"The Human Cost of Covid Restrictions"

 I know I posted something a couple of days ago about Covid Restrictions, but I will continue to add more material.  Sure, this article focuses more on the aviation industry, but it bleeds over into the general economy, and more information that I can out there and if helps someone with information to counteract the coming madness as I see the rumors of coming restrictions and mask mandates as there is "Supposedly" some super strain from Africa.(How convenient you know)  I personally believe that this is a cover to run the same playbook the donks and their apparatchiks used in the 2020 election to scare the crap out of people and push the "Mail In ballots" that were so successful in the 2020 elections to in effect to "steal the Elections like they did in 2020.  Sure, that happened 2.5 years ago, but my belief hasn't changed, matter of fact it has solidified and the subsequent charges against the presumptive frontrunner from the GOP every time there is a problem for the Bidens, Trump collects another indictment to push the Biden drama off the news cycle.

Credit: Chalabala / Getty Images

The financial cost to airlines worldwide of the coronavirus pandemic has been well documented, with estimates in the $280 billion range for the two worst years of 2020 and 2021. 

The industry also proved to be resilient in the face of its worst ever crisis, with IATA now forecasting a net profit of around $10 billion for airlines as a collective in 2023, although most carriers will remain deeply in debt.

What has been less widely reported is the cost for human populations of government policies that were swiftly introduced in the early weeks and months of the pandemic and that targeted and severely restricted global air travel. 

At the end of the day, it wasn’t the coronavirus that brought the global passenger air transport system almost to a standstill (cargo operations continued but under severe constraints); it was the border shutdowns, mandatory quarantines, and multiple and expensive testing processes that prevented or dissuaded people from flying. And in many regions, those rules continued for months—in some cases years—after vaccination programs were well established and data pointed to the ineffectiveness of such rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Scientific data also showed that flying did not raise the risk of catching the coronavirus. On the contrary, the hospital-grade HEPA filters on modern airliners combined with masking and the natural barriers provided by seatbacks made them one of the safest places to be, certainly safer than a restaurant or grocery store.

All this was mostly ignored by governments, which for the most part implemented, then stuck with, prolonged air travel restrictions regardless of whether they did any good.

But reports are now coming out from a set of independent studies—many conducted by top medical and university organizations worldwide—that show that far from doing any good, these rules did great harm. And for all the immense cost to airlines, those rules inflicted far worse on the economies and citizens of the nations that governments were supposedly trying to protect.

The September ATW cover story “World in Chains” reports on the calamitous findings of these studies. For the most part, the government rules did little to nothing to stop the spread of the virus. At best, they delayed the spread to some remote islands by a few weeks at most and ultimately, they did not prevent infection.

Without their vital air connections, 90 million people fell into extreme poverty, receiving less than $2.15 per day as tourism and export demand collapsed. About 350 million people were pushed into food insecurity, risking starvation, according to the United Nations. Tragically, it was the poorest and most vulnerable who suffered most and will, undoubtedly, find it hardest to recover.

As Subhas Menon, director general at the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, put it, “government response was generally knee-jerk as well as isolationist and parochial.”

While governments and their people are understandably eager to move on and put the dark years of the pandemic behind them—something that is clear by the huge demand for air travel last summer and in 2023—the wider lessons of the effect of these policies need to be broadcast and understood.

A professor involved in one of the studies has called for an investigation similar to that which typically follows an air crash, and it’s a sensible and perhaps urgent call. Reports are emerging of yet another coronavirus variant taking hold. Thankfully, there’s also likely to be a vaccine up to task of mitigating the effects on human life. 

But given how reluctant governments were to turn back their border and air travel policies in the face of strong scientific data, why should the air transport industry or the general public trust or believe that governments will behave more wisely and rationally if there is another COVID-19 wave?

In any human crisis, the air transport system can be a vital part of the solution. Directly, it can get medical experts, equipment and food swiftly to where they are needed. The global air cargo system delivered ventilators, masks and then vaccines throughout the pandemic. Indirectly, air connectivity also delivers people, trade, and prosperity. Will that lesson be learned?

Opposition is growing to the Un-American Vaccine Mandates

 I am having to fill out a petition at work for a waiver not to have to take the "Vaccine", at my place of employment, I have a job that pays exceeding well and I have to worry about losing that job because I am standing up on my principles on "Who Owns You" I am concerned despite the court order telling the Xiden administration that they overreached, he is telling companies to proceed anyway and most of them are proceeding despite the court order.  What is going on? why are all these companies rolling over and showing their bellies to the Xiden administration.  Does anybody have a spine anymore?

