Covid19 a 'pandemic of fear' (in Canada, too)

COVID-19 a Pandemic of Fear ‘Manufactured’ by Authorities: Yale Epidemiologist | Epoch Times -Isabel Van Brusen & Jan Jekielek: 

December 6, 2021 - "The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of fear, manufactured by individuals who were in the nominal positions of authority as the virus began to spread across the globe last year, according to Yale epidemiologist Dr. Harvey Risch. In an appearance on Epoch TV’s American Thought Leaders program, Risch, an epidemiology professor at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, argued ... what has characterized the ... pandemic has been a 'degree of fear and people’s response to the fear.'

'''Overall, I’d say that we’ve had a pandemic of fear. And fear has affected almost everybody, whereas the infection has affected relatively few,' said Risch. 'By and large, it’s been a very selected pandemic, and predictable. It was very distinguished between young versus old, healthy versus chronic disease people. So we quickly learned who was at risk for the pandemic and who wasn’t. However, the fear was manufactured for everybody. And that’s what’s characterized the whole pandemic is that degree of fear and people’s response to the fear.'

"Risch has authored more than 300 original peer-reviewed publications and was formerly a member of the board of editors for the American Journal of Epidemiology. 

"The epidemiology professor suggested that individuals who held the nominal positions of authority during the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 initially spread a much worse picture of the 'dire nature' of the virus than was warranted. That included the message that everybody was at risk, anybody could die from contracting the virus, and everybody needed to stay in their homes to protect themselves.... 'People were quite afraid of that message, as anybody would be … with the government, with authorities, with scientists, scientific people, with medical people in authority in the public health institutions, all saying the same message starting in about February, March of last year'.... 

"Risch said that the types of messages issued by authorities led to widespread heightened anxiety levels. 'All of our anxiety levels were raised, and we all made decisions to curtail, to various degrees, our exposures to other people, some more than others, but I think everybody had levels of anxiety that really affected how they carry out their life at that time,' he said."

Watch the full interview with Yale epidemiologist Dr. Harvey Risch": https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/covid-19-a-pandemic-of-fear-manufactured-by-authorities-yale-epidemiologist_4106244.html

Military leaders saw pandemic as unique opportunity to test propaganda techniques on Canadians, Forces report says | Ottawa Citizen - David Pugliese:

September 27, 2021 - "Canadian military leaders saw the pandemic as a unique opportunity to test out propaganda techniques on an unsuspecting public, a newly released Canadian Forces report concludes. 

"The federal government never asked for the so-called information operations campaign, nor did cabinet authorize the initiative developed during the COVID-19 pandemic by the Canadian Joint Operations Command, then headed by Lt.-Gen. Mike Rouleau. But military commanders believed they didn’t need to get approval from higher authorities to develop and proceed with their plan, retired Maj.-Gen. Daniel Gosselin, who was brought in to investigate the scheme, concluded in his report.

"The propaganda plan was developed and put in place in April 2020.... A copy of the Dec. 2, 2020, Gosselin investigation, as well as other related documents, was obtained by this newspaper using the Access to Information law.

"The plan devised by the Canadian Joint Operations Command, also known as CJOC, relied on propaganda techniques similar to those employed during the Afghanistan war. The campaign called for 'shaping' and 'exploiting' information. CJOC claimed the information operations scheme was needed to head off civil disobedience by Canadians during the coronavirus pandemic and to bolster government messages about the pandemic.

"A separate initiative, not linked to the CJOC plan, but overseen by Canadian Forces intelligence officers, culled information from public social media accounts in Ontario.... Senior military officers claimed that information was needed to ensure the success of Operation Laser, the Canadian Forces mission to help out in long-term care homes hit by COVID-19 and to aid in the distribution of vaccines in some northern communities."

