HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.euronews.com/2021/07/07/who-warns-against-lifting-covid-19-restrictions-too-soon
Access to the commentsCOMMENTS
By Euronews • Updated: 07/07/2021 - 19:02
FILE: In this June 5, 2021, file photo, people wearing face masks to
protect against the spread of coronavirus, walk along a commercial
street in downtown Madrid, Spain
FILE: In this June 5, 2021, file photo, people wearing face masks to
protect against the spread of coronavirus, walk along a commercial
street in downtown Madrid, Spain - Copyright Manu Fernandez/AP
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned governments on Wednesday
against easing coronavirus restrictions too soon as Europe faces a new
rise in infections fueled by the more contagious Delta variant.
"The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic," WHO chief Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a press briefing.
"Some countries with high vaccination coverage are now planning to roll
out booster shots in the coming months and are dropping public health
social measures and relaxing as if the pandemic is already over."
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"However, compounded by fast-moving variants, and shocking inequity in
vaccination, far too many countries in many regions of the world are
seeing sharp spikes in cases and hospitalisation," the WHO
director-general Dr Tedros said.
"There has been a 33% increase [in new infections] in the European
region in the last week," warned WHO emergencies head Michael Ryan.
"Making assumptions that transmission will not increase as we're opening >>> up because of the vaccine is a false assumption," he said.
"I would urge extreme caution in the complete lifting of public health
and social measures at this time because there are consequences for
that," Ryan told reporters.
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He was answering a question about the UK's decision to lift all
remaining restrictions by July 19.
Portugal reimposes curfew due to spread of Delta COVID-19 variant
Boris Johnson's plan to ease COVID restrictions is 'reckless', says
Labour's Starmer
Catalonia cracks down on nightlife again as COVID cases rocket
Most European countries have now alleviated COVID-19 curbs after months
of lockdowns.
However, as new infections soar, many European states are reinstating
stricter coronavirus rules.
Portugal has imposed on Friday an 11 p.m. curfew in parts of the country >>> with surging coronavirus cases.
Several Spanish regions announced that they were reimposing curbs on
nightlife mere weeks after dropping them.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the E.U. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, & Delta
lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/12/hygiene-theatre-how-excessive-cleaning-gives-us-a-false-sense-of-security
Hygiene theatre: how excessive cleaning gives us a false sense of security >>> c
‘Instead of looking at how many hand sanitisers there, people should be
looking at reassurances around the ventilation.’ Composite: Getty
Covid-19 is a mainly airborne disease. So does our endless disinfecting
and hand sanitising serve any purpose – or could it be worse than useless? >>>
Sirin Kale
Sirin Kale
Mon 12 Jul 2021 05.30 EDT
185
Claudia, a 26-year-old beauty worker, dreads it when her clients ask to
go to the toilet. “It’s a whole other thing to clean,” she says. “They
could have touched anything in there. I have to wipe down the whole
thing with antibacterial spray and wipes.”
It is her job to maintain stringent cleaning protocols at the London
skincare clinic where she works. When clients arrive for their
appointments, Claudia checks them in, offers them a drink – the clinic
only uses disposable cups or plastic water bottles – and takes them
through to the treatment room.
Once her colleague is performing their treatment, Claudia begins
furiously scrubbing every surface the customer could conceivably have
touched.
After the customer leaves, Claudia scours the treatment room and
replaces all the towels before wiping down the pump dispenser on the
antibacterial hand gel visitors use when arriving. Then, when a new
customer arrives, the process begins again. “I’ve had a few clients
saying they feel really safe in here,” Claudia says, “because they know
we are really careful and cautious about sanitising everything.”
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Firefighters struggle to contain exploding northern California wildfire
Which makes it strange that the one measure that would contribute most
to the safety of the clients and workers in Claudia’s clinic isn’t being >>> implemented: ventilation.
Covid-19 is an airborne disease that is principally transmitted through
respiratory droplets, as well as aerosols, that can linger in the air
for many minutes after an infected person has left a room, and travel
metres in distance. The most effective way to minimise the risk of Covid >>> transmission in indoor settings is to open as many windows and doors as
possible and mandate mask use.
But, although a window at the back of the clinic is open, the front door >>> is closed. “We can’t have the door at the front open,” Claudia says,
“because we’re on the main road. It’s more the security element than
anything. Someone could just walk straight in … it’s probably not as
well ventilated as we would like.”
What Claudia is performing on behalf of the customers who frequent her
skincare clinic is “hygiene theatre”. The term was first coined by the
Atlantic writer Derek Thompson in a July 2020 essay, in which he defined >>> hygiene theatre as Covid safety protocols “that make us feel safer, but
don’t actually do much to reduce risk, even as more dangerous activities >>> are still allowed”.
Hygiene theatre is plastic facial visors that do not protect wearers >>>from breathing in infected air or contaminating the people around them.
It is single-use cutlery and disposable menus in restaurants and shields >>> between tables. It is staff fastidiously cleaning communal touchpoints
in pubs while maskless groups chant football songs at full volume. It is >>> hazmat suit-wearing officials fumigating entire streets with
disinfectant. It is gyms that require people to wipe down every piece of >>> equipment they touch, but do not make them wear masks. It is
quarantining your post by the front door and wiping down your groceries
with bleach. All well-intentioned, but mostly ineffectual, gestures that >>> make us feel safe, but do not keep us safe from the threat posed by
Covid-19.
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As England hurtles towards the removal of virtually all Covid
restrictions on 19 July, with the other devolved nations likely to
follow, albeit at a more cautious pace, a mantra of personal
responsibility is being promoted by the government. Masks will be
voluntary; social distancing scrapped; businesses no longer under any
obligation to increase the ventilation in their premises.
But infections are rising exponentially, and only just over half of the
total UK population have received two doses of the vaccine. From now on, >>> the individual decisions we take about how to stay safe in public spaces >>> will have powerful real-world consequences. As we enter the third wave
of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are rushing towards a dangerous new phase
in which hygiene theatre can do even more damage than it has.
Hygiene theatre builds on a concept originated by the security expert
Bruce Schneier in his 2003 book, Beyond Fear. Schneier coined the term
“security theatre” to describe the safety measures implemented at
airports after the 9/11 terror attacks, such as banning nail scissors
and cigarette lighters. In reality, these measures were pointless: a
complicated charade to reassure nervous passengers rather than anything
grounded in reality. They also came at a huge cost to taxpayers – the US >>> has spent more than $100bn on aviation security since 9/11.
Schneier agrees that Covid-19 has ushered in an era of hygiene theatre.
“Like security theatre,” he says, “hygiene theatre comes from bad risk
analysis – really, from ignorance.” At the beginning of the pandemic,
Schneier says, this was understandable. “Nobody knew anything,” he says. >>> “We were all confused about what the right thing was to do. We
legitimately didn’t know.”
According to the CDC, the chance of contracting Covid-19 from a single
infected surface is less than 1 in 10,000
According to the CDC, the chance of contracting Covid-19 from a single
infected surface is less than 1 in 10,000 Photograph: Peter
Dazeley/Getty Images
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In those fear-filled days of February and March 2020, many experts and
healthcare authorities believed that Covid-19 was primarily transmitted
through droplets, through skin-on-skin contact, such as shaking hands,
being coughed on by an infected person or touching something they had
recently touched. (Infection via contaminated surfaces is known as
fomite transmission.) Academics told the public not to bother wearing
masks, as the virus was not airborne, so masks would be futile.
This is why all the public health messaging from this time was about
minimising direct contact. “Hands, face, space,” we repeated like a
magic spell, as we shopped in supermarkets without face masks, pausing
in poorly ventilated aisles to sanitise our hands. (Masks were not
mandated on public transport and hospitals in England until 15 June, and >>> in shops from 24 July.) Cabinet ministers at daily coronavirus press
conferences persistently reminded the public to wash their hands.
Lost in this was any recognition of the dangers of airborne Covid-19
transmission. “Basic hand hygiene,” says Dr Christine Peters, a
consultant medical microbiologist and virologist at Glasgow NHS trust.
“That message got out very early, and that became the fixation of the
public and politicians. But it was to the detriment of the other
important message, which is: think about the air.” The World Health
Organization (WHO) did not acknowledge the risk of airborne transmission >>> until July 2020; in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) acknowledged that fomite transmission of Covid-19
“isn’t thought to be the main way the virus spreads” in May 2020, and
updated its guidance to include airborne transmission in October 2020.
The UK government first acknowledged the risk of airborne Covid-19
transmission in about November 2020, although it was not until March
2021, more than a year since the pandemic first hit UK shores, that it
finally published guidance on ventilation in indoor settings.
According to the CDC, the chance of contracting Covid-19 from a single
infected surface is less than 1 in 10,000. And yet we remain obsessed
with fomite transmission of Covid-19, as do our elected leaders. In
June, a glove-wearing Boris Johnson was filmed wiping down a plastic
chair, in a worrying indication of the prime minister’s lack of
understanding. And when the G7 met in Cornwall, news cameras broadcast
footage of hotel staff wiping down railings outside the hotel hosting
the summit, in a bit of high-profile hygiene theatre.
Even at the government press conference announcing the relaxation of
restrictions on 5 July, the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, talked
about handwashing, but not ventilation. “One of the problems we had from >>> the beginning, that was critical at the time and actually still is
critical, is senior people did not understand well enough the problem of >>> … it being airborne,” said the former government aide Dominic Cummings
in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it excerpt from his marathon select committee >>> appearance in May.
For some people who are susceptible to obsessive-compulsive disorder, it >>> has been devastating
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How to explain this continued misapprehension? “Shakespeare puts it
well,” says Dr Emanuel Goldman, a microbiologist at Rutgers. “What is
done cannot be undone. There was a great preoccupation with fomite
transmission at the beginning of the pandemic. And that stuck.” Goldman
was a leading voice challenging hygiene theatre throughout the pandemic. >>> In July 2020, he wrote a sharp commentary for the Lancet Infectious
Diseases, calling into question the then-received wisdom that Covid-19
could be transmitted by infected surfaces. “When the pandemic started,”
he says, “my mother-in-law, who lives with us, was saying that we needed >>> to wash the groceries and disinfect the mail. As a scientist, it seemed
extreme, so I decided to look at the literature. And when I did, I was
horrified to see that the basis for those interventions was very weak.”
Since then, Goldman has campaigned for an end to hygiene theatre,
publishing in medical journals and reviewing the academic literature on
fomite transmission. “The battle continues,” he says, telling me that
the WHO continues to overemphasise the risk of Covid-19 transmission >>>from contaminated surfaces. In the UK, a similar role has been played by
the “fresh air” campaign, run by a group of frontline NHS workers
arguing for greater recognition of the dangers of airborne Covid
transmission in hospital settings, and better masks for NHS staff.
Many would argue that hygiene theatre is benign. Public toilets are
cleaner than they have ever been. “One legacy of the pandemic is that
general hygiene levels will increase,” says Dr Eilir Hughes of the NHS
fresh air campaign. “I don’t like security theatre when it’s expensive,” >>> says Schneier, “and the government is making the taxpayer pay for it.
But if it’s someone wiping down their groceries because it makes them
feel better, go to town.” Peters is sanguine about cleaning protocols in >>> healthcare settings in particular. “Trying to maintain a clean
environment in a hospital setting is fair enough.”
But hygiene theatre can lull people into a false sense of security. “I
roll my eyes when I see people walking around in visors,” sighs Hughes,
“because it’s such a shame.” There have been Covid outbreaks in
restaurants where workers used only plastic visors, instead of face
masks. (After one such outbreak in a Swiss hotel, local health officials >>> cautioned the public against wearing facial visors.) Hughes feels
similarly about hand sanitiser. “It gives people this sense of an
invisible cloak.”
‘I’ve seen a lot of people who’ve had really bad dermatitis because of
this obsession with hand hygiene.’
‘I’ve seen a lot of people who’ve had really bad dermatitis because of
this obsession with hand hygiene.’ Photograph: Tahreer Photography/Getty >>> Images
Advertisement
Hygiene theatre can be actively dangerous because it prevents people >>>from making informed choices about the levels of risk they’re willing to
accept in their lives. “Your feelings of safety have to be
science-based,” says Peters. “People can make their own judgment calls
about the risks they are willing to tolerate, but the key is for people
to understand how Covid spreads.” She fears that hygiene theatre causes
people to avoid taking the mitigating measures that actually would
reduce risk, such as opening windows or investing in high-efficiency
particulate air purifiers. “In a restaurant,” Peters says, “instead of
looking at how many hand sanitisers there are on the table, people
should be looking at reassurances around the air exchanges.” With all
restrictions on indoor contact likely to cease in England on 19 July,
correctly assessing the level of risk in any given setting will be
crucial. In short, it’s time to finally do away with hygiene theatre.
In addition, all those antibacterial wipes and single-use plastics are
environmentally ruinous. “It’s the waste we’re creating that I find
annoying, more than anything else,” Claudia says. Goldman says that
public institutions are spending vast sums on disinfectants and
cleaners. “For a year, the New York subway closed every night for deep
cleaning,” he says. “That cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Money
doesn’t grow on trees for public institutions.”
Transport for London installed more than 200 ultraviolet sanitising
devices on 110 escalators on the London underground, even as the
transport authority has to find £900m of savings or new income over the
coming year. Vendors of sanitiser, antibacterial wipes and cleaning
products post record profits: the manufacturers of Dettol and Lysol
recorded their highest-ever sales growth in 2020, largely due to the
pandemic.
It kind of makes you feel safer. Even though it’s completely illogical
Hughes is a practising GP. “I’ve seen a lot of people who’ve had really
bad dermatitis and skin irritation because of this obsession with hand
hygiene. And for people who are susceptible to obsessive-compulsive
disorder, particularly around hygiene, it’s been absolutely
devastating,” he says. For people with multiple chemical sensitivity
(MCS), too, an extreme sensitivity to fragranced products – such as
disinfectants, soaps or detergents – the hygiene theatre of the Covid-19 >>> pandemic has been a nightmare.
“It’s unbearable,” sighs Anna Meyerson, a 59-year-old dentist from
Westchester, Pennsylvania. First diagnosed with MCS in 2016, Meyerson
has been essentially housebound for years. “There’s only one place I can >>> eat near me,” she says, “and it took me years to get them to stop using
air fresheners.” But the pandemic has exacerbated her condition. Before, >>> her husband could do the food shopping without incident. “Now, with
Covid, they fumigate and disinfect everything,” she says, “and that
permeates my husband’s clothes and makes me sick. Before, when he came
back from the store, it would be fine. Now he has to shower.” She is
desperate for hygiene theatre to stop. “They are killing me with all
these chemicals.”
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How to explain this befuddling attachment to hygiene theatre when we
know that it does not measurably keep us safe, comes at an exorbitant
cost and can be measurably damaging to some people? “People are keeping
it up because it’s largely self-soothing,” says Schneier. “This is how I >>> feel better.”
“Even though I know in my head that wiping everything down makes no
difference,” says Claudia, “it kind of makes you feel safer. Even though >>> it’s completely illogical … it’s like, peace of mind.”
At its heart, hygiene theatre is a perhaps inevitable response to the
worst public health crisis in a century. Because when events career out
of control, humans respond the only way they know how: by attempting to
impose order upon chaos, one Dettol wipe at a time.
Some names have been changed.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, & Delta
lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://jonathanturley.org/2021/07/13/it-needs-to-be-hard-for-people-to-remain-unvaccinated-making-the-case-for-covid-challenges/
“It Needs To Be Hard For People To Remain Unvaccinated”: Making The Case >>> For Covid Challenges
Facebook screenshot
Dr. Leana Wen, CNN analyst and Distinguished Fellow at the Fitzhugh
Mullan Institute of Health Workforce Equity at George Washington
University, has caused a stir due to her recent declaration on CNN that
“it needs to be hard for people to remain unvaccinated.” With France
implementing a mandatory “health pass” and private companies like Morgan >>> Stanley requiring vaccinations for employees to return to work, we can
expect more protests and challenges around the world. Those cases are
likely to focus on whether mandatory requirements are based on medical
or political imperatives. Wen’s comment is likely to be repeated in many >>> filings as another case of “saying the quiet part out loud.” She appears >>> to advocate measures defined to coerce people to take vaccinations due
to the continuing refusal of a sizable number of people.
Wen is a well-known medical analyst and the former head of Planned
Parenthood. She is a visiting professor at George Washington University. >>>
Wen made clear that health measures should be used to make life hard for >>> people who refuse the vaccine so that they yield to public demands:
“[b]asically, we need to make getting vaccinated the easy choice.” In
the Washington Post, Wen also called for “Biden to make the case for
vaccine requirements.”
There is already open pressure from the White House on private companies >>> to require vaccinations. Morgan Stanley responded by doing just that
this week. They can likely do so. The most serious challenges could come >>>from those with religious objections. However, even if they are allowed
to work remotely, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman stated in July that
“If you want to get paid New York rates, you work in New York. None of
this, ‘I’m in Colorado…and getting paid like I’m sitting in New York
City. Sorry, that doesn’t work.” The message could not be clearer that
working remotely will come at a penalty.
The Biden White House is clearly concerned that making vaccines
mandatory will cause not just court challenges but a public backlash.
However, such mandatory programs have been upheld. As I discussed in a
column last year, there is a 1905 case where the Supreme Court upheld a
state mandatory vaccination program of school children for small pox in
Massachusetts. In Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905), the Court found that >>> such programs are the quintessential state power rather than a federal
power. It also held that “every well-ordered society charged with the
duty of conserving the safety of its members the rights of the
individual in respect of his liberty may at times, under the pressure of >>> great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by
reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand.” >>> States are allowed to subject citizens to restraints to protect “general >>> comfort, health, and prosperity of the State.”
The fear is that, as with social media companies carrying out censorship >>> of political and social viewpoints, companies will now serve as
surrogates for the state on vaccinations. The Administration would
prefer to do precisely what Wen advocated: ratchet up the private
penalties and difficulties for anyone who wants to remain unvaccinated.
The problem is when you have leading analysts arguing for such measures
as coercive devices. While there is considerable deference on such
matters, the courts could take note of such demands to make life hard on >>> those who are not “getting with the program.”
As of July 11, a total of 159,266,536 Americans have been fully
vaccinated. That is 48 percent of the country’s population. When you
consider the extremely high rate of vaccination for those over 65, the
percentage of adults under 65 is even smaller. Despite all of the press
and bizarre reward systems, the government is clearly hitting a wall
with many people declining the vaccines. (For the record, I took the
vaccine and all of my family has been vaccinated).
That is a sizable number of voters and the Democrats are leery of openly >>> forcing vaccines before the 2022 election. That is why the push is to
make life more difficult through private companies. However, if these
measures are viewed as designed to coerce, courts may be more
scrutinizing of the public health necessity for the measures.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, & Delta
lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9787329/Lethal-mix-Covid-flu-common-cold-virus-winter-push-NHS-breaking-point.html
It is feared the nation will suffer one of the worst influenza outbreaks >>> in decades due to Covid lockdowns causing a huge drop in immunity
against other viruses.
And flu isn't the only threat, according to the report by the Academy of >>> Medical Sciences, which said the NHS could be crippled by a
triple-whammy of Covid, flu and other seasonal viruses.
Read More
Modelling of how bad influenza could strike say the death toll could be
twice as bad as normal, with flu typically kills between 10 to 30,000
people annually.
The AMS report, which was commissioned by England's chief scientific
adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, called for ministers to start treating flu >>> like Covid, saying usual death tolls from the seasonal virus are
unacceptable.
It means Boris Johnson — who has repeatedly pledged to follow the
science — could face pressure to adopt draconian measures to tackle
other viruses in the future.
In recent weeks, the PM has vowed to 'learn to live' with the
coronavirus like the flu, which raised hopes that the end of lockdowns
was finally in sight.
The graphs estimate daily Covid cases, hospital admissions, long-Covid
cases and infections in England in winter. The purple line shows the
best case scenario, the blue line is the reasonable worst case scenario
and the green line shows what they think will happen if 'Freedom Day'
was pushed to September 6. In all projections, the peak is projected to
take place in August and subsequent waves take of next March, but the
scientists said they could not rule out another winter wave. The experts >>> predict that the peak in deaths will be much lower than last winter, but >>> hospital admissions could rise to similar levels and those living with
long-Covid could double in number +1
The graphs estimate daily Covid cases, hospital admissions, long-Covid
cases and infections in England in winter. The purple line shows the
best case scenario, the blue line is the reasonable worst case scenario
and the green line shows what they think will happen if 'Freedom Day'
was pushed to September 6. In all projections, the peak is projected to
take place in August and subsequent waves take of next March, but the
scientists said they could not rule out another winter wave. The experts >>> predict that the peak in deaths will be much lower than last winter, but >>> hospital admissions could rise to similar levels and those living with
long-Covid could double in number
The graphs show the two different scenarios considered by the
scientists. The first shows what they think could happen if people in
England still have some immunity from the flu, but natural waning is
happening which makes more people susceptible to catch the flu over
time. In this situation, transmission would likely take off in winter
and infections and deaths would double compared to previous years. In
scenario two, the scientists estimated that if flu immunity dropped in
the population, the epidemic would most likely take off this summer, and >>> around 1.5 times more people would die and go to hospital. A summer
outbreak is less severe, because the R number is lower at this time of
year, so despite more people being susceptible to infection due to a
lack of immunity, less people would catch it
The graphs show the two different scenarios considered by the
scientists. The first shows what they think could happen if people in
England still have some immunity from the flu, but natural waning is
happening which makes more people susceptible to catch the flu over
time. In this situation, transmission would likely take off in winter
and infections and deaths would double compared to previous years. In
scenario two, the scientists estimated that if flu immunity dropped in
the population, the epidemic would most likely take off this summer, and >>> around 1.5 times more people would die and go to hospital. A summer
outbreak is less severe, because the R number is lower at this time of
year, so despite more people being susceptible to infection due to a
lack of immunity, less people would catch it
Society has never shut down in the face of a flu crisis, although NHS
hospitals have had to cancel tens of thousands of operations in the
middle of influenza outbreaks.
The AMS report looked at the Covid and non-Covid health challenges
facing the NHS this winter, what risks they pose and what can be done to >>> mitigate them.
All remaining lockdown restrictions are due to be lifted in England on
Monday, Wales will follow suit in August and Scotland and Northern
Ireland are expected to relax their rules significantly in the coming weeks.
Ministers are prepared to tolerate over 100,000 cases per day and No10's >>> top experts believe there could be at least 1,000 to 2,000 daily
hospital admissions.
The NHS waiting list already stands at a record 5.3million, with the
pandemic and the disruption lockdowns have caused on non-Covid care
having worsened the crisis.
New Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said this list could go to more
than 13million by the end of the year.
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Conclusions in the AMS report were made by a panel of 29 experts,
ranging from virologists to immunologists and NHS doctors.
The report warned the NHS is already gearing up to face pressures from a >>> third Covid wave, which could leave tens of thousands hospitalised.
Thousands fewer beds will be available in hospitals, with health bosses
forced to comply with Covid social distancing restrictions.
Existing staff shortage crises will pile on further pressure, with
84,000 vacant roles throughout the health service, the report warned.
The NHS also faces the threat of an increase in heart attacks and
strokes because the pandemic led to a decline in physical health.
On top of that, the threat of flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
could pile even more stress on the NHS.
The experts warned deaths and hospitalisations from flu and RSV could
double if there is a surge in infections driven by a drop in immunity
caused by low infection levels last year.
The experts estimated that if people's immunity against respiratory
syncytial virus (RSV) has dropped, cases of the virus in children under
five in England will double. If protection has not waned, the scientists >>> estimated cases would jump by 50 per cent. The virus usually causes
20,000 under-5s to be admitted to hospital every year
The experts estimated that if people's immunity against respiratory
syncytial virus (RSV) has dropped, cases of the virus in children under
five in England will double. If protection has not waned, the scientists >>> estimated cases would jump by 50 per cent. The virus usually causes
20,000 under-5s to be admitted to hospital every year
What is RSV?
Respiratory syncytial virus (known as RSV) causes an infection called
Bronchiolitis. The infection is spread between people by coughing and
sneezing.
The infection starts with cold symptoms (runny nose, cough, sneezing and >>> fever). Warning signs include:
* Fast or laboured breathing
* Wheezing sound when breathing out
* Trouble feeding (for babies, this is because they only breathe through >>> their nose).
Symptoms are often worse at night. Illness usually starts to improve
after two to three days.
Infection may be worse and last for longer in very young children
(under three months), premature babies or children with lung or heart
problems.
No medicine can be taken to cure bronchiolitis.
Children's paracetamol (in recommended doses) may help your child feel
more comfortable if they have a fever.
Infants with a severe infection may be admitted to hospital. In
hospital, treatment may include oxygen and fluids. Fluids are usually
given through a nasogastric tube (a tube that goes into the nose).
Make sure your child is getting enough fluids. Smaller feeds given more
often may help.
Salt water solution available from pharmacies (e.g. Fess) dropped or
sprayed in each nostril before feeding may help clear the nose.
Keep your child away from cigarette smoke.
Prevent the spread of infection by keeping your child away from other
small children especially for the first few days of illness.
Cases of the common viruses plummeted to the lowest levels ever recorded >>> in the UK last year, as measures to stop Covid infections had a knock-on >>> effect.
Flu deaths could reach 60,000 in England, more than double the 10,000 to >>> 30,000 that it kills on an average every year, scientists found.
RSV could be more than two times worse this year, with the virus usually >>> causing 20,000 infected children under 5 to be admitted to hospital.
They also warned hospital admissions from Covid could hit up to six
thousand per day.
But the experts warned their figures are estimates, as they do not know
how many people are immune from the viruses.
The flu is also 'incredibly unpredictable', so it is very difficult to
estimate how bad it will actually be.
Case numbers will also depend on any measures taken to mitigate
infections, they said.
Covid and the other two respiratory illnesses have symptoms that mimic
each other, so it is important to have tests that distinguish between
them, the scientists said.
This could be done though multiplex testing, which is a single test that >>> can identify up to 10 different viruses.
One of these could be developed to test for Covid, flu and RSV at the
same time, so the best treatment and advice can be provided, the experts >>> said.
Quick detection of flu cases would let doctors treat the flu with
antivirals — which work best if given within the first 48 hours of
catching it.
But experts said it is unclear whether these would be rolled out in
England because they are expensive and it would be 'an effort' to spread >>> them out.
The group advised people to continue with behaviours they picked up
during the pandemic to protect against other respiratory disease.
Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, chair of the advisory group, said: 'Is it >>> acceptable at the present time looking backwards to have all these
viruses swashing around at winter driving the NHS to breaking point? No. >>>
'We need to respect our lungs now. We deserve to have a change in how we >>> operate as a society to control these viruses.'
Professor Dame Anne Johnson, president of the academy, claimed social
distancing, face masks and working from home are sensible measure that
also protect from other respiratory viruses.
'All the things we do for Covid - like staying away from people when
sick - we need to do when dealing with any viral infection, because you
can pass it on,' she said.
Everyone in the UK 'thought it was all very strange' when countries that >>> experienced SARS outbreaks kept wearing masks, but now everyone has
learned about how viruses are transmitted and have adopted habits like
washing their hands more, Dame Johnson said.
She added that said she hopes the country will take forward some of
these behavioural changes, but can't predict if that will happen.
In addition to the risk from Covid, flu and RSV, the academy warned NHS
also has to prepare for a Covid booster programme, a major flu jab
rollout and catch up missed routine vaccinations.
The health service also has to improve infection prevention control and
surveillance because up to 10 per cent of all patients admitted to
hospital caught the virus while they were there.
An NHS spokesperson said: 'NHS staff have worked tirelessly throughout
the pandemic responding to increased demand by expanding critical care
capacity by 50 per cent in hospitals, managing admissions through mutual >>> aid and working with the independent sector.
'And ahead of winter, the NHS will continue with tried and tested plans
to support hospitals so that they can continue to offer patients the
care they need while restoring routine operations back to pre-pandemic
levels and vaccinating the country against Covid.'
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, & Delta
lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/on0267/why_britain_must_open_up_tomorrow/
The UK government’s decision to end most Coronavirus restrictions from
19th July in England has attracted considerable backlash. Labour is
opposed, the international press has been fairly negative, and 1200
scientists and other individuals have signed an open letter calling for
the re-opening to be delayed. This blogger believes the government got
this one right: seeing that Covid is unlikely to ever disappear from
Britain, let alone from Planet Earth, and that 88% of the adult
population have received at least one vaccine dose (68% received both),
there is no convincing case to continue with the restrictions.
To start, we must dispel with the pretense that there is a scientific
consensus in favour of keeping the restrictions. Experts are divided,
and lifting the lockdown is a fundamentally a political decision anyway, >>> involving a complex, unquantifiable judgement of conflicting values and
priorities, rather than a scientific numbers-crunching exercise.
Throughout the pandemic, public discussion of the emergency measures has >>> been poisoned by pretense that “The Science“ always requires us to
implement and maintain the harshest restrictions, and anything shy of
that is an anti-scientific cop-out. To move on, public opinion must
recognise that the lockdown measures have had terrifying side effects,
which public policy must careful weigh up against their – often
uncertain and unquantifiable – benefits.
The decision to open up is informed, at its core, by the realization
that Covid is unlikely to be eradicated in the foreseeable future, and
that it will remain an endemic virus that ebbs and flows, like other
viruses do. This is not a controversial view – the overwhelming majority >>> of scientists, even of the pro-restrictions variety, accept this. The
vision of Zero Covid – the idea that one day, the final Covid patient
would recover and there would be no more transmission of Covid in the
community – has taken several fatal blows recently with vaccines seeming >>> less effective at stopping infection (they are still incredibly good at
stopping serious disease, hospitalization or death), and with a number
of Zero Covid success stories (the likes of Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand,
Australia) experiencing record outbreaks. Even leading Zero Covid
proponents seem to be wavering in their faith, admitting if they had
their way, some restrictions would continue forever, which they still
see as preferable to accepting endemic Covid.
Perpetual restrictions would be unpopular, and opponents of the
re-opening generally do not propose this. This is a fundamental flaw of
their reasoning – if we accept that (a) Covid will not be eradicated and >>> (b) we must re-open at some point, why is re-opening at a future date
preferable to 19th July?
Some say that the re-opening should be delayed until more people have
received their second vaccine doses. This is unconvincing – data from
the UK and elsewhere shows that Covid can still spread in an
overwhelmingly vaccinated population (Gibraltar). Since everyone
statistically at risk from Covid has received their two shots a long
time ago, hospitalizations and deaths remain very low, despite the
ongoing “case-demic“. Delaying the re-opening by say a couple of months
to September would mean we would lift restrictions just as the school
year starts and with the winter flu season imminent (some experts think
this year’s flu season will be particularly bad given the lack of
immunity in the population due to the lockdown). Surely, most people
opposed to re-opening in July would also be opposed to re-opening in
September.
Other propose to drop some restrictions while also keeping some – masks, >>> for example. Given the government’s usual flip-flopping and inability to >>> stick with anything, it looks like post-Freedom Day, Britain will have a >>> confusing patchwork of mask rules, where masks are required on certain
train lines but not others. It’s hard to see what people think this will >>> achieve – if our current restrictions aren’t stopping the outbreak, why
would a much-watered down version do the trick?
It is natural that people want a more gradual return to normality.
People are still terrified of Covid, despite the successful vaccine
roll-out (the government’s fear-based advertisement campaigns earlier in >>> the year probably did not help things). Public opinion overestimates the >>> efficacy of many of the anti-pandemic measures and is hesitant to throw
them all out (surface disinfection has been proven useless, the plastic
dividers so prevalent in shops and restaurants are probably making
things worse, and the data on cloth masks is far from clear-cut).
Endemic Covid means that all of us will likely be exposed to the virus
multiple times in our lives. Delaying the re-opening cannot change this
fact. The pandemic emergency measures have gone on for 17 months – it is >>> high time to move on.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, & Delta
lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.bbc.com/news/education-57901993
By Hannah Richardson and Jeanette Long
BBC News education
Published33 minutes ago
Share
Elaine with her two children Harley and Gracie
image captionElaine says repeated periods of self-isolation are a worry
for her children's mental health
Almost a quarter of pupils in England were out of school last week,
according to the latest official attendance figures showing the impact
of Covid.
In secondary schools, the absence rate was nearer a third of pupils,
while in primaries it was 17%.
Elaine Blowers and her family in Hampshire are among many affected by
having to self isolate.
She says each time it happens, the mental health of her daughter Gracie
and son Harley is affected.
There were 1.7m pupils out of school, up from 1.5m the week before -
with the latest figures including over 1m off because of Covid-related
reasons, although only 47,000 were confirmed as positive cases.
There were also about a further 661,500 pupils out of school for
non-Covid related reasons.
These figures show a snapshot of the situation in state schools last
Thursday - before changes introduced from 19 July, which are intended to >>> reduce the numbers having to be sent home.
Mrs Blowers, a mum of two young, primary-aged children in Andover told
how her son and daughter had to isolate due to one person in their class >>> testing positive. Both children took a PCR test and were Covid-negative. >>>
'Begrudgingly isolating'
Her son, Harley, has special needs and has missed out on the additional
help he gets in school and has not really got on well with home-learning. >>>
He has been slapping his own face in distress, she says.
And she explained how her daughter, Gracie, experiences anxiety every
time she has to isolate - developing nightmares and stomach pains.
"What is frustrating is that it is not the first time this has
happened," she says.
"Every time we have always been negative and felt very frustrated that
my children have had to be locked up and I've had to lose an income
unnecessarily."
Elaine runs her own business as a childminder working from home, so
every time her children need to isolate, it impacts her business.
School run
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
She said the current situation was tricky for parents.
"I know some parents have approached schools to keep children off so not >>> to affect holidays. But other parents are still choosing to keep
children in school.
"We've stuck to the rules but begrudgingly."
Elaine says both her children have really suffered by not being in
school, but she does not blame the school which she says has been
"fantastic" in offering support.
