Variant Race

Posted on by Thor

There are over 300 variants of Omicron now circulating. Many are more able to escape immunity offered by vaccination and former infection. They are also more effective than than BA.5 at binding to the ACE 2 receptors. In this mad race to infect, the variants to watch out for are BQ.1.1, BQ.1, BQ.1.3, BA.2.3.20, BA.2.75.2 and BA.7.

BQ.1 has taken the lead in Europe, particularly in France, Germany and Great Britain. It is very likely that the wave comming this fall and winter will be driven by many variants rather than one predominant variant like past waves.

As of October 16. 2022, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, account for about 11% of the viruses sampled in the U.S., per data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BA.4.6 and BF.7 are also gaining traction in the U.S., accounting for about 12.2% and 5.3% of sampled viruses respectively, per the data. XBB, another mutated version of Omicron, may be best suited to evade immunity, including a breakthrough BA.5 infection, The Washington Post reported.

COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said earlier this month that the White House is monitoring “the rise of several subvariants.” NIAID director Anthony Fauci also warned last week about the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants, which he called “pretty troublesome” due to their rate of increase. Meanwhile the CDC director Rochelle Walensky has tested positive for a COVID-19 infection.

The director’s case comes amid concerns among Biden administration officials and public health experts alike about a tough Covid-19 winter ahead, with hospitalizations already on the rise in Europe. This despite the fact that Biden thought it wise to announce that he thought the pandemic was “over”. In the US, hospitalizations have leveled out,, and I suspect will begin to rise soon. About 300 to 400 people continue to die every day from the virus. This is the insane new normal. Just a quick news flash, COVID is an airborne virus and simply wearing a mask in crowded settings can greatly reduce your chance of infection. Walensky has abandoned advising mask wearing and look how that turned out.

COVID-19 Stimulus Check

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Kyle Rittenhouse traveled from his home state to Kenosha Wisconsin where he shot 3 people and murdered two. He felt threatened by hands, a skateboard and someones feet. Had he not been walking around with a weapon he was to young to own, 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, of Kenosha, and 26-year-old Anthony Huber, of Silver Lake, Wisconsin would not have died that night. Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a protester from West Allis, had his arm vaporized. The jury accepted the defenses claims of self defense and he was acquitted on all charges.

The Washington Post reported that  the shooter used his COVID-19 stimulus check to purchase the AR-15 he used in the fatal Kenosha shooting. “The Post found that the shooter, who was too young to buy a rifle, had arranged for an adult friend to buy the weapon for him using money he had received from a government stimulus program.”

That friend, 19-year-old Dominick Black of Burlington, Wisconsin, purchased the weapon for him at an Ace Hardware store in Ladysmith, Wisconsin on May 1, 2020, according to a criminal complaint charging Black with two felony counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to someone under 18, resulting in death. The gun was then stored at Black’s stepfather’s house in Kenosha, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The shooter said, “I got my $1,200 from the coronavirus Illinois unemployment because I was on furlough from YMCA,” he said. “And I got my first unemployment check so I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll use this to buy it.’”He told the Post he lived with his mother, a circumstance that would typically mean she claims him as a dependent on her taxes. That would make him ineligible for the $1,200 stimulus payment.

He was referencing several weeks of unemployment compensation approved through the CARES Act, said Washington Post Investigations Editor Jeff Leen. He said the shooter’s mother later told the paper that money for the gun came from “special unemployment” related to the pandemic. It’s more likely the shooter was referring to unemployment than the stimulus program itself, based on his life circumstances and description from him and his mother. That is indeed a “COVID-19 stimulus,” but not the one people would think of based on this post’s description.

Regardless you have to wonder how many more guns were purchased with COVID related government funds. As of November 21, the year 2021 has already become one of the deadliest on record for mass shootings. According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), there have been 637 mass shootings in 2021, and more than 39,883 individuals have died via guns by their own hand or at the hand of another.

