Coronavirus Crisis: Main Thread

[Belligerent Savant]

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Moving this over since a new page was generated:

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Particularly noteworthy are the increases in deaths -- in 2021, after vaccines were mass-deployed, compared to 2020, pre-vaccine rollout -- among the 65 and under age groups, when the average age of death for covid is over 80.

Lockdowns were also far more prominent in 2020 compared to 2021, so lockdown-related deaths would be more of a factor in 2020 (with some carry over into 2021, but not enough to explain the variance).

I anticipate the months ahead will add better clarity to these figures -- for better or worse.

What Is Going On With Deaths?

Proponents of the Covid vaccines argue that they should not be judged on the number of cases we are seeing but their ability to reduce deaths in the population.

I think we can see why you hear that argument a lot these days.

Over 1 million new cases were reported in the United States yesterday. Some of these are a result of delayed reporting during the holidays but it is still an astounding number.

That is over 3x higher than any single day in last season's peak. The 7-day average is twice as high as last winter's peak.


Source: NY Times

We are seeing similar patterns in other highly vaccinated countries.



Let's take a look at the mortality data and put this subject in context.

Before the pandemic, there were about 2.8 million deaths per year in the United States. It has been remarkably consistent number year in and year out in the past.

Of these, about 2.1 million were of those age 65+ and .7 million were under age 65.

In 2020, total deaths increased to 3.35 million----an increase of over 500,000.

The CDC official tally shows 385,430 Covid deaths in 2020.

This chart provides you with a graphic view of where we were on deaths pre-pandemic and what 2020 looked like.



Complete data on deaths in the United States for 2021 is not available as the reports lag between the death certificates being filed in each state and those deaths being reported to the CDC.

However, as of December 29, the CDC was showing 3,231,874 deaths thus far in 2021 of which 429,376 were Covid deaths.

The CDC data typically lags at least one month behind actual death reports. Therefore, it would be expected that the final numbers for deaths in 2021 would need a completion factor of at least 1.08 (1/12) so that we can compare the expected final mortality numbers in 2021 with 2020.

Below is the same chart above with 2021 included using CDC actual numbers (as of 12/29/21) adjusted by a 1.08 completion factor on all deaths and Covid deaths.



As you can see, total deaths, deaths from Covid and excess deaths will be higher in 2021 than in 2020.

The vaccines have been effective at reducing deaths but overall deaths and Covid deaths have increased in 2021 with vaccines compared to 2020 without them?

Where is the logic in this?

How can this be called "effective"?

What is most troubling is to see the breakdowns in deaths between those under age 65 compared to those over age 65.



Deaths for those age 65+ are up 19% in both 2020 and 2021 compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

However, deaths for those under age 65 are up 35% in 2021compared to the 2019 level. Deaths were up 22% in these ages between 2019 and 2020.

When in human history has there ever been an effective vaccine introduced in which deaths went up?

This is particularly true for those under age 65 comparing 2021 vs. 2020.

Covid deaths in this age group almost doubled despite vaccines being available in 2021?

Vaccine advocates would argue that is because the Delta variant is more deadly. That is the reason that Covid deaths increased in 2021. It would have been SO MUCH WORSE without the vaccines.

They would further argue that the fact that age 65+ deaths did not increase further in 2021 was due to high vaccination rates in this age group. Covid deaths doubled in those under age 65 in 2021 because these age groups were not as fully vaccinated.

It is good argument if it could be proven that the Delta variant was actually much more lethal than the original Covid strain.

However, there is no hard evidence to prove that. The CDC even admits that in their discussion of Delta on its website.

The CDC states that it is the unvaccinated who should have greatest concern about Delta while the "highly effective" Covid vaccines will continue to almost always prevent severe disease and death for the vaccinated.

The COVID-19 vaccines approved or authorized in the United States are highly effective at preventing severe disease and death, including against the Delta variant. But they are not 100% effective, and some fully vaccinated people will become infected (called a breakthrough infection) and experience illness. For all people, the vaccine provides the best protection against serious illness and death.

This is the best article I could find that summarized the data on the science concerning the lethality of the Delta variant.


Source: https://www.king5.com/article/news/veri ... 948d1ec9bf

The delta variant is the dominant COVID-19 strain worldwide, but is it deadlier than the other variants?