"The prime minister needs to get a grip and allow for people that are
contacted to get a PCR test and if negative return to work or school.
This needs to change now - 16 August is too late," she says, referring
to the date when Covid self-isolation rules are expected to change.
"It is having such a negative impact on businesses and people's,
including children's, mental health."
'Grim end'
The National Association of Head Teachers' general secretary Paul
Whiteman said the government's decision to end "bubbles" and school
isolation requirements was intended to stop so many missing school.
But he warned that rising case numbers would mean more disruption,
unless there was action to prevent transmission in schools.
"The government's own modelling predicts that the number of cases among
children and young people is only going to get worse by the start of
next term," he added.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College >>> Leaders, said the latest figures "bring a year of unprecedented
educational disruption to a grim end".
He said schools and colleges needed substantial financial and practical
support for on-site testing for students and ventilation systems
"This work cannot be done on the cheap and the government needs to stop
counting the pennies and address the situation with a proper injection
of support and funding," he added.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, & Delta
lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://archive.is/9rzkH
Upon arrival at the Tokyo Olympics, common sense is nowhere to be found
Cathal Kelly
CATHAL KELLY
TOKYO
PUBLISHED JULY 21, 2021
UPDATED 14 HOURS AGO
104 COMMENTS
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Open this photo in gallery
Members of the media go through a quarantine paperwork check at Haneda
Airport ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS
For the thousands of journalists coming to Japan to cover the Olympics,
one condition of entry was a short, hard quarantine. No one would be
allowed to leave their hotel room for three days after their arrival.
Except there were workarounds. The administratively inclined could apply >>> for an exemption. Those who require food to live were allowed to go to
the store. Essentially, anyone who was determined to leave could.
Some went several steps further. By and large, Tokyo is dry for the
duration of the Olympics.
Nonetheless, strongly worded e-mails were sent warning resourceful
foreign day drinkers that they were bringing “a grave reputational risk” >>> to themselves, their organization and the Tokyo 2020 Games.
According to the warning, they’d been spotted all over the city. Which
may not have been the smartest thing to announce publicly if deterrence
was the goal.
By Wednesday, the organizers had scrapped the hard quarantine
altogether, then said, “[We] deeply apologize for the difficulties you
have experienced upon arrival.”
No one seems bothered that COVID-19 has arrived at the Tokyo Olympics
What to watch at the Tokyo Olympics: Everything you need to know about
the Summer Games
As that e-mail hit my inbox, I was standing groggily in another line at
Haneda Airport. I’m not sure which one. The one with the green form, I
think. Or maybe the yellow one. People kept handing me forms, then very
politely asking me why I had the forms they’d just handed me. Huge
portions of that first hour are a blur of stamps, stapling and people
taking my phone away from me to do things on it that I could not.
You’ve been flying for 24 hours, you feel like you’ve been glazed in
cooking oil, and the only thing you care about is a hot shower and a
change of clothes.
So when someone holds up a form that is entirely in Japanese and asks if >>> you’ve filled it out, your best guess is, “Where am I exactly?”
A whole genre of horror stories has sprung up in recent days about how
long it takes to get out of a Tokyo airport right now. As many as six
hours after landing. Sometimes eight.
“I heard nine hours at Narita,” one delighted volunteer told me.
Sadly, I can’t add to the notes of grievance. My journey through all
nine circles of bureaucratic hell took three hours from kiosk to kiosk.
Considering all the nonsense we had to do – verify forms, verify apps,
get new forms, verify those forms, get our forms all mixed up, get them
unmixed, spit in a tube, wait to hear how that went, verify more forms,
get credentialed, clear customs, get fingerprinted and photographed, run >>> the gauntlet at immigration – it’s a wonder it happened so quickly.
They even managed to hang on to our luggage. A lot of North American
airports can’t manage that under optimal conditions (I’m looking at you, >>> Tampa).
Around the time they’d wedged a couple of hundred of us into a smallish
departure lounge to wait for the results of our rapid COVID-19 tests –
with the guy next to me, mask off, screaming bloody murder into his
phone – I’d lost faith in the efficacy of the process. Meanwhile, a guy
was walking around the room offering plastic face shields to whomever
wanted one. Screaming Phone Man ignored him, and he ignored Screaming
Phone Man.
But after running through the public safety gauntlet, I’ve come to
understand we all have our roles to play in this farce.
We, the visitors, come laden down with forms, proving we are
sufficiently supplicatory.
They, the hosts, create an infrastructure to process those forms,
proving they are sufficiently gracious.
Together, we link arms and pretend we are fighting this thing together,
leaving unsaid the fact that no one needs to be fighting it at all.
Sometimes, that teamwork does not make the dream work. For instance, why >>> are foreign visitors banned from using the elevators in the hotel we’re
staying at? The lovely woman at the check-in was very emphatic on that
point. Elevators for locals only.
I’m not complaining, since I could use the cardio. But it still makes no >>> sense. Whether or not you bar us from the elevators, we are still here,
filling the air in the lobby with our globules, making the breakfast
nook pestilential and befouling the laundry room.
Also, if you are that afraid of contagion, maybe the Olympic fortnight
wasn’t the best time to plan your Harajuku staycation.
But that’s just common sense, and we are well past that. Olympics-wise,
we can’t even see common sense in the rear-view anymore.
Where we are is in the realm of make-believe. The Tokyo Organizing
Committee makes us believe that it’s really scared, and we pretend we
won’t sneak out to the bars if Dad takes his eye off us for a second.
This is why the head of Tokyo 2020, Toshiro Muto, won’t definitively
promise that the Olympics are going ahead regardless of where the
COVID-19 numbers end up. It’s not because he’s considering cancellation. >>> That ship has launched.
It’s because Muto must pretend to consider cancellation, because he is
pretending to be scared, while we pretend to take him seriously.
Another for instance. In order to leave the airport, I was jammed onto a >>> bus filled with sweaty, irritated, jet-lagged hacks sitting almost on
top of one another. But in order to leave the bus, we were told to go
one at a time and not touch our luggage, but rather wait for it to be
loaded into a cab, which we would all take singly.
As we waited, a volunteer regaled us with “fun facts” about Tokyo. Fun
fact No. 1: “Tokyo is a paradise for foodies.”
”WE AREN’T ALLOWED TO GO TO THE RESTAURANTS, MATE,” someone bellowed.
This was all getting more high-school auditorium by the moment.
But, like the pretending, the fun facts could not be stopped.
The IOC pretends to be worried about the athletes. The athletes pretend
to be worried about security. The security pretends to be worried about
the “reputational risk to the Tokyo 2020 Games.” And around and around
we go.
While we’re all busy pretending, they’ll manage to wedge in a few
sports. Before you know it, it’ll be over and no one need ever worry
again about running into me as I take huge, wet breaths in the elevator
while hanging over the buttons.
The only people who don’t have to pretend are the local viewers. They’ve >>> all been locked out of the Games. Which means they’ll be enjoying this
event from the only secure locations at the Olympics: their living
rooms. No forms required for entry.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
Japan & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, & Delta
lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wondefully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.npr.org/2021/07/24/1020162186/vietnam-hanoi-lockdown-covid-cases-coronavirus
Vietnam Locks Down Hanoi For 15 Days As COVID-19 Cases Rise
July 24, 202112:00 PM ET
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police officers guard barricades set up to control traffic in Hanoi,
Vietnam on Saturday. Vietnam announced a 15-day lockdown in the capital. >>> Hieu Dinh/AP
HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam announced a 15-day lockdown in the capital
Hanoi starting Saturday as a coronavirus surge spread from the southern
Mekong Delta region.
The lockdown order, issued late Friday night, bans the gathering of more >>> than two people in public. Only government offices, hospitals and
essential businesses are allowed to stay open.
Thousands Of People Protest Coronavirus Lockdowns In Australia
THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
Thousands Of People Protest Coronavirus Lockdowns In Australia
Earlier in the week, the city had suspended all outdoor activities and
ordered non-essential businesses to close following an increase in
cases. On Friday, Hanoi reported 70 confirmed infections, the city's
highest, part of a record 7,295 cases in the country in the last 24 hours. >>>
Nearly 5,000 of them are from Vietnam's largest metropolis, southern Ho
Chi Minh City, which has also extended its lockdown until Aug. 1.
In the latest wave of COVID-19 since April, Vietnam has recorded over
83,000 infections and 335 deaths.
Vietnam Detects New Highly Transmissible Coronavirus Variant
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES
Vietnam Detects New Highly Transmissible Coronavirus Variant
A meeting of the National Assembly that opened in Hanoi on Tuesday with
499 delegates is going ahead, although it was shortened to 12 from the
original 17 days.
The delegates have been vaccinated, are regularly tested for the
coronavirus and are traveling in a bubble, and are isolated at hotels,
according to the National Assembly.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
Hanoi & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/29/once-a-covid-success-story-south-korea-sweats-through-summer-of-delta-surge
Once a Covid success story, South Korea sweats through summer of Delta surge
A health worker rests inside a booth as she conducts a coronavirus
disease test at a coronavirus testing site in Seoul, South Korea
A health worker rests inside a booth as she conducts a coronavirus
disease test at a coronavirus testing site in Seoul, South Korea
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
As infections soar to record highs and the vaccine rollout languishes,
some fear there is no end in sight for the pandemic
See all our coronavirus coverage
Steven Borowiec in Seoul
Wed 28 Jul 2021 19.01 EDT
Park Eun-sun is facing the most challenging set of circumstances since
going into business for herself in August of 2020.
Having kicked off Nostimo, her restaurant in southern Seoul, during the
coronavirus pandemic, Park has had to work harder to attract customers
who were reluctant to eat out during a public health crisis, while
complying with an evolving set of social distancing mandates that
dictate how many diners she can host and when she can open her doors.
Now Park is suffering through the toughest restrictions since the start
of the coronavirus pandemic. Due to an ongoing flareup in cases in the
South Korean capital, restaurants must close at 10pm and can only have
parties of one or two patrons for dinner service.
Gym members use a treadmill at a fitness club in Seoul
No Permission to Dance: South Korea Covid rules enforce slower music in gyms
Read more
“Although thankfully Korea has not gone into full lockdown, our fate so
far has been influenced by government policy,” Park said.
She is waiting for more of South Korea’s population to get vaccinated, a >>> process she and many others have found frustratingly slow. “Since
restaurants are still open, it would be nice if restaurant owners and
employees would be higher on the priority list for the vaccine.
Unfortunately this has not been the case,” she said.
In the early stages of the pandemic, South Korea for a time had the
largest outbreak in the world outside China. The country drew
international admiration for quickly reining in the first wave of
infections through an aggressive campaign of testing and contact
tracing, all without ever enacting stringent lockdown measures like
mandatory business closures.
That sheen has come off, as more than a year later, South Korea is
suffering through its worst wave of coronavirus infections yet, having
logged 1,896 new cases on Wednesday, the country’s highest daily figure
ever.
The national government, led by President Moon Jae-in is the target of
public discontent, with critics accusing Moon and the ruling party of
congratulating themselves on those successful early virus containment
measures while failing to secure sufficient supplies of vaccines to
allow a return to normal life.
South Korea currently ranks second-to-last among OECD member countries,
with only 13.49% of its population fully vaccinated, and critics have
argued that the government dragged its feet in rolling out the national
vaccination campaign, leaving the public and small businesses to cope
with near lockdown measures that have hurt the economy and quality of life. >>>
South Korean PM Kim Boo-kyum takes part in a social distancing campaign
against the coronavirus in western Seoul
South Korea records highest Covid case numbers as wave of infections
sweeps Asia Pacific
Read more
The government has signed deals with overseas providers to acquire
AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but supply shortages and
delayed shipments have caused hiccups in the rollout.
Advertisement
Federal workers must be vaccinated or submit to Covid testing and distancing
“The current situation of strict social distancing could have been
avoided if the government had taken a more long-term approach,” said
Shin Eui-cheol, a professor at the KAIST Graduate School of Medical
Science & Engineering.
“One year ago, the number of daily cases was only about 100 and they
were satisfied with that, thinking that we could just control the
pandemic. They should have looked ahead and come up with a more active
strategy to try to terminate the pandemic by acquiring enough vaccines
much earlier,” Shin said.
Adding to the discomfort, the current virus spike is coinciding with an
extreme heatwave, with temperatures in South Korean cities having been
in the mid- to high thirties amid high humidity over the past week.
Late July is also the customary peak of holiday season in South Korea,
and pandemic-related strictures on travel have meant more people are
either staying home or taking domestic trips instead of going abroad. To >>> limit the spread of the coronavirus, in popular holiday destinations on
the coast, local officials have banned access to beaches for set periods >>> each day and banned eating and drinking on the beach.
The social distancing measures and many companies’ work-from-home
directives have left the streets of Seoul, a typically bustling city, empty.
Han River Park in Seoul, South Korea, where Covid cases are at record highs >>> Han River Park in Seoul, South Korea, where Covid cases are at record
highs Photograph: Chris Jung/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
At Nostimo, Park prepares authentic Greek dishes, with many ingredients
sourced from a farm outside the city.
She says that with South Koreans unable to take trips abroad due to the
pandemic, Nostimo has enjoyed strong demand from grounded travellers.
“Our restaurant has benefited from visits by Koreans and non-Koreans
alike wishing to have authentic international food experiences without
getting on a plane,” she said.
Throughout the pandemic, one group that has struggled has been the
medical workers that have led the response to the crisis, often working
long hours while risking exposure to infection. Doctors have fought with >>> the government over pay and working conditions, and accused the
government of taking credit for their work.
“Doctors and nurses who have been treating Covid-19 patients have been
under a lot of stress, nearing burnout status,” said Park Jae-young, a
medical doctor and Executive Editor of the Korean Doctors’ Weekly.
Park said that instead of looking forward to a “post-pandemic era”
medical professionals are bracing for a future where the coronavirus
remains a part of their work and life. “Considering the characteristics
of the coronavirus - its transmission power, mutation patterns, and the
vaccination rate - it seems that we will live with its effects virtually >>> forever,” he said.
“It will be impossible for a very, very long time to come for tens of
thousands of people to take off their masks and gather on a soccer field >>> to cheer, or shake hands with strangers and have heated discussions in
pubs.”
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
S. Korea & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9805411/Anthony-Hess-spreads-Delta-Covid-strain-sixty-people-single-weekend-Los-Angeles.html
EXCLUSIVE: I was a Covid super-spreader and the guilt is killing me: How >>> Australian socialite gave the Delta strain to SIXTY people in a single
weekend despite being fully vaccinated
Anthony Hess celebrated dropping of Covid restrictions with a weekend bender
He has two Moderna jabs but still spread the virus to at least 60 people >>> at parties
Spent five days on his couch suffering moderate symptoms as vaccine helped >>> Pleaded with Australians to take Covid seriously with 14 million locked down
Hess known for beating Roxy Jacenko in court and is Stacey Hampton's ex-BFF >>> By NIC WHITE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
PUBLISHED: 11:25 EDT, 21 July 2021 | UPDATED: 18:12 EDT, 25 July 2021
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Notorious Australian socialite Anthony Hess unknowingly spread the Delta >>> strain of coronavirus to at least 60 people in a single weekend.
Hess, 40, best known for his ill-fated friendship with Married At First
Sight star Stacey Hampton and defeating Sydney PR queen Roxy Jacenko in
court, fled to Los Angeles last year after a punch-up with his bikie
boss mate Toby Mitchell.
As much of the US, including Hess, was vaccinated against Covid, masks
and lockdowns gave way to boozy parties and nightclub openings.
Read More
However, the country is now gripped by the highly infectious Delta
strain and many fully vaccinated Americans are catching the virus and
getting sick.
Anthony Hess, 40, (pictured with a friend) unknowingly spread the Delta
strain of coronavirus to at least 60 people in Los Angeles in a single
weekend +8
Anthony Hess, 40, (pictured with a friend) unknowingly spread the Delta
strain of coronavirus to at least 60 people in Los Angeles in a single
weekend
Hess said he only developed symptoms mid-last week, well after his big
bender, and spent four days in bed barely functional +8
Hess said he only developed symptoms mid-last week, well after his big
bender, and spent four days in bed barely functional
Delta is so infectious that it only took one wild weekend on July 9-11
for Hess to spread it to 20 confirmed cases, and another 40 people who
now have symptoms.
'Honestly, I have no idea how many people I infected, I came into
contact with so many it could be hundreds,' he told Daily Mail Australia. >>>
'I feel so guilty, I've had dozens of friends message me saying they
have symptoms, but I'm vaccinated and had no idea I had Covid.'
The reluctant super-spreader, who had two shots of Moderna, said he only >>> developed symptoms mid-last week, well after his big bender, and spent
four days in bed barely functional.
'I basically slept for four days straight without eating, I’m sweating
so bad, felt like I was dying and lost so much weight,' he said.
He also suffered the classic blocked nose, sore throat, dry cough, and
shortness of breath.
However, he knows without being fully vaccinated - as only 11 per cent
of Australians are - he would have been in a lot more trouble.
Hess (centre) at the Ritz Carlton hotel in downtown Los Angeles with
former Neighbours star Scarlet Vas (far right) and socialite Stephanie
Mal last year +8
Hess (centre) at the Ritz Carlton hotel in downtown Los Angeles with
former Neighbours star Scarlet Vas (far right) and socialite Stephanie
Mal last year
Los Angeles had almost 8,000 new cases in the same time despite
widespread vaccination, and the whole US almost 59,000 and 622 deaths +8
Los Angeles had almost 8,000 new cases in the same time despite
widespread vaccination, and the whole US almost 59,000 and 622 deaths
Hess said his super-spreading and what is happening in Los Angeles
should be a wakeup call to Australians who don't take the pandemic
seriously.
'It just goes to show how easily people can spread the Delta strain
without knowing,' he said.
'Everyone in Australia thinks it's a joke, it's not. LA is putting
restrictions back on. The virus is spreading so fast, people are dying.
'I didn't take it seriously either, until it happened to me. In
Australia no-one knows anyone who's had it.'
Hess said it appeared the Delta variant was overpowering Covid vaccines
as most of the people he infected were double-jabbed. He now worries
there will be a massive outbreak.
Los Angeles is now gripped by the highly infectious Delta strain and
many fully vaccinated Americans are catching the virus and getting sick +8
Los Angeles is now gripped by the highly infectious Delta strain and
many fully vaccinated Americans are catching the virus and getting sick
'It’s going to be mayhem here because it has been normal for so long,
all the big parties and festivals. Everyone is freaking out,' he said.
'Everyone in Australia is complaining [about lockdowns]? At least the
government is protecting people.'
Delta's infection rate in countries with high vaccinations has prompted
renewed restrictions and mask wearing, and raised concerns immunisations >>> may not be the silver bullet to cure the world of Covid for good.
Australia recorded 138 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, 110 of which >>> were in Sydney's outbreak, and 14 million people are in lockdown.
Hess (left) got special permission to leave Australia last October after >>> he was repeatedly hit in the face by Mongols bikie president Toby
Mitchell (right) sparked by former friend Stacey Hampton (centre)
spreading false rumours that he called Mitchell a 'dog and a c**t' +8
Hess (left) got special permission to leave Australia last October
after he was repeatedly hit in the face by Mongols bikie president Toby
Mitchell (right) sparked by former friend Stacey Hampton (centre)
spreading false rumours that he called Mitchell a 'dog and a c**t'
LA had almost 8,000 new cases in the same time despite widespread
vaccination, and the whole US almost 59,000 and 622 deaths.
The party animal with a nose for trouble got special permission to leave >>> Australia last October after he was repeatedly hit in the face by
Mongols bikie president Mitchell.
Hess called the bashing a 'drunken misunderstanding between mates'
sparked by Hampton spreading false rumours that he called Mitchell a
'dog and a c**t', and asked for the charges to be dropped.
Police prosecuted Mitchell for the assault anyway, even after Hess flew
to LA to avoid being questioned over the brawl.
Australian Government flight caps mean he can't get back to his
Melbourne home town as there are no flights.
PR queen Roxy Jacenko accused him of spraying 'Roxy is a c**t' on her
office wall in Sydney's Paddington after an altercation at one of her
speaking events +8
PR queen Roxy Jacenko accused him of spraying 'Roxy is a c**t' on her
office wall in Sydney's Paddington after an altercation at one of her
speaking events
Married at First Sight star Stacey Hampton was formerly close friends
with Hess until they had a nasty falling out last year +8
Married at First Sight star Stacey Hampton was formerly close friends
with Hess until they had a nasty falling out last year
A frequent drama magnet, Hess was hit with a restraining order by
prominent PR maven Ms Jacenko in 2019, but had it overturned in court in >>> February 2020.
Ms Jacenko accused him of spraying 'Roxy is a c**t' on her office wall
in Sydney's Paddington after an altercation at one of her speaking events. >>>
Hess denied the vandalism saying 'gay guys don't do graffiti' and the
court agreed, but he was last month fined $2,400 after new video
evidence was discovered.
His falling out with former BFF Hampton was no less dramatic with photos >>> of the pair shopping last year critical to getting the MAFS favourite
fined for breaching quarantine rules.
Since their messy parting of way they have not missed an opportunity to
snipe at each other on social media.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/07/prof-francois-balloux-the-pandemic-has-created-a-market-for-gloom-and-doom
Ian Tucker
Francois Balloux.
‘From the start, the pandemic has been polarising’: Francois Balloux.
Photograph: Dom Smaz/Imago/Hans Lucas
The UCL scientist and ‘militant corona centrist’ on the risk of new
variants, psychosomatic long Covid and when he expects the crisis to end
Actually, "long COVID" is **not** psychosomatic.
Coronavirus – latest updates
See all our coronavirus coverage
Sat 7 Aug 2021 10.00 EDT
Prof Francois Balloux is director of the University College London
Genetics Institute. His work focuses on the reconstruction of disease
outbreaks and epidemics. With his colleague Dr Lucy van Dorp, he led the >>> first large-scale sequencing project of the Sars-CoV2 genome. During the >>> pandemic, he has become a prominent scientist on Twitter, where he
describes himself as a “militant corona centrist”.
Would you say a new variant of concern is still the major threat to our
way out of this pandemic?
We haven’t had one in a while. The four variants of concern all emerged
in the second half of 2020, and it’s important to keep in mind that
viruses evolve all the time at a fairly regular pace.
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‘I don’t see how it can be safe’: Florida schools on frontlines of
state’s mask war
However, with Alpha, something unexpected happened: there was a sudden
accumulation of mutations. One reasonable hypothesis is that Alpha
emerged from an infection of an immunocompromised person or someone who
was infected for a very long period. The other three variants of concern >>> (Beta, Gamma, Delta) emerged through gradual accumulation of mutations.
So it’s not always predictable?
It’s extraordinarily difficult to predict a shock like the Alpha
variant. What is easy to predict is that mutations will continue to
appear and the virus will progressively drift, with the vaccines
becoming less effective over time.
There was a suggestion in a Sage paper that a very lethal variant could
emerge, while other scientists suggest that the virus has reached its
“maximum fit”, that if it evolves further it will lose the ability to
coexist with its human hosts.
It’s important to balance the scariness of predictions with their
likelihood. The likelihood of a lineage emerging that is 50 times more
lethal is extraordinarily implausible. I say that because we have 200
respiratory viruses in circulation and most of us get infected on a
regular basis. We’ve never seen that kind of sudden change in mortality. >>> I’m not saying it’s impossible, but you may have a better chance of
winning the lottery jackpot many times over.
Where does the emergence of the alpha and delta variants sit on your
jackpot-winning measure?
That’s such a difficult question. It is somewhat comparable to asking
what the chances of someone winning the jackpot are, without having any
idea about how many numbers there are on the lottery ticket.
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The Alpha and Delta variants emerged, and they obviously were winning
combinations of mutations for the virus – though we also know that no
other comparably transmissible viral lineage has emerged so far, despite >>> millions of infections and a constant influx of mutations.
Another concern is a mutation that enables the virus to “escape” the
vaccines…
Over two million viral samples have been sequenced, and we’ve probably
already seen all the mutations that are technically possible. From our
observations, we know that vaccine escape will not appear after one or
two mutations – it will require an accumulation giving rise to the right >>> combination. We will not go from one day everyone being protected to
everyone being vulnerable the next. We will have time to update the
vaccines.
Also, while a vaccine-escape variant would indeed be able to infect
vaccinated people far more easily, it would not nullify the protection
against severe disease and death provided by the vaccine and prior
infection.
Where do you stand on vaccinating teenagers?
This is the mother of all questions. There are people who are very
passionate on both sides. Given the data available – and not many
teenagers have been immunised – I think the JCVI has probably been right >>> to err on the side of caution by first recommending the vaccine for
healthy over-18s, and as more data has become available, to healthy
over-16s. There is an issue with heart inflammation in younger males
administered mRNA vaccines. One possible solution could be to give
teenagers only one dose – most of the side-effects have been registered
after the second dose. However, a single-dose regime hasn’t been
trialled or approved yet.
You have stated that a “non-trivial” number of long-Covid cases are
psychosomatic.
We know that infections such as Covid lead to post-viral syndromes. At
the risk of being insensitive, I would be surprised if there wasn’t a
link between disease severity and the severity of follow-up symptoms.
Like tuberculosis or influenza, people who have a severe case should
expect to take a long time to recover fully. And sometimes recovery is
never complete.
I would like to stress: if you have a serious infection, do not
necessarily expect to be back to full fitness in three months
The situation is more complicated with a mild infection. Post-viral
symptoms can happen but it seems relatively implausible to me that this
would happen very frequently. In all likelihood, some cases are
psychosomatic – though this doesn’t make the suffering less real for
those affected or reduce the cost to society. All disease is real,
irrespective of its root cause.
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There is a mental component to health and disease. Just the fear of
something bad happening to us can make us feel unwell. A remarkable
example of this process can be seen in the way over 30% of the people
who were enrolled in the control arm of the Pfizer vaccine trial
reported headaches and fatigue, despite not being injected with a vaccine. >>>
You had a bad bout of Covid – does this inform your view?
I try to discount my own experience when I think about public health
issues. That said, I would probably be included as having long Covid
because six months later I haven’t fully recovered my sense of smell or
taste.
There is no such thing as a "psychosomatic" loss of either taste nor
smell.
I think we need a meaningful definition that captures whether you
have regained full fitness. I would like to stress: if you have a
serious infection, do not necessarily expect to be back to full fitness
in three months.
Your Twitter bio states you are a “militant corona centrist”. What do
you mean by that?
From the start, the pandemic has been polarising. Some people thought
we should “let it rip” or “take it on the chin” and others thought we
should fight to eliminate it everywhere. These camps have fought for 16
months and it’s pretty toxic. Both are pretty extreme and unrealistic. I >>> always thought very careful mitigation could keep the pandemic under
control until vaccines arrived. A few countries have come close, such as >>> Singapore, Norway and Denmark.
The scientist is supposed to revise their conclusions as the evidence
evolves. Do you feel that scientists on both sides of the debate have
been holding on to their views in spite of the evidence?
It’s self-serving to say “they don’t change their mind, I do” – despite
the fact that I didn’t. Our brains work in a Bayesian way – we have
priors that influence how we regard new information. As a scientist, it
is very important not to have overwhelmingly strong priors – you need to >>> be open to surprise and to let your priors be updated by new data. It’s
important to engage with new evidence. Being dogmatic is problematic.
This issue is amplified when, as now, scientists are talking directly to >>> the public…
Before the pandemic, scientists were rarely asked anything, or we were
listened to in a polite, slightly bored way. But now people are clinging >>> to the words of scientists, which can make it more difficult for them to >>> change their mind. Few scientists have changed their views on Covid but
when they do it’s often not well received – there’s an element of
groupthink and for more media-savvy scientists, an expectation from
their adoring crowd that they’re not meant to do that.
jeremy farrar on a balcony at the wellcome trust in central london
Jeremy Farrar: ‘A September 2020 lockdown would have saved a lot of lives’ >>> Read more
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Neil Ferguson has been criticised for his predictions of 100,000 cases a >>> day after the easing of restrictions on 19 July.
I know Neil, he was my boss for five years. His predictions were quite
pessimistic but he tends to be pessimistic – which isn’t a criticism. If >>> you are in a position of authority giving advice to the government you
really want to err on the side of caution.
Can you explain what you mean by “scientific populism”?
As the pandemic has advanced the mood of the public has become darker
and more fearful and this has created a market for gloom and doom. It’s
as bad as the effects of the super-optimism at the beginning – stay at
home for two weeks, it’s a mild disease or wear a mask and it will be
gone. So I kind of captured the market for corona centrism – not to be
systematically optimistic or pessimistic and to make it clear there are
major uncertainties. And this is empowering, because understanding
things is.
You’ve often stated that the pandemic will be over by mid to late 2021.
Do you stand by this?
Depends on how you quantify it. I would say the pandemic is over when
Covid-19 doesn’t cause significantly more mortality than other
respiratory viruses in circulation. This will happen first in places
such as the UK that have been privileged to get vaccine coverage – I
expect at the latest early next year.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://reason.com/2021/08/11/hawaii-limits-indoor-social-gatherings-to-10-people-will-more-states-follow-suit/#comment-9042574
Hawaii Limits Indoor Social Gatherings to 10 People. Will More States
Follow Suit?
Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued an executive order yesterday imposing a
raft of new restrictions on businesses and social gatherings.
CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI | 8.11.2021 12:55 PM
reason-mask2
(ibreakstock/Dreamstime.com)
Hawaii is bringing back a whole swath of pandemic restrictions on social >>> gatherings and businesses in response to rising COVID-19 cases on the
island.
On Tuesday, Hawaii Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, issued an executive order >>> limiting indoor social gatherings to 10 people, and outdoor gatherings
to 25 people. Restaurants, bars, and other "social establishments"—in
addition to abiding by those gathering limits—must also require patrons
to be seated and masked when not actively drinking or eating. Mingling
between parties is expressly prohibited.
Indoor capacity at those establishments, as well as gyms and other
"high-risk" activities, is limited to 50 percent. (It's not entirely
clear to me whether this half-capacity cap supersedes the indoor
gathering limits bars and restaurants are also supposed to comply with.) >>>
"The dining rooms can only hold 50 [percent] capacity, where most
restaurants and your financials are all structured around 100 [percent]
capacity," said Hawaii Restaurant Association Executive Director Sheryl
Matsuoka to Civil Beat. "You only have 50 [percent] of your income, but
then you have to pay 100 [percent] of your bills."
Restaurants were already required to operate at 75 percent capacity,
Matsuoka said.
Ige's executive order allows for "professional events"—which the
Honolulu Star-Advertiser says includes weddings, meetings, banquets, and >>> conventions—have to follow state and county rules regarding their
operation, but not the new state gathering limits. Organizers also have
to consult with counties when hosting an event with more than 50 people. >>>
A dashboard run by the state's Emergency Management Agency shows that 65 >>> percent of ICU beds in the state are occupied. The state has been
averaging one COVID death a day for the past several months. Some 60
percent of Hawaiians are fully vaccinated, and almost 70 percent have
received at least one shot.
Nevertheless, Civil Beat reported today that intensive care units (ICU)
in a number of hospitals in the state are at or nearing capacity thanks
to a surge in new COVID-19 patients. In Florida, a surge in delta
variant cases has since been followed by a huge, and still rising, surge >>> in COVID deaths. It's plausible the situation in Hawaii will get worse soon.
Thus far, most states and localities that have reimposed COVID
restrictions have stuck to mandating indoor masking or requiring that
patrons of restaurants and other establishments show proof of vaccination. >>>
Hawaii's return to imposing limits on small gatherings—especially when
statewide ICU capacity is still in good shape and COVID deaths are
low—is a worrying sign that more states might soon start dredging up
pandemic regulations we thought were behind us.
It doesn't appear Hawaii state officials have put much more thought into >>> these restrictions since the last time they were imposed.
It's pretty widely accepted that requiring people to wear masks when
entering a restaurant but not while they're sitting there talking and
eating for an hour is useless. Limits on outdoor activities are also
considered to be ineffective.
To Fight Communism, the U.S. Should Beam Internet Into Cuba
Likewise, imposing different limits on the size of gatherings depending
on where they're happening doesn't appear to make much sense. Is a
40-person wedding really less dangerous than a restaurant patio filled
with 30 people?
Ige's order is supposed to end on October 13, unless the governor
chooses to extend it.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
Hawaii & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:Jack Marshall is done wearing masks.
http://ethicsalarms.com/2021/08/12/scared-yet-i-want-to-hear-a-legitimate-defense-of-youtube-censoring-senator-pauls-speech/#more-86170
Scared Yet? I Want To Hear A Legitimate Defense Of YouTube Censoring
Senator Paul’s Speech…
AUGUST 12, 2021 / JACK MARSHALL
Spoiler: There isn’t one.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), the U.S. Senate’s most passionate libertarian, >>> was suspended from YouTube for expressing his strong opposition to Wuhan >>> virus mandates and calling for widespread citizen resistance.
Not doing our part to stop the COVID-19 pandemic is sin.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/15/new-covid-variants-will-set-us-back-a-year-experts-warn-uk-government
New Covid variants ‘would set us back a year’, experts warn UK government >>> Vaccine-beating variant is ‘realistic possibility’, say scientists, amid >>> calls for contingency plans to be revealed
Coronavirus – latest updates
See all our coronavirus coverage
A three-dimensional rendered image of the Delta Covid variant.
A three-dimensional rendered image of the Delta Covid variant.
Photograph: koto_feja/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Michael Savage
Sat 14 Aug 2021 19.01 EDT
Ministers are being pressed to reveal what contingency plans are in
place to deal with a future Covid variant that evades current vaccines,
amid warnings from scientific advisers that such an outcome could set
the battle against the pandemic back a year or more.
Recent papers produced by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for >>> Emergencies (Sage) have suggested that the arrival of a variant that
evades vaccines is a “realistic possibility”. Sage backed continued work >>> on new vaccines that reduce infection and transmission more than current >>> jabs, the creation of more vaccine-production facilities in the UK and
lab-based studies to predict evolution of variants.
