American Politics > 40,000 Covid-Positive Migrants Dumped into US Cities

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I don't like writing about American politics, it's a lose/lose occupation. But sometimes things are just so unbelievable one cannot let the story go by without comment. This one is hardly believable!

Biden administration has dumped 40,000 Covid-positive

migrants into US cities, former border chief tells newspaper

12 Aug, 2021 23:20

Migrants dropped off in McAllen, Texas, are shown earlier this year walking to a temporary shelter after being tested

for Covid-19. © Reuters / Go Nakamura

Mark Morgan, a top US border official under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, reportedly estimated that the Biden administration has dropped at least 40,000 illegal aliens infected with Covid-19 into American cities.

Morgan called the estimate “conservative” in an interview on Thursday with the Washington Examiner. He had previously pegged the overall number of illegal migrants released into the US since President Joe Biden took office in January at 270,000.

“We know that everybody being released, they’re not being tested,” Morgan said in a recent briefing sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. “We know that.”

Morgan was acting commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during the final 19 months of Trump’s term as president after briefly serving as acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He headed the US Border Patrol during the final four months of the Obama-Biden administration.

Morgan argued that the current surge in illegal immigration is more troubling than past crises, such as under the Obama administration, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. He said 32 CBP employees, including nine Border Patrol members, have died after contracting the virus in the line of duty, and Covid-19 cases are spiking in towns along the Rio Grande River.

One Texas city alone, McAllen, has reportedly received more than 1,500 Covid-positive migrants in the past week and over 7,000 this year. More than 1,800 migrants a day are being bused to a park in McAllen each day, prompting the city to declare an emergency. The park has been converted into a tent city, and migrants are tested for Covid-19 on arrival. The infection rate is currently 15%.

Nearly 213,000 illegal aliens were encountered by Border Patrol agents at the US-Mexico border in July, the CBP reported on Thursday.  The July total marked the second straight month of setting a new 20-year high and exceeded June’s encounters by 13%.

The Biden administration has argued that many migrants are being turned away under a temporary policy, called Title 42, designed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. However, the CBP report showed that in July, fewer than 96,000 migrants, or 45% of the total number encountered, were expelled under Title 42.

An influx of unaccompanied children, whom Biden has pledged to allow into the country, has continued unabated. Nearly 19,000 were encountered by CBP in July, up 24% from June’s level. The number of children in CBP custody jumped 72% from June’s rate, averaging 1,363 a day. Children in border detention centers have been subjected to horrific conditions, including alleged sexual abuse and outbreaks of Covid-19 and other illnesses, a BBC probe found.

About 27% of the illegal aliens encountered at the border last month had been apprehended at least once previously in the past year, CBP said. That’s about double the typical rate of repeat offenders. In a typical year, border crossings slow in the summer amid the scorching heat.

Biden’s Department of Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, tried to downplay the crisis in a press briefing on Thursday. “We have seen surges in migration before,” he said. “We’ve seen them in the past, and migration surges are not new.” He also took time to partly blame the Trump administration, which he said, “dismantled our asylum system.”

Morgan wrote on Thursday in a National Review oped that Biden’s administration is “knowingly seeding” border towns and cities with Covid-infected migrants, playing a “dangerous political game with American lives.” He noted the irony that most vaccinated European citizens who have tested negative for Covid-19 still can’t enter the US – nor can a vaccinated Mexican citizen arriving at a legal port of entry – but “an illegal alien family with Covid is rapidly released into the US.”

China Refuses to Help WHO With Second Covid Origins Lab Leak Inquiry

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China refuses to participate in 2nd phase of WHO’s Covid origins probe,

says research into lab leak theory goes against ‘science’

22 Jul, 2021 07:54

Staff members in protective suits stand at Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine in Wuhan, Hubei province, China January 29, 2021. ©  REUTERS/Thomas

Beijing has put the brakes on its involvement in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) investigation into the origins of Covid-19, citing its disapproval of any inquiries into the possibility that the virus came from a lab.

The Chinese government will not take part in a second phase of the WHO’s probe into what caused the pandemic, Zeng Yixin, deputy head of China’s National Health Commission, said on Thursday. 

The senior health official said at a press conference in Beijing that he was “surprised” to see research into the lab leak theory – which was initially dismissed by the WHO as highly unlikely – as a listed objective for the organization’s proposed second visit to Wuhan and other locations in China. 

“In some aspects, the WHO’s plan for the next phase of investigation of the coronavirus origin doesn’t respect common sense, and it’s against science. It’s impossible for us to accept such a plan,” he said.

Liang Wannian, a senior scientist and the representative for the Chinese side of the WHO’s joint investigation, said during the same press briefing that, instead of returning to China, the team of experts should prioritize the “very likely” possibility that coronavirus originated in animals. He also pointed to reports of Covid-19 being found in wastewater from different countries around the same time that the disease was first detected in Wuhan, and suggested that investigators expand their research to locations outside China. 

