Archive for the ‘Activism’ Category

New Engineered Coronaviruses Under Development

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/09/09/new-engineered-coronavirus.aspx?

New Engineered Coronaviruses Are Under Development

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola Fact Checked
September 09, 2020

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Mounting evidence now suggests SARS-CoV-2 is a laboratory creation, whether released by accident or on purpose. The real conspiracy theory is that SARS-CoV-2 is a naturally occurring virus
  • Experimentation with fully infectious SARS-CoV-2 has exploded in recent months. Such research is now taking place in almost every BSL-3 and 4 facility in the U.S. and overseas
  • At least one safety breach involving a modified SARS-CoV-2 virus has already occurred this year, when a lab mouse injected with the virus bit the researcher
  • Information obtained via FOIA requests reveals researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are working on “corona-thrax.” They intend to insert the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein — which allows the virus to gain entry into human cells — into Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax
  • The National Institutes of Health is demanding answers about coronavirus research that EcoHealth Alliance subcontracted to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, using NIH grants

Event 201 was a pandemic preparedness simulation hosted in New York City by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the World Economic Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in October 2019 — 10 weeks before the COVID-19 outbreak first began in Wuhan, China.

This scripted tabletop exercise — select portions of which are featured in the introduction of ‘Plandemic 2’ above — included everything we now see playing out in real time, in the real world, from PPE shortages, lockdowns and removal of civil liberties to mandated vaccination campaigns, riots, economic turmoil and the breakdown of social cohesion.

Many of the discussions revolved around the development of strategies to limit and counter the spread of expected “misinformation” about the pandemic and subsequent vaccines.

In addition to censorship of certain views, their plan included the use of celebrities and other social media influencers to “model” and promote adherence to pandemic response edicts. I discussed this in “The PR Firm Behind WHO’s Celeb Endorsements.”

Just as in real life, one of the pieces of “misinformation” that would need to be countered was rumors that the virus had been created and released from a bioweapons laboratory.

Naturally-Occurring SARS-CoV-2 Is the Real Conspiracy Theory

Mounting evidence now suggests SARS-CoV-2 is indeed a laboratory creation, whether released by accident or on purpose. Increasingly, “conspiracy theories” are turning out to be factual conspiracies, and as noted in an August 20, 2020, article1 on Wio News.

The article was written by Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D., a former researcher with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute, who says the real conspiracy theory here is that SARS-CoV-2 is a naturally occurring virus. Sellin’s article reviews some of the studies that offer significant clues to the virus’ origin, including the fact that SARS-CoV-2 has:2

  • A very high infection rate, thanks to it being more selective for the human ACE2 receptor than SARS-Cov-1 (responsible for the 2003 SARS pandemic)3
  • A unique furin cleavage site not found in any closely related bat coronaviruses that allows the virus to fuse to human cells, thereby enhancing its pathogenicity and transmissibility4,5,6,7
  • Certain spike protein structures that are similar to those found in the MERS-CoV virus, which allow the virus to attach using not only the ACE2 receptor but also the DPP4 receptor, like MERS-CoV. This dual receptor strategy might be responsible for its ability to infect a wide range of human tissues8

Together, these features make SARS-CoV-2 exceptionally well-adapted for human infection, which is odd, considering it “came out of nowhere” and hasn’t been found in any other living creature.

The Mojiang Miners Theory

Sellin goes on to discuss a theory9 put forth by Jonathan Latham, Ph.D., and Allison Wilson, Ph.D., two molecular biologists (Latham is also a virologist). I interviewed Latham about some of their theories in July 2020. His interview is featured in “Cover-Up of SARS-CoV-2 Origin?”

Latham and Wilson’s theory can be summarized as follows: A virus similar to SARS-CoV-2 — known as RaTG13, SARS-CoV-2’s closest relative — infected six Chinese miners in 2012. The virus then evolved into its current virulent form once inside the miners, as all were ill for an extended period of time.

