Wuhan Flu Truth and Big Brother Narratives

[Doctor X]

Sorry to read that, Pyrrho.

– J.D.

[Pyrrho]

Just spoke briefly with my uncle who can barely talk. My aunt has maybe a day or two left. Circulation so poor they would have to amputate her legs. Living will, DNR, and so on--they had decided long ago that if it came to this there would be no good to take such drastic measure at their age. Only a matter of time. Cousin is trying to set up a video call so my uncle can say whatever goodbyes can be said if or when they bring my aunt out of a coma.

Goin' offline here, Boss.

[Witness]

Sorry to hear these bad news, Pyrrho.

And fuck all the covidiots spreading it further.

[Witness]

Devi Sridhar: The UK needs a zero-Covid strategy to prevent endless lockdowns

To avoid restrictions next winter, the UK must seek to eliminate the virus, not merely suppress it, argues the Edinburgh professor of global public health.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Devi Sridhar has been a voice of bracing clarity and urgency. I first interviewed and profiled the Edinburgh professor of global public health last October, discussing the false choice between “saving the economy” and “saving lives”, and we spoke again following the announcement of the second national lockdown. Following the imposition of a third lockdown, we spoke once more on how the UK can escape perpetual crisis.

The UK, not for the first time, has intervened too late against Covid-19. Why does this keep happening?

We don’t have a larger strategy beyond lockdowns to protect health service capacity alongside vaccines to help solve that problem. At the press conference three days ago, you could hear [chief medical officer] Chris Whitty saying we’ll probably have restrictions again next winter and I feel that’s quite a fatalistic strategy, which is this is a virus, we have no control over it and we have to react when the virus does something instead of having a proactive strategy. We know enough from the last ten months to say how we are going to solve this, so that by next winter we aren’t in another lockdown with rising unemployment as well as another thousand deaths a day, which is just appalling at this point [UK daily deaths reached a record 1,325 on 8 January].

We really need a three-phase strategy: right now, it’s survive winter without the NHS collapsing, it’s that basic, and get your restrictions in place and have compliance, it’s your crude, harsh catastrophic lockdown because you’ve got to hammer those numbers to try and make sure that hospitals don’t run out of oxygen and people are not dying because they can’t get care, not just from Covid but from anything.

And then in the next phase, as we enter spring, we should hopefully get our numbers down, get a really functional test and trace system, as well as isolation, the emphasis on isolation and paying people to isolate to get numbers down and compliance up.

Then the summer really has to be about following the East Asian and Pacific model of elimination and then protecting that by telling people they cannot travel abroad, which they [the government] are saying, if you listen to the language it’s shifted, they are saying don’t take non-essential journeys abroad whereas if you listened last summer it was “go abroad on holiday”.

https://www.newstatesman.com/science-te ... -lockdowns for the rest.

[ceptimus]

My condolences Pyrrho.

My niece and her family got it, but seem to have recovered. Her mother-in-law then fell down, breaking her back (not too seriously, but she's bedridden). She was admitted to hospital, where they were worried she would contract the virus, because the hospital is rammed with Covid patients. She's been returned home now, still bedridden, but that's thought to be a safer place right now.

[Pyrrho]

When my sister visited at their home some weeks ago, the hired caregiver (uncle has had home hospice care for quite some time) was coughing and sniffling in the kitchen. No mask, despite all of the strict rules my cousin had set. WTF.

[robinson2]

[robinson2]

So far 8 of my relatives had COVID-19

5 people I know, and two people I know of have died

When I actually meet, or see, a Covid denier, which happens daily, I am not sure what to do

A close friend had it bad, last summer, but I still see people every fucking day who just don’t give a shit


Which is pretty American

[robinson2]

Authorities are still trying to figure out why the homeless populations have not been ravaged, decimated by this deadly easy to spread disease

[gnome]

The answer is, that pretty much is happening.

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/05/false ... -homeless/

[Pyrrho]

My uncle, in tears, about my aunt: "It just ravaged her--" and it was several minutes before he could speak again.

[DJ]

I’m sorry that you and your family are going through this tragedy. I wish I could offer you more than words to combat the pain. My condolences to all of you.

[Pyrrho]

Well, she is gone now.

[Witness]

Condolences, Pyrrho. That virus is really awful.

What floors me is that now that practically everybody has seen the effects first hand or at least has seen it in the news (e. g. the personal medic of the Pope just died from Covid), there are still protests, denial and beliefs in a "Covid hoax". And so half-hearted measures will make things drag on and on.

