COVID-19 'Pandemic'

Blackleaf

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Oct 9, 2004
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Labour Councillor Wishes COVID “Cull” For Brexiteers 😳

Another vote winner for the Left. Not.

 

Danbones

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Sep 23, 2015
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DR Ben Tapper EXPOSES PFZIER'S CRIMINAL history​

 

spaminator

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L.A.'s ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres closing due to pandemic
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Apr 12, 2021 • 14 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
A prop promoting the film "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" is pictured on the roof of the Cinerama Dome theatre in Los Angeles, Calif., June 3, 2019.
A prop promoting the film "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" is pictured on the roof of the Cinerama Dome theatre in Los Angeles, Calif., June 3, 2019. PHOTO BY MARIO ANZUONI /REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES — One of Los Angeles’ best-known movie theatres is closing for good, its owners said on Monday, prompting dismay on social media and concern for the fate of other theatres forced to close during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Pacific Theatres group said it would not be reopening its flagship ArcLight Hollywood, home to the Cinerama Dome on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard, and 15 other ArcLight and Pacific Theatres located in the global centre of the movie industry.


“After shutting our doors more than a year ago, today we must share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not be reopening its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres locations,” the privately held company said in a statement.

“This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward,” the statement added.


Originally built in 1963, the Cinerama Dome has been the venue for numerous movie premieres and other red carpet events. It was declared a historic monument in 1998 and was featured in Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to the industry, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

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“Difficult to process this news. Truly devastating,” tweeted “Lord of the Rings” actor Elijah Wood shortly after the news broke.


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“What sad news. I loved this theatre. And I had my first premiere for my first movie #StepUp2TheStreets there,” tweeted Jon M. Chu, director of “Crazy Rich Asians.”


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Others on Twitter called on movie stars, like Brad Pitt or Tarantino, to buy the theatre and save it from closure.


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Monday’s announcement also means the permanent closure of a 14-screen theatre at the upmarket Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles, and a 12-screen facility in the beach city of Santa Monica that opened some six years ago.

Los Angeles movie theatres, which make up the biggest movie-going market in the United States, were allowed to reopen at limited capacity in mid-March.

Governor Gavin Newsom said last week that capacity limits would be lifted by June 15 on all businesses, if vaccinations continue apace and hospital admissions remain stable.
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spaminator

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Foreign interference in Canada hitting Cold War levels thanks to COVID-19: CSIS
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
David Ljunggren
Publishing date:Apr 13, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 1 minute read • 44 Comments
A vehicle passes a sign outside the Canadian Security Intelligence Service headquarters in Ottawa.
A vehicle passes a sign outside the Canadian Security Intelligence Service headquarters in Ottawa. PHOTO BY CHRIS WATTIE /REUTERS
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OTTAWA — Foreign spying and interference in Canada last year hit levels not seen since the Cold War, in part because of vulnerabilities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the main Canadian spy agency said on Monday.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) singled out Russia and China as particular causes for concern and said key national security threats such as violent extremism, foreign interference, espionage and malicious cyber activity grew in 2020 and “in many ways became much more serious for Canadians.”


In its annual report for last year, CSIS linked the jump in foreign spying to the increasing number of people working from home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Foreign threat actors — including hostile intelligence services and those working on their behalf — have sought to exploit the social and economic conditions created by the pandemic” to gather valuable information, it said.

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The report was the latest from Canada’s intelligence community to focus on Russia and China.


The head of CSIS said in February that China posed a serious strategic threat, while the signals intelligence agency last November identified state-sponsored programs in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as cyber crime threats for the first time.

“In 2020, CSIS observed espionage and foreign interference activity at levels not seen since the Cold War,” CSIS said.

“China, Russia, and other foreign states continued to covertly gather political, economic, and military information in Canada through targeted threat activities in support of their own state development goals.”
 

taxme

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Feb 11, 2020
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EXCLUSIVE 😳 Boris U-turn 🛑 NO Passports For Pubs & Restaurants 👏


Canadians must demand that there will be no mandatory vaccine passports to be shown anywhere in Canada for anything. No vaccine passports for traveling. Imagine not being allowed to go into a grocery store to buy essential foods, into pubs, into restaurants or any other business establishment without a vaccine passport? What the phuk is going on in this, what I now call, communist Canada? This Covid 1984 communist bull shit needs to end now. woke up, fools. :rolleyes:
 
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55Mercury

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May 31, 2007
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A plea for a modicum of sanity in this world may be asking a bit too much:

there are enough "sniveling shit-weasels" in politics.
when will we ever see a return to responsible proper leadership?

fuck all the fear mongering sniveling shit weasels we have now, and their chicken little minions and covid rats!