Tissue samples from the patients were sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for testing, which revealed the infection was caused by a SARS-like coronavirus from horseshoe bats. This virus, now dubbed SARS-CoV-2, then somehow escaped from the Wuhan lab in 2019.

Sellin, however, isn’t buying it, saying that, while it’s a well-documented article,10 it’s “marred by offering an untenable theory of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 based on the serendipitous linking of a series of undocumented assumptions.” He explains:11

“First of all, the extent of viral evolution in a single patient that would be required to go from RaTG13 to SARS-CoV-2, about 1,200 nucleotides, is unprecedented in the annals of scientific inquiry.

Latham and Wilson attribute the adaptation to the viral load within a large lung surface area and, in particular, a lengthy infection lasting over four months.

Yet, despite the presence of an active infection of a coronavirus highly adapted for human infection, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, even though the Chinese clinical study provides no indication of special quarantine efforts and a therapeutic regime resembling that for ordinary respiratory infections, including fungal infections.

Although it seems likely that the miners experienced an initial viral respiratory infection and secondary, probably bacterial infections, tests for viral infections, including SARS-CoV-1, were negative during the course of hospitalization.

It was only afterwards, that the Chinese clinical study mentions a positive test for an unidentified virus, one possibility being henipa-like virus, which was also discovered12 in the same cave along with numerous types of bat coronaviruses.”

Things Simply Don’t Add Up

Sellin points out the fact that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducting research on RaTG13 in 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, SARS-CoV-2, obtained from the tissue samples from the miners, was supposedly still on ice in that same facility.

Why would they be experimenting with RaTG13 if a more virulent form of the virus was already available? What’s more, were the miners’ illness the result of direct bat-to-human transmission, it should have been front page news, yet it wasn’t.

“If the Latham and Wilson theory proves anything, it demonstrates the lengths one must go in evidence-stretching to show that SARS-CoV-2 is naturally-occurring, when one begins by precluding the possibility that it was manufactured in a laboratory,” Sellin writes.

In fairness, Latham and Wilson have presented several theories for a laboratory escape — discussed in our interview — so I don’t think their starting point is one of trying to prove that the virus is a natural occurrence. Sellin is not alone in his observation that this zoonotic transmission should have been a groundbreaking discovery, though.

In “Why Was Wuhan Lab Locked Down When Outbreak Began?” I review the writings of an anonymous (possibly Chinese) scientist who has published13,14 an alternative theory — including raw data — in a blog called Nerd Has Power.15 The unnamed writer suggests RaTG13 is a fabrication and doesn’t actually exist.

If it did exist, it would have been groundbreaking news back in 2013, yet the scientist that is supposed to have made the discovery, Shi Zheng-Li, got her fame from the publication of two other bat coronaviruses that same year instead. The gene sequence for RaTG13 wasn’t published until February 3, 2020.16

According to that 2020 paper, the sequencing of RaTG13 had not previously been performed. Why did she wait until people started questioning the origin of SARS-CoV-2 to publish the RaTG13 genetic sequence?

What’s more, according to the anonymous scientist, the genetic sequence of RaTG13’s spike protein “reveals clear evidence of human manipulation.” And then there’s Zheng-Li’s statement to Scientific American in June 2020, where she claimed the miners were sickened from a fungal infection17 — not a coronavirus.

Confusing matters further, there’s evidence suggesting RaTG13 was previously published in a 2016 paper, but under the name BtCoV/4991, thereby obscuring its connection to the Mojiang mine where the miners were sickened. Latham discussed this convoluted story in “Cover-Up of SARS-CoV-2 Origin?” (see earlier hyperlink).

New Engineered Coronaviruses Are Under Development

As if there aren’t enough unanswered questions already, uncertainty is piled on top of uncertainty as experimentation with fully infectious SARS-CoV-2 has exploded in recent months.