Read more: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/military-leaders-saw-pandemic-as-unique-opportunity-to-test-propaganda-techniques-on-canadians-forces-report-says

Redefining "fully vaccinated"

 COVID boosters: Is the definition of 'fully vaccinated' about to change to 3 vaccine doses? | Euronews - Julie Gaubert: 

November 21, 2021 - "Across Europe, the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of abating with several countries announcing further restrictions in recent days to contain a surge in new cases. As well as a new lockdown, Austria announced this week that vaccination will be made compulsory from February 1, making it the first EU country to issue such a mandate. But ... it is now becoming apparent that a third dose, or booster, will now be needed to keep COVID-19 cases numbers down. 

"On Monday, British prime minister Boris Johnson admitted that to be fully vaccinated no longer meant having two COVID jabs but rather three doses in order to prevent pandemic restrictions from being reinforced in the UK.... In the UK, the third dose has already been authorised for the over-50s and frail people since the beginning of September, with the goal of administering '10 million booster doses before Christmas,' Johnson said.

"Many European countries have launched their booster campaigns in recent weeks, but only 3.7 per cent of the continent's population has received a third injection, according to AFP.... Iceland is leading the way. Nearly 1 in 5 people have already received a booster dose in a population that is already 90 per cent vaccinated. Faced with the resurgence of cases, the Icelandic government announced last Friday new health measures for its citizens, including the wearing of masks and the third dose for all those over 16.

"Further to the east, Hungary and Serbia are in second place with 14 and 16 out of every 100 inhabitants respectively being triple vaccinated, according to data compiled by the OurWorldinData website.

"The United States announced on Friday health authorities have given the green light for a third dose of COVID vaccine for all adults who were fully vaccinated at least six months ago.

"In France, the over-65s have been called upon since September to receive a third jab or risk having their ‘passe sanitaire’, or COVID health pass, suspended in mid-December.... Is making a third dose a condition for obtaining a health pass becoming widespread? In France, the Academy of Medicine rejected the idea. The organisation said on October 29, that it was opposed to the possibility, which it said 'goes beyond' the objective of the document. This measure 'transgresses the role of the health pass, which was to limit the risk of transmission of the virus and to encourage the population to be vaccinated', the institution said in a statement.

"In Israel, on the other hand, unless you received your second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine within the last six months, you will now need a third dose to become eligible for a green pass, which allows entry to gyms, restaurants, and other venues.

"World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was 'a scandal' that six times more booster shots are being administered around the world daily than primary doses in low-income countries, adding that 'it must stop now'. 'It makes no sense to give boosters to healthy adults, or to vaccinate children, when health workers, older people and other high-risk groups around the world are still waiting for their first dose,' the WHO chief warned at a media briefing on November 12.

"For Dr David Nabarro, the WHO's special envoy on COVID-19, relying only on a full vaccination strategy is a gamble for rich countries. 'It has never been done before and it would really be an inappropriate public health strategy to do so,' he told the UK parliament’s All-Party Group on vaccines. The main threat is the reliance on existing vaccines, Nabarro warned." [stress added]

Read more: https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/11/21/covid-boosters-is-the-definition-of-fully-vaccinated-about-to-change-to-mean-3-vaccine-dos

We may soon need a fourth COVID vaccine dose because of the Omicron outbreak, says Pfizer CEO | Euronews - Pascale Davies: 

December 10, 2021 - "People may need a fourth COVID-19 shot sooner than expected, Pfizer’s CEO said on Wednesday. Albert Bourla told CNBC that preliminary research shows the new Omicron variant can undermine protective antibodies generated by the vaccine developed with BioNTech. The comments come after the company released the results from an initial lab study on Wednesday that showed a three-shot course of their COVID-19 vaccine could significantly protect against the new variant and said they could deliver an upgraded vaccine in March 2022 if needed.

"'When we see real-world data, it will determine if the omicron is well covered by the third dose and for how long. And the second point, I think we will need a fourth dose,' Bourla told CNBC, adding, it was still unclear when a fourth dose would be needed....

