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Silent Symptoms That Indicate Coronavirus; A 39-Year-Old Dies Waiting for Coronavirus Results; DOJ Secretly Asks Congress to Suspend Constitutional Rights
You’re probably familiar with the more common coronavirus symptoms. But doctor groups are now recommending isolation for those who experience a loss of certain senses – even if no other symptoms are present.
On Friday, British ear, nose and throat doctors began asking adults who suddenly lose their sense of smell or taste – known as anosmia – to self-isolate for at least seven days.
Prof. Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society wrote in an email,
“We really want to raise awareness that this is a sign of infection and that anyone who develops loss of sense of smell should self-isolate. It could contribute to slowing transmission and save lives.”
Dr. Marco Metra, chief of the cardiology department at the main hospital in Brescia, offered a similar warning:
“Almost everybody who is hospitalized has this same story. You ask about the patient’s wife or husband, and the patient says, ‘My wife has just lost her smell and taste but otherwise she is well,’ So she is likely infected, and she is spreading it with a very mild form.”
In South Korea, 30 percent of 2,000 patients who tested positive for the virus reported anosmia. People should be picking up their cellphones and calling their doctor if they lose their sense of smell or taste.
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On March 10, 39-year-old Natasha Ott felt like she was starting to get a cold and a slight fever. She worked at CrescentCare, a medical clinic. She had passed on being tested for coronavirus since she was told she was low-risk for the disease.
However, she decided to take the test that next Monday, since her symptoms weren’t going away. By Thursday, she felt something in her lungs. She still felt okay enough by that point to join her partner, Josh Anderson, while walking their dog—but on Friday, Anderson found Ott dead in the kitchen.
Although test results still haven’t come back just yet, her partner believes that she passed away from coronavirus. He said he believes it should be a wake-up call for anyone who believes the virus isn’t as deadly as claimed.
Speaking in an interview, Anderson spoke out about how ill-equipped his city is to handle such a pandemic.
“She could have gotten a test last Friday, but they only had five tests, and she didn’t want to use one of them. I believed that people should stay home, but I don’t think I fully understood what the consequences could be if they didn’t,” he said.
Before succumbing to her illness, Ott took a flu test, with negative results. A negative flu test along with COVID-19 symptoms usually prompts a coronavirus test or CT scan.
Anderson is now warning others that if a loved one is showing symptoms, “you need to check with that person… not every day, but every hour. And at any point, if they say anything about their lungs, you need to get them to the hospital.”
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The Department of Justice secretly asked Congress to craft frightening legislation. It would allow chief judges to hold people indefinitely without trial.
In draft language obtained by Politico, the DOJ asked for judges to be able to pause court proceedings “whenever the district court is fully or partially closed by virtue of any natural disaster, social disobedience, or other emergency situation.”
This would be applicable to “any statutes or rules of procedure otherwise affecting pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures in criminal and juvenile proceedings and all civil processes and proceedings.”
In other words, the DOJ is seeking to suspend habeas corpus. Habeaus corpus allows people to appear in front of a judge and ask to be released before a trial.
Normal L. Reimer, the executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, told Politico that he found the measure “terrifying,” and said:
“Not only would it be a violation of [habeas corpus], but it says, ‘affecting pre-arrest.’ So that means you could be arrested and never brought before a judge until they decide that the emergency or the civil disobedience is over.
“I find it absolutely terrifying. Especially in a time of emergency, we should be very careful about granting new powers to the government.
“That is something that should not happen in a democracy,” added Reimer.
The DOJ also asked Congress to amend the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to have defendants appear via teleconference instead of in-person. Further, they asked to pass a law that says immigrants who test positive for coronavirus cannot seek asylum.
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