With the arrival of a new variant seen as one of the main dangers that
could intensify the crisis once again, prominent scientific figures
stressed the risks. Prof Graham Medley, a member of Sage and a leader of >>> the government’s Covid modelling group, said it was “clearly something
that the planners and scientists should take very seriously as it would
put us back a long way”.
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“It is not that different to the planning that needs to be done between
pandemics – a new variant that was able to overcome immunity
significantly would be essentially a new virus,” he said. “The advantage >>> would be that we know we can generate vaccines against this virus – and
relatively quickly. The disadvantage is that we would be back to the
same situation we were in a year ago, depending on how much impact
current immunity had against a new variant. Hopefully, evolution is
slow, so that new variants arise that are only marginally evasive rather >>> than one big jump.” Dr Marc Baguelin, from Imperial College’s Covid-19
response team and a member of the government’s SPI-M modelling group,
said preventing the importation of variants of concern with “moderate to >>> high immune-escape properties would be critical, as these could lead to
future waves orders of magnitude larger than the ones experienced so far”. >>>
“It is unlikely that such a new virus evades entirely all immunity from
past infection or vaccines,” he said. “Some immunity should remain at
least for the most severe outcomes such as death or hospitalisation. We
would most likely be able to update the current vaccines to include the
emerging strain.
“But doing so would take months and means that we might need to reimpose >>> restrictions if there were a significant public health risk. The amount
of restrictions would be a political decision and would need to be
proportionate with how much this virus would evade current vaccines.”
It comes with a further loosening of restrictions in England on Monday
when fully vaccinated people and under-18s will no longer be legally
required to self-isolate if they come into close contact with someone
with Covid. They will be advised, but not obliged, to take a PCR test
instead. Daily Covid cases have been hovering around the 30,000 mark.
The latest figures, from 13 August, showed that a further 32,700 had
tested positive and another 100 deaths were reported.
Meanwhile, all 16- and 17-year-olds in England will be offered a first
dose of vaccine over the next week to give them some protection before
schools return in September. Health secretary Sajid Javid urged older
teenagers not to delay. “Get your jabs as soon as you can so we can
continue to safely live with this virus and enjoy our freedoms by giving >>> yourself, your family and your community the protection they need,” he said.
Boris Johnson’s former senior adviser Dominic Cummings has already
called on the government to publish a “variant escape vaccine
contingency plan” and suggested MPs should explore ways of forcing
ministers to do so. One scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said they would like to see the publication of the national risk
assessment relating to Covid-19 contingency plans.
Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, is backing the
move. “It is critical that people have confidence in Boris Johnson’s
Covid strategy and trust him not to repeat the same mistakes of the last >>> 18 months,” she said. “Through refusing to self-isolate, breaking their
own rules and making mistakes that have cost lives, the government has
lost public trust. Transparency is the only way to begin winning that
trust back.”
Stephen Reicher, professor of psychology at the University of St
Andrews, said: “It very much makes sense to be prepared. Scotland is
setting up its standing committee on pandemics. It will be interesting
to see what emerges on a UK level.
“In the longer-term we need a systematic inquiry into what went wrong
(and right) so we are prepared and also so that we can institute
systemic changes to protect us. The pandemic has been like a barium meal >>> which has exposed so many deficiencies in our society. We can no longer
pretend we are not aware of them. This has been a deafening wake-up
call. Let’s make sure we don’t press the snooze button.”
Government sources said Public Health England and others were monitoring >>> the situation through rapid surveillance and genomic sequencing of the
virus. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the
vaccination programme had built a “wall of defence”.
“We are committed to protecting the progress of the vaccine rollout and
our world-leading genomics capabilities are at the forefront of global
efforts to stay ahead of variants, with over half a million samples
genome-sequenced so far,” they said.
Official figures show the UK recorded 93 new Covid-related deaths and
29,520 new cases yesterday.“Data from Public Health England shows two
doses of Covid-19 vaccines are more than 90% effective against
hospitalisation from the Delta variant, the dominant strain in the UK.”
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.instagram.com/p/CS4feiWFN87/
I am simply wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) and
hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
https://apnews.com/article/science-health-coronavirus-pandemic-6df4471c64e40e7e319ae368d4c1db0b
between100,000 more COVID deaths seen unless US changes its ways
By CARLA K. JOHNSON and NICKY FORSTER
August 26, 2021
FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2021, file photo, two visitors peer into the
room of a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit at Salem Hospital >in Salem, Ore., as a nurse dons full protective gear before going into >the room of another patient. Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday, Aug. >25, 2021, that the state has contracted with a medical staffing company >to provide up to 500 health care workers to hospitals around the state
to help respond to the surge in patients due to the delta variant. (AP >Photo/Andrew Selsky, File)
1 of 3
FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2021, file photo, two visitors peer into the
room of a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit at Salem Hospital >in Salem, Ore., as a nurse dons full protective gear before going into >the room of another patient. Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday, Aug. >25, 2021, that the state has contracted with a medical staffing company >to provide up to 500 health care workers to hospitals around the state
to help respond to the surge in patients due to the delta variant. (AP >Photo/Andrew Selsky, File)
The U.S. is projected to see nearly 100,000 more COVID-19 deaths
halfnow and Dec. 1, according to the nation’s most closely watched >forecasting model. But health experts say that toll could be cut in
if nearly everyone wore a mask in public spaces.
In other words, what the coronavirus has in store this fall depends on >human behavior.
“Behavior is really going to determine if, when and how sustainably the >current wave subsides,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, director of the >University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. “We cannot stop delta >in its tracks, but we can change our behavior overnight.”
That means doubling down again on masks, limiting social gatherings, >staying home when sick and getting vaccinated. “Those things are within >our control,” Meyers said.
The U.S. is in the grip of a fourth wave of infection this summer, >powered by the highly contagious delta variant, which has sent cases, >hospitalizations and deaths soaring again, swamped medical centers, >burned out nurses and erased months of progress against the virus.
ADVERTISEMENT
Deaths are running at over 1,100 a day on average, turning the clock
back to mid-March. One influential model, from the University of >Washington, projects an additional 98,000 Americans will die by the
start of December, for an overall death toll of nearly 730,000.
The projection says deaths will rise to nearly 1,400 a day by >mid-September, then decline slowly.
AmericansBut the model also says many of those deaths can be averted if
change their ways.
making“We can save 50,000 lives simply by wearing masks. That’s how important >behaviors are,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences >at the University of Washington in Seattle who is involved in the
of the projections.
seriously.Already there are signs that Americans are taking the threat more
Amid the alarm over the delta variant in the past several weeks, the >slump in demand for COVID-19 shots reversed course. The number of >vaccinations dispensed per day has climbed around 80% over the past
month to an average of about 900,000.
White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said Tuesday that in >Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, “more people got their >first shots in the past month than in the prior two months combined.”
Also, millions of students are being required to wear masks. A growing >number of employers are demanding their workers get the vaccine after
the federal government gave Pfizer’s shot full approval earlier this >week. And cities like New York and New Orleans are insisting people get >vaccinated if they want to eat at a restaurant.
ADVERTISEMENT
Half of American workers are in favor of vaccine requirements at their >workplaces, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC
Center for Public Affairs Research.
curveEarly signs suggest behavior changes may already be flattening the
in a few places where the virus raged this summer.
precautions.An Associated Press analysis shows the rate of new cases is slowing in >Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas, some of the same states >where first shots are on the rise. In Florida, pleas from hospitals and
a furor over masks in schools may have nudged some to take more
However, the troubling trends persist in Georgia, Kentucky, South >Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming, where new infections >continue to rise steadily.
Mokdad said he is frustrated that Americans “aren’t doing what it takes >to control this virus.”
“I don’t get it,” he said. “We have a fire and nobody wants to deploy a >firetruck.”
One explanation: The good news in the spring — vaccinations rising,
cases declining — gave people a glimpse of the way things used to be, >said Elizabeth Stuart of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health, and that made it tough for them to resume the precautions they >thought they left behind.
“We don’t need to fully hunker down,” she said, “but we can make some >choices that reduce risk.”
30, ofEven vaccinated people should stay vigilant, said Dr. Gaby Sauza,
hadSeattle, who was inoculated over the winter but tested positive for >COVID-19 along with other guests days after an Aug. 14 Vermont wedding, >even though the festivities were mostly outdoors and those attending
to submit photos of their vaccination cards.
“In retrospect, absolutely, I do wish I had worn a mask,” she said.
Sauza, a resident in pediatrics, will miss two weeks of hospital work
and has wrestled with guilt over burdening her colleagues. She credits >the vaccine with keeping her infection manageable, though she suffered >several days of body aches, fevers, night sweats, fatigue, coughing and >chest pain.
virus“If we behave, we can contain this virus. If we don’t behave, this
is waiting for us,” Mokdad said. “It’s going to find the weak among us.”
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-restaurant-vaccine-mandate-sales-business-times-square-covid-mooyah-2021-8?utm_source=reddit.com
Grace Dean Aug 28, 2021, 1:36 AM
Mooyah Art, Nick Depole
Art Depole and his brother Nick own the Mooyah restaurant in New York's
Times Square. Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes
The owner of Mooyah said business fell by up to 25% after NYC introduced >>> its vaccine mandate.
He said that he doubted rising Delta cases had caused the drop.
The vaccine mandate was "very polarizing" in comparison with past mask
mandates, he added.
Insider Life: The best of real estate, fitness, travel & style
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Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service
and Privacy Policy.
The owner of a burger restaurant in downtown Manhattan said business
plunged by up to 25% in a week – and he blamed it on New York City's
vaccine mandate.
Art Depole, who co-owns the Mooyah Burgers, Fries, and Shakes restaurant >>> in Times Square, told Insider that the mandate was deterring people from >>> visiting his establishment.
This loss in business could cause his restaurant to raise prices, he said. >>>
Read more: A top consulting firm just announced one of the strictest
vaccine mandates yet: Get vaccinated or don't get paid
Under rules introduced last week, people need to provide proof of at
least one COVID-19 shot to eat at restaurants in New York City. Depole
estimated that sales at his restaurant were between 20% and 25% down
that week, with lunchtime and weekend traffic hit the hardest.
Rising cases of the Delta variant could also be putting people off from
eating out, Depole said. Sales have dropped at Mooyah restaurants in
tourist-heavy areas because the Delta variant has deterred people from
traveling, Natalie Anderson Liu, vice president of brand at Mooyah, told >>> Insider. And tourists usually make up just over half of all visitors at
the Times Square location, Depole added.
But he said that he didn't think worries about the Delta variant could
have caused the sudden drop in sales because Delta cases were already
high anyway.
"The previous week in which the Delta variant was still spreading was
far better in sales then last week was," Depole said.
"I believe, from speaking to people, that it's more because of the
mandate," he said.
The vaccine mandate was "very polarizing" in comparison with past mask
mandates, he added.
Restaurants that voluntarily enforced their own vaccine mandates told
Insider that some customers had left bad reviews and threatened to spit
on and cough at staff over the policy.
"I never had one incident with a customer who gave me a hard time when
they were asked to wear a mask," Depole said.
SPONSORED BY INVESCO US
CollegeBound 529 Plan
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The restaurant industry is 'the easy target'
The restaurant industry is 'the easy target'
Depole said he understood the reasoning behind the vaccine mandate, but
that the restaurant industry was "the easy target" and being "unfairly
picked on."
"We're being singled out as someone who has to enforce this mandate
while other large retailers aren't having to go through the same type of >>> requirements that we are to allow customers to enter," he said.
An analysis published in Nature found that the majority of COVID-19
infections early in the pandemic could be traced to "superspreader"
locations, which included restaurants.
"The places that are the riskiest are restaurants, gyms, cafes, and
hotels," the study's co-author Jure Leskovec told Insider. "These are
all places where people are relatively densely packed together for a
long period of time."
SPONSORED BY INVESCO US
A Plan for the Future
Helping families save for college.
VISIT SITE
But Depole said his restaurant is safe. "We have had zero cases of COVID >>> linked to our restaurant," he said.
Anderson Liu said that Mooyah introduced a COVID-19 checklist for all
its restaurants at the start of the pandemic, which includes sanitizing
restaurants every 15 minutes and screening staff for the coronavirus.
"So I can tell you that almost with a 100% certainty that our restaurant >>> is safer than most of the retail outlets that are not affected by this," >>> Depole said.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
NYC & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-58388675
Record 400,000 waiting to see NHS specialists
Published5 hours ago
Share
A member of staff at University Hospital Monklands attends to a
Covid-positive patient on the ICU ward on February 5, 2021
IMAGE SOURCEGETTY IMAGES
A record high of almost 400,000 people were waiting to see an NHS
specialist for an outpatient appointment at the end of June, new figures >>> show.
The Public Health Scotland statistics show that there was a growth in
the NHS activity in the three months to the end of June.
But the number of patients seen was still well down on the 2019 average. >>>
Almost half of the people on the list had been waiting longer than 12
weeks for a hospital appointment.
One in 12 had been waiting for more than a year.
The statistics show:
286,707 patients were seen by specialists across NHS Scotland in the
three months to the end of June
This was a 10.8% increase on the previous quarter
But the figure for June 2021 was 22% lower than the quarterly average
during 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic
At 30 June 2021, 396,771 were waiting to be seen.
This is 48.4% (+129,489) higher than at 30 June 2020 when the list size
was abnormally low, partly due to a significant drop in referrals
The June 2021 figure is 28.5% (+87,884) higher than the average for 2019 >>> Of those waiting, 53.1% had been waiting 12 weeks or less - markedly
down on the 73.4% average reported in 2019
The number waiting more than a year has decreased to 8.8% (35,016)
But the number waiting 33-51 weeks increased to 10.8% (15,285)
Mick's three-year wait for knee replacements
Mick Moloney
Mick Moloney needs two knee replacements. He says he has been waiting
for three years and feels "a bit forgotten".
The 64-year-old from Boyndie, Aberdeenshire, used to be very active -
but everything has "come to a standstill".
"I did lots of gardening, I was a very keen dog walker, maybe 10 miles a >>> day, just generally always on the go.
"The dog walking has stopped, the gardening is much more limited, you
can't just go at it all day long.
"My life has just been changed dramatically. You plan around pain."
The pain makes sleeping difficult, so Mick wakes up tired.
"It changes your life completely," he adds.
"It's a constant ache. You end up walking badly. It's a complete nightmare. >>>
"I know Covid has taken over the world, but there's me and many
thousands like me just going backwards."
2px presentational grey line
Analysis box by Lisa Summers, health correspondent, Scotland
This is not simply about clearing the backlog of work created by the
pandemic. It reflects the immense strain on the NHS now.
Covid patients are fewer in number but they still occupy beds that could >>> be used to treat other conditions. Staff have to be redeployed, and
wards closed to new admissions. It only takes a few people off sick or
isolating, for a whole day of cataract operations or hip replacements to >>> be cancelled.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
Someone eternally condemned wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-restaurant-vaccine-mandate-sales-business-times-square-covid-mooyah-2021-8?utm_source=reddit.com
Grace Dean Aug 28, 2021, 1:36 AM
Mooyah Art, Nick Depole
Art Depole and his brother Nick own the Mooyah restaurant in New York's >>>>> Times Square. Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes
The owner of Mooyah said business fell by up to 25% after NYC introduced >>>>> its vaccine mandate.
He said that he doubted rising Delta cases had caused the drop.
The vaccine mandate was "very polarizing" in comparison with past mask >>>>> mandates, he added.
Insider Life: The best of real estate, fitness, travel & style
Email address
Email address
By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from
Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service >>>>> and Privacy Policy.
The owner of a burger restaurant in downtown Manhattan said business >>>>> plunged by up to 25% in a week – and he blamed it on New York City's >>>>> vaccine mandate.
Art Depole, who co-owns the Mooyah Burgers, Fries, and Shakes restaurant >>>>> in Times Square, told Insider that the mandate was deterring people from >>>>> visiting his establishment.
This loss in business could cause his restaurant to raise prices, he said.
Read more: A top consulting firm just announced one of the strictest >>>>> vaccine mandates yet: Get vaccinated or don't get paid
Under rules introduced last week, people need to provide proof of at >>>>> least one COVID-19 shot to eat at restaurants in New York City. Depole >>>>> estimated that sales at his restaurant were between 20% and 25% down >>>>> that week, with lunchtime and weekend traffic hit the hardest.
Rising cases of the Delta variant could also be putting people off from >>>>> eating out, Depole said. Sales have dropped at Mooyah restaurants in >>>>> tourist-heavy areas because the Delta variant has deterred people from >>>>> traveling, Natalie Anderson Liu, vice president of brand at Mooyah, told >>>>> Insider. And tourists usually make up just over half of all visitors at >>>>> the Times Square location, Depole added.
But he said that he didn't think worries about the Delta variant could >>>>> have caused the sudden drop in sales because Delta cases were already >>>>> high anyway.
"The previous week in which the Delta variant was still spreading was >>>>> far better in sales then last week was," Depole said.
"I believe, from speaking to people, that it's more because of the
mandate," he said.
The vaccine mandate was "very polarizing" in comparison with past mask >>>>> mandates, he added.
Restaurants that voluntarily enforced their own vaccine mandates told >>>>> Insider that some customers had left bad reviews and threatened to spit >>>>> on and cough at staff over the policy.
"I never had one incident with a customer who gave me a hard time when >>>>> they were asked to wear a mask," Depole said.
SPONSORED BY INVESCO US
CollegeBound 529 Plan
Build a legacy for their future.
VISIT SITE
The restaurant industry is 'the easy target'
The restaurant industry is 'the easy target'
Depole said he understood the reasoning behind the vaccine mandate, but >>>>> that the restaurant industry was "the easy target" and being "unfairly >>>>> picked on."
"We're being singled out as someone who has to enforce this mandate
while other large retailers aren't having to go through the same type of >>>>> requirements that we are to allow customers to enter," he said.
An analysis published in Nature found that the majority of COVID-19
infections early in the pandemic could be traced to "superspreader"
locations, which included restaurants.
"The places that are the riskiest are restaurants, gyms, cafes, and
hotels," the study's co-author Jure Leskovec told Insider. "These are >>>>> all places where people are relatively densely packed together for a >>>>> long period of time."
SPONSORED BY INVESCO US
A Plan for the Future
Helping families save for college.
VISIT SITE
But Depole said his restaurant is safe. "We have had zero cases of COVID >>>>> linked to our restaurant," he said.
Anderson Liu said that Mooyah introduced a COVID-19 checklist for all >>>>> its restaurants at the start of the pandemic, which includes sanitizing >>>>> restaurants every 15 minutes and screening staff for the coronavirus. >>>>>
"So I can tell you that almost with a 100% certainty that our restaurant >>>>> is safer than most of the retail outlets that are not affected by this," >>>>> Depole said.
The people who seem to be avoiding the vaccine are either niggers,
orthodox jews and so-called ultra-conservatives. Those are three
groups of shit that the world can do without. I hope they all get the
virus.
There are multiple vaccines for COVID-19, each with a slightly
different side-effect profile but none that are very protective
against being infected by the virus. This does mean that none should
hope that vaccination alone will stop the pandemic.
The main reason for recommending vaccination is that the vaccines do
all seem to help people survive the infection just as early injection
of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies seems to help. This makes sense
because neutralizing antibodies, whether from vaccination or
injection, do stick to target viruses thereby keeping them from
infecting other cells.
Consult with a physician before doing these things.
They all outearn you, outwit you, outsex you, and outclass you.
Most of them, especially the children, are thankfully not eternally
condemned.
Also, the unvaccinated population is younger than the general
population.
The vaccines are not approved yet for those under 12 years of age.
Though the survival benefit of the vaccines is not as large as for
adults, the potential benefit for children, who are at higher risk of
getting MISC post-COVID, still outweigh the risks associated with
vaccination.
The risk fior children from COVID-19 is vanishingly small.
In the interim, the only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby
saving lives, in NYC & elsewhere is by rapidly (
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment,
including even while on-line, who among us are unwittingly contagious
(i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in order to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12) for them to call their
doctor and self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of stopping this
pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the best while preparing for the
worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the
Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda & Delta lineage mutations combining
to form hybrids that render current COVID vaccines no longer
effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=357078&p=4502118#post4502118
Government coercion of experts is alarming
Trusted institutions have been put at risk by a dangerous preference for >>> action over deliberation
FREDDIE SAYERS
6 September 2021 * 7:00am
Freddie Sayers
Placeholder image for youtube video: PYOyFDejqfk
Government yet to decide on vaccinating healthy 12- to 15-year-olds,
says Nadhim Zahawi
Who would you choose to decide whether your children should receive a
new vaccine: an independent committee of 16 clinicians and professors of >>> medicine with a 60-year record, or the soon-to-be-ex Education Secretary >>> Gavin Williamson?
OK, that*s too easy. Politicians will inevitably overrule their own
expert advice from time to time * indeed, many of those loudly
applauding the refusal by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and
Immunisation to recommend vaccinating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds would
no doubt have wanted the Government to pay less attention to experts
such as Professor Neil Ferguson earlier in the pandemic. In a democracy, >>> politicians make the final decisions, and that*s as it should be.
But there*s something about the brazen way political pressure has been
applied to the experts in this case that seems to cross a line, and
reveals just how much our institutions have been diminished during this
pandemic. Unlike a lockdown, which is clearly a broad societal decision, >>> evaluating whether children should receive a new vaccine really does
seem like it should be protected from the whims of politicians.
The JCVI has operated in various forms since 1963, when it evolved out
of the advisory board for polio immunisation. Even in the 1960s * hardly >>> a high point of establishment transparency * it was considered sensible
to devolve such questions to a board of independent experts. Not only
should you get better decisions but, for something as sensitive and
vulnerable to fear campaigns as vaccinations, it would reassure people a >>> proper process had been followed.
Fast-forward to 2021 and the stakes are even higher: trust is low and
conspiracy theories are more popular than ever. The very worst thing
would be for the Government to go through the motions of due process
while flagrantly engineering the decision they want via loopholes and
Pravda-esque linguistic contortions. Unfortunately, this is exactly what >>> is happening.
While the JCVI was still deliberating, it was briefed to newspapers that >>> the PM himself was determined to start vaccinating teenagers immediately >>> *amid mounting frustration with the scientific advisers*. Williamson
openly told the BBC that *we want to get on with it*. The committee took >>> the unusual step of responding to this interference, telling journalists >>> they wouldn*t be *bounced by politicians*.
Can there be any doubt that the inclusion of a get-out clause in this
otherwise defiant letter, suggesting that the chief medical officers
should make the final decision, was influenced by this political
pressure? Within hours, the Health Secretary had written to the CMOs of
the four nations asking them to *consider the matter from a broader
perspective* and return with a determination *as soon as possible*. In
other words: come back with a different decision, chaps, and make it snappy.
As for this mysterious *broader perspective* that goes beyond health
reasons, many parents may simply find it confusing. The idea seems to be >>> that vaccinating teenagers will reduce transmission in schools, which in >>> turn will reduce the need for groups to be sent home, and so justifies
jabbing teens on education grounds. But, as the JCVI concluded, *any
impact on transmission may be relatively small, given the lower
effectiveness of the vaccine against infection with the delta variant*.
No one in government has addressed this central objection.
Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi*s tour of the television studios on
Sunday only added to the unsettling atmosphere. He unequivocally assured >>> one network that, whatever the decision on vaccines, parents would have
final consent, then told another that 12 to 15-year-olds could override
their parents if they were deemed *competent to do so*. Which
12-year-olds are competent to overrule their parents, minister? If the
goal were to maximise paranoia and uncertainty, it would be hard to
design more contradictory postures than these.
A dangerous new wisdom is forming, which views action as always better
than inaction. It is reinforced by a popular narrative about the
pandemic, that our errors were mostly in acting too slowly and
deliberating too much. In this view, long-standing rules and
institutions of liberal democracies have been demoted to fussy obstacles >>> that prevent us from replicating the successes of the
command-and-control governments of Asia.
But action can be every bit as damaging as inaction. Ask Matt Hancock,
whose action-hero emptying of hospitals at the start of the pandemic
certainly made things worse; or the Indians whose lives were upturned by >>> their government*s pointless and draconian early lockdown. To ram
through vaccinations for teenagers on grounds other than health is
itself a risk * imagine the impact of a single tragic adverse reaction
to the jab in this scenario.
Sometimes the wisest thing, as the JCVI suggests, really is to wait and see.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=357078&p=4502610#post4502610
Vietnam man jailed for five years for spreading coronavirus
The man was sentenced for ‘spreading dangerous infectious disease’ after >>> breaching quarantine rules and passing Covid to at least eight people
See all our coronavirus coverage
COVID-19 testing in Hanoi, Vietnam
Vietnam has jailed a man for breaking quarantine and spreading the
virus. Photograph: Luong Thai Linh/EPA
Reuters
Mon 6 Sep 2021 19.17 EDT
A court in Vietnam has jailed a man for five years for breaking strict
Covid quarantine rules and spreading the virus to others, state media
reported.
Le Van Tri, 28, was convicted of “spreading dangerous infectious
diseases” at a one-day trial on Monday at the people’s court of the
southern province of Ca Mau, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. >>>
Vietnam had been one of the world’s coronavirus success stories, thanks
to targeted mass testing, aggressive contact tracing, tight border
restrictions and strict quarantine. But new clusters of infections since >>> late April have tarnished that record.
A health worker collects a nasal swab sample from a woman in a mobile
testing vehicle
South-east Asian countries battle Covid resurgence amid lack of vaccines >>> Read more
“Tung travelled back to Ca Mau from Ho Chi Minh City … and breached the
21-day quarantine regulations,” the news agency said. “Tung infected
eight people, one of whom died due to the virus after one month of
treatment,” it added.
Reuters did not immediately reach the Ca Mau court for comment.
Ca Mau, Vietnam’s southernmost province, has reported only 191 cases and >>> two deaths since the pandemic began, much fewer than the nearly 260,000
cases and 10,685 deaths in the country’s coronavirus hotspot, Ho Chi
Minh City.
Vietnam is battling a worsening Covid outbreak that has infected more
than 536,000 people and killed 13,385, the vast majority in the past few >>> months.
The country has sentenced two other people to 18-month and two-year
suspended jail terms on the same charges.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
Vietnam & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
My longtime Usenet ally, Christopher Charles Morton, opposes vaccine
mandates!
http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=379342&p=4504939#post4504939
No, the vaccine mandate shows that they really are that arrogant, stupid >>> and malicious.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.reddit.com/r/COVIDrights/comments/prn8z7/north_country_health_care_workers_make_voices/
North country health care workers make voices heard on state vaccine >mandate, want public to know they aren't "anti-vaxxers"
Rachel Burt, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
Sun, September 19, 2021, 6:08 AM·10 min read
Sep. 19—WATERTOWN — With the Sept. 27 deadline looming for the New York >mandate that all health care workers, including staff at hospitals and >long-term care facilities, be required to get vaccinated against >COVID-19, some health care workers face a difficult decision.
healthShould they decide not to receive at least the first dose of one of the >three available coronavirus vaccines before the state's deadline,
care workers risk the loss of their livelihoods and the careers they've >worked to build.
Giving voice to their concerns and displeasure with the mandate, >tri-county health care workers have been protesting this week and
signing on to Change.org petitions.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
Syracuse.On Wednesday, protesters gathered in Potsdam, and a Watertown protest >organized by Samaritan Health workers, like the one that occurred
outside of the hospital last week, took place on Public Square Saturday >afternoon, coinciding with protests in other cities, including
Jenelle S. Stine, a registered nurse with Samaritan, has retained the >position for about five years and said that although nursing means the >world to her, she is willing to walk away from it until there is more >concrete data about the safety and efficacy of the coronavirus vaccines >she and her colleagues have been mandated to receive.
medications to"Until the vaccines are studied in a more complex, traditional setting >that scientists and the FDA normally use, I think the 'warp speed' >studies should be focused on how to use safe, traditional
treat early diagnosed illness of COVID to build natural immunity to >prevent hospitalizations and deaths," she said.
Adding that there is nothing wrong with how staff have been managing
with screens and personal protective equipment, or PPE, so far through >the pandemic, if the mandate goes through and health care systems lose >nurses and other staff, she predicts it will have a devastating impact
on the patients that will need health care.
opt"[...]Whether it's from the uptick of COVID or admissions for patients >with chronic disease processes, this will be a lose situation for all," >Mrs. Stine said. "I commend those who got vaccinated and contributed to >this research; I personally have personal health issues that made me
to not take a risk with a new vaccine."
measures.From her perspective, the risks of the vaccines aren't worth the
benefits. Everyone, she said, is ultimately accountable for preventing >the transmission of the virus and being diligent with preventative
settings.On Aug. 16, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that all health care >workers in New York state would be required to be vaccinated against >COVID-19. The requirement applied to staff at all hospitals and
long-term care facilities like nursing homes and congregate care
Religious and medical exemptions were both initially included in the >order, but religious exemptions were removed through emergency >regulations approved by the state's Public Health and Health Planning >Council on Aug. 26.
positions.With deadline to receive at least one dose by Sept. 27 comes the >understanding that if health care workers do not comply and do not have
a recognized medical exemption, they will be relieved of their
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the state from forcing >health care workers to be vaccinated after a group of 17 health care >workers sued, saying their constitutional rights were violated due to
the fact that the mandate had disallowed religious exemptions.
"It's nice to know that there are other people that are against this, >that they're willing to fight," Mrs. Stine said. "They don't think it's >right either."
The judge gave the state until Wednesday to respond to the lawsuit in >U.S. District Court in Utica. If the state opposes the request for a >preliminary court order blocking the mandate, which it likely will, an >oral hearing will be held Sept. 28.
someAccording to a handout from the Los Angeles County Department of Public >Health, in various stages of vaccine development and manufacturing,
of the COVID-19 vaccines used cells originally isolated from fetal >tissue, some of which were originally derived from an aborted fetus.
isolatedThe fetal cell lines being used to produce some of the potential
COVID-19 vaccines are from two sources: a kidney cell line that was >isolated from a fetus in 1973, and a retinal cell line that was
from an aborted fetus in 1985.
Abortions from which fetal cells were obtained were elective and were
not done for the purpose of vaccine development, and any vaccine that >relies on these historic cell lines will not require nor solicit new >abortions, according to the handout.
Vatican,Some bioethics groups and religious institutions, including the
generally oppose the use of aborted fetal cells in the development or >manufacturing of vaccines but have said that, given the nature of the >pandemic, people may ethically receive these vaccines when there are no >alternatives.
they'reMichelle L. Laverghetta, who has been in her current position for over >six years as a housekeeper with Samaritan Summit Village and loves what >she does, said those she has spoken with all say the same thing:
being punished for not obeying something they don't believe in and will >eventually be fired if they refuse the shots.
Health care facilities may take large hits as they lose staff to the >mandate, which could very well negatively impact patient care.
"People have rights and when they are threatened, they fight back," Ms. >Laverghetta said. "It's in the Constitution — it's called freedom."
due toA week from Monday, health care staffing could drastically change
the mandate. Though some health care workers do not agree with the >mandate, the hope in the north country is there will not be a major >impact on health systems or services.
number onAccording to Leslie M. DiStefano, director of communication and public >relations for Samaritan, the health care system doesn't have a
formal resignations at this time, but is estimating between 50 to 100 >team members will choose to resign rather than get vaccinated.
The entire health system is at about 80% vaccination, according to Ms. >DiStefano.
shortage."Even losing one caregiver, one team member, is detrimental to what we >do," she said. "There's no way that we could operate in the same way >knowing that there already is a national and a local workforce
And now you have more people leaving the organization."
While she acknowledged that this could mean things like longer wait >times, appointments being scheduled further out, and incoming calls not >answered as quickly, Ms. DiStefano said at this point, there's no >intention to reduce or close any Samaritan services. She added that >patient volumes have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
watch list.As previously reported by the Times this week, three of the five >departments at the Lewis County Health System that were in danger of >being "paused" due to staff loss from resistance to the COVID-19
vaccine, like the maternity department, have been moved off the
clinicalThe health system-wide vaccination rate was 83% as of Thursday
afternoon, according to Chief Executive Officer Gerald R. Cayer.The
total number of resignations so far is 43, with about 70% being
staff.
internally toMr. Cayer confirmed that he and his team have been working
re-position staff so services have adequate coverage while "also >aggressively working with outside agencies to help fill positions that >will be vacant on the 28th."
Jake Hollis, a respiratory therapist with the Lewis County Health
System, said he has put 15 years into health care and has never felt as >low as he does right now due to the impending mandate and the
approaching loss of his beloved job over a vaccine he does not wish to >receive.
"I love what I do. It's not a job, it's a passion, and this state is >about to take that away from me because I don't feel comfortable with a >medication that we don't know the long-term effects of," he said. "It's >my body, my choice, except for this."
allMr. Hollis stressed that he and his fellow health care workers who are >unhappy with the vaccine mandate, are not "anti-vax." He said he has
oneof the vaccines previously required of him and said he would receive
of the COVID-19 vaccines 10 years down the line once it is known if
there are any long-term effects.
providers"It's just the fact that this one is so new and as health care
comewe are supposed to question it," he said. "We have seen medications
on the market and be taken off a month and years later because of
adverse or long-term effects."
He said he feels brokenhearted right know, knowing that something he >loves so much could soon be taken from him.
stateBen E. Hull, who has served as the director of the Center for Cancer
Care at Canton-Potsdam Hospital for the last four years, turned in his >letter of resignation earlier this month in direct response to the
Department of Health's removal of religious exemptions to the health
care worker mandate.
He said the state's refusal to acknowledge religious exemptions was "a >slap in the face to those of faith who serve in health care."
Hull"The line for me was when it became a religious liberty issue," Mr.
said. "Other people who are working in health care and in the community >may not totally agree with where that line is or ought to be. I think >what's important is that people do what they believe is right."