High-security biosafety labs around the world are clamoring to get in on the action, and according to Richard Ebright, an epidemiologist at Rutgers University, such research is now taking place “in every, or almost every, BSL-3 facility in the U.S. and overseas.”18

In an August 17, 2020 article,19 Latham reports that at least one safety breach involving a modified SARS-CoV-2 virus has already occurred this year, when a lab mouse injected with the virus bit the researcher.

The event reportedly occurred at the high-security lab at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, sometime after April 1, but was only discovered because Edward Hammond of Prickly Research had filed a FOIA request. Hammond told Latham:20

“It is evident that swarms of academic researchers with little prior experience with coronaviruses have leapt into the field in recent months. We need to be clear headed about the risk.

The first SARS virus was a notorious source of laboratory-acquired infections and there is a very real risk that modified forms of SARS-CoV-2 could infect researchers, especially inexperienced researchers, with unpredictable and potentially quite dangerous results.

The biggest risk is the creation and accidental release of a novel form of SARS-CoV-2 … Each additional lab that experiments with CoV-2 amplifies the risk.’”

Some researchers are even arguing for infectious SARS-CoV-2 research to be permitted in biosafety level 2 laboratories, which Ebright has called “egregiously irresponsible.”

Anthrax Equipped With SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

In another FOIA request, Hammond obtained information showing researchers (whose names are redacted) at the University of Pittsburgh are working on what he dubbed “corona-thrax.” As reported by Latham,21 they intend to “put the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (which allows the virus to gain entry into human cells) into Bacillus anthracis which is the causative agent of anthrax.”

Do we really need this kind of research, where already lethal bacteria are equipped with viral components that allow them better entry into human cells and a wider range of human tissues? What could go wrong? Just about everything!

The argument for “biodefense” research is that we need to be prepared should nature throw us a curveball, but the idea that bacteria would naturally evolve to develop a spike protein from a highly infectious virus would have to be infinitesimally small. As such, this kind of research is nothing short of insanity.

Hundreds of Safety Lapses Have Been Covered Up

As reported in a 2014 USA Today article,22 safety lapses at biosafety labs are far more common than anyone might imagine. Between 2008 and 2012 alone, more than 1,100 lab incidents involving highly infectious germs were reported to federal regulators, but the details are shrouded in secrecy.

In all likelihood, the real number is far higher, as the April 2020 incident at UNC does not appear to have been reported to regulators, as required. According to USA Today:23

“More than half these incidents were serious enough that lab workers received medical evaluations or treatment, according to the reports. In five incidents, investigations confirmed that laboratory workers had been infected or sickened; all recovered.

In two other incidents, animals were inadvertently infected with contagious diseases that would have posed significant threats to livestock industries if they had spread. One case involved the infection of two animals with hog cholera, a dangerous virus eradicated from the USA in 1978.

In another incident, a cow in a disease-free herd next to a research facility studying the bacteria that cause brucellosis, became infected due to practices that violated federal regulations, resulting in regulators suspending the research and ordering a $425,000 fine, records show.”

I’ve also reviewed many other incidents in “Bioweapon Labs Must Be Shut Down and Scientists Prosecuted,” “More Errors Involving Deadly Pathogens Discovered” and several other articles over the years.

NIH Demands Answers

To circle back to where I left off on RaTG13, August 22, 2020, the Daily Mail reported24 that the U.S. National Institutes of Health is now demanding answers about the authenticity of RaTG13:

“The National Institutes of Health has asked if COVID-19 was linked to the deaths of three miners eight years ago and questioned whether the high-security laboratory in Wuhan possessed samples of the virus prior to the pandemic’s outbreak late last year …

The NIH letter, sent by Michael Lauer, deputy director for extramural research, said there were ‘serious bio-safety concerns’ over research at the Wuhan lab …

Lauer also said the agency needed to know why the Wuhan Institute ‘failed to note that the RaTG13 virus, the bat-derived coronavirus in its collection with greatest similarity to SARS-Cov-2, was actually isolated from an abandoned mine where three men died in 2012 with an illness remarkably similar to COVID-19’ …

The agency also demanded to know more about the ‘apparent disappearance’ of a scientist at the lab rumored to be Patient Zero, and questioned if roadblocks were placed around the Wuhan Institute of Virology between October 14 and 19 last year …

‘It seems NIH experts are not just discarding lab escape scenarios as conspiratorial theories any more,’ said one U.S.-based biomedical expert.”