ENOUGH OF THIS RELENTLESS BULLSHIT AND LOCKDOWN! WE ARE NOT MEANT TO LIVE FOREVER.
POLL EVERYONE OVER 65 YEARS OLD WORLDWIDE AND ABIDE BY THEIR GLOBAL CONSENSUS.

I'll bet millions of them would simply die to have a hug from their grandchildren BEFORE THEY DIE!!!

Poll them and ask them if they truly want their loved ones, their friends, their families, their neighbours; everyone they've ever cared about in their entire lives; their countries, to continue lockdown, and essentially keep everyone's lives on hold just so they might squeak another year or two out of their own lives?

I will give up everything I have if a resounding majority of them don't say 'no!' to that very question.

Let's call the world's seniors "The Supreme Court of Global Public Opinion" and give them the respect due in honouring their collective consensus on this issue.

SOMEONE PLEASE, COMMISSION THAT POLL AND LET'S END THIS BASELESS LOCKDOWN!
(even if just to see me give up everything I have)

please share this and let's end this madness

I turn 66 this year.

thank you
 

spaminator

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Canada receives report of blood clot linked to AstraZeneca
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Mia Rabson
Publishing date:Apr 13, 2021 • 1 hour ago • 1 minute read • 16 Comments
In this file photo taken on March 5, 2021 registered nurse Florisa N. Lingad holds a Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center established at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.
In this file photo taken on March 5, 2021 registered nurse Florisa N. Lingad holds a Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center established at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. PHOTO BY KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI /AFP via Getty Images
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OTTAWA — A Quebec woman is the first in Canada to develop a blood clot after being vaccinated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

The news came as Health Canada said it was investigating reports of clots linked to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States.


The Quebec health ministry and Public Health Agency of Canada reported the event connected to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Tuesday.

Quebec says the female patient, whose age was not revealed, received the appropriate care and is recovering at home.


The woman received the vaccine produced at the Serum Institute of India, known as Covishield.

Health Canada asked AstraZeneca for a full risk assessment of its vaccine after reports of similar clots in Europe, but says the side effect is extremely rare and the vaccine’s benefits still outweigh its risks.

More than 700,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Canada and the risk of getting blood clots from COVID-19 itself is far higher than from the vaccine.

Earlier today the United States also paused use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following reports of six similar blood clots, and Health Canada says it has asked the drugmaker for more information on that vaccine as well.


Health Canada approved AstraZeneca Feb. 26 and J&J March 5, but only AstraZeneca has been used here so far.

About two million doses of it have been shipped.

No doses of J&J have been delivered, and aren’t expected for another few weeks.
 

spaminator

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WHO official: COVID-19 pandemic 'a long way from over'
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Apr 12, 2021 • 1 day ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference organized by Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva Switzerland July 3, 2020.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference organized by Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva Switzerland July 3, 2020. PHOTO BY POOL NEW /REUTERS
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GENEVA — Confusion and complacency in addressing COVID-19 means the pandemic is a long way from over, but it can be brought under control in months with proven public health measures, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.

“We too want to see societies and economies reopening, and travel and trade resuming,” Tedros told a news briefing.


“But right now, intensive care units in many countries are overflowing and people are dying – and it’s totally avoidable.”

“The COVID19 pandemic is a long way from over. But we have many reasons for optimism. The decline in cases and deaths during the first two months of the year shows that this virus and its variants can be stopped,” he added, saying transmission was being driven by “confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures.”


India has overtaken Brazil to become the nation with the second-highest number of infections worldwide after the United States, as it battles a massive second wave, having given about 105 million vaccine doses among a population of 1.4 billion.

WHO team leader on COVID-19 Maria van Kerkove told the news briefing the pandemic was growing exponentially, with a 9% increase in cases last week, the seventh consecutive week of increases, and a 5% rise in deaths.

