Coronavirus

[highfigh]

From the link:

>>>"I'm sure you've seen the pictures all over the internet of people who have had these shots and now they're magnetized," Tenpenny, of Middleburg Heights in Cuyahoga County, said. "You can put a key on their forehead, it sticks. You can put spoons and forks all over and they can stick because now we think there is a metal piece to that."<<<

Apparently some people will continue to trust this person for medical advice despite ridiculous and easily disproven statements such as this.

Very strange.

There's no magnetic material that has such a strong field that it could attract something to a person's body, even if the whole needle had been left in their arm. Also, if the skinny needle had a magnet in it in solid form, it would work its way out pretty easily- if it was tiny particles, they would clump and that could be felt under the skin.

I was asked if I had any questions when I was getting my first shot and I paused, then responded with "Does the needle come out shorter than it goes in?". We had a bit of a chuckle. When I walked out from behind the screen, I dragged one foot, to make the others think the shot caused it. The pharmacist just said, "Aw, man!".

 

[highfigh]

On another wingnut incident- the Wisconsin pharmacist who wasted hundreds of doses because he's an idiot got three years in the slammer for it and lost his license.

 

[Swerd]

Regarding the anti-vaxers in our neck of the woods. Most think its some 'Global Reset' initiative to reduce the population.

Anyway the wife and I went out to dinner last night for a steak and the place was packed, with people waiting at the door. Since this is Fla, NO Mask in sight anywhere.

I think they've got it backwards . It's COVID-19 that reduces population – nearly 600,000 deaths in the USA and an estimated 3.7 million deaths world wide. Avoiding the vaccine only prolongs the Global Reset initiative.

 

[John Parks]

Where's Yuri Geller when we need him???????????????????????

There is no spoon...

 

[TLS Guy]

I have not posted for a while, as it has been hard to know exactly where we are in this pandemic. The reason is the Indian Delta variant that is proving to be the real wild card.

We now have reliable data from public health England. This variant is significantly derailing progress.

Broadly, the UK have the whole population given one dose of vaccine and 55% given two doses and fully vaccinated. Previously one dose gave around 80% protection at least.

Now their roll out differs in significant ways from the US. First they originally spaced doses 90 days, and with the Delta variant moved it to 60 days.
They have been vaccinating didactically down the age range and are now at all over 25 years of age.

In my previous post I showed the exponential spread of the Delta variant in the Northwest Bolton area. This has quickly spread throughout the country, such that the variant is over 90% of cases. The infectivity of this strain is at least 60% more transmissible then the alpha Kent variant. So this strain is highly infectious. Unfortunately it has much higher pathogenicity especially in the young. The good news is that full vaccination confers 80 to 88% protection against this variant. The bad news is that one dose is only 33% protective. That is a decrease of about 50 percentage points compared to previous variants.

The big news is that two doses of vaccine is still highly protective. However cases in the UK are showing exponential rise, and hospitalizations are up. This is because almost half of the population are not fully vaccinated.

This is compelling data that should reassure concerning full vaccination.

The UK has sequenced 33,206 cases. Of those cases 1785 were fully vaccinated, and 68 cases who were fully vaccinated were admitted to hospital.

I have serious concerns for the US. Currently about 6% of our cases are Delta variant. We only have about 41% of the population fully vaccinated.
If the Delta variant takes hold like it has in the UK then we are in for a major set back and big problems. In a word we have jumped the gun.

The word is that Boris Johnson will delay the full opening of the UK set for June 21, by at least a month to get more of the population fully vaccinated.

So this crisis is unfortunately far from over.

 

[Swerd]

In my previous post I showed the exponential spread of the Delta variant in the Northwest Bolton area. This has quickly spread throughout the country, such that the variant is over 90% of cases. The infectivity of this strain is at least 60% more transmissible then the alpha Kent variant. So this strain is highly infectious. Unfortunately it has much higher pathogenicity especially in the young. The good news is that full vaccination confers 80 to 88% protection against this variant. The bad news is that one dose is only 33% protective. That is a decrease of about 50 percentage points compared to previous variants.

The big news is that two doses of vaccine is still highly protective. However cases in the UK are showing exponential rise, and hospitalizations are up. This is because almost half of the population are not fully vaccinated.

