Tag Archives: #VaccineMandates

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A ‘crime’ created by government I hope that they get away with it!

As we noted on January 30th, two nurses in Amityville, New York were arrested for selling faked COVID-19 vaccination cards. The failure of the government to persuade everybody to take the COVID-19 vaccines voluntarily has led to the coercive measures of vaccine mandates and the wholly repugnant notion of “Ve need to see your papers.” And, just like every other such thing, some people try to get around these things. I only wish that the nurses charged had gotten away with it!

Now comes this story out of the City of Brotherly Love, which has its own vaccine mandates, for many jobs, to dine indoors at a restaurant, and other things. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

    Police investigating theft of vaccination cards from Penn Medicine clinic in Center City

    The cards and N95 masks were taken from a clinic storage room at 245 S. 8th St., police said.

    by Robert Moran | Thursday, February 3, 2022

    Philadelphia police said Thursday night that they are investigating the theft of COVID-19 vaccination cards and N95 masks from a Penn Medicine clinic in Center City.

    The confirmation of the investigation came after KYW News Radio reported that 5,000 cards had been taken from Pennsylvania Hospital, which is run by Penn Medicine.

    Police, in a summary of the theft report, said the actual number of cards stolen was unknown.

    A spokesperson for Penn Medicine said in a statement: “Safety and security are top priorities in all of our facilities. When this issue was discovered, we promptly reported it to the Philadelphia police and are cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation.”

There’s a bit more at the link. It looks like an inside job, in that there was no sign of forced entry, and all staffers had access to the storage room.

This really can’t be a surprise. As we reported on Thursday, the officious petit dictators who run Philadelphia aren’t planning on dropping COVID-19 restrictions for months, which only creates more incentive for people to want fraudulent vaccination cards. While employers enforcing a vaccine mandate might check the cards more carefully, no one can reasonably expect a hostess at a Philadelphia restaurant trying to enforce the vaccine mandate for indoor dining to give more than a cursory glance at a card someone presents for entry.

How many times have such thefts occurred? In reality, I don’t see the need, because anyone with a good scanner and printer can simply print up the cards himself! He’d need the heavier paper on which they are printed, but that’s readily available at any Office Despot Depot. Counterfeiting these cards is just not that difficult, and actually stealing them from the clinic adds risk to the enterprise.

This is a ‘crime’ created by the government! If it were not for the vaccine mandates, there’d be no need for faked vaccination cards. Given that the vaccines neither prevent infection by the current Xi Omicron variant, nor reduce the transmissibility of the virus from a vaccinated person, the rationale for a vaccine mandate simply does not exist, save in the minds of those who love exercising unbridled power. More, the face masks most people use just don’t stop Omicron, and the so-called experts recommend a N-95 mask, which are only effective if properly fitted, which is impossible for most men who wear beards, meaning that the stupid mask mandates are also unjustifiable.

How many of these faked vaccination cards are out there? We don’t know, but the answer is obviously larger than zero, probably much larger than zero. Some people are going to get caught at this, but I hope that the number who do get caught is very, very low, and the number of people who get away with these forgeries is very, very large. This is not the way I would choose to fight government tyranny — even though vaccinated, I refuse to carry my vaccination card to yield to the officious little pricks demanding, “Papiere, bitte” — but I recognize that, for some people, it’s necessary.

The United States exist because Americans refused to yield to tyranny; that spirit still exists in our great land!

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It doesn’t matter if Omicron is waning: Philadelphia’s tinpot dictators want to keep #COVID19 restrictions in place for months!

The news was certainly appreciated when we learned that Denmark was ending all COVID-19 restrictions:

    Denmark has lifted all Covid-19 restrictions within the country, with coronavirus no longer considered a “socially critical sickness,” according to the government.

    This means that an indoor mask mandate, the use of a “Covid pass” for bars, restaurants and other indoor venues, and the legal obligation to self-isolate if you test positive are all ending.

    “No one can know what will happen next December. But we promised the citizens of Denmark that we will only have restrictions if they are truly necessary and we’ll lift them as soon as we can,” Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told CNN on Monday. “That’s what’s happening right now.”

    Denmark is the first country in the European Union to lift all restrictions. The move comes at a time when it has the second-highest infection rate, or seven-day average of new infections, of any nation in the world, according to Our World in Data.

