Monday, April 12, 2021

COVID SANCTUARY STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN MELTDOWN - GOV NEWSOM MAKES A FEW BUCKS ON THE SIDE

 

PERKS FOR PRICKS: Democratic Governors Embroiled in Monumental Vaccine Bribery Scandal, Journalism Reveals

Announced partnerships with CVS after pharmacy giant donated massive sums to Democrats

 • April 6, 2021 2:15 pm

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Some of the most prominent Democratic governors in the country have partnered with CVS Pharmacy to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to their constituents, raising questions about political corruption and bribery at the top levels of the Democratic Party.

Why did these governors—Gavin Newsom of California, Andrew Cuomo of New York, and Ralph Northam of Virginia—choose CVS?

Campaign finance reports skillfully obtained and extensively reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show that CVS donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party during the 2020 election cycle. CVS cofounder Stanley Goldstein, meanwhile, donated $3,000 to federal candidates—all Democrats—before retiring in 2006.

Why does it matter? According to CBS News: "Distributing vaccines is lucrative. Under federal guidelines, Publix, like any other private company, can charge Medicare $40 a shot to administer the vaccine."

A journalistic analysis of the finance reports conclusively demonstrated that CVS donated $31,000 to Newsom's campaign on Oct. 14, 2020, less than four months before the pharmacy announced a partnership with the California Department of Health. The pharmacy giant also donated $10,000 to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most influential Democrats in Congress, who just happens to represent a district in California.

The analysis also determined that CVS donated $12,000 to Northam between 2017 and 2018, and contributed $20,000 to the Commonwealth Victory Fund on Dec. 17, 2020, just weeks before Northam announced the vaccine partnership with the pharmacy. A subsequent Google search revealed that the Commonwealth Victory Fund is the primary fundraising arm of the Virginia General Assembly's Democratic Caucus.

Additional analysis concluded that CVS donated a whopping $170,000 in 2020 to the Democratic Party in New York, the same state where Cuomo serves as governor. The corporation donated $10,000 to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and gave an additional $10,000 to Schumer's political action committee.

The CVS influence campaign did not stop there. The company sought to curry favor at the national level by contributing $30,000 each to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Most disturbingly of all, CVS employees donated a staggering $450,595 to Joe Biden's presidential campaign, according to federal documents extracted and decoded by the Free Beacon.

CVS did not respond to our request for comment about its deplorable campaign to boost its profits by bribing Democrats.

California Governor Newsom halts COVID-19 tiered restriction system, plans full reopening in June as deaths hit 60,000

There is a growing gulf between the anti-scientific policies of the ruling class and the grim reality of the current stage of the pandemic. The Democratic Party-run state of California was just months ago the epicenter of the winter COVID-19 surge where hospitals were pushed to the brink at zero percent capacity, however this past week Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to fully reopen the state by June 15.

The plan will allow the full range of businesses, workplaces, schools and public areas to remain open with even fewer restrictions, adopting nothing other than “common sense” safety measures like mask-wearing. Throwing out its current color tier metrics for restrictions, the new “plan” hinges on two vague and entirely unspecified prerequisites: a “sufficient vaccine supply” and “low hospitalizations.” What the state deems acceptable has been left totally unspecified, giving Newsom maximum flexibility and ease to fully reopen the economy in a little over two months as more infections and deadlier variants of the virus are circulating widely.

By these intentionally vague standards, the delivery of vaccines would not be required, so long as there are doses being stored and available. The “low” number of acceptable hospitalizations and COVID-19 deaths is essentially arbitrary.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a face mask during a news conference in Rancho Cordova, Calif

As most California counties lower their own restrictions, there are still more than 2,300 COVID-19 patients in hospitals and 534 COVID-19 patients in intensive care. To compare, an average of 2,300 COVID-positive patients were in the hospital in October, just before the deadly winter surge. However, it was during this period that Newsom ordered half-hearted lockdown measures, which kept all workplaces open and allowed open schools to remain so. Now, even those insufficient measures are to be dispensed with.

