FBI Director Christopher Wray has said that the bureau believes Covid-19 “most likely” originated in a “Chinese government-controlled lab”.

“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident,” he told Fox News.

It is the first public confirmation of the FBI’s classified judgement of how the pandemic virus emerged.

China has denied a lab leak in Wuhan, calling the allegation defamatory.

Mr Wray’s comments come a day after the US ambassador to China called for the country to “be more honest” about Covid’s origins.

But for how long has the FBI known? And why are we only now finding out that the FBI knows?

China Should Be Honest On Covid Origin, Says US Envoy

February 27, 2023March 1, 2023 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

BBC News:

The US envoy to China has called on the country to be “more honest” about the origins of the Covid-19 virus.

His comments come a day after US media reported that a federal agency had found the pandemic probably started from a laboratory leak in Wuhan.

Why is the general public suddenly allowed to know now that the Wuhan leak scenario is not just a “racist” conspiracy theory? Does it have anything to do with the Biden Administration’s quest to start nuclear World War III against Russia and China? Are we all now supposed to want a war with China over Taiwan because Covid?

Lab Leak Most Likely Origin Of Covid-19 Pandemic, Energy Department Now Says

February 26, 2023February 28, 2023 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

The Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. Energy Department has concluded that the Covid pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak, according to a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress.

The shift by the Energy Department, which previously was undecided on how the virus emerged, is noted in an update to a 2021 document by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s office.

Oh look, we are finally allowed to know that thing that we have all known since March of 2020.

But why now?

Covid Has Hit China’s Economy Harder Than Expected

May 16, 2022May 17, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

CNN:

The world’s second largest economy reported shocking drops in retail sales and factory production, widely missing market expectations.

It backfired.

The World Tries To Move Beyond Covid. China May Stand In The Way.

May 13, 2022May 15, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

The New York Times:

For more than two years, China kept its Covid numbers enviably low by doggedly reacting to signs of an outbreak with testing and snap lockdowns. The success allowed the Communist Party to boast that it had prioritized life over death in the pandemic, unlike Western democracies where deaths from the virus soared.
More transmissible variants like Omicron threaten to dent that success, posing a dilemma for Mr. Xi and the Chinese Communist Party.

Troops Allege Military’s COVID Vaccine Mandate Is A ‘Religious Purge’

April 28, 2022April 29, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

Military Times:

Three active duty service members appeared in a segment aired Thursday on a podcast hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, accusing the Defense Department of using the COVID-19 vaccine mandate to “intentionally purge” religious service members.
Air Force Capt. Jordan Karr, Army Maj. Samuel Sigoloff and Air Force Master Sgt. Nickolas Krupper made their cases from a variety of angles ― including religious freedom, controversy over the emergency authorization vs. Food and Drug Administration-approved version of the Pfizer vaccine and “natural immunity” to the novel coronavirus. But all agreed that the involuntary separation policy for vaccine refusal is part of a concerted effort to remove certain members of the military.

China’s ‘Zero-Covid’ Crackdown Threatens Global Economy

April 19, 2022April 29, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

Forbes:

For weeks now, economists everywhere worried that sticking with China’s Covid absolutism was a headwind the global system scarcely needs. A zero-case strategy that worked wonders in 2020 is no match for Omicron and more transmissible variants to come. Worse, it’s backfiring on Asia’s biggest economy, on which the region is relying to drive recovery efforts.
Fresh lockdowns in Shenzhen, Shanghai and elsewhere are reaching a critical mass. They mean that roughly 400 million people across 45 mainland cities are under full or partial lockdown, notes economist Lu Ting at Nomura Holdings. Lu says we’re talking about roughly 40% of Chinese gross domestic product, or about $7.2 trillion.
“Global markets may still underestimate the impact, because much attention remains focused on the Russian-Ukraine conflict and U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes,” Lu says.

