Category: pandemic

Cathay Pacific to Cut More Flights Due to Pandemic Restrictions

HONG KONG—Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways said on Thursday it will cut more passenger flights and operate a reduced cargo capacity after the city tightened restrictions fearing a fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline will operate about 20 percent of its pre-pandemic cargo capacity and around 2 percent of its pre-pandemic…


The Shifting Goalposts of Pandemic Policies

News Analysis From flip-flopping on mask mandates, to initially leaving borders unprotected against travellers from the pandemic’s epicentre, to applying lockdowns inconsistently, to piling on more conflicting measures amid rising Omicron cases, Canadians have endured a never-ending see-saw of COVID-19 policies since the virus outbreak began in China—in many cases presented in the name of…


‘Zero-COVID’: Xi’an Massive Lockdown Causes Starvation and Misery; China’s AI War on the US

China locked down a city of 13 million. Those who tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus are taken to quarantine, and those locked inside their homes are reported to be without food—all to reinforce the regime’s so-called “zero-COVID” policy. But there is a twist this time. A series of reports from The New York…


Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County Postpones Jury Trials, Students Take Classes Remotely

Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judges have voted to postpone all jury trials for at least a month, due to high numbers of COVID-19 cases, the court has announced. The decision comes as cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus continue to remain at record levels throughout the state, marking the second time the…


Conservatives Ask Privacy Czar to Probe Pandemic Related Use of Mobile Location Data

OTTAWA—A Conservative MP is asking Canada’s privacy commissioner to investigate federal reliance on data from mobile devices to understand travel patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien, Tory MP John Brassard accuses the Public Health Agency of Canada of secretly using the pandemic to violate the privacy of Canadians….


Omicron May Help End the Pandemic This Winter

Commentary In the 1960s, measles was devastating in many parts of the world, with the child mortality rate as high as 50 percent. Scientists isolated the virus from patients and cultivated it in chicken embryo fibroblasts. This process, called the attenuation process, made the virus less virulent. Less virulent viruses are sometimes used as vaccines, known…


From Home to ‘Hybrid’: Working Remote to Remain the Trend If Not the Norm

The posting for the job ad reads like this: You will work from home, full-time. It will require a quiet, distraction-free environment with access to high-speed internet. We will provide you with the computer, technology, and equipment needed to successfully perform your job. You will be responsible for providing high-speed internet. The job posting is…


French Burn Fewer Cars on New Year’s Eve Due to Pandemic

PARIS—Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that appeared in decline this year, which saw only 874 vehicles burned. The number of cars burned overnight has declined compared to New Year’s Eve 2019 when 1,316 vehicles went up…


Omicron May Not Be the Final Variant, but It May Be the Final Variant of Concern

It is controversial whether viruses are alive, but – like all living things – they do evolve. This fact has become abundantly clear during the pandemic, as new variants of concern have emerged every few months. Some of these variants have been better at spreading from person to person, eventually becoming dominant as they out-compete…


COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Fail the Jacobson Test

Commentary Americans are a freedom-loving lot. It is our founding ethos and we have defended it across the world on numerous occasions. At the same time, we have a strong tradition of social altruism and dedication to the common good, especially in times of crisis. Now that the Covid-19 pandemic has been with us for…