CDC Director Rochelle Walensky (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA/Newscom)

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has sent mixed messages about the likelihood that people vaccinated against COVID-19 will be infected by the delta variant of the coronavirus. While she has described so-called breakthrough infections as “rare” and this week reiterated the point that vaccinated people face a “far lower” infection risk than unvaccinated people, she also has offered an estimate implying the reverse: that vaccination somehow makes people more vulnerable to infection.

Walensky’s statements about the likelihood that vaccinated carriers will transmit the virus likewise have been inconsistent, confusing, and sometimes stronger than the evidence supports. That evidence includes a new study that found viral loads in vaccinated and unvaccinated COVID-19 patients were initially similar but dropped faster in the vaccinated group.

“The breakthrough infections, as rare as they are, have the potential to forward transmit with the same capacity as an unvaccinated person,” Walensky told reporters on July 27, the day the CDC issued new guidance recommending that vaccinated people resume wearing face masks in public places if they live in “areas of substantial or high transmission.” That statement contradicted a “science brief” that the CDC published the same day.

“COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized in the United States have been shown to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infections, including asymptomatic and symptomatic infection, severe disease, and death,” the CDC said. “These findings, along with the early evidence for reduced viral load in vaccinated people who develop COVID-19, suggest that any associated transmission risk is likely to be substantially reduced in vaccinated people.”

The brief cited “early data” from India and “unpublished data” from the United States suggesting that “breakthrough Delta infections are transmissible.” But it did not say they were as transmissible as infections in unvaccinated people. Nor did the CDC’s new mask advice. “Preliminary evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people who do become infected with the Delta variant can be infectious and can spread the virus to others,” it said.

An article published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on July 27 likewise did not back up Walensky’s claim that vaccinated delta carriers have “the same capacity” to transmit the virus as unvaccinated carriers. “Emerging evidence suggests that fully vaccinated persons who do become infected with the Delta variant are at risk for transmitting it to others,” it said, citing “unpublished data” from the CDC COVID-19 Response Team.

Three days later, we finally got a look at some of those data, reported in an MMWR article about a July outbreak in Provincetown, Massachusetts, that primarily involved the delta variant. The researchers reported that cycle threshold (Ct) values, which indicate the extent to which the nucleic acid targeted by a RT-PCR virus test has to be amplified before the fluorescent signal rises above the background level, “were similar among specimens from patients who were fully vaccinated and those who were not.” But they cautioned that “Ct values obtained with SARS-CoV-2 qualitative RT-PCR diagnostic tests might provide a crude correlation to the amount of virus present in a sample and can also be affected by factors other than viral load.” While the similar Ct values “might mean that the viral load of vaccinated and unvaccinated persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 is also similar,” they said, “microbiological studies are required to confirm these findings.”

Walensky disregarded that caveat in the press release the CDC issued when it published the Provincetown study, saying the researchers found “Delta infection resulted in similarly high SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in vaccinated and unvaccinated people.” Still, she did not claim that vaccinated carriers were as infectious as unvaccinated carriers. “High viral loads suggest an increased risk of transmission and raised concern that, unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus,” she said. “This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation.”

During a White House briefing on Monday, Walensky likewise did not say vaccinated and unvaccinated carriers are equally infectious. Citing the Provincetown outbreak, she said the “higher viral loads” associated with the delta variant “are seen not just in those who are unvaccinated and infected but also, and importantly, in the small proportion of those who are vaccinated and become infected.” She said that indicates “vaccinated people can spread the virus if they get a breakthrough infection,” although “the odds of them getting sick in the first place are far lower than [the odds for] those who are unvaccinated.”

In addition to the issue of inferring viral loads from Ct values, the Provincetown study has other limitations. The authors note that “asymptomatic breakthrough infections might be underrepresented because of detection bias.” Consistent with that possibility, 79 percent of the breakthrough infections described by the CDC involved “symptoms consistent with COVID-19.” Those are the cases that tend to be identified, since people who are infected by the COVID-19 virus but don’t develop noticeable symptoms are less likely to be tested.

Even if the viral loads in nasal samples from vaccinated and unvaccinated carriers in this study were indeed similar, that might not be true of asymptomatic infections, which is the crucial issue when it comes to precautions like face masks. “We already know symptomatic [carriers] can transmit” COVID-19, Harvard public health professor Joseph Allen notes. The “key question,” he says, is whether asymptomatic breakthrough infections also spread the disease. Since vaccinated people infected by the coronavirus tend to have milder symptoms, it seems plausible that they are, on average, less infectious than unvaccinated carriers.

