marsh
On TB every waking moment
4:05 min
Californians 'fed up' with COVID restrictions: 'Enough is enough'
Jul 14, 2021
Fox News
Melissa O'Connor, a San Diego mother of four, explains how the state's mandates are hurting small businesses.
CORONA Main Coronavirus thread
- Thread starter Heliobas Disciple
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- coronavirus
4:05 min
Californians 'fed up' with COVID restrictions: 'Enough is enough'
Jul 14, 2021
Fox News
Melissa O'Connor, a San Diego mother of four, explains how the state's mandates are hurting small businesses.
jward
passin' thru
Dr. Simone Gold
@drsimonegold
8m
Thousands rally against COVID-19 vaccinations in Athens, Greece. The pushback is global.
View: https://twitter.com/drsimonegold/status/1415459775186362369?s=20
@drsimonegold
8m
Thousands rally against COVID-19 vaccinations in Athens, Greece. The pushback is global.
View: https://twitter.com/drsimonegold/status/1415459775186362369?s=20
AlaskaSue
North to the Future
49 active cases now in Alaska. Under 70K positive tests since the starting point last year.
Having said that, I’ll note that this time last year is when we saw an upswing in numbers, and we will again this year especially since we now have tourists and cruise ships again. But I never see masks anywhere that I go these days (admittedly a small area unless I take a drive up north a few hours to see my sister).
It is becoming less and less a topic of conversation - for which I am very very thankful. Sounds bad to say that because people have indeed suffered. #covidfatigue
Having said that, I’ll note that this time last year is when we saw an upswing in numbers, and we will again this year especially since we now have tourists and cruise ships again. But I never see masks anywhere that I go these days (admittedly a small area unless I take a drive up north a few hours to see my sister).
It is becoming less and less a topic of conversation - for which I am very very thankful. Sounds bad to say that because people have indeed suffered. #covidfatigue
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
The Right To Be Let Alone: What To Do When COVID Strike Force Teams Come Knocking
WEDNESDAY, JUL 14, 2021 - 11:50 PM
Authored by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,
A federal COVID-19 vaccination strike force may soon be knocking on your door, especially if you live in a community with low vaccination rates. Will you let them in?
More to the point, are you required to open the door?
The Biden Administration has announced that it plans to send federal “surge response teams” on a “targeted community door-to-door outreach“ to communities with low vaccination rates in order to promote the safety and accessibility of the COVID-19 vaccines.
That’s all fine and good as far as government propaganda goes, but nothing is ever as simple or as straightforward as the government claims, especially not when armed, roving bands of militarized agents deployed by the Nanny State show up at your door with an agenda that is at odds with what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis referred to as the constitutional “right to be let alone.”
Any attempt by the government to encroach upon the citizenry’s privacy rights or establish a system by which the populace can be targeted, tracked and singled out must be met with extreme caution. These door-to-door “visits” by COVID-19 surge response teams certainly qualify as a government program whose purpose, while seemingly benign, raises significant constitutional concerns.
First, there is the visit itself.
While government agents can approach, speak to and even question citizens without violating the Fourth Amendment, Americans have a right not to answer questions or even speak with a government agent.
Courts have upheld these “knock and talk” visits as lawful, reasoning that even though the curtilage of the home is protected by the Fourth Amendment, there is an implied license to approach a residence, knock on the door/ring the bell, and seek to contact occupants. However, the encounter is wholly voluntary and a person is under no obligation to speak with a government agent in this situation.
Indeed, you don’t even need to answer or open the door in response to knocking/ringing by a government agent, and if you do answer the knock, you can stop speaking at any time. You also have the right to demand that government agents leave the property once the purpose of the visit is established. Government officials would not be enforcing any law or warrant in this context, and so they don’t have the authority of law to remain on the property after a homeowner or resident specifically revokes the implied license to come onto the property.
When the government’s actions go beyond merely approaching the door and knocking, it risks violating the Fourth Amendment, which requires a warrant and probable cause of possible wrongdoing in order to search one’s property. A government agent would violate the Fourth Amendment if he snooped around the premises, peering into window and going to other areas in search of residents.
It should be pointed out that some judges (including Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch) believe that placing “No Trespassing” signs or taking other steps to impede access to the door is sufficient to negate any implied permission for government agents or others to approach your home, but this view does not have general acceptance.
While in theory one can refuse to speak with police or other government officials during a “knock and talk” encounter, as the courts have asserted as a justification for dismissing complaints about this police investigative tactic, the reality is far different. Indeed, it is unreasonable to suggest that individuals caught unaware by these tactics will not feel pressured in the heat of the moment to comply with a request to speak with government agents who display official credentials and are often heavily armed, let alone allow them to search one’s property. Even when such consent is denied, police have been known to simply handcuff the homeowner and conduct a search over his objections.
Second, there is the danger inherent in these knock-and-talk encounters.
Although courts have embraced the fiction that “knock and talks” are “voluntary” encounters that are no different from other door-to-door canvassing, these constitutionally dubious tactics are highly intimidating confrontations meant to pressure individuals into allowing police access to one’s home, which then paves the way for a warrantless search of one’s home and property.
The act of going to homes and taking steps to speak with occupants is akin to the “knock and talk” tactic used by police, which can be fraught with danger for homeowners and government agents alike. Indeed, “knock-and-talk” policing has become a thinly veiled, warrantless exercise by which citizens are coerced and intimidated into “talking” with heavily armed police who “knock” on their doors in the middle of the night.
“Knock-and-shoot” policing might be more accurate, however.
“Knock and talks” not only constitute severe violations of the privacy and security of homeowners, but the combination of aggression and surprise employed by police is also a recipe for a violent confrontation that rarely ends well for those on the receiving end of these tactics.
For example, although 26-year-old Andrew Scott had committed no crime and never fired a single bullet or threatened police, he was gunned down by police who knocked aggressively on the wrong door at 1:30 am, failed to identify themselves as police, and then repeatedly shot and killed Scott when he answered the door while holding a gun in self-defense. The police were investigating a speeding incident by engaging in a middle-of-the-night “knock and talk” in Scott’s apartment complex.
Carl Dykes was shot in the face by a county deputy who pounded on Dykes’ door in the middle of the night without identifying himself. Because of reports that inmates had escaped from a local jail, Dykes brought a shotgun with him when he answered the door.
As these and other incidents make clear, while Americans have a constitutional right to question the legality of a police action or resist an unlawful police order, doing so can often get one arrested, shot or killed.
Third, there is the question of how the government plans to use the information it obtains during these knock-and-talk visits.
Because the stated purpose of the program is to promote vaccination, homeowners and others who reside at the residence will certainly be asked if they are vaccinated. Again, you have a right not to answer this or any other question. Indeed, an argument could be made that even asking this question is improper if the purpose of the program is merely to ensure that Americans “have the information they need on how both safe and accessible the vaccine is.”
Under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, an agency should only collect and maintain information about an individual as is “relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the agency.” In this situation, the government agent could accomplish the purpose of assuring persons have information about the vaccine simply by providing that information (either in writing or orally) and would not need to know the vaccination status of the residents. To the extent the agents do request, collect and store information about residents’ vaccination status, this could be a Privacy Act violation.
Of course, there is always the danger that this program could be used for other, more nefarious, purposes not related to vaccination encouragement. As with knock-and-talk policing, government agents might misuse their appearance of authority to gain entrance to a residence and obtain other information about it and those who live there. Once the door is opened by a resident, anything the agents can see from their vantage point can be reported to law enforcement authorities.
Moreover, while presumably the targeting will be of areas with demonstrated low vaccination rates, there is no guarantee that this program would not be used as cover for conducting surveillance on areas deemed to be “high crime” areas as a way of obtaining intelligence for law enforcement purposes.
We’ve been down this road before, with the government sending its spies to gather intel on American citizens by questioning them directly, or by asking their neighbors to snitch on them.
Remember the egregiously invasive and intrusive American Community Survey?
Unlike the traditional census, which collects data every ten years, the American Community Survey (ACS) is sent to about 3 million homes per year at a reported cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. Moreover, while the traditional census is limited to ascertaining the number of persons living in each dwelling, their ages and ethnicities, the ownership of the dwelling and telephone numbers, the ACS is much more intrusive, asking questions relating to respondents’ bathing habits, home utility costs, fertility, marital history, work commute, mortgage, and health insurance, among other highly personal and private matters.
Individuals who receive the ACS must complete it or be subject to monetary penalties. Although no reports have surfaced of individuals actually being penalized for refusing to answer the survey, the potential fines that can be levied for refusing to participate in the ACS are staggering. For every question not answered, there is a $100 fine. And for every intentionally false response to a question, the fine is $500. Therefore, if a person representing a two-person household refused to fill out any questions or simply answered nonsensically, the total fines could range from upwards of $10,000 and $50,000 for noncompliance.
At 28 pages (with an additional 16-page instruction packet), the ACS contains some of the most detailed and intrusive questions ever put forth in a census questionnaire. These concern matters that the government simply has no business knowing, including questions relating to respondents’ bathing habits, home utility costs, fertility, marital history, work commute, mortgage, and health insurance, among others. For instance, the ACS asks how many persons live in your home, along with their names and detailed information about them such as their relationship to you, marital status, race and their physical, mental and emotional problems, etc. The survey also asks how many bedrooms and bathrooms you have in your house, along with the fuel used to heat your home, the cost of electricity, what type of mortgage you have and monthly mortgage payments, property taxes and so on.
However, that’s not all.
Part 1 of 2
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Part 2 of 2
The survey also demands to know how many days you were sick last year, how many automobiles you own and the number of miles driven, whether you have trouble getting up the stairs, and what time you leave for work every morning, along with highly detailed inquiries about your financial affairs. And the survey demands that you violate the privacy of others by supplying the names and addresses of your friends, relatives and employer. The questionnaire also demands that you give other information on the people in your home, such as their educational levels, how many years of school were completed, what languages they speak and when they last worked at a job, among other things.
While some of the ACS’ questions may seem fairly routine, the real danger is in not knowing why the information is needed, how it will be used by the government or with whom it will be shared.
Finally, you have the right to say “no.”
Whether police are knocking on your door at 2 am or 2:30 pm, as long as you’re being “asked” to talk to a police officer who is armed to the teeth and inclined to kill at the least provocation, you don’t really have much room to resist, not if you value your life.
Mind you, these knock-and-talk searches are little more than police fishing expeditions carried out without a warrant.
The goal is intimidation and coercion.
Unfortunately, with police departments increasingly shifting towards pre-crime policing and relying on dubious threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports aimed at snaring potential enemies of the state, we’re going to see more of these warrantless knock-and-talk police tactics by which police attempt to circumvent the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement and prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.
Here’s the bottom line.
These agents are coming to your home with one purpose in mind: to collect information on you.
It’s a form of intimidation, of course. You shouldn’t answer any questions you’re uncomfortable answering about your vaccine history or anything else. The more information you give them, the more it can be used against you. Just ask them politely but firmly to leave.
In this case, as in so many interactions with government agents, the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments (and your cell phone recording the encounter) are your best protection.