There’s more at the original.

Denmark does have a high vaccination rate, 81% being “fully vaccinated,” though the story does not specify what percentage have received the booster. Denmark has no vaccine mandate.

Sadly, here in the United States, supposedly the beacon of freedom in the world, we have too many petit dictators who just love them some authoritarian controls. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

    Lifting COVID-19 mandates likely still ‘several months away’ in Philadelphia as omicron recedes

    “Our team is actively discussing what an off-ramp looks like,” the city health commissioner said.

    by Justine McDaniel and Erin McCarthy | Groundhog Day, February 2, 2022

    Philadelphia is likely “several months” away from being able to drop its current pandemic restrictions, even as the omicron surge wanes, Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said Wednesday.

    City officials hope to drop the indoor mask mandate eventually, but it’s too early to do so now, Bettigole said at a virtual briefing Wednesday, citing much-improved but still-high case and hospitalization numbers.

    However, officials have begun discussing plans for easing restrictions and providing guidance to residents once the pandemic relents. The city will also consider when to eliminate the vaccine mandate for indoor dining at restaurants, which Bettigole said would not be permanent.

Cheryl Bettigole, from BillyPenn.

At this point in writing an article, I would normally consider adding an illustration, the photo of Cheryl Bettigole, Philadelphia’s Health Commissioner. In previous articles, I used the photo from Dr Bettigole’s Twitter account, but, alas! she went ahead and deleted it. I wonder if perhaps, just perhaps, she was getting too many people calling her a petit dictator. When I found another photo, it let me know one thing: the one she used in her now-defunct Twitter account was definitely a much younger, glammed up photo!

    “Our team is actively discussing what an off-ramp looks like,” Bettigole said when asked about easing restrictions. “If you think about where we are with this particular wave and case rates right now, we’re probably several months away from a place where we will have the kind of safety to drop all the current restrictions.”

    With the surge rapidly declining but transmission levels still categorized as high, public health officials nationwide are urging continued caution for now — while saying optimism is warranted as the spring looks likely to bring at least a period of relief.

A period of relief? What they are saying is simple: at least for the Xi Omicron variant, COVID-19 is a seasonal disease, like influenza.

    In New Jersey, the rate of COVID-19 transmission is the lowest it has been in several weeks, Gov. Phil Murphy said.

    “Trends that we are seeing across literally all metrics continue to suggest the omicron tsunami, as fast as it washed in, is washing out at nearly the same speed,” the governor said. Still, “we have to remain on a vigilant footing.”

    The average daily new case count has dropped 70% in New Jersey and 57% in Pennsylvania over the last two weeks, according to federal data analyzed by the New York Times. Still, more than 10,000 new cases are being reported each day in Pennsylvania and more than 5,000 in New Jersey.

Vaccinations remain slow, for a simple reason: the people who wanted to take the vaccines had already done so, and the people who resisted have mostly still resisted; only dictatorial action, mandating vaccination, with the cost of non-compliance being job loss or being unable to participate in society, has pushed some of the reluctant to take the vaccines.[1]Yes, I am fully vaccinated, and boostered, but that was my choice, and I absolutely refuse to carry my vaccination card with me, to yield to the officious little pricks demanding, “Papiere, … Continue reading And we already know: the vaccines do not stop the spread of the Omicron variant, and they do not reduce the transmissibility of Omicron from vaccinated people. More, the face masks most people use just don’t stop Omicron, and the so-called experts recommend a N-95 mask.

Click to enlarge.

Of course, many, and perhaps even most, men now wear beards, and the Centers for Disease Control issued a chart for which facial hair styles will and will not allow an N-95 mask to properly seal! I shall admit to previous ignorance of the names attached to various styles of beards.

With my full beard, an N-95 would not work for me, so I have to ask: would Dr Bettigole and the rest of the tinpot dictators in the City of Brotherly Love try to require men to shave off their beards to wear properly the recommended N-95 mask? That would seem silly, but I put nothing beyond these drunk-with-power bureaucrats.

Fortunately, I no longer live in the Keystone State, but I am constantly amazed at the number of people yielding to dictatorship, who give up some of their essential liberty to purchase a bit of temporary safety.

