Pandemic Film: Living with the Virus

Posted on by Thor

Yesterday I completed 15 shots. I am now feeling confident that at this pace the film will be complete by May 11, 2023. Originally I picked this as the due date since it was the date President Joe Biden would officially declare the pandemic emergency to have ended. Of course the pandemic will still be raging on that date. May 11 also happened to be the date that the Fringe Film Festival needs films to be submitted for the free screening on May 19, 2023 at 6pm in the Orlando Shakes courtyard outside. There are no coincidences, so I submitted the film to Fringe. Now that it is approved I need to finish the final edit pronto.

In this shot I found it odd that the computer neural filters assumed the virus was so bright and thus close to the camera rather than in the mid ground on the couch. I edited the painting and depth map together in After Effects anyway and I decided I liked the effect. I applied a parallax zoom and the virus swelled as the camera moved in. This turned out to be another happy accident that I will keep in the film.

What the flock are they doing?

Posted on by Thor

Most sheep are easily controlled and manipulated. The rebel black sheep cares about the herd. The United States has decided mass infection is the cheapest cost of action. If you wanted to thin the herd by several million people then convincing the population that a deadly virus is “mild” would do the trick.

Propaganda is now in the works to make those who wear masks seem like outliers. The mayor of NYC is asking store owners to insist that people entering their stores must remove their mask. It might be far easier to ask them to show their drivers license, but the point is to discourage the population from protecting themselves from an airborne virus that has killed millions of Americans and continues to do so.  The unintelligent are scapegoating the intelligent.

Floriduh Governor Ron DeathSantis wrote an order, that directed the state’s health and education departments to issue rules preventing the implementation of school mask mandates in an effort to “protect parents’ freedom to choose whether their children wear masks.”

Mandatory masking in schools reduced the spread of the virus. Some masks are better than others. Cloth masks and the flimsy blue medical masks are not as effective as N-95 masks. By the time quality N95 masks were being advised, masks had already become a political flash point.

CDC released three studies in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that highlighted the importance of using layered prevention strategies including universal masking to stop the spread and minimize disruptions to school operations for safe in-person education. These studies found that school districts without a universal masking policy in place were more likely to have COVID-19 outbreaks.

There are no longer any states requiring people generally to wear masks in public places. Several states still mandate masking for most people in certain high-risk settings, including health care and long-term care facilities. The federal government’s nationwide mask order for public transit, commercial flights and transportation hubs such as airports and train stations was struck down by a federal judge in April 2022. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has stopped enforcing the mandate and major U.S. airlines made face-covering optional on domestic flights.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend that people ages 2 and older wear masks while on public transportation and at transportation hubs.

Though president Joe Biden has decided to promote, “the pandemic is over” since he is eyeing a re-election run. No level of fantasy or denial can dispute the fact that several thousand people continue to die every week inn America due to COVID-19.  The American workforce is also continuing to thin as more and more people are crippled by long COVID.

People who are going about life unmasked as if the year were 2018 are fearful of those who wear masks since it reminds them that the pandemic is not over. Seeing someone in a mask can actually make them angry.

We have to protect the forest economy!

Posted on by Thor

Joe Biden based his entire 2020 presidential campaign on the promise he would solve COVID by trusting “the science”. That was all lip service. 2021 began with the hope that miraculous vaccines developed under the previous administration, would end the pandemic. Vaccines alone will not end the pandemic and that is something Biden does not understand.

President Joe Biden has been infected by COVID twice. He was fully vaccinated and got they best medical treatment possible. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stunned reporters on July 21 2021 when she brushed off an inquiry about how President Biden caught COVID-19, saying: “I don’t think that matters.” This is an example of how the administration gaslights and downplays the virus.

Since Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021, over 717,354 Americans have died from COVID-19. That is as of February 22, 2023 according to the CDC data tracker. Since about 500 people are dying every week we can assume that number is more like 718,354 today. According to Our World in data, 806,439 Americans died while Donald Trump was president, so he still leads in his ability to kill his voters.

Biden said, “If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized, you’re not going to be in the ICU unit and you’re not going to die.” This is simply not true. Though vaccines reduce the likelihood of infection, serious illness and death, they are not a guarantee. Breakthrough infections are common and vaccinated individuals are dying more often than unvaccinated individuals. In August of 2022 vaccinated individuals accounted for 58% of COVID deaths.

