Nineteen-year-old Robert Walsh died by suicide on June 29, 2021. Closed schools, widespread mask requirements, and the influence of Critical Race Theory contributed to his death, his mother Cynthia Walsh told The Daily Wire.
Robert was a member of the Chantilly High School class of 2020 in Fairfax, Virginia, when schools shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic. He had autism, and needed access to a counselor. &#8220;They had one he could talk to online, but it’s not the same. He’d just stop talking after five minutes,” she said.
She told The Daily Wire that her son found joy in computers, including 3-D printing, but online classes amounted to simply letting &#8220;everyone pass,” rather than identifying who needed extra help. In place of academics, she said, the Fairfax County Public Schools had a constant focus on race and oppression.
Robert had “triggers&#8221; because of his autism, Cynthia said. “He needed reminders that he was a valuable person. But what they hear in every class is just the opposite: that if you’re black you’re oppressed, and if you’re white you’re an oppressor.” This created an atmosphere of pessimism and despondency that her son could pick up on, she said.
Several months after the beginning of the pandemic, he graduated without fanfare. “His graduation was a drive-through graduation. No prom, no graduation. None of the events kids have. It was supposed to be six weeks to slow the spread. But he never got to say goodbye.&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-356911" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/robert1-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="804" height="782" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert1-300x292.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert1-592x576.jpg 592w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert1-768x747.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert1-1536x1494.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert1-2048x1992.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px" /></div>
<h2>&#8220;They talk about ‘white fragility,’ that you’re too weak for things. Well, he died.&#8221;</h2>
&#8220;He was empathetic. He felt people’s emotions. He needed to hear over and over again that he was a good person,” she said.
Robert&#8217;s twin brother went off to college, but government policies left Robert behind, she said. He was going to have an internship with the Fairfax government, but the government closed its offices.
Then there were mask policies. His fallback plan was to work in retail, but “he had a speech impediment as it was, and when he wore a mask you just couldn’t understand him … he would have to talk to customers and they couldn’t understand him through the mask. And that was a trigger for him.”
For months, Cynthia had wanted to tell the Fairfax County School Board how she believes these policies contributed to his death. She put it off because it was too hard. On March 10, she spoke during the public comment period of a school board meeting. Choking back tears, she told its members:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Mom tells school board members about her son&#039;s suicide as they stare silently" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XXwkIA0vfUA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<blockquote>My son Robert took his life because he thought that all of the oppression was his fault. There were times he felt excluded because he had to use electives for speech therapy. His expressive language would be even worse while wearing a mask. You need to be inclusive to every student. Be inclusive to those who have special needs or not. Be inclusive to those who are masked or unmasked, vaccinated or unvaccinated. Every race, every life, every student matters. No one wants you to stop teaching black history. But please do not do it in a way that makes his life worth any less. My son was not responsible for everyone&#8217;s problems. His success does not mean anyone else had to fail. His life mattered. He was important and valued. His emotional disability led him to the conclusion that any success he had, he did not deserve. Robert deserves more. Rest in peace. </blockquote>
Parents in the auditorium stood up to give her a standing ovation, recognizing her grief. Some in the crowd had visibly watery eyes. As she returned to her seat, moms she had never met embraced her.
But not the school board. Its members stared blankly ahead, showing no reaction.
Their response? “Thank you. Our next speaker.”
<div id="attachment_356912" style="width: 794px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-356912" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-356912" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/robert3.jpg" alt="" width="784" height="728" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert3.jpg 1972w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert3-300x279.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert3-620x576.jpg 620w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert3-768x713.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert3-1536x1427.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px" />Cynthia Walsh / The Daily Wire</div>
The Daily Wire was in attendance at the meeting and observed no emotion on the faces of any of the nine school board members who were present — though some wore masks, making reading emotions difficult.
Ying “Julia” McCaskill, a mother who was attending her first school board meeting in-person that night, saw the same thing.
“Last week was the first time I actually went there in person, and I could see their faces. It was just so disrespectful to the speakers. They roll their eyes or shrug,” she told The Daily Wire.
“They don’t have any expression. When the mother was talking about her son and her voice was trembling, we stood up to support her. When she was walking away, we went up to give her a hug and say ‘I’m so sorry’ and things like that. They’re just like ‘next speaker.’ No giving a moment of silence, nothing like that,” she said.
“Sociopaths is the word I think describes them,” she added, saying speaking before a school board is like talking to a “brick wall,” and it is clear residents’ concerns fall on “deaf ears.”
After the meeting, the county NAACP&#8217;s education chair, Sujatha Hampton — who is also a Fairfax government official — <a href="https://twitter.com/SujathaHampton/status/1504048228060352516">claimed</a> on Twitter that Walsh was &#8220;not being truthful&#8221; and provided &#8220;false testimony.&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-356913" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/robert2-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="797" height="766" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert2-300x288.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert2-600x576.jpg 600w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert2-768x738.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert2-1536x1475.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/03/robert2-2048x1967.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 797px) 100vw, 797px" /></div>
Hampton retweeted a Twitter thread from <a href="https://twitter.com/deonteleologist/status/1503768477076656133">Sam Hoadley-Brill</a>, a fellow at the African American Policy Forum, which is led by Kimberle Crenshaw, the founder of Critical Race Theory, that called the grieving mother &#8220;bats***,” and said she was &#8220;cynically lying for her own gain.&#8221;
<h2>A county NAACP official said of people who questioned school policies, &#8220;Let them die.&#8221;</h2>
The reaction seemed to fulfill a declaration made by another Fairfax County NAACP official, Michelle Leete — who was vice president of both the county NAACP and the PTA — who said of people who questioned school policies, &#8220;Let them die.&#8221;
&#8220;Let’s deny this off-key band of people that are anti-education, anti-teacher, anti-equity, anti-history, anti-racial reckoning&#8230; Let them die,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pta-naacp-official-let-them-die-critical-race-theory">said</a> on July 16 — two weeks after Robert’s death — as top county Democratic officials cheered.
Of twelve school board members — all Democrats — nine were present during her speech. The Daily Wire asked each of them about their reactions, what they had done to reach out to the grieving mother afterward, and whether they had considered her points. Their reactions are below.
Ricardy Anderson (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
Melanie Meren (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
Elaine Tholen (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
Tamara Derenak Kaufax (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
Rachna Sizemore Heizer (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
Stella Pekarsky (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
Laura Jane Cohen (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
Abrar Omeish (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
Karen Corbett Sanders (D)
<ul>
<li>Sat silently with no visible emotion</li>
<li>Did not respond to request for comment</li>
</ul>
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free hotline for individuals in crisis or distress or for those looking to help someone else. It is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255.
Luke Rosiak is the author of the book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Race-Bottom-Uncovering-Destroying-Education/dp/0063056720/">Race To the Bottom: Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education</a>.
The Daily Wire is building up its investigative reporting team to bring you the stories the legacy media refuse to cover. Support journalism that matters and join one of the fastest-growing conservative media companies in America by becoming a Daily Wire member <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">today</a>.

