Written by Steven Hansen
The U.S. new cases 7-day rolling average are 28.9 % LOWER than the 7-day rolling average one week ago and U.S. deaths due to coronavirus are now 34.4 % LOWER than the rolling average one week ago. Today’s posts include:
- U.S. Coronavirus New Cases are 22,260
- U.S. Coronavirus deaths are at 519
- U.S. Coronavirus immunizations have been administered to 88.2 doses per 100 people.
- The 7-day rolling average rate of growth of the pandemic shows new cases were little changed and deaths improved
- Highly contagious India COVID variant spreading rapidly in the US
- Delta variant identified in India spreads to 62 countries, hot spots form in Asia and Africa, WHO
- FDA document reveals 86% of children who participated in Pfizer covid vaccine trial experienced adverse reactions
- New Antibody Drug Keeps Mild COVID-19 From Worsening
- Coronavirus strain associated with dogs found in humans
- COVID-19 can infiltrate insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, study suggests
- At-home COVID-19 tests: How good are they?
- A man in China is found to have H10N3 bird flu, a reminder of continued ‘concern for pandemic flu.
- An Online Lender Gave Hundreds of PPP Loans to Fake Farms. Now Congress Is Investigating
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Hospitalizations Are The Only Accurate Gauge
Hospitalizations historically appear to be little affected by weekends or holidays. The hospitalization growth rate trend continues to improve.
source: https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/covidnet/COVID19_3.html
Historically, hospitalization growth follows new case growth by one to two weeks.
As an analyst, I use the rate of growth to determine the trend. But, the size of the pandemic is growing in terms of real numbers – and if the rate of growth does not become negative – the pandemic will overwhelm all resources.
The graph below shows the rate of growth relative to the growth a week earlier updated through today [note that negative numbers mean the rolling averages are LOWER than the rolling averages one week ago]. As one can see, the rate of growth for new cases peaked in early December 2020 for Thanksgiving, and early January 2021 for end-of-year holidays – and it now shows that the coronavirus effect is improving.
In the scheme of things, new cases decline first, followed by hospitalizations, and then deaths. The potential fourth wave did not materialize likely due to immunizations.
Coronavirus News You May Have Missed
An Online Lender Gave Hundreds of PPP Loans to Fake Farms. Now Congress Is Investigating. – Wall Street Window
A House committee has opened a formal investigation into how several online lenders may have facilitated fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans, following reporting by ProPublica and other news outlets.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis probe seeks answers from Kabbage and BlueVine, online lending platforms that processed hundreds of thousands of government-backed loans to small businesses, as well as Celtic Bank and Cross River Bank, which frequently partnered with the web-based lenders.
Although these highly automated lenders helped the Small Business Administration’s $800 billion relief program reach small businesses that weren’t being served by traditional banks, they also became targets for cheaters.
“I am deeply troubled by recent reports alleging that financial technology (FinTech) lenders and their bank partners failed to adequately screen PPP loan applications for fraud,” said subcommittee chair James E. Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat. “This failure may have led to millions of dollars in FinTech-facilitated PPP loans being made to fraudulent, non-existent, or otherwise ineligible businesses.”
The subcommittee’s letters to the targets of its investigation cited stories published by Bloomberg, the Miami Herald, the Project on Government Oversight and ProPublica that found fintech companies account for an outsized amount of the fraud that has plagued the PPP from its inception.
Last week, ProPublica revealed that Kabbage processed 378 loans collectively worth $7 million to single-person businesses that don’t appear in corporation records of their respective states. The overwhelming majority identified themselves as farms, typically registered to residential addresses with no discernable agricultural activity.
“The illegitimacy of these purported farms — including potato fields in Florida and orange groves in Minnesota — would have been obvious if even the bare minimum of due diligence had been conducted on the loan applications,” the subcommittee wrote in its letter to Kabbage, which was acquired by American Express last fall.
Dr Fauci’s emails have been released via a Freedom of Information Act request, and there is some pretty interesting stuff in them, particularly one email where a researcher who funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology thanks Fauci for publicly dismissing the lab leak theory early on during the pandemic.
The email from Dr. Peter Daszak, President of the EcoHealth Alliance, a group that has extensive ties to the Wuhan lab gain of function research, sent the email to Fauci on April 18, 2020, roughly six weeks after the outbreak had taken hold.