Biden said, “I sometimes underestimate it (COVID), because I stopped thinking about it, but I’m sure you don’t: we lost 1 – over 1 million people in several years to COVID.” His policy clearly has been to ignore the ongoing pandemic and claim it is “over” despite over 500 deaths a week. This is the mindset of a fascist who does not value life. I voted for him and had high hopes but he has dropped the ball and chosen ignorance and death.

Biden intends to end the COVID public health emergency on May 11, 2023. The public health emergency should only end when the ventilation, air disinfection, N95 masking, and an updated variant-proof infection-stopping vaccine are available to everyone around the world!

There is nothing you can do to stop a wildfire!

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The Joe Biden administration has decided to let COVID-19 rip with no mitigation other than advising people on occasion to get vaccinated. He said, that there is “nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months” — which is the exact opposite of what presidential candidate Joe Biden promised voters during the 2020 campaign. Back during the election, he said “the trajectory of COVID-19 in America is headed in the wrong direction,” and only he could fix it. In a Oct. 23, 2020 speech, Biden pledged to “immediately put in place a national strategy that will position our country to finally get ahead of this virus and get back our lives.” He never delivered.

Right before July 4th 2021, Biden again claimed the pandemic was over, and we should all celebrate by gathering in large groups to watch fire works. I was in Saint Augustine and the maskless crowds were insane. It is as if a word from the president acted as a mass hypnosis, convincing all to unmask and breath in each other’s faces. We were some of the very few who wore masks. At the time Delta was ripping across the country. In July of 2021 1,208 Americans died due to COVID-19.

On January 20, 2020 when Biden was inaugurated, there were 396,837 confirmed COVID deaths. As of February 5, 2023 there have been 1,073,693 deaths due to COVID. That is most contently an under counting. That means Biden’s bungled pandemic response is so far responsible for 676,856 COVID deaths as opposed to Trumps inept response which resulted in 396,837 COVID deaths. The media is strangely silent on Biden’s horrible handling of the pandemic.

Biden remarked about the pandemic saying, “I mean, look what’s happened, and I think we, I sometimes underestimate it because, I STOPPED THINKING ABOUT IT, but I’m sure you don’t: we lost 1 – over 1 million people in several years to COVID.” Biden warned that, “there’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic.”

Biden informed Congress on January 30, 2023 that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, 2023. Sure 500 people are dying every day, but that is the new normal. The United States public health emergency was first declared on Jan. 31, 2020, under the Trump administration. Lawmakers have refused for months to fulfill the Biden administration’s request for billions more dollars to extend free COVID vaccines and testing. The administration has surrendered and they have left you to try and survive as they gaslight you to make you think the pandemic is over. News flash, the pandemic is not over.

Mass Infection is not the Solution

Posted on by Thor

The politicians solution of mass infection or herd immunity is not the way to end the COVID pandemic. The Trump White House first embraced this far-reaching support for a dangerous and discredited herd immunity via mass infection strategy inside the White House. Unfortunately Joe Biden has also embraced this insanity since it is the easiest thing to do. He proclaimed the pandemic was over on National TV.

The fact is that the infected are getting re-infected with increasing worst outcomes. COVID does not boost the immune system it turns out it is destroying peoples immune systems. Though people might survive the first infection of COVID, they are more likely to become infected by other viruses. This is why people are suddenly catching horrible cases of the flu and RSV.

Non-COVID excess deaths are on the rise. No one knows the cause of the excess mortality in the midst of the pandemic. XBB.1.5 is spreading rapidly and the public has been lulled into abandoning all health protection measures like social distancing and wearing masks. The are done with caring and are easily persuaded to go about life as if the pandemic were over. In a football game this week a player is in critical condition after a cardiac arrest that left him lying of the field. The game went on as normal once his body was dragged off the field. He reamins in critical condition. This is how politicians treat their constituents. Dispose of the bodies and go about as if there was no pandemic. People will believe anything you say if you say it often enough. We learned that from 45.

Congress votes to cut 8 billions dollars that was slated for COVID. Political leaders continue to lie saying the pandemic is over, yet in Japan they just recorded the highest number of deaths in a single day since the start of the pandemic. Ignore the gaslighting of politicians if you hope to remain uninfected.

Mask up with quality well fitting N95 masks folks. the next couple of months are going to be rough. I don’t try and look for subtle reasons to mask, or no mask,I mask in all situations, indoors and outdoors  when around others. When I wear the mask often it becomes easier to forget I am wearing it.