Tedros said that in some countries, despite continuing transmission, restaurants and nightclubs were full and markets were open and crowded with few people taking precautions.

“Some people appear to be taking the approach that if they’re relatively young, it doesn’t matter if they get COVID-19,” he said.
 

spaminator

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Florida woman who coughed on cancer patient gets 30 days in jail
Author of the article:postmedia News
Publishing date:Apr 12, 2021 • 1 day ago • 2 minute read • 6 Comments
Debra Jo Hunter.
Debra Jo Hunter. PHOTO BY HANDOUT /JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF'S OFFICE
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Coughing on someone during a pandemic might land you a luxurious stay in a jail cell.

A Florida woman found that out the hard way after she intentionally coughed on and threatened a mask-wearing cancer patient — an incident that was caught on video that later went viral.


According to the New York Times, 53-year-old Debra Jo Hunter will spend 30 days in jail, serve six months’ probation and participate in mental health evaluation and anger management courses in a sentence handed to her by a Jacksonville, Fla., judge.

On top of the sentence, the woman will also have to cover the cost of victim Heather Sprague’s COVID-19 test along with a $500 fine.

A video captured Hunter coughing on Sprague, who was shopping at a Pier 1 Imports store in Jacksonville. Sprague is a brain cancer patient who is immunocompromised and went on a rare shopping outing during the pandemic.

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The viral video shows Hunter being aggressive with store employees before flipping the bird to Sprague, who was filming the incident.

“I think I’ll get really close to you and cough on you then. How’s that?” Hunter says.

She then walks towards the camera and coughs on Sprague before walking away and exiting the store.

People magazine reported Hunter had entered a guilty plea last month after Judge James Ruth told her he was ready to proceed with jury selection for the trial.

She had pleaded guilty at two earlier hearings because they didn’t include jail time but those pleas were later rejected.

In a letter to the judge, Hunter stated her daughter was alarmed by a stranger (Sprague) filming her and her children in the store.


“Admittedly, I was immediately infuriated and demanded this customer to stop filming my kids. In the heat of the moment, I overreacted in an overprotective manner which ultimately led to my retaliation on this stranger, the victim,” Hunter wrote.

“And that highly regrettable, split-second, knee-jerk reaction has cost my family dearly.”

Hunter’s letter also included 23 pages worth of texts, e-mails, social media posts and letters showcasing harassment she and her family received because of the viral video.

The woman added the whole ordeal has humbled her.
 

spaminator

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Australia shelves plans to buy J&J's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Apr 12, 2021 • 19 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
In this file photo taken on March 4, 2021 Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Janssen Vaccine boxes sit in a locked refrigerator at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' VA Boston Healthcare System's Jamaica Plain Medical Center in Boston, Mass.
In this file photo taken on March 4, 2021 Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Janssen Vaccine boxes sit in a locked refrigerator at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' VA Boston Healthcare System's Jamaica Plain Medical Center in Boston, Mass. PHOTO BY JOSEPH PREZIOSO /AFP via Getty Images
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SYDNEY — Australia has no current plans to add Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine to its immunization drive, authorities said on Tuesday, as it moves away from procuring vaccines under review over blood clots.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and AstraZeneca anti-COVID vaccine doses use an adenovirus, a harmless class of common-cold viruses, to introduce coronavirus proteins into cells in the body and trigger an immune response.


But both vaccines are under review by Europe’s drug regulator after it found rare cases of blood clots among some adult vaccine recipients, although it said the advantages still outweighed the risks.

“The government does not intend to purchase any further adenovirus vaccines at this time,” a health ministry spokeswoman told Reuters.

Australia on Sunday abandoned its goal to vaccinate its near 26 million population by the end of this year after recommending under-50s should not be given the AstraZeneca doses, throwing its vaccination program into disarray.

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The policy change prompted authorities last week to double an earlier Pfizer order to 40 million shots, which would be delivered by the end of the year.

The country’s immunization drive was heavily reliant on the AstraZeneca vaccine, with plans to manufacture 50 million doses in the country.

Australia has been reporting zero or low single-digit cases for most days this year helping authorities to ease restrictions and putting the economy into a faster recovery trajectory.


Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the setbacks in the vaccine rollout should not “derail momentum in our economic recovery.”

