Thursday, January 21 — Lockdown update from Valencia. Van Morrison to start legal action on live music ban. China building Covid-19 quarantine camp for 4,000. Biden announces $1.9T ‘American Rescue Plan.’

We’ll be keeping track of what we determine to be the most relevant updates on the coronavirus situation. New items will go at the top. If you have something to report — news, science news, or a check-in from your local area — please send to editors@planetwaves.net. This blog is published by Chiron Return, an affiliate of the Pacifica Radio Network. Read a message from the editors.

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The church of Sant Joan del Mercat in Valencia, Spain. Photo by Brett Hodnett.

Lockdown update from Valencia, Spain | Added January 20

Thank you to Max Holm.

3/4 of the businesses on my street, one of the most popular in terms of restaurants/bars/cafes, are closed. The ones that survived the 88 day confinement, recently had to close at 5 pm. Now they all must stay closed until Jan 31. I don’t think many will survive this latest.

Live music doesn’t exist anymore, of course.

Only take-away is allowed, but most restaurants/bars/cafes aren’t set up for that. Since all must close by 6 pm, realize that the Spaniards who are lucky to still have jobs work until 8 pm. Most have lost full-time hours, so eating out or take-away is a luxury.

Pharmacies and supermarkets can remain open, as usual. People complain that food is more and more expensive. So, far they’re not prohibiting us from shopping in pairs or with family.

Only 6 people at a time can gather indoors in homes or outside at a park or anywhere on the street, but these 6 must be close friends or family members only.

All sports facilities are closed. 99% of these are outdoors.

Curfew is 10 pm.

There are more homeless on the streets and in the parks. Most are Romani (Gypsies? Here it’s not a derogatory term – Gitanos). They sit on sidewalks using cute dogs to beg for coins. I often see them switch shifts with another, while the dog stays behind.

There are many people from Africa selling the same beaded bracelets all over the city. They’re getting more aggressive as their situations become more desperate. There’s no safety net for them.

Home invasions are becoming more common in exclusive neighborhoods with luxury condos. They use large hammers to break down thick wooden doors, run in, and quickly steal whatever small valuables they can. Recently a gang of three young women were arrested for this.

Addendum:

The lockdown starts tomorrow. A few adjustments were made.

Sports facilities, including gyms, are all closed. Non-essential businesses must close by 4 pm. Most are closing entirely. Otherwise they’ll lose more money.

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Guardian: Van Morrison to start legal action over Northern Ireland Covid ban on live music | Added January 20

From the Guardian:

Van Morrison will challenge the Northern Irish government in court over its “blanket ban” on live music in licensed venues arising from coronavirus restrictions, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

Solicitor Joe Rice said the Northern Irish singer-songwriter, who has released several protest songs against Covid-19 rules in recent months, will ask the high court in Belfast to review the policy.

“We will be seeking leave for judicial review to challenge the blanket ban on live music in licensed premises in Northern Ireland,” Rice said. “We’re not aware of any credible scientific or medical evidence to justify this particular blanket ban … and we’re going to challenge this in the high court.”

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Naturopath Pam Popper shares report on Covid-19 and academic performance | Added January 20

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China building Covid-19 quarantine camp to house more than 4,000 people | Added January 20

From CNN:

China is rushing to build a massive quarantine camp that can house more than 4,000 people, after an outbreak of Covid-19 this month that has left tens of millions of people under strict lockdown.

The quarantine camp is located on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei province, which surrounds the country’s capital, Beijing.

China has largely contained the spread of the virus, with much of the country returning to normal. However, a sudden rise in cases has alarmed officials and raised concerns ahead of the Lunar New Year, the county’s most important annual festival, during which hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel to visit family members.

Officials in Shijiazhuang, where the outbreak is centered, have initiated mass testing and strict lockdowns, moving entire villages into centralized quarantine facilities in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.

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Simone Gold, critic of Covid-19 vaccines, arrested after confirming to Washington Post that she took part in “incredibly peaceful” segment of Capitol protest | Added January 20

From Yahoo News:

Gold garnered national attention in July when she organized a press conference on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to condemn pandemic lockdowns and rave about how “hydroxychloroquine works” as a treatment for COVID-19.

The doctor made a similar speech during the Jan. 6 insurrection, confirming to The Washington Post she was photographed holding a megaphone on the Rotunda floor. (In June, the FDA revoked its emergency authorization of hydroxychloroquine, stating the drug could actually do more harm than good because of its “ongoing serious cardiac adverse events and other potentially serious side effects.”)

According to a criminal complaint filed against Gold and Strand, federal authorities were tipped off to the pair’s attendance by The Washington Post article.

In a 30-second video, Gold can be seen speaking in the Rotunda while two police officers stand behind her, gesturing at her and others to leave. While most of her speech is inaudible in the video, Gold can be heard saying “I’m a mom” and “massive medical establishment.

From WaPo:

Gold confirmed to The Washington Post that she is the person pictured carrying a bullhorn on the Capitol grounds Wednesday in FBI and D.C. police bulletins seeking more information about individuals who were present.

Although dozens of Capitol Police officers were injured when they were overrun by pro-Trump protesters and one later died as a result, Gold said she did not witness any violence.

“I can certainly speak to the place that I was, and it most emphatically was not a riot,” the California resident said in a phone interview Monday. “Where I was, was incredibly peaceful.”

Gold confirmed that she went inside the Capitol, saying she followed a crowd and assumed that it was legal to do so. She said she had not been contacted by anyone in law enforcement.

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BREAKING: Gov. Cuomo orders restrictions on bowel movements | Added January 18

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American Airlines becomes first US carrier to use digital health passport | Added January 18

From Simple Flying:

American Airlines announced this week that it is introducing a health passport for inbound travel to the United States from all international destinations. Passengers flying to the US can use the VeriFLY app to confirm testing and other travel requirements from January 23rd.