This is compelling data that should reassure concerning full vaccination.

Have you noticed this recent paper? Mr._Clark pointed it out on Monday in post #5344:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.06.446826v1.full.pdf

It provides good lab-based evidence (in cultured Calu-3 human lung epithelial cells) that mutations in B.1.1.7 (the Alpha variant) – outside the Spike gene – likely contribute to it's enhanced transmission. They show B.1.1.7 dramatically increases expression levels of the viral genes Orf9b and Orf6. Both genes are known to suppress innate immune responses in host cells. In particular, they suppress mRNA expression and protein secretion of interferon-beta (IFNβ).

This would explain both the higher infectivity of B.1.1.7, as well the ability of the various vaccines to protect against it.

We don't know if this new information also applies to the Indian Delta variant, but the emerging clinical evidence does suggest that full vaccination can provide adequate protection against the Delta variant. I would guess that question might be easily answered by testing Orf9 & Orf6 expression levels in cells infected with Delta while comparing those levels with that of cells infected with Alpha.

I have serious concerns for the US. Currently about 6% of our cases are Delta variant. We only have about 41% of the population fully vaccinated. If the Delta variant takes hold like it has in the UK then we are in for a major set back and big problems. In a word we have jumped the gun.

So this crisis is unfortunately far from over.

Agreed. This will most affect the non-immunized populations, the younger age groups, especially under age 18; and those of all ages in various regions of the US who have avoided immunization.

The overall numbers of people in the US coming down with Covid-19 has dramatically dropped. But the number of infections among non-immunized people remains as high as it was before vaccinations started.

 

[TLS Guy]

Have you noticed this recent paper? Mr._Clark pointed it out on Monday in post #5344:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.06.446826v1.full.pdf

It provides good lab-based evidence (in cultured Calu-3 human lung epithelial cells) that mutations in B.1.1.7 (the Alpha variant) – outside the Spike gene – likely contribute to it's enhanced transmission. They show B.1.1.7 dramatically increases expression levels of the viral genes Orf9b and Orf6, both known innate immune antagonists, leading to suppression of host cell innate immune responses, in particular, the mRNA expression and protein secretion of interferon-beta (IFNβ).

This would explain both the higher infectivity of B.1.1.7, as well the ability of the various vaccines to protect against it.

We don't know if this new information also applies to the Indian Delta variant, but the emerging clinical evidence does suggest that full vaccination can provide adequate protection against the Delta variant. I would guess that question might be easily answered by testing Orf9 & Orf6 expression levels in cells infected with Delta while comparing those levels with that of cells infected with Alpha.
Agreed. This will most affect the non-immunized populations, the younger age groups, especially under age 18; and those of all ages in various regions of the US who have avoided immunization.

The overall numbers of people in the US coming down with Covid-19 has dramatically dropped. But the number of infections among non-immunized people remains as high as it was before vaccinations started.

I had not seen that. I have been somewhat busy round here of late. However it does explain why that UK Alpha variant has replaced the original strains so quickly.
However that makes it more worrying that the Delta Indian variant has replaced the UK alpha variant so quickly in the UK.

The thing I find concerning is that the pathogenicity of the Delta variant seems so much increased especially in the young. This is strange, as virus mutations giving rise to increased infectiousness are usually associated with decreased virulence. This is not occurring here. That is what saved the world in 1918. As transmissibility increased, virulence decreased. This is yet one more area where this virus is not following the book.

I should mention that the other reason the UK are slowing up with opening, is because of long Covid. This is getting better understood. Unfortunately this is not related to severity of illness, and seems to preferentially hit the young and especially young females.

The literature is now exploding with studies. One reason is that this illness is causing POTS and chronic fatigue syndrome in survivors. This occurs after a number of viral infections, especially in young females, teenagers especially.

POTS Stands for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. This is caused by damage to the autonomic nerves that control the caliber of your blood vessels with changes of position in the vertical plane. So when you stand up your blood vessels automatically constrict in the lower extremities to stop your blood falling into your boots, and dropping your blood pressure. If this mechanism becomes impaired, then the response is a rapid increase in heart rate to maintain blood pressure.
This is a highly disabling chronic condition. There is a lot of overlap with chronic fatigue syndrome.

