Free Republic

An experimental treatment greatly reduced the risk of hospitalization and emergency room visits in people who contracted COVID-19, according to the maker of the drug and investigators running a clinical trial.California-based Eiger BioPharmaceuticals and investigators running the TOGETHER trial say (pdf) that the treatment, Peginterferon Lambda, cut the risk of needing hospital care by 50 percent and death by 60 percent in a phase 3 trial measuring the results through the 28th day after receiving the treatment.A single injection of the treatment was compared to placebo in a trial in Brazil featuring 1,936 patients who had mild or moderate COVID-19...

The U.S. State Department and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) were aware in January 2020 that Chinese authorities were withholding COVID-19 data, according to government documents obtained by a legal watchdog organization. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) also sent “experts” from the NIH-supported P4 lab at the University of Texas Medical Branch to train technicians at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in “lab management and maintenance”—nearly two years before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—the records obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit reveal. Judicial Watch President Tom...

POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — One of the highly popular festivals in the state, the Mothman Festival in Mason County, has been canceled due to COVID-19. Organizers said in a Facebook post on Thursday, “Due to many unknown factors and the guidelines for fairs and festivals now set forth by the state of West Virginia because of COVID 19, we are postponing Mothman Festival 2020.” The event, that commemorates the 1966 Point Pleasant Mothman sighting that gave birth to the infamous red-eyed winged legend, had been scheduled for Sept. 19 and 20. The restrictions in place would affect the guest speakers,...

A police raid on a business operating in spite of a Repbublican governor's emergency orders but first.... "Analysts have long talked about the end of an American-led system and the arrival of an Asian century. This is now happening in front of our eyes. If the 21st century turns out to be an Asian century, as the 20th was an Amercian one, the pandemic may well be remembered as the turning point of this process" The words of the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell...... In Idaho last Thursday state police raiding the Hardware Brewing Company in Kendrick. The...

As daily life across America is upended by the coronavirus crisis -- with mass business closures plunging the economy into freefall -- one former New York Times reporter is sounding the alarm about what he believes are flawed models dictating the aggressive strategy. Alex Berenson has been analyzing the data on the crisis on a daily basis for weeks and has come to the conclusion that the strategy of shutting down entire sectors of the economy is based on modeling that doesn’t line up with the realities of the virus.

Britain’s attempt to ramp up mass coronavirus testing has been dealt a blow after key components ordered from overseas were discovered to be contaminated with coronavirus, the Telegraph can disclose. Laboratories across the country were on Monday warned to expect a delay after traces of the virus were detected in parts due for delivery in the coming days.

The John Hopkins Covid-19 web site has been playing fast and loose with the data! For almost a week they have made it hard to find out the number of recovered cases in the U.S. For several days, it has been listed as 0 recoveries. They used to keep a chart of Chinese cases, non-Chinese cases, and recovered cases. For the last two days, they altered the chart to show only new cases worldwide. Since the virus is blooming in more countries that is bound to go up, but it certainly looks more alarming. It is an odd coincidence that...

How do we know that people who had the flu up until now did not have the COVID19 strain if we never tested for it? I mean, IT’S THE FLU. I will apologize if I am wrong, but this whole thing is absurd to me. 56,000 die a year from complications due to the flu. Again, how do we know that this particular strain did not exist before. Again, I apologize in advance if I am being ridiculous. I have been traveling this week. Nobody is wearing masks. I am in a plane right now. Plane is full from DC...

World Health Organization director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that the “stigma” surrounding coronavirus was “more dangerous” than the illness itself, and advised people to “calm down.” “Stigma, to be honest, is more dangerous than the virus itself. Fear and panic are dangerous,” he said, as reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s fine to be concerned and worried, but let’s calm down and do the right things.” Officials were optimistic about the global effort to contain the spread of the illness: Of the 62 countries affected by COVID-19, 55 have fewer than 100 cases. Only four countries have more...