Coronavirus (COVID-19) General News Collection & Resources

[dMog]

At 43 deaths per 100,000, Sweden's mortality rate is among the highest globally and far exceeds that of neighbouring Denmark and Norway

That is just REPORTED  deaths, there mounting credible evidence that officials there are not being truthful about the actual numbers of infection and death counts.

[dufus]

 

YouTube outlaws “contradicting” the World Health Organization

 

YouTube’s censorship of alternative Covid19 narratives has become increasingly overt. Back on May 20th it released its still current ‘policy’ which unashamedly tells potential creators:

 

Don’t post content on YouTube if it includes any of the following:

 

The list of unacceptable topics and views is fairly extensive

 

Denial that COVID-19 exists
Claims that people have not died from COVID-19
Claims that there’s a guaranteed vaccine for COVID-19
Claims that a specific treatment or medicine is a guaranteed cure for COVID-19
Claims that certain people have immunity to COVID-19 due to their race or nationality
Encouraging taking home remedies instead of getting medical treatment when sick
Discouraging people from consulting a medical professional if they’re sick
Content that claims that holding your breath can be used as a diagnostic test for COVID-19
Videos alleging that if you avoid Asian food, you won’t get the coronavirus
Videos alleging that setting off fireworks can clean the air of the virus
Claims that COVID-19 is caused by radiation from 5G networks
Videos alleging that the COVID-19 test is the cause of the virus
Claims that countries with hot climates will not experience the spread of the virus
Videos alleging that social distancing and self-isolation are not effective in reducing the spread of the virus

 

Now we may all agree some of these banned opinions sound odd, even ridiculous. But that’s not the point. Free speech includes the freedom to be odd, ridiculous and plain wrong. Once that right is gone – free speech no longer exists.

 

We also need to be sure we don’t let the more risible elements obscure the fact that some very rational and mainstream avenues of thought are being banned from expression here. Including incredibly sweeping statements such as [our emphasis]:

 

YouTube doesn’t allow content that spreads medical misinformation that contradicts the World Health Organization (WHO) or local health authorities

 

But the prohibition that might be most significant is the first.

 

Apparently you can’t go on YouTube and simply say covid19 doesn’t exist.

 

You can say bubonic plague doesn’t exist. You can say malaria doesn’t exist. You can question the reality of cancer, diabetes, rubella, chicken pox, hantavirus, African

 

Green Monkey disease, the common cold and any other pathology you can think of.

 

Except covid19.

 

The real question is – why?

source

[dufus]

 

[dufus]

 

 

[zanderthunder]

Sivagangga cluster: What its emergence tells us about Malaysia’s COVID-19 fight

 

The Sivagangga cluster of Covid-19 cases in Kedah has kept the state on alert in just one week since it has been announced, but what do we know about it and what cautionary lesson can we take from it?

 

Here’s everything you need to know about the past week and Malaysia’s current status in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in one quick snapshot, based on news reports and statistics from the Ministry of Health:

 

1. How the cluster started

It began with non-compliance of a returnee from abroad to Malaysia with home quarantine requirements.

A restaurant owner who is a permanent resident in Malaysia had initially tested negative for Covid-19 at KLIA upon his return from Sivagangga, India on July 13.

 

But the 57-year-old operator of a restaurant in the Hosba “mukim” (parish) in Kedah’s Kubang Pasu district did not comply with the home surveillance order and later tested positive on July 28 for Covid-19 on a repeated screening.

 

By July 28, a total of 28 of the restaurant owner’s close contacts were screened, with five living in the same household as him testing positive ― his Malaysian son and four non-Malaysian employees.

 

On the same day, Malaysia had a total of 25 active Covid-19 clusters nationwide, including this cluster.

2. Number two in Malaysia’s active Covid-19 clusters now

In just one week’s time, the Sivagangga cluster is now the second-highest out of the 24 active clusters nationwide, in terms of active Covid-19 cases.

 

As of yesterday (August 4), the Sentosa cluster in Sarawak has 25 active cases while six have already recovered, while the Sivagangga cluster in Kedah is the second highest with 21 active cases or Covid-19 patients still undergoing treatment, followed by the Kluang senior citizens cluster in Johor with 17 active cases and the Bukit Tiram cluster in Johor and Selangor with 10 active cases. Other active clusters either have less than 10 or no active cases as of August 4.

 

In terms of actual number of cases that had been recorded (including those that recovered or those who died) however, the Sivagangga cluster with its 21 cases recorded so far is the fourth highest out of the 24 active clusters now. A total of 777 individuals had been screened under the Sivagangga cluster as of August 4.

 

As of August 4, the Bukit Jalil immigration detention depot is the highest in terms of total cases recorded with 650 out of 1,662 having tested positive although only one case remains under treatment, while the Sepang immigration detention depot cluster is second-highest out of the current active clusters with 72 of 1,477 individuals screened recorded as positive with two remaining active cases, while the Sentosa cluster has 31 out of 1,026 individuals screened having tested positive and with 25 active cases.

3. Who are the others in the Sivagangga cluster?

Apart from his son and his four employees, screening of the restaurant owner’s close contacts later resulted in the detection of positive cases among his customers.

 

Two of his customers tested positive on July 31, with their family members ― aged two to 60 ― and even a colleague in one instance testing positive in early August too.

 

Those who tested positive include two boys aged two, one boy aged seven and another boy aged 10.

 

The latest addition to this cluster is a 64-year-old male customer who tested positive on August 3. He is the 21st case in the Sivagangga cluster and also Malaysia’s 9,000th Covid-19 patient.

