CBS News posted a video of a crying nurse who claimed she was forced to quit her job after being asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask, only for it to emerge that the woman hadn’t worked at the hospital for over a year.
“In tears, a nurse says she quit her job after she was asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask: “America is not prepared, and nurses are not being protected,” stated the text accompanying the video posted by CBS News, which received over 8 million views on Twitter.
In tears, a nurse says she quit her job after she was asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask: “America is not prepared, and nurses are not being protected” https://t.co/ywoSuLOPYPpic.twitter.com/S5BsnlO5nt
The network appeared to have conducted no research into the claim whatsoever, as it was quickly revealed that the woman was an Instagram “influencer” who hadn’t been at the hospital “for over a year” according to her own Facebook post.
The woman, Imaris Vera, also said that she suffered from anxiety and bi-polar depression and had been triggered by the coronavirus “information overload.”
CBS’ later responded to their own tweet by stating, “The hospital, Northwestern Medicine, acknowledged that Imaris Vera had quit her job, but referred CBS News to Vera as to the details of why.”
Bernie Sanders’ staff didn’t bother to check the veracity of the story either before tweeting it out to the Senator’s 9.5 million followers and calling on the on the Department of Labor to respond by issuing emergency workplace standards
“Nurses and medical workers are working tirelessly with inadequate protection gear, and they are the real heroes. For an Instagram “influencer” to deliberately misrepresent her career for the instant glorification of internet fame is sickening,” writes Chrissy Clark.
Another Twitter user posted a video of the same woman talking about coronavirus while acting noticeably less upset.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization is a former member of a violent revolutionary communist party in Ethiopia that denied emergency medical treatment to an ethnic group and he is accused of personally overseeing the extradition of dissidents who were later imprisoned and tortured.
As we have previously highlighted, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeatedly parroted Chinese Communist Party talking points, constantly heaping praise on Beijing’s response to coronavirus despite the fact that China hid the truth about its spread and viciously silenced scientists and doctors who tried to warn the world.
Now we know why.
As John Martin explains in his excellent piece ‘The Crimes of Tedros Adhanom’, during his time in Ethiopia, the WHO chief was a member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a violent communist revolutionary party which was listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government in the 90’s.
According to one Ethiopian newspaper, Adhanom was listed as the 3rd most important member of the politbureau standing committee in the TPLF.
Martin writes how the TPLF engaged in “systematic discrimination and human rights abuses” by refusing emergency healthcare to the Amhara ethnic group because of their affiliation with the opposition party. The Ministry of Health that oversaw these abuses was led at the time by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Birth rates were recorded to be significantly lower in the Amhara region compared to other regions and 2 million Amhara people “disappeared” from the subsequent population census.
As Tucker Carlson highlighted earlier this week, Adhanom “got his job with Chinese support after he covered up cholera outbreaks in his home country” of Egypt.
Tedros has denied the allegation, which centered around claims he had downplayed cholera epidemics in Ethiopia in 2006, 2009 and 2011 by passing them off as “acute watery diarrhea,” a symptom of cholera.
“International organisations were pressured not to call it Cholera (despite the UN testing the infected and finding Cholera), and were pressured by government employees not to reveal the number of infected. Another stunning victory for the health minister,”writes Martin.
After he was appointed foreign minister of Ethiopia in 2012, dissidents and journalists across the country were subjected to a brutal government crackdown, leading some to flee to exile in nearby Yemen.
Adhanom was personally responsible for negotiating the extradition of these dissidents back to Ethiopia, some of whom were subsequently imprisoned and tortured.
“One such case was a British citizen Andy Tsege who was arrested at Sana’a airport and twice given a death sentence in Ethiopia,”writes Martin. “This led to the involvement of the British government who threatened denial of aid to Ethiopia unless he be granted asylum. Tedros responded that Tsege was “being treated very well. He even has a laptop, have you ever heard of a political prisoner with a laptop?” Andy of course, after his return to the UK told a somewhat different story of being tortured for days on end, alongside dozens of other prisoners.”
Dissidents being imprisoned and tortured? No wonder Adhanom is so effusive in his praise for China.
It gets worse.