Chinese officials also used the press conference to reiterate that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had no links to the outbreak. Yuan Zhiming, director of China’s National Biosafety Laboratory and professor at the Wuhan lab, stressed that, before December 30, 2019, he and his colleagues had never preserved or studied the novel coronavirus.

And I absolutely believe him. By the way, did I mention I have a tropical island off the coast of Labrador for sale?

After spending around four weeks in China early this year, the experts concluded in their initial report that the virus likely originated in an animal before spreading to humans in December 2019. But the findings have come under scrutiny from Western states, which claim the investigation lacked transparency. US President Joe Biden has since ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct their own assessment into how the health crisis began. 

The theory that Covid-19 may have leaked from a laboratory – possibly the Wuhan Institute of Virology – was embraced by Donald Trump’s administration in the early months of the health crisis. At the time, US media outlets rejected the idea as implausible and even dangerous misinformation. But, in recent months, the theory has gone mainstream, after Washington began to question the thoroughness of the WHO’s preliminary findings. 

The WHO has expressed similar concerns about China’s purported lack of openness. Last week, its director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on Beijing to be “transparent and open, and to cooperate” with the organization’s ongoing probe into Covid-19’s origins. 

Beijing has rejected such allegations, insisting it has cooperated fully with the international investigation. 

Not true, they were never allowed to question Wuhan staff without Chinese authorities being in the room.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last week that the origin probe is a “scientific issue” and “all parties should respect the opinions of scientists and scientific conclusions, instead of politicizing the issue.”

Although Beijing has seemingly dismissed the idea that the virus could have come from a Chinese lab, it has remained open to the possibility that it may have leaked from an American facility. On Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry backed calls for an investigation into whether coronavirus came from Maryland’s Fort Detrick biolab, after 4.7 million Chinese petitioned the WHO to send experts to the US military facility. 

Seems fair enough to me! But it would be astonishing if the coronavirus was created in Maryland and became public down the street from China's only level4 lab, halfway around the world. Mind you, if some person, or some sample was shipped from Fort Detrick biolab to Wuhan in the fall of 2019, there might be a case. That should be easy enough to check-out, even for the Chinese, unless they have already destroyed any such files.

More Than 100 in Germany Found to Be Infected With Coronavirus After Church’s Services

Social distancing was observed and building disinfected for affected Sunday May 10 ceremonies, says senior member

The Evangelical Christian Baptist Church in Frankfurt, where a number of people who attended services

Sunday, May 10 later tested positive for the new coronavirus.

PHOTO: KAI PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS

By William Boston, WSJ

BERLIN—At least 107 people have been found to be infected with the new coronavirus after some of them attended Sunday services at a church in Frankfurt two weeks ago, according to German officials, highlighting the growing risk of new outbreaks of the virus as Germany loosens restrictions on public gatherings.

Local residents of Frankfurt, Germany’s financial center, and surrounding communities became infected during religious services held by the Evangelical Christian Baptist Congregation in Frankfurt on Sunday May 10, city and church officials said.

Kai Klose, the health minister for Hesse state, where Frankfurt, is located, said Sunday that local health officials had begun assembling lists of people who attended the church services and those who later came in contact with them.

“This situation shows how important it is—especially during loosening of restrictions, which is now possible again—that we remain vigilant and do not become careless,” Mr. Klose said. “The virus is still there and wants to spread.”

News of the outbreak in a faith congregation in Germany comes just days after President Trump called on state governors to reopen houses of worship, threatening to “override the governors” if they didn’t. “The ministers, pastors, rabbis, imams and other faith leaders will make sure their congregations are safe as they gather and pray,” Mr. Trump said.

A cyclist rides by the sunset skyline of Frankfurt and its banking district.

PHOTO: KAI PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS

The fresh outbreak after church services in Germany suggests that even adhering to strict social-distancing and hygiene measures may not stop infections when people begin to gather again in large groups.

Wladimir Pritzkau, a senior member of the Frankfurt evangelical Baptist congregation, stressed that the community had observed social distancing, maintaining the recommended distance of about six feet between individuals, and had disinfected the facilities.

He said services at the church had now been canceled for the foreseeable future and would be held only online.

The number of people infected rose dramatically from Saturday, when Rene Gottschalk, head of the Frankfurt Health Office, said that around 40 people had become infected following the church services.

News of the sharp increase in infections in Frankfurt comes after the city of Leer in northwestern Germany said 11 people had contracted Covid-19 after attending a private party at a local restaurant on May 15.

Local health officials ordered around 70 additional people to quarantine at home.

Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s leading virology institute, on Sunday morning reported 431 new confirmed infections over the previous 24 hours, raising the total number of confirmed infections in Germany to 178,281. A total of 8,247 people have died from Covid-19 infections in the country, the Institute said.

Is Your Church Planning on Opening Again Soon - Read This!

'I would do anything for a do-over': Calgary church hopes others learn from their tragic COVID-19 experience

Chris Epp
Senior Reporter / Anchor Weekend News, CTV

CALGARY -- Members of a Calgary church ravaged by COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic are sharing their stories of grief and healing, after Alberta's chief medical health officer cited them as a cautionary tale.

"I had the opportunity recently to talk to a faith leader whose faith community gathered together in mid-March before many of our public health measures were in place,” Dr Deena Hinshaw said Thursday. "The congregation had a worship service and then gathered together for a celebratory social event. There were only 41 people present, and they were careful to observe two meter distancing and good hand hygiene. They followed all the rules and did nothing wrong. "

Despite that, 24 of the 41 people at the party ended up infected. Two of them died.

Rev. Shannon Mang is the minister of Living Spirit United Church.

"One of our most beloved members was having a very important birthday and we wanted to celebrate that," Mang said of the post-service celebration. "Under the circumstances, we thought we were going to be safe. We were very diligent about physical distancing, very diligent about hand hygiene.”

Though the church has capacity for 200 people, fewer than 50 were at the event - well within the public health rules of the time.

Food was served but everyone handling it wore gloves.

"We were very careful and then a week later, we learned of the first person who was diagnosed with COVID-19," explained Mang. "A few days later we had the second, and the third and within a week there were about 14. Within two weeks, there were 24 of the 41 people who had been there that day.

"The overwhelming emotion was shock."

Shannon Morey attends the church with her mom and dad and all three were at the party that day. She never got sick, but both of her parents did.

"My mom thought she had a sinus infection, then a day later my dad thought he had a cold."

Her father Dennis was admitted to the hospital on April 3 and the ICU two days later. Three weeks after that, he died. He was 81 but, according to his family, still very active.

"He was out shoveling the walk just days before he got sick and looking forward to planting his garden," said Shannon.

Other church members organized a vigil in his memory with more than 100 people dropping off candles outside his house, one at a time.

The church also held online wakes for members who died, allowing the community to grieve virtually.

"That was so important because COVID-19 interrupts our traditions," said Mang. "The food at the house, being able to stay and visit and to cry together and tell stories together and laugh and show pictures. "All that stuff that we want to do, we can't do. So having an online wake helped."

Mang also says she struggles with her decision to proceed with the party.

"It's really tough. Me personally I've had to keep working through this," she said. "We were working with the information that we had at the time, but I would do anything for a do-over. It's very very hard to live with this reality."

Mang says the church has been devastated by the aftermath of the infection spreading among members and she wants others to learn from their experience.

"We don't want another organization or faith community to go through what we've been through," said Mang. "It's really, really hard. There seems to be this huge divide between those who've experienced (COVID-19) and the majority who haven't.

"If you haven't experienced it, you are so lucky. You have no idea how fortunate you are."

Even as public health restrictions start to loosen, Mang is encouraging people not to rush.

"Think about the oldest person that you hang out with and visit and take care of. Are you willing to give them up?"

It still isn't clear how the virus entered the church in the first place since none of the infected had travelled or knowingly encountered an infected person in the days before their last gathering together.

It's suspected the virus may have breached the church a day earlier when a large choir was using the facility.

Health officials say they likely will never know how it was transmitted there - and that's fine with Shannon Morey. "I don’t want to know, " said Morey. "When bad things happen people want to be angry and direct anger at something but if I were that person who brought it in, I would feel terrible."

Meanwhile, Reverend Mang says she doesn't know when her congregation will meet inside their church again.

"We are not going back to what we were because we never will be what we were. We lost two really important members. We lost something but hope this experience will help us grow into something new - I hope a new more loving and caring community."

Coronavirus - More Disturbing Thoughts - USA's Moral Authority UPDATED

US accused of 'modern piracy' after

diversion of masks meant for Europe

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German politician adds to chorus of complaints

about American tactics to source protective gear

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Trump orders 3M to stop exporting N95 masks to Canada

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Is America losing its moral authority to lead the world?

Does it still have a right to call itself a Christian country?
See bottom for UPDATE

Kim Willsher in Charny Julian Borger in Washington and Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem

An N95 mask. Authorities in Berlin say 200,000 such masks were diverted to the US as they were being

transferred between planes in Thailand. DavidBecker/ZUMAWire/REX/Shutterstock

The US has been accused of “modern piracy” after reportedly diverting a shipment of masks intended for the German police, and outbidding other countries in the increasingly fraught global market for coronavirus protective equipment.