 

The Sivagangga cluster’s cases are mostly in Hosba, Kubang Pasu, except for four cases in Batang Tunggang mukim in Padang Terap and one case in the Binjal mukim in Kubang Pasu.

 

 

As of yesterday, Malaysia has recorded a cumulative total of 9,002 Covid-19 cases, with 96.5 per cent or 8,684 cases having recovered and with the death toll at 1.39 per cent or 125 deaths, while 193 are active cases that remain under treatment.

4. The wider impact from just one cluster

Some sense of normalcy has returned to Malaysia as a whole with schools and places of worship reopened and many businesses allowed to resume as the government has relaxed previous restrictions under the movement control order (MCO), albeit under a “new normal” of wearing face masks and maintaining physical distancing.

 

But with the July 28 announcement of the Sivagangga cluster, the authorities especially in Kedah took swift and decisive measures to again impose temporary restrictions as precautionary measures.

 

The Community Development Department (Kemas) on July 29 ordered 73 tabika (kindergarten) involving 1,605 students and three taska (daycare centre) involving 62 students in Kubang Pasu to be closed. One of the tabika was located just about 500 metres from the restaurant, while some guardians or parents were believed to have visited the restaurant.

 

The Kedah state government on July 30 said it was stepping up enforcement of standard operating procedures against Covid-19.

 

On August 2 which was also when children aged two to 10 were confirmed as being the latest additions to the Sivagangga cluster, five schools ― SMK Hosba, SK Hosba, SMK Megat Dewa, SK Megat Dewa in Kubang Pasu and SK Kubang Palas in Padang Terap ― were ordered to close for 28 days until August 29. The 28 days are for a 14-day quarantine period and a further 14-day observation period.

 

On August 3, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the federal government’s approval of the Kedah government’s application for a targeted enhanced movement control order from August 3 to August 30 of four locations. This would mean roadblocks and control of movement by the authorities such as preventing outsiders from entering these locations.

 

The four locations are a one-kilometre radius from Restoran Nasi Kandar Salleh, Pekan Napoh (Mukim Hosba, Kubang Pasu); Kampung Pida Satu, Megat Dewa (Mukim Ah, Kubang Pasu); Kampung Bendang Dalam (Mukim Binjal, Kubang Pasu); Kampung Ulu, Padang Sanai (Padang Terap), with an expected total of 7,000 residents to be tested for Covid-19.

 

Also on August 2, the Kedah state Islamic religious affairs department announced a list of mosques in the Kubang Pasu and Padang Terap districts required to suspend all activities except for the azan call and for congregational prayers to be allowed for a maximum of three with various conditions, and for all suraus in listed areas to be closed until further notice.

5. Is the Sivagangga cluster unique?

Sadly, no.

 

Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah on Monday (August 3) said there are seven other currently active clusters caused by returnees to Malaysia who failed to comply with the Home Surveillance Order or order for quarantine at home from June 10 to July 23, namely the Elsa cluster (in the Kuantan district in Pahang), Novgorod PUI cluster (Alor Gajah, Melaka and Sepang, Selangor), Pitakwa PUI cluster (Kemaman, Terengganu), Melbourne PUI cluster (Kuching, Sarawak), Ramnad PUI cluster (Titiwangsa, KL), Al-Khobar PUI cluster (Petaling, Selangor), Shirala PUI cluster (Lembah Pantai, KL).

 

As of yesterday, the Elsa cluster had four active cases, Melbourne PUI two active cases, AL Khobar PUI cluster one active case, while the other named clusters resulting from non-compliance with home quarantine did not have active cases.

6. When home quarantine was introduced

After considerable success in flattening the curve or slowing the spread of Covid-19 cases, the Malaysian authorities had on June 10 started allowing Malaysians returning from abroad to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine at their own homes instead of government-designated quarantine centres if they test negative upon arrival, while those who test positive would still be sent to hospital for treatment.

 

The home quarantine came with rules such as the wearing of a wristband for easy identification and monitoring of their movements through the MySejahtera application, keeping away from family members and not sharing personal items with those in the same household during the quarantine period, and undergoing a Covid-19 test again on the 13th day.

 

But some of those who were expected to exercise self-discipline by staying quarantined at home upon their return abroad fail to do so. On July 23, Dr Noor Hisham said that 24.8 per cent of those undergoing home quarantine from July 7 to July 20 had failed to do the required self-assessment daily. On July 25, the government said 2,897 individuals had yet to conduct the second Covid-19 test on the 13th day of their home quarantine.

 

By July 24, the Malaysian government reimposed mandatory quarantine at government-designated quarantine centres for Malaysians and foreigners returning from abroad with the returnees to bear the cost partially, cancelling the home quarantine option due to non-compliance by some of the returnees such as those caught eating at restaurants while wearing the wristbands.

 

Yesterday, Parliament was told that the government has so far spent RM115.9 million on designated Covid-19 quarantine centres across the country, with the government bearing about half the cost to place returnees in such facilities while the returnees pay RM150 per day or RM2,100 for the entire 14-day period.

7. How not to add fuel to Covid-19 clusters

On July 27, Dr Noor Hisham stressed the importance of preventing new Covid-19 cases and did not discount the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19 infections in Malaysia if the public continues to be complacent in observing standard operating procedures (SOP).

 

Describing new Covid-19 clusters as akin to burning “embers”, Dr Noor Hisham cautioned that non-compliance with SOP would be the fuel that would cause Covid-19 cases to spread like a wildfire and experience a sudden spike in numbers.