In 2016, the Ethiopian government attempted to force relocate 15000 people in the Oromia region because it wanted to requisition their land. This led to mass protests followed by mass shootings and a stampede that killed 500 people according to Human Rights Watch. The government then embarked on another brutal crackdown, arresting 70,000 people.
Adhanom subsequently tried to downplay the violence, falsely claiming the police weren’t armed and that the numbers weren’t as high as stated.
After ascending to his lofty position within the World Health Organization, Adhanom appointed mass murdering dictator Robert Mugabe to be a “goodwill ambassador” to the WHO while also defending Uhuru Kenyatta, under whose government 1,300 people were killed following rigged elections.
“Tedros of course takes every chance he can to praise the good governance of China, and given the human rights record of the People’s Republic, it’s no wonder he likes them so much,” writes Martin. “From projects like media propaganda centres, mass relocations, and social credit style score cards, Ethiopia’s governance in many ways resembles a carbon copy of the Chinese authoritarian model. Complete with a one party state and focus on profit over human rights.”
In the immediate aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organization, under Adhanom’s direction, amplified Chinese fake news that there was no “human to human” transmission of COVID-19 as late as January 14th, despite this having already occurred in December.
The WHO and Adhanom also repeatedly demanded countries not impose border controls, exacerbating the spread of the disease, while appearing to be more concerned about political correctness and the “stigmatization” of Chinese people.
“In a sane world, instead of leading a global organisation, Tedros and his cronies would be put on trial at the International Criminal Court, tried for his crimes, and if found guilty, should spend the rest of his life in prison,” concludes Martin.
CCP blocked US manufacturers exporting medical equipment so it could ‘corner the market’ and sold Italy’s own donated equipment back to the country
By Steve Watson – 4/6/2020
Several reports over the past couple of days have exposed how China is profiteering hugely from the coronavirus that it failed to contain, and the severity of the spread that the communist state lied about.
The New York Post reported on Sunday that China blocked US manufacturers from exporting personal protective equipment (PPE), which was desperately needed to protect health care workers in the hardest hit areas.
“Leading US manufacturers of medical safety gear told the White House that China prohibited them from exporting their products from the country as the coronavirus pandemic mounted.”the report states.
“Executives from 3M and Honeywell told US officials that the Chinese government in January began blocking exports of N95 respirators, booties, gloves and other supplies produced by their factories in China,” The Post further reported.
A senior administration official told reporters that “China paid the manufacturers their standard wholesale rates, but prohibited the vital items from being sold to anyone else.”
The report explains that “China was trying to ‘corner the world market’ in personal protective equipment” and also “imported $1.2 billion worth of ‘epidemic prevention and control materials’ from the end of January through the end of February.”
“Data from China’s own customs agency points to an attempt to corner the world market in PPE like gloves, goggles, and masks through massive increased purchases – even as China, the world’s largest PPE manufacturer, was restricting exports.” the administration official added.
The report notes that the Trump administration is considering legal action against China, with senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis remarking that “People are dying. When you have intentional, cold-blooded premeditated action like you have with China, this would be considered first-degree murder.”
Michael Wessell of the federal US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, also slammed China, noting that American medical professionals are “starved of PPE to fight this crisis” because of the communist country’s actions.
“We understand that China has engaged in policies to try and not only develop its own capabilities, but to do so at expense of producers around the world,”Wessell said, adding that “At a time when demand was rising to deal with the crisis, China was marshaling all of the products for its own use.”
“[China is] using it for soft power, essentially saying it’s a humanitarian gesture to try to curry goodwill with American people when some of the problems we’re facing are the direct result of Chinese policies,”Wessell added.
The AFP reports that “China has sold nearly four billion masks to foreign countries since March” as well as 37.5 million pieces of protective clothing, 16,000 ventilators and 2.84 million COVID-19 testing kits, all at a value of approximately 10.2 billion yuan ($1.4 billion).
Chinese officials have claimed that the reports of faulty equipment “did not reflect the full facts”.
“In reality there are various factors, such as China having different standards and different usage habits to other countries. Even improper use can lead to doubts over quality,” said Jiang Fan, an official with the Ministry of Commerce.
Perhaps the most disgusting exposé of China’s profiteering was documented in a report by The Spectator, which found that Italy donated tons of Personal Protective Equipment to China to help the communist state protect its own population when the virus first hit. However, when Italy quickly became the worst hit country on the planet, China did not return the favour, instead SELLING the same equipment back to Italy at an inflated price.
