#uk covid news

[halorvic]

The danger is clear and present: COVID isn’t merely a respiratory illness; it’s a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body’s organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long COVID is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long COVID is now being considered a long-term chronic illness — something many people will never fully recover from. Dr. Phillip Alvelda, a former program manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office that pioneered the synthetic biology industry and the development of mRNA vaccine technology, is the founder of Medio Labs, a COVID diagnostic testing company. He has stepped forward as a strong critic of government COVID management, accusing health agencies of inadequacy and even deception. Alvelda is pushing for accountability and immediate action to tackle Long COVID and fend off future pandemics with stronger public health strategies. Contrary to public belief, he warns, COVID is not like the flu. New variants evolve much faster, making annual shots inadequate. He believes that if things continue as they are, with new COVID variants emerging and reinfections happening rapidly, the majority of Americans may eventually grapple with some form of Long COVID. Let’s repeat that: At the current rate of infection, most Americans may get Long COVID.

[...]

LP: A recent JAMA study found that US adults with Long COVID are more prone to depression and anxiety – and they’re struggling to afford treatment. Given the virus’s impact on the brain, I guess the link to mental health issues isn’t surprising. PA: There are all kinds of weird things going on that could be related to COVID’s cognitive effects. I’ll give you an example. We’ve noticed since the start of the pandemic that accidents are increasing. A report published by TRIP, a transportation research nonprofit, found that traffic fatalities in California increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022. They also found the likelihood of being killed in a traffic crash increased by 28% over that period. Other data, like studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, came to similar conclusions, reporting that traffic fatalities hit a 16-year high across the country in 2021. The TRIP report also looked at traffic fatalities on a national level and found that traffic fatalities increased by 19%. LP: What role might COVID play? PA: Research points to the various ways COVID attacks the brain. Some people who have been infected have suffered motor control damage, and that could be a factor in car crashes. News is beginning to emerge about other ways COVID impacts driving. For example, in Ireland, a driver’s COVID-related brain fog was linked to a crash that killed an elderly couple. Damage from COVID could be affecting people who are flying our planes, too. We’ve had pilots that had to quit because they couldn’t control the airplanes anymore. We know that medical events among U.S. military pilots were shown to have risen over 1,700% from 2019 to 2022, which the Pentagon attributes to the virus.

[...]

LP: You’ve criticized the track record of the CDC and the WHO – particularly their stubborn denial that COVID is airborne. PA: They knew the dangers of airborne transmission but refused to admit it for too long. They were warned repeatedly by scientists who studied aerosols. They instituted protections for themselves and for their kids against airborne transmission, but they didn’t tell the rest of us to do that.

[...]

LP: How would you grade Biden on how he’s handled the pandemic? PA: I’d give him an F. In some ways, he fails worse than Trump because more people have actually died from COVID on his watch than on Trump’s, though blame has to be shared with Republican governors and legislators who picked ideological fights opposing things like responsible masking, testing, vaccination, and ventilation improvements for partisan reasons. Biden’s administration has continued to promote the false idea that the vaccine is all that is needed, perpetuating the notion that the pandemic is over and you don’t need to do anything about it. Biden stopped the funding for surveillance and he stopped the funding for renewing vaccine advancement research. Trump allowed 400,000 people to die unnecessarily. The Biden administration policies have allowed more than 800,000 to 900,000 and counting.

[...]

LP: The situation with bird flu is certainly getting more concerning with the CDC confirming that a third person in the U.S. has tested positive after being exposed to infected cows. PA: Unfortunately, we��re repeating many of the same mistakes because we now know that the bird flu has made the jump to several species. The most important one now, of course, is the dairy cows. The dairy farmers have been refusing to let the government come in and inspect and test the cows. A team from Ohio State tested milk from a supermarket and found that 50% of the milk they tested was positive for bird flu viral particles.

[...]

PA: There’s a serious risk now in allowing the virus to freely evolve within the cow population. Each cow acts as a breeding ground for countless genetic mutations, potentially leading to strains capable of jumping to other species. If any of those countless genetic experiments within each cow prove successful in developing a strain transmissible to humans, we could face another pandemic – only this one could have a 58% death rate. Did you see the movie “Contagion?” It was remarkably accurate in its apocalyptic nature. And that virus only had a 20% death rate. If the bird flu makes the jump to human-to-human transition with even half of its current lethality, that would be disastrous.