‘Sociopaths’: School Board Stares Blankly As Grieving Mom Talks About Son’s Suicide

Coronavirus

Critical Race Theory

Education

Virginia

In what looks like bad news for President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party, a new <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-health-elections-bb16c5c52e2bf719ec8a0c5415aaf66c">Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll</a> conducted in early December found that fear of the coronavirus is no longer Americans’ prime concern — the economy, with fear of inflation and rising cost of living, dwarfed the fear of the coronavirus.
The poll found a huge 68% of respondents mentioned the economy in some way as a top worry for 2022, as opposed to 37% naming the coronavirus. AP stated:
<blockquote>Just 37% of Americans name the virus as one of their top five priorities for the government to work on in 2022, compared with 53% who said it was a leading priority at the same time a year ago. The economy outpaced the pandemic in the open-ended question, with 68% of respondents mentioning it in some way as a top 2022 concern. A similar percentage said the same last year, but mentions of inflation are much higher now: 14% this year, compared with less than 1% last year.</blockquote>
“Consumer prices jumped 6.8% for the 12 months ending in November, a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-economy-prices-inflation-e5b8ab50495920c7c6c4d8cf98aaebe5">nearly four-decade high</a>,” AP noted adding, “Meanwhile, roughly twice as many Americans now mention their household finances, namely, the cost of living, as a governmental priority, 24% vs. 12% last year.”
Adam Brandon, president of FreedomWorks, remarked vis-à-vis the Biden administration’s actions and the coronavirus, “It’s certainly not the victory the Democrats thought it would be. We’ll have another wave next year, and I just don’t think anyone’s going to care. I think we’re going to get to a point where everyone’s just going to have to learn to live with it. This will die with a whimper as people just lose interest.”
A recent Fox Business survey found 47% of respondents felt that President Biden’s policies were “hurting” the economy; only 22% felt they were “helping,” <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/wharton-economist-warns-that-inflation-is-hitting-poor-americans-the-hardest/">The Daily Wire</a> noted, pointing out, “Likewise, 46% believe that Biden’s social spending agenda would ‘push inflation higher,’ while 21% believe it would ‘help lower inflation.’”
The Daily Wire added:
<blockquote>Other insights from the Fox Business poll include:</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Rising prices over the last six months have caused financial hardship for two-thirds of voters. That climbs to three-quarters among those living in lower-income households. </li>
<li>By more than two-to-one, people say the president’s economic policies have hurt rather than helped them personally. That’s largely driven by almost two-thirds of Republicans saying they’ve been hurt — nearly five times the number of Democrats who say the same. For comparison, one-third of Democrats said they had been hurt by former President Donald Trump’s economic policies in a December 2018 Fox News survey.</li>
<li>Just 1 in 6 voters say they are better off financially than they were a year ago, and a majority rates their personal financial situation negatively. That’s a reversal since August, when over half said their finances were in positive shape.</li>
</ul>
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President Biden Campaigns For Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Terry McAuliffe

BAD NEWS FOR BIDEN: New Poll Finds Americans Less Afraid Of Virus Than Inflation, Cost-Of-Living

Inflation

Joe Biden

The U.S. set a new record this week for the average number of daily coronavirus cases recorded in the country, which comes nearly a year into Democrat President Joe Biden’s first year in office.
The new record for the seven-day average of coronavirus cases comes after the U.S. set a record earlier this week for a single day high of coronavirus cases recorded in a single day.
&#8220;Wednesday’s seven-day average of new daily cases, 301,000, was also a record, compared with 267,000 the day before,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/30/world/omicron-covid-vaccine-tests">reported</a>. &#8220;In the past week, more than two million cases have been reported nationally, and 15 states and territories reported more cases than in any other seven-day period.&#8221;
The news comes after Biden repeatedly pledged while on the campaign trail that he would “shut down the virus.” More Americans have now died on Biden’s watch than died under former President Donald Trump.
The CDC <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210121045133/https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days">reported</a> back in January that on January 20, 2021, at 1:16 p.m., there were 400,306 deaths recorded in the U.S. from the coronavirus. Biden <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/20/biden-constitutional-noon-sworn-in/">officially</a> became president of the United States at noon on that day.
Since then, the number of people who have died from coronavirus under Biden’s watch is now greater than 400,306.
According to the most recent CDC <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211217230303/https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home">data</a> published at the time this report was published, 800,939 Americans have died from the coronavirus, which means that at least 400,633 Americans have died under Biden’s leadership. Other entities like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">The New York Times</a>, however, currently report the U.S. has 803,964 deaths from the coronavirus, a number that continues to climb daily with no end in sight.
Biden’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic is even worse when considering the fact that he had highly effective vaccines at his disposal from his very first day in office to get the pandemic under control.
When asked at the start of the month about what happened to his plan to “shut down the virus,” Biden smirked and walked away.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Reporter to Joe Biden: “Whatever happened to your promise to shut down the virus?” <a href="https://t.co/fzDxQ5PdY1">pic.twitter.com/fzDxQ5PdY1</a>
&mdash; RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1466112059389710345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
When confronted this week about his “responsibility” for the Americans that have died under his watch, Biden again smirked, threw his hand up at the reporter and walked away.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
REPORTER: “800,000 coronavirus deaths — do you have a statement on your responsibility? And why haven’t you asked China to do more, to be transparent on the origins?”
BIDEN: *smiles, walks away* <a href="https://t.co/SGWNuJfdLB">pic.twitter.com/SGWNuJfdLB</a>
&mdash; RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1471134913663541248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Biden claimed during the 2020 campaign that Trump was essentially responsible for every American that died during the pandemic, a claim that was quickly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fact-checkers-blast-bidens-outlandish-remark-about-trump-pandemic-biden-is-making-this-up">debunked</a> by mainstream fact-checkers.
“If the president had done his job, had done his job from the beginning, all the people would still be alive,” Biden falsely claimed. “All the people—I’m not making this up. Just look at the data. Look at the data.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Biden claims Trump is responsible for every single person who has died from COVID-19: 
&quot;If the president had done his job, had done his job from the beginning, all the people would still be alive. All the people — I’m not making this up. Just look at the data. Look at the data.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Z6tkk9NzHi">pic.twitter.com/Z6tkk9NzHi</a>
&mdash; Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1306763697772085250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
About a month after Biden falsely claimed that Trump was responsible for every American who died from coronavirus, Biden claimed that Trump “should not remain President of the United States” because he was “responsible” for “220,000 deaths.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
220,000 deaths.
If you hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this: Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain President of the United States.
&mdash; Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1319446692236791814?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Amid plummeting approval ratings, Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/after-promising-to-shut-down-the-virus-biden-now-claims-there-is-no-federal-solution">told</a> governors on Monday that there was “no federal solution” and that challenges combatting the coronavirus pandemic “gets solved at the state level.”
The number of Americans who say that Biden is doing a “bad job” in responding to the pandemic has <a href="https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_US_121521/">doubled</a> from 23% during Biden’s first month in office to 46% as of last month.
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President Biden Delivers Closing Remarks At Virtual Summit For Democracy

