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https://www.wsws.org/en/
~~ posted for dmorista ~~
Introduction by dmorista:
The World Socialist WebSite (WSWS) has assiduously followed the Covid Pandemic, reporting on its aspects in both the U.S. and elsewhere. Here are a couple of relatively recent WSWS articles about the Covid Pandemic in the U.S. Sadly the U.S. has now deteriorated in socioeconomic terms to the point that, even though it has plenty of competent scientists recommending serious measures, the ruling class has now ended financial support for testing and vaccinations for uninsured people.
And this stupid short-sighted decision was taken, just as the latest variant, the Omicron BA.2, is emerging as another threat to the well-being of the American population. So far I have not read any theory on where this variant evolved. But with nearly 2.8 billion people on Earth, who have not even gotten one Covid vaccination, we have a huge reservoir of people in which this fast mutating virus can evolve new variants. The death rate from Covid is low, but still significant. The Lancet, however, recently published an article that discussed the possibility that the actual death rate is three times that currently reported (See, “Estimating excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic analysis of COVID-19-related mortality, 2020–21”, Mar 10, 2022, Haidong Wang, The Lancet, 8, at < https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-
“Seroprevalence studies indicate that likely upwards of 200 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19. Studies on Long COVID estimate that at least 10 percent of infections lead to long-term symptoms, with comparable rates among breakthrough infections in vaccinated people, meaning that upwards of 20 million Americans are likely experiencing some form of long-term ramifications.”
The “Death Toll Reaches 1 Million” article mentions the complete lack of any sort of remembrance or ceremony to mark the 1 millionth death (whether it already occurred as according to Worldometers' figures or will take place shortly according to some other sites). In contrast, we are constantly inflicted with remembrance ceremonies for the 2,997 officially killed during the extremely fishy and (IMHO) undoubtedly false-flag operation on September 11, 2001. Even those remembrances are tainted as the figure for those who died from inhaling the toxic smoke, that wafted over Ground Zero for weeks, are never mentioned. According to the New York Times as of September 9, 2021: “Of the 111,005 ground zero responders and survivors enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, 4,610 have died. ...” (See, “9/11 Survivors Are Still Getting Sick Decades Later: ‘Am I Next?’ ”, Sep 9, 2021, Hilary Swift & Corey Kilgannon, New York Times, at < https://www.nytimes.com/
The U.S. ruling class puts out full effort for the Remembrances and Ceremonies for events, that present dialogues and storylines they want to promote. But the ongoing disaster of Covid just does not fit the bill for that one. Covid is now considered to be just another burden the working and lower middle class people of the U.S. must bear, at their own expense and risk. Now they are thrown to the merciless, dysfunctional, and for-profit U.S. Healthcare System. It is a grim reality.
NB NOTE - As I could not paste the attachments into this OP, please look in the comments where dmorista will post them.
Omicron BA.2 wave begins its assault on the United States
A growing number of public health experts in Europe and the United States predict that the US will see a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections in the coming weeks due to the spread of the highly infectious and immune-resistant Omicron BA.2 subvariant. These assessments are based on the current wave of COVID-19 infections now impacting 18 countries across Europe, where surges have consistently proved a harbinger of another wave in the US.
It is necessary to place the immune evasive characteristics of BA.2 into context, as it will have significant implications for the US. In the UK, despite high levels of population antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, believed to be roughly 97–99 percent from vaccinations and previous infections, the Office for National Statistics indicated that between 6–9 percent of the population tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
Following the explosion in infections in the UK, hospitalizations across England have accelerated upwards again, approaching the highs seen during the last Omicron wave when there were 14,256 admissions in one week in mid-January. After dramatically falling in February, admissions have clawed back up to 12,576. As expected, many of these patients are the elderly and most vulnerable, but there has also been a sharp rise in hospitalization among children, who remain the least vaccinated age group.
The death toll due to COVID-19 in the UK has swung upwards by 22 percent over the previous week. The seven-day average of daily new deaths has doubled since the first day of March, with 128 deaths per day.