The delta variant is often called “highly transmissible” and “more-deadly,” but is that true?
To verify, we compiled studies out of China, India, Scotland and consulted with Dr. Larry Corey, who is coordinating all of the COVID-19 vaccine research in the U.S.

"There's no evidence that it's more deadly,” said Corey. “There is evidence that it's more infectious and more infectious to others, i.e., more transmissible. But [is it] actually more severe? There's really not good hard evidence of that."

Therefore, if there is no good evidence that Covid was more lethal in 2021 than 2020, why are deaths up in 2021?

More and more questions are starting to be asked.

An example is the recent statement from the CEO of life insurance company OneAmerica that they are seeing deaths rates that are up 40% over pre-pandemic levels in their group life claims among working age people ages 18-64.

The head of Indianapolis-based insurance company OneAmerica said the death rate is up a stunning 40% from pre-pandemic levels among working-age people.

“We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business – not just at OneAmerica,” the company’s CEO Scott Davison said during an online news conference this week. “The data is consistent across every player in that business.”

“And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic,” he said.

“Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic,” he said. “So 40% is just unheard of.”

The 40% increase he cites in the death rate of 18-64 year olds is very similar to the 35% rate I calculated above in the under age 65 CDC data. When you exclude the observed low death rates in the 1-17 year old age groups in the last two years ( which are included in my numbers), the 40% number this CEO cites appears to be very close to the CDC data referenced above.

Let me provide some more context on what a 40% deviation from the norm means in statistical terms.

The life insurance CEO refers to a 10% deviation as a three-sigma event. The CEO said that this would be classified statistically as a one-in-200 year catastrophe.

A six-sigma event, which is the 20% deviation seen in deaths for the age 65+ age group, would be considered to be a one-in-300,000 year event.

A 40% deviation (what we have seen in the 18-64 age group at OneAmerica) would be considered by statisticians to be a 12-sigma event. A statistician that I follow commented on the OneAmerica data and explained what the chances of that occurring are.

A 12-sigma event is where geeky statisticians who have seen enough tables to know the round-numbers by heart have to look up the capacity of their software package to see if it's well enough powered to perform the calculation. Whatever it is, it's far more likely that an asteroid collides with Indiana tomorrow, ejecting 400 basketball-sized fragments as it falls that each make a perfect swoosh through the nets in every cornfield basketball hoop in the Hoosier state two seconds before destroying all of human civilization (really, I computed that in my head).

The CEO explained that the huge increase in mortality in the insurance claims they have received cannot be explained by Covid based on the death certificates accompanying the death claims.

That statement is also supported in the CDC data I used in developing the charts above.

Covid deaths explain only about half of the increase in excess deaths in the under age 65 age group.

What is causing the other excess deaths?

We know drug overdoses are up over the last two years.

We know suicides have increased.

What else could it be?

I found it interesting that the CEO stated that OneAmerica was also seeing an increase in disability claims in the working age population at the same time that deaths were increasing.

He said at the same time, the company is seeing an “uptick” in disability claims, saying at first it was short-term disability claims, and now the increase is in long-term disability claims.

Why is it that you can have deaths increasing by 40% in the working age population of the country (those most responsible for keeping the economy going and paying the taxes that support the society) and there are not more people asking what is going on?

Why is this happening?

One thing is for certain.

You don't see this CEO or much of anyone else who risks being censored raising any question as to whether the policy responses to the pandemic (lockdowns, school closures, etc) did more harm than good.

Are the excess deaths related to the response?

What other explanation could there be?

You also certainly don't see him questioning what role the vaccines might be playing in all of this. That would be a sure path for this man to soon being an ex-CEO considering the current environment.

I don't know the answer as to what is going on with deaths.

However, it is difficult to find support for the argument that the vaccines are highly effective in preventing deaths when deaths have increased over the last year.

It is especially troubling that deaths in the working age cohort have increased even more after the introduction of the vaccines.

Not just a little.

By orders of magnitude that are almost incomprehensible when viewed through science----actuarial science.

In the end, the data always wins.

However, as has been the case from the beginning of this pandemic, very few people in charge are looking at the data and most everyone is afraid to challenge the narrative.

If there is one thing we should hope and pray for in 2022 it is that more people will start asking two simple questions.

What is going on?

Why has this happened?

And those in a position to know should start providing honest answers.