 

“Should the public remain careless and fail to properly observe social distancing, wearing face masks, and practicing the SOPs, then the embers will fan into an open flame which will flare up and spread like wildfire,” he had said then.

 

In Dr Noor Hisham’s own words on July 29, a third wave of Covid-19 cases would result in mass mobilisation of health workers: “We have been working hard for seven months to prevent the spread, if [the third wave] happens we will have to work hard for another four months and 25,000 health personnel will be recalled to work for 20 hours a day if cases escalate.”

 

Source: Sivagangga cluster: What its emergence tells us about Malaysia’s COVID-19 fight (via SoyaCincau)

[dufus]

 

5 Ways “The New Normal” is Getting Worse and Worse

From mandatory masks to mandatory tests to mandatory track-and-trace, the roll-out is on.

It’s been a big few days for the New Normal narrative and, through the deliberately cultivated haze of confusion, it’s not hard to see the world they want to build is taking shape.

 

1. AUSTRALIA’S CURFEW

 

The state of Victoria, and the city of Melbourne, have declared a “state of disaster” and instituted a lockdown and curfew. The state’s 6.3 million inhabitants, nearly 5 million in the city, have to follow these restrictions:

 

Workplaces and shops that are not deemed essential will close or reduce their hours from Wednesday midnight but services such as supermarkets, petrol stations and doctors will remain open.
“Permitted” or essential workers will have to carry a special permit to work outside the home.
There is a nightly curfew in force: between the hours of 8pm and 5am you cannot leave home except for work or to get or provide urgent care.
You must stay within five kilometres of your home to shop or exercise.
If you leave the house to exercise, it should be for only one hour each day.
While up to two people can still exercise together, people should shop on their own – groups in public, even from the same household, are no longer allowed.
Schools will shift to remote learning except for vulnerable students and children of permitted workers.
Childcare centres will close to all but vulnerable children and those of essential workers.
Funerals can continue with a maximum of 10 people but weddings are off except for rare, compassionate reasons.
Since march, Australia has had 247 Covid19 deaths, across the entire country. The median age of these deaths is over 80.

 

2. UK DCOTOR: “MEN SHOULD TAKE FEMALE HORMONES TO PREVENT COVID19 INFECTION”

 

Dr Amir Khan appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain today, suggesting men – who are notionally at increased risk of coronavirus infection – should take a contraceptive pill filled with oestrogen. His theory, which he did not support with research, is that the oestrogen will boost the male immune system.

 

Hormone treatment is a big deal, potentially dangerous and seriously life-changing. To suggest its use to treat a disease which is harmless in over 95% of cases is borderline insanity, especially with no research to back it up. We tweeted about at the time, but GMB’s twitter account has since deleted the video.

 

At a time when doctors are named-and-shamed (and even fired) for suggesting a known safe medicine like HCQ, or sites like ours are branded “misinformation” for pointing out that PCR tests are unreliable, that a man should appear on national television making such ridiculous claims boggles the mind.

 

3. MANDATORY MASKS WEREN’T ENOUGH

 

Dr Deborah Birx recently announced that people in high-risk areas or multi-generational homes should consider wearing masks at home as well.

 

Elsewhere, The Guardian ran an article titled “You’re already wearing a mask – now consider a face shield and goggles”, which echoes Dr Fauci claiming that “perfect” virus protection would involve wearing visors or googles over your eyes.

 

4. DOOR TO DOORS TESTS IN LEICESTER

 

Independent Journalist Anna Brees recently posted this image to twitter:

It has since been confirmed genuine. In the UK city of Leicester they are literally going door-to-door to test people. The mayor of Leicester said on the Leicester council website:

 

Testing is vitally important as it provides us with the information we need to track the virus […] That’s why we’re helping to run the biggest testing operation in the country, mobilising around 500 volunteers to support door-to-door testing, particularly in areas of the city where positive test results have been higher.

 

That’s not all the testing news either, new 90 minute tests are set to be used in schools as soon as possible, with a DNA based test set to be rolled out nation wide in September which will “eliminate false negatives”.

 

There is not one word in the article about “eliminating” false positives, which are very common in all PCR-based testing. So prepare for a huge wave of “new cases” when these tests enter wide circulation.

 

5. WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM PUSHING “IMMUNITY PASSPORTS”

 

If you don’t like being forced to wear masks (and/or visors), or being placed under house arrest or (for some reason) under a curfew, or indeed, having to take hormone treatments…well don’t worry. Because the World Economic Forum has the solution – immunity passports.

 

This is not a new idea, it’s been floating around for months, but now the WEF is actually pushing an app that…

 

uses blockchain technology to store encrypted data from individual blood tests, allowing users to prove that they have tested negative for COVID-19.

 

It goes on to say that using this kind of app is the only solution to getting everything back to (the old) normal:

 

CovidPass could also allow hotels, cinemas, theatres, sporting and concert venues to reopen safely.

 

If you think this all sounds like something from a dystopian novel, well you’re right. But there’s a silver lining. The app which uses your medical history to decide if you’re allowed to travel will be real environmentally friendly:

 

CovidPass commits to mandatory carbon offsetting for each flight passenger, to preserve the environmental benefits of reduced air travel during the crisis.

 

So there’s that, at least.

 

It’s not hard to see the pattern taking shape here. Increasingly strict social controls on what you can wear, where you can go, when you can go there and so on and so on…and then the proposed solution.

 

A brief test and a little app that tracks your movement, or labels you nice and clean, a brand new vaccination for anybody who wants it (and most of the people who don’t) and then we can get back to normal.

