Four States and the WHO Say NO to Vaccine Passports
As of today, four states have banned vaccine passports: Idaho, Texas, Florida and Utah.
Of all organizations, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared people should not be required to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID in order to travel overseas, warning that vaccine passports would isolate poorer countries.
In other news:
The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board condemns YouTube’s removal of a video of Florida Governor DeSantis’s policy roundtable with physicians and scientists.
Our Megan Mansell explains why it’s dangerous for kids to play sports in masks.
Robby Soave at Reason Magazine examines the failure of the mainstream media to call out 60 Minutes’s falsehood-ridden hit piece on Governor DeSantis.
@Hold2LLC reviews the WHO and CDC documents that provide guidance on non-pharmaceutical interventions (masks). The WHO and the CDC conclude they don’t work but they still tell people to wear them anyway.
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COVID News
Idaho Becomes Fourth State To Ban Coronavirus Vaccine Passports
Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) signed an executive order Wednesday to ban the state from mandating or issuing vaccine passports, making Idaho the fourth state to denounce the passes that allow holders to prove they’ve been vaccinated against coronavirus—joining Texas, Florida and Utah—as Republicans continue to ramp up a political culture war issue.
Key Facts
The order bars Idaho state government entities from requiring proof of coronavirus vaccination to receive public services, although Little noted in the order that he still encourages all Idohoans eligible for the vaccine to have one.
On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued a similar executive order to blockTexas state departments and groups that use public funds from issuing vaccine passports or mandating proof of immunization to receive services.
N.H. House Passes Bill Limiting Governor's Emergency Powers
https://www.nhpr.org/post/nh-house-passes-bill-limiting-governors-emergency-powers#stream/0
The New Hampshire House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to give lawmakers more say in future states of emergency.
Under the bill, governors would retain a free hand to declare a 30-day state of emergency. But the Legislature would have to approve any extension of those orders. If circumstances didn't allow lawmakers to meet, a governor's emergency acts would renew in 14 day increments until lawmakers could weigh in.
Deerfield Republican Rep. Terry Roy said this bill profited from bipartisan input and is informed by the state's experience during the pandemic.
Low risk of catching COVID from surfaces, CDC says in updated guidance
https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/low-risk-of-catching-covid-from-surfaces-new-cdc-guidelines/
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday there is no significant risk of catching the coronavirus from a surface or object.
The CDC clarified its position in a guidance update that said people generally contract COVID-19 through direct contact with a sick person or from airborne transmission.
“It is possible for people to be infected through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered to be low,” the revised guidance states.
The official revision was made nearly a year after the agency noted last May that COVID-19 “does not spread easily” through touching surfaces or objects.
Before that, at the beginning of the pandemic last March, the agency had warned that “it may be possible” to pass on the bug from contaminated surfaces.
That initial guidance prompted the MTA to close the subway system overnight and to use disinfectants to clean every surface in stations and trains.
Georgia to lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/547057-georgia-to-lift-all-remaining-covid-19-restrictions
According to the California Department of Public Health, people will be required to get a COVID-19 test or show proof of being fully vaccinated to attend an indoor reception, meeting, or conference beginning April 15.
It’s welcome news for Suher Haidar, a wedding and events planner in San Diego.
"I have a May 15 event for 100 guests that we wanted to have done at a venue and fingers crossed that's going to be approved," Haidar said.
She’s had at least 17 events canceled because of the pandemic and now that the state is providing guidance for the events industry, she said she’s seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
"When we last spoke it was three households, and now its 50 and 100 capacity. We have guidelines," said Haidar, relieved.
Commentary/Analysis
YouTube’s Assault on Covid Accountability
https://www.wsj.com/articles/youtubes-assault-on-covid-accountability-11617921149
To hold elected representatives responsible for decisions they make, Americans need to know what those officials and their advisers are saying. That’s an essential democratic principle, and it’s as true for coronavirus response as any other policy challenge. So it’s chilling that Google’s YouTube, through its “medical misinformation policy,” appears to be systematically undermining the ability to access material in the public interest.
