Wen Misinformation Genie

Posted on by Thor

The pandemic is not over. Yet certain talking heads are placating the public and pretending it is over. Almost 4,000 Americans continue to die every week, about 1,000 more that the number of people who died on 9-11. The death numbers are rising. July 4th of last year president Biden claimed the pandemic was over, and a year later despite all the needless death inbetween, he once again proclaimed the same.

Leana Wen is a research professor of health policy and management. She has been a favored host on CNN. At one point in 2021 she said that people should not be allowed out in public unless they are vaccinated. Far right anti-vaxers were furious. Lately however she seems to be on the far right anti-vax pay roll.

Wen claimed that getting infected should be perceived as the new normal going forward. So 4,000 deaths a week is “the new normal.” In a recent column in the Washington Post, Wen claimed, “We are over counting COVID deaths and hospitalizations.” She didn’t reference any research or data to back up her claim but she did talk to several friends.  The anecdotal opinions of these two friends seemed to be the entire basis for her crazy headline. One said that of the patients he treats in Massachusetts,  just 30% are treated with a steroid for patients suffering from low oxygen. He went on to state that he felt hospitalizations are over counted. Strangely, Wen referenced the 30% number and attributed it to deaths rather than hospitalizations, or treatments with steroids which she earlier referenced. Does she not know the difference between death and hospitalization? The article is misleading at best.

Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Bringham and Women’s Hospital, who teaches at Harvard, and consults with the White House. He said on Twitter, “I can’t say for sure if we are over counting hospitalizations, it is certainly possible, although it is not black and white. But I can say with confidence that we are not over counting COVID deaths right now, including Massachusetts, the state highlighted in the Post, because this is literally what I study.”

Excess deaths (orange) in America follow the same trajectory as COVID deaths (black), with excess deaths often being rather higher. These deaths are compared to what would have been expected given the five year averages of deaths prior to the pandemic. If anything, this makes it seem that COVID deaths are likely being under counted. Dr. Faust went on to say, “If we were truly over counting COVID deaths, an important piece of evidence to support that would be if COVID deaths…were exceeding all cause deaths.” So to state the obvious, simply, COVID deaths are not being over counted. It is very likely that COVID deaths are being under counted.

The misinformation Wen is now peddling is dangerous because it ignited the conspiratorial far right anti-vax, Q-Anon crowd. In the early days of the pandemic I used to respect Wen’s opinions and guidance but now she is quite simply encouraging death and denying the facts all around her as the pandemic continues to rage. Wen’s stance is offensive to all the millions of families who lost a love one because of COVID.

Can someone please cork the bottle of this genie of death.

iVirus

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CNN reported that workers at an Apple iPhone manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou, China fled after the facility was locked down due to a COVID-19 outbreak. On October 2, 2022, authorities imposed a seven-day lockdown of the area that houses the Foxconn plant, an order that could hit the iPhone assembler’s production and shipments. 350,000 people work at the plant that some call iPhone City.

Analysts said the chaos at Zhengzhou could jeopardize Apple and Foxconn’s output in the coming weeks. Ivan Lam, senior research analyst at Counterpoint, estimated that between 10% and 30% of iPhone 14 production could be affected in the near term if the situation did not stabilize. The Zhengzhou campus is the world’s biggest iPhone factory and typically accounts for as much as 85% of iPhone assembly capacity, according to Lam’s estimates.

The city, of more than 12 million, imposed sweeping lockdown measures earlier last month after identifying dozens of Covid-19 cases. Workers are panicking over the spread of the virus at the factory and lack of access to official information. Workers are packed side by side much like meat packing workers. It is not clear how many cases of Covid have been identified at the factory. Many scaled fences to escape the iPhone facility by foot.

Apple has started to boost production in other countries, including India, to reduce its dependence on China.

SS “Lost” Texts

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The US Secret Service (SS) erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, shortly after they were requested by oversight officials investigating the agency’s response to the US Capitol riot, according to a letter given to the House select committee investigating the insurrection and first obtained by CNN.

The National Archives and Records Administration is investigating the “alleged unauthorized deletion” of a large cache of text messages sent by Secret Service officials in the days surrounding the attack. There are only two explanations for the deletions, one is stupidity and the other is malicious intent to hide evidence.

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general, who is charged with overseeing the Secret Service, has criticized the agency’s handling of the matter and said some of the messages were deleted after he requested them in February 2021.

The SS ushered then-Vice President Mike Pence to a secure loading dock beneath Capitol grounds while the Jan. 6 attack was underway. Pence aides have described efforts by his detail to get Pence to leave the Capitol in his motorcade, which Pence refused to do, contending that he wanted to remain in the Capitol until the counting of electoral votes was complete. The vice president’s motorcade retreating from the insurrection would have been seen world wide as a symbol of defeat. Was the SS complicit in wanting to achieve that defeat?

