Politics of Covid-19
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Of Course, This Would Happen to the Recent COVID Death Toll Figures
There was a COVID death spike last week. Run for your lives! Put your masks back on—and be afraid. That was the narrative the liberal media peddled last week because without Trump around no one watches anything they report. We’ve reached peak hysteria over the Delta variant, which isn’t more lethal, nor does it make you sicker. The reports from an internal CDC memo that suggests otherwise should be ignored; it was rejected by peer review. Another knife to this narrative of Delta doom is the death toll. You were made to think that there was a 300 percent increase in deaths. There’s a reason why the media focuses on percentages instead of figures. You can make a slight uptick in deaths into something more horrifying by adding a percentage to it. Deaths from COVID remain low and the survival rate remains above 90+ percent. Nearly 100 million probably already had and recovered from COVID. Another 164 million have been fully vaccinated. We’re in an era of localized outbreaks. But back to the death rate—it’s trash. The figures released last week were grounded in old data (via NY Post):
There was a COVID death spike last week. Run for your lives! Put your masks back on—and be afraid. That was the narrative the liberal media peddled last week because without Trump around no one watches anything they report. We’ve reached peak hysteria over the Delta variant, which isn’t more lethal, nor does it make you sicker. The reports from an internal CDC memo that suggests otherwise should be ignored; it was rejected by peer review. Another knife to this narrative of Delta doom is the death toll. You were made to think that there was a 300 percent increase in deaths. There’s a reason why the media focuses on percentages instead of figures. You can make a slight uptick in deaths into something more horrifying by adding a percentage to it. Deaths from COVID remain low and the survival rate remains above 90+ percent. Nearly 100 million probably already had and recovered from COVID. Another 164 million have been fully vaccinated. We’re in an era of localized outbreaks. But back to the death rate—it’s trash. The figures released last week were grounded in old data (via NY Post):
White House Reportedly Upset With MSM Over ‘Irresponsible’ Coverage Of Delta Variant
“The White House is frustrated with what it views as alarmist, and in some instances flat-out misleading, news coverage about the Delta variant,” CNN reported on Monday in a piece by reporter Oliver Darcy.
“That’s according to two senior Biden administration officials I spoke with Friday, both of whom requested anonymity to candidly offer their opinion on coverage of the CDC data released that suggests vaccinated Americans who become infected with the Delta coronavirus variant can infect others as easily as those who are unvaccinated,” Darcy wrote.
The crux of the piece is to declare that the unvaccinated — not the new virus strain — is the real problem, and even cites an unnamed source in the White House saying so.
“The White House is frustrated with what it views as alarmist, and in some instances flat-out misleading, news coverage about the Delta variant,” CNN reported on Monday in a piece by reporter Oliver Darcy.
“That’s according to two senior Biden administration officials I spoke with Friday, both of whom requested anonymity to candidly offer their opinion on coverage of the CDC data released that suggests vaccinated Americans who become infected with the Delta coronavirus variant can infect others as easily as those who are unvaccinated,” Darcy wrote.
The crux of the piece is to declare that the unvaccinated — not the new virus strain — is the real problem, and even cites an unnamed source in the White House saying so.
They're not terrifying the germaphobes enough?
Did Fauci Just Accidentally Let the Cat Out of the Bag on Recovered Immunity?
The medical community, for the most part, has been remarkably incurious about recovered immunity, aided and abetted by Democrats, the legacy media (and their social-media fellow travelers) who have stubbornly refused to question public health officials about the topic. A Cleveland Clinic study (still in preprint, not yet peer-reviewed) of more than 50,000 caregivers found that infection rates for those who had recovered immunity and those who received the vaccine were essentially the same. In fact, none of the previously infected caregivers monitored during the study were reinfected. Not a single one.
The medical community, for the most part, has been remarkably incurious about recovered immunity, aided and abetted by Democrats, the legacy media (and their social-media fellow travelers) who have stubbornly refused to question public health officials about the topic. A Cleveland Clinic study (still in preprint, not yet peer-reviewed) of more than 50,000 caregivers found that infection rates for those who had recovered immunity and those who received the vaccine were essentially the same. In fact, none of the previously infected caregivers monitored during the study were reinfected. Not a single one.