"As countries scramble to rollout COVID-19 vaccine boosters, a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group on Thursday decided against endorsing a broad-based rollout of booster shots. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) said poor countries are subject to vaccine inequality and that the first dose should be the priority. The WHO has endorsed third vaccines or booster shots for those who are immunocompromised or received an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. But WHO experts have said there is not enough data on the Omicron variant to demonstrate that boosters are necessary."

Read more: https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/12/10/we-may-soon-need-a-fourth-covid-vaccine-dose-because-of-the-omicron-outbreak-says-pfizer-c

UK government moves to Covid "Plan B"

Boris Johnson confirms return of working from home as England moves to Plan B | The Telegraph - Maighna Nanu & Sam Hall:

December 8, 2021 - "Boris Johnson has confirmed that the Government is moving to its coronavirus Plan B in the wake of rapidly increasing cases of the omicron variant. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister issued new guidance for Britons to work from home where possible from Monday.

"Face masks will also be compulsory from Friday in most indoor public venues such as cinemas, theatres and places of worship, with exemptions for certain hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants. Mr Johnson added that vaccine passports will be required for nightclubs and other venues with large crowds as of Wednesday, with negative lateral flow tests also accepted. He also announced that daily testing would be introduced instead of isolation for those who come into contact with infected people. 

"The Prime Minister stressed that Plan B measures 'do not amount to a lockdown'.... He said his aim was for restrictions to be in place 'no later than early January and possibly before'."

​​Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/covid-news-coronavirus-omicron-stealth-variant-cases-vaccine/

Why Plan B is a mistake | Unherd - Freddie Sayers: 

December 9, 2021 - "Just as an experiment, let’s take the Government at face value. They’re worried about the new Omicron variant, which is ... already spreading rapidly in England, doubling every couple of days; the UK Health Security Agency estimates it could be the dominant variant in as little as 2-4 weeks. A big new wave like this, if it passes through the population, will always hit a small minority of vulnerable people badly who will then need hospital care — and ... this wave looks like it might peak in the beginning of January which is the busiest week of the year in UK hospitals, and an annual pinch point at which (because of bad resourcing and planning) we have almost no spare NHS capacity. So they are worried, as ever, about terrifying footage of overflowing hospitals....

"The first thing to make clear is that if the underlying premise is correct — that Omicron spreads like wildfire and will lead to significantly more reinfections and breakthrough cases — it is going to be very hard to stop it. You’d have to go for a full-on nationwide lockdown to seriously attempt to slow it down — and even that may only delay the peak by a couple of weeks. But there is no appetite for another full-on lockdown, especially as it would ruin Christmas again, and the Government is already unpopular. They simply don’t have the political strength to do it — and there are doubtless many people who wouldn’t obey it. 

"Meanwhile, a small selection of minor rule-changes such as 'Plan B' entails will not make much meaningful difference. Advising working from home but still going to parties, increasing the wearing of masks in shops but not in pubs and increasing use of vaccine passports for a variant that spreads easily among the vaccinated is not a serious policy response to Omicron. Might it push the peak of the wave out by a day or two? Who knows, but if we are going to be at a million cases before Christmas, it’s a meaningless difference.

"So why do such a pointless thing? The answer, as always, is politics.... The first calculation is within parliament: No 10 figures they can afford to upset their own backbenchers and that Boris Johnson’s position is not genuinely vulnerable (despite media stories). In any case, Keir Starmer will blindly support any restrictions, so they will win any vote. Within the wider electorate, they calculate that the voters who will be most upset by such a move are in the minority, and will either vote for them anyway or not vote at all.... Most important, they imagine a bad scenario in early January with hospitals really under pressure, and they don’t want to be vulnerable to the charge that they 'did nothing'.... This way, they can at least say that they took action."

Read more: https://unherd.com/2021/12/new-lockdown-restrictions-are-pointless/

California town nullifies Covid mandates

Historic Downtown Oroville - public domain,Wikimedia Commons.