Under the First Amendment, you don’t have to speak (to government officials or anyone else). The Fourth Amendment protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. And under the Fifth Amendment, you have a right to remain silent and not say anything which might be used against you.
You can also post a “No Trespassing” sign on your property to firmly announce that you are exercising your right to be left alone. If you see government officials wandering around your property and peering through windows, in my opinion, you have a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Government officials can ring the doorbell, but once you put them on notice that it’s time for them to leave, they can’t stay on your property.
It’s important to be as clear as possible and inform them that you will call the police if they don’t leave. You may also wish to record your encounter with the government agent. If they still don’t leave, immediately call the local police and report a trespasser on your property.
Remember, you have rights.
The government didn’t want us to know about—let alone assert—those rights during this whole COVID-19 business.
After all, for years now, the powers-that-be—those politicians and bureaucrats who think like tyrants and act like petty dictators regardless of what party they belong to—have attempted to brainwash us into believing that we have no right to think for ourselves, make decisions about our health, protect our homes and families and businesses, act in our best interests, demand accountability and transparency from government, or generally operate as if we are in control of our own lives.
But we have every right, and you know why?
Because as the Declaration of Independence states, we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights—to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness—that no government can take away from us.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped the government from constantly trying to usurp our freedoms at every turn. Indeed, the nature of government is such that it invariably oversteps its limits, abuses its authority, and flexes its totalitarian muscles.
Take this COVID-19 crisis, for example.
What started out as an apparent effort to prevent a novel coronavirus from sickening the nation (and the world) has become yet another means by which world governments (including our own) can expand their powers, abuse their authority, and further oppress their constituents.
The government has made no secret of its plans.
Just follow the money trail, and you’ll get a sense of what’s in store: more militarized police, more SWAT team raids, more surveillance, more lockdowns, more strong-armed tactics aimed at suppressing dissent and forcing us to comply with the government’s dictates.
It’s chilling to think about, but it’s not surprising.
In many ways, this COVID-19 state of emergency has invested government officials (and those who view their lives as more valuable than ours) with a sanctimonious, self-righteous, arrogant, Big Brother Knows Best approach to top-down governing, and the fall-out can be seen far and wide.
It’s an ugly, self-serving mindset that views the needs, lives and rights of “we the people” as insignificant when compared to those in power.
That’s how someone who should know better such as Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor, can suggest that a free people—born in freedom, endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights, and living in a country birthed out of a revolutionary struggle for individual liberty—have no rights to economic freedom, to bodily integrity, or to refuse to comply with a government order with which they disagree.
According to Dershowitz, who has become little more than a legal apologist for the power elite, “You have no right not to be vaccinated, you have no right not to wear a mask, you have no right to open up your business… And if you refuse to be vaccinated, the state has the power to literally take you to a doctor’s office and plunge a needle into your arm.”
Dershowitz is wrong: as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, while the courts may increasingly defer to the government’s brand of Nanny State authoritarianism, we still have rights.
The government may try to abridge those rights, it may refuse to recognize them, it may even attempt to declare martial law and nullify them, but it cannot litigate, legislate or forcefully eradicate them out of existence.
The survey also demands to know how many days you were sick last year, how many automobiles you own and the number of miles driven, whether you have trouble getting up the stairs, and what time you leave for work every morning, along with highly detailed inquiries about your financial affairs. And the survey demands that you violate the privacy of others by supplying the names and addresses of your friends, relatives and employer. The questionnaire also demands that you give other information on the people in your home, such as their educational levels, how many years of school were completed, what languages they speak and when they last worked at a job, among other things.
While some of the ACS’ questions may seem fairly routine, the real danger is in not knowing why the information is needed, how it will be used by the government or with whom it will be shared.
Finally, you have the right to say “no.”
Whether police are knocking on your door at 2 am or 2:30 pm, as long as you’re being “asked” to talk to a police officer who is armed to the teeth and inclined to kill at the least provocation, you don’t really have much room to resist, not if you value your life.
Mind you, these knock-and-talk searches are little more than police fishing expeditions carried out without a warrant.
The goal is intimidation and coercion.
Unfortunately, with police departments increasingly shifting towards pre-crime policing and relying on dubious threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports aimed at snaring potential enemies of the state, we’re going to see more of these warrantless knock-and-talk police tactics by which police attempt to circumvent the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement and prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.
Here’s the bottom line.
These agents are coming to your home with one purpose in mind: to collect information on you.
It’s a form of intimidation, of course. You shouldn’t answer any questions you’re uncomfortable answering about your vaccine history or anything else. The more information you give them, the more it can be used against you. Just ask them politely but firmly to leave.
In this case, as in so many interactions with government agents, the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments (and your cell phone recording the encounter) are your best protection.
Under the First Amendment, you don’t have to speak (to government officials or anyone else). The Fourth Amendment protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. And under the Fifth Amendment, you have a right to remain silent and not say anything which might be used against you.
You can also post a “No Trespassing” sign on your property to firmly announce that you are exercising your right to be left alone. If you see government officials wandering around your property and peering through windows, in my opinion, you have a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Government officials can ring the doorbell, but once you put them on notice that it’s time for them to leave, they can’t stay on your property.
It’s important to be as clear as possible and inform them that you will call the police if they don’t leave. You may also wish to record your encounter with the government agent. If they still don’t leave, immediately call the local police and report a trespasser on your property.
Remember, you have rights.
The government didn’t want us to know about—let alone assert—those rights during this whole COVID-19 business.
After all, for years now, the powers-that-be—those politicians and bureaucrats who think like tyrants and act like petty dictators regardless of what party they belong to—have attempted to brainwash us into believing that we have no right to think for ourselves, make decisions about our health, protect our homes and families and businesses, act in our best interests, demand accountability and transparency from government, or generally operate as if we are in control of our own lives.
But we have every right, and you know why?
Because as the Declaration of Independence states, we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights—to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness—that no government can take away from us.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped the government from constantly trying to usurp our freedoms at every turn. Indeed, the nature of government is such that it invariably oversteps its limits, abuses its authority, and flexes its totalitarian muscles.
Take this COVID-19 crisis, for example.
What started out as an apparent effort to prevent a novel coronavirus from sickening the nation (and the world) has become yet another means by which world governments (including our own) can expand their powers, abuse their authority, and further oppress their constituents.
The government has made no secret of its plans.
Just follow the money trail, and you’ll get a sense of what’s in store: more militarized police, more SWAT team raids, more surveillance, more lockdowns, more strong-armed tactics aimed at suppressing dissent and forcing us to comply with the government’s dictates.
It’s chilling to think about, but it’s not surprising.
In many ways, this COVID-19 state of emergency has invested government officials (and those who view their lives as more valuable than ours) with a sanctimonious, self-righteous, arrogant, Big Brother Knows Best approach to top-down governing, and the fall-out can be seen far and wide.
It’s an ugly, self-serving mindset that views the needs, lives and rights of “we the people” as insignificant when compared to those in power.
That’s how someone who should know better such as Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor, can suggest that a free people—born in freedom, endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights, and living in a country birthed out of a revolutionary struggle for individual liberty—have no rights to economic freedom, to bodily integrity, or to refuse to comply with a government order with which they disagree.
According to Dershowitz, who has become little more than a legal apologist for the power elite, “You have no right not to be vaccinated, you have no right not to wear a mask, you have no right to open up your business… And if you refuse to be vaccinated, the state has the power to literally take you to a doctor’s office and plunge a needle into your arm.”
Dershowitz is wrong: as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, while the courts may increasingly defer to the government’s brand of Nanny State authoritarianism, we still have rights.
The government may try to abridge those rights, it may refuse to recognize them, it may even attempt to declare martial law and nullify them, but it cannot litigate, legislate or forcefully eradicate them out of existence.
naegling62
Veteran Member
Uh oh... here's a little sand for your swimsuit. Apparently from UK government data, if you're over 50 and not vaccinated you have much higher chance of survival from Delta. 69% of deaths in that age bracket are vaccinated:
19:38 is where he breaks that down.
RT 28:13
View: https://youtu.be/jRQ8bneI7vs
19:38 is where he breaks that down.
RT 28:13
Last edited:
marsh
On TB every waking moment
IT BEGINS: US Government Is Keeping a List of Who Has Taken the COVID Vaccine and Contacting Individuals Not Vaccinated | The Gateway Pundit | by Joe Hoft
Colorado is keeping a list of individuals in the state who have not taken the China coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine and calling them and encouraging them to take it.
www.thegatewaypundit.com
IT BEGINS: US Government Is Keeping a List of Who Has Taken the COVID Vaccine and Contacting Individuals Not Vaccinated
By Joe Hoft
Published July 15, 2021 at 11:15am
Colorado is keeping a list of individuals in the state who have not taken the China coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine and calling them and encouraging them to take it.
One citizen in the state of Colorado shared with us that she had been contacted by the state.
The individual shared the call information –
According to the Colorada Department of Public Health and Environment, they are beginning a call campaign to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Our source shared – This confirms our government is indeed keeping a list of who has taken the COVID vaccine.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
The Goons are Loose: Biden's Jab Patrol Spotted Going Door to Door; Now Offering Shots on the Spot (Video) | The Gateway Pundit | by Julian Conradson
Well that didn’t take long. Just days after it was announced, Biden’s soviet-style intimidation program is in full swing.
www.thegatewaypundit.com
The Goons are Loose: Biden’s Jab Patrol Spotted Going Door to Door; Now Offering Shots on the Spot (Video)
By Julian Conradson
Published July 15, 2021 at 9:00am
Well that didn’t take long.
Just days after it was announced, Biden’s soviet-style intimidation program is in full swing. Video that was released on Wednesday shows vaccine agents peddling the experimental jab in the neighborhood streets of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Health department workers joined the vax-peddlers so they could harass and vaccinate residents right at their front door. They aim to “eliminate any excuse” that people may have for making their own decision about their health.
They ensured that you can’t just send them away by ‘saying’ you would get vaccinated, if you turn down a jab at the door you will surely make their ‘list.’
Video:
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1414980282751410193
1:36 min
Unsuspecting citizens who are confronted with a needle and pressured at their homes are 5x more likely to get vaccinated according to recent pilot programs conducted in High Point, North Carolina.
Vaxtivists were also caught ignoring a do not disturb sign in Los Angeles California. When an annoyed resident called them out on it, they tried leaving without identifying themselves before being forced to mutter who they were as they slunk away.
Unfortunately for them, the training script didn’t cover what to do in case of “do not disturb” signs.
Watch:
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1415004382098300929
.46 min
Everyone should take a page out of her book. This is America, not soviet Russia. GET OUTTA HERE WITH THAT.
WCNC-TV interviewed some of the volunteers who went door to door. They were all eager to do what they were told by their Marxist overlords, one of them explained it is their “whole job” to keep up the covid hoax narrative.
“It’s not confrontational. It’s not like ‘you’ve got to get the shot,’ but our whole is job to dispel those types of misinfo.. rumors and things.”
Just one question – Do you feel more or less free in Biden’s America?