Keep safe, Pyrrho!

[robinson2]

Whatever you do, don’t think about where this virus came from, or how it spread worldwide

Focus on anything but that

[Pyrrho]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55555466

A World Health Organization (WHO) team due to investigate the origins of Covid-19 in the city of Wuhan has been denied entry to China.

Two members were already en route, with the WHO saying the problem was a lack of visa clearances.

However, China has challenged this, saying details of the visit, including dates, were still being arranged.

The long-awaited probe was agreed upon by Beijing after many months of negotiations with the WHO.

Also

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article ... heory.html

The Lab-Leak Hypothesis For decades, scientists have been hot-wiring viruses in hopes of preventing a pandemic, not causing one. But what if …?

[robinson]

The engineered SARS virus escaped from the lab twice.

In case you don't know, the SARS virus could never be found in the wild. But it was easy to create in the lab, which they did, so they could study it. It escaped twice.

They took the bat virus that was sort of like SARS, and modified it, making SARS

[Pyrrho]

Friends of the family, in their early 30s, got the virus. Husband got "pneumonia" but claims to have tested negative for the virus. Wife got sick and tested positive. Was given inhalers and stuff and is quarantined at their apartment. They have a 3-year-old child and a roommate. They all gonna get sick. Hope they don't get severely ill.

[Witness]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55555466

That article is from 6 days ago. Things have apparently moved a bit:

'Set expectations low': verdict unlikely from WHO team exploring Covid origins in China

Health expert says investigative mission to China is important but don’t expect conclusive outcome

China authorised the visit on Monday, after almost a year of negotiations with the WHO, and opinion is divided over how much access the mission will be allowed.
...
The visit has been the subject of intense diplomatic negotiations and pressure, which are likely to continue while it happens. The scientists on the team believe it is crucial to meet their Chinese counterparts, who have also been studying the virus.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... id-origins

Good luck with that last part.

[Anaxagoras]

So sorry about what happened to your aunt and uncle, Pyrrho. My condolences.

This story from the Atlantic, published on November 20th, was pretty much spot on about how bad things were going to get:

How Many Americans Are About to Die?

The U.S. health-care system has not reduced the deadliness of the coronavirus since July, according to a new estimate by a prominent COVID-19 researcher, which accounts for the lags in public reporting of cases and deaths. Instead, the virus has, with ruthless regularity, killed at least 1.5 percent of all Americans diagnosed with COVID-19 over the past four months.

This rate is a major improvement, down more than tenfold from the earliest days of the pandemic, when deaths were high and the extreme limits on coronavirus testing held down the number of diagnosed cases. But in this new phase of the pandemic, when testing is more widely available and a much higher proportion of cases are diagnosed to begin with, it is also terrible, terrible news.

With about a two-week lag, the number of deaths is around 1.5% of the number of new positive tests. 200 K infections = 3,000 deaths 2 weeks later, etc.

Because the case-fatality rate has stayed fixed for so long and there are now so many reported cases, predicting the virus’s death toll in the near term has become a matter of brutal arithmetic: 150,000 cases a day, times 1.5 percent, will lead to 2,250 daily deaths. In the spring, the seven-day average of daily deaths rose to its highest point ever on April 21, when it reached 2,116 deaths. With cases rising as fast as they are, the U.S. could cross the threshold of 2,000 daily deaths within a month. Without a miraculous improvement in care, the United States is about to face the darkest period of the pandemic so far.

If anything that estimate was conservative. The 7-day average is now over 3,000/day.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracke ... endsdeaths

[robinson2]

What is killing the other 5000 people a day?

[Pyrrho]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-co ... 1610533802

At least two federal agencies worked to distribute Covid-19 tests from a Chinese genetics company, despite warnings about security risks from U.S. intelligence and security officials, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

In the early days of the virus, BGI Group or people trying to distribute its products approached at least 11 states in a sometimes aggressive push to get the products into government-run laboratories or set up entire labs, according to people who received the approaches and documents.

[Witness]

Disappointing Chinese Vaccine Results Pose Setback for Developing World

Brazil says CoronaVac has an efficacy rate just over 50 percent, much lower than previously announced. More than 380 million doses have already been ordered.

Scientists in Brazil have downgraded the efficacy of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine that they hailed as a major triumph last week, diminishing hopes for a shot that could be quickly produced and easily distributed to help the developing world.

