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Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus

President Donald Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed US coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and “more deadly than even your strenuous flus,” and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward in his new book “Rage.”

“This is deadly stuff,” Trump told Woodward on February 7.

In a series of interviews with Woodward, Trump revealed that he had a surprising level of detail about the threat of the virus earlier than previously known. “Pretty amazing,” Trump told Woodward, adding that the coronavirus was maybe five times “more deadly” than the flu.Trump’s admissions are in stark contrast to his frequent public comments at the time insisting that the virus was “going to disappear” and “all work out fine.”

The book, using Trump’s own words, depicts a President who has betrayed the public trust and the most fundamental responsibilities of his office. In “Rage,” Trump says the job of a president is “to keep our country safe.” But in early February, Trump told Woodward he knew how deadly the virus was, and in March, admitted he kept that knowledge hidden from the public.

“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, even as he had declared a national emergency over the virus days earlier. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

If instead of playing down what he knew, Trump had acted decisively in early February with a strict shutdown and a consistent message to wear masks, social distance and wash hands, experts believe that thousands of American lives could have been saved. The startling revelations in “Rage,” which CNN obtained ahead of its September 15 release, were made during 18 wide-ranging interviews Trump gave Woodward from December 5, 2019 to July 21, 2020. The interviews were recorded by Woodward with Trump’s permission, and CNN has obtained copies of some of the audio tapes. “Rage” also includes brutal assessments of Trump’s presidency from many of his former top national security officials, including former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Mattis is quoted as calling Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” to be commander in chief. Woodward writes that Coats “continued to harbor the secret belief, one that had grown rather than lessened, although unsupported by intelligence proof, that Putin had something on Trump.” Woodward continues, writing that Coats felt, “How else to explain the president’s behavior? Coats could see no other explanation.” The book also contains harsh evaluations of the President’s leadership on the virus from current officials.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration’s top infectious disease expert, is quoted telling others Trump’s leadership was “rudderless” and that his “attention span is like a minus number.”

“His sole purpose is to get reelected,” Fauci told an associate, according to Woodward. Woodward reveals new details on the early warnings Trump received — and often ignored. In a January 28 top secret intelligence briefing, national security adviser Robert O’Brien gave Trump a “jarring” warning about the virus, telling the President it would be the “biggest national security threat” of his presidency. Trump’s head “popped up,” Woodward writes. O’Brien’s deputy, Matt Pottinger, concurred, telling Trump it could be as bad as the influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans. Pottinger warned Trump that asymptomatic spread was occurring in China: He had been told 50% of those infected showed no symptoms. At that time, there were fewer than a dozen reported coronavirus cases in the US. Three days later, Trump announced restrictions on travel from China, a move suggested by his national security team — despite Trump’s later claims that he alone backed the travel limitations. Nevertheless, Trump continued to publicly downplay the danger of the virus. February was a lost month. Woodward views this as a damning missed opportunity for Trump to reset “the leadership clock” after he was told this was a “once-in-a-lifetime health emergency.” “Presidents are the executive branch. There was a duty to warn. To listen, to plan, and to take care,” Woodward writes. But in the days following the January 28 briefing, Trump used high-profile appearances to minimize the threat and, Woodward writes, “to reassure the public they faced little risk.”

During a pre-Super Bowl interview on Fox News February 2, Trump said, “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” Two days later during his State of the Union address, Trump made only a passing reference to the virus, promising, “my administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.” Asked by Woodward in May if he remembered O’Brien’s January 28 warning that the virus would be the biggest national security threat of his presidency, Trump equivocated. “No, I don’t.” Trump said. “I’m sure if he said it — you know, I’m sure he said it. Nice guy.”

The book highlights how the President took all of the credit and none of the responsibility for his actions related to the pandemic, which has infected 6 million Americans and killed more than 185,000 in the US. “The virus has nothing to do with me,” Trump told Woodward in their final interview in July. “It’s not my fault. It’s — China let the damn virus out.”