Citizen COVID

Posted on by Thor

The undisputed winner of the mid term election is COVID-19. COVID won the race in an undisputed red wave. Regardless of which party dominates Congress and the Senate, they are both down playing the ongoing pandemic. The cost of vaccines will no longer be covered by the government but will cost about $130 per jab.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of a shortage occurring for COVID-19 rapid tests. In this advisory, the CDC advised diagnostic service providers to expect an increase in the demand for laboratory-based COVID-19 testing due to a shortage in supply for both point-of-care testing and rapid testing for COVID-19.

There is currently a temporary shortage in point-of-care and over-the-counter test supplies. To help preserve rapid test kits and supplies and meet the current test demand, CDC recommends the use of laboratory-based testing whenever possible.

As the election approached every candidate held packed election rallies which of course are fabulous venues to spread the virus since no one masks anymore. Passive conventionalists pretends the pandemic is over but it is not. The herds press together but there is no herd immunity.

President Joe Biden seems to think that Americans care about only one thing, and that is the price of gas. He may be right. He went on to announce that he felt the pandemic was over. All United States government efforts to curtail the coronavirus have disappeared. Mask mandates have been lifted on public transit. Public health agencies are being crippled by conservative law makers.

The White House and the CDC have framed COVID as a problem for individuals, but informed action is hard when cases and hospitalizations are underestimated, most testing sites have closed, and the over optimistic CDC guidelines downplay the coronavirus’s unchecked spread. COVID has won.

Trick

Posted on by Thor

Scary new variants, or scariants abound as we approach the Halloween season. As the weather cools, we are entering another pandemic winter. BA.5 is beginning to be overtaken my a wide variety of new variants. BA.4.6, makes up about 12 percent of COVID cases in the U.S, and BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, make up more than 11 percent of cases, as of October 2022, according to the CDC’s variant tracker. And those are steadily taking over. in Singapore, a sub-variant called XBB has been driving a surge in cases, and may be the most immune-evasive variant yet

Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, called this rising wave of variants “troublesome.” monoclonal antibody treatments are becoming ineffective against the new variants. Dr. Jha the White House’s Covid response coordinator, is advising people to get their omicron-specific Covid booster by Halloween, He said, ‘You don’t want to be that person who gives it to your grandma’. “Why Halloween? Because three weeks after Halloween is Thanksgiving, and there’s a lot of travel, and you’re seeing family, and you’re seeing friends — and a few weeks later, it’s the holidays,” said Jha.

Over the past two-plus years, we’ve learned new ways to enjoy pandemic holidays, and “outside is always safer” has been the mantra for these holiday gatherings. Luckily, that’s easy to do on Halloween, because trick-or-treating generally involves plenty of outdoor time.

CDC advice includes the following:

  • Stay home if you’re sick. Skip the Halloween party if you aren’t feeling well.
  • Get tested if you have COVID-19 symptoms.
  • Take precautions in crowded or indoor events as informed by your county’s COVID-19 Community Level, like wearing a high-quality mask (and Halloween masks don’t count). Consider making the mask part of the costume—like a doctor, nurse, ninja, or cowboy.
  • If you’re hosting celebrations, review options for improving ventilation in your home. This can help you reduce virus particles in your home and keep COVID-19 from spreading.
  • Keep your hands clean. If you’re out trick-or-treating, bring hand sanitizer. If you’re giving out candy, wash your hands frequently.

 

Closing the Curtain on COVID?

Posted on by Thor

400 to 500 people continue to die every day due to COVID-19. Every week the number of people who die from COVID is about to the number of people ho died on September 11, 2001 when the twin Towers were attacked. That is our new normal. It is better that the several thousand who were dying every day back in January 2022.

Despite the ongoing death toll, President Joe Biden declared on 60 Minutes that the “the pandemic was over.” Biden himself had COVID twice just recently but with the beast healthcare options available, he and his wife pulled through. If you remember, a year ago for July 4, 2020,  Biden also declared we would be independent of the virus. Like any politician he want to downplay the virus as elections roll around.

So who actually gets to decide when the pandemic ends? No single person can flip a switch and declare a pandemic over. COVID remains a public health emergency in the United States, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services, and it’s still a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, according to US Department of Health and Human Services (WHO).

The World Health Organization did a horrible job on deciding when the pandemic should begin. Had they acted sooner and closed off flights out of China back in 2020, the virus could have been contained and eradicated. Last week, Tedros said the end of the pandemic “is in sight,” but he added that “we are not there yet.” So where is “there”?