In his latest announcement, Governor Newsom aimed straight for the heart of the suffering population, and declared it was time to “begin planning for a life post-pandemic” and to look forward to a fully reopened economy, by “continuing the practices that got us here.” The practices of the ruling class have been completely negligent and arbitrary. Tiered reopenings, completely lackluster economic relief, dangerous working conditions throughout the whole pandemic and continuous infections have led to more than 3.7 million infections and 60,082 preventable deaths in California alone.

The new June plan marks an end to California’s highly flexible color-coded tier system which has been used to classify counties as purple, red, orange, or yellow depending on their testing and hospitalization rates. The state briefly added an even more severe blue tier during the winter to indicate zero percent ICU capacities.

For the last six months, most of California’s 50 counties were placed in restrictive purple or red tiers, indicating widespread and severe positivity rates, and these counties were required to implement measures like reducing capacities at restaurants and other businesses, or discouraging large indoor and outdoor gatherings. In the last week, however, the majority of counties in California have been moved to the “orange” tier, allowing for double the previous capacity for outdoor events, indoor live events, places of worship, fitness centers, amusement parks and full capacities at retail stores, shopping centers, office workplaces and bars with outdoor accommodations.

Importantly, the new tier configuration perfectly coincides with the Democratic Party’s goal of returning children and teachers into classrooms before the pandemic has been put under control, in the sole interest of getting parents back to work full-time and making profits for the financial elite. President Joe Biden declared in February that K-8 schools must be reopened within his first 100 days in office, and California’s policymakers appear to be aiming to lead the pack of the back-to-school drive.

Newsom’s announcement also doubles as cover for businesses and universities to implement full, unsafe reopening plans. California’s universities have had fits and starts in attempting to reopen, only to become outbreak sites, throughout the pandemic. Universities have continuously risked the health of staff and students in unsafe housing and in-person classes in order to gain as much profit as possible during the pandemic. Eagerly awaiting their chance, numerous universities in the California State and University of California system declared, just days after the June reopening announcement, that they will proceed to the fall semester with limited to non-existent restrictions for full service.

The tier system, from its inception, has had purposefully flexible criteria for shifting restrictions—criteria that only became more vague and impermanent as the pandemic progressed. As it currently stands, the system has worked primarily to create a false sense of safety. Nevertheless, this system has outlived its usefulness in California, as the ruling class moves to finish its return to school campaign and the Democrats’ “return to normal.”

The recent shift of most counties to the less restrictive tiers is clearly irresponsible. For example, San Diego County’s COVID-19 case rates are nearly identical to the rates the county suffered six months ago before the devastating winter surge. San Diego County currently has a case rate of 8.2 cases per 100,000 people, a rate that is actually higher than October’s average of 7.4, when San Diego and the rest of Southern California entered the red, and then purple tier in November, with a case rate of 8.9. Similarly, just a few months ago, Los Angeles County was the epicenter of the pandemic for the Western hemisphere, averaging more than 10,000 new cases per day throughout December and January. But this week the county has reopened indoor dining, movie theatres, and reduced capacity indoor concerts. Los Angeles County cites low case rates and vaccination supply, paying no mind to decreased testing rates and the unequal and still limited administration of the vaccines.

In the period from January to April, COVID-19 tests have gone down by more than 50 percent throughout the state of California. It is no coincidence that during this time the ruling class has rapidly accelerated reopening plans through their use of unscientific lies, misrepresentations and legislative force against working people. The platitudes and lies of the ruling class and policy makers would have the working class believe that the pandemic is nearing its conclusion, however, the surge in cases in the Midwest and globally shows that this is far from reality.

As Newsom, the Democratic Party and their allies force students and teachers back to face-to-face learning, MIS-C cases among children are rising dramatically. California leads the United States in the number of children documented with the condition, with more than 300 of America’s more than 3,000 cases and 36 deaths.

As the devastation of the pandemic intensifies, the ruling class actually demands the acceleration and normalization of mass death and disease through their herd immunity policies and reopening plans, and complete disregard for rational policy and science.

Epidemiologists warn that the globe is actually already in the beginning of the fourth wave of the pandemic, and that reopenings will facilitate a worse surge than the winter. In a recent interview on “Meet the Press,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and former COVID-19 policy adviser for Biden, referred to the extreme rise in cases in Michigan as a “wake up call” against other states’ reopening plans. Osterholm explained that the spread of variants like B.1.1.7 has led to the recent steady rise of cases in the United States, even before full reopening causes an explosion of infections.

