Anti-Mask Grave Diggers

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Indonesia is making Anti Maskers dig graves for COVID-19 victims. As a punishment for violating Indonesian mask mandates, eight people who refused to wear face masks to combat the spread of COVID-19 were, in fact, ordered by a local official to dig graves, USA TODAY reported.

Leaders in Cerme, a district located in East Java, had set out stricter policies surrounding the enforcement of social distancing and mask-wearing due to a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases.

Indonesian news site Tribune News reported that Suyono, the leader of Cerme, proposed grave digging as a punishment to those who violated the local mask mandate due to a lack of gravediggers in the area.

“There are only three available gravediggers at the moment, so I thought I might as well put these people to work with them,” Suyono told Tribune News. “Hopefully, this can create a deterrent effect against violations.”

Suyono said two people were assigned to each grave, one to dig the grave and the other to insert wooden boards into the burial holes to support the corpses. However, the violators did not participate in the actual burials and were forbidden from touching the bodies, Australia SBS News reported. The task was left to health officials who were wearing proper protective equipment.

Those in Creme caught not wearing a mask have the option of accepting a fine of 150,000 rupiah, which is equivalent to $10 in the U.S., or accepting a “social punishment,” according to Suyono.

Suyono told CNN that while most people have accepted social punishments, such as push-ups or cleaning, he hopes grave digging would show “firsthand the real and serious effect of COVID-19” and added that none of the gravediggers were present when the bodies were buried.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Indonesia is the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak with the highest death toll in Southeast Asia. Mask-wearing ha been required since April 2021. On July 22, 2021 there were 1449 deaths in Indonesia and that is most certainly under reported. There have been over 3 million cases and over 30,000 deaths to date in the country.

Freedom

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The vaccination rate has stalled in America. 41% of Republicans say they do not plan to get a vaccine, according to the latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll, while 4% of Democrats do not want the vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that vaccinated Americans can take their masks off outdoors and indoors. They are over 95% protected from getting infected by the COVID-19 virus and its mutations. The un-vaccinated will not wear masks and they will spread the virus amongst themselves Extending the pandemic and resulting in more deaths.

President Joe Biden warned May 17, 2021 that coronavirus case numbers could rise once again in U.S. states with low Covid-19 vaccination rates. He said it would be a needless “tragedy” to see Covid cases rise among those who do not get vaccinated. Nearly 35 million Americans may refuse the shot. That’s how many Trump voters wouldn’t get the vaccine if the polling turns out to be correct, representing almost 17% of the adult American population. Among Magats, personal freedom is more important that life. The virus doesn’t give a crap about party affiliation. Biden further stated, “Those who are not vaccinated will end up paying the price.”

As of May 17, 2021, more than 154 million American adults, or 59.7% of U.S. adults, have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and roughly 121 million American adults, or 47.1% of U.S. adults, are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

A study by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School Of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, of COVID-19 diagnoses and deaths from March to December 2020 found that a greater number of people died in states led by Republican governors. The study suggests that the less stringent remediation measures taken by Republican governors have likely led to the deaths. The study offers evidence about the danger of political polarization.

Little Shop of Vaccines

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Covid-19 cases are surging around the world, fueled by highly contagious variants of the coronavirus that continue to spread quickly. Covid-19 deaths have surpassed 3 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

India on April 18, 2021 reported 261,500 new cases of Covid-19, the fourth consecutive day of more than 200,000 infections and the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. They also reported 1,501 new deaths, the highest in almost 10 months.

In Florida COVID-19 cases have  surged since spring break and deaths from new variants are rising. As of April 15, 2021, there were 5,177 cases that involved variants of concern in the state — six times higher than what was there in mid-March, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The Sentinel obtained the figures through a lawsuit it filed against the Florida Department of Health.

Cases across the United States continue to climb despite the epic vaccine roll out by the new administration. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said earlier this month that hospitals are seeing more younger un-vaccinated adults  are being admitted with Covid-19 as more contagious variants spread. In Michigan, where Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are rapidly increasing, case rates are at an all-time high for those age 19 and younger, according to state data published April 6, 2021.

States have begun to lift health safety measures to quickly allowing the virus to spread. Controlling the spread of the virus is as simple as following health measures like mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing. However politicians insist on making these safety measures a political flashpoint, claiming they are an infringement on civil liberties. Experts spanning law, public health and privacy policy say it’s a false choice.

 

5 States: 44% of Cases

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CNN reported that five states account for 44% of the COVID-19 cases in the past week according to data from Johns Hopkins University. New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey had more than 196,400 of the country’s 453,360 cases reported in the last week, according to data available the morning of April 7. 2021.

Michigan has been hit especially hard with 6,600 cases a day over a week as opposed to 1,350 daily cases five weeks ago. The highly contagious and deadly B.1.1.7 variant of the COVID virus has helped cause the spike in cases. People are also experiencing pandemic fatigue and are taking fewer precautions giving the virus plenty of opportunity to spread.

The B.1.1.7, first identified in the UK, is now the most common strain of coronavirus in the United States, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said April 7, 2021.

