Introduction
In Timeline to Covid Tyranny – Part One: Constructing the Biosecurity Empire (1999–2018), we examined how the political apparatus for a rolling, worldwide state of emergency was assembled, piece by piece, and how the infrastructure for the biosecurity state was constructed.
In Timeline to Covid Tyranny – Part Two: The Year 2019 and The Coming Storm, we reviewed the events leading up to the “shock and awe” campaign of 2020.
Here, in Part Three, we delve into what transpired literally each and every day of the year 2020.
Our aim is to tell the full story of how the global population was manipulated, deceived, terrorized, and subjected to a psychological blitzkrieg around the clock, from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020—and beyond. The great pandemic machine, now up and running, would hold the world hostage for the benefit of a small group of megalomaniacs and their political toadies.
Even as this chronology recounts the events of 2020 from beginning to end, it’s important to recognize that telling the entire story is not possible.
For one thing, there are millions of stories. Though there are many elements common to everyone who was subjected to this coordinated attack, each story is unique.
For another thing, the story is not complete. The repercussions of the coercive measures implemented in 2020—and the draconian policies that came out of those coercive measures—are ongoing. Indeed, the direct and indirect consequences of 2020’s worldwide covid measures and policies have been profound, enduring, and on a scale of severity comparable only to global warfare.
While recognizing that a historical account of what happened in 2020 is essential to “set the record straight,” it is no substitute for a true reckoning of the industrial-scale cruelty that was forced upon almost every human on the planet. Few escaped the tyranny.
Peeling back the events of 2020 day by day is more than just an academic examination of a series of events.
It is a stark reminder of what was done to billions of innocent, unaware, unprepared human beings who had no clue that the single declaration of a worldwide pandemic was a bald-faced lie in every sense of the word.
How many children were forever traumatized after being forced to wear a face mask over their mouth and nose in the classroom and on the sports field—that is, if they were even allowed to go to school—for months on end?
How many elders spent their final days in total isolation, unable to see (and sometimes say goodbye to) beloved relatives and friends?
How many small businesses created by the blood, sweat, and tears of hard-working entrepreneurs were demolished—and what was the financial, mental, and emotional fallout from those devastating losses?
How many relationships between families, friends, neighbors, and business colleagues were ruptured and in some cases forever severed? And how is it that so few from those fractured relationships realized that they’d been deliberately psychologically manipulated into being alienated from others?
How many children and adults saw their hopes and goals for the future crushed by lockdowns?
How many millions were coerced, gaslit, or terrorized into taking mRNA injections and becoming experimental subjects for the pharmaceutical syndicate?
Why did so many people comply with the public health edicts and mandates instead of defending their constitutional and civil and basic human rights?
Why did so many government officials participate in the planned-and-rehearsed events, the senseless warnings, and the tyrannical orders that harmed their fellow humans?
As we ask these countless questions, let us not forget that in the midst of the 2020 covid storm, there were dissenters—public and private figures who saw through the immense deception and who publicly voiced their opposition, often at great risk to themselves.
The scale of the deception may be too large even for many who consider themselves “in the know” to accept or comprehend. Many of them will never openly admit they’ve been bamboozled to such an extent, especially when the stakes are so high and the consequences of their obedience so catastrophic.
Others may still be traumatized after having witnessed the social fabric smashed to pieces, the world around them completely transformed, reputations and relationships ruined, livelihoods and lives lost.
Only when we return to 2020 and relive the story and confront the truths hidden by the “official” narrative can we face the totality of the lies that were told.
Only when those lies are recognized and challenged can we stop telling them.
Only then can we stop living them.
From there we can pick up the pieces.
Here, now, is the day by day, month by month, story of 2020, the year the world was torn asunder to make way for the Brave New World of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
January 2020
Scattered reports about a mysterious respiratory illness disease called “Wuhan Pneumonia” begin to surface. Some reports tie the mysterious disease to a “wet market” near Wuhan, China, while other reports posit a lab origin.
In the United States, media reports warn that one of the worst flu seasons on record is on the horizon.
A group of scientists allegedly identify, sequence, and publish the entire genomic sequence of this “new virus” in record time.
Moderna claims to have designed the mRNA vaccine sequence in one hour, and BioNtech immediately begins developing a vaccine.
Anthony Fauci announces vaccine development for this “new virus,” which can allegedly infect people without causing any symptoms.
With 9,800 people worldwide having allegedly contracted “the virus” and a mere 213 killed, all of them in China, the World Health Organization declares the “coronavirus outbreak” a global emergency.
And so it begins.
January 1, 2020 — The World Health Organization (WHO) requests information from Chinese authorities on a reported cluster of atypical pneumonia cases in Wuhan.
WHO activates its Incident Management Support Team (IMST) as part of its emergency response framework.
January 1, 2020 — The Wuhan Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market is indefinitely closed after being linked to an alleged virus outbreak (see Juan, 2020).
The assertion of the role of the seafood market in the virus outbreak is made not only by Wuhan Municipal officials but also by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The earliest cases are identified through the “pneumonia of unknown etiology” surveillance mechanism.
January 2, 2020 — The WHO representative in China writes to the National Health Commission.
He offers WHO’s support and repeats WHO’s request for further information on the cluster of cases.
WHO informs its Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) partners about the cluster of pneumonia cases in the People’s Republic of China. GOARN partners include major public health agencies, laboratories, sister UN agencies, and international organizations and NGOs.
January 2, 2020 — The Lancet reports that to date 41 admitted hospital patients had been identified as having laboratory-confirmed 2019-nCoV infection.
“We report here a cohort of 41 patients with laboratory-confirmed 2019-nCoV infection. Patients had serious, sometimes fatal, pneumonia and were admitted to the designated hospital in Wuhan, China, by Jan 2, 2020. Clinical presentations greatly resemble SARS-CoV. Patients with severe illness developed ARDS and required ICU admission and oxygen therapy. “The time between hospital admission and ARDS was as short as two days. At this stage, the mortality rate is high for 2019-nCoV, because six (15%) of 41 patients in this cohort died.”
January 2, 2020 — Pandemic prevention program ending after 10 years.
“Partners in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Predict program trained local teams on biological safety and collected tens of thousands of diagnostic samples in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, especially from bats.
“The Predict project is winding down after 10 years of work that identified 1,100 unique viruses, provided aid to 60 disease detection laboratories, and trained 6,200 people in 30 countries. The project, led by the UC-Davis One Health Institute, is part of the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats program.”
January 3, 2020 — The WHO reports that 44 patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology have been reported to the WHO by national authorities in China.
January 3, 2020 — China pneumonia outbreak: Mystery virus probed in Wuhan, reports the BBC.
“Chinese authorities have launched an investigation into a mysterious viral pneumonia which has infected dozens of people in the central city of Wuhan.
“A total of 44 cases have been confirmed so far, 11 of which are considered ‘severe,’ officials said on Friday.
“The outbreak has prompted Singapore and Hong Kong to bring in screening processes for travellers from the city.”
January 3, 2020 — US CDC Director Robert Redfield is notified by a China counterpart that a “mysterious respiratory illness was spreading in Wuhan.”
He notifies US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, who shares the report with the US National Security Council (NSC).
Redfield emails and speaks to the director-general of the Chinese CDC, Dr. George F. Gao, who has been a board member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) along with Dr. Anthony Fauci since its formation and who played a part in the coronavirus simulation, Event 201, in October 2019.