To protest COVID mandates, this California town declared itself a ‘constitutional republic’ | Santa Rosa Press Democrat - Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times: 

November 29, 2021 - "For Oroville Vice Mayor Scott Thomson, the father of two young boys, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate requiring schoolchildren to be vaccinated against COVID-19 was the final straw. He believed the government had no right to tell him what to put into his, or his children’s, bodies. Many of his constituents agreed when it came to pandemic mandates. And so, he came up with a grandiose, headline-grabbing nom de guerre for his small Northern California city.

"Oroville declared itself a constitutional republic. A place where the local leaders pledge to fight mandates they say go too far. 'Any executive orders issued by the State of California or by the United States federal government that are overreaching or clearly violate our constitutionally protected rights will not be enforced by the City of Oroville against its citizens,' read the declaration passed this month by the City Council....

"For some, the declaration was a stand for freedom. But others in town saw it as a reckless tantrum amid an ongoing pandemic that has killed more than 73,000 Californians. Butte County, population about 220,000, has one of the state’s lowest vaccination rates. As of Saturday, 47% of its residents were fully vaccinated, compared with 64% of all Californians. Butte County’s largest hospital, the 298-bed Enloe Medical Center in Chico, has averaged 26 COVID-19 patients over the last week — more than all but one hospital in Los Angeles County, home to 10 million people....

"Oroville, a city of 20,000, is now one of a growing number of rural California communities in recent years to label itself a sanctuary or a place otherwise exempt from some liberal ideal. Two years ago, the desert town of Needles became a 'sanctuary city' for the 2nd Amendment in a rebuke of California’s strict gun-control laws. And in defiance of pandemic shutdown orders, the Central Valley towns of Atwater and Coalinga last year declared themselves, respectively, a 'sanctuary city for business' and a town where all businesses are essential — with both losing emergency COVID-19 funding in the process. Designed to benefit from the buzz of California’s 'sanctuary' designations used in the context of protecting undocumented immigrants, the labels reflect tensions between rural towns and the Newsom administration — and the left in general. Oroville’s constitutional republic resolution is mostly symbolic, with no power over schools, which are regulated by the state.

"At the Oroville City Council meeting at which the constitutional republic resolution was approved, a city staffer had to clarify to one commenter that the resolution was not 'beginning the effort for Oroville to secede from California and from the Union.' One speaker was an older man who compared the resolution to the decades-old State of Jefferson movement, which calls for California’s rural, conservative northern counties to secede and form their own state. 'These "constitutional republic" people would probably prevent mask mandates,' the man said, citing the county’s vaccination rate. 'In other words, they’re looking to kill people.' The audience broke out in laughter. When the resolution passed, they cheered.

"Thomson said the impetus for the declaration was vaccine mandates, especially the one for schoolchildren, which has been opposed by multiple Butte County school districts and has sparked protests across the state, including in cities like Los Angeles. 'Now that the mandates have gone from not just putting something on the outside of your body or modifying how you run your business, but now shoving something inside your body that nobody knows the long-term effects of, that’s just like, OK, now you’re, in my opinion, crossing the line,' Thomson said. Thomson, the pastor of an Assembly of God church, said he is not anti-mask or opposed to the vaccine for people who want it. He said he and his sons are not vaccinated but that they now have antibodies after a mild bout with COVID-19 in August. 'There are people out there who are like, "This whole thing is a hoax,"' Thomson said. 'We are not like that'.... He said that unvaccinated city employees are tested weekly for COVID-19 at the city’s expense. And his church has handed out hundreds of masks to congregants....

"Councilwoman Krysi Riggs said she cast the sole no vote against the declaration because she believed the best way for city leaders to push back against mandates is through the judicial system, not through a resolution. But, she said, she understands the frustration with the mandates.... When wildfires broke out across Butte County last summer, the smoky air in Oroville was toxic — but indoor dining was banned across the state because of the virus, leaving local restaurants in a bind, Riggs said.