Another issue is whether viral loads in nasal samples are a good indicator of transmissibility. In symptomatic cases, Allen says, viral loads in the nose correspond with viral loads in the lungs, “where most aerosol [is] generated.” But in asymptomatic cases, that is not true.

Allen also notes that the “unvaccinated” group in the Provincetown study included people who were partially vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, which could have biased the results. And he questions whether the data from the Provincetown outbreak, which featured a “very specific set of circumstances,” should have been used “as [a] basis to set national policy.”

During the two-week period covered by the study, about 60,000 people were visiting Provincetown, which ordinarily has a population of 3,000. The CDC study says “persons with COVID-19 reported attending densely packed indoor and outdoor events at venues that included bars, restaurants, guest houses, and rental homes.” In a New York Times opinion piece,  Zeynep Tufekci notes that “it rained a lot during those two weeks, driving more people to crowded, poorly ventilated bars and restaurants.”

Even in these unusual circumstances, it still is not clear to what extent the cases described by the CDC were caused by vaccinated carriers. The Washington Post reports that researchers “are analyzing the genetic fingerprints of the virus samples” to “trace chains of transmission and determine how commonly fully vaccinated people were infecting one another.”

A preprint study from Singapore, which was posted the day after the CDC’s Provincetown study, suggests that Walensky was right to retreat from her suggestion that vaccinated and unvaccinated people infected by the delta variant are equally likely to transmit it. The researchers looked at 218 patients who had been infected by delta, 84 of whom had received an mRNA vaccine, including 71 who were fully vaccinated. They found that Ct values “were similar between both vaccinated and unvaccinated groups at diagnosis, but viral loads decreased faster in vaccinated individuals,” who showed “a robust serological response.” A chart indicates that the Ct values in the two groups began to diverge within five days. That finding, the authors note, “has implications [for] secondary transmission and public health policy.”

The vaccinated patients also “were significantly more likely to be asymptomatic” and, if not, had fewer and less severe symptoms. “The finding of diminished severity with B.1.617.2 [delta] infection in vaccinated individuals is reassuring and
corroborates emerging data from the United Kingdom,” where researchers “have found that mRNA vaccination remains protective against symptomatic and severe disease,” the authors say. They conclude that “the mRNA vaccines are highly effective at preventing symptomatic and severe COVID-19 associated with B.1.617.2 infection.”

Source: https://reason.com/2021/08/04/the-evidence-cited-by-the-cdc-does-not-show-that-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-covid-19-carriers-are-equally-likely-to-transmit-the-virus/

The post The Evidence Cited by the CDC Does Not Show That Vaccinated and Unvaccinated COVID-19 Carriers Are Equally Likely To Transmit the Virus first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Extra Australian military personnel may be called in to ensure compliance with lockdown rules in Sydney, the New South Wales state government said on Thursday, as the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant spreads into regional areas.

© Reuters/JOSH NIXON/PODPEOPLEDOOM Local residents shop at Casey Market Town in Canberra

The move comes as Australia’s capital city, Canberra, 260 km (160 miles) southwest of Sydney, announced a snap one-week lockdown from Thursday evening after reporting its first locally acquired case of COVID-19 in more than a year. Authorities later confirmed an additional three cases, all close contacts of the first case, an unnamed man.

© Reuters/JOSH NIXON/PODPEOPLEDOOM Local residents shop at Casey Market Town in Canberra

Australia is battling to get on top of the fast-moving Delta strain that has plunged its two largest cities – Sydney and Melbourne – into hard lockdowns.

“We are making sure that we do not leave any stone unturned in relation to extra (military) resources,” New South Wales (NSW) state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said at a media conference in Sydney, the state capital.

Some 580 unarmed army personnel are already helping police enforce home-quarantine orders on affected households in the worst-affected suburbs of Sydney, Australia’s most populous city.

Several regional towns scattered across NSW have also been forced into snap lockdowns after fresh cases, raising fears the virus is spreading out of control.

Despite seven weeks of lockdown in Sydney, daily infections continue to hover near record highs. NSW on Thursday reported 345 new locally acquired cases, most of them in Sydney, up from 344 a day earlier.

