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Pearl-Clutching Over New COVID Variant Begins

Pearl-Clutching Over New COVID Variant Begins

As media pushes concerns over “highly mutated virus,” a major movie studio and a college return to mask mandates.

The news media is now shining a big spotlight on the latest COVID variant, which is “highly mutated.”

A second American tested positive for the new highly-mutated BA.2.86 Covid variant that has been causing global alarm over its rapid transmission.

The positive case was detected in an asymptomatic patient in Virginia who was tested August 10 after returning to the US from Japan.

Scientists identified the case in a database that contains test samples from a small number of travelers entering the US. Independent experts told DailyMail.com they believe the new strain is spreading more widely and in more US states.

The new variant, also spotted in Michigan last week, is causing concern because it stems from an ‘earlier branch’ of the coronavirus, so it differs from the variants targeted by current vaccines.

Infections disease geeks have tagged this variant “Pirola,” which is a plant lacking a permanent woody stem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report an uptick in recent hospitalizations related to COVID-19.

Dr. Stephen Blatt, who tracks COVID-19 numbers for TriHealth, said for the first time in a long time, his team is seeing patients in the ICU.

“A couple people in the ICU, which is really unusual. We haven’t seen ICU patients in a couple of months,” said Dr. Blatt, medical director of TriHealth infectious diseases.

Pirola or BA.2.86 is different than previous COVID-19 variants. The CDC describes it as a new lineage.

“BA.2.86 is the one that’s just been identified. Only one case in the U.S. so far, but it has a lot of variations in its mutations. Like 36 different mutations, which is dramatically different from the omicron variants we’ve seen, which are maybe one or two mutations different than the previous variants,” Dr. Blatt said.

I am going to go with the same advice I gave at the start of the very first wave of the covid pandemic:

  • Stop smoking.
  • Take vitamins, drink plenty of water, and start a sensible exercise regimen.
  • Consider your home and office environment: Are there ways to improve the air quality that are easy to implement that makes it easier for you to breathe (e.g., air filter, humidifiers).

However, a few deep blue institutions are already hitting the panic button and grabbing masks.

A major movie studio is bringing back the mask mandate.

Mask mandates are making a return to Lionsgate’s Santa Monica, California, office, according to a memo sent to employees on Monday.

In the email provided to Fox News Digital, Sommer McElroy, Response Manager for Lionsgate/Starz, stated that “effective immediately” masks will be required on certain floors in their Santa Monica offices “until further notice.” According to Deadline Hollywood, this encompasses “nearly half of the company’s employees at its flagship office at 2700 Colorado Ave. in Santa Monica.”

“Employees must wear a medical grade face covering (surgical mask, KN95 or N95) when indoors except when alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their desk or workstation, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace,” McElroy said.

A college in Atlanta is reinstating its mask mandates for all its students and employees on campus.

Morris Brown College (MBC), a private historically black liberal arts school, announced Sunday on Instagram the mask mandate would be implemented as a precautionary measure, even though the school’s administration had not reported any positive cases among its students.

Expect the masking trend to spend, with consequences worse than the actual infection with Pirola.

At least there are some winners with this news:

Covid vaccine makers’ shares rose Monday as new variants of the virus emerge in the U.S. ahead of the rollout of updated shots this fall.

Shares of Novavax closed more than 13% higher. Moderna’s stock closed more than 9% higher. Shares of BioNTech, which jointly develops Covid vaccines with Pfizer, closed more than 6% higher. Meanwhile, Pfizer’s stock ended around 1% higher.

It’s been a rocky few months for those stocks as sales of Covid shots and treatments plummet in the U.S.: Shares of all four companies are down more than 20% for the year. But Wall Street’s enthusiasm for Covid vaccine makers is getting a fresh boost with the upcoming launch of brand-new shots this fall and the emergence of new variants of the virus.

However, given my track record, I would assert my guidance is better.

I suspect more widespread mask mandates are doomed to complete and utter failure.

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Comments

SeiteiSouther | August 23, 2023 at 5:16 pm

Not doing any of that. Not getting a vaccine that will cause me heart problems. Not going to wear a mask that has zero effectiveness.

Not doing this again.

If this is a spiked variant like the original Covid 19 (no one has said it isn’t) why use Pfizer or Moderna or others when Ivermectin is loads cheaper and more effective eg. India and Africa?

Latest vaccine will not cover this variant.

    Bruce Hayden in reply to healthguyfsu. | August 23, 2023 at 10:08 pm

    But then the old one mostly didn’t either. The original vaccines generated Wuhan variant spike proteins. They were available in spring of 2021. By December of that year, the variants with similar spike proteins had been pushed out by Omicron that had essentially mutated around the Wuhan vaccines. Over half way through 2023, and they are finally removing the Wuhan spike generating artificial mRNA from the vaccines.