Though population immunity in the US from previous infections and vaccinations remains considerable, vaccinations and booster uptakes have been much more stagnant, with less than 3 percent of the population receiving a booster shot in the past two months. This means that the American population can expect a more pronounced impact when the momentum from the surge accelerates.
There is a growing body of evidence of the impending BA.2 surge in the US. First, the number of sequenced cases of the BA.2 version in the US has doubled in the last two weeks and now accounts for 34.9 percent of all new infections. In Europe, COVID-19 cases began to turn upwards when BA.2 sequences surpassed the 50 percent mark, which will likely happen by the end of next week. In New England, half of all sequenced COVID-19 infections are now BA.2.
In Boston, daily cases have jumped almost three-fold in recent days to nearly 200. Former New York City Council Member Mark Levine recently tweeted, “Manhattan is driving the current increase in cases in NYC,” where test positivity rates are soaring. The 14-day change in daily new cases in New York is up by 44 percent, the highest increase in the country. Twelve states, including six in the Northeast, have reported upward trends, despite overall decreases in population testing and a shift towards home-based rapid antigen test kits that go unreported.
Presently, the national average of daily new cases has started to rise and is now just over 30,000 COVID-19 infections per day. The last time the number of daily new cases across the US were at the current figure was in the early summer months of 2021. Numbers had plummeted to under 13,000, leading President Joe Biden to infamously declare on July 4 that the US had gained its independence from the coronavirus.
Within weeks of this short-sighted gaffe, Delta swept across the country, leading to record hospitalizations and deaths, which was then followed by the even more disastrous Omicron surge. Almost 400,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 in the last nine months, while the cumulative death toll in the US exceeded 1 million this week, according to Worldometers.
Presently, an average of 735 Americans are dying from COVID-19 each day. However, the Biden administration has squandered the time provided from the natural ebb of the BA.1 wave to put into place the necessary measures to ensure the country is prepared against future variants. Instead, the White House claims there is no more funding for pandemic preparedness, while refusing to invoke the Defense Production Act to requisition the needed supplies and resources.
The refusal of the entire political establishment to address the pandemic will have devastating consequences for the American population.
Last week, the White House issued a fact sheet noting that without $22.5 billion in immediate emergency funding, the government will not be able to secure sufficient booster doses. Health care providers will no longer be able to submit claims for testing, treating and vaccinating the 25 million uninsured. There is no further funding for monoclonal antibodies or antivirals once existing stockpiles are used. Programs to rapidly identify and assess emerging variants of the virus will be dismantled. The nearly 10 million immunocompromised Americans will be left in the lurch.
One source of essential data on the pandemic state that is infrequently referenced and threatened by a loss of funding is wastewater analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material. Wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 has proven effective and reliable and has demonstrated it can detect early surges of cases in communities, acting as an early warning of the need to implement mitigation and containment measures.
Currently, wastewater data reports from California, Texas, Louisiana, Missouri and other states have seen a rise in levels of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in their samples, yet no significant warning is made about the dangers of another surge.
Because both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals shed viral fragments in their feces after infection, wastewater is ideal in identifying early community outbreaks. Community outbreaks can be detected weeks before many infected individuals are diagnosed and test positivity rates begin to increase.
Under a rational plan, this would give ample time for public health officials to begin their investigation and end outbreaks before they escalate into uncontrolled community spread. Several studies have demonstrated the accuracy and feasibility of wastewater surveillance and have previously predicted the onset of new waves. However, throughout the pandemic these invaluable tools have been stymied and are not comprehensive, formalized or integrated in the pandemic response guidelines.
CDC leadership, top national public health figures and the political establishment as a whole are entirely disregarding all of these developments with BA.2. After having lifted all mitigation measures nationally during the downturn of the Omicron BA.1 surge, they are now actively downplaying the dangers posed. At most, they acknowledge the inevitability of the BA.2 wave and then minimize the risks it poses to the population with a wave of a hand and false assurances.
Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, told ABC’s This Week, “The bottom line is we’ll likely see an uptick in cases, as we’ve seen in the European countries, particularly the UK. Hopefully, we won’t see a surge. I don’t think we will.”
Contrary to Fauci’s dismissal of BA.2, SARS-CoV-2 has repeatedly been shown to be a dangerous virus. There is overwhelming evidence that infections, besides death, lead to the population’s sickening.
Recent studies have demonstrated that all-cause mortality among the previously infected increases considerably even with mild COVID-19 infection. Prior infection increases the risk of developing diabetes. The effect on the brain, pulmonary and cardiovascular system will leave hundreds of thousands and potentially millions of people chronically disabled. The dangerous long-term impact is only beginning to be understood.
Fundamentally, the concerns behind allowing BA.2 to rip across the globe are not just for the immediate impact on the population’s welfare, which is considerable. Viral evolution will spawn newer variants that constantly adapt to the population immunity, breeding more immune-evasive and contagious versions of themselves. Fauci’s assumption that this wave will not have the same impact is not borne out by evidence. The new round of mass infection sets the conditions necessary for the following variant that will continue to endanger communities worldwide.
A COVID-19 elimination strategy remains practical and feasible, and is the only strategy that assures a permanent end to the pandemic. It will end the repeated cycle of devastation once and for all, and the lives and well-being of billions will be spared.
xxxxxxx
US COVID-19 death toll reaches 1 million
By this evening, the official COVID-19 death toll in the United States will surpass 1 million, according to the Worldometers tracker. Due to the absence of uniform data, the exact death toll from COVID-19 and the moment it will pass 1 million on other data trackers is unknown, but by the end of April every tracker will likely surpass this horrific milestone. Estimates of excess deaths caused directly or indirectly by the pandemic place the true US death toll at over 1.2 million.
The catastrophic loss of life and broader societal impacts of the pandemic are unprecedented in American history. Entire families have been wiped out. One out of every 100 people above 65 years old has been killed by COVID-19. Over 200,000 children have lost a parent or primary caregiver to the disease.
In the span of two years, more Americans have died from COVID-19 than the cumulative death toll of every war fought by the United States in the 20th century. On average, 2,735 Americans have died from this preventable disease every two days over the past two years, close to the total of 2,977 people killed in the September 11 terror attacks.
In the first year of the pandemic alone, life expectancy in the US dropped by an astounding 1.8 years, the largest decrease since World War II. At this point, the cumulative total decline in life expectancy is likely approaching five years.
Lost among the statistics of mass deaths are countless individual tragedies. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sons, daughters, the elderly, people in the prime of life, youth who had hardly even begun to live, have all been struck down by COVID-19.
In response to this monumental social catastrophe and the approaching milestone of 1 million deaths, everywhere there is massive official indifference.
One would imagine that a series of solemn memorials, tributes and serious discussions on the pandemic would be held in the days and weeks leading up to this milestone. Nothing of the sort. The pandemic is now all but ignored by the entire political establishment and the corporate media, as a potential new surge of the more infectious, vaccine-resistant and virulent Omicron BA.2 subvariant looms in the background and all federal pandemic funding has completely dried up.
While the 1 million needless deaths are the most tragic element of the pandemic, millions and possibly tens of millions more Americans now suffer from Long COVID as a result of their illness. These include a myriad of symptoms that can affect nearly every organ in the body, including the lungs, brain, heart, kidneys and immune system.
Seroprevalence studies indicate that likely upwards of 200 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19. Studies on Long COVID estimate that at least 10 percent of infections lead to long-term symptoms, with comparable rates among breakthrough infections in vaccinated people, meaning that upwards of 20 million Americans are likely experiencing some form of long-term ramifications.
Further, there is a growing body of evidence proving that those infected with COVID-19 face increased risk of brain damage, heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes and more. The overall long-term societal impact is incalculable.