The Dallas/Fort Worth-based carrier previously launched VeriFLY to streamline the check-in and document verification process at the airport before departure. The system has also been providing travelers with critical reminders in regards to travel windows and credentials.

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NBC: CDC Says Severe Allergic Reactions to the Covid Vaccine Run 10 Times Reactions to the Flu Shot But They’re Still Rare | Added January 18

From NBC New York:

  • A new CDC study published Wednesday found that people receiving Covid-19 vaccines experience anaphylaxis at a rate 10 times higher compared with the flu vaccine.
  • Anaphylaxis is a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction that can occur after vaccination, though the condition is rare, the CDC said.
  • The severe allergic reactions among Covid vaccine recipients are still thought to be rare and the drugs are safe for people to use, a top CDC official told reporters before the study was published.

The Covid-19 vaccine appears to cause severe allergic reactions at a significantly higher rate than other vaccines among the first wave of Americans to receive the life-saving immunizations, though the reactions are still rare, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

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Are You Ready for Total (Ideological) War? — read more at Off-Guardian | Added January 16

From Off-Guardian:

So, welcome to 2021! If last week was any indication, it is going to be quite an exciting year. It is going to be the year in which GloboCap reminds everyone who is actually in charge and restores “normality” throughout the world.

…or at least attempts to restore “normality,” or the “New Normality,” or the “Great Normal Reset,” or “The New Normal War on Domestic Terror” … or whatever they eventually decide to call it.

In any event, whatever they call it, GloboCap is done playing grab-ass. They have had it with all this “populism” malarkey that has been going on for the last four years.

Yes, that’s right, the party is over, you Russian-backed white supremacist terrorists! You Trump-loving, anti-mask grandmother killers! You anti-vax, election-fraud-conspiracy theorists! You deviants who refuse to follow orders, wear your damn masks, vote for who they tell you, and believe whatever completely nonsensical official propaganda they pour into your heads!

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Conversations with Dr. Cowan and Friends: The science of mRNA vaccines | Added January 16

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Early participants from Moderna’s clinical trial being offered booster shots | Added January 16

From NYT:

People who received two shots of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine in its earliest, Phase 1 clinical trial are being offered a third shot, a so-called booster, as part of a continuing study to determine whether repeated vaccinations are needed and whether they are safe and effective, the company said on Thursday.

The vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer, both using genetic material called mRNA, were shown in clinical trials to be about 95 percent effective at preventing symptomatic cases of Covid-19 when administered as a two-shot regimen. But they have not been in use long enough to tell how long the immunity lasts or whether additional booster shots will be needed.

“We anticipate that an additional dose could further boost the levels of neutralizing antibodies, should such a boost be required, and that this is expected to be an advantage of mRNA vaccines,” Colleen Hussey, a Moderna spokeswoman, said in a statement.

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Guardian: Unilever workers will never return to desks full-time, says boss | Added January 16

Thank you, Loreen Costa.

We know from reading the details on the Pfizer and Moderna trials protocols that the shot doesn’t keep you from getting sick from the virus. And we know it doesn’t stop you from spreading the virus. So what’s it good for? Well, now! We’re glad to tell you. What it does, is, well…

It gets you out of mandatory Covid-19 (SARS-COV-2) testing! At least at the world renown Unilever in the UK.

From the Guardian:

The boss of Unilever, one of the UK’s biggest companies, has said his office workers will never return to their desks five days a week, in the latest indication that coronavirus will transform modern working life.

Alan Jope, the chief executive of the consumer goods group, said the company would also encourage all of its employees to receive vaccinations against Covid-19, but would stop short of making jabs mandatory. Employees who opt not to be vaccinated, however, will face mandatory testing.

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Further details on Biden’s vaccination plan for America | Added January 16

From Reuters:

Under Biden’s plan, federal disaster-relief workers would set up thousands of vaccination centers, where retired doctors would administer shots to teachers, grocery store workers, people over 65 years old and other groups who do not currently qualify.

The Democrat would invoke the Defense Production Act to increase production of equipment needed to distribute the vaccines, such as glass vials, needles and syringes, according to a document released by his transition team. He would also use the law to support vaccine refrigeration and storage.

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WSJ: Florida’s Covid-19 Vaccines Draw Foreigners, Snowbirds | Added January 16

From The Wall Street Journal:

Visitors from Toronto to New York to Buenos Aires have long flocked to Florida for sun, surf and shopping. Now they are coming for the Covid-19 vaccine.

Some of the arrivals are Americans or foreigners who own second homes in the state and reside here part-time. Others are making short-term visits, seizing the opportunity provided by Florida’s decision to make the vaccine available to people age 65 and older, including nonresidents. The practice, which some are calling vaccine tourism, has drawn fire from some officials and residents.

Interest is up sharply from Canadians who are looking to travel to the U.S. for vaccinations, according to Momentum Jets, a private jet service provider in Toronto.

“We’re getting requests now from clients that are willing to fly into Florida, if they have an appointment, and then fly home again on the same day,” said Janelle Brind, a company vice president. Costs for a charter flight range from $25,000 to $80,000 for a same-day round trip, she said.

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Effort to recall California Gov. Newsom is referred to as ‘coup’ by party leaders — Los Angeles Times criticizes rhetoric as ‘inflammatory and irresponsible’ | Added January 15

From Los Angeles Times:

Can someone please get a copy of a dictionary — any dictionary — delivered to the California Democratic Party headquarters? Or at least email over a link to an online version?

We fear that party leaders might not have access to one, based on their imprudent decision to dub a recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom the “California coup,” thus likening a perfectly democratic process enshrined in the state’s Constitution to the act of forcefully or even violently seizing government power.

On Tuesday, the state’s Democratic Party establishment offered its first official response to the gubernatorial recall effort and it was … disappointing. This was an opportunity to offer a strong defense for a governor leading an enormously complex state through a very difficult time, with political unrest exacerbating an unprecedented health catastrophe, and to appeal to Californians to stop Newsom’s opponents from getting the 1.5 million signatures they need to trigger a special recall election later this year.