     I did clip this from "Townhall.com

 

After two years of fear mongering from the country’s political, media and medical elite, President Joe Biden ordered a highly controversial COVID-19 vaccine mandate on September 9, 2021. He authorized the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to prepare these orders for businesses with over one hundred employees.

On November 4, 2021, OSHA officially announced the rules; however, enforcement was not set to begin until early in 2022. The orders require employees to take the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly tests proving they are free of the virus. The businesses might have to terminate their best employees if they do not comply with these stringent requirements.

This was Biden’s most aggressive step to force Americans to take a vaccine, regardless of their age or health condition. It also mandated compliance regardless of whether employees were previously infected and had natural immunity.

Coupled with the continuing mask mandates and the ongoing restrictions on certain businesses, the American people must realize that the hyping of the COVID-19 pandemic is not going away anytime soon. Regardless of whether the number of hospitalized patients or virus-related deaths is increasing or decreasing, the corrupt elite need the pandemic to continue. Of course, American citizens in the grips of fear of COVID-19 are easier to control and manipulate.

The Biden administration is intent on forcing mandates on the nation, despite the economic cost. Already, our economy is suffering from the Biden administration’s horrific mismanagement. The country is facing soaring inflation, increasing gasoline prices, foreign energy dependence and a wide-open border with a massive surge of millions of people pouring into the country.

Instead of dealing with the country’s real problems and offering useful solutions, the Biden administration continues to focus on its favorite issues: vaccine mandates and climate change action. No matter what issue develops, the Biden administration finds opportunities to advocate for more vaccine compliance and more green energy “solutions” to the “crisis” of climate change.

There should be little wonder why the poll numbers for Biden and the Democrats are plunging. This administration is not listening to the American people. Instead, it is forcing its unpopular agenda on the country.

Regarding the vaccine mandates, it is time the American people channeled the anger from the character Howard Beale, the anchor in the movie Network, performed brilliantly by Academy Award winning actor Peter Finch. In the movie, he famously encouraged people to open their windows and yell, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

The American people should not meekly accept our federal government trying to force citizens to take a vaccine against their will. The mantra, “my body, my choice” should apply to vaccines. In this country, medical privacy should be the guaranteed right of every American citizen. Whether we take a COVID-19 vaccine or not should be no one’s business, especially the federal government. These actions are hallmarks of communist dictatorships, not a 245-year-old constitutional republic like the United States of America.

 

Fortunately, there has been noteworthy progress in recent days. For example, the new commander of the Oklahoma National Guard, Army Brigadier General Thomas Mancino, informed the 10,000 troops under his authority that he will not be enforcing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate ordered by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The order impacted all branches of the military, including the National Guard in each state.

Mancino made the announcement the day after his appointment to the position by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, who had already requested that the Defense Department end any type of vaccine mandate on the members of the Oklahoma Army and Air National Guard. Stitt called the mandate “irresponsible.”

General Mancino will not enforce the mandate on the Oklahoma troops despite the Defense Department’s order to “discipline and ultimately discharge (non-vaccinated) servicemembers.”  This protection will only extend to the Oklahoma National Guard members while they are under state command, not when they are under the authority of the federal government.

In his reply to these actions in Oklahoma, Pentagon spokesperson Admiral John Kirby, stated that Secretary Austin will respond to the Governor of Oklahoma “appropriately.” He claimed that Secretary Austin believes that the vaccine mandates make the country’s armed forces, including the national guard units of each state, “a more ready force.”

Along with the decision of the Oklahoma National Guard Commander, the opponents of the vaccine mandate secured a major victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. On Friday evening, the court delivered a huge defeat to the Biden administration, which will not be able to proceed with plans to force businesses with over one hundred employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccines or weekly testing for their workforces.

According to the judges, the mandate most likely “violates the constitutional structure that safeguards our collective liberty.” The judges also claimed the mandate “grossly exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority,” and is “staggeringly overbroad.”

The decision was a powerful strike against the Biden administration’s aggressive vaccine plans. In one section of the decision, the three judge panel accurately noted the economic costs that would be imposed on American businesses, “The Mandate imposes a financial burden upon them by deputizing their participation in OSHA’s regulatory scheme, exposes them to severe financial risk if they refuse or fail to comply, and threatens to decimate their workforces (and business prospects) by forcing unwilling employees to take their shots, take their tests, or hit the road.”

These employees would “hit the road” only because of their stance on vaccines, not their work performance.

The mandate would have impacted eighty million Americans, about two-thirds of the private sector workforce in the country. According to Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who participated in the lawsuit against the Biden administration, “The Court’s action not only halts Biden from moving forward with his unlawful overreach, but it also commands the judicious review we sought.”

Let us hope this upcoming “judicious review” will put a stake in this un-American vaccine mandate for the last time.