COVID Dystopia: Racoon Dog Theory

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Genetic material collected at the Wuhan Chinese Market where the first human cases of COVID-19 were identified, show raccoon dog DNA commingled with COVID-19. Some scientists believe COVID most likely jumped from animals to people, others believe the virus could have been leaked from one of the several Wuhan coronavirus research facilities. The genetic material collected does not prove that a racoon dog stated the pandemic. Human DNA was also found in the sample. A human may have infected the animal, or the animal may have never harbored the virus. People search for blame. The final answer as to how the pandemic began has yet to be definitively proven.

COVID Dystopia is available to be seen at the Virtual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival happening now through November 24, 2024. COVID Dystopia can be seen in the Eventive – Chiller Theater Block 2 – Shorts online. It can be seen anywhere in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. After you start watching the films, you have 48 hours to complete watching them. Tickets are $18.

China Wave

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China’s Zero COVID policy has crumbled after protests in the streets over what the American media called a draconian policy. The same people who considered the zero COVID policy as heavy handed are now gleefully pointing out that millions will become infected once that policy was reversed. China is going to far as to insist that people go to work even if they know they are infected.

I for one was happy to see China trying to do something about the pandemic. However Omicron is so infectious that a zero COVID policy was impossible to enforce. Up until the Zero COVID policy reversal, China saw few infections since the initial outbreak in Wuhan. The Chinese New Year was a massively effective way that the virus spread in the first weeks of the pandemic. Chinese workers would travel far to be with family for the new year celebrations.The same mass exodus is about to happen now that the virus is spreading rapidly in the vaccinated and population. The Chinese New Year celebrations are on January 22, 2022, it will be a super spreader event.

Spiraling infections in China have led to shortages of cold medicine, long lines at fever clinics, and at-capacity emergency rooms turning away patients. China has stopped genomic sequencing of the virus strains in the country.The danger is a new variant of the virus developing.

America has decided that it needs to insist that any person flying from China must test negative for COVID. Italy has also decided to test all passengers coming in from China. On a recent flight into Italy half of the passengers tested positive for COVID-19. The virus does not respect borders or walls. Had flight been stopped in the first week of the pandemic then the virus might have been contained, but that opportunity has long passed. Around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID-19, UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on December 29, 2022.

If there is a new variant coming in from China it will have free reign to spread in America in a few weeks. No border wall will stop it.

The Houdini Escape Virus

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The Omicron BA5 variant is a Houdini Escape Artist. When people got infected they might be frightened for a moment but when they recovered, they let out a sigh of relief and thought they were done with the virus. The same happened for folks who became “fully vaccinated”. Once vaccinated people thought they were done with the virus and returned to life as normal. BA5 has changed the playing field. Re-infections are not only more common but they are happening on a scale never before imagined. It is estimated that there are over 100,000 new cases daily and that is likely an under count since at home testing and people getting infected and simply not reporting their infections make an accurate count impossible. About 300 people continue to die every day which is like 3 commercial airline crashes every day. This level of death seems to becoming acceptable for most Americans.

The original Wuhan strain of the virus was very deadly because it infected people’s lungs leaving people like fish out of water gasping for air. The Omicon variants which might have evolved by infecting mice proved to be less deadly because they only infected the nose and throat, and not affecting the lungs as much. BA5 has taken a step back, becoming similar to the original Wuhan virus and settling deep into peoples lungs. Multiple re-infections are resulting in people getting more serious outcomes. Even mild infections and re infections are resulting in long bouts of Long COVID which can be debilitating. Only time will tell if it is truly more deadly.

The BA5 variant which is now dominating in the United States is the worst possible version of the virus to hit the United States yet. This virus’s ability for immune escape means those with past infections and those who are vaccinated can and will become infected. On top of immune escape the virus is the most contagious variant to date. It is close to becoming the most contagious virus ever, second only to the measles.

Since vaccines are becoming less effective against prevent COVID infections, it is reasonable to assume the hospitalizations and deaths will also be on the rise. I track hospitalizations daily, and they are indeed on a steady rise. Despite this basic health safety precautions have been abandoned and our nation is unable to adjust to the changing playing field.

“The superpower of BA.4 and BA.5 is, if you had Omicron in January, you’re still going to be susceptible to getting BA.4 and BA.5. It’s the escape artist of COVID, the Houdini, because the spike protein looks so different, even (compared) to BA1. The front guards, the antibodies, are not recognizing it,” Chin-Hong told KRON4 on July 5, 2022.

25 Million People Shanghaied

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25 million people are being locked down in Shanghai in an attempt by China to maintain a zero COVID policy. The Huangpu River runs through the center of the city splitting it in half. Restrictions are happening on one side of the river and then the other side of the river. Earlier this week those living in Shanghai’s eastern half were told to stay home, with the western half due to enter a lockdown on April 1, 2022. This has been labeled the Yin Yang approach to locking down COVID.