‘It goes through the air’

When Woodward spoke to Trump on February 7, two days after he was acquitted on impeachment charges by the Senate, Woodward expected a lengthy conversation about the trial. He was surprised, however, by the President’s focus on the virus. At the same time that Trump and his public health officials were saying the virus was “low risk,” Trump divulged to Woodward that the night before he’d spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the virus. Woodward quotes Trump as saying, “We’ve got a little bit of an interesting setback with the virus going in China.” “It goes through the air,” Trump said. “That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”But Trump spent most of the next month saying that the virus was “very much under control” and that cases in the US would “disappear.” Trump said on his trip to India on February 25 that it was “a problem that’s going to go away,” and the next day he predicted the number of US cases “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” By March 19, when Trump told Woodward he was purposely downplaying the dangers to avoid creating a panic, he also acknowledged the threat to young people. “Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old, older. Young people too, plenty of young people,” Trump said. Publicly, however, Trump has continued to insist just the opposite, saying as recently as August 5 that children were “almost immune.” Even into April, when the US became the country with the most confirmed cases in the world, Trump’s public statements contradicted his acknowledgements to Woodward. At an April 3 coronavirus task force briefing, Trump was still downplaying the virus and stating that it would go away. “I said it’s going away and it is going away,” he said. Yet two days later on April 5,

Trump again told Woodward, “It’s a horrible thing. It’s unbelievable,” and on April 13, he said, “It’s so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t even believe it.”

‘Dangerous’ and ‘unfit’

Continue reading “Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus”

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Dow surges 400 pts amid relief bill optimism

Shares on major stock markets in the United States extended gains on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumping more than 400 index points as investors’ hopes over the country’s next coronavirus stimulus increased. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claimed there is a “good chance” of reaching the agreement on the bill in the Senate, asserting the Republicans may “come around” to overcome differences between the two sides on the country’s fourth aid package. The Dow surged 1.62% at 10:16 am ET, while the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 soared 1.93% and 1.75% at the same time, respectively. The euro went up by 0.31% against the greenback, changing hands for 1.18141 at 10:17 am ET.

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Trump predicts vaccine before a very Special day

President Trump said there could be a coronavirus vaccine “before a very special date.” While Trump did not specially mention which date, he has previously suggested that a vaccine for coronavirus could be ready before Election Day. “President Trump is getting this vaccine in record time. By the way, if this were the Obama administration, you wouldn’t have that vaccine for three years, and you probably wouldn’t have it at all,” Trump said today at a news conference. “So, we’re going to have a vaccine very soon. Maybe even before a very special date. You know what date I’m talking about,” he added.

Facts First: It’s possible that a vaccine could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration at some point in November, but there is obviously no firm timeline or guarantee that one will be. And even when one is approved, it will likely still be many months before it’s widely available across the US.

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Fauci says a coronavirus vaccine is ‘unlikely’ by U.S. election

https://youtu.be/BTTbqviHFCE

White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday a coronavirus vaccine probably won’t be ready by the U.S. presidential election even as the Centers for Disease and Prevention asks states to ready distribution facilities by Nov. 1. At a health conference, Fauci said it’s more likely a vaccine will be ready by “the end of the year” as drug companies Moderna and Pfizer race to complete patient enrollment for their late-stage vaccine trials by the end of September. “It’s unlikely we’ll have a definitive answer” by the Nov. 3 election, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said at the Research! America 2020 National Health Research Forum. The comments are also at odds with President Donald Trump, who suggested at a press conference Monday that a vaccine could be ready for distribution by Election Day. “We could have a vaccine soon, maybe even before a very special day. You know what day I’m talking about,” Trump told reporters. Infectious disease experts and scientists have said they worry the vaccine approval process in the U.S. could be polluted by politics, not science. The CDC has asked governors and health departments to prepare to distribute a vaccine as soon as Nov. 1, just two days before the election. Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, has also said the agency is prepared to bypass the full federal approval process in order to make a vaccine available as soon as possible. Earlier Tuesday, nine drugmakers released a public letter pledging to “uphold the integrity of the scientific process” as they work toward potential global regulatory filings and approvals of the first Covid-19 vaccines. “We saw it critical to come out and reiterate our commitment,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told NBC’s “TODAY” on Tuesday. “We will develop our product, develop our vaccine using the highest ethical standards.” On Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also tried to alleviate concerns about the review process, insisting the government’s Nov. 1 deadline for states is not linked to the presidential election. Nick Bit: HA HA HA HA HA HA!! “It has nothing to do with elections. This has to do with delivering safe, effective vaccines to the American people as quickly as possible and saving people’s lives,” Azar said on “CBS This Morning.” “Whether it’s Oct. 15, whether it’s Nov. 1, whether it’s Nov 15, it’s all about saving lives but meeting the FDA standards of safety and efficacy.” Dr. Moncef Slaoui, who is leading the Trump administration’s Operation War Speed initiative, told NPR a vaccine ready for public distribution in November is “extremely unlikely.” The FDA has said it would authorize a coronavirus vaccine so long as it is safe and at least 50% effective. The flu vaccine, by comparison, generally reduces the risk of getting influenza by 40% to 60% compared with people who aren’t inoculated, according to the CDC. Hahn said the FDA wouldn’t authorize a vaccine that’s not safe, even if it is fairly effective. Fauci said Tuesday the trial results will also be reviewed by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent group of medical experts who observe patient safety and treatment data. He added he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the U.S. had more than one vaccine. In the meantime, he said, the U.S. coronavirus response still needs to improve. He called the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. a “mixed bag” as new cases fall in the southern region of the country and cases surge in states such as Montana, the Dakotas, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa. “When you look at the country as a whole, we need to be doing much better than we’re doing,” he told told PBS’ Judy Woodruff at the conference.