References

References
↑1 Yes, I am fully vaccinated, and boostered, but that was my choice, and I absolutely refuse to carry my vaccination card with me, to yield to the officious little pricks demanding, “Papiere, bitte.”
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This is hardly a surprise: #VaccineMandates lead to people trying to get around them

The failure of the government to persuade everybody to take the COVID-19 vaccines has led to the coercive measures of vaccine mandates and the wholly repugnant notion of “Ve need to see your papers.” And, just like every other such thing, some people try to get around these things. I only wish that these two had gotten away with this!

    Two New York nurses charged with making $1.5 million off fake vaccination cards

    Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said the nurses charged $220 for adults and $85 for children.

    by The Associated Press | Saturday, January 29, 2022

    AMITYVILLE, N.Y. — Two nurses on Long Island are accused of forging COVID-19 vaccination cards and pocketing more than $1.5 million from the scheme, prosecutors and police said.

    Julie DeVuono, the owner of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville, and her employee, Marissa Urraro, are both charged with felony forgery, and DeVuono also is charged with offering a false instrument for filing. Both were arraigned Friday.

Further down:

    Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said DeVuono and Urraro handed out fake vaccination cards, charging $220 for adults and $85 for children. DeVuono, a nurse practitioner, and Urraro, a licensed practical nurse, entered the false information into the state’s immunization database, he said.

    Prosecutors said the nurses forged a fake card showing a vaccine was given to an undercover detective but never administered the vaccine to the detective.

There’s more at the original.

It’s simple: the government, including New York City, New York state, and the Biden Administration, pushed mandates which required people to get vaccinations and show proof to keep their jobs or go into some public facilities. They weren’t the only ones, as many places run by Democrats, including the city of Philadelphia, have done the same. I can only be thankful that the Kentucky General Assembly stripped Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) of any authority to do the same, or he’d have tried it locally.

Obviously there were suspicions about this, given that the Staatspolizei sent an undercover detective. I can only hope that there are more, many more, people engaged in the same enterprise who have not been detected, who are getting away with it.

The vaccines are a good thing, and I think everyone who is eligible should take them. But forcing people to take them is a wholly bad, unwarranted, and unconstitutional infringement on our individual liberties.

The nurses allegedly “entered the false information into the state’s immunization database,” the story reported. The first problem is that there even is a state immunization database, that the state is keeping track of people’s private medical records.

The second is that you just know that the Staatspolizei will be going through that database, pulling out the records of everyone who is noted as having receive the vaccine from the two suspects, and then chasing them down, to see who scammed the system. It’s very probable that the Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare clinic did administer the vaccines in cases where people wanted them, and those who were actually vaccinated will be considered suspects as well. There is at least one blood test which can detect if someone has the COVID antibodies the vaccines are supposed to generate, but, since the vaccines lose effectiveness after several months, it is entirely possible that someone who was legitimately vaccinated several months ago might test negative for the antibodies, and that could lead to people who were legitimately being vaccinated nevertheless being charged with some sort of fraud if the Reichssicherheitshauptamt decides to go after the people who got faked cards.

If there’s a legal defense fund for these two nurses, I shall contribute to it!

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Wir müssen Ihre Dokumente sehen!

Despite the fact that the COVID-19 vaccines appear to have little, if any, effect in reducing the transmissibility of the virus, especially the Omicron variant, the tinhorn dictators want to separate people from each other, want to impose restrictions on a segment of the population who haven’t Obeyed Orders. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

    A new vaccine mandate is poised to impact Philadelphia’s restaurants next week

    How restaurant owners can prepare for new vaccine mandate rules in the new year.

    by Gene Marks | Tuesday, December 28, 2021 | 12:24 PM EST

    Starting Jan. 3 indoor eateries in Philadelphia will be required to see proof from patrons of vaccination against COVID-19.

    The rule doesn’t fully take effect immediately. Through Jan. 17, restaurants can choose to accept a negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours of entry instead of proof of vaccination. But after that date, only proof of vaccination will be acceptable.

I am, as I have stated previously, both fully vaccinated and have taken the booster shot, though the booster was not recorded when I took the photo of my vaccination record for this site. It is on my card now.

But I absolutely refuse to carry this vaccination record with me! I got vaccinated for my own protection, something wise since my wife is a hospital nurse who sometimes takes care of COVID patients, but I will not comply with the petty little bureaucrats who say, “Wir müssen Ihre Dokumente sehen!” “Ve need to see your papers!” The business which makes such a demand of me will not only not see my papers, but will never, ever, get a single penny from me.