The two-phase lockdown is China’s biggest coronavirus closure since the city of Wuhan — believed to be the origin of the pandemic — was shuttered two years ago. The effort to control the outbreak back then was undermined by politicians downplaying and denying the severity of the outbreak. Flights poured out of China as everyone traveled to celebrate the new year.

There are long lines outside supermarkets as residents empty store shelves. The BA.2 Omicron outbreak in Shanghai is pushing China’s zero COVID policy to it’s limits. The city has reported around 20,000 Covid-19 infections since March 1, 2022, registering more cases in four weeks than in the previous two years of the pandemic.

The BA.2 ‘Stealth’ variant of COVID is 30 times more infectious than the initial Omicron variant, making it as infectious as measles. BA.2 now represents nearly 86% of all sequenced cases, according to the World Health Organization. With this variant so infectious, basically everyone who hasn’t previously been infected or been vaccinated, will test positive.

Mass testing inn Shanghai is being dome of everyone being locked down. Those diagnosed with COVID have been sent to live in warehouses and exhibition halls converted into mass quarantine centers, even if they are asymptomatic, and some have complained about the basic living conditions, with there being no showers. The vaccines being used by China have been rated less effective that the MRNA Vaccines being used by Western countries.

Of course China invited the world’s athletes into the country for the Winter Olympics in February of this year but they felt they could control the virus from spreading.  Like most politicians, talking heads, and everyday dolts, they underestimated the virus.

Of Mice and Omicron

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Where did Omicron come from? Researchers created a sort of family tree which shows how the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants branched off of the original Wuhan strain of the virus (B1.1).

The Omicron variant seemed to appear out of nowhere with 45 mutations to the spike proteins. It has mutations that are not found in all prior variants. It is on a completely different lineage of the tree with a long line of mysterious unknown development.

It was first identified in South Africa on November 24, 2021. It is believed to have diverged from the B1.1 line in mid 2020. Where has it been since then? Mutations to the virus normally happen at about 0.5 per month. Omicron had 45 mutations in the spike protein. Over 18 months when Omicron was hidden from view, it developed mutations 3,5 times faster than other variants.

So where was Omicron during these 18 months and why were the mutations happening so fast?

  • It might have spread in a population with low levels of testing and not been found. This is unlikely.
  • It might have developed in a person who was chronically infected. One theory was that it might have developed in someone with HIV.
  • It might have developed mutations in a non-human host and then jumped back to humans. We don’t test animals for COVID, so could have gone undetected.

A pier reviewed paper out of China explored this third possibility. The likely culprit is mice. The mutations that developed were significantly different that those that developed in humans. The mutations that develop in mice are similar to the mutations that developed in Omicron. The mutations allow the virus to fit well into mice cell receptors.

The idea is that airborne Omicron jumped from a humans into mice, the virus developed mutations that allowed it to better infect mice, then the virus jumped back into humans. This would be an inter-species evolutionary trajectory of the outbreak. This could explain why this virus can cause so many breakthrough infections in humans. Thankfully the Omicron virus causes an increased infection in the airways and not as much infection in human lungs. This may result in milder cases of disease. It will spread wildly throughout humanity with hopefully less death while offering some increased immunity for anyone infected. It could be a blessing in disguise by acting like a vaccine for the unvaccinated.

However we need to vaccinate as many people as possible around the world to avoid future mutations. We can not “boost” out way out of the pandemic. We might not be as lucky next time around.

Cremating COVID

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In India protestors blocked the entrance to a crematorium fearing that the fumes might spread COVID-19. This notion is false. The intense heat of cremation would destroy any virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that dead bodies are generally not infectious. Only the lungs of patients with pandemic influenza, if handled improperly during an autopsy, can be infectious. Otherwise, cadavers do not transmit disease.
Channel 7 News in Little Havana, Miami reported on thick clouds of black smoke billowing from a crematorium. Across the street the smoke drifted over outdoor diners. Though the smoke might not contain virus, it could contain harmful polyvinyl chloride, (PVC) plastics from body bags which can cause cancers. Bodies are being transported in thicker than normal body bags which might account for the black smoke. A crematory furnace has a second chamber which is supposed to super heat and burn off harmful emissions. For that reason most crematoriums don’t emit black clouds of thick smoke.
Surging Covid-19 cases leave cemeteries and funeral homes struggling to keep pace. Engineers in Bolivia have come up with a solution as pragmatic as it is macabre, a mobile crematorium. The 16 foot by 8 foot oven is small enough to fit on to a trailer, and is powered by locally produced liquefied petroleum gas, making it a cheap option for families who cannot afford a funeral service.