Coronavirus: Thread

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Wed May 11 01:24:57 PDT 2022


Spinning and Keeping the FUD and Dependency going, always...



https://www.theepochtimes.com/fda-americans-should-treat-covid-19-like-the-flu_4453370.html

FDA: Americans Should Treat COVID-19 Like The Flu

Several top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials, including
Commissioner Robert Califf, admitted that Americans will now have to
accept COVID-19 as another respiratory virus, comparing it to
influenza.

Califf, Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock, and top vaccine
official Dr. Peter Marks wrote for the Journal of the American Medical
Association that COVID-19 will be around for the foreseeable future
while suggesting that it will require yearly vaccines targeting the
most threatening variations of the virus.

    “Widespread vaccine- and infection-induced immunity, combined with
the availability of effective therapeutics, could blunt the effects of
future outbreaks,” the officials said, referring to another name for
the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

     “Nonetheless, it is time to accept that the presence of
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is the new normal.”

The virus “will likely circulate globally for the foreseeable future,
taking its place alongside other common respiratory viruses such as
influenza. And it likely will require similar annual consideration for
vaccine composition updates in consultation with the [FDA],” they
continued.

Dr. Robert Califf, President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Food and
Drug Administration, is seen before his nomination hearing in
Washington on Dec. 14, 2021. (Manuel Balce/AP Photo)

It’s a departure from the rhetoric that was expressed by public health
officials in 2020 and 2021.

In late October 2020, for example, current White House COVID-19
adviser Anthony Fauci said that President Donald Trump’s comparisons
to the flu were false, telling NBC at the time “it is not correct to
say it’s the same as flu.”

About a year later, Fauci told CBS News that Americans will “likely”
have to deal with COVID-19 in a similar manner as influenza.

    “That’s entirely conceivable and likely, as a matter of fact, we
are not going to be in a situation of this degree of intensity
indefinitely,” he said when asked about the Omicron variant.

Data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) shows that while cases have trended slightly upward in the
United States, the numbers are a fraction of the cases that were
reported in mid-January when the seven-day average stood at around
800,000 per day. As of May 6, the seven-day average was about 68,000
per day.

In the Journal of the American Medical Association article, the three
FDA officials proclaimed that by the summer of 2022, decisions will
have to be issued “about who should be eligible for vaccination with
additional boosters and regarding vaccine composition.”

“Administering additional COVID-19 vaccine doses to appropriate
individuals this fall around the time of the usual influenza vaccine
campaign has the potential to protect susceptible individuals against
hospitalization and death, and therefore will be a topic for FDA
consideration,” they added.






White House Asks For Another $20 Billion In COVID Money To Stop Winter Wave

Here we go again.

Just when the world (or rather, the US) was finally coming around to
the notion that the COVID pandemic might be over, the White House has
offered the latest reminder that this is simply not the case. As COVID
cases surge in the US, White House COVID response coordinator Ashish
Jha said Sunday morning that the Biden Administration will need to
authorize another $20 billion+ in COVID spending to pay for the next
round of shots needed to stop another brutal winter wave later this
year.

Specifically, Jha called on Congress to approve $22.5 billion, a
number that will help the federal government replenish its dwindling
vaccine supply. If it doesn't the US "is going to run out of
treatments...we're going to run out of testing."

Fortunately, at-home tests are available at most pharmacies in the US
these days.

    If Congress does not approve the White House’s request for an
additional $22.5 billion in COVID emergency aid, Dr. Ashish Jha warns
that U.S. is "going to run out of treatments, we’re going to run out
of testing.” https://t.co/IrJErc7aqc pic.twitter.com/fm75VyjPtP
    — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 8, 2022

This would imply that the FDA will approve a fourth shot for all
Americans (not just the eligible elderly) by the time the winter rolls
around, as the general population's immunity begins to wane.

With enough resources to get more people vaccinated and more
therapeutics in place, he said, "I do think we can get through this
winter without a lot of suffering and death."

Jha cited the Northeastern US, a region with among the highest
vaccination rates, as an example of how vaccines can lower the rate of
hospitalizations and deaths.

US COVID deaths in the US are slated to pass 1 million as soon as this
week (although as we have explained, it's unclear how many of these
deaths were actually caused by COVID, as opposed to another
co-occurring illness. It's worth noting that the CDC recently revised
its figures for COVID deaths among children).






Shanghai Tightens COVID Lockdown Despite Decline In Cases

Following President Xi's promise last week that the CCP would double
down on its stringent lockdown policies, while also pledging to stamp
out any dissent by locals who have grown frustrated with the
government's insistence on enforcing its lockdown policies no matter
how many people die of non-COVID illnesses, or how many suffer from
shortages of food, medicine and other necessities in an economy where
even disposable diapers are considered a frivolous luxury.

Now, just as Shanghai was hoping that lockdown measures would be eased
as the number of new cases has fallen sharply, authorities have
decided to instead tighten those measures.

According to the AP, notices issued in several districts said
residents were ordered to stay home and have been barred from
receiving nonessential deliveries as part of a "quiet period" lasting
at least until Wednesday. The tightened measures could be extended
depending on the results of mass testing, the notices said.

    "Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Together we can
lift the lockdown at an early date," said one notice issued in the
city’s Huangpu district that was later shared online.

Shanghai on Monday reported 3,947 cases over the prior 24 hours,
almost all of them asymptomatic, along with 11 deaths. Authorities
have been gradually lifted isolation rules on the city’s 25 million
residents, but the new orders appear to be returning to conditions at
the early stage of the outbreak.

Two Shanghai residents reached through social media by CNN said they’d
had no prior notice of the new restrictions, which could last as long
as a week, according to them.

One viral video that has spread widely on Twitter shows Chinese COVID
police coming to arrest an individual who claims they were mistakenly
targeted for quarantine after somebody else on their floor tested
positive.

    The faces and voices of Shanghai Covid Police, with the occasional
squirts of disinfectant. Seriously the intermittent squirting is worth
the 4+ minutes alone pic.twitter.com/qP4mhqnSpI
    — Bill Bishop (@niubi) May 7, 2022

A couple of particularly troubling quotes from the officer in the
video were transcribed courtesy of CNN:

    "From now on, people who live on the same floor (as Covid cases)
must be transported (into quarantine)," a police officer says in the
video.
    "It's not that you can do whatever you want -- unless you're in
America. This is China," another police officer says sternly, waving a
bottle of disinfectant in his hand. "Stop asking me why. There is no
why. We have to obey our country's regulations and epidemic control
policies."

Meanwhile, a video of one local Shanghai resident lecturing police for
allegedly blocking a fire escape has also gone viral (notice how the
lecturer's face is conveniently covered for their safety).

    为这位上海市民点赞,给公安上了一堂法律课:
    1.公权和私权
    2.《消防法》规定不能封堵消防通道
    3.公安执法,如果超越法律范畴就是违法
    4.拿出书面文件才能执行硬隔离 pic.twitter.com/1VQgnw4XcU
    — iPaul🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@iPaulCanada) May 9, 2022

Still, many locals are despairing as they worry about where food will come from.

    Shanghai is going into the harshest phase of lockdown yet. Food
delivery is halting. We’re told to rely on govt for food (rotting
cabbage?). Day 39 of full lockdown feels like it could be day 1. They
say this new phase is 2-5 days. The original lockdown was supposed to
be 4 days pic.twitter.com/VuSkExZphL
    — Don Weinland (@donweinland) May 9, 2022

On top of all this, locals are complaining about price inflation as
the CCP swears it will get price pressures under control. One market
professional in Shanghai's western Pudong district said quality of
life has declined sharply even as prices surge.


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