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Indiana University students seek preliminary injunction to stop vaccine mandate
There were nearly three hours of arguments in Northern Indiana US District Court on Tuesday and here is a brief breakdown.
www.wndu.com
Indiana University students seek preliminary injunction to stop vaccine mandate
Video on website 2:27 min
By Zach Horner
Published: Jul. 13, 2021 at 4:45 PM PDT
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) -Happening today, eight Indiana University students are suing after the IU Board of Trustees decided to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for students, faculty and staff. That mandate was announced back on May 21st.
There were nearly three hours of arguments in court on Tuesday and here is a brief breakdown.
Ahead of the lawsuit, the attorney for the eight IU students is seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the vaccine mandate before the lawsuit proceedings begin. Those students object to having a vaccine required to go to school at Indiana University. IU’s attorney’s say that students still have a choice and could choose to just go to a different school.
Attorney James Bopp says there are still a lot of unknowns about the vaccine in terms of side effects as those vaccines do not have full FDA approval, just emergency use authorization. He adds that this mandate violates the students’ 14th Amendment rights. 14th Amendment
Bopp also says that Indiana University is the only state university in Indiana to mandate the vaccine.
At one point during Tuesday’s proceedings, the subject of exemptions to the vaccine were presented. Bopp and Judge Damon R. Leichty went back and forth over IU needing to require exemptions for religious reasons, bodily autonomy, and right to choose medical treatment. The judge said, with regard to bodily autonomy, there is no caselaw precedent set to establish bodily autonomy as a fundamental right, and that it is a liberty, thus may not be a reason to scrap the vaccine mandate from IU.
Here is an excerpt from IU’s COVID-19 vaccine policy, there are consequences for refusing the vaccine and going to school at IU:
If you choose not to meet the requirement
IU has outlined strong consequences for those who choose not to meet the COVID-19 vaccine requirement and do not receive an exemption. Everyone is strongly encouraged to get the vaccine as soon as possible not only for your own health and safety but for those around you as well.
For students, they will see their class registration cancelled, CrimsonCard access terminated, access to IU systems (Canvas, email, etc.) terminated, and will not be allowed to participate in any on campus activity.
Faculty and staff who choose not to meet the requirement will no longer be able to be employed by Indiana University. Working remotely and not meeting the COVID-19 vaccine requirement is not an option.
Exemption request process
Approved exemptions include:
- Religious exemptions.
- Medical exemptions with documentation from your provider of an allergy to the COVID-19 vaccines or their components.
- Medical deferrals for the following circumstances with a note from your provider: Active pregnancy or active breastfeeding only if the provider is requesting an exemption. The exemption lasts only until you’re no longer actively pregnant or actively breastfeeding. Pregnancy and breastfeeding are not contraindications for vaccination. Immunocompromised individuals only with provider request for an exemption and only for those who have recent (within the past 3-6 months) hematopoietic or solid organ transplant, or on active treatment with Rituximab within the past 3-6 months. Have received COVID-specific monoclonal antibodies in the past 90 days.
- An online program exemption for students who are in a 100% online program with no on-campus component. This must be an online program; not simply taking all online classes.
--------
Here is a link to the full policy: COVID-19 Vaccine: Prevent the Spread: COVID-19: Indiana University
Bopp moved on to argue that reports from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, that allows people to report negative side effects from the vaccine shows that there are side effects out there that should be taken into consideration. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)
However, Judge Leichty clarified that those reports are far from scientific, are not peer-reviewed, and are merely anecdotal.
When taking aim at IU’s Attorney’s, the judge questioned the vaccine mandate from Indiana University and added that there are no scientific studies to rule out all of the risks and concerns people have with these COVID-19 vaccines.
The University’s attorneys fell back on a Supreme Court ruling from 1905 (the case began in 1904) Jacobson V. Massachusetts that sets caselaw allowing compulsory or required vaccinations.
Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905)
IU’s legal team says this US District Court in Northern Indiana has no authority to reject that ruling.
I asked the IU students’ attorney about that, he thinks that ruling could be overturned.
“Giving no authority to the courts to review a public health measure imposed by the government? That’s ludicrous. Alright? So I think they would, but fortunately for me there’s also an exception, because Jacobson recognized that if Constitutional rights were violated, and we have modern recognition of Constitutional rights, including bodily integrity, since Jacobson, ok? If they’re violated then the government, in this case IU has to show that it’s a reasonable measure that legitimately advances public health,” James Bopp, attorney for the 8 IU students, says.
I asked IU’s legal team for comment but they said I would need to contact the University’s Communication Department. Judge Leichty didn’t give a date on when he will decide on that injunction but did say it would be “very, very soon” once he can review the case and the more than 100 exhibits presented.
Attorney James Bopp says this case could set precedent going for in terms of public entities and their ability to mandate the vaccine.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Tougher tactics for the unvaccinated needed to stop new rise in COVID-19, experts say
Luke Money, Rong-Gong Lin II 1 day ago
With coronavirus cases rising among the unvaccinated and efforts to get them shots lagging, there is growing belief in some public health circles that more aggressive tactics are needed to get more of the population inoculated.
California has already tried prizes and game show-style events to encourage people to get vaccinated. But 41% of Californians of all ages have yet to be inoculated. And two troubling and related trends are bringing calls for fresh thinking.
The coronavirus is spreading in California — mostly among unvaccinated people. While cases and hospitalizations are still more than 93% lower than they were at the peak, new daily coronavirus cases have nearly tripled over the last month, from about 900 a day to more than 2,600 a day; hospitalizations have risen by nearly 75%, from 915 to 1,594.
Meanwhile, the pace of vaccinations continues to tail off. Only about 58,000 vaccine doses a day are being administered statewide, according to figures compiled by The Times. Though that average could rise as more data are reported, it won't come close to the peak of 400,000 a day.
The solution won't be easy, but officials and experts are pretty confident they know what will work.
First, sending trusted people in communities to advocate for vaccinations at events and doing door-to-door outreach can do wonders in convincing people to get vaccinated, said UC San Francisco epidemiologist Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo. Getting vaccines into the offices of primary care physicians, where doctors can answer patients' questions directly, can help too.
Another strategy would involve new requirements to get vaccinated, such as at workplaces, Bibbins-Domingo said. Short of that, she said, employers could require unvaccinated workers to get tested daily — an approach that has been used elsewhere around the world.
"When being vaccinated becomes the more convenient of the two options, that will drive people to be vaccinated," Bibbins-Domingo said. "You have to make it slightly less convenient to be unvaccinated at this point.
"If you choose to get tested every day, because you don't believe in vaccination, that might be fine. But I think for some, being tested every day or being tested at some very regular interval might be that the thing that says: 'Well, yeah, when I look at the risk and benefits, the vaccine is looking a little bit better.'"
Fully vaccinated people do have very good protection against coronavirus infection and illness. Between Dec. 7 and June 7, unvaccinated people in L.A. County comprised 99.6% of its coronavirus cases, 98.7% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 99.8% of deaths.
Nonetheless, outbreaks can still be disruptive — and a vaccinated person's chance of getting infected, while quite small, is worse if they're around unvaccinated and infected people. At the state Capitol, 10 people have recently tested positive for the coronavirus, including some who were fully vaccinated.
Some health experts have suggested that even vaccinated people wear masks voluntarily in indoor public spaces when weekly case rates are high, which would reduce the risk of a "breakthrough" coronavirus infection.
San Francisco has been a leader in imposing vaccination requirements for certain workers.
Already, San Francisco has ordered all workers in "high-risk settings," such as hospitals, nursing homes and residential facilities for the elderly, homeless and jails, to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 15. An exemption will be available for workers with valid religious and medical reasons, and they will be required to get tested for the virus weekly.
San Francisco has also ordered all 35,000 of its city workers — including police, firefighters, custodians and clerks — to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs, unless they have a religious or medical exemption, once a vaccine has been formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Currently, all three available vaccines are being distributed under an emergency use authorization.
The University of California and California State University systems have also announced they will eventually require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff on campus properties. Dozens of colleges nationwide have said they'll require vaccination for enrollment in the fall, including Yale, Princeton and Columbia.
Even if mandates ultimately become more commonplace, on-the-ground outreach is still essential, experts say. And there is good reason to believe more of it will help.
San Francisco, for instance, has one of the highest vaccination rates in California — 75% of residents of all ages are at least partly vaccinated, and 69% are fully vaccinated. While the per capita case rate has increased, it's still half of L.A. County's. And while hospitalizations are up in L.A. County, they remain generally stable in San Francisco.
San Francisco's outreach to the hard-hit Latino community in particular has been a model, with 72% of Latino residents having received at least one dose — a rate even better than white residents, 65% of whom are at least partially vaccinated.
In much of the U.S., the vaccination rate for Latinos lags behind white residents.
There have been teams that go out to places like San Francisco's Tenderloin District, where they interact with people on the streets, in stores and churches to promote vaccinations and administer the shots.
And that kind of interaction can make the difference: Some people can work long hours, and having vaccination advocates make their pitch and answer questions causes someone to finally decide to take the shot, Bibbins-Domingo said.
It's also important that the people delivering the messages and shots are well trusted in the community.
"It is the linking to the conversation to the actual getting of the shot — and getting the shot from somebody you know and trust — that are the one-two punch to get the job done. And it has been working," Bibbins-Domingo said.
"It's just a slow strategy," she added. But "there are no shortcuts. We have to double down on doing this again — especially for people for whom there are some barriers, whether it is just having the conversation or mistrust."
Convincing younger adults by using some combination of the following messages can work: Infected people who were unvaccinated have a greater risk of long-term illness, and unvaccinated people are at greater risk of transmitting the virus to friends and family, including people who have compromised immune systems and might be more likely to get sick.
For many, the personal touch may also be vital — especially when it comes to combating misinformation surrounding the shots. As Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. County's health services director, noted Tuesday: “Relationships really matter.”
“One-on-one conversations — it’s very labor intensive, not always very fast, it takes time. But that’s been the best thing that has really helped,” she said.
In Santa Clara County, which also has a high vaccination rate and stable hospitalizations, officials identified census tracts with the lowest vaccination rates and focused on them to launch vaccination clinics. They've also focused on essential workers in industries like child care, education and agriculture, and have worked with unions and employers to reach more people.
In the Central Valley, UC Merced Community and Labor Center Executive Director Ana Padilla said there still needs to be better access to the vaccine — and good information about it — to people like agricultural workers, who are now working the busiest time of the year. She suggested that there be a greater effort to link trusted community-based groups to administer vaccines near work sites, which will be better equipped to answer questions from workers.
"If you work 8 to 8 — every single day of the week — so that you have enough money to get through those hard winter months, you don't have the options [to seek vaccinations] that other folks might believe that you have," Padilla said.
L.A. County — where 60% of residents of all ages have at least one dose, and 52% are fully vaccinated — is taking a similar approach in focusing vaccination clinics in hard-hit areas. But L.A. County has a far more vast challenge — it's the nation's most populous county, and blanketing the county with intense outreach efforts might be more difficult here.
