Free Republic

A New York Supreme Court judge this month quietly ruled that regulations mandating that people infected with or exposed to highly contagious communicable diseases be quarantined are a violation of state law, declaring them null and void. The Isolation and Quarantine procedures, known as Rule 2.13, were enacted in February. Under the rule, “whenever appropriate to control the spread of a highly contagious communicable disease, the State Commissioner of Health may issue and/or may direct the local health authority to issue isolation and/or quarantine orders, consistent with due process of law, to all such persons as the State Commissioner of...

This is the fight for freedom we Americans never dreamed we would have to fight. Imagine a land where the government has the power to lock you up because the unelected bureaucrats in the Health Department think that you might, possibly have a communicable disease. They don’t have to prove you are sick. They don’t have to prove you are a health threat to others. They just need to think that, maybe, you were possibly exposed to a disease. And when I say “lock people up,” I mean lock you in your home or force you from your home into...

Belgium has become the first country to introduce a mandatory 21-day monkeypox quarantine for those who contact the virus, after three cases were recorded in the country. The infections were all linked to a festival in the port city of Antwerp, according to the Daily Mail, as Belgium is now one of 14 countries to confirm outbreaks of the viral disease (in addition to suspected, but not confirmed cases in Austria and Greece). (see chart) Belgium has become the first country to introduce a mandatory 21-day monkeypox quarantine for those who contact the virus, after three cases were recorded in...

The UK government’s restrictions on international travel during the CCP virus pandemic were “disproportionate to the risks to public health,” a select committee of MPs said. The Transport Committee on Monday published the report of its inquiry into airlines’ and airports’ recovery from the pandemic, urging the government to devise “a transparent and predictable system” that can be used in potential future pandemics. It also urged the government to regulate the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus testing market, introduce a mechanism to grant automatic refunds to airline customers, and draft a new airline insolvency bill to “handle future airline insolvencies...

Local authorities in Shanghai have made a big deal about their efforts to reopen factories and the city’s all-important port, while easing restrictions on some of the population. But the reality is that while authorities have focused on bringing factories (like Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory) back to some semblance of full production, millions of locals are still suffering under the weight of some of the world’s most stringent COVID measures (even after restrictions were eased on 4 million earlier this week). Despite continued reductions in new case numbers, the local government on Thursday signaled that it’s not planning on easing lockdown...

After testing positive for Covid-19, she was forced to live under 24/7 lighting in a Shanghai exhibition center along with thousands of strangers... By testing all 25 million residents and isolating positive cases, authorities hoped to break the virus’s chains of transmission. Officials raced to convert buildings, such as the convention center...into so-called fangcang—or square-cabin—hospitals to cope with the inevitable surge in compulsory quarantines. [O]fficial data published Friday show there were more than 270,000 asymptomatic cases nationwide under medical observation. It couldn’t be determined how many are in government centers... Shanghai has built more than 100 makeshift hospitals with a...

Shanghai reportedly aims to have zero COVID-19 cases outside of its quarantine centers by Wednesday, in what could be a turning point for the city’s strict “no tolerance” lockdowns that’ve left residents increasingly frustrated. The target will allow the city to further ease its lockdown and start returning to normal life, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In order to meet the goal Wednesday, officials will accelerate COVID testing and the transfer of infected residents to quarantine centers, according to a speech by a local Communist Party official.

Rerouting freight to avoid the extended lockdown in Shanghai, where daily confirmed COVID cases topped a record 17,000 this week, is becoming more difficult and expensive as cargo facilities in other Chinese cities become overcrowded, logistics companies and carriers warn. The logistics challenges for ocean and airfreight in Shanghai are extreme. More than 90% of truck capacity is out of service. Trucks are prevented from moving in and out of the city without a special permit, which is only valid for 24 hours and only on specific routes. “Even with this arranged, it is possible for booked trucks to...

HONG KONG—Lu Jiaying hasn’t tested positive for Covid, and hasn’t experienced any symptoms. But at 7 p.m. on Sunday, the 34-year-old technology worker and resident of central Shanghai, was ordered to board a bus for a mass quarantine center. Nearly 16 hours later, Ms. Lu, still aboard the bus in a head-to-toe protective suit, hadn’t eaten a bite, sipped any water or gone to the bathroom, a casualty of the chaos that has seized China’s biggest and most prosperous city amid a surge in Covid infections.

MELBOURNE, Australia (LifeSiteNews) —The Victorian government has opened its $200 million quarantine camp at Mickleham in Melbourne’s north. The government is claiming it will be used to replace hotels and become Victoria’s only quarantine site from April. It says the first cohort of “unvaccinated international travellers” has been checked in. If there is one clear message from the behaviour of the Victorian government over the last two years, it is that nothing it says can be taken at face value. Either the quarantine camps are a waste of money or there is a darker motive. As someone who has spent...