Back in 1918, the Spanish Flue pandemic swept across America, starting in a WWI training base in Kansas where my great Grandfather was stationed.  The virus was ignored by press and the president because the country was at war. After a devastating wave of death in the fall of 1918, bodies lay in the streets and mass graves had to be dug. By the beginning of 1919 most mask orders, closures and social distancing orders were lifted. Waves of disease continued through 1920 the year my father was born.

Vaccines and treatments offer some protection from severe disease and death but they do not stop re-infection. The Biden administration has said it intends to stop buying vaccines, tests and treatments, shifting those things to the commercial market.

Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said, that in his estimation, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are still too high to say the pandemic is over. We also don’t know what variants of the virus could emerge or how our immunity will hold up against them. “I don’t think people really understand what the implications are for this virus,” Osterholm said. “All of us want the pandemic to be over, but you can’t make it go away by just making a policy decision.

Alien Things

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North Korea claims that “Alien Things” are to blame for it’s COVID-19 “Fever” Outbreak. South Korean activist for years have flown balloons across the border which distributed pamphlets that were critical of Kim Jong Un. The dictator is furious that this activity was never stopped. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in North Korea, the activists have been airlifting masks and pain killers to its suffering northern neighbor.

Kim Jong Un claims that people who touched one of these balloon care packages became infected by COVID-19 and spread it to the rest of the nation. The CDC has pointed out that COVID-19 is spread through aerosolized particles. Though infection through touch is possible is is far less likely. At the start of the pandemic I was using antiseptic wipes to disinfect all incoming groceries but that practicewas pushed to the wayside due to the more recent findings. A mask is far more important that wiping down groceries.

A far more likely reason for the vast spread of the virus in North Kora would be the Military parade superspreader event held by Kim Jung Un for promote his missile program. North Korea has reported some 4.7 million cases of “The Fever” among it’s population of 26 Million. Since the dictator wants to save face, that number is obviously under reported.

North Korea is a nation that is completely vaccinated and therefor very susceptible to the worst possible outcome from the fast spread of the virus. President Joe Biden and Covax have offered to airlift in vaccines by Kim Jung Un claimed that the North Korean Epidemic Prevention Center had everything under control. The health Ministry is clueless and has done nothing to protect citizens. News of the horrific outcomes has been downplayed by the Communist regime. We may never know just how many people suffered needlessly and died.

North Korea’s Epidemic Prevention Center claimed that an 18 year old soldier and a kindergartner came into contact with “Alien Things” in the town Ipoh near the southern border. They later tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The nation has stressed that anyone who finds “Alien Things” must notify authorities immediately so that the objects can be safely removed.

By laying blame of “Alien things” flown across the border, the agency hopes to ease public complaints about the absolute failing of the nation to handle the health crisis while also echoing past complaints about the balloon aid program. When West Berlin was cut off by Communists Russia after WWII, a comprehensive airlift program was initiated to help the citizens of that city.  South Korea in a much smaller way was trying to offer assistance to it’s besieged neighbor.

Bitch Slap

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President Joe Biden, while visiting Poland on March 26, 2022, said the Russian leader Putin ‘cannot remain in power.’ The White House press staff seem to be trying to soften the blow, by  clarifying that Biden was not calling for regime change in Russia. However, Biden’s unscripted comment is one that finally rings true. It is certainly a magnificent change from the former American president who licks Putin’s boots to this day.

On March 28, 2022 Biden said he was “not walking anything back” after his weekend remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin put the White House on defense. Biden said “I was expressing moral outrage, and I make no apologies for it.”

When pressed on whether his comments would effect diplomacy with Russia, Biden pushed the blame on Putin, noting that the Russian leader’s “escalatory efforts” are what “complicates things.” The president brushed off assumptions that his comments could be taken by Putin as an escalatory step.

“I don’t care what [Putin] thinks,” Biden said. “This is a guy who goes to the beat of his own drummer. And the idea that he is going to do something outrageous because I called him for what he was and what he’s doing, I think, is just not rational.”

Catholic priest Dwight Longenecker put it quite simply, “First we overlook evil. Then we permit evil, then we legalize evil, then we promote evil, then we celebrate evil, then we persecute those who still call it evil.”

Tip toeing to avoid upsetting a maniacal autocrat and setting up some sanctions is not enough. Lets face it, some take pleasure in the idea that a bully on the world stage should be bitch slapped.