Coronavirus Cases Smash Records In U.S. After Biden Promised To ‘Shut Down The Virus’

Five Republican senators have introduced a bill to increase oversight of the National Institutes of Health&#8217;s (NIH) policies and procedures regarding federally funded research of “potential pandemic pathogens.&#8221;
The “<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-117s3414is/pdf/BILLS-117s3414is.pdf">National Biosecurity Improvement Act</a>,” introduced on December 16, would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look into any NIH research that involves dangerous pathogens. 
The bill’s introduction to the Senate comes after months of Republican-led efforts to look into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
“If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that we need more transparency surrounding federal agencies’ funding of various research, particularly regarding potentially dangerous pathogens,” <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=5D9F77F1-347D-46EE-A58B-DF3C3AA6C02B">said</a> Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), one of the sponsors of the bill. “This bill will increase oversight and help ensure research is conducted safely and securely, both in the United States and overseas, to protect the safety of Iowans and all Americans.”
If the bill were to pass, the GAO would be required to look into how federal agencies ensure that any research involving dangerous pathogens is done safely without compromising national security. It would also make efforts to “establish a common domestic and international approach to ensuring the safety and security of research involving the enhancement of potential pandemic pathogens and related risky research with potentially dangerous pathogens.”
In October, the NIH <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-nih-letter-about-ecohealth-reporting-failure-raises-new-questions-about-gain-of-function-funding">released documents</a> that appeared to contradict previous statements regarding the experiments taking place on bat coronaviruses at the lab in Wuhan, China. The Daily Wire reported:
<blockquote>&#8220;The limited experiment described in the final progress report provided by EcoHealth Alliance was testing if spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model,” the letter, signed by NIH Principal Deputy Director <a href="https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-almanac/lawrence-tabak-dds-phd">Lawrence A. Tabak</a>, states. “In this limited experiment, laboratory mice infected with the SHC014 WIV1 bat coronavirus became sicker than those infected with the WIV1 bat coronavirus.”
The NIH added that “this was an unexpected result of the research,” as “sometimes occurs in science.”</blockquote>
The letter resulted in more questioning from legislators concerned with the research at the Wuhan lab. “I told you so’ doesn’t even begin to cover it here,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) <a href="https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1450996489862459394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1450996489862459394%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsamj-3930%2F2021%2F10%2F21%2Ffatality-sen-rand-paul-drops-thread-with-all-the-receipts-of-nih-contradicting-fauci-admitting-gain-of-function-research-at-wuhan-lab%2F">tweeted</a> in response to a tweet about the letter that claimed: “NIH states that EcoHealth Alliance violated Terms and Conditions of NIH grant AI110964.”
The “National Biosecurity Improvement Act” would seek to improve the government’s awareness of research being conducted similar to the research happening at the Wuhan lab. 
“The more we learn about the potential origins of the coronavirus pandemic, the more questions we have about the role of state actors and even our own government in researching dangerous pathogens,” <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=5D9F77F1-347D-46EE-A58B-DF3C3AA6C02B">said</a> Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), another sponsor of the bill. “As we continue to investigate, Americans deserve answers on the extent to which the U.S. government engages in or funds risky research and what policies are in place to ensure it is done safely and in a way that doesn’t jeopardize our national security. This bill brings about much-needed transparency into the government’s policies and past actions regarding such risky research.”
The bill was also sponsored by Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). 
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Wuhan Lab

Senate Republicans Target NIH For More Oversight Of ‘Potential Pandemic Pathogens’ Research

Wuhan Institute of Virology

The World Health Organization (WHO) called a meeting on Friday to discuss a new mutant strain of COVID-19 that is spreading in South Africa.
Joe Phaahla, South Africa’s minister of health, identified the new variant as B.1.1.529, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/health/who-meets-to-discuss-new-heavily-mutated-covid-19-variant">reported</a>. He said the strain appears to be highly contagious, especially among young people.
Meanwhile, a BBC health reporter <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59418127" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">wrote</a> that the new variant has a &#8220;long list of mutations.&#8221;
&#8220;This variant did surprise us,&#8221; Tulio de Oliveira, the director of the Center for South Africa’s Epidemic Response and Innovation, told the BBC. &#8220;It has a big jump on evolution [and] many more mutations that we expected.&#8221;
Nature magazine <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">reported</a> that the strain was first detected in Botswana earlier this month. The report said scientists are working to find out if the variant can evade the immune response and vaccine protection. One researcher in Johannesburg said, &#8220;We’re flying at warp speed,&#8221; said the magazine.
Epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, said one detection of the virus occurred in Southern Africa, when one person quarantining in a hotel passed it on to another guest. &#8220;It&#8217;s very airborne,&#8221; Feigl-Ding told the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10244455/Scientists-alarmed-new-worst-COVID-variant-make-vaccines-40-effective.html">Daily Mail</a>. &#8220;The hotel guests were in different room across the hallway from each other. Environmental samples found the virus in 25 of 87 swabs across both rooms.&#8221;
The New York Post published an <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/11/26/what-to-know-about-whos-meeting-on-new-b-1-1-529-covid-19-variant/">explainer</a> about the new variant, examining its potential to evade vaccines. &#8220;B.1.1.529 has a spike protein that is drastically different to the one in the original bug that the vaccines are based on, according to the UK Health Security Agency, which is raising some concern about how current jabs will perform against it,&#8221; the Post explained.
&#8220;South Africa’s Department of Health also said during a briefing Thursday that the variant contains several mutations associated with increased antibody resistance, which may reduce the effectiveness of current vaccines,&#8221; the Post added. More from the outlet:
<blockquote>Sharon Peacock, who has led genetic sequencing of COVID-19 in Britain at the University of Cambridge, told the Associated Press that the data so far suggests that the virus’ mutations are “consistent with enhanced transmissibility,” but said that “the significance of many of the mutations is still not known.”</blockquote>
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/25/who-calls-special-meeting-to-discuss-new-covid-variant-from-south-africa-with-large-number-of-mutations.html">CNBC</a>, “It will take a few weeks for us to understand what impact this variant has on any potential vaccines.&#8221;
“Right now, researchers are getting together to understand where these mutations are in the spike protein and the furin cleavage site, and what that potentially may mean for our diagnostics or therapeutics and our vaccines,” Van Kerkhove said, adding that the agency could label the strain the Greek name Nu.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

