Tag: coronavirus

Virginia Plans Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations For All Residents

As Friday’s hospitalization numbers across the Sun Belt appear to confirm CDC head Dr. Robert Redfield’s assertion that the American COVID-19 outbreak has peaked and is starting to fade, the State of Virginia is setting a new precedent by seriously discussing forcing Virginians to be vaccinated with whatever rushed-to-marked candidate the FDA approves first.

During an interview that aired on Friday, the state’s health commissioner said he planned to invoke state law to make vaccinations mandatory – once a western product is available, presumably.

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Coronavirus will be with us forever, Sage scientist warns

Coronavirus will be present “forever in some form or another”, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has said.

Sir Mark Walport said people would need to be vaccinated at regular intervals.

His comments come after the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said he hoped the pandemic would be over within two years, as the Spanish flu had taken two years to overcome.

Sir Mark said denser populations and travel meant the virus spread easily.

He also said the world population was now much larger than in 1918.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Sir Mark said that, in order to control the pandemic, “global vaccination” would be required, but coronavirus would not be a disease like smallpox “which could be eradicated by vaccination”.

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Governments Are Faking It, and Copying Each Other

Amystery for months is how it is that so many governments in so many different places on earth could have adopted the same or very similar preposterous policies, no matter the threat level of the virus, and without firm evidence that interventions had any hope of being effective. 

In the course of two weeks, traditional freedoms were zapped away in nearly all developed countries. In a seriously bizarre twist, even the silliest policies replicated themselves like a virus in country after country. 

For example, you can’t try on clothing in a store in Texas or in Melbourne, or in London or in Kalamazoo. What’s with that? We know that the COVID bug is least likely to live on fabrics unless I have symptoms of it, sneeze on my handkerchief and then I stuff it in your mouth. The whole thing is a ridiculous mysophobic overreach, like most of the rules under which we live. 

Then there was the inside/outside confusion. First everyone was forced indoors and people were arrested for being outdoors. Later, once restaurants started opening, people were not allowed indoors so eating establishments scrambled to make outdoor dining possible. Are we supposed to believe that the virus lived outside for a while but then later moved inside? 

Or these curfews. So many places have them despite a complete absence of evidence that COVID spread prefers the night to the day. I guess the real point is to put a stop to revelry that might bring people together in a fun way? It’s like all our governments decided on the same day that COVID spreads through smiles and fun, so we have to banish both. 

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The ‘Highest Single-Day of COVID-19 Deaths’ That Wasn’t

Under the best of circumstances, reporting on COVID-19 is tough. There are simply too many unknowns, and even when officials aren’t manipulating the truth they aren’t always willing to cop to the fact that they really don’t have solid answers.

But there’s really no excuse for journalism as sloppy and misleading as the August 13 ABC News segment whose headline blared “US reports highest single-day of COVID-19 deaths.” This video was widely shared, appearing not just on the main ABC News site, but also on Good Morning America, MSN.com, and elsewhere. And it simply wasn’t true.

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Scientists warn it may be years before students can return to school without masks, social distancing

Experts say it may take a couple of years before students can resume classes without the risk of an outbreak,especially among grade-school children. They say a combination of herd immunity, a coronavirus vaccine and hygienic practices are needed to bring the virus down to low enough levels and allow schools to safely return to normal.

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Utah students and staff who don’t wear masks in schools can be charged with a misdemeanor

Students and staff in Utah who don’t wear a mask in K-12 schools in accordance with the governor’s mandate can be charged with a misdemeanor.

The potential criminal penalty for violating the order was confirmed by Gov. Gary Herbert’s office late Wednesday. Spokeswoman Anna Lehnardt said it’s up to leaders of schools and charters to decide whether they want to seek charges as they respond to the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

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Hydroxychloroquine is protective to the heart, not Harmful: A systematic review

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been shown to be at least somewhat effective in treating COVID 19 patients. Recently FDA and CDC warnings of fatal cardiac toxicity from Torsade de Pointes (TDP) arrhythmia from HCQ use have been made, notwithstanding the long safe HCQ use for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. This has resulted in restricted access of HCQ for COVID 19 treatment. We hypothesized that HCQ and azithromycin have not been reported to cause significant acute cardiac arrhythmic mortality.

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