White House's secret bird flu scare: Biden admin privately fears H5N1 could start next PANDEMIC

 

• Patient was working with dairy cows in the state also thought to be infected
• Individual suffered an eye infection, but had no other symptoms

The White House is on red alert for bird flu after health officials revealed a Texan dairy farmer caught a deadly bird flu strain from a cow.

The patient is only the second-ever American to be diagnosed with H5N1, but the virus is spreading in cattle in multiple US states after jumping from birds.

Officials at the CDC announced the case today but claimed the threat to the public remains low, insisting that early analyses suggested it had not mutated in a way that would allow it to infect people more easily.

But Senior White House officials are said to be 'closely monitoring the situation' after Jeff Zients, President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, was briefed last week.

Person in Texas infected with bird flu (cattle, stock image)© Provided by Daily Mail

Tests revealed that an unknown number of cows have tested positive for bird flu Type A H5N1 in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. Iowa is currently 'monitoring the situation' as it is also a dairy-heavy state. It comes after a goat in Minnesota tested positive last week. Bird flu has also been found in foxes, bobcats, striped skunks, raccoons and coyotes since the 2022 outbreak© Provided by Daily Mail

Officials are now receiving regular updates from HHS and USDA, according to Politico.

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President Joe Biden was mocked online Monday after he tripped over his words and referred to 'oyster bunnies' instead of the ' Easter bunnies.'©Twitter / Patsy Lynch/Shutterstock

A person in Texas has tested positive for bird flu, officials have confirmed — amid alarm over the disease spilling over into humans.

The patient, who has not been named, was working on a dairy farm in the state and had contact with cows infected with the virus.

The individual is suffering from eye inflammation, their only symptom, and has already been isolated and treated with an antiviral for flu.

Officials say the risk to the general public from bird flu is still low, although the case has alarmed experts — who fear a worst-case scenario of the disease spreading to and then starting to spread between humans.

There are also no concerns over the safety of commercial milk at this time, officials say, because milk is pasteurized — which inactivates viruses and bacteria.

They add that milk from sickly animals is also diverted and destroyed to ensure it never enters the human supply chain.

The individual was infected with H5N1 bird flu — which has led to tens of millions of chickens being slaughtered in the US over the last two years.

It has already been detected among mammals including seals — where it has decimated colonies — and farm animals such as goats, with this latest infection a sign the virus is creeping closer to causing an outbreak among people.

Experts say that the longer a virus is around in mammals undetected, the more chance it has to acquire a mutation that allows it to infect people more easily.

The CDC said the risk to the public remained 'low', but also urged doctors to be mindful of potential cases among patients.

The agency added in a statement: 'People with close or prolonged, unprotected exposures to infected birds or other animals (including livestock), or to environments contaminated by infected birds or other animals, are at greater risk of infection.'

Dr Bill Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, told DailyMail.com that on rare occasions bird flu viruses can infect other animals and humans.

'This happens periodically with humans, but you rarely get human-to-human transmission,' he said.

'The genetic part of the virus that would allow it to transmit readily from human-to-human is still missing.' 

Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat for New Jersey, said the case was 'very concerning'.

He added: 'Another example of the pandemic risk from factory farms.'

The case comes after a person was hospitalized with swine flu in Pennsylvania last month — in the first case of the year — after being infected with the H1N2 strain that commonly spreads among pigs.

And after an inmate who was working on a poultry farm tested positive for H5N1 bird flu in 2022, in a case that also caused alarm among experts.

The individual has since recovered, with his only symptoms reported as 'fatigue for a few days'. They did not pass on the virus to others. 

Like all flus, the virus is spread primarily through droplets in the air which are breathed in or get into a person's mouth, eyes or nose© Provided by Daily Mail

Dairy farm workers were already on high alert for bird flu after infections were reported in herds across Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

There are also reports of the virus affecting dairy cows in New Mexico while Iowa — which has a large dairy industry — is monitoring the situation.

Farmers first noticed cows falling ill three weeks ago with symptoms of lethargy and loss of appetite, and then producing less milk. Milk and nasal swabs then tested positive for the virus.

Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said: 'We hadn't seen anything like it before. It was kind of like they had a cold.'

USDA officials believe the cattle were infected by wild birds suffering from the virus, which could have happened via exposure to the bird's feces or oral secretions.