Instead they chose to kick off their counter-campaign with a ridiculous branding strategy that undermined the state’s legitimate direct democracy system, while engaging in the same type of inflammatory and irresponsible rhetoric that we’ve seen all too often from President Trump and his allies. Shame.

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Biden’s $1.9 trillion ‘American Rescue Plan’ reiterates deal for $2,000 stimulus checks while proposing national vaccine program | Added January 15

From NPR:

President-elect Joe Biden outlined his plans for economic relief from the coronavirus crisis on Thursday, citing the need for a more robust vaccination plan as well as for additional direct payments to American families to help recover the U.S. economy. His plan, called the American Rescue Plan, is expected to cost $1.9 trillion.

The package includes $1,400 direct stimulus checks, which would supplement the $600 checks Congress passed late last year. Biden also proposes an additional $160 billion for a national vaccine program, including $20 billion for distribution, and an additional $50 billion for expanded testing.

“It’s not hard to see that we are in the middle of a once-in-several generations economic crisis, with a once-in-several generations public health crisis. A crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight,” Biden said.

“We have to act, and we have to act now,” Biden said. “We cannot afford inaction.”

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Rite Aid falsely advertises that Covid-19 vaccines provide immunity and are “FDA-approved,” in direct contradiction to FDA’s official statement | Added January 15

From Rite Aid advertisement:

The FDA’s determination regarding Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines is “not an FDA approval,” as can be seen below in the FDA’s press announcement from December 18th regarding Moderna’s vaccine:

“Guided by science and data, the agency’s career staff determined that the vaccine’s known and potential benefits clearly outweigh its known and potential risks, and although not an FDA approval, the FDA’s expectations described in our June and October guidance documents have been met,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

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Restaurant owners sue New York State and win, allowing them to reopen | Added January 14

From News 4 Buffalo:

New York State Supreme Court Justice Henry Nowak has ruled in favor of the restaurants involved in the lawsuit against the state, allowing them to reopen under New York State yellow zone restrictions.

Those tavern and restaurant owners challenged Governor Cuomo, the State Liquor Authority and the County Health Department to come up with the science and data to justify the restrictions the governor initiated.

Attorneys for the tavern owners and the state made their case to Justice Nowak, last Friday, who has ruled the 91 tavern and restaurant owners named in the lawsuit can operate under the yellow zone regulations.

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Toronto Sun: Canadian expert’s research finds lockdown harms are 10 times greater than benefits | Added January 14

From Toronto Sun:

Dr. Ari Joffe is a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton and a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of Alberta. He has written a paper titled COVID-19: Rethinking the Lockdown Groupthink that finds the harms of lockdowns are 10 times greater than their benefits.

The below Q&A is an exchange between Joffe and Anthony Furey.

You were a strong proponent of lockdowns initially but have since changed your mind. Why is that?

There are a few reasons why I supported lockdowns at first.

First, initial data falsely suggested that the infection fatality rate was up to 2-3%, that over 80% of the population would be infected, and modelling suggested repeated lockdowns would be necessary. But emerging data showed that the median infection fatality rate is 0.23%, that the median infection fatality rate in people under 70 years old is 0.05%, and that the high-risk group is older people especially those with severe co-morbidities. In addition, it is likely that in most situations only 20-40% of the population would be infected before ongoing transmission is limited (i.e., herd-immunity).

READ MORE HERE

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The Critic Magazine: How Covid paved the Road to Serfdom | Added January 14

From The Critic Magazine:

Hayek suggested a society which sacrificed liberty for security would gradually submit itself to authoritarian control

Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom maintains a near unrivalled influence on the political imagination of conservative and classical liberal thinkers. Published in 1943, at the height of the Keynesian consensus, it elaborated a worldview considered intolerable within academic economics.

The central thesis of The Road to Serfdom is that descent into tyranny is the ultimate and inevitable trajectory of a society in which the sovereignty of the individual is subverted in the accumulation of economic power by the state. Central planning leads invariably to authoritarianism. Hayek is not timid in making these claims.

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David Martin explains how Pfizer and Moderna’s ‘gene therapy technology’ for Covid-19 does not meet the CDC’s legal standard for a ‘vaccination’ | Added January 14

In addition, he argues that Pfizer and Moderna have violated the Federal Trade Commission Act by making a claim that is unsupported by data when telling people their product offers a protection against a disease.

According to Martin, there is no waiver of liability for deceptive practices even in a state of emergency.

He poses the question: If the product is an experimental gene technology, and not a vaccine, why are Pfizer and Moderna calling it a vaccine?

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Superintendent of L.A. school district declares students must get COVID-19 vaccine when available, despite experts’ concern for lack of data on teens and kids | Added January 14

From The Los Angeles Times:

A COVID-19 vaccine requirement would be “no different than students who are vaccinated for measles or mumps,” Beutner said in a pre-recorded briefing. He also compared students, staff and others getting a COVID-19 vaccine to those who “are tested for tuberculosis before they come on campus. That’s the best way we know to keep all on a campus safe.”

But a vaccine will not be in the arms of students for some time. The two vaccines that have received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration so far were tested almost exclusively in adults. The clinical trial of the shot made by Pfizer and BioNTech included 153 16- and 17-year-olds, and some of the experts who reviewed the data for the FDA said there weren’t enough teens to determine whether the vaccine is safe for that age group, let alone for younger children.

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UK eugenics movement linked to development of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine | Added January 14

From Unlimited Hangout:

Arguably most troubling of all is the direct link of the vaccine’s lead developers to the Wellcome Trust and, in the case of Adrian Hill, the Galton Institute, two groups with longstanding ties to the UK eugenics movement. The latter organization, named for the “father of eugenics” Francis Galton, is the renamed UK Eugenics Society, a group notorious for over a century for its promotion of racist pseudoscience and efforts to “improve racial stock” by reducing the population of those deemed inferior.