BeeLine
Scott Beeken has practiced as an attorney, CPA and has been an officer with two Fortune 500 companies overseeing diverse functions such as Taxation, Employee Benefits, Human Resources, Real Estate Facilities, Risk Management, Corporate Communications, Marketing and Advertising. In addition to writing BeeLine, he is a Keynote Speaker, Author and Strategic Consultant.

http://beelineblogger.blogspot.com/2022 ... eaths.html

Are the excess deaths related to the response?

What other explanation could there be?

Thousands. I enjoyed the read and it's a good rundown but that line really stuck out to me as curiously lazy, both in terms of the reasoning that got him there and in terms of the explanative power of "related to the response," which glosses over a massively complex system composed entirely of moving parts.

For one thing, it remains possible that nCoV has sleeper effects that we haven't come to grips with yet because the long-term data isn't available yet -- "the data always wins" is perhaps naive faith but in principle, sure, yeah.

In my personal experience, most of the people who are concerned about "long covid" are not, if you will permit me some technical jargon, whiny neurotic bitches. They are day laborers with families and lunatic grade work ethics, they are lifelong athletes, and many of them are younger than me. If not for this personal experience, I would likely write off the entire phenomenon of "long covid" as hypochondria and anxiety; as do many of the researchers I respect and work with. I am less sure.

As the recent development of Omicron coming from yet another lab leak indicates, the current situation is ripe for both unintended and intentional black hat fuckery. It is very easy to knock people off right now if you have the means to ensure their corpse will get a positive PCR test, for instance -- and bigger picture, it's an ideal environment for testing out novel bioweapons in the wild.

There are also chemical and microplastic considerations in a world where everyone has taken on new behaviors like breathing through masks they've mostly bought in stores or online, but that's more of a moon shot outlier. Since nCoV appears to be both long since endemic and highly transmissable, it's the prime suspect in terms of the anomalies that actuary tables are starting to record.

I completely agree with Mr. Beekin that this data is significant, and indeed, probably some of the first solid numbers we've had at all, given how politicized and plastic the "case numbers" have been this whole time.

--------------------------------

WRex:
In my personal experience, most of the people who are concerned about "long covid" are not, if you will permit me some technical jargon, whiny neurotic bitches. They are day laborers with families and lunatic grade work ethics, they are lifelong athletes, and many of them are younger than me. If not for this personal experience, I would likely write off the entire phenomenon of "long covid" as hypochondria and anxiety; as do many of the researchers I respect and work with. I am less sure.

Yes. My wife worked at a nearby urgent care facility up until recently (she's unvaccinated and was therefore let go. Her reasons for not jabbing are her own, and only minimally influenced by any rantings of mine) and she relayed anecdotes of young athletic types (rowers, college athletes, etc) in their 20s that had heart inflammation issues months after catching covid. This was not common -- and after vaccines were rolled out, there was a marked uptick in heart inflammation/clot cases among younger/mid age groups, but it remains noteworthy.

To Be Determined how this develops in the coming year+.


[That aside, the lack of transparency over the past year+ by govt reps and bureaucrats should be damning/inexcusable, but it's also a naive thought, to presume an interest in transparency is a primary driver with any of this]

[drstrangelove]

cull a few off with the virus. cull a few off with the lockdowns. cull a few off with the vaccines. cull a few off with the variants. cull a few off with economic depression. throw in some latent sterilisation and start regulating births through ivf.

perhaps we hit a brick wall with innovation and could no longer manage the population-energy-pollution problem from the supply side. modern tech is still mostly just two-value logic at ridiculously high quantities. reminds me of that movie whiplash, with that student who spends the entire film trying to play the same song 'whiplash' at higher and higher intensities, thinking this is what will make him great. that he will distinguish himself by doing the same repetitions, only more extreme. but he creates nothing new. he is like the opposite of jazz. that movie pretty much sums up modern art. the technical talent is there, but the artists have nothing to say. at least you get an orgasm out of pornography if thoughts aren't on the agenda. but then incest definitely is. maybe that ties back to the birth rate, who knows. not I.

anyway, I always thought that TV show Utopia was on to something in its first season.

[stickdog99]

[Joe Hillshoist]

Are the excess deaths related to the response?

What other explanation could there be?