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/health/other/white-house-s-secret-bird-flu-scare-biden-admin-privately-fears-h5n1-could-start-next-pandemic-after-being-briefed-last-week-that-a-texan-farmer-had-caught-virus-from-a-cow/ar-BB1kTqbW

Eli Lilly And Company: Citigroup price target raised from USD 675 to USD 895

maintains its buy recommendation 

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ELI-LILLY-AND-COMPANY-13401/

Humana Inc.: TD Cowen upgrades to buy from outperform

 price target reduced from USD 427 to USD 396.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/HUMANA-INC-13000/

Hospitals Cash In on Concierge Care

 Nonprofit hospitals created largely to serve the poor are adding concierge physician practices, charging patients annual membership fees of $2000 or more for easier access to their doctors.

It's a trend that began decades ago with physician practices. Thousands of doctors have shifted to the concierge model, in which they can increase their income while decreasing their patient load.

Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, University Hospitals in the Cleveland area, and Baptist Health in Miami are among the large hospital systems offering concierge physician services. The fees, which can exceed $4000 a year, are in addition to copayments, deductibles, and other charges not paid by patients' insurance plans.

Critics of concierge medicine say the practice exacerbates primary care shortages, ensuring access only for the affluent, while driving up healthcare costs. But for tax-exempt hospitals, the financial benefits can be twofold. Concierge fees provide new revenue directly and serve as a tool to help recruit and retain physicians. Those doctors then provide lucrative referrals of their well-heeled patients to the hospitals that employ them.

"Hospitals are attracted to physicians that offer concierge services because their patients do not come with bad debts or a need for charity care, and most of them have private insurance which pays the hospital very well," said Gerard Anderson, a hospital finance expert at Johns Hopkins University.

"They are the ideal patient, from the hospitals' perspective."

Concierge physicians typically limit their practices to a few hundred patients, compared with a couple of thousand for a traditional primary care doctor, so they can promise immediate access and longer visits.

"Every time we see these models expand, we are contracting the availability of primary care doctors for the general population," said Jewel Mullen, associate dean for health equity at the University of Texas-Austin's Dell Medical School. The former Connecticut health commissioner said concierge doctors join large hospital systems because of the institutions' reputations, while hospitals sign up concierge physicians to ensure referrals to specialists and inpatient care. "It helps hospitals secure a bigger piece of their market," she said.

Concierge physicians typically promise same-day or next-day appointments. Many provide patients their mobile phone number.

Aaron Klein, who oversees the concierge physician practices at Baptist Health, said the program was initially intended to serve donors.

"High-end donors wanted to make sure they have doctors to care for them," he said.

Baptist opened its concierge program in 2019 and now has three practices across South Florida, where patients pay $2500 a year.

"My philosophy is: It's better to give world-class care to a few hundred patients rather than provide inadequate care to a few thousand patients," Klein said.

Concierge physician practices started more than 20 years ago, mainly in upscale areas such as Boca Raton, Florida, and La Jolla, California. They catered mostly to wealthy retirees willing to pay extra for better physician access. Some of the first physician practices to enter the business were backed by private equity firms.

One of the largest, Boca Raton-based MDVIP, has more than 1100 physicians and more than 390,000 patients. It was started in 2000, and since 2014, private equity firms have owned a majority stake in the company.

Some concierge physicians say their more attentive care means healthier patients. A study published last year by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley and University of Pennsylvania found no impact on mortality rates. What the study did find: Higher costs.

Using Medicare claims data, the researchers found that concierge medicine enrollment corresponded with a 30%-50% increase in total healthcare spending by patients.

For hospitals, "this is an extension of them consolidating the market," said Adam Leive, a study coauthor and an assistant professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. Inova Health Care Services in Fairfax, Virginia, one of the state's largest tax-exempt hospital chains, employs 18 concierge doctors, who each handle no more than 400 patients. Those patients pay $2200 a year for the privilege.

George Salem, 70, of McLean, Virginia, has been a patient in Inova's concierge practice for several years along with his wife. Earlier this year, he slammed his finger in a hotel door, he said. As soon as he got home, he called his physician, who saw him immediately and stitched up the wound. He said he sees his doctor about 10-12 times a year.

"I loved my internist before, but it was impossible to get to see him," Salem said. Immediate access to his doctor "very much gives me peace of mind," he said.