Mr. Hull acknowledged that his decision to resign over this policy may >seem extreme in light of the fact that he himself is fully vaccinated.
He wrote in a letter sent out to various outlets that it is no more >extreme than forcing health care facilities to terminate employees for >adhering to their sincerely held religious convictions.
unceremoniously"The very same people who have selflessly served our community on the >front lines of a pandemic response for 18 months will be
persist inkicked to the curb," Mr. Hull wrote. "If the state chooses to
this egregious violation of rights of conscience, our local health care >system will be severely weakened by the end of September."
mandateHis last day in his role at CPH will be Friday, right before the
is set to take effect the following Monday.
As for the temporary halt and legal action against the vaccination >mandate, Mr. Hull said it is heartening, but it certainly is not a done >deal.
arena," he"I think it's so important for people to take a stand in this
healthsaid. "In the midst of an already existing staffing crisis that health >care facilities are experiencing across the country and in the state, I >think what a lot of people are being made aware of as this policy is >making the rounds in the news is: Any essential worker working in
care being forced out of their job for these reasons is too many."
If, for example, he said, someone's family member calls 911 with chest >pain in a few weeks and is told an ambulance is not coming, it will be >too late to speak up about the mandate.Emergency medical service
managers , he added, are at a loss for how they are expected to respond >to emergencies without their staff and volunteers.
"These heroes of our community will be barred from showing up to saveThe only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
our loved-ones' lives because they're unvaccinated," he said. "Is that >worth it? I don't think it is."
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.reddit.com/r/COVIDrights/comments/psxdso/college_campuses_have_the_craziest_covid19/
College Campuses Have the Craziest COVID-19 Restrictions of All
Here's why that should terrify the rest of us, too.
ROBBY SOAVE | 9.21.2021 11:04 AM
casesdreamstime_xxl_184045450
(Syda Productions | Dreamstime.com)
Last week, Brown University implemented strict new COVID-19 mitigation >protocols following 82 confirmed positive (including asymptomatic)
among students.
gather inUntil the number of cases decreases, students are forbidden to
theirgroups of more than five, whether indoors or outdoors. They are no
longer permitted to eat in the cafeteria, and must instead pick up
prohibited.meals and eat elsewhere, keeping a mask on at all other times. But they >can't go out to eat at bars or restaurants; this is strictly
declined toThe university doesn't want students to mingle with anyone from outside >the campus, but administrators would also prefer if students
make new friends among their peers.
social"Students are expected to consistently engage with the same small
group, rather than attending or 'hopping' among multiple small-group >gatherings over the course of a day or short period of time," according >to the university.
Students will also be tested every four days.
seriouslyIt should be noted that the overwhelming majority of Brown University >teachers, staff, and students are vaccinated. Vaccination is a >requirement. Since vaccines offer excellent protection against severe >disease and death, COVID-19 outbreaks at Brown are unlikely to
harm anyone.
"On a campus where the vast majority of students and faculty are fully >vaccinated, I think the university should instead return to something >near-normal," one student, Adam Shepardson, told Campus Reform.
andThis is a reasonable expectation. Campus environments, where the
populace skews younger and the vaccination rate is 90-plus percent, are >ideal places to ease into the post-pandemic reality: They are extremely >safe from the threats of mass death and crowded hospitals. University >authorities would be well-advised to treat the diminishing threat of >COVID-19 as an opportunity to lift restrictions, ease up on masking,
payinglet students enjoy the social and educational experiences they're
for.
However, the professors, being advanced in age, are still at
significant risk of suffering breakthrough COVID-19 infections that
could either disable them or worse still kill them despite their being fully vaccinated.
So they have no confidence in the vaccine, then.
duringInstead, something close to the opposite is happening: Far from
returning to normal at an accelerated rate, many colleges are >implementing some of the most authoritarian mitigation efforts out of >anywhere in the country. Harvard has encouraged students to keep "close >contacts to a minimum" and wear masks at all times; Yale instructed >students to wear masks in their own dorm rooms if any friends are >visiting; the University of Southern California prohibited all indoor >eating and drinking and asserted that if students need to hydrate
class they should first leave the building.
"The exception to this rule is limited to instructors, who may briefly >hydrate while teaching but must re-mask immediately," said the dean of >USC's law school in an announcement.
That is because the professors, being advanced in age, need to
rehydrate more frequently especially with their needing to do more
speaking than students during a class. Moreover, a professor leaving a class to rehydrate is much more disruptive of the entire class than a student leaving to rehydrate.
students'In an effort to completely disrupt illicit socializing, Columbia >reprogrammed key cards so that they would only grant access to
individual residence halls. The campus is currently in the midst of a >"temporary" two-week ban on hanging out with other people.
Guidance from campus administrators is often authoritarian in tone. >Boston University's recent missives to students emphasize the need for >obedience to random testing requirements and warn that serious
punishment will occur "should you fail to become compliant."
Journalist Michael Tracey has been tracking COVID-19 restrictions on >campuses and notes that many administrators are creating vast >surveillance networks to keep students in line. "University of Michigan >requires all students/staff and visitors to acquire the 'ResponsiBLUE' >app which reveals their vaccination status and 'health screening' >results," he writes. "This must be presented on command when entering >facilities. There's every indication it will be made permanent."
One might have expected students to rebel against these measures: Many >campuses contain a loud and active contingent of injustice-minded >protesters. But if young people at Columbia, Harvard, and elsewhere are >fed up with mandatory masking and social distancing, they certainly >aren't saying so. In fact, some students seem to be eagerly reporting >each other for COVID-19 noncompliance. And at campuses where the >mitigation efforts are less militant, students have actually protested >the lack of enforcement. University of Iowa students recently held a >"die-in" to demand that the administration pause "all non-essential in >person events" and implement a mask mandate.
This is madness. Few people are safer from COVID-19 than vaccinated 18- >to 22-year-olds, yet campus administrators (and sometimes students) are >acting like any amount of non-masking or basic socializing is likely to >get people killed.
I've written quite a bit about cultural trends in higher education, and >how the illiberal values of campus activists have come to dominate all >professional spaces where elite opinion holds sway. Progressive young >people who view basic free speech principles with antipathy or even >disdain are in the process of fundamentally changing the workplace. "We >should look to the campus activist culture of the present to discover >what our broader culture might resemble a few years from now," I wrote
in a recent article for the Deseret News.
thatIf recent history is any guide, we should be terrified that the current >crop of college students might leave campus possessed of the notion
the most insane version of pandemic oppression is perfectly normal and >desirable.
Sadly, the far right media, ever fearful of being called "fake" news
by TFG (aka hangry DJT) is given over to his hyperbole.
In the interim, the only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby
saving lives, in the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who among us are unwittingly contagious
(i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations
combining to form hybrids that render current COVID vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:I am wonderfully hungry!
http://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/qaie28/new_zealand_extends_auckland_lockdown_in_battle/
New Zealand extends Auckland lockdown in battle on Delta variant
By Praveen Menon
2 minute read
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern participates in a televised
debate with National leader Judith Collins at TVNZ in Auckland, New
Zealand, September 22, 2020. Fiona Goodall/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern participates in a televised
debate with National leader Judith Collins at TVNZ in Auckland, New
Zealand, September 22, 2020. Fiona Goodall/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
WELLINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - New Zealand's biggest city of Auckland
will retain its lockdown for two more weeks in the battle on the Delta
variant of coronavirus, as the country pushes to step up vaccinations,
Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.
Once the poster child for stamping out COVID-19, New Zealand is now
fighting a Delta outbreak that has spread across Auckland and
neighbouring regions despite tough lockdown and border closures.
Ardern said there would be no changes to social curbs, the toughest in
the OECD grouping of 34 leading economies, that have run for 62 days in
Auckland.
"Any interim easing of restrictions ... will not work towards our plan
of minimising cases while we increase vaccinations," Ardern told a news
conference.
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"But the biggest thing that will make a difference right now, alongside
vaccines, is that everyone continue to comply with restrictions."
The lockdown in the city of 1.7 million began in mid-August, in the
effort to halt the outbreak.
Some curbs were eased to let people leave home and meet loved ones
outdoors in groups limited to 10, as well as permitting visits to
beaches and parks.
But schools, businesses and offices remain shut, and gatherings indoors
are not allowed.
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New Zealand's tally of infections in the current outbreak rose to 2,005
with Monday's 60 new community cases, consisting of 57 in Auckland and
three in the Waikato region.
The Pacific nation was among just a handful of countries to reach zero
COVID-19 cases last year, staying largely virus-free until the Delta
outbreak in August frustrated efforts to stamp out transmission.
Amid mounting political pressure to reopen the country and its economy,
Ardern switched from her tough elimination strategy to a model of
learning to live with the virus, much like rest of the world.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
N.Z. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/qmb94z/cdc_emails_our_definition_of_vaccine_is/
CDC Emails: Our Definition of Vaccine is "Problematic"
CDC: Problematic Vaccine? No, Problematic Definition of Vaccine.
Techno Fog
Nov 2
130
52
Pic unrelated :)
The CDC caused an uproar in early September 2021, after it changed its
definitions of “vaccination” and “vaccine.” For years, the CDC had set
definitions for vaccination/vaccine that discussed immunity. This all
changed on September 1, 2021.
The prior CDC Definitions of Vaccine and Vaccination (August 26, 2021):
Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce
immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. >>> Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but can
also be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose.
Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce
immunity to a specific disease.
The CDC Definitions of Vaccine and Vaccination since September 1, 2021:
Vaccine: A preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune
response against diseases. Vaccines are usually administered through
needle injections, but some can be administered by mouth or sprayed into >>> the nose.
Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce
protection from a specific disease.
People noticed. Representative Thomas Massie was among the first to
discuss the change, noting the definition went from “immunity” to
“protection”.
Twitter avatar for @RepThomasMassie
Thomas Massie
@RepThomasMassie
Check out @CDCgov’s evolving definition of “vaccination.” They’ve been
busy at the Ministry of Truth:
Image
September 8th 2021
11,193 Retweets22,210 Likes
To many observers, it appeared the CDC changed the definitions because
of the waning effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. For example, the
effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine falls over time, with an Israeli
study reported in August 2021 as showing the vaccine being “only 16%
effective against symptomatic infection for those individuals who had
two doses of the shot back in January.” The CDC recognizes the waning
effectiveness, thus explaining their promotion of booster shots.
Of course, the usual suspects defended the CDC. The Washington Post, for >>> example, cast doubt that the CDC changed the definition because of
issues with the COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC tried to downplay the change, >>> stating “slight changes in wording over time … haven’t impacted the
overall definition.”
Internal CDC E-Mails
CDC emails we obtained via the Freedom of Information Act reveal CDC
worries with how the performance of the COVID-19 vaccines didn’t match
the CDC’s own definition of “vaccine”/“vaccination”. The CDC’s Ministry
of Truth went hard at work in the face of legitimate public questions on >>> this issue.
In one August 2021 e-mail, a CDC employee cited to complaints that
“Right-wing covid-19 deniers are using your ‘vaccine’ definition to
argue that mRNA vaccines are not vaccines…”
After taking some suggestions, the CDC’s Lead Health Communication
Specialist went up the food chain to propose changes to the definitions: >>> “I need to update this page Immunization Basics | CDC since these
definitions are outdated and being used by some to say COVID-19 vaccines >>> are not vaccines per CDC’s own definition.”
Getting no response, there was a follow-up e-mail a week later: “The
definition of vaccine we have posted is problematic and people are using >>> it to claim the COVID-19 vaccine is not a vaccine based on our own
definition.”
The change of the “vaccination” definition was eventually approved on
August 31. The next day, on September 1, they approved the change to the >>> “vaccine” definition from discussing immunity to protection (seen below). >>>
There you have it. Affirmative action for the multinational
corporations. Why have them improve their vaccines when you can just
change the definition of vaccine to fit their ineffective vaccines?
Congrats to all the skeptics out there – you raised enough hell that the >>> the CDC went and tried to change reality.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://variety.com/2021/biz/news/los-angeles-covid-vaccination-proof-movie-theaters-restaurants-1235105494/
L.A. Movie Theaters, Restaurants Will Require Proof of COVID-19
Vaccination Starting Monday
By J. Kim Murphy
Plus Icon
COVID-19 Safety Rules For Theaters
Variety
On Monday, the city of Los Angeles will introduce SafePassLA, a vaccine
verification program that will require proof of full COVID-19
vaccination for all patrons and employees to enter movie theaters,
indoor restaurants and other businesses.
Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination and photo ID became requirements on
Thursday for indoor entry to bars, breweries, wineries, distilleries,
nightclubs and lounges across L.A. county, which includes cities like
Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Burbank. Along with restaurants and
theaters, the L.A. city order that goes into effect Monday will include
coffee shops, gyms, spas, nail salons, barbershops, shopping malls and
entertainment and recreation venues. The requirements also extend to
official city facilities, such as city hall, senior centers, recreation
centers and service centers.
Related Stories
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A virtual training and certificate program on the requirements of
SafePassLA will be introduced to L.A. businesses in the next week,
according to a statement by the county’s government.
Similar ordinances had already been passed in West Hollywood, New York
and San Francisco before Los Angeles County’s was voted into law on Oct. >>> 6. The city attorney was compelled to draft the ordinance on Aug. 11 by
a unanimous 13-0 vote.
“If we ever want to get back to normal, to what Los Angeles was like
pre-COVID, we need to stop the spread,” council president Nury Martinez
said at the time. “If individuals want to go to their gym, go to their
local bar without a mask, you need to get vaccinated. And if you want to >>> watch a basketball game, a baseball game, go to a concert in a big
venue, or even go into a movie theater, you need to get a shot.”
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
L.A. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://ethicsalarms.com/2021/11/14/the-fifth-circuit-says-the-biden-administration-abused-its-power-and-the-constitution-better-impeach-him-then/
The Fifth Circuit Says The Biden Administration Abused Its Power And The >>> Constitution. Better Impeach Him, Then!
NOVEMBER 14, 2021 / JACK MARSHALL
Vaccine mandate
Just kidding! Presidents often try to stretch the already rubber
boundaries of what the Constitution and even the law requires, only to
get slapped down by the courts. This kind of thing was only grounds for
impeachment (according to the Trump Deranged, the mainstream media
pundits and Democrats) when Donald Trump did it.
But President Trump never tried anything as egregiously dictatorial as
the vaccine mandate.
Actually, if it were true that vaccine mandates were dictatorial, Mr.
Jack Marshal would have named dictators like Stalin, Hitler, etc
issuing such mandates. He can't because the realm of public health is
about compassion for society's vulnerable and dictators lack such
compassion for others b/c they're attracted to only having power for
themselves and see compassion for others as only weakness.
Bottom line:
Mr. Jack Marshal is an unethical liar. May GOD continue to kill folks
like anti-vaxxer anti-masker (i.e. disease spreading evil-doer) Mr.
Marshall with COVID-19 in order to continue to convince others to not
be like them, in the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. Amen.
"It will continue to be done as you've asked." -- Holy Spirit
(referring to John 16:23)
"In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Very truly I tell
you, My Father will give you **whatever** you ask in My name." (John
16:23 w/ added **emphasis**)
Source:
https://biblehub.com/john/16-23.htm
Laus DEO.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/qzhj3c/memphis_grizzlies_dropping_proof_of_vaccination/
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES DROPPING PROOF OF VACCINATION, NEGATIVE TESTS FOR HOME >>> GAMES
by MEG TURNER
2 days ago
Videos by OutKick
The Memphis Grizzlies’ next home game will come with a slightly
different experience for fans.
FedEx Forum announced that beginning Nov. 24, fans will no longer be
asked to provide either a negative COVID-19 test or show proof of
vaccination to enter the arena.
FedEx Forum, home to both the NBA team and the NCAA basketball’s Memphis >>> Tigers, will also modify the COVID-19 Entry Policy for the Tigers, as well. >>>
The Grizzlies will re-evaluate the policy on or before January 7, 2022,
with updates provided accordingly, the statement reads.
The Mask Policy was updated a day earlier to be consistent with CDC
guidelines, per the news release.
While masks remain highly encouraged for all fans in attendance, they
are no longer required for children or adults. Working staff for all
events at FedExForum, including Grizzlies games, will continue wearing
masks for the foreseeable future.
There is a health screening for fans seated within 15 feet of the court. >>>
“All fans 12 and older attending any Grizzlies or Tigers games at
FedExForum have the option to present either proof of a negative
COVID-19 test taken 72-hours prior to the scheduled event or proof of at >>> least one dose of the vaccination,” the release reads.
While the requirements vary for the NCAA and NBA games, Grizzlies fans
seated within 15 feet of the court must follow NBA Health & Safety
requirements — fans 2 or older must either provide proof of negative
COVID-19 test 48-hours prior to the scheduled game or proof of
vaccination for those 12 and over.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
MichaelE wrote:
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-59378849
Covid: Can UK avoid a Europe-style return to lockdown?
Nick Triggle
Health correspondent
@nicktriggleon Twitter
Published14 hours agocommentsComments
Share
Related Topics
Coronavirus pandemic
Woman shopping
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Covid infection rates have started rising sharply in parts of Western >Europe, prompting the introduction of fresh restrictions and lockdowns.
plenty ofIt has triggered fears the UK could follow suit. But there are
reasons to believe Britain will escape the worst of what is being seen
on the continent. In fact, the UK may well be in the strongest position >of all to weather Covid this winter.
To understand why that could be the case, you need to look at the
reasons why cases have started to take off in Western Europe.
Unlike the UK - and England in particular - many parts of Europe kept >major restrictions in place for much longer.
Whereas England fully unlocked in mid-July, parts of Europe did not do >this until the autumn, and in many places kept tougher restrictions in >place even as they did.
Part of this was to do with timing. The UK was hit by the more
infectious Alpha variant and then Delta sooner, meaning it was in a >position to push ahead with unlocking before others.
Chart showing infection rates
Presentational white space
Chart showing Covid deaths
Presentational white space
But it was also a conscious choice backed by the government's top >scientists, Prof Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance.
The logic - along with the benefit of ending restrictions that
themselves cause harm to health - was that it was better to have the >rebound in infection, the so-called exit wave, in the summer.
avoidIt was felt the increase in the spread of the virus would be mitigated
by the better weather, meaning more time spent outdoors, and would
the winter crunch when pressure on the health system increases across
the board.
seeingUK has high levels of immunity
The UK has, in effect, already had the wave the rest of Europe is
and has managed to avoid being swamped by it.
That is mainly because of the amount of immunity built up.
moreA combination of good vaccine rollout, particularly among the older
vulnerable groups who are the ones most at risk of serious illness, and >natural immunity from infection means there is likely to be a much >smaller pool of vulnerable people for the virus to infect.
everyoneResearchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have >been trying to quantify this by looking at what would happen if
was suddenly exposed to the virus in one go.
They modelled this for England - although there is nothing to suggest >Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be any different - and 18 >other European nations.
because ofIf this hypothetical situation happened, England would have by far the >fewest people ending up in hospital - 62 per 100,000 people -
immunity built up by vaccination and infection. That compares with more >than 300 in Germany, largely because of their lower levels of infection >to date, and more than 800 in Romania, which has struggled to convince >its public to come forward for vaccination.
Chart showing modelling of hospital cases
Presentational white space
This was the picture at the end of October. If the same analysis was
done at the end of November it is likely the situation would be even
more favourable for England, says lead researcher Dr Lloyd Chapman.
quickerThat's because the UK is ploughing ahead faster than other nations with >boosters. Again part of this is related to timing. As the UK was
off the mark with Covid vaccinations initially, there are greater
numbers of people becoming eligible for a booster.
risk at"We are giving those boosters to the very people who are most at
perhaps the best time - they will have the best protection in winter."
ratesChart showing booster uptake
Presentational white space
But Dr Chapman also points out this has come at a price - the high
of infection have resulted in a greater amount of serious illness and >death in recent months than many of our Western European neighbours.
And he adds the research should not be seen as a guarantee we will
escape the winter without seeing a surge in cases. "We may be in the >strongest position - but we could still see cases double and that would >cause problems."
just'Public playing key role in UK'
But is that likely? What is perhaps most remarkable about the UK is
seen inhow stable infection levels have been. Ever since the sharp rise
early summer peaked in mid-July, infection rates have bobbled along, >small rises being followed by similar drops.
There is no other part of Europe that has seen Covid infections held so >stable with very few restrictions in place.
EuropeInstead, when other nations have seen cases surge restrictions have >tended to be reimposed. This is happening now in parts of Western
autumn.and follows on from what happened in Eastern Europe early in the
OctoberRomania, for example, saw a sharp rise in cases in September and
and reacted by introducing a night curfew, sending children home from >school and introducing health passes for access to public venues.
It is telling that those nations that have had the most problems as >winter arrives are the ones identified by the London School of Hygiene >and Tropical Medicine as having the greatest pool of vulnerable people. >How far this pattern spreads across Europe remains to be seen.
chairsDoctor administering injection to young woman
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
But immunity alone does not explain why the UK, and in particular >England, has seen such stable rates, says Prof Graham Medley, who
the government's infectious disease modelling group.
Prof Medley, speaking in a personal capacity, believes it is more
complex than that. "I think we are seeing the public playing an
important role."
He says a combination of limiting mixing and frequent use of rapid
tests, which are more easy to access here than in many other countries, >seems to be doing just enough to keep the virus in check.
we've"The government has passed the risk management to the public - and
been able to do that better than other countries."
The big question is whether that will last throughout winter - Scotland >and Northern Ireland are already talking about the possibility of >tightening of restrictions. Prof Medley says it is "delicately"The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
balanced, but with every passing week the chances are getting better.
the UK & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current
COVID vaccines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10367323/Anorexic-woman-dead-doctors-failed-monitor-condition-lockdown-inquest-hears.html
A concerned friend found Louise Cooper, 44, dead at home after forcing entry
Inquest into her death found she died from complications caused by anorexia >>> Coroner has filed Prevention of Future Deaths report after care concerns >>> raised
Report found she was not monitored by medics during the national lockdown >>> By KATIE FEEHAN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 06:42 EST, 4 January 2022 | UPDATED: 06:42 EST, 4 January 2022 >>>
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An anorexic woman was found dead at home after doctors failed to monitor >>> her condition during lockdown, an inquest heard.
Louise Cooper, 44, died from severe malnutrition after suffering from an >>> eating disorder 'for many years' and had an 'extremely low' body mass
index (BMI), the hearing was told.
A friend forced entry to her home while trying to deliver some shopping
after failing to make contact and discovered she had died on her bed.
The inquest held last month found that an administrative error meant
Louise did not receive the monitoring she was expected to receive during >>> the 2020 lockdown which had also impacted her treatment.
The court found that had she received that monitoring as envisaged,
there was a good chance she would not have died when she did.
A Prevention of Future Deaths report which has now been filed by Senior
Coroner Alan Wilson, noted that before her death, Louise told friends
'all of the mechanisms that she had for coping with her condition' were
removed during lockdown.
The report has been sent to the Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS
Foundation Trust, the Blackpool Clinical Commission Group and the Fylde
& Wyre Clinical Commissioning Group who must respond with actions taken. >>>
The coroner heard Louise, described as 'thoughtful, caring and
intelligent', had been admitted to hospital on a number of occasions as
part of her treatment for anorexia.
Pictured: Louise Cooper, 44, was found dead at home after doctors failed >>> to monitor her anorexia during lockdown, a coroner heard as he filed a
prevention of future deaths report +2
Pictured: Louise Cooper, 44, was found dead at home after doctors failed >>> to monitor her anorexia during lockdown, a coroner heard as he filed a
prevention of future deaths report
She was last discharged in July 2019 after which time she received care >>>from an eating disorder service until January 2020.
The coroner stated: 'Louise knew that the clinical psychologist with
whom she had worked over a number of years was due to go on maternity leave.
'She did not wish to work with any other members of the Eating Disorder
Service team.'
She was then discharged from the eating disorder service on the
understanding she would be monitored by her GP.
At the time, her body mass index (BMI) was at 12.5. Anything below 15 is >>> considered extreme anorexia and adults are considered underweight if
they are below 18.5.
Charity: 'This tragic case highlights need for urgent support'
Around 1.25 million people in the UK suffer from an eating disorder,
according to Beat, the national charity which offers a support helpline
and aims to raise awareness and campaign for better services.
Tom Quinn, Director of External Affairs at Beat, said: 'The pandemic has >>> had a devastating impact on people with eating disorders with increased
isolation leading to more people developing eating disorders; and for
many who were already struggling Covid-19 and the resulting lockdown has >>> led to their illness becoming even more severe.
'This tragic case highlights the urgent need to ensure there is enough
support in the community for people with eating disorders, and that GP
surgeries are effective in carrying out medical monitoring of
individuals at risk.'
If you are worried about yourself or a loved one, the Beat helpline 0808 >>> 801 0677 is open 365 days a year.
While the GP surgery in Blackpool was notified, an administrative issue
meant 'the need for Louise to be monitored was not appreciated', the
coroner found.
The report added: 'During the weeks preceding Louise's death, her health >>> went into further decline. This was in part contributed to by the
coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 which left her more isolated.
'Having last exchanged text messages with Louise on May 15, 2020, a
friend attended her home address at approximately 12.30pm on May 16,
2020 to deliver some shopping as previously arranged.
'Unable to obtain a reply he forced entry and he found Louise to be
deceased on her bed in the rear bedroom.'
Recording a narrative conclusion at an inquest on December 17, the
coroner said: 'Louise Cooper's condition had not been monitored by
medical professionals by the time she died on May 16, 2020 as a result
of complications of her previously diagnosed anorexia nervosa.'
In his subsequent report, Mr Wilson noted a number of concerns regarding >>> the care Louise received.
He said: 'It is reported that she stated to friends that the nationwide
lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic had removed all of the mechanisms
that she had for coping with her condition.
'A trust review would later find that as Louise was self-isolating due
to Covid, this may have impacted upon her mental and physical wellbeing
due to reduced social contacts.
'Louise did not receive the monitoring she was expected to receive
during 2020.
'The court found that had she received that monitoring as envisaged,
there was a good chance she would not have died when she did, but was
unable to say that she would have survived.'
The report noted that as part of her care Louise received one-to-one
support whereby a health professional would visit her once a week and
sit with her while she ate a meal.
Louise's father said during the hearing that had this support continued
then the outcome might have been different.
The coroner added: 'There will be many patients such as Louise who
appear to make minimal if any improvement in a hospital setting but who
may benefit - according to the clinicians treating them - from sustained >>> supported eating.
'If that option is not available, these patients may be left with no
realistic chance of any meaningful improvement.'
Pictured: Louise, who worked for Impact Computing, was described by
colleagues as a 'very thoughtful, caring, intelligent and determined
individual who always put others before herself +2
Pictured: Louise, who worked for Impact Computing, was described by
colleagues as a 'very thoughtful, caring, intelligent and determined
individual who always put others before herself
Both the Department of Health and Social Care and Gillian Keegan MP have >>> also been sent a copy of the report.
A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said the
department would respond to the report in due course.
The coroner requires a response, including details of proposed changes
or improvements within 56 days.
A spokesperson for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
said: 'We would like to offer our condolences to Louise Cooper's family
at this difficult time.
'We have received a copy of the Regulation 28 report and will work to
implement any recommendations that have been outlined.'
Bosses at Impact Computing, where Louise worked in the finance and admin >>> department, paid tribute to her following her death back in May 2020.
'Today our company mourns the loss of Louise Cooper, who sadly passed
away this Saturday the 16th of May 2020,' the company posted on Facebook. >>>
'Louise worked in our finance and admin department and was instrumental
in the company's growth during the long period that she worked with us.
'Louise was a very thoughtful, caring, intelligent and determined
individual who always put others before herself.
'She fought hard to address the injustices she saw in this world in an
effort to help as many people as she could throughout her life. She will >>> be sorely missed by us all.'
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://reason.com/2022/02/28/two-years-to-slow-the-spread/
Two Years To Slow the Spread
Government can't stop moving the COVID-19 goal posts.
MATT WELCH | FROM THE MARCH 2022 ISSUE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on RedditShare by emailPrint
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featureWelch
(Photo: Luis Alvarez/Getty)
On December 6, 2021, in his last major act as mayor of New York City,
Democrat Bill de Blasio announced that, to stop the spread of the
omicron variant of COVID-19, all 184,000 private businesses in the city
would henceforth be commanded to enforce vaccine mandates on their
employees, and all children ages 5 and up (including tourists from
countries that hadn't yet approved pediatric vaccines) would need to
show proof of full immunization before entering most indoor venues.
"Look at a country like Germany right now—shutdowns, restrictions," de
Blasio explained in a follow-up interview. "We cannot let that happen.
So we had to take decisive action."
Five days later, as the Northeast was experiencing a third consecutive
winter surge of coronavirus cases, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul
announced that all businesses in New York would be required to ensure
their employees and customers were either provably vaccinated or masked
indoors at all times; each violation would be subject to a $1,000 fine.
The new rules were applicable through January 15, "after which the State >>> will re-evaluate based on current conditions."
Hochul's announcement came almost six months to the day after her
predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, had lifted almost all statewide COVID
restrictions, including most indoor masking, on the occasion of New York >>> meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) target of
having 70 percent of adults receive at least one vaccination dose. "We
can now return to life as we know it," Cuomo crowed then. By the time of >>> Hochul's reversal, the one-shot rate among adult New Yorkers had risen
to 93 percent.
The goal posts on pandemic policy haven't just been shifted, they've
been uprooted, hitched to a helicopter, and transported to a different
county. Joe Biden as president-elect on December 4, 2020, said, "I don't >>> think [vaccines] should be mandatory." His spokeswoman Jen Psaki on July >>> 23, 2021, added, "That's not the role of the federal government." CDC
Director Rochelle Walensky stated unequivocally on July 31 that "there
will be no federal mandate."
Biden announced a federal vaccine mandate on private employers with 100
or more workers five weeks later.
"I've tried everything in my power to get people vaccinated," the
president maintained. "But even after all those efforts, we still had
more than a quarter of people in the United States who were eligible for >>> vaccinations but didn't get the shot….So, while I didn't race to do it
right away, that's why I've had to move toward requirements." Look at
what you made him do.
It was easier to make fun of presidential dissembling about pandemic
policy back when Donald Trump was holding extemporaneous bull sessions
about COVID every day on the White House lawn, or when he infamously
unveiled on March 16, 2020, a bullet-pointed presentation titled "15
Days to Slow the Spread." Even factoring in hindsight bias, that was an
absurdly irresponsible prediction to make about a virus already ripping
through every continent at a time when testing (especially in the U.S.)
was woefully inadequate.
Law & Contemporary Problems Symposium on "Sex in Law" Publishes Disputed >>> Article
But Trump back then, like his then-lionized, now-disgraced rival Cuomo,
was operating in an environment exponentially more impoverished, in
terms of both knowledge and mitigation strategies, than what public
officials enjoy now. The one-shot vaccination rate for American adults
was not 86 percent (as it is as this magazine goes to press) but 0
percent. We were still being reminded to wash our hands several times a
day for 20 seconds at a time and implored to studiously avoid touching
our faces. And perhaps because the idea of government dictating most
human activity outside the home was then still novel, politicians tended >>> to tether restrictions to specific metrics. (Cuomo's "flatten the curve" >>> mantra referred to the trajectory of hospitalizations vs. the hard
number of hospital beds.) Immediate-term discomforts were routinely sold >>> with visions of long-term relief.
"If everyone makes…these critical changes and sacrifices now," Trump
said on "Slow the Spread" day, as a phalanx of top public health
officials looked on, "we will rally together as one nation, and we will
defeat the virus, and we're going to have a big celebration all
together. With several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner
and turn it quickly."
As the families of 800,000 dead Americans can grimly attest, no such
corners were ever turned. Yet what has replaced those naive and
prematurely optimistic projections is something no less cruel.
Benchmarks for lifting restrictions have been serially rewritten or
quietly dropped, often with little explanation. Major policy promises
have been made and broken within the same week. And you can't just blame >>> the capriciousness on the shifting viral facts on the ground—bureaucrats >>> have been agonizingly slow to recognize advances in knowledge that
support policy loosening yet lightning-fast when reacting to any new
source of fear. It took the Biden administration and his fellow
Democrats in New York no time at all to put the clampdown on the omicron >>> variant, but it took the CDC and most coastal state governments more
than a year to internalize that people are not catching COVID-19 outdoors. >>>
By making a zig-zagging series of arbitrary and far-reaching edicts,
officials have squandered public trust in allegedly neutral scientific
institutions and effectively abandoned persuasion for coercion. Instead
of a light at the end of the tunnel—or even endemic coping at the end of >>> pandemic panic—we're being offered a future of politicians reluctantly
handing out a carrot or two before reaching once again for the stick.
The 1-2 Punch in the Mouth
"Everybody has a plan," former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson famously
said, "until they get punched in the mouth." Not only did COVID-19 punch >>> millions of people in the mouth, but government reaction to the virus
proved a second blow from which scores of millions of businesses and
families have been painfully slow to recover.
In December 2020, Gavin Newsom, California's Democratic governor, banned >>> outdoor dining in regions where available hospital ICU capacity was
below 15 percent. A judge opined (accurately) within a week that the
policy was "not grounded in science, evidence, or logic." Newsom then
rescinded the order seven weeks later without the threshold having been
met in most of the state.
De Blasio shut down New York City public schools in November 2020
because the rate of positive tests among all New Yorkers had risen above >>> 3 percent, even though that community spread threshold was far below
those recommended by international health authorities, and weekly tests
inside school buildings were showing a miniscule positivity rate of 0.18 >>> percent. The mayor removed that consideration for elementary schools 10
days later and for middle schools and high schools four months later.
Science!
Imagine being a landlord during the past two years. First, COVID
suddenly increases the chances that your tenants will be unable to pay
their rent and prompts millions of renegotiated leases. Then, six months >>> later, the Trump administration makes the absurd and facially
unconstitutional decision to put the CDC in charge of enforcing a
federal moratorium on evictions. Set aside for a moment that gross
violation of property rights, and visualize instead what it must have
been like to try to make any plan at all about residential real estate.