With more-transmissible variants adding up, surges like Michigan’s may soon be seen more widely, even though vaccination rates have increased nationally, epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm said. The CDC says more than 16,200 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant have been confirmed in surveillance testing in the US, and B.1.1.7 has been found in every state. This number does not represent the total number of such cases circulating in the United States, but rather only those found by analyzing samples. Florida has more that 3000 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, more than any other state.

The US has averaged 774 Covid-19 deaths a day over the last week. According to the latest CDC data, 19.4% of the total US population was fully vaccinated as of the morning of April 7, 2021; and 57.4% of people age 65 and older are fully vaccinated. But the US has a long way to go before reaching herd immunity. Dr. Anthony Fauci has estimated 70%-85% of the population needs to become immune.

Mad Mask Abbott

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Texas Governor Mad Max Greg Abbott announced on March 2, 2021 that the states mask mandate would be lifted and all business could open at 100% capacity starting March 10, 2021. The CDC had warned the day before that states should not ease public health safety restrictions. As of March 1, 2021, only 6.57% of Texans have been fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University.

COVID case numbers have fallen since the insanely high numbers of January driven by the holidays, New Years Eve and the Super Bowl. However the number of new cases have leveled off at about the worst of the summer surge which was the worst imaginable horror at the time. Since new cases of COVID-19 have been leveling off at about 50,000 new cases a day, there is a risk that there could be a 4th wave driven by states lifting health guidance too early. New variants of the virus are spreading and some are resistant to the vaccines being distributed. In Brazil, people who recovered from the COVID virus at the beginning of the pandemic are getting re-infected. The second infections are more severe and deadly.

A team of researchers in Houston, Texas, has sequenced the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from 20,400 COVID-19 patients treated at a single health system there, and they’ve found cases of all the major variants that public health experts say could increase the transmission of the virus or the severity of infection.

Ironically President Joe Biden‘s fast vaccine roll out is partly the cause of governor Abbott letting his guard down. President Joe Biden slammed Abbott on March 3, 2021 for putting lives at risk by clinging to “Neanderthal thinking” rather than heeding advice from the nation’s top scientists. “I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers. “We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we’re able to get vaccines in people’s arms….The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask. Forget it. It still matters.”

Biden noted the death toll, 511,874 Americans at last count. “We’re going to lose thousands more…. We’ll not have everybody vaccinated until sometime in the summer,” Biden said. “It’s critical, critical, critical, critical that they follow the science. Wash your hands, hot water. Do it frequently, wear a mask and stay socially distanced. … I wish the heck some of our elected officials knew it.” To date, Texas has lost 43,266 lives.

“We at the CDC have been very clear that now is not the time to release all restrictions,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asked about Texas’ change of policy during a White House briefing. “The next month or two is really pivotal in terms of how this pandemic goes.”

Herd Immunity

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I wish Donald Trump had learned something from infecting his family with COVID-19. To excuse holding super spreader rallies leading up to the election, the Trump administration has adopted a policy of “Herd Immunity.” The strategy is to do nothing, as he has done all along, and let the virus go unchecked. The basic idea is that the vulnerable and weak are acceptable collateral damage. They will die anyway. “It is what it is.”

This scorched earth idea has never worked. according to Stuart Ray, M.D., professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, countries that have avoided lock downs, masks and physical distancing, we have not seen evidence that any have achieved herd protection on a national scale. Sweden for example decided that social distancing was voluntary. The results were devastating. By the end of May 2020, the nation recorded nearly 41,000 COVID-19 cases resulting in more than 4,500 deaths in a population of 10 million, compared with Scandinavian neighbors Norway and Finland that counted fewer than 600 COVID-19 deaths combined. Out simply the result was death on a massive scale, which America has already seen and will see much more with Trumps continued, do nothing policy. The idea of herd immunity is not a science based theory. It is dangerous.

The director of the World Health Organization held a press conference to state, “Never in the history of public health has herd immunity bee used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic…letting COVID-19 circulate unchecked therefor means allowing unnecessary infections, suffering and death.”

No one knows if it is even possible to develop immunity from the virus. An otherwise healthy 25-year-old Nevada man is the first American confirmed to have caught COVID-19 twice, with the second infection being worse than the first. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee said, “Respiratory infections like COVID-19 don’t provide lifelong immunity like a measles infection.” The man from Nevada has recovered from both infections. a 98 year old Dutch woman got the virus a second time and that second infection killed her.

I did the above illustration after listening to a Jordan Klepper interview with a Trump supporter at the Harrisburg Pennsylvania Trump Rally.

The supporter, proud of the conservative supreme court nominee, confirmed he was pro-life.

Klepper – “It is important for Americans to do whatever they can to protect a human life.”

Supporter – “Yes”

Klepper – “Why aren’t you wearing a mask?”

Supporter – “I mean again, it’s a personal choice I think? If everybody was wearing them and everybody said put a mask on, I would respect everybody’s wished and put one on. We are not sheep.”

Klepper – “You are not sheep. But if everybody here was wearing masks…”

Supporter – “Again, we are not sheeple.”