WHO Meets To Discuss Variant Of COVID-19 Spreading In South Africa

COVID-19

Everyone sucks, and that is why you should make extra sure to have a very happy Thanksgiving this year.
No, seriously. The most needful reminder of all this year is that everyone is — categorically, scripturally, and historically — the worst. The tale of humanity is a tale of murder, war, rape, disease, and other assorted catastrophes. I do not mean to be flippant about such things. They are agony, but they are the norm.
And so in order to grasp the true character of any event in any human society, one must understand that a large amount of human history is quite painful and terrible. There is no pure and unblemished culture against which we can measure the atrocities of those big bad Europeans who came to settle the New World centuries ago. Maya, Aztecs, Incas, Toltecs, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Egyptians alike: at one point or another they have <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-native-american-slaveholders-complicate-trail-tears-narrative-180968339/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-native-american-slaveholders-complicate-trail-tears-narrative-180968339/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1EIM7kT0xqotO3XCFSQ3jn">all</a> gotten <a href="https://www.history.com/news/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.history.com/news/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0zgOke15ELdz0eZ9GHMIzN">eagerly</a> about the <a href="https://newafricanmagazine.com/16616/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://newafricanmagazine.com/16616/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3ppRZ1BeSRMRTTztXVE-qH">business</a> of <a href="https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/discovering-columbus/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/discovering-columbus/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1XXY7fpcbkdSNixczUObAj">enslaving</a> each other, sacrificing one another to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/10/skeletal-remains-confirm-ancient-greeks-engaged-in-human-sacrifice" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/10/skeletal-remains-confirm-ancient-greeks-engaged-in-human-sacrifice&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1qw8GHop2RwY23SIjVFdc1">false gods</a>, or otherwise <a href="https://www.livescience.com/65283-crucifixion-history.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.livescience.com/65283-crucifixion-history.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1WxeGCC2dyAYX-HJGxrPJB">mistreating one another</a> quite dreadfully. You don’t need religion to tell you this: you just need a few history books and a pair of eyes.
Against this rather grim backdrop there occasionally emerge, by the grace of God, a few spots of light. The story of Thanksgiving is one such spot. The Puritan Pilgrims were what is called “Separatists” from the Church of England because of their refusal to participate in rituals they deemed unbiblical. They had been “harried” (to use the language King James employed at the time) out of their native land. Though they found sanctuary for a while in the Dutch town of Leiden, they so yearned to raise their children apart from the seductions of the world that they felt called to set out for distant shores.
On the way, they were given the runaround by some thoroughly opportunistic businessmen called “The Adventurers,” kept from departure until the worst possible time, and shunted into a 75-foot-long cavern in the belly of a ship, the Mayflower, which would suffer hair-raising damage on the 65-day journey to the New World.
They arrived to find the native Wampanoags either thoroughly wiped out by disease, or else humiliated by forced capitulation to sworn enemies such as the Narragansett. Of those who had occupied the area of Patuxet, now called Plymouth, only one, Squanto, remained alive — and that was because he had been enslaved, carried to Europe, and forced to find his way home after regaining freedom.
Half the Pilgrims died during their first brutal winter in Plymouth. Their meeting with Squanto and the regional chief, Massasoit, likely saved them from ruin. And so it was that, 399 years ago, in 1621, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag made a pact that would last for decades of peace.
It can only be understood as a miracle: these two battered, beleaguered people, rendered desperate and needy by the cruel violence of this fallen world, came together in the midst of it all — all the disease, all the heartache, all the fear — and they broke bread. Like all miracles, it was a moment in which the warmth of fellowship glowed defiantly in spite of all else — a moment puncturing through the darkness, providing some hint that we are more than this world makes us out to be.
And indeed we are, though disease and fear threaten us still. We are told this year that we must not gather, because it is not safe to do so. But just like the accusation that the European settlers of America were uniquely evil, this warning against the plague of coronavirus is based on a deep misunderstanding about what kind of world it is we live in.
It is never simple, never clean, never easy, to do the things we humans are called by God himself to do. Eating together, building families, building nations: these things are not safe. Never have been, never will be. We do them anyway, not because we can be assured of their success or their security, but because our gift and our duty is to rejoice together in the midst of all this mess. Now we are told to wait until the mess is cleaned up. That is nonsense. We will die before that happens, and we will never have lived.
The Pilgrims’ eventual governor, William Bradford, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24950/24950-h/24950-h.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24950/24950-h/24950-h.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw39QeoD8zTcdsAwX8CKJjU7">wrote</a> in his record of the journey that when the group left Holland, they were deathly afraid and bitterly sad. But “they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lift[ed] up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.” So are we pilgrims, all of us, on this earth — here to find what joy in it we can. May your own Thanksgiving, and every Thanksgiving, be one moment of such joy. Do not wait until it is safe to make it so.
Spencer Klavan is host of the <a href="http://youngheretics.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://youngheretics.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0GMUxg7VdCwuD3R6L_d0Ck">Young Heretics</a> podcast and associate editor of the <a href="https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2pFKJrpynA6Tw5SEUoWO-Q">Claremont Review of</a> Books and <a href="https://americanmind.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://americanmind.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0qDA523zYhtONSXhHcG_1m">The American Mind</a>. He can be reached on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/spencerklavan" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/spencerklavan&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606332440226000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Ut9TSIMBUWEolj8C35yBk">@SpencerKlavan</a>.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe"> member</a>.