January 4, 2020 — China CDC’s Dr. Gao holds a telephone conversation with his US CDC counterpart, Robert Redfield, and specifically states in the China CDC’s June 2020 white paper: “The two sides agreed to keep in close contact on information sharing and cooperation on technical matters.”
January 4, 2020 — The US flu season is now on pace to surpass 2017–2018, which was said to be the worst in decades.
“As indicated by the map above, this year’s flu season is running rampant across the United States. All but five states are reporting ‘widespread’ flu activity, which is the highest category for flu activity, according to the CDC.
“Thus far this flu season, an estimated 2,900 people have died from the flu in the US. That’s an increase of about 800 deaths since just last week.
“Since the flu season kicked off in October, there have been at least 6.4 million flu illnesses and 55,000 flu-related hospitalizations, according to the CDC.”
January 4, 2020 — A Chinese city said to be at the center of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak remains calm.
“Few signs of extra precautions visible in Wuhan city on Saturday despite spike in number of infections the previous day.
“Medical experts have warned authorities to be on high alert for new strain of virus and learn lessons from SARS outbreak.”
January 5, 2020 — China rules out SARS in mystery viral pneumonia outbreak.
“China on Sunday said a mysterious viral pneumonia outbreak that has affected 59 people was not the flu-like virus SARS that killed hundreds more than a decade ago.
“The infection was first reported last week in Wuhan, a central Chinese city with a population of over 11 million—leading to online speculation about a resurgence of the highly contagious SARS virus.
“‘We have excluded several hypotheses, in particular the fact that it is a flu, an avian flu, an adenovirus, respiratory syndrome severe acute (SARS) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS),’ the Wuhan health commission said.”
January 5, 2020 — The WHO makes an official announcement on a pneumonia of unknown cause in China.
“On 31 December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. As of 3 January 2020, a total of 44 patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology have been reported to WHO by the national authorities in China. Of the 44 cases reported, 11 are severely ill, while the remaining 33 patients are in stable condition.
“The causal agent has not yet been identified or confirmed. [. . .] Based on the preliminary information from the Chinese investigation team, no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission and no health care worker infections have been reported.”
January 5, 2020 — Labs across China rush to complete a genetic sequence of the new virus. One of those labs is run by Professor Zhang Yongzhen, a renowned virologist.
“In the wee hours of January 5, Zhang obtains a full genetic sequence confirming the virus’s similarity to SARS and its likely transmission between humans.
“Virologist Eddie Holmes, who has been working with Zhang on a long-term project, says Zhang is eager to release the sequence as soon as possible. But there’s a problem. ‘There was an official memorandum that had gone through saying that we were not allowed to do this,’ Holmes notes. ‘So he was put in quite a difficult position.'”
January 6, 2020 — Anthony Fauci predicts the 2020 flu season will be one of the worst in decades.
“This flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in decades, according to the United States’ top infectious disease doctor.
“Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said while it’s impossible to predict how the flu will play out, the season so far is on track to be as severe as the 2017–2018 flu season, which was the deadliest in more than four decades, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“‘The initial indicators indicate this is not going to be a good season — this is going to be a bad season,’ Fauci said.”
January 6, 2020 — The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), a US think tank, says questions still swirl over China’s unexplained pneumonia outbreak.
“Investigations are still under way to identify the pathogen involved in an unexplained pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China, as yesterday local health officials announced 15 more cases and said tests have ruled out severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
“In other developments, the World Health Organization (WHO) weighed in on the outbreak with a few more details and a risk assessment based on limited preliminary information, and US officials posted a travel watch.
“Meanwhile, administrative regions and other countries in Asia continue to flag sick travelers coming from Wuhan, a city of 19 million inhabitants, but so far none appear to be linked to Wuhan’s pneumonia cluster, which is centered around a seafood market that also sold birds, other animals, and organs from wildlife.”
January 7, 2020 — Chinese authorities claim they have successfully identified the virus as a novel coronavirus, similar to the one associated with SARS and MERS. Prior to this discovery, the officials had—just two days earlier, on January 5—ruled out that the virus they were dealing with was either SARS or MERS, concluding that it was indeed a new type of virus.
According to the WHO: “The Chinese authorities identified a new type of coronavirus, which was isolated on 7 January 2020.”
January 8, 2020 — Virologists weigh in on novel coronavirus in China’s outbreak.
“As suspected, a novel coronavirus has been identified in some patients who are part of a cluster of unexplained pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, according to unnamed sources familiar with the investigation who are cited in a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) story today.
“As scientists and health officials wait for official statements and more confirmation details, some virologists say they’re not surprised to see another human emergence of coronavirus, a species that is becoming a bigger player on the world stage. The new discovery comes in the wake of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak in 2003 and the first human detection of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) in 2012.
“A WSJ source said the novel strain has been genetically sequenced from one patient sample and was found in some of the others, but it hasn’t been confirmed as the underlying cause in all of the 59 outbreak cases.”
January 8, 2020 — “Specter of possible new virus emerging from central China raises alarms across Asia,” reports The Washington Post.
“Officials in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines said in recent days that they will begin setting up quarantine zones or scanning passengers from China for signs of fever or other pneumonia-like symptoms that may indicate a new disease possibly linked to a wild animal market in Wuhan.
“The health commission in Wuhan, a transit and business hub, says there is no clear evidence that the unidentified disease can be transmitted between humans, and no health-care workers have been infected. Cases of fever have been reported in Hong Kong and Taiwan by travelers who recently visited Wuhan, although there is no confirmation that the illnesses are linked.
“Since mid-December, 59 people have been diagnosed with viral pneumonia of ‘unknown cause’ — including seven who are critically ill, according to Wuhan’s health commission. The officials said an additional 163 people who have come into close contact with the infected have been placed under close observation. No deaths have been reported.”
NOTE: The Washington Post story itself doesn’t appear to substantiate the ominous headline written by one of its editors.
January 9, 2020 — The first reported death from the alleged coronavirus occurs in a 61-year-old man who had several significant medical conditions, including chronic liver disease, and died from heart failure and pneumonia the man had other underlying health conditions including abdominal tumors.
By the time of his death, the man is reported to have suffered from issues such as respiratory failure and severe pneumonia, septic shock, and multiple organ failure. He was also observed to have suffered from severe acid-based metabolism disorder and cirrhosis.
His hospital treatment included ventilator-assisted breathing and other treatments. The cause of his death is attributed to 2019-nCoV.
January 10, 2020 — The sequence of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is posted to a public web server.
“The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center & School of Public Health, in collaboration with the Central Hospital of Wuhan, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control, and the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia is releasing a coronavirus genome from a case of a respiratory disease from the Wuhan outbreak. The sequence has also been deposited on GenBank (accession MN908947 35.4k) and will be released as soon as possible.”
NOTE: According to Corman-Drosten et al., four other genomes are deposited on two days later, on January 12, in the viral sequence database curated by the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID).
January 10, 2020 — BioNTech initiates the development of its COVID-19 vaccine mRNA sequence, which would become known as BNT162b2.
“The development of BNT162b2 was initiated on January 10, 2020, when the SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequence was released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and disseminated globally by the GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data) initiative. This rigorous demonstration of safety and efficacy less than 11 months later provides a practical demonstration that RNA-based vaccines, which require only viral genetic sequence information to initiate development, are a major new tool to combat pandemics and other infectious disease outbreaks.”
January 10, 2020 — The WHO’s Global Coordination Mechanism (GCM) for Research and Development (R&D) holds its first teleconference on the novel coronavirus, as does the R&D Blueprint Scientific Advisory Group, a global strategy and preparedness plan that allows the rapid activation of research and development activities during epidemics.