Officials at the Butantan Institute in São Paulo said on Tuesday that a trial conducted in Brazil showed that the CoronaVac vaccine, made by the Beijing-based company Sinovac, had an efficacy rate just over 50 percent. That rate, slightly above the benchmark that the World Health Organization has said would make a vaccine effective for general use, was far below the 78 percent level announced last week.

The implications could be significant for a vaccine that is crucial to China’s global health diplomacy. At least 10 countries have ordered more than 380 million doses of CoronaVac, though regulatory agencies have yet to fully approve it.

A senior official in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China that had already ordered CoronaVac, said on Wednesday that an advisory panel would strictly review the vaccine based on clinical trial data before it was rolled out there.

“Those countries that have ordered the Chinese-made vaccines are probably going to question the usefulness of these vaccines,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on health care in China.

“Countries with opposition parties might use this to challenge the decision made by the incumbent government, and that will likely have domestic political implications in these countries,” Mr. Huang said.

Sinovac did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/busi ... novac.html

[Witness]

Popular rabbi warns followers COVID vaccine 'could make you gay'

In addition to purporting a false link between vaccines and homosexuality, Rabbi Daniel Asor also claims that both the virus and the vaccines are the work of a "global malicious government" trying to "establish a new world order."

https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/01/11/ ... e-you-gay/

[robinson]

"both the virus and the vaccines are the work of a "global malicious government" trying to "establish a new world order."

That actually is true. It's the work of China, and the chinese owned assholes worldwide

[robinson2]

[robinson]

It's sort of frightening that it actually did turn out like that

[Anaxagoras]

From the New York Times:

400,000 More U.S. Deaths Than Normal Since Covid-19 Struck

Since March, at least 400,000 more Americans have died than would have in a normal year, a sign of the broad devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

An analysis of mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows how the pandemic is bringing with it unusual patterns of death, even higher than the official totals of deaths that have been directly linked to the virus.

Deaths nationwide were 18 percent higher than normal from March 15, 2020, to Dec. 26, 2020. Our numbers may be an undercount since recent death statistics are still being updated.

Our analysis examines deaths from all causes — not just confirmed cases of coronavirus — beginning when the virus took hold in the United States last spring. That allows comparisons that do not depend on the accuracy of cause-of-death reporting, and includes deaths related to disruptions caused by the pandemic as well as the virus itself. Epidemiologists refer to fatalities in the gap between the observed and normal numbers of deaths as “excess deaths.”

Public health researchers use such methods to measure the impact of catastrophic events when official measures of mortality are flawed.

As Covid-19 cases have spread across the country, the geographic patterns of abnormal mortality statistics have followed. Excess deaths have peaked three times, so far, as have deaths from Covid-19.

There are now excess deaths in every state, with surges in states like California, Colorado, Kansas and Ohio fueling record death tolls in recent weeks.

Counting deaths takes time, and many states are weeks or months behind in reporting. These estimates from the C.D.C. are adjusted based on how mortality data has lagged in previous years. It will take several months before all these numbers are finalized.

During the period of our analysis, estimated excess deaths were 21 percent higher than the official coronavirus fatality count. If this pattern held through Jan. 14, the total death toll would be about 470,000.

For comparison, around 600,000 Americans die from cancer in a normal year. The number of unusual deaths for this period is higher than the typical number of annual deaths from Alzheimers, stroke or diabetes.

Measuring excess deaths does not tell us precisely how each person died. Most of the excess deaths in this period are because of the coronavirus itself. But it is also possible that deaths from other causes have risen too, as hospitals in some hot spots have become overwhelmed and people have been scared to seek care for ailments that are typically survivable. Some causes of death may be declining, as people stay inside more, drive less and limit their contact with others.

Drug deaths also rose steeply in the first half of 2020, according to preliminary C.D.C. mortality data that runs through June of last year, a trend that began before the coronavirus pandemic arrived.

Methodology

Total death numbers are estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are based on death certificates counted by the centers and adjusted to account for typical lags in the reporting of deaths. Coronavirus death numbers are from the New York Times database of reports from state and local health agencies and hospitals. Covid-19 deaths include both confirmed and probable deaths from the virus.

Our charts show weekly deaths above or below normal. They include weeks in which the C.D.C. estimates the data to be at least 90 percent complete or estimated deaths are above expected death numbers. Because states vary somewhat in their speed in reporting deaths to the federal government, these state charts show death trends for slightly different time periods. We have not included weeks in which reported deaths were less than 50 percent of the C.D.C. estimate.

