Category: Breaking News

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Biden: We are heading into very dark winter

President-elect Joe Biden warned the United States is heading into a “very dark winter” as new coronavirus cases break records each day in many states as he called for an economic relief package similar to one already passed by House Democrats. “I know we can do this,” Mr Biden said during remarks after an economic briefing, despite case and hospitalisation numbers suggesting the country cannot without a vaccine.

“We’re going into a very dark winter. Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier. That requires sparing no effort to fight COVID,” Mr Biden said,.

The incoming president sharply criticised the Trump administration and GOP governors over their shunning of wearing face-coverings to stop the third spike in Covid-19 cases. “Does anyone understand why a governor would turn this into a political statement?” he said, holding up a mask. “It’s about being patriotic.” Mr Biden, citing unnamed experts, claimed if all Americans covered their faces when in public 100,000 lives would be saved by 21 January. “There’s nothing macho about not wearing a mask,” he said. He also contended that Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election and green-light the usual transition process is making the pandemic and its toll worse. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” he said of the outgoing administration and the incoming one. “It’s important that there be coordination now.” There are over 246,800 deaths in the United States from the virus, with at least 11.1m infected, according to The Johns Hopkins University. One alarming projection, compiled by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , expects that number to climb to 282,000 by 5 December. With more and more Americans all over the country getting sick, Americans are wondering whether to cancel or drastically scale back their holiday plans. The president-elect said experts have advised him that gatherings should be limited to 10 people to help slow the spread of the respiratory bug. That’s what he and incoming First Lady Jill Biden plan to do with their family, he said, noting they are trying to determine who is coming to dinner in Wilmington, Delaware.

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Moderna’s COVID vaccine shows 94.5% efficacy

Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) announced on Monday the results from phase 3 trials for the COVID-19 vaccine show the vaccine is 94.5% effective. This comes just one week after Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech’s (NASDAQ: BNTX) vaccine candidate showed a 90% efficacy rate.

The Findings: Moderna based its data on 95 participants with confirmed cases of COVID-19. Findings showed 90 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 5 cases observed in the mRNA-1273 group, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 94.5%.

In two weeks after the second dose of the vaccine, the researchers report that the vaccine has an efficacy of 94.5%.

Special Storage: The vaccine is expected to remain stable at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius (36 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 days, up from the previous estimate of seven days. No dilution required prior to vaccination.

Next Step: Moderna now intends to submit for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks and anticipates having the EUA informed by the final safety and efficacy data (with a median duration of at least two months). Moderna also plans to submit applications for authorizations to global regulatory agencies. “This is a pivotal moment in the development of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate,” said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna. “Since early January, we have chased this virus with the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible. All along, we have known that each day matters. This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease.”

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BIG UNKNOWN: WHERE ARE PEOPLE GETTING INFECTED?!

Western nations face a big challenge in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic: Ten months into the health crisis, they still know little about where people are catching the virus. The problem is becoming more acute as new cases are breaking records in the U.S. and Europe and pressure grows on authorities to impose targeted restrictions on places that are spreading the virus, rather than broad confinement measures that are wreaking havoc on the economy.

In Germany, authorities say they don’t know where 75% of people who currently test positive for the coronavirus got it. In Austria, the figure stands at 77%. In Spain, the health ministry said that it was able to identify the origin of only 7% of infections registered in the last week of October. In France and Italy, only some 20% of new cases have been linked to people who previously tested positive.

Jay Varma, senior adviser for public health in the New York City mayor’s office, said 10% of the city’s infections are due to travel, 5% from gatherings, and another 5% from institutional settings such as nursing homes. “The vast majority of the remainder—somewhere probably around 50% or more—we don’t have a way to directly attribute their source of infection,” Mr. Varma said. “And that’s a concern.”

PS we got a dual use export license ( till they catch up with us and cancels it) for what is regarded as secret military Boilab Level 4 filters. See when they infect the world with their little cooties they want their people to be protected… as you are seeing not the masses! The ultimate P3 ULPA 15 particle filters are back in stock. Ready to ship for as long as they last. We are having trouble sourcing the special filter material Borosilicate glass and resign. And our manufacturer cannot guarantee we can export them in the future. But you can get a N95 toilet paper filter with pretty pictures on it at the grocery store and live in a fools paradise……

PS: As a foot note: The HEPA P3 filters they are selling are made with fiberglass paper. Besides inadequate filtration. They contain particles you inhale As in deadly fiberglass particles getting into your lungs that act just like asbestos…. but look at the money you are shaving!