The same day, the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards holds its first meeting on the novel coronavirus outbreak.
January 11, 2020 — China reports first death from mysterious outbreak in Wuhan, according to Al Jazeera.
“A 61-year-old man has died from pneumonia in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in an outbreak of a yet to be identified virus while seven others are in critical condition, the Wuhan health authorities said on Saturday.”
January 11, 2020 — China’s CDC publishes six genome assemblies on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data within two weeks after its first report.
“For SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) published six genome assemblies on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data on January 11, 2020, within 2 weeks after the first report. In the article later published in New England Journal of Medicine, China Novel Coronavirus Investigating and Research Team, led by the China CDC together with multiple hospitals, published virus isolation procedures, phylogenetic analysis results, and virion structure obtained by transmission electron microscopy.”
January 11, 2020 — University of Sydney Professor Edward Holmes tweets the genome of SARS-CoV-2.
“Within days, the first diagnostic tests were available, and that weekend, scientists at Moderna and Pfizer are reported to have downloaded the genome and set to work on their mRNA vaccines, bringing a new technology to medicine in record time.
“The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center & School of Public Health, in collaboration with the Central Hospital of Wuhan, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control, and the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia is releasing a coronavirus genome from a case of a respiratory disease from the Wuhan outbreak.”
January 12, 2020 — Situation Report #1 from the WHO asserts that “China shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus for countries to use in developing specific diagnostic kits.”
January 13, 2020 — The WHO publishes the protocol for RT-PCR assay to diagnose the novel coronavirus.
(Also see January 17, January 21, and January 23, 2020, entries.)
NOTE: The WHO’s newly published protocol is based on the Corman-Drosten protocols, which will be submitted on January 21 to the editors of the journal Eurosurveillance and published two days later, on January 23, after being in the peer review process for less than 48 hours. The journal’s editorial board includes Drosten. Eurosurveillance bills itself as a “journal on infectious disease surveillance, epidemiology, prevention, and control.”
NOTE: The PCR test protocol developed by Drosten under “severe time constraints” and in turn adopted by WHO without any clinical testing later becomes the foundation for “diagnosing” COVID-19 as well as the foundation for what should be called a “casedemic.” Importantly, Drosten also designed the diagnostic test protocol for 2003 SARS and 2009 H1N1 swine flu. The Corman-Drosten RT-PCR protocols will later be externally reviewed and will be shown to have major scientific flaws and conflicts of interest.
January 13, 2020 — A novel coronavirus that is a complete genome from the Wuhan outbreak is now available in GenBank, announces the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“The complete annotated genome sequence of the novel coronavirus associated with the outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China is now available from GenBank for free and easy access by the global biomedical community.
“According to the CDC, as of January 11, Chinese health authorities say they’ve identified more than 40 human infections as part of this outbreak that was first reported on December 31.
“The World Health Organization announced the preliminary identification of the novel coronavirus on January 9. The GenBank record of Wuhan-Hu-1 includes sequence data, annotation and metadata from this virus isolated approximately two weeks ago from a patient believed to have contracted the disease in a Hubei province seafood market.”
January 13, 2020 — The Vaccine Research Center (VRC) and Moderna’s infectious disease research team finalize the sequence for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine — and Moderna mobilizes toward clinical manufacture, according to a Moderna press release.
“The first clinical batch was completed on February 7, 2020, and underwent analytical testing; it was shipped on February 24, 2020, from Moderna and delivered to NIH from the company’s manufacturing facility in 42 days from sequence selection.”
According to Moderna’s chief scientific officer, Melissa J. Moore, PhD, Moderna designed the mRNA vaccine sequence in one hour.
Moore recounts that as soon as the Chinese novel-CoV virus gene sequence was made public on January 10, 2020, they “got immediately to work.” She reported that it “took Moderna’s mRNA design team just one hour to design” the modified mRNA vaccine sequence. It was immediately put onto their manufacturing equipment and used in their Phase 1 trials.
“By January of 2020,” Moore notes, “we had already manufactured, quality controlled and delivered to several dozen patients personalized cancer vaccines. So we had the know-how and the capacity to manufacture vaccines quickly.”
She goes on to say, “There is a coming Tsunami of mRNA medicines.”
NOTE: To date, Moderna has never brought a product to market. As of January 13, 2020, Moderna shares were at $20.26 but would skyrocket to $484.87 by August 9, 2021.
NOTE: Manufacture of the first clinical batch of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). CEPI is funded mostly by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and by the NATO governments. It is led by Richard Hatchett, a Big Pharma lobbyist and a former US Homeland Security Council member under George W. Bush. Its scientific advisory committee includes executives from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical, among others.
January 13, 2020 —Although no new cases are being reported in Wuhan or in other parts of China, Thailand confirms its first case, which is also thought to be the first international case of 2019-nCoV.
“This first case was a woman, noted to have frequented local fresh market in Wuhan, but did not visit the condemned Huanan South China Seafood Market. Before the tests were done, the woman reported to have had experienced fever, chills, sore throat, and headaches. Of all those in her company, no one had shown any similar signs.”
January 14, 2020 —”WHO says new China coronavirus could spread, warns hospitals worldwide,” says a Reuters headline.
“In all, 41 cases of pneumonia have been reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, which preliminary lab tests cited by state media showed could be from a new type of coronavirus, and one patient has died.”
There’ve been no new cases or deaths since, Wuhan health authorities say.
Maria Van Kerkhove, acting head of WHO’s emerging diseases unit, reports there was limited human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus—mainly small clusters in families. “It is very clear right now,” she says, “that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission.”
In a tweet, the WHO says preliminary investigations by Chinese authorities have found “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.”
NOTE: So, what we have here is 41 “cases” of something that may or may not “spread” in a country of over a billion people.
January 15, 2020 — BioNTech inaugurates Project Lightspeed.
In a bulletin, BioNTech announces on January 15, 2020, that its new Project Lightspeed is intended “to develop a vaccine against this new virus.” The company says it has selected “several vaccine candidates” and has conducted “initial non-clinical studies.”
New York Times journalist David Gelles does a write-up of the news, which 3 Quarks Daily later summarizes in an article titled The Husband-And-Wife Team Behind The Leading COVID-19 Vaccine.
Gelles: “BioNTech began work on the vaccine in January, after Dr. Sahin read an article in the medical journal The Lancet that left him convinced that the coronavirus, at the time spreading quickly in parts of China, would explode into a full-blown pandemic. Scientists at the company, based in Mainz, Germany, canceled vacations and set to work on what they called Project Lightspeed.
“‘There are not too many companies on the planet which have the capacity and the competence to do it so fast as we can do it,’ Dr. Sahin said in an interview last month. ‘So it felt not like an opportunity, but a duty to do it, because I realized we could be among the first coming up with a vaccine.’
“After BioNTech had identified several promising vaccine candidates, Dr. Sahin concluded that the company would need help to rapidly test them, win approval from regulators and bring the best candidate to market. BioNTech and Pfizer had been working together on a flu vaccine since 2018, and in March, they agreed to collaborate on a coronavirus vaccine.”
January 16, 2020 — Japan reports its first novel coronavirus case, according to the Center for Infectious Disease and Policy (CIDRAP).
“Japan has reported a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection in a traveler from Wuhan, the second country to report a case outside of China, raising more questions about how easily the virus is spreading among people.