Thanksgiving

Why You Should Celebrate Thanksgiving

Readers Pass

This week, scores of Hollywood celebrities published an <a href="https://www.care.org/end-covid-everywhere-open-letter-to-world-leaders/">open letter</a> to “World Leaders” advising them on how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The celebrities included Ciara, Richard Gere, Anne Hathaway, Eva Longoria, Alyssa Milano, and Sarah Silverman, among others.
The letter was organized by the global nonprofit CARE, the <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/09/21/anne-hathaway-and-more-stars-open-letter-to-end-the-pandemic/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=P6Twitter&amp;utm_medium=SocialFlow">New York Post</a> reported. &#8220;Model Iman is the organization’s global advocate and helped urge leaders to increase their vaccination efforts,” the outlet notes.
The letter states:
<blockquote>COVID-19 is now a manmade pandemic of apathy. Only 2% of people in low-income countries have received a single dose, leaving the world’s most vulnerable to face COVID with no protection. This situation also lets new variants, like Delta, emerge and ravage the lives of millions.
We are joining with CARE to call on global leaders to make 7 billion vaccine doses available before the end of 2021, and an additional 7 billion doses by mid-2022 to fully vaccinate 70% of the world by next summer.
To get this done the world community must also invest in last-mile delivery systems, public education, and frontline healthcare workers to get vaccines from tarmacs into arms. Millions of doses could go to waste because low-income countries don’t have the support they need to get vaccines to vulnerable people.
We can save millions of lives — and trillions in further economic damage — by meeting this moment with the resources and political will needed to end COVID-19 for everyone, everywhere. Because none of us are safe until all of us are safe. </blockquote>
The celebrities who signed it include:
<ul>
<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
<li>Malin Ackerman</li>
<li>Debbie Allen</li>
<li>Dorothy Amuah</li>
<li>Morena Baccarin</li>
<li>Adriana Barraza</li>
<li>Troian Bellisario</li>
<li>Bobby Berk</li>
<li>Jordana Brewster</li>
<li>Connie Britton</li>
<li>Karamo Brown</li>
<li>Yvette Nicole Brown</li>
<li>Gloria Calderón Kellett</li>
<li>Ciara</li>
<li>Tena Clark</li>
<li>Kim Coates</li>
<li>Madison Cowan</li>
<li>Alexandra Daddario</li>
<li>Peter Dinklage</li>
<li>Melinda Doolittle</li>
<li>Tan France</li>
<li>Richard Gere</li>
<li>Duff Goldman</li>
<li>Tony Goldwyn</li>
<li>Fiona Gubelmann</li>
<li>Anne Hathaway</li>
<li>Ingrid Hoffmann</li>
<li>Anders Holm</li>
<li>Dolores Huerta</li>
<li>Osas Ighodaro</li>
<li>Iman</li>
<li>Sonam Kapoor Ahuja</li>
<li>Ellie Krieger</li>
<li>Iskra Lawrence</li>
<li>Annie Lennox</li>
<li>Lola Lennox</li>
<li>Esther Lewis</li>
<li>Laura Linney</li>
<li>Kimberly Locke</li>
<li>Eva Longoria</li>
<li>Anja Manuel</li>
<li>Julianna Margulies</li>
<li>Catherine McCord</li>
<li>Joel McHale</li>
<li>Spike Mendelsohn</li>
<li>Idina Menzel</li>
<li>Debra Messing</li>
<li>Alyssa Milano</li>
<li>Sepideh Moafi</li>
<li>Tamera Mowry-Housley</li>
<li>Christina Ochoa</li>
<li>Edward James Olmos</li>
<li>Ana Ortiz</li>
<li>Helen Pankhurst</li>
<li>Jessica Pimentel</li>
<li>Julie Plec</li>
<li>Adina Porter</li>
<li>Zac Posen</li>
<li>Leven Rambin</li>
<li>April Reign</li>
<li>Holland Roden</li>
<li>Sheila Shah</li>
<li>Adam Shankman</li>
<li>Omar Sharif Jr.</li>
<li>Michael Sheen</li>
<li>Adam Shulman</li>
<li>Sarah Silverman</li>
<li>Hannah Skvarla</li>
<li>Todd Snyder</li>
<li>Kimberly Steward</li>
<li>Curtis Stone</li>
<li>Christy Turlington Burns</li>
<li>Laura Vandervoort</li>
<li>Gabby Williams</li>
<li>Michelle Williams</li>
<li>Kimberly Williams-Paisley</li>
<li>Russell Wilson</li>
<li>Scott Wolf</li>
<li>Kelley Wolf</li>
<li>Bellamy Young</li>
<li>Rachel Zoe</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
Last Sunday night, the Emmys were held in an enclosed tent with a slew of celebrities attending unmasked, <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/emmys-go-maskless-get-blasted-masking-is-solely-reserved-for-us-peasants/">triggering condemnation on social media</a>. Some of the Emmys presenters commented on the fact that the event was not held in an open-air venue, but that vaccines were required of the celebrity attendees, as <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/09/19/seth-rogen-emmys-jab-over-covid-protocols-earns-quick-show-response/8415126002/">USA Today</a> reported.
Many social media users had no use for any excuses, especially after the recent star-studded Met Gala where celebrities also walked around maskless.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

