The Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

[ap215]

Get well soon guys

3 Democratic lawmakers announce positive Covid-19 tests

(CNN) Three Democratic members of Congress announced Sunday that they have breakthrough coronavirus infections.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey as well as Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado shared that they had tested positive for Covid-19 via tweets from their official accounts.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/19/politics ... index.html

[Number6]

More than 12,000 U.S. military personnel applied for a COVID-19 religious exemption. The number of religious exemptions issued is ZERO.

More than 12,000 military service members refusing the COVID-19 vaccine are seeking religious exemptions, and so far they are having zero success.

The services, urgently trying to keep the coronavirus pandemic in check by getting troops vaccinated, are now besieged with exemption requests they are unlikely to approve. Meanwhile, troops claiming religious reasons for avoiding the shots are perplexed because exemptions are theoretically available, yet seem impossible to obtain.
Stripes

I don't have any sympathy or empathy for those claiming a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccination. They had no problems with their religious beliefs to be vaccinated when they entered the military for diseases such as flu, Measles, Meningococcal, Mumps, Polio, Rubella, and Tetanus-diphtheria. So why all of a sudden this getting a COVID-19 all of a sudden against their religious belief?

I hope the number of exemptions, if any are given, are very few and the reason(s) for the religious exemption has been fully investigated.

[ap215]

Cuba Defeats Covid-19 with Learning, Science, and Unity

Education is central to Cuba’s brand of socialism. The revolutionary government’s dedication to scientific knowledge and healthcare for all shows up now as Cubans cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. The United States is not so lucky.

Cubans have wholeheartedly carried out masking, social-distancing, testing and quarantining. Cuba’ s bio-medical research and production facilities created five anti-Covid vaccines. As of December 3, 90.1 percent of Cubans had received their first dose; 82.3 percent of them were fully vaccinated. Only seven other countries have higher rates. (1) Trials showed that Cuba’s workhorse Abdala and Soberana 02 vaccines were protective for over 90 percent of vaccine recipients.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/16 ... and-unity/

[ap215]

"Omicron is going to be a national viral blizzard" First US Omicron death was an unvaccinated one

The Winter of discontent approaches.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1 ... ign=recent

[Motor City]

11 takeaways from Whitmer’s first COVID briefing since June: Mandates, omicron, ‘critical point’

Hertel spoke about her struggle to remain optimistic about COVID in Michigan as cases remain high and the omicron variant begins to spread.

She said she looks forward to the day when COVID is “a minor concern” in our everyday lives.

“We aren’t there yet,” Hertel said. “Today, we remain at a critical point in the pandemic.

“While vaccination is a choice being made at the individual level, when it comes to vaccine decisions and a highly transmissible, potentially deadly virus, one person’s decision has the potential to directly impact everyone around them, including, and especially, family members, loved ones with underlying conditions and kids who are too young to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.”

If this is true and I'm not doubting it, it would also follow that what is done for the poorer countries by pharmaceutical companies and heads of nations to vaccinate those people like waiving patents and making vaccine available and free likewise has the same and wider effects and reach, and the lack of it helps to keep the pandemic going worldwide and emergency rooms and hospitals in America full as well.

Why the stark difference here where someone an individual is thrown out of society for being unvaccinated versus someone a corporate executive or head of state stubbornly withholds vaccine or patents and funds that would otherwise inoculate millions in poorer countries and hasten the end of the pandemic?

“I’m an intensive care unit physician, and what I see every day is heartbreaking,” Schmidt said. “I see school-aged children draped over the body of their parent with tear-streaked cheeks and bloodshot eyes, with their mother asking, ‘Why my husband?’ Their parents asking, ‘Why my son? What more could we have done?’

Is it so dire that American hospital employment administrators be compelled to staff the hospitals in humane and stable ways, that pharma execs should waive patents, that heads of state should conspire to make vaccination available and free to all?

[ZoWie]

I'm not advocating a formal purging of the unvaccinated, because that would, if anything, coalesce an identity group around vaccine refusal. It's a bit that way now, but anti-vaxx would get worse, becoming a major movement and picking up converts. Eventually it would develop a hero leader figure, who might even become a viable candidate for president. All signs point to said figure being drumpf, but he keeps giving them cognitive dissonance by announcing that he actually got his shots, so who knows? They might actually be able to find someone even worse.