“Japan’s health ministry last night announced that a man in his 30s who is from Kanagawa prefecture, part of the greater Tokyo area, tested positive for 2019-nCoV yesterday, according to a government statement translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
“He was hospitalized on Jan 10, and he was discharged on Jan 15 after his symptoms got better.”
January 16, 2020 — The Pan American Health Organization/WHO Regional office for the Americas (PAHO/AMRO) issues its first alert on the novel coronavirus.
“As of 12 January 2020, 41 cases with nCoV infection have been preliminarily diagnosed in Wuhan City. Of the 41 cases reported, seven are seriously ill. On that date a death was reported in a patient with other underlying health conditions. Six patients have been discharged from the hospital. The onset of symptoms of the 41 confirmed cases of nCoV ranges between 8 December 2019 and 2 January 2020. No additional cases have been detected since 3 January 2020 in this area.
“In light of this situation, PAHO/WHO is encouraging Member States to strengthen surveillance activities to detect any unusual respiratory health event.”
NOTE: PAHO/WHO has long partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has recently made large donations to the BMGF.
January 17, 2020 — China says second person dies in Wuhan pneumonia outbreak.
“A 69-year-old man surnamed Xiong fell ill with the respiratory condition on Dec. 31, according to a statement late Thursday from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission. He died Wednesday.
“Xiong exhibited abnormal renal function, severe impairment in multiple organs, inflammation of the heart muscle and other pressing conditions when he was admitted to the hospital. It was not clear from the commission’s statement whether these were preexisting issues or consequences of the viral pneumonia.”
January 17, 2020 — A second case is reported in Thailand.
“This time, it was a 74-year-old woman who had traveled from Wuhan. Upon arrival and screening, she was found to have fever and was isolated into a local medical institute where the coronavirus testing was performed and came back positive.”
January 17, 2020 — The WHO publishes its coronavirus PCR protocols, based on the Corman-Drosten test.
(Also see January 13, January 21, and January 23, 2020, entries.)
According to the WHO: “We used known SARS- and SARS-related coronaviruses (bat viruses from our own studies as well as literature sources) to generate a non-redundant alignment (excerpts shown in Annex). We designed candidate diagnostic RT-PCR assays before release of the first sequence of 2019-nCoV. Upon sequence release, the following assays were selected based on their matching to 2019-nCoV as per inspection of the sequence alignment and initial evaluation.”
January 18, 2020 — “China’s coronavirus cases likely grossly underestimated, study says,” according to a CNN article.
“The number of cases in an outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus in China is likely to have been grossly underestimated, according to a new study, which warns that human-to-human transmission of the mysterious virus may be possible.
“Authorities in China’s Wuhan city have confirmed 45 cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus, which is in the same family as the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), but so far appears to be less lethal. Two people have died, Wuhan authorities say.
“But the study, by Imperial College London, suggests that an estimated 1,723 people were likely to have been infected by January 12.”
NOTE: CNN fails to report that this news was not a study but was the modelling done by Imperial College London statistician Neil Ferguson and was “based on several assumptions.” Also, there is no mention of Imperial College’s close ties to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
January 18, 2020 — The Journal of Medical Virology publishes “Outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, China: The mystery and the miracle.”
“But the mystery has not been completely solved yet. Until there is a formal, published scientific manuscript, the facts can be argued, particularly regarding causality despite these facts having been officially announced. The data collected so far is not enough to confirm the causal relationship between the new‐type coronavirus and the respiratory disease based on classical Koch’s postulates or modified ones as suggested by Fredricks and Relman.
“The viral‐specific nucleic acids were only discovered in 15 patients, and successful virus culture was extremely limited to only a few patients.”
January 19, 2020 — “Wuhan nCoV outbreak quadruples, spreads within China,” CIDRAP reports.
“A surge of newly confirmed novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) cases since Friday in Wuhan has pushed the outbreak total to 198 cases, some of them with no apparent links to the outbreak market, and health officials today announced a case in Shenzhen, China’s first outside of Wuhan.”
NOTE: CIDRAP, which has ties to The Rockefeller Foundation and to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, would later be asked to develop “a new roadmap to broadly protective coronavirus vaccines.” The roadmap is also referred to as a “vaccine Manhattan Project.”
January 20, 2020 — The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the US is diagnosed in Snohomish County, Washington.
“On January 19, 2020, a 35-year-old man presented [himself] to an urgent care clinic in Snohomish County, Washington, with a four-day history of cough and subjective fever. On checking into the clinic, the patient put on a mask in the waiting room. After waiting approximately 20 minutes, he was taken into an examination room and underwent evaluation by a provider. He disclosed that he had returned to Washington State on January 15 after traveling to visit family in Wuhan, China.
“The patient stated that he had seen a health alert from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the novel coronavirus outbreak in China and, because of his symptoms and recent travel, decided to see a health care provider.
“The CDC confirmed that the patient’s nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs tested positive for 2019-nCoV by real-time reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction (rRT-PCR) assay.
“On admission, the patient reported persistent dry cough and a two-day history of nausea and vomiting; he reported that he had no shortness of breath or chest pain. Vital signs were within normal ranges. On physical examination, the patient was found to have dry mucous membranes. The remainder of the examination was generally unremarkable.”
January 20, 2020 — “China confirms human-to-human transmission of new coronavirus,” Reuters reports.
“China’s National Health Commission confirmed on Monday that a new virus causing an outbreak of pneumonia in the country has been passed from person-to-person and has infected some medical staff, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.
“Xinhua reported that Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory expert and head of the health commission team investigating the outbreak, confirmed that two cases of infection in China’s Guangdong Province as due to human-to-human transmission.”
January 20, 2020 — The Diamond Princess cruise ship departs Yokohama, Japan, for a 14-day cruise to China, Vietnam, and Taiwan, then back to Japan. The trip is billed as a tour of Southeast Asia during the Lunar New Year period. A total of 2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew are on board.
NOTE: If you look at the Diamond Princess figures, the apparent case fatality rate was around 1.7% (12/712), while the apparent crude mortality rate was considerably less at 0.3% (12/3,711). This would normally be expressed as 30 deaths per hundred thousand population. It is well above the rates for seasonal flu.
However, we know that apart from the crew, the average age of the Diamond Princess population was considerably older than the general population. Below is a breakdown of passengers and crew.
There were 2,666 passengers with an average age of 69, of whom 567 became “infected” (21.3%). The apparent case fatality rate for the passengers was around 2.1% (12/567); their apparent crude mortality rate was 0.5% (12/2,666).
There were 1,045 crew, with an average age of 36, of whom 145 became “infected” (13.9%). The apparent case fatality rate for the crew was around 0.0% (0/145); their apparent crude mortality rate was 0.0% (0/1,045).
These figures for the Diamond Princess are from Wikipedia.
(For more on the Diamond Princess, see February 3, 2020.)
January 20, 2020 — Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding tweets “a frenzied SOS from his home in Arlington,” Virginia, which Arlington Magazine writes about in a piece titled “The Tweet Heard Round the World.”
“‘HOLY MOTHER OF GOD,’ his tweet began, launching him to overnight Twitter (now X) stardom as the world’s famous covid Cassandra. ‘We are now faced with the most virulent virus epidemic the world has ever seen,’ he shouted to the Twitterverse.”
“It didn’t help that the authors of the study he’d cited had already lowered the estimated R0 value for COVID-19, making some of the numbers in his missive out of date. In his haste to post, he’d also made typos and mistakes.”
NOTE: Feigl-Ding is a senior fellow with the Federation of American Scientists; a recipient of an award from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships For New Americans; and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. In case you’re wondering: Paul Soros, often called “the invisible Soros,” is the older brother of George Soros.
January 20, 2020 — At this point, announces the WHO, a total of 282 confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV have been reported globally from four countries, including China (278 cases), Thailand (2 cases), Japan (1 case), and the Republic of Korea (1 case).
NOTE: To put these 282 cases into context, the people on this planet number nearly 8 billion.
January 20, 2020 — CNN reports that a “Vaccine for new Chinese coronavirus [is] in the works.”
“The National Institutes of Health is working on a vaccine against the new virus that has infected hundreds and killed four in Asia.
“‘The NIH is in the process of taking the first steps towards the development of a vaccine,’ said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Fauci said it would take a few months until the first phase of the clinical trials [is] underway and more than a year until a vaccine might be available.
“A team of scientists in Texas, New York, and China are also at work on a vaccine, according to Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
“It is ‘remarkable’ that scientists are able to start developing a vaccine for a virus that was identified less than a month ago, he said.”
January 21, 2020 — The research paper Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR is submitted to Eurosurveillance for peer review.
(See January 13 and January 17, 2020, entries.)
NOTE: Called “the Corman-Drosten paper” after the names of two of its authors, it is published less than 48 hours later—on January 23.
NOTE: Not only Christian Drosten but also co-author Chantal Reusken are members of the Eurosurveillance editorial board.
January 21, 2020 — WHO experts conduct a field visit to Wuhan, China.
“Data collected through detailed epidemiological investigation and through the deployment of the new test kit nationally suggests that human-to-human transmission is taking place in Wuhan. More analysis of the epidemiological data is needed to understand the full extent of human-to-human transmission. WHO stands ready to provide support to China to conduct further detailed analysis.
“The delegation discussed China’s plan to expand the 2019-nCOV “case” definition. This will allow China and the international community to build a clearer picture of the spectrum of severity of the novel coronavirus. The new case definition and the provision of test kits to all provinces are expected to lead to further increases in the number of cases identified and confirmed in Hubei Province and other provinces. Increases in confirmed cases are to be expected as testing is increased.” [Emphasis added.]
January 21–24, 2020 — The 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum takes place in Davos, Switzerland.
The WEF says the meeting “will bring together 3,000 participants from around the world, aim to give concrete meaning to ‘stakeholder capitalism,’ assist governments and international institutions in tracking progress towards the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs], and facilitate discussions on technology and trade governance.”
Highlights of the topics to be covered include the launch of the first-ever public blockchain and the formation of the first global consortium for digital currency governance.
NOTE: There appears to be a coordinated media rollout of the “pandemic” (more correctly called a “casedemic”) over the next two days.
January 21, 2020 — The idea of the “super-spreader” is born.
Super-spreaders are people who, due to a number of factors, allegedly infect many others with a virus. The term first came into common use during the 2002–2003 SARS outbreak.
According to ABC News Australia, “One of China’s top health experts is warning of the potential for ‘super-spreaders’ to worsen the impact of the new coronavirus strain, which can now be passed from human to human.
“Zhong Nanshan, the leader of an expert team sent to the city of Wuhan to investigate the deadly virus, told the South China Morning Post there was evidence one patient alone had spread the disease to 14 medical workers.”
NOTE: The ABC News Australia report also states: “No coronavirus super-spreaders have been reported but information is still emerging.”
NOTE: Zhong Nanshan, “China’s Dr. Anthony Fauci,” is credited with discovering the alleged SARS coronavirus in 2003. One day later, he points out: “There’s no evidence to support the idea there are already super-spreaders.” Furthermore, he admits: “It’s not as contagious and virulent as SARS.”
January 21, 2020 — Nature magazine publishes an article titled “Stop the Wuhan virus.”
“Vigilance, preparedness, speed, transparency and global coordination are now crucial to stopping a new infectious disease from becoming a global emergency.
“The virus has not been found in humans before and knowledge of how it is spread is still evolving. Last week, government officials and researchers in China who are tracking the virus told Nature they didn’t think it spreads readily from human to human, at least not as fast as SARS. But this view is being revised following the intervention of SARS specialist Zhong Nanshan. After a visit to Wuhan on 20 January, Zhong, who directs the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease in Guangzhou, confirmed that 14 medical workers had been infected by one virus carrier, raising concern that some people might be ‘super-spreaders’ of the virus.”
January 22, 2020 — The Chinese State Council Information Office holds a news conference: Government brief on coronavirus outbreak: source confirmed, no super-spreaders.
Li Bin, deputy director of China’s National Health Commission, and several other officials and experts provide updates on prevention and control of the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia. They also answer questions about the coronavirus outbreak from journalists.
Q1: Why is there a dramatic rise in the number of confirmed cases lately? Is it because of some new testing methods?
A: (from Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention): “It is a fact that the number of confirmed cases is increasing, and yes, we are using new testing methods. Developing our knowledge of the new virus is also a gradual process.” [Emphasis added.]
Q2: Is the new coronavirus more contagious and virulent than SARS and MERS?
A: (from Zhong Nanshan, the expert who discovered the SARS virus during an outbreak in China in 2003): “It’s not as contagious and virulent as SARS. I think there’s a difference between the severity and the spread of the disease between the new coronavirus and SARS.” [Emphasis added.]
January 22, 2020 — A Netflix documentary “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak” is released.
“The documentary centers on pandemics supposedly originating in animal populations and covers a range of issues such as the possibility of an influenza pandemic, research into achieving a universal vaccine, emerging viruses, anti-vaxxers, and the Ebola outbreak in Africa.”
NOTE: The documentary runs for one season and consists of six episodes.
January 22, 2020 — At the World Economic Forum’s 50th annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Prince Charles launches the Sustainable Market Initiative.
The Prince announces his Five-Point Plan to Accelerate the Transition to Sustainable Markets: “Our markets are unsustainable. We need a ‘new economic model.'”
January 22, 2020 — The UK’s Daily Mirror reports: Footage of medics in Hazmat suits screen plane passengers for “killer mystery coronavirus” is released.
“Footage of people in Hazmat suits seemingly scanning Chinese passengers for symptoms of a mysterious virus has raised fears that the disease could soon spread across the world.
“A video clip believed to have been filmed on a China Airlines flight from Wuhan to Macau shows people presumed to be medics moving from passenger to passenger.”
See Passengers screened for coronavirus symptoms on a domestic flight out of Wuhan in an X tweet by David Paulk 波大卫 (@davidpaulk).
Also, see this Washington Examiner report:
“Radio Free Asia released a clip of doctors loading a patient with coronavirus into the back of an ambulance in the coastal city of Huizhou in southern China. Other videos show doctors wearing hazmat materials inside emergency rooms and scanning travelers aboard planes.”
January 22, 2020 — Johns Hopkins Medicine launches coronavirus tracking dashboard.
“The Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine launch the Coronavirus Resource Center, which rapidly becomes a premier source around the world for real-time, accurate data about the pandemic. Its dashboard, created by Whiting School of Engineering civil and systems engineering associate professor Lauren Gardner and others, [was] viewed more than a billion times [between January 22, 2020, and March 8, 2021].” [Emphasis added.]
NOTE: Why, in March 2021, does Johns Hopkins refer to the data from its Coronavirus Resource Center as “accurate”?
January 23, 2020 — China locks down Wuhan in mid-January 2020.
“The World Health Organization (WHO), although stating that it was beyond its own guidelines, commended the move, calling it ‘unprecedented in public health history.'”
January 23, 2020 — In her speech at the WEF in Davos, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel forecasts a gigantic, historical transformation.
“In her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced ‘transformations of gigantic, historic proportions.’
“‘We will abandon the entire way of doing business and living that we have become accustomed to in the next 30 years,'” Merkel said, referring to climate protection and digitalization.”
January 23, 2020 — WEF and OECD Sign Strategic Partnership Framework.
“The OECD-Forum Partnership was signed in the World Economic Forum 50th Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab to accelerate inclusive and sustainable growth globally.
“Recognizing the challenges and opportunities of a new economic agenda at the dawn of a new decade, the OECD and the World Economic Forum agree to deepen their collaboration through a strategic partnership framework, utilizing the collective power of both institutions to advance impact.”
January 23, 2020 — CEPI to fund three programmes to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus, nCoV-2019.
“CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, today announced the initiation of three programmes to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus, nCoV-2019.
“The programmes will leverage rapid response platforms already supported by CEPI as well as a new partnership. The aim is to advance nCoV-2019 vaccine candidates into clinical testing as quickly as possible.
“In addition, CEPI today announces a new partnership with Moderna, Inc., (Nasdaq: MRNA) and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“All of these are pioneering technologies designed to speed up the development of vaccines against emerging threats such as nCoV-2019.”
January 23, 2020 — Moderna Announces Funding Award from CEPI to Accelerate Development of Messenger RNA (mRNA) Vaccine Against Novel Coronavirus.
“Moderna, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), announce a new collaboration to develop an mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).”
January 23, 2020 — The Corman-Drosten PCR paper is published by Eurosurveillance.
(See January 13, January 17, and January 20, 2020, entries.)
The paper, titled “Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) by real-time RT-PCR,” notes in its Introduction:
“We report here on the establishment and validation of a diagnostic workflow for 2019-nCoV screening and specific confirmation, designed in absence of available virus isolates or original patient specimens. Design and validation were enabled by the close genetic relatedness to the 2003 SARS-CoV and aided by the use of synthetic nucleic acid technology.”
NOTE: The journal’s extremely short peer review period of two days gives one food for thought.
January 23, 2020 — Travel ban halts flights between Wuhan and U.S., as airports prepare to screen passengers for coronavirus.
“More than half of the 566 flights scheduled from China’s Wuhan international airport were canceled Thursday, giving U.S. health officials a brief respite as they focused on the logistics of rerouting U.S.-bound travelers from the region to one of five airports for special screening.
“The U.S. airports have been designated as enhanced screening points for travelers arriving from the region believed to be the epicenter of a new strain of coronavirus that has killed at least 25 people and sickened more than 800 in China.”
January 24, 2020 — From Revolver News: Viral video footage spreads throughout the world showing people collapsing in the streets of China.
And from Swiss Policy Research: “Did China Stage the Wuhan Videos?“
From Revolver News:
“Since the early days of the pandemic, many people have been wondering if the notorious videos of ‘people collapsing in Wuhan,’ which emerged in late January 2020 (see below), had in fact been staged by the Chinese government to frighten the West into lockdowns and self-destruction. After all, it is argued, such events weren’t seen anywhere else later on during the pandemic.”
“The most famous photograph of a ‘dead man lying in the streets of Wuhan,’ used by many Western media outlets was produced and distributed not by Chinese journalists or officials, but by AFP/Getty war zone and international crisis photographer Hector Retamal, who later won awards for this photograph. French Agence France Press (AFP) is one of only three major Western news agencies and was previously involved in various war zone deceptions (e.g., in Syria).”
“Two papers published Friday in the journal The Lancet offer some of the first rigorous analyses of patients who contracted a novel coronavirus that has broken out in China and spread to other countries. Among their discoveries: The virus does not only affect people with other, underlying health conditions, and people who are not showing symptoms can still be carrying the virus.”
January 24, 2020 — “New coronavirus can cause infections with no symptoms and sicken otherwise healthy people, studies show,” reports STAT News.
“In one study, researchers analyzed data from the first 41 patients who were admitted to hospitals with confirmed cases of the infection in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to have originated last month. Two-thirds had been to a large seafood market that also sold wild animals for meat and is thought to be where the virus jumped from an animal source to people. The median age of the patients was 49.
“The patients displayed a wide range of symptoms, many of which were similar to those caused by SARS, another coronavirus, which caused a global outbreak in 2002-2003 that started in China. All of them had pneumonia, and most had fever and cough.
“One key finding: It’s not only people with other health conditions that are getting sick, the researchers reported. Some of the fatal cases caused by the virus have been among people with underlying diseases like diabetes, liver disease, and hypertension, but the majority of the first 41 patients infected with the disease in Wuhan were healthy. The researchers noted that SARS infections similarly did not only affect people with other conditions.”
January 24, 2020 — The CDC provides information for labs, publishes “Real-Time RT-PCR Panel for Detection 2019-Novel Coronavirus: Instructions for Use,” and publishes initial PCR “Primers and Probes” sequences.
“The charts indicate amplification cycles up to 45, but state that ‘RP should be positive at or before 35 cycles for all clinical samples and HSC, thus indicating the presence of sufficient nucleic acid from human RNase P gene and that the specimen is of acceptable quality.'”
January 24, 2020 — Second US case of Wuhan coronavirus is confirmed, reports National Public Radio (NPR).
“A woman in her 60s got infected with the virus while traveling in the Wuhan, China, area in late December and became ill after returning home to Chicago Jan. 13, according to officials from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois and Chicago health departments.
“The woman is in stable condition but is still hospitalized, primarily to prevent her from spreading the virus to other people, officials said.”
January 25, 2020 — Canada identifies first case of coronavirus.
“Canada on Saturday declared the first ‘presumptive’ confirmed case of the deadly coronavirus in a resident who had returned from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak of the viral disease.
“Ontario health officials told a news conference the patient is a male in his 50s, who arrived in Toronto on Jan. 22 and was hospitalized the next day after developing symptoms of respiratory illness.”
January 25, 2020 — New coronavirus appears ‘less serious’ than SARS, says French doctor.
“The lead doctor treating two Paris hospital patients for the new virus from China said Saturday that the illness appears less serious than comparable outbreaks of the past and that the chance of a European epidemic appears weak at this stage.
“French officials on Friday reported three confirmed cases of the newly identified coronavirus in France, the first ones in Europe. The third patient is at a hospital in Bordeaux. The head of France’s health department, Jerome Salomon, said Saturday evening that all three are doing ‘very well.'”
January 25, 2020 — With Wuhan virus genetic code in hand, scientists begin work on a vaccine, says Reuters.
“When a newly organized vaccine research group at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) met for the first time this week, its members had expected to be able to ease into their work. But their mandate is to conduct human trials for emerging health threats — and their first assignment came at shocking speed.
“In just three months’ time, they likely will be testing the first of a number of potential experimental vaccines against the new SARS-like coronavirus that is spreading in China and beyond.
“‘I told them, “You are going to have your baptism of fire, folks,”‘ Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases within NIH, said of his inaugural address to the group this week.
“Three months from gene sequence to initial human testing would be the fastest the agency has ever gotten such a vaccine off the ground, Fauci said.”
January 25, 2020 — Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to President Trump, changes the name of his six-day-a-week podcast from “War Room: Impeachment” to “War Room: Pandemic.”
NOTE: This change takes place a full six weeks before the WHO makes its March 11, 2020, declaration of a worldwide pandemic.
January 26, 2020 — “Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spreading globally,” according to Science magazine.
“As confirmed cases of a novel virus surge around the world with worrisome speed, all eyes have so far focused on a seafood market in Wuhan, China, as the origin of the outbreak. But a description of the first clinical cases published in The Lancet on Friday challenges that hypothesis.
“The paper, written by a large group of Chinese researchers from several institutions, offers details about the first 41 hospitalized patients who had confirmed infections with what has been dubbed 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). In the earliest case, the patient became ill on 1 December 2019 and had no reported link to the seafood market, the authors report. ‘No epidemiological link was found between the first patient and later cases,’ they state. Their data also show that, in total, 13 of the 41 cases had no link to the marketplace. ‘That’s a big number, 13, with no link,’ says Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University.”
January 26, 2020 — China’s health minister says coronavirus can spread before symptoms show.
“China’s Health Minister Ma Xiaowei announces that the Wuhan coronavirus “can spread it before they become symptomatic,” meaning people are allegedly contagious during the virus’ incubation period.
“CDC advisor Dr Schaffner says this ‘means the infection is much more contagious than we originally thought,’ and ‘It’s much harder to contain a virus — to track down a patient’s contacts and quarantine them immediately — if the patient was spreading the disease for days or weeks before they even realized they had it.’
“Without symptoms, a person may not know they have the infection but still be able to spread it.”
January 27, 2020 — The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock updates Parliament on Wuhan novel coronavirus.
“The Chief Medical Officer continues to advise that the risk to the UK population is ‘low’ and has concluded that while there is an increased likelihood that cases may arise in this country, we are well prepared and well equipped to deal with them.
“As I set out in my statement on Thursday, coronavirus presents with flu-like symptoms including a fever, a cough, or difficulty breathing. The current evidence is that most cases appear to be mild.
“Coronaviruses do not usually spread if people don’t have symptoms— however, we cannot be 100 per cent certain.”
January 27, 2020 — Chris Smith, virologist at Cambridge University, says face masks ‘do nothing.‘
Dr. Smith told RNZ that people should not buy face masks and instead should save their money:
“Go and spend it on something useful that you enjoy doing, like having a beer. Those face masks are absolute rubbish and they do nothing.”
“Dr David Carrington, of St George’s, University of London, told BBC News ‘routine surgical masks for the public are not an effective protection against viruses or bacteria carried in the air,’ which was how ‘most viruses’ were transmitted, because they were too loose, had no air filter and left the eyes exposed.”
January 27, 2020 — “The Coronavirus Is A Black Swan Event That May Have Serious Repercussions For The U.S. Economy And Job Market,” Forbes magazine reports.
“A black swan event is a term used on Wall Street that refers to a rare and unpredictable occurrence that is beyond what is expected and has severe consequences. It’s derived from European explorers who had previously thought that all swans were white and only white, as that was all they knew. They were overcome with shock and confusion when Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh discovered the existence of black swans in Australia.
“Historically, when the stock market goes relatively straight up, there is an expectation of a correction somewhere down the road. A correction is about a 5 to 10% drop in value of stocks. It’s viewed as necessary, like clearing out the dead brush in a forest to prevent a future fire. Even the wisest minds on Wall Street admit that they can’t anticipate where the next correction will come from and what damage it may bring. It now seems that the coronavirus is that black swan event.”
January 27, 2020 — J&J scientific officer ‘pretty confident’ they can create coronavirus vaccine, says CNBC.
Johnson & Johnson’s chief scientific officer, Dr. Paul Stoffels, told CNBC on Monday that he believes the drugmaker can create a vaccine in the coming months to fight against the fast-spreading coronavirus.
But he said it could take up to a year to bring it to market.
January 27, 2020 — In Situation Report #7, the World Health Organization claims that there are 2,798 total “confirmed cases” globally to date. Of those, 2,761 are said to be in China.
In a chart titled “SURVEILLANCE,” which includes “countries, territories or areas with reported confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV” as of January 27, 2020, the WHO lists the following “cases”: China 2,761; Japan 4; Republic of Korea 4; Viet Nam 2; Singapore 4; Australia 4; Malaysia 4; Thailand 5; Nepal 1; United States of America 5; Canada 1; France 3.
In a section titled “PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE,” the WHO mentions various actions it is taking, including:
— “WHO is working with its networks of researchers and other experts to coordinate global work on surveillance, epidemiology, modelling, diagnostics, clinical care and treatment, and other ways to identify, manage the disease and limit onward transmission. WHO has issued interim guidance for countries, updated to take into account the current situation.”
— “[WHO is] utilizing global expert networks and partnerships for laboratory, infection prevention and control, clinical management and mathematical modelling.”
January 28, 2020 — “Act Now to Prevent an American Epidemic — Quarantines,” observes an article in The Wall Street Journal.
The WSJ features a lengthy opinion piece co-written by Luciana Borio, director for medical and biodefense preparedness policy at the National Security Council (2017–2019) and Scott Gottlieb, board member of Pfizer and former commissioner of the FDA (2017–2019).
Borio and Gottlieb outline “four important steps” that should be taken to contain the coronavirus. Here’s a summary of those steps (paraphrased):
(1) Identify and isolate the cases to break the chain of spread. Government should focus on working with private industry to develop easy-to-use, rapid diagnostic tests that can be made available to providers.
(2) Focus on the flu. The incidence of flu and other respiratory viral infection cases is high right now in the US. It isn’t too late to boost flu vaccinations, which would reduce the burden that influenza puts on doctors and hospitals.
(3) Prepare for an influx of hospital patients who will need to be isolated.
(4) Government agencies, medical product developers, and public-private partnerships (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, for example) should start to develop vaccines and therapies.
January 28, 2020 — US health officials fast-track coronavirus vaccine, hope to start clinical trial in three months, reports CNBC.
“That timeline is optimistic, and a phase 1 trial does not mean ‘you have a vaccine that’s ready for deployment,’ said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. It could take a year or more before a vaccine is ready for sale to the public, he said.
“‘It will take three months to get it into the trial, three months to get safety, immunogenicity data,’ Fauci said during a press briefing on the nation’s response to the coronavirus.”
January 28, 2020 — “Masks selling out at some Toronto stores amid coronavirus concerns,” reports CTV News.
“Toronto drug stores say they are selling out of surgical masks and hand sanitizer, despite experts saying the items will not help guard against the novel coronavirus.
“Starkmans Health Care Depot near Bathurst Street and Davenport told CTV News Toronto that masks are flying off the shelves. Warehouse supervisor Pearson Fyffe added that the N95 respiratory mask, which is more effective at blocking viruses, is ‘most difficult to get a hold of.'”
January 28, 2020 — CDC says new coronavirus ‘not spreading’ in the US, according to ABC News.
“‘We understand that many people in the Unites States are worried about this virus,’ said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
“‘At this time, in the U.S., the virus is not spreading in the community,’ she added. ‘For that reason we continue to believe that the immediate health risk from the new virus to the general public is low at this time.'”
January 29, 2020 — President Trump creates task force to lead U.S. coronavirus response, says CBS News.
“President Trump has created a new task force to lead the government’s response to the fast-spreading coronavirus, the White House announced Wednesday.
“Led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and coordinated through the National Security Council, the task force is made up of subject matter experts from across the federal government and has been meeting daily since Monday. Members of the 12-member group include National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield, and the National Institutes of Health’s Dr. Anthony Fauci.”
Fast spreading? Just yesterday the CDC said, “”At this time, in the U.S., the virus is not spreading in the community.”
NOTE: At this time there are 15 “cases” of an alleged coronavirus in the US.
January 29, 2020 — The WHO holds a press conference at its Geneva headquarters, during which Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s “Health Emergencies Programme,” speaks:
“As you will have seen, the Director-General Dr Tedros has just announced that he will reconvene the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on the new novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, tomorrow, to advise them on whether the current outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.
“[Tedros’] decision to reconvene the committee is based mainly on the evidence of increasing numbers of cases, evidence for human-to-human transmission that has occurred outside of China.
“It is clearly still centered in China with the overwhelming majority of cases still being reported from China. However, there are 71 cases reported in 15 other countries. Of note within those cases is that the majority of those cases apart from six are associated with travel to China and, of those, the vast majority of those cases are associated still with travel to Wuhan.
“We know that many people are experiencing a minor form of illness, but still 20% of reported cases are reported as severe and 2% of confirmed cases are reported to have died.”
NOTE: Here we have, outside of China, a total of 71 “cases” globally and the vast majority of them are experiencing only a mild illness, yet the WHO wants to meet to declare a global health emergency. Where, exactly, is the “emergency”?
January 30, 2020 — WHO Declares Coronavirus Outbreak A Global Health Emergency.
“The World Health Organization announced Thursday that the outbreak of a deadly and fast-spreading strain of coronavirus constitutes a global health emergency.
“‘Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed the emergence of a previously unknown pathogen, which has escalated into an unprecedented outbreak and which has been met by an unprecedented response,’ WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.
“The declaration of a global health emergency can work to galvanize international funding. According to the WHO’s procedures, the three criteria for such a declaration are that it is an ‘extraordinary event,’ that it ‘constitute[s] a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease’ and that it ‘potentially require[s] a coordinated international response.'” [Emphasis added.]
NOTE: Thus far, the “unprecedented outbreak” is said to have sickened around 9,800 people worldwide and is alleged to have killed 213, all of them in China.
January 30, 2020 — CDC confirms: “First Person-to-Person Spread of New Coronavirus in the United States.”
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed that the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has spread between two people in the United States, representing the first instance of person-to-person spread with this new virus here.
“Previously, all confirmed U.S. cases had been associated with travel to Wuhan, China, where an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by this novel coronavirus has been ongoing since December 2019. However, this latest 2019-nCoV patient has no history of travel to Wuhan but shared a household with the patient diagnosed with 2019-nCoV infection on January 21, 2020.
“Recognizing early on that the 2019-nCoV could potentially spread between people, CDC has been working closely with state and local partners to identify close contacts of confirmed 2019-nCoV cases. Public health officials identified this Illinois resident through contact tracing. Both patients are in stable condition.
“‘Given what we’ve seen in China and other countries with the novel coronavirus, CDC experts have expected some person-to-person spread in the US,’ said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D. ‘We understand that this may be concerning, but based on what we know now, we still believe the immediate risk to the American public is low.’
Medical researcher David Crowe (now deceased), who had a website called “The Infectious Myth” and who wrote a book titled Coronavirus Panic, chimes in to the conversation about the Illinois “cases”:
“A paper in The Lancet made a big deal about the presumed first case of person-to person contact in the USA, from a woman who had visited Wuhan in December 2019, to her husband, who stayed in the United States,” writes Crowe.
“She got sick after returning, and later both her and her husband, who had not travelled to Wuhan, tested positive for COVID-19. Whether he had symptoms or not was impossible to tell because he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so had a cough and difficulty breathing all the time.
“What is more interesting is that authorities identified 372 contacts of this couple, and “were able to assess exposure risk and actively monitor symptoms for 347.”
NOTE: Interesting indeed, Mr. Crowe. Not one of the 347 contacts shows up in an emergency room with respiratory symptoms within 14 days of their contact with the Illinois couple.
January 30, 2020 — The New England Journal of Medicine publishes “Transmission of 2019-nCoV Infection from an Asymptomatic Contact in Germany.”
NOTE: The article sets off alarms around the world and triggers mass PCR testing. Meanwhile, Christian Drosten, one of the article’s 17 “expert” co-authors, is claiming in interviews that asymptomatic transmission is a concern.
NOTE: An update—and contradiction—of this story appears in Science magazine on February 3, 2020.
January 31, 2020 — An FDA-licensed pandemic influenza vaccine uses ‘next generation technology’ to strengthen health security.
According to an article written by BARDA’s Rick Bright for the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Blog:
“On January 31, 2020, we achieved a major milestone in pandemic influenza preparedness: the U.S Food and Drug Administration’s licensure of AUDENZTM, the first adjuvanted, cell-based influenza vaccine designed to protect our nation from the H5N1 avian influenza virus. AUDENZTM, which was developed by Seqirus with support from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be produced at a facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, to help ensure the vaccine will be available to the American people when they need it most.
“Modernizing influenza vaccines and domestic manufacturing capacity is a priority for the Trump administration and critical for national health security. On September 19, 2019, the President issued an executive order that set a clear direction for the next generation of pandemic influenza vaccines: the nation needs more modern, domestically manufactured vaccines that can be produced without relying solely on egg-based processes. AUDENZTM uses two leading-edge technologies — an antigen-sparing adjuvant and cell-based vaccine technology — that represent a game-changing advance in the state of pandemic influenza preparedness.
“AUDENZTM uses cell-based vaccine technology and an adjuvant, which boosts the body’s immune response and makes the vaccine more effective overall. In the early days of a pandemic, the amount of vaccine that can be manufactured is limited by the amount of antigen — the part of a vaccine that arms the immune system — that can be produced. However, the adjuvant used in AUDENZTM reduces the amount of antigen needed for the vaccine. By using this antigen-sparing technology, more doses of AUDENZTM can be made from the same amount of antigen while maintaining the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. Ultimately, that means more vaccine is available in a given time period.”
January 31, 2020 — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declares a public health emergency for the entire United States.
“As a result of confirmed cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), on this date and after consultation with public health officials as necessary, I, Alex M. Azar II, Secretary of Health and Human Services, pursuant to the authority vested in me under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, do hereby determine that a public health emergency exists and has existed since January 27, 2020, nationwide.”
NOTE: This Azar declaration picks up again on February 4, 2020.
January 31, 2020 — The WHO releases “Global Surveillance for human infection with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).”
Cases are defined by the WHO as follows:
- Suspected case — Patient with severe acute respiratory infection (fever, cough, and requiring admission to hospital) AND with no other etiology that fully explains the clinical presentation AND with a history of travel to or residence in China during the 14 days prior to symptom onset;
- Probable case — A suspect case for whom testing for 2019-nCoV is inconclusive or is tested positive using a pan-coronavirus assay and without laboratory evidence of other respiratory pathogens.
- Confirmed case — A person with laboratory confirmation of 2019-nCoV infection, irrespective of clinical signs and symptoms.
January 31, 2020 — The Italian Council of Ministers declares a six-month national emergency and hands the coordination of the COVID-19 emergency responses to the Head of the Civil Protection Department following the detection of the first two COVID-19 positive people in Rome: two Chinese tourists traveling from Wuhan.
“Between then and the total lockdown introduced on 22nd March 2020 Italy was hit by an unprecedented crisis.”
NOTE: No other countries in Europe hit? Differing results in differing regions in Italy for a disease that was allegedly highly transmissible and that had supposedly “swept” rapidly through China?
The stage is set. The invisible enemy is introduced to the world. Fear will soon be catapulted into virtually every household on the planet.
