’d had on Monday morning. That was when I knew it wasn’t “anxiety” or me dreaming something up: I just couldn’t talk without taking extra pauses to breathe. I went to CityMD right after my lesson. When they saw I had no temperature, that my chest X ray was clear and there were no signs of pneumonia, the doctor visibly relaxed (since it didn’t look like I had coronavirus). She had no explanation for the shortness of breath, though, and suggested a CT scan at the ER to check for blood clots. So I went to the ER (not the most pleasant experience, there were people around with a cough so severe I was really concerned I could catch the virus there). Anyway, the CT scan showed “early coronavirus” and pneumonia in both lungs. I was also given the actual test, which only came back today (positive). I spent a couple days in the hospital, I guess mostly under observation as there wasn’t much that needed to be done for me…they did test my blood for oxygenation and found it was fine. So now I am home…taking the hydroxychloroquine tablets. I still have no other symptoms other than the shortness of breath, which I guess I can describe as “moderate”. Going up the stairs you do feel totally out of breath, but even sitting in place you can feel it. I am very happy I can breathe on my own. Anyway, I thought I’d share this as I know the trajectory of my illness was not completely typical, and it can help some of you get tested/treated/go into quarantine earlier. And it absolutely made me see the importance of staying home and doing your part to slow the spread of this. Wish you all to stay healthy!”
Thank God she is doing better, and it’s very good news that positive, if still anecdotal, results for hydroxycloroquine keep coming in. Let’s hope that if there have to be more stories about the virus in the chess world, they will be no worse than this.
Armchair Warrior 