Pandemic 2020

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Top Tennessee COVID-19 vaccine official says she was terminated
The top state vaccination official in Tennessee said she was terminated on Monday for no reason but claimed she was being used as a scapegoat to please state lawmakers upset about her department's efforts to increase vaccinations among teenagers, The Tennessean reports.

Michelle Fiscus, medical director for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization programs at the Tennessee Department of Health, told The Tennessean that she was fired Monday afternoon. Her termination comes as COVID-19 cases are on the rise in the state.

"It was my job to provide evidence-based education and vaccine access so that Tennesseans could protect themselves against COVID-19," Fiscus told the newspaper in a statement. "I have now been terminated for doing exactly that."

The Tennessean notes that state lawmakers criticized Fiscus by name last month during a committee hearing, expressing anger over a letter she had sent to medical providers about the “Mature Minor Doctrine,” which allows minors over the age of 14 to get vaccinated without their parents' consent.

This legal mechanism has been in place since 1987 and has been publicly available online since 2008.

With Fiscus' termination, the Volunteer State joins around two dozen other states that have been left without a top vaccine authority, all for various reasons but most often because the official left.

Fiscus shared a 1,200-word statement with The Tennessean following her firing on Monday.

In it, she wrote she would "not sit quietly by while our public health infrastructure is eroded in the midst of a pandemic."

"We are a group of dedicated public health professionals who have worked endless hours to make COVID-19 vaccines, the ONE tool we have to effectively end the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic, available to every person in our jurisdictions," she wrote, bemoaning how health experts have been "disparaged, demeaned, accused, and sometimes vilified" by the public throughout the pandemic.

"I am not a political operative, I am a physician who was, until today, charged with protecting the people of Tennessee, including its children, against preventable diseases like COVID-19," Fiscus added.

Top Tennessee COVID-19 vaccine official says she was terminated

The top state vaccination official in Tennessee said she was terminated on Monday for no reason, claiming she was being used as a scapegoat to please state lawmakers upset about her department…

thehill.com

 

[PJ Diaz]

View attachment 4942174


idk why you think that I would be informed enough (not being a specialist in these highly scientific (that take years of rigorous study to be proficient) fields) to make a non bullshit conclusion of it one way or another.

But that being said, here is a interesting read of a discussion of it.

So you want to make fun of something that you don't understand? Honestly it's not that tricky. "Gain of Function" virology involves giving viruses new functions in a lab setting (get it? the virus gains a new function that it didn't previously have); as an example to make a virus more communicable.

 

[Dorian2]

https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/213/9/1364/2459266

 

[UncleBuck]

So you want to make fun of something that you don't understand? Honestly it's not that tricky. "Gain of Function" virology involves giving viruses new functions in a lab setting (get it? the virus gains a new function that it didn't previously have); as an example to make a virus more communicable.

i make my penis communicable with your mom.

 

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But the concern of GOF with the Covid-19 virus is no longer a issue, other countries have found the same type of virus after looking for it in samples that were taken in countries neighboring China years before the pandemic. My money is that the Wuhan lab had the virus and it infected a worker, after which the lab and then the the Chinese government tried to wash the stain away.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Not hard to “ Trojan horse “ a person … think Typhoid Mary. Send infected fuckers all over.
Biological warfare labs and off government black sites exist … looking for that perfect strain or Bio weapon.

China lies , Russia lies , we fucking lie ….. so who knows where it originated.

 

[Dorian2]

IMHO GOF research has more than likely contributed to the rapid release of these vaccines in such a short time. I understand the trepidation of some to acknowledge the safety due to the timeframe, but I'm personally very comfortable with how far the medical and science communities have come. In the vaccine as well as many other medical technologies. All of it is moving faster than a number of people really can appreciate fully.

 

[hanimmal]

So you want to make fun of something that you don't understand? Honestly it's not that tricky. "Gain of Function" virology involves giving viruses new functions in a lab setting (get it? the virus gains a new function that it didn't previously have); as an example to make a virus more communicable.