Expected deaths were calculated with a simple model based on the weekly number of all-cause deaths from 2015 to 2019, adjusted to account for trends, like population changes, over time.

Excess death numbers are rounded.

[Witness]

COVID-19 reduced U.S. life expectancy, especially among Black and Latino populations

Researchers found that COVID-19 deaths in 2020 led to the largest single-year decline in life expectancy in at least 40 years.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed more than 336,000 lives in the United States in 2020, has significantly affected life expectancy, USC and Princeton researchers have found.

The researchers project that, due to the pandemic deaths last year, life expectancy at birth for Americans will shorten by 1.13 years to 77.48 years, according to their study published Thursday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That is the largest single-year decline in life expectancy in at least 40 years and is the lowest life expectancy estimated since 2003.

The declines in life expectancy are likely even starker among Black and Latino communities. For Blacks, the researchers project their life expectancy would shorten by 2.10 years to 72.78 years, and for Latinos, by 3.05 years to 78.77 years.

Whites are also impacted, but their projected decline is much smaller — 0.68 years — to a life expectancy of 77.84 years.

Overall, the gap in life expectancy between Blacks and whites is projected to widen by 40%, from 3.6 to more than 5 years — further evidence of the disease’s disparate impact on minority populations.

https://pressroom.usc.edu/covid-19-redu ... pulations/

[robinson2]

[Pyrrho]

...and 400,000+ people in the USA.

[Witness]

COVID 'long haulers': Some who first saw mild symptoms experiencing debilitating problems months later

Many patients, especially those between 40 and 50 years old, who have suffered milder COVID-19 symptoms, are now showing up at the doctor's office months later with puzzling and debilitating problems. It's officially called post-acute COVID syndrome.

Jeff Engman is one of those patients, now called "long haulers."

"I probably was in some of the best shape of my life," said Engman, who added that he likes to work hard and play hard.

But just as he started work on his latest project, the 58-year-old said he was hit hard by COVID-19.

"The fatigue, I was really drained and, you know, could hardly get out of bed," he said.

After a few weeks, Engman thought he had recovered. Then, new problems set in again.

"COVID caused some abscesses in my lungs," Engman said.

And 10 months later, Engman, like many others diagnosed with a coronavirus infection, is still dealing with symptoms.

Dr. Michael Daignault, an emergency medicine physician with Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, says he sees many long haulers.

"Having brain fog, like difficulty concentrating, shortness of breath especially when they're trying to return to their workouts or exercise regimen, and just overall lack of energy, " Dr. Daignault said.

The list of long hauler symptoms can also include body aches, headaches and loss of taste and smell - even if that didn't occur at the height of a person's COVID infection.

The CDC reports that up to 35% of those infected endure symptoms lasting beyond three weeks.

"COVID is a very much a pro-inflammatory state and it causes micro thrombotic or mini-clots to occur at the organ level," Dr. Daignault explained.

Dr. Daignault says research reveals that there are five factors that can raise your risk.

"Being female, being overweight, having a history of asthma, being elderly. And if you had multiple symptoms during your acute phase and infection in your first couple weeks, " he said.

https://abc7.com/covid-long-haulers-symptoms/9632046/

[Witness]

Air quality regulator temporarily suspends cremation limits for LA County amid 'backlog' from pandemic

'Tis just a flu…

[robinson2]

[gnome]

'Tis just a flu…

"Your lung's out!"
"No it isn't."

[robinson]

It will be no surprise to find all the press, and all the tech giants, simply not discuss Sweden.

No locked down shithole countries will even mention it. The insane idiots running the countries with "catastrophic death tolls" will continue to be idiots, and many sheep will follow, even when it means death and destruction.

All the while China smiles, and slowly rubs it's chinese hands together ...

[Witness]

Amazon sends letter to President Biden, says it is ‘ready to assist’ with U.S. vaccination efforts

Amazon says it is ready to turn its facilities into COVID-19 vaccination sites and is offering other resources to the U.S. government.

In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden on Wednesday, Amazon executive Dave Clark said the Seattle tech giant wants to help the Biden administration reach its goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in the next 100 days.

Clark, the CEO of the company’s consumer business, said Amazon has an agreement with a licensed third-party occupational healthcare provider to administer COVID-19 vaccines at its facilities.