The email states:
“As the Pl of the ROl grant publicly targeted by Fox News reporters at the Presidential press briefing last night, I just wanted to say a personal thank you on behalf of our staff and collaborators, for publicly standing up and stating that the scientific evidence supports a natural origin for COVID-19 from a bat-to-human spillover, not a lab release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
From my perspective, your comments are brave, and coming from your trusted voice, will help dispel the myths being spun around the virus’ origins. Once this pandemic’s over I look forward thanking you in person and let you know how important your comments are to us all.”
Fauci responded to the email the day after, writing
“Peter:
Many thanks for your kind note.
Best Regards,
Tony”
Daszak, who also works for the World Health Organisation, is on record admitting that he was involved with manipulating coronaviruses. Here is a video of him talking in DECEMBER 2019 about how ‘good’ the viruses are for messing around with in a lab:
[editor’s note: this post deserves a full read to begin to understand the controversy relating to Dr. Fauci. Also read Fauci Emails Reveal Damage Control Scramble After ZeroHedge Spotlights Man-Made COVID-19 Theory and How Amateur Sleuths Broke the Wuhan Lab Story and Embarrassed the Media and Fauci Faces Backlash for ‘Profiting From Pandemic’ With His Upcoming Book]
Fauci Emails: 5 Biggest Revelations – Newsweek
Hundreds of pages of Fauci’s emails have been revealed under the Freedom of Information Act. They show the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) dealing with a variety of queries and issues.
BuzzFeed News obtained more than 3,200 pages of emails that have been made available online, while The Washington Post received more than 860 pages, some of which are also available to read.
Here are five of the biggest takeaways from the emails.
1. A Bill Gates adviser was worried about Fauci’s health
2. Fauci offered support to a Chinese health official
3. Experts worried that COVID-19 could ‘look engineered’
4. Fauci said that store-bought masks are ‘not really effective’
5. Fauci was uncomfortable with people’s fascination with him
Israel Finds Probable Link Between Pfizer Shot, Myocarditis – MedPage
Israel health officials have found a probable link between Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE‘s coronavirus vaccine and dozens of cases of heart inflammation in young men following the second dose of the vaccine, the Health Ministry said late Tuesday.
The vaccine has been administered to more than 5 million people in the country, and the number of coronavirus cases has plummeted. The Health Ministry said on Wednesday that despite the possible link, it would expand its vaccination drive to 12-16 year olds. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized its use for this age group.
According to a study by health officials, there were 275 cases of myocarditis identified between December 2020, when the vaccination drive began, and May 2021, including 148 cases within a month after vaccination. Of these, 27 cases occurred after the first dose and 121 following the second dose. In both cases, about half were in people with previous medical conditions.
At this time, there’s still no indication that the cases are due to the vaccine, Pfizer said in a statement. Myocarditis is often caused by viral infections, and Covid infections have been reported to cause the condition, the U.S. drugmaker said. BioNTech said more than 300 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered globally and the “benefit risk profile” of the vaccine remains positive.
“A careful assessment of the reports is ongoing and it has not been concluded,” the company said. “Adverse events, including myocarditis and pericarditis, are being regularly and thoroughly reviewed by the companies as well as by regulatory authorities.”
Highly contagious India COVID variant spreading rapidly in the US – New York Post
The highly contagious COVID-19 variant that first emerged in India is spreading at a rapid rate in the US — and now makes up 7 percent of new cases, data shows.
The dramatic rise of the B.1.617.2 variant comes after it accounted for only 1 percent of new cases stateside at the start of May, according to a report from Outbreak.info.
The data revealed that the variant, which experts suspect is 60 percent more transmissible, reached its high of 7 percent of samples sequenced on May 26.
The World Health Organization last week classified the variant as being one of global concern and requiring heightened tracking and analysis.
“There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told reporters.
COVID-19 can infiltrate insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, study suggests – Live Science
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can infect insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, reducing their ability to secrete insulin and sometimes causing cell death, a new study suggests.
Damaging these insulin-producing cells, known as beta cells, can potentially worsen symptoms of diabetes, particularly type 1 diabetes, wherein the pancreas already makes little to no insulin, according to the study authors. “If you imagine that there are some patients who already have diabetes, if the virus comes in and nails the remaining beta cells you have, that’s not good,” said co-senior author Peter Jackson, a professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine.
In addition, some studies suggest that severe COVID-19 may trigger diabetes in people with no previous history of the condition, again raising the possibility that the virus infects beta cells, Live Science previously reported. This trend is still being investigated, but given the new data, Jackson said that he thinks the virus may sometimes induce diabetes by injuring beta cells; this would be most likely to occur when people with prediabetes, or other health conditions that raise the risk of diabetes, develop a severe case of COVID-19.
