Free Republic

It was four years ago, in March 2020, that health officials declared COVID-19 a pandemic and America began shutting down schools, closing small businesses, restricting gatherings and travel, and other lockdown measures to “slow the spread” of the virus. To mark that grim anniversary, a group of medical and policy experts released a report, called “COVID Lessons Learned,” which assesses the government’s response to the pandemic. According to the report, that response included a few notable successes, along with a litany of failures that have taken a severe toll on the population. During the pandemic, many governments across the globe...

The announcement that came from the White House is spooky in its brevity. It was just one sentence announcing the end of the COVID emergency. The 15 Days announced on March 16, 2020, which implemented the national emergency declared a few days earlier, ended up lasting 1,135 days. What resulted? National ruin. We see it in every aspect of our lives: cultural, economic, educational, public health, familial, community, and trust in institutions. Life expectancy is in free fall, not from COVID but from the fallout of the response. Cities are wrecked. Millions have been professionally and demographically displaced. It’s not...

The Senate passed a resolution, 68-23, on March 29 to end the COVID-19 national emergency sooner than scheduled. The measure, which was introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and passed the House on Feb. 1, now heads to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Democrats, according to media reports. The White House planned to end both the COVID national emergency—which then-President Donald Trump enacted on March 13, 2020—on May 11. However, this bill will terminate the national emergency a month earlier than scheduled. The administration is also set to end...

House Republicans on Tuesday introduced legislation to end the COVID-19 public health emergency, coming about three years after it was implemented nationwide. On Jan. 11, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed that it would again extend the health emergency for another 90 days, according to a declaration issued by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. The emergency has been renewed about a dozen times since it was implemented under the Trump administration in early 2020. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) proposed ending the emergency declaration, again putting more pressure on the Biden administration to rescind the measure. If it...

Twenty-five governors are urging President Joe Biden to end the COVID-19 public health emergency, which has remained in place despite a drop in COVID-19 metrics and the emergence of less virulent variants. The governors say the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic is and has been over for some time, noting that Biden himself said in September that “the pandemic is over.” They also pointed out that the Senate in a bipartisan vote in November passed a resolution that would terminate the emergency, though the House of Representatives hasn’t taken up the measure yet. “We agree with both your statement...

The Massachusetts Public Health Department (DPH) allegedly “worked with” Google to install its COVID-19 contact tracing app onto more than one million android devices without users’ permission or knowledge, a New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) lawsuit claims. The app was first released in April 2021, but the DPH had a version secretly installed onto devices beginning that June after few Massachusetts residents installed it voluntarily, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. The app allegedly causes devices to emit and receive Bluetooth signals even when users do not opt into COVID-19 exposure notifications, and...

The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) on Thursday extended the COVID emergency declaration with an order from HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. As Becerra's order notes, the declaration has been renewed every 90 days by him and Trump's HHS Secretary Alex Azar since January 27, 2020. This order goes until January 11, a report from CNBC's Spencer Kimball mentioned on Friday. This is despite how President Joe Biden declared in a "60 Minutes" interview last month that "the pandemic is over." While he also stated that "we still have a problem with COVID," it was that "the pandemic is...

Canadian pastor Artur Pawlowski won his appeals case against the Alberta Health Services (AHS) for being fined, arrested, and jailed during Canada’s Covid-19 lockdown. The Alberta Court of Appeal granted Artur Pawlowski and his brother, Dawid Pawlowski, appeals, striking down the contempt and sanction orders against the brothers and requiring the AHS to refund the fines paid by the brothers, Rebel News reported Friday. “The chambers judge awarded costs to AHS payable by the Pawlowskis jointly in the amount of $15,733.50,” the Canadian Court’s decision stated. “That costs award is set aside and the Pawlowskis are awarded their costs payable...

From Jan. 8, 2018 (Bandy's made a career of this) In a bid to have President Donald Trump removed from office, the left is pushing the “diagnosis” of a Yale psychiatrist who has ruled him “unfit” to be president. However, Dr. Bandy X Lee’s own dirty little secret has just been exposed — and it’s bad news for her career. Yale Psychiatrist who 'Diagnosed' Trump Unfit Has Dirty Secret That's Just Been Exposed After giving her professional psychiatric diagnosis of President Donald Trump, rendering him mentally unfit for office, Yale psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X Lee’s prestigious career is in hot...

For the fourth time in recent weeks we have an upwards revision of the number of Americans injured in the Iranian missile strike at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on January 8th. First the number was 11, then it was 34 and then it was 50. But now the number is 64..... The United States lifting sanctions against a unit of a Chinese company COSCO..... The impeachment trial of President Trump rolling forward on Newsdump Friday with a vote to not call any witnesses.... A woman who figured prominently in the House impeachment inquiry is retiring..... The United States...

Raising a worldwide alarm, the World Health Organization announced Monday that spread of polio is an international public health emergency that could grow in the next few months and unravel the nearly three-decade effort to eradicate the crippling disease. […] Polio usually strikes children under five and is most often spread via infected water. There is no specific cure, but several vaccines exist. Experts are particularly concerned that the virus continues to pop up in countries that were previously free of the disease, such as Syria, Somalia and Iraq—where civil war or unrest complicates efforts to contain the virus. That...

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency for the first time has declared a public health emergency in a contaminated community, targeting a Montana town Wednesday for immediate federal attention. The declaration by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson involving Libby, Mont., will not result in an evacuation, but will require an extensive cleanup and better health protections for residents with asbestos-related illnesses. -- Asbestos contamination from a now-closed vermiculite mine near Libby has been cited in the deaths of more than 200 people and illnesses of thousands more. Jackson said the public health emergency declaration was the first time the EPA has...

TITLE: Federal Public Health Emergency Law - Implications for State and Local Preparedness and Response SPEAKERS: Susan Sherman, JD, MHS - Office of the General Counsel, HHS Jennifer Ray, JD, MPH - Office of the General Counsel, HHS Diane Donley, JD - Office of Chief Counsel, FEMA Kim Dammers, JD - Assistant U.S. Attorney "on detail to CDC" DATE: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 TIME: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET Call-in Number: 888-283-2960 Passcode:3986978 Slides: N/A This COCA Conference Call, sponsored by the CDC Public Health Law Program and the CDC Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, will...