Societal Collapse USA – Bing
News briefing, White House COVID-19 Response Team, Dec. 17, 2021. On Thursday, President Joe Biden made a stark prediction. “For the unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death. For themselves, their family and the hospital they’ll soon overwhelm,” he said. The next day, Jeff Zients, who heads the COVID-19 response team, repeated this comment at a press briefing.
Brace yourself for “a winter of severe illness and death” is apparently the White House’s message to people who have chosen not to get vaccinated against COVID. Most people hate it. They feel it’s callous and cruel. “Not everyone is unvaccinated by choice, and immunocompromised and chronically ill people exist,” tweeted @alanasaltz. “Thanks for the victim-blaming, as always.
Maybe actually do something to help us instead?”
Critics of the statement also don’t believe it will convince people to get vaccinated. “If you wanted to make half the country hate the administration and resist its edicts and advice, it would be hard to come up with a better strategy than this,” tweeted @johnddavidson. To date, nearly three out of four Americans have reportedly received at least one dose of the vaccine. Roughly 60% are fully vaccinated. Republicans are less likely to be vaccinated than Democrats.
Experts have said that upwards of 80% or more must be vaccinated to achieve what’s known as herd immunity—though the omicron variant has caused an uptick in breakthrough cases among the vaccinated. Research has also shown that vaccinated people are unlikely to experience severe illness or die from the virus if they contract it.
Republicans had particular ire for the administration’s messaging.
“Going into the year of the midterm elections, the Biden White House has settled on its slogan. ‘A winter of severe illness and death,’” mocked Tim Murtaugh, former President Donald Trump’s communications director.
“Sounds like a winner.”
Numerous conservatives opined that the messaging invokes former President Jimmy Carter’s 1979 speech about the energy crisis. In what would be dubbed the “malaise speech,” Carter infamously implored Americans to view the energy crisis through a lens of morality, rather than as simply an issue of supply and demand. Others argued that Biden is just being honest and that there’s no need to sugarcoat it.
Biden’s Chief of Staff Ronald Klain pushed back against critics who felt “a winter of severe illness and death” was overly harsh. “The truth is the truth,” Klain tweeted. As with so much else in today’s political climate, the “winter of severe illness and death” line sparked significant debate. Biden concluded his dire warning to the unvaccinated on a more positive note. “There’s good news; if you’re vaccinated and you have your booster shot, you’re protected from severe illness and death,” he said.
The post ‘A winter of death’: Biden’s hardcore message to the unvaccinated sparks anger online appeared first on The Daily Dot.
At least 48 passengers and crew members on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas.
Royal Cruise line: the world’s largest cruise ship — have tested positive for COVID-19 and have been quarantined, the company said Monday. Of the 48 people who tested positive during the sailing, 98% were fully vaccinated. That’s not surprising, since the overall vaccination rate among the nearly 6,100 passengers and crew was already at 95%, according to Royal Caribbean, CBS News reported.
All travelers over the age of 12 had to be fully vaccinated and produce a negative test result before the voyage, according to the company. Cruise companies tightened their COVID-19 protocols this summer — requiring pre-cruise tests for everyone, not just unvaccinated passengers — when the Delta variant was surging, the Washington Post reported. Four of the 48 people who tested positive were close contacts of six passengers who disembarked earlier in the voyage, the cruise line said.
RELATED: Up to 40% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic, analysis finds
The huge ship, which boasts a nightclub, theater and more than 30 restaurants and bars, left Miami on Dec. 11 for a seven-day trip and made a handful of stops, including the Caribbean islands of St. Maarten and St. Thomas, the Post said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was aware of the Symphony of the Seas outbreak and was working with Royal Caribbean to “gather more information about the cases and possible exposures.” Officials said specimens would be taken for genetic sequencing, the Post reported.
The CDC reported last month that cruise companies had reported 1,359 cases — many involving fully vaccinated crew or passengers — on ships sailing from the United States between June 26 and Oct. 21. During that time, there were 49 hospitalizations and 38 medical evacuations due to COVID-19 or COVID-like illnesses, with one person dying after testing positive during a cruise.
