Coronavirus Morning News Brief – June 1: How to Interpret Rapid Test Results, Used Car Dealer Pleads Guilty in $45 Million Covid Mask Fraud Case

‘Miracle Cure’ Doctor Who Touted hydroxychloroquine is Going to Prison

By Jonathan Spira on 1 June 2022
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The author’s negative Covid test

Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 783rd day of the pandemic.

It’s June.  The pandemic isn’t even close to being over, and Covid cases in many parts of the world, including the United States and much of Western and Central Europe, continue to rise.

More people are relying on at-home coronavirus tests than ever, given greater availability and accuracy.

It’s important, however, to understand what the test results actually signify.

First, if you are symptomatic, even if you have a negative rapid test, you continue to be dangerous to others.  The current subvariants of the omicron subvariant are highly transmissible.

A negative rapid antigen test means, however, that the person tested is not contagious with Covid at that very moment.   It cannot portend the future and does not guarantee that the testee will not become infectious at any point after taking the test.

Given the current climate in the world, if one is feeling ill, no matter what the cause, one should follow common-sense rules and stay away from others.

Given the almost constant increase in daily positive cases in the United States – the figure was over 186,000 Wednesday morning – it is evident that many do not take such precautions.

If readers wonder why we are seeing so many new cases at the present time, one of the answers is staring them in the face.

In other news we cover today, a New Jersey used car dealer pled guilty to attempting to perpetrate a $45 million coronavirus personal protective equipment fraud, a San Diego doctor who tried to smuggle in hydroxychloroquine is going to prison, and Shanghai reopened after a draconian two-month lockdown.

Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.

UNITED STATES

A New Jersey used-car dealer pled guilty in a $45 million Covid mask fraud case.  The man, Ronald Romano of Manalapan, tried to sell New York City officials 3M personal protective equipment at a 400% markup in the early and darkest day of the pandemic.  Romano not only wasn’t an authorized dealer for the 3M products but he didn’t have any masks in his possession to sell.

“Romano committed this scheme in an attempt to exploit NYC as it was trying to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and obtain these resources to help protect the lives of hospital and other frontline workers,” the indictment read.

He is charged with one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of conspiring to violate the Defense Production Act.

The city did not complete the purchase upon discovering that Romano was not an authorized reseller.

Not to be outdone, a doctor who claimed he had a “miracle cure” for Covid is going to prison after attempting to smuggle a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder into the country with the help of a Chinese supplier, prosecutors said.

San Diego resident Jennings Staley pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 30 days in prison and one year of home confinement.  .

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman in a news release. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the entire medical profession.”

The Infectious Diseases Society of America warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine, one of several unproven treatments touted by then-President Donald Trump, in the treatment of Covid-19 in 2020.

In Connecticut, Greenwich school officials reported 686 new cases in May among students and members of the faculty. The figure was the second highest total for one month in the current school year.

Finally, figures indicate that New York City’s population plummeted during the peak of the pandemic and it appears it is still shrinking.  Recent Census Bureau numbers show deaths and relocations helped drive a 300,000-person fall and more people are still moving out versus moving into the Big Apple.

GLOBAL

Shanghai’s draconian lockdown ended after a little over two months.  The lockdown caused residents there tremendous frustration, economic loss, and, occasionally, despair, according to local media reports during the period.

Hong Kong entered the third phase of its vaccine passport plan on Tuesday.  Residents 12 years of age and above must have received three doses of vaccine or received a second dose within six months in order to enter restaurants, bars, fitness centers, theaters, and other public venues.

Meanwhile, in Siping in the Jilin province, officials told residents that they need to comply with coronavirus testing orders or risk being detained, fined, and blacklisted in the country’s social credit system.

Finally, a Beijing man is under investigation after he apparently sent over 5,000 of his neighbors into quarantine because he ignored mandatory home isolation orders.  The man, who was not named but reportedly 40 years of age, was told to self-isolate after he visited a shopping plaza that the government had deemed a risk area.

In the course of his isolation, local authorities said he “went out many times, and moved in the community, risking the spread of the epidemic.” The man tested positive for Covid five days later.   Over 250 of the residents in his apartment building were sent to a government quarantine center and 5,000 others in his community were told to remain at home.

TODAY’S STATISTICS

Now here are the daily statistics for Wednesday, June 1.

As of Wednesday morning, the world has recorded 532.9 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.7 million new cases in the preceding 24 hour period, and 6.3 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 504 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.8 million.

Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Wednesday is 22,598,613, a decrease of 126,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,561,894, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 36,719, are listed as critical.  The percentage of cases considered critical is unchanged over the past 24 hours.

The United States reported 182,386 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday for the previous day, compared to 32,152 on Tuesday 9,045 on Monday, 13,762 on Sunday, 138,749 on Saturday, and 124,584 on Friday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The 7-day incidence rate continues to remain over 100,000 and is now 98,313.  Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.  Monday was a bank holiday in the United States.

The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 98,668, a 2% decrease, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources.  The average daily death toll over the same period is 298, a decrease of 6% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 26,512, a 16% increase.

In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Wednesday, recorded 85.9 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of over 1 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, over 43.2 million, and a reported death toll of 524,636.

New data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed at the end of April that the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now over 803,000, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, after the United States.  Rosstat reported that 35,584 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in the month of March, compared to 43,543 in February.

Meanwhile, Brazil now has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 666,727, and has seen 31 million cases.

France continues to occupy the number four position in total cases with 29.5 million cases, and Germany is in the number five slot with 26.4 million.  The United Kingdom, with 22.3 million cases, is now number six and is the only other country in the world with a total number of cases over the 20 million mark.

VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Wednesday, 258.5 million people in the United States – or 77.8% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 66.7%, or 221.3 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 587.4 million. Breaking this down further, 89.3% of the population over the age of 18 – or 230.6 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 76.6% of the same group – or 197.7 million people – is fully vaccinated.  In addition, 50.2% of that population, or 99.4 million people, has already received a third, or booster, dose of vaccine.

Over 65.8% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Wednesday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information.  So far, 11.83 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 5.67 million doses are now administered each day.

Meanwhile, only 16.2% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.

Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain in the single digits, if not lower.

In addition, North Korea and Eritrea are now the only two countries in the world that have not administered vaccines.

Anna Breuer contributed to this story.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)

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