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AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine study put on hold

A large, Phase 3 study testing a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford at dozens of sites across the U.S. has been put on hold due to a suspected serious adverse reaction in a participant in the United Kingdom. A spokesperson for AstraZeneca, a frontrunner in the race for a Covid-19 vaccine, said in a statement that the company’s “standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data.”

In a follow-up statement, AstraZeneca said it initiated the study hold. The nature of the adverse reaction and when it happened were not immediately known, though the participant is expected to recover, according to an individual familiar with the matter.

The spokesperson described the pause as “a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials.” The spokesperson also said that the company is “working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline.” An individual familiar with the development said researchers had been told the hold was placed on the trial out of “an abundance of caution.”

A second individual familiar with the matter, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the finding is having an impact on other AstraZeneca vaccine trials underway — as well as on the clinical trials being conducted by other vaccine manufacturers.

Clinical holds are not uncommon, and it’s unclear how long AstraZeneca’s might last. But the progress of the company’s trial — and those of all Covid-19 vaccines in development — are being closely watched given the pressing need for new ways to curb the global pandemic. There are currently nine vaccine candidates in Phase 3 trials. AstraZeneca’s is the first Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial known to have been put on hold. Researchers running other trials are now looking for similar cases of adverse reactions by combing through databases reviewed by a so-called Data and Safety Monitoring Board, the second person said. AstraZeneca only began its Phase 3 trial in the U.S. in late August. The U.S. trial is currently taking place at 62 sites across the country, according to clinicaltrials.gov, a government registry, though some have not yet started enrolling participants. Phase 2/3 trials were previously started in the U.K., Brazil, and South Africa. There are a number of different reactions that can qualify as suspected serious adverse reactions, symptoms that require hospitalization, life-threatening illness and even death. It was also not immediately clear which clinical trial the adverse reaction occurred in, though a clear possibility is the Phase 2/3 trial underway in the U.K. While it’s still unclear how severe and rare the adverse event may be, the finding could impact how quickly efficacy data from the U.K. trial will be available. Those data are considered integral to any bid to seek an emergency use authorization for the vaccine from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — and potentially jeopardize President Trump’s efforts to fast-track a vaccine ahead of the November election. A Phase 1/2 study published in July reported that about 60% of 1,000 participants given the vaccine experienced side effects. All of the side effects, which included fever, headaches, muscle pain, and injection site reactions, were deemed mild or moderate. All of the side effects reported also subsided during the course of the study. The vaccine — known as AZD1222 — uses an adenovirus that carries a gene for one of the proteins in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The adenovirus is designed to induce the immune system to generate a protective response against SARS-2. The platform has not been used in an approved vaccine, but has been tested in experimental vaccines against other viruses, including the Ebola virus. The Phase 3 trial in the U.S. aims to enroll about 30,000 participants at 80 sites across the country, according to a release last week from the National Institutes of Health. It was not immediately clear what steps were being taken at study sites across the U.S. in response to the hold. Clinical holds in ongoing studies often involve a pause in recruiting new participants and dosing existing ones, unless it’s deemed in the interest of participant safety to continue dosing.