Times staff writer John Myers and intern Melissa Hernandez contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Posted for fair use.....
www.nbcsandiego.com
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County to Re-impose Indoor Mask Mandate
By NBC 7 Staff • Published July 15, 2021 • Updated 4 hours ago
In the face of steadily increasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, Los Angeles County residents will again be required to wear masks in indoor public settings beginning Saturday night, health officials announced today.
County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said the county is "not where we need to be'' in terms of vaccinations against the virus, as evidenced by seven straight days of new cases numbers that topped 1,000. On Thursday, the county reported 1,537 new infections, the highest number since early March.
View: https://twitter.com/SanDiegoCounty/status/1415809162634620931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1415809263016968194%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcsandiego.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Flos-angeles-county-re-imposes-mask-mandate%2F2657089%2F
Meanwhile, in San Diego County, Tammy Glenn, the assistant director of the County of San Diego Communications Office, told NBC 7 that the county would continue to follow state guidance on mask wearing and urge people to get vaccinated to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
For its part, the California Department of Public Health said the "state’s existing Face Covering Guidance remains in place" but that state officials support the "ability of local health jurisdictions to enact stricter local public health guidance that is tailored to the situation in their communities, as some counties have done."
In Los Angeles, Davis said the rate of virus spread in the county has officially risen from moderate to substantial, with infections five times more likely to occur among unvaccinated residents.
As a result, Davis said a revised county Health Officer Order will take effect at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, requiring all residents to wear masks in indoor public settings, regardless of vaccination status. The county previously only recommended such mask-wearing in an effort to slow the spread of the virus and protect unvaccinated residents.
There are still nearly 4 million county residents who are unvaccinated.
Davis said that given the rising spread of the virus, ``waiting to do something would be too late.''
The new cases reported by the county Thursday lifted the cumulative total from throughout the pandemic to 1,262,578. The county reported three more COVID-19 deaths, lifting the overall death toll to 24,566.
The number of people hospitalized in Los Angeles County due to the virus jumped to 452 on Thursday, according to state figures, up from 406 on Wednesday, with 96 people in intensive care. The number of people hospitalized has been climbing steadily for the past three weeks, and is now double the number reported when COVID health restrictions were lifted statewide on June 15.
The rolling-average rate of people testing positive for the virus also continued to climb, reaching 3.75% on Thursday, up from 3.7% Wednesday and well above the 0.3% rate from a month ago.
The increase in infections and hospitalizations is widely blamed on the highly infectious ``Delta'' variant of the virus. The variant was first detected in India, where widespread infections were reported. The variant is also credited for significant outbreaks in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world.
Copyright CNS - City News Service
Los Angeles County to Re-impose Indoor Mask Mandate
Citing continued increases in transmission of COVID-19, Los Angeles County is re-implementing a mandate requiring residents to wear masks while indoors, regardless of vaccination.
www.nbcsandiego.com
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County to Re-impose Indoor Mask Mandate
By NBC 7 Staff • Published July 15, 2021 • Updated 4 hours ago
In the face of steadily increasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, Los Angeles County residents will again be required to wear masks in indoor public settings beginning Saturday night, health officials announced today.
County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said the county is "not where we need to be'' in terms of vaccinations against the virus, as evidenced by seven straight days of new cases numbers that topped 1,000. On Thursday, the county reported 1,537 new infections, the highest number since early March.
View: https://twitter.com/SanDiegoCounty/status/1415809162634620931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1415809263016968194%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcsandiego.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Flos-angeles-county-re-imposes-mask-mandate%2F2657089%2F
Meanwhile, in San Diego County, Tammy Glenn, the assistant director of the County of San Diego Communications Office, told NBC 7 that the county would continue to follow state guidance on mask wearing and urge people to get vaccinated to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
For its part, the California Department of Public Health said the "state’s existing Face Covering Guidance remains in place" but that state officials support the "ability of local health jurisdictions to enact stricter local public health guidance that is tailored to the situation in their communities, as some counties have done."
In Los Angeles, Davis said the rate of virus spread in the county has officially risen from moderate to substantial, with infections five times more likely to occur among unvaccinated residents.
As a result, Davis said a revised county Health Officer Order will take effect at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, requiring all residents to wear masks in indoor public settings, regardless of vaccination status. The county previously only recommended such mask-wearing in an effort to slow the spread of the virus and protect unvaccinated residents.
There are still nearly 4 million county residents who are unvaccinated.
Davis said that given the rising spread of the virus, ``waiting to do something would be too late.''
The new cases reported by the county Thursday lifted the cumulative total from throughout the pandemic to 1,262,578. The county reported three more COVID-19 deaths, lifting the overall death toll to 24,566.
The number of people hospitalized in Los Angeles County due to the virus jumped to 452 on Thursday, according to state figures, up from 406 on Wednesday, with 96 people in intensive care. The number of people hospitalized has been climbing steadily for the past three weeks, and is now double the number reported when COVID health restrictions were lifted statewide on June 15.
The rolling-average rate of people testing positive for the virus also continued to climb, reaching 3.75% on Thursday, up from 3.7% Wednesday and well above the 0.3% rate from a month ago.
The increase in infections and hospitalizations is widely blamed on the highly infectious ``Delta'' variant of the virus. The variant was first detected in India, where widespread infections were reported. The variant is also credited for significant outbreaks in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world.
Copyright CNS - City News Service
marsh
On TB every waking moment
40 Percent of People Who Get Severe COVID After Pfizer Have This in Common
COVID vaccinations have provided a sense of relief to more than 159 million fully vaccinated people in the U.S., according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But there are still concerns. Reports of breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated...
40 Percent of People Who Get Severe COVID After Pfizer Have This in Common
Kali Coleman
Wed, July 14, 2021, 8:25 AM·3 min read
COVID vaccinations have provided a sense of relief to more than 159 million fully vaccinated people in the U.S., according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But there are still concerns. Reports of breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated individuals have become more common as more people get their vaccines: At a Las Vegas pool party, eight fully vaccinated healthcare workers got COVID. In Texas, an outdoor wedding left six fully vaccinated people with the virus. Much is still unknown about these breakthrough infections, but new research has found a commonality among 40 percent of people who got severe COVID after being vaccinated with Pfizer.
The new study, published July 6 in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection, analyzed breakthrough infections following two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The Israeli researchers observed 152 patients from 17 different hospitals who had tested positive for COVID and been hospitalized, despite being vaccinated.
According to the study, 40 percent of these patients were immunosuppressed, which included those undergoing corticosteroid, chemotherapy, and anti-CD20 treatments, and recipients of organ transplants. Only 37 percent of those immunosuppressed with a breakthrough infection had favorable outcomes, while 47 percent had poor outcome (mechanical ventilation or death).
Other comorbidities were common in the breakthrough infections as well. Of the patients tested for COVID after Pfizer vaccination, 71 percent had hypertension, 48 percent had diabetes, 27 percent had congestive heart failure, 24 percent had chronic kidney and lung diseases, 19 percent had dementia, and 24 percent had cancer. Just 6 percent of the breakthrough infection patients had no comorbidities.
"We found that severe COVID-19 infection, associated with a high mortality rate, might develop in a minority of fully-vaccinated individuals with multiple comorbidities. Our patients had a higher rate of comorbidities and immunosuppression compared to previously reported non-vaccinated hospitalized COVID-19 patients," the study authors concluded.
The rate of severe breakthrough infections among vaccinated individuals is still low, however. By the end of April, the Israeli Ministry of Health registry had recorded a total of 234 fully vaccinated patients hospitalized with severe COVID and 90 breakthrough infection deaths. At the same time, Israel had already fully vaccinated 5 million people.
In the U.S., the data is similar. According to the CDC, there have been 4,909 hospitalized COVID infections and 988 deaths in vaccinated people as of July 6.
This is out of more than 157 million people who had been fully vaccinated against COVID by that time. The real threat still lies with those who are unvaccinated. During a July 8 White House press briefing, CDC director Rochelle Walensky, MD, reported that 99.5 percent of U.S. COVID deaths in the past couple of months were unvaccinated individuals.
"The sad reality is that, despite our progress, we're still losing people to this virus—which is especially tragic given, at this point, it is unnecessary and preventable," Walensky said. "Virtually all COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the United States are now occurring among unvaccinated individuals."
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Here We Go: CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Warns of "Pandemic of the Unvaccinated" (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Cristina Laila
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday sounded the alarm and warned of a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Walensky’s warning comes as the Biden Administration sends goons door-to-door to harass unvaccinated Americans.
www.thegatewaypundit.com
Here We Go: CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Warns of “Pandemic of the Unvaccinated” (VIDEO)
By Cristina Laila
Published July 16, 2021 at 12:46pm
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday sounded the alarm and warned of a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Walensky’s warning comes as the Biden Administration sends goons door-to-door to harass unvaccinated Americans.
“There is a clear message that is coming through,” Walensky said during a Friday news briefing. “This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk.”
Biden’s Covid response coordinator Jeff Zients targeted Florida in his remarks on Friday and said the Sunshine State accounts for 20% of all new Covid infections.
VIDEO:
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1416056590105513986
1:02 min
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Joe Biden Says Virus "Misinformation" on Social Media is "Killing People" (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Cristina Laila
Joe Biden on Friday was asked if he had a message to platforms like while he was on the South Lawn of the White House about to board Marine One.
www.thegatewaypundit.com
Joe Biden Says Virus “Misinformation” on Social Media is “Killing People” (VIDEO)
By Cristina Laila
Published July 16, 2021 at 2:37pm
Joe Biden on Friday was asked if he had a message to platforms like Facebook while he was on the South Lawn of the White House about to board Marine One.
“What’s your message to platforms like Facebook?” a reporter asked Biden.
“They’re killing people,” Biden said. “I mean they’re really — look, the only pandemic we really have is among the unvaccinated and they’re killing people.”
Classic projection.
The US government actively suppressed information on affordable Covid treatments such as HQC and Ivermectin because they don’t make the pharmaceutical companies billions of dollars a year.
Thousands of people have died from the experimental Covid vaccines but that information is also being censored by the social media giants.
VIDEO:
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1416111364419035141
.20 min
This is the new lie coming from the White House and the CDC (which is now an extension of the Biden Admin) in order to justify censoring Americans.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday sounded the alarm and warned of a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Walensky’s warning comes as the Biden Administration sends goons door-to-door to harass unvaccinated Americans.
“There is a clear message that is coming through,” Walensky said during a Friday news briefing. “This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk.”
marsh
On TB every waking moment
'Pandemic of the unvaccinated' burdens busy US hospitals - Breitbart
The COVID-19 comeback across the U.S. is putting pressure on hospitals at a time when some of them are busy just trying to catch up on surgeries and other
www.breitbart.com
‘Pandemic of the unvaccinated’ burdens busy US hospitals
AP16 Jul 202157
The COVID-19 comeback across the U.S. is putting pressure on hospitals at a time when some of them are busy just trying to catch up on surgeries and other procedures that were put on hold during the pandemic
‘Pandemic of the unvaccinated’ burdens busy US hospitals
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and JOSH FUNKAssociated PressThe Associated Press
The COVID-19 comeback across the U.S. is putting pressure on hospitals at a time when some of them are busy just trying to catch up on surgeries and other procedures that were put on hold during the pandemic.