RELATED: U.S. Coast Guard returns from Mexico after search for woman overboard on Carnival cruise
“The resumption of passenger voyages in the U.S. has led to the introduction and sustained transmission of COVID-19 among cruise ships, despite high vaccination rates among both crew and passengers,” the agency said in its report. Royal Caribbean said that those who tested positive on the Symphony of the Seas cruise were immediately isolated to prevent the spread of infection.
The cruise line said they were either asymptomatic or experiencing mild symptoms, the Post reported. Earlier this month, there were at least 17 passengers and crew members with COVID-19 on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship that docked in New Orleans, and the Louisiana Department of Health said at least one of the infected crew members was suspected to have the Omicron variant, CBS News reported.
48 test positive for Covid on world’s biggest cruise ship
Andy Rose and Francesca Street, CNN • Updated 20th December 2021
(CNN) — Despite stringent measures supposed to keep ocean cruises Covid-free, operator Royal Caribbean says at least 48 people on board one of its ships that docked in Miami at the weekend have tested positive for the virus.
The Symphony of the Seas, the world’s biggest cruise ship, was carrying more than 6,000 passengers and crew on a week-long journey around the Caribbean when a guest tested positive, prompting wider contact tracing, according to Royal Caribbean.
Cruise ships had been touted as the one of the “safest” vacations available backs in summer 2021 when the cruise industry restarted in the US with new Covid protocols, following an extensive pandemic shutdown.
The Symphony of the Seas was carrying 6,091 passengers and crew members. In a statement, Royal Caribbean said that a guest tested positive during the voyage, and subsequent cases were detected following contact tracing.
RELATED: Royal Caribbean announces nine-month world cruise | CNN Travel
It said 95% on board were fully vaccinated. Of the people who’ve since tested positive, 98% were fully vaccinated.
The total number of cases amounted to 0.78% of the on-board population.
It’s not yet known whether the highly infectious Omicron variant of coronavirus, currently spreading rapidly around the world, was responsible for the cases detected. Royal Caribbean rules dictate that all travelers on board a ship aged 12 and above must be fully vaccinated, and test negative before departure. The cruise line says it “strongly recommends” guests receive a booster dose prior to sailing, but this is not currently mandated.
Crew members are also required to be fully vaccinated and tested “at least once a week.”
Unvaccinated children on board Symphony of the Seas were required to show a negative PCR, and also test negative at the terminal pre-departure.
‘Mild symptoms’
Royal Caribbean says it also implements additional health and safety measures, such as enhanced cleaning. On US-based cruises, masks are now required to be worn in indoor public areas — this policy was recently updated to extend mask-wearing requirements for fully vaccinated passengers. “Each person quickly went into quarantine,” reads a Royal Caribbean statement on the Symphony of the Seas outbreak.
“Everyone who tested positive was asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and we continuously monitored their health.” Symphony of the Seas departed from Miami, Florida on December 11, stopping at Caribbean ports St. Maarten and St. Thomas, as well as Royal Caribbean’s private island, called CocoCay. The cruise line says in its statement that it disembarked six positive cases earlier in the cruise, while the other positive travelers disembarked on December 18, when the voyage came to an end.
The cruise line added that Symphony of the Seas’ future voyages weren’t impacted.
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the industry body that represents the world’s major cruise lines, said in a statement provided to CNN Travel that it was “monitoring developments related to the Omicron variant and remaining closely engaged with local and national authorities in the places where cruises sail.” CLIA said that on board protocols like testing, vaccination and mask-wearing “were designed with variants in mind.”
The association added that its member cruise lines will continue to take a “proactive approach” to responding to the pandemic as it develops.
Earlier in December, a spate of positive Covid cases were reported on board Norwegian Cruise Line Ship Breakaway, which was traveling out of New Orleans.
White House: Winter of Severe Illness and Death for Unvaccinated
by Lyndia Mischke
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
Top infectious disease officials expect a surge of COVID-19 cases after the holidays and say Omicron will soon take over as the dominant strain in the United States.
The best way to stay protected is by getting vaccinated and boosted, they say. “For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death — for yourselves, families, and the hospitals who may soon overwhelm,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said at a news briefing Friday. “We need the American people to do their part.”
The Omicron variant has been detected in at least 39 states and 75 countries, according to CDC Director Rochelle “conflict of interest” Walensky, MD.