pjimage

Hollywood Celebs Send Letter To World Leaders On How To Handle Coronavirus

Hollywood

A new analysis by the Congressional Research Service, Congress’ nonpartisan research arm, suggests that President Joe Biden’s intention to require all workers at companies with at least 100 employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 might not pass legal muster.
On September 9, Biden said that he would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-vax-mandate-in-chaos-osha-underfunded-and-toothless-employers-worried-about-millions-of-dollars-in-testing-cost">use</a> the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s jurisdiction over workforce safety to require some 80 million workers to get vaccinated against coronavirus or undergo weekly testing. To get around the fact that enacting an OSHA rule typically takes four to seven years, it will use emergency authority known as Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS).
&#8220;OSHA may promulgate an ETS without supplying any notice or opportunity for public comment or public hearings. An ETS is immediately effective upon publication in the Federal Register. Upon promulgation of an ETS, OSHA is required to begin the full rulemaking process for a permanent standard with the ETS serving as the proposed standard for this rulemaking. An ETS is valid until superseded by a permanent standard, which OSHA must promulgate within six months of publishing the ETS in the Federal Register,&#8221; CRS&#8217;s <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/download/R/R46288/R46288.pdf/">report</a> said.
Using emergency authority requires that &#8220;employees are exposed to grave danger&#8221; and that &#8220;such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such danger.&#8221;
&#8220;The term grave danger, used in the first mandatory determination for an ETS, is not defined in statute or regulation. The legislative history demonstrates the intent of Congress that the ETS process &#8216;not be utilized to circumvent the regular standard-setting process,&#8217; but the history is unclear as to how Congress intended the term grave danger to be defined,&#8221; CRS said.
OSHA has resorted to emergency rules only &#8220;sparingly,&#8221; but in the few cases it has used them, the agency’s moves have not stood up well against court scrutiny. Prior to coronavirus, OSHA issued an ETS only nine times, and courts fully overturned four, and partially vacated a fifth.
In 1984, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit invalidated a 1983 rule on asbestos exposure, saying, &#8220;OSHA did not provide sufficient support for its claim that 80 workers would ultimately die because of exposures to asbestos during the six-month life of the ETS.&#8221;
It is not enough to show that coronavirus can be deadly: the second prong, that the measures are &#8220;necessary to protect employees,&#8221; requires showing that the measures would meaningfully alter outcomes from workplace-related exposure. In the asbestos case, the court &#8220;dismissed OSHA&#8217;s argument that the ETS was necessary,&#8221; saying that even though asbestos was dangerous, other rules already required respirator use that would have a similar effect. In this case, the government might have to prove that vaccinated employees still face &#8220;grave&#8221; danger, even though they are vaccinated.
In the 1984 asbestos case, the court also indicated that OSHA was using an emergency rule to try to avoid legal scrutiny, writing that &#8220;fear of a successful judicial challenge to enforcement of OSHA’s permanent standard regarding respirator use hardly justifies resort to the most dramatic weapon in OSHA&#8217;s enforcement arsenal.&#8221;
Until this year, OSHA had not issued an ETS since. In 2006 it considered one over a fake butter chemical that was causing &#8220;popcorn lung&#8221; in food workers, but determined it likely could not meet the &#8220;necessity requirement&#8221; since most people were already taking steps to ameliorate the problem on their own — in that case, manufacturers removing the compound from their products.
ETS rules are only supposed to last six months. But the problem is that there is no reason to think any permanent OSHA rule can be passed during that time period. Of the four previous ETS rules that were not overturned by courts, a permanent replacement was issued within or shortly after the six-month period, but these were all before 1980. Since then, red tape has swelled to the point where this is no longer likely.
The courts have never ruled on whether an emergency rule can be extended beyond six months, though one 1974 court ruling provides some support for the idea.
Another problem is whether a permanent rule can be justified at all. Since any rule must be &#8220;necessary&#8221; to protect workers from grave danger, a permanent mandate may not be appropriate since the coronavirus pandemic will presumably end. A similar rule promulgated by the state of Virginia is vague about its sunset provisions.
The Daily Wire, which employs more than 100 people, has said it will <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shapiro-on-fox-daily-wire-staffing-up-to-fight-bidens-tyrannical-and-authoritarian-order">fight</a> the employer vaccine mandate, even though its co-founders are vaccinated and encourage others to get vaccinated voluntarily.
The law says, CRS noted, that &#8220;any person who is ‘adversely affected’ by a standard may file, within 60 days of its promulgation, a petition challenging the standard with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the circuit in which the person lives or maintains his or her principal place of business. A petition for judicial review does not automatically stay the implementation or enforcement of the standard. However, the court may order such a stay. OSHA estimates that post-promulgation activities, including judicial review, can take between four and 12 months after the standard is promulgated.&#8221;
The Biden administration&#8217;s OSHA previously used an ETS, issued on June 21, 2021, that &#8220;requires health care employers to develop COVID-19 plans and protect employees from COVID-19 exposure through health screenings, personal protective equipment (PPE), building ventilation, and physical distancing and barriers. The ETS requires healthcare employers to remove any employees with COVID-19 from the workplace while providing them with certain benefits. Health care employers are not required to mandate that their employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine but must provide reasonable time off for employees to receive a vaccine and recover from any vaccine-related side effects.&#8221;
CRS said in that rule, OSHA argued that &#8220;the development, availability, and overall success of the COVID-19 vaccines in the United States do not obviate the need for an ETS but rather serve as evidence of the need for an ETS. OSHA states that it has a statutory responsibility to protect all workers, including those who are unvaccinated, regardless of the reason for those workers’ vaccine refusals. OSHA claims that the ETS encourages vaccination among health care workers, as many as 25% of whom may not be fully vaccinated, by exempting fully vaccinated workers from certain requirements in the ETS.&#8221;
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Congressional Research Service Raises Questions About OSHA Vaccine Mandate’s Legality

Vaccine Mandate

A North Carolina doctor who had formerly served as the Chief of Medical Staff for a regional medical center argued at a virtual meeting that the hospital’s messaging needs to be “a little bit more scary for the public,” suggesting that the hospital include “post-Covid” patients in the hospital’s case count.
The internal discussion on how the hospital reports its COVID-19 patient count featured Dr. Mary Rudyk, who previously served as Chief of Medical Staff for Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Shelbourn Stevens, the president of NHRMC, and the hospital’s Director of Marketing, Carolyn Fisher.
In the video, Fisher explained, “The dashboard and how it&#8217;s set up myself as far as how we get information out to the community on meaningful numbers, we&#8217;ve only set on a weekly basis. So that&#8217;s on our website and we&#8217;ve been sharing that through social channels as well, particularly those graphics that show the number of patients in-house, the percentage of them that are unvaccinated, percentage of unvaccinated people in the ICU and the percentage of deaths and the numbers. So those are numbers that we put out as far as we don&#8217;t get into details of — of those other numbers are certainly out there.”
Rudyk stated, “I guess my feeling at this point in time is maybe we need to be completely a little bit more scary for the public. Then there&#8217;s another comment that I completely agree there are many people still hospitalized that we&#8217;re considering post-Covid but we&#8217;re not counting in those numbers. So how do we include those post-Covid people in the numbers of the patients we have in the hospital?”
Fisher: “So is that all the people who have been in the hospital since the beginning of Covid?”
“Well, or but are still in,” Rudyk replied. “And that&#8217;s something that I can take to someone else. But I think those are important numbers. The patients that are still in the hospital that are off the Covid floor but still are occupying the hospital for a variety of reasons. “
Stevens interjected, “Caroline, I&#8217;m sorry, we&#8217;re calling those recovered now. If you look at the Novant Health Dashboard, they&#8217;re listed as recovered, but I do think, from our standpoint we would still consider them a Covid patient because they&#8217;re still here.”
“I think that that needs to be highlighted as well. Because once they&#8217;re off isolation, they drop from the Covid numbers; that&#8217;s exactly right,” Rudyk said.
Stevens suggested, “Caroline, we can talk offline how we run that up to marketing.”
Rudyk continued, “So I was going to say, Caroline, I think we have to be more blunt; we have to be more forceful&#8230;we have to say something coming out, you know you don&#8217;t get vaccinated; you know you&#8217;re going to die. Let&#8217;s just be really blunt to these people.”
NHRMC Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center released a statement after the <a href="https://twitter.com/NationalFile/status/1436466927703138308">video of the conversation</a> was made public, according to <a href="https://www.wect.com/2021/09/10/novant-health-issues-statement-leaked-internal-discussion-covid-19-patient-numbers/">WECT.</a> They stated:
<blockquote>The team members involved in this excerpt of an internal meeting are seeing the highest level of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths so far in this pandemic &#8211; despite having safe and effective vaccines widely available. This was a frank discussion among medical and communications professionals on how we can more accurately convey the severity and seriousness of what’s happening inside of our hospitals and throughout our communities. Specifically, the data we have been sharing does not include patients who remain hospitalized for COVID-19 complications even though they are no longer COVID-19 positive, so it does not provide a complete picture of the total impact of COVID-19 on our patients and on our hospitals. We continue to be concerned with the amount of misinformation in our communities and consistently strive for more ways to be transparent and tell the whole story. The continued rise of hospitalizations makes it evident that we have more work to do to reach our communities with these messages.</blockquote>
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Row of hospital beds

Doctor Suggests Hospital Change COVID Case Count: ‘A Little Bit More Scary For The Public’