Maybe that’s easy for me, here in the Bluegrass State, where we aren’t seeing such stupidity. I have already noted that while Kroger KR: (%) has masking requirements to enter its stores, most people ignore the signs, or at least the requirements, and shop without putting on a face diaper.

We’re now being told that cloth face masks are ineffective anyway, so the face mask requirements, which Kentuckians have naturally seen as ineffective anyway, are ridiculous.

    The rule also applies to employees. A restaurant’s staff as well as young patrons ages 5 to 11 will be required to have one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by Jan. 3 and to complete the series by Feb. 3. Exemptions apply to children under age 5, people with medical reasons and those with religious objections.

    Just about every establishment that serves food and/or drink will be affected by this rule, from cafes, bars and sports venues to movies theaters, bowling alleys, and food halls.Obviously, these new rules will add another strain on local restaurants that are already grappling with existing mandates, rising prices, and shortages of supplies and labor.And while these rules extend only to indoor dining, concerns have been raised that they will go into effect before new legislation can make permanent the outdoor dining structures that have sprung up during the pandemic.

So, Philadelphians are going to have to carry their supposedly private medical records with them if they want to eat indoors at a restaurant — and who wants to eat outdoors, in Philadelphia, in January and February — even though the Omicron variant, which is fast becoming, if it has not already become, the dominant variant in the United States, seems to slide past the vaccines with virtually no reduction in transmissibility.

Mayor Jim Kenney (D-Philadelphia) and Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole cannot be unaware of those statistics, and those facts, but they certainly do love them some authoritarian power, and are choosing to exercise it, as much as they can, without any reason to do so. If the vaccines do not reduce transmission, then there is no reason whatsoever to put in place vaccine mandates. If the vaccines do not reduce transmissibility, but only help to reduce the severity of symptoms for those who contract the virus, then the only people put at greater risk of serious illness are those who choose not to get vaccinated. At that point, it’s their risk, and their risk alone. If masks do not reduce the transmissibility, then there is no reason to require masks; there is no greater danger to the public from those who don’t wear masks than from those who do.

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As evidence mounts that the vaccines do not stop the spread of the virus, some people want to double down on #VaccineMandates

It seems that employers have been struggling with the vaccine mandates, but there’s an underlying, unwritten message in this. From The New York Times, not exactly an evil reich-wing source:

    Whiplash on U.S. Vaccine Mandate Leaves Employers ‘Totally Confused’

    Companies are struggling to figure out what to do as legal battles and rising Covid cases complicate their plans. Even up in the air: What does “fully vaccinated” mean?

    By Lauren Hirsch, Emma Goldberg and Charlie Savage | Monday, December 20, 2021 | 6:50 AM EST

    The marching orders from the Biden administration in November had seemed clear — large employers were to get their workers fully vaccinated by early next year, or make sure the workers were tested weekly. But a little over a month later, the Labor Department’s vaccine rule has been swept into confusion and uncertainty by legal battles, shifting deadlines and rising Covid case counts that throw the very definition of fully vaccinated into question.

    The spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has seemingly bolstered the government’s argument, at the heart of its legal battle over the rule, that the virus remains a grave threat to workers. But the recent surge in cases has raised the issue of whether the government will take its requirements further — even as the original rule remains contentious — and ask employers to mandate booster shots, too. The country’s testing capacity has also been strained, adding to concerns that companies will be unable to meet the rule’s testing requirements.

    “My clients are totally confused as, quite frankly, am I,” Erin McLaughlin, a labor and employment lawyer at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, said on Saturday. “My sense is that there are a lot of employers scrambling to try and put their mandate programs in place.”

    No company has been spared the whirlwind of changes in the last week, set off by the spike in Covid cases that have, in some instances, cut into their work forces. Then on Friday, an appeals court lifted the legal block on the vaccine rule, though appeals to the ruling were immediately filed, leaving the rule’s legal status up in the air. On Saturday, hours after the appeals court ruling, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration urged employers to start working to get in compliance. But OSHA also gave employers some leeway, pushing back full enforcement of the rule until February, recognizing that for all its best intentions the rollout of the rule has been muddled.