"Brian Wong, who opened the Union Bar & Grill in Oroville in fall 2019, said he thought the city’s statement about the mandates was 'very courageous.' As a small-business owner, Wong said he felt like he had to navigate complicated and ever-changing state rules on his own.... Wong, who also owns the 109-year-old Chinese restaurant Tong Fong Low, said he spent a lot of money to build a patio for outdoor dining and required his dozens of employees to wear masks for more than a year, until vaccines became widely available."

Read more: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/to-protest-covid-mandates-oroville-declared-itself-a-constitutional-repub/

Rumble: a market solution to YouTube censorship

All Americans should join Rumble’s free speech fight | Washington Times - Dean Karayanis:

illustration: Washington Times

December 6, 2021 - "In an era with precious little common ground, everyone objects to social media platforms. Conservatives gripe that they put speech in the hands of Big Tech oligarchs, corporate liberals that reap billions while giving content creators mere pennies. But upstart video platform Rumble has chosen another route, and it’s better to light a candle than tweet about the darkness. 

"Rumble’s simple commitment to open expression just gained a big-time ally. The platform just joined forces with CF Acquisition Corp. VI, an entity sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald, which is expected to provide about $400 million to the 'neutral video platform.'

"Rumble not only respects free speech; it offers monetization for videos ten times that of Google’s YouTube, which recently demonetized 'Sad Little Man' for criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci. The video’s content may make Dr. Fauci’s fans faint, but is it any different [from] the music video for the ’80s hit 'Land of Confusion' by Genesis, which depicted a grotesque, senile puppet of President Ronald Reagan kissing a chimp and accidentally nuking the world? 

"I had a front-row seat for two of the media’s biggest free-speech revolutions: ‘The Rush Limbaugh Show' and Fox News Channel (FNC). Before them, the majority of Americans tuned in to see their beliefs ridiculed or ignored.... Rumble is still a digital David taking on Google’s Goliath, but those of us who left Rush’s TV show to launch Fox in 1996 didn’t think the country would support a third cable news network, especially with Microsoft and NBC backing MSNBC. But we were young and figured the gig would last just long enough to pay off our bar tabs. Twenty years later, what is now the #1 cable news channel, proved us wrong.... 

"FNC had Rupert Murdoch’s deep pockets.... Thanks to its merger, Rumble now has that key ingredient of financing. More importantly, they have that commitment to freedom..... Rumble has an uphill climb every bit as steep as Rush and Fox, but they benefit from the fact that Americans are disillusioned with Big Tech. We can watch videos without being transformed into mindless zombies out of a George Romero film — and we like to get paid for what we create.

"We’ll hear a lot of shade thrown at Rumble as it eats away at YouTube’s market share. But America is still an exception to a world of repression, and 44 million have already flocked to its platform, eager to be free of censorship, biased algorithms and digital serfdom."

Read more: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/dec/6/all-americans-should-join-rumbles-free-speech-figh/

Thousands protest Covid restrictions in Europe

‘Make Austria Great Again’: Thousands protest COVID-19 restrictions in Europe | Global News - Reuters [stress added]:

December 4, 2021 - " Tens of thousands of protesters marched through several northwest European cities on Saturday to demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions imposed amid a surge in infections.

"Austria last month became the first country in Western Europe to reimpose a lockdown, which is set to last 20 days, and said it would make vaccinations mandatory from February. Some of the more than 40,000 demonstrators in Vienna carried signs reading: 'I will decide for myself,' 'Make Austria Great Again' and 'New Elections'.... Around 1,200 police officers deployed for the march on the central Ring boulevard, and a 1,500-strong counter-protest, both allowed under the terms of Austria’s lockdown.

"In the central Dutch town of Utrecht, several thousand demonstrated against restrictions that began last weekend. Protesters carried banners reading 'Medical Freedom Now!', with a large police contingent present. It was the first major demonstration in the Netherlands against the measures.... 