About 200,000 N95 masks were diverted to the US as they were being transferred between planes in Thailand, according to the Berlin authorities who said they had ordered the masks for the police force.

Andreas Geisel, the interior minister for Berlin state, described the diversion as “an act of modern piracy” and appealed to the German government to demand Washington conform to international trading rules. “This is no way to treat trans-Atlantic partners,” Geisel said. “Even in times of global crisis there should be no wild west methods.”

The German reports said the masks had been made by a Chinese producer for the US company 3M, but the firm issued a statement on Friday night saying: “3M has no evidence to suggest 3M products have been seized. 3M has no record of any order of respirators from China for the Berlin police. We cannot speculate where this report originated.”

The German allegations added to a chorus of complaints about the Trump administration’s practice as the US wields its clout in a marketplace for scarce medical supplies that is becoming a free-for-all, with nation competing against nation.

Valérie Pécresse, the influential president of the Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, described the race to get masks as a “treasure hunt”.

“I found a stock of masks that was available and Americans – I’m not talking about the American government – but Americans, outbid us,” Pécresse said. “They offered three times the price and they proposed to pay upfront. I can’t do that. I’m spending taxpayers’ money and I can only pay on delivery having checked the quality,” she told BFMTV. “So we were caught out.”

Pécresse said she had finally obtained a consignment of 1.5m masks thanks to the help of Franco-Chinese residents in the Paris area.

Her comments follow allegations from two other French regional heads that unidentified American buyers outbid on mask shipments, including one instance when a consignment was reportedly “on the tarmac” to be flown to France.

“We really have to fight,” Jean Rottner, a doctor and president of the Grand Est regional council, told RTL radio. His area had been particularly badly hit by Covid-19 cases.

Following reporting on his comments, Rottner said on Twitter that it was not his order of 2m masks that had been diverted, although it was “common practice”.

The French media have started calling the rush for equipment “mask wars”.

Medical device manufacturer 3M says it is under pressure from the White House to stop exporting N95 masks it currently produces in the United States to other countries, including Canada.

The Minnesota-based company said in a news release Friday that while it welcomes the Trump administration's invocation of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to compel domestic companies to produce critically needed medical infrastructure, it presents some problems, too.

Among other things, the order mandates that 3M stop making N95 masks that are destined for customers in Canada and Latin America, and instead keep them in the U.S.

The DPA, which was passed in 1950, grants the president the power to expand industrial production of key materials or products for national security and other reasons. Hockey equipment manufacturers and even fashion houses have been trying to shift their production to start making medical safety equipment, such as gowns and masks, where possible.

Health-care workers around the world are currently facing a desperate shortage of such masks in their fight to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19. 

"There are, however, significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to health-care workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier of respirators," the company said in its statement.

In the statement, 3M also warns that any such move could actually backfire on the U.S. and impact the supply of masks and other medical equipment.

It's rumored that some of the materiel going into the masks made in Minnesota comes from Canada.

"Ceasing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same, as some have already done. If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease. That is the opposite of what we and the administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek."

Dale Carnegie must be rolling over in his grave, along with every President who ever lived. American Exceptionalism and 'America First' attitudes and policies are fine when you are talking about economics, even when America bullies its allies relentlessly. But when it starts to cost lives, and possibly thousands or tens of thousands of lives, America will never be trusted as an ally again. 

American News outlets see no reason to bother reporting this, for some reason.

UPDATE:

Cuba: U.S. embargo blocks coronavirus aid shipment from Asia

Michael Weissenstein
The Associated Press

HAVANA -- Cuban officials say a shipment of coronavirus aid from Asia's richest man, Jack Ma, has been blocked by the six-decade U.S. embargo on the island.

Carlos M. Pereira, Cuba's ambassador to China, said on his blog this week that Ma's foundation tried to send Cuba 100,000 facemasks and 10 COVID-19 diagnostic kits last month, along with other aid including ventilators and gloves.

Cuba was one of 24 countries in the region meant to receive the donations announced on March. 21 by the Jack Ma Foundation, which is sending similar aid to countries around the world, including the United States.

Cuban officials say the cargo carrier of Colombia-based Avianca Airlines declined to carry the aid to Cuba because its major shareholder is a U.S.-based company subject to the trade embargo on Cuba. The embargo has exceptions for food and medical aid but companies are often afraid to carry out related financing or transportation due to the risk of fines or prosecution under the embargo.

Human-rights groups have been calling for the U.S. to lift sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba and Iran during the coronavirus epidemic in order to permit the flow of more aid. The Trump administration has argued that only the countries' government would benefit from the sanctions relief.

The current pandemic is exposing not only our government’s utter failures to protect its own citizens, but also its profound lack of human decency in dealing with other nations

Oliver Stone