As I said earlier, conspiracy theories are increasingly looking like conspiracy facts, and even the suspicion that the genomic sequence of RaTG13 might be a fabrication is now being investigated.

The demands for answers are directed to EcoHealth Alliance, the research organization that, between 2014 and 2019, received a long list of grants from the NIH to study “the risk of bat coronavirus emergence.” EcoHealth Alliance then subcontracted that work to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They’ve been working with Zheng-Li for over 15 years.

NIH initially canceled its funding to EcoHealth Alliance in April 2020,25 but has agreed to reinstate the multimillion-dollar grant provided EcoHealth fulfills the seven conditions issued by the NIH.

The scrutiny appears to have put EcoHealth Alliance president, British research scientist Peter Daszak, on edge, calling the demands “heinous” and “politically motivated.” Zheng-Li echoed Daszak’s sentiments, calling the NIH’s demands “outrageous.”26

EcoHealth Alliance is also the subject of FOIA requests,27,28,29 which Daszak is none too happy about. In an interview with Nature, published August 21, 2020, Daszak said:30

“Conspiracy-theory outlets and politically motivated organizations have made Freedom of Information Act requests on our grants and all of our letters and e-mails to the NIH.

We don’t think it’s fair that we should have to reveal everything we do. When you submit a grant, you put in all your best ideas. We don’t want to hand those over to conspiracy theorists for them to publish and ruin and make a mockery of.”

Daszak’s dismay at having to show correspondence and information relating to the organization’s coronavirus research at Wuhan Institute of Virology suggests what they’re doing is likely dangerous. Why else is he worried that the information will spark conspiracy theories?

Promises Kept?

In 2015 Bill Gates said we needed to start preparing for pandemics as if preparing for war. In 2018, Bill Gates said a deadly new disease is coming, and it might not even be a flu but something we’ve never seen before.31 Earlier that same year, Melinda Gates said the biggest global risk she could imagine is a bioterrorist attack.32

As suggested by Gates in the video clip above, modern warfare is more likely to involve germs than bombs. In the past, when you looked at the global bargaining table, having weapons of mass destruction gave you bargaining power, and countries that posed a threat to that power were paid not to arm themselves.

They were paid provided they promised not to produce atomic weapons, for example, and for most, the cost of producing weapons was far greater than the aid they stood to lose.

Bioweapons, on the other hand, are so inexpensive to make, everyone can make them, and many are. Like nuclear weapons before them, biological weapons also give you bargaining power, but at a much lower cost. Many thousands of biosafety labs around the world are now equipped with highly infectious pathogens that can be manipulated into even more dangerous pathogens.

Event 201 simulated a pandemic outbreak of a coronavirus illness that, for all intents and purposes, is identical to COVID-19. Gates has been pushing for war-level preparedness against viruses for years. And as long as bioweapons labs remain open, the real-world Event 201 that is this COVID-19 pandemic will become Event 202, Event 203, and so on — until all of these labs are shut down.

The evidence is clear. Gain-of-function research is creating the very diseases that global governments are then forced to “arm” themselves against. It’s time to stop the new arms race, before it really is too late.

In the meantime, it is important to make sure you’re prepared at home. I strongly recommend reviewing my interview with Dr. David Brownstein, in which he explains the benefits of nebulized hydrogen peroxide. It’s important to have something in your own arsenal to protect yourself against whatever they come up with next.

