A Bitter Experience That Enlightens the Future: COVID-19 ...

How Will America Handle The Next Pandemic?

OPINION:

This past week, while the nation sat transfixed by endless stories of President Biden's pathological dishonesty, Hunter Biden's cocaine-laced corruption and Rep. Nancy Mace's just-plain-weird boasting of her wanton sex life, another headline of equal if not more significance may have escaped your attention.

On July 24, the World Health Organization reported that a male citizen of the United Arab Emirates had been hospitalized with MERS-CoV, a coronavirus variant with a 35% mortality rate. 

Clare Watson, a self-described fact-checker writing for ScienceAlert, introduces the story this way: "A man has tested positive for MERS-CoV in Abu Dhabi. … So far, the 28-year-old is the only case to test positive out of [multiple] close contacts identified." 

Apparently, the man checked into a private medical clinic multiple times in early June, complaining of symptoms including vomiting and pain when urinating. As his condition worsened, he was admitted into an intensive care unit at a UAE hospital, where he is receiving palliative treatment.  

Since the man was hospitalized, health authorities have identified "108 close contacts who've been monitored for 14 days [post-engagement], and all tests have so far come back negative." 

To date, "no secondary cases have been detected," according to a statement released by the World Health Organization, but the organization does take pains to clarify that it "does expect additional cases will be reported from the Middle East or other countries where the virus circulates via its animal host."

"MERS-CoV," Ms. Watson says, "was first [recognized] in the Middle East in 2012 after the virus made its way into humans via dromedary camels. It's one of [several] zoonotic viruses (those that jump from animals into people) that health authorities keep close tabs on." 

Ms. Watson goes on to report that "at least 94 MERS-CoV cases … have been reported to the WHO from the UAE since July 2013. Globally, labs have confirmed 2,605 MERS-CoV cases since 2012, and 936 associated deaths as of July 2023."

In summary, what we have here is a disease we've known about for over a decade, and in that time, it has infected slightly over 2,600 people, resulting in 936 of them dying from it. That's a mortality rate of over 35%. 

With these facts in play, what can we learn from this story regarding scientism's plans for us in the coming days? To answer this question, let's go back to Ms. Watson.

"The WHO," she tells us, "'re-emphasizes the importance of strong surveillance. …' [This Abu Dhabi case] shows that infectious disease alert systems are working as designed, albeit a little slowly. … Researchers keep scrutinizing how these systems could work better. Because as we know from the COVID-19 pandemic and outbreaks before it, what happens next — how authorities respond and continue to monitor the situation — is critical."

Ms. Watson concludes that despite "evidence of human activity intensifying spillover risk, experts warn we're not doing enough to prepare for the next pandemic. Even with widespread evidence, investment in public health pandemic data systems within the health sector continues to be overlooked by most governments globally. Such preparedness appears significantly urgent with the unprecedented pandemic era of current and emerging public health threats."

Does all this talk of "expert warnings and authority responses" sound familiar? 

In early 2020, many of us warned about the precedents we were setting via government-imposed quarantines, stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, forced vaccinations, and the like. 

We said there would be consequences to the shredding of our country's Constitution. 

We predicted the COVID-19 lockdowns would look like child's play compared to what was to come. 

We cautioned that we were opening Pandora's box for now-President Biden or any successor to put the National Guard in the streets and force everyone into their homes, perhaps even at gunpoint, should another more deadly virus come. 

We warned of martial law, of people jailed, and of setting the stage for America to look more like the ghettos of Warsaw than any of us care to admit. 

We asked what would stop the likes of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom from fencing off communities and trucking in food and other services via locked gates.

We said it over and over again: If Americans will bow so willingly to this Chicken Little nonsense because of a disease with a 99% survival rate, what in the world will we do if the next virus has 90%, 80% or, heaven forbid, 70% or even 60% survivability? 

We may soon find out.

• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.Com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.

Fears Of Outbreak As Man, 28, Struck Down With 'world's Deadliest Disease'

The World Health Organisation said it would continue to monitor the situation in the region after a 28-year-old male was left in a life-threatening condition by a virus

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MERS: WHO shares details on Middle East respiratory syndrome

Fears have been raised over a new outbreak after a man was struck down with a deadly virus.

The 28-year-old male was left in a life-threatening condition in an Abu Dhabi hospital after contracting MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus).

The World Health Organisation said it would continue to monitor the situation in the region.

MERS is closely related to Covid-19 as another member of the coronavirus family - but it is not a strain of the same virus which caused the global pandemic, and was actually discovered several years earlier.

It was first identified by scientists in 2012, and is thought to have originated from an animal source. It is typically spread after people have been in contact with camels.

A 28-year-old man was left in a life-threatening condition after contracting a type of coronavirus (

Image:

Getty Images)

It was identified at the time as a priority pathogen, as it causes severe disease that has a high mortality rate - although it is far less transmissible than Covid.

Symptoms include fever, coughing, shortness of breath, chills, body aches, sore throat, headache, diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting, and a runny nose.

The WHO said the latest MERS case involved a non-UAE national living in the city of Al Ain, who had attended a private medical clinic multiple times between June 3 and 7, 2023, complaining of vomiting, right flank pain and pain when passing urine.

MERS was first identified by scientists in 2012, and is thought to have originated from an animal source (

Image:

Getty Images)

On June 8, he attended a public hospital with vomiting and gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhoea and was given an initial diagnosis of acute pancreatitis, acute kidney injury, and sepsis.

The 28-year-old was in critical condition by June 13, and was referred to an intensive care unit (ICU) at a specialist hospital where was put on mechanical ventilation. He tested positive for MERS-CoV by PCR on June 23, 2023.

The WHO said he has "no known history of direct contact with animals" including dromedary camels, and had not consumed their raw products.

He also had no known co-morbidities, no history of contact with MERS-CoV human cases, and had not travelled recently outside the UAE.

A total of 108 contacts were identified and monitored for 14 days from the last date of exposure - but no secondary infections were found. Before this the case, the last MERS infection reported from the UAE was back in November 2021.

The first laboratory-confirmed case of MERS within the nation was in July 2013, and 94 cases of MERS-CoV have been reported since - with just 12 deaths associated with the virus in the last decade.

Outbreak Alert: MERS-CoV Symptoms Detected In Abu Dhabi; Is It Fatal?

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