There’s a lot more at the original, but the unwritten part is simple, and obvious: most employers don’t want to impose a mandate on their workers, not because they don’t believe in the effectiveness of the vaccines — most probably do — but because they don’t want to discipline or terminate workers who refuse. Businesses are already having problems finding workers, and losing some of those they have can seriously hurt production, and the bottom line.

The truth is simple: the vaccines have been freely available to everyone for about ten months now, and virtually every medium has been telling us about the availability. Politicians and business leaders and community activists and your neighborhood Karens have all been imploring people to get vaccinated. The number of Americans who haven’t heard the messages has to be vanishingly small. Those who want to get vaccinated have already done so; those who haven’t gotten vaccinated are almost universally those who do not want to get vaccinated.

The resistance is only getting stronger: as the government pushes harder to try to force the reluctant to get vaccinated, those who do not want to take the vaccines are pushing back harder as well. As William Teach noted, Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) is now pushing legislation which would mandate a booster shot as well as the initial two-shot vaccine to be considered ‘fully vaccinated.’

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced during a press conference on Thursday that she is planning to introduce legislation that includes a booster shot within the definition of being “fully vaccinated.”

    While the Democratic governor noted that the legislation needed to be more fleshed out and required more data to be collected, she signaled the change would happen eventually, saying that “at some point, we have to determine that fully vaccinated means boosted as well,” CNY Central reported.

    Hochul’s remarks come as the country begins to see an uptick of COVID-19 cases again and as health officials grapple with the spread of the omicron variant, which President Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci warned on Thursday would likely be the dominant strain in “a few weeks.”

Also from The New York Times:

    A growing body of preliminary research suggests the Covid vaccines used in most of the world offer almost no defense against becoming infected by the highly contagious Omicron variant.

    All vaccines still seem to provide a significant degree of protection against serious illness from Omicron, which is the most crucial goal. But only the Pfizer and Moderna shots, when reinforced by a booster, appear to have initial success at stopping infections, and these vaccines are unavailable in most of the world.

    The other shots — including those from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and vaccines manufactured in China and Russia — do little to nothing to stop the spread of Omicron, early research shows. And because most countries have built their inoculation programs around these vaccines, the gap could have a profound impact on the course of the pandemic.

    A global surge of infections in a world where billions of people remain unvaccinated not only threatens the health of vulnerable individuals but also increases the opportunity for the emergence of yet more variants. The disparity in the ability of countries to weather the pandemic will almost certainly deepen. And the news about limited vaccine efficacy against Omicron infection could depress demand for vaccination throughout the developing world, where many people are already hesitant or preoccupied with other health problems.

But here’s the money line:

    Most evidence so far is based on laboratory experiments, which do not capture the full range of the body’s immune response, and not from tracking the effect on real-world populations. The results are striking, however.

So, there seems to be little or no effectiveness against transmission by any vaccines other than Pfizer and Moderna, and only if reinforced by the booster, and their effectiveness is based only on laboratory studies, not real-world data. Employers wanting to see more of their workforce vaccinated are having to deal with reality: reluctance on the part of some employees, a tight labor market, and data which show that getting vaccinated provides less protection from spreading the virus than we were originally told.

This is the conundrum: if the vaccines lessen the effects on those who contract the virus, but don’t seem to offer much protection from spreading the virus, the ‘logic’ for mandating vaccination vanishes. If getting vaccinated does not mean you can’t contract and spread the virus to others, choosing not to get vaccinated is a decision which only affects the person choosing not to get vaccinated!

I’ve said it before: I am vaccinated, and I took the booster shot as well. I think that’s the wiser choice, and I am perfectly willing to say that to anyone who asks. But it is none of my business, nor should it be the government’s business, nor the employer’s business, as to what other people choose to do.

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97% of NBA players are vaccinated, yet the league is losing players to positive tests.

The players in the National Basketball Association are among the strongest and in best physical condition people on the planet. As we have previously noted, the Philadelphia 76ers all-star center, Joel Embiid, who was fully vaccinated, went out of action in early November due to a positive test for COVID-19, and he later said that he was so ill that he wondered if he was going to survive. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was fully vaccinated, missed a week due to a positive test.

Nowe there’s this:

    After last month’s outbreak, Sixers now watch as NBA deals with latest COVID-19 wave

    As of Thursday night, nearly 70 players league-wide had been put in health and safety protocols this season, including 52 in December.

    by Gina Mizell | Friday, December 17, 2021

    NEW YORK — The number of Twitter notifications peppering Joel Embiid’s cellphone recently have been comparable to those of draft night, the star big man said.