The ties of Adrian Hill to the Galton Institute should raise obvious concerns given the push to make the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine he developed with Gilbert the vaccine of choice for the developing world, particularly countries in Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa, the very areas where the Galton Institute’s past members have called for reducing population growth.

In the final installment of this series on Operation Warp Speed, the US government’s vaccination effort and race, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine’s ties to eugenics-linked institutions, the secretive role of Vaccitech, and the myth of the vaccine’s sale being “nonprofit” and altruistically motivated are explored in detail.

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Guardian: The toxic chemicals in our homes could increase Covid-19 threat | Added January 14

Originally published April 29, 2020, this article, and the topic of how toxic chemicals harm our immune system, is worth a review.

From the Guardian:

Everyday hormone-disrupting chemicals could affect our immune system’s defenses against infections.

During the rare moments you’ve ventured outside these days, you’ve probably noticed clearer skies and the benefits of reductions in air pollution.

Long-term exposure to air pollution increases the danger associated with four of the biggest Covid-19 mortality risks: diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease and asthma. It also can make the immune system overreact, exaggerating the inflammatory response to common pathogens.

But there are other common contaminants in our homes that are also likely to be hacking our immune systems, which have had less attention.

You’ve probably heard about synthetic chemicals in non-stick pans, cosmetics and aluminum cans disrupting our hormones. The notion of endocrine-disrupting chemicals was only widely accepted about a decade ago, when scientific societies raised the alarm. The science of immune disruption is even newer, with a large review in a major scientific journal just out last year.

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UK vaccine rollout sees problems: long lines for senior citizens, doses thrown away after expiring | Added January 13

From the Daily Mail:

Pensioners arriving to be vaccinated at London’s ExCel Centre today complained they had been left ‘breathless’ by tackling ‘gruelling’ ramps and queuing for 20 minutes in bitterly cold temperatures.

Patients were forced to climb banks of stairs or negotiate their way up steep ramps to reach the entrance of the vaccination centre. One man had to call for a wheelchair having negotiated the first of the two ramps.

NHS sources said 400 senior citizens and key workers were vaccinated against Covid-19 at the ExCel Centre today, on its first day of operation.

They advised  that numbers were likely to increase massively over the next few days. Numbers were kept to a manageable figure today, to test how the centre will run over the coming weeks.

AND

Seven major vaccine centres opened today in the hope of inoculating the 13million most vulnerable residents by mid-February and easing the endless cycle of restrictions. Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to hit 200,000 jabs per day by Friday.

But the sluggish scheme has been hit by hiccups since it began last month. And it was revealed today that one hospital in London has had to bin doses of vaccines because people aren’t turning up for their appointments, with staff reportedly phoning friends and family to rush in and use up leftover supplies, which only last for hours out of the freezer.

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Jon Rappoport: Lockdown civilization: phase one and phase two | Added January 13

From NoMoreFakeNews.com:

The China lockdown of 50 million citizens overnight was a key element in the long-standing plan to foist a fake pandemic on humanity.

That lockdown provided the model for the rest of the world.

We are now in phase one of Lockdown Civilization.

The “scientific” rationale? THE VIRUS. The virus that isn’t there. The virus whose existence is unproven.

But the story line works: “We have to follow the China model because the pandemic is sweeping across the globe…”

Close on the heels of this con job, we have the intro to phase two: “In order to deal with future pandemics, we must install a new planetary system of command and control; human behavior must be modified.”

Translation: wall to wall surveillance at a level never achieved before; universal guaranteed income for every human, tied to obedience to all state directives; violate those directives and income is reduced or canceled; the planting of nano devices inside the body which will broadcast physiological changes to central command, and which will receive instructions that modify mood and reaction…

Phase one lockdowns prepare the citizenry to accept phase two.

In other words, phase one had nothing to do with a virus. It was part of the technocratic revolution.

I call your attention to a stunning article in The Atlantic. “The Panopticon Is Already Here” (9/20), by Ross Andersen.

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Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: The SPARS Pandemic 2025-2028: A Futuristic Scenario to Facilitate Medical Countermeasure Communication | Added January 13

From Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research 2020:

Published March 5, 2020

Introduction:

Effective communication about medical countermeasures—including drugs, devices and biologics—is often critical in emergency situations. Such communication, however, does not just happen. It must be planned and prepared for. One mechanism to develop communication strategies is through the use of prospective scenarios, which allow readers the opportunity to rehearse responses while also weighing the implications of their actions. This article describes the development of such a scenario: The SPARS Pandemic 2025-2028. Steps in this process included deciding on a timeframe, identifying likely critical uncertainties, and then using this framework to construct a storyline covering both the response and recovery phases of a fictional emergency event. Lessons learned from the scenario development and how the scenario can be used to improve communication are also discussed.

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Golden Oldie from Lockdown 1.0 Days | Added January 12

So when you see what masks cannot do, all you’re left with is a disease vector (germ trap), if you believe in germs.

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Up to 80% of healthcare workers are declining Covid-19 vaccine, including POC professionals | Added January 12

From KATU2 ABC:

The desperately awaited vaccination drive against the coronavirus in the U.S. is running into resistance from an unlikely quarter: Surprising numbers of health care workers who have seen firsthand the death and misery inflicted by COVID-19 are refusing shots.

It is happening in nursing homes and, to a lesser degree, in hospitals, with employees expressing what experts say are unfounded fears of side effects from vaccines that were developed at record speed. More than three weeks into the campaign, some places are seeing as much as 80% of the staff holding back.

“I don’t think anyone wants to be a guinea pig,” said Dr. Stephen Noble, a 42-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon in Portland, Oregon, who is postponing getting vaccinated. “At the end of the day, as a man of science, I just want to see what the data show. And give me the full data.”

AND

Oregon doctor Noble said he will wait until April or May to get the shots. He said it is vital for public health authorities not to overstate what they know about the vaccines. That is particularly important, he said, for Black people like him who are distrustful of government medical guidance because of past failures and abuses, such as the infamous Tuskegee experiment.

