House Panel To Refer Andrew Cuomo Be Prosecuted Over Report On COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths
'Conscious, calculated effort'
Beijing previously indicated that fewer than 90,000 died in China from COVID-19. Turns out, the number is likely well over 1.5 million — just in the first few months of 2023.
The Chinese communist regime tried to cover up the outbreak of COVID-19 and has done its best in the intervening years to downplay the strong likelihood that the Wuhan lab — known for its dangerous gain-of-function experiments on coronaviruses — was the source of the virus that has killed millions worldwide.
The world has grown wise to both deceitful efforts. Now, it appears as though another narrative favored by Beijing is collapsing.
Whereas the Chinese regime suggested that the number of COVID-19 deaths inside China was under 90,000 since the beginning of the pandemic, the number is likely well into the millions — just for the first few months of this year.
As of Feb. 9, China's official COVID-19 death count was 83,150 deaths.
Researchers at the time suggested this figure was a gross undercount since it only included those infected with the virus who died in hospitals but not those who died at home, reported the New York Times.
According to the Guardian, beside requiring that COVID-19 deaths take place in hospitals to be counted, China also stipulated that only deaths caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure following a COVID infection would be counted, meaning sepsis and other complications associated with the virus didn't factor.
Zuo-Feng Zhang, chair of the epidemiology department at the Fielding School of Public Health at University of California, Los Angeles, told Time magazine in January the reported number was likely only "the tip of the iceberg."
On the basis of a report from Peking University, which indicated 64% of the Chinese population had been infected by mid-January, Zhang suggested 900,000 likely had died inside a window of just five weeks, presuming a conservative 0.1% case fatality rate.
Yong Cai, a demographer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies mortality in China, told the Times that the official figure was "certainly an underreport of all [COVID] deaths. ... There's no question about that."
Shengjie Lai, an epidemiologist at the University of Southampton, intimated that with the hospitals overloaded and the ICU beds maxed out following the relaxation of China's "zero COVID" restrictions, many Chinese died outside of hospitals.
Earlier this year, the Times provided four estimates from academic teams concerning post-restriction death counts based on: 1) the Shanghai outbreak; 2) travel patterns; 3) recent testing data; and 4) American death rates. The estimates were 1.6 million, 970,000, 1.5 million, and 1.1 million deaths, respectively.
These stood in stark contrast not just with Beijing's official count but with the World Health Organization's claim that China has only seen 121,536 COVID-19 deaths since January 2020.
This week, official data briefly appeared on a provincial government website that hinted at the academic teams' estimates being in the right ballpark.
Cremation tallies were shared Thursday to the government website for the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang, reported the Times.
While the data was only available briefly before being taken down, epidemiologists have since had an opportunity to pore over a cached version of the information.
They learned that cremations rose 70% in Zhejiang in Q1 2023 to 171,000 — 72,000 more than in the same period last year.
Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong, reckons that if the new data out of Zhejiang, which has a population of roughly 65.8 million people, is extrapolated to China's population of 1.4 billion, the death toll is nowhere near the official count but rather "consistent with the estimates of around 1.5 million."
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Hong Kong reportedly also reached a rough estimate of roughly 1.54 million deaths from December 2022 through March on the basis of the cremation figures.
The Times further intimated that the cremation figures, coupled with substantial declines in life expectancy around China, are together indicative of untold carnage. If the real death count ever comes out of China, it will likely dwarf America's.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!Washington Post: Influential public health expert finally admits COVID-19 deaths are wildly overcounted, asks if people are dying 'from' or 'with' COVID
In February 2020, the first American died from COVID-19, according to health officials. In the nearly three years since, there have been 1,095,149 COVID-19 deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, a prominent public health expert warns that officials have been overcounting COVID-19 deaths.
Leana Wen is an emergency physician, CNN medical analyst, Washington Post contributor, and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Wen previously served as a global health fellow at the World Health Organization and as the president of Planned Parenthood.
Wen wasn't only a talking head on cable TV. Politico reported in April, "Wen also has some direct lines into the White House as part of a group of health experts who have received private briefings on Covid policy throughout the pandemic."
The White House has cited Wen's opinions about coronavirus in the past.
Wen rose to fame during the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical pundit made a name for herself by preaching hardline proposals such as not permitting unvaccinated Americans to travel. Wen urged President Joe Biden to enact draconian measures against unvaccinated individuals.