This needs to be a central player in your emergency medical kit as I fully believe it could be the difference for many, especially the elderly, those who are vitamin D deficient and/or metabolically unfit and insulin resistant. I believe nebulized peroxide is one of the best options available for any respiratory virus, including even more dangerous ones than SARS-CoV-2 that are likely to be introduced in the future.

Vaccine Trial Halted After Participant Became Ill

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-trial-astrazenca-oxford-dr-fauci/

AstraZeneca halting COVID-19 vaccine trial is “one of the safety valves,” Dr. Fauci says

The halting of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine trial is “not uncommon,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Wednesday. Being alert for potential adverse reactions is part of the process, he explained.

“It’s really one of the safety valves that you have on clinical trials such as this,” he said on “CBS This Morning.” “So it’s unfortunate that it happened. Hopefully they’ll work it out and be able to proceed along with the remainder of the trial.”

AstraZeneca paused its Phase 3 trial on Tuesday after one participant became ill. It was not clear what symptoms the participant had. AstraZeneca is one of three companies currently in the final phase of vaccine trials. (See link for article)

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$200 Million Paid Out in 2020 For Vaccine Injuries and Deaths

https://healthimpactnews.com/2020/september-doj-report-lists-200-vaccine-injuries-and-1-vaccine-death-compensated-during-6-month-period-and-thats-without-a-fast-tracked-covid-vaccine/

by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

The federal government Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services met on September 4, 2020, and the Department of Justice reported that during a 6-month period from February 16th through August 15th this year, 200 vaccine injuries and one death were compensated through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP).

You can read the full report here.

So far in 2020 the NVICP has paid out $200 MILLION in damages due to vaccine injuries and deaths. (Source.)

These damages were caused primarily by the annual flu vaccine, and other childhood vaccines that have gone through the FDA approval process.

What will these numbers look like after the COVID vaccines are fast-tracked?

(See link for article)

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UN Admits Gates-Funded Vaccine is Causing Polio Outbreak in Africa

Sept. 4, 2020

By News Wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2020/09/04/un-forced-to-admit-gates-funded-vaccine-is-causing-polio-outbreak-in-africa/

The United Nations has been forced to admit that a major international vaccine initiative is actually causing a deadly outbreak of the very disease it was supposed to wipe-out.

While international organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO) will regularly boast about ‘eradicating polio’ with vaccines—the opposite seems to be the case, with vaccines causing the deaths of scores of young people living in Africa.

Health officials have now admitted that their plan to stop ‘wild’ polio is backfiring, as scores children are being paralyzed by a deadly strain of the pathogen derived from a live vaccine – causing a virulent wave of polio to spread.

Officials now fear this new dangerous strain could soon ‘jump continents,’ causing further deadly outbreaks around the world.

Currently, the first experimental COVID-19 vaccine is being tested on the African population through GAVI Vaccine Alliance, another organization funded by the Gates Foundation. A large round of human trials is taking place in South Africa, run by the University of the Witwatersr and in Johannesburg—another Gates-funded institution.

This latest revelation from Africa should prompt journalists and health advocates to ask harder questions about the efficacy and safety of the much-hype COVID ‘miracle’ vaccine.

(See link for article)

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**Comment**

Vaccines are not without risks, and the experimental COVID-19 vaccine is bypassing standard safety protocols in an effort to speed up the process.  Another way to speed this process up is for the FDA to give it “emergency use authorization” (EUA).  If you are concerned about this potential, please contact your representatives and alert them to the inherent dangers in this.  Also, alert them to the fact that those who are immunocompromised with other conditions, such as Lyme/MSIDS are at even greater risk of vaccine injury.  Getting a vaccine should be a personal choice – not mandated.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/05/30/say-no-to-forced-covid-19-vaccination-sign-petition/