Biden Administration Seeks To Dismiss Oklahoma Lawsuit Over National Guard Vaccine Mandate

March 25, 2022March 27, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

The Hill:

The Biden administration is asking an Oklahoma federal court to dismiss the state’s lawsuit over the National Guard’s vaccine mandate.
In a motion filed late Friday, the government argued that the case should be dismissed “in its entirety” after U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot of the Western District of Oklahoma turned down the state’s motion for preliminary injunction against the mandate in late December, arguing then that the plaintiff’s claims were largely without merit.
The “fundamental conclusion” of Friot’s original ruling, the government argues, now requires dismissal of the case.
The Hill has reached out to the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office for comment.
The motion follows a heated battle between the Pentagon and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) over the military’s vaccine mandate, which largely escalated late last year.

“It Is In Oklahoma,” Doctors Paying Close Attention To Stealth Omicron Variant

March 17, 2022March 18, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

KFOR:

In the U.N. health agency’s weekly report on the pandemic issued late Tuesday, WHO said there were more than 11 million new COVID-19 infections last week – about an 8% rise – and 43,000 new deaths. The number of COVID-19 deaths globally has been dropping for the past three weeks.
“COVID’s not gone,” said Dr. Dale Bratzler, OU’s Chief COVID Officer.
The biggest increase in cases were seen in the Western Pacific and Africa, where infections rose by 29% and 12% respectively. In Europe, cases inched up by about 2%.
The jump in cases is being blamed on the stealth omicron variant, which is even more contagious than the original omicron variant.
“It’s a subvariant of the original omicron. It’s even more contagious than omicron, but doesn’t appear to cause any more severe disease,” he said.

Pentagon Asks Supreme Court To Allow It To Stop The Deployment Of Unvaccinated SEALs

March 7, 2022March 8, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

NPR:

The Biden administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a major portion of its program mandating members of the military to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
In January a federal district court judge in Texas issued an order barring the Navy from requiring all SEALs to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the order, and also refused to temporarily suspend its decision pending appeal.
In an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Defense Department is arguing that the lower courts have usurped the president’s core constitutional power — and by extension the military’s power — to make decisions as to “which service members should be deployed to execute some of the military’s most sensitive and dangerous missions.” And that, the Pentagon said in its brief, imperils military readiness, noting that in one case the Navy has already been forced, against its best judgment, to deploy an unvaccinated Navy SEAL for duty on a close-quartered submarine.

Oklahoma Moves Toward ‘Endemic’ Approach To COVID-19

March 7, 2022March 8, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

KVII:

Oklahoma officials say they are shifting their response efforts to an “endemic” approach to the coronavirus.
The Oklahoman reported that interim health commissioner Keith Reed said last week the department is preparing to begin a transition “into the endemic phase of this pandemic.”
A disease reaches the endemic stage when the virus still exists in a community but becomes manageable as immunity builds.
Last month, California became the first state to formally shift to an “endemic” approach to the coronavirus. But Reed said the shift to an endemic response doesn’t change the way the health department would respond if a new variant caused another surge.

If another variant begins to surge, then I will resume following the daily stats.

COVID-19 In Arkansas: Active Cases, Hospitalizations Continue To Drop

March 7, 2022March 8, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

KARK:

The figures released by the Arkansas Department of Health showed that the state currently has 3.001 active cases, a drop of 336 from the previous day.
The ADH also reported that 322 new cases of the virus were diagnosed in the last 24 hours, pushing the state’s pandemic total to 823,532.
Hospitalization numbers continued to slide, with the number of COVID-positive patients in Arkansas hospitals falling by seven to 329. The number of patients in ICU care ticked up by two to 114, and there were 59 patients on ventilators, up three from Sunday.
There were 11 deaths attributed to COVID-19 reported Monday, which drove up the state’s total to 10,724.

2 Years Since First COVID-19 Case Detected In Oklahoma

March 6, 2022March 12, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

News 9:

It’s been two years since Governor Kevin Stitt announced that a Tulsa man became the first person in Oklahoma to test positive for COVID-19.
The man had traveled to Italy and started showing symptoms six days later.
After the man recovered, he donated his plasma to help other COVID-19 patients recover.
Since 2020, more than 1 million cases of the virus have been reported in Oklahoma.
The CDC said nearly 15,000 Oklahomans with the virus have died.
There were 3,100 active cases in the state as of Friday.

