Covid-19 miscellany

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Newly released genetic data gathered from a live food market in Wuhan has linked Covid-19 with raccoon dogs, adding weight to the theory that infected animals sold at the site started the coronavirus pandemic, researchers involved in the work say. The discovery does not prove that raccoon dogs or other animals infected with Covid triggered the pandemic, but scientists presenting the work to an expert group at the World Health Organization on Tuesday believe it makes that more likely.
Dr Jonathan Stoye, a virologist and senior group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, said: “The finding of Sars-CoV-2 infected racoon dogs strengthens the plausibility that coronavirus-infected farmed animals were an important link in the series of events leading to the Covid-19 pandemic. “However, it does not disprove lab-leak theories: that would require the demonstration that such animals were infected prior to their arrival and display at the Huanan seafood market, something that may never be possible.” Also on Friday, the WHO said the Covid-19 pandemic could settle down this year, posing a risk similar to that of flu. “I think we’re coming to that point where we can look at Covid-19 in the same way we look at seasonal influenza: a threat to health, a virus that will continue to kill, but a virus that is not disrupting our society,” Michael Ryan, the WHO emergencies director, said, adding: “I believe that that will come … this year.”

Teh Gruaniad

Source of covid or not, these wet markets need to be shut down. and possibly the chinese labs.

But that means you are trying to destroy people's freedoms with your authoritarian dictates.

 

[TSwizzle]

ffs, Novak Djokovic has been refused a vaccination exemption that would allow him to compete in the USA. Bill Maher says this country is stuck on stupid. No, it is stuck on authoritarianism.

 

[TomC]

ffs, Novak Djokovic has been refused a vaccination exemption that would allow him to compete in the USA.

Does this guy want to compete in the USA?

He can. He just doesn't find it worth the effort.

He's not refused entry. He just doesn't get special exceptions from the rules.
Tom

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

ffs, Novak Djokovic has been refused a vaccination exemption that would allow him to compete in the USA. Bill Maher says this country is stuck on stupid. No, it is stuck on authoritarianism.

Okay and that presents a dichotomy between security and freedom, one that you already chose authoritarianism against liberty when you said that labs and wet markets need to be shut down. So, you are willing to choose security against liberty when you are being preventive of disaster, but once the disaster happens, you are no longer willing to choose security over freedom....in such a way that people die.

You:
Disaster hasn't happened yet: "Let's choose security over freedom!"
Disaster has happened: "Let's choose freedom. Fuck those guys!"

This is like if in pre-zombie-apocalypse days, you were all for no one researching zombie dna. But then, in post-zombie-apocalyptic days, you are against rules for double tapping.

Can you explain how you are being logically consistent?

 

[ZiprHead]

Can you explain how you are being logically consistent?

Doubtful.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Biden declassifies intelligence on COVID origins

Watch this space.

 

[marc]

So much for 'natural immunity'

Study shows people who had COVID before getting vaccinated are not as protected as those who never had it before vaccination. But they are still better protected than those who had it and remain unvaccinated.

SARS-CoV-2 infection weakens immune-cell response to vaccination

NIH-funded study suggests need to boost CD8+ T cell response after infection.

www.nih.gov

 

[ZiprHead]

Here’s what they mean by ‘Freedom’: Event promotes bill to jail docs who use vaccines

“I thought we believed in a patient-doctor relationship. So why is the government stepping in and telling these doctors that they can’t do that (administer drugs they believe are effective) to their patients?” asked Sen. Tammy Nichols at the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s “Capitol Clarity” event on Thursday. That’s a decent argument. It just sounds a little strange coming from the mouth of a lawmaker who is in the midst of promoting a bill that would jail doctors, nurses and pharmacists who administer most brands of COVID-19 vaccines. But Nichols was talking about ivermectin, an anti-parasite medication that has repeatedly shown no efficacy in treating COVID-19, not vaccines, which have demonstrated a high degree of efficacy in preventing severe disease and death.

Along with cosponsor Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, Nichols was promoting House Bill 307. The bill and its predecessor have both been printed by the House Health and Welfare Committee, but neither has been granted a hearing. The purpose of the Freedom Foundation’s Capitol Clarity event was to try to get supporters to contact their lawmakers and get it moving. With the bill, Nichols and Boyle are seeking to place the government — the police specifically — right in the middle of the doctor-patient relationship. The bill would make it a misdemeanor to administer vaccines that use mRNA technology, like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, punishable by up to a year in jail. On top of the jail time, there’s a bonus for charging doctors with a misdemeanor, Nichols told the gathered audience of around 30 people. They’ll lose their license after they get out.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

So much for 'natural immunity'

Study shows people who had COVID before getting vaccinated are not as protected as those who never had it before vaccination. But they are still better protected than those who had it and remain unvaccinated.

SARS-CoV-2 infection weakens immune-cell response to vaccination

NIH-funded study suggests need to boost CD8+ T cell response after infection.

www.nih.gov

Biden's Laptop!
Invermectin!

 

[repoman]

ffs, Novak Djokovic has been refused a vaccination exemption that would allow him to compete in the USA.

Does this guy want to compete in the USA?

He can. He just doesn't find it worth the effort.

He's not refused entry. He just doesn't get special exceptions from the rules.
Tom

"Them's the Rules!" is a weak form of argumentation.

 

[ZiprHead]

‘We Were Helpless’: Despair at the C.D.C. as the Pandemic Erupted

Current and former employees recall rising desperation as Trump administration officials squelched research into the new coronavirus.

www.nytimes.com

To the scientists gathered outside, trainees in the agency’s vaunted Epidemic Intelligence Service, the implication was clear: C.D.C. leaders realized that the virus was being spread not just by people who were coughing and sneezing, but also by people who were not visibly ill. But the agency had not yet warned the public.