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UK’s daily virus cases highest since end of May

Nearly 3,000 new “virus” cases in UK’s biggest daily increase since May

Nearly 3,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the UK in the largest daily figure since May, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitting the rise is “concerning”. Government figures show there have been a further 2,988 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK as of 9am on Sunday. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to 347,152. Sunday’s figure is the highest since May 22 when 3,287 cases were recorded, and is also the first 24-hour period when cases passed 2,000 since the end of May. The tally was an increase on Saturday’s figures of 1,813 new cases. Scotland recorded 208 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily increase in positive tests for more than 17 weeks. Nick Note: Its the start of the second wave attacking Europe. And yes it has mutated again. Lock downs are on the near horizon with the politicians, special interest groups kicking and scream all along the way. To be clear here its the need for the public’s right to a vacation because the masses are “stressed”. And as i collect the evidence i am more convinced its the Aluminum and Kevlar pressurized incubation tubes the modern jetliner. The lobbyist of the airline industry are powerful. Have you noticed all the little ditties the industries PR spin mysters are producing. The HEPTA 10 “NEW” filters they are hyping.. (same as used in operating rooms they say). The secret is they have been in use since the nineties when to save fuel the manufactures starting recirculating cabin air. They are only pumping new air into the cabin 50% of the time. The HEPTA 10 filters they are using are the same material as used in your Coffee Paper N95 that pass ALL the vaporized viruses. It has not stopped infections passing among the passengers for the past 30 years. Now all of a sudden they would have you believe their joke filters started working. And why then are the requiring passengers to wear toilet paper and coffee filter masks proven not to work. Its all about the blow, Go and show! People are coming out of those virus incubators infected…. And AND AND they are passing and circulating the virus far and wide. STOP all flights NOW! of course they will not do it. Nick Note II: In my complete and utter frustration of my inability to get supplied the right P3 filters i am having state of the art UPLA 15 filters custom manufactured for me at ISO certified factories. For the record i uped the stae of the art. with newer higher filtration properities media. This is nota easy deal. It involves contracting for the right fiber material. Only one factory makes the resin. Then i have to have the rolls of filter material pleated, cut into circles and sealed around the edges. From their they have to go into food grade canisters. And all this has to be assembled in ISO 13485 certified factories for medical equipment manufacturing in Europe . Not in dogshit China factories. This UPLA 15 technology has never been available in canister filters before. I guess the new fleet of vehicles will have to wait. Including my preorder of the EV Hummer.

OR

 

Hummer or trying to save lives….WELL lets not get carried away here. After all its 1000HP and i can charge it off my solar panels… GOD i wish i could be a greedy pig.. Hey God if i trade really really GOOD can i do the filter deal AND the Hummer EV? I wish someone else would do this… But they do not want to write the BIG check. Oh Well!

 

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People not vaccinated spread virus – Pfizer CEO

  • Pfizer’s potential vaccine is one of three backed by the U.S. that’s currently in late-stage testing.
  • The U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant has been working alongside German drugmaker BioNTech.
  • In July, Pfizer released promising data from its early-stage trial.
University of Maryland School of Medicine | AP

Pfizer could have results from its late-stage coronavirus vaccine trial as early as October, CEO Albert Bourla said Thursday.The pharmaceutical company has already enrolled 23,000 volunteers in the phase three trial that began in late July, Bourla said during a Q&A with the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, a trade group. It hopes to enroll at least 30,000 participants, he said. “We expect by the end of October, we should have enough … to say whether the product works or not,” he said. U.S. health officials have previously said results from late-stage vaccine trials could come in November or sooner. Pfizer’s potential vaccine is one of three backed by the U.S. that’s currently in late-stage testing. The U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant has been working alongside German drugmaker BioNTech. The companies’ experimental vaccine contains genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA. In July, the company released promising data from its early-stage trial. The phase three trial is expected to include up to 30,000 participants between the ages of 18 and 85 across 120 sites globally, including 39 U.S. states, the company has said. If it is successful, they expect to submit it for final regulatory review as early as October. They plan to supply up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and approximately 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. In July, the U.S. government announced it would pay Pfizer and BioNTech $1.95 billion to produce and deliver 100 million doses of their vaccine if it proves safe and effective. The deal was signed as part of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s effort to accelerate development and production of vaccines and treatments to fight the coronavirus. The CEO’s remark comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking state governors and local health departments to prepare to distribute a vaccine as soon as November. The deadline is raising concerns among public health experts and scientists that approval of a vaccine will be politically motivated and the White House may be pressuring regulators to get a vaccine to the market ahead of the presidential election on Nov. 3. Drug company executives, including from Pfizer, have previously insisted they aren’t cutting corners in fast-tracking development of potential vaccines. They have said the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t eased its requirements for proving their vaccines are safe and effective. While the vaccine may be safe, the executives have said it is “understandable” the public would be concerned, adding they will need to work to gain that trust. “Vaccine hesitancy is probably one of the greatest challenges for public health that America faces,” John Young, Pfizer’s chief business officer, told Congress on July 21. “All of us need to play a role, should we be successful in this mission, that there’s confidence in the safety and effectiveness of our vaccines based on data, based on confidence the FDA will only approve a vaccine if it’s safe and effective.” Bourla said Thursday that the company “would never” submit any vaccine for authorization before “we feel it is safe and effective.” “We will not cut corners,” he said. “Our phase three study will be the only one that will allow us to say if we have a safe and effective vaccine. If we don’t have results from a phase three study, we would not submit.”