There has been a rush to buy guns since the pandemic began. According to the FBI, a record-setting 3.7 million firearm background checks were completed in March 2020, the month COVID-19 shutdowns began in the United States. This record was shattered only a few months later as protests for racial justice following the police murder of George Floyd rocked the nation, leading to 3.9 million firearm background checks.

Now that vigilante justice is the accepted norm in America, you can expect the number of senseless deaths to continue to rise.

Country Mouse

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HuffPost reported that COVID-19 is killing rural Americans at twice the rate of urban residents.

The first surge of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 initially hit urban areas hardest, with high rates of infections and deaths, according to the study for the Rural Policy Research Center published in September 2021. At the time, many rural communities were largely untouched.

But subsequent waves of the pandemic tore through rural areas, where many people are older, in poorer health, unvaccinated. Rural rates of infections and deaths began pulling ahead of metropolitan areas at the beginning of summer 2020, the study noted.

Since the pandemic began, about 1 in 434 rural Americans have died from COVID-19, compared with roughly 1 in 513 urban Americans. But as of mid-September 2021, metropolitan areas were experiencing a seven-day average death rate of 0.41 per 100,000 people, while rural communities had an average death rate of 0.85.

Alan Morgan, head of the National Rural Health Association, told NBC News, “We’ve turned many rural communities into kill boxes,” he added. “And there’s no movement towards addressing what we’re seeing in many of these communities, either among the public, or among governing officials.”

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that COVID cases and deaths were notably higher in Republican states than in Democratic states.

Of the 23 states that had new per capita case totals higher than the U.S. average, 21 voted for the former president in November, the Post noted. Sixteen of them were among the 17 states with the lowest rates of vaccination.

The newspaper called it an “inescapable overlap of pandemic and politics” as Republicans battle against mask and vaccine mandates, essentially killing their constituents.

Brett Kavanaugh Tests Positive for COVID-19

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Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh tested positive for COVID-19 just days before the justices were set to return to the courtroom to begin a new term, the court announced October 1, 2021. This is a breakthrough case since all Supreme Court justices have been vaccinated since January 2021. He is not experiencing any symptoms.

He was informed on September 30, 2021 ahead of a ceremonial swearing-in for Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett set for on October 1, 2021. Court officials said Kavanaugh, 56, would not attend Barrett’s investiture ceremony. Kavanaugh will participate in next week’s oral arguments remotely from home.

The Supreme Court announced in September 2021 that it would conduct oral arguments in person starting October 4, 2021 after more than a year in which COVID-19 forced them to debate their docket virtually. The return to the courtroom will be limited to the justices, attorneys and journalists as the court’s building remains closed to the public.

Amy Coney Barrett tested positive for COVID-19 last year before she was confirmed, The Washington Post reported at the time.

Kavanaugh underwent a contentious confirmation process in which a a handful of women accused him of sexual misconduct despite his fervent denials. Comedian Steve Hofstetter apparently alluded to the Kavanaugh accusers, saying the justice “has no problem with something entering someone’s body without their permission.”

Misinformation Mind Parasites

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Andy Norman, reported that America is facing a pandemic of ignorance.  Insane QAnon theories have captured the minds of many and anti vaccine rhetoric is spreading like wildfire with reason and thought being abandoned for blind devotion to baseless doctrine.

In his provocative book Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think, Newman unearths this growing scourge. In this era,  misinformation is more common, and spreads even faster than the virus.

He explained, “Parasites require a host, bad ideas require a host. Parasites often compromise the health of their hosts. Bad ideas can also compromise the mental well being of their hosts. Parasites can leap from body to body. Bad ideas can leap from mind to mind.”

Facebook algorithms have nurtured this tsunami of misinformation. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social media giant has removed 18 million posts containing misinformation about COVID-19, but would not say how many times the posts had been viewed or shared.