On June 24, 2021, the CDC made what it described as "the final extension >>> of the moratorium," pushing it out to July 31. At an August 2 White
House press briefing, Psaki announced that "CDC Director Rochelle
Walensky and her team have been unable to find legal authority for a
new, targeted eviction moratorium." Literally the next day, the CDC
announced a new, targeted eviction moratorium covering 90 percent of the >>> country. (The Supreme Court would at the end of month swat that reversal >>> down.)
With the exception of the occasional court ruling, governmental bodies
have largely given up on the idea that there is any limiting principle
to their vast new pandemic powers. Relatedly, they no longer sell
today's restrictions as a ticket to tomorrow's freedoms. Whenever a new
wave forms, politicians brace constituents for a quick slap now to put
off yet another mouth-punch later.
Hochul portrayed her December mask-and-vaccine crackdown as a way to
"prevent business disruption"; de Blasio sold his new mandates by
saying, "We cannot let those restrictions come back. We cannot have
shutdowns here in New York City. We've got to keep moving forward."
Vaccinations have helped decouple infections from hospitalization and
death, especially with the more infectious but less lethal omicron
variant. Yet elites kept focusing on case rates instead of serious
illness, sowing panic and clampdowns in the process. "Massachusetts is
the most vaccinated state in the country and yet here we are in a surge
of COVID that is just as bad as where we were last year at this point,"
University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care President Eric Dickson
said in an NBC Nightly News scare story in December. At the time of
Dickson's startling claim, the Bay State's seven-day average of deaths
was 17, compared to 51 the year before.
All of which contributes to the suspicion that governmental
interventions will just stretch out forever. "It is good policy and
practice to establish off-ramps for interventions that aren't meant to
be permanent," Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo wrote in
November 2021. "We should be able to answer what conditions would enable >>> an end."
But politicians and public health officials, particularly in
Democratic-controlled institutions, are increasingly unable to spell out >>> any such conditions. For them there is no end in sight.
Ripping the Mask Off
The first vaccine shots for 5- to 11-year-olds were made available
November 3. On November 5 came reports that a new therapeutic from
Pfizer preliminarily demonstrated a remarkable ability to prevent
serious illness and death in people already sick from COVID. That same
day, Walensky chose to release an "Ask the Expert" video replying to the >>> question, "Why do I still need to wear a mask?"
"The evidence is clear," responded the country's highest-ranking public
health scientist. "Masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by
reducing your chance of infection by more than 80 percent, whether it's
an infection from the flu, from the coronavirus, or even just the common >>> cold. In combination with other steps, like getting your vaccination,
hand washing, and keeping physical distance, wearing your mask is an
important step you can take to keep us all healthy."
It was a breathtakingly irresponsible remark.
For two years, as the country has engaged in bitterly partisan and
intensely moralistic debates over nonpharmaceutical interventions
(NPIs)—masking, social distancing, business closures—the single greatest >>> difference maker by far in blunting the lethal impact of the virus has
been vaccination. Unvaccinated Americans were 10 to 20 times more likely >>> to die from COVID-19 in fall 2021 than those who had received their shots. >>>
Yet here was Walensky, the very week immunization became available to
most elementary school kids, putting vaccination on the same list as the >>> mostly (and rightfully) forgotten NPIs of hand washing and social
distancing, in order to counteract any possible erosion in support for a >>> far inferior NPI. By relegating the vaccine to the status of an
afterthought, not only did the CDC director snuff out hope among many
parents that their children's masks will ever come off, but she also
butchered the science.
There does not exist a study showing masks to reduce wearers' COVID
infectiousness by anything close to 80 percent. In fact, most studies
conducted at that time had not even found the vaccines to be 80 percent
effective at stopping transmission in the delta era (although they did
better at stopping symptomatic cases and hospitalizations). Choosing the >>> arrival of pediatric vaccines as an opportunity to greatly exaggerate
the effectiveness of face coverings sent the implicit message to parents >>> that no amount of compliance will free their kids from masks.
In a tweet promoting the video, Walensky touted the non-COVID virtues of >>> wearing face coverings forever. "Masks," she wrote, "also help protect >>>from other illnesses like common cold and flu." There was a time when
having a smiling government doctor suggest open-ended masking for cold
and flu seasons would have been seen as too implausibly authoritarian.
Yet when the CDC talks, governments in the kinds of places where people
have "In this house, we believe in science" yard signs tend to
rubber-stamp the recommendations. As of mid-December, 15 states had mask >>> mandates for K-12 schools; all 15 voted for Biden in November 2020. (The >>> two states with also problematic school-mask-mandate bans both voted for >>> Trump.) In New York, children 2 and older are required by law to wear
masks all day long in any public or private school or daycare setting,
despite being in the age cohort with the lowest COVID hospitalization
rate, and despite the fact that their teachers must be vaccinated by
law. (The vaccinated Hochul, who at age 63 is much more vulnerable to
COVID than is an unvaccinated 4-year-old, has infuriated her critics by
appearing in countless social media photos indoors, amid crowds, unmasked.) >>>
Colorado, a purple state with a libertarian-leaning Democratic governor, >>> has taken a considerably different approach. "There was a time when
there was no vaccine, and masks were all we had, and we needed to wear
them," Democratic Gov. Jared Polis told Colorado Public Radio in
December. "The truth is we now have highly effective vaccines that work
far better than masks. If you wear a mask, it does decrease your risk of >>> getting COVID, and that's a good thing to do indoors around others. But
if you get COVID and you are still unvaccinated, the case is just as bad >>> as if you were not wearing a mask. Everybody had more than enough
opportunity to get vaccinated….At this point, if you haven't been
vaccinated, it's really your own darn fault." Was that so hard?
For the rest of the country, the scenes playing out in restrictionist
states look alien, dystopian: kids shivering while eating lunch outside
in frigid Portland, Oregon; high schoolers in New York City (where the
positive COVID rate among regularly tested unvaccinated kids was less
than 0.3 percent this fall) still holding debate tournaments on Zoom;
glum TV commercials warning parents that "without the vaccine, when your >>> child's teammates take the field, they'll miss out. Or when their
friends go off to the movies, a concert, or get a bite to eat, your teen >>> will miss out."
Asked about some of those images in December, White House spokeswoman
Psaki replied, "I will tell you, I have a 3-year-old who goes to school, >>> sits outside for snacks and lunch, wears a mask inside, and it's no big
deal to him….These are steps that schools are taking to keep kids safe." >>>
Yet the evidence that Psaki's kid is actually safer because of such
precautions has proven damnably difficult for the CDC to produce.
America's school masking guidance is a global outlier—the World Health
Organization recommends against masking children aged 5 and younger, and >>> only a handful of countries in the European Union were masking
elementary school students in fall 2021. In trying to persuade the
public that it's actually rational and prudent, the country's public
health agency has never once cited a masking study that included a
meaningful control group. Officials are operating on intuition, and as a >>> result tens of millions of children are degrading their physical
comfort, social development, and language acquisition. All to avoid
contracting and spreading a virus they are far less susceptible to than
are vaccinated adults.
Misrepresenting science to produce a preferred policy outcome is a
terrible way to build trust during a pandemic. Adding to that sense of
suspicion is the fact that the CDC at the beginning of the pandemic
actively downplayed the effectiveness of masks, out of worry that scared >>> consumers would hoard the then-scarce supply of medical-quality
protective equipment needed by doctors and nurses. "Seriously
people—STOP BUYING MASKS!" tweeted then–Surgeon General Jerome Adams on
February 29, 2020. "They are NOT effective in preventing [the] general
public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get >>> them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!" >>>
The Biden administration was supposed to bring more scientific rigor
into the building, yet Walensky has repeatedly massaged research
findings to fit her policy desires for Americans to be swathed in real
and metaphorical prophylactics. The CDC dropped its guidance for outdoor >>> masking only in April 2021, and even then only among vaccinated people.
The moderately populated state of Washington, with its spectacular
forests, coastline, and mountains, still has an outdoor mask requirement. >>>
As America braced for the omicron wave before Christmas, the blue-state
mandates started to emerge: vaccine passports for Philadelphia,
booster-shot requirements at several elite universities, a renewed
indoor mask mandate in California. "The imperative is to get through
this winter surge," Newsom said. "And to do so in a way where we come
out the other side and we have a chance to reevaluate."
Schools in heavily Democratic districts—Cleveland, Ohio; Newark, New
Jersey; West Chicago, Illinois; Prince George's County,
Maryland—preemptively responded to the omicron surge after Christmas
break by once again shifting to remote-only learning. At the Brooklyn
elementary school that my first-grader is zoned for, teachers staged a
post-break sickout that precipitated a last-minute closure. "We are
demanding," they wrote in a letter to outraged parents, "the city and
our union take…actions to stop the spread."
So just a few more weeks to stop the spread. Or months. Or years.
http://tinyurl.com/Prophecy010621
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
NYC & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-60928806
End of Scottish face mask rules delayed until Easter
Published12 hours ago
Share
Related Topics
Coronavirus pandemic
man wearing face mask
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Scotland's mandatory face covering rules will now remain in force until
18 April, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
The legal requirement to wear masks in shops and on public transport had >>> been expected to be lifted next week.
But the first minister told MSPs that the changes would now not take
effect until 18 April.
She said this was due to there still being a very high level of
infection in Scotland, and because masks provide extra protection.
However, the requirement to wear a face covering in places of worship
and while attending marriage and funeral services will end on 4 April.
Ms Sturgeon said this phased approach struck a "sensible balance between >>> our desire to remove this one remaining legal measure and the common
sense need for continued caution".
Live: Nicola Sturgeon updates MSPs on Covid plans
Case numbers have hit record levels in Scotland in recent weeks, with
one in 11 people estimated to have had the virus in the week to 20 March. >>>
Both Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Justice Secretary Keith
Brown tested positive on Wednesday morning, just hours before Ms
Sturgeon made her announcement.
Ms Sturgeon said the daily figures remained high but were "perhaps
stabilising", with a 15% fall from about 12,000 cases to 10,200 over the >>> past week.
She said there was therefore "grounds for optimism that this latest wave >>> of infection may now have peaked".
However she said the high levels of infection and the pressure it was
placing on the NHS meant the planned lifting of the law on face
coverings would be delayed until 18 April.
She told MSPs that this would be a "proportionate precautionary measure
while we pass the peak of this latest wave".
This is the second time the first minister has delayed lifting the face
mask laws, which had originally been due to be removed on 21 March.
All of Scotland's other legal restrictions have already been phased out. >>>
nicola sturgeon
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Ms Sturgeon said a delay was needed until Scotland passed the peak of
the latest wave
Dr Christine Tait-Burkard, a leading infections expert at University of
Edinburgh, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that cotton masks
offered "much less protection" from the BA.2 subvariant because far
fewer virus particles needed to be inhaled to catch it.
She said: "The surgical and cotton masks just allow for a little more of >>> the virus to get through. They are still very good for people who are
lower risk - they stop them shedding a lot of virus into the environment. >>>
"For people who are more vulnerable it is probably the moment to
increase to an FFP2 mask just until the pressure in the environment from >>> so many people infected actually decreases."
Dr Tait-Burkard said she did not believe legal enforcement of face masks >>> was needed any more, and that recommending people wear them in high risk >>> environments was the right thing to do.
'Bitterly disappointing'
The mask laws will now be phased out, with the requirement to wear them
in places of worship and at services to be dropped on 4 April.
Ms Sturgeon was pictured without a mask at a memorial service for Prince >>> Philip on Tuesday, but insisted that she wore one on the train and
"abided by the rules" while in England.
The Scottish Licensed Trade Association said it would have set a better
example for the first minister to wear a face covering, adding that it
was "bitterly disappointing" the changes had been delayed in Scotland.
Managing director Colin Wilkinson said the pause would ultimately make
little difference as "the lack of use of face coverings is already
clearly evident in many settings".
And the Scottish Chambers of Commerce said the "prolonging of Covid-19
rules" might make Scotland a less attractive tourist destination.
How have infection rates changed recently in Scotland? Seven-day average >>> to 30 March. Showing cases by date of test. Includes PCR and LFT results. >>> Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said Scotland's case rate
being higher than other parts of the UK showed that the first minister's >>> "strategy is clearly failing".
He said: "She is keeping restrictions in place here in Scotland weeks
after they have been removed elsewhere.
"We believe that anyone who wants to keep wearing a face mask should do
so, but it should be down to individual choice as it is in other parts
of the UK.
"We should leave it up to people and businesses to decide what is best
for them based on public health advice - Nicola Sturgeon has to start
trusting the people of Scotland."
Ms Sturgeon accused the Tory leader of being "seriously out of step with >>> the vast majority of people".
She said: "Particularly in public places where people don't always have
a choice about being, people have to go to shops and therefore if we all >>> wear face coverings in shops right now we help protect each other.
"For a couple of weeks more while we see this wave of infection peak and >>> start to fall I think that is a sensible thing to do."
The testing system is also being wound down in Scotland, with the
population-wide contact tracing system to be shut down by the end of April. >>>
Scottish Labour's deputy leader Jackie Baillie said infection levels
were concerning, calling for more details about future support and
testing for vulnerable people.
She said: "While life is returning to near normality for many, that is
not the case for those who are immunocompromised and the 180,000 who
were on the shielding list."
Ms Sturgeon said vulnerable people were being offered extra booster
jabs, and that testing would continue to be used in a targeted way to
support them.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
Scotland & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://thefederalist.com/2022/03/30/as-the-country-returns-to-normal-college-campuses-double-down-on-covid-19-restrictions/
As The Country Returns To Normal, College Campuses Double Down On
Covid-19 Restrictions
BY: JACK ELBAUM
MARCH 30, 2022
6 MIN READ
GWU
Why is George Washington University treating fully vaccinated and
boosted college-aged students as if we are the most vulnerable
population to Covid-19?
Author Jack Elbaum profile
JACK ELBAUM
MORE ARTICLES
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If you happen to stumble onto the campus of George Washington University >>> in Washington, D.C., you will find that Covid-19 is a greater part of
our everyday lives than it is almost anywhere else in the country. The
only possible exceptions to this are other college campuses — many of
which have remained equally as, or more, restrictive.
While many campuses are getting back to normal, there are more than a
few holdouts. At Connecticut College — which went virtual last year amid >>> uber-restrictive Covid-19 policies — students are not only required to
wear masks in all indoor settings, but also outside when they are
“socializing in particularly close proximity to others.” Even in their
own dorm, students must mask unless only with a roommate and the door is >>> closed. Places such as New York University still have full mask mandates >>> in place, while many others — such as University of Illinois and
Michigan — still require them in class, but have relaxed the mandate in
other situations.
GW, where I am a sophomore majoring in international affairs and
economics, has decided to keep a full mask mandate in effect “until
further notice,” and the university “strongly recommends the use of N95
or KN95 masks.” This means masks are required in every class, every dorm >>> hall (even in individual rooms when socializing with people one does not >>> live with), and every school building, with no exceptions. At the
beginning of the semester, the people in charge of my dorm building sent >>> an email warning students that a failure to wear a mask — even if one
was eating or drinking — would result in being reported to the school.
On top of this mask mandate, on-campus students are required to take
part in GW’s “asymptomatic surveillance testing” program. In practice,
this means that they are required to take a Covid-19 test approximately
every week and a half, even if they are completely asymptomatic. If one
misses the deadline, his access to nearly every university building
(except for their dorm hall) is removed until he gets the test.
GW’s Approach Is Illogical
These Covid-19 measures are in place despite a few important factors.
First, young people (i.e., the population of GW) are at, by far, the
lowest risk to become severely ill or die from Covid-19. Second, all
students at GW have been required to provide proof to the school that
they are vaccinated and boosted. If the near-100 percent natural
protection from being young was not enough, the fact that all students
are thrice-vaxxed surely means Covid-19 poses, in practical terms, no
threat to them.
Moreover, GW can no longer use DC’s law — nor the CDC’s guidance — to
justify their policy. After all, the mask mandate in DC is now gone and
the CDC only recommends masks in “high-risk” areas — a classification
that does not apply to DC. In fact, DC falls into the “low risk”
category, which means that people should “Wear a mask based on your
personal preference, informed by your personal level of risk.” The last
time DC had a seven-day average of over 100 cases per day was back in
February, and GW has a positivity rate hovering around 1.0 percent.
So why is GW treating fully vaccinated and boosted college-aged students >>> — in a city with minimal Covid-19 transmission — as if we are the most
vulnerable population to Covid-19 when, in fact, we are the least
vulnerable?
GW Can’t Justify Masking
On March 21, I emailed the university president, GW’s dean of health
affairs, and GW’s dean of students, asking why they thought GW’s
restrictive Covid-19 measures remained necessary. I hoped to get insight >>> and clarity that the university’s previous public statements had not
provided.
As of today, I have received only one reply. The email came from a
representative of GW’s Division for Student Affairs, and he declined to
answer my question. Instead, the representative directed me to GW’s
Office of Media Relations. Upon further inquiry with the Office of Media >>> Relations, I was, first, directed to the university’s previous
statements and, second, informed that GW has not changed its Covid-19
restrictions because of “our
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://archive.ph/60aoK
Anger Over Covid Lockdowns Mounts in Shanghai
Restrictions have strained nerves and livelihoods in China’s largest and >>> wealthiest city, eroding some residents’ trust in authorities; ‘I’ve
lost confidence in this government’
By Stella Yifan Xie and Natasha Khan
April 15, 2022 12:15 pm ET
Discontent is deepening across Shanghai, China’s largest and wealthiest
city, now several weeks into a rigid lockdown aimed at crushing a Covid
outbreak that is straining the nerves and affecting livelihoods of its
25 million residents and eroding the public’s trust in authorities.
The effects that have played out in recent weeks—food shortages, lack of >>> access to medical care, overcrowded quarantine centers and infants
separated from their parents—have frayed nerves across a city that has
long prided itself as a pragmatic financial hub at the forefront of
China’s decadeslong shift to a market economy.
“I’ve lost confidence in this government,” said one 36-year-old Shanghai >>> native surnamed Chen, who declined to provide his given name because it
remains risky to openly criticize political leaders. “Only during a
crisis can you make a proper evaluation of the government’s performance.” >>> Mr. Chen, who has been confined at home for more than a month, said he
hasn’t been able to feed his family of four on the government-supplied
rations of vegetables and milk. While he has managed to order some
groceries online, soaring prices and scarce supplies of bread and other
essentials risk draining his savings as the lockdown drags on, he said.
“We’ve waited patiently for the lockdown to get lifted. When will this
end?” he said.
Shanghai eased rules in some neighborhoods this week, but most residents >>> remain confined to their homes. Some expressed worries about food and
said they are increasingly disillusioned by the prospect of an
open-ended Covid lockdown.
Among more than two dozen residents who spoke from lockdown, some said
they are reaching a breaking point more than two years into the
pandemic. Some are considering leaving the country for good.
“The damage has been done,” said Liu Yun, a 34-year-old Shanghai native
and technology entrepreneur who said he has begun contemplating
emigrating to Singapore while confined at home with his wife and two
children. “More elites will start re-evaluating their relationship with
the city and this country.”
Even those who aren’t considering leaving said they expect some economic >>> and psychological scars to endure, along with resentment toward Beijing. >>> China has stuck to a zero-Covid policy under Chinese leader Xi Jinping,
who is widely expected this fall to extend his rule for at least another >>> five years.
Eighty-seven of China’s biggest 100 cities, from Changchun in the
country’s far northeast to its southern metropolis of Guangzhou,
collectively accounting for more than half of China’s population and
overall economic output, have imposed restrictions on movements and
activities because of the current outbreak, according to an estimate by
Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm. On Friday, Xi’an, which earlier
this year emerged from a monthlong lockdown, tightened restrictions again. >>>
Residents lined up for Covid tests in a compound in Shanghai this week.
PHOTO: LIU JIN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Few cities in China have the economic and political importance of
Shanghai, which for most of the past century has been a base of
prosperity at the forefront of the country’s engagement with the world.
Shanghai has served as a laboratory for many of China’s most important
market reforms. It is home to the world’s largest container port, the
country’s main stock exchange and many of its leading scholars, writers
and artists.
The city has been a crucial steppingstone for generations of China’s
leaders, including Mr. Xi, who was appointed the city’s top party
official in 2007.
Shanghai earlier had a more lenient Covid strategy, using targeted
lockdowns for affected residences, but tightened and extended
restrictions amid a visit by
Sun Chunlan, a vice premier, beginning April 2. Residents see the change >>> as a sign Beijing demanded full compliance with China’s zero-Covid
policy, which Mr. Xi has touted.
A spokesperson for the Shanghai government didn’t respond to a request
for comment.
Even as Covid cases spread in the city this spring, authorities insisted >>> that a citywide lockdown wouldn’t be necessary—right up until the day
before the abrupt March 27 announcement of mass lockdown measures that
caught tens of millions of residents unprepared.
That initial lockdown was set to last four days for the eastern half of
the city, then four days for the western half. With case counts still
soaring to new highs, however, authorities then said the lockdown would
be extended indefinitely. Many of those confined to their homes because
of potential contact with Covid cases before the citywide lockdown have
already been kept at home for more than a month, with no clear prospect
of release soon.
Residents said they worry that even after the citywide restrictions are
lifted, the Omicron variant’s transmissibility means sudden lockdowns
and tough tactics could return at any time, casting a cloud of
uncertainty that could last for years.
Since the broad lockdowns began in late March, food shortages have
spread as pandemic measures upended supply chains, leaving some reliant
on bartering and the goodwill of neighbors to survive. Some patients
with non-Covid medical needs have been left to fend for themselves,
while many have resisted being sent to the city’s chaotic and in some
cases unhygienic makeshift quarantine centers.
Shanghai on Thursday reported a record 27,000 new daily infections for
the prior day, bringing the city’s total official caseload since March 1 >>> to more than 220,000 so far. While no deaths have been reported by
authorities, at least three large elderly care hospitals have been
overwhelmed by Covid outbreaks, resulting in patient deaths.
Authorities have been swift to censor people’s complaints and what they
call rumors online. On March 22, two men who shared information about
Shanghai’s coming lockdown were investigated by the police on suspicions >>> of “spreading fabricated information.” As the lockdown continues, more
people are venting frustration at the Covid restrictions, saying they
are harming people’s livelihoods and straining medical resources,
despite potential repercussions.
In a viral online post, one Shanghai resident complained that the
endurance of residents had “reached its limit,” listing a litany of
tragedies and grievances. “Are there officials who still listen to the
people?” wrote the person, who identified herself only as An Ordinary
Citizen. “How much more do we have to pay in exchange for truly putting
people first?”
The post was blocked on Thursday for a few hours before being restored
that evening. The person didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Community workers delivered food rations on Tuesday.
PHOTO: ALEX PLAVEVSKI/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Frank Tsai, a longtime Shanghai resident who hosts business and cultural >>> events through his company China Crossroads, initially supported the
country’s strict Covid measures, but said he was shocked by the food and >>> supply bottlenecks in Shanghai, which is widely regarded as one of
China’s most progressive and best-managed cities.
“This regime from its very founding was built on the elimination of
material anxiety, so it’s ironic that food insecurity is happening in
Shanghai of all places,” he said.
People must “firmly hold on to its pandemic policy without wavering,”
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said Thursday in an editorial,
calling on the public to “look at the big picture” despite the
hardships. “Persistence is victory,” Mr. Xi was quoted saying.
The People’s Daily, the Communist Party organ, implored citizens to
“grit their teeth” and put their faith in government officials.
Some expatriates said the current lockdown is the final straw after
several years in which they felt China was turning increasingly inward.
“We are at a critical point. People are really fed up,” said Bettina
Schoen-Behanzin, vice president of the European Union Chamber of
Commerce in China.
Mr. Liu, the technology entrepreneur, was first confined to his home
with his wife and two children on March 14, when the entrance to his
residential compound was abruptly sealed after several neighbors were
identified as “close contacts” with infected individuals. Later, the
stringent citywide lockdowns began.
Li Bing said he worried about what would happen to his cats if he tests
positive.
PHOTO: LI BING
Mr. Liu’s social-media feed became filled with videos and messages of
physical conflicts between residents and health workers tasked with
keeping people at home, making him more anxious and pessimistic.
“I’m afraid that this fight against the pandemic will evolve into some
kind of social movement, where people at the bottom of the society end
up hurting each other,” said Mr. Liu. “That’s terrifying.”
Mr. Liu said he also worries about the roughly 200 employees at the
company he founded 10 years ago, a business-to-business e-commerce
platform, many of whom are struggling to get enough food during the
lockdown. His company, too, is struggling from waning demand that he
attributes in part to the country’s lockdowns.
Li Bing, a 33-year-old employee at a different technology company, said
he felt emotionally weighed down after reading numerous online pleas >>>from residents struggling to get enough food and medical help. Last
week, a video showing a pandemic prevention worker in a hazmat suit
beating a corgi to death after its owners were sent to a centralized
quarantine center sparked online fury.
“What would happen to my cats? Would they be beaten to death?” said Mr.
Li, a native of Xi’an who has lived in Shanghai for six years with his
girlfriend and two cats. He said the prospect of testing positive for
Covid has stirred his anxiety and made him more eager to leave China
than ever.
“We have witnessed so many humanitarian disasters already,” said Mr. Li. >>> “I simply want to live as a normal person, with dignity.”
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
China & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://www.the-sun.com/news/5168424/unsettling-footage-children-shanghai-hazmat-suits-school/
LESSON IN FEAR Unsettling footage shows children in Shanghai wearing
HAZMAT SUITS on way to school amid bonkers zero Covid regime
Aliki Kraterou
21:17 ET, Apr 20 2022Updated: 21:20 ET, Apr 20 2022
UNSETTLING footage appears to show young children in Shanghai dressed in >>> hazmat suits amid China's zero Covid policy.
The dystopian clip shows a group of youngsters covered from head to toe
heading to school during the world's strictest lockdown.
Little ones are going to school dressed in hazmat suits
5
Little ones are going to school dressed in hazmat suits
They are also wearing face masks
5
They are also wearing face masks
The children in Shanghai are forced to go to school covered as the city
is under strict lockdown
5
The children in Shanghai are forced to go to school covered as the city
is under strict lockdown
The kids, who seem to be of primary school age, are also wearing face
masks, leaving only their eyes visible.
The worrying scenes come as earlier this month heartbreaking images
showed toddlers screaming their heads off after they were forcibly
removed from their parents and kept in cages.
Shanghai's 26 million residents have been plunged into an extremely
strict lockdown for more than five weeks with Chinese authorities
justifying it as a way to get the city's Covid cases under control.
China's most populated city reported a record number of positive cases
on Saturday and other areas across China tightened controls as the
country kept up its zero Covid approach.
Shanghai is struggling to contain the outbreak with more than 20,000
Covid cases a day being reported over at least 10 days.
Most of the city’s residents are trapped in their homes, with chilling
footage showing ordinary citizens screaming spontaneously from
desperation, after being forbidden to leave their homes for over a week. >>>
Under China's draconian Covid rules, anyone found positive - even if
asymptomatic or with a mild infection - must be isolated from
non-infected people.
Earlier this week a sickening clip showed police in Shanghai stuffing
dozens of live cats in bags to be slaughtered.
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Horrific footage also showed police in hazmat suits dragging a man out
of his apartment in Shanghai.
In a video filmed from a nearby building, the man backs onto his balcony >>> to get away, before he appears to be brought down by some sort of stun gun. >>>
The cruel approach to handling Covid has rocked the city to its core,
sparking mass panic, anxiety and outrage amongst horrified residents.
In a shocking video that went viral on Chinese social media, starving
shoppers raided a Shanghai supermarket.
It comes as earlier this week a pet corgi was filmed being beaten to
death by a health care worker after its owner tested positive for Covid. >>>
Meanwhile, drones are flying over buildings telling residents to
“control your soul’s desire for freedom,” reports the South China
Morning Post.
READ MORE ON THE SUN
I have to knock down my £50,000 extension because of a nosey neighbour
NEIGH IT AIN'T SO I have to knock down my £50,000 extension because of a >>> nosey neighbour
On Wednesday, President Xi Jinping said “prevention and control work
cannot be relaxed” indicating that the city had a long road ahead before >>> the lift of the measures.
Diplomats from more than 30 countries have written to the Chinese
foreign ministry demanding an immediate end to the brutal policy.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
China & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/04/covid-vaccine-is-effective-immunocompromised/629596/
‘It’s Just Scaring People, and It’s Not Saving Lives’
Stories about the pandemic’s continuing risks for immunocompromised >people may create unintended harms.
shrugsBy Benjamin Mazer
A photo of someone in a mask, looking out a window
Igor Alecsander / Getty
APRIL 19, 2022
SHARE
As the United States nears its numbing, millionth COVID death and
struggles toits shoulders at a rise in cases, some Americans are feeling left
behind. Immunocompromised people have suffered disproportionately >throughout the pandemic, and even those who have been fully vaccinated >wonder if they’re really safe. News stories highlight their
adapt to a society that “doesn’t seem to care whether they survive.” “I >could just go outside and within two weeks, I could be dead,” a >fibromyalgia sufferer told ABC News last month. She went on to say, “It >kind of feels like immunocompromised people are getting sacrificed.”
pandemic,This dramatic coverage underscores the continuing risks of the
especially for those who are most vulnerable: Immunocompromised people >who get vaccinated aren’t quite as safe as the general vaccinated >population. (The degree of added risk depends on the underlying >condition.) But well-intentioned stories on this issue sometimes >overstate the case, claiming that COVID shots for the immunocompromised >are “ineffective” or “cannot work on everyone.” That is incorrect, and
it hinders uptake of vaccines. The shots do provide these patients with >very meaningful protection as a rule, Jennifer Nuzzo, the director of
the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, told
me. To suggest otherwise “is just a complete distortion … It’s just >scaring people, and it’s not saving lives.”
high-riskWhen the mRNA vaccines finally arrived, at the end of 2020, their value >for immunocompromised people remained unclear. Members of this
short.group were specifically excluded from the first trials performed by >Pfizer and Moderna. Patients and their doctors had only scientific
scraps to guide them in the months that followed: small, preliminary >studies that recorded antibody levels after shots. The initial results >weren’t promising at all. One study found that just 54 percent of >organ-transplant patients, who require the most powerful
immune-dampening drugs, had detectable antibodies after two vaccine >doses; and when present, these protective proteins accumulated in much >lower quantities than were observed in the general population. Some >astute patients had their own antibody levels measured and declared >themselves “vaccinated but not protected” when the results came up
threeSure enough, when Omicron arrived last fall, immunocompromised people >were hit the hardest. A study conducted by Kaiser Permanente in >California showed that immunocompromised patients who had received
vaccineModerna doses were just 29 percent protected from Omicron infection—as >compared with the 71 percent protection afforded others. Some patients’ >antibody levels can still be low after three, four, or even five
doses. (Three primary doses and two boosters are now recommended for
this population.)
forYet there’s a silver lining. Antibodies matter, but they matter most
thepreventing illness, at any level of severity. Regarding the most >dangerous outcomes from disease, recent research from the CDC indicates >that—shot for shot—the immunocompromised achieve most of the same >benefits as healthy people. One study, published in March, looked at
gavepandemic’s Delta wave and found that three doses of an mRNA vaccine
immunocompromised people 87 percent protection against hospitalization, >compared with 97 percent for others. Another CDC report, also out last >month, suggested that on the very worst outcomes—the need for a
breathing tube, or death—mRNA vaccines were 74 percent effective for >immunocompromised patients (including many who hadn’t gotten all their >shots), and 92 percent effective for the immunocompetent. A >10-to-20-percentage-point gap in safety from the most dire outcomes is >consequential, especially for those who are most susceptible to the >disease. Still, these results should reassure us that the >immunocompromised are not fighting this battle unarmed.
surveyThat reassurance means all the more when so many members of the >chronic-disease community feel left for dead by the casual reversals of >pandemic funding and restrictions. But in place of measured consolation >from the experts, they find offhanded comments saying that the vaccines >“don’t work” for them (as one public-health-school dean tweeted earlier >this month). This despairing rhetoric can’t be helping to encourage >vaccination. The CDC hasn’t published data on what proportion of the >immunocompromised remain unvaccinated or undervaccinated, but one
of 21,000 autoimmune patients taking immunosuppressive medications, >conducted by a network of rheumatology clinics, found that, as of last >September, one in four hadn’t received any shots. Several clinicians >involved with this population told me that, even now, many patients are >unvaccinated.