 

It is manipulative blackmail of the worst kind, and it appears to be working.

source

[zanderthunder]

Travellers from Malaysia and Brunei no longer required to self-quarantine in the UK

 

 

Malaysia and neighbour Brunei have been added to the United Kingdom’s travel corridor list of nations.

 

This means travellers from these two countries are no longer required to self-isolate upon arrival in the UK.

 

 

A list published on the UK’s government Covid-19 pandemic guidance and support website showed the two new additions to the country’s exempted list, which was updated early this morning.

 

“The following countries were added to the exempt list at 4am (GMT) on Tuesday August 11, 2020; Brunei, Malaysia.

 

“If you arrive in England from one of the above countries on or after 4am (GMT), August 11, you may not need to self-isolate.

 

“If you arrived in England from one of the above countries before 4am (GMT), August 11, you will need to self-isolate,” the advisory said.

 

Other Asian countries on the exempt list include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, as well as the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

 

Malaysian borders, however, are still shut, whereby only those with valid reasons are allowed to enter the country, while locals are barred from travelling abroad.

 

Source: Travellers from Malaysia and Brunei no longer required to self-quarantine in the UK (via SoyaCincau)

[dufus]

 

video

 

UK Column News - 12th August 2020

Mask risk assessments: UK Column viewer writes to Angela Rayner MP
UK Column has questions for Angela Rayner MP
Government is not being led by real science but by pseudo-science 
Professor Carl Hennegen: who is making these rules up…?
Why are PHE death numbers currently 2 or 3 times higher than the ONS…?

[rasbridge]

China COVID-19 second wave outbreak: Panic as woman infected for SECOND time

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1321936/china-coronavirus-news-second-wave-catch-coronavirus-twice-immunity-latest

[zanderthunder]

Younger vapers are more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, study shows

 

 

A new study by Stanford researchers found that teens and young adults who vape are five times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those who don’t. While young people who have both vaped and smoked cigarettes are seven times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19.

 

 

The proportion people aged 15 to 24 who are infected with COVID-19 rose three-fold in about five months according to the World Health Organisation. Apart from the United States—which leads a global tally with 5.2 million total cases—other countries including Spain, Germany, France, and Japan have said that many of the newly infected are young people as well.

 

The new study research doesn’t exactly reveal how vaping and smoking increases a young person’s likelihood of getting sick. It might be because of how vaping can affect the lungs or immune system, but it can also be due to the fact that vapers share devices and touch their faces more as they puff.

 

The paper’s findings are based on an online survey conducted in May 2020, involving 4,351 U.S. residents between the ages of 13 and 24. The sample roughly includes equal numbers of people of different ages, races, and genders, and the results were adjusted based on the number of COVID-19 cases in survey participants’, and whether participants followed shelter-in-place orders.

 

 

The paper is also population-based—not just based on people who already have COVID-19. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, the senior author of the study, explains that it makes it more of an unbiased sample.

 

The study advises health care providers, parents, schools, community-based organisations, and policymakers to “make youth aware of the connection between smoking and vaping and coronavirus disease.” Health care providers should also ask patients whether they have a history of vaping or smoking, so that it could give doctors a better understanding of how at-risk their young patients are during the pandemic.

 

“This is yet one more sign that e-cigarettes are unhealthy. Look, this is a pandemic… this is the time for you to quit and not start vaping,” said Halpern-Felsher.

 

In late March, The Health Ministry (MOH) said that 17.6 per cent of those who were infected and succumbed to COVID-19 were smokers with zero history of chronic illnesses. Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this was higher than the non-smokers at 12.1 per cent.

 

Sources:
1. Younger vapers are more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, study shows (via SoyaCincau) - main article

2. Vaping linked to higher risk of COVID-19 in teens and young adults, study finds (via TheVerge)

3. Association Between Youth Smoking, Electronic Cigarette Use, and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (via ScienceDirect)

[dufus]

UK Column News - 14th August 2020

 

START – Test and trace: 250,000 people ‘reached’
Behavioural Insights Team are involved with test and trace…
This is the biggest surveillance operation ever seen in the western world
Tougher fines for ‘serious breaches’ of CoronaVirus restrictions
Travel chaos: more countries are being added to the UK’s quarantine list
Washington Post CoronaVirus propaganda: the reality is far different under examination

22:35 – David Kurten: New Zealand becomes a police state nightmare
Covid-19 false positives are creating a never-ending worldwide viral infection…
More and more questions are being asked in the MSM on testing procedues and accuracy
All government policy and regulation is built on results despite inaccurate testing system
Covid: the reality is not the story that is being told in the MainStream Media
33:01 – More government marching orders come from Bill Gates
HRH Bill Gates: we’re lucky this one wasn’t a more fatal disease…

[dufus]

Bait-&-Switch: How they’ve changed the Covid conversatio

It was supposed to be about life and death, but for weeks now we’re only hearing about cases.

 

Do you remember five months ago? Normally I wouldn’t ask, but the world is moving incredibly fast these days.

 

Do you remember that it was predicted that covid19 would kill literally millions of people?

 

Do you remember that hospitals were going to be over-run with patients and our struggling medical infrastructure was going to collapse under their weight?

 

Do you remember that locking down global society was the only way to prevent this disaster? That we had to do it, regardless of how much damage it did to the livelihoods and security of countless millions of people?

 

Final question – do you know how many people in the United Kingdom officially died with (not of) the coronavirus yesterday?

 

It’s 12.

 

Twelve people. You probably didn’t hear about that, because sometime in the last five weeks or so the media completely stopped using the word “deaths”, and started talking only about “cases”.

