COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.] (2 Viewers)

[bigdaddysaints]

I have a co worker who is convinced that the Cruise Ships are gonna drop the vaccine rules before November. I told her don't hold your breath. I would have scheduled a different vacation by now, as a back up, since it will be their honeymoon (gettin married in May).

 

[WhoDatPhan78]

hmmm ...i didnt see any issues with the cocaine supply chain.

Maybe they should start smuggling avocados hidden under pallets of cocaine.

 

[EGLSShin]

This thing still going on? I would think after Mardi Gras, St.Patricks and Irish Italian parades, Crescent City Classic run, Easter Parade, Final Four, Sugar Bowl, Super Bowl(everyone maskless in the most covid strict state), NBA playoff's, NBA playin in a super compacted smoothie king center with 18,100+ attending, Mega Ukraine protests around the world that this was an after thought by now.

 

[Saint_Ward]

This thing still going on? I would think after Mardi Gras, St.Patricks and Irish Italian parades, Crescent City Classic run, Easter Parade, Final Four, Sugar Bowl, Super Bowl(everyone maskless in the most covid strict state), NBA playoff's, NBA playin in a super compacted smoothie king center with 18,100+ attending, Mega Ukraine protests around the world that this was an after thought by now.

Not really. It was on page 2. I just looked around and saw cases were still low and Europe is coming down. The point was to share good news.

Not sure why you had to come in acting all too cool for school.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

"See, I told y'all it wasn't that bad", I mean, 2 years and 1 million lives (in the US) later I guess. Smh..

 

[DaveXA]

"See, I told y'all it wasn't that bad", I mean, 2 years and 1 million lives (in the US) later I guess. Smh..

Yeah, if we knew the numbers before all this happened, just about everyone would have been freaking out.

 

[SaintInBucLand]

Don't throw away your masks just yet. Looks like they are going to appeal the recent ruling on mask mandates for air/train travel.

 

[CoolBrees]

I am in the airport right now (SeaTac) and have flown throughout this entire ordeal.

It is surreal - there are still about 40% mask use and my first flight had about 60% using masks.

What is interesting is that almost everyone wearing one is using a
n95.

Most of the flight crews are still wearing as are the folks working in the terminal

Just weird though.

Not as weird as flying with three people on the plane but weird nonetheless

 

[itztime]

I am in the airport right now (SeaTac) and have flown throughout this entire ordeal.

It is surreal - there are still about 40% mask use and my first flight had about 60% using masks.

What is interesting is that almost everyone wearing one is using a
n95.

Most of the flight crews are still wearing as are the folks working in the terminal

Just weird though.

Not as weird as flying with three people on the plane but weird nonetheless

I really enjoyed those empty planes.

 

[Saint_Ward]

Don't throw away your masks just yet. Looks like they are going to appeal the recent ruling on mask mandates for air/train travel.

Yeah, looks like they didn't request a stay. This is probably more about maintaining their authority down the road.

 

[Optimus Prime]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Twenty-one people have been charged in the past nine days as part of a nationwide enforcement push to root out those who exploit the pandemic through health care fraud schemes, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

The cases resulted in about $150 million in alleged false billings and theft from federal pandemic assistance programs. The DOJ seized over $8 million in cash and other fraud proceeds.

Some defendants are accused of offering COVID-19 testing to get people to provide their personal identifying information and a saliva or blood sample. That information and the samples were then allegedly used to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare for unnecessary, far more expensive tests or services.

In Colorado, federal agents went through a man’s trash to uncover an alleged scheme to produce and sell fake vaccination record cards. In Maryland and New York, owners of medical clinics are accused of using information from people who sought COVID testing at drive-thru sites to submit fraudulent claims for lengthy office visits that never occurred.


“Today’s enforcement action sends a very clear message that we will stop at nothing to root out COVID-19 related health care fraud, wherever it may be found,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite.

“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the American people and the critical health care benefits programs that assist them during this national emergency. And most importantly, we will hold those who exploit those programs accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”……

DOJ: 21 people charged nationwide with $150M in COVID fraud

WASHINGTON (AP) — Twenty-one people have been charged in the past nine days as part of a nationwide enforcement push to root out those who exploit the pandemic through health care fraud schemes, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

apnews.com

 

[SoggyBottomBoy]

Out of the "pandemic" phase according to Fauci.

"We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase," Fauci said in an interview with PBS Newshour. "Namely, we don't have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now."

"So, if you're saying, are we out of the pandemic phase in this country, we are."

Here's why Dr. Fauci says the U.S. is 'out of the pandemic phase'

Vaccinations and residual immunity are among the reasons, President Biden's chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said Tuesday, as the number of deaths drop and hospitalizations rise only slightly.

www.npr.org

Also, I updated the counter in the thread title to reflect the CDC's figures. Worldometer's figures are much higher at 1,019,008 U.S. deaths as compared to 988,991 from CDC (Johns Hopkins is closer to CDC but a little higher).

 

[LonghornSaint]

Sore throat last night and this morning, with a slight cough and a little congestion. Tested positive by antigen, getting PCR test in a couple hours, really hope that comes back negative.

Ugh.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

CDC purchased (is still purchasing?) cell-phone location data to track compliance with COVID-19 restrictions, often from less-than-secure vendors.

CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders

Newly released documents showed the CDC planned to use phone location data to monitor schools and churches, and wanted to use the data for many non-COVID-19 purposes, too.

www.vice.com

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bought access to location data harvested from tens of millions of phones in the United States to perform analysis of compliance with curfews, track patterns of people visiting K-12 schools, and specifically monitor the effectiveness of policy in the Navajo Nation, according to CDC documents obtained by Motherboard. The documents also show that although the CDC used COVID-19 as a reason to buy access to the data more quickly, it intended to use it for more-general CDC purposes.

Location data is information on a device’s location sourced from the phone, which can then show where a person lives, works, and where they went. The sort of data the CDC bought was aggregated—meaning it was designed to follow trends that emerge from the movements of groups of people—but researchers have repeatedly raised concerns with how location data can be deanonymized and used to track specific people.

The documents reveal the expansive plan the CDC had last year to use location data from a highly controversial data broker. SafeGraph, the company the CDC paid $420,000 for access to one year of data, includes Peter Thiel and the former head of Saudi intelligence among its investors. Google banned the company from the Play Store in June.

It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you

 

[Zaphod]

I am in the airport right now (SeaTac) and have flown throughout this entire ordeal.

It is surreal - there are still about 40% mask use and my first flight had about 60% using masks.

What is interesting is that almost everyone wearing one is using a
n95.

Most of the flight crews are still wearing as are the folks working in the terminal

Just weird though.

Not as weird as flying with three people on the plane but weird nonetheless

I flew from Houston to PDX this weekend and was one of 3 masked people on my flight so I think now that the habits are being broken we’re not going to see much volunteer masking. I really hope that we’re really getting towards the end of this thing and we don’t see another resurgence of cases anytime soon.