Tag: pandemic

Biden COVID Advisory Board Member: Indoor Dining, Gyms, and Gatherings in Homes Should Be Targeted ‘for Closures’

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “WSJ at Large,” Biden COVID-19 Advisory Board member Dr. Celine Gounder stated that “places that we know are big contributors to transmission are indoor restaurants, bars, gyms, and also private social gatherings of friends and family in the home” “are really the places we need to target for closures” while prioritizing keeping other services, like schools, open.

Gounder said that the advisory board’s “consensus” is that “the draconian lockdowns, shutdowns that we had in the spring,” are unneeded, and that increased knowledge means we can “be much more targeted about how we tighten up some of our measures. I think of it like a dimmer switch, whereas before we had an on and off light switch. So, we can dial up and dial down in a much more granular fashion. So, some of the places that we know are big contributors to transmission are indoor restaurants, bars, gyms, and also private social gatherings of friends and family in the home. So, those are really the places we need to target for closures while keeping other services, for example, schools that are — have not been major contributors to transmission, they’re not zero-risk, but they are much lower risk, and they’re an essential service. And so, we’re really prioritizing keeping schools, for example, open.”

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Joe Biden, the New York Times, ‘Dark’ Winters, and ‘Terrifying Surges’

In the United States, testing is increasingly convenient to get, plus it’s more and more free. Just a few weeks ago the Wall Street Journal’s Holman Jenkins reported that over 150 million coronavirus tests had been administered in the United States. One guesses that number is dated at this point. That it is, and that the New York Times reports daily about a “raging” coronavirus is arguably related. And it doesn’t take a doctor or statistician to understand this.

Stating what should be obvious, the coronavirus “rages” in the U.S. only insofar as Americans have the curiosity and means to be tested for it. If you test hundreds of millions of people you’re going to happen on lots of cases. And even all those U.S.-based tests likely don’t scratch the surface. As Jenkins pointed out after the Kamala Harris/Mike Pence debate, her lament that 7.5 million Americans had contracted the virus was probably off by something like 70 million.

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Black market for negative COVID-19 tests pops up across the globe

A black market for negative COVID-19 tests has popped up across the globe as more countries require travelers to prove their negative status before entering, a report said Wednesday.

In France, seven people were arrested last week for allegedly hawking doctored coronavirus tests at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, the Associated Press reported. The suspects, who were not identified, were charging up to $360 for the fake tests.

Authorities tracked the ring down after finding a man bound for Ethiopia with a fake test, according to the report. The alleged scammers face up to five years in prison if convicted.

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New York Times report may prove Rand Paul correct in cross-immunity disagreement with Dr. Anthony Fauci during testimony

Sen. Rand Paul seized on a New York Times report showing many school-aged children already have antibodies from infection with other coronaviruses associated with common colds that could block the new SARS-CoV-2 strain causing the pandemic.

During a testy Sept. 23 Senate hearing, Paul repeatedly questioned Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, on the role preexisting cross-reactive immunity could play in stopping the spread of COVID-19. Paul cited countries in Asia that had seen slower spreads of the disease, noting that it’s possible their success could be attributed to immunity built up through coronavirus strains present in widespread common colds in those countries.

Fauci insisted no evidence suggested that was the case, instead pointing to mask mandates and social distancing efforts as being solely responsible for slowing the spread.

“You are not listening to what the director of the CDC said,” Fauci said. “If you believe 22% is herd immunity, I believe you’re alone in that.”

Fauci then claimed a recent study contradicted Paul’s hypothesis.

“I’d like to talk to you about that also because there was a study that recently came out that preexisting immunity to coronaviruses that are common cold do not cross-react with the COVID-19,” Fauci said.

Fauci did not immediately respond to a Washington Examiner request for comment on what study he was referencing.

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