New Coronavirus News from 23 May 2022

COVID: North Koreans suffer amid surge in cases, food shortages [DW (English), 23 May 2022]

by Julian Ryall

Lockdowns and the rapid spread of COVID-19 are adding to the woes of people in North Korea — on top of food shortages, poor medical facilities and an economic crisis.

The last time Ken Eom managed to speak with his family in North Korea, they did not seem particularly worried about contracting the coronavirus. A far more immediate concern was obtaining enough food or money to buy food, he said. But he said that may have changed in recent weeks.

Eom, who escaped from the North in 2010 and now lives in South Korea, said he has not been able to speak with his family since Pyongyang finally admitted on May 12 that the virus was running virtually unchecked through its population. He cannot contact them regularly as it is dangerous to try to call anyone in the North, but he fears the virus is likely to be widespread in his hometown.

The illness and the strict lockdown imposed on the 26 million people in the country will add to the hardship felt by most, he said. Combined with the worsening food shortages, the situation has become "a disaster."

"The last time I was able to get through to them, they did not even mention the virus," said Eom, an advocate for defectors and a keynote speaker for the Seoul-based Freedom Speakers International organization.

"The government told them there was no coronavirus in North Korea, so they believed that," he told DW. "They just asked me to send them money so they could get some food. But now I am sure they are afraid about the virus as well," he said.

Economic crisis follows border closures
Eom's family used to make a precarious living acting as brokers for smugglers crossing the border between North Korea and China with cargoes of people, cash or consumer goods that could be sold in the North. The government shut the nation's borders in early 2020 with the aim of keeping the virus at bay — also cutting off many people from any sort of income, however illicit.

With limited access to medicines, few doctors or hospitals, and a largely malnourished and unhealthy population, severing all links with the outside world seemed to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the best solution.

Until May 12, the government consistently reported that its countermeasures had been a complete success and that no cases of the virus had been reported in the country. Medical experts said that claim was extremely unlikely, but all foreign aid agencies had already been ordered to leave the country. There was no way to verify reports in dissident media that people were being diagnosed with unspecified fevers, and that those who died were being hastily buried.

Soaring North Korean caseload
Analysts have said the situation must be dire if the regime has had to admit that its efforts to seal the nation off from the rest of the world have failed, but the numbers appear to back that up. On Sunday alone, state media reported 186,090 new cases of "fever" across the country, putting the total number of apparent infections at 2.65 million — more than 9% of the entire 25.78 million residents of the North, just eight days after it first admitted it had a problem.

Government statistics claim that 2.01 million people have recovered, although the concern is that they have merely been released from hospitals or clinics ill-equipped to treat them and may spread the virus further afield. The actual number of people infected with the illness is almost certainly far higher than the official figures, as the North has virtually no capacity to test people. The experience of other countries shows that many people may have the virus and spread it, even if they do not display any symptoms.

"Perhaps the people believed the government about the virus before, but they don't anymore," Eom said. "And I am very worried for my family. There is effectively no medical system to care for people who are ill, especially those who have a contagious disease like coronavirus, and nothing to help those who are most vulnerable.

"And this comes on top of the food shortages, with people told to stay in their homes," he added.

Youngchang Song, a member of the Seoul-based Worldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea, said he is hearing similar stories from more defectors.

"It is like the 'perfect storm' there at the moment," he said. "People were already suffering from shortages of food because the spring months, before the first crops can be harvested, is well-known to be a time of hunger.

"Now people cannot go out to work in the fields to tend their crops, there is nothing to eat and no medicines in the shops, they cannot go to the underground markets and nothing is being smuggled over the border from China," he said. "There is just nothing for them."

"The defectors that I know who have been able to speak with friends or family there are in despair," he said. "There is nothing they can do to help."

Kim ignores offers of assistance
The South Korean government and UN agencies have made it clear that they are ready and willing to help the North, although Pyongyang has ignored those offers and appealed only to China and Russia, its traditional allies, for help. Analysts are not optimistic that Kim will put the needs of his people ahead of the loss of face that would be associated with accepting South Korean or UN aid.

"Considering the terrible human and economic toll COVID can cause in North Korea, one would hope Pyongyang will finally accept international assistance," said Leif-Eric Easley, an associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. "But just because North Korea has confirmed infections doesn't mean it will come hat-in-hand to the international community.

"Kim's COVID playbook is probably to rely on more lockdowns, belt-tightening and domestic propaganda while accepting discreet Chinese assistance," he said. "Even if the regime finally prioritizes people's lives over imagined security concerns surrounding international aid, North Korean political and logistical hurdles will make expedited vaccine deliveries difficult."

