Data Report

SUMMARY - A 31-year old woman from the city of Seattle, Ladan Mohamed Ali, has plead guilty to attempting to bribe a juror who was involved in hearing a Covid-19 fraud case. Ali is one of five people charged in the attempted bribery of the juror; The four others charged with crimes related to the bribe are Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Said Shafii Farah, Abdulkarim Shafii Farah and Abdimajid Mohamed Nur.

LINK - https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/ap-woman-pleads-guilty-to-leaving-cash-bribe-for-minnesota-juror-in-covid-19-related-fraud-case/

SUMMARY - The Ministry of Health in Singapore has reported that there has been only 2,102 deaths in the country since the start of the pandemic through June 2024. Of those 2,102, 2,035 were residents with the remainder being non-residents. The low number of deaths is credited due to preventive health efforts, earlier diagnosis and better treatment of diseases.

LINK - https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/2102-people-in-s-pore-have-died-from-covid-19-since-start-of-pandemic-to-june-2024-moh

SUMMARY - The nation of Greece has declared a 'state of emergency' following the sudden appearance of dead fish by the thousands near the port of Volos. Water quality at most of the affected beaches remain within safe limits. Although climate change is accused as being partially to blame for the death of the fish, an official investigation is underway and no determination has been made as how thousands of fish died all at once. the state of emergency lasts through to the end of September 2024.

LINK - https://www.tovima.com/climate/volos-dead-fish-disaster-greek-gov-declares-state-of-emergency-launches-support-measures/

SUMMARY - Rudolph Brooks, age 48, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for improperly using the CARES Act Payroll Protection Program loans that he had received. He used those funds, in part, to purchase a personal automobile, real estate property along with other personal goods and services. He has also been directed to forfeit $2 million dollars along with the automobile and real estate property that he had purchased with those funds.

LINK - https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/pastor-sentenced-for-covid-aid-fraud-HFL3J2XCSBGCBNDS7W766WJ2OI/

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) was held from August 19 through August 22, 2024, of which she attended. Although there is no evidence that she received the illness from that location, it is hard not to speculate if others from that convention will also be inflicted with Covid (if they have not already).

SUMMARY - The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that over 4,000 new cases of Mpox has been detected on the continent within the past week. Totals for known Mpox cases for the year on the continent currently stands at 22,863 with 622 deaths.

NOTE - This thread is reserved for articles concerning Mpox for the entire continent of Africa or when multiple nations within the continent are mentioned but without significant distinction.

LINK - https://apnews.com/article/africa-mpox-congo-cdc-kaseya-vaccines-d5e5914704e893c05c5e9d2412e6ec75

Whenever things get worse they just come out with a quick easy fix called the vaccine..

I would not consider that the creation of mRNA vaccines were a quick fix; The underlying science behind mRNA vaccines goes back decades. We should be thankful that the technology to create mRNA vaccines had matured to a point where it could be useful for this particular situation.

We are ignoring two crucial things : one is declaring the truly preventative  measures such as behavior modification and mask wearing including mask education and practical masking strategies

I must agree that wearing masks (and, in this application, N95 or equivalent) has been highly beneficial in limiting the risk of exposure to Covid and other airborne-based viruses. I completely endorse their use beyond our current situation concerning Covid. As our population increases and as our population density increases, we must be mindful that our actions (or lack of actions) have consequences. Mitigating such viruses with masking is a strategy that every population ought to take for a variety of reasons, including social and economic.

 

I have a pet peeve in that it is admitted vaccines do not prevent the disease so I really get upset at people who take vaccines but don’t mask up .. because contradiction in  behavior and willingness to take a vaccine but not wear a mask for a mutating disease, I can’t help but believe vaccines can give a false sense of security for people to go maskless .. if vaccines don’t prevent long covid nor the spread of covid then that’s seriously bad in the long run.

My understanding is that the vaccines were never intent on limiting spread but only reducing the degree of which someone suffers from Covid once they were infected. A combination of masking, vaccination and behavior modification (such as avoiding large crowds when possible) is the best-known strategy for limiting the spread of any airborne-based virus, Covid or otherwise.

What is the likelihood of a new variant coming out just about the time everybody gets the latest booster/vaccine?

No one knows when the next prominent Covid variant will emerge or exactly why. This uncertainty makes taking the precautions that are available to us that much more important. We have seen so far that Covid continues to progress and our vigilance needs to continue until the mortality numbers are so low as to be indistinguishable from random occurrence.