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Bloomberg: Thailand Clears Use of Herbal Medicine for Covid-19 Treatment | Added January 12

From Bloomberg:

Thailand’s health ministry approved the use of a herbal plant extract to treat early stages of Covid-19 as a pilot program amid a flareup in the coronavirus outbreak in the Southeast Asian nation.

Andrographis Paniculata, commonly known as green chiretta, will serve as an alternative treatment to reduce the severity of the outbreak and cut treatment costs, the ministry said in a statement Wednesday. The treatment will be available in five state-owned hospital initially, it said.

AND

  • The herbal treatment will be on a voluntary basis for those in the 18-60 age group with minor symptoms and should be within 72 hours of confirming infections
  • The extract from the plant, known as Fah Talai Jone in Thai, can curb virus and reduce severity of inflammation, ministry says citing studies
  • Human trials showed patient conditions improved within three days of the treatment without side effects if the medicine is administered within 72 hours of testing positive

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‘Hugging a friend’ makes top three in list of most dangerous activities | Added January 12

From Eat This, Not That! Health:

3. Hugging a Friend

Hugging a friend hello or goodbye may have been commonplace but in a pandemic, this simple gesture becomes dangerous for spreading the virus. If you’re dying for a hug from a friend or family member, Dr. Todd Ellerin, MD from South Shore Hospital recommends you first consider the person involved, the place you’re planning to hug, and the space you’ll have. Only hug a person you know isn’t sick or wasn’t exposed to the virus and try to initiate the contact while outside and not around other people.

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Bloomberg: Tech Under Pressure After Parler Goes Dark, Twitter Drops | Added January 12

From Bloomberg:

Technology companies tried to contain a mounting backlash against their social media sites, with shares of Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. falling in early trading and rival platform Parler forced offline by Amazon.com Inc.

Many conservatives said the moves to expunge President Donald Trump from the social networks and take down an app popular with his supporters went too far. Twitter was down about 5% Monday morning, reflecting shareholder uncertainty about the permanent removal of one of the site’s biggest accounts and the legislative consequence that could follow. Facebook’s share were down 3%.

Parler, whose chief executive officer, John Matze, pitches the network as a safe place for free speech, went down early on Monday after Amazon Web Services shut off access to its servers, leaving it without a home. Both Google and Apple Inc. kicked Parler from their stores, making it almost impossible to download the app.

The bans were strongly criticized by senior lawmakers in Germany and France. Chancellor Angela Merkel argued lawmakers should set the rules governing free speech, not technology companies, while French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that the state should be responsible for regulations, rather than “the digital oligarchy,” and called big tech “one of the threats” to democracy.

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Some humor from Magdalena Stampfer: ‘Unbelievable! How vaccine sceptics burden the health system’ | Added January 11

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PBS: Anti-abortion faith leaders support use of COVID-19 vaccines | Added January 11

From PBS:

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which says fighting abortion is its “preeminent” priority, said last month that getting vaccinated against the coronavirus “ought to be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community,” according to a statement by the chairmen of its Committee on Doctrine and Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The bishops said it is morally acceptable for Catholics to use either of the two vaccines approved for use in the U.S. — made by Pfizer and Moderna — despite a “remote connection to morally compromised cell lines.” This entailed the use of fetal cell lines for lab tests seeking to confirm the vaccines’ effectiveness.

Another leading vaccine, made by AstraZeneca and approved for use in Britain and some other countries, is “more morally compromised,” and should be avoided if there are alternatives available, the bishops said.

Coinciding with the USCCB, four bishops in Colorado issued their own statement taking a somewhat more negative stance on AstraZeneca, describing it as “not a morally valid option.”

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BBC: Sex and Covid: What are the rules in lockdown? | Added January 11

Since when did anybody agree that governments could make rules about citizens’ sexual activity?

From BBC:

New lockdowns in the four nations of the UK mean new guidance on having sex.

The rules say you must not meet socially indoors with anyone unless you live with them, or if they’re part of your support bubble.

A support bubble is when a single-adult household joins another household – they can still visit each other and stay overnight.

So unless you live with your partner or they’re in your chosen bubble, meeting up for sex is off the cards.

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Amid vaccinations, officials claim deaths at Syracuse nursing home are due to “Covid-19 outbreak” | Added January 11

Thank you, Planet Waves researcher Max Holm:

They call it a post-Thanksgiving breakout, but leave the most important info to the end. Vaccinations started Dec 22. 80% of residents have been vaccinated and about half the staff. There’s no data or info to how many outside visitors came to visit for Thanksgiving. Maybe it was zero.

They say infections started Dec 21, vaccinations on Dec 22. Staff are checked weekly.

24 residents died since “Wednesday” which was Jan 6. Vaccinations started 2 weeks before on Dec 22. That’s 12% of the 193 elderly that were vaccinated.

From Syracuse.com:

A Covid-19 outbreak at a Cayuga County nursing home that began two weeks ago has infected 137 residents, 24 of whom have died.

The outbreak at The Commons on St. Anthony in Auburn started Dec. 21 as a wave of post-Thanksgiving Covid-19 cases began hitting the county, said Julie Sheedy, an official of Loretto which operates the 300-bed nursing home.
Forty-seven employees have tested positive.

Since the outbreak began, 21 residents have died at The Commons and three in the hospital, Sheedy said. Eleven residents have died since Wednesday, she said.

There had been no nursing home Covid-19 deaths in Cayuga County until the first three deaths at the Commons were reported Dec. 29. The three other nursing homes in Cayuga have not reported any Covid-19 deaths.

AND

The nursing home began vaccinating residents Dec. 22. So far 193 residents, or 80%, and 113 employees, or less than half the staff, have been vaccinated. The nursing home plans to do more vaccinations Jan. 12.

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Bill proposed in December by South Carolina lawmakers would ban mandatory vaccinations | Added January 11

From NBC affiliate WCNC:

Starting next week, South Carolina lawmakers may begin to consider a bill first filed in December that would allow individuals to opt-out of vaccinations and be protected from discrimination if they choose to exercise that right.