In addition there are reports of upset to the autonomic nervous system of the gut. This is again seen especially in young girls. I used to see these cases as I was director of the nutritional support service. Most cases I saw were in girls 12 to 18 years of age following a viral infection. Most of these cases resolve very slowly over time. The effects range from gastroparesis with very delayed gastric emptying to sudden convulsive vomiting when the stomach contracts against a closed pylorus. My experience was that these cases were not infrequently misdiagnosed as anorexia nervosa.

In addition there is observable cardiac and neurological issue, with abnormal CT and heart scans.

In the UK at least, and I think beginning here, there is real fear that we will have long term medical issues and long term disabilities in the young.

In the US we are a bit ahead of the game here, as we have vaccinated a lot of teenagers, whereas in the UK none have been vaccinated.

So my advice to those of you with 12 to 16 year old children is to get them vaccinated ASAP, especially young girls who have a special vulnerability.

I fear there is going to be a lot more to this Covid-19, saga and we are unfortunately a long way from the final chapter.

 

[davidscott]

600000 total US dead reached today. Cases and deaths way way down but still people are dying. I just don't get why some people refuse to get the vaccine. When I joined the USAF and later when I went to work for a hospital system I had to take a lot of shots and some boosters every few years. Oh well to each his own...

 

[TLS Guy]

600000 total US dead reached today. Cases and deaths way way down but still people are dying. I just don't get why some people refuse to get the vaccine. When I joined the USAF and later when I went to work for a hospital system I had to take a lot of shots and some boosters every few years. Oh well to each his own...

It is because you can't fix stupid!

 

[Swerd]

In today's Washington Post:

A new analysis of archived blood samples from 24,000 Americans taken early last year is the latest and largest study to suggest that the new coronavirus popped up in the US in December 2019 — weeks before cases were first recognized by health officials. Like smaller previous studies, these researchers looked for antibodies in the blood as evidence of coronavirus infection. These antibodies can be detected as early as two weeks after a person is first infected.

The pandemic coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019. Officially, the first US infection to be identified was a traveler — a Washington state man who returned from Wuhan on Jan 15 and sought help at a clinic on Jan 19.

The researchers say that seven study participants — three from Illinois, and one each from Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — were infected earlier than any COVID-19 case was originally reported in those states. One of the Illinois cases was infected as early as Christmas Eve 2019.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/more-evidence-suggests-covid-19-was-in-us-by-christmas-2019/2021/06/15/8890085e-cdde-11eb-a224-bd59bd22197c_story.html

The published paper says:

The study examined 24,079 blood samples taken from participants in all 50 US states from January 2, 2020 to March 18, 2020. Nine were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2, seven of these were seropositive prior to the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the states of Illinois, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi.

Antibodies to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in All of Us Research Program Participants, 2 January to 18 March 2020

Seven individuals had detectable severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunoglobulin G before the first confirmed cases in Illinois

academic.oup.com

 

[Swerd]

On the same subject as my previous post… what & when were the earliest hints about a new virus?

• We all know the "official narrative", that a novel virus began to infect people in Wuhan, China during late December 2019. The outbreak was said to occur in the Wuhan Hunan Seafood Wholesale Market (also known as the 'wet market'). China notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak on 31 December 2019.
  
  
• China allowed WHO investigators to visit the wet market on 30 January 2020, a whole month later. Little useful evidence concerning the origins of the virus was found. Immediate criticism mounted, aimed at the Chinese government and the WHO.
  
  
• Two virus research labs are located nearby the wet market. One of them, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is said to be where three employees fell ill with a pneumonia-like disease and were treated in a hospital. This information came from unnamed 'intelligence sources'. Nothing further has been revealed about this, although that hasn't stopped certain politicians from trying to use this report for political advantage. This led to endless speculation that the novel corona virus had leaked from the WIV. No evidence for or against this leak is known to exist.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/u-s-intel-report-identified-3-wuhan-lab-researchers-who-n1268327

What else have we learned since then?

• Unidentified reports (probably also from 'intelligence sources') said that hospitals in China reported patients suffering from an unknown pneumonia-like disease as early as the summer of 2019.
  