TY Leslie,

I heard Judge Jeanine say something recently,, I think on the Five. Viruses weaken as they bang around, and have variants. I was surprised that she said this,, but she did not mention what it was.. a thing called Muller’s ratchet. Virology 101.. at least I think so.
It has to do with the way they replicate. I heard about this early in the spring of 2020, and of course it was never really discussed much in the news. First time since then I heard it mentioned. SMH

The communists have to “secure” the next most secure election ever.

2smartforlibs | August 23, 2023 at 5:32 pm

We all know what t his is in aid of. Has nothing to do with a virus by now we have all had. It has to do with you surrendering more rights and money just in time for the next rigged election. Don’t take my word for it people in the know have had a lot more to say about it.

Of course BA.2.86 is more transmissible. That’s what a virus does in a pandemic — as the waves go on and the mutations pile up, the virus spreads more easily.

And is less and less harmful.

That’s evolution in action, right in front of you. From the original Wuhan variant to beta, to delta, to epsilon, to omicron, and now to BA.2.86, they spread more easily and are less lethal. Viruses that don’t do that don’t remain in the wild.

To Leslie’s useful advice I add (as a pulmonary doctor) this —

— protect the elderly, the frail, and those with severe co-morbidities. For a person who is susceptible to death/hospitalization from influenza, it’s ditto for BA.2.86. If you have a viral illness, stay away from the elderly and frail until you’re clear.

— lots of vitamin D

— lots of common sense

    herm2416 in reply to stevewhitemd. | August 23, 2023 at 6:07 pm

    YES!

    gonzotx in reply to stevewhitemd. | August 23, 2023 at 6:08 pm

    I had Covid twice, just had it this past month

    I was surprised it hung on for 12 days

    Affected my asthma. More, doesn’t help allergens are high amd it’s 105 in Texas, for 3 months, even 112.

    Not vaccinated, my husband was twice, he got the China flu twice amd
    Gave it to me twice

    I use to work in the hospital with peope both staff and patients that got it amd I never did

    But living in close quarters, every freaking time, and I isolated him , as well as a patient at home can be

    But it was in some ways worse than the first time I had it and it’s definitely going around.

    I hate the Chinese, Fauci and outlet military for
    Bringing this to the world.

    God knows what they have in store for us

    gonzotx in reply to stevewhitemd. | August 23, 2023 at 6:10 pm

    I do lots of Vit D, Zinc, Vit C

    Lots of fresh air

      LibraryGryffon in reply to gonzotx. | August 24, 2023 at 3:11 am

      Same here. I (never vaxxed for the WuFlu) got it in April ’22, the same day as my multi-poked kid at college did. We were both fine, if tired, three days later. The only difference was my low grade fever lasted about 10/12 hours to their 5/6.

      So I’m sticking with D, C, and zinc.

    MajorWood in reply to stevewhitemd. | August 24, 2023 at 1:23 pm

    I still remember the graph from round June, 2020, which showed the mean age of people dying from WuFlu (79) was around 1 year higher than people dying from all causes (78). Who knew that getting WuFlu would prolong life? Apparently someone in charge noticed that graph and it suddenly disappeared from the record. There were also some enterprising Hopkins undergrduates who grabbed all the states death data and showed that there was no significant increase in overall annual morbidity during the pandemic peak, which reseulted in about half the states removing that dtat from the public record (lest statistics confuse people by introducing the truth). Similarly, there was no reflex decrease in annual death rates in 2021, 22, and 23 due to the “absence” of those subjects who were going to die within the next year (which was about 90% of the reported WuFlu mortalities).

    The one take away from me on this is that no government source is forever to be given the status of “trusted.”

    As I stated early on, WuFlu at worst was a slight breeze which only affected those who were standing at the edge of the cliff already. On its own, absent co-morbidities, WuFlu would have a hard time breaking the top-15 in causes of mortality.

China building Covid detention camps. Dozens of construction booms. Dystopian nightmare. Twitter link:

https://tinyurl.com/y9wwb35w

    The_Mew_Cat in reply to Tiki. | August 24, 2023 at 10:58 am

    Maybe they are planning for a big new wave come winter/spring. It won’t be this variant, though. If this one were good enough, hospitals would already be packed to the gills. They aren’t.

    Perhaps this is how the Deep State will get rid of Joe Biden if the impeachment case becomes strong enough. He dies of COVID and the Democrats invoke the sympathy factor as they impose a real lockdown.