Kim Jong Un, other North Koreans attend large funeral amid COVID worry [PBS NewsHour, 23 May 2022]

By Hyung-Jin Kim et al.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A huge number of North Koreans including leader Kim Jong Un attended a funeral for a top official, state media reported Monday, as the country maintained the much-disputed claim that its suspected coronavirus outbreak is subsiding.

Since admitting earlier this month to an outbreak of the highly contagious omicron variant, North Korea has only stated how many people have fevers daily and identified just a fraction of the cases as COVID-19. Its state media said Monday that 2.8 million people have fallen ill due to an unidentified fever but only 68 of them died since late April, an extremely low fatality rate if the illness is COVID-19 as suspected.

North Korea has limited testing capability for that many sick people, but some experts say it is also likely underreporting mortalities to protect Kim from political damage.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim attended the funeral Sunday of Hyon Chol Hae, a Korean People’s Army marshal who played a key role in grooming him as the country’s next leader before Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, died in late 2011.

In what was one of the country’s biggest state funerals since his father’s death, a bare-faced Kim Jong Un carried Hyon’s coffin with other top officials who wore masks before he threw earth to his grave with his hands at the national cemetery. Kim and hundreds of masked soldiers and officials also deeply bowed before Hyon’s grave, state TV footage showed.

State TV earlier showed thousands of other masked soldiers clad in olive-green uniforms gathered at a Pyongyang plaza taking off their hats and paying a silent tribute before a funeral limousine carrying Hyon’s body left for the cemetery. KCNA said “a great many” soldiers and citizens also turned out along streets to express their condolences.

Kim often arranges big funerals for late senior officials loyal to his ruling family and shows a human side in a possible bid to draw the support of the country’s ruling elite and boost internal unity.

KCNA quoted Kim as saying that “the name of Hyon Chol Hae would be always remembered along with the august name of Kim Jong Il.” He wept when he visited a mourning station established for Hyon last week.

During Sunday’s funeral, most people, except for Kim Jong Un and honor guards, wore masks. The Norths’ ongoing outbreak was likely caused by the April 25 military parade and related events that drew large crowds of people who wore no masks.

North Korea maintains a nationwide lockdown and other stringent rules to curb the virus outbreak. Region-to-region movement is banned, but key agricultural, economic and other industrial activities were continuing in an apparent effort to minimize harm to the country’s already moribund economy.

KCNA said Monday that 167,650 new fever cases had been detected in the past 24-hour period, a notable drop from the peak of about 390,000 reported about one week ago. It said one more person died and that the fever’s fatality rate was 0.002 percent.

“All the people of (North Korea) maintain the current favorable turn in the anti-epidemic campaign with maximum awareness, in response to the call of the party central committee for defending their precious life and future with confidence in sure victory and redoubled great efforts,” KCNA said.

Experts question the North’s tally, given North Korea’s 26 million people are mostly unvaccinated and about 40 percent are reportedly undernourished. The public health care system is almost broken and chronically short of medicine and supplies. In South Korea, where most of its 52 million people are fully vaccinated, the fatality rate of COVID-19 was 0.13 percent as of Monday.

South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers last week that some of the fever cases tallied by North Korea include people suffering from other illnesses like measles, typhoid and pertussis. But some civilian experts believe most of the cases were COVID-19.

Before admitting to the omicron outbreak on May 12, North Korea had insisted it was virus-free throughout the pandemic. It snubbed millions of vaccines offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program and has not responded to offers of medicine and other aid from South Korea and the United States.

The World Health Organization has also pleaded for more information on the outbreak but not gotten a response.

Some observers say North Korea would only receive assistance from China, its last major ally, because Western aid shipments could hurt Kim’s leadership as he’s repeatedly called for “a self-reliance” to fight against U.S.-led pressure campaigns.

Fauci COVID Criticism May Set Him Up for Failure on Monkeypox [Newsweek, 23 May 2022]

BY ZOE STROZEWSKI

Health authorities are investigating several cases of monkeypox that have recently emerged throughout the world, including in the U.K., Germany and the U.S., where the public's trust in the nation's top infectious disease expert may be hindered by past criticism.

While the U.S. has only confirmed one case of monkeypox so far amid the current rise, previous criticisms of Dr. Anthony Fauci may make it more difficult for him to lead certain segments of the public through a larger monkeypox outbreak, according to one expert.

Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the president and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), became a household name in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But conservative media attacks and other factors, including criticism of masking and vaccination requirements, resulted in a gradual degradation of American confidence in Fauci.