As part of the bill, a person would not face “adverse employment action” like firing or a demotion for refusing to take a vaccination. It would also prevent restricting access to shopping and other activities based on vaccination status.

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RFK Jr discusses viruses, health, and funding by Bill Gates with Zach Bush, MD | Added January 11

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NYT: False Reports of a New ‘U.S. Variant’ Came from White House Task Force | Added January 9

From The New York Times:

The erroneous report originated at a recent meeting where Dr. Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, presented graphs of the escalating cases in the country. She suggested to other members of the task force that a new, more transmissible variant originating in the U.S. might explain the surge, as another variant did in Britain.

Her hypothesis made it into a weekly report sent to state governors. “This fall/winter surge has been at nearly twice the rate of rise of cases as the spring and summer surges. This acceleration suggests there may be a USA variant that has evolved here, in addition to the UK variant that is already spreading in our communities and may be 50% more transmissible,” the report read. “Aggressive mitigation must be used to match a more aggressive virus.”

Dismayed, officials at the C.D.C. tried to have the speculative statements removed, but were unsuccessful, according to three people familiar with the events.

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Board in Stamford, VT votes to end Covid19 restrictions imposed by state | Added January 9

From The Berkshire Eagle:

The Select Board on Tuesday doubled down on its recent defiance of Gov. Phil Scott’s health emergency orders, voting to “terminate” the governor’s restrictions relating to COVID-19 and impose local regulations.

Three of the five board members supported the motion, saying they would likely follow most of Scott’s emergency orders but not any they believe trample on rights guaranteed in the U.S. and Vermont constitutions.

AND

Title 20, Section 13 states in paragraph 3 that the governor, “Upon receiving notice that a majority of the legislative body of a municipality affected by a natural disaster no longer desires that the state of emergency continue within its municipality, shall declare the state of emergency terminated within that particular municipality. Upon the termination of the state of emergency, the functions as set forth in section 9 of this title shall cease, and the local authorities shall resume control.”

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Glenn Greenwald: the harms from authoritarian “solutions” are often greater than the threats they are ostensibly designed to combat | Added January 9

From Glenn Greenwald:

In the days and weeks after the 9/11 attack, Americans were largely united in emotional horror at what had been done to their country as well as in their willingness to endorse repression and violence in response. As a result, there was little room to raise concerns about the possible excesses or dangers of the American reaction, let alone to dissent from what political leaders were proposing in the name of vengeance and security. The psychological trauma from the carnage and the wreckage at the country’s most cherished symbols swamped rational faculties and thus rendered futile any attempts to urge restraint or caution.

Nonetheless, a few tried. Scorn and sometimes worse were universally heaped upon them.

On September 14 — while bodies were still buried under burning rubble in downtown Manhattan — Congresswoman Barbara Lee cast a lone vote against the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF). “Some of us must urge the use of restraint,” she said seventy-two hours after the attack, adding: “our country is in a state of mourning” and thus “some of us must say: let’s step back for a moment, let’s pause just for a minute, and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control.”

 

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CBS: Australia locks down city of 2 million over a single case of new COVID variant | Added January 8

From CBS:

Australia’s third-largest city headed into lockdown and borders were set to tighten nationwide Friday, after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel contracted the U.K. coronavirus strain that officials say is more infectious. More than two million residents in the Greater Brisbane area will have to stay at home for at least three days from Friday evening, authorities said.

“If we are going to stop the spread of this infectious strain, this U.K. strain, we must act immediately,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told media.

Large lines formed at shops around the city, prompting officials to urge people to stop panic-buying. The incoming restrictions will still allow residents to leave home to buy essentials.

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China places 11 million people in the city of Shijiazhuang on lockdown | Added January 8

The Independent:

More than 11 million people in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang have been placed into a stringent lockdown after an outbreak of Covid-19.

Residents of the area are not allowed to leave the city, schools have been suspended, gatherings banned, and residential communities and villages closed off.

The stringent measures have been put in place after 117 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Shijiazhuang, including 67 people who are asymptomatic.

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COVID-19 and Surveillance Tech: Year in Review 2020 — from digital rights advocate EFF | Added January 8

From Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Location tracking apps. Spyware to enforce quarantine. Immunity passports. Throughout 2020, governments around the world deployed invasive surveillance technologies to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

But heavy-handed tactics like these undercut public trust in government, precisely when trust is needed most. They also invade our privacy and chill our free speech. And all too often, surveillance technologies disparately burden people of color.

In the United States, EFF and other digital rights advocates turned back some of the worst proposals. But they’ll be back in 2021. Until the pandemic ends, we must hold the line against ill-considered surveillance technologies.

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Austrian court deems virus mask mandates as illegal in December | Added January 8

From Medical Xpress:

Published December 23.

Austria’s Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday that two government measures to fight the spread of coronavirus in schools, compulsory mask-wearing and splitting classes into two halves to be taught in alternate shifts, were illegal.

The split classes system meant that some pupils had lessons on Mondays and Tuesdays and others on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

At all other times they were to stay at home.

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Investigation into death of Florida doctor following Covid vaccine | Added January 7

From USA Today:

A Florida doctor has died several weeks after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, although it’s not yet clear whether his death Monday was related to the shot he received on Dec. 18.

Dr. Gregory Michael, 56, an OB-GYN at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, died after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke apparently resulting from a lack of platelets.

Miami medical examiners are investigating his death,the Florida Department of Health said in a statement.

“The CDC and FDA are responsible for reviewing COVID-19 vaccine safety data and presenting that information for federal recommendations on vaccine administration,” communications director Jason Mahon said in an email. “The state will continue to provide all available information to the CDC as they lead this investigation.”

In a Facebook post, Michael’s wife, Heidi Neckelmann, said he sought emergency care three days after the shot because he had dots on his skin that indicated internal bleeding.