  
• Italian scientists performed a study that looked at archived blood samples from patients in a lung cancer screening clinical trial in Italy. The trial was unrelated to the novel corona virus, but the frozen blood samples were available for study. They looked for blood-born antibodies that reacted strongly to the novel corona virus, now called SARS-CoV-2, in blood samples taken from 959 people enrolled between September 2019 and March 2020. They found SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in 111 of 959 (11.6%) individuals. 14% of them were taken as early as September 2019. This study revealed an unexpected very early circulation of SARS-CoV-2 among asymptomatic individuals in Italy several months before the first COVID-19 patient was identified. They concluded that finding SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in asymptomatic people before the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy could reshape the history of pandemic.

SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals

Subscription and open access journals from SAGE Publishing, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

• I clearly remember reading a report during the last year that described sequencing viral genomes from infected Covid-19 patients in the USA, however I can't find a reference. It indicated that Covid-19 patients on the US East Coast had viruses with genomes resembling those of Covid-19 patients in Europe. And, in patients on the US West Coast, the virus genomes resembled that of the early Chinese Covid-19 patients. It was as if the US was getting the virus from both Europe and Asia around the same time. (I'll keep looking for this report.) Edit: see next post, below.
  
  
• And now, we see the archived blood study from the US that I described in my post above.

To sum up what we know so far:

1. The novel corona virus almost certainly infected people in Italy and China as early as September 2019. Possibly earlier.
2. Nothing is known about where or how this virus originated.
3. No animal vector has been identified that could have transmitted the virus to humans. That evidence would support the natural evolution origin of the virus.
4. The intelligence reports suggesting a lab leak was the origin remain unsubstantiated. Until there is credible evidence to support the idea that this epidemic resulted from a lab leak, all conclusions based on those reports are speculation.

 

[Mr._Clark]

On the same subject as my previous post… what & when were the earliest hints about a new virus?

• We all know the "official narrative", that a novel virus began to infect people in Wuhan, China during late December 2019. The outbreak was said to occur in the Wuhan Hunan Seafood Wholesale Market (also known as the 'wet market'). China notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak on 31 December 2019.
  
  
• China allowed WHO investigators to visit the wet market on 30 January 2020, a whole month later. Little useful evidence concerning the origins of the virus was found. Immediate criticism mounted, aimed at the Chinese government and the WHO.
  
  
• Two virus research labs are located nearby the wet market. One of them, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is said to be where three employees fell ill with a pneumonia-like disease and were treated in a hospital. This information came from unnamed 'intelligence sources'. Nothing further has been revealed about this, although that hasn't stopped certain politicians from trying to use this report for political advantage. This led to endless speculation that the novel corona virus had leaked from the WIV. No evidence for or against this leak is known to exist.

What else have we learned since then?

• Unidentified reports (probably also from 'intelligence sources') that hospitals in China reported patients suffering from an unknown pneumonia-like disease as early as the summer of 2019.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/u-s-intel-report-identified-3-wuhan-lab-researchers-who-n1268327

• Italian scientists performed a study that looked at archived blood samples from patients in a lung cancer screening clinical trial in Italy. The trial was unrelated to the novel corona virus, but the frozen blood samples were available for study. They looked for blood-born antibodies that reacted strongly to the novel corona virus, now called SARS-CoV-2, in blood samples taken from 959 people enrolled between September 2019 and March 2020. They found SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in 111 of 959 (11.6%) individuals, starting as early as September 2019 (14%). This study revealed an unexpected very early circulation of SARS-CoV-2 among asymptomatic individuals in Italy several months before the first COVID-19 patient was identified. They concluded that finding SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in asymptomatic people before the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy could reshape the history of pandemic.

SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals

Subscription and open access journals from SAGE Publishing, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

• I clearly remember reading a report during the last year that described sequencing viral genomes from infected Covid-19 patients in the USA, however I can't find this reference. It indicated that Covid-19 patients on the US East Coast had viruses with genomes resembling those of Covid-19 patients in Europe. And, in patients on the US West Coast, the viruses genomes resembled that of thee early Chinese Covid-19 patients. It was as if the US was getting the virus from both Europe and Asia. (I'll keep looking for this report.)
  
  
• And now, we see the archived blood study from the US that I described in my post above.

