Tag: covid-19

You’re More Likely to Get Murdered in Chicago Than Be Hospitalized for COVID-19

“The Delta variant does not appear to be especially deadly,” says Dr. Joel Zinberg in a Tuesday New York Post op-ed.

Zinberg — who practiced medicine for 30 years at Mt. Sinai Hospital — notes that “despite rising numbers of Delta cases in July, hospitalizations have only increased moderately.” Delta victims, he notes, “are no more likely to be hospitalized or die than with other variants.”

Not only that, but as I noted elsewhere here at PJ Media on Wednesday, you’re more likely to get murdered in Chicago (18 murders per 100,000 people) than a senior citizen is to be hospitalized for the Wuhan Flu (2.9 per 100,000), Delta variant or no Delta variant.

While Zinberg adds that most of the increase “is concentrated in areas with low vaccination rates,” the actual COVID death rate is “lower than it was three weeks ago.”

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MP Calls for Unvaccinated Australians to Be Banned From Public Places

An Australian MP has called for people who refuse to take the vaccine to be prohibited from returning to their job and banned from public places.

The Independent reports: “Upper House politician Frank Pangallo from the SA-Best party, has demanded that vaccination be made mandatory for workplaces, travel and when visiting public or hospitality venues.”

According to Adelaide Now, Pangallo said unvaccinated citizens must have their movements controlled and restricted in an effort to combat the ever-evolving virus.

“While people might still have a choice whether or not to get vaccinated, what they can do in the community will need to be controlled and restricted,” Pangallo said.

“I understand people will think this is a rather drastic and draconian step, but this pandemic continues to evolve in ways and waves nobody can predict.

“There would need to be a requirement incorporated with QR code information that if you want to travel on public transport, airlines, enter venues, shopping malls, restaurants, and cafes, you will need to show you have been vaccinated.

“It might also have to apply for the workplaces,” he added.

Earlier this month, in what was described as potentially “one of the largest petitions in parliamentary history,” over 300,000 Australians called on the House of Representatives to ban mandatory vaccinations in Australia.

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IDF Intelligence warns of vaccine-resistant Israeli coronavirus mutation

The IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate on Saturday evening published a warning that combining mass vaccination with a spike in infections could lead to a strain of COVID-19 that will resist the vaccines currently in use.

The report recommends requiring anyone landing in Israel to quarantine, even if they have recovered from coronavirus or received the vaccine.

“The mass vaccination program, which is happening at the same time as an active outbreak in Israel, may lead to evolutionary stress on the virus,” the report said, noting that “this situation may cause that mutations offering the virus a certain protection against immunity (whether from the vaccine or disease) will spread significantly among the population, if they appear.”

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COVID Authoritarianism Has Changed Our Polity

We are not the same country that we were just a few years ago.  However unfortunate it may be to realize it, COVID has changed the political identity of America.  To put it bluntly, it has become normal to expect that the government can close your business, robbing you of your livelihood and your family of the fruits of your labor, in order to protect hospital infrastructure and personnel.  

Last March, that was the argument that propelled America into lockdown.  Just “fifteen days to flatten the curve,” we were told.  The prospect of some hospitals, in a very specific few locations, becoming overwhelmed by COVID patients caused the bulk of the economy to shut down and civil liberties to be suspended.

Fifteen days of lockdown and social distancing and school closures, if you remember, became “until Easter,” which became “until the spread slows,” which became “until the number of new cases fall,” which became “if everyone just wore masks, we could get back to normal,” which became “we can’t open until we get a vaccine,” which became “even vaccinated people should mask up and socially distance,” which became “oops, obviously the vaccine is super safe for anyone who’s taken it, so if you’ve taken it, you don’t have to distance or wear masks.”

It’s hard to miss the trajectory of our free-fall down the fabled “slippery slope” toward ideological authoritarianism, but in case we had any doubt, the federal government has just signified that it will be sending agents, door-to-door, to homes of the unvaccinated (the identities of whom are ostensibly protected by a federal “right” to health privacy), and that the federal government is working hand-in-hand with social media companies to ensure that only government-approved health propaganda can be distributed in the most prominent e-town squares.

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The Incoherence of the White House’s COVID Messaging Reaches Code Red Levels

To begin, we’ve known since at least last fall (because of real-world data gathered from schools being open largely across the South) that heavy mitigation in schools is pointless. Children are not serious vectors for spread and virtually all teachers have been vaccinated at this point. It is child abuse to still be demanding an eight-year-old wear a mask all day in a classroom while they have a vaccinated teacher. There is no science behind doing that, both because of the lack of spread from children and the fact that masks do not work to stop the spread of COVID.

Regardless, I really want to zero in on the last point Murthy makes because it’s a pathetic attempt by Biden and his administration to have their cake and eat it too.

If they put in place a mask mandate for those who are vaccinated, the White House is absolutely signaling that the vaccines aren’t effective. Now, we know that’s not true because the Delta variant is far less deadly in individuals with immunity, either via vaccination or by prior infection. Clearly, the vaccines and natural immunity are doing their job. Given that the vaccines work, masks are not necessary. It’s that simple, but by suggesting a mask mandate is needed again for those with immunity, the White House is inadvertently promoting the idea that the vaccines aren’t effective.

In short, while Joe Biden runs around trying to blame Facebook and Republicans for so-called “vaccine hesitancy,” his own administration is pushing a narrative that encourages people to not bother getting vaccinated. The White House can not have it both ways. Either the vaccine works (it does) or masks are necessary (they aren’t). Asserting that a mask mandate doesn’t undercut the messaging on the vaccine is nonsensical.