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CNBC has a list of what people might be restricted from doing if they refuse the vaccine | Added January 7

From CNBC:

A perfect storm is brewing as Covid-19 vaccines start to roll out more widely in countries around the world.

While many people can’t wait to protect themselves from the virus, some are adamant that they won’t get the jab, leaving populations divided into those that have been vaccinated and those that haven’t.

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CDC reports more severe allergic reactions to vaccine; rate of reactions is 8x higher than flu vaccines | Added January 7

From Reuters:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday it is carefully monitoring allergic reactions to the coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc and urged individuals who had a serious reaction not to get the second dose.

In a conference call with reporters, the U.S. public health agency said allergic reactions are occurring at a rate of 11.1 per 1 million vaccinations. That compared with flu vaccines, in which such reactions occur at a rate of 1.3 per 1 million shots.

The severe reactions are still “exceedingly rare,” they said, stressing the need for people to get vaccinated when the shots become available to them, given the threat of death and serious disease from the coronavirus that has already claimed more than 357,000 lives in the United States alone.

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Focus on Fauci | Added January 6

From Dr. David Martin at 1:42:35:

“Let’s make sure we are clear… This is not a vaccine. They are using the term ‘vaccine’ to sneak this thing under public health exemptions. This is not a vaccine.

This is mRNA packaged in a fat envelope that is delivered to a cell. It is a medical device designed to stimulate the human cell into becoming a pathogen creator. It is not a vaccine. Vaccines actually are a legally defined term under public health law; they are a legally defined term under CDC and FDA standards.[1] And the vaccine specifically has to stimulate both the immunity within the person receiving it and it also has to disrupt transmission.

And that is not what this is. They (Moderna and Pfizer) have been abundantly clear in saying that the mRNA strand that is going into the cell is not to stop the transmission, it is a treatment. But if it was discussed as a treatment, it would not get the sympathetic ear of public health authorities because then people would say, ‘What other treatments are there?'”

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New York Magazine investigates ‘The Lab-Leak Hypothesis’ and history of gain-of-function research | Added January 6

From New York Magazine:

There is no direct evidence for these zoonotic possibilities, just as there is no direct evidence for an experimental mishap — no written confession, no incriminating notebook, no official accident report. Certainty craves detail, and detail requires an investigation. It has been a full year, 80 million people have been infected, and, surprisingly, no public investigation has taken place. We still know very little about the origins of this disease.

Nevertheless, I think it’s worth offering some historical context for our yearlong medical nightmare. We need to hear from the people who for years have contended that certain types of virus experimentation might lead to a disastrous pandemic like this one. And we need to stop hunting for new exotic diseases in the wild, shipping them back to laboratories, and hot-wiring their genomes to prove how dangerous to human life they might become.

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‘A look at apps that predict the chance of infection and illness depending on what you’re doing and where you are’ — read more in Nature | Added January 6

Thank you, Loreen Costa.

Maybe all these confused medical professionals need an app to tell them what to think. It shouldn’t matter that the base assumptions in the app are dubious — they’re already trained to accept this.

From Nature:

MyCOVIDRisk takes a more situational approach, estimating the risks associated with specific errands or recreational activities. The estimate is based on the location and duration of a gathering, and the number of masked or unmasked people attending. This can help users to avoid activities that are likely to be high risk in a pandemic hotspot, such as spending an hour in an indoor gym, in favour of safer alternatives — a masked meet-up in the park, for instance.

To make predictions, these tools require the latest data and models that accurately capture the current levels of infection and the likelihood of transmission in various scenarios. The New York Times runs a coronavirus database that has become a popular resource, and both MyCOVIDRisk and the Georgia Tech tool use it to assess local disease activity. These calculators are currently focused on the United States, although the Georgia Tech team has extended its tool to cover ten European countries.

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Some history and context for ‘long dormant’ New York State Assembly Bill A-416 | Added January 6

From Politico:

The bill in question was first introduced in 2015, in response to an incident in which a nurse infected with Ebola refused to quarantine. That prompted Perry to propose a new law on quarantining during a pandemic, which he says is aimed to mirror what has long been on the books for mental health patients. During a pandemic, the executive branch would have the authority to detain infected individuals and their contacts “in a medical facility or other appropriate facility.” If the detention lasts longer than three days, the state would need a court order.

“In every civil society … there has to be some manner of insuring that one wild person with concern for the interest of others should be able to cause injury with no consequence at all,” Perry said. “We provide a hearing to a person who may be facing some action and provide time to be heard by a judge.”

Few of Perry’s colleagues thought this was the best approach to addressing problems like the Ebola incident. Not a single one of the 212 other members of the state Legislature ever joined on a cosponsor. Six years later, there’s not even a companion bill in the Senate that would give it the slightest chance of becoming law.

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Covid-19 vaccine debate between Robert Kennedy Jr. and Alan Dershowitz moderated by Patrick Bet-David | Added January 6

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North Carolina’s National Guard to be mobilized by Gov. Roy Cooper to assist with Covid-19 vaccinations | Added January 6

From ABC:

ABC11’s Michael Lozano spoke to Rep. Billy Richardson, a Democrat in District 44, wrote a letter to Gov. Roy Cooper and the General Assembly on Sunday, urging them to reconvene the General Assembly and deploy the N.C. National Guard.

The congressman was compelled to write the 600-word letter after a close friend of his, in Fayetteville, passed away due to COVID-19.

“It touched me so much, because his brother was a dear friend and, um, I said, ‘Enough. We’ve got to, you know, I examined my own conscious and said I’m not doing enough as a representative,'” Richardson said.

A part of the letter says the rising COVID-19 metrics, along with the low vaccination rate, was “disturbing.” Richardson told ABC11 the deployment and incorporation of the N.C. National Guard and Emergency Management will make a big impact on state efforts.

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RFK Jr: New York Times Declines My Rebuttal to Defamatory Op-Ed on COVID Vaccines | Added January 6

From Children’s Health Defense:

On Dec. 30, 2020, the New York Times published an opinion piece by my niece, Dr. Kerry Meltzer. Although the piece contained factual errors and defamatory accusations, the Times declined to publish my letter to the editor correcting those false claims.