[fjeldmouse]

[tieflingkisser]

Thousands of disabled people died after ‘covid treatment withheld’, inquiry to probe

Thousands of disabled people who died from Covid in the early weeks of the pandemic may have been denied intensive care treatment in NHS hospitals that could have saved them, campaigners and bereaved families believe. The Covid inquiry has been handed evidence from charities and bereaved family groups showing that Do Not Resuscitate notices (DNARs) were placed on the medical files of many people with Down’s Syndrome, autism and other learning disabilities who were otherwise healthy before contracting the virus. These notices, often placed without the patients’ understanding or consent, say charities, were due to those with learning disabilities being wrongly classed as “clinically frail” in the NHS in the initial weeks of the pandemic in March 2020. Lady Hallett’s inquiry is expected to investigate whether so-called “ward-based ceilings of care” – meaning a patient was kept on a general ward rather than admitted to ICU, even if their condition deteriorated – were applied arbitrarily to the disabled, as well as older patients, in a bid to ease pressure on the NHS. The evidence is likely to form a key part of Module 3 of the inquiry, which focuses on the healthcare response to the pandemic and is being held in public this autumn. The Department of Health and NHS England have long denied there were blanket protocols in place for DNARs for groups of people, and have said these policies should not be used by trusts.

[keep reading]

[tweetingukpolitics]

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

clown country [x]

[nevermoorsource]

Silverborn Release Dates

Australia: August 28th, 2024

US: September 10th, 2024

UK: September 12th, 2024

The specifics could change but these dates have been around since May, so it seems that Silverborn is indeed delayed to 2024. There’s been no announcement from Jess as of yet, but she's also been on a social media hiatus since the delay.

[johannestevans]

looking through convention schedules for 2023 and 2024 (most obvs aren't up for '24 yet) and i'm so surprised by how many like... aren't hybrid, or don't have any virtual options, especially in the USA and other parts of north america

like looking around at a lot of the brit and irish ones, most of them have hybrid options already, and between covid and travel stuff i guess it's just a surprise to me that con-runners wouldn't try to incorporate some options

[nando161mando]

Some people are justifying the US CDC potentially weakening its COVID isolation guidelines because other countries like the UK have already done it for a while.

Let's check in on how the UK is doing

https://www.reddit.com/r/HermanCainAward/

[lost-carcosa]

[head-post]

British MI5 issues alert on Chinese spy to divert attention from PM scandal

The UK’s domestic spy agency MI5 issued an alert calling a woman a Chinese agent to allegedly divert attention from a COVID lockdown party scandal involving former prime minister Boris Johnson, according to Reuters.

In January 2022, MI5 issued an alert about lawyer Christine Lee. The agency claimed she was “involved in political interference activities” in the United Kingdom on behalf of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The warning was circulated among lawmakers by the Speaker of the House of Commons, who stated MI5 discovered that Lee had “facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China.”

Lee is now suing MI5 for unspecified damages. She claimed the agency acted unlawfully and unreasonably. At an Investigatory Powers Tribunal hearing on Monday, her lawyer Ramby de Mello read out a message sent to Lee from Barry Gardiner, an MP for the opposition Labour Party. Gardiner claimed he had received hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of donations from her.

He also stated “many people” believed that the timing of the alert was intended to divert attention from Johnson’s admission of an unlawful gathering at Downing Street during the first COVID lockdown. The day before the notice was issued, Johnson had apologised to parliament for attending a “bring your own booze” gathering that had been held at his official residence.

I had never believed that the Security Services would be overtly party political in that way. What has been suggested to me is that the Security Services may have wished to ‘pick a fight’ or to ‘detract attention’ from something else and that we were simply collateral damage.

De Mello stated that MI5 did not have the authority to issue an “unprecedented” notice alleging that Lee had engaged in political interference on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party.

In their written statements, MI5’s lawyers claimed the alert (IA) was announced on national security grounds. It also aimed to protect parliamentary democracy from foreign interference.

The respondent assessed that (Lee) posed a risk of this nature, and its judgment was that the issuing of the IA was the most effective and proportionate means to address that risk. Those assessments were rational and lawful.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

Read more HERE

[eggmeralda]

I need a massive sudden hyperfixation shock to happen again

[margaret87654953676]

Join me for Travel

[r0semultiverse]

in light of a new COVID-19 variant or two, I should start wearing a shirt that says “staying within 6ft of me is bad luck” like the bad luck circle in NYC but a wearable version

[tweetingukpolitics]

[ridiculously-over-obsessed]

Ben Platt's dropping a whole album in May and I could CRY I'm so excited 😭😭😭

[andysouldancer]

WE DON'T F**KING BELIEVE YOU!!!! 😠