Osterholm elaborated: “We are the only country in the world right now experiencing this increasing number of cases due to this variant and at the same time, opening up, not closing down.” He also warned of vaccine nationalism and vaccine-evading COVID-19 variants in his interview. A fraction of the world’s population has seen a drop of the vaccine, predominantly in wealthier countries, leaving poor countries and billions of people without access.

Biden and the United States government have access to some of the best and most precise COVID-19 data and projections in the world, and yet, a class decision is made to ignore the dangers, reopen schools and workplaces with full knowledge that they will be condemning workers and their families to unnecessary suffering and death by doing so.

The Democratic Party stronghold of California has taken the lead in both the spread of COVID-19 and irrational pandemic policies. From the state’s arbitrary and ineffective tier system to their superficial “equitable” vaccination pledges, to the drive to reopen schools, the state has led the nation by example for how to reopen the economy and shift blame for mass death and disease to the working class.

The Democrats hope to offer the appearance of improvement and political cover for their homicidal policies and profiteering. Meanwhile, the grim reality is that the pandemic is not ending. The same day that Newsom announced his June reopening plans, a new COVID-19 “double mutant” strain was discovered in California, illustrating the dangers that exist from allowing the virus to spread.

Staggering 10 to 15 percent of infected children suffer from Long COVID

Recently published data from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that among children who have survived COVID-19, 13 percent of those 11 years or younger and about 15 percent of those aged 12 to 16 are suffering the effects of Post-acute COVID-19 (“Long COVID”) and report at least one symptom five weeks after a confirmed COVID-19 infection.

Long COVID is a multisystem disease in which growing numbers of adults and children are suffering from lingering symptoms for months or even a year now after contracting COVID-19. These include sleep disorders such as insomnia, heart palpitations, gastrointestinal issues, breathing difficulties, muscle and joint pain plus exhaustion, headaches and cognitive impairment (“brain fog”) and overall lack of concentration. Those who suffer from persistent symptoms sometimes refer to themselves as “long haulers.”

An Italian study published in January 2021 showed that of the 129 children diagnosed with COVID-19 between March and November, 2020, “More than a half reported at least one persisting symptom even after 120 days since COVID-19, with 42.6% being impaired by these symptoms during daily activities. Symptoms like fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headache, insomnia, respiratory problems and palpitations were particularly frequent, as also described in adults.”

Photo submitted to Long Covid Kids member stories page. (Courtesy of Long Covid Kids, LongCovidKids.org)

The revelations are particularly concerning for infants, toddlers and children who are at the crucial stage of development. There is nothing yet known about how long it will affect and potentially ruin their long-term development and lives.

“The first thing is don’t let your child get COVID. You can’t develop Long COVID or have post COVID complications if you never get COVID,” said Dr. Daniel Griffin in a March 17, 2021 interview with Medcram.com. Griffin is an MD/PhD board certified in infectious disease and an instructor in Clinical Medicine and an associate research scientist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University.

Dr. Griffin cited data from the UK and explained the troubling cases he is seeing in the New York Tri-State area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut) that some ten percent of children with COVID are suffering from Long COVID. “The one thing I want to bring up which parents are getting very upset about now is that children, like adults, may get covid and not be better in a week or two. Long COVID in adults is twenty percent, in children it may be as high as ten percent, that is what we are seeing in the UK where they have good surveillance.”

Dr. Griffin described that one third of Long COVID patients he sees had asymptomatic infections: “With the opening of schools and resumption of sports, large numbers of children are enrolling in sports and “realizing they can’t run up and down a soccer field, or a teacher is calling and saying ‘Hey your son is not paying attention in school.’ From there, parents are having to piece together that their child had COVID a few months ago and it was either mild or asymptomatic. We don’t see long COVID just in people who end up in hospital. Hair loss has been particularly traumatic.”

Information and studies on Long COVID in adults are difficult to find, but this is even more true when it comes to children. As a result, thousands of parents from around the world have taken to social media and sought answers from others in large support groups where children are experiencing a laundry list of debilitating symptoms that affect organs from the heart to the brain. Here they search for patterns, share stories and find support.