In September 2021, she proposed that anyone not vaccinated for COVID-19 should be barred from interstate travel, businesses should not serve the unvaccinated, called for mandating every American over the age of 12 to be vaccinated, and require all U.S. residents have a national proof of vaccination.
At the same time, Wen demonized unvaccinated Americans — comparing them to drunk drivers.
In October 2020, Wen demanded a national mask mandate and declared, "Masks work. They are the single most effective intervention we have to stop the tidal wave of COVID-19."
Last January, Wen advocated for universal masking regardless of vaccination status. She even championed wearing two face masks at the same time.
"Everyone should be wearing at least a three-ply surgical mask — a cloth mask on top can help with fit," Wen stated.
However, Wen said in December 2021, "Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There’s no place for them in light of Omicron."
On Friday, Wen arrived to a conclusion regarding COVID deaths that has been proposed by others years ago.
Wen penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post titled: "We are overcounting covid deaths and hospitalizations. That’s a problem."
In the article, Wen asked a question that conservatives have been asking since near the beginning of the pandemic: "But are these Americans dying from covid or with covid?"
Wen proposed, "Understanding this distinction is crucial to putting the continuing toll of the coronavirus into perspective. Determining how likely an infection will result in hospitalization or death helps people weigh their own risk. It also enables health officials to assess when vaccine effectiveness wanes and future rounds of boosters are needed."
Shira Doron — the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine health system — told Wen that "some days" only 10% of those hospitalized at the Tufts Medical Center were there because of COVID-19 illness.
Robin Dretler — an attending physician at Emory Decatur Hospital and the former president of Georgia’s chapter of Infectious Diseases Society of America — estimates that 90% of the patients at his hospital diagnosed with COVID-19 are actually in the hospital for another illness.
"Since every hospitalized patient gets tested for covid, many are incidentally positive," Dretler said.
Dretler added, "People who have very low white blood cell counts from chemotherapy might be admitted because of bacterial pneumonia or foot gangrene. They may also have covid, but covid is not the main reason why they’re so sick."
Wen suggested, "A gunshot victim or someone who had a heart attack, for example, could test positive for the virus, but the infection has no bearing on why they sought medical care."
"If these patients die, covid might get added to their death certificate along with the other diagnoses," Wen wrote. "But the coronavirus was not the primary contributor to their death and often played no role at all."
However, this concept of labeling COVID-19 deaths as something completely irrelevant is nothing new.
In July 2020, TheBlaze reported how deaths in Florida were wrongly attributed to COVID-19. A 60-year-old Palm Beach County man who died from a gunshot wound to the head was categorized as a COVID-19 death. The investigative team at WPEC-TV found that a "90-year-old man who fell and died from complications of a hip fracture" and "a 77-year-old woman who died of Parkinson's disease" were labeled as COVID-19 deaths.
In the same month, a man in his 20s was listed as a COVID-19 death despite dying in a motorcycle crash.
In November 2020, a 51-year-old Croatian man who died after falling off a 10-foot ladder was listed as a COVID-19 fatality.
In August 2020, TheBlaze senior editor Daniel Horowitz exposed how COVID-19 deaths were overcounted in Maricopa County, Arizona.
In fact, the CDC previously admitted that only a small percentage of COVID-19 deaths were solely from coronavirus. TheBlaze cited the CDC in August 2020, "For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death."
Doron warned, "Overcounting covid deaths undermines people's sense of security and the efficacy of vaccines."
Wen concluded, "Most importantly, knowing who exactly is dying from covid can help us identify who is truly vulnerable. These are the patients we need to protect through better vaccines and treatments."
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Horowitz: Almost every single COVID death in Australian state was vaccinated
Unlike America, Australia did it “right.” The country implemented a “real” lockdown and de facto travel ban until vaccines were distributed. As such, the few deaths Australians experienced prior to the vaccines should be gone by now, right? In fact, nearly all their deaths have taken place after most vulnerable people got at least three doses of the magic juice. Indeed, not so magical after all.
An Australian writer has collated the recent reports from New South Wales Health and found that out of 798 reported COVID deaths in the most populous Aussie state over the past eight weeks, just two of them might have been unvaccinated. For the latest full week ending on July 16, all 142 reported deaths were jabbed and 68% of them were triple-jabbed.