Craig Cheifetz, a vice president at Inova who oversees the concierge program, said the hospital system took interest in the model after MDVIP began moving aggressively into the Washington, DC, suburbs about a decade ago. Today, Inova's program has 6000 patients.

Cheifetz disputes the charge that concierge physician programs exacerbate primary care shortages. The model keeps doctors who were considering retiring early in the business with a lighter caseload, he said. And the fees amount to no more than a few dollars a day — about what some people spend on coffee, he said.

"Inova has an incredible primary care network for those who can't afford the concierge care," he said. "We are still providing all that is necessary in primary care for those who need it."

Some hospitals are starting concierge physician practices far from their home locations. For example, Tampa General Hospital in Florida last year opened a concierge practice in upper-middle-class Palm Beach Gardens, a roughly 3-hour drive from Tampa. Mount Sinai Health System in New York runs a concierge physician practice in West Palm Beach.

NCH Healthcare System in Naples, Florida, employs 12 concierge physicians who treat about 3000 patients total. "We found a need in this community for those who wanted a more personalized healthcare experience," said James Brinkert, regional administrator for the system. Members pay an annual fee of at least $3500.

NCH patients whose doctors convert to concierge and who don't want to pay the membership fee are referred to other primary care practices or to urgent care, Brinkert said.

https://www.medscape.com/s/viewarticle/hospitals-cash-concierge-care-2024a1000666

Hidden Cost Of The Border Crisis Nobody Tells You About

 by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Mass illegal immigration is pushing rescue crews in this small Texas border town close to their breaking point.

The mighty Rio Grande has become a river of misery for Eagle Pass Fire Chief Manuel Mello III and his 52 first responders.

His medics sometimes confide: “Chief, I’m sick and tired of going out to the river and pulling bodies out,” Chief Mello told The Epoch Times, as he described how much the border crisis is affecting his department’s rescue workers.

They are grappling with record numbers of drowned men, women, and children who perish while crossing the river from Mexico into the United States.

The chief’s crews are risking their lives in nightmarish scenarios with unidentified people who are sick, hurt, or dead—not just along the river, but also on nearby roads, ranches, and railways.

They are responding to immigration-related emergencies so frequently that legal residents of their own community may be left waiting for medical care.

“There are days it seems that the ambulance wails never stop,” the chief told a congressional committee recently, noting that many of those ambulances are headed toward the Rio Grande and its surrounding area.

People in the community hear those sirens. Some see the bodies washed up along the riverbank. And they feel the impact.

“It breaks my heart to know that there are children drowning in the river; there are people on the way over here being raped and being robbed,” Eagle Pass resident Ruben Camarillo, a 35-year-old father of a 9-year-old son, said.

As he stood on a city street corner in support of former President Donald Trump’s recent border-focused visit to Eagle Pass, Mr. Camarillo told The Epoch Times that illegal immigration is “causing so much death and destruction ... and we’re experiencing that firsthand.”

Rescuers Need Assistance

The Eagle Pass Fire Department is getting little, if any, help from the federal government to ease burdens stemming from the nation’s border crisis, Chief Mello said.

He’s seeking funds to cover costs from hundreds of ambulance runs carrying illegal aliens. He also is trying to secure counseling for first responders who are coping with stress and trauma that linger long after they go off duty.

While dealing with death is an accepted part of an emergency responder’s job, Eagle Pass medics are overdosing on gruesome encounters that are rare occurrences elsewhere—such as drowned children.

“The mental impact will take a long time to heal if we do not get help for them soon,” the chief told federal lawmakers.

(L–R) Firefighters Rodrigo Pineda, William Dorsey, and Lt. Julio Valdes of the Eagle Pass Fire Department recover a body from the Rio Grande river in Eagle Pass, Texas, on March 1, 2024. (Sergio Flores/AFP via Getty Images)

Above all, Chief Mello would like to see U.S. leaders stem the tide of illegal immigrants. That would be much better than throwing money at the consequences, he said.

“There needs to be some unity within the federal government so we can actually stop it,” the chief said.

In hopes that the right people finally hear—and heed—his pleas, Chief Mello shared his story with Congress in brief testimony earlier this year. He also gave a two-hour interview to The Epoch Times about the challenges that his department faces.

But the chief also emphasized that the problems extend beyond Eagle Pass. “It’s not just me with this issue,” Chief Mello said. “It’s every single fire department along the border.”