Last September, YouTube scrubbed a Hoover Institution interview with Scott Atlas, then one of President Trump’s coronavirus advisers. In January it censored a U.S. Senate committee hearing on unapproved coronavirus treatments. Now it has taken down a video of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holding a policy discussion with Dr. Atlas and the three creators of the Great Barrington Declaration, a group of physicians and scientists critical of strict lockdowns to fight the coronavirus.
In the hour-and-forty-five minute video, Mr. DeSantis and the four panelists lambaste the U.S. coronavirus response as excessively draconian and ineffective. They emphasize unintended public-health harms from lockdowns and school closures, criticize mask mandates and generally celebrate Florida’s response.
The video was shared in a story from a Tampa Bay, Fla., news station, and its removal from YouTube was first flagged by the American Institute for Economic Research. YouTube told us Thursday in a statement that it removed the video “because it included content that contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities regarding the efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Kids should not be wearing masks while playing sports
https://rationalground.com/kids-should-not-be-wearing-masks-while-playing-sports/
Human growth and development is a highly sensitive process, affected by slight changes in hormones and chemical processes, including changes in respiration. The brain is still developing during pubescent years, as are the critical components of human reproduction; an assault on these systems is an assault on the health and well-being of the developing body, with long-term consequences that can determine the health of an individual for the rest of his or her life.
Enter masks. We must maintain homeostatic levels of blood oxygen saturation and remain below a certain threshold of carbon dioxide (CO2) in order to function as healthy individuals. Anything outside of a spectrum of normalcy comes with dire, predictable consequences, and those worsen with longer periods of exposure. We (mainly through OSHA) regulate workplace exposure levels of CO2 and oxygen saturation, but who is looking out for the teens being run hard without recourse, like those being forced to run in masks for marching band practice, or those running track?
As Stanford Epidemiologist Dr. Martin Kulldorff said at a March 18 roundtable hosted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, “Children should not wear face masks. They don’t need it for their own protection, and they don’t need it for protecting other people, either.”
Dr. Scott Atlas is quoted regarding masked exercise as saying, “It’s not just unnecessary; it’s harmful.”
Why Hasn't the Mainstream Media Pilloried 60 Minutes for Spreading Misinformation?
https://reason.com/2021/04/07/60-minutes-cbs-media-bias-desantis-publix/
Earlier this week, 60 Minutes dropped a bombshell: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, had granted Publix a vaccination contract as a kickback for a $100,000 campaign donation, according to a report by journalist Sharyn Alfonsi.
Then the story swiftly fell apart. Publix was neither the first nor the only vaccine distributor in Florida; the idea to use a grocery chain with more than 800 locations across the state was a good one, and did not originate with the governor; moreover, DeSantis explained all of this to Alfonsi, but his quotes were edited in a misleading way for the version that appeared in the 60 Minutes segment.
Bafflingly, CBS News is standing by this atrocious hit job. "For over 50 years, the facts reported by 60 Minutes have often stirred debate and prompted strong reactions," said the network in a statement released Tuesday. "Our story Sunday night speaks for itself."
CDC/WHO admit that masks don’t work but tell us to wear them anyway
https://rationalground.com/masks-dont-work-but-wear-them-anyway/
Overview
This summary reviews information published between October 2019 and December 2020.
The purpose is to see what was known and believed before and after discovery of SARS-CoV-2 (COV2).
WHO NPIs for Influenza (Oct 2019)
We’ll start with research on epidemic/pandemic influenza (flu) from the World Health Organization (WHO) in October of 2019.
Aerosols vs. Droplets
Do we really know how COV2 spreads? Is it via aerosols or respiratory droplets? If this is still not fully understood for flu, do we even know how COV2 is transmitted?
Seasonality
Is seasonality a known phenomenon recognized by the WHO? Why don’t we hear it mentioned when predicting and explaining the waves that keep occurring according to seasonality?
The text below is on page 2 of the Introduction in the WHO Global Influenza Programme document titled “Non-pharmaceutical public health measures for mitigating the risk and impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza.”