Human behavior in situations of societal stress has been recorded and studied for thousands of years now, and all evidence backs what I'm thinking here.

My perception, as a political activist, albeit an aging and rather tired one, is that vaccination is good and it works, but right now it is still something of a top-down solution. Someone gets out the shots, people in positions of power tell us when we need them, and government institutions tell us where to get them.

We need to add a bottom-up solution to the top-down one. We already have one of these, namely masking. People buy masks in boxes of 50 on Amazon, and it's just part of life now. We do not see millions marching in the streets for their right not to wear masks. A few people don't, but it never really became socially acceptable to be an asshole, or at least it never did in any place where I'd ever want to be.

Now we need another one. It's reliable single-use home tests, and a lot of them, as fast as we can get them out. Fauci seems to think that invoking the Defense Production Act would not help, because all available factories are running at full speed right now. Adding capacity doesn't just happen, so it wouldn't come online any time soon. Doesn't mean we shouldn't be moving in that direction.

[Libertas]

I'm not advocating a formal purging of the unvaccinated, because that would, if anything, coalesce an identity group around vaccine refusal.

It is like dealing with children, how do you deal with it and not incite them even more...

[ZoWie]

It is like dealing with children, how do you deal with it and not incite them even more...

Quietly, and over a period of time, so they grow out of it or find other ways to defy authority.

[carmenjonze]

Well..purging anyone is an atrocity.

Regarding the "unvaccinated," there are a lot of people who can't get vaccinated, like little kids and people with immune disorders.

I can barely believe people are actually even talking in these terms.

[ZoWie]

I'm not.

By "purging" I was thinking more in terms of social ostracism. Not a good idea. I would never in my wildest moments, which there are plenty of lately, advocate rounding up and isolating any social group of anyone anywhere ever. (1) It's wrong, and (2) it only creates big big dialectical trouble down the line, generally resulting in revolution or worse.

[Libertas]

I'm not.

By "purging" I was thinking more in terms of social ostracism. Not a good idea. I would never in my wildest moments, which there are plenty of lately, advocate rounding up and isolating any social group of anyone anywhere ever. (1) It's wrong, and (2) it only creates big big dialectical trouble down the line, generally resulting in revolution or worse.

Yes, they need to be called out, not singled out like the Nazi's did and like many of these same people would do to some of us, but I digress.

Socially they have to be treated how it will result in them growing up, and I dont know what that is. As to people who cant for medical reasons get the vax or people who have decades old, legitimate reasons to fear government, not much you can do.

But the VAST majority are maga, doing this on purpose.

Here is the question I have, one bed left, I have a heart attack and a purposely unvaccinated person is also wanting that bed...shit. I know what the triage is, and I guess the answer is if I lose out on the triage protocol, I am shit out of luck. But it is WRONG!

[Motor City]

Yes, they need to be called out, not singled out like the Nazi's did and like many of these same people would do to some of us, but I digress.

Socially they have to be treated how it will result in them growing up, and I dont know what that is. As to people who cant for medical reasons get the vax or people who have decades old, legitimate reasons to fear government, not much you can do.

But the VAST majority are maga, doing this on purpose.

Here is the question I have, one bed left, I have a heart attack and a purposely unvaccinated person is also wanting that bed...shit. I know what the triage is, and I guess the answer is if I lose out on the triage protocol, I am shit out of luck. But it is WRONG!

Theres other ways they could do things that would avoid that kind of outcome surely a state that has over a billion dollars to give away to business folks could fund necessary public health accomodations during times of crisis. California too.

Hospitals are reaching capacity, and Michigan has no plans to open COVID-19 field hospitals

As health officials braced for the first wave of COVID-19 cases in early 2020, the state opened a 1,000-bed field hospital at the former TCF Center in downtown Detroit.

The care center was used for less than a month, and only 39 patients used it because of a steep decline in COVID-19 cases.



A field hospital also opened in Novi, and only 16 COVID-19 patients were treated.

Now, with highly transmissible variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 on the rise, hospitals are busier than ever, and some are even closing their emergency rooms because they don’t have the space or resources to handle the rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Despite the severe strain on hospitals, state health officials tell Metro Times that there are no plans to reopen another field hospital in metro Detroit.