The report notes:
China’s behaviour has been reprehensible, with both the US and British governments warning that there will be a reckoning.
NEW YORK –A growing scene for those who venture out into the streets of Manhattan these days is boarded up storefronts. From luxury retailers to small bars, establishments that have no idea when they are going to be allowed to reopen are putting up protection over their glass doors and windows.
The businesses have taken the unsightly measure in an effort to defend against the potential for civil unrest caused by the coronavirus and a lack of officers on the streets.
Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered bars and restaurants closed except for takeout service in mid-March. Most stores were also ordered to shut down.
Now, from Lower Manhattan to the Upper East Side, outlets are boarded up. At least a few have offered makeshift messages of hope.
Posted on a pub at 28th and Park the message “let us go forward together” is painted on some of the plywood. Another message is painted next to it saying, “if you’re going through hell keep going.”
Typically bustling Soho sidewalks are marred by boarded-up windows at designer brand stores, including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Coach, and Dolce & Gabbana.
The NYPD has reported that crime in the city has actually dropped since the coronavirus outbreak has limited people on the streets.
As the number of NYPD officers are added to the sick list or test positive to coronavirus, there are questions on the ability to effectively fight crime.
On Thursday, 6,498 uniformed members of the NYPD were on the sick report which accounts for 18% of the Department’s uniformed workforce. 1,354 uniformed members and 169 civilian members have tested positive for the coronavirus.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Empire State will do “whatever we have to do”in response to a growing number of city police officers who have called out sick.
Some shops are opting to board up storefronts as a deterrent
By Ben Chapman and Keiko Morris
Burglaries of businesses have risen in New York City under emergency measures to fight the new coronavirus, according to new New York Police Department data, and some businesses are boarding up their storefronts.
The NYPD has seen a 75% increase in reports of burglaries of commercial establishments from March 12, when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency, to March 31, police officials said. The NYPD recorded 254 burglaries of businesses during that time period this year compared with 145 for the same period last year, the officials said.
All boroughs of the city have seen increases, the officials said.
“We knew with the closing of many stores that we could see an increase and, unfortunately, we are,” said NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri.
The increase in commercial burglaries comes as major crimes across the city fell during the pandemic. From March 12 through March 31, major felonies, such as rapes, murders and assaults, fell by nearly 20% when compared with the same period in 2019, dropping to 3,740 such crimes from 4,670 a year earlier.
But Mr. LiPetri said that break-ins of eateries, supermarkets and retail establishments are fueling a rise in commercial burglaries. There were 30 burglaries of supermarkets and bodegas between March 12 and March 31, according to NYPD data, a 400% increase from six such incidents recorded during the same period a year earlier. Burglaries of eateries nearly doubled, rising to 51 incidents in 2020 from 28 incidents in 2019.
Thieves are taking currency, electronics and consumables, such as food, alcohol and retail goods from businesses, Mr. LiPetri said. They gain entry to closed businesses by forcing open doors, breaking windows or climbing in from rooftops, he said.
NYPD patrols are mobilized against the thefts, Mr. LePetri said. Police are working with business owners to deploy additional resources where needed and are reassessing patrols in real time, according to NYPD officials. On March 31, police apprehended three suspects charged in a string of burglaries in Queens and Brooklyn.
As burglaries have increased, a handful of chain retailers have boarded up New York City shops, including the cosmetics retailer Sephora, which has covered the windows of stores at locations in Times Square and on West 34th Street in Manhattan.
In a statement, Sephora representatives said the company has closed North American locations to adapt to the coronavirus and adopted standardized precautions for its properties. “Our goal is to ensure a great experience for our clients when we have the opportunity to reopen,” the company said.
Police officials said that few New York City businesses have boarded up their storefronts. But leaders of local business-improvement districts worry that the strategy could invite graffiti and potentially prompt other shop owners to do the same. Some districts said they haven’t seen any large increases or break-ins of storefronts.
Dan Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership, a business-improvement district that includes the closed Sephora location, said it isn’t necessary for businesses to board up their windows. “It’s a solution in search of a problem,” Mr. Biederman said.
On Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the local business-improvement district already had to send crews to remove graffiti from the boards covering an Aesop store, said Mark Caserta, executive director of the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District.