FDA document reveals 86% of children who participated in Pfizer covid vaccine trial experienced adverse reactions – Natural News
A publicly-available FDA “fact sheet” document reveals that 86% of children who participated in a Pfizer covid vaccine trial reported adverse reactions ranging from “mild” to “serious.”
As part of the vaccine experiments, children aged 12 to 15 are being injected with mRNA sequences that take control of their cells, causing them to churn our spike proteins in their blood. Spike proteins cause vascular disease and blood clots. Even the Jonas Salk Institute conclusively identifies spike proteins as the culprit behind vascular disease and blood clots.
This is all openly admitted by the FDA, which has published extremely disturbing reports of adverse reactions experienced by children in a Pfizer covid vaccine “fact sheet” labeled 144413. See the original FDA document here (PDF).
In case the FDA removes this sheet, we have archived it at Natural News servers here (PDF).
FDA admits mRNA vaccines cause adverse reactions in 86% of children, but calls it “safe” anyway
This Pfizer page at the FDA provides links to all the fact sheets and press releases where the FDA celebrates expanding its emergency use authorization to children aged 12 to 15.
That fact sheet contains the following table that details the alarming rate of side effects and damage experienced by 12 – 15 year olds (i.e. children) who were given the mRNA injections:
Table 5: Study 2 – Frequency and Percentages of Adolescents With Solicited Local Reactions, by Maximum Severity, Within 7 Days After Each Dose – Adolescents 12 Through 15 Years of Age
As you can see from the table, 1127 children were given the first dose of the vaccine, and 1097 children received the second dose. What happened to the 30 children who didn’t show up for the second dose? Did they die? Why were they removed from the second dose?
Among those children injected with the mRNA vaccine medical experiment:
- A shocking 86% experienced side effects.
- Nearly 44% suffered “moderate” side effects defined as “interfering with activity.”
- 66% of the children experienced fever.
- 65% suffered headaches.
- Other side effects experienced by these children as part of these medical experiments include chills, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, muscle pain and even joint pain.
- Even after 86% of children experienced such side effects after being injected with the first dose, researchers continued to inject the children with a second dose.
Coronavirus strain associated with dogs found in humans – News-Medical
Coronavirus strain associated with dogs found in swabs taken from pneumonia patients in Malaysia.
Several pneumonia patients in Malaysia’s Sarawak state have tested positive for a coronavirus strain associated with dogs, according to a study.
Genome sequencing of the coronavirus identified it as a novel canine-feline recombinant alphacoronavirus, which was named CCoV-HuPn-2018. The study, published May in Clinical Infectious Diseases, says it is the first to report this type of coronavirus being detected in a human pneumonia patient.
CCoV-HuPn-2018, if confirmed as a pathogen, may be the eighth unique coronavirus that can make humans ill.
Coronaviruses already known to infect humans include SARS-CoV-1, known to cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an outbreak of which occurred in 2002— 2004; MERS-CoV, which causes the Middle East respiratory syndrome, first detected in 2012, and SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.
All these diseases are zoonotic, meaning they can jump from animals to humans. SARS-CoV-1 is suspected to have jumped to humans from bats or civets, MERS-CoV from camels and SARS-CoV-2 from bats or minks.
At-home COVID-19 tests: How good are they? – EurekAlert
Despite decreasing infection rates, experts say that continued COVID-19 testing will be vital for ensuring safety at businesses, schools and events. At-home tests are convenient and supposedly easy to use, writes Senior Editor Megha Satyanarayana. In fact, ease of use for the average person is a requirement for FDA approval. However, some experts worry that the results of OTC tests do not necessarily get reported to public health agencies, and that those who test positive at home might be less compliant with quarantine recommendations.
At-home test kits come in two varieties: antigen and molecular. Antigen tests detect pieces of viral proteins in cells and have a reputation for being less sensitive and accurate. Molecular tests look for the virus’s genetic instructions, or RNA, which is more readily detected in a given sample. Of the five tests C&EN tried out, each had a different way of swabbing and reading results, including specialized devices and smartphone apps. They found that all five tests were relatively easy to use with instructions, and they provided accurate results compared to lab testing. In addition to questions about the accuracy of self-testing, the cost of and access to these tests is a concern. To help offset this, some communities have created programs to distribute at-home tests, which could help build trust in testing and help stop the spread.
The article, “Over-the-counter COVID-19 tests make big promises. Do they deliver?,” is freely available here.
New Antibody Drug Keeps Mild COVID-19 From Worsening – Reuters
An antibody drug from Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline that protects against progression of COVID-19 in high-risk patients with mild to moderate disease has received emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In a large randomized trial, patient risk of progression to more severe illness was reduced by 85% with the drug, sotrovimab, compared to a placebo, according to an interim report from the trial posted on the medRxiv website in advance of peer review.