 

A “case” is anyone who tests positive for Sars-Cov-2, using the notoriously unreliable PCR tests which produce huge numbers of false positives.

 

Even supposing the positive test is real, the vast majority of “cases” are asymptomatic. Between false positives, unreliable tests and asymptomatic infection, a “case” count for sars-cov-2 is borderline meaningless.

 

Let’s say there are symptoms AND a positive test, and assume they’re not just a false positive who has a cold or the flu. Well, even the vast majority of the “symptomatic cases” will only ever be mildly ill. In fact of the 6 million active cases in the world, only 1% are considered severely ill. The majority of them will survive.

 

The CDC estimates the infection fatality ratio of Sars-Cov-2 to be about 0.26%. A number perfectly in line with severe flu seasons. Virtually every country in Europe is now reporting average, or even below average, mortality.

 

Broadly speaking, the vast majority of the world is, and will likely remain, absolutely fine.

 

But things aren’t going back to normal, are they? In fact, they are getting worse. The governments have got their foot in the door, and they have no intention of moving it.

 

Masks are now mandatory in the UK, and Australia, and New Zealand, and Germany and France. And many others. The Democrat’s nominee for President, Joe Biden, has said they should be mandatory in the US as well.

 

There’s talk of “local lockdown” in Birmingham, because of a “sudden increase in cases”, but we get no details on the numbers are, or if that’s translating into any kind illness, let alone deaths.

 

The same for Oldham, which is on the brink of a “catastrophic lockdown” thanks to its infection rate of 83 people per 100,000. (Oldham has a population of about 250,000, so that’s about 200 cases.)

 

Actually, over the last week the UK’s covid death count has reduced by over 5000, thanks to a review which removed duplicates and mistakes (which OffG predicted would happen months ago). The case count is bloated by at least 30,000 duplicates too.

 

In New Zealand, the patron saint of coronavirus Jacinda Ardern has just postponed next months general election. It’s only a month, for now. But what if there’s a “second wave” in October and they have to postpone it again? Regardless, the precedent is set.

 

New Zealand has had 1600 cases, total, in 5 months. They haven’t had a reported death since May. But their country is on lockdown and their democracy on hold.

 

Oh, and they’re shipping positive tests (and their families) off to “quarantine centres”, where if you refuse to be tested, you will be detained indefinitely.

 

Australia is locking down cities, even imposing curfews, based on 450 deaths.

 

Every day there are more and more articles discussing the need for mandatory vaccination, or something even worse.

 

And everywhere the language is changing. “The New Normal” was about beating Covid19, but now it’s about “covid19 and future pandemics”, or the “other colossal challenges facing humanity”….which can mean literally anything they want it to mean.

 

All this is based on the ever-increasing number of cases, without any reference to the fact deaths are falling.

 

All the way through those of us calling for a measured, proportional response were abused or ignored. The numbers have shown we were right, but that doesn’t matter now. They scared people into giving them the power, then they set the precedent for using that power, and there’s no reason to think they will ever stop.

 

It used to be about “deaths”, now it’s about “cases”. It used to be about coronavirus, next time it will be about something else.

source

 

 

 

 

[dufus]

 

 

WATCH: Spanish Doctor Shoots Down Covid19 Myths

Front-line doctor attacks media, questions need for vaccine, before interview cut short

source

 

 

[dufus]

 

 

 

[mp68terr]

An alarming retraction rate for scientific publications on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

 

ABSTRACT
The ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has triggered a flurry of associated research publications, numbering to ~137 papers a day since February 2020. This rate of publication appears to be exceptionally high, when compared to research papers published on other similar topics. Searches of COVID-19-associated publications on PubMed and Retraction Watch Database indicate that the retraction record appearance rate for COVID-19-related research is also exceptionally high compared to other related research topics in viral epidemics/pandemics and surpasses the basal level of about 4 in 10,000 papers. This finding serves as a reminder and caution against any lapses in the standard of work, peer review, and publication of COVID-19-related research.

 

Nicole Shu Ling Yeo-Teh, Bor Luen Tang, 23 Jun 2020

https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2020.1782203

 

[shamu726]

First Documented Coronavirus Reinfection Reported in Hong Kong

 

The patient did mount an immune response to the new infection, however, and did not experience symptoms.

 

A 33-year-old man was infected a second time with the coronavirus more than four months after his first bout, the first documented case of so-called reinfection, researchers in Hong Kong reported Monday.

The finding was not unexpected, especially given the millions of people who have been infected worldwide, experts said. And the man had no symptoms the second time, suggesting that even though the prior exposure did not prevent the reinfection, his immune system kept the virus somewhat in check.

“The second infection was completely asymptomatic — his immune response prevented the disease from getting worse,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University who was not involved with the work but reviewed the report at The New York Times’s request. “It’s kind of a textbook example of how immunity should work.”

People who do not have symptoms may still spread the virus to others, however, underscoring the importance of vaccines, Dr. Iwasaki said. In the man’s case, she added, “natural infection created immunity that prevented disease but not reinfection.”

“In order to provide herd immunity, a potent vaccine is needed to induce immunity that prevents both reinfection and disease,” Dr. Iwasaki said.

Doctors have reported several cases of presumed reinfection in the United States and elsewhere, but none of those cases have been confirmed with rigorous testing. Recovered people are known to carry viral fragments for weeks, which can lead to positive test results in the absence of live virus.

But the Hong Kong researchers sequenced the virus from both of the man’s infections and found significant differences, suggesting that the patient had been infected a second time.