 

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Lock Downs by Christmas! HO HO HO!

https://youtu.be/vBdY6bUFYAU

New coronavirus infections are growing rapidly across the US, experts say, with new hospital admissions also increasing around the country.

Nearly 70,000 new cases were recorded on Friday – the highest number of new infections seen in one day since July. Cases have been trending upward for 48 states over the past week. Only two states, Missouri and Vermont, are recording numbers that are improving. Dealing with the pandemic has continued to be a central issue in the US election. Despite the uptick in infections – and recovering from Covid himself earlier this month – President Donald Trump is still traveling the country for large in-person campaign rallies. At an outdoor event in Nevada on Sunday, Mr Trump said his Democratic opponent Joe Biden “will surrender your future to the virus”. “This guy wants to lockdown. He’ll listen to the scientists,” he said. “If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.” Many of Mr Trump’s supporters do not wear masks or practice social distancing at the rallies, and there have been warnings against large gatherings from local health officials. A Biden spokesman called Mr Trump’s remarks “the polar opposite of reality” and blamed the country’s recession on the president.On Monday, Mr Trump denounced top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci as “a disaster” and claimed that more people would have died if he had listened to the respected researcher. Dr Fauci told CBS News earlier that he was not surprised the president had caught coronavirus, given his reluctance to practice safe techniques. “Fauci’s a disaster,” the president said in a campaign phone call that was overheard by reporters. “He’s been here for 500 years,” he said, adding: “People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.” Mr Trump, who has reportedly had a tense relationship with Dr Fauci since March, called him “a nice guy”, but said he would have fired him if not for the negative press that would result.

What are the latest numbers?

In the US, there have been around 8.1 million coronavirus infections and over 219,000 deaths. Across the world, over 40 million cases have been recorded. Cases in the US dipped to around 34,000 per day by early September, but are now averaging around 55,000 per day. On Friday, the US nearly topped 70,000 cases in one day, which would have beat the single day record for new cases set in July. Ten states on Friday hit their all-time high for new cases reported in a single day: Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, New Mexico and North Carolina. On Saturday, new cases fell to over 57,000. On Sunday, the daily infection rate fell again to over 48,000. As infections rise, hospital admissions have also risen in 39 states over the past two weeks. Wisconsin, a crucial presidential swing state, is among the hardest hit, with nearly 10% of the state’s hospital beds currently occupied by Covid-19 patients. The state has now erected a field hospital on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park to serve as an overflow facility for hospitals. Experts say the death toll is not expected to rise as rapidly as it did in the beginning of the pandemic, as many of the new cases are in young people who are more likely to survive the disease caused by the virus. Health officials warn that infections are likely to get worse during colder months, when people tend to congregate indoors more often. In his interview with the CBS 60 Minutes programme, Dr Fauci said the situation would need to get “really, really bad,” before he would advocate for a national lockdown. “First of all, the country is fatigued with restrictions,” said Dr Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and is a member of the White House coronavirus taskforce. “So we want to use public health measures not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy.”He added: “Put ‘shut downs’ away and say, ‘We’re going to use public health measures to help us safely get to where we want to go’.”

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Biden faces tough choice of whether to back virus lockdowns

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden faces a decision unlike any other incoming president: whether to back a short-term national lockdown to finally arrest a raging pandemic. For now, it’s a question the president-elect would prefer to avoid. In the week since he defeated President Donald Trump, Biden has devoted most of his public remarks to encouraging Americans to wear a mask and view the coronavirus as a threat that has no regard for political ideology. But the debate has been livelier among members of the coronavirus advisory board Biden announced this week. One member, Dr. Michael Osterholm, suggested a four- to six-week lockdown with financial aid for Americans whose livelihoods would be affected. He later walked back his remarks and was rebutted by two other members of the panel who said a widespread lockdown shouldn’t be under consideration. That’s a sign of the tough dynamic Biden will face when he is inaugurated in January. He campaigned as a more responsible steward of America’s public health than President Donald Trump is and has been blunt about the challenges that lie ahead for the country, warning of a “dark winter” as cases spike.

But talk of lockdowns are especially sensitive. For one, they’re nearly impossible for a president to enact on his own, requiring bipartisan support from state and local officials. But more broadly, they’re a political flashpoint that could undermine Biden’s efforts to unify a deeply divided country.