ICAN has also started an Emergency Petition to halt numerous clinical trials unless ALL adverse reactions are tracked:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/08/28/emergency-petitions-to-halt-numerous-clinical-trials-of-covid-19-vaccine-unless-all-adverse-reactions-are-tracked/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/09/81-of-clinical-trial-volunteers-suffer-reactions-to-cansino-biologics-covid-19-vaccine-that-uses-hek293-human-fetal-cell-lines/

And once again, there are conflicts of interest all over the place:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/08/new-docs-nih-owns-half-of-moderna-vaccine/

“The Need to Grow” Documentary – FREE (9/9-9/14)

https://grow.foodrevolution.org/?  Watch Trailer Here & Register to Watch it for Free

An environmental film about solutions

Join in this exclusive free screening of Rosario Dawson’s award-winning documentary that many are calling the environmental film the world has been waiting for. With the planet on the brink of ecological disaster, and chronic disease rates skyrocketing, this is a story of real-world SOLUTIONS.

It will warm your heart, fill you with hope, and inspire you to take action.

Soil scientists estimate that at the rate we are depleting our farmland, we could have fewer than 60 years of soil left on Earth.

Can we feed the world without destroying the planet?

The answer depends on what we do now!

The good news is, there ARE solutions. The Need To GROW takes you inside the hearts and innovations of three very different leaders — an 8-year-old girl challenges the ethics of a beloved organization — a renegade farmer struggles to keep his land as he revolutionizes resource-efficient agriculture — and an accomplished visionary inventor faces catastrophe in the midst of developing a game-changing technology.

Narrated by Rosario Dawson (Marvel’s The Defenders, The Lego Batman Movie), The Need To GROW delivers an epic story of solutions and the struggle to implement them. It will make you laugh, make you cry, give you chills, and inspire you to participate in the restoration of the Earth.

“No human being on the planet should miss this film.”

— Society of Voice Arts and Sciences

“Perhaps the best film on sustainability I have ever seen.”

— Teddy Grouya, Founding Director – American Documentary Film Festival

“I loved this movie…it was one of those environmental movies that gave me hope.”

— Todd James, Global News

Finally Confirmed! Vitamin D Nearly Abolishes ICU Risk in COVID-19

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid-19/finally-confirmed-vitamin-d-nearly-abolishes-icu-risk-in-covid-19

Finally Confirmed! Vitamin D Nearly Abolishes ICU Risk in COVID-19

By Chris Masterjohn PhD, Nutritional Science

September 3, 2020

The first randomized controlled trial (RCT) of vitamin D in COVID-19 has just been published. The results are astounding: vitamin D nearly abolished the odds of requiring treatment in ICU. Although the number of deaths was too small to say for sure, vitamin D may actually abolish the risk of death from COVID-19.

The Vitamin D Treatment Protocol

The vitamin D was provided as oral calcifediol, also known as calcidiol, 25(OH)D, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D.  The treatment in this RCT was soft capsules of 532 mcg 25(OH)D on day 1 of admission to the hospital, followed by 266 mcg on days 3 and 7, and then 266 mcg once a week until discharge, ICU admission, or death.

This is equivalent to 106,400 IU vitamin D on day 1, 53,200 IU on days 3 and 7, and 53,200 IU weekly thereafter. If this were given as daily doses, it would be the equivalent of 30,400 per day for the first week, followed by a maintenance dose of 7,600 IU per day.