Better than being panicked about a term that you don't understand because some death cult troll is trying to get it to become the next programmed trigger phrase. And I am not making fun of it, I am making fun of you with your little trigger phrases you are trying to pretend like means anything other than some buzzword for people to cling to when they talk about these things to make themselves think they 'know'.

Obviously a definition of it is nice and all, but thinking that gives you actual understanding of what the benefits of it vs the risks is bullshit. I would ask if you read that chapter of that book I linked, but that is not part of your narrative is it?

IMHO GOF research has more than likely contributed to the rapid release of these vaccines in such a short time. I understand the trepidation of some to acknowledge the safety due to the timeframe, but I'm personally very comfortable with how far the medical and science communities have come. In the vaccine as well as many other medical technologies. All of it is moving faster than a number of people really can appreciate fully.

I agree. Data analysis is amazing, and it has advanced the medical professions immeasurably over the last couple decades. The ability to precisely evaluate enormous data sets and then run accurate simulations for the researchers to use to figure out what they need to is as wonderful for our society.

Unfortunately it is also bad that dictators use this same technology to attack us all in real time using all with the same type of propaganda that the death cult trolls like to spread to the people who are most likely to fall for it.

But the concern of GOF with the Covid-19 virus is no longer a issue, other countries have found the same type of virus after looking for it in samples that were taken in countries neighboring China years before the pandemic. My money is that the Wuhan lab had the virus and it infected a worker, after which the lab and then the the Chinese government tried to wash the stain away.

Doesn't Russia border China?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49727101

A major Russian research centre studying lethal viruses including Ebola and HIV says there was no biological contamination from an explosion and fire in one of its buildings.

The fire was caused by the explosion of a gas canister during refurbishment work at the Vektor centre in Koltsovo, a town near Novosibirsk in Siberia.

One person who suffered burns is in intensive care, a statement said.

Vektor was reportedly a Cold War biological weapons research centre.

The facility was set up in 1974 as a closed institute researching vaccines and "defences against bacteriological and biological weapons", Russian Interfax news agency reports.

Monday's explosion, during refurbishment on the fifth floor of a six-storey laboratory building, blew out windows.

There was no major structural damage in the incident and "no work with biological materials was going on there", the Vektor statement said.

The fire spread over 30 sq m (323 sq ft) before being extinguished.

Vektor has one of the world's largest collections of viruses, including Ebola, according to Interfax. Reports say its collection includes samples of smallpox, bird flu and different strains of hepatitis.
In May 2004 a scientist working in a Vektor lab at Koltsovo died after accidentally jabbing her left hand with a syringe containing Ebola.
Antonina Presnyakova was an experienced researcher, who was doing tests on guinea pigs at the time, Russia's Kommersant daily reported.


She was wearing the normal protective clothing, including rubber gloves, and got immediate medical attention, but the dose still killed her two weeks later. Four officials were disciplined at Vektor over the accident.

Kommersant described the facility as a "military installation", surrounded by a barbed-wire fence and armed guards in watchtowers.

Cold War-era secret installations

The Koltsovo incident may fuel concern about the safety of Russia's many Cold War-era secret installations.

The then-Soviet Union - in competition with the US - had large-scale nuclear, biological and chemical warfare research programmes.

Last month, five nuclear engineers and two military personnel died when an "isotope-fuel" engine blew up at the Nyonoksa naval test range, in Russia's Arctic. There was a low-level release of radiation, officials said.

That incident remains shrouded in secrecy. Russia is developing a nuclear-powered cruise missile, but the Russian military did not specify the technology that was being tested at Nyonoksa.

 

[CunningCanuk]

So you want to make fun of something that you don't understand? Honestly it's not that tricky. "Gain of Function" virology involves giving viruses new functions in a lab setting (get it? the virus gains a new function that it didn't previously have); as an example to make a virus more communicable.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

States with low vaccination numbers had Covid-19 case rates last week 3 times higher than others where people are fully vaccinated (wtva.com)

States with low vaccination numbers had Covid-19 case rates last week 3 times higher than others where people are fully vaccinated

When you compare states with high vaccination rates to states that are lagging, the difference in the number of people getting Covid-19 is staggering.