“I believe this is the first reported case that is confirmed by genome sequencing,” said Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong.

The study is to be published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The Times obtained the manuscript from the university.

The man’s first case was diagnosed on March 26, and he had only mild symptoms. In accordance with regulations in Hong Kong, he was hospitalized on March 29 even though his symptoms had subsided, and released on April 14 only after he had tested negative for the virus twice.

He had no detectable antibodies after that first bout with the virus. He was positive again for the coronavirus on a saliva test on Aug. 15 after a trip to Spain via the United Kingdom; the test was administered at the airport. The man had picked up a strain that was circulating in Europe in July and August, the researchers said.

His infections were clearly caused by different versions of the coronavirus, Dr. To said: “Our results prove that his second infection is caused by a new virus that he acquired recently, rather than prolonged viral shedding.”

Common cold coronaviruses are known to cause reinfections in less than a year, but experts had hoped that the new coronavirus might behave more like its cousins SARS and MERS, which seemed to produce protection lasting a few years.

It’s still unclear how common reinfection from the new coronavirus might be, because few researchers have sequenced the virus from each infection.

“We’ve had, what, 23 million cases documented thus far, but the fact that one out of them at this point has been reinfected should not cause undue alarm as of yet,” said Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University in New York.

“However, it remains very, very concerning — and this does nothing to dispel that — that we may be subject to repeat infection with this virus,” he said.

Dr. Iwasaki was more sanguine. She noted that the man had no antibodies after the first infection but produced them after the second exposure. Immunity is expected to build with each exposure to a pathogen exactly in this way, she noted.

“Again, it’s what the textbook says should happen,” she said. “When you have second exposure to the same pathogen, you should elevate the antibody, and that’s what’s happening.”

Most people who are infected with the coronavirus produce detectable antibodies that would be expected to protect against the virus. Even people who had only mild symptoms, including this man, may also have immune “memory” in the form of B and T cells that prevent symptoms on second exposure.

“The majority of patients likely have a cocktail of immune responses that activate on second exposure,” said Brian Wasik, a virologist at Cornell University. “This Hong Kong patient also seems to have been asymptomatic on second infection, perhaps due to some immune response.”

But the researchers said it’s also possible that in some people, a second exposure will prove more severe. “It cannot be generalized yet, because there’s still a possibility that the second infection can be worse,” Dr. To said.

Building immune memory is not unlike boosting memory of a person, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The initial bout with the new coronavirus is likely to result in “non-sterilizing immunity,” but the virus will elicit a stronger response with each exposure, he said: “It is often these second and third exposures that help to solidify the memory response for the long term.”

Over all, experts said, it’s unclear how often people might become reinfected, and how soon, after a first bout with the virus.

“Those remain open questions, because one person exhibiting a mild reinfection, clearly documented as a distinct strain of the virus, does not provide enough evidence one way or another,” Dr. Shaman said.

 

Source: New York Times

[dufus]

Ingredient Found in Insect Repellent May Kill COVID-19, Reports Say

 

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory has suggested that a product commonly found in insect repellent could kill the coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19, the Sky News broadcaster reported on Wednesday.

 

The UK Defence Ministry's lab started the study on Citriodiol in May after the media revealed that Mosi-Guard, an insect repellent containing the substance, had already been distributed among the country’s servicemen.

 

According to the media outlet, Citriodiol has already been found to have killed other types of coronavirus.

 

Meanwhile, the broadcaster added that the regular mosquito spray would not be efficient on its own and would need to be used as an extra layer of protection, along with face masks and other measures.

 

Citriodiol was used during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003.

 

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on 11 March.

 

According to Johns Hopkins University, the global coronavirus death toll has surpassed 820,000 people, with the number of cases worldwide approaching 24 million.

source

source

[dMog]

well gee maybe keep this quiet, as you know, someone important will covet it as the next miracle cure...right out of the spray can...you injected somehow...

[dufus]

 

WATCH: French Professor says there is no second wave

 

In a recent interview on French television Prof. Jean-François Toussaint of the Université Paris-Descartes has said that hysteria over a “second wave” in France is based on the widespread misinterpretation of data. His main points are as follows:

 

Deaths in France (and all across Europe) have fallen to almost zero.
“Second Wave” headlines are counting “new cases”, not deaths
These cases are almost all young, healthy people exhibiting no symptoms
Politicians are being irresponsible and scaring people for unnecessarily

Scientists on the “Science Council” don’t believe in the measures they’re prescribing and happily break their own rules.

 

Prof. Toussaint caps it all with this quote:

 

" There is not, at this time, any scientific argument that attests to the usefulness of masks”

 

Before repeating (as we have said ourselves and which Dr Luis de Benito of Madrid stated last week) that we no longer talk about deaths, but instead talk about second waves and new cases, because the death figures have dropped to almost zero.

 

" We no longer talk about deaths, because they’re averaging less than 10 per day – for three weeks less than 10 per day – so now we have passed to some future fear…next week, next month, next spring "…

 

He is right about this, across Europe excess mortality is now either average or below average. The danger, if indeed there ever was much, has apparently passed.

source

[dMog]

hopefully so

[dufus]

Face masks make you stupid

In Joost Meerloo’s analysis of false confessions and totalitarian regimes, The Rape of the Mind, he coins a phrase for the ‘dumbing down’ of critical resistance – menticide. “In the totalitarian regime,” he wrote, “the doubting, inquisitive, and imaginative mind has to be suppressed. The totalitarian slave is only allowed to memorise, to salivate when the bell rings.”