"In the German financial capital, Frankfurt, police broke up a demonstration of several hundred people for failing to wear masks or maintain social distancing, using batons and pepper spray after they were attacked by a group of protesters. And in Berlin, where a new government is set to take office within days, small groups gathered to protest after a large demonstration was banned."

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/8425734/covid-19-protests-europe/

Madrid stayed open in 2nd Covid wave

Madrid, the City That Wouldn’t Lock Down | Wall Street Journal - Adam O'Neal:

December 2, 2021 - "Isabel Díaz Ayuso ... was sworn in as president of the Community of Madrid — analogous to a U.S. state governor — in August 2019. By February 2020 the novel coronavirus was spreading throughout Spain. The country quickly became among the hardest hit in the world, with Madrid at the center of the crisis. In March 2020 the regional government ordered the closure of schools and most shops before the central government did so nationally.

"'We were the region that warned the rest of Spain that we had to act against Covid because no decisions were being made,' Ms. Díaz Ayuso tells me in Spanish during a recent interview. 'The first wave was very hard.... It is true that back then nothing was known about Covid,” she continues. 'I believe that the difference in management comes after the second, third wave, when one must have learned'... But as fall approached, the number of cases rose again. 'When everyone was asking to close, with no alternatives, we decided to go against the virus, not the people.

"I arrived in Madrid in October 2020, fleeing an impending lockdown in Germany, and stayed until April. Bars often seemed as full as they were during pre-pandemic visits, and the city center was buzzing with holiday shoppers. I visited offices filled with workers. Playgrounds echoed with the sounds of schoolchildren at play. Meantime, Catalonia’s regional government shut down its bars in mid-October, while in November the Valencian government imposed stringent capacity restrictions on churches, restaurants and stores. Countries like the U.K., France and Germany also imposed lockdowns and stay-at-home orders of varying severity.

"The hospitality industry — one of Spain’s most economically and socially important — flourished in Madrid. Earlier this year it became the Spanish region with the most hospitality workers.... Some restrictions remained, including a curfew, neighborhood-based controls on movement, and a mask mandate, strangely even outdoors..... It was rare to see someone outside with an uncovered face, and plenty continued to wear masks after the mandate was narrowed to apply indoors only.

"Europeans may have a lower standard of 'pandemic freedom' than Americans, but the lockdown-fatigued public rewarded Ms. Díaz Ayuso’s People’s Party during regional elections in May. She campaigned on the simple slogan 'freedom' — previously 'communism or freedom' —and it worked. The party doubled its share of the electorate from two years earlier, finishing with a million votes more than its nearest competitor. Such electoral success has made Ms. Díaz Ayuso the most prominent conservative politician in Spain and prompted speculation about her as a potential challenger to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a Socialist....

"She says Madrid got back on its feet 'around the values of freedom, of prosperity. It has been an example. In fact, the May 4 elections are an example for a lot of countries.' Covid-19 devastated the Spanish capital, but several regions have faced more deaths per capita. Critically, the results suggest voters understand that a locked-down economy has public-health implications as well.

"'I believe in freedom in all aspects of life. And against everything that tyrannizes and enslaves the person—against addictions, against the identity division between man-woman, left-right, rich-poor. That is what the communist ideology often does, always seeking to collectivize the person and control them from above,' she says. 'Responsibility and freedom is what I think there has to be.'

"Masks are still required indoors in Madrid. But unlike in France or Italy, restaurant and bar patrons don’t need to show a Covid health pass to enter. I texted a Díaz Ayuso adviser this week to ask whether the Omicron variant had changed the government’s calculations. 'It hasn’t changed our plans,' he wrote back. 'We continue to choose to go against the virus with vaccination, testing and individual responsibility instead of the policy of closure for the sake of closure.'"

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/madrid-the-city-that-wouldnt-lockdown-isabel-diaz-ayuso-freedom-covid-19-coronavirus-11638475346