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wentWhen Anne Mills, a physician in Virginia with rheumatoid arthritis,
public with her inoculation experience last year, she hoped to reassure >her friends in the autoimmune community that the shots are safe and >effective. “We’re still looking at very high response rates and very >robust protection against severe disease,” she told me. Now that her >entire family is vaccinated, Mills feels better able to mentally >compartmentalize her condition, and she is working and traveling again >while maintaining some precautions. But she worries that many >immunocompromised people have gotten the message that vaccination isn’t >worth it.
whoMichael Putman, a rheumatologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin
immunocompromisedcares for many patients receiving immunosuppressive medications for >autoimmune diseases, confirms that it’s a battle to get his patients >inoculated. “The idea that the vaccines don’t work for
injectionspeople has definitely contributed to hesitancy,” he told me. Many >autoimmune sufferers worry that the shots might lead to a flare-up of >their disease symptoms. Some of Putman’s patients have decided not to >take that risk after reading news stories suggesting that the
withinwouldn’t help them much anyway. Ironically, patients with rheumatologic >conditions, like Putman’s, are generally among the most protected
the immunocompromised cohort, as measured both by antibody production
and clinical outcomes.
an 81A large CDC analysis of two-dose vaccine regimens within the >immunocompromised population found that rheumatologic patients saw
(74percent decrease in their risk of COVID hospitalization. Next came >solid-cancer patients (79 percent protection), blood-cancer patients
takingpercent), and those born with immune deficiencies (73 percent). >Organ-transplant recipients were the least safe from COVID after >vaccination, with just 59 percent of their hospitalizations prevented >after two doses. Robert Rakita, a transplant-infectious-disease >specialist at the University of Washington, told me that some of his >patients have died from COVID despite having had three or four mRNA >injections. He recommends that all vaccinated organ recipients continue >to wear a mask and avoid crowded indoor activities. But such patients >make up just 8 percent of the 7 million Americans estimated to be
overmedications that weaken their immune system. When COVID reporting >casually lumps together all “immunocompromised” patients, it papers
patientthese differences. Readers are left to think that a fibromyalgia
and a kidney recipient face similar risks.
vulnerable toFor chronically ill people, political power derives in part from group >solidarity; the larger the contingent, the louder the voice. Yet in >pursuit of visibility and justice, the “vaccinated but vulnerable” >category may be expanded well beyond what the science suggests, to >include not only organ-transplant patients, but also people with >diabetes, asthma, obesity, or high blood pressure. According to this >paradoxical arithmetic, half of the country can end up in the “high
risk” category by some definition. In truth, we all remain
COVID; inoculation isn’t 100 percent effective in any demographic. The >threat of long COVID also lingers. But the peril is far more
concentrated than generic references to “chronic conditions” or >“comorbidities” would suggest. Age continues to be, far and away, the >most powerful risk factor for becoming seriously ill from the >coronavirus. Putman, the rheumatologist, uses an example of a
64-year-old doctor counseling a 24-year-old autoimmune patient to take >precautions. The patient should probably be admonishing the doctor >instead, he told me.
veryWhen the vaccine campaign began, with shots for the oldest Americans in >nursing homes and elsewhere, news coverage emphasized seniors’ feelings >of joy and relief. But the immunocompromised have been described in
different terms, even as vaccines are saving their lives too. Stories >focus on their uncertainty and fear—and may end up adding to the same.
Benjamin Mazer is a physician specializing in laboratory medicine.The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/protesters-call-for-chicago-to-reinstate-mask-mandate-due-to-rising-covid-cases/2815290/
Protesters Call for Chicago to Reinstate Mask Mandate Due to Rising
COVID Cases
Both Illinois and Chicago rescinded their mask mandates in February
following decreases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations
By Christian Farr • Published April 24, 2022 • Updated on April 24, 2022 >>> at 6:08 pm
0:01/ 2:06
Share Expand
A number of Chicago residents stood together in the Little Village
neighborhood Sunday, pleading for the city to reinstate its COVID-19
mask mandate to prevent a possible surge following another uptick in cases. >>>
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, of the city's 25th Ward, along with members of
the People's Response Network, expressed concerns about mask mandates
being lifted locally and nationwide.
In late February, both the state of Illinois and city of Chicago
rescinded their mask mandates after sustained decreases in the number of >>> new cases and hospitalizations.
Protesters argue Chicago's Department of Public Health didn't do a good
job at handling the pandemic and said the city's Black and Brown
communities are still at risk. The group also presented a list of
demands, including reintroducing the mask mandate across the city and in >>> Chicago Public Schools.
“We need to make sure that we prioritize the well being and the health
of our students and staff in CPS," Sigcho-Lopez said. "We have schools
like in Pilsen in the 25th Ward, where we still have vaccination rates
that don't even reach 50% 30%? In some cases, higher. Is it possible
that we're still insisting on lifting a mandate?”
The group is also pushing for the expansion of free COVID-19 testing for >>> at-risk communities on the South, Southwest and West sides of the city.
The Illinois Department of Public Health in early April issued a COVID
public health warning, saying "case rates are slowly rising in many
areas of the state." Health officials advised people to pay attention to >>> the conditions in their communities and to stay up-to-date on their
vaccinations.
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Chicago, too, has seen a recent uptick in cases.
The city was averaging 521 daily COVID cases as of Friday, a 15% hike >>>from a week earlier, according to data from CDPH. However, both
hospitalizations and deaths were down from the week prior.
Chicago's community level status remains low, the least severe of the
three risk levels as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://ethicsalarms.com/2022/05/07/andrew-sullivan-on-the-dobbs-leak-freakout
Andrew Sullivan On The Dobbs Leak Freakout
MAY 7, 2022 / JACK MARSHALL
It has been fascinating to watch Andrew Sullivan, a conservative turned
Trump-deranged progressive during from about 2015 on, express his rising >>> dismay at his adopted “side’s” drift to totalitarianism as it uses lies
as metaphorical oars in the stream of public opinion.. Sullivan is too
emotional to be a reliable pundit, but he’s smart and writes like an
angel. His current essay about how Democrats and progressives have
abandoned even the pretense of rationality is instructive.
He also mounts an impressive list of ridiculous statements by abortion
fans and supposedly trustworthy progressive commentators that are
signature significance. Nobody should trust people who say or write
garbage like this. Ever. Here are some of Andrew’s gems, only some of
which I had stumbled over earlier (the comments in parentheses are mine, >>> not Sullivan’s):
Roxane Gay tweeted:“I have typed and deleted a great many comments What
do you say when nine people can dictate what happens to your body? It’s
ridiculous and hateful.” [That is not, of course, what a reversal of Roe >>> would mean, but disinformation has always been at the heart of the
“pro-choice” position.]
“The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer announced that the court had abolished the
entire 20th century. Yep: no more suffrage for women! Jim Crow now!”
Jessica Valenti: “Stripping women of their humanity and rights isn’t a
consequence of the ‘pro-life’ agenda, it’s the entire point.”
The Washington Post’s now thoroughly insane Jennifer Rubin: “The
right-wing justices and their supporters appear ready to reject one of
the Founders’ core principles: that religion shall not be imposed by
government edict.” (The smear that opposing Roe constitutes a religious
edict is truly despicable, and a lot of abortion fans are stooping to it.) >>>
Kurt Andersen another one:“It really is kind of remarkable that only one >>> in five Americans call themselves Catholic, but of the Supreme Court
majority apparently about to permit abortion to be outlawed, all but one >>> are Catholic and that one was raised Catholic.”
Kamala Harris (who supports her adversary’s position every time she
tries to counter it, whatever the topic) was, predicably, Kamala-like:
Those Republican leaders who are trying to weaponize the use of the law
against women. Well we say, ‘How dare they?’ How dare they tell a woman
what she can do and cannot do with her own body? How dare they? How dare >>> they try to stop her from determining her own future? How dare they try
to deny women their rights and their freedoms?
To this and more, Sullivan observes,
The premise here is that all women support abortion rights. But there is >>> no serious gender gap on this question. In fact, a majority of
“pro-lifers” are women, not men. So Harris is effectively saying: how
dare women be allowed a voice in this debate?
Within minutes of the SCOTUS leak, moreover, we were told it means that
before long, interracial marriages will be banned … in a country where
94 percent support them! Imagine Clarence Thomas divorcing himself by
jurisprudence….What strikes me most in these takes is the underlying
contempt for and suspicion of the democratic process — from many of the
same people who insist they want to save it. How dare voters have a say
on abortion rights! The issue — which divides the country today as much
as it has for decades — is one that apparently cannot ever be put up for >>> a vote. On this question, Democrats really do seem to believe that seven >>> men alone should make that decision — once, in 1973.
Of course Sullivan, being Sullivan, has to ring the obligatory “a pox on >>> both their houses” bell lest he risk being tagged as Republican or a
conservative by his LGBTQ peer group. “The emotive hyperbole [is] par
for the course in a country where every discourse is now dialed to
eleven,” he writes. In fact, Democrats and progressives have lapped the
other side of the political spectrum and some since November 2016, and
it would be ennobling if Sullivan had the courage and integrity to admit >>> it. But he doesn’t. Too bad.
He also repeats a current bit of spin and misinformation that the Left
has been bellowing this week. “If you look at polling, there is very
little support in America for a total ban — let alone one that doesn’t
make exceptions for rape and incest, ” he writes. “Gallup’s polling
suggests that a whopping 80 percent of Americans want to keep abortion
legal, either entirely (32 percent) or with some restrictions (48
percent). Only 18 percent want it banned entirely — a position many
Republicans are now forced to take. That should be a Democratic dream!”
1. Well,you know, polls.
2. That’s one way of looking at it.
3. It buries the real polling revelations.
Over at the Washington Examiner, Tim Carney points out that on both the
issues of , Mississippi’s abortion law (banning abortions after 15
weeks, contrary to Roe) and the substance of Roe v. Wade itself, the
draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito represents the majority view of
the public:
Begin with the law in question here: Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. >>> A very recent YouGov poll on abortion found that 21% would ban all
abortions, an additional 20% would ban abortions after a heartbeat is
detected (six weeks), another 13% would ban them after the first
trimester (13 weeks), and an additional 10% would ban abortion after 15
weeks — which is what Mississippi does.
Add it together, and it means that 64% of people in the United States
believe Mississippi’s law is either the right call or too liberal on
abortion. To uphold this law is to side with the opinion of nearly
two-thirds of America on abortion policy.
Would Andrew’s description give you that impression?
On the matter of abortion itself, Carney writes,
A poll on Roe and the Supreme Court from YouGov… asked whether the
federal government or the state governments should set abortion law, and >>> opinions were fairly split — leaning 44% to 36% in favor of the federal
government setting it. Of those who said the federal government should
set abortion policy, only 24% said that within the federal government,
the judicial branch “is best suited to deciding on abortion’s legality.” >>> Combine those last two questions, and that’s 24% of 44% (about 11%) of
the country that believes the Supreme Court should be setting abortion
policy. Only that blue slice in the poll below sides with Roe on the
constitutional question.
Carney concludes, “So why do so many people tell pollsters they think
Roe shouldn’t be overturned? It’s because most people don’t understand
Roe and don’t understand that overturning it returns the issue to
lawmakers and the states.”
And Democrats, the news media and abortion fanatics want to keep as many >>> people confused and furious as possible.
Sullivan concludes,
Leftists, if they could only snap out of their disdain for democracy,
can make a powerful case for moderation on this issue against
right-extremism. To do that, of course, they will have to back some
restrictions on abortion in some states — which some seem very reluctant >>> to do — and even allow some diversity of opinion within their own ranks. >>> There are forces aiming to prevent that — forces that Biden could
confront if he hadn’t long been beaten into learned helplessness. But
surely someone can take the initiative.
So let’s stop the hyperventilation and get back to democracy. Persuade
people, if you can. Get them out to vote. Stop demonizing those you
disagree with and compromise with them in office, however difficult that >>> may be. What Roe did was kickstart the extreme cultural polarization
that has defined and blighted the last few decades of American politics. >>> Maybe the end of Roe can mark the beginning of a return to living
together, and negotiating a way to make that bearable.
Tragically, abortions are the terrible consequence of
http://bit.ly/terribly_hungry (Genesis 25:32) people misbehaving
terribly like http://bit.ly/h_angry DJT.
Suggested further reading:
https://tinyurl.com/Psalm0201
The only healthy way to stop abortions is to
http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John 15:12) to be
http://WonderfullyHungry.org (Philippians 4:12) instead.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/Philippians4_12 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/10/legal-challenges-cdc-public-health-policy-00031253
‘It’s a tsunami’: Legal challenges threatening public health policy
Court battles over Covid-19 safety measures and recent court rulings
will impact the government’s ability to keep Americans safe, experts warn. >>>
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 19: A mask is seen on the ground at John F.
Kennedy Airport on April 19, 2022 in New York City. On Monday, a federal >>> judge in Florida struck down the mask mandate for airports and other
methods of public transportation as a new COVID variant is on the rise
across parts of the United States. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) >>> In April, a federal judge in Florida struck down the mask mandate for
airports and other methods of public transportation as a new COVID
variant is on the rise across parts of the United States. | Spencer
Platt/Getty Images
By KRISTA MAHR
05/10/2022 04:30 AM EDT
Mounting legal challenges to pandemic public health rules — and judges’
increasing willingness to overrule medical experts — threaten to erode
the influence of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
other government health authorities.
In the last year, four court rulings against the CDC, including one from >>> the Supreme Court, have forced the agency to stop or change its pandemic >>> mitigation orders. Most recently, a Florida district judge ordered a
national injunction ending the agency’s mask mandate on public transport. >>>
“Litigation invites litigation invites litigation,” said Wendy Parmet,
faculty co-director at the Center for Health Policy and Law at
Northeastern University. It’s a cycle that “creates enormous uncertainty >>> about what CDC could do going forward should the pandemic worsen again,
or should another pandemic or even a more regional outbreak arise.”
The high-profile challenges to the CDC sit atop thousands more lawsuits
against state and local health authorities that have been filed during
the pandemic, experts say, seeking to end localized social distancing
and mask orders, vaccine mandates and business closures.
The constant threat of being dragged into court is having a chilling
effect on local health officials that may last well beyond the Covid-19
crisis, leading health commissioners or board of health members to think >>> twice about enacting public safety measures.
“It’s a tsunami,” says James Hodge, a law professor at Arizona State
University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. “Anything that limits
you as an American from doing something you don’t want to do … It all
got a challenge.”
The flood of legal challenges is part of a profound antagonism many in
the U.S. have felt toward public health officials since the early days
of the pandemic, when the rapid spread of Covid-19 put government
authority and America’s fierce defense of individual freedoms on a
collision course.
A sign on a door asks people to wear masks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. >>> CDC strategy on masks could haunt the country
BY RACHAEL LEVY
Political meddling in the CDC’s Covid-19 response and the agency’s own
unforced errors in testing and communication stiffened many Americans’
resistance to the government’s involvement in their personal health,
even as nearly one million Americans have died. In addition to lawsuits, >>> bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the nation to
limit public health authorities’ power, and scores of public health
officials have left their jobs in frustration.
Every stage of the crisis has brought a new challenge to public health
workers.
In Massachusetts, public health officials fended off a stream of
lawsuits in the early days of the pandemic, getting in the way of work
like finding shelters for homeless Covid-positive residents. In Ohio,
the state legislature passed a bill in 2021 to allow lawmakers to
override the governor’s health orders or emergency declarations. And in
Washington, one of the last states to end its indoor mask order in
March, local public health officials worried about trying to enforce
future regional orders on their own, if cases rose again in their community.
“Health authorities need to know that they can’t run amok. Judicial
review is an important deterrent against overreach and abuse,” says Parmet. >>>
“On the other hand, you don’t want judicial review to be so threatening, >>> and so omnipresent… that when a health emergency arises, officials are
paralyzed by fear of litigation, and they’re so worried about what the
court will do, when their lawyers are saying, ‘You can’t do this and you >>> can’t do that’… Then you get into a situation where lives will be in
danger.”
Future authority
Threats to the CDC’s authority came into focus in April when a federal
judge in Florida ruled the agency did not have the authority to order a
national mask mandate on public transportation and issued a nationwide
injunction against the order.
The ruling from the judge, a Trump appointee who the American Bar
Association deemed was “not qualified” when she was nominated for the
bench, came as national Covid-19 cases were rising, and prompted a
cascade of private transportation companies to lift their own
requirements on facial coverings.
The Department of Justice appealed the ruling in the 11th Circuit Court
of Appeals, in part to protect the CDC’s authority to issue similar
orders in the future. On May 3, the mandate ran out anyway, and the CDC
recommended that people continue to mask up on planes, trains and buses. >>>
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Since then, another federal judge in Florida reached the opposite
conclusion, saying the CDC was within its power to order the mandate. In >>> Texas, yet another challenge to the defunct requirement is still pending. >>>
The 11th Circuit has weighed in on the CDC’s pandemic authorities
before. In July, it upheld a lower Florida court order prohibiting the
agency from imposing Covid-19 restrictions on cruise ships in the state. >>> The next month, the Supreme Court rejected the CDC’s pandemic-related
eviction moratorium, ruling the agency did not have the authority to
impose it.
Other federal agencies that watch over Americans’ health have also come
into the courts’ crosshairs. In January, the Supreme Court struck down
an order by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that
mandated employees in businesses with over 100 workers be vaccinated or
tested, though it upheld the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’
vaccine mandate for workers in Medicare and Medicaid participating
facilities. The court is also considering a case that could limit the
Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate air pollution,
among other things.
Many of these decisions fit a worrying pattern, public health experts
said, in which judges do not appear to be taking scientific evidence or
expertise on board.
“Historically, there’s been some level of deference to experts who are
using their legal authority to save lives,” said Joshua Sharfstein,
professor of the practice in health policy and management at Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “But that has been eroding.
The courts have increasingly not really cared to assess the implications >>> of the decisions for health.”
At the local level, state and local public health agencies have won most >>> of the challenges to their authority, says Hodge of ASU, who provides
legal guidance to public health agencies and others through The Network
for Public Health Law, an expert entity that helps organizations
navigate laws and regulations.
But after vaccines were introduced, some courts started to ask
authorities more questions on why mitigation measures are necessary, he
said.
Courts have also intervened over Title 42, the CDC order stopping
migrants from entering the U.S. immigration system in order to prevent
the spread of Covid-19. The policy has drawn the ire of judges and
critics, who have said it is a legitimate public health rule that has
been politicized in both the Trump and Biden administrations.
Since it was enacted under Trump in March 2020, public health experts
say the order is an ineffective way to prevent transmission of the
virus, and immigration advocates say it violates international
humanitarian law by turning away asylum seekers fleeing danger at the
border.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent instructs immigrant families as they prepare
to board transport to a processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico >>> border.
WHITE HOUSE
Biden to comply with forthcoming order to keep Covid border restrictions >>> in place
BY EUGENE DANIELS AND LAURA BARRÓN-LÓPEZ
Some courts have been sympathetic with those perspectives. On March 4, a >>> D.C. Circuit Court judge questioned what, if any, public health purpose
the policy serves at this stage in the pandemic and ruled that the CDC
did not have the authority to send families back to danger without
giving them the chance to apply for protection against persecution and
torture.
Others have sided with states seeking to keep the order in place as an
immigration-control measure. Not long after the D.C. Circuit Court
ruling, the CDC said it would end the order for all migrants on May 23.
That effort is being challenged in a Louisiana court by states worried
about the surge in migrants that its end could bring. A federal judge
issued a temporary restraining order preventing the CDC from phasing out >>> the order before then and could soon seek to stop the administration >>>from ending it altogether.
“It’s dangerous to start manipulating the public health laws,” says Lee
Gelernt, an ACLU attorney representing the families in the case in D.C.
Circuit Court. “At this point, there’s no longer even the pretense that
Title 42 is needed for public health; it’s being discussed openly as a
border-control measure.”
Landscape of ‘anger and vehemence’
In Washington state, Secretary of Health Umair Shah says this litigious
atmosphere, and particularly a decision like the Florida injunction
against the CDC’s travel mask mandate, “has ramifications for public
health policy across the nation.”
He says it’s part of a broader landscape of “anger and vehemence”
against public health officials and public health policies that is
making it harder for them to do their jobs.
“I know that those things — everything together — has had an impact on
people,” said Shah. “It may not have changed necessarily what they’re
doing, but it may have changed how they’ve gone about it, or how public
they’ve been, or how careful they’ve been, because nobody wants to have
that onslaught launched against them.”
In Massachusetts, having to constantly fend off lawsuit threats was a
“complete time suck” in the early days of the pandemic, recalls Cheryl
Sbarra, executive director and senior staff attorney at the
Massachusetts Association of Health Boards.
Sbarra, who provides legal guidance to health boards across the state,
says two years later, the threats have not stopped. Board meetings are
more contentious. There’s more “bashing.” People wearing masks during
the latest rise in Covid cases are harassed.
“It’s not as hot as it was, but there’s still a lingering feeling with
some people that we violated their rights,” Sbarra said. “And I don’t
know if that’s ever going to go away.”
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://iotwreport.com/british-rapper-zuby-20-things-ive-learned-or-had-confirmed-about-humanity-during-the-pandemic/
British Rapper Zuby- “20 Things I’ve Learned (Or Had Confirmed) About >Humanity During The ‘Pandemic”
July 5, 2021 BFH Uncategorized 22
1/ Most people would rather be in the majority, than be right.
2/ At least 20% of the population has strong authoritarian tendencies, >which will emerge under the right conditions.
recommended by
INVESTING FUEL
It Was The Most Embarrassing Day Of Her Life
LEARN MORE
3/ Fear of death is only rivaled by the fear of social disapproval. The >latter could be stronger.
years4/ Propaganda is just as effective in the modern day as it was 100
anyago. Access to limitless information has not made the average person
wiser.
5/ Anything and everything can and will be politicised by the media, >government, and those who trust them.
6/ Many politicians and large corporations will gladly sacrifice human >lives if it is conducive to their political and financial aspirations.
7/ Most people believe the government acts in the best interests of the >people. Even many who are vocal critics of the government.
commit to8/ Once they have made up their mind, most people would rather
being wrong, than admit they were wrong.
9/ Humans can be trained and conditioned quickly and relatively easily
to significantly alter their behaviours – for better or worse.
10/ When sufficiently frightened, most people will not only accept >authoritarianism, but demand it.
11/ People who are dismissed as ‘conspiracy theorists’ are often well >researched and simply ahead of the mainstream narrative.
liberty,12/ Most people value safety and security more than freedom and
even if said ‘safety’ is merely an illusion.
13/ Hedonic adaptation occurs in both directions, and once inertia sets >in, it is difficult to get people back to ‘normal’.
14/ A significant % of people thoroughly enjoy being subjugated.
15/ ‘The Science’ has evolved into a secular pseudo-religion for
millions of people in the West. This religion has little to do with >science itself.
16/ Most people care more about looking like they are doing the right >thing, rather than actually doing the right thing.
17/ Politics, the media, science, and the healthcare industries are all >corrupt, to varying degrees. Scientists and doctors can be bought as >easily as politicians.
can18/ If you make people comfortable enough, they will not revolt. You
keep millions docile as you strip their rights, by giving them money, >food, and entertainment.
comes19/ Modern people are overly complacent and lack vigilance when it
to defending their own freedoms from government overreach.
20/ It’s easier to fool a person than to convince them that they have >been fooled.
Bonus thought:
21/ Most people are fairly compassionate and have good intentions (this >is good) As a result, most people deeply struggle to understand thatThe only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
some people, including our ‘leaders’, CAN have malicious or perverse >intentions (this is bad).
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://brownstone.org/articles/we-must-never-forget/
We Must Never Forget
BY THORSTEINN SIGLAUGSSON JUNE 21, 2022 HISTORY, PUBLIC HEALTH 8
MINUTE READ
SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL
According to the UN, lockdowns are responsible for the deaths of
hundreds of thousands of children in the Third World. The disruption >>>from school closures is leading to devastating outcomes for children.
And as studies already show, lockdowns hardly had any effect on deaths >>>from Covid-19, while they are surely to a large part responsible for the
spike in excess deaths from other causes.
Now, when the attempts at slowing or stopping the spread of the virus,
either through lockdowns or vaccination have failed, and it has become
endemic, it is time to move on. But it is not time to forget. For if we
forget we are in a danger of repeating this horrifying experiment.
In short, the situation is this: Information about the failure of
lockdowns is slowly emerging. More and more information on the
catastrophes caused by them is leaking out, even making it into the
mainstream media now. People are starting to feel on their own skin the
economic consequences and attempts at pinning all that on the war in
Ukraine are doomed to fail.
Even if the majority of the vaccinated may still hang on to their belief >>> that the vaccination did something for them, the spiking excess
mortality and the obvious failure of the vaccines to prevent
transmission are really too clear to be denied. And now it even turns
out the original claims of efficacy were based on a falsification of data. >>>
At the same time, most people have become complicit in the lockdown and
vaccination narrative. They have repeated the mantras so often they
themselves have become stakeholders; it is now their narrative also,
which means changing opinion is difficult. It is hard to admit having
been fooled, especially when you‘ve taken an active part in fooling
others also. And if you‘ve been active in ostracizing your unvaccinated
friends and relatives, there may even be no way back for you.
Most people still believe in the narrative, consider those sceptical of
the vaccines as crazy “anti-vaxxers“, and the belief in the lockdowns is >>> based on a very strong fallacy of intuition, which is hard to escape.
Admitting that what you‘ve wholeheartedly supported is not only causing
misery and death all around the world, but even scarring your own
children for life, is probably too difficult for most people. So they
close their eyes.
Before I continue, a word of caution: Almost from the very outset, I
realized there was something fishy about the whole story; there was such >>> a huge discrepancy between the facts and the narrative. In fact I had
been focusing hard on the application of critical, logical thinking in
the months before, publishing a book on the subject just before the
pandemic struck. So I was in a questioning mood already.
Mostly, my predictions have been proven correct, whether it is the
consequences of the lockdowns, the ineffectiveness of the vaccines, the
uselessness of masking or the lockdowns for curbing transmissions. But
being right on one count doesn‘t mean you have to be right on the next,
and belonging to a small minority with strong views may well taint my
analysis and predictions.
Anyhow, here‘s what I think: I believe we‘re approaching a tipping
point. The facts speak for themselves, and facts have the annoying habit >>> of becoming known; in the end they always do. We are still in the phase
of denial, we still cling to our false beliefs, we still cannot
comprehend the consequences of what was done to us; what we did to
ourselves, perhaps by succumbing to mass hypnosis as claimed by
psychologist Mattias Desmet. But this stage cannot last long; this is
the quiet before the storm hits.
Most people don‘t know the storm is about to hit. But those who have a
questioning mind and can think clearly and critically and see where we
are heading. They see how the inflation, the supply disruptions and
shortages have been caused by lockdowns and unprecedented money printing >>> to support them. Those who understand even a little bit about psychology >>> can see the devastating effects of school-closures and masking on
children. Those who have read the reports on rising hunger and
collateral deaths caused by healthcare disruption and isolation, and
those who can read and judge medical studies and understand the data on
vaccine effectiveness, know the cause.
Many of the longer-term consequences will emerge slowly. The
deterioration in children‘s education, the psychological scarring; those >>> will emerge slowly and the cause-effect relationship may not be clear to >>> most people. Hunger and deaths in Third World countries will be ignored
in the affluent West as usual, though not in the countries affected. The >>> damage from the vaccination campaigns will become more visible as time
passes, especially if the most pessimistic predictions regarding
people‘s health hold true. But it is the economic reality we are facing
that will be the loudest wake-up call. Surging inflation is leaving
people considerably worse off. Many will lose their homes, living
standards will fall, the poorest will go hungry.
In Iceland, after the financial crash of 2008, when the local currency
was devalued by half and all the country‘s banks went bust, thousands
lost their homes and unemployment surged. In early 2009, massive
protests drove a democratically elected government out of power and the
blame was pinned on reckless bankers, admired by all a few months
before, based on a fairytale of the unfailing ingeniousness of Icelandic >>> bankers and businessmen; and of course on politicians for not having
seen what was in the cards.
Who will be blamed this time? Will it only be Putin? That‘s unlikely, at >>> least that explanation will not hold for long; people will seek the
culprits closer to home. The Americans, Chinese, Africans, Indians, many >>> of whom have barely heard of Ukraine and to whom Europe is an
unimportant and decaying part of the world, how likely are they to blame >>> a far-away warlord, when at home their politicians have not only failed
to keep their promises but have lied to them also on a massive scale?
The economic consequences will force people‘s minds to question the
rest. Once they‘ve realized what drives the inflation and devaluation of >>> their pensions, they‘ll start questioning the vaccines, if only due to
the surge in excess deaths and the adverse effects experienced by many.
Once you‘ve found someone to blame for one thing, you‘ll quickly pin the >>> next one on them also, especially when they haven‘t been entirely
honest. You decided to believe them, even if you had a hunch what they
said wasn‘t true; you chose to overlook it, but now; now they‘ve done
this to me, I‘m losing my home, I cannot put food on the table, I still
have those lingering side effects ever since my vaccination, my
daughter‘s been depressed since the school closures and it‘s only
getting worse; what a fool I was to believe those bastards!
This is the way it will play out. The tipping point will be the economic >>> shock. The rest will follow suit.
But what then? Many of the key players behind the catastrophe have
already started to distance themselves from their earlier propaganda. A
few, like UK SAGE member Mark Woolhouse even seem to regret their
actions. But many more will not. Recently the Icelandic chief
epidemiologist said in an interview the lockdowns hadn‘t been stringent
enough. And he blamed those few politicians who voiced their doubts and
worried about the well-being of society as a whole, for undermining the
solidarity behind the measures.
As if he were the emperor, the politicians only his servants. And he is
not alone. Many of those people will continue pushing the narrative even >>> as it crumbles around them. They will be the first targets of people‘s
anger. Then it will be the politicians, pharmaceuticals, media and big tech.
There will of course be strong pushback. There will be a scramble for
alternative truths once the narrative starts crumbling; for something to >>> keep the veil on the lies and atrocities. The push for continued
masking, lockdowns, vaccine mandates will continue for a while.
And we shouldn‘t forget there are huge interests at stake here, to
certain very big business sectors, lockdowns are a godsend; human
interaction is a threat to them. The censorship will be ramped up even
further. But despite all the power, money and technology, the facts will >>> emerge, the truth will prevail in the end. It always does.
Some might say I‘m too optimistic, that we are already under the control >>> of conspiring media, big-tech and corrupt officials, with no way out.
But is it really so? Recently a US attempt at handing unprecedented
powers over to the WHO was averted, thanks mostly to African leaders and >>> strong public opposition. The vaccine mandates are disappearing and what >>> will eventually come of the still existing plans for health passes is
unclear. But of course the danger is still there.
What really matters is how we react as the narrative crumbles. Will we
just shrug and move on with our daily lives, not caring about the threat >>> to our freedom and humanity? Or will we face the consequences of our
failure to think critically, of our gullibility, our lack of moral
integrity, as the German people were forced to do after World War II, as >>> the Icelanders had to do after 2008?
Will we bring those responsible to court? Will we learn, once again the
hard way, how the only thing that can prevent such catastrophes in the
future is taking responsibility as thinking, doubting individuals?
And will we finally understand the true meaning of Hannah Arendt‘s
conclusion in The Origins of Totaliarianism, that flawed as it may be,
it is only a sovereign nation state of free people, governed by elected
representatives who take their responsibility seriously; as they did in
the tiny Faroe Islands during the pandemic; and not unelected officials, >>> supranational organizations or huge corporations; that only the nation
state is really able to protect universal human rights?
We have to move on. We have to rebuild our societies, reestablish our
moral values and our rights, rebuild trust in science and trust within
our communities. But to truly move on, we must face, understand and act
on the roots of the catastrophe, and take full responsibility for the
part each of us played. This is why we must not forget. We must never
forget.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:I am wonderfully hungry!
https://archive.ph/uQyFa#selection-373.1-1279.109
'Working from home is contributing to Britain's mental health crisis'
Interview: Headspace Health boss on how he turned to meditation to
tackle imposter syndrome
By
James Titcomb
3 July 2022 • 11:00am
Russell Glass turned to meditation during a stressful time at LinkedIn
Headspace Health
Russell Glass turned to meditation during a stressful time at LinkedIn
CREDIT: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph
A lot of people are reflexively sceptical when meditation is brought up. >>> “I was one of those people,” admits Russell Glass, the American chief
executive of Headspace Health on a trip to London.
“I’d heard the term mindfulness before and - do you have the term ‘woo
woo’ over here? - It all felt kind of woo woo to me.”
Today, Glass, a serial entrepreneur from New Jersey, meditates daily and >>> has been the boss of one of the world’s biggest mental health apps since >>> October 2021.
Headspace, which has offices in California and London, experienced an
influx of users during the pandemic as rates of depression and
loneliness soared.
Glass’s Damascene conversion was years earlier. In 2014, he had just
sold his marketing start-up Bizo to LinkedIn for $175m (£144m), becoming >>> one of the social networking giant’s top executives and netting a
fortune. He should have been on top of the world, but says he found it
difficult to feel at home.
“I was really struggling when I joined LinkedIn from a mental health
standpoint. I had had my third daughter about a week before I sold the
company and I wasn't sleeping very well. I got to LinkedIn and had a bit >>> of imposter syndrome and had a bit of anxiety,” Glass says.
LinkedIn chief executive Jeff Weiner had brought in the founders of the
meditation app Headspace - an unlikely British duo of Andy Puddicombe, a >>> former Buddhist monk, and Richard Pierson, a marketing executive - to
speak to the company’s employees. Glass thought he had nothing to lose
and tried it out.
Three weeks later, a colleague said something in a meeting that might
have otherwise set Glass off. “I was able to note the feeling and
realise that it was just my stress response. And I was able to let it go.” >>> He has since dedicated his career to mindfulness. In 2018 Glass took
charge of Ginger, a remote therapy app that lets users text or video
call with professional psychiatrists. And last year, he merged the
company with Headspace, the app he attributes to his own rejuvenated
state of mind.
Today, the combined company - Headspace Health - is valued at $3bn and
is at the forefront of a booming digital mental health movement. Its
apps have been used by more than 100m people, although the number who
stick with it on a daily basis are more modest.
Use of meditation apps surged during the pandemic, which triggered a
mental health crisis as students were barred from classrooms, employees
were cooped up and family members cut off from one another.
The World Health Organisation said in March that Covid-19 had seen
global prevalence of anxiety and depression increase by 25pc. The
organisation estimates that 70pc of the 1bn people worldwide with a
mental health need are not getting access to care, and that just 2pc of
healthcare spending is dedicated to it.
With budgets at breaking point, Glass argues that digital solutions are
the only realistic option.
“Here in the UK, 40pc of GP visits right now are for mental health. It's >>> just a huge amount of need. You have to be able to access it virtually
if we're going to actually deliver on the scale of what the needs are
now,” he explains.
NHS mental health therapy referrals by gender, 2020-21
Women aged 65 and over
Men aged 65 and over
Women aged 36-64
Men aged 36-64
Women aged 18-35
Men aged 18-35
49,338
24,713
361,842
199,406
545,614
238,078
SOURCE: HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY, MENTAL HEALTH STATISTICS (ENGLAND)
Headspace offers its users guided meditations, sleep aids, and focus
music. The company points to a ream of academic studies suggesting its
apps reduce stress, anxiety and burnout, and increase focus. Next year
the company intends to integrate the app with Ginger, which has an army
of professionally-trained therapists on call.