Over the past week, states that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents have reported an average Covid-19 case rate that is about a third of that in states which have fully vaccinated less than half of their residents, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas are the only states to have fully vaccinated fewer than 35% of their residents. Average daily case rates in each state were among the 10 worst in the country last week.

Vermont leads the nation with about 66% of its population fully vaccinated -- and while case rates there increased compared to last week, the state still had the lowest case rate in the country last week, with an average of less than one new case per 100,000 people each day.

States that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents reported an average of 2.8 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people each day last week, compared to an average of about 7.8 cases per 100,000 people each day in states that have vaccinated less than half of their residents.

"We really need to get more people vaccinated, because that's the solution," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday on "CBS This Morning." "This virus will, in fact, be protected against by the vaccine."

Across the country, more than 99% of US Covid-19 deaths in June were among unvaccinated people, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Howard Jarvis, an emergency medicine physician in Springfield, Missouri, told CNN on Monday that his sick patients are all unvaccinated.

"If they're sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, they are unvaccinated. That is the absolute common denominator amongst those patients," he said. "I can see the regret on their face. You know, we ask them, because we want to know, are you vaccinated? And it's very clear that a lot of them regret (not being vaccinated)."

The pace of vaccinations has dropped sharply in recent months. About 246,000 people initiated vaccination each day over the past week, down 88% from the April peak, and about 278,000 people became fully vaccinated each day over the past week, down 84% from the April peak, CDC data shows.

About 56.2% of Americans 12 or older are fully vaccinated.

 

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"You test more you are going to get more cases."

"The number of cases does not mater as long as they are not in the hospital."

"The people in the hospital are not a problem with the treatments to treat the virus."

"99.99% of people recover anyway."

"The numbers are fake."

 

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Group behind church court challenges hired private investigator to follow judge
A group supporting multiple churches across the country in court challenges against COVID-19 public health orders has admitted to hiring a private investigator to follow a Manitoba judge.

"I accept full responsibility and sole responsibility for my decision to retain private investigation firms for observation of public officials," said John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.

Carpay apologized for his "poor judgment" during a special hearing Monday called by the judge overseeing a court challenge of COVID-19 restrictions in Manitoba. He argued, however, the validity of conducting surveillance of other public officials in the country.

Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said he realized he was being followed by a vehicle after leaving the courthouse last week.

He said a person, who appeared to be a teenage boy, also went to his home and spoke with his daughter. There was also information his private cottage was observed.

Joyal said it soon became clear a private investigation agency was hired "for the clear purpose of gathering what was hoped would be potentially embarrassing information in relation to my compliance with COVID public health restrictions."

Joyal heard a constitutional challenge from seven Manitoba churches represented by the Justice Centre in May. The churches argued their right to worship and assemble was violated by COVID-19 restrictions.

"If we are now in an era where a sitting judge, in the middle of a case, can have his or her privacy compromised as part of an attempt to gather information intended to embarrass him or her, and perhaps even attempt to influence or shape a legal outcome, then we are indeed, in unchartered waters," Joyal said.

Carpay defended his group's decision to organize private investigation surveillance on a number of public officials across the country.
"We believe the public has the right to know whether or not government officials are complying with public health orders," he told court.

Group behind church court challenges hired private investigator to follow judge

WINNIPEG — A group supporting multiple churches across the country in court challenges against COVID-19 public health orders has admitted to hiring a private investigator to follow a Manitoba judge.

www.piquenewsmagazine.com

 

[Sativied]

"You test more you are going to get more cases."

Well, with a little more nuance this is not untrue. Test more, expose more existing cases. The simplistic conclusion some people draw from that fact ('stop testing and corona will go away') is obviously ridiculous.