With the highly contagious delta variant spreading rapidly, cases in the U.S. are up around 70% over the last week, hospital admissions have climbed about 36% and deaths rose by 26%, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
Some hospitals are reporting record or near-record patient volumes. But even for those that aren’t, this round of the pandemic is proving tougher in some ways, hospital and health officials said. Staff members are worn out, and finding traveling nurses to boost their ranks can be tough.
“I really think of it as a war and how long can you stay on the front line,” said Dr. Mark Rosenberg, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
“And how many times do you want to go back for another tour of duty. Eventually you just don’t want to do it.”
Also, many hospitals were busy even before the surge began, dealing with a backlog of cancer screenings, operations and other procedures that were put off during the winter surge to free up space and staff members, according to health care leaders.
“Eventually you have to pay the piper, and those things have now built up,” said Dr. James Lawler of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
The fear now at some hospitals is that they will have to postpone non-COVID-19 care again — and risk the potential health consequences for patients.
Dr. Laura Makaroff, senior vice president for prevention and early detection for the American Cancer Society, said cancer screenings dropped during the outbreak and have yet to return to normal levels in many communities. She warned that delays in screenings can result in cancers being detected at more advanced stages of the disease.
COVID-19 deaths and newly confirmed infections across the U.S. are still dramatically lower than they were over the winter. But for the first time since then, cases are rising in all 50 states. And the nation’s vaccination drive has slowed to a crawl, with only about 48% of the population fully protected.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned that the outbreak in the U.S. is becoming “a pandemic of the unvaccinated” because nearly all hospital admissions and deaths are among those who hadn’t been immunized.
One of the most overwhelmed areas of the country is Springfield, Missouri, where public health officials begged the state this week to convert a dormitory, hotel or another large space for the care of less seriously ill COVID-19 patients so that the city’s two hospitals can focus on the sickest.
Mercy Springfield and Cox South have seen a sevenfold increase in coronavirus patients since late May, with Mercy treating pandemic-high numbers and Cox expected to break its own record next week.
In Florida, UF Health Jacksonville is talking about setting up tents in the parking lot to help with the overflow after the number of COVID-19 in-patients doubled to 77 over the past couple of weeks. Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention, said the hospital expects to surpass its January high of 125 COVID-19 in-patients in the next few weeks.
Before the rise, the hospital had begun a push to bring back patients who had delayed care amid the pandemic. Now it is discussing canceling procedures, Neilsen said.
“To be telling someone, ‘Sorry, we have to delay your hip surgery or your procedure because we have too many COVID patients who are largely unvaccinated,’ it is just not what we signed up to do in health care,” he said.
In Georgia, Augusta University Medical Center is “busting at the seams” as it handles medical procedures postponed because of the pandemic and deals with a spike in respiratory illnesses that usually hit in the wintertime, said Dr. Phillip Coule, chief medical officer.
COVID-19 hospitalizations also have started inching up to around eight or 10 patients, from lows of one or two a day. While the numbers still remain far below the peak of 145 in January, Coule said he is watching the situation closely.
“In some ways I feel like we are a lot better off than we were before,” he said, noting that the staff is safer because of vaccinations. “In other ways, it worries we if we have to defer routine care again what the outcome will be.”
In California, Los Angeles County will again require masks indoors, even in people who have been vaccinated. Over the past three weeks, COVID-19 cases have doubled across Kaiser Permanente’s 36 California hospitals, to more than 400.
Dr. Stephen Parodi, who helped develop the surge plans for Kaiser Permanente’s hospitals, said he is confident they can handle the influx, noting that the total is still less than 20% of the January peak.
But he said the hospitals already were busy with people showing up at emergency rooms with more severe illnesses than they would have had if the problems had been detected sooner.
“At some point, illness doesn’t wait for us,” he said. “The ability to defer additional care when you have already deferred for a year, year and a half, is just simply not an acceptable option.”
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
More States Block Mask Requirements, Dr. Gottlieb Says LA's Decision Was "The Wrong Move"
FRIDAY, JUL 16, 2021 - 09:45 AM
As experts panic about the risk posed by the Delta variant, LA County's infamous Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer last night decided to revive LA's indoor-mask policy, requiring all individuals - including the vaccinated - to wear masks at gyms, restaurants, bars, supermarkets and - importantly - schools.
Setting aside the issue of whether the Delta variant poses a serious threat to the public health of California (available evidence would suggest that it doesn't), the CDC released guidelines earlier this month for schools across the US for deciding how to handle COVID prevention policies including masking.
The Feds said that while vaccinated teachers and vaccinated students be allowed to go mask-less, the unvaccinated should be required to wear masks. It also recommended that schools track the vaccination status of their employees and students.
Unsurprisingly, these guidelines have proven politically unpopular in a group of western and southern states, which have decided to pass laws bucking the federal requirements and making it illegal for schools to ask about students vaccination status. The list includes eight states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah.
Meanwhile, at least three states - Arizona, Arkansas and Oklahoma - have made it illegal to require students or staff to wear masks in schools. According to WSJ, critics are concerned the bans could lead to more cases of the virus as the number of new cases reported over the last week has doubled from the 7-day average three weeks ago. Supporters say the law allows families to make their own decisions.
Republican state Sen. Trent Garner , the author of Arkansas' law, said vaccination requirements and mask requirements Calling vaccination and were "one of the most contentious issues in Arkansas." He says he stands by the law regardless of the Federal guidelines.
In June, Arizona passed laws banning vaccine and mask mandates at schools and colleges starting this fall after Arizona State University announced that unvaccinated students would be expected to wear masks. Now, the university system says it will obey the new law.
According to the CDC, nearly all recent deaths from COVID are among the unvaccinated (though Israel is seeing rising deaths among fully vaccinated patients).
Schools and colleges across the US are generally planning to bring most or all students back to school for in-person instruction.
However, "conservative" southern states aren't the only ones pushing back against mandatory mask orders. Parents of students at NYC private schools are protesting mandatory mask requirements, arguing that wearing masks does little to protect from COVID when a student is indoors and in close proximity to others for an extended period.
The parents also argued that the masks can impede the students ability to learn. One parent told WSJ that "they're so dehydrated, and on hot days, they come out sweaty and exhausted, and they have headaches." Teachers unions, on the other hand, are worried that dropping the requirements could put its members at risk.
Unsurprisingly, the parents aren't thrilled about the teachers' union's position.
Most of the state laws allow for exceptions in the event of an "emergency."
As for the LA mask order, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former director of the FDA under President Trump, told CNBC Friday morning that "I don't think it's the right move." "I don't think you can tell people who've been vaccinated that they have to wear a mask.... People who are worried about Covid have largely been vaccinated."
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1416012422935109632
.53 min
In the adult world, JPM and Goldman are reportedly ordering all their British staffers to wear face masks when they return to the office on July 19 - a decision that will almost certainly frustrate the bank's workers, who are already extremely miffed about returning to the office to begin with.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
More than 1,000 Israelis test positive for COVID
PM Bennett: Vaccine ‘significantly less’ effective against the Delta variant
www.jpost.com
ISRAEL
'Pfizer COVID vaccine significantly less effective against Delta variant'
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN, ROSSELLA TERCATIN
JULY 16, 2021 21:38
The effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against the Delta variant is “weaker” than health officials hoped, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Friday, as 855 people tested positive for coronavirus and more countries were listed as places of high infection.
“We do not know exactly to what degree the vaccine helps, but it is significantly less,” Bennett said.
The prime minister held a meeting of top health officials and ministers to discuss the next steps for managing the virus in light of the numbers in Israel and what Bennett described as “the Delta mutation leaping forward around the world, including in vaccinated countries such as Britain, Israel and the US.”
He said that in “Britain, in recent days, we have seen a jump in the number of children who are being hospitalized on a daily basis. This is a development that we are aware of; we are dealing with it rationally and responsibly.”
The highest number of coronavirus cases since March was diagnosed on Thursday, with 1.52% of tests returning positive, the Health Ministry said in a Friday announcement.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Three’s the charm? It’s not clear with Covid-19 vaccines
Countries such as Indonesia are offering health workers who have been vaccinated with Sinovac an extra shot from Moderna
www.scmp.com
Spread of Covid-19 variants heightens debate over extra vaccines
- Countries such as Indonesia are offering health workers who have been vaccinated with Sinovac an extra shot from Moderna
- Meanwhile, the WHO has rebuked richer nations for planning boosters while other countries face shortages
Simone McCarthy
Published: 12:00pm, 16 Jul, 2021
China is among the countries considering a third dose. Photo: STR/AFP
A growing number of countries are considering third vaccine shots, but it is still not clear that this is the most effective way to tackle Covid-19 as new variants spread and it remains unknown how long their protection lasts.
Scientists say this is a complicated question and the answers could vary according to individual or national circumstances – or the vaccines involved.
The World Health Organization says so far there is no evidence booster shots are needed.
“Currently, data shows us that vaccination offers long-lasting immunity against severe and deadly Covid-19,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday.
“The priority now must be to vaccinate those who have received no doses and protection,” he said, in an apparent criticism of highly vaccinated nations planning extra shots amid an ongoing global shortage.
The United States has already booked 200 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, eyeing a potential need for boosters, while on Sunday Israel began offering third shots to those with immune deficiencies.
Britain is preparing a possible roll-out of third doses for the elderly in September, while China is also evaluating whether they should be added to the current regime.
In Indonesia, which has struggled to access vaccines for its population of 270 million, the government has promised to give a third dose of Moderna’s vaccine to health care workers, who have largely been given two doses from Beijing-based Sinovac.
Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist at Australia’s Griffith University, said Indonesia was in a “different situation” to developed countries, as doctors and nurses were being infected as they battled a surge of cases in a country where most people have not been vaccinated.
“They want to protect their health care workers … there’s no need to wait,” he said, adding that the infections in this high-risk group could indicate vaccine protection was either waning over time or had been reduced by the predominance of the Delta variant.
If vaccine protection is falling over time, a booster shot could give the immune system a refresher on how to protect the body.
This is the case for a number of vaccines, such as the one for tetanus and diphtheria, where a booster is typically recommended every 10 years.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued at implicit rebuke over vaccine hoarding. Photo: AFP/ Getty Images/ TNS
Viruses can also mutate to dodge immune protections, which could mean vaccines have to be modified to combat the new variants, as is the case with flu.
Understanding the extent to which these factors have an effect on
Covid-19 vaccines will be key to deciding when or whether to use booster shots.
“If a vaccine started at 90 per cent effective, 10 per cent of people weren’t protected, so you follow that over time. [Later] you may find 20 per cent who are vaccinated are no longer protected and then 30 per cent,” said vaccinologist Nikolai Petrovsky, a professor at Flinders University in Australia.
5:10 min
Inside Indonesia's Covid-19 crisis – and how it unravelled
“As you see that number with breakthrough infections increasing, you know the vaccine effect must be wearing off and you would then make a decision to revaccinate.”
Ashley St John, an immunologist at Duke-NUS Medical School, said most of the data that has been released suggests that immunity will be long-lasting for these vaccines, but it was appropriate to prepare for the potential need.