Case Count

Doctors

North Carolina

On Thursday, NBC News reported that in addition to the reports that President Biden would mandate all government employees to be vaccinated for the coronavirus, he wants all schools to set up regular testing of children in schools for the coronavirus.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
First to <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBCNews</a>: Biden today will call on ALL SCHOOLS TO SET UP REGULAR TESTING:
1. In April, Congress appropriated $10 billion to states to set up regular school testing. What are they doing with it??
2. &quot;the Admin is calling on all schools to set up regular testing in
&mdash; Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1435948761411473417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
their schools for students, teachers and staff consistent with CDC guidance,&quot; the official said.
3. This is ptc important for elementary kids. Important to understand that many schools are NOT DOING THIS.
Or they&#39;re doing it wrong. IE only testing symptomatic or only staff.
&mdash; Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1435949373377159171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“In April, the Department of Health and Human Services provided $10 billion in funding to K-12 schools for COVID-19 testing for teachers, staff and students. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that screening should be offered to students who have not been fully vaccinated when community transmission is at moderate, substantial, or high levels,” <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/biden-to-outline-new-strategy-to-boost-covid-19-vaccinations-testing/2952462/">NBC Philadelphia</a> noted.
On August 18, Biden implicitly attacked Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, saying at a press conference:
<blockquote>Today I’m directing the Secretary of Education, an educator himself, to take additional steps to protect our children. This includes using all of his oversight authorities and legal action, if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block and intimidate local school officials and educators. And as I said before, if you aren’t going to fight COVID-19, at least get out of the way of everyone else who’s trying. … as we head into the school year, remember this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC says masks are critical, especially for those who are not yet vaccinated like our children under the age of 12.</blockquote>
DeSantis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-responds-to-biden-i-am-standing-in-your-way-from-taking-peoples-freedoms-do-your-job">fired back</a>:
<blockquote>So I think the question is, we can either have a free society, or we can have a biomedical security state. And I can tell you, Florida, we&#8217;re a free state, people are going to be free to choose, to make their own decisions about themselves, about their families, about their kid&#8217;s education, and about putting food on the table.
And Joe Biden suggests that if you don&#8217;t do lockdown policies, then you should quote, “get out of the way.” But let me tell you this, if you&#8217;re coming after the rights of parents in Florida, I&#8217;m standing in your way, I&#8217;m not going to let you get away with it.
If you&#8217;re trying to deny kids a proper in person education. I&#8217;m gonna stand in your way and I&#8217;m gonna stand up for the kids in Florida. If you&#8217;re trying to restrict people, impose mandates, if you&#8217;re trying to ruin their jobs and their livelihoods and their small business, if you are trying to lock people down, I am standing in your way and I&#8217;m standing for the people of Florida.
So why don&#8217;t you do your job? Why don&#8217;t you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don&#8217;t want to hear a blip about COVID from you. Thank you.</blockquote>
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro had some questions for the Biden administration regarding the school testing for children:
<blockquote>And then what&#8217;s the quarantine policy? Anyone in contact with a positive test case? Because that ends schooling on Day 1, given the number of kids who will test positive  symptomatically. Also, how regular will this testing be? Daily? Weekly? What&#8217;s the turnaround time on the tests? How will this be implemented quickly enough to get kids into class? This sounds, frankly, like a logistical nightmare that will not achieve its supposed goal.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
What&#39;s the turnaround time on the tests? How will this be implemented quickly enough to get kids into class? This sounds, frankly, like a logistical nightmare that will not achieve its supposed goal.
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1435980223418404868?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Vice President Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Redwood City School

Now It’s Kids: Biden To Call For All Schools To Test Schoolchildren For Virus: Report

Children

Elementary Schools

President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration released a long-awaited report on Friday afternoon about the origins of SARS-CoV-2. The report gave no definitive answers, was relatively soft on China, and effectively stated that the origins of the coronavirus will never be known without China&#8217;s cooperation.
The unclassified version of the <a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Unclassified-Summary-of-Assessment-on-COVID-19-Origins.pdf">report</a>, which was just a little over one page long, said that the outbreak happened no later than November 2019 and that it initially started with &#8220;small-scale exposure&#8221; in Wuhan, China. The report, which was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, claimed that the agencies reached &#8220;broad agreement on several other key issues,&#8221; including that the coronavirus was &#8220;not developed as a biological weapon,&#8221; even though the lab was reportedly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-receive-report-on-coronavirus-origins-but-challenges-persist-in-how-to-deal-with-china-11629825758">working</a> on classified research for the Chinese military.
&#8220;Most agencies also assess with low confidence that SARS-CoV-2 probably was not genetically engineered; however, two agencies believe there was not sufficient evidence to make an assessment either way,&#8221; the report claimed. &#8220;Finally, the IC assesses China’s officials did not have foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of COVID-19 emerged.&#8221;
The Biden administration&#8217;s claims come after in-depth <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.html">reports</a> point to SARS-CoV-2 emerging from gain of function experiments conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Other top experts have <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-science-suggests-a-wuhan-lab-leak-11622995184">explained</a> in even more detail &#8220;the damning fact&#8221; that they say points to the coronavirus being genetically altered.
Other top former officials have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biostatisticians-calculated-odds-of-coronavirus-evolving-naturally-to-be-1-in-13-billion-top-ex-pandemic-investigator-says">stated</a> that the U.S. government had biostatisticians calculate the odds of the coronavirus evolving naturally, which they found was one-in-13 billion.
The Biden administration&#8217;s report concludes that the two hypotheses that are plausible are the natural exposure theory and the lab leak theory:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Four IC elements and the National Intelligence Council assess with low confidence that the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection was most likely caused by natural exposure to an animal infected with it or a close progenitor virus—a virus that probably would be more than 99 percent similar to SARS-CoV-2.</li>
<li>One IC element assesses with moderate confidence that the first human infection with SARS-CoV-2 most likely was the result of a laboratory-associated incident, probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute of Virology.</li>
<li>Analysts at three IC elements remain unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information, with some analysts favoring natural origin, others a laboratory origin, and some seeing the hypotheses as equally likely.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
The report claimed that the different views between the agencies stem from how they weigh &#8220;intelligence reporting and scientific publications, and intelligence and scientific gaps.&#8221;
The report concluded by saying that the administration &#8220;will be unable to provide a more definitive explanation&#8221; for the origins of the coronavirus unless more information comes to light, which it said would &#8220;most likely&#8221; require China to cooperate with an investigation.
&#8220;Beijing, however, continues to hinder the global investigation, resist sharing information and blame other countries, including the United States,&#8221; the report said. &#8220;These actions reflect, in part, China’s government’s own uncertainty about where an investigation could lead as well as its frustration the international community is using the issue to exert political pressure on China.&#8221;
A much more detailed report, more than 80 pages long, from Republican Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, pinned the blame on China with significantly more force and put much more confidence in the coronavirus coming from one of China&#8217;s biolabs.
That report&#8217;s executive summary <a href="https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ORIGINS-OF-COVID-19-REPORT.pdf">stated</a>:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The sudden removal of the WIV’s virus and sample database in the middle of the night on September 12, 2019 and without explanation;</li>
<li>Safety concerns expressed by top PRC scientists in 2019 and unusually scheduled maintenance at the WIV;</li>
<li>Athletes at the Military World Games held in Wuhan in October 2019 who became sick with symptoms similar to COVID-19 both while in Wuhan and also shortly after returning to their home countries;</li>
<li>Satellite imagery of Wuhan in September and October 2019 that showed a significant uptick in the number of people at local hospitals surrounding the WIV’s headquarters, coupled with an unusually high number of patients with symptoms similar to COVID-19;</li>
<li>The installation of a People’s Liberation Army’s bioweapons expert as the head of the WIV’s Biosafety Level 4 lab (BSL-4), possibly as early as late 2019; and</li>
<li>Actions by the Chinese Communist Party and scientists working at or affiliated with the WIV to hide or coverup the type of research being conducted at there.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
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China President Xi Welcomes Foreign Leaders