Lockdown rules were tightened in three more local council areas in Sydney, limiting the movement of people to within 5 km (3 miles) of their homes.

Joe Awada, the mayor of Bayside Council, one of the areas placed under additional restrictions, questioned why more targeted curbs were not introduced.

“I mean to lockdown 200,000 residents because of three suburbs is not acceptable to me,” Awada told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Officials also reported the deaths of two men in their 90s, taking the total deaths in the latest outbreak to 36. A total of 374 cases are in hospitals, with 62 in intensive care, 29 of whom require ventilation.

© Reuters/JOSH NIXON/PODPEOPLEDOOM Local residents shop at Casey Market Town in Canberra

In Canberra, authorities said the one-week lockdown was needed as they were unsure how the man is his 20s acquired COVID-19.

Canberra has largely escaped any COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, and confirmation of a Delta variant saw panic buying at the supermarkets and long lines at testing sites.

Neighbouring Victoria state on Thursday reported 21 new locally acquired cases, up from 20 a day earlier, as 5 million residents of Melbourne, the state capital, prepare to enter a second week of lockdown.

Of the new cases, six spent time outdoors while infectious, a number which authorities have said must return to near zero before restrictions can be eased.

Australia has largely avoided the high coronavirus numbers seen in many other countries, with just over 37,700 cases and 946 deaths, and several states remain almost COVID-free despite the outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne.

But the rapid spread of the Delta variant in New South Wales and a slow vaccine rollout has left the country vulnerable to a new wave of infections.

Only around 24% of people above 16 years of age are fully vaccinated.

(Reporting by Renju Jose; additional reporting by Colin Packham in Canberra, Editing by Stephen Coates, Richard Pullin and Sam Holmes)

Source:  https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/sydney-to-tighten-covid-19-curbs-australian-capital-to-enter-lockdown/ar-AANdpm1

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The coronavirus ward at Hillel Yaffeh Medical Center, Hadera, last month.  Credit: Amir Levy

Israel’s coronavirus cabinet concluded a three-hour-long meeting on Tuesday by announcing a series of new COVID-19 restrictions, as the country plunged deeper into a post-vaccination delta variant wave. The new regulations, including limiting gatherings to those with proof of immunity and encouraging working from home, will go into effect on Sunday.

A “green passport” – a document showing that someone has either been vaccinated, recovered from the virus or recently tested negative for it – will now be required for entry to events with fewer than 100 people.

The coronavirus cabinet also recommended that private companies have employees work from home, while government ministries will have to reduce the number of employees working in the office to 50 percent.

Children, who have exempt from the so-called green passport requirement, will now have to show a negative test result before entering such events. People will have to wear masks even at outdoor events with more than 100 people.

Also on Tuesday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed a call-up order for 1,000 reservists to help the army deal with the spread of the virus. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with the heads of all the parties in the governing coalition and said that additional restrictions had to be imposed now, since otherwise, Israel will likely have 800 seriously ill patients in another 20 days or so.

Earlier Tuesday, the government announced that arrivals from 18 countries would have to quarantine for a week, regardless of vaccination status, beginning on August 11.

New coronavirus cases neared 4,000 on Tuesday, Health Ministry data showed, for the first time since early March. Israel diagnosed 3,818 new COVID cases on Monday, Israel also recorded a four-month high for patients in serious condition, with 221 people. The percentage of positive coronavirus tests is also steadily rising, with 3.78 percent of Monday’s tests returning positive.

• All arrivals to Israel from U.S., Germany, France and 15 other nations to quarantine
• Israel’s public health chief says evidence points to waning COVID vaccine immunity
• Israeli PM: Serious COVID cases to quadruple in 20 days, we must impose new restrictions

Israel is continuing to spearhead its COVID-19 booster vaccination campaign, with nearly 40,000 elderly citizens and people with underlying medical conditions receiving the third jab since the weekend.

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-to-reinstate-masks-outdoors-restrict-events-to-vaccinated-amid-delta-surge-1.10078697

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(CNN)In the window of a vintage shop in the Sydney suburb of Annandale, a sign expresses the frustration of many Australians with their country’s pandemic strategy.