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) describes the "Olympic Spirit" as one of "mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." If the IOC expected China to play along with this spirit when they inexplicably awarded the 2022 Winter Games to a communist autocracy with an unparalleled record of human rights abuses and brazen espionage, they are gravely mistaken and hopelessly naïve. But as it turns out, China's failure to play fair is just the beginning of their sinister ambitions. Gordon Chang, author of The Great U.S.-China Tech War, joined "Washington Watch" to describe the extent to which...

Olympic athletes are exposing the disturbing measures China is taking in an attempt to hold a “COVID-free” Olympics.According to the UK Daily Mail, dozens of athletes said they had experienced inhumane conditions while in isolation due to positive COVID-19 tests.Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova said she was served an extremely small and unappealing meal three times a day for five days while she was in isolation. By the end, she said her “bones [were] sticking out,” the Daily Mail reported.Vasnetsova posted a picture of the unsavory meal she was provided to Instagram.Is China using quarantines to rig the Olympics?A Russian athlete,...

First signs of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, surfaced in Wuhan, Dec. 12, 2019. By December 2020, COVID-19 had reached every continent on the planet after the first cases were detected on Antarctica. Through entire COVID-19 endemic and pandemic, the remote island nation of Kiribati had managed to not have a single case of COVID-19 until Jan. 19, 2022. Kiribati is an isolated island nation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a population of roughly 122,000. Kiribati closed its borders 10 months ago, then reopened the country this month. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chartered a...

Majority want unvaxxed locked in their homes, close to half want people jailed for questioning jabs. A national poll has found that forty-five percent of likely Democratic voters would be ok with the government “requiring citizens to temporarily live in designated facilities or locations if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine.” The figure was registered by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute, which also found that a MAJORITY “Fifty-nine percent of Democratic voters would favor a government policy requiring that citizens remain confined to their homes at all times, except for emergencies, if they refuse to get a COVID-19...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said on a podcast episode that aired Friday one of his biggest regrets in office was not speaking “much louder” against the Trump Administration’s calls for lockdowns in the early days of the pandemic, with the comments coming just days after former President Donald Trump appeared to label DeSantis “gutless.” DeSantis said on the conservative podcast “Ruthless” he believes Trump Administration officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci “panicked” as Covid-19 quickly spread around the U.S. in March of 2020, leading to calls for lockdowns. Tensions are reportedly growing between Trump and DeSantis, who was one of...

The family of tennis champion Novak Djokovic read a statement from the player at a press conference on Thursday in his native Belgrade, Serbia, delivered from captivity in a migrant facility in Australia.Australian authorities apprehended Djokovic upon arriving in Melbourne on Wednesday to prepare to compete in the Australian Open, one of the four top tournaments in professional tennis. Djokovic had published a social media post before getting on his flight to the country stating that he had received an “exemption” from the country’s onerous coronavirus vaccine requirements that would allow him to partake without being vaccinated. Upon landing, however,...

It’s been the most astonishing two weeks for American public life. The best way I can describe this is by observation. In the Northeast of the U.S., and in many other parts of the country, everywhere you go right now, you see sick people milling around. After two years of work to control the spread, after brutal shutdowns of the whole country — shutdowns that happened two years too early, as judged by actual case trends! — COVID is here. Not just here. It is everywhere.The case counts are beyond anything anyone on the planet could have imagined a year...

In certain parts of the country – namely, states with no massive mandates or lockdowns – the novel coronavirus pandemic seems to have had a less noticeable impact on the daily lives of individuals and business owners. Other states, like California and New York, have been dealing with perpetual “states of emergencies,” rapidly expanding mandates and other impositions that threaten the autonomy and basic rights of their citizens.Now, lawmakers in New York appear to be taking steps to mirror the Orwellian moves of Australia, where quarantine camps for COVID positive individuals (and even COVID negative individuals) are now commonplace.New York...

And so, the "scientific" goal posts move again.With even Biden this close to admitting defeat over covid, admitting today that "there is no Federal solution" before quietly getting out of Dodge, the CDC announced late on Monday that is slashing its previous self-isolation recommended period in half, and telling people who have Covid-19 to isolate themselves from others for 5 days if they aren’t experiencing symptoms, down from 10 days previously.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said in a statement Monday that following the 5-day isolation period, people with Covid-19 should wear a mask for 5 days when...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a reversal of a previous recommendation, cut the number of days of isolation for Americans who contract COVID-19 from 10 days to five days regardless of vaccination status.The agency similarly shortened the time that close contacts of COVID-19 need to quarantine. Authorities with the CDC said that its latest guidance is in line with more and more evidence suggesting that those who contract the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus are the most infectious two days before and three days after symptoms emerge.Meanwhile, the CDC said that a surge in the...