Thousands. I enjoyed the read and it's a good rundown but that line really stuck out to me as curiously lazy, both in terms of the reasoning that got him there and in terms of the explanative power of "related to the response," which glosses over a massively complex system composed entirely of moving parts.

For one thing, it remains possible that nCoV has sleeper effects that we haven't come to grips with yet because the long-term data isn't available yet -- "the data always wins" is perhaps naive faith but in principle, sure, yeah.

In my personal experience, most of the people who are concerned about "long covid" are not, if you will permit me some technical jargon, whiny neurotic bitches. They are day laborers with families and lunatic grade work ethics, they are lifelong athletes, and many of them are younger than me. If not for this personal experience, I would likely write off the entire phenomenon of "long covid" as hypochondria and anxiety; as do many of the researchers I respect and work with. I am less sure.

Yes. This needs to be said imo. My experience is similar in terms of people worried by it and those its effected.

As the recent development of Omicron coming from yet another lab leak indicates, the current situation is ripe for both unintended and intentional black hat fuckery. It is very easy to knock people off right now if you have the means to ensure their corpse will get a positive PCR test, for instance -- and bigger picture, it's an ideal environment for testing out novel bioweapons in the wild.

There are also chemical and microplastic considerations in a world where everyone has taken on new behaviors like breathing through masks they've mostly bought in stores or online, but that's more of a moon shot outlier. Since nCoV appears to be both long since endemic and highly transmissable, it's the prime suspect in terms of the anomalies that actuary tables are starting to record.

I completely agree with Mr. Beekin that this data is significant, and indeed, probably some of the first solid numbers we've had at all, given how politicized and plastic the "case numbers" have been this whole time.

Somewhere recently I came across the info that the changes in Omicron in certain spots mirror a different human corona virus. One responsible for colds and some serious illness but at a tiny rate compared to covid. IE What we were used to pre covid - and being a long term human coronavirus this makes sense.

IT makes some sense too given what seems to be Omicron's preference for bronchial ACE2 receptors over lung based ones. Just intuitively not based on data or anything.

The speculation was a healthy person was infected with both coronaviruses at the same time and there was some interesting stuff up in the in cell transcription process (ie some natural in vivo change). Incredibly long odds for this to happen, then again shitloads of people must have been infected by now, surely at least a billion. So I'm not writing that off as a possibility. Pretty long odds tho. If this happened it may as well be considered proof of divine intervention in human affairs cos its a pretty lucky break for us (at this point based on my reading of it.)

But ever since reading that i've had this nagging hunch its ... well a lab leak of sorts. A deliberate one. Possibly even a backyard one.

Omicron appears to be significantly less dangerous and provide short and long term immunity against all previous variants of SARSCoV2 while being more infectious - ie its out-competing earlier variants, making the people it infects immune to earlier variants while being alot safer for most people (maybe for all people.)

Several people have referred to it as having the possibility to act as a natural vaccination.

In that context that info you've linked to is fascinating.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Also regarding excess deaths.

These are Australia's official figures. Its a comprehensive site with plenty of data including on Ischaemic Heart Disease and Cerebrovascular Heart Disease during 2021 up to October 31:

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/healt ... st-release

This is data on the vaccine rollout:

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

(Just click the countries so Australia is the only one and you'll see the rate by time.)

So so far nothing but probably a little early to really tease out anything serious.

The vaccine related Myocarditis issues seem to hide in the data - you have to do specific analysis for people under 40 and more specific for males under 40, then narrow it further to specific vaccines to really see trends stick out at this point. Its easy to see how this was missed or ignored because of the hurry to get stuff to market (ie for market domination and profit as much as to "do something" to limit the seriousness of the pandemic) during the testing of mRNA vaccines over the last 2 years.

[Belligerent Savant]

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A measure of good news. Will be interesting to see what happens -- if anything -- once the data indexers dig into the produced documents.

INSTEAD OF FDA’S REQUESTED 500 PAGES PER MONTH, COURT ORDERS FDA TO PRODUCE PFIZER COVID-19 DATA AT RATE OF 55,000 PAGES PER MONTH!

A great win for transparency that removes a stranglehold "health" authorities have had on data independent scientists need to offer solutions and address serious issues with the vaccine program.

On behalf of a client, my firm requested that the FDA produce all the data submitted by Pfizer to license its Covid-19 vaccine. The FDA asked the Court for permission to only be required to produce at a rate of 500 pages per month, which would have taken over 75 years to produce all the documents.