Klepper – “So you are going to look at what everybody is doing and you are going to follow along.”

Supporter – “That’s right.”

Klepper – “But not sheeple.”

Supporter – “Not sheeple.”

Short Transmission

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Dr. Akinyemi Ajayi told Nadeen Yanes of News 6, “Children below 5-6 age, do not transmit the virus as easily, for a number of reasons,” . “One, they do not have the lung capacity, two if they are breathing, they do not generate large plumes and they are also shorter, much closer to the ground.” That changes when a child is 9 or 10, their transmission is nearly the same as an adult he said.

This quote struck me as particularly medieval. The very notion that any virus carried by children would remain closer to the ground seems insane since the virus is airborne, to be carried wherever it wants to go. My first thought is that teachers should be supplied stilts in addition to the other PPE supplied. I also am amazed he stated, “if they are breathing.”

While many droplets will fall to the ground within a six foot radius, some can remain airborne for up to three hours and travel up to 27 feet. Lydia Bourouiba, an associate professor at MIT, has researched the dynamics of exhalations (coughs and sneezes, for instance) for years at The Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory and found exhalations cause gaseous clouds that can travel up to 27 feet.

On Monday August 17, 2020 the Orange County School Board will have an emergency meeting to discuss recommendations made by the district’s new Medical Advisory Committee regarding the reopening of schools. The meeting called just days before in-person instruction begins in Orange County on Aug. 21, 2020. “Some of us don’t feel like that is necessarily the best thing to do,” Dr. Ajayi said. “Also realize that we are at a point now that we are just a week from school.”

Here are the recommendations regarding reopening:

  • Allow for school re-openings but with staggered start dates
  • Reopen only elementary schools scheduled on Aug. 21
  • Reopen middle, high schools at a later date, possibly one week later depending on what is feasible for the district

Schools will require masks to be worn at all times with little to no exceptions, require more contact tracing and rapid testing in schools and more training for teachers and staff on how to properly wear PPE. Teacher Nick Anderson pointed out, “Every work site has teachers that can tell you about the frustration about trying to keep the soap dispensers filled on a daily basis, going days without even having paper towels refilled.”

Misinformation was shared over 50 times on a teachers Facebook Group about COVID-19 cleaning procedures. This information was falsely attributed to Johns Hopkins University. This information was proven false back in April, 2020. It is scary that teachers are entrusted to keep kids safe and they sharing false information moving forward.

School sports in Florida remain a political football. The state’s High School Athletic Association decided on Friday that the game can go on. It voted to allow member schools to start their practices on August 24, 2020 the season will begin September 4, 2020. CBSN reported that, nearly 800 schools are a part of the association. The fall season consists of bowling, cross country, football, golf, swimming and diving, and girls volleyball. As part of the approval for the season, coaches will have to make a “COVID waiver form” available to the schools. As of today, August 7, 2020 Florida has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University.

Trump Jr’s Girlfriend Infected

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Trump Jr‘s Girlfriend has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Kimberly Guilfoyle, ex-wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a former Fox News television personality and a senior fundraiser for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign traveled to South Dakota to be at the president’s speech at Mount Rushmore. She and Jr did not fly on air force one. Anyone who gets close to the president is routinely tested. She did not attend the event after the positive test result and drove back east. She is asymptomatic and did not get in close proximity to the president. “After testing positive, Kimberly was immediately isolated to limit any exposure,” Sergio Gor, chief of staff for the Trump Victory Finance Committee, said in a statement quoted in The New York Times. Donald Trump Jr tested negative, but as a precaution is also self-isolating and canceling all public events.”

She became the latest person in the president’s orbit — and who attended his June 20, 2020 indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma — to test positive for COVID-19. Some campaign staff and Secret Service personnel tested positive, while former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said last week he had been hospitalized with the virus, the Times said. In addition,  Montana GOP gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte to suspended in-person campaign events after his wife and running mate attended an event with Guilfoyle. The Hill reported.

Guilfoyle and Trump Jr attended a June 27, 2020 party in the Hamptons where mask less attendees were partying like the pandemic was not a reality. The couple were guests of honor. They stayed at the party for about an hour. Party goers were “freaking out” after learning Guilfoyle tested positive for COVID-19, Page Six reported Monday July 6, 2020. The party took place at the Bridgehampton mansion (51 Sandpiper Lane, Bridgehampton, Long Island) owned by famed developer Joe Farrell. Video published by Page Six showed attendees without masks and chatting in close groups — not social distancing. Guests were on the roof but there are reports of the party being inside as well.

According to Harvard Health Publishing and Johns Hopkins University, the incubation period for Covid-19 — that is, the time between contracting the virus and developing symptoms or getting a positive result on a diagnostic test — is three to fourteen days. Researchers believe someone with Covid-19 becomes contagious two or three days before the onset of symptoms; however, those without symptoms can also transmit the disease.

Dorinda Medley Tweeted, “Anyone that attended Joe Farrell’s packed Hamptons party last week should get tested ASAP including @ramonasinger.”