Tag: covid-19

Veteran Virologist Slams Mainstream Media’s “Misinformation” About An Effective COVID Treatment

To a media unrelentingly hostile to Donald Trump, this meant that the president could be portrayed as recklessly promoting the use of a “dangerous” drug. Ignoring the refutation of the VA study in its May 15 article, the Washington Post cited a Brazil study published on April 24 in which a COVID trial using chloroquine (a related but different drug than hydroxychloroquine) was stopped because 11 patients treated with it died. The reporters never mentioned another problem with that study: The Brazilian doctors were giving their patients lethal cumulative doses of the drug.

On and on it has gone since then, in a circle of self-reinforcing commentary. Following the news that Trump was taking the drug himself, opinion hosts on cable news channels launched continual attacks on both hydroxychloroquine and the president. “This will kill you!” Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto exclaimed. “The president of the United States just acknowledge that he is taking hydroxychloroquine, a drug that [was] meant really to treat malaria and lupus.”

Washington Post reporters Ariana Cha and Laurie McGinley were back again on May 22, with a new article shouting out the new supposed news:

“Antimalarial drug touted by President Trump is linked to increased risk of death in coronavirus patients, study says.”

The media uproar this time was based on a large study just published in the Lancet. There was just one problem. The Lancet paper was fraudulent and it was quickly retracted.

Keep reading

35-Year-Old Florida Roofer Struck by Lightning Listed as Coronavirus Fatality

A 35-year-old Florida roofer struck by lightning in late May was listed as a Coronavirus fatality.

An investigative report by Alachua Chronicle revealed several Covid-19 death certificates with multiple co-morbidities.

A 35-year-old male who was struck by lightning on May 28 and died from serious spinal cord and brain injuries on June 9 was listed as a Dade County death from Coronavirus…

Keep reading

Only 42% Say They Will Submit To COVID-19 Vaccine, New Poll Finds

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll has found that just 42 percent of Americans say they plan to get a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available.

The figure represents an all time low, having fallen from 55 percent in early May, 50 percent in late May, and 46 percent in July.

Keep reading

Scientist says she made up Twitter account for Arizona State prof who ‘died’ of COVID-19

The account claimed to be an anthropology professor who had grown up in Alabama and “fled the south because of their oppression of queer folk,” according to the Times.

It also made pointed references to being Native American and began to identify as Hopi earlier this year.

And it was active in the career of McLaughlin, a neuroscientist, even promoting a petition for her to receive tenure Vanderbilt University, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

In April, @Sciencing_Bi announced its coronavirus diagnosis and then documented the symptoms including a loss of language fluency, according to Buzzfeed News.

The account blamed ASU for her condition, tweeting in June that the school “forced me to teach 200 person lectures instead of closing” in April.

She also claimed the university cut her salary by 15 percent while she was in the hospital.

Then, a seemingly distraught McLaughlin wrote in a lengthy, mournful Twitter thread on Friday that the anonymous professor had died.

Keep reading

Los Angeles Coronavirus Update: Mayor Eric Garcetti Says DWP Will Shut Off Water And Power At Homes That Throw Large Parties

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday announced the city was taking action against those who throw large parties.

He called recent gatherings of mostly young people in the Hollywood Hills and Calabasas “flagrant violations of health orders.”

“While we have already closed all bars and nightclubs, these large house parties have essentially become nightclubs,” said the mayor. He then indicated he would hold them to similar scrutiny. “The same thing we would do with businesses,” said Garcetti.

If the LAPD responds to repeated complaints and verifies that there have been violations at a home, the city will within 48 hours have the DWP shut off service at that home. Garcetti also indicated that county health inspectors and other city representatives would be on the lookout for violations.

Asked about the legal standing for his action Garcetti said, “You’re breaking the law. Just as we can shut down bars breaking alcohol laws,” he said, “in places that are in criminal violations, we can shut them down.”

He said that city legal experts had vetted the measure and found it to be on firm legal ground

Keep reading

DOD Awards $104 Million for Procurement of Syringes in Support of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign

On August 4, the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Joint Acquisition Task Force (JATF), in support of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), awarded $104 million in contracts to procure syringes and safety needles, enabling the nationwide administration of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved COVID-19 vaccine, once one is available. The syringes and safety needles are critical to the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination strategy, providing a total of 500 million safety syringes over a 12-month period, with more than 134 million of the total number delivered by the end of 2020.

The syringes and safety needles will be placed into the SNS so they will be readily available to quickly and efficiently vaccinate the U.S. population once a safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccine is developed. This procurement is the latest in a series of recent contracts highlighting a collaborative “whole-of-government” approach in response to the COVID-19 threat.

The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) partnered with HHS and the Army Contracting Command – Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG), to select and award contracts to six companies: Duopross Meditech Corporation ($48 million), Cardinal Health Inc. ($15 million), Gold Coast Medical Supply, LP ($14 million), HTL STREFA Inc. ($12 million), Quality Impact, Inc. ($9 million), and Medline Industries, Inc. ($6 million). The companies represent a mix of large and small medical product manufacturers and distributors.

Keep reading