I am pleased to report that a federal judge soundly rejected the FDA’s request and ordered the FDA to produce all the data at a clip of 55,000 pages per month!

This is a great win for transparency and removes one of the strangleholds federal “health” authorities have had on the data needed for independent scientists to offer solutions and address serious issues with the current vaccine program – issues which include waning immunity, variants evading vaccine immunity, and, as the CDC has confirmed, that the vaccines do not prevent transmission.

No person should ever be coerced to engage in an unwanted medical procedure. And while it is bad enough the government violated this basic liberty right by mandating the Covid-19 vaccine, the government also wanted to hide the data by waiting to fully produce what it relied upon to license this product until almost every American alive today is dead. That form of governance is destructive to liberty and antithetical to the openness required in a democratic society.

In ordering the release of the documents in a timely manner, the Judge recognized that the release of this data is of paramount public importance and should be one of the FDA’s highest priorities. He then aptly quoted James Madison as saying a “popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy” and John F. Kennedy as explaining that a “nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”

The following is the full text of the Judge’s order, a copy of which is also available here.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

PHMPT, Plaintiff v. FDA, Defendant, No. 4:21-cv-1058-P

ORDER

This case involves the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). Specifically, at issue is Plaintiff’s FOIA request seeking “[a]ll data and information for the Pfizer Vaccine enumerated in 21 C.F.R. § 601.51(e) with the exception of publicly available reports on the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System” from the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). See ECF No. 1. As has become standard, the Parties failed to agree to a mutually acceptable production schedule; instead, they submitted dueling production schedules for this Court’s consideration. Accordingly, the Court held a conference with the Parties to determine an appropriate production schedule.[1] See ECF Nos. 21, 34.

“Open government is fundamentally an American issue” – it is neither a Republican nor a Democrat issue.[2] As James Madison wrote, “[a] popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”[3] John F. Kennedy likewise recognized that “a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”[4] And, particularly appropriate in this case, John McCain (correctly) noted that “[e]xcessive administrative secrecy . . . feeds conspiracy theories and reduces the public’s confidence in the government.”[5]

Echoing these sentiments, “[t]he basic purpose of FOIA is to ensure an informed citizenry, [which is] vital to the functioning of a democratic society.” NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214, 242 (1977). “FOIA was [therefore] enacted to ‘pierce the veil of administrative secrecy and to open agency action to the light of public scrutiny.’” Batton v. Evers, 598 F.3d 169, 175 (5th Cir. 2010) (quoting Dep’t of the Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 361 (1976)). And “Congress has long recognized that ‘information is often useful only if it is timely’ and that, therefore ‘excessive delay by the agency in its response is often tantamount to denial.’” Open Soc’y Just. Initiative v. CIA, 399 F. Supp. 3d 161, 165 (S.D.N.Y. 2019) (quoting H.R. REP. NO. 93-876, at 6271 (1974)). When needed, a court “may use its equitable powers to require an agency to process documents according to a court-imposed timeline.” Clemente v. FBI, 71 F. Supp. 3d 262, 269 (D.D.C. 2014).

Here, the Court recognizes the “unduly burdensome” challenges that this FOIA request may present to the FDA. See generally ECF Nos. 23, 30, 34. But, as expressed at the scheduling conference, there may not be a “more important issue at the Food and Drug Administration . . . than the pandemic, the Pfizer vaccine, getting every American vaccinated, [and] making sure that the American public is assured that this was not [] rush[ed] on behalf of the United States . . . .” ECF No. 34 at 46. Accordingly, the Court concludes that this FOIA request is of paramount public importance.

“[S]tale information is of little value.” Payne Enters., Inc. v. United States, 837 F.2d 486, 494 (D.C. Cir. 1988). The Court, agreeing with this truism, therefore concludes that the expeditious completion of Plaintiff’s request is not only practicable, but necessary. See Bloomberg, L.P. v. FDA, 500 F. Supp. 2d 371, 378 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 15, 2007) (“[I]t is the compelling need for such public understanding that drives the urgency of the request.”). To that end, the Court further concludes that the production rate, as detailed below, appropriately balances the need for unprecedented urgency in processing this request with the FDA’s concerns regarding the burdens of production. See Halpern v. FBI, 181 F.3d 279, 284–85 (2nd Cir. 1991) (“[FOIA] emphasizes a preference for the fullest possible agency disclosure of such information consistent with a responsible balancing of competing concerns . . . .”).