RepublicanRJL | August 23, 2023 at 6:14 pm

Here’s my method of how I handled COVID the first time.

I didn’t care, didn’t wear a mask, didn’t do social distance and didn’t do the jab. Told stores I had medical issues, that’s all that’s needed.

Rinse. Repeat.

    LibraryGryffon in reply to RepublicanRJL. | August 24, 2023 at 3:16 am

    That probably depends on where you live. Businesses in CT didn’t care if wearing a mask might actually kill someone. Doctors letter in hand saying you mustn’t wear a mask ever, and they’d still refuse you entrance.

It’s the news business. There’s a market for disease anxiety. Eyeballs sold to advertisers.

Having stoked the anxiety, they tell you how to live with it.

What they actually claim to know is what it is that is important.

I find what RFK Jr. has said plausible. When the folks that create the virus do so, they also create the vaccine, for whatever reason. All of this is by design. Fool me once, shame on you. Try to fool me twice or more, you’ve exposed yourself as deceitful and never to be trusted again, period, end of story.

Of course they’re at it again, they have another election to steal. It worked last time and there were no consequences, so why not do it again?

nordic prince | August 23, 2023 at 8:06 pm

Anyone who gets snookered by the latest “covid” fear porn is either afraid of their own shadow or else probably too stupid to breathe.

It’s like a mean older brother telling you to watch out for the monsters that are hiding in the closet, and you falling for it every time.

I live in Florida (Thank you Ron DeSantis) and truly don’t give a shit about any of this COVID hysteria. Most of us here ignored DC and the Deep State then and will do so again and again and again.

How can contribute to this fear?

I really want to see my blue hell hole of a state masking up and shutting down again as I pack up the last of my things to move.

The COVID vaccine should be mandatory w/in 200 miles of every abortion clinic.

Thank you for covering this. Like I told you Monday, the vaccine companies have an overstock of vaccines that they need to unload. They are losing money on what they thought was going to be a vaccine bonanza. A friend of mine inside the business told me this about a month ago.

Fox online had a headline on Monday: “Vaccine Makers see stock prices boost on Biden admin Covid Shot Push”,
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/vaccine-makers-see-stock-price-boost-biden-admin-covid-shot-push

Follow the money….

    nordic prince in reply to Tel. | August 24, 2023 at 12:47 am

    Follow the money….

    Sound advice which applies to 99% of the medical industry.

    There’s nowhere near as much money in healing people as there is in getting customers for life using the “disease management” approach.

      99% of everything in life. Since the beginning of time.

      CommoChief in reply to nordic prince. | August 24, 2023 at 12:31 pm

      How dare you imply that the medical profession has lost interest in curing patients or promoting healthy lifestyles and instead stooped to becoming mere pill pushers like some common street corner drug dealer with the only n true difference being a Rx pad. /S

      MajorWood in reply to nordic prince. | August 24, 2023 at 12:55 pm

      Those in the medical industry were more concerned about protecting their “state issued” license than in promoting the truth. This was a top-down driven pandemic, with bosses telling the underlings what their position was going to be, and for the underlings to pass that down the chain. A doctor in rural Oregon who stated that his office wasn’t going to mask up had his license to practice suspended immediately. Remind you of anyone in the past? Medical Science died in March 2020, and it is never coming back.

This plandemic will set records as the most completely ignored National Emergency on record.

That card, along with such other classics as ‘racism’ and ‘Trump indictment’, is way over its limit.

Fat_Freddys_Cat | August 24, 2023 at 8:46 am

I think what’s telling about this is how excited and happy the Branch Covidians are. They’re delighted to be going back to the dark days of 2020. And why not? It was Karen Heaven, a Disneyland for little tyrants to patrol for wrongdoers.

Politicians loved it too. No bothering with legislatures and democracy and whatnot, just rule by decree.

What they really want is for this state of affairs to be permanent.

“Pearl-Clutching Over New COVID Variant Begins”

And well they should. The vaxxes damage the immune system and make people more susceptible to Covid. Being vaxxed may also be considered a “co-morbidity.” We were warned early on (by actual experts) that infection or re-infection by a corona virus after vaccination for a corona virus might be particularly dangerous.

The public health community, medical profession and totalitarian govt officials own every bit of mistrust and ‘hesitancy’ which is likely, IMO, to appear this round as a far more aggressive push back than quietly and demurely avoiding the jab and mask regime.

Just think of masking and vaccines no different than roadblocks set up in Maui.

Same government, same motives.

Act accordingly.

WE GONNA DIE! Oh, is there an election coming up?