Biden Admin Takes Soft Tone On China In Long-Awaited Report On Origins Of The Coronavirus

China

Wuhan

A top scientist leading the World Health Organization&#8217;s investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic believes that it is &#8220;probable&#8221; that the pandemic originated in a Chinese lab and said that China pressured the WHO team to not look into the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
&#8220;Speaking to Danish documentarians, Peter Ben Embarek said Chinese researchers on the team had pushed back against linking the origins of the pandemic to a research laboratory in Wuhan in a report about the investigation,&#8221; The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/12/who-origins-embarek/">reported</a>. &#8220;In further comments during the interview that were not included in the documentary but were incorporated in an account by the Danish channel TV2 on its website, Ben Embarek suggested that there could have been &#8216;human error&#8217; but that the Chinese political system does not allow authorities to acknowledge that.&#8221;
“It probably means there’s a human error behind such an event, and they’re not very happy to admit that,” Ben Embarek was quoted as saying. “The whole system focuses a lot on being infallible, and everything must be perfect. Somebody could also wish to hide something. Who knows?”
Ben Embarek said in the documentary that China pressed the team to not look into the lab and only allowed the team to include in its initial report that it was “very unlikely” that the coronavirus escaped from the WIV after demanding that the team “didn’t recommend any specific studies to further that hypothesis.”
Ben Embarek said that China demanded that the report state that the lab leak hypothesis was “extremely unlikely.” Ben Embarek told The Washington Post, which broke the story, that his remarks were &#8220;a wrong translation from a Danish article&#8221; and he refused to comment any further.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/head-of-who-team-investigating-origins-of-covid-19-calls-for-closer-look-at-china-lab-11628807623">reported</a>:
<blockquote>In comments broadcast by Denmark’s state-owned TV 2 and confirmed to The Wall Street Journal, Peter Ben Embarek, a food-safety specialist, said investigators should seek more information about the lab, a research facility run by the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Ben Embarek’s remarks mark the biggest departure by a member of the WHO’s team from their view, expressed at a news conference in February, that a laboratory incident was too unlikely to merit further studies.</blockquote>
“It’s interesting that the lab relocated on the 2nd of December 2019: That’s the period where it all started,” Ben Embarek said in the TV interview. “We know that when you move a lab, it disturbs everything…That entire procedure is always a disruptive element in the daily work routine of a lab.”
Ben Embarek also said that it was likely that a researcher working out in the field could have become infected collecting bat samples, listing it as a case where &#8220;the virus jumps directly from a bat to a human.&#8221;
However, a <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.html#:~:text=If%20six%20men,days%2C%20got%20it.">report</a> from New York magazine earlier this year casts doubt on that theory, noting that when six field workers became sick in a Chinese cave back in 2012 with a virus that is the closest known relative to SARS-CoV-2, they were taken to the hospital and none of the hospital workers got sick, meaning that the virus was not transmissible.
Dr. Steven Quay and UC Berkeley emeritus professor of physics Richard Muller explained in The Wall Street Journal back in June that the genomic structure of COVID-19 was unlike anything discovered in nature, which is the strongest evidence the coronavirus was altered in a lab.
The two explained that in gain-of-function research, a spike protein is altered for the purpose of making a virus more transmissible or lethal. A specific genomic sequence, CGG-CGG (known as “double CGG”), they said, has “never been found naturally” in “the entire class of coronaviruses that includes CoV-2.” They explained that natural processes could not create a sequence combination if it “isn’t present in any other virus.”
The two <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-science-suggests-a-wuhan-lab-leak-11622995184">wrote</a>:
<blockquote>Although the double CGG is suppressed naturally, the opposite is true in laboratory work. The insertion sequence of choice is the double CGG. That’s because it is readily available and convenient, and scientists have a great deal of experience inserting it. An additional advantage of the double CGG sequence compared with the other 35 possible choices: It creates a useful beacon that permits the scientists to track the insertion in the laboratory.
Now the damning fact. It was this exact sequence that appears in CoV-2. Proponents of zoonotic origin must explain why the novel coronavirus, when it mutated or recombined, happened to pick its least favorite combination, the double CGG. Why did it replicate the choice the lab’s gain-of-function researchers would have made?</blockquote>
They noted that when Chinese scientists published a paper in February 2020, it omitted any mention of the sequence that scientists can identify when they examine the coronavirus. They continued:
<blockquote>There is additional scientific evidence that points to CoV-2’s gain-of-function origin. The most compelling is the dramatic differences in the genetic diversity of CoV-2, compared with the coronaviruses responsible for SARS and MERS.
Both of those were confirmed to have a natural origin; the viruses evolved rapidly as they spread through the human population, until the most contagious forms dominated. Covid-19 didn’t work that way. It appeared in humans already adapted into an extremely contagious version. No serious viral “improvement” took place until a minor variation occurred many months later in England.
Such early optimization is unprecedented, and it suggests a long period of adaptation that predated its public spread. Science knows of only one way that could be achieved: simulated natural evolution, growing the virus on human cells until the optimum is achieved. That is precisely what is done in gain-of-function research. Mice that are genetically modified to have the same coronavirus receptor as humans, called “humanized mice,” are repeatedly exposed to the virus to encourage adaptation.</blockquote>
David Asher, who led the Trump administration’s investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biostatisticians-calculated-odds-of-coronavirus-evolving-naturally-to-be-1-in-13-billion-top-ex-pandemic-investigator-says">said</a> in an interview earlier this year that the WIV was up to “some very hairy stuff with synthetic biology” and that biostatisticians from the U.S. government calculated that the odds of the coronavirus evolving naturally was one-in-13 billion.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/multiple-researchers-at-chinese-lab-in-wuhan-were-hospitalized-with-covid-19-like-symptoms-in-november-2019-u-s-intelligence-report">reported</a> in May that three researchers from WIV were hospitalized in November 2019 with symptoms consistent with COVID-19, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report.
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