‘Epicenter’ of Crisis

Still, Eagle Pass arguably has been affected more than the average border town.

“At points, we have had 1,500 people crossing [the Rio Grande] at one time,” Chief Mello said. One evening, 2,000 people were lined up, waiting to be transferred to a U.S. Border Patrol processing station; by the next morning, the line had grown to 4,000.

That influx fits into a larger picture. Since taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden has enacted more than 500 immigration policies, many of them reversing or rolling back measures enacted by his predecessor, President Trump.

Illegal border crossings during the Biden administration have surpassed the 9 million mark, mostly at the U.S.–Mexico border, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Because of the recent surges, Eagle Pass has been in the national spotlight frequently.

Sometimes called “the epicenter of the border crisis,” the city has been the site of a standoff between state and federal government agencies. They are clashing over approaches to illegal immigration, just as the two leading presidential candidates do.

Eagle Pass Fire Chief Manual Mello stands in front of a fire truck in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 29, 2024. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

While President Trump advocates a crackdown on illegal immigration, President Biden has embraced a more “welcoming” approach and loosened restrictions.

But the crisis has escalated so much that “even some of Biden’s fellow Democrats have begun advocating for more stringent border control,” the Migration Policy Institute noted.

One Month, 17 Drownings

When Chief Mello first joined the fire department in 1992, the Rio Grande’s strong currents would snatch about six lives a year.

But the department recently recovered 17 victims drowned in a single month, the chief said, citing figures from Jan. 20 to Feb. 19.

That’s a record high during Chief Mello’s 32-year career, which includes a decade as chief. And it excludes drowning victims that the Border Patrol or other agencies picked up.

“These past couple of years, we have been going to the river, basically almost every day—sometimes three, four times a day—for drownings; for body recovery,” Chief Mello said.

The casualty count has fluctuated over the years, but before 2021, the annual number of drownings was a dozen or fewer.

Illegal immigrants cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 30, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)

However, according to Chief Mello, in 2023, his crews retrieved 43 bodies from the Rio Grande; the youngest was a 2-month-old infant.

“I’ve seen 5-year-olds, 10-year-olds, when they’re pulled out of the river, their lifeless bodies,” the chief said, his brow furrowing.

Those images are seared in his mind. “It’s something that never goes away,” he said.

Most first responders in his department are “young guys,” many of whom are fathers of children who are about the same ages as the drowning victims, Chief Mello said.

Picturing their own children as they attend to the deceased or imperiled youngsters, these tough men are sometimes reduced to tears. The chief, too, has wept. A mixture of sadness and anger spills out.

“You get sad because of what they’ve been through,” he said, “but you also go through the anger.”

That’s because, encouraged by some government leaders, the illegal immigrants keep coming despite the risks to them and their children.

Sometimes crews spot migrants preparing to cross the river and shout warnings from the riverbank. “You’re telling them, ‘Go back, go back,’ because we know that it’s dangerous,” Chief Mello said. “But then you see them tying their children down.”

Shaking his head at the thought, the chief said he has seen adults strap children onto them, using ropes or rags, “and then they walk into the river.”

“Then you can see that little baby, going up and down, bobbing for air every time they go up and down,” he said. “And that’s very sad.”

For those who survive crossing the Rio Grande, “You see the mom and dad crying, because they’ve made that trek and now that they’re on U.S. soil,” the chief said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hidden-cost-border-crisis-nobody-tells-you-about

Known terrorist spent year in US after being wrongly released by feds

 A Somali terrorist was allowed into the country and able to operate freely for almost a year before authorities realized their error and re-arrested him.

Republican lawmakers are now demanding information from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about what happened to the man – and whether US citizens funded any part of his journey or stay in the US.

The 27-year-old Somalian – who has so far not been identified by name – was on the watchlist as “a confirmed member of al Shabaab” involved in the use, manufacturing or transportation of explosives or firearms, but a border bungle meant he was released after initially being arrested for crossing into the country illegally in California in March 2023.

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Members of the hardline al Shabaab group hold their weapons in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.REUTERS

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Members of al-Shabaab.Reuters
A letter from Republican lawmakers seeks to find the al-Shabaab member’s path from illegally crossing the border to Minnesota, were he was eventually re-arrested in January, and if he received any government benefits.