A White House study 12 misinformation super spreaders they dubbed, the “disinformation dozen”.  Misinformation experts have condemned platforms for taking down some of the most egregious accounts, but not others. For instance, the anti-vaccine figurehead Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still has an account on Facebook, despite being banned from Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

 The Washington Post reported that a new peer-reviewed study from researchers at New York University and the Université Grenoble Alpes in France will show that misinformation got six times as much engagement on Facebook as real news. Pages that post more misinformation regularly got more likes, shares, and comments. Truth be damned, Facebook wants clicks.

Vaccine misinformation remains very high on Facebook. President Joe Biden said that the tech giants such as Facebook are “killing people” by failing to tackle the problem. Experts who study online misinformation say it has still largely failed to address the issue and that falsehoods about the vaccine are still reaching millions of people. Rather than tackle the issue, Facebook founder Zuckerberg has decided to instead start placing pro-Facebook messaging in its news feed. It is the usual adage of deny, deflect and do a distracting dance while raking in the dough. The mighty dollar trumps death.

Trump Envies Fauci

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I highly respect Dr. Anthony Fauci. He speaks the truth without watering down facts. His primary concern at all times has been to save lives. It seems the president envies the doctors popularity. Fauci was asked to throw out the first pitch at the Major League Baseball’s opening day, Thursday, July 23. The pitch was a bit of a tragedy but it was a much needed light hearted moment.

President Donald Trump announced that he would be throwing out the first pitch at the Yankees-Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 15, 2020 claiming he was invited by team president Randy Levine. The New York Times reported that “Mr. Trump had not actually been invited on that day by the Yankees, according to one person with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule. His announcement surprised both Yankees officials and the White House staff. But Mr. Trump had been so annoyed by Dr. Fauci’s turn in the limelight, an official familiar with his reaction said, that he had directed his aides to call Yankees officials and make good on a longtime standing offer from Mr. Levine to throw out an opening pitch. No date was ever finalized.” In other words, he lied.

The White House has been undercutting Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, by circulating anti-Fauci talking points to reporters. It is as if they want to paint him as the enemy of the people. People are tired of the social isolation caused by COVID-19 and want to return to life as usual despite the consequences. Fauci’s public health messaging runs contrary to the president’s priority that Americans should get back to work and open all schools fully in the fall. “Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” the president told Fox‘s Sean Hannity.

And aide told The Washington Post that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.” The paper reported that the unidentified staffer delivered to them a list of about a dozen past comments Fauci has made that the official claimed were incorrect. Some of the Fauci examples were from early in the pandemic, when information was rapidly evolving. Other top health officials who have acknowledged changing their assessment as time went on, such as the surgeon general. For instance Fauci had advises early on that the public should not run out and start buying N-95 face masks since there was  a shortage of masks available for health care professionals at the time. As more was learned and supplies were re-replenished he advised everyone to wear masks to help stop the spread of the disease. Fauci had not had the opportunity to advise to the president since early June but has continued to make media appearances to discuss the COVID-19 strategy.

Trump retweeted former Wheel of Fortune host Chuck Woolery, who claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many doctors and the media were “lying” about COVID-19. Fauci wasn’t specifically named in that tweet. Dan Scavino, the White House’s director of social media who was promoted in April to deputy chief of staff for communications, shared a political cartoon on his Facebook page that criticized Fauci‘s support of shutdowns and social distancing in order to slow the virus.

Fauci said to The Atlantic. “Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that. When the staff lets out something like that and the entire scientific and press community push back on it, it ultimately hurts the president. And I don’t really want to hurt the president. But that’s what’s happening. I told him I thought it was a big mistake. That doesn’t serve any good purpose for what we’re trying to do.”

Speaking with NBC News, Fauci said that the public should rely on its “respected medical authorities who have a track record of telling the truth … based on scientific evidence and good data.” He continued,  “That’s the safest bet to do: to listen to the recommendations from that category of people. But it’s entirely understandable how the public can get mixed messages and then get a bit confused about what they should do.”