“With the successful suppression of the virus and substantial reopening of the economy both household and business confidence are now higher than before the pandemic,” Frydenberg said in an emailed statement.

Australia began vaccinations much later than some other countries due to low COVID-19 case numbers, recording just over 29,400 infections since the pandemic began.

It reported its first death of the year on Tuesday after an 80-year old man died after contracting the virus overseas, taking the total tally to 910 deaths.
 

spaminator

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U.S. pauses use of J&J COVID-19 vaccine, rollout delayed in Europe
Six recipients developed a rare disorder involving blood clots

Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Michael Erman and Manas Mishra
Publishing date:Apr 13, 2021 • 3 hours ago • 4 minute read • 20 Comments
Vials with COVID-19 vaccine stickers attached and syringes with the logo of U.S. pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson.
Vials with COVID-19 vaccine stickers attached and syringes with the logo of U.S. pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson. PHOTO BY JUSTIN TALLIS /AFP via Getty Images
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U.S. federal health agencies on Tuesday recommended pausing use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for at least a few days after six women under age 50 developed rare blood clots after receiving the shot, dealing a fresh setback to efforts to tackle the pandemic.

Johnson & Johnson said it would delay rollout of the vaccine to Europe, a week after regulators there said they were reviewing rare blood clots in four recipients of the shot in the United States. South Africa also suspended use of J&J’s vaccine.


Acting U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Janet Woodcock said the agency expected the pause to be a matter of days, and was aimed at providing information to healthcare providers on how to diagnose and treat the clots.

The moves come after European regulators said earlier this month they had found a possible link between AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and a similar rare blood clotting problem that led to a small number of deaths.

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FDA official Peter Marks said it was “plainly obvious” the J&J cases were “very similar” to the AstraZeneca ones. He said there had been no similar blood clot cases reported among recipients of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, which use a different technology and accounted for the vast majority of U.S. vaccinations so far.

But J&J’s single-dose shot and AstraZeneca’s low-cost vaccine are seen as vital weapons in the fight against a pandemic that has claimed more than three million lives.

Immunology experts echoed U.S. officials in underscoring that the risk posed by the J&J vaccine appeared extremely low.

“Even if causally linked to the vaccine: 6 cases with about 7 million doses … is not something to panic about,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, said in an email, noting that the risk appears lower than that of clots from oral contraceptives.

He expressed concern that the pause could increase hesitancy to get vaccinated.


The FDA said there had been one reported death from the rare blood clotting condition among recipients of the J&J vaccine, while another person was in a critical condition.

The White House said appointments to receive the J&J shot were being rescheduled across the country to the other vaccine options.

“We have more than enough supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue the current pace of about 3 million shots per day, and that puts us well on pace to meet the President’s goal of 200 million shots by his first 100 days in office,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told a briefing.

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J&J’s vaccine rollout has been limited by production issues. As of April 13, 7.2 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered in the United States compared with 185 million of the other two.

An advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet on Wednesday to review the clotting cases and vote on recommendations for future use of the shot. The FDA will then review the analysis.


All six cases involved women between the ages of 18 and 48, with symptoms occurring six to 13 days after vaccination. The FDA said patients should watch for up to three weeks for symptoms including severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath.

In the cases, a type of blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) was seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets, or thrombocytopenia.

J&J, whose shares were down 1.6%, said it was working closely with regulators and noted no clear causal relationship had been established between the clots and its vaccine.

“To put this into perspective, it’s similar to the chance of being struck by lightning in any given year in the UK. On the other hand, the risks from COVID-19 are substantial,” said Ian Douglas from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines both use an adenovirus – a harmless cold virus – as a vector to deliver instructions for human cells to produce a protein found on the surface of the coronavirus, spurring the immune system to recognize and attack the actual virus.

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Chinese and Russian COVID-19 vaccine developers CanSino Biological and Gamaleya Institute also rely on this approach. The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommends AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, saying the benefits outweigh the risks. Several EU countries, however, have limited its use to certain age groups.

As of April 4, the EMA said 169 cases of CVST and 53 of splanchnic vein thrombosis had been reported after vaccination with the AstraZeneca shot. About 34 million people had been given the shot in Europe by then.

J&J only began delivering its COVID-19 vaccine to European Union countries this week.