It’s Time to Prepare for the Next Pandemic; a Ticketmaster Data Breach–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: June 3, 2024

Indy Digest: June 3, 2024

I couldn’t help but notice a huge—and concerning—disconnect between two news topics today.

First off, there’s the fact that Dr. Anthony Fauci was grilled by members of Congress today. As The Associated Press headline put it, “Fauci pushes back partisan attacks in fiery House hearing over COVID origins and controversies.” From the story:

A GOP-led subcommittee has spent over a year probing the nation’s response to the pandemic and whether U.S.-funded research in China may have played any role in how it started — yet found no evidence linking Fauci to wrongdoing.

He’d already been grilled behind closed doors, for 14 hours over two days in January. But Monday, Fauci testified voluntarily in public and on camera at a hearing that quickly deteriorated into partisan attacks.

Republicans repeated unproven accusations against the longtime National Institutes of Health scientist while Democrats apologized for Congress besmirching his name and bemoaned a missed opportunity to prepare for the next scary outbreak.

According to CNