They are calling it a certificate of immunity:
"Should those with antibodies get a digital pass to go back to work?; MIT scientist’s plan raises questions about discrimination, lack of in-depth knowledge on coronavirus" by Hiawatha Bray Globe Staff, April 23, 2020
In the race for an all-clear signal, Alex Pentland proposes a solution: a kind of digital passport that shows the carrier poses no risk of spreading COVID-19 and can safely resume normal life, including returning to work.
Pentland is an eminent computer scientist, a cofounder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In a paper published this week, he proposed a digital identity system that would disclose whether a person has blood that contains COVID antibodies and is therefore at little risk of becoming infected or infecting others.
Isn't that the Lab that was embroiled in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal?
I gue$$ all that is down the digital memory hole, huh?
The idea isn’t new. In Germany, for example, researchers who are developing widespread antibody testing are floating the idea of issuing “immunity certificates” to people who have recovered from COVID-19 and test positive for antibodies, which would allow them free movement. In the United States, the White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said the use of such certificates is possible here, but for such a system to be trusted in the United States, Pentland said, it cannot have the hands of the government on it.
"The moment you make a national card,” Pentland said, "you’ve just given in to Big Brother.”
Is Germany really the model for the future given its past?
Instead, each citizen could choose to have the data stored with some trusted organization, such as the person’s bank or hospital, he said, but as with so many other proposals to get the economy going again, Pentland’s idea runs into a familiar roadblock: a lack of testing. Moreover, infectious disease scientists warn that the proposal couldn’t be implemented successfully until far more is known about how COVID antibodies work.
Yeah, so they can act as a middleman hand it over to the government.
What makes him think we would trust a bank?
Pentland’s digital identity system would amount to a get-out-of-quarantine card, allowing those with the antibodies to quickly return to work in relatively high-risk jobs as businesses reopen. A person could prove that he or she tested positive for COVID antibodies by displaying a barcode stored in a password-protected smartphone app, or it could be printed out on paper using a computer, a modern twist on the old-fashioned vaccination card.
When scanned, the barcode would reveal only that the person’s blood contained COVID-fighting antibodies — not any personal information, such as name and address.
So he Brays.
A worker could instantly provide this information to an employer, such as a restaurant owner. Pentland noted that since COVID-19 has hit low-income and minority communities especially hard, their neighborhoods will have relatively large numbers of people with COVID antibodies. He said his system would give people in such communities an advantage in returning to work or finding new jobs.
“They’re getting a preference there,” Pentland said, "which is exactly the right people to give preference to.”
Pentland also suggested that the federal government might offer incentives, such as tax breaks, to encourage the hiring of people with COVID antibodies.
Who are they really protecting over at MIT?
Donald Thea, a professor of public health at Boston University, said Pentland’s plan would give people an easy way to prove to employers that they had overcome a COVID infection, and were therefore at reduced risk of contracting or spreading the disease.
So it would be like the chicken pox?
“Some details need to be worked out," Thea said. "I think theoretically it makes a lot of sense. It would set a lot of people’s minds at ease,” but Pentland’s proposal was met with skepticism by Lee Gehrke, a Harvard Medical School microbiologist and cofounder of E25Bio, a company that’s developing a COVID antibody test. Gehrke said scientists don’t yet know whether the antibodies that confer immunity will protect a person for life, or for just a few months.
Not mine.
Gehrke also said humans produce more than one kind of antibody in response to the virus, including some that don’t confer immunity. Some of the current tests merely confirm that antibodies are present but don’t reveal whether they’re the right kind, he said.
“They will say yes or no. We have antibodies. The problem with that is that’s not enough information," Gehrke said. ”We don’t know yet whether those are quote ‘good’ antibodies and how long they’re going to last.”
Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University, agreed that too little is known about COVID antibodies. She also warned that any digital passport such as the one proposed by Pentland could open the door to a new kind of discrimination.
“For example: You can’t come in this store or use this service unless you have antibodies,” Rasmussen said. “We won’t hire you unless you have antibodies. You are only eligible for health insurance if you have antibodies. You have different eligibility for unemployment benefits or COVID relief if you have antibodies.”
While Pentland agreed far more needs to be known about COVID antibodies, he noted that efforts to prevent the spread of diseases like tuberculosis and influenza are also imperfect. He hopes his plan can speed up an economic recovery while minimizing the risk of infection.
“It’s not perfect,” he said, "but it’s a lot better than nothing.”
Actually, nothing would be better.
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You probably do not want to head over to the emergency room, but if you do:
"The robot will see you now; A Boston hospital is using Spot, the dog-like robot of Internet fame, to screen for coronavirus" by Hiawatha Bray Globe Staff, April 23, 2020
At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the first encounter a potentially infected person might have is not with a doctor or nurse swathed in protective gear, but with a talking, animal-like robot that looks like it might have wandered off the set of “Star Wars.”
Spot, the agile walking robot from Waltham-based Boston Dynamics, gained Internet notoriety for showing off its dance moves on YouTube, but now it’s going to work in the real world, striding into the danger zone, armed only with an iPad. The robot is posted just outside the hospital, not so much as a sentinel, but as an intake worker that will help doctors safely interview people who fear they may have been infected with the coronavirus.
The Brigham began real-world trials of the system last week, with a handful of patients who had agreed in advance to the robotic interviews. They’re loving it so far, said emergency room doctor Farah Dadabhoy. “Most people have been very excited to be interacting with this robot and mostly see it as something that is cool and fun,” she said.....
Does it bark?
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At least it chases its own tail.
The doctor will see you now:
"Tech from MIT may allow caregivers to monitor coronavirus patients from a distance" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff, April 23, 2020
A product developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is being used to remotely monitor patients with COVID-19, using wireless signals to detect breathing patterns of people who do not require hospitalization ― but who must be watched closely to ensure their conditions remain stable.
What a Schlapp in the face.
The device, developed at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by professor Dina Katabi and her colleagues, could in some situations lower the risk of caregivers becoming infected while treating patients with the coronavirus.
“It really increases the safety that we can provide to doctors, nurses, and staff, and at the same time be able to access information that is otherwise unavailable," Katabi said.
The device, called Emerald, looks like a small box akin to a Wi-Fi router. It’s not yet in wide use, but is being rolled out at a time when the opportunities for remote medical technologies are increasing as health care workers look for ways to care for patients from a distance.
No more bedside manner?
About 20 of the devices are currently being used to monitor COVID-19 patients, Katabi said. The company also has a batch in the field that have been used to observe patients with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and other conditions.
Researchers have found that the devices’ ability to monitor patients’ vital signs can be advantageous. They use artificial intelligence to look for the patterns in a patient’s vital signs by sensing disruptions in wireless signals. MIT says the devices emit about 1,000 times less radiation than a cellphone.
Yeah, nothing to worry about.
Dr. Ipsit Vahia, a geriatrics psychiatrist at McLean Hospital, said he was able to use one of the Emerald devices with a COVID-19 patient at Heritage Assisted Living in Framingham. The facility is also working on a dementia-focused project using Emerald.
Vahia said the device enabled him to monitor his patient from home, expanding the options to care for her while observing social distancing.
“It’s allowed us to really track her progress and make changes to her treatment based on the data,” he said. It also means fewer interactions between doctor and patient that could increase the risk of infection, he said.
Seeing as he is a psychiatrist, what will the lack of human contact do to the beloved elderly's mental state?
I can't imagine it will be received as a good thing.
All alone and demented in a room and dying with nothing but an AI entity for company.
Where is Kevorkian?
Over time, Vahia observed improvements in how his patient was both breathing and moving around her apartment. With hospitals in Massachusetts and around the country watching carefully for signs that their capabilities will be strained by an influx of virus patients, Katabi said using devices like hers may be a way to improve outcomes for patients who are sent home to recuperate.
Doesn't it feel cramped in the stay-at-home era?
Katabi said she’s thinking about ways to make the product more available during the crisis. Katabi said such technology will be particularly useful at residential facilities serving elderly people.....
Haven't they removed enough human contact from them with this $camdemic?
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I put up the following links because I can't help note how the Globe has given Military-Industrial Tech a leading role on what the future is to look like:
Coronavirus: What Newsweek Failed to Mention About “Continuity of Government”
US Intel Agencies Played Unsettling Role in Classified and “9/11-like” Coronavirus Response Plan
From Anthrax To Coronavirus: Same 9/11 False Flag Players, New COVID-19 Boogeyman
All Roads Lead to Dark Winter
Or even worse, to Project Zyphr.
Why is the military and national security apparatus in charge of the coronavirus response and not the health officials paraded in from of us every day?
One big psyop?
Also see:
Draper Laboratory’s CEO is replaced
The reason is unclear; maybe he was going to blow the whistle on the moon landing lie.
The front page of the Globe would like to perform an experiment on you (they already have been for at least a six weeks):
"A scientific experiment in going back to work amid coronavirus pandemic; Staff at a Cambridge research institute could be test subjects in a plan to pave the way for societal reopening" by Rebecca Ostriker Globe Staff, April 23, 2020
Battling the coronavirus falls right into the core mission of the institute. Established in 2009 with a $100 million donation from Terry and Susan Ragon, billionaire tech entrepreneurs who have since provided an endowment that is now close to $300 million, the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard has taken an interdisciplinary approach to immunology, initially focusing on HIV/AIDS and recently launching multiple COVID-19 projects.
Oh, they have their hands bloodied in that, too.
Epidemiologists agree that for the entire nation to return to work, Americans would need what they call “herd immunity.” That means a substantial majority of the population would either need to be vaccinated or be exposed to the virus and develop immunity to it.
Now that we know we have been lied to about the lethality of the disease, the social distancing and stay at home orders that wrecked livelihoods look devious and evil. It's not helping us with herd immunity -- although it appears we have it anyway despite the efforts of the experts and politicians to keep the virus alive by separating us all.
A publicly available vaccine could be a year or more away, however. “So the only alternative is to expose people to the virus, and that would be insane,” said Dr. Bruce Walker, a professor at Harvard and MIT who directs the Ragon Institute. “We have to figure out what can we do to safely get the economy going again before we have the tools that would allow for herd immunity, or before we have drugs that would be curative if people become infected. This is something we can do.”
Yeah, let us out because we already have it -- or will!
The Ragon Institute, whose staff fluctuates between 175 and 200 people, is submitting its plan to the institutional review board of Partners HealthCare, which oversees it administratively. The board assesses the methods and ethics of medical and scientific proposals, and it would need to approve the proposal before it could go forward. Walker said he believes the experiment would be allowed under current state guidelines.
“The biggest key for us is we want our people to be safe, that’s our priority,” said Corrie Martin, chief operating officer at the institute, who is working out many logistical and other details for the project at the institute’s Technology Square headquarters. She estimates that it might take a few days to get regulatory approval, as the board might request changes, and the project could begin in a couple of weeks.
To be sure, conducting a high-quality scientific experiment on its own staff “does take somewhat of an authoritarian approach," Walker acknowledged, "and we can do that at the institute.” The way to do it as safely as possible, he said, is by closely monitoring people.
That's okay.
There are good authoritarians and bad authoritarians, I gue$$.
If they feel free to experiment on their own staff, why would they have the slightest concern about you?
Faculty, researchers, technicians, and other staff who volunteer to take part would need to scrupulously adhere to the parameters of the experiment.
As envisioned in the plan, they will be divided into two or three shifts, with each person choosing a shift, thus reducing the density in the workplace and making 6-foot social distancing possible.
Not everyone will be able to do that!
Upon arrival each day, people will need to disclose if they have any symptoms, and they will have their temperature taken twice a day. If symptomatic or feverish, they won’t be allowed into the workplace.
Each morning, staff members will receive a mask, which they will be required to wear at all times. Gloves and hand sanitizer will also be provided.
I though those were in short supply.
WTF?
The hypothesis is that these measures will help prevent infections, and that’s what the institute’s monitoring is designed to prove. Clinicians will test all staff members every week for both the active COVID-19 virus and for antibodies that would show exposure to it, in order to detect infections in people who have no symptoms.
Some "theories" are good, others not so much.
Meanwhile outside the workplace, staff will be asked to wear a mask to and from work and practice social distancing to prevent infection.
Some people may still become infected, organizers acknowledge, but the experiment’s hypothesis is that such infections would come from community exposure, outside the workplace. So if someone tests positive, the institute will sequence the person’s virus and immediately do tracing of the people they’ve been in contact with at work, retesting those colleagues for the virus, Walker explained.
If a second person later tests positive, the institute will sequence that virus as well, and can then check if the transmission was among staff, or a random virus from outside.
Anyone who becomes infected will be quarantined, and can return to work after two weeks if they test negative for the virus twice.
The Ragon Institute is particularly well positioned for such an experiment: It has ample access to diagnostic coronavirus tests because of its own research on COVID-19.
Dozens of staff members have already been classified as essential workers, with the majority of them doing COVID-19 research and coming into the office sporadically, Martin said, so in a sense the experiment has begun informally, and there is enthusiasm from others.
There always is for authoritarians.
“The reason this works well at a scientific institute is we’re scientists,” Walker noted. “Even people who have been very wary of infection are signing up for this because they believe in the scientific method.”
Then they are aware of all the contradictory studies regarding death rates the last few days?
Even so, when officials discussed the plan with faculty earlier this week, some concerns were raised. Recurring COVID-19 tests with nasal swabs would be uncomfortable, so the institute is vetting the idea of using saliva-based tests, if they are accurate enough. Faculty also want to make sure no coercion is involved in the project, and Ragon officials emphasized that it is voluntary: Staff are being paid now regardless of whether they come in, and that will continue to be the case, so there’s no financial incentive. Many people are already working from home if possible.
Even so, if!
Why not give them a CT scan?
“The majority were very excited about being part of this, and I think the biggest piece is that this is voluntary,” Martin said. “You know, we're scientists and future scientists, and people are excited to be a part of something that could actually give visibility to [showing] how do you responsibly come back.”
What if they are mad $cientists?
It remains unclear how many people will participate in the experiment, or exactly how long it will last. It could be three to six months, according to Walker. “Ideally we’ll show we don’t get any infections, and if that’s the case it would be good to replicate” in other places that are well-controlled, he said.
Walker hopes that the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, a new cross-disciplinary group that he helps lead, could be a platform for expanding to other institutions.
Ultimately, the point is to prove that the institute’s hypothesis is correct: With enough care, infection can be prevented at work.
“We can create knowledge that will help other people,” Walker said. “There are certain things we know and a lot we don’t know about this epidemic, but we can do something with what we know right now.”
I'm tired of being propagandi$ed by $cientists in $ervice to the $tate.
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Here is the Riel Deal:
"Federal rescue money eases coronavirus financial woes for some families, but others slip through the cracks" by Liz Goodwin Globe Staff, April 23, 2020
Just a few weeks ago, Tricia Riel found it hard to get out of bed some mornings, crippled by anxiety at the thought of the stack of bills awaiting her and her husband after they lost their jobs because of the coronavirus shutdowns.
Riel’s outlook changed dramatically last week, when she received a $2,900 stimulus payment and an extra $600 in her weekly unemployment check, courtesy of the federal government’s $2 trillion rescue package enacted late last month.
When she saw the extra money in her unemployment benefits, which would otherwise be just $140 per week, she felt shocked and then relieved. “I was like, ‘Whoa!’ I wasn’t expecting that,” Riel said. “Thank God.”
No, thank Trump!
For those who’ve received it, the extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits bring a sense of normalcy that’s been sorely lacking since closures began in early March, easing the anxiety of job losses, looming mortgage payments, and other bills as the outbreak continues to wreak havoc on the economy, but for others, help has been slower to arrive — or isn’t coming at all — sparking fears that they might fall through the cracks altogether. The Globe has been following a number of laid-off workers to see whether federal aid reaches them and if so, how it helps.....
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I'm glad they got their check on time as 4.4 million more Americans seek unemployment benefits and those in Ma$$achu$etts meet with a balky state unemployment computer system that has been deluged with claims (but don't get Bent out of shape about it).
Related:
"After a month without any visitors paying for admission, and with no idea when they’ll be allowed to return, the city’s largest cultural institutions have been hemorrhaging cash as they try to preserve their invaluable collections. The financial hardship and looming uncertainty has led to mass layoffs and furloughs and spurred museums in Boston and beyond to press Congress for $6 billion in emergency relief to cope with the lockdown....."
It's a richer's world, and will be more so soon.
"House passes $484 billion bill with money for small businesses, hospitals and testing" by Erica Werner Washington Post, April 23, 2020
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both major parties are already talking about pursuing more large spending bills to try to contain the pandemic’s economic fallout, but the measure on Thursday could be the last one for at least several weeks as divisions emerge between the parties about how much further to go.
They have now committed almost $3 trillion in emergency spending to battling the economic fallout from the coronavirus, but there are fresh signs that policymakers are becoming more wary of the public backlash that has begun over some of their decisions.
So they take a little heat, so what?
The trillions are already gone.
The Treasury Department on Thursday issued guidance making it much harder for publicly traded companies to qualify for money that was supposed to go to small businesses, threatening penalties in some cases if firms didn’t repay money they had already received, and the Federal Reserve announced that it would be disclosing the names of companies that receive funding from some of its assistance programs after complaints that the central bank was not being transparent about which companies received taxpayer aid.
It's a hor$e out of the barn thing.
The small-business Paycheck Protection Program has proved extremely popular and controversial, in part because some large hotel and restaurant chains were able to access the money while many smaller firms were blocked out.
They got a table for one in a very luxuriou$ re$taurant.
Acknowledging these disparities, the Treasury Department on Thursday said Paycheck Protection Program loan recipients are expected to self-certify ‘‘in good faith’’ that they actually need the loan, but Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, has expressed opposition to aiding states in such a way, telling a conservative radio host on Wednesday that perhaps some states should have the option of falling into bankruptcy.....
Why?
So the federal government can take over their operations?
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That remark got him in some hot water:
"McConnell takes flak after suggesting bankruptcy for states rather than bailouts" by John Wagner Washington Post, April 23, 2020
WASHINGTON — Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, drew flak Thursday from governors in both parties after suggesting that states hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak should be allowed to seek bankruptcy protections rather than be given a federal bailout.
I don't blame the states; nearly everyone else got one.
McConnell’s comments, made during a radio interview on Wednesday, came amid a renewed push from states for help from Washington to cover lost tax revenue that has been among the dire consequences of the ongoing pandemic.
Was it Trump Radio?
‘‘This is really one of the dumb ideas of all time,’’ New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said during a briefing in Albany.
Republicans who panned the idea included Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, chairman of the bipartisan National Governors Association.
‘‘Mitch McConnell probably regrets saying that,’’ said Hogan, a Republican. “The last thing we need in the middle of an economic crisis is to have states all filing bankruptcy all across America and not able to provide services to people who desperately need them.’’
He says that after emptying the prisons.
McConnell pressed his idea Wednesday during an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s conservative syndicated radio show, arguing that much of the financial strain faced by some states is the result of runaway pension obligations — and that several US cities have used bankruptcy protections to restructure their finances.
‘‘I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route,’’ McConnell said. ‘‘It saves some cities, and there’s no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of. There’s not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations,’’ McConnell said.
States, he pointed out, have taxing authority, as does the federal government.
Okay, I am going to stop right here and addre$$ what the f***ing a$$hole just said.
I'm not happy with bloated local pensions, but this is more than that!
Says he doesn't want to borrow from future generations (yeah, $ince when?), but he had NO PROBLEM DOLING OUT TRILLIONS upon TRILLIONS to WALL $TREET!
What a contemptible creature he is!
At his briefing, Cuomo said that allowing states to declare bankruptcy amid the pandemic would be ‘‘irresponsible and reckless.’’ He also took issue with a document put out by McConnell’s office Wednesday in support of his views titled ‘‘Stopping Blue State Bailouts’’ — an allusion to many of the states in trouble being run by Democrats.
‘‘This is not the time or the place or the situation to start your divisive politics,’’ a visibly agitated Cuomo said. ‘‘It’s not red and blue. It’s red, white and blue.’’
Cuomo also pointed out that McConnell’s state, Kentucky, currently receives more federal dollars for services than its taxpayers contribute while the opposite is true of New York.
‘‘Your state is getting bailed out. Not my state,” Cuomo said.
Who is going to bail out the American people after this forced shutdown over a crisis that never materialized?
McConnell’s comments also drew a swift rebuke Wednesday from a Republican congressman from New York, Peter King.
‘‘To say that it is ‘free money’ to provide funds for cops, firefighters, and health care workers makes McConnell the Marie Antoinette of the Senate,’’ King wrote on Twitter.....
I'm surprised he allowed himself to be quoted, and doesn't the Senate already have one (I also pass along condolences no matter the cause)?
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Time to hit the streets:
"As protesters swarm state capitols, much of the coronavirus backlash is coming from within" by Griff Witte Washington Post, April 23, 2020
With hundreds arrayed before him, standing shoulder to shoulder, the retired Army colonel vented his fury from the steps of Pennsylvania’s capitol building.
The governor’s orders to shut down businesses in the face of a pandemic, he railed to a crowd of protesters this week, amounted to ‘‘tyranny.’’ He had battled overseas to defend freedom. Now, with the governor telling healthy people like him to stay home — ‘‘What the heck is going on here? I’m not sick!’’ — the fight had come to America’s shores.
‘‘It’s time to rise up!’’ he exhorted as the crowd roared.
Then Doug Mastriano walked inside the soaring, green-domed home of the Pennsylvania legislature and began his day job: as a Republican state senator.
With a backlash against coronavirus restrictions generating demonstrations at state capitol buildings nationwide, organizers have framed the protests as organic and grass-roots.
They aren't?
The showdown in Pennsylvania — perhaps the nation’s ultimate swing state — reflects the clash of visions playing out across the country as state governments weigh how and when to allow their populations to resume some semblance of normal life.
It is not their choice whether to allow it or not.
Although backing for stay-at-home measures has been relatively robust, there is a stark political divide, with Republicans significantly less likely to be supportive.
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Thursday found that 80 percent of respondents said strict shelter-in-place measures are worth it to limit the spread of the coronavirus, including 61 percent of Republicans. A Yahoo News/YouGov national poll released Sunday found that 60 percent of respondents opposed protesters calling to immediately end stay-at-home and social distancing measures vs. 22 percent who supported them.....
Like I would believe any poll they cite at this point.
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The Globe is of the opinion that it is not protests, but Trump-endorsed tantrums that are the apex of Trumpism and aggrieved white victimhood with the looming battle between science and stupidity resulting in the need for a vaccine against ignorance according to an in$ultingly eliti$t fabricator who should be out of war with the rest of us.