“All of us knew tens of thousands were going to die, and we were helpless to stop it,” said Dr. Daniel Wozniczka, one of the trainees. “It was really heartbreaking and difficult on a psychological level not to be able to do anything.”

It is generally known that morale at the C.D.C. plummeted as Trump administration officials sought to squelch dissent among career scientists who disagreed with the White House’s handling of the pandemic. But few employees have described the despair inside the beleaguered agency as hospitals overflowed with patients and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues.

Interviews with 11 current and former agency employees, including trainees at the E.I.S., as well as a review of text messages and other documents obtained by The New York Times, portray an agency under intense pressure from the country’s political leaders. Some younger staff members wrestled with guilt, anger and a rising sense of powerlessness as administration officials meddled with or simply disregarded important scientific research.

Dr. Wozniczka, 35, left the C.D.C. in July 2021 and sought help from Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit legal organization. He testified before a House subcommittee on the pandemic last August and October, describing a disconnect between what the C.D.C.’s scientists were learning about the coronavirus in early 2020 and the agency’s public stance on the risks.

 

[Elixir]

‘We Were Helpless’: Despair at the C.D.C. as the Pandemic Erupted

Current and former employees recall rising desperation as Trump administration officials squelched research into the new coronavirus.

www.nytimes.com

Big deal. So a million or so Americans died unnecessarily. There are more than 300 more millions of Americans to kill. It’s not like we’re going to run out! Who’s gonna miss them, anyway?

 

[blastula]

This is a molecular biologist researcher addressing some of the common lab leak tropes, by addressing some things Robert Redfield said in Congress.

 

[Patooka]

Non-Existent Vaccine Microchips Could Soon Be Banned in Missouri

House members advanced a bill that would bar covid-19 vax mandates, and also ensure the public isn't forcibly subjected to microchipping or genetic mutation.

gizmodo.com

In addition to those basic anti-vax provisions, workplaces, schools and government officials would also be barred from forcing the public to undergo microchipping or forced mutation.

Just because there is a clear evolutionary gap between normal intelligent people and the dumbfucks who wrote this bill, I'm not sure forced mutation is a thing. I could be wrong though.

 

[Ruth Harris]

Every time I see that Missouri is in the news again, I cringe. It is never a good thing. My son, who lives in IL, emailed me about this and told me he thought it was time to fence Missouri to prevent whatever disease is infecting our politicians from spreading. I am almost to the point of agreeing with him.

And here is the stellar lineup that is sponsoring this bill:

Rep Bill Hardwick - main sponsor
Rep Holly Jones - cosponsor
Rep Cheri Toalson Reisch - cosponsor (some of you may remember her name from last year when she claimed that some school students were using litterboxes at school as they identified as animals. And she was STILL re-elected. Sigh....)
Rep Brian Seitz - cosponsor
Rep Ann Kelley - cosponsor

I emailed my local representative and senator to ask them to openly oppose this bill. My email included this:

Not only is it embarrassing in its lack of scientific knowledge, it could also cause future epidemics of preventable diseases which are typically forestalled by public vaccination policies...As a Missouri resident, it is truly humiliating that a bill text even includes these phrases: "any treatment or procedure intended or designed to edit or alter human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or the human genome" "Have placed under the person's skin any mechanical or electronic device". This is nothing less than a full blown conspiracy theory run amok. I am appalled that someone holding a public office actually believes this nonsense.

However, since my local reps are fellow Republicans I don't hold a lot of hope regarding the open opposition of this - but maybe they will privately work to see that it doesn't pass....

Ruth

 

[Shadowy Man]

Non-Existent Vaccine Microchips Could Soon Be Banned in Missouri

House members advanced a bill that would bar covid-19 vax mandates, and also ensure the public isn't forcibly subjected to microchipping or genetic mutation.

gizmodo.com

In addition to those basic anti-vax provisions, workplaces, schools and government officials would also be barred from forcing the public to undergo microchipping or forced mutation.

Just because there is a clear evolutionary gap between normal intelligent people and the dumbfucks who wrote this bill, I'm not sure forced mutation is a thing. I could be wrong though.

The good thing is how quickly this ban will work.

 

[TSwizzle]

ffs, the authoritarian control freaks will not give up;

US health officials are pushing ahead with a Covid vaccine mandate for travelers entering the country — despite no evidence it reduces infection rates. In an announcement Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated the policy rather than dropping it. The US will now allow travelers into the country that had received at least one vaccination dose on or after August 16, 2022. Sticking with the vaccine mandate rule makes the US an international outlier. Scientists argue that this means they provide better protection against severe disease and death from currently circulating strains. But there is little proof that they help to curtail the spread of the disease. Most countries have already dropped their vaccination requirements for visitors amid mounting evidence that they do not slow the spread of the virus.

Daily Mail

 

[blastula]

ffs, the authoritarian control freaks will not give up;

US health officials are pushing ahead with a Covid vaccine mandate for travelers entering the country — despite no evidence it reduces infection rates.

Daily Mail is such trash.

 

[Rhea]

ffs, the authoritarian control freaks will not give up;

US health officials are pushing ahead with a Covid vaccine mandate for travelers entering the country — despite no evidence it reduces infection rates.

Daily Mail is such trash.

Yeah - the article says it reduces severe cases and deaths, but then tries to pooh-pooh that by noting that it doesn’t curtail overall cases.
As if, like, reducing severe (publicly costly) cases and death isn’t a good reason to promote it.

Wut.

 

[TSwizzle]

ffs, the authoritarian control freaks will not give up;

US health officials are pushing ahead with a Covid vaccine mandate for travelers entering the country — despite no evidence it reduces infection rates.

Daily Mail is such trash.

you have evidence to the contrary?