"The number of cases does not mater as long as they are not in the hospital."

Again, with a little more nuance not entirely untrue. The number of cases always matters, but is not a more important indicator than number of hospitalizations, deaths and ICU patients.

The other claims are nonsense.

In Germany calls from experts to look at hospitalizations and deaths instead of x per 100K cases are growing.

Germany to base COVID restrictions on more than case numbers

German officials say authorities need a “broader focus” beyond the infection rate to fully gauge the impact the pandemic is having on the health system and the kind of measures that should be taken.

apnews.com

If their ignorance didn’t potentially create variants and problems for the rest of us, I wouldn’t give a fuck about them either. As long as it’s a choice and not because of vaccine shortages, no pity from me. The quicker they die, the less chance they can spread the virus.

Same shift in attitude is happening in neighboring/nearby countries like Germany, UK and France. More and more of the vaccinated demand privileges and an end to most or all restrictions. At some point the increase in vax willingness becomes too slow for the vaccinated to wait any longer. Despite the fiasco we had in NL over the past weeks, other countries with a lower vaccination rate and similar high infection rates are opening up.

France is going to make a covid passport mandatory for all public areas (includes bars etc) start aug 1

Mandatory vaccination, Covid-19 pass and access to PCR tests: the main points from Macron's address

French President Emmanuel Macron gave a televised address on Monday night as the Delta variant of Covid-19 surges in the country. He announced further measures to slow the spread of the more infectious…

www.france24.com

Next week, UK will "irreversible" lift restrictions on what they refer to as Freedom day.

‘Freedom Day’ Coming to England, Ready or Not (Published 2021)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set on lifting all restrictions on July 19 despite a surge in cases. Critics predict mass confusion.

www.nytimes.com

NL today:




Still by far most are youngsters but they are infecting older people too. As shown in the first image, the number of hospitalizations is starting to rise now too. Few days ago we had as many new cases on a single day as we had last xmas, almost a record. The R rate is now 2.17, as high as feb 20 2020. No festivals and other major parties till aug 13th, bars and clubs need to close at midnight. The testing for access fiasco is still active, as it does expose more cases among youngsters who normally wouldn't bother to get tested. The idea is to get enough people vaccinated before late august (new school year) when a new major wave is expected.

It's not like there's no concern about long covid and variants, but clearly it's not a dictating factor. When most people are vaccinated, it just isn't an option to continue with lockdowns and other heavy restrictions. The number of deaths now is likely to remain lower than a bad flu season. That's a major indicator people here look at. The unvaccinated who get infected will contribute to herd immunity as well. When those youngsters see friends getting hospitalized, suffer from the aftermath of even a mild infection, it'll increase vax willingness again. Although it's looking bad now, I think we're still on track towards better times.

 

[captainmorgan]

@Sativied Looks like you have a big problem started there.

 

[printer]

Well, with a little more nuance this is not untrue. Test more, expose more existing cases. The simplistic conclusion some people draw from that fact ('stop testing and corona will go away') is obviously ridiculous.


Again, with a little more nuance not entirely untrue. The number of cases always matters, but is not a more important indicator than number of hospitalizations, deaths and ICU patients.

The other claims are nonsense.

In Germany calls from experts to look at hospitalizations and deaths instead of x per 100K cases are growing.

Germany to base COVID restrictions on more than case numbers

German officials say authorities need a “broader focus” beyond the infection rate to fully gauge the impact the pandemic is having on the health system and the kind of measures that should be taken.

apnews.com

Same shift in attitude is happening in neighboring/nearby countries like Germany, UK and France. More and more of the vaccinated demand privileges and an end to most or all restrictions. At some point the increase in vax willingness becomes too slow for the vaccinated to wait any longer. Despite the fiasco we had in NL over the past weeks, other countries with a lower vaccination rate and similar high infection rates are opening up.