5 Things Red-State Governors Should Do Right Now if They Want to Secede From Covistan Permanently
1. Republican governors should order their state departments of health to do similar studies as the Delta wave has peaked and is declining
For some reason, our CDC and NIH have no curiosity about the seroprevalence of an immune response to COVID-19 in the population. Oddly, India is far more curious, and following its wave of the Delta variant, the country conducted its fourth national randomized study. It found that nearly 70% of Indians over the age of six have antibodies, despite low vaccination rates.
Republican governors should order the collection of information on vaccination status and recovery from confirmed cases. Public health professionals should test samples for circulating antibodies and T-cell reactivity. The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for a test to detect the presence of T-cells called T-Detect.
2. Like Governor Ron DeSantis, governors should require labs to report the cycle threshold (Ct) and reference range for every RT-PCR positive test
Florida has done this since December, and other states should do the same. Numerous studies provide insight into what Ct threshold is likely to indicate that the sample contains a replication-competent virus, which is necessary in order to cause an infection or be transmitted. State public health professionals can use this data to make population-level recommendations for governors.
One often-quoted study is Jaafar et al., which evaluated 3,790 positive samples looking for replication-competent viruses. The researchers found that at a Ct of 35, only 3% of samples could grow in culture. They suggested using a Ct of 30 for public health decision-making based on their analysis. Other studies have made similar recommendations, asserting that the time since symptom onset is also a factor in determining a diagnosis of COVID-19. With commercial testing using a Ct as high as 37-40 according to reports, understanding testing trends is important.
3. Like two California counties, the governors should require each county in their state to conduct a review of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths to determine whether they were indeed COVID-19 related
4. Red-state governors should move in the direction of Alberta, Canada, in managing COVID-19
5. Every Republican governor should ensure that citizens know the treatment options publicized by the Department of Health and Human Services through a public education campaign
1. Republican governors should order their state departments of health to do similar studies as the Delta wave has peaked and is declining
For some reason, our CDC and NIH have no curiosity about the seroprevalence of an immune response to COVID-19 in the population. Oddly, India is far more curious, and following its wave of the Delta variant, the country conducted its fourth national randomized study. It found that nearly 70% of Indians over the age of six have antibodies, despite low vaccination rates.
Republican governors should order the collection of information on vaccination status and recovery from confirmed cases. Public health professionals should test samples for circulating antibodies and T-cell reactivity. The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for a test to detect the presence of T-cells called T-Detect.
2. Like Governor Ron DeSantis, governors should require labs to report the cycle threshold (Ct) and reference range for every RT-PCR positive test
Florida has done this since December, and other states should do the same. Numerous studies provide insight into what Ct threshold is likely to indicate that the sample contains a replication-competent virus, which is necessary in order to cause an infection or be transmitted. State public health professionals can use this data to make population-level recommendations for governors.
One often-quoted study is Jaafar et al., which evaluated 3,790 positive samples looking for replication-competent viruses. The researchers found that at a Ct of 35, only 3% of samples could grow in culture. They suggested using a Ct of 30 for public health decision-making based on their analysis. Other studies have made similar recommendations, asserting that the time since symptom onset is also a factor in determining a diagnosis of COVID-19. With commercial testing using a Ct as high as 37-40 according to reports, understanding testing trends is important.
3. Like two California counties, the governors should require each county in their state to conduct a review of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths to determine whether they were indeed COVID-19 related
4. Red-state governors should move in the direction of Alberta, Canada, in managing COVID-19
5. Every Republican governor should ensure that citizens know the treatment options publicized by the Department of Health and Human Services through a public education campaign
As COVID surges, why is YouTube suppressing SkyNews for its reports on HCQ and ivermectin?
This is an amazingly heavy hand of censorship of bona fide news, given that YouTube is a near-monopoly.
And it's wrong on at least two levels. One, even if the network were wrong (a big "if"), the censorship would be wrong, too. In a free society, news agencies sink or swim based on the accuracy of their information. To shut them down on a false claim of denying COVID, or for reporting on the benefits of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, serves zero useful purpose. In a country with a free press, if SkyNews is wrong about those treatments, its credibility will vanish, and its audience will evaporate. Viewers are not stupid. But YouTube seems to think they are.