The Homeland Security Department’s watchdog has opened an investigation into the loss of Secret Service text messages. The January 6 committee is seeking missing text messages from 24 Secret Service employees related to Jan. 5 and the day of the Capitol attack. The committee has subpoenaed the texts for clues to what happened that day, including reports of then-President Donald Trump being blocked by agents from accompanying his supporters to the Capitol.

Senator Gary Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called the allegations “concerning” in a statement August 11, 2022. “We need to get to the bottom of whether the Secret Service destroyed federal records or the Department of Homeland Security obstructed oversight. The DHS Inspector General needs these records to do its independent oversight and the public deserves to have a full picture of what occurred on January 6th,” the Michigan Democrat said.

Military Cases Triple

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COVID-19 cases in the United States have surged almost three-fold in the military since just before Christmas of 2021 according to defense department statistics. The Defense Department reported just under 5,300 cases among service members December 22, 2021. By January 5, 2022 that number reached more than 13,900.

As of September 1, 2021 there were 40 military member deaths due to COVID-19. By January 5, 2022 the total was 86. In response, the military is increasing health protection protocols on many bases and at the pentagon.

Wright Patterson Air Force Base has moved to the highest level of health protection measures which includes now allowing only 15% of the workforce in the office at a time.

One base that has seen a post holiday surge is Fort Bragg, North Carolina, which currently has an estimated 50% positivity rate among those being tested. The base hospital, Womack Army Medical Center, was at 100% capacity at the end of last week, a military official there told CNN.

The jump reflects, to some extent, what is happening in civilian society as the Omicron variant has taken hold and case rates have risen in many communities across the country, defense officials say. The Defense Department does not test specifically for the Omicron variant but officials say there is every reason to believe the highly contagious variant has hit the military force.

Tower of Babel

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On the evening of December 10, 2021, a huge series tornados ravaged central and southern states. The death toll has risen over 80. A stretch of more than 250 miles from Arkansas to Kentucky might have been hit by one violent, long-track twister, CNN meteorologists said.

In Kentucky alone more than 70 have been reported dead. The tornado hit the Mayfield Consumer Products Candle Factory which had 110 people working inside when the roof caved in. Workers were working through the night to meet Christmas demand. Workers who heard warning sirens wanted to get home to shelter in place, but they were told they would likely be fired if they left. Some left despite the threat of loosing their jobs. Dozens are feared dead.

In Edwardsville Illinois, an Amazon warehouse was blown open killing 6. Walls on both sides of the warehouse collapsed inward, while the roof collapsed downward. Workers in the warehouse were banned from having cell phones which could be a life saving device if a worker were conscious and trapped under rubble. In such an emergency it wold be good to be able to get in touch with loved ones to see if they are safe. “After these deaths, there is no way in hell I am relying on Amazon to keep me safe,” an Amazon worker from a nearby facility in Illinois told Bloomberg. “If they institute the no cell phone policy, I am resigning.”

On December 10, 2021 the same day as the tornado, 2,064 people died from COVID-19 in America. That is like having 25 of these tornados killing people across the country every day.

COVID-19 Dodgeball

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CNN reported that Covid-19 cases in children are up 32% from two weeks ago, according to new numbers published November 22, 2021 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). For the week ending November 18, 2021 there were at least 141,905 new cases among children, with children making up a disproportionate share of the cases, representing more than a quarter of all new Covid-19 cases for the past week.

Early in the pandemic, kids accounted for fewer than 3% of confirmed cases. That is because parents helped to keep them at home, socially isolated.  Now parents are glad to have the kids out from underfoot and back in school. Some schools are trying to keep the kids protected with masks and some form of social distancing, but some state governors are doing everything in there power to keep the kids unmasked so the virus can spread unchecked.

Cases have dropped since a horrific summer surge in the south, but now the cases are rising again as winter sets in. The number of children with Covid-19 is still considered “extremely high,” the AAP report said. This marks the 15th week in a row that child Covid-19 cases are higher than 100,000. But 939 children have died from Covid-19 in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Children ages 5 and older are now eligible to get Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. A study conducted by Pfizer showed that its vaccine efficacy was more than 90% against symptomatic disease. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that two-thirds of parents want to wait and see, or are refusing to vaccinate their children. Misinformation, mistrust and insanity are resulting in plenty of children that the virus can burn through. Those kids return home and infect the parents and grand parents and the dynamic dance of death continues.

Stop the Squeal

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Children aged 5-11 years old, are now eligible to get the COVID -19 vaccine shot in America. The 6 year old Big Bird from Sesame Street helped children get over their fears of getting a vaccine shot on a CNN special. Texas Republican Sasquatch Ted Cruz accused Big Bird of pushing “Government propaganda…for your 5 year old!” after the Muppet tweeted about getting the shot in his wing.