The strain is more transmissible than the already highly infectious Delta variant, and although there was early evidence that it caused more mild disease, she said that is likely because many of those infected have been vaccinated and boosted. “Although Delta continues to circulate widely in the United States, Omicron is increasing rapidly and we expect it to become the dominant strain in the United States, as it has in other countries, in the coming weeks,” Walensky said.
The U.S. is averaging close to 1,300 deaths from COVID-19 each day. New cases, deaths, and hospitalizations are higher now than in the previous winter — before vaccines were so widely available. The New York Times reported Friday that new infections in Connecticut and Maine have grown 150% in the past 2 weeks, and Ohio and Indiana are seeing hospitalization rates nearing the worst of last winter’s surge.
Dueling reports released this week gave cause for relief and concern about Omicron. A study from South Africa released Tuesday shows lower hospitalizations during the first 3 weeks of the Omicron wave than during earlier waves from other variants. That’s the good news. The concerning news is out of the United Kingdom, where Imperial College London reported Friday that the risk of re-infection with COVID-19 from Omicron is more than 5 times as high and that cases of Omicron-based COVID-19 are doubling every 2 days.
What’s more, the study “finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection. However, hospitalization data remains very limited at this time,” researchers said. “We have no evidence that the virus itself is milder,”
Eric Topol, MD, executive vice president of Scripps Research and editor-in-chief of Medscape, WebMD’s sister site for healthcare professionals, told PBS NewsHour. “Until we have that, we have to assume that people who don’t have any protection are highly vulnerable to getting very ill.”
The White House COVID-19 team continues to urge parents and guardians to get their children vaccinated, especially in anticipation of a post-holiday spike. Walensky said the CDC’s vaccine advisory board met Thursday to continue the safety discussion about COVID-19 vaccinations in children. So far, 20 million children under 17 and 5 million under 11 have received their shots.
“Looking specifically at vaccine safety data from over 50,000 children 5-11 years old, we found no evidence of serious safety concerns,” Walensky said.
Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, MD, highlighted the importance of getting vaccinated and boosted to avoid serious disease from Delta and Omicron. “We’re in a situation where we are now facing a very important Delta surge and we are looking over our shoulder at an oncoming Omicron surge,” he said.
“The optimum protection is fully vaccinated plus a boost.”
RELATED — Ten aboard Norwegian Cruise Line ship test positive for COVID-19
For More information Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on COVID variants.
SOURCES: CBS News Washington Post. Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Sources:
COVID Cases Spike as Questions Remain About Omicron’s Threat (webmd.com)
Coronavirus: How does COVID-19 attack the human body? | UK News | Sky News
Imperial College London: “Modelling suggests rapid spread of Omicron in England but same severity as Delta.” – Bing
Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses | Imperial News | Imperial College London
Doctors and Nurses Are ‘Living in a Constant Crisis’ as Covid Fills Hospitals and Omicron Looms (worldnewsera.com)
Here’s How Much Exercise Works Best For Controlling Your Blood Pressure
Lactoferrin, diphenhydramine combination found to inhibit covid replication by 99% – NaturalNews.com
COVID Propaganda Roundup: The War on Christmas | Zero Hedge
Dan Bongino Reveals Recent Bout with Covid: ‘I Was Afraid …
I Didn’t Want to Die’
On his syndicated radio program Monday, host Dan Bongino said he got the coronavirus about a month-and-a-half ago and that he “was afraid” and “didn’t want to die.”
Listen to ♫ The Dan Bongino Show | He’s a former Secret Service Agent, former NYPD officer, and New York Times best-selling author.
Join Dan Bongino each weekday as he tackles the hottest political issues, debunking both liberal and Republican rhetoric. (iheart.com)
During The Dan Bongino Show, he said:
I’m done with this thing, like, with the pandemic. I’m going to be smart about it. I’m not stupid. I’m going to stay away from sick people. If I get sick, I’ll stay home. But, you know, I’m done with it like I’m done, I’m not going to just wait to die. I’m going to choose to embrace my life to smile a little bit and live and if I get coronavirus, which I did. I wound up getting it about a month-and-a-half ago … one month ago maybe. I’m sorry, I lose track of time. You know what, folks, it was 24-36 hours of bad news. I didn’t feel really good.