“It would create a backlash,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security who added that such a move could make the situation worse if people don’t comply with restrictions. “Lockdowns can have consequences that diminish the value of such an approach.” During his first public appearance since losing the election, Trump noted on Friday that he wouldn’t support a lockdown. The president, who has yet to publicly acknowledge Biden’s victory, would likely reinforce that message to his loyal supporters once he’s left office. Still, the pandemic’s toll continues to escalate. The coronavirus is blamed for 10.6 million confirmed infections and almost a quarter-million deaths in the U.S., with the closely watched University of Washington model projecting nearly 439,000 dead by March 1. Deaths have climbed to about 1,000 a day on average. New cases per day are soaring, shattering records. The latest came Friday, when more than 184,000 people tested positive, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Several states are beginning to bring back some of the restrictions first imposed during the spring. But leaders in much of the country are proceeding with caution, aware that Americans are already fatigued by virus-related disruptions. Indeed, after Osterholm made his comments, a number of Biden’s task force members went out to publicly disavow lockdown possibilities. Dr. Vivek Murthy, the former U.S. surgeon general who’s serving as one of the co-chairs on Biden’s coronavirus advisory board, said the group is looking at a “series of restrictions that we dial up or down” based on the severity of the virus in a given region. “We’re not in a place where we’re saying shut the whole country down. We’ve got to be more targeted,” Murthy said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “If we don’t do that, what you’re going to find is that people will become even more fatigued. Schools won’t be open to children and the economy will be hit harder, so we’ve got to follow science, but we’ve also got to be more precise.” Speaking on CNBC, Dr. Celine Grounder, an infectious-disease specialist at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and another task force member, said that, “as a group, really the consensus is that we need a more nuanced approach.” “We can be much more targeted geographically. We can also be more targeted in terms of what we close,” she said. During the campaign, Biden pledged to make testing free and widely available; to hire thousands of health workers to help implement contact tracing programs; and to instruct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide clear, expert-informed guidelines to businesses, schools and local officials on reopening in regions where they’ve closed. To prepare for possible surges in cases, he’d prepare Department of Defense resources to provide medical facility capacity, logistical support and doctors and other medical personnel if necessary. Biden would also use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of masks, face shields and other personal protective equipment to help alleviate shortages at hospitals. But Biden himself fueled some of the confusion about his stance on lockdowns during the campaign. He initially told ABC he would “listen to the scientists” if they advised him to shut down the country, and then took a more nuanced position. “There’s going to be no need, in my view, to be able to shut down the whole economy,” he said at a town hall in September. Even if a nationwide lockdown made sense, polling shows that Americans’ appetite for a closure waning. Gallup found that only 49% of Americans said they’d be “very likely” to comply with a monthlong stay-at-home order because of an outbreak of the virus. A full third said they’d be very or somewhat unlikely to comply with such an order. Kathleen Sebelius, who was the health and human services secretary during the Obama administration, said Biden would be wise to keep his options open for now, especially as Trump criticizes lockdowns. “It’s a very dicey topic” politically, she said. “I think wisely, the president-elect doesn’t want to get into a debate with the sitting president about some kind of mandate that he has no authority to implement.”

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U.S. Justice Alito says pandemic has led to ‘unimaginable’ curbs on liberty

Nov 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said the COVID-19 pandemic had led to “previously unimaginable” curbs on individual liberty, singling out restrictions on religious events. The justice, who is seen as a conservative, told a meeting of the Federalist Society late on Thursday he was not underplaying the severity of the crisis or criticizing any officials for their response. But he added: “We have never before seen restrictions as severe, extensive and prolonged as those experienced for most of 2020.”

“The COVID crisis has served as sort of a constitutional stress test,” he said during his address over a video link for the conservative organization’s annual conference https://bit.ly/2H21TvK.

Alito, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2006, referred to restrictions on gatherings that had affected religious events. “Think of worship services! Churches closed on Easter Sunday, synagogues closed for Passover in Yom Kippur”, he said. “It pains me to say this,” Alito added, “but in certain quarters, religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right.” The justice said freedom of speech was also under threat. “Although that freedom is falling out of favor in some circles, we need to do whatever we can to prevent it from becoming a second-tier constitutional right,” he said. Alito’s remarks on free speech echoed his words from 2016 at the same event when he referred to college campus culture that conservatives say stifles free speech to avoid offending political sensibilities on matters such as gender, race and religion. Social norms had created a list of things that was now unacceptable for students, professors and employees to say, he added on Thursday. “You can’t say that marriage is a union between one man and one woman”, he added. “Until very recently that’s what a vast majority of Americans thought. Now its considered bigotry.”