Oklahoma To Scale Back Covid Data Reporting As Cases Decline

March 5, 2022March 12, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

The Oklahoman:

With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations having fallen dramatically in Oklahoma, the state Health Department is preparing to make changes to how it approaches the pandemic response.
Interim health commissioner Keith Reed said Thursday that the department is preparing to begin a transition “into the endemic phase of this pandemic.”
The state has seen a rapid decline in COVID-19 cases after the omicron variant spurred a dramatic surge, with more Oklahomans than ever infected with the virus. Hospitalizations have also declined.
A month ago, COVID-19 hospitalizations neared 2,000, and there were over 67,000 Oklahomans with active infections. As of Friday, there were about 3,100 active infections in the state and 491 hospitalizations.
As part of the shift, the Health Department plans to scale down how frequently it reports COVID-19 data.

COVID-19 In Arkansas: Active Cases Continue To Fall

March 5, 2022March 12, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

KARK:

The ADH data showed 3,489 active cases of the virus reported Saturday, a decrease of 202 from the previous day. There were 698 new cases of the virus, raising the total cases to 822,900 since the pandemic began.
The latest figures also showed a drop of 41 patients hospitalized with the virus in the last 24 hours, moving that number to 371.
The number of patients put on ventilators went down by eight in the last day, dropping to 60, while there are 121 COVID patients in Arkansas intensive care units, down by 10 from the prior day.
Health officials reported 18 additional deaths Saturday increasing the number of people who died in Arkansas from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic to 10,699.

OSDH: 1,113 New COVID-19 Cases In Oklahoma

March 4, 2022March 8, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

KFOR:

State health leaders have reported 1,113 new COVID-19 cases on Friday.
On Friday, data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health shows that the state has had 1,024,471 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March of 2020.
That’s an increase of 1,113 cases since Thursday.
The 7-day new case average is 712.
At this point, officials believe there are 3,139 active cases of COVID-19 in Oklahoma.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oklahoma has seen 14,835 deaths as of Friday. That’s an increase of 49 deaths since Thursday’s numbers.

COVID-19 In Arkansas: Active Cases Seeing Lowest Number Since End Of June

March 4, 2022March 8, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

KARK:

Health officials reported 485 new cases of the virus, raising the state’s total to 822,202. Data also shows that active cases dropped by 409, bringing the current number to 3,691.
The ADH data also showed that the number of patients in hospitals around the state who are positive for COVID-19 rose by two, bringing the current number to 412. The number of patients in ICU care dropped by five to 131, while the number of patients on ventilators saw no change, sitting at 68.
The ADH reported 20 COVID attributed deaths in the latest data, pushing the state’s pandemic total to 10,681.

About 600 More Cases Reported In Oklahoma

March 3, 2022March 4, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

KSWO:

There are 589 new cases as of March 3 and 3,513 active cases across the state.
The new 7-day rolling average for new cases reported is 719, according to OSDH.
There are 56 cases in Southwest Oklahoma and 13 of those in ICU.

Arkansas Covid Deaths Rise By 50; Active Cases Fall To Early Delta Levels

March 3, 2022March 4, 2022 ArklahomBoyLeave a comment

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

Arkansas on Thursday reported 50 more covid-19 deaths — the second-highest one-day increase in more than a year. Meanwhile, the number of people considered still infectious fell to its lowest level since late June.
The official death toll, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose to 10,661 on Thursday, just the second time since January 2021 in which the state had recorded 50 or more covid-19 deaths in a single day. The other was Tuesday, when the state’s toll rose by 55.
The number of Arkansans hospitalized with covid fell Thursday by 22, to 410, its lowest level since Nov. 30. It was the sixth consecutive daily decline in hospitalizations.
The state’s count of cases rose by 481, an increase that was smaller by 78 than the increase a day earlier, and smaller by 90 than the one the previous Thursday.