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In Australia, home of SkyNews, as well as its neighbors in the region — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India — the effective treatment is widely recognized to be hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and ivermectin. Just google the names of any of those countries with either of those medicines, and there's your proof. All of these countries have significant experience with battling tropical infectious diseases, so even without the FDA's say-so, it's a given that they've got an opinion about what's safe, what's worth trying, and what's likely to work. HCQ is historically an anti-malarial drug that's cheap and abundant, while ivermectin is known to battle parasites and is also cheap and easy to acquire. These drugs, incidentally, have been hailed in the region as responsible for halting India's disastrous COVID outbreak earlier this year.
According to MedPage Today, which reported that result skeptically:
(Apparently, we're supposed to think it all just died off on its own).
These countries in the SkyNews orbit have also produced more than anecdotal evidence that these treatments work — they also have hard studies.
Here's one from Singapore finding that HCQ is effective in treating COVID (added note: Singapore has internationally respected medical research and the region's best medical care).
This is an amazingly heavy hand of censorship of bona fide news, given that YouTube is a near-monopoly.
And it's wrong on at least two levels. One, even if the network were wrong (a big "if"), the censorship would be wrong, too. In a free society, news agencies sink or swim based on the accuracy of their information. To shut them down on a false claim of denying COVID, or for reporting on the benefits of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, serves zero useful purpose. In a country with a free press, if SkyNews is wrong about those treatments, its credibility will vanish, and its audience will evaporate. Viewers are not stupid. But YouTube seems to think they are.
[clip]
In Australia, home of SkyNews, as well as its neighbors in the region — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India — the effective treatment is widely recognized to be hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and ivermectin. Just google the names of any of those countries with either of those medicines, and there's your proof. All of these countries have significant experience with battling tropical infectious diseases, so even without the FDA's say-so, it's a given that they've got an opinion about what's safe, what's worth trying, and what's likely to work. HCQ is historically an anti-malarial drug that's cheap and abundant, while ivermectin is known to battle parasites and is also cheap and easy to acquire. These drugs, incidentally, have been hailed in the region as responsible for halting India's disastrous COVID outbreak earlier this year.
According to MedPage Today, which reported that result skeptically:
(Apparently, we're supposed to think it all just died off on its own).
These countries in the SkyNews orbit have also produced more than anecdotal evidence that these treatments work — they also have hard studies.
Here's one from Singapore finding that HCQ is effective in treating COVID (added note: Singapore has internationally respected medical research and the region's best medical care).
An Epidemic of Mandatory
The official narrative has shifted from “we can beat the coronavirus” to “we can coexist with it but only if you follow our shifting instructions very carefully.” The pandemic has become endemic, going from something we can beat to “another virus that we’ll have to live with.” As far back as February, an article in Nature asked if we could ever be “coronavirus-free… [by maintaining] heavy restrictions… could the world hope to rid itself of the virus?”
Probably not. The good news from a San Francisco hospital coronavirus cluster is that the vaccinated don’t get very sick anymore. The bad news is that they can test positive. “At least 233 staff members at two major San Francisco hospitals, most of them fully vaccinated, tested positive for the coronavirus this month, and most, according to a hospital official, involved the highly contagious Delta variant.” However, few were seriously stricken.
The official narrative has shifted from “we can beat the coronavirus” to “we can coexist with it but only if you follow our shifting instructions very carefully.” The pandemic has become endemic, going from something we can beat to “another virus that we’ll have to live with.” As far back as February, an article in Nature asked if we could ever be “coronavirus-free… [by maintaining] heavy restrictions… could the world hope to rid itself of the virus?”
Probably not. The good news from a San Francisco hospital coronavirus cluster is that the vaccinated don’t get very sick anymore. The bad news is that they can test positive. “At least 233 staff members at two major San Francisco hospitals, most of them fully vaccinated, tested positive for the coronavirus this month, and most, according to a hospital official, involved the highly contagious Delta variant.” However, few were seriously stricken.
Dems Considering Another Lockdown To Wipe Out The Few Small Businesses That Survived The Last One
U.S.—Democrat governors and policymakers across the nation are considering another lockdown to wipe out the few small businesses that somehow managed to survive the previous lockdowns.
babylonbee.com
LightRoasted
If I may ...
If I may ...
Look at how many deaths and other "events" that have been attributed to the "vaccine".
By the way, does anyone remember when the vaccine for the 1976 Swine Flu was recalled because of after at least 25 people that died from vaccine reactions. While other estimates put the death toll at 32 people, and about 500 others later suffered from Guillain-Barre syndrome, which damages nerves and can lead to paralysis?