As for the impact of variants, while flu vaccines can need annual updates, she said there is not “the same speed of change” with the virus that causes Covid-19.
“Right now, we have too many new variants developing because we have such high levels of circulating virus. We need to reduce the infection burden, which would also limit new variants emerging,” said St John.
One way to do that is to reduce the spread of the disease, which has prompted pleas for richer nations to stop hoarding supplies.
“Sharing vaccines is not only the right thing for others but selfishly it keeps us safe too,” said Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist and professor at the University of Manchester in Britain.
The available data suggests vaccines have largely remained effective against severe disease caused by the variants, including the highly transmissible Delta variant that the WHO expects will become dominant globally. However data for Sinovac and Sinopharm’s vaccines is not yet available.
Covid-19 Delta variant: how infectious it is and how it may ‘shift thinking’ on countries reopening
5:32 min
But concerns about declining antibody levels and variants that are less sensitive to antibodies generated through natural infection or vaccination was “driving the thinking” around booster shots, especially for vulnerable people, according to Jonathan Ball, a professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham in Britain.
Pfizer’s chief scientific officer Mikael Dolsten told Associated Press that a recently reported drop in the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine’s effectiveness in Israel could be due to waning antibodies in people vaccinated at the start of the year, rather than reduced ability against the Delta variant spreading there.
The company has signalled it plans to apply for authorisation for a third dose in the United States, after initial data suggested it could prompt a five to tenfold increase in antibody levels several months after the initial shots.The US drug regulator said Americans do not currently need boosters.
Other companies have suggested similar results have been recorded. Last month Sinovac chief executive Yin Weidong told China Central Television that clinical trial volunteers who received a third Sinovac shot after three and six months saw a tenfold increase in antibodies after a week.
A third dose of the AstraZeneca shot given at least six months after a second dose, boosted antibody levels six folds and resulted in higher neutralising activity against the Delta variant, the company said last month.
Some countries have already moved to provide boosters following concerns about waning antibodies. The authorities in Bahrain and United Arab Emirates are already offering third shots of Sinopharm or Pfizer/BioNTech to those given the Sinopharm vaccine six months ago.
In Thailand and Turkey, which relied on Sinovac for their early roll-outs,
the authorities decided to give health care workers booster doses of various vaccines. Thailand, like Indonesia, has reported hundreds of infections in vaccinated health workers.
In Turkey, recent research involving 1,053 Turkish health care workers found that 95 per cent saw reduced levels of antibodies three months after vaccination, while 23 per cent had antibody levels below the threshold researchers classified as effective.
Erhan Eser, a professor at Turkey’s Manisa Celal Bayar University School of Medicine, who was involved in the research, cautioned that real-world indicators are more important and said the Turkish decision about boosters was also based on concerns about the Delta variant.
Petrovsky, from Flinders University, said a drop in antibodies is not proof the original vaccine is no longer working. Instead, measuring real vaccination outcomes – such as the number of breakthrough hospitalisations – would be key.
“We shouldn’t be embarking on a widespread campaign of third doses of the same vaccines without strong evidence as this will divert valuable supplies from the developing world,” he said.
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marsh
On TB every waking moment
Huge protests in Athens…
Un-Vaccinated banned from public spaces The biggest transgression was the government’s decision to bar the unvaccinated from certain public spaces. They’re also opposed to…
citizenfreepress.com
Huge protests in Athens…
Posted by Kane on July 16, 2021 10:51 am
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1415427114866782210
.27 min
Un-Vaccinated banned from public spaces
The biggest transgression was the government’s decision to bar the unvaccinated from certain public spaces. They’re also opposed to plans to immunize teenagers. The policy barring unvaccinated from bars, restaurants, theaters and other entertainment venues will take effect Friday and remain in place at least until August. Teens will be able to receive the vaccine starting Friday.
According to Reuters, more than 5,000 anti-vax protesters gathered in the Greek capital, shouting “take your vaccines and get out of here!” while calling on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to resign.
“Every person has the right to choose. We’re choosing that the government does not choose for us,” said Faidon Vovolis, a cardiologist, who has questioned the scientific research around face masks and the vaccine and heads the “Free Again” movement, which called the protest. Vovolis said he started the group in response to the government’s “tough measures” to contain the virus.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Why is a Biden Door-to-Door Vax Pusher Wearing a 'Voter Registration' T-Shirt? | Headline USA
A report on left-wing activist efforts to promote coronavirus vaccines to minorities in Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County revealed at least one volunteer wearing a “voter registration” shirt. The largest city in battleground state North Carolina has become one of the early guinea pigs...
headlineusa.com
Why is a Biden Door-to-Door Vax Pusher Wearing a ‘Voter Registration’ T-Shirt?
'Is this operation led by Stacy Abrams like the hiring of far left election workers in the 2020 Election?'
ByBen Sellers
July 16, 2021
Action NC / IMAGE: screenshot via WBTV
A report on left-wing activist efforts to promote coronavirus vaccines to minorities in Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County revealed at least one volunteer wearing a “voter registration” shirt.
The largest city in battleground state North Carolina has become one of the early guinea pigs for a controversial door-to-door vaccination push by the Biden administration.
But after seeing the “strike force” of activists at work, some have raised questions over whether the Queen City’s pioneering role in the privacy-invading vaccination strategy was entirely coincidental.
Among the first to flag the concerns over possible political motives was former Bush campaign strategist Karl Rove, now a Fox News analyst.
“[T]he list I’ve seen is virtually only states that are swing states, close states from the 2020 election,” Rove said during a Fox appearance this week, according to the Gateway Pundit.
“Somebody in the White House and somebody at the Department of Health and Human Services has to be held to account,” Rove continued. “Who’s making these decisions? Who’s allowing politics to enter into something that ought to be as far away from politics as possible?”
A report by Charlotte’s WBTV revealed that the city’s vaccination efforts were being led by a far-left nonprofit, Action NC, best known for its voter-registration and other get-out-the-vote efforts.
In fact, WBTV’s report showed one of the so-called volunteers wearing a shirt that said “voter registration” on it.
The activist group has been waging its vaccine campaign since May, well before Biden’s recent involvement, and estimates that it already has knocked on at least 35,000 doors.
“The program is focused on priority ZIP codes with low-vaccine uptake,” claimed WBTV, using a euphemism for minority neighborhoods that would be likely to vote Democrat in the 2022 midterm election.
However, Action NC also has been known to make overtly partisan statements in the past attacking then-President
Donald Trump.
“All I ask them to do is listen,” Action NC volunteer Lowell Faison told WCNC of the effort to educate minorities about the vaccine.
“And it’s your choice if you want to do this or not, but it would be in your best interest,” he continued. “I’m kind of convincing!”
The ‘grassroots’ initiative to spread pro-vaccine propaganda called to mind several other leftist strategies during recent elections that have drawn accusations of ethical violations, as well as potential abuse of state and federal election laws.
Among those was the questionable “get out the vote” tactics deployed in Georgia by anti-election-integrity activist Stacey Abrams.
She was investigated by a state ethics board after she blurred the financial lines between her campaign efforts during Georgia’s 2018 gubernatorial election and the supposedly nonpartisan canvassing led by activist groups that she had founded.
Abrams recently revealed her plans to set up an office in Asheville, North Carolina, where she could launch political operations similar to those credited with helping flip Georgia into the blue column during the 2020 election.
Among her subversive maneuvers in the most recent election was colluding with local polling officials at the county level to plant partisan activists in key, strategic positions where they could subtly—or not-so-subtly—tip the balance in favor of Democrats.
The Gateway Pundit speculated that working with sympathetic local health officials to promote vaccinations was not a far stretch.
“Is this operation led by Stacy Abrams like the hiring of far left election workers in the 2020 Election?” it asked.
“… This is one reason the results in Georgia were so terribly different from reality,” the website continued. “It really looked like Abrams and her group hired anyone they could find who supported BLM to ‘count’ the election ballots.”
In at least two other deep-blue states, officials also overstepped their authority by providing no-bid contracts to partisan political operatives for canvassing initiatives under the pretense of pandemic-mitigation efforts.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was rebuked last year by the state legislature and forced to withdraw a contract with Kolehouse Strategies, a Democrat campaign consulting firm that the state’s ethically challenged health department had hired to conduct door-to-door contact tracing.
In California, then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla, now a US senator, escaped serious consequence following an ethics scandal in which he contracted with SKD Knickerbocker, a Democrat consulting firm, ostensibly to promote pandemic-related mail-in voting.'
Ironically, Democrats have fought tooth-and-nail to prevent Republicans from going door-to-door in a legitimate effort in Arizona to conduct election oversight and ballot verification.
During a publicly-broadcast hearing to received updates about the independent audit of Maricopa County, Arizona Senate president Karen Fann wryly noted the double standard.
“The Department of Justice sent us a letter about four or six weeks ago and said, ‘We’re concerned about you actually knocking on doors,’ that it might be voter intimidation or civil rights violations or something,” Fann said.
“I find it interesting after the White House last week said ‘We’re going to knock on doors to see whether you’re vaccinated or not,'” she added. “But that’s just a side point.”
TerriHaute
Hoosier Gardener
Diabetics make up 40% of COVID deaths in US, experts say
People with diabetes account for a staggering 40 percent of those who have died from COVID-19 in the US, according to the American Diabetes Association.
“The pandemic disproportionately impacted people living with diabetes,” the ADA’s chief scientific and medical officer, Dr. Robert Gabbay, told HealthDay Now last week.
He called the statistic “really quite sobering,” given that so many of the US pandemic deaths came from a group making up just 10 percent of the population.
As of Friday, the US had seen 608,495 deaths from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University — which would make nearly 245,000 of them diabetics.
“I can’t say this strongly enough — if you have diabetes, get vaccinated,” Gabbay said.
“With the risk of hospitalization and death related to COVID being six to 12 times higher for people with diabetes, it’s time to get vaccinated,” he insisted.
Alarmingly, the ADA has also said that cases of type 2 diabetes have almost doubled in children since the pandemic.
nypost.com
People with diabetes account for a staggering 40 percent of those who have died from COVID-19 in the US, according to the American Diabetes Association.
“The pandemic disproportionately impacted people living with diabetes,” the ADA’s chief scientific and medical officer, Dr. Robert Gabbay, told HealthDay Now last week.
He called the statistic “really quite sobering,” given that so many of the US pandemic deaths came from a group making up just 10 percent of the population.
As of Friday, the US had seen 608,495 deaths from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University — which would make nearly 245,000 of them diabetics.
“I can’t say this strongly enough — if you have diabetes, get vaccinated,” Gabbay said.
“With the risk of hospitalization and death related to COVID being six to 12 times higher for people with diabetes, it’s time to get vaccinated,” he insisted.
Alarmingly, the ADA has also said that cases of type 2 diabetes have almost doubled in children since the pandemic.
Diabetics make up 40% of COVID deaths in US, experts say
Diabetics accounted for a staggering 40 percent of those who have died from COVID-19 in the US, according to the American Diabetes Association.
nypost.com
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Yellen says lockdowns could return in areas with low COVID vaccination rates
Yellen said the best way to avoid further lockdowns was for Americans to get vaccinated.
justthenews.com
Yellen says lockdowns could return in areas with low COVID vaccination rates
Yellen said the best way to avoid further lockdowns was for Americans to get vaccinated.