To sum up what we know so far:

1. The novel corona virus almost certainly infected people in Italy and China as early as September 2019. Possibly earlier.
2. Nothing is known about where this virus originated.
3. And nothing has been learned about a natural animal vector that could have transmitted the virus to humans.
4. The intelligence reports remain unsubstantiated – therefore I consider them speculation without published evidence to support them.

I'll add to this the reports of the coronavirus in sewage samples in Barcelona as early as March 2019:

>>>They first found the virus was present in Barcelona on Jan. 15, 2020, 41 days before the first case was officially reported there. Then they ran tests on samples taken between January 2018 and December 2019 and found the presence of the virus genome in one of them, collected on March 12, 2019.<<<

I'm skeptical of this, though.

Coronavirus traces found in March 2019 sewage sample, Spanish study shows

Spanish virologists have found traces of the novel coronavirus in a sample of Barcelona waste water collected in March 2019, nine months before the COVID-19 disease was identified in China, the University of Barcelona said on Friday.

www.reuters.com

Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater anticipates the occurrence of COVID-19 cases

SARS-CoV-2 was detected in Barcelona sewage long before the declaration of the first COVID-19 case, indicating that the infection was present in the population before the first imported case was reported. Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater would enable adoption of immediate...

www.medrxiv.org

 

[Swerd]

I clearly remember reading a report during the last year that described sequencing viral genomes from infected Covid-19 patients in the USA, however I can't find this reference. It indicated that Covid-19 patients on the US East Coast had viruses with genomes resembling those of Covid-19 patients in Europe. And, in patients on the US West Coast, the viruses genomes resembled that of thee early Chinese Covid-19 patients. It was as if the US was getting the virus from both Europe and Asia. (I'll keep looking for this report.) Edit: see next post, below.

This has been hard to track down. Maybe my memory isn't quite right. This is the best that I've found so far. Open the link to see the map of suggested virus routes into the USA in greater detail. I shrank it to paste in here.

NYU Langone Scientists Track Evolution of Coronavirus in New York City

NYU Langone researchers are entering the gene code from local viral samples into a global database that tracks the pandemic’s spread. Learn more.

nyulangone.org

 

[Swerd]

I'll add to this the reports of the coronavirus in sewage samples in Barcelona as early as March 2019:

>>>They first found the virus was present in Barcelona on Jan. 15, 2020, 41 days before the first case was officially reported there. Then they ran tests on samples taken between January 2018 and December 2019 and found the presence of the virus genome in one of them, collected on March 12, 2019.<<<

I'm skeptical of this, though.

Coronavirus traces found in March 2019 sewage sample, Spanish study shows

Spanish virologists have found traces of the novel coronavirus in a sample of Barcelona waste water collected in March 2019, nine months before the COVID-19 disease was identified in China, the University of Barcelona said on Friday.

www.reuters.com

Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater anticipates the occurrence of COVID-19 cases

SARS-CoV-2 was detected in Barcelona sewage long before the declaration of the first COVID-19 case, indicating that the infection was present in the population before the first imported case was reported. Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater would enable adoption of immediate...

www.medrxiv.org

Interesting. The report detecting the virus in January 2020 is not surprising, but the report of virus as early as March 2019 is as they say "interesting". Did this ever make it into a scientific journal?

 

[Mr._Clark]

Interesting. The report detecting the virus in January 2020 is not surprising, but the report of virus as early as March 2019 is as the say "interesting". Did this ever make it into a scientific journal?

As far as I know it (the paper) never made it past the preprint at medrxiv.org.

 

[Mr._Clark]

It looks like the vaccines are at least somewhat effective against the delta variant:

>>>Considering the whole population cohort (rather than just hospital cases), the test-negative analysis to estimate vaccine effectiveness in preventing RT-PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection showed that, compared to those unvaccinated, at least 14 days after the second dose, BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine) offered very good protection: 92% (95% CI 90–93) S gene-negative, 79% (75–82) S gene-positive. Protection associated with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine) was, however, substantial but reduced: 73% (95% CI 66–78) for S gene-negative cases versus 60% (53–66) for those S gene-positive (appendix p 6). . . .