France is going to make a covid passport mandatory for all public areas (includes bars etc) start aug 1

Mandatory vaccination, Covid-19 pass and access to PCR tests: the main points from Macron's address

French President Emmanuel Macron gave a televised address on Monday night as the Delta variant of Covid-19 surges in the country. He announced further measures to slow the spread of the more infectious…

www.france24.com

Next week, UK will "irreversible" lift restrictions on what they refer to as Freedom day.

‘Freedom Day’ Coming to England, Ready or Not (Published 2021)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set on lifting all restrictions on July 19 despite a surge in cases. Critics predict mass confusion.

www.nytimes.com

NL today:
View attachment 4942721

View attachment 4942728

Still by far most are youngsters but they are infecting older people too. As shown in the first image, the number of hospitalizations is starting to rise now too. Few days ago we had as many new cases on a single day as we had last xmas, almost a record. The R rate is now 2.17, as high as feb 20 2020. No festivals and other major parties till aug 13th, bars and clubs need to close at midnight. The testing for access fiasco is still active, as it does expose more cases among youngsters who normally wouldn't bother to get tested. The idea is to get enough people vaccinated before late august (new school year) when a new major wave is expected.

It's not like there's no concern about long covid and variants, but clearly it's not a dictating factor. When most people are vaccinated, it just isn't an option to continue with lockdowns and other heavy restrictions. The number of deaths now is likely to remain lower than a bad flu season. That's a major indicator people here look at. The unvaccinated who get infected will contribute to herd immunity as well. When those youngsters see friends getting hospitalized, suffer from the aftermath of even a mild infection, it'll increase vax willingness again. Although it's looking bad now, I think we're still on track towards better times.

Oh I feel so bad you went through the trouble of replying. I just took a few of the right wing talking points to discount the virus and thought it was so blatantly wrong that it would not be taken seriously and would laugh at it instead. Sigh. Bad me.

 

[Sativied]

Oh I feel so bad you went through the trouble of replying. I just took a few of the right wing talking points to discount the virus and thought it was so blatantly wrong that it would not be taken seriously and would laugh at it instead. Sigh. Bad me.

Don't feel bad, it was obvious where those quotes originated. The first two statements just aren't as laughable as they appear.

 

[CunningCanuk]

Oh I feel so bad you went through the trouble of replying. I just took a few of the right wing talking points to discount the virus and thought it was so blatantly wrong that it would not be taken seriously and would laugh at it instead. Sigh. Bad me.

You should add this to your posts.

 

[CunningCanuk]

Although it's looking bad now, I think we're still on track towards better times.

I hope so. If the hospitalizations and deaths remain low, we could be on the way out of this.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

"You test more you are going to get more cases."

"The number of cases does not mater as long as they are not in the hospital."

"The people in the hospital are not a problem with the treatments to treat the virus."

"99.99% of people recover anyway."

"The numbers are fake."

It's the numbers of people in the hospitals and overwhelmed healthcare systems that lock places down and mandate masks wearing. We can still have lot's of people infected with mild or asymptomatic cases of the delta variant, they don't tend to end up in the hospitals or on ventilators, the unvaccinated do though. We've seen it repeated many times in many places, when the hospitals overload and the death count goes up, the government is forced to lock down.

I expect lot's of vaccinated people will catch mild or asymptomatic cases of covid and this will make it spread to the unvaccinated even quicker, since it is already much more contagious than the original strain. Since not many places are distancing or wearing masks and there are large public gatherings, I expect things will get bad in some areas of the country with low vaccination rates. There are millions of personal disasters waiting to happen because people believe bullshit.

 

[printer]

Don't feel bad, it was obvious where those quotes originated. The first two statements just aren't as laughable as they appear.

No, I tried to lead down the garden path with progressively worse remarks. And that is the problem with a number of them being used. It is not that they are all wrong, it is that they are not said with any context and one little scrap of information is used to discount all that has been done. One silly thing is they use the current numbers and say, "We could live with this level of deaths, we do not need the methods in place used to reduce the spread." Yes but the number would be worse if we did not employ the methods. A little fact that is omitted.