As of April this year, for example, research from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that more than half of adults, 53 percent, trust COVID-19 vaccine information from Fauci. But among Republicans, that figure is much lower. Between December 2020 and April 2022, the share of Republicans who said they trusted Fauci to provide reliable COVID-19 vaccine information fell from 47 percent to 25 percent.

Mollyann Brodie is the executive vice president, chief operating officer and director of the Public Opinion and Survey Research Program at the KFF. She told Newsweek that at the start of the pandemic in 2020, Fauci had "a lot of trust" among the American public in general. He maintained a high level of trust among Democrats, but it fell among Republicans "as the pandemic became more and more polarized," she said.

"I think it's just really reflective of the polarized nature that the pandemic has played out over the past few years, even more so than as a direct reflection on Dr. Fauci or any other public health official," Brodie said.

If monkeypox were to become more prevalent in the U.S., there's a possibility that the partisan distrust of Fauci and other public health leaders and institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic could carry over, Brodie said.

When asked whether the divided trust could ultimately cause Fauci to fail in leading the U.S. through a monkeypox outbreak, she said that there is a concern that a segment of the population could potentially not listen to warnings during the emergence of another health crisis. Brodie reiterated that research indicates that the majority of Americans still do trust Fauci and institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration.

"Even though there's a segment of the population that may be more resistant to hearing public health messages, there's still a fair level of trust in the nation more broadly," Brodie said.

How the public may respond in the future "would just depend on how politically the next public health emergency is portrayed by the media and how effective the government and the public health response is seen by various aspects of the political system," she added.

Conservative media and some Republican figures have repeatedly taken aim at Fauci in the more than two years since the pandemic began. One journalist, for example, compared Fauci to the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, while Senator Rand Paul has accused him of using his position of power to take aim at scientists he disagreed with.

The one confirmed case of monkeypox in the U.S. is a far cry from the current numbers regarding COVID-19 in America. The U.S. last week surpassed 1 million known COVID deaths, The New York Times reported.

"Transmission of monkeypox virus occurs when a person comes into contact with the virus from an animal, human, or materials contaminated with the virus. The virus enters the body through broken skin (even if not visible), respiratory tract, or the mucous membranes (eyes, nose, or mouth)," the CDC explained, calling monkeypox a "rare disease."

The one confirmed case of monkeypox in the U.S. was discovered in a Massachusetts man. New York City is also investigating another possible case in a patient who tested positive for the virus that causes monkeypox, Axios reported on Saturday.

Newsweek reached out to Fauci via the NIAID and the WHO for comment.

Fauci tells Princeton grads COVID ‘left an indelible mark,’ warns against ‘normalization of untruths’ [NJ.com, 23 May 2022]

By Matt Arco

The nation’s most well-known doctor on Monday gave advice to the latest crop of graduates at Princeton University, urging them to live fulfilling lives while also making it clear “COVID left an indelible mark on you and your entire generation.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who became the face fighting the coronavirus epidemic since 2020, didn’t mince words about the lasting effects of the pandemic as he delivered the keynote address at the school’s commencement ceremony.

“The profound ways COVID-19 has disrupted your student years are unprecedented,” Fauci said, with the Princeton University’s historic Nassau Hall in the backdrop as up to 5,000 people gathered for the first time in three years to celebrate graduates on “Class Day.” There are 1,234 members of the Class of 2022 who will graduate tomorrow.

Fauci argued the pandemic “has shone a spotlight on one of the greatest failings in our society: the lack of health equity” in the U.S. “As a physician, I feel that I must highlight this for you today,” he said.

Minorities disproportionally bore the brunt of the pandemic because they were more likely to be essential workers who couldn’t isolate themselves at home and are disproportionally at risk for underlying health issues, he said.

“Let us promise ourselves that our ‘corporate memory’ of the tragic reality of the inequities experienced with COVID-19 does not fade after we return to our new normal,” Fauci said. “It will take a decades-long commitment for society to address these disparities. I strongly urge you to be part of that commitment.”
But he also offered words of hope.

“Having said that, I am in awe of you all since each of you deserves enormous credit and respect for your extraordinary adaptability, resilience, and dedication to learning, completing your studies, and graduating despite immense difficulties and uncertainties,” he said.

Fauci first gained some national prominence in the 1980s after “an unusual pneumonia among gay men in Los Angeles” was discovered. He told the students after he graduated from medical school about a decade earlier he originally planned to pursue a “successful” and “comfortable career in investigative medicine.”

The subsequent HIV/AIDS pandemic, though, changed his course.

