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COVID-19 in US long before China

A new study by American researchers, released on Thursday, suggests the deadly coronavirus may have already reached Los Angeles by late December, actively circulating in the area months before the first definitive cases in the United States were identified.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), evaluated more than 10 million patient and health records for UCLA Health outpatient, emergency department and hospital facilities, spanning Dec. 1, 2019, to Feb. 29, 2020, and compared those records with data from the same period over the previous five years.

They found a troubling trend. The outpatient clinic visits by UCLA patients seeking care for coughs increased by over 50 percent and exceeded the average number of visits for the same complaint over the prior five years by more than 1,000.

They also discovered a “significant” excess in the number of patients seen in emergency departments for reports of coughs and of patients hospitalized with acute respiratory failure during this time period.

These excesses remained even after accounting for changes in patient populations and seasonal variation, according to the study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research.

“For many diseases, data from the outpatient setting can provide an early warning to emergency departments and hospital intensive care units of what is to come,” said Joann Elmore, the study’s lead author and a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Researchers noted the unusually high number of visitors, patients and hospitalizations suggests community spread of SARS-CoV-2 prior to established clinical awareness and testing capabilities.

It may indicate that the coronavirus had silently arrived and begun establishing a foothold undetected on the West Coast around Christmas 2019. If true, that would shake up the current narrative of the virus’ origins in the country.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the first U.S. COVID-19 case on Jan. 21, who was a man traveling from Wuhan, China to Washington state. And it was not until Feb. 26 that the CDC confirmed community spread of the coronavirus in the United States.

UCLA researchers did not conclude for certain that coronavirus was behind the trends laid out in their study, saying other factors could be responsible for some of this unexpected increase, such as the use of e-cigarettes, or flu.


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Overview of Western Hemisphere Strategic Framework

IV. Counter Economic Aggression and Malign Political Influence

External actors have increased political and economic influence in the Western Hemisphere through state-driven trade, investment, diplomatic, technology, media, security, and health outreach. Examples include the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) aggressive efforts to expand market share, notably in 5G infrastructure, for Huawei and other state-affiliated technology firms; export surveillance and censorship tools; and increase the region’s dependence on debt financing and commodities exports at the expense of sovereignty, fiscal prudence, economic diversification, and local markets. Such activities empower corruption, weaken intellectual property protections, exploit cyber vulnerabilities, unfairly disadvantage United States and host nation businesses, harm the environment, and pressure nations to adopt policies inconsistent with democratic values and the long-term interests of their own people. We will actively encourage our partners to incorporate due diligence and transparency requirements in foreign financing and investment.

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Brian Murphy demoted to the Homeland Security Department’s management division

Chad Fredrick Wolf
Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy, the former head of the Homeland Security Department’s intelligence branch, said in the complaint that he was ordered this spring by Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of the department, to stop producing assessments on Russian interference and focus instead on Iran and China. That request, Mr. Murphy said, was routed through Mr. Wolf from Robert C. O’Brien, the White House national security adviser.

Robert C. O’Brien

Wolf later told him not to disseminate a report on a Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s mental health because it “made the president look bad,” said Murphy, who warned that the actions in their totality threatened national security.

Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II

In other instances, the department’s second-highest ranked official, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, ordered Murphy to modify intelligence assessments to make the threat of white supremacy “appear less severe” and include information on violent “left-wing” groups and antifa, according to the complaint, which was filed on Tuesday but released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee.

Murphy was demoted from his post in August to the Homeland Security Department’s management division after his office compiled intelligence reports on protesters and journalists in Portland, Ore. But he asserted in the complaint that his real offense was raising concerns to superiors about the directions he was given and for cooperating with the department’s inspector general. He asked the inspector general to investigate and reinstate him as the intelligence chief..

9-12-20 The House Homeland Security Committee has issued a subpoena to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf for a hearing next week as he faces whistleblower allegations that he urged department officials to alter intelligence.”From the coronavirus pandemic to the rise of right-wing extremism to ongoing election interference, there are urgent threats requiring our attention,” Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said in a statement Friday. “Mr. Wolf’s refusal to testify — thereby evading congressional oversight at this critical time — is especially troubling given the serious matters facing the Department and the Nation.”

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Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Just weeks after helping to broker peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), President Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

The nomination submitted by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, lauded Trump for his efforts toward resolving protracted conflicts worldwide.

Tybring-Gjedde:
An idiot? Repeated offender.
Tybring-Gjedde was one of two Norwegian lawmakers who nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for efforts to bring reconciliation between North and South Korea. Any lawmaker serving in a national legislature can nominate someone for the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • Magnus Jacobsson, a member of the Swedish Parliament, submitted the second nomination. He announced on Friday that he was nominating the Trump administration along with Serbia and Kosovo “for their joint work for peace and economic development, through the cooperation agreement signed in the White House,” adding that “trade and communications are important building blocks for peace.”
Magnus Jacobsson
  • 9-29-20

Joe Biden has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, joining President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in names put forward. British lawmaker Chris Bryant, a Labour Party member of the U.K. Parliament, told the Evening Standard he put forward the Democrat on Monday.

Chris Bryant, a Labour Party member of the U.K. Parliament