    Except the reason for the constant news-breaking is grim, not celebratory.

    The Sixers were the first NBA team to experience a major COVID-19 outbreak this season, when four players including Embiid were in health and safety protocols from Nov. 1 until Thanksgiving. Now, those players are watching as the virus’ wave takes hold across the league.

    “At this point, it’s kind of turned into a bit of a joke,” third-year wing Matisse Thybulle added. “You just see Woj [ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski] and almost every other tweet, it’s another player in [protocols]. Yeah, it’s kind of frightening.”

    As of Thursday night, nearly 70 players league-wide had been put in health and safety protocols this season, including 52 in December. That growing number has overshadowed this week’s games, including Philly’s 114-105 loss in Brooklyn to a Nets team without seven players, including superstar James Harden.

Further down came the money line:

    For a league that is 97% vaccinated, the vast majority of the positive tests are breakthrough cases.

In the National Football League, 96% of the players are vaccinated, but the Philadelphia Eagles are having their Sunday game postponed until Tuesday, because their scheduled opponent, the Washington Redskins Football Team, has had an outbreak of positive tests.

It’s become very clear: the vaccines simply do not prevent a person from contracting the virus. Denmark and Norway have just reported positive cases for the Xi Omicron variant among the fully vaccinated are almost the same as the percentage of the population who are fully vaccinated.

Getting vaccinated is wise, in that it seems to lessen the symptoms in those who do contract the virus, but as far as keeping people from contracting it in the first place? The evidence for that doesn’t seem very strong.

And that blows the rationale for vaccine mandates out of the water. If the vaccines don’t prevent you from contracting the virus, or prevent you from spreading it to others, and the only seemingly real effect is to lessen symptoms for the individual, then it’s the individual’s choice as to whether he wants to risk it. It’s on him, and nobody else.

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You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to note that actual conspirators wouldn’t do anything differently

I noted yesterday, in a comment on The Pirate’s Cove, that The New York Times, not exactly an evil reich-wing source, that Denmark and Norway have reported that the positivity rate in testing for the Xi Omicron variant is virtually the same as the percentage of the population which are fully vaccinated. Statistically speaking, full vaccination status appears to convey close to zero resistance to contracting the Omicron variant:

    Denmark and Norway Predict Drastic Spike in Omicron Cases

    Health authorities in Europe are warning of a sharp increase in Omicron cases, adding to an existing surge from the Delta variant.

    By Carl Zimmer and Emily Anthes | December 13, 2021

    Public health authorities in Denmark and Norway on Monday released grim projections for the coming wave of the Omicron coronavirus variant, predicting that it will dominate both countries in a matter of days. Although scientists don’t yet know how often the variant causes severe disease, they say its rapid rate of spread will lead to an explosion of cases and could potentially increase pressure on hospitals, even if it proves to be mild.

    The reports follow similarly worrisome findings from England released over the weekend, although researchers caution that the trend could change as the variant comes into clearer view. It’s not yet certain how often Omicron infections will send people to the hospital, or how many hospitalized patients are likely to die. And while Omicron can partly evade immune defenses, researchers have yet to determine how well vaccinations and previous infections will protect people against severe disease.

    The authors of both new reports also observed that swift actions now, such as booster campaigns and reducing opportunities for Omicron to spread, could lessen the variant’s impact.

    American researchers have yet to release models of Omicron’s rise in the United States. But experts point out that the country is similar to Norway and Denmark in terms of vaccination levels and certain Covid risk factors, like the average age of the population.

Further down:

    In the report released on Monday by the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, researchers estimated that Omicron cases in Denmark were doubling every two days. Omicron is spreading much faster than Delta, which means that the new variant will become dominant by midweek, the report found.

    Three-quarters of the Omicron cases are in people who have received two vaccine doses, which is about the same fraction of the entire country that’s fully vaccinated. That high percentage indicates that vaccines are providing little protection from infection, though most scientists believe that the shots will still fend off severe disease and death.

    The Danish data are consistent with a smaller report of Omicron infections in the United States. Out of 43 documented cases, 34 — or about 79 percent — were people who were fully vaccinated.