“The alternate care sites were established so that Michiganders with COVID-19 could receive high-quality care despite hospital beds filling up in Southeast Michigan,” Lynn Sutfin, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), says. “The TCF Center and Suburban Collection Showplace were not extended once they expired at the end of 2020. Additionally, staffing resources are not currently available to support an expansion of alternate care sites like TCF or SCS.”

About 20.8% of the hospital beds in Michigan are occupied by COVID-19 patients, and "this number has been increasing for 22 weeks," MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel said at a news conference on Tuesday.

According to state data, 25 hospitals are at 90% capacity or higher. As of Monday, two hospitals — McLaren Flint and St. Joseph Mercy Livingston Hospital — were at capacity.

Some hospitals are also running out of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. Statewide, 84,5% of the ICU beds are occupied.

Without field hospitals, state health officials are “working with our local, state and federal partners to support our health care systems, to address this surge, and to save lives with the resources we have available,” Hertel said...............

[ap215]

Jackson State football player arrested in alleged COVID-19-related fraud scheme

A Jackson State University football player was arrested for allegedly devising a COVID-19-related fraud scheme.

In a statement on Tuesday, The Justice Department (DOJ) said that Abdul-Malik McClain surrendered to authorities on Monday in Los Angeles and was arraigned in a District Court.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... ated-fraud

[Number6]

The Army is expected to announce they've developed a vaccine effective against COVID-19 and all of it's variants including Omicron and SARS-origin viruses. The vaccine was developed at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

A new report from Defense One claims that researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are expected to announce "within weeks" that they've developed what might be the ultimate vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

According to Defense One's sources, the Army researchers have been developing a vaccine that "protects people from COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide."

Researchers began work on the vaccine nearly two years ago, when they first received the novel coronavirus's DNA sequencing and then strove to make a vaccine that would be effective against its future mutations.
Raw Story

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide.

Walter Reed’s Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine, or SpFN, completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results. Phase 1 of human trials, which tested the vaccine against Omicron and the other variants, wrapped up this month, again with positive results that are undergoing final review, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch, said in an exclusive interview with Defense One.

The vaccine’s human trials took longer than expected, he said, because the lab needed to test the vaccine on subjects who had neither been vaccinated nor previously infected with COVID.

The next step is seeing how the new pan-coronavirus vaccine interacts with people who were previously vaccinated or previously sick. Walter Reed is working with a yet-to-be-named industry partner for that wider rollout.
Defense One

If the vaccine they've developed at Walter Reed works as it appears this could be a big game changer.

[Libertas]

The Army is expected to announce they've developed a vaccine effective against COVID-19 and all of it's variants including Omicron and SARS-origin viruses. The vaccine was developed at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.




If the vaccine they've developed at Walter Reed works as it appears this could be a big game changer.

GREAT news!

[Drak]

That’s great news. I wonder if this is the reason for Trump’s recent pivot, telling his base to get vaccinated and taking credit for the vaccines, again.

[Motor City]

And on the other side of it, How hospitals free up space in hospitals and emergency rooms. The covid exposes the deliberate undersize of American health care systems to hoard money rather than give care to all who need it.

https://twitter.com/bone00afide/status/ ... 5576131586

I had an ankle fracture surgery cancel this morning because he couldn’t afford his deductible. This guy will never run or walk without pain again. He will never work construction again. And he has insurance. That he pays for. And he still can’t afford his necessary surgery.

There is no effort to right size the systems and staffing to meet the current health needs only more bad behavior of turning people away and locking them out by lack of insurance or high premiums and deductibles and hiding the bad corporate behavior behind covid fatigue and frustration of the public.

[Libertas]

And on the other side of it, How hospitals free up space in hospitals and emergency rooms. The covid exposes the deliberate undersize of American health care systems to hoard money rather than give care to all who need it.

https://twitter.com/bone00afide/status/ ... 5576131586



There is no effort to right size the systems and staffing to meet the current health needs only more bad behavior of turning people away and locking them out by lack of insurance or high premiums and deductibles and hiding the bad corporate behavior behind covid fatigue and frustration of the public.

Which is why Obama and Biden deserve credit for ACA, even though they chickened out on a public option, they did more than anyone other than LBJ, another DEMOCRAT doing the right thing.

And there are people on this board (not you) who are SILENT when Fauci's life is threatened, he is one of the greatest human beings to ever live in the last 100 years and these fuckers want him dead!