Residents who noticed vandalism of the storefront run by the high-end retailer of lotions, fragrances and skin-care products called to complain, Mr. Caserta said. Representatives for Aesop didn’t respond to calls for comment.
Mr. Caserta said boarding up buildings sends an inappropriate message to the community.
“It brings up this idea of rioting and collapse of society,” Mr. Caserta said. “This is way too much, and it sends the wrong signal.”
While the US shuts down all commerce for weeks and destroys the economy, other countries like Sweden and Brazil are doing the opposite and allowing the China coronavirus to run its course.
Data indicates there no material differences in fatalities between the three countries leading the casual observer to question why is the US killing its economy?
The US continues to prevent nearly all commerce from occurring to combat the China coronavirus. Many other countries are following suit. But some countries like Sweden and Brazil are keeping their countries open for business. Data shows that the fatalities related to the coronavirus in these countries are very similar to those in the US.
Sweden announced they would pretty much keep their economy open for business when the China coronavirus became a threat:
The US has identified the most cases of the China coronavirus when compared to Brazil and Sweden but all three countries are in the top 20 in the world that have cases identified. The US’s number indicates it has tested more people and also it is a much larger country based on population than Sweden and even Brazil.
Due to its testing efforts the US has the highest number of cases per million of all three countries (US – 741, Brazil – 38 and Sweden – 551).
Sweden has the largest number of fatalities per million in their country (Sweden – 30, US – 18 and Brazil – 2). The world average is 6.8 people per million.
The US, with all its efforts through social distancing to ward off the spread of the coronavirus, has the most active cases identified per million (US – 691, Sweden – 510 and Brazil – 36).
The US has the lowest percent of deaths per case of the three nations (US – 2.5%, Brazil – 4.1% and Sweden – 5.5%). Two of these nations are under the world average of 5.2%.
The data is somewhat mixed and their are various reasons for the differences, but this isolated review based on data indicates that there is no need to shut down economies in an effort to combat the China coronavirus.
The only thing that is eliminated by implementing these radical social engineering actions are economic commerce and prosperity.
A Chinese woman filmed herself traveling around Florida buying up N95 face masks while bragging, “I didn’t leave a single mask for the Americans.”
The woman shared video clips of her callous stunt on Chinese social media site Weibo. The video was captioned, “So much fun shopping. Bought them all. Left nothing for the Americans.”
“It feels so awesome to buy all the masks!” she states.
The clip shows her filling a pick up truck with boxes full of the masks.
English subtitles added for everyone who would like to understand what she was saying in the video.
The line – "It feels so awesome to buy all the masks! I didn't leave a single mask for the Americans!" is the title of this video she posted. pic.twitter.com/Pe7qmlz70i
“They still don’t know about the purchase limit on masks,” the she says while laughing. “I bought all the masks, the shelves are empty, you can see my sweat … I feel like a thief.”
The woman continues to cackle while bragging, “A full shopping cart!”
The end of the video shows the pick up truck fully loaded with the masks, which the woman claims to be a “historical moment.”
Apparently, the woman buys products in bulk and then sells them on to Chinese people at a massive profit.
“She can be seen in the above video being aided by her white husband. Neither stand accused of any criminal wrongdoing,”writes Chris Menahan.
The woman’s behavior is clearly disgusting given that there has been a shortage of masks across the western world, leaving front line health care workers exposed.
Be careful though. If you criticize her, the media might call you racist.
Remember, despite the fact that the virus originated in China, despite China lying about its spread, and despite China silencing whistleblowers who tried to warn the world – it’s “xenophobic” to claim COVID-19 had anything to do with China.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci says that the United States will not come out of lockdown until there are no “new cases” of coronavirus, prompting some to question precisely how long that will be.
During yesterday’s White House briefing, Fauci, who has become the face of America’s response to the coronavirus, was asked by a reporter whether social distancing measures will be imposed until there is a drug or vaccine to treat COVID-19.
“I think if we get to the part of the curve that Dr. Birx showed yesterday when it goes down to essentially no new cases, no new deaths at a period of time. I think it makes sense that you will have to relax social distancing,” Fauci said.