In a sign of how much more mainstream the issue of mental health has
become, the Duke of Sussex has joined a rival app, BetterUp, as chief
impact officer, while Headspace has a partnership with English
footballer Raheem Sterling.
Many tech businesses, such as Peloton and Netflix, boomed during the
pandemic only to see a drop off in demand, but Glass says the mental
health crisis is here to stay.
“Unfortunately, I think that there's going to be a long tail to the
pandemic when it comes to mental health. The amount of need right now,
it's not sustainable, and it's not going to lead to good outcomes from a >>> healthcare standpoint,” he says.
“The social isolation, particularly for the youth, has become a really
big deal. At the moment in life when you need social interaction more
than any other moment in life, it got ripped away from our adolescents
and teens.”
Glass also describes ongoing working from home as a major factor. “If
you ask the average employee, they want remote work, they want that
option. And yet [employers] also have to recognise that it's not always
going to be a beneficial thing from a mental standpoint.”
While Headspace charges individuals a monthly subscription fee, a large
part of its revenue comes from businesses who offer the app as a perk to >>> staff. Around 3,500 companies subscribe, with 600 of those in the UK.
Glass says around one in five staff within those companies end up using
the app and chief executives tend to use it at a higher rate than rank
and file employees. Glass says there are, however, some worrying signs
that companies might be stepping back from mental health support they
provided at the start of the pandemic.
Headspace's workplace subscriptions are popular with CEOs, says Russell
Glass
Headspace's workplace subscriptions are popular with CEOs, says Russell
Glass CREDIT: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph
Part of the challenge is convincing people that apps can offer the same
benefits as in-person professionals. Glass at least has an ally in Sajid >>> Javid, Health Secretary, who is pushing to modernise the NHS with
digital services.
“80pc of people who come into a GP office with a mental health need can
be handled sub-clinically, either with self care where our Headspace app >>> might be appropriate, or with coaching. We know that we can help in the
vast majority of cases,” says Glass.
“If there's any silver lining [to the pandemic], it's that it caused a
giant increase in people's willingness to adopt digital, virtual mental
health solutions. So you have far more people getting access than they did.”
Could it be a full replacement, putting an end to visits to a musty
psychiatrists’ offices and leather recliners? Glass argues that many
people prefer virtual visits, which might remove the stigma of being
spotted leaving a therapist’s office.
A future step could be robot psychiatrists. Glass says the company’s
Ginger app is already using artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor
conversations for signs of stress or anxiety and recommend particular
language to professional psychiatrists.
“One day, maybe we’ll get to the point where we have an AI-based bot
that augments the care. It’s way out into the future.”
For now, Glass says his goal is to have meditation regarded as on a par
with brushing teeth: something people do to prevent problems emerging
further down the line. “We need to help educate the world so that as
many people as possible are thinking about [that]. It’s the early innings.” >>> A lot of people may still think the idea sounds a little “woo woo”. But
Glass is determined to win them over.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://archive.ph/Tokrz
Sajid Javid pushed for Christmas lockdown and mandatory Covid vaccines
Backlash over ex-health secretary’s attack on PM hots up as The
Telegraph can reveal he advocated strict rules to curb omicron spread
By
Tony Diver,
WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT
8 July 2022 • 9:26pm
Sajid Javid
Two sources said that Sajid Javid, as health secretary, had urged Boris
Johnson to close public spaces to avoid the spread of the virus CREDIT:
Henry Nicholls/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Sajid Javid wanted lockdown measures over Christmas and mandatory Covid
vaccines for employees, it has emerged amid backlash over his speech
condemning Boris Johnson.
The Prime Minister’s allies have hit back at the former health secretary >>> after he chose to make a “personal statement” in the Commons following
his resignation on Tuesday.
Mr Javid used the speech to publicly question Mr Johnson’s integrity and >>> draw attention to his own leadership credentials ahead of an expected
leadership bid.
However, MPs said that the speech would turn off potential backers in
the contest, who could feel his decision to speak in the Commons about
his reasons for resigning was disloyal.
Separately, The Telegraph can reveal that Mr Javid pushed for greater
Covid restrictions over Christmas in 2021, amid rising cases of the
omicron variant.
Two sources said that he had urged Mr Johnson to close public spaces
such as shops and hospitality to avoid the spread of the virus.
Placeholder image for youtube video: 5EmuPVfbxos
'Enough is enough': Sajid Javid challenges others to resign from Boris
Johnson's Cabinet
However, Downing Street chose to run a “Plan B” package of measures
instead, which mandated face masks, required Covid passports in some
settings and encouraged working from home.
The plan was activated less than three weeks before Christmas in an
attempt to control new infections without preventing celebrations from
going ahead.
A source said: “He said that we need more measures. We did Plan B, but
he was talking about the need to shut things. I don’t think he had
really thought it through.”
It was also claimed that Mr Javid had suggested that the Government
follow a suggestion by Joe Biden, the US president, and mandate
vaccinations for people who work for companies with more than 100 employees.
The plan would have seen workers told that they must be vaccinated or
wear masks in the workplace, and be tested for Covid at least once per week.
The policy was blocked in the US by the country’s Supreme Court, which
argued it was a “significant encroachment on the lives – and health – of >>> a vast number of employees”.
Coronavirus Plan B
Instead of locking down the country, Downing Street chose to run a ‘Plan >>> B’ package of measures, which mandated face masks CREDIT: Mike
Egerton/PA Wire
A representative for Mr Javid did not deny that he had supported the
policy, which sources said was rejected by the Prime Minister in late 2021. >>> A source close to him said: “The PM and Sajid jointly decided not to
introduce further restrictions. Prior to this, there was some discussion >>> between teams about some limited additional restrictions for a strictly
limited period in order to avoid the need for tougher measures over
Christmas.
“Lots of ideas were discussed around increasing vaccine uptake. Sajid
ultimately scrapped vaccine passports and also reversed the decision
made on making vaccine a condition of deployment in the NHS.”
Mr Javid has not yet announced his leadership bid, but is widely
expected to after his resignation from the Government earlier this week. >>> In his Commons personal statement, he said: “It is not fair on
ministerial colleagues to have to go out every morning defending lines
that do not stand up and do not hold up.
“It is not fair on my parliamentary colleagues who bear the brunt of
constituents’ dismay in their inboxes and on the doorsteps in recent
elections, and it is not fair on Conservative members and voters who
rightly expect better standards from the party they supported.”
MPs claimed that the statement had backfired and could cost Mr Javid the >>> party leadership.
One senior backbencher said: “It was unfortunate. That wasn’t a sensible >>> move. We are in a difficult situation and I think if you compare what
Saj did and what Rishi [Sunak] did, Rishi was the more statesman-like one. >>> “The Tories like loyalty, even when they realise the time is up and it’s >>> time to go. I think it would have been better not to. I thought it was
ill-advised.”
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
http://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2022/07/18/conservative-blocs-unleash-wave-of-litigation-to-curb-public-health-powers
powers
Conservative blocs unleash wave of litigation to curb public health
(left)Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (right) has sued the CDC over its air
travel mask mandate, while Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt
districtshas sued and sent cease and desist letters to dozens of school
(left)over mask mandates.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (right) has sued the CDC over its air
travel mask mandate, while Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt
districtshas sued and sent cease and desist letters to dozens of school
Court.over mask mandates.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
By Lauren Weber, Anna Maria Barry-Jester
July 18, 2022
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Through a wave of pandemic-related litigation, a trio of small but
mighty conservative legal blocs has rolled back public health authority
at the local, state and federal levels, recasting America's future
battles against infectious diseases.
Galvanized by what they've characterized as an overreach of
COVID-related health orders issued amid the pandemic, lawyers from the
three overlapping spheres — conservative and libertarian think tanks,
Republican state attorneys general, and religious liberty groups — are
aggressively taking on public health mandates and the government
agencies charged with protecting community health.
"I don't think these cases have ever been about public health," said
Daniel Suhr, managing attorney for the Liberty Justice Center, a
Chicago-based libertarian litigation group. "That's the arena where
these decisions are being made, but it's the fundamental constitutional
principles that underlie it that are an issue."
Through lawsuits filed around the country, or by simply wielding the
threat of legal action, these loosely affiliated groups have targeted
individual counties and states and, in some cases, set broader legal
precedent.
In Wisconsin, a conservative legal center won a case before the state
Supreme Court stripping local health departments of the power to close
schools to stem the spread of disease.
In Missouri, the Republican state attorney general waged a campaign
against school mask mandates. Most of the dozens of cases he filed were
dismissed but nonetheless had a chilling effect on school policies.
In California, a lawsuit brought by religious groups challenging a
health order that limited the size of both secular and nonsecular
in-home gatherings as COVID-19 surged made it to the U.S. Supreme
issuedThere, the conservative majority, bolstered by three staunchly
conservative justices appointed by former President Donald Trump,
worship.an emergency injunction finding the order violated the freedom to
successor,
Other cases have chipped away at the power of federal and state
authorities to mandate COVID vaccines for certain categories of
employees, or thwarted a governor's ability to declare emergencies.
Although the three blocs are distinct, they share ties with the
Federalist Society, a conservative legal juggernaut. They also share
connections with the State Policy Network, an umbrella organization for
state-based conservative and libertarian think tanks and legal centers,
and the SPN-fostered American Juris Link, described by president and
founder Carrie Ann Donnell as "SPN for lawyers." In the COVID era, the
blocs have supported one another in numerous legal challenges by filing
amicus briefs, sharing resources and occasionally teaming up.
Their legal efforts have gained traction with a federal judiciary
transformed by Republican congressional leaders, who strategically
stonewalled judicial appointments in the final years of Democratic
President Barack Obama's second term. That put his Republican
theTrump, in position to fill hundreds of judicial vacancies, including
friendly tothree Supreme Court openings, with candidates decidedly more
tanks.the small-government philosophy long espoused by conservative think
diseases,
"You have civil servants up against a machine that has a singular focus
and that is incredibly challenging to deal with," said Adriane
Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs for the National
Association of County and City Health Officials.
All told, the COVID-era litigation has altered not just the government
response to this pandemic. Public health experts say it has endangered
the fundamental tools that public health workers have utilized for
decades to protect community health: mandatory vaccinations for public
school children against devastating diseases like measles and polio,
local officials' ability to issue health orders in an emergency, basic
investigative tactics used to monitor the spread of infectious
rapidly."and the use of quarantines to stem that spread.
Just as concerning, said multiple public health experts interviewed, is
how the upended legal landscape will impact the nation's emergency
response in future pandemics.
"This will come back to haunt America," said Lawrence Gostin, faculty
director of Georgetown University's O'Neill Institute for National and
Global Health Law. "We will rue the day where we have other public
health emergencies, and we're simply unable to act decisively and
scenes
<b>'Legal Version' of Navy SEAL Team 6</b>
The entities pressing the public health litigation predate the pandemic
and come to the issue motivated by different dynamics. But they have
found common interest following the sweeping steps public health
officials took to stem the spread of a deadly and uncharted virus.
The State Policy Network affiliates have long operated behind the
foundpromoting a conservative agenda in state legislatures. A KHN analysis
identified at least 22 of these organizations that act in the legal
arena. At least 15 have filed pandemic-related litigation, contributed
amicus briefs, or sent letters threatening legal action.
Typically staffed by just a handful of lawyers, the organizations tend
to focus on influencing policy at the state and county levels. At the
core of their arguments is the notion that public health agencies have
taken on regulatory authority that should be reserved for Congress,
state legislatures and local elected bodies.
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which calls itself the "legal
version" of the Navy SEAL Team 6, has filed a flurry of COVID-related
lawsuits. Among its victories is a state Supreme Court ruling that
therapeutics.Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' declaration of multiple states of emergency
for the same event — in this case, the pandemic — was unlawful. It also
used the threat of litigation to get a Midwest health care system to
stop considering race as a factor in how it allocates COVID
Orleans
The Kansas Justice Institute, whose website indicates it is staffed by
one lawyer, persuaded a county-level health officer in that state to
amend limitations on the size of religious gatherings and stopped a
school district from issuing quarantines after sending letters laying
out its legal objections.
Suhr, of the Liberty Justice Center, noted one of his group's cases
underpinned the U.S. Supreme Court's decision crimping the ability of
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to mandate
large-business owners to require COVID vaccinations or regular testing
for employees. The group teamed with the legal arm of Louisiana's
Pelican Institute for Public Policy on behalf of a grocery store owner
who did not want to mandate vaccines for his employees.
Republican attorneys general, meanwhile, have found in COVID-related
mandates an issue that resonates viscerally with many red-state voters.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry joined a suit against New
andover mask mandates, taking credit when the mandate was lifted. Florida
Attorney General Ashley Moody sued the Biden administration over strict
limits on cruise ships issued by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, arguing the CDC had no authority to issue such an order,
wasclaimed victory after the federal government let the order expire.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined with the Texas Public Policy
Foundation to sue the CDC over its air travel mask mandate. The case
setput on hold after a Florida federal district judge in April invalidated
the federal government's transportation mask mandates in a case brought
by the Health Freedom Defense Fund, a group focused on "bodily
autonomy." The Biden administration is fighting that ruling.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has sued and sent cease and
desist letters to dozens of school districts over mask mandates, and
libertiesup a tips email address where parents could report schools that imposed
such mandates. The majority of his suits have been dismissed, but
Schmitt has claimed victory, telling KHN "almost all of those school
districts dropped their mask mandates." This year, legislators from his
own political party grew so tired of Schmitt's lawsuits that they
stripped $500,000 from his budget.
"Our efforts have been focused solely on preserving individual
theand clawing power away from health bureaucrats and placing back into
questions.hands of individuals the power to make their own choices," Schmitt, who
is running for U.S. Senate, said in a written response to KHN
Court"I'm simply doing the job I was elected to do on behalf of all six
million Missourians."
Numerous Republican attorneys generals teamed up and won a Supreme
leadingdecision staying the OSHA vaccine mandate for large employers, building
on the legal arguments brought by Liberty Justice Center and others.
That decision was cited in the recent Supreme Court case rolling back
the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate the carbon
emissions that cause climate change.
<b>A 'Shared Ecosystem'</b>
Religious liberty groups were drawn into the fray when states early in
the pandemic issued broad restrictions on recreational, social and
religious gatherings, sometimes limiting attendance at worship services
while keeping open hardware and liquor stores. Although their legal
efforts were unsuccessful in the first months of the pandemic, they
gained traction after Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett, a stalwart
conservative, was confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice in October
2020, following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a steadfast
liberal.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, rewrote an executive order after
receiving a letter from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a
Becket'sreligious litigation group, announcing that Catholic and Lutheran
churches would be opening with or without permission. In November 2020,
the Supreme Court's newly constituted majority prevented New York from
enacting some COVID restrictions through a shadow court docket.
"Courts started saying, 'Show me the proof,'" said Mark Rienzi,
COVID-relatedpresident and CEO. "And when you start saying that 'casinos, good;
churches, bad; Wall Street good; synagogue, bad,' those things at some
point require some explanation."
In February 2021, Barrett joined other conservative justices in ruling
against California in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom,
ending state and local bans on indoor worship services and leaving the
state on the hook for $1.6 million in attorney's fees to the
conservative Thomas More Society. That April, the U.S. Supreme Court
struck down California and Santa Clara County rules limiting gatherings
in private homes that prevented people from participating in at-home
Bible study. Plaintiffs' lawyers arguing that case had clerked for
Barrett and Justice Clarence Thomas.
American Juris Link, meanwhile, helped build out a list of
operate incases for lawyers to reference and connected lawyers working on similar
cases, Donnell said.
Peter Bisbee, head of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a
political fundraising machine, sits on American Juris Link's board;
Donnell said the two talk regularly. Bisbee said the groups have no
formal connection but share a common cause of shrinking the "expansive
regulatory administrative state."
Liberty Justice Center's Suhr said litigation groups like his
fora "shared ecosystem" to curtail government overreach. "I have not been
invited to any sort of standing weekly conference call where a bunch of
right-wing lawyers get on the call and talk about how they're going to
bring down the public health infrastructure of America," he said.
"That's not how this works."
Still, he said, everyone knows everyone else, either through previous
jobs or from working on similar cases. Suhr was once policy director
theformer Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, as well as deputy
director of the student division of the Federalist Society.
<b>'It's Not About Public Health'</b>
No equivalent progressive state litigation network exists to defend the
authority housed in government agencies, said Edward Fallone, an
associate professor at Marquette University Law School and expert in
constitutional law.
The difference, he said, is funding: Private donors, corporate
interests, and foundations with conservative objectives have the deep
pockets and motivation to build coalitions that can strategically chip
away at government oversight.
On the other side, he said, is often a county attorney with limited
resources.
"It's almost as if government authority is not getting defended, and
it's almost a one-sided argument," he said. "It's not about public
health, it's about weakening the ability of government to regulate
business in general."
Public health is largely a local and state endeavor. And even before
departmentspandemic, many health departments had lost staff amid decades of
underfunding. Faced with draining pandemic workloads and legislation >>from conservative forces aimed at stripping agencies' powers, health
officials often find it difficult to know how they can legally respond
to public health threats.
And in states with conservative attorneys general, it can be even more
complicated. In Missouri, a circuit court judge ruled last year that
local public health officials did not have the authority to issue COVID
orders, describing them as the "unfettered opinion of an unelected
official."
Following the ruling, Schmitt declined the state health department's
request for an appeal and sent letters to schools and health
thedeclaring mask mandates and quarantine orders issued on the sole
authority of local health departments or schools "null and void."
"Not being able to work with the schools to quarantine students — that
really inhibited our ability to do public health," said Andrew Warlen,
director of Missouri's Platte County Health Department, which serves
requiresuburbs of Kansas City. "It's one of the biggest tools we have to be
able to contain disease."
The legal threats have fundamentally changed the calculus for what
powers to use when, said Brian Castrucci, president and CEO of the de
Beaumont Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving community
health. "Choosing not to use a policy today may mean you can use it a
year from now. But if you test the courts now, then you may lose an
authority you can't get back," he said.
By no means have the blocs won all their challenges. The Supreme Court
recently declined to hear a Becket lawsuit on behalf of employees
challenging a vaccine mandate for health care workers in New York state
that provides no exemption for religious beliefs. For now, the legal
principles that for nearly 120 years have allowed governments to
vaccinations in schools and other settings with only limited exemptions
remain intact.
Several lawyers associated with these conservative groups told KHN they
did not think their work would have a negative effect on public health.
"I honestly think the best way for them to preserve the ability to
protect the public health is to do it well, and to respect people's
rights while you do it," said Becket's Rienzi.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, decried the wave
of litigation in what he called a "right-wing laboratory." He said he
has not lost a single case where he was tasked with defending public
health powers, which he believes are entirely legal and necessary to
keep people alive. "You destroy government, and you destroy our
emergency response powers and police powers — good luck. There will be
no one to protect you."
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://archive.ph/GT6Mh
UK doctors ‘less likely’ to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients
since Covid
Pandemic may have changed decision-making, according to research
published in Journal of Medical Ethics
A hospital patient with a ‘do not resuscitate’ band
The survey suggested doctors would be less willing to resuscitate very
sick or frail patients and may raise the threshold for referral to
intensive care. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Andrew Gregory Health editor
Mon 25 Jul 2022 18.30 EDT
Doctors are less likely to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients
in the wake of the pandemic, a survey suggests.
Covid-19 may have changed doctors’ decision-making regarding end of
life, making them more willing not to resuscitate very sick or frail
patients and raising the threshold for referral to intensive care,
according to the results of the research published in the Journal of
Medical Ethics.
However, the pandemic has not changed their views on euthanasia and
doctor-assisted dying, with about a third of respondents still strongly
opposed to these policies, the survey responses reveal.
The research found that 59% of patients with a DNACPR decision survived
their acute illness.
Third of UK hospital Covid patients had ‘do not resuscitate’ order in
first wave
Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic transformed many aspects of clinical medicine,
including end-of-life care, prompted by millions more patients than
usual requiring it around the world, say the researchers.
The survey sought to find out if it has significantly changed how
doctors make end-of-life decisions, specifically in respect of do not
attempt cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) notices and treatment
escalation to intensive care. Researchers also wanted to know if the
pandemic had changed doctors’ views on euthanasia and doctor-assisted
suicide.
The survey was open to doctors of all grades and specialties in the UK
between May and August 2021. In all, 231 responded: 15 from foundation
year 1 junior doctors (6.5%); 146 from senior junior doctors (SHOs)
(63%); 42 from hospital specialty trainees or equivalent (18%); 24 from
consultants or GPs (10.5%); and 4 others (2%).
In respect of DNACPR, the decision not to attempt to restart a patient’s >>> heart when it or breathing stops, more than half the respondents were
more willing to do this than they had been previously.
When the responses were weighted to represent the different medical
grades in the NHS national workforce, the results were: “significantly
less” 0%; “somewhat less” 2%; “same or unsure” 35%; “somewhat more”
41.5%; “significantly more” 13%; and “not applicable” 8.5%.
We doctors must learn from what went wrong with 'do not resuscitate' orders >>> Rachel Clarke
Rachel Clarke
Read more
Asked about the contributory factors, the most frequently cited were:
“likely futility of CPR” (88% pre-pandemic, 91% now): coexisting
conditions (89% both pre-pandemic and now): and patient wishes (83.5%
pre-pandemic, 80.5% now). Advance care plans and “quality of life” after >>> resuscitation were also commonly cited.
The number of respondents who said “patient age” was a major factor
informing their decision grew from 50.5% pre-pandemic to about 60%. And
the proportion who cited a patient’s frailty rose by 15 percentage
points from 58% pre-pandemic to 73%.
The biggest change, however, was in those citing “resource limitation”,
which increased by 20 percentage points, from 2.5% to 22.5%.
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When asked whether the thresholds for escalating patients to intensive
care or providing palliative care had changed, the largest proportion
said the “same or unsure”: 46% (weighted) for referral; 64.5% (weighted) >>> for palliative care.
But a substantial minority said that they now had a higher threshold for >>> referral to intensive care (22.5% weighted) and a lower threshold for
palliation (18.5% weighted).
“What is yet to be determined is whether these changes will now stay the >>> same indefinitely, revert back to pre-pandemic practices, or evolve even >>> further,” the researchers concluded.
When it came to euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide, the responses
showed the pandemic has led to marginal, but not statistically
significant, changes of opinion.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://archive.ph/Y9xUT
A 'staggering' number of people couldn't get care during the pandemic,
poll finds
Updated August 8, 2022·11:59 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
RHITU CHATTERJEE
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Tomeka Kimbrough-Hilson was diagnosed with uterine fibroids in 2006 and
underwent surgery to remove a non-cancerous mass. When she started
experiencing symptoms again in 2020, she was unable to get an
appointment with a gynecologist. Her experience was not uncommon,
according to a new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and
the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Nicole Buchanan for NPR
When the pandemic started, Tomeka Kimbrough-Hilson knew she had a small
growth inside her uterus. She was first diagnosed with uterine fibroids
back in 2006 and had been able to have the non-cancerous mass removed
through outpatient laser surgery. Over the years, she'd also been able
to manage her symptoms with medication and changes in her lifestyle.
But when those symptoms – a bloated belly, irregular periods, nausea –
returned in 2020, Kimbrough-Hilson was unable to get an appointment with >>> a specialist.
"March 27th came and everything got shut down," says Kimbrough-Hilson,
47, of Stone Mountain, Georgia. "I wasn't at the tier of care that
needed [immediate attention], because of all the precautions that had to >>> be taken."
But even after the lockdown in spring of 2020 was lifted,
Kimbrough-Hilson, a mother of five who works in the health insurance
industry, was unable to see a gynecologist.
She left message after message with providers. But her calls went
unreturned, or providers were booked for months at end. "I couldn't get
the appointments," she says. "I couldn't follow up."
These days, her belly is swollen, and she says she often feels fatigued
and nauseous: "It makes me want to throw up a lot."
She also struggled to get appointments for other members of her family.
Her 14-year-old daughter underwent brain surgery before the pandemic,
but then couldn't get follow-up appointments until recently.
Kimbrough-Hilson's family's experience isn't uncommon, according to a
new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. >>> Chan School of Public Health.
Among households that had a serious illness in the past year, one in
five respondents said they had trouble accessing care during the pandemic. >>> That's a "staggering" number of people unable to access care, says Mary
Findling, the assistant director of the Harvard Opinion Research
Program. "From a health and a good care standpoint, that's just too high." >>> Other recent studies have found significant delays in cancer screenings, >>> and disruptions in routine diabetes, pediatric and mental health care.
While it's still early to know the long-term impacts on people's health, >>> researchers and physicians are concerned, especially as the disruptions
continue with the country's health care system struggling to bounce back >>>from the pandemic.
The new poll also found that disruptions in care hit some racial and
ethnic groups harder. Among households where anyone had been seriously
ill in the past year, 35% of American Indian and Alaska Native
households and 24% of Black households had trouble accessing care for
serious illness, compared with only 18% of White households.
Among Black respondents who had seen a provider in the past year, 15%
said they were disrespected, turned away, unfairly treated, or received
poor treatment because of their race and ethnicity, compared with only
3% of White respondents who said the same.
"What's really sad is the racial gaps in health care between Black and
White Americans has remained," says Findling. "And looking across a
broad range of measures, it's better to be a White patient than a Black
patient in America today. And when you just stop and think about that,
that's horrible."
Health insurance wasn't a barrier to access
The vast majority of people – across racial and ethnic groups – who
experienced delays in care reported having health insurance.
"One thing it tells us is that just the provision of more health care
insurance is not going to plug some of these gaps and holes that we're
seeing in terms of individuals getting more care," says Loren
Saulsberry, a health policy researcher at the University of Chicago, who >>> worked closely with Findling on the poll.
"There are broader issues at play here," says Findling, like the
historic workforce shortages among health systems. "The pandemic
continues and it's wreaking havoc on everyone."
Saulsberry, who studies health disparities in vulnerable populations,
says that the pandemic has exacerbated those disparities because of a
range of barriers, including a person's zip code.
For example, the state of Georgia, where Kimbrough-Hilson lives, has had >>> one of the lowest numbers of OB-GYNs in the country for years. Now,
she's having a harder time getting an appointment with one than ever before.
"I've been able to get my teeth done, my eyes checked," she says. "But I >>> can't get to women's health."
She has a referral from her primary care provider, she says, but it's
for a practice "30 to 40 miles away."
Health systems too overwhelmed for routine care
While the pandemic exacerbated disparities in care, it also overwhelmed
the health care system, causing delays and disruptions across the board, >>> says Cassie Sauer, CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association.
And it's also taken a huge financial toll, says Dr. Arif Kamal, chief
patient officer at the American Cancer Society. "Some of that is related >>> to actually taking care of patients who are very complex, who have very
serious illnesses due to COVID-19," he says. "But also during that time
there was also loss of revenue because other activities had to be
stopped, for example, elective surgeries."
As a result, preventive services and early detection activities – not
the "highest margin activities" for health systems – have taken a back
seat, he adds.
"Over the last two years we estimate about 6 million women, for example, >>> have missed routine cancer screening," says Kamal. That includes missed
mammograms for breast cancer detection, and Pap smears to check for
cervical cancer.
Kamal is concerned that in a year or two, providers will start to detect >>> cancers at later stages because of missed screenings, which makes them
harder to treat or cure.
In the meantime, health systems are continuing to feel the repercussions >>> of the pandemic, causing continuing delays in what was once routine care. >>> Sauer has experienced this at work and in her personal life.
"In my own family, we have struggled to get access to health care for my >>> kids and my parents," says Sauer.
Her 80-year-old father, who has Parkinson's disease, had a fall over the >>> winter holidays and was hospitalized. "I was with him, caring for him in >>> the hospital. My mom had COVID at the time, so she wasn't able to be
there," she says. "And I couldn't figure out how to get him out of the
hospital."
He needed to go to a skilled nursing facility, but she couldn't get him
into one. "I found two nursing homes that seemed like good fits," says
Sauer. "And they both shut down because they had COVID outbreaks the
same day."
This is still one of the biggest problems that the state's hospitals are >>> facing right now, she adds. "We can't get people out of the hospitals
right now. There's no back door, but the front door is wide open to the
emergency room."
There are patients who spend as many as 90 days in a hospital, she says, >>> when the average hospital stay is three days. "So they've taken the
space of 30 patients who needed care."
This is why, more than two years into the pandemic, she says, people are >>> still unable to schedule regular procedures, everything from knee and
heart valve replacements, to cancer treatments.
These procedures may be considered "elective," but postponing them can
have major repercussions on a patient's health and quality of life, she
adds.
"You have a chance of falling, you are probably going to gain weight,"
says Sauer. "You're going to lose flexibility. You know, all those
things contribute to a potential decline, cardiac issues, respiratory
issues." Which can in turn also increase someone' risk of serious
illness from COVID.
"I think that the toll of this delayed care is tremendous," she says.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19
) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://archive.ph/oCYuH
China extends lockdown in parts of Chengdu, expands mass testing
People lineup for a Covid-19 test in Beijing, on Sept 3, 2022. PHOTO:
EPA-EFE
PUBLISHED SEP 4, 2022, 10:50 AM SGT
?Facebook?Twitter...
BEIJING - China extended its lockdown in districts of western megacity
Chengdu and ordered more mass testing there from Sunday as it tries to
contain a Covid-19 outbreak.
Chengdu's central Jinjiang district will further intensify lockdowns and >>> extend control measures for at least three days starting from Sunday,
the authorities said in a statement. Other districts also announced a
third round of Covid-19 tests on Sunday.
People should return home immediately after being tested, the officials
said. Chengdu's lockdown, which started on Thursday, demonstrates
China's commitment to its Covid-zero approach despite the huge economic
loss it has triggered.
The nation's sixth-largest city is the biggest to be closed off since
Shanghai on June 1 ended two months of curbs on people's movement, the
effects of which are still being felt by businesses.
Demand in Shanghai for everything from dining out to movies and tourism
are still far below pre-lockdown levels, while some indicators show the
city is taking longer to recover than Hong Kong and Singapore where
rules have been eased.
Retail sales in the city dropped 4.3 per cent in June from a year
earlier and rose a meager 0.3 per cent in July, following an average 35
per cent slump in the preceding three months starting March, when the
outbreak began.
Nationwide, China reported 1,673 local Covid-19 cases for Saturday,
including 1,359 that are asymptomatic.
ST Asian Insider: Malaysia Edition
Understand Malaysia developments with bureau chief Shannon Teoh and team >>> in weekly newsletter
Enter your e-mail
Sign up
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. >>> Tibet found the most cases among all provinces, with 556 new infections
detected, according to the National Health Commission.
Sichuan province, home to Chengdu, reported 186. Southern technology hub >>> Shenzhen reported 89 new cases.
Daily new infections in the coming few days are expected to remain at
elevated levels, local health authorities said at a Saturday briefing.
Beijing and Shanghai found only one case each.
Tianjin, the northern port hub near Beijing, shut dine-in service in one >>> district after finding 22 new cases for Saturday. The city started mass
testing its 13.7 million residents from Sunday.
A'ba state, home to some 815,000 people in Sichuan province, implemented >>> a lockdown to its 13 counties on Sunday. The restrictions will last for
at least four days, local authorities said in a statement. BLOOMBERG
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
China & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19
) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/09/07/the-neverending-nightmare-of-zero-covid/
China’s ongoing brutal lockdowns are a reminder of the insanity of ‘Zero >>> Covid’.
Brendan O'Neill
BRENDAN O'NEILL
CHIEF POLITICAL WRITER
7th September 2022
The ideology of lockdown is a menace to society
Share
Topics
COVID-19
POLITICS
WORLD
Remember Zero Covid? This was the idea that the only way to deal with
Covid-19 was by eliminating it. Only when every trace of the virus had
been scrubbed from society would it be safe to let the masses out again, >>> insisted the Zero Covid fanatics. Zero Covid ideologues were everywhere. >>> In the medical establishment, the political elite, the media. In early
2021 the Guardian’s leader writers were telling Boris Johnson that he
should ‘[stamp] out the virus with a Zero Covid strategy’. Kill Covid to >>> save society.
How is Zero Covid looking now? Ask China. The suffering of the Chinese
people under the ideology of Zero Covid is extraordinary. Lockdown may
be a mercifully fading memory for us in the West but it remains the
ruthless daily reality for the Chinese. The numbers are staggering.
Sixty-eight cities in China are currently in partial or full lockdown.
As of last week this includes the megacity of Chengdu, where 21million
people have been instructed to stay indoors. Only one person from each
household is allowed out to do essential shopping. No exercise, no
strolls in the park, no going to work. Briefly nipping out for food is
the only civil liberty the people of Chengdu enjoy.
The Chengdu lockdown is truly dystopian. Not only have millions been
placed under house arrest – others have been forced to take up residence >>> at their places of work. Chengdu is an economic powerhouse, home to
global players in the automaker and technology markets, including
Volkswagen and Foxconn Technology Group. And to ensure that the lockdown >>> doesn’t disrupt production too much, some factories are operating
‘closed loop systems’. This means ‘separating workers from the rest of
the community’. The workers stay on site, in campuses, away from their
fellow citizens and families, and are constantly tested for sickness.
All so that they can carry on being a cog in China’s vast economic
machine. Under Zero Covid you’re either a potential carrier of disease
that must be sealed into your home or a machine to be separated from
society so that you can carry on producing for profit. Zero Covid
dehumanises all.