In summary, we show that the Delta VOC in Scotland was found mainly in younger, more affluent groups. Risk of COVID-19 hospital admission was approximately doubled in those with the Delta VOC when compared to the Alpha VOC, with risk of admission particularly increased in those with five or more relevant comorbidities. Both the Oxford–AstraZeneca and Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines were effective in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 hospitalisation in people with the Delta VOC, but these effects on infection appeared to be diminished when compared to those with the Alpha VOC. We had insufficient numbers of hospital admissions to compare between vaccines in this respect. The Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine appeared less effective than the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in those with the Delta VOC. Given the observational nature of these data, estimates of vaccine effectiveness need to be interpreted with caution.<<<

DEFINE_ME

 

[Swerd]

It occurred to me this morning that the strongest argument against the lab-leak origin of SARS-CoV-2 virus is Trump's odd behavior during the spring and early summer of 2020.

If the lab-leak origin was true, and he knew of secret intelligence reports that supported it, he could easily have used that to his political advantage during the 2020 election campaign. But he didn't.

Instead, Trump wobbled back & forth about whether the pandemic was serious enough to take decisive measures. He could have easily argued that he was protecting the USA by preventing the spread of the virus, a dangerous Chinese threat. But all we got was foolish treatment suggestions (hydroxychloroquine or injecting bleach), or his frequent denials that the epidemic was real.

 

[Mr._Clark]

Interesting. The report detecting the virus in January 2020 is not surprising, but the report of virus as early as March 2019 is as the say "interesting". Did this ever make it into a scientific journal?

I've seen a a number of blog posts and articles expressing skepticism regarding the March 2019 test results (e.g. link and snip below), but I have not been able to locate any additional reports confirming the March 2019 result.

>>>In coronavirus testing, scientists typically screen for more than one gene. In this case, the researchers tested for three. They had a positive result for the March 2019 sample in one of the three genes tested – the RdRp gene. They screened for two regions of this gene and both were only detected around the 39th cycle of amplification. (PCR tests become less “specific” with increasing rounds of amplification. Scientists generally use 40 to 45 rounds of amplification.)

There are several explanations for this positive result. One is that SARS-CoV-2 is present in the sewage at a very low level. Another is that the test reaction was accidentally contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory. This sometimes happens in labs as positive samples are regularly being handled, and it can be difficult to prevent very small traces of positive sample contaminating others.

Another explanation is that there is other RNA or DNA in the sample that resembles the test target site enough for it to give a positive result at the 39th cycle of amplification.

Further tests need to be carried out to conclude that the sample contains SARS-CoV-2, and a finding of that magnitude would need to be replicated separately by independent laboratories.<<<

Was coronavirus really in Europe in March 2019?

Scientists in Spain have reported finding traces of the novel coronavirus in wastewater dating back to March 12, 2019.

theconversation.com

 

[Mr._Clark]

Meanwhile, under the "leadership" of Bolsonaro, Brazil appears to be slouching towards a COVID hell of sorts* with sustained infection rates that result in many fatalities, yet not high enough to achieve herd immunity.

>>>In Brazil, where more than 488,000 people have already died due to COVID-19 — second only to the United States — pseudoscience has become government policy. Bolsonaro regularly promotes repurposing unproven and cheap drugs to his nearly 40 million social media followers as he continues to minimize the gravity of the pandemic and dismiss its victims. Meanwhile, his administration has spent millions of dollars to produce, purchase and promote pills such as the lice medication ivermectin, the antimalarial chloroquine and popular antibiotic azithromycin as well as anticoagulants, painkillers and a set of vitamins. The Ministry of Health and numerous doctors endorsed using a combination of these medications to treat COVID-19, even though there is no solid evidence that it works.<<<

Brazil's Main COVID Strategy Is A Cocktail Of Unproven Drugs

In one of the hardest hit countries in the world, the main strategy is a so-called early treatment combo of unproven medications — endorsed by President Jair Bolsonaro.

www.npr.org

*Edit: Apologies to Yeats for the shameless ripoff:

The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

The Second Coming

Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

www.poetryfoundation.org

 

[mtrycrafts]

Meanwhile, under the "leadership" of Bolsonaro, Brazil appears to be slouching towards a COVID hell of sorts* with sustained infection rates that result in many fatalities, yet not high enough to achieve herd immunity.
...

Herd immunity? WOW! Is that what he is after? 80%-95% of population being infected and the resultant death rate? Does this equate to genocide?