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More than 130 Secret Service Agents infected with coronavirus

According to The Washington Post, the virus outbreak has dramatically impacted the president’s security detail at the same time as members of his staff continue to fall ill. One former supervisor told the Post: ‘Being down more than 100 officers is very problematic. That does not bode well for White House security.’ Secret Service officers guard President Trump and Vice President Pence’s official residences, and also provide security for trips, as well as other campaign events. Advertisement Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski became the latest presidential aide to announce a positive Covid test result on Thursday, with Chief of Staff Mark Meadows announcing his diagnosis earlier this week. President Trump sparked fury after making Secret Service agents take him for a ‘drive-by’ past fans the day after he was taken to hospital with a coronavirus infection (Picture: AP) White House spokesman Judd Deere told the post that the Trump administration takes ‘every case seriously.’ He declined to comment further on the Secret Service outbreak, with a Secret Service spokesman also declining to comment. Trump was criticized by public health officials for holding crowded rallies throughout fall, with many attendees seen without masks. His final two days of campaigning saw him make 10 different stops, with at least 20 Secret Service agents required to protect him at each stop. Wisconsin. Contact tracing is now underway to try and establish where the agents picked the virus up, with campaign rallies and the White House itself among the suspected locations They also suspect the White House itself could have been the location where multiple staff members were infected. President Trump caught coronavirus in early October, and spent three nights at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, receiving specialist treatment. Many Secret Service personnel were reportedly furious after Trump insisted on a ‘drive-by’ for supporters on his first day at the hospital. That saw two Secret Service agents forced to don heavy PPE and drive him past fans and journalists in a hermetically sealed SUV, less than two days after the president received his positive Covid test. Many of Trump’s aides are said to have ignored guidance to wear masks at work, instead relying on regular rapid tests to try and stop the virus taking a hold at the president’s address. A total of 10.569million Americans have so-far been infected with coronavirus, with over 242,000 people killed across the US. President Trump is said to have last met with his coronavirus task force last month, but tweeted hailing the success of a prototype vaccine earlier this week,

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At least 5 passengers on first Caribbean cruise in months tests positive for COVID-19

At least five people who were aboard the first Caribbean cruise ship in months tested positive for COVID-19, according to a CNN report.

 

NBC reported earlier on Wednesday that a passenger tested positive for the virus, citing a report from Gene Sloan, a reporter for the website The Points Guy who was on the ship. Sloan said the captain announced that the passenger aboard SeaDream 1 tested positive on a “preliminary basis.” NBC noted it was not clear what “preliminary basis” means. Sloan said that all passengers were asked to return to their cabins to isolate and that the ship’s crew was also isolating. The Hill has reached out to SeaDream Yacht Club, which owns the ship, for comment. SeaDream 1 is the first cruise vessel to begin sailing in the Caribbean since March when the coronavirus was declared a pandemic. Coronavirus cases are now skyrocketing across the U.S., raising alarms as people move inside to escape the colder weather. There were 53 passengers and 66 crew members onboard SeaDream 1 at the time the announcement was made, according to Sloan. Every passenger on board had to test negative for the virus several days prior to boarding and again on the day of boarding. Another round of testing was conducted Wednesday when the passenger tested positive. The ship left Barbados on Saturday and had traveled to Saint Vincent, Canouan Island, and Tobago Cays, according to Sloan. Passengers had not come into contact with island locals, he wrote. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first barred cruise sailing in mid-March, and renewed the order in April and July. It later lifted the order to allow “simulation” cruises to sail in the U.S. Cruise ships proved to be dangerous for the spread of the coronavirus after hundreds aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan contracted the virus in February. Several ships docked outside U.S. waters ran into similar issues before cases started escalating in the U.S.

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Virus surge breaking infection records across the US

Texas on Wednesday became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said all restaurants, bars and gyms statewide will have to close at 10 p.m. starting Friday, a major retreat in a corner of the U.S. that had seemingly brought the virus largely under control months ago. He also barred private gatherings of more than 10 people. Texas, the second-most populous state, has recorded 1.02 million coronavirus cases and over 19,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early March, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California, the most populous state, has logged more than 995,000 cases. The U.S. has recorded over 240,000 deaths and more than 10.3 million confirmed infections, with new cases soaring to all-time highs of well over 120,000 per day over the past week. Health experts have blamed the increase in part on the onset of cold weather and growing frustration with mask-wearing and other precautions. Cases per day are on the rise in 49 states, and deaths per day are climbing in 39. A month ago, the U.S. was seeing about 730 COVID-19 deaths per day on average; that has now surpassed 970. Among the many health officials sounding the alarm was Dr. Julie Watson of Integris Health in Oklahoma. “We are in trouble,” she said. “If nothing is done soon to slow the rise in cases, our hospitals will be more overwhelmed than they already are and we won’t be able to be there for all of those who need it.” Oklahoma’s health department said Wednesday that 1,248 people were hospitalized for confirmed or probable coronavirus, shattering the previous one-day record of 1,055. Texas reported 10,865 new cases on Tuesday, breaking a record set in mid-July. One of the hardest-hit places is the border city of El Paso; its county has nearly 28,000 active cases and has suffered more than 680 COVID-19 deaths. The American Medical Association renewed its plea for mask-wearing, physical distancing and frequent hand-washing. “With the holidays quickly approaching, each of us must do everything possible to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” AMA President Susan Bailey said. “Failing to do our part will prolong the suffering and disruption to our lives and inevitably lead to more deaths of our friends, neighbors and loved ones.” Meanwhile, many traditional Veterans Day celebrations gave way to somber virtual gatherings Wednesday. Many veterans homes have barred visitors to protect their residents from the virus. In New York City, a quiet parade of military vehicles, with no spectators, rolled through Manhattan to maintain the 101-year tradition of veterans marching on Fifth Avenue.