The announcement of the lockdown in Chengdu last week led to widespread
panic buying. Social-media footage showed ‘desperate Chengdu residents’
grabbing as many essential supplies as they could. Such distressing
images were not surprising considering that in other recent lockdowns
people have run out of food. The people of Chengdu may be thinking of
the city of Xi’an in north-west China, which was locked down in December >>> and January. A few days into that lockdown, even the right of people to
leave their homes to buy essentials was scrapped. Remarkably, 13million
people were forbidden from going outside for any reason whatsoever, even >>> to acquire the means of sustaining life. Instead, officialdom set up a
food-delivery system. It didn’t go well. People took to social media to
say they weren’t receiving enough to eat. One desperate man offered up
his Nintendo console for some instant noodles and steamed buns. Another
offered dishwashing liquid for apples. Xi’an was experiencing a ‘return
to primitive society’, said one resident.
In between the Xi’an and Chengdu lockdowns came the Shanghai lockdown,
possibly the most disturbing lockdown in China so far. It was in April
and May. It lasted for two months. The restrictions on the lives of the
city’s 25million residents were ‘ruthlessly enforced’. Again people ran
out of food. Some became so desperate that they ate wild vegetables,
falling ill as a result. It was ‘eerily reminiscent of the desperate
times of the Great Leap Forward… when the bark was stripped from trees
by starving people’, said one observer. Overnight, green metal fences
were erected outside any apartment building in which a resident had
tested positive for Covid – homes turned into impromptu prisons. Alarms
were put on the doors of the infected, to alert the authorities if they
ventured outside – a modern-day version of the black cross that was
painted on the doors of the infected during the Great Plague of London
in the 1660s.
Why Boris deranged the elites
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TOM SLATER
Like something out of a dystopian B-movie, drones were sent out into the >>> Shanghai sky with loudspeakers telling the locked-up masses below to
‘Control the soul’s desire for freedom!’. There were forced evacuations
and forced family separations, too. Entire communities were relocated.
The people of the Pingwang suburb were moved en masse to quarantine
facilities a hundred miles away. The thousand residents of the town of
Beicai were forced into temporary accommodation so that their town could >>> be ‘disinfected’. Children who tested positive for Covid were removed >>>from their parents. People going hungry, people fenced into their homes,
sick kids spirited away from their parents – it is extraordinary that
this was happening in the gleaming modern metropolis of Shanghai, just
three months ago, as we in the West went about our post-lockdown lives
as normal.
The harms of Zero Covid are becoming clearer and clearer. As the British >>> Medical Journal pointed out, there were even ‘reports of people [in
Shanghai] dying from non-Covid causes because they [could not] access
their usual medicines’. The entire oath of medicine – First, Do No Harm
– is turned upside down when society devotes itself so singularly and
psychotically to tackling one virus alone. Spiritual health, social
health, even physical health – all have been sacrificed in China’s
crusade to achieve Zero Covid. Let’s be grateful Boris didn’t heed the
Guardian’s plea to pursue a Zero Covid strategy. Actually, the horrors
of Shanghai seem to have changed even the Guardian’s mind. ‘Fear,
paranoia, anger – this is life under China’s Zero Covid strategy’, a
headline said in April.
And yet even as we balk at the tyranny in China, now spreading,
virus-like, to Chengdu, let us not imagine that we would never do
anything like this. We already did. Our lockdowns were not as severe as
China’s, but we did send drones to spy on dog-walkers during the first
lockdown in March 2020. We did limit people’s right to leave their
homes. We did clamp down on criticism of the Covid strategy on social
media, just as China is now doing. The social-media giants of Silicon
Valley gave Beijing a run for its money when it came to restricting
‘disinformation’ about Covid and lockdown. And yes, we harmed our
citizens’ health by turning Covid into the only issue in town.
Undetected cancers and mental-health problems are just two of the
public-health crises that appear to have been exacerbated by lockdown.
Indeed, the West’s importing of Chinese-style authoritarianism was one
of the most disturbing things in the Covid era. Who can forget
Imperial’s Neil Ferguson saying that he and the other early supporters
of lockdown never imagined they could ‘get away with’ what China had
done around Wuhan – but ‘then Italy did it, and we realised we could’.
In July 2020 Tory MP and one-time leader hopeful Jeremy Hunt seemed to
praise China’s approach, and suggested that we should also have aimed
for ‘zero infection and elimination of the disease’. Go and tell that to >>> the heavily pregnant woman in Shanghai who posted a desperate message on >>> social media saying she only had two days’ worth of food left.
Liz Truss and the crisis of political will
RECOMMENDED
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BRENDAN O'NEILL
Zero Covid has been an act of self-sabotage for China. It is now having
a huge impact on China’s economy and political stability. It is all an
apt and depressing reminder of what happens when the state elevates
ideology over reason. When citizens are reduced to vectors of disease to >>> be managed and controlled rather than being treated as wise, good
individuals who should be trusted to behave responsibly. The nightmare
in China is an indictment of the regime in Beijing, and also of some of
the lockdown fanatics here in the West who might have happily led us
down the same path to social destruction.
The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
China & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19
) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://archive.ph/dfTvs
Covid: Time running out to protect vulnerable, campaigners warn
Published
4 hours ago
systems.Share
Related Topics
Coronavirus pandemic
Blanche Hampton
Image caption,
The drugs Blanche Hampton takes for lupus suppress her immune system
By Dominic Hughes
Health correspondent, BBC News
Time is running out for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people who >are facing another winter shielding from Covid, campaigners have said. >They are calling on the government to buy a drug called Evusheld to >provide some protection against the virus.
The government says it is not clear how long that protection will last >when up against the Omicron variant.
But patients, charities and health experts argue the protection offered >is better than nothing.
Cancer patient 'destroyed' by Covid drug refusal
Covid cases rise as one in 37 has virus in UK
Covid protection may be boosted by genes - study
There are around 500,000 people in the UK with suppressed immune
situation,That means their bodies struggle to produce antibodies, so the existing >vaccines offer them little or no protection, leaving them very
vulnerable to Covid.
Blanche Hampton has lupus, a condition where her immune system has
turned against her.
The drugs she takes to control the lupus also suppress her immune
system, meaning her body has no defences against Covid.
Blanche has been shielding for two and a half years, but she believes >Evusheld offers a chance for at least some kind of existence outside of >her small flat in Inverkip, west of Glasgow.
Evusheld antibody treatment against Covid
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
People whose immune systems do not respond well to vaccines could
benefit from the antibody treatment, campaigners say
"Evusheld would give me a layer of protection, that is better than >nothing. Because that's what I have currently - nothing."
And Blanche, like many people who find themselves in the same
countries.says she feels abandoned.
"I'm expensive and expendable. So, you know, the sooner people like me >disappear, the easier it will be for everybody.
"You don't have any hope and it is one of the requisites for humans to >want to stay alive.
"So this thing is draining me of any desire to really continue with my >life, because it isn't a life."
Evusheld, manufactured by AstraZeneca, was approved by the UK medicines >regulator in March and is already available in more than 30 other
lastBut in August the government said it wouldn't be buying any doses until >it had more data.
In particular, there are some concerns over how long protection may
trials,against the Omicron variant of Covid.
Ministers say they are urgently looking into setting up clinical
decisionbut it's unlikely that any results will be available until late spring
at the earliest.
'Thrown under a bus'
Scott and Nikola
Image caption,
Scott and Nikola Bridgen have shared their disappointment over the
whateverThat decision was a bitter blow for Scott Bridgen and his wife Nikola. >Scott's treatment for a rare form of blood cancer has left his immune >system in pieces.
Evusheld offered the couple the chance to make some memories in
grouptime Scott has left.
Scott says he feels terribly let down.
"I'm ex-military, I served this country in the early 1990s, and I feel >like I've just been thrown under the bus to be quite honest."
Scott's wife Nikola is one of the founders of the patient campaign
reviewed.'Evusheld for the UK', which is pushing for the decision to be
better to"The solution to the problem is there, but we can't get it.
"And to be honest, I think that's even more cruel than not having a >solution at all."
Prof Alex Richter, consultant immunologist at University of Birmingham, >said: "The decision to not run with Evusheld this winter is very much a >kind of glass half empty approach.
"But the glass half-full approach is, it has some activity and it has >some benefit. And so for very many patients, actually isn't it
out,do something for them rather than nothing?"
Campaigners - backed by charities such as Kidney Care UK and the MS >Society and more than 120 medical experts - say time is now running
andahead of another winter during which the most vulnerable will have to >shield.
They argue that even if Evusheld doesn't give 100% protection, doing >something is better than doing nothing.
They warn the mental, physical and economic costs of another winter of >isolation for hundreds of thousands of people will have an impact for >years to come.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said they were >"urgently exploring" the option of commissioning a clinical trial.
The spokesman added: "We are keeping the evidence under close review
availableNICE have begun their appraisal of Evusheld. If they consider the >treatment to be clinically and cost effective, it will be made
on the NHS in the usual way."The only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
the U.K. & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19
) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
It's when we've always goodness (Exodus 20:12) in our LORD that we
become healthier than ever as we http://tinyurl.com/BeHungrier
http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward
So let us not be a hangry http://tinyurl.com/ChrINOtrump
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrew touts hunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory
( http://bit.ly/Psalm112_1 ) to GOD, Who causes us to hunger
(Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby
removing the http://tinyurl.com/HeartVAT from around the heart
Merry Christmas. Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of HaShem, Lord of Lords,
Jehovah Incarnate, King of Kings, Creator Eternal, Lamb of God, Judge of >>> all, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
We honor (Exodus 20:12) our Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6) in Heaven
when we imitate (3 John 1:11 & 1 Cor 11:1) Him, Who is our #1 Example
of living http://WonderfullyHungry.org (Luke 24:42) by our always
saying/writing that we're "wonderfully hungry"
(http://bit.ly/Philippians4_12 ) in **all** ways including especially
caring to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John 15:12).
As the Holy Infant, our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), though
hungry/healthy, did not disturb the stable animals with His crying so
that we can truly sing "Silent Night" and imagine that the Jewish
shepherds were in awe at finding Him quietly laying in the manger with
virgin mom Mary not lifting Him out so that they would behold the
miracle heralded by the Heavenly Host. So, yes, LORD Jesus is our #1
Example of living "wonderfully hungry" ( http://bit.ly/Lk2442 ) even
as the Holy Infant.
There were no rooms at the inns in Bethlehem back then just as there
are no rooms now today. Our LORD, as the Holy Infant, conquered the
pagan Saturnalia festival day (i.e. 12/25/00) with His birth thereby
making it a Holy day as it is today.
You got that right!
Baruch HaShem.
May the blessings of HaShem the
Father, HaShem the Son, and HaShem the Holy Ghost be with you and yours.
I am indeed wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID19 )
right now (Luke 6:21a) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy
appetite right now too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
<PAEDO> 12/30/22 James/zeb tragically vainjangling (1 Tim 1:6) ...
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.bible.prophecy/c/6ytiCSZWVnM/m/rSoLZUCuAgAJ
Link to post explicating vainjangling by the eternally condemned:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sci.med.cardiology/O23NguTslhI/-xLGqnNjAAAJ
"Like a moth to flame, the eternally condemned tragically return to be >>>> ever more cursed by GOD."
Behold in wide-eyed wonder and amazement at the continued fulfillment
of this prophecy as clearly demonstrated within the following USENET
threads:
(1) Link to thread titled "LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth is our #1
Example of being wonderfully hungry;"
https://groups.google.com/g/sci.med.cardiology/c/_iVmOb7q3_Q/m/E8L7TNNtAgAJ
(2) Link to thread titled "Being wonderfully hungry;"
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sci.med.cardiology/uCPb3ldOv5M >>>>
(3) Link to thread titled "A very very very simple definition of sin;" >>>>
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.bible.prophecy/xunFWhan_AM >>>>
(4) Link to thread titled "The LORD says 'Blessed are you who hunger
now;'"
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.bible.prophecy/e4sW8dr44rM >>>>
(5) Link to thread titled "Being wonderfully hungry like LORD Jesus;"
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.bible.prophecy/xPY1Uzl-ZNk/QeKLDNCpCwAJ
... for the continued benefit (Romans 8:28) of those of us who are
http://WonderfullyHungry.org like GOD ( http://bit.ly/Lk2442 )
with all glory ( http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to the LORD.
Source:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sci.med.cardiology/O23NguTslhI/pIZcsOCJBwAJ
Laus DEO !
While wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/Philippians4_12 ) in the Holy >>>> Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy 8:3) me to hunger right now (Luke
6:21a), I pray (2 Chronicles 7:14) that GOD continues to curse
(Jeremiah 17:5) you, who are eternally condemned (Mark 3:29), more
than ever in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO ! ! !
it is indeed tragic.
In the interim, I am nonetheless wonderfully hungry (
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) and hope you, Michael, also have a
healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/camilla-queen-consort-tests-positive-covid/story?id=97084680
Camilla, the Queen Consort, tests positive for COVID
She had earlier announced she was dealing with "seasonal illness."
ByZoe Magee and Katie Kindelan via logo
February 13, 2023, 9:34 AM
1:23
Plans for King Charles’ Coronation announced
The King and Queen Consort Camilla will be crowned on May 6 at
Westminster Abbey.
Camilla, the Queen Consort, has tested positive for COVID-19, according
to Buckingham Palace.
King Charles' wife had been forced to postpone a visit to the West
Midlands on Tuesday, with the palace initially saying she had contracted >>> a "seasonal illness."
"With regret, she has therefore cancelled all of her public engagements
for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due
to attend them," the palace said in a statement.
PHOTO: Queen Consort Camilla visits the S.T.O.R.M Family Centre, in
London, Feb. 9, 2023.
Queen Consort Camilla visits the S.T.O.R.M Family Centre, in London,
Feb. 9, 2023.
Toby Melville/Reuters, FILE
Camilla is "fully vaccinated" against COVID-19, according to the palace. >>>
The 75-year-old previously tested positive for COVID-19 nearly one year
ago to the date.
Editor’s Picks
With Queen Elizabeth II's death, Camilla becomes Queen Consort: What to know
Queen Camilla is a mom of 2: What to know about her children
Prince Harry says he has 'huge amount of compassion' for Queen Camilla
MORE: King Charles III's coronation: What to expect, the traditions and
symbolism explained
Charles also had the virus in February last year. Each self-isolated at
the time and did not require hospitalization.
Charles's mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, then also tested positive >>> for COVID-19 shortly after Charles and Camilla's illnesses were
confirmed, the palace said at the time.
The queen, who died in September at age 96, had only "mild cold-like
symptoms" as a result of the virus, according to the palace.
However, after her acute COVID illness, she subsequently had weeks of
"mobility issues" causing her to cancel many events. For this reason,
it is probable that the proximate cause of her death was undiagnosed
long-COVID.
MORE: As Queen Consort, Camilla steps into role as matriarch of royal familyThe only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby saving lives, in
Camilla became queen consort after the queen's death.
The coronation for Charles and Camilla is scheduled to take place in May. >>
the UK & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19
) finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota,
Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations combining via
slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like
http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current COVID
vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/13r97jx/uk_students_seek_compensation_for_covidaffected/
Universities
UK students seek compensation for Covid-affected tuition
Nearly 1,000 students attempt group action against UCL, accusing it of
breaking promises
Sally Weale Education correspondent
Wed 24 May 2023 17.29 EDT
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email
Lawyers representing almost 1,000 current and former students whose
studies were affected by Covid and strike action told the high court in
London their clients felt “cheated” by their educational experience and
should be entitled to seek compensation through the courts.
They are seeking to bring a claim against University College London
(UCL), accusing it of breaking its “promises” after tuition was moved
online and access to libraries and laboratories restricted during the
pandemic, with no discount to their “eye-watering” tuition fees.
In a case which will be closely watched by other universities, UCL is
arguing against students’ attempts to bring a group action through the
courts, saying they should pursue their claims through the university’s
internal complaints procedure.
If they are not satisfied, UCL says they can then take their complaint
to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, an independent body set up >>> to review student complaints about higher education providers in England >>> and Wales.
At a preliminary hearing on Wednesday before Judge Barbara Fontaine,
Anna Boase KC, representing the students, told the court they entered
into a bargain with UCL for which they paid handsomely – £9,25o a year
in tuition fees and considerably more for international students.
“They didn’t get what they bargained for and they seek justice,” she said. >>>
In written arguments to the court, Boase said: “These consumers, many of >>> whom are young people, have had enough. Their contract with UCL was, for >>> many, the first substantial contract of their lives and, justifiably,
they feel cheated out of their bargain.
“The claimants’ case is that, on all versions of the student contract,
UCL owed a duty to provide in-person tuition and physical access to
facilities.”
She said UCL’s “contractual performance fell short of that promised” yet >>> it had not offered students fee discounts “in recognition of its short
performance” during the pandemic.
The court was told that 924 students have issued claims against UCL,
with 2,147 more wishing to have their cases added to the legal action.
Law firms Harcus Parker and Asserson claim more than 100,000 students
have signed up to a student group claim on a no-win, no-fee basis,
potentially seeking compensation from 100 UK universities.
John Taylor KC, for UCL, said in written arguments that the alternative
complaints procedures were “fair, transparent and accessible”, and could >>> save time and money. He also said the claims against the university
needed more detail and had been “formulated at an inappropriately high
level of abstraction” given “the disparity of contractual terms, the
thousands of programmes and modules, years of study, different strike
dates and different effects of Covid-19”.
Daniel Amery, a UCL law student, was among those attending court on
Wednesday. He said his first two years at university had been severely
affected by Covid, with classes on Zoom and limited access to the
university campus. “This is arguably one of the biggest investments I
will ever make. I feel I’ve been cheated,” he said.
UCL issued a statement in which Prof Kathleen Armour, vice-president
(Education & Student Experience) said the university had followed UK
government guidance during the pandemic, and had provided a “high
quality academic experience to students” and minimised the impact of
industrial action by university staff.
“We respect the right of our students to complain and seek redress if
they feel that they have not received the support they expected from us. >>> That is why we have a well-established and free complaints procedure.
“We believe the group litigation order is unnecessary and premature as
our easily accessible process is the most efficient and swiftest way for >>> our students to resolve any issues with us.”
The hearing concluded on Wednesday, and a written ruling will be handed
down at a future date.
In the interim, we are 100% prepared/protected in the "full armor of
GOD" (Ephesians 6:11) which we put on as soon as we use
Apostle Paul's secret (http://bit.ly/Philippians4_12 ). Though masking
is less protective, it helps us avoid the appearance of doing the evil
of spreading airborne pathogens while there are people getting sick
because of not being 100% protected. It is written that we're to
"abstain from **all** appearance of doing evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22
w/**emphasis**).
Source:
https://biblehub.com/1_thessalonians/5-22.htm
Meanwhile, the only *perfect* (Matt 5:47-8) way to eradicate the
COVID-19 virus, thereby saving lives, in the UK & elsewhere is by
rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given
moment, including even while on-line, who among us are unwittingly
contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in order to
http://WDJW.great-site.net/ConvinceItForward (John 15:12) for them to
call their doctor and self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of
stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the best while
preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations
and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining via slip-RNA-replication to form
hybrids like http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current
COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/17mppag/misogyny_hairdryers_and_foulmouthed_tirades_what/
Misogyny, hairdryers and foul-mouthed tirades: What we learned from
Britain’s Covid-19 inquiry this week
Analysis by Rob Picheta, CNN
Published 10:21 PM EDT, Thu November 2, 2023
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 06: Britain's Prime Minister Boris
Johnson looks on while Gordon Halfacre receives his coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) vaccine from corporal Lorna MacDonald during a visit to a
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine centre on January 6, 2022 in
Northampton, England. (Photo by Peter Cziborra-WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Peter Cziborra/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Boris Johnson shared an outlandish theory about Covid-19, his former
aide claimed.
London
CNN
—
Britain’s haphazard response to the coronavirus pandemic has been thrown >>> under further scrutiny at an inquiry this week, after a series of senior >>> figures described disorganization, chaos and vitriol at the heart of
Boris Johnson’s government.
Johnson’s leadership was eviscerated by a number of his most important
aides when the Covid-19 crisis struck, according to notes, emails and
WhatsApp messages revealed at the inquiry this week.
Many of those aides testified at the inquiry, which began earlier this year.
The culture inside Downing Street has also been criticized, with
correspondence laying bear the level of anger and in-fighting between
major players.
And a deep level of confusion and uncertainty over the science of the
virus’ spread – sometimes stretching into the territory of outlandish
conspiracies – was alleged. More than 230,000 people have died of
Covid-19 in the UK since it emerged in early 2020.
Here’s what you need to know from Britain’s Covid-19 inquiry.
Johnson ‘cannot lead’
Johnson’s premiership ultimately collapsed last year after a series of
scandals, headlined by revelations that his staff organized a string of
parties and gatherings while the UK was in lockdown.
But notes and communications unveiled this week revealed the depths of
distrust at the heart of government.
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 02: Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson
addresses the Global Soft Power Summit at The Queen Elizabeth II
Conference Centre on March 2, 2023 in London, England. The conference
explores the role of soft power in international politics and business.
(Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Johnson's leadership was criticized by some of his most senior aides.
“He changes strategic direction every day,” Simon Case, still Britain’s
most senior civil servant, said in a remarkable message to Johnson’s
chief of staff. “He cannot lead and we cannot support him in leading
with this approach. The team captain cannot change the call on the big
plays every day. The team can’t deliver anything under these circumstances.”
Meanwhile, Johnson’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance,
described the ex-prime minister as being weak and indecisive in a
notebook entry during the crisis, PA Media reported.
A wild hairdryer theory
Johnson came in for brutal criticism from Dominic Cummings, his top
adviser-turned-political rival who has lambasted the former leader since >>> being dismissed from Downing Street in late 2020.
Cummings was particularly critical of Johnson’s apparent lack of
understanding over the science of Covid-19 – alleging that he once asked >>> whether people could use a hairdryer to “kill Covid.”
“A low point was when he circulated a video of a guy blowing a special
hair dryer up his nose ‘to kill Covid’ and asked the (two senior
scientific advisers) what they thought,” Cummings told the inquiry while >>> giving evidence on Tuesday.
A message from March 3, 2020, sent by Cummings, said that Johnson didn’t >>> believe Covid-19 was a “big deal and he doesn’t think anything can be done.”
Johnson was “unbelievably bullish” that Covid-19 would not severely hit
the UK in early 2020, according to another top aide, then-deputy cabinet >>> secretary Helen MacNamara.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks back into 10 Downing Street >>> in central London on July 7, 2022 after making a statement. - Johnson
quit as Conservative party leader, after three tumultuous years in
charge marked by Brexit, Covid and mounting scandals.
Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images
Johnson's career collapsed after revelations about parties in Downing
Street during lockdown.
‘Violent’ misogyny
Cummings was accused of fueling a misogynistic culture in Downing
Street, after the inquiry revealed emails and WhatsApp messages from his >>> time as Johnson’s top adviser.
In one WhatsApp message, Cummings complained about Johnson’s key team
“dodging stilettos” from MacNamara, adding that he would “personally
handcuff her and escort her from the building” and calling her a “c*nt.” >>>
Cummings has denied his language was sexist, writing on Twitter
Wednesday that the narrative is “bullsh*t from Boris/Carrie & the
Establishment,” referring to the former prime minister’s wife.
But McNamara told the inquiry that the language was “miles away from
what is right or proper or decent, or what the country deserves.”
Former Number 10 special advisor Dominic Cummings walks out of his house >>> to speak to the press in London, England, on January 24.
(Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images)
Former Number 10 special adviser Dominic Cummings.
And she blamed Johnson for failing to notice and stop it. “It was
disappointing that the prime minister did not pick him up on that
violent and misogynist language,” she said.
Messages showed that Cummings referred to other ministers and staffers
as “useless f**kpigs” and “morons,” and pushed to have ministers sacked. >>>
Johnson felt older people should ‘accept their fate’
Matt Hancock, the UK’s former health secretary, wanted to decide “who
should live and who should die” if the pandemic overwhelmed hospitals
and forced decisions on where to direct care, according to the former
chief of the National Health Service (NHS) England.
Simon Stevens told the inquiry on Thursday that Hancock “took the
position that in this situation he – rather than, say, the medical
profession or the public – should ultimately decide who should live and
who should die,” adding that “fortunately, this horrible dilemma never
crystallized.”
The allegation highlights a number of conflicting theories that
circulated in government about where care and resources should be directed. >>>
In August 2020, Vallance wrote that Johnson became “obsessed with older
people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and
the economy going,” the inquiry heard.
Ambulances are pictured parked outside the Royal London hospital in
London on December 20, 2021. - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday >>> faced pressure to tighten coronavirus restrictions to prevent the spread >>> of the Omicron variant, despite opposition to do so before Christmas.
The UK reported 82,886 Covid-19 cases on Sunday as the new variant
rages, with the highest number of infections in London. (Photo by Tolga
Akmen / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images
More than 230,000 people died in the UK as a result of Covid-19,
according to official figures.
Criticism for Sunak
The UK’s current prime minister, Rishi Sunak, did not escape the week
unscathed by the inquiry.
Sunak was chancellor (finance minister) during the pandemic, during
which he rose from a newcomer to front line politics to a leading
candidate to replace Johnson as Conservative Party leader and prime
minister.
But his “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme, which offered incentives for
diners to attend restaurants in the summer of 2020 after the first wave
of Covid had subsided, was criticized by Lee Cain, Johnson’s former
communications chief.
The scheme “made absolutely no sense whatsoever,” Cain said. Earlier in
the inquiry, it was revealed that one of the government’s advisers
referred to Sunak in a message as “Dr Death” over the scheme.
In the interim, we are 100% prepared/protected in the "full armor of
GOD" (Ephesians 6:11) which we put on as soon as we use
Apostle Paul's secret (http://bit.ly/Philippians4_12 ). Though masking
is less protective, it helps us avoid the appearance of doing the evil
of spreading airborne pathogens while there are people getting sick
because of not being 100% protected. It is written that we're to
"abstain from **all** appearance of doing evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22
w/**emphasis**).
Source:
https://biblehub.com/1_thessalonians/5-22.htm
Meanwhile, the only *perfect* (Matt 5:47-8) way to eradicate the
COVID-19 virus, thereby saving lives, in the UK & elsewhere is by
rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given
moment, including even while on-line, who among us are unwittingly
contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in order to
http://WDJW.great-site.net/ConvinceItForward (John 15:12) for them to
call their doctor and self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of
stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the best while
preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations
and others like the Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu &
Delta lineage mutations combining via slip-RNA-replication to form
hybrids like http://tinyurl.com/Deltamicron that may render current
COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://tinyurl.com/RapidOmicronTest
) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/1aecbhn/sturgeon_jumped_the_gun_in_banning_mass/
Sturgeon ‘jumped the gun’ in banning mass gatherings early, Gove tells
Covid inquiry
UK cabinet minister during pandemic adds that he was not inclined to
believe Scottish first minister was acting maliciously
UK politics live – latest updates
Severin Carrell Scotland editor
@severincarrell
Mon 29 Jan 2024 12.36 EST
Nicola Sturgeon broke confidentiality and “jumped the gun” when she
announced a ban on mass gatherings in Scotland before other parts of the >>> UK agreed to the move during the pandemic, the UK Covid inquiry has heard. >>>
The then first minister announced on 12 March 2020 that the Scottish
government would ban any gatherings of 500 people or more the following
week, before that decision had been agreed at a Cobra meeting called
later that day to discuss the crisis.
Michael Gove, the then UK cabinet minister, said that caused
“discomfort” and “disquiet” in Whitehall. It led Boris Johnson, then
prime minister, other cabinet ministers and senior civil servants to
question whether Sturgeon could be trusted.
Gove, who was the minister responsible for coordinating the UK’s
devolved administrations, said that while Sturgeon had “jumped the gun”, >>> he was not inclined to believe that she was acting maliciously or for
political gain.
Police officers outside the main entrance to the UK Covid-19 inquiry
hearing at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre
UK Covid inquiry to investigate evidence Scottish ministers failed to
protect vulnerable people
Read more
While Sturgeon had not told the UK government she planned to announce it >>> that day, she had indicated that she wanted to shut down large gatherings. >>>
“My approach generally was not to allow moments of irritation, or
disappointment, to curdle,” Gove told Jamie Dawson KC, the inquiry’s
counsel. He wanted to prioritise “effective working in future”, he said. >>>
Heather Hallett, the inquiry’s chair, intervened and said to Gove: “Some >>> might think that’s being rather generous.
“It wasn’t just that the then first minister announced a decision about
mass gatherings in Scotland, it was a breach of confidentiality. You as
a longstanding, very experienced government minister, know the
importance of confidentiality to government decision-making.”
The inquiry on Monday examined extracts from a confidential Cabinet
Office memo prepared for that Cobra meeting, which took place two weeks
before the UK went into lockdown. It said a final decision on banning
mass gatherings would be taken across the UK only after the UK’s four
chief medical officers had given their advice.
Hallett added later that Sturgeon was not bound by the ministerial code
for UK ministers attending Cobra meetings. Gove said that even so,
devolved government ministers should still “at the very least” wait
until the decision had been agreed by everyone.
Sturgeon is due to give evidence to the inquiry later this week and is
expected to be asked about the incident, which fuelled long-running
tensions between the two governments throughout the crisis.
The inquiry heard that earlier that day, the prime minister’s then
adviser, Dominic Cummings, had told Johnson by text not to have
“meetings with the [devolved administrations] on the fucking phone all
the time either so people can’t tell you the truth”.
Cummings urged Johnson to have his daily briefings in the cabinet room
at No 10, which were private, rather than at much larger Cobra meetings, >>> which included all the devolved administrations and officials and
ministers from across Whitehall.
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Gove told the inquiry this was because cabinet room meetings were
confidential, which allowed Johnson to test ideas with his advisers
privately.
Last Thursday, the inquiry looked at an exchange between Sturgeon and
her then chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, in which the first minister
described Johnson as a “fucking clown”. Sturgeon added: “His utter
incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians >>> everywhere.”
Dawson said Scottish ministers were angry about a proposal in May 2020 >>>from Johnson to dilute the stay-at-home lockdown policy. Sturgeon felt
she was being coerced into that move, with which she disagreed. Lloyd
described a Cobra meeting at which that was discussed as “a shambles”.
Gove said he believed Sturgeon and her ministers acted professionally
and in the public interest for the vast majority of the time during the
pandemic. Even so, it would be “naive” to believe she did not exploit
occasional opportunities to promote Scottish independence.
Giving evidence later to the inquiry, Jeane Freeman, Scotland’s health
secretary in 2020, admitted that the government’s understanding of the
level of readiness of Scotland’s care homes for the pandemic was “not
adequate from the outset”.
She said she regretted that. Around half of all Scotland’s Covid deaths
during the first wave took place in care homes; in the early part of the >>> crisis, ministers failed to order hospitals to test elderly patients for >>> Covid before being discharged.
“I regret very much and will do for the rest of my life any deaths that
occurred [in the care sector] because of action that the Scottish
government didn’t take, or did take but could have done better,” she
told the hearing.
In the interim, we are 100% prepared/protected in the "full armor of
GOD" (Ephesians 6:11) which we put on as soon as we use Apostle Paul's
secret (Philippians 4:12). Though masking is less protective, it helps
us avoid the appearance of doing the evil of spreading airborne
pathogens while there are people getting sick because of not being
100% protected. It is written that we're to "abstain from **all**
appearance of doing evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22 w/**emphasis**).
Meanwhile, the only *perfect* (Matt 5:47-8 ) way to eradicate the
COVID-19 virus, thereby saving lives, in the UK & elsewhere is by
rapidly (i.e. use the "Rapid COVID-19 Test" ) finding out at any given
moment, including even while on-line, who among us are unwittingly
contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in order to
"convince it forward" (John 15:12) for them to call their doctor and
self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic.
Thus, we're hoping for the best while preparing for the worse-case
scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Omicron,
Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations
combining via slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like "Deltamicron"
that may render current COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no
longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry (
https://groups.google.com/g/sci.med.cardiology/c/6ZoE95d-VKc/m/14vVZoyOBgAJ >> ) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
Michael Ejercito wrote:
I subscribe to Jeff Jacoby's Arguable, and I came across this story. >>>
https://mailchi.mp/bostonglobe/remembering-two-american-heroes?e=5f6b7fc8b0 >>>
In 1952, if you told someone that medical technology in 2020 would
not be able to cure someone with permanently (at the time) paralyzed
chest muscles, it would have sounded extremely silly. After all, 2020
was sixty-eight years in the future. Surely that was plenty of time to
actually unparalyze chest muscles, or at least develop a miniaturized
iron long that can fit inside the chest cavity, or a robot iron lung
that can contain and be connected to a human central nervous system and
other vital human organs, so that persons like Paul Alexander would be
able to walk around in a mechanical body.
So what happened? Why is this technology non-existent after 68
years! Is this not long enough?
I mean, RoboCop was released just over 36 years ago. RoboCop
predicted that humans could be essentially transplanted into robot
bodies! (Alex J. Murphy's central nervous system and lungs were
essentially transplanted inside an iron lung with arms and legs) Why has >>> there been absolutely zero development in this scientific field?
What happened to scientific advancement?
Why did science completely stall?
For those of us who are believers, the short answer is that "GOD has
not allowed it" and this does underscore how we are "wonderfully made"
by Him so may we always say/write that we're "wonderfully hungry" in
all ways including especially caring to
http://go.WDJW.net/ConvinceItForward (John 15:12) that GOD is living
as evident by His eating the broiled fish ( https://bit.ly/Lk2442 )
and by His blessing us right now (Luke 6:21a) despite His body
piercings which give the appearance that He might be either dying or
dead (i.e. a ghost).
It still is disturbing.
I am sure children in the 1950's who were paralyzed like this were
told that they could have their mobility restored in ten years due to >advancements in medical science.
These same people were probably told were told the same thing in the
1960's and 1970's.
By the 1990's almost all of them lost hope, still being paralyzed
forty years later.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry for food right now (Luke 6:21a) and
hope you, Michael, and others reading this, also have a healthy
appetite for food right now too.
So how are you ?
I am wonderfully hungry!
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