The overwhelming majority of COVID-19 infections and deaths have befallen the working class and lower-middle class. Comprising the bottom 90 percent of income earners, they have been compelled to return to unsafe workplaces and send their children into unsafe schools, which have been the primary centers of viral transmission.
By September 2021, according to CDC estimates, roughly 25.8 million children had already been infected with COVID-19 in the US. The full reopening of schools since that time likely pushed the figure above 40 million, with millions infected or reinfected with Omicron.
For the capitalist ruling class, the pandemic has been an unprecedented bonanza. This Sunday will mark two years since the CARES Act was signed into law by Donald Trump after passing with near-unanimous bipartisan support. This initiated the greatest transfer of wealth in US history, with US billionaires amassing a staggering $2.1 trillion through October 2021.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who violated California state law and forced his employees back to work in May 2020, went unpunished by state Democrats and has amassed over $200 billion in the past two years. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has overseen mass COVID-19 infections and numerous deaths at his workplaces, has garnered $75 billion since March 2020.
Under both the Trump and Biden administrations, as well as Republican and Democratic state and local governments, public health has been continuously subordinated to the economic, social and political interests of the corporations and financial oligarchy. The pretense of Biden and the Democrats that they would “follow the science” and maintain efforts to stop the pandemic was exploded during the surge of the Omicron variant.
On December 15, 2021, as Omicron infections started to skyrocket, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients (net worth over $90 million) stated, “We know how to keep our kids in school and our businesses open, and we’re not going to shut down our economy in any way.” This set the tone for the subsequent three months, which became the second worst wave of the pandemic, as over 170,000 Americans died from COVID-19.
During the Omicron surge, the Democrats embraced the “herd immunity” strategy pioneered by Trump, based on the lie that COVID-19 is now “endemic” and a “new normal” has been reached. The same process unfolded in Canada, across Europe and internationally, with almost every world government outside of China abandoning all public health measures to slow the spread of the virus.
Worldwide, the official death toll now stands at over 6.1 million, while excess deaths are estimated to be roughly 20.2 million. This will only intensify in the coming weeks and months as the Omicron BA.2 subvariant continues to spread uncontrolled throughout the world and as new variants evolve.
More so than any other event, the pandemic has made clear that the capitalist ruling elites are willing to accept any level of death in the population. The Biden administration is not concerned with how lives can be saved from COVID-19. Quite the opposite. He has flown off to Europe to partake in war councils with the other NATO powers and stoke up the conflict with Russia over Ukraine. Rather than call on the world to unify in the fight against COVID-19, Biden aims to unify NATO to oppose Russia.
Were the US-NATO imperialist powers to engage in a direct confrontation with Russia, this could quickly spiral out of control and unleash a nuclear war that could permanently destroy human civilization.
All the belligerents in the war, including Russia, Ukraine, the United States and all the NATO powers, have in common that their countries have all experienced a massive loss of life from the pandemic. But if one contrasts the resources that exist to what has been done to stop the spread of COVID-19, America leads the way for sheer indifference to its population.
The acceptance and even promotion of mass sickness and death from COVID-19 indicate that a certain psychological barrier has been crossed in ruling circles in relationship to the use of nuclear war. If they are willing to sacrifice the lives of 1 million Americans, what qualms do they have about the deaths of millions abroad?
The US pandemic policies implemented over the past two years, as with those throughout much of the world, amount to a series of monumental social crimes. The Global Workers’ Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic, initiated by the World Socialist Web Site, is uncovering the impacts of the pandemic and identifying all those responsible for this needless suffering and death.
The Inquest aims to provide the international working class with a political and historical understanding of the pandemic, while arming workers with a scientific understanding of the Zero-COVID strategy that must be implemented worldwide to stop the pandemic and save millions of lives. Even now, a change in policy could bring the pandemic to an end.
The intersecting crises of world capitalism, above all the pandemic and the growing danger of World War III, can be resolved only through the building of a powerful mass movement of the international working class aimed at the socialist reconstruction of society.
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