Everyone in the trial had risk factors for severe COVID-19 such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and old age.
Three of 291 patients (1%) in the sotrovimab group became sick enough to be hospitalized, versus 21 of 292 (7%) in the placebo group, researchers said.
All five patients who needed to be admitted to intensive care received placebo, they reported.
Serious complications were less common with sotrovimab than with placebo, they added.
A man in China is found to have H10N3 bird flu, a reminder of a continued ‘concern for pandemic flu.’ – New York Times
A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province is the first known human to be infected with a strain of bird flu known as H10N3, China’s National Health Commission said on Tuesday — a development that experts said merited close monitoring because of an underlying continued risk of pandemic flus.
Avian viruses do not typically spread among humans, but they can pose a danger if they mix with a human virus, said Raina MacIntyre, the head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
“If someone has human flu and is infected with bird flu, the two viruses can swap genetic material,” she said. “That’s why you see the concern for pandemic flu arising in countries where humans and livestock have very close contact.”
The Health Commission’s announcement said that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the Jiangsu case. Contact tracing and surveillance have not uncovered any other infections, officials said.
Influenza viruses differ from coronaviruses, and the World Health Organization is working with the Chinese government to monitor the case, according to a statement from the W.H.O. division in Beijing.
Delta variant identified in India spreads to 62 countries, hot spots form in Asia and Africa, WHO – CNBC
The Covid-19 variant first detected in India in October has now spread to at least 62 countries as outbreaks surge across Asia and Africa — despite a 15% week-over-week drop in cases across the globe, according to the World Health Organization.
“We continue to observe significantly increased transmissibility and a growing number of countries reporting outbreaks associated with this variant,” the WHO said of the Delta strain, noting that further study was a high priority.
The WHO changed the name of the variant to “Delta” in order to simplify its scientific name B.1.617.2. The new naming system for Covid variants, after letters of the Greek alphabet, also avoids stigmatizing countries that detect new strains.
The P.1 variant first detected in Japan from Brazil, now named “Gamma”, has now spread to 64 countries, according to the WHO.
Even countries with high vaccination rates are seeing a rise in cases over the last week or two, “so no one is out of the woods,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program said in a Q&A hosted by WHO on Wednesday across social media platforms.
The following are foreign headlines with hyperlinks to the posts
Only one strain of the Covid variant in India now ‘of concern’
A new economic era: is inflation coming back for good?
The Public Health Agency of Canada has authorized some mixing of COVID vaccines.
U.K. COVID deaths have dropped to zero for the first time since March 2020, prompting calls for the government to push ahead with its planned easing of restrictions later this month.
The WHO has authorized CoronaVac, a COVID-19 vaccine made by the Chinese company Sinovac, for emergency use.
Olympic Athletes Must Sign Waiver on COVID-19 Risks Ahead of Tokyo Games
WHO says epidemiological studies required to investigate origins of Covid-19
The following additional national and state headlines with hyperlinks to the posts
U.S. inflation is transitory but could become more persistent, says ex-Fed official Dudley
JBS cyberattack forces shutdown all company’s US beef plants
The NIH announced that it has started a trial of mixed COVID-19 vaccine booster regimens.
COVID-19 is not a threat to the U.S. blood supply, the NIH said.
The FDA warned people not to use the Lepu Medical Technology SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test Kit and the Leccurate SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Rapid Test Kit (Colloidal Gold Immunochromatography), saying there is “likely a high risk of false results when using these tests,” neither of which is FDA-approved.
“We will get through this together.” — The Washington Post takes a look at the emails of Anthony Fauci, MD, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; sometimes he received 1,000 emails in a single day.
Where did the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout go wrong? NPR investigates.
The mRNA technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines is now being investigated for use with other diseases.
SARS-CoV-2 can be neutralized by UV-A and UV-B
New study on swine influenza virus may be relevant to influenza, coronavirus infection in humans
Electronic nose might “sniff out” COVID-19-infected people at mass scale
Despite Vaccines, Nursing Homes Struggle With Outbreaks
Little-Known Illnesses Turning Up in COVID Long-Haulers
Anheuser-Busch to give away free beer once US reaches 70 percent vaccine goal
Supreme Court justice denies Colorado churches’ challenge to lockdown authority
West Virginia to give away guns as vaccine incentive
U.S. COVID Vaccination Rates Dip Below 600K Per Day
Joe Biden Picked COVID Adviser Who Originally Thought Impact ‘Likely to Be Less Than Flu’
Mike Pompeo Says ‘Every Piece of Evidence’ Points to Wuhan Lab Leak
NIH Director Appeared to Dismiss Wuhan Lab Leak Theory As ‘Conspiracy’
Hundreds of COVID Deaths Still Occurring Each Week in U.S. Nursing Homes
Biden says childcare centers around the country will offer free care while parents get vaccinated
White House won’t say if herd immunity against Covid-19 is achievable
An online global vaccines summit hosted by Gavi and the government of Japan Wednesday has raised $2.4 billion, enabling the purchase of 1.8 billion vaccine doses for lower income countries participating in the COVAX initiative.