Dr. Fauci is facing death threats to himself and his family and now requires personal security from law enforcement at all times, including at his home, a source confirmed to CNN. As Dr. Fauci’s public profile has grown, so has the concern for his welfare. Fauci’s guidance to Trump for the country to remain as locked down as possible to help control the virus spread has not earned fans among some fervent right-wing voices. Medical staff can fight the disease as hospitals fill to capacity, but they have a harder time fighting stupidity as people ignore simple health precautions. Social distance, wear a mask and wash your hands.

House of Cards

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“This entire pandemic is a reminder of how fragile EVERYTHING in this country always has been. It’s a house of cards. It’s all a sham.” said Danielle Butterly.

Donald Trump is a self proclaimed war time president who has simply turned his back on the war to strictly focus on his re-election. The Washington Post reported, “Trump in recent weeks has been committing less of his time and energy to managing the pandemic, according to advisors. One of these advisers said the President is “not really working this anymore. He doesn’t want to be distracted by it.”

What he does have time for is photo opportunities in which he and his daughter Ivanka hawk beans. The photos were sent out on the POTUS Instagram page. In another insane distraction, the president posed with beans with a grin and strange thumbs up as the virus cases surge across the country. 143,289 Americans are dead and this is the presidents response. He has not been to a COVID-19 task force meeting since April. He openly undermines the scientists who are battling the virus daily. He prefers magical thinking that it will disappear. Trump is the king of the con, a perpetual scam artist. In this painting he is the joker, the weak link in a tower destined to crumble.

The Florida Department of Health reported 12,478 new positive COVID-19 cases on Sunday July 19, 2020 with 89 deaths in a single day. 9241 people are hospitalized with COVID-19. The US Government has stripped the CDC of its control of the COVID-19 data. Ever since the president said that he didn’t want a cruise ship to dock for fear that it would raise the numbers of cases, he has been focused on bringing down the numbers any way he can. In his mind, testing has caused the high numbers of those infected, so he wants less testing. What better way to reduce the numbers than to take control of them and not report them, or “fudge” them a bit? The date will be rerouted to the Trump administration.  The change sparked concerns among infectious disease and health care experts that the administration was hobbling the ability of the nation’s public health agency to gather and analyze crucial data in the midst of a pandemic. The new system was set up by TeleTracking, a private company based in Pennsylvania, which was awarded the $10 million contract in a non-competitive bid in April.

They Know Not What They Do

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Vice President Mike Pence took a trip to Texas where he visited the First Baptist Church in Dallas on Sunday June 28, 2020. A choir of more than 100 people performed without masks spraying each other and the audience with aerosolized droplets which spread COVID-19.  According to organizers, nearly 2,200 people attended the Celebrate Freedom Rally.

Studies have suggested that COVID-19 can spread through respiratory droplets in the air that can linger inside buildings. High-powered vocalizations, for instance loud talking or singing, are particularly efficient in producing these tiny particles. Other choir-linked outbreaks have occurred in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Throughout the service, the members of the choir sang at full volume, behind an orchestra. I really feel bad for the orchestra who would have gotten the full force of the fire hose. Singers were not six feet apart. The audience packed in a few rows back were also not practicing social distancing. Face masks at the event were “strongly encouraged,” with signs posted around the venue signaling the suggestion. Perhaps 50% of the audience took the suggestion while some wore the masks incorrectly. The choir put their masks on between songs which is counter intuitive since the singing is the best way to spray the virus into the venue. Secret Service agents must have known to place the Vice President off to the side rather than being seated front and center. The indoor service lasted for about one and a half hours.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an outbreak in a 122-member choir in Washington state. 86% of singers that attended that one rehearsal contracted the deadly virus. At that 2.5-hour choir practice attended by 61 persons, including an symptomatic patient, there were 32 confirmed and 20 probable secondary COVID-19 cases that occurred. Three patients were hospitalized, and two died.