This is what you get when the country is being run by an incompetent old man who is surrounded by left-wing ideologues. Everything is political. That includes Biden’s inability to simply stand up and lead, accepting the risks that come with that. Instead, we are getting a cowardly, overly risk-averse approach that is only making matters worse.

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Bill Gates- and George Soros-Backed Organization Buys Out COVID-19 Testing Company

A consortium backed by George Soros and Bill Gates has joined a buyout of Mologic, a COVID-19 testing company.

The Soros Economic Development Fund, an arm of Soros’ Open Society Foundations, confirmed in a July 19 statement that it has partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Soros–Gates collaboration is part of the Global Access Health initiative, which will invest “at least” $41.1 million in the project, according to the statement.

“The group has financed the acquisition of Mologic Ltd, a world-leading innovator in the development of lateral flow and rapid diagnostic technologies including tests that can help combat tropical diseases such as dengue, bilharzia, and river blindness, as well as for COVID-19,” the statement reads, noting that the purchase is an attempt to “expand access to affordable state-of-the-art medical technology through decentralized research, development, and manufacturing” in developing countries.

Founded about two decades ago by the father-and-son team of Mark and Paul Davis, Mologic previously worked with Gates’s foundation, establishing the Advanced Rapid Diagnostics in 2016. Paul Davis is also known for creating the Clearblue pregnancy test in 1988, which, according to the company, is the first application of lateral flow technology.

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Foo Fighters ‘Vaccinated Only’ Concert Canceled After Band Member Gets COVID as Breakthrough Cases on the Rise

Reports of COVID breakthrough cases continue to rise — as of July 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 5,492 breakthrough cases resulting in death and hospitalization.

A breakthrough case refers to anyone who is diagnosed with COVID after being fully vaccinated. A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccine or two weeks after receiving the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine.

In May, the CDC revised its system for reporting breakthrough cases, stating it would count only those cases that result in hospitalization or death. Previously, the agency had included in its breakthrough count anyone who tested positive for COVID.

Some states follow the new CDC guidance for counting breakthrough cases. Other states continue to report, at the state level, all cases where an individual test positive, but may choose to report only hospitalizations and deaths to the CDC.

Illinois, Massachusetts update breakthrough case numbers

According to data updated July 14 by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), 151 people in Illinois have died from COVID or COVID-related complications after being fully vaccinated. At least 563 fully vaccinated people were hospitalized, IDPH said.

Illinois follows CDC guidance, reporting only on breakthrough infections among those who have been hospitalized or died. The state does not publicize the number of residents who tested positive after being fully vaccinated but did not die or require hospitalization in order to “help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance,” IDPH’s website states.

In Massachusetts, public health officials have tracked 4,450 breakthrough cases, WBUR reported. About 92% of those cases did not result in hospitalization, while 303 people, or 6.8%, were hospitalized, according to Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) data through July 10.

Seventy-nine vaccinated residents in Massachusetts died from COVID, either without being hospitalized or following a hospital stay, DPH said.

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Top Health Officer Orders Australians: ‘Don’t Have a Conversation’ With Each Other

The chief health officer of New South Wales gave a press conference telling Australians that they shouldn’t “engage in conversation with each other,” even if they’re wearing masks, in order to reduce the transmission of COVID.

Yes, really.

Dr. Kerry Chant made the remarks in response to people in NSW being ordered to comply with yet another lockdown triggered by just a handful of new cases, which included a man in Cootamundra who visited a Woolworths supermarket, Pizza Hut restaurant, petrol station and Officeworks store.

“Whilst it’s human nature to engage in conversation with others, to be friendly, unfortunately this is not the time to do that,” said Chant.

“So even if you run into your next door neighbor in the shopping center…don’t start up a conversation, now is the time for minimizing your interactions with others, even if you’ve got a mask, do not think that affords total protection, we wanna be absolutely sure that as we go about our daily lives we do not come into contact with anyone else that would pose a risk,” she added.

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Vice President’s Team Caught Spreading Misinformation Surrounding Kamala Harris Coronavirus Test

White House spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, Symone Sanders, was caught spreading misinformation on Monday regarding the vice president’s coronavirus test.

During the White House press briefing on Monday afternoon, press secretary Jen Psaki said that Harris had been tested for the coronavirus and that there was no detection of the coronavirus, attributing the information to the vice president’s office.

“I think the Vice President’s Office put out that she was tested, and that she did — there was no detection of COVID-19,” she said.

But that was not what the vice president’s office had said in a statement Sanders released on Saturday night.

In that statement, Sanders wrote that Harris and her staff “do not need to be tested” after meeting with Texas state lawmakers on Tuesday — even though some of them tested positive for the virus.

Sanders’ full statement read:

On Tuesday, July 13th, Vice President Harris met with members of the Texas state legislature who are temporarily in Washington, D.C. Earlier today, it was brought to our attention that two of the members at that meeting tested positive for COVID-19. Based on the timeline of these positive tests, it was determined the Vice President and her staff present at the meeting were not at risk of exposure because they were not in close contact with those who tested positive and therefore do not need to be tested or quarantined. The Vice President and her staff are fully vaccinated.

When Politico’s West Wing Playbook questioned the vice president’s office about the potential conflict, Sanders responded that both of the statements were true.

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