They tend to avoid using the word “unvaccinated” and resort to telling people how many were fully vaccinated, so it’s unclear whether the two had one jab or zero jabs, but for argument’s sake let’s just say they were unvaccinated. This means that just 0.0025% of the COVID deaths in the state over the past eight weeks were unjabbed, even though the unjabbed compose 5% of the population.
Now, inevitably, naysayers will suggest that most of the vulnerable people are seniors, and they have a nearly 100% vaccination rate, so of course the deaths will be among the vaccinated. The problem with this premise is that it would only work if the raw numbers of deaths decreased, not increased, with the vaccination. In other words, you’d have even fewer deaths than pre-vaccination, but the few deaths there are would be among the vaccinated seniors. That is what you would expect from a vaccine that has anywhere near the efficacy against death that its proponents are suggesting.
As you can see, Australia didn’t really begin to start having problems with COVID deaths until the beginning of 2022, after nearly every Australian senior had been vaccinated. As of now, 94% of seniors have had three doses, and 60% even had their fourth! Yet 98% of their deaths took place in 2022 with Omicron, the least pathogenic version of the virus. And they are just getting warmed up, because they currently have one of the highest death rates in the world.
In fact, the only reason why Australia is not claiming the international title right now is because it is being outstripped by New Zealand, which, by far, has the highest death rate in the world. Just like Australia, New Zealand had a strict lockdown and travel ban until the vaccines were distributed. More than 98% of its deaths occurred after March 2022 – more than two years after the pandemic began.
Already in February, before the Omicron wave hit, 75% of those eligible for boosters in New Zealand had their third dose. The bottom line is that if this vaccine had any degree of efficacy even against death and serious illness, we should not be seeing endless curves only after everyone is boosted, much worse than ever before in these countries. This is occurring in all the Pacific Rim and Far East countries.
Prior to 2022, there were two parts of the world that skated through the pandemic without excess deaths: the Far East and Africa. Yet since 2022 began, the Far East has finally gotten its share of deaths, while Africa seems to be doing just fine with herd immunity. Take a look at the difference between some of the Far East countries and Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.
What is the characteristic distinguishing these countries from Nigeria (and most other African countries) that occurred sometime in 2021, after both parts of the world seemed to do well with COVID?
CDC director faces criticism from all sides over statement that 75% of COVID-19 deaths have 'at least four comorbidities'
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is being criticized from all sides over comments she made last week in an interview.
Appearing on ABC News to discuss Omicron variant death statistics, Walensky was asked about a new CDC study that found COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death. The study looked at more than 1 million people who completed primary vaccination (two shots, no booster, or one Johnson & Johnson shot) between December 2020 and October 2021. Researchers found that "severe COVID-19-associated outcomes" occurred only in only 0.015% of vaccinated people. Deaths were rare, happening in only 0.0033% of cases.
"Severe COVID-19 outcomes were defined as hospitalization with a diagnosis of acute respiratory failure, need for noninvasive ventilation (NIV), admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) including all persons requiring invasive mechanical ventilation, or death (including discharge to hospice)," the study said. "Among 1,228,664 persons who completed primary vaccination during December 2020–October 2021, a total of 2,246 (18.0 per 10,000 vaccinated persons) developed COVID-19 and 189 (1.5 per 10,000) had a severe outcome, including 36 who died (0.3 deaths per 10,000)."
The study explained that people most at risk from developing a severe outcome were older than 65, are immunosuppressed, or have at least one of six other underlying health conditions.
Digging into these results on Friday, Walensky told "Good Morning America" that the vast majority of people who died of COVID-19 after primary vaccination had at least four underlying conditions that increased their risk of serious illness. Those conditions include diabetes, and chronic kidney, cardiac, pulmonary, neurologic, and liver diseases.
"The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities. So really these were people who were unwell to begin with, and yes, really encouraging news in the context of Omicron," Walensky said, referring to deaths of vaccinated people examined in the study, not total deaths from COVID-19.
CDC director responds to criticisms on COVID-19 guidance l GMAyoutu.be
Some people on social media attacked the CDC director for allegedly speaking disrespectfully toward disabled or chronically ill people. Newsweek reported that Twitter users posted #MyDisabledLifeIsWorthy with comments criticizing Walensky for saying she was encouraged that COVID-19 deaths among the vaccinated appear limited to people with preexisting health conditions or disabilities.
"Contrary to popular belief, CDC Director, disabled people aren't just data points ... How callous to say you're encouraged by the prospect of their deaths," Imani Barbarin, a disability rights activist, wrote.
