Remember Covid? Three years ago we were all hunkered down at home sheltering in place. Many businesses were closed, schools cancelled all in-person classes and social gatherings were taboo (if not illegal). Any time you left the house masks were required. It still amuses me seeing cars drive down the street with the driver alone in the car wearing a mask. I recall running errands to Kroger, Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes and the few other stores that were open and everyone was wearing masks. Retail establishments also required social distancing, asking people to stand at least six feet apart.
Category: COVID-19 and Public Health
Friday Links
- Blockbuster story: First person sickened by COVID-19 was the Chinese scientist who oversaw the “gain of function” research that created the virus.
- Harvard Medical School morgue manager and others sold stolen human remains.
- Health care to consume one out of every five dollars of national income.
- More progress on quantum computing.
- Is Merck being “coerced” by Medicare? Michael Cannon: No. David Henderson: Yes.
Covid Grifters: Covid Relief Fraud Much Worse than Initially Thought
Covid-19 relief aid was the greatest opportunity for graft in the nation’s history. The Associated Press called it The Great Grift, saying:
Fraudsters used the Social Security numbers of dead people and federal prisoners to get unemployment checks. Cheaters collected those benefits in multiple states. And federal loan applicants weren’t cross-checked against a Treasury Department database that would have raised red flags about sketchy borrowers.
Criminals and gangs grabbed the money. But so did a U.S. soldier in Georgia, the pastors of a defunct church in Texas, a former state lawmaker in Missouri and a roofing contractor in Montana.
All of it led to the greatest grift in U.S. history, with thieves plundering billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief aid intended to combat the worst pandemic in a century and to stabilize an economy in free fall.