[Libertas]

And you disgusting cons not getting vaxxed are making this worse

Omicron wave will crash on US with 60% of people infected by March and 140 MILLION new infections -

Omicron wave will crash on US with 60% of people infected by March and 140 MILLION new infections - but 90% will never show symptoms, University of Washington warns

Researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said Omicron could cause about 140 million new COVID infections from January to March
Infections were expected to peak at 2.8 million new daily cases on January 28
Omicron would eventually infect about 60 percent of all Americans
But the majority will show no symptoms and have fewer hospitalizations and deaths compared to previous surges as Omicron is believed to be milder
Daily deaths were predicted to peak at about 2,800 in mid-February
Confirmed Omicron cases have increased by 19 percent day-over-day, up to 1,781 as of Wednesday morning as COVID spreads before the holidays

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... rch-1.html

'Enormous spread of omicron' may bring 140M new COVID infections to US in the next two months, model predicts

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/hea ... 967421002/

Omicron will cause more infections but lower hospital rates, analysis shows

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/22/10666491 ... ysis-shows

1

[carmenjonze]

And you disgusting cons not getting vaxxed are making this worse

Cons, and the rich white liberal Waldorf & Robert F. Kennedy Jr. elitist whackjobs. All of these people are low key eugenicists - ALL of them.

Thing is, it's only the cons who are locked and loaded, yelling and screaming at retail, restaurant, and school board members, and threatening healthcare workers, and kidnapping governors in assassination plots. Freaked out and repellent may they be, the Waldorf and RFK eugenicists at least don't do that. :problem:

We will never see the so-called moderates around here lecturing those people to be civil, though.

Ever.

[Libertas]

Cons, and the rich white liberal Waldorf & Robert F. Kennedy Jr. elitist whackjobs. All of these people are low key eugenicists - ALL of them.

Thing is, it's only the cons who are locked and loaded, yelling and screaming at retail, restaurant, and school board members, and threatening healthcare workers, and kidnapping governors in assassination plots. Freaked out and repellent may they be, the Waldorf and RFK eugenicists at least don't do that. :problem:

We will never see the so-called moderates around here lecturing those people to be civil, though.

Ever.

All these cons have to do is denounce anti vax and trump, and everything changes practically overnight. And we have been asking them to, or I have, for over 2 years now.

[ap215]

NYC Scales Back Times Square New Year's Eve, New York Infections Up 35% in a Day

New York City has modified its plans for its fully vaccinated New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, limiting the crowd to roughly 15,000 people, nearly four times less than the non-pandemic crowd, and requiring masks for all amid an omicron surge that's spawning unprecedented increases in COVID infections.

As eye-popping as the numbers have been in recent days, Thursday afternoon's report from the state was still stunning -- 38,835 positive tests in just one day, an increase of 10,000 from the day before. Of those, 22,208 were in New York City alone, orders of magnitude greater than anything either the city or state faced before omicron.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronav ... s/3462688/

[ap215]

https://covariants.org/per-country

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracke ... roportions

[Libertas]

Our healthcare system, BECAUSE of anti vax assholes including the cons HERE who support them, is going to break over the next 2 months.

People will suffer and die who dont have to.

Doctors and nurses are already past being tired. you FUCKERS








And thanks again to you fuckers


https://twitter.com/petemuntean/status/ ... 37189?s=20

I think all air travel without proof of vax and booster should not be allowed.

[carmenjonze]

There is only one type of person in this entire country that is doing this sort of thing.

One type of person, and one type, only. White, conservative, male, and most importantly: all three.

Defense seeks dismissal of indictment for Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot - Guardian

Five men are charged with conspiring to kidnap Democratic Michigan governor over coronavirus restrictions

Defense attorneys want dismissed the indictment against five men accused of plotting to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, because of what they call “egregious overreaching” by federal agents and informants.

The government alleges that the men were upset over coronavirus restrictions last year when they conspired to kidnap Whitmer, a Democrat then spoken about as a possible vice-president, even scouting her second home in northern Michigan.

Five people are charged with kidnapping conspiracy and face trial on 8 March in Grand Rapids. They have pleaded not guilty and claim to be victims of entrapment. Federal prosecutors have argued the men were not entrapped.

In January, a sixth man, 26-year-old Ty Garbin, pleaded guilty. He is serving a six-year federal prison sentence.

They are a national security threat.