But I’m thinking to myself as this happened and now that I’ve got through it. I’m like, you know, was it really worth two years of fear? I mean, listen, I was afraid I didn’t want to get it. I had asthma I had you know, but I had this cancer thing. I don’t like that, you know, address too much, but I was afraid. I’m not going to tell you I wasn’t afraid. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.
I was afraid. I didn’t want to catch Corona. I didn’t want to die. I’ve got kids. And I thought, alright, even if there’s a one percent chance, like, that was a chance, you know, and I was a little bit afraid and then I got it. sucked for 24, 36 hours and then I was better and I’m like was that really worth two years,
I mean, of my life to worry about, really? Was it worth two years? I mean, it’s a risk-reward calculus.
Bongino, who is vaccinated, expressed that while Covid-19 is severe
diagnosis for the elderly and those with certain conditions, it should not stop life’s precious moments.
Clearly, it’s a dangerous disease for people called morbidity and people who
are older, but if you’re young and relatively healthy at least like I was even with some Covid morbidities. It wasn’t worth it. You should enjoy yourself. Don’t just wait to die. Live your life. There’s no refund, folks. There’s no do-overs. There’s no nothing. This is the only one you’ve got. Every day lost without another memory built in that your kids are going to remember a day you can never get back.
You’re never going to get back is no go.
There’s no cashback policy, there’s no, like, points for the credit card. That’s it. When the days are over it’s over. You know, I saw a movie with my daughters this weekend, watching her enjoy it. It was just watching her face and how she got lost for a while in the movie and just, you know, I can see how much he was loving it. You have no idea how rewarding those experiences are. I mean, think of all those experiences that were gone. We spend it, you know, a year a year plus, with the lockdowns on all this nonsense.
Thankfully, I live in Florida. We got a governor who said, naw, pandemic’s over. Coronavirus isn’t over. Variants aren’t over. Pandemic’s over. The pandemic now is a state of mind. The virus isn’t. I assure you it is very real.
But you are living in this pandemic I’m going to lock myself down, wait to die. That’s a state of mind. It’s the Christmas season, enjoy yourselves. Be smart. Enjoy your family and build some memories. They stay with you for a long time. Build some memories.
Dan Bongino Reveals Recent Bout with Covid:
‘I Was Afraid … I Didn’t Want to Die “ first appeared on Mediaite.
On December 14th, 2021, Nature Medicine released a study based on a
broad population data set analyzed by researchers at Oxford University. Of the 38,615,491 vaccinated individuals included in our study, 385,508 (1.0%) were admitted to hospital with or died from cardiac arrhythmia at any time in the study period (either before or after vaccination);
OXFORD STUDY SHOCKER: 1 in 100 Vaccinated Individuals Were Admitted to Hospital or Died with Arrhythmia During Study Period (thegatewaypundit.com)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01630-0
“Our findings are relevant to the public, clinicians and policy makers.
First, there was an increase in the risk of myocarditis within a week of receiving the first dose of both adenovirus and mRNA vaccines, and a higher increased risk after the second dose of both mRNA vaccines. In contrast, we found no evidence of an increase in the risk of pericarditis or cardiac arrhythmias following vaccination, except in the 1–28 days following a second dose of the mRNA-1273 vaccine.
Second, in the same population, there was a greater risk of myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia following SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Third, the increased risk of myocarditis after vaccination was higher in
persons aged under 40 years. We estimated extra myocarditis events to be between 1 and 10 per million persons in the month following vaccination, which was substantially lower than the 40 extra events per million persons observed following SARS-CoV-2 infection. “
….
RESIST—your life very literally depends on it – YouTube
“In summary, this population-based study quantifies for the first time the risk of several rare cardiac adverse events associated with three COVID-19 vaccines as well as SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vaccination for SARS-CoV-2 in adults was associated with a small increase in the risk of myocarditis within a week of receiving the first dose of both adenovirus and mRNA vaccines, and after the second dose of both mRNA vaccines. By contrast, SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a substantial increase in the risk of hospitalization or death from myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia. “
The Queen guitarist, 74, Brian May battling ‘horrible’ Covid-19 (msn.com)
COVID Live – Coronavirus Statistics – Worldometer (worldometers.info)
Coronavirus United States – live map tracker from Microsoft Bing
Zarathustra Seminar – Bing video