Contrary to popular belief, @CDCDirector, disabled people aren\u2019t just data points. Every life lost was loved by someone, someone\u2019s community member, someone\u2019s friend. \n\nHow callous to say you\u2019re encouraged by the prospect of their deaths. \n\n #MyDisabledLifeIsWorthy— Imani Barbarin, MAGC | Crutches&Spice \u267f\ufe0f (@Imani Barbarin, MAGC | Crutches&Spice \u267f\ufe0f) 1641695050
Matthew Cortland, a lawyer who suffers from a chronic illness, tweeted: "It is 'encouraging' to [Walensky] that chronically ill and disabled Americans are dying ... our deaths clearly don't count."
It is "encouraging" to @CDCDirector that chronically ill & disabled Americans are dying. It's no wonder that @CDCgov has consistently refused to issue guidance protecting the health & wellbeing of chronically ill Americans \u2013 our deaths clearly don't count.pic.twitter.com/zd3iBQTH0J— Matthew Cortland, JD (@Matthew Cortland, JD) 1641608728
Many others shared similar comments, some of them nasty. The social media backlash prompted Walensky to respond on Sunday with a tweet emphasizing the CDC's dedication to protecting people with comorbidities from COVID-19.
We must protect people with comorbidities from severe #COVID19. I went into medicine \u2013 HIV specifically \u2013 and public health to protect our most at-risk. CDC is taking steps to protect those at highest risk, incl. those w/ chronic health conditions, disabilities & older adults.— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH) 1641772496
"We must protect people with comorbidities from severe COVID-19. I went into medicine—HIV specifically—and public health to protect our most at-risk," she wrote. "CDC is taking steps to protect those at highest risk, including those with chronic health conditions, disabilities and older adults."
But the CDC director faced more backlash for entirely different reasons. Several individuals called attention to Walensky's comment that over 75% of COVID deaths were people with "at least four comorbidities." These critics took her comments out of context, leaving out the vaccination effectiveness study and claiming she was saying that 75% of all coronavirus-related deaths were from people with comorbidities.
"How many had 2/3 things that would likely kill them or were in late stage terminal cancer, or were hit by a bus?" Donald Trump Jr. asked. "Whats the # of truly healthy?"
CDC Dir. says over 75% of covid deaths were people with \u201cat least 4 comorbidities\u201d & were \u201cunwell to begin with\u201d\n\nHow many had 2/3 things that would likely kill them or were in late stage terminal cancer, or were hit by a bus?\nWhats the # of truly healthy?https://twitter.com/i/status/1480566096113680388\u00a0\u2026— Donald Trump Jr. (@Donald Trump Jr.) 1641840437
"This means they shut down the country, stole two years of education from children, sent thousands of businesses under, and caused mass hysteria when only 209,000 deaths weren't people already deathly sick," Greg Price, a senior digital strategist for X Strategies LLC, a political consulting and digital marketing firm, said.
There have been 836,000 covid deaths in America. \n\n75% of 836K is 627,000.\n\nThis means they shut down the country, stole two years of education from children, sent thousands of businesses under, and caused mass hysteria when only 209,000 deaths weren't people already deathly sickhttps://twitter.com/LucasFoxNews/status/1480566096113680388\u00a0\u2026— Greg Price (@Greg Price) 1641835199
These critics and others thought Walenksy's comments confirmed a long-held suspicion by many people skeptical of COVID-19 lockdowns and government mandates that reported COVID deaths were inflated by counting deaths with COVID alongside deaths from COVID.
Data from New York, for instance, shows that more than 40% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state are patients that were admitted to the hospitals for reasons other than coronavirus infection or were complications from the virus. Last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) ordered hospitals to start differentiating why COVID-19 patients were initially admitted in their daily COVID reports.
Walensky was asked directly about this issue on "Fox News Sunday," hosted by Bret Baier.
"Do you know how many of the 836,000 deaths in the U.S. linked to COVID are from COVID or how many are with COVID, but they had other comorbidities? Do you have that breakdown?" asked Baier.
"Yes of course with Omicron we're following that very carefully," Walensky responded. "Our death registry of course takes a few weeks ... to collect. And of course Omicron has just been with us for a few weeks. But those data will be forthcoming."
Her non-answer only frustrated her critics, who demanded to know when that data would be released so that science, not fear of death from COVID-19, would inform policy makers with the power to close schools, businesses, and mandate masks or vaccination during a pandemic.
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