“I am still not sure what drove me to do this, but I decided right then and there to make an abrupt turn in the direction of my career, abandon my other research pursuits and investigate the pathogenesis of this mysterious disease,” he said. “My mentors were horrified and insisted that I was making a career-ending mistake and that this disease would amount to nothing.”

His critics, of course, were wrong.

About 700,000 people died from complications of AIDS between 1981 and 2018 in the U.S., according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. According to the World Health Organization, 35 million people died worldwide.

Fauci’s message to students was simple.

“Please believe me that you will confront the same types of unprecedented events that I have experienced, regardless of what directions your careers or lives take. And so, expect the unexpected and stay heads up for an unanticipated opportunity should it present itself,” he said. “At the end of the day, go with your own gut.”

Though he urged students to dream big and be on the lookout for opportunities that could shape others’ lives — and, in some cases, save lives — he ended his speech with a stark warning about what the future holds.

He shied away from using the words directly. But what Fauci, who has said he would step down from his position if former President Donald Trump were to win another election, sounded an alarm over fake news.

“What troubles me is that differences of opinion or ideology have in certain situations been reflected by egregious distortions of reality. Sadly, elements of our society have grown increasingly inured to a cacophony of falsehoods and lies that often stand largely unchallenged, ominously leading to an insidious acceptance of ‘what I call the ‘normalization of untruths,’” Fauci said.

“We see this happen daily ... (and) if you take away nothing else from what I say today, I appeal to you, please remember this,” he said. “It is our collective responsibility not to shrug our shoulders and sink to tacit acceptance of the normalization of untruths because if we do, lies become dominant and reality is distorted.”

He added: “Then truth means nothing, integrity means nothing, and facts mean nothing.”

Man Pleads Guilty to Making Threats Against Dr. Anthony Fauci and Other Federal and State Health Officials [Department of Justice, 23 May 2022]

Man Pleads Guilty to Making Threats Against Dr. Anthony Fauci and Other Federal and State Health Officials
Defendant Sent a Series of Emails Sent Over Seven Months Threatening to Kill the Federal Officials and their Families

Greenbelt, Maryland – Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr., age 56, most recently of Snowshoe, West Virginia, pleaded guilty today to making threats against a federal official, specifically for sending emails threatening harm to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the current Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Connally further admitted threatening Dr. Francis Collins, the former Director of the NIH, Dr. Rachel Levine, currently the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as a Massachusetts public health official and a religious leader.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron and Special Agent in Charge George Adams, Office of Investigations, Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to Connally’s plea agreement, from December 28, 2020 to July 25, 2021, Connally used an anonymous email account from a provider of secure, encrypted email services based in Switzerland, to send a series of emails to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the current Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (“NIAID”) and the Chief Medical Advisor to President of the United States, threatening to harm and/or kill Dr. Fauci and members of his family. One of the emails threatened that Dr. Fauci and his family would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire.” On April 24, 2021 alone, Connally sent seven threatening emails starting at 10:05 p.m.

As detailed in Connally’s plea agreement, also on April 24, 2021, beginning at 9:34 p.m., Connally sent Dr. Francis Collins, the then-Director of the NIH, a series of four emails threatening Dr. Collins and his family with physical assault and death if Dr. Collins did not stop speaking about the need for “mandatory” COVID-19 vaccinations.

As stated in his plea agreement, Connally admitted that he sent the threats to Drs. Fauci and Collins with the intent to intimidate or interfere with the performance of their official duties and with the intent to retaliate against Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins for performing their official duties, including discussing COVID-19 and its testing and prevention.

Connally also admitted sending emails threatening harm to three other individuals. Specifically, on November 24, 2020, Connally sent a series of six threatening emails to Dr. Rachel Levine, then Secretary of Health for the State of Pennsylvania, at Dr. Levine’s email account at the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The subject lines and body of the emails threatened Dr. Levine with physical violence and death. Similarly, on August 31, 2020, Connally sent an email threatening physical violence and death for a public health official in Massachusetts. Finally, on April 21, 2021, Connally sent a series of four threatening emails to four individuals who work for a religious institution in Newark, New Jersey. The four emails threatened physical violence and death to a religious leader at the institution.

Investigation revealed that the anonymous encrypted email account was associated with Connally. On July 27, 2021, law enforcement executed search warrants at Connally’s rental residence in Snowshoe, West Virginia, as well as on his vehicle seizing five Apple laptops and two cellular telephones belonging to Connally.

Connally faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for threats against a federal official. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has scheduled sentencing for August 4, 2022 at 11:30 a.m.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the HHS OIG for its work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rajeev R. Raghavan and Jessica C. Collins, who are prosecuting the federal case.