“The one thing we hopefully would have in place, and I believe we will have in place, is a much more robust system to be able to identify someone who was infected, isolate them and then do contact tracing,” he added.
The prospect of there ever being zero new coronavirus cases appears to be a very long way off, leading some to question if Fauci was asking Americans to adopt social distancing indefinitely, or at least until a vaccine is available.
“Fauci said that we can start to “relax” social distancing once there are “no new cases, no deaths.” Is it just me or is that completely batshit insane?”asked Matt Walsh. “That would keep us in a lockdown for many months or years. And if the virus becomes endemic, forever. How can that be the plan?”
“No kidding. We would need to assume that any vaccine would be immediately available, 100% effective, 100% of the population has access to it, and 100% of the population takes it,” commented another respondent.
“Sounds like they’ll eventually have to keep us “temporarily” locked in our homes. No cars on the road. No people at stores or gas stations, and the national guard will start leaving a box of food on our doorsteps every 3 days. And everyone will be ok with it,” added another.
Italy is already experiencing looting and civil unrest as a result of lockdown measures.
Experts have suggested that this could be a massive problem everywhere if authorities attempt to quarantine entire countries for too long.
Commentators refusing to give China credit for containing the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan and citing ‘Asian democracies’ as better examples simply envy Beijing’s efficiency, the Chinese embassy in France has said.
China, from which the coronavirus spread throughout the world, has largely succeeded in containing the disease, according to official updates. Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, has recorded no new cases in a week and has been lifting the restrictions that helped quash the pandemic.
Beijing sees the outcome as a success story and finds it irritating when commentators in countries currently overwhelmed by the virus insist they have nothing to learn from the Chinese experience. At least that’s what’s suggested in an article published this week by the Chinese embassy in France, where the Covid-19 death toll may soon exceed China’s.
Negative commenters “envy the efficiency of our political system and hate the inability of their own nations to perform as well. So they try to stick the ‘dictatorship’ label on China,” the embassy said.
Instead, detractors praise ‘Asian democracies’ like South Korea, Japan and Singapore, which have been more successful than Western nations in containing the pandemic. However, China, which resorted to more drastic quarantine measures than those countries, has a much bigger population. So its task in fighting the disease was far more difficult, the article argued. Ultimately, the virus doesn’t care whether it is ravaging a ‘democracy’ or an ‘autocracy.’
With the threat of coronavirus diminishing at home, Beijing has been busy building goodwill and sharing expertise with other nations affected by the pandemic, sending doctors and aid supplies to those in need.
This ‘mask diplomacy,’ as some commentators call it, has drawn quite a lot of negative feedback on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Critics say the help comes with political strings attached, undermines European solidarity, and damages targeted nations’ relations with the United States.
There is also a popular narrative claiming that China has massively misreported the human cost of containing the pandemic. The latest item to fuel it is the reported delivery of about 2,500 urns to a funeral home in Wuhan.
Links to the urns story inevitably popped up in comments to the Chinese embassy’s Twitter feed, after it published excerpts from the article.
According to Reuters,Abbott Laboratories recently unveiled a Wuhan virus test that can detect if someone is infected in as few as five minutes.
Additionally, it is small and portable enough to be used in practically all health-care settings.
The medical device manufacturer plans to bring 50,000 test kits to the market starting on April 1, 2020 according to a statement from John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Abbott emergency use authorization “for use by authorized laboratories and patient care settings,” according to a company announcement on March 27, 2020.
The U.S. has had problems to supply sufficient amounts of tests to detect the virus, even as the outbreak is straining hospital resources in California, New York, Washington, and other regions.
“This is really going to provide a tremendous opportunity for front-line caregivers, those having to diagnose a lot of infections, to close the gap with our testing,” Frels stated. “A clinic will be able to turn that result around quickly, while the patient is waiting.”
The technology expands upon Illinois-based Abbott’s ID Now platform, the most common point-of-care test currently available in America. The platform has more than 18,000 units spread across the country. It is generally used to detect influenza, strep throat, and respiratory syncytial virus, a common ailment that generally causes cold-like symptoms.
The equipment can generally be used anywhere, but the company is working with its customers and the Trump administration to guarantee that the first cartridges used to carry out the tests are sent to locations where they are most needed. The prime spots include hospital emergency rooms, urgent-care clinics, and doctors’ offices.
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