Accordingly, having considered the Parties’ arguments, filings in support, and the applicable law, the Court ORDERS that:

1. The FDA shall produce the “more than 12,000 pages” articulated in its own proposal, see ECF No. 29 at 24, on or before January 31, 2022.

2. The FDA shall produce the remaining documents at a rate of 55,000 pages every 30 days, with the first production being due on or before March 1, 2022, until production is complete.

3. To the extent the FDA asserts any privilege, exemption, or exclusion as to any responsive record or portion thereof, FDA shall, concurrent with each production required by this Order, produce a redacted version of the record, redacting only those portions as to which privilege, exemption, or exclusion is asserted.

4. The Parties shall submit a Joint Status Report detailing the progress of the rolling production by April 1, 2022, and every 90 days thereafter.[6]

SO ORDERED on this 6th day of January, 2022.

https://aaronsiri.substack.com/p/instea ... ished=true

[conniption]

wt...

The 1% Code Talk 33* , Elites 99 ...... THE CODE EXPOSED ........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J0D1CAuuDg
504Cut
• Jan 6, 2022 •

[drstrangelove]

sacred numerology amongst the elites does exist. marquis de sade was obsessed with certain numbers and cabalistic pyramids. no doubt there are those of his ilk still around, seemingly in belgium at least. in western civ it probably dates back to the cult of pythagoras which was allied to the greek oligarchs, and pythagoras took his theorem along with everything else from the babylonians, possibly through orpheus.

that said, if you obsess over symbols you will see them everywhere.

[PufPuf93]

sacred numerology amongst the elites does exist. marquis de sade was obsessed with certain numbers and cabalistic pyramids. no doubt there are those of his ilk still around, seemingly in belgium at least. in western civ it probably dates back to the cult of pythagoras which was allied to the greek oligarchs, and pythagoras took his theorem along with everything else from the babylonians, possibly through orpheus.

that said, if you obsess over symbols you will see them everywhere.

I watch short videos.

Think about the thousands of newscasts that can be searched for mention of 33 or 99.

What would hit like a ton of bricks would be the specific newscasts and numbers occur simultaneously across the globe.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Botswana says some diplomats found to have Omicron variant came from Europe

GABORONE, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi said some of the four diplomats who first tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant in the country had come from Europe, calling for a reversal of widespread travel bans imposed against southern African countries.

Omicron, dubbed a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, has prompted many governments to impose curbs on travel from southern Africa, and to take other measures to contain it.

While it is still not established where Omicron first emerged, on Nov. 25 South Africa, followed by Botswana a day later, announced they had detected a new variant whose mutations were different from the dominant Delta variant.

South Africa has also complained it is being punished for having identified the new variant early.

"It is unnecessary and if you ask me, for lack of a better expression, irresponsible," Masisi said of the travel curbs, speaking in an interview with CNN on Thursday evening.

"The diplomats came from a number of countries ... and they passed through a number of countries to get to Botswana."

He declined to disclose their nationalities, only saying "some had been to Europe and some had been elsewhere". Asked if some had come from Europe into Botswana, he replied "indeed".

Botswana said last week the country was investigating certain mutations of the coronavirus that were found in four foreign nationals who were in the country on a diplomatic mission. Omicron was detected in the diplomats who travelled into country on Nov. 7 and left on Nov. 11. read more

The country has so far reported more than 20 cases of the new variant.

Presidential spokesman Batlhalefi Leagajang told Reuters on Friday that Masisi will not disclose the countries the diplomats passed through, or their countries of origin, because "the virus should never be geo-politicized."

Omicron has been reported in at least two dozen countries.

(This story has been refiled to fix variant spelling in headline)
Reporting by Brian Benza Writing by James Macharia Chege Editing by Frances Kerry

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/bo ... 021-12-03/

[Harvey]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/prime-age-mortality-up-40-percent-majority-not-covid-19_4196936.html

Prime Age Mortality up 40 Percent, Majority of Deaths Not From COVID-19

By Petr Svab, January 6, 2022 Updated: January 7, 2022


Mortality among young-to-middle-age Americans went through the roof last year. The majority of the increase didn’t involve COVID-19, according to official death certificate data.