Big Bird wants your kids to get a vaccine that will not only protect them from a virus that has killed more than 750,000 Americans but also keep them from unintentionally spreading it to parents and grandparents who may well be more susceptible to more serious infections even if they are vaccinated. Covid-19 was the 6th leading cause of death among kids aged 5 to 14 in September 20211. Same was true in August 2021.

Attacking Big Bird is pure virtue-signaling by Cruz. But more important is is just plain dump. It is so sad that this is the state of politics in America. CNNs Jim Acosta came up with the great phrase “Stop the squeal” mostly for the former presidents lies, but also for the meaningless virtue signaling of the GOP.

Waning Immunity

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The news every day has stories of breakthrough infections. CNN reported that 2 studies published October 6, 2021 confirm that the immune protection offered by two doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine drops off after two months or so, although protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death remains strong. The studies, from Israel and from Qatar and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, support arguments that even fully vaccinated people need to maintain precautions against infection.

Men’s immunity drop off faster than  women’s immunity. The study also indicated that immunity for people who get vaccinated after natural Covid-19 infection lasts longer. It’s especially strong for people who recovered from infection and then got vaccinated. “Overall, the accumulating evidence from our study and others shows that long-term response and vaccine effectiveness in previously infected persons were superior to that in recipients of two doses of vaccine,” they wrote. That leaves me wondering if being fully vaccinated and then getting infected also creates this sort of super boost to immunity.

Pfizer/BioNTech‘s vaccine protection against infection builds rapidly after the first dose, peaks in the first month after the second dose, and then gradually wanes in subsequent months,” Laith Abu-Raddad of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar and colleagues wrote. “The waning appears to accelerate after the fourth month, to reach a low level of approximately 20% in subsequent months,” they added.

Americans can choose a COVID-19 booster shot that is different from their original inoculation but the recommendation is to stick with the vaccine they got first if it is available, White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said on October 22, 2021. 80 Million Americans are still unvaccinated so there is plenty of wood for this fire to continue to burn through.

My Halloween Display Plans

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On a walk with the dogs, Pam asked me what I would like to do for Halloween. The idea popped into my head that it might be fun to create hundreds, or thousands or hundreds of thousands of virus sculptures about the size of pumpkins and lay them out on the lawn, each being lit by those old big bulb Christmas lights. Of course we would have some skeletons, zombies and tombstones.

My first thought was to make paper mache viruses but they might not hold up to the Florida rains. Maybe spike proteins could be poked into tennis balls or pumpkins. The thoughts were flowing. How many should we make?  If we made 700,000 of them then the pile would cover and envelop the entire house and probably the block or several blocks. The logistics might be  bit much.

Her response was a simple, “Um, NO.” Regardless I am left wanting to create the perfect pandemic display in my mind. Maybe she will change her mind when she sees the possibilities.

White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN October 10, 2021 that kids can “go out there and enjoy Halloween,” an approach he attributed to the fact that more and more people are now vaccinated against COVID-19 and that most Halloween activities, including trick-or-treating, are held outdoors.

“It’s a good time to reflect on why it’s important to get vaccinated,” he said, urging unvaccinated adults and teens to get shots before Halloween. “But go out there and enjoy Halloween.”

Red Menace

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CNN reporter Chris Cillizza reported that Red Covid is killing Americans. This menace was perpetuated by the former president who made basic health measures a political talking point he hoped would get him re-elected.

States that voted Democratic for Joe Biden  in the last election are showing much higher vaccination rates that states that voted Republican. The spread is startling when seen on a graph. Not getting vaccinated has become a point of pride among the Republican base right up until they are gasping their last breaths with a tube down their throats.

More than 9 in 10 self-identified Democrats (92%) report that they have had at least one dose of one of the three vaccines for Covid-19. That number among Republicans? Just 56%.

Republican governors were slower to adopt both stay-at-home orders and mandates to wear face masks. “Governors’ party affiliation may have contributed to a range of policy decisions that, together, influenced the spread of the virus,” the study’s senior author, Dr. Sara Benjamin-Neelon the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health, Behavior and Society, said in a statement. “These findings underscore the need for state policy actions that are guided by public health considerations rather than by partisan politics,” she added.

Dubbing it “Red Covid,” The New York Times‘ David Leonhardt wrote: “The political divide over vaccinations is so large that almost every reliably blue state now has a higher vaccination rate than almost every reliably red state.  Because the vaccines are so effective at preventing serious illness, Covid deaths are also showing a partisan pattern. Covid is still a national crisis, but the worst forms of it are increasingly concentrated in red America.”
There are two Americas right now. The one that is intelligent enough to take safety precautions kike wearing masks  and got vaccinated and the other who is ignorantly willing to go to slaughter to make a political point. Choose wisely.