The “right of reply” — the opportunity to defend oneself against public criticism in the same venue where that criticism was published — is a constitutional right in some European countries and in Brazil. The BBC’s editorial guidelines state:

“When our output makes allegations of wrongdoing, iniquity or incompetence or lays out a strong and damaging critique of an individual or institution the presumption is that those criticized should be given a “right of reply,” that is, given a fair opportunity to respond to the allegations.”

Even where there is no legal right, respectable journalistic outlets, including the New York Times, have traditionally regarded it as their moral, ethical and professional obligation to publish the replies by people who have been criticized in their pages.

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A-416 in New York is not moving, according to Assemblyman Kevin Cahill’s office | Added January 5

From Eric: Today I spoke with Assemblyman Kevin Cahill’s spokesperson who said that A-416, the medical internment camp bill (formerly A-99), is NOT scheduled for a vote this week. It has not gone to committee yet; therefore it cannot come out of committee to go to the floor. He said the bill had not moved in five years and was unlikely to do so, therefore Cahill had not given comment. You may hear the conversation here if you like, with a little extra about SUNY student governance.

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Flu numbers down an unprecedented 98%; no one thinks to question Covid testing | Added January 5

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Hospitals in New York, Florida threatened to be penalized if vaccines distributed too slowly | Added January 5

From Reuters:

More than two-thirds of the 15 million coronavirus vaccines shipped within the United States have gone unused, U.S. health officials said on Monday, as the governors of New York and Florida vowed to penalize hospitals that fail to dispense shots quickly.

In New York, hospitals must administer vaccines within a week of receiving them or face a fine and a reduction in future supplies, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, hours before announcing the state’s first known case of a new, more infectious coronavirus variant originally detected in Britain.

“I don’t want the vaccine in a fridge or a freezer, I want it in somebody’s arm,” the governor said. “If you’re not performing this function, it does raise questions about the operating efficiency of the hospital.”

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Double Feature: Jon Rappoport on ‘medical weapons of mass destruction’ | Added January 5

From Jon Rappoport:

After a hundred years of intense propaganda promoting the idea that diseases are everywhere, and each disease is caused by a single germ, which must be killed by a medical drug…

The fallout has been extreme, to say the least.

Let’s start here:

When will hysterical defenders of “science” face up to the destruction the US medical system is causing?

Millions of masked people, who border on hysteria, believe they know COVID science.

On closer examination, these people believe what their television sets tell them. They believe Fauci because he’s on television, and he’s talking from the White House, and he disagrees with Trump.

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Double Feature: Jon Rappoport on IG Farben and ‘the roots of the COVID plan’ | Added January 5

From Jon Rappoport:

In 1933, the largest cartel in the world, IG Farben, enabled Hitler’s rise to power. Farben: pharmaceuticals, dyes, chemicals, synthetics.

During WW2, Farben had prisoners shipped from Auschwitz to its nearby facility, where horrendous medical/pharmaceutical experiments were carried out on them.

For accounts, read The Devil’s Chemists, by Josiah DuBois, and The Crime and Punishment of IG Farben, by Joseph Borkin.

At the end of the War, Farben executives were put on trial and, despite the efforts of Telford Taylor, the chief US prosecutor, and assistant prosecutor, Josiah DuBois, the sentences handed out were light.

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The Tyranny of Dogma by Dr. David Rasnick | Added January 4

From The Tyranny of Dogma:

Science used to be one of the most democratic of human activities. Good science was found in every region of the world, irrespective of political, religious, or ideological beliefs. Creative scientists tend to work best alone. Consequently, creative, democratic science is the activity of independent individuals and small groups of collaborators. Regrettably, institutional science has replaced the individual search for enlightenment and understanding—the true domain of science—with the limited, special goals and interests of government and industry. The deluge of trillions of dollars of funding since 1990 has decimated democratic science in the United States. But there is a deeper problem. The very legitimacy of government is threatened by the dysfunctional, malignant bureaucracies created by those trillions of dollars.

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Some public officials to delay getting vaccine | Added January 4

From NYT:

For weeks, images of lawmakers from both parties getting their Covid-19 vaccinations have appeared on TV and across social media, in an effort to boost public confidence in the shots.

But there are now a few high-profile leaders who have chosen to forgo the early vaccines.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York shared his stance on when he would get the vaccine sharply this week: “I’m not going to take the vaccine until the same people are eligible and it is available in the Black and Hispanic and poor communities in this state.”

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Euronews: Turkish scientists say they’ve developed a 10-second COVID-19 test that is 99% accurate | Added January 4

From euronews:

Scientists at a university research centre in Turkey claim they have developed an ultra-rapid coronavirus test with 99% accuracy that can return results within 10 seconds – all without needing to take a nasal swab.

The Diagnovir, developed by researchers at Bilkent University, is a diagnostic kit said to use nanotechnology to detect COVID-19 in a patient.

First, a swab is taken from the patient’s mouth before being mixed with a solution and added to a pathogen detection chip.

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Wisconsin pharmacist intentionally destroyed more than 500 vaccine doses | Added January 1

From NYT:

A pharmacist at a Wisconsin hospital has been arrested and accused of intentionally removing more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine from refrigeration last week, knowing that the vaccines would be rendered useless and that the people receiving them would think they were protected against the virus when they were not, the police department in Grafton, Wisconsin, said Thursday.

The hospital administered some of the doses before realizing that they had been spoiled, the hospital system said.

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December 2020 |November 2020 |October 2020 |September 2020 | August 2020 | July 2020 | June 2020 | May 2020
April 2020 |
March 2020 | Timeline of coronavirus test.

The Coronavirus Novel: Full Portfolio of
Original Articles, Videos and Audios by Eric Francis

Ongoing discussion of Covid issues happens every day on my Facebook timeline. Many of these articles are cross-posted.


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