Version 6 of the Food and Supplement Guide for the Coronavirus

I have now released Version 6 of The Food and Supplement Guide for the Coronavirus to reflect the new study on vitamin D. Purchases of the guide are greatly appreciated, as they help sustain my work on this newsletter and will help me start finishing my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book. (See link for article)

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/29/researchers-investigating-possible-link-between-vitamin-d-deficiency-and-covid-19/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/07/why-you-may-need-more-vitamin-d-especially-now/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/12/the-importance-of-vitamin-d-k-and-magnesium-for-lyme-msids-patients/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/02/experts-criticize-government-review-of-vitamin-d-for-covid-19/

 

Risks & Benefits of Telehealth

https://www.thedoctors.com/articles/your-patient-is-logging-on-now–the-risks-and-benefits-of-telehealth-in-the-future-of-healthcare/

Your Patient Is Logging on Now: The Risks and Benefits of Telehealth in the Future of Healthcare

doctor headset xray laptop patient

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, telemedicine was part of the standard delivery of care in the U.S., but used very rarely. By the end of April, telemedicine visits had skyrocketed to nearly one million visits per week.1 (By telemedicine, we mean live remote visits with a clinician, as opposed to telehealth, a broader term encompassing telemedicine plus remote monitoring, asynchronous data collection, and a variety of other incorporations of technology into nonclinical patient and professional health-related areas.)

Many patients and physicians have discovered that they appreciate the conveniences of virtual healthcare, and its support of the physician-patient relationship.2 They’ve considered how telemedicine increases access to care (for some patients) while decreasing infection risk, not only in a pandemic but during routine flu season or for immunocompromised patients. Though telemedicine’s near future is clouded by uncertainties regarding reimbursement,3 state-to-state licensing hassles, and privacy issues, for the long haul, telemedicine is here to stay.

Sweeping benefits from telehealth are still emerging—and so are its risks. Reduced infection risk and increased access to care are possible with recognition that telemedicine is not a panacea: Telemedicine is a helpful adjunct to in-person care, when supported by best known practices.

Executive Summary

By David L. Feldman, MD, MBA, CPE, FAAPL, FACS, Chief Medical Officer of The Doctors Company Group

A study released by the American Medical Association (AMA) in February 2020, just before the pandemic hit the U.S. hard, reveals that telemedicine visits with physicians had already doubled from 2016 to 2019.4 Still, the pandemic has led to an unprecedented spike in usage. Telemedicine is here to stay, but exactly how it will be incorporated into evolving community standards of care is the question driving discussion and argument within many specialties.

Foreseeable Major Benefits

  • Increases access to care for most patients, including many patients in rural locations, patients who struggle to cover the peripheral costs of an in-person visit (transportation, childcare, time away from work, etc.), and patients with chronic conditions.
  • Enhances the ability to manage chronic conditions by making more frequent contact easier. This management is already supported by at-home devices that record blood pressure, blood sugar, and other essential data points.
  • Reduces infection risks, not just for COVID-19, but for post-op patients, patients who are immunosuppressed, etc.

Foreseeable Major Risks

  • The remote exam’s inherent limitations mean physicians must know when to ask patients to come in to avoid missed diagnoses.
  • Increases cyber liability, especially when providers are seeing patients from a variety of devices in a variety of locations.
  • Privacy issues come in high-tech forms: Is the video visit interface HIPAA compliant? And in low tech forms: Conversations may be interrupted by household members at either end.
  • Decreases access to care for some patients: Half of U.S. seniors do not have internet access.5 On the other hand, some hospitals serving low-income populations have found that when remote visits are available via mobile device, and don’t require a computer, a surprising number of patients can access telemedicine visits.6 That said, many communities do not have sufficient internet bandwidth; some patients are prevented by a language barrier or lack of technological savvy from accessing a telemedicine portal.
  • Reimbursement is uncertain: Pre-pandemic, “Low reimbursement for telehealth was viewed as a critical disincentive,” say the authors of an opinion piece in JAMA, because “Without payment, it would be difficult for clinicians to afford to provide the service, despite data from previous studies suggesting clinicians were broadly supportive about its use.”7

(See link for article)

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Important excerpt:

Without the proper security controls in place, a provider’s private conversation or exchange of information with a patient could be found via a Google search. A hacker could shut down a network after pocketing a provider’s cell phone. Patient information could be stolen through a network device with minimal security controls. Any device connected to the network can provide an entry point—physical access to the practice is not required.