A number of parents on social media support groups air frustrations that their children have had numerous “tests come back normal,” so they are sent home without treatment or referrals to specialists. Parents report children have debilitating gastrointestinal pain, acute ankle and join pain so severe that it forces older children crawl, testicular torsions in boys, brain fog which prevents them from learning at school or via remote education, tremors, slurred speech, and fatigue that keeps them groggy for large portions of the day. In essence they do not recognize their children.

Many parents lament that they have burned bridges at a number of pediatric hospitals because their desperation has forced them to have to scream at the top of their lungs so their child’s issues are taken seriously. Major advocacy and information groups have also been built by parents and physicians seeking answers and sharing stories.

Frances Simpson is the cofounder of support and advocacy group Long Covid Kids (LCK) in the United Kingdom where she is a lecturer in psychiatry at Coventry University in Scarborough. Simpson and her two children have endured lasting effects of Long COVID for over a year now. In a recent interview with German Deutsche Welle (DW) news, she explained the exhaustion that parents face trying to get care for their children, often with little guidance from medical professionals: “It’s a really difficult place to be in. Quite often parents are ill themselves, and to have children who are ill and their illness is denied. Parents feel they are being gaslighted.”

LCK has conducted two major surveys on hundreds of children in its growing network. The findings of these surveys are among the most comprehensive data collected to date. Simpson noted that their surveys “established that a lot of the symptoms in children are very similar [to adults with long COVID], but children tend to have an increased amount of gastric issues. Children ending up with appendicitis. We see a lot of the symptoms of PMIS, Pediatric multisystem inflammatory disorder. We are seeing neuropsych symptoms, seizures, tics, Tourette’s, seizures. There is a real gamut.”

LCK notes, “Our study provides further evidence on Long COVID in children. It is based on a survey of 510 children. Symptoms like fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain, rashes and heart palpitations, and mental health issues like lack of concentration and short-term memory problems, were particularly frequent and confirm previous observations, suggesting that they may characterize this condition. A better comprehension of Long COVID is urgently needed.”

Parents reported that their child’s activity levels had worsened. Only “10% of the children have returned to previous levels of activity and 21.2% are currently unable to enjoy any activity, while 30.2% enjoy occasional activity but usually have an increase of symptoms afterwards.”

Another worrisome issue is the frequency of neuropsychiatric symptoms and mental health issues. With regards to memory and concentration, “60.6% reported lack of concentration, 45.9% difficulty in remembering information, 40% difficulty in doing everyday tasks, 32.7% difficulty processing information, and 32.7% short-term memory issues.”

A number of children and families have shared stories and photos of handwritten notes that outline the age, location, and duration of symptoms. Fifteen-year-old Delaney suffers from multiple heart and breathing issues and holds a pair of ballet slippers indicating that she can no longer dance. Six-year-old Seren has been suffering for over 300 days from ulcers, pneumonia, rashes and extreme body pains. Eleven-year-old Itai says he can no longer play rugby and has been suffering for 349 days from a litany of symptoms that include tics and seizures.

Citing data from the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS), the organization notes that in the UK alone, 74,126 children report symptoms at 5 weeks, and 45,616 continue to report symptoms after 12 weeks.

Simpson and her two children continue to suffer from long COVID a year after their initial infections in March 2020. “My children are not better, they have relapses anytime something exerts them,” she said.

LCK provides an informational packet for parents and schools that compiles all the significant data, the results of their surveys, and also stresses the necessity of ventilation in classrooms. Among their materials they regretfully report that, though anecdotal, “We do not have one recovery story to share. No child in our group has yet returned to their previous state of health.”

Despite the growing number of cases and staggering data that 10-15 percent of COVID-infected children are facing Long COVID, there has been a near media blackout on the issue as schools have continued with reopening around the world. The ruling class throughout the globe is making a conscious decision as part of a class policy to turn a deaf ear to the issue, just as it has to the growing global death toll as it nears three million and a worldwide fourth surge is gaining momentum.

All parents, educators, and workers interested in putting an end to these dangerous policies and prioritizing safety and human life instead, should join and help build the international network of Rank-and-File Safety Committees by contacting us at wsws.org/edsafety .

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