“We are prepared to move quickly once vaccines are available,” Clark wrote. “Additionally, we are prepared to leverage our operations, information technology, and communications capabilities and expertise to assist your administration’s vaccination efforts. Our scale allows us to make a meaningful impact immediately in the fight against COVID-19, and we stand ready to assist you in this effort.”

Clark said Amazon employees who can’t work from home — such as those at fulfillment centers, Amazon Web Services data centers, or Whole Foods stores — should be vaccinated “at the earliest appropriate time.”

“We will assist them in that effort,” Clark wrote.

https://www.geekwire.com/2021/amazon-se ... n-efforts/

[Rob Lister]

Shameless

[Witness]

Michigan's health director resigned after the state allowed restaurants to reopen

Robert Gordon announced his resignation from his role as director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) on Friday afternoon.

"Today, I am resigning from the Whitmer Administration," Gordon wrote on Twitter. "It's been an honor to serve alongside wonderful colleagues. I look forward to the next chapter."

Robert Gordon announced his resignation from his role as director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) on Friday afternoon.

"Today, I am resigning from the Whitmer Administration," Gordon wrote on Twitter. "It's been an honor to serve alongside wonderful colleagues. I look forward to the next chapter."

When asked by Metro Times, Whitmer's office did not give a reason for Gordon's departure.

"Governor Whitmer has accepted Robert Gordon’s resignation," deputy press secretary Chelsea Parisio said in an email. "We don't have anything further to add on this issue."

Earlier on Friday, the state announced it will allow restaurants to reopen for indoor dining in February, citing its progress in controlling the spread of the coronavirus as well as the economic hardships the industry has faced.

But in a press release sent at the time, Gordon cautioned against indoor dining at restaurants.

"Today's announcement is possible because of our progress over the last two months," Gordon said in a statement. "Even so, the science is clear that unmasked, indoor activities like dining and drinking are still a source of high risk around COVID-19. The safest course remains to support your favorite restaurant with carryout, delivery or outdoor dining. If individuals choose to eat out, there are two things they can do to make it much safer: go out only with members of their own household and choose a restaurant participating in the MI COVID-19 Safer Dining certification program."

The sentiment was echoed by Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at MDHHS.

"The safest thing to do is to not eat inside a restaurant," she said.

In a statement, Khaldun said that while the state was allowing restaurants to reopen, she warned that people should remain careful — especially considering a highly contagious mutation of the virus that emerged in the United Kingdom has now been detected in Michigan.

"We are pleased to see the improvements in case rates, hospitalizations and percent positivity that have allowed us to reopen more activities," Khaldun said. "However, we must remain vigilant, especially since we now have a new more easily transmitted variant of this virus present in our state. This is not the time to let our guard down and Michiganders should minimize their risk by avoiding gatherings, wearing masks properly, social distancing and making a plan to get their vaccine when it is their turn."

https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/ar ... -to-reopen

[Witness]

China pushes conspiracy theories on COVID origin, vaccines

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Chinese state media have stoked concerns about Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite rigorous trials indicating it is safe. A government spokesperson has raised the unsubstantiated theory that the coronavirus could have emerged from a U.S. military lab, giving it more credence in China.

As the ruling Communist Party faces growing questioning about China’s vaccines and renewed criticism of its early COVID-19 response, it is hitting back by encouraging conspiracy theories that some experts say could cause harm.

State media and officials are sowing doubts about Western vaccines and the origin of the coronavirus in an apparent bid to deflect the attacks. Both issues are in the spotlight because of the rollout of vaccines globally and the recent arrival of a World Health Organization team in Wuhan, China, to investigate the origins of the virus.

Some of these conspiracy theories find a receptive audience at home. The social media hashtag “American’s Ft. Detrick,” started by the Communist Youth League, was viewed at least 1.4 billion times [ ] last week after a Foreign Ministry spokesperson called for a WHO investigation of the biological weapons lab in Maryland.

“It’s purpose is to shift the blame from mishandling by (the) Chinese government in the pandemic’s early days to conspiracy by the U.S.,” said Fang Shimin, a now-U.S.-based writer known for exposing faked degrees and other fraud in Chinese science. “The tactic is quite successful because of widespread anti-American sentiment in China.”

Yuan Zeng, an expert on Chinese media at the University of Leeds in Great Britain, said the government’s stories spread so widely that even well-educated Chinese friends have asked her whether they might be true.

https://apnews.com/article/china-corona ... d0c90f7418