The post Sydney in lockdown, borders shut and hardly anyone vaccinated. How long can Australia go on like this? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“Ain’t nobody ever going to lock us down again!” said the rodeo announcer at the Gladewater Roundup.  But Sydney, Australia didn’t get the word.  They’ve dived back into lockdown because of the Delta variant, or whatever.  I’m scared all over again aren’t you?  That runny nose could be deadly!  Sorry to have been right, but we were afraid the COVID nonsense would be with us for as long as the liars could keep it going.  While orders are still being barked, some with the teeth of FEDERAL LAW, here the authority mongers come with another planetary scare.  They just keep trotting this stuff out, confident they’ve got us all on the run.

A UN team just conducted a “study,” and says that North Pole ice will disappear during the summer months by 2035.  Isn’t that swell?  They claim they got their boat stuck in the ice intentionally, so it could be carried by the shifting ice.  After the Australian adventure, where their research vessel clearly wasn’t intended to be stranded, you’d have thought they’d have learned their lesson.  Now they’re claiming they got their boat stranded on purpose.  Pardon our doubts.

Do they think we don’t remember all the astute predictions they’ve made over the years?  If we’d listened to Al Gore the ice should have been melted seven years ago in 2013.  But it didn’t happen.  It’s just like one of these buffoons who calls for the end of the world.  Often, they put the whole thing on a short fuse so books can be sold.  When the date goes by, which so far it always has, they come up with a lame excuse and continue to bamboozle a select few.  But their reputation is forever blown with society at large, and particularly the news media.  Maybe some soothsayer made money with book sales and interviews, but no sane person will ever have anything to do with them from that point forward.  Why does it not work that way with the climate-change alarmists?

In the case of  “climate change” most mainstream media are sold no matter how many times disaster is predicted with the conclusion that we all have to drive cars with rechargeable batteries.  At least you’ll be able to speed along silently confident that all other motorists are destroying the planet while you are protecting the environment.  But batteries have a life and as we all know they don’t last forever.  When a car battery fails, you spend a hundred dollars or less and get another one.  When your electric car battery won’t take a charge, you better have savings.  One might even dare ask, what are the environmental consequences to battery production, and what do they do with them when they won’t take a charge anymore?  I bet big spent batteries are great for the “planet.”  Look up “lithium mining” and see how “green” it is.

The glaciers they claimed would be a distant memory are still doing just fine.  Only a handful of years ago they claimed that snow was a thing of the past.  We’d have to have pictures or video to explain what snow was like to the children.  But we’re still going skiing.  Not for two years mind you, and that’s because of the COVID scare, not because snow wasn’t plentiful.  Every ski facility was “enforcing” COVID restrictions, and we couldn’t be bothered.  Now they’re really trying to frighten everybody with the dreaded Delta variant.  Especially those youngsters who aren’t old enough to remember all the things that were supposed to have happened, and didn’t.

They’re trying to tell us we’re destroying the planet by eating too much meat.  We’re supposed to be losing sleep over our carbon footprints.  Funny, those “saving the planet” are using more fossil fuel than most of us put together, because they’re busy saving the planet and we peons are just supposed to do what they say.  Al Gore was full of beans 20 years ago, and he’s made a fortune in the process of being a buffoon.  Meatless meat?  Thanks anyway.  Even the esteemed scientists know Al Gore is talking out his hat.

And it’s not like they just invented so-called “meatless meat.”  They had it in the grocery stores forty or more years ago.   It just so happens that I remember my Dad ridiculing stuff that was supposed to taste just like meat.  Now the fast-food chains (at least Burger King) are calling you “chicken” if you don’t try it.  “What?  Afraid you might like it?” they say before ending the spot with a couple of clucks.

That’s not the point.  Even the most hideous creeping things can be made to “taste good” with enough butter, garlic and a little MSG.  So what?  Some of us determine that we don’t want to eat something for reasons other than “taste.”  That’s beside the point.  We want to know what’s in it before getting too excited.

Science has been besmirched beyond all recognition.  Studying science should be an effort to understand the processes and LAWs that God put into effect at creation.  The scientists, many of them, have become so impressed with .themselves they think they are the highest form of intellect in the universe.  That’s the height of stupidity.  We can’t wait until they find out how wrong they’ve been.  Fauci needs to suffer a few consequences too.  Maybe he and Al Gore have a future together.

Mark

PS:  Many of you know Loma Powers, as she’s been present at many Feasts and Holy Day meetings over the years. She’s having some health concerns and could use our prayers.  No doubt they’ll be appreciated.

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

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