‘Like nothing we’ve seen’: US Forces Korea hits pandemic peak with new COVID-19 cases

Stars and Stripes ^ | 29 December 2021 | DAVID CHOI

[blueplum]

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — U.S. Forces Korea counted 467 new COVID-19 cases in the week ending Monday, the highest number of infections reported by the command since the pandemic began in March 2020.

USFK reported 457 locally generated coronavirus cases between Dec. 21 and Monday, and another 10 cases among recent arrivals to South Korea.

Army Col. Seth Graves, garrison commander at Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. base overseas, in an announcement Wednesday on Facebook said the spike in cases “is like nothing we’ve seen here on the installation since the beginning of the pandemic.”

...The command requires its personnel, regardless of their vaccination status, to wear face masks “at all indoor settings on installations” within districts with 50 or more confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over a period of seven days.

USFK previously banned all personnel from visiting any of the “hot spot” districts in the country but revoked the restriction last month due to its relatively high vaccination rates and to “better align with” the South Korean government’s plans.

Unvaccinated personnel are still banned from bars, clubs, saunas, off-base gyms and karaoke bars....

[Chode]

true, but these are supposed to be COVID cases...

[blueplum]

sure, I agree, just trying to compensate to the constraints of a mild, moderate, severe limit of categories.

[Chode]

.

[hecticskeptic]

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — U.S. Forces Korea counted 467 new COVID-19 cases….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let’s just ponder this for a minute... The CDC has said for quite some time now that the PCR and rapid antigen tests are crap and in fact Kary Mullis (person who invented the PCR test) said that “the PCR test should not be used to diagnose infectious diseases.”

To go further, the CDC just said a few days ago that the PCR test can not differentiate between the flu and the covid virus (which explains why the regular flu disappeared in 2020).

And the CDC has said just the other day that “PCR tests may return positive results for up to 12 weeks.”

So... with no reliable way of testing to prove anything, what exactly are they ‘counting’?

[The Duke]

"Just curious: Are Chicom military getting vaxxed?"

An interesting question for which I suspect a person could never trust the answer.

[JennysCool]

C’mon. How many “cases” are “with” Covid, not “from” Covid.

[Jan_Sobieski]

This is exactly why unvaccinated soldiers cannot serve in our armed forces!! They catch COVID lower combat readiness!

What? All the vaxxed are getting sick…?! 😳

[Gaffer]

.....what exactly are they ‘counting?

Counting questionable PCR tests that can't differentiate between Covid and the flu, AND cannot identify Delta OR Omicron and THEN making a suggestive diagnosis to fit a political narrative.

[blueplum]

PCR tests aren’t supposed to differentiate variants. That’s the job of the lab.

PCR tests developed by Abbott Labs, which are in use now, can differentiate between, cold, flu and covid, saving the sick person from having to take three nose jabs instead of one.

[blueplum]

true, but you’ll still take up a covid ward bed, because they’re not going to put you on a general ward if you’re infectious

[blueplum]

they were the first to get vaxed along with all health personnel and party members. Peasants were last, if at all.

[Rokke]

You ignore the reality that all those worst case scenarios you describe are extremely rare. Especially in the age group represented by active duty soldiers. As a percentage, VERY few people who have recovered from COVID have any long term issues. That's a simple fact. Also a simple fact is that a vast majority of people who get COVID have mild or asymptomatic cases. Especially in the group represented by active duty soldiers. The existing data on omicron proves conclusively that
A. It is extremely contagious
B. it ignores current vaccines and boosters and
C. It very very rarely results in infected people requiring hospital care, never mind intensive care.
Every single country currently experiencing omicron spikes is seeing minimal impact on their hospitals. That's despite astronomical increases in the number of people infected. We absolutely DO know that recovering from omicron protects you from previous variants. South Africa has solid data on that. They are done with omicron and their government has terminated all COVID protocols. We know that the most contagious version of a virus overwhelms all other known versions of the same virus. That's why it has displaced them in places like the UK, France and Australia. We also absolutely know that available vaccines do not protect you from omicron. Nothing protects you from omicron. 95% of omicron cases in places like Denmark and Germany are in fully vaccinated people. That's significant considering 70-80% of those countries are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, vaccine free people make up less than 5% of cases. There is no difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated in hospitalization rates with omicron. It's very low across the board.

I have great news for you. If you haven't already recovered from COVID, you WILL be getting omicron. And for the first time in your life, you will have broad immunity from COVID 19. Go ahead and get as many boosters as you want. It won't matter. What makes you think you won't be part of the 95% of vaccinated people who get omicron? Ultimately, the only difference between you and me with respect to COVID will be that you have a bunch of useless vaccine serum in your body. The similarity between us will be that we both have natural immunity. When (not if) you get it, I will welcome you to the club. It's the club you want to be in. I have zero fear of COVID. I travel around the world at least twice a month. I wear a fake mask on my travels, avoid antibiotic wipes, and have no concern about getting COVID again. Basically, I do everything “wrong” with respect to CDC recommendations on avoiding the virus. This week alone I will be in Korea, Australia, China and Germany. I have no concerns about traveling to any of those countries. I'm unvaxxed and I have T-cell immunity. Once you get omicron, you too will have solid T-cell immunity. Look forward to that day. It will be coming soon.

Get over your fear. Accept reality. Just look at the current rates of infection in the most vaccinated countries in the world. Vaccines failed. Natural immunity works. We are relearning what real science already knew. You can't vaccinate away an agile virus. There is a cure for cowardice. It's overcome by facing your fear head on. Until omicron, you had the choice of running away. That choice no longer exists. Welcome to reality.

[Gaffer]

So you’re saying that all of these tens of thousands (huge numbers) of ‘cases’ we get from government right now are ALL lab tested? I seriously doubt that...

[Gaffer]

PCR tests developed by Abbott Labs, which are in use now, can differentiate between, cold, flu and covid....

https://www.christianitydaily.com/articles/14443/20211230/cdc-finally-admits-pcr-tests-unable-to-differentiate-between-flu-and-covid-withdraws-its-use.htm

[af_vet_1981]

U.S. Forces Korea counted 467 new COVID-19 cases in the week ending Monday, the highest number of infections reported by the command since the pandemic began in March 2020.

How many have died ?

Korean War Casualties

Nearly 5 million people died. More than half of these–about 10 percent of Korea's prewar population–were civilians. (This rate of civilian casualties was higher than World War II's and the Vietnam War's.) Almost 40,000 Americans died in action in Korea, and more than 100,000 were wounded.

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

Here is a reason Ms. Blueplum needs to cite her favorite stories, this latest about troops in South Korea.

Data as of 1 January 2022

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/south-korea

( 5,625 “official” Covid deaths over two years / 51,269,185 population of South Korea ) x 100 = 0.011 percent.

About one one-hundredth of one percent.

So how to tell the story of "new cases?" Infections? Imply sickness and death! Requiescat in pace, DMZ. RIP U.S. Forces Korea.

From the article, "Nearly 86% of the country's 51.8 million people have received the first dose of a vaccine and 82.6% are fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to the KDCA. Over 16.5 million people in the country have received a booster shot."

Sounds like all those injections are protecting...

In another article posted this day, Mrs. Blueplum also pronounced RIP for Eastern Europe. See a consistency here?

[hawkaw]

👍