Updated: July 16, 2021 - 7:26pm
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday the U.S. could return to lockdowns in areas of the country with low COVID-19 vaccination rates.
"We have solid rates of vaccination in many parts of the country. But certainly it’s something that could happen in areas where vaccination rates are low," she told CNBC.
COVID-19 infections have risen in the U.S. recently after months of decline.
As of July, confirmed cases reached an average of 23,600 infections a day, according to Fox Business.
Yellen said that to prevent further lockdowns, it "is critically important that we maintain progress on vaccinating more Americans."
marsh
On TB every waking moment
41:43 min
TWiV 780: COVID-19 clinical update #71 with Dr. Daniel Griffin
Jul 16, 2021
Vincent Racaniello
In COVID-19 clinical update #71, Daniel Griffin reviews updated school and child care guidance from CDC, transmission in schools, accuracy of lateral flow assays, update to J&J/Janssen vaccine EUA to include GBS, interim immunogenicity of Ad.26.CoV2.s, effectiveness of mRNA vaccines to prevent hospitalization, Bamlanivimab plus Etesevimab for mild or moderate disease, and a meta-analysis of ivermectin results. Show notes at https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-780/
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Watch Live — The French rise up against Vaccine passports in Paris…
From Paris to Marseille, the French people are rising up
citizenfreepress.com
The French rise up against Vaccine passports in Paris…
Posted by Kane on July 17, 2021 1:08 pm
3:46:48 min
From Paris to Marseille, the French people are rising up
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1416389540659580929
.37 min
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1416350689165549575
.34 min
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1416377214279593985
.15 min
mzkitty
I give up.
naegling62
Veteran Member
Well, she does have credentials. She is political though, but aren't we all.
mzkitty
I give up.
Right? But I don't care if she's political. If she's right, I'm just glad I didn't take the jabs.
raven
TB Fanatic
Please note:Yellen says lockdowns could return in areas with low COVID vaccination rates
Yellen said the best way to avoid further lockdowns was for Americans to get vaccinated.
Yellen says lockdowns could return in areas with low COVID vaccination rates
Yellen said the best way to avoid further lockdowns was for Americans to get vaccinated.
Updated: July 16, 2021 - 7:26pm
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday the U.S. could return to lockdowns in areas of the country with low COVID-19 vaccination rates.
"We have solid rates of vaccination in many parts of the country. But certainly it’s something that could happen in areas where vaccination rates are low," she told CNBC.
COVID-19 infections have risen in the U.S. recently after months of decline.
As of July, confirmed cases reached an average of 23,600 infections a day, according to Fox Business.
Yellen said that to prevent further lockdowns, it "is critically important that we maintain progress on vaccinating more Americans."
Yellen is not a doctor of medicine.
Yellen is a doctor of hyperinflation.
naegling62
Veteran Member
Correct and in case anyone hasn't noticed God is political also so we as the faithful understand it's in everything.Right? But I don't care if she's political. If she's right, I'm just glad I didn't take the jabs.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Bay Area Health Officials Strongly Urge Everyone to Wear Masks Indoors Regardless of Vaccination Status | The Gateway Pundit | by Cristina Laila
California – The majority of Bay Area counties are urging people to wear face masks indoors regardless of vaccination status because of rising cases of the ‘ta variant.’ Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties, along with the City of Berkeley all...
www.thegatewaypundit.com
Bay Area Health Officials Strongly Urge Everyone to Wear Masks Indoors Regardless of Vaccination Status
By Cristina Laila
Published July 18, 2021 at 2:28pm
California – The majority of Bay Area counties are urging people to wear face masks indoors regardless of vaccination status because of rising cases of the ‘Delta variant.’
Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties, along with the City of Berkeley all recommended all residents wear face coverings indoors.
This announcement comes after Los Angeles County reimposed its mask mandate because of 400 Covid hospitalizations – out of 10 million people.
Las Vegas health officials are also recommending people wear masks indoors.
More from NBC Bay Area:
Video on website 2:26 min
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
French Face 6 Months In Jail For Entering A Bar Or Restaurant Without A COVID Pass
SUNDAY, JUL 18, 2021 - 07:00 AM
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,
People in France who enter a bar or restaurant without a COVID pass face 6 months in jail, while business owners who fail to check their status face a 1 year prison sentence and a €45,000 fine.
Yes, really.
The punishments are part of a draconian effort by the French government to force citizens to get the coronavirus jab amidst multiple unruly protests across numerous major cities.
President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this week that those unable to prove they’re vaccinated or a negative COVID test (at their own cost) will be banned from using public transport, entering a cinema, shopping mall, bar, cafe, restaurant and other venues from August 1st.
“People unable to present a valid health pass risk up to six months in prison and a fine of up to €10,000 (£8,500), according to the draft text of the law, while owners of “establishments welcoming the public” who fail to check patrons’ passes could go to jail for a year and be hit with a €45,000 fine,” reports the Guardian.
The sanctions represent the most authoritarian move to force vaccine compliance in the west, and probably outstrip a lot of actual dictatorships in other parts of the world.
The Guardian rather euphemistically describes it as a “big stick approach,” which would be true if that ‘big stick’ were an electric cattle prod the size of the One World Trade Center building in New York.
The government had to withdraw a similar law back in December following numerous riots, but merely re-introduced the same legislation with even tougher punishments for dissenters.
As we previously highlighted, police in Paris used tear gas to disperse demonstrators protesting against the measures in scenes that unfolded in several other major cities throughout the country.
We are now entering the phase of the pandemic where it’s becoming clear that those who refuse to take the vaccine will remain under the most onerous lockdown measures yet in perpetuity.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
UK Government Minister Suggests New Lockdown Before The Current One Has Even Ended
SUNDAY, JUL 18, 2021 - 08:10 AM
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,
A UK government minister suggested that it was perfectly plausible a new lockdown could be imposed in the near future, before the current one has even officially ended.
All COVID-19 restrictions are supposed to end on Monday, although SAGE scientists and other lockdown zealots are desperately scrambling to have the decision reversed yet again.
Now Solicitor General Lucy Frazer has signaled the government may be about to cave to them again after telling Sky News that Brits will “of course” face yet another lockdown in the near future on current projections.
“Of course, if we get into a situation where it is unacceptable and we do need to put back further restrictions, then that of course is something the Government will look at,” said Frazer.
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1415919581575720961
1:10 min
Brits who were told nearly 17 months ago that lockdown was required for “just three weeks to flatten the curve and protect the NHS” are now facing the prospect of another Autumn lockdown that could extend the entire thing to 2 YEARS.
It never ends.
The media and prominent leftists are amplifying the narrative for yet another lockdown despite the fact that Tim Spector, lead scientist on the ZOE Covid Study app and Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London, says that infections of the latest wave of COVID have peaked and will begin to fall.
Calls for a new lockdown continue despite the fact that two-thirds of adults have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine and it has been offered to 90% of the population.
People who believed that if they just submitted and took the jab they would get their lives back appear to have been seriously mistaken.
According to a report from Public Health England, more vaccinated people than unvaccinated people are now dying from COVID.
“The report shows that 163 of the 257 people (63.4%) who died of the delta variant within 28 days of a positive COVID test between February 1 and June 21, had received at least one dose of the vaccine,” reports LiveMint.
3:04 min
Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
Bay Area Health Officials Strongly Urge Everyone to Wear Masks Indoors Regardless of Vaccination Status | The Gateway Pundit | by Cristina Laila
California – The majority of Bay Area counties are urging people to wear face masks indoors regardless of vaccination status because of rising cases of the ‘ta variant.’ Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties, along with the City of Berkeley all...
Bay Area Health Officials Strongly Urge Everyone to Wear Masks Indoors Regardless of Vaccination Status
I know this a very unpopular opinion, but it hasn't changed for me since this started. Masks do stop the spread, and the reason the numbers everywhere are going up is not because Delta is more contagious, it's because no one is wearing masks anymore. The crowds you see globally at sporting events, etc - no one is masked. The escaping Democrats on the plane from Texas didn't wear masks. The vaccine does NOT stop the spread of the disease - masks do. If you don't want to catch COVID, wear a mask. I agree it should not be a regulation, and there shouldn't be legal penalties - I agree that it should be everyone's own choice - but it should be COMMON SENSE. And if they (TPTB) actually educated people on why and how masks work instead of just ignoring the people who question it or making fun of them as being right wing Trumpers or whatever they call them, this pandemic would've been over last summer. imho.
HD
Can't agree with any of your opinions.
But I do give you credit; you've accepted all the lies and turned them into a belief system.
And a well-structured system of BS.
Sorry. The facts speak otherwise.
marsh
On TB every waking moment
MSM Begins Prepping the Public for More Restrictions in the U.S.
The mainstream media is now attempting to prepare the public to accept more restrictions and possibly another lockdown as the “delta variant” surges and not enough are willing to get injected with the experimental gene therapy. The key to “winning the race” against the spread of the “delta...
americanconservativemovement.com
MSM Begins Prepping the Public for More Restrictions in the U.S.
by Mac Slavo
July 18, 2021
The mainstream media is now attempting to prepare the public to accept more restrictions and possibly another lockdown as the “delta variant” surges and not enough are willing to get injected with the experimental gene therapy. The key to “winning the race” against the spread of the “delta variant” is getting more Americans “vaccinated,” according to mainstream media.
The media and government desperately want you to believe that you need this shot. They are pulling out all the stops and the underlying tone is to expect more restrictions if they don’t get their way. We know the censorship campaign has ramped up lately and the push to get this propaganda out has increased.
Officials and experts have said disinformation is largely to blame for the high number of unvaccinated Americans, a group that is seeing the largest impacts of the pandemic.
“This is not just a matter of people expressing opinions that might be wrong, this is life and death,” Collins said. –CNN
“We’re losing time here. The Delta variant is spreading, people are dying, we can’t actually just wait for things to get more rational,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health told CNN on Wednesday.
“Delta Variant” Fear Mongering Reason Confirmed By MSM
When asked during a Q&A on Twitter about the impact the Delta variant is having on hospitalizations, Chancellor Cam Patterson said hospitals are “full right now and cases are doubling every 10 days. If that trend continues, there will be significant challenges in providing care for both Covid and non-Covid patients over the next two weeks,” Patterson said, noting he met with Governor Asa Hutchinson to discuss the matter.
Hospitals are full? When have we heard that before?
It is absolutely astonishing that anyone believes any of this anymore. But, they need more people to get the experimental gene therapy shot. That’s the obvious goal and they are attempting to use fear to make people believe they need the injection.
Vaccines have been available to most Americans for months, but still only 48.3% of the country is fully vaccinated, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and the rate of new vaccinations is on the decline. It was down 11% from a week ago and is less than a quarter of the pace from two months ago. –CNN
Here’s a stat they are trying to push with no evidence. I have yet to see any documentation proving this and I have been looking. This appears to be a bald-faced lie as of right now, and they expect it to be accepted as truth. The only people spewing this garbage are tyrants and their mainstream media puppets.