It also seeks to find if he took a commercial flight with US citizens to reach their state and if his travel was funded with taxpayer dollars according to the Tuesday letter, first obtained by The Post.

The letter states: “Due to Minnesota’s far distance from the border, it is not an easy task for migrants to travel to the state…

“Did the al-Shabbab terrorist travel to Minnesota with the assistance, either direct or indirect of an [Non-Governmental Organization]? If so, which NGO was responsible for transporting the individual to Minnesota?”

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Border Patrol agents apprehend migrants in Campo, California.Pat Benic/UPI/Shutterstock

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Migrants await to be transported by Border Patrol agents in Jacumba Hotsprings, California.New York Post

The terrorist organization member had initially crossed into California and been arrested by Border Patrol. However, the Terrorist Screening Center determined he was a “mismatch” to the terror watchlist leading to his release.

Nearly a year later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nabbed him after federal authorities made a “redetermination” and released he was associated with the Somalian militant group, designated a terror organization by the National Counterterrorism Center.

In a February press conference, ICE Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner said his agency arrested the individual “within 48 hours” of learning his true identity.

“The Biden administration’s open-borders agenda allowed a known terrorist to roam freely throughout our state, and now they must answer for their inexcusable negligence,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said in a statement to The Post regarding the probe.

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Border Patrol vehicle is seen on the US side of the border wall across from Tijuana.Bloomberg News

Border Patrol has recorded an ever-growing number of migrants listed on the terror watchlist attempting to enter the US illegally in recent years.

Between October 2023 and February, agents have already recorded 70 encounters at both the southern and northern borders, according to federal data.

There were 172 such encounters recorded in fiscal year 2023, which ran from October 2022 to September 2023, 98 in fiscal year 2022, 16 in fiscal year 2021 and 14 between fiscal years 2017 and 2020.

In March, Border Patrol agents apprehended Lebanese national Basel Bassel Ebbadi, 22, who told personnel that he came to the US “to try to make a bomb,” according to internal federal documents first obtained by The Post.

Ebbadi admitted to a border agent he is a member of Hezbollah and was later confirmed as a “positive match” on the terror watchlist.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/02/us-news/lawmakers-demand-to-know-if-taxpayers-funded-al-shabaab-terrorist/

Ex-leaders of Massachusetts veterans' home avoid prison over COVID outbreak

 Two former leaders of a Massachusetts veterans' home that was the site of one of the deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks at a U.S. long-term care facility on Tuesday resolved criminal neglect charges against them without having to go to prison.

Former Holyoke Soldiers' Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director David Clinton withdrew their previous not guilty pleas during hearings in Hampshire Superior Court and admitted there were facts sufficient to find them guilty of the charges against them, prosecutors said.

The case had been set to go to trial next week. State prosecutors had asked for both men to be sentenced to one year of home confinement, with three years of probation.

At the urging of defense lawyers, Justice Edward McDonough instead continued the cases against them without a finding of guilt for a three-month period, at which point the charges could be dismissed if they comply with certain conditions.

Those requirements include barring them from working in a nursing home or initiating contact with victims' families. The judge had previously dismissed the case, but Massachusetts' highest court revived it last year.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said she was "disappointed and disheartened" by the judge's decision. "Today the justice system failed the families who lost their loved ones at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home," Campbell said.

The coronavirus caused severe illness and death in many nursing homes nationally, and the outbreak in the 247-bed, state-run facility in Holyoke was one of the deadliest.

In bringing the charges in September 2020, then-Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, now the state's Democratic governor, touted the criminal case as the first in the country tied to a COVID-19 outbreak at a nursing facility.

The case focused on a March 2020 decision to consolidate two dementia units, which prosecutors said put residents who tested positive for COVID-19 close to ones without symptoms and increased the risk that residents would contract the virus.

Prosecutors accused Walsh and Clinton of criminal neglect in the case of five veterans, saying the merger increased the danger they faced by putting them in essentially an incubator for COVID.

Walsh's lawyer, Michael Jennings, in court on Tuesday stressed how "poorly understood" the virus was at the beginning of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, and how, like his predecessors, the Marine Corps veteran lacked training to lead a nursing facility.

The state of Massachusetts in 2022 agreed to pay nearly $58 million to resolve a lawsuit by families of veterans who contracted COVID-19 during the outbreak.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-leaders-massachusetts-veterans-home-223037216.html