Research
The course of the UK COVID 19 pandemic; no measurable impact of new variants
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.16.21253534v1
Abstract:
Introduction: In November 2020, a new SARS-COV-2 variant or the ‘Kent variant’ emerged in the UK, and became the dominant UK SARS-COV-2 variant, demonstrating faster transmission than the original variant, which rapidly died out. However, it is unknown if this altered the overall course of the pandemic as genomic analysis was not common place at the outset and other factors such as the climate could alter the viral transmission rate over time. We aimed to test the hypothesis that the overall observed viral transmission was not altered by the emergence of the new variant, by testing a model generated earlier in the pandemic based on lockdown stringency, temperature and humidity.
Methods: From 1/1/20 to 4/2/21, the daily incidence of SARS-COV-2 deaths and the overall stringency of National Lockdown policy on each day was extracted from the Oxford University Government response tracker. The daily average temperature and humidity for London was extracted from Wunderground.com.
The viral reproductive rate was calculated on a daily basis from the daily mortality data for each day. The correlation between log10 of viral reproductive rate and lockdown stringency and weather parameters were compared by Pearson correlation to determine the time lag associated with the greatest correlation.
A multivariate model for the log10 of viral reproductive rate was constructed using lockdown stringency, temperature and humidity for the period 1/1/20 to 30/9/20. This model was extrapolated forward from 1/10/20 to 4/2/21 and the predicted viral reproductive rate, daily mortality and cumulative mortality were compared with official data.
Results: On multivariate linear regression, the optimal model had and R2 0f 0.833 for prediction of log10 viral reproductive rate 13 days later in the model construction period, with (coefficient, probability) lockdown stringency (−0.0109, p=0.0000), humidity (0.0038, p=0.0041) and temperature (−0.0035, p=0.0008). When extrapolated to the validation period (1/10/20 to 4/2/21), the model was highly correlated with daily (Pearson coefficient 0.88, p=0.0000) and cumulated SARS-COV-2 mortality (Pearson coefficient 0.99, p=0.0000).
Conclusion: The course of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic in the UK seems highly predicted by an earlier model based on the lockdown stringency, humidity and temperature and unaltered by the emergence of a newer viral genotype.
Charts and Graphics
International News
WHO urges against vaccine passports, even for international travel
London: The World Health Organisation says people should not be required to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to travel overseas, warning that vaccine passports would isolate poorer countries.
Dr. Mike Ryan, who leads WHO’s public health emergencies program, said it was vital to record that a person had been vaccinated, but said using that information to allow or prohibit a person from taking part in regular life raised complex, ethical issues.
“This is a complex issue ... There are ethical issues regarding equity, we already have a huge issue with vaccine equity in the world,” Dr Ryan told a virtual news conference from WHO’s headquarters in Geneva.
“The imposition of requirements for certification of vaccination before travel could introduce another layer or such inequity.
“If you don’t have access to a vaccine in the country then you will effectively become isolated as a country as vaccine passports kick in.
“So there are many, many, many issues.”
However, Dr Ryan said WHO officials had only temporarily recommended against vaccine passports for international travel. The organisation would reconsider the issue at a meeting on April 15.
He said another group of officials would examine the ethical, social and scientific data regarding vaccine passports.
Merkel Backs Tougher COVID Lockdown in Germany
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-04-07/merkel-backs-tougher-covid-lockdown-in-germany
BERLIN (Reuters) -Chancellor Angela Merkel supports demands for a short, tough lockdown in Germany to curb the spread of the coronavirus as infection rates are too high, a German government spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Germany is struggling to tackle a third wave of the pandemic and several regional leaders have called for a short, sharp lockdown while the country tries to vaccinate more people.
"Every call for a short, uniform lockdown is right," deputy government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters, adding Germany was seeing a growing number of intensive care patients.
"We need a stable incidence below 100," she said, referring to the number of cases over seven days per 100,000 inhabitants. It is currently 110.1, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.
She also said the government was looking at whether nationwide, rather than regional, measures were needed.