    “This thing can spread, and it can spread whether or not you were vaccinated,” Christina Ramirez, a biostatistician at the University of California, Los Angeles, said.

    In England, researchers also found that full vaccination provided low protection against a breakthrough infection. But they found that booster shots restored defenses to much higher levels.

There’s more at the original. Now comes The Washington Post:

    Omicron spreading rapidly in U.S. and could bring punishing wave as soon as January, CDC warns

    But federal and some pharmaceutical executives signal they do not currently favor revising vaccines, saying existing regimen plus boosters are effective

    By Lena H. Sun, Joel Achenbach, Laurie McGinley, and Tyler Pager | Tuesday, December 14, 2021 | 3:08 PM EST | Updated: 8:02 PM EDT

    Top federal health officials warned in a briefing Tuesday morning that the omicron variant is rapidly spreading in the United States and could peak in a massive wave of infections as soon as January, according to new modeling analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The prevalence of omicron jumped sevenfold in a single week, according to the CDC, and at such a pace, the highly mutated variant of the coronavirus could ratchet up pressure on a health system already strained in many places as the delta variant continues its own surge.

    The warning of an imminent surge came even as federal officials and some pharmaceutical executives signaled that they don’t currently favor creating an omicron-specific vaccine. Based on the data so far, they say that existing vaccines plus a booster shot are an effective weapon against omicron.

    The CDC briefing Tuesday detailed two scenarios for how the omicron variant may spread through the country. The worst-case scenario has spooked top health officials, who fear that a fresh wave, layered on top of delta and influenza cases in what one described as “a triple whammy,” could overwhelm health systems and devastate communities, particularly those with low vaccination rates.

    “I’m a lot more alarmed. I’m worried,” said Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, who participated in the call. The CDC, normally cautious in its messaging, told the public health officials that “we got to get people ready for this,” he said.

    He noted that the omicron surge, if it materializes as forecast, would be taking place as delta continues its onslaught and during the time of year when influenza cases often peak.

Not noted here is that flu season was mostly skipped last winter, attributed to the coronavirus restrictions.

    Officials stress that early data shows that individuals who are fully vaccinated and received a booster shot remain largely protected against severe illness and death from omicron. But they worry about how few Americans have been boosted to date. Over 55 million people in the United States have gotten the additional shots, out of 200 million who are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

There’s more at the original, but you can count on several things:

Israel has already required that booster to be considered fully vaccinated.

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to note that if there was an actual conspiracy to more greatly subjugate the population to greater government control, the conspirators wouldn’t do much differently than is already being done.

The vaccines weren’t doing that great a job in preventing COVID-19 infections, though they did seem to reduce the seriousness of associated illnesses. Now they seem to be doing nothing to stop the Xi Omicron variant from infecting people, and it may be that Omicron may be less virulent anyway.

My whole family have taken the vaccines, and my wife — who is a hospital RN — and I have taken the boosters as well. To us, that’s a wise decision. But my thinking that it’s a wise decision does not mean that I in any way approve of mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and vaccine passports; preventative measures should be voluntary, up to individuals, and not the government. ‘It’s for our own good’ is not, and never has been, a reason for people to surrender their rights.

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A few news items about excess government power

Lexington Catholic High School will drop its mandatory mask mandate:

    Beginning January 10, 2022, Lexington Catholic High School will switch to a mask “optional” COVID policy for all students and staff, principal Matthew George told families in a letter this week.

    “Lexington Catholic will closely monitor the health and safety of everyone in our building and throughout our community. Optional masking may be suspended at any time if the need arises and return to mandatory masking,” George said.

    For the short term, Catholic Diocese of Lexington Bishop John Stowe has extended the mask mandate through January 7, 2022.

More at this link.

This story was published on Friday, November 26th, so with the new panic over the Omicron variant, who knows if the mask mandate will actually be lifted. Even if the principal decides that it should, Bishop John Stowe could, and my guess is probably would, override it. There is no statewide mask mandate in Kentucky, because the General Assembly greatly restricted the Governor’s ’emergency’ authority under KRS 39A.

    Judge in Ky. blocks federal contractor vaccine mandate, granting AG Cameron’s request

    By Austin Horn | Tuesday, November 30, 2021 | 3:42 PM EST | Updated: 5:31 PM EST

    A federal judge in Kentucky issued a preliminary injunction effectively blocking implementation of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal government contractors and subcontractors on Tuesday.