Today’s Posts On Econintersect Showing Impact Of The Pandemic With Hyperlinks
Transitory Inflation? Not So Quick
May 2021 Beige Book: Growth Continues To Improve
COVID-19 And Small Businesses: Uneven Patterns By Race And Income – Part I Of III
Who Received PPP Loans By Fintech Lenders? – Part II Of III
Who Benefited From PPP Loans By Fintech Lenders? – Part III Of III
Warning to Readers
The amount of politically biased articles on the internet continues. And studies and opinions of the experts continue to contradict other studies and expert opinions. Honestly, it is difficult to believe anything anymore.
I assemble this coronavirus update daily – sifting through the posts on the internet. I try to avoid politically slanted posts (mostly from CNN, New York Times, and the Washington Post) and can usually find unslanted posts on that subject from other sources on the internet. I wait to publish posts on subjects that I cannot validate across several sources. But after all this extra work, I do not know if I have conveyed the REAL facts. It is my job to provide information so that you have the facts necessary – and then it is up to readers to draw conclusions.
Analyst Opinion of Coronavirus Data
There are several takeaways that need to be understood when viewing coronavirus statistical data:
- The global counts are suspect for a variety of reasons including political. Even the U.S. count has issues as it is possible that as much as half the population has had coronavirus and was asymptomatic. It would be a far better metric using a random sampling of the population weekly. In short, we do not understand the size of the error in the tracking numbers.
- Just because some of the methodology used in aggregating the data in the U.S. is flawed – as long as the flaw is uniformly applied – you establish a baseline. This is why it is dangerous to compare two countries as they likely use different methodologies to determine who has (and who died) from coronavirus.
- COVID-19 and the flu are different but can have similar symptoms. COVID-19 so far is much more deadly than the flu. [click here to compare symptoms]
- From an industrial engineering point of view, one can argue that it is best to flatten the curve only to the point that the health care system is barely able to cope. This solution only works if-and-only-if one can catch this coronavirus once and develops immunity. In the case of COVID-19, herd immunity may need to be in the 80% to 85% range. WHO warns that few have developed antibodies to COVID-19 when recovering from COVID-19. Herd immunity does not look like an option as the variants are continuing to look for ways around immunity.
- Older population countries will have a significantly higher death rate as there is relatively few hospitalizations and deaths in younger age groups..
- There are at least 8 strains of the coronavirus.
What we do or do not know about the coronavirus [actually there is little scientifically proven information]. Most of our knowledge is anecdotal, from studies with limited subjects, or from studies without peer review.
- How many people have been infected as many do not show symptoms?
- Masks do work. Unfortunately, early in the pandemic, many health experts — in the U.S. and around the world — decided that the public could not be trusted to hear the truth about masks. Instead, the experts spread a misleading message, discouraging the use of masks.
- Current thinking is that we develop at least 12 months of immunity from further COVID infection.
- The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have an effectiveness rate of about 95 percent after two doses. That is on par with the vaccines for chickenpox and measles. The 95 percent number understates the effectiveness as it counts anyone who came down with a mild case of Covid-19 as a failure.
- To what degree do people who never develop symptoms contribute to transmission? Research early in the pandemic suggested that the rate of asymptomatic infections could be as high as 81%. But a meta-analysis, which included 13 studies involving 21,708 people, calculated the rate of asymptomatic presentation to be 17%.
- The accuracy of rapid testing is questioned – and the more accurate test results are not being given in a timely manner.
- Can children widely spread coronavirus? [current thinking is that they are a minor source of the pandemic spread]
- Why have some places avoided big coronavirus outbreaks – and others hit hard?
- Air conditioning contributes to the pandemic spread.
- It appears that there is increased risk of infection and mortality for those living in larger occupancy households.
- Male patients have almost three times the odds of requiring intensive treatment unit (ITU) admission compared to females.
- Outdoor activities seem to be a lower risk than indoor activities.
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