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Trump: Vaccine will come fast, surprise many

Vice President Mike Pence predicts the U.S. will have a COVID-19 vaccine “before the end of this year.” During a Tuesday interview with SiriusXM’s “Breitbart News Daily,” the vice president explained that the Trump administration has been involved in efforts to develop a vaccine since February. “On Monday, one company known as Moderna went into Phase 3 clinical trials for the first coronavirus vaccine in the United States. Others were quick to follow that,” Pence told Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief and “Breitbart News Daily” host Alex Marlow about the progress on a COVID-19 vaccine. The chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force shared actions the administration has taken since the initial outbreak of the virus. He discussed Trump’s decision to restrict travel from China in January and how work on a vaccine began in February. He said that the president “has never hesitated to move swiftly and decisively to put the health of America first” and praised Trump’s decision to take the “unprecedented step of suspending all travel from China.” He highlighted the administration’s efforts to increase the availability of personal protective equipment, add ventilators to the strategic stockpile and conduct widespread testing with a revamped system. “Now, nearly 60 million tests have been performed, virtually from a standing start four months ago on an old system,” Pence said. “All of that is just a precursor to what this president has done in the development of therapeutics and vaccines. Literally within days in February of when the NIH [National Institutes of Health] first received the genetic coding for the coronavirus, we went to work on a vaccine,” he added. “In 62 days, the first clinical trials were initiated.” He said the process to create a vaccine has been taking place at an “unprecedented pace.” “Usually, vaccines literally take years and years and years to develop,” he said. “But what the president said was, ‘We’re literally going to move at warp speed without compromising safety,’ and we created a program where now you have half a dozen companies with very promising vaccines that we’re actually paying, Alex, to produce the vaccine as we complete the testing, so the very moment that a vaccine proves to be safe and effective — no corners cut, we’re going to do it exactly by the book through the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] — we’ll literally have tens of millions of doses available for the American people. And that’s the speed and the urgency the president has put behind this.” He said he predicts the U.S. will have a “safe and effective vaccine” by the end of the year. United States Vice President Mike Pence stated on Monday that the US has several vaccines that are already in the last stage of trials. “We will have tens of millions of doses available to American people very soon. Biden said no miracle is coming but here in America, we are in the miracle business,” he stated pledging that the country is getting rid of the pandemic. “We are gonna put the health of America first. We have already seen 10.6 millions of Americans coming back at work,” Pence noted. He also added that the US opened up schools and that, under President Trump, they are going to keep fighting for tax relief.

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France expects rise in serious COVID cases in next 15 days

PARIS (Reuters) – France must stay vigilant as more people will be hospitalised in intensive care units in the next two weeks, reflecting a flare-up in COVID-19 infections in recent days, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Saturday. Veran however ruled out the need for a new nationwide lockdown, telling BFM television that France had other means to fight the virus, including testing. “I cannot envision a general lockdown. The lockdown was a lid on an overflowing cooking pot,” he said. Health authorities on Friday reported 8,975 new confirmed cases, almost 1,500 higher than the previous daily peak of 7,578 on March 31, when France was in one of Europe’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns. The death toll in France stood at 30,686 people as of Friday. As the rise in infections has mainly affected young people, who are less likely to develop complications, there has so far been less strain on French hospitals, which were almost overwhelmed at the end of March. But after falling steadily for months after an April 14 peak of 32,292, the number of people hospitalised was up by 28 on Friday to 4,671, rising for a sixth day in a row. “We are not all on the same epidemic wave as last spring. We are on a slower trend but one that must alert us,” Veran said. “This week, 55 patients on average were hospitalised in intensive care units (ICU) each day, this means we are on an average of 1,500-2,000 people hospitalised in ICU units per month in our country. This is not neutral and we must be extremely vigilant,” he added. Current hospitalisation numbers reflected infections contracted two weeks ago, Veran said. “So it is obvious that in the next 15 days there will be an increase, it will not be massive but there will nevertheless be an increase in the number of severe cases and in the number of people hospitalised and in ICU units”