1 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)
2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)
What We Know About the Origins of Covid-19
Key findings from The Wall Street Journal’s investigation into how the global pandemic began
Date published on July 23, 2021
...The WHO-led investigators have pushed for a second phase of research into the origins of the virus, warning that time was running out to examine blood samples and other important clues in China. Meanwhile, the Journal disclosed a U.S. intelligence report asserting that three WIV researchers became sufficiently ill in November 2019 to seek hospital care. In late May, President Biden ordered that U.S. intelligence agencies report to him within 90 days on how the virus emerged, with a focus on two scenarios—whether the coronavirus came from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.
Meanwhile, China said further investigations should now turn to other countries, suggesting that the virus might have originated outside its borders and spread via frozen food... quoted from
Jul 28 - U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jim Risch (R-ID), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Mark Warner (D-VA) sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking the administration to take three crucial steps to get to the bottom of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, Rubio introduced the COVID Act of 2021, which would authorize sanctions and other restrictions if, within 90 days after enactment, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to refuse to allow a credible and comprehensive investigation into the origins of COVID-19 to be conducted at suspect laboratories in Wuhan. Investigating the origins of COVID is crucial to preventing a similar calamity in the future.
“The PRC’s refusal to cooperate with the World Health Organization (WHO) investigation into COVID-19 origins, the gag order it imposed on Chinese scientists and medical personnel, and its ongoing obfuscation and disinformation campaign regarding the pandemic have caused severe hardship worldwide,” the senators wrote. “As the United States emerges from the pandemic, we believe that, in addition to addressing gaps in international pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, including within our own government, three crucial steps are necessary to prevent a similar calamity in the future.”
These steps include:
- Directing the intelligence community to continue prioritizing a thorough investigation into the origins of COVID-19 until there is a conclusion in which the United States has a high degree of confidence;
- Working with allies and partners to use all available resources and tools to pressure Beijing into permitting a transparent forensic investigation in the People’s Republic of China; and
- Completing a thorough review of existing and prior U.S. government support or funding for research collaboration with the PRC related to gain-of-function, synthetic biology, biotechnology, or other research areas that pose dual-use concerns.
“We expect that Congress will remain fully informed of and consulted on your efforts to reach definitive conclusions regarding the origins of this pandemic, as well as any concrete policy recommendations,” the senators concluded. “We stand ready to work with your administration in a bipartisan manner to seek answers to these important questions.”
Rubio is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The full text of the letter is below... more
Aug 2, 2021
Florida health officials report more than 21,000 new infections in a single day. However, the state has a 60% vaccination rate for people over the age of 12. Dr. Kartik Cherabuddi, an epidemiologist and associate professor of infections diseases at the University of Florida, joins CBSN's Lana Zak to discuss how concerning the surge in Florida is and why masks are needed to slow the variant down.
Sen. Marco Rubio mocked Defense Sec. Austin for masking up in the Philippines, where masks are required and COVID-19 is surging
Jul 31 - ...Rubio's home state of Florida is dealing with its own COVID-19 surge. The state leads the US in COVID-19 cases, and has the highest number of residents hospitalized with COVID-19 per capita, according to data compiled by the Times. It also has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita, after Louisiana.... quoted from
Jul 30 - ..."Rubio is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, so you would think if he saw a cabinet member wearing a protective get-up he usually doesn't in a foreign country, it might occur to him that there could be different rules or norms there. And he could have saved himself scorn by doing a little research before the rip," she said. "And Rubio, mocking masks, that's really where we are still as we learn that vaccinated people while hugely protected from hospitalization or death compared to the unvaccinated can spread the delta variant perhaps as easily as chickenpox."
She went on to elaborate, adding, "Florida, Rubio's state, is currently the worst in the nation when it comes to the spread of delta. Florida is now averaging 10,000 new cases a day -- that is up 61 percent since last week. More than 8,000 people are in the hospital right now -- the most since January. Every county in Rubio's state except for one is experiencing high transmission"...
Rubio is a Cuban American from Miami, Florida. After serving as a city commissioner for West Miami in the 1990s, he was elected to represent the 111th district in the Florida House of Representatives in 2000. Subsequently, he was elected speaker of the Florida House, and was Speaker for two years beginning in November 2006. Upon leaving the Florida legislature in 2008 due to term limits, Rubio taught at Florida International University.
Rubio was elected to the United States Senate in 2010. In April 2015, he decided to run for president instead of seeking reelection to the Senate. He suspended his campaign for president on March 15, 2016, after losing the Florida Republican primary to the eventual winner of the presidential election, Donald Trump. He then decided to run for reelection to the Senate, winning a second term later that year. While Rubio was harshly critical of Trump in the 2016 election, he was pro-Trump during Trump's presidency. Due to his influence on U.S. policy on Latin America during the Trump administration, he was described as a "virtual secretary of state for Latin America". from Wikipedia
Aug 2, 2021
Aut. 2 - A preponderance of evidence proves the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a Chinese research facility, said a report by U.S. Republicans released on Monday, a conclusion that U.S. intelligence agencies have not reached.
The report also cited "ample evidence" that Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientists - aided by U.S. experts and Chinese and U.S. government funds - were working to modify coronaviruses to infect humans and such manipulation could be hidden.
Representative Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the report by the panel's Republican staff. It urged a bipartisan investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that has killed 4.4 million people worldwide. (Graphic on global cases and deaths)
China denies a genetically modified coronavirus leaked from the facility in Wuhan - where the first COVID-19 cases were detected in 2019 - a leading but unproven theory among some experts. Beijing also denies allegations of a cover-up.
Other experts suspect the pandemic was caused by an animal virus likely transmitted to humans at a seafood market near the WIV.
"We now believe it's time to completely dismiss the wet market as the source," said the report. "We also believe the preponderance of the evidence proves the virus did leak from the WIV and that it did so sometime before September 12, 2019."
The report cited what it called new and under-reported information about safety protocols at the lab, including a July 2019 request for a $1.5 million overhaul of a hazardous waste treatment system for the facility, which was less than two years old.
In April, the top U.S. intelligence agency said it concurred with the scientific consensus that the virus was not man-made or genetically modified. read more
U.S. President Joe Biden in May ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to accelerate their hunt for the origins of the virus and report back in 90 days. read more
A source familiar with current intelligence assessments said the U.S. intelligence community has not reached any conclusion whether the virus came from animals or the WIV. source from