However, apparently, the same standards that applied back then, in regards to a rushed to market "vaccine" (such as we have today) induced deaths, GBs, and other vaccine "events", 11,940 deaths just hasn't reached the unknown threshold that would require the "vaccine" being pulled from the market. And with the current cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome being reported currently caused by the "COVID" "vaccines", it's nothing to worry about. Why? Because they are operating under new standards that have only your best interests in mind. The CDC even states it on their website it's fine to get the injection, "People who have previously had GBS may receive a COVID-19 vaccine." See, nothing to worry about.
You do remember, right? No? Well here you go ...
Look at how many deaths and other "events" that have been attributed to the "vaccine".
By the way, does anyone remember when the vaccine for the 1976 Swine Flu was recalled because of after at least 25 people that died from vaccine reactions. While other estimates put the death toll at 32 people, and about 500 others later suffered from Guillain-Barre syndrome, which damages nerves and can lead to paralysis?
However, apparently, the same standards that applied back then, in regards to a rushed to market "vaccine" (such as we have today) induced deaths, GBs, and other vaccine "events", 11,940 deaths just hasn't reached the unknown threshold that would require the "vaccine" being pulled from the market. And with the current cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome being reported currently caused by the "COVID" "vaccines", it's nothing to worry about. Why? Because they are operating under new standards that have only your best interests in mind. The CDC even states it on their website it's fine to get the injection, "People who have previously had GBS may receive a COVID-19 vaccine." See, nothing to worry about.
You do remember, right? No? Well here you go ...
Ex-CDC head recalls '76 swine flu outbreak - CNN.com
The man who led the response to the 1976 swine flu outbreak is defending the vaccination campaign that led to more deaths than the disease, but says he's sorry for the people killed or sickened.
edition.cnn.com
BIDEN PLAYS POLITICS ON COVID
Joe Biden never misses an opportunity to politicize any issue, including the relatively benign Delta Indian variant of Covid. Today, Biden tried to blame Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis–coincidentally, both Republicans–for the Indian variant’s inevitable spread:
Of course there is no evidence that mask mandates do anything to prevent any covid variant from spreading. Rather than criticizing Abbott and DeSantis, Biden should try to learn from them. Both Texas and Florida have been more successful than neighboring states with regard to covid. Here is the map, per the CDC, of fatalities per 100,000 population.
Texas, at 179 deaths per 100,000 population, has a lower covid death rate than any adjoining state. Likewise, Florida, at 181 deaths per 100,000, has the lowest rate not only of any adjoining state, but of any state in the Southeast. Rather than trying to score political points off these very successful red states, whose economies are booming even as they leave most blue states in the dust with regard to covid, Biden should look to them for lessons in best practices.
But that raises the question: are there states that have done unusually badly with regard to covid fatalities? Yes, indeed there are. They are mostly in the liberal northeast, but one southwestern state stands out. Arizona has suffered 250 covid deaths per 100,000, more than three times the rate in Utah, more than two times the rate in Colorado, and far more than the rate in Greg Abbott’s Texas.
Joe Biden never misses an opportunity to politicize any issue, including the relatively benign Delta Indian variant of Covid. Today, Biden tried to blame Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis–coincidentally, both Republicans–for the Indian variant’s inevitable spread:
Of course there is no evidence that mask mandates do anything to prevent any covid variant from spreading. Rather than criticizing Abbott and DeSantis, Biden should try to learn from them. Both Texas and Florida have been more successful than neighboring states with regard to covid. Here is the map, per the CDC, of fatalities per 100,000 population.
Texas, at 179 deaths per 100,000 population, has a lower covid death rate than any adjoining state. Likewise, Florida, at 181 deaths per 100,000, has the lowest rate not only of any adjoining state, but of any state in the Southeast. Rather than trying to score political points off these very successful red states, whose economies are booming even as they leave most blue states in the dust with regard to covid, Biden should look to them for lessons in best practices.
But that raises the question: are there states that have done unusually badly with regard to covid fatalities? Yes, indeed there are. They are mostly in the liberal northeast, but one southwestern state stands out. Arizona has suffered 250 covid deaths per 100,000, more than three times the rate in Utah, more than two times the rate in Colorado, and far more than the rate in Greg Abbott’s Texas.