    U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, who serves the Eastern District of Kentucky, issued the opinion and order Tuesday afternoon. It came in response to a challenge from Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who joined many other state attorneys general in challenging the mandate.

    “This is not a case about whether vaccines are effective. They are,” Van Tatenhove wrote. “Nor is this a case about whether the government, at some level, and in some circumstances, can require citizens to obtain vaccines. It can.”

There’s more at the original. Judge Tatenhove’s ruling was on very narrow grounds, that the vaccine orders were not properly issued:

    One key argument of the U.S. government that received some pushback was President Biden’s use of a procurement statute to justify the mandate for contractors and subcontractors. Van Tatenhove wrote that “even for a good cause” like limiting the spread of COVID-19, Biden could not go beyond his congressionally delegated authority in implementing the statute.

    “It strains credulity that Congress intended… a procurement statute to be the basis for promulgating a public health measure such as mandatory vaccination,” Van Tatenhove wrote. “If a vaccination mandate has a close enough nexus to economy and efficiency in federal procurement, then the statute could be used to enact virtually any measure at the president’s whim under the guise of economy and efficiency.”

Sadly, things are worse in the Keystone State:

    Pennsylvania’s school-mask mandate will stay in place for now, state Supreme Court says

    The court granted a request from Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to keep the mandate in place while it appeals a lower court ruling striking down the requirement.

    by Maddie Hanna | Tuesday, November 30, 2021

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said Tuesday that the state’s school-mask mandate can remain in place at least for the next week while Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration appeals a lower-court ruling striking down the requirement.

    The order followed a request from Wolf’s administration to keep the mandate in place while it appeals the Commonwealth Court ruling that faulted the state Health Department for how it imposed the requirement.

    Siding with Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R., Centre) and other parents, the Commonwealth Court said Nov. 10 that acting Health Secretary Alison Beam had overstepped her authority in ordering masking at the start of the school year by failing to follow the state’s procedures for implementing new regulations. The court later set Dec. 4 as the day for the mandate to be lifted, an action sought by Corman.

    The state’s highest court said the mandate could stay in effect pending consideration of the appeal, which is scheduled for oral arguments Dec. 8. “Nothing in this order shall be construed as a position regarding the merits of this appeal,” the court said.

    Had the mandate expired Saturday, school districts would have faced the decision of whether to require masking. Some, including Philadelphia, have indicated no immediate plans to lift masking, though mandates have remained a fraught topic in a number of area communities.

    Wolf said earlier this month that he expected to lift the state mandate Jan. 17. That announcement came prior to the Commonwealth Court ruling.

One of us is absolutely certain that Governor Wolf would have found some reason not to lift the order on schedule. Let’s face it: Democratic politicians just love to order people around!

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CDC doctor says that achieving ‘herd immunity’ is unlikely even with universal vaccination

The vaccinated Joel Embiid is out for the 76ers due to a positive test. Quarterback Ben Roethlisburger, who is fully vaccinated, is out today for the Pittsburgh Steelers due to COVID-19. Yet somehow, while everyone is trashing Aaron Rodgers, no one seems to note that fully vaccinated players are also testing positive. Now, the CDC are saying that ‘herd immunity’ is not an achievable goal:

The prospects for meeting a clear herd-immunity target are “very complicated,” said Dr Jefferson Jones, a medical officer on the CDC’s COVID-19 Epidemiology Task Force.

“Thinking that we’ll be able to achieve some kind of threshold where there’ll be no more transmission of infections may not be possible,” Jones acknowledged last week to members of a panel that advises the CDC on vaccines.

Vaccines have been quite effective at preventing cases of COVID-19 that lead to severe illness and death, but none has proved reliable at blocking transmission of the virus, Jones noted. Recent evidence has also made clear that the immunity provided by vaccines can wane in a matter of months.

The result is that even if vaccination were universal, the coronavirus would probably continue to spread.

“We would discourage” thinking in terms of “a strict goal,” he said.

If such is the case, vaccination appears to be personally useful, but its societal usage is questionable. If none have proven “reliable at blocking transmission of the virus,” what is the justification for compelling vaccination? At this point, choosing not to get vaccinated puts an individual at greater danger, but it’s a danger for himself, without being a proven greater danger to others.