In an interview Pence said that “people should listen to state and local officials on wearing masks in public, every state has a unique situation.” Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott opened his state early. The state has become a hot spot for the spread of the virus in recent weeks and he has had to reverse his position by requiring bars to close, putting restrictions on outdoor gatherings, and scaling back restaurant dining to help stop the spread.

The CDC initially recommended that churches consider suspending or at least decreasing the use of a choir and congregants singing during services. The CDC asserted that “The act of singing may contribute to transmission of Covid-19, possibly through emission of aerosols.” They have had to soften their language by “suggesting” or asking people to please “consider” life saving measures. Late last month however, the agency quietly removed that guidance from its website. According to The Washington Post, the White House requested that change.

I actually got sick to my stomach working on this illustration. I went into the bathroom and dry heaved. I am being physically affected by blatant the irresponsibility I see all around me. I scrubbed the bowl while kneeling before it. That is when the image of the Exorcist pea soup fire hose effect hit me. It occurred to me that Trump uses the same distraction technique when he doesn’t have an answer to any policy question. Denying reality does not defeat reality.

“Forgive them father for they know not what they do.”

Second Wave

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There were 3 different waves of illness during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, starting in March 1918 and subsiding by summer of 1919. The pandemic peaked in the U.S. during the second wave, in the fall of 1918. This highly fatal second wave was responsible for most of the U.S. deaths attributed to the pandemic. The virus infected 500 million people worldwide and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims.

President Donald Trump claimed the danger of a second wave  was “fake news” and said “Covid-19 virus might not come back at all.” CDC Director Robert Redfield told The Washington Post that there could be a second wave of the coronavirus this winter, combined with flu season, ‘will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went
through.’ Trump pulled Redfield up to the podium during a press briefing to dispute the report but after splitting hairs between “worse” and “more difficult or more complicated” he confirmed that he was quoted correctly by the Post. Dr. Anthony Fauci, referenced the possibility of a “second wave” of the Covid-19
pandemic in the fall, following expected slower growth rates of COVID-19 cases during the summer. He said, “By then, the country will be better equipped to fight the illness.

On March 31, 2020 Captain Brett Crozier of the USS Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier, sent an emotional letter, pleading for a more decisive response to his ship’s COVID-19 outbreak. He had asked for permission to let all but 10 percent of crew get off in Guam for their protection.That letter leaked to the news media. 

On April 2, 2020 he was removed as the ship’s skipper by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. Video of the crew when he had to leave the ship was brimming with the respect they had for their captain. The Navy secretary then flew to Guam where the the war ship was docked in the midst of a pandemic and delivered in person a petty, obscenity-laced speech denigrated the captain and his crew. Modly said, “If he didn’t think the information was going to get out into the public, in this information age, then he was either -A too naive or too stupid to the commander of a ship like this.” The crew could be heard literally shouting “What the F#ck?!” The acting Navy Secretary’s comments were widely criticized. Clearly he was too naive or too stupid to realize that his comments would have consequences.  He resigned.

 At least 840 sailors on the war ship have since tested positive for the virus. The number could climb as a “small number” of results are still pending. The Navy has tested the entire 5,000-member crew of the Nimitz class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Of the positive cases, 88 sailors have since recovered, the Navy
said. Four sailors remain in the hospital, down from six Wednesday, with
none in intensive care. One sailor from the Roosevelt died last week.

Admiral Michael Gilday, who is the Navy’s highest-ranking officer, is
reported by the Associated Press to have met with Joint Chiefs Chairman
General Mark Milley on Tuesday and with Defense Secretary Mark Esper Friday
to recommend the fired captain’s reinstatement. On April 20, 2020 the recommendation was made that Captain Brett Crozier be put back
in command of the Covid-19 plagued aircraft carrier USS Theodore
Roosevelt. Crozier’s reinstatement is likely to be the first time that a
ship’s commanding officer who had been relieved of command for a loss of
confidence has been restored to command.

The heroes in this crisis are those that seek to protect those around them, while government leadership looks for ways to cover up or ignore the crisis exists. Captain Brett Crozier is one such hero.