 

Neolithic man had a similar problem dealing with his livestock. Homo sapiens’ success has relied not insignificantly on cattle – their dairy, meat, leather and manure. Yet the cow’s ancestor, the auroch, was quite a different beast. It was fast, aggressive and dangerous – hardly conducive to be corralled into predictable channels of behaviour. So, about 10,500 years ago, man started to deliberately breed the most docile aurochs for domestication.

 

The key word here is docile, which comes from the Latin docere, meaning “to teach” (as does, say, ‘doctorate’ and ‘document’). Being docile means being compliant and following commands, which means submitting to a system of thought.

 

Whereas animals, however, typically need to be bred to have a higher level of reasoning to be taught commands, human beings, already being quite smart, need to be dumbed down. You won’t disobey an order if you lack the cognitive ability to question it. This is particularly pertinent to the smooth running of a modern world system which relies on millions of individual souls, each with their own nuanced life history and perspective, thinking and acting in the same way.

 

The empirical literature has shown that compliance and suggestibility are negatively related to intelligence (e.g., Gudjonsson, 1991). In consumer psychology, there is even a technique called ‘disrupt-then-reframe’: bamboozle people first and they’ll be more likely to buy what you’re selling (Davis & Knowles, 1999). Ultimately, the common denominator for increasing suggestibility is switching off executive function in the prefrontal cortex – disabling the superego, the conscience, the internal monologue.

 

Without Jiminy Cricket on his shoulder, Pinocchio would never have become a real boy – he would have always remained a puppet. Modern society is shot through with things that make us similarly dumb (literally, unable to speak).

 

The effect of television, for example, as Meerloo wrote, is to “catch the mind directly, giving people no time for calm, dialectical conversation with their own minds.” The mind-numbing, irrational effect of visual communication has been recognised throughout history. Not for nothing did religions talk about the word of God and forbid graven images. Unsurprisingly, empirical studies showing that watching television makes you stupid in both the short- and long-term (Hoang et al., 2016; Lillard & Peterson, 2011). This is to say nothing of pornography, which is now consumed by 98% of men but known to inhibit the part of the brain dealing with conscience and consciousness, the prefrontal cortex (Kuhn & Gallinat, 2014).

 

Moving from circuses to bread, alcohol, of course, reduces cognitive function in the short-term (Hindmarch & Sherwood, 1991). Even at moderate levels of consumption, it accelerates cognitive decline in older age (Topiwala et al., 2017). Junk food, likewise, makes it harder to think in the short-term (Barnes & Joyner, 2012) and harms cognitive ability in the long-term (Reichelt & Rank, 2017).

 

Fluoride has become something of a cliché of conspiracy theorists; being added to the public water supply in multiple countries around the world, ostensibly to reduce tooth decay. However, the evidence supporting the dental benefits of fluoridated water is poor, while many studies have shown it can damage tooth aesthetics via fluorosis (McDonagh et al., 2000). Many more studies have found that fluoridated water lowers the population’s intelligence (e.g., Borman & Fyfe, 2013; Green et al., 2019; Lu et al., 2000; Rocha-Amador et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2008).

 

Which brings us to face masks.

 

Face masks can now be added to the list of mandates that make you stupid. As if Piers Morgan feverishly promoting them weren’t evidence enough, here are the facts on why you absolutely, categorically should not wear a face mask. They make you suggestible; they make you more likely to follow someone else’s direction and do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. In short, they switch off your executive function – your conscience.

 

A great example comes from a study by Mathes and Guest (1976), who asked participants how willing they would be, and how much they would have to be paid, to carry a sign around the university cafeteria reading “masturbation is fun” (this being 1976, doing such a thing would be considered embarrassing; these days it will probably earn you a course credit!). The results showed that when people wore a mask, they were more likely to carry the sign and required less money to do so ($30 compared to $48, on average).

 

Meanwhile, Miller and Rowold (1979) presented Halloween trick-or-treaters with a bowl of chocolates and told them they were allowed to take only two each. When the children thought they weren’t being watched, they helped themselves. Children without a mask broke the rule, taking more chocolates, 37% of the time, compared to 62% for masked children. The authors concluded that masks “lead to lower restraints on behaviour”.

 

The effect has similarly been found online: the online disinhibition effect refers to the tendency for people to act antisocially when anonymous online (Suler, 2004). There is even an infamous trolling movement calling itself Anonymous and using a mask as its symbol.

 

The disinhibiting effects of wearing a mask are described by psychologists in terms of a suspension of the superego’s control mechanisms, allowing subconscious impulses to take over. Saigre (1989) wrote that masks ‘short-cut’ conscious defence systems and encourage “massive regression” to a more primitive state; Castle (1986) wrote that eighteenth century masquerades allowed mask-wearers to release their repressed hedonistic and sexual impulses; and Caillois (1962) similarly wrote about European masked carnivals involving libidinal activities including “indecencies, jostling, provocative laughter, exposed breasts, mimicking buffoonery, a permanent incitement to riot, feasting and excessive talk, noise and movement”. In the 12th Century, Pope Innocent III banned masks as part of his fight against immorality; and in 1845, New York State made it illegal for more than two people to wear masks in public, after farmers wore masks to attack their landlords.

 

From a neuroimaging perspective, masks are known to inhibit identity and impulse control – both associated with executive function in the prefrontal cortex (e.g., Glannon, 2005; Tacikowski, Berger & Ehrsson, 2017). In other words, masks silence the Jiminy Cricket in the brain.