Deaths among people aged 18 to 49 increased more than 40 percent in the 12 months ending October 2021 compared to the same period in 2018–2019, before the pandemic, based on death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That’s more than 90,000 additional deaths in this age group, of which less than 43 percent involved COVID.

The federal agency doesn’t yet have full 2021 numbers, as death certificate data usually trickle in with an 8-week lag or more.

The mortality increase was most notable for the 30–39 age group, where deaths skyrocketed by nearly 45 percent, with only a third involving COVID.

CDC data on the exact causes of those excess deaths aren’t yet available for 2021, aside from those involving COVID, pneumonia, and influenza. There were close to 6,000 excess pneumonia deaths that didn’t involve COVID-19 in the 30–39 age group in the 12 months ending October 2021. Influenza was only involved in 50 deaths in this age group, down from 550 in the same period pre-pandemic. The flu death count didn’t exclude those that also involved COVID or pneumonia, the CDC noted.

A chunk of the mortality spike could be likely explained by drug overdoses, which increased from about 72,000 in 2019 to more than 100,000 in the 12 months ending May 2021, the CDC estimated. About two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids including fentanyl that are often smuggled to the United States from China through Mexico. Overdoses involving methamphetamine or other psychostimulants also significantly increased, from fewer than 17,000 in 2019 to more than 28,000 in the 12 months ending May 2021.

For older age groups, mortality increased too. For those 50–84, it went up more than 27 percent, making for a total of more than 470,000 excess deaths. Almost four out of five of the excess deaths reportedly involved COVID.

For those 85 or older, mortality increased about 12 percent with more than 100,000 excess deaths. Given the more than 130,000 COVID-related deaths in this group, the data indicates that these people were less likely to die of a non-COVID-related cause from November 2020 to October 2021 than during the same months of 2018–2019.

Comparing 2020 to 2019, mortality increased some 24 percent for those 18–49, with less than a third of those excess deaths involving COVID. For those 50–84, it increased less than 20 percent, with over 70 percent of that involving COVID. For those even older, mortality jumped about 16 percent, with nearly 90 percent of that involving COVID.

For those under 18, mortality decreased about 0.4 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. In the 12 months ending October 2021, it decreased some 3.3 percent compared to the same period in 2018–2019.

[MacCruiskeen]

https://media.gettr.com/group5/getter/2022/01/07/17/1ed27813-8de1-89e1-7ec7-e0c40d5250af/90af1ecf133ff45a4888ae6ef730dc1d_500x0.jpg

[stickdog99]

In Iceland, 53% of the population has already gotten a booster shot.

[stickdog99]

Getting COVID-19 is how you know the vaccines are working!

[Belligerent Savant]

.

Not just the footballers (though this was clear for some time):

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2022/01/ ... o-breathe/

Tennis ace Basilashvili drops out of Sydney Cup after struggling to breathe

Tennis ace Nikoloz Basilashvili was forced to retire after struggling to breathe in his ATP Cup match in Sydney today, Wednesday 5 January. The Georgian needed treatment from a doctor during his singles match against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas and eventually, the match was abandoned.

Play was halted when Basilashvili was serving at 4-1 down in the first set. After he hit a long forehand to go 0-30 down to his Greek opponent, he left the court slowly to head towards his team area. He tried to take some deep breaths and sip on some water while he waited for the physio to attend to him.

According to people close to the bench, hand gestures made by Basilashvili suggested he was feeling tightness in his chest. The physio then waved over a second doctor to assess the situation. The tennis ace was overheard saying: “Every shot I’m out of breath”. The situation is eerily similar to how Sports Personality of The Year Emma Raducanu had to finish her spectacular Wimbledon run last year.

They also brought to mind the scenes that occurred with Sergio Aguero while playing for Barcelona that ultimately led to his retirement. During the commentary of the match, former British tennis star Colin Fleming said: This is concerning, very concerning I would say. If you feel like you can’t take any kind of deep breath at this level and this intensity, that’s an issue.”

Basilashvili left the court with his medics while his opponent kept warm by playing rallying with a teammate. Unfortunately, when the world No22 returned, he confirmed he could no longer continue and the umpire called the game. Tsitsipas said: “It’s obviously not easy playing when you are not at 100per cent. I completely understand his situation. It’s a shame.”