Around the country:

— The NFL’s Minnesota Vikings said it will close its remaining home games to fans, as the state blew past its record for new deaths in a day. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants and said he wishes the neighboring Dakotas would take more aggressive steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus. He said this summer’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota was “absolutely unnecessary” and helped spread the virus beyond that state.

— Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued new orders on mask enforcement at businesses, while threatening to close bars, restaurants and fitness centers if infections keep surging. The Republican governor shifted the authority over mask enforcement from the counties to the state. If a business receives more than one violation, it must close for 24 hours. He’s also requiring businesses to display ‘No Mask, No Service’ signs and refuse service to customers who don’t comply. But DeWine’s orders Wednesday were not as far-reaching as in March, when Ohio became one of the first states to go into lockdown.

— In Nebraska, which is setting records for COVID-19 hospitalizations, new restrictions took effect Wednesday. Those include a requirement to wear masks at businesses where employees have close contact with customers for more than 15 minutes, such as barbershops, and a limit on large indoor gatherings to 25% of a building’s capacity. Gov. Pete Ricketts and his wife have gone into quarantine after being exposed to someone with the virus.

— North Carolina reported its highest single-day increase in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with 3,119 people — 8% of those tested — testing positive for the virus.

— Kentucky posted a record daily high for new confirmed cases, at 2,700, as the governor implored people to wear masks to counter the accelerating outbreak.

— A group of Utah teachers is encouraging colleagues statewide to call in sick Thursday and use the day to get tested for the virus. Some teachers believe the action could prompt state officials to do more to increase classroom safety.

— In Sioux Falls, the largest city in hard-hit South Dakota, Mayor Paul TenHaken cast a tie-breaking vote that defeated a proposed mask mandate. Violations would have carried a $50 fine.

— North Dakota continues to have the most new COVID-19 cases per capita in the nation, according to Johns Hopkins data, with one in every 83 residents testing positive in the past week.

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Bill Ackman Sounds Alarm For Another COVID Market Crash Despite Vaccine Hype

Prominent hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is betting that the coronavirus pandemic could rattle the U.S. stock market again like in March in a time when major stock indexes just soared to an all-time high. Last time he made similar bets, he won and profited $2.6 billion, or a 10,000 percent return, on his investments in less than a month.

At the Financial Times‘ Dealmakers Conference on Tuesday, Ackman revealed that his hedge fund firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, bought a set of credit-default swaps, a financial derivative to insure his firm against a wave of corporate defaults, on Monday. Interestingly, it was the same day Pfizer declared early success with its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, which sent stock indexes to a record high. However,

Ackman is concerned that the news will encourage people to become nonchalant about preventive measures and actually make the pandemic worse before the vaccine gets to the market.

Ackman warned that investors are underestimating the severity of the pandemic. He sounded a similar alarm in early March, just before states imposed lockdown orders. “I hope we lose money on this next hedge,” Ackman said during a keynote speech at the event, per Financial Times. “What’s fascinating is the same bet we put on eight months ago is available on the same terms as if there had never been a fire and on the probability that the world is going to be fine.” The new hedge was about 30 percent the size of the bet he placed in spring, Ackman said. In late February, when the coronavirus outbreak was in full swing in China but hadn’t started its exponential spread to the rest of the world, Pershing Square bought $27 million worth of credit protection on global investment-grade and high-yield credit indexes to insure against $71 billion of corporate debt.

A week later, major stock indexes plummeted on skyrocketing COVID-19 cases across the U.S. By the time the market hit its rock bottom in late March, Ackman had finished unwinding those hedges and reaped $2.6 billion in proceeds.

He used the profits to buy shares in several existing portfolio companies, including Agilent Technologies, Berkshire Hathaway, Hilton Worldwide Holdings and Lowe’s and Restaurant Brands International.