 

It is little wonder that covering our mouths would ‘shut us up’ psychologically. Studies have shown that clothing has a powerful effect on how we think (or not), via a principal known as enclothed cognition: wearing a lab coat enhances cognitive function (Adam & Galinsky, 2012), wearing a nurse’s scrubs increases empathy (López-Pérez et al., 2016), and wearing counterfeit brands increases the likelihood of cheating in a test (Gino, Norton & Ariely, 2010). Similarly, in the world of body language, someone putting their hand over their mouth is a sign that they are listening intently: they are ready to receive information, not to question it.

 

While no studies have looked at the effect of masks on verbal reasoning, it is fairly safe to assume that priming a ‘shutting up’ would have a cognitive effect. For example, extraverts are less compliant than introverts (Cohen et al., 2004; Gudjonsson et al., 2004); the development of conscience in humans is heavily linked to that of language (e.g., Arbib, 2006); and inner speech is highly related to cognitive functions (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015). Crucially, verbal reasoning is strongly correlated with moral reasoning (e.g., Hayes, Gifford & Hayes, 1998): being unable to ‘speak’ makes one less able to deduce what is moral and immoral behaviour.

 

There is also a more basic reason masks might make you stupid: decreasing oxygen flow to the brain. Face veils reduce ventilatory function in the long-term (Alghadir, Aly & Zafar, 2012), and surgical masks may reduce blood oxygenation among surgeons (Beder et al., 2008): believe it or not, covering your mouth makes it harder to breathe.

 

Reviewing the N95 face mask, a 2010 study (Roberge et al.) concluded that “carbon dioxide and oxygen levels were significantly above and below, respectively, the ambient workplace standards” inside the mask. A post-COVID study found that 81% of 128 previously-fit healthcare workers developed headaches as a result of wearing personal protective equipment (Ong et al., 2020).

 

Not only do face masks make it hard to breathe, but the evidence that they even work to stop the spread of coronavirus is limited at best. A popular brand of mask even carries a warning on its packaging that it “will not provide any protection against COVID-19”; as for preventing carriers from spreading the disease, a meta-analysis found, for example, that of eight randomised control trial studies, six found no difference in transmission rates between control and intervention groups (while one found that a combination of masks and handwashing is more effective than education alone, and the other found that N95 masks are more effective than standard surgical masks; bin-Reza et al., 2012). Non-surgical masks, such as scarfs and cloths, are almost useless (Rengasamy et al., 2010). Masks may even be unhealthy, causing a build-up of bacteria around the face (Zhiqing et al., 2018).

 

The fact that masks likely don’t even work brings us to the final reason that wearing one inculcates stupidity and compliance: through a bombardment of lies, contradictions, and confusion, the state overwhelms your ability to reason clearly.

 

As Theodore Dalrymple wrote, “In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control.”

 

The point of face masks is not to protect humans, but to diminish humanity – to rob people of their ego, their identity, and their autonomy. Masks are worn by disposable horror movie villains and ignorable background dancers; they make people less-than-human.

 

Dehumanisation is rarely followed by anything good. Face masks are another worrying portent of what’s to come, alongside a seismic shift in mainstream discourse. In an analysis of the Rwandan genocide, one of the first linguistic predictors was the tendency to look backwards, to blame, and to focus on past wrongs and injustices (Donohue, 2012), which will sound familiar to anyone unfortunate enough to have read The BBC or The Guardian recently. Similarly, where the Tutsis were referred to as cockroaches by the Hutus, and the Nazis depicted the Jews as rats, Nancy Pelosi recently promised to “fumigate” President Trump out of the White House.

 

It is hard to predict how the wheel of life will revolve in the coming years, but all signs point to trouble. During the crisis years of a generational cycle, only one thing can be guaranteed: the importance of a clear mind. To that end, allow yourself the dignity, identity and Logos of being human – and never, ever wear a mask.

source

[dMog]

but  anyone who thinks covid 19 has a mortality rate equal to the common flu is moron.

nt wearing them makes you dead....

[dufus]

3 minutes ago, dMog said:

but  anyone who thinks covid 19 has a mortality rate equal to the common flu is moron.

nt wearing them makes you dead....

 

i,m still here ....

[dufus]

 

 

Thousands of anti-lockdown protesters gather in London to claim coronavirus is a 'hoax'

 

Large crowds gathered at Trafalgar Square calling for 'no more lockdowns' and 'no to vaccinations'. There appeared to be little social distancing or people wearing face masks

[dMog]

16 minutes ago, dufus said:

 

i,m still here ....

so am i but that is not to say i would want to get it. and iust because you personally are still here and not infected does not in anyway prove it is not  lethal to some people if you were to get it, most likely IF you are healthy you would survive,especially if you are young. The older you get the greater chance you have of long term complications and death. People have underlying health problems should be worried If you really think that go prove it and get infected and get back to me. and then go visit all your friends and family, especially the ones at high risk, your grandparents and anyone with heart issues or lung problems How many asthmatic people do you know, how many with heart conditions, how many old people...pretty sure they would not want to believe you when you tell them is is not really gonna kill them to be around a person infected with covid. A member of my family is a doctor on the front lines  here in Canada and this is not no goddamn common flu. the evidence is out there but you would rather look only at the naysayers, most of whom by the way are making  statements for political purposes based on NO SCIENTIFIC facts or just plain making it up. Did you see what happened in Italy or was that fake or are not seeing the stupidity in the USA taking place because one man has decided to run an election on the fact he does not believe in science and refused to listen to his world rebounded experts. the Entire world and the world economy did shut down because of fake news, it is the most real threat to  mankind since the Spanish flu.