Much of the data now shows that more than 99% of people currently hospitalized with Covid-19 are unvaccinated, Collins said. That means those who are vaccinated have enough protection that they aren’t getting severely ill, Collins said. –CNN'
Why would they lie about that? It’s simple:
Collins said he hopes the American public will pay attention to the data and decide that getting vaccinated is the safe and smart thing to do.
“I hope people will hear this, right now listening to this: If you are on the fence about whether vaccination is going to help you, listen to those numbers,” Collins said. “Why are we waiting folks? Let’s roll up our sleeves if we haven’t already done so.” –CNN
There you have it. The punishments will begin at some point for those still refusing this shot. Stay prepared and stand firm. They can’t convince half of the country to take this thing, and that’s a huge number. It is obvious at this point that the war for our minds is failing as they ramp up tactics that no longer work on those who understand what’s really going on.
Image by Dr StClaire from Pixabay. Article cross-posted from SHTF Plan.
EastWest
Senior Member
Have not sifted through the thread lately so apologies in advance if this is has already been posted.
MIT Study: Vaccine Hesitancy Is 'Highly Informed, Scientifically Literate,' and 'Sophisticated'
Vaccine hesitancy is a big problem, according to the Biden administration. Less than half the public is fully vaccinated while about 56 percent have received at least one jab.
The goal of fully vaccinating the American public appears to have stalled. This should not surprise us. When the vaccines were first approved for emergency use back in December 2020, 40 percent of Americans expressed skepticism about the vaccine.
Trying to shame the holdouts has failed spectacularly. Insulting and degrading them as “morons” or “ignorant” has resulted in a vicious pushback and a hardening of positions on getting vaccinated.
The administration’s plan of sending people door to door to vaccinate them only feeds anti-vaccine skepticism. Trust in authority is at an all-time low, which makes a government-sponsored vaccine program suspect.
Still, most experts agree that some people who should be getting vaccinated aren’t doing so. But the root cause isn’t ignorance or a belief in conspiracy theories. An MIT study on the problem revealed some surprising results.
NRO:
Proponents of the vaccine are unwilling or unable to understand the thinking of vaccine skeptics — or even admit that skeptics may be thinking at all. Their attempts to answer skepticism or understand it end up poisoned by condescension, and end up reinforcing it.
The condescension is political in nature and crosses party lines. Sometimes, arguments against vaccination are mistaken for irrational thinking.
Sometimes the perception of irrationality is almost accidental, because arguments are usually social interactions, not strictly logical exercises. A vaccine skeptic may brush off a proponent by saying, “It’s approved for emergency use only; it’s not FDA-approved. I don’t think we should require it.” The skeptic is beginning with a fact that’s easily established and shareable. But when pressed, they might reveal that their line of thinking is elsewhere: “There are no long-term studies, and I’m worried about possible long-term effects.” Because the two objections aren’t exactly logically connected, the proponent concludes it is irrationalism all the way down.
But a study done at MIT showed that a substantial portion of public-health skepticism was highly informed, scientifically literate, and sophisticated in the use of data. Skeptics used the same data sets as those with the orthodox views on public health.
The study’s lead author, Crystal Lee, says those same exact data sets can be used by either side to marshal arguments.
The researchers combed through hundreds of thousands of social media posts and found that coronavirus skeptics often deploy counter-visualizations alongside the same “follow-the-data” rhetoric as public health experts, yet the skeptics argue for radically different policies. The researchers conclude that data visualizations aren’t sufficient to convey the urgency of the Covid-19 pandemic, because even the clearest graphs can be interpreted through a variety of belief systems.
“A lot of people think of metrics like infection rates as objective,” says Crystal Lee. “But they’re clearly not, based on how much debate there is on how to think about the pandemic. That’s why we say data visualizations have become a battleground.”
In fact, because of the data sets being used interchangeably, vaccine skepticism becomes logical and rational.
But most vaccine skepticism, if by that we mean reluctance, is not based on conspiracy theorizing — it’s based on risk-benefit calculations. You may think it’s an innumerate calculation. But when you look at patterns of uptake in the United States, two factors stand out, factors that are larger in their effect than partisanship: age and density. The older you are and the denser your community, the more likely you are to be vaccinated. The younger you are, and the more rural your community, the less likely you are to have gotten it. This reflects the real facts about the risk of death from COVID. People may be wildly overestimating their risk from the vaccine and underestimating their risks from COVID — but they have the directional thinking correct. Those who are in less danger, act like it.
This is why vaccine choice is so important. Why have the same mandate for someone who lives in New York City and someone who lives in rural South Dakota?
A more holistic approach to vaccine skepticism is needed if we are to get everyone who needs to be vaccinated protected. Allowances must be made for the legitimate concerns of citizens who, for their own reasons, don’t want to get jabbed. But if indeed, individuals are doing their own risk-benefit calculations, it would help enormously if the Left would refrain from their sickening condescension toward those with serious, legitimate questions.
MIT Study: Vaccine Hesitancy Is 'Highly Informed, Scientifically Literate,' and 'Sophisticated'
Vaccine hesitancy is a big problem, according to the Biden administration. Less than half the public is fully vaccinated while about 56 percent have received at least one jab.
The goal of fully vaccinating the American public appears to have stalled. This should not surprise us. When the vaccines were first approved for emergency use back in December 2020, 40 percent of Americans expressed skepticism about the vaccine.
Trying to shame the holdouts has failed spectacularly. Insulting and degrading them as “morons” or “ignorant” has resulted in a vicious pushback and a hardening of positions on getting vaccinated.
The administration’s plan of sending people door to door to vaccinate them only feeds anti-vaccine skepticism. Trust in authority is at an all-time low, which makes a government-sponsored vaccine program suspect.
Still, most experts agree that some people who should be getting vaccinated aren’t doing so. But the root cause isn’t ignorance or a belief in conspiracy theories. An MIT study on the problem revealed some surprising results.
NRO:
Proponents of the vaccine are unwilling or unable to understand the thinking of vaccine skeptics — or even admit that skeptics may be thinking at all. Their attempts to answer skepticism or understand it end up poisoned by condescension, and end up reinforcing it.
The condescension is political in nature and crosses party lines. Sometimes, arguments against vaccination are mistaken for irrational thinking.
Sometimes the perception of irrationality is almost accidental, because arguments are usually social interactions, not strictly logical exercises. A vaccine skeptic may brush off a proponent by saying, “It’s approved for emergency use only; it’s not FDA-approved. I don’t think we should require it.” The skeptic is beginning with a fact that’s easily established and shareable. But when pressed, they might reveal that their line of thinking is elsewhere: “There are no long-term studies, and I’m worried about possible long-term effects.” Because the two objections aren’t exactly logically connected, the proponent concludes it is irrationalism all the way down.
But a study done at MIT showed that a substantial portion of public-health skepticism was highly informed, scientifically literate, and sophisticated in the use of data. Skeptics used the same data sets as those with the orthodox views on public health.
The study’s lead author, Crystal Lee, says those same exact data sets can be used by either side to marshal arguments.
The researchers combed through hundreds of thousands of social media posts and found that coronavirus skeptics often deploy counter-visualizations alongside the same “follow-the-data” rhetoric as public health experts, yet the skeptics argue for radically different policies. The researchers conclude that data visualizations aren’t sufficient to convey the urgency of the Covid-19 pandemic, because even the clearest graphs can be interpreted through a variety of belief systems.
“A lot of people think of metrics like infection rates as objective,” says Crystal Lee. “But they’re clearly not, based on how much debate there is on how to think about the pandemic. That’s why we say data visualizations have become a battleground.”
In fact, because of the data sets being used interchangeably, vaccine skepticism becomes logical and rational.
But most vaccine skepticism, if by that we mean reluctance, is not based on conspiracy theorizing — it’s based on risk-benefit calculations. You may think it’s an innumerate calculation. But when you look at patterns of uptake in the United States, two factors stand out, factors that are larger in their effect than partisanship: age and density. The older you are and the denser your community, the more likely you are to be vaccinated. The younger you are, and the more rural your community, the less likely you are to have gotten it. This reflects the real facts about the risk of death from COVID. People may be wildly overestimating their risk from the vaccine and underestimating their risks from COVID — but they have the directional thinking correct. Those who are in less danger, act like it.
This is why vaccine choice is so important. Why have the same mandate for someone who lives in New York City and someone who lives in rural South Dakota?
A more holistic approach to vaccine skepticism is needed if we are to get everyone who needs to be vaccinated protected. Allowances must be made for the legitimate concerns of citizens who, for their own reasons, don’t want to get jabbed. But if indeed, individuals are doing their own risk-benefit calculations, it would help enormously if the Left would refrain from their sickening condescension toward those with serious, legitimate questions.
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perhaps all those people protesting had an effect after all...
www.philstar.com
England lifts COVID curbs as scientists warn of surge in cases
(Agence France-Presse) - July 19, 2021 - 8:40am
LONDON — The British government on Monday lifted pandemic restrictions on daily life in England, scrapping all social distancing in a step slammed by scientists and opposition parties as a dangerous leap into the unknown.
From midnight, nightclubs were able to reopen and other indoor venues allowed to run at full capacity, while legal mandates covering the wearing of masks and working from home were scrapped.
Related Stories
British-Filipino nurse awarded in UK for work amid COVID-19 crisis
Prime Minister Boris Johnson — who is self-isolating after his health minister was infected — urged the public to remain prudent and for any laggards to join the two-thirds of UK adults who are now fully vaccinated.
He defended the reopening — dubbed "freedom day" by some media — despite scientists' grave misgivings after daily infection rates in Britain topped 50,000, behind only Indonesia and Brazil.
"If we don't do it now, then we'll be opening up in the autumn, the winter months, when the virus has the advantage of the cold weather," the prime minister said in a video message.
more at the link
England lifts COVID curbs as scientists warn of surge in cases
From midnight, nightclubs were able to reopen and other indoor venues allowed to run at full capacity, while legal mandates covering the wearing of masks and working from home were scrapped.
www.philstar.com
England lifts COVID curbs as scientists warn of surge in cases
(Agence France-Presse) - July 19, 2021 - 8:40am
LONDON — The British government on Monday lifted pandemic restrictions on daily life in England, scrapping all social distancing in a step slammed by scientists and opposition parties as a dangerous leap into the unknown.
From midnight, nightclubs were able to reopen and other indoor venues allowed to run at full capacity, while legal mandates covering the wearing of masks and working from home were scrapped.
Related Stories
British-Filipino nurse awarded in UK for work amid COVID-19 crisis
Prime Minister Boris Johnson — who is self-isolating after his health minister was infected — urged the public to remain prudent and for any laggards to join the two-thirds of UK adults who are now fully vaccinated.
He defended the reopening — dubbed "freedom day" by some media — despite scientists' grave misgivings after daily infection rates in Britain topped 50,000, behind only Indonesia and Brazil.
"If we don't do it now, then we'll be opening up in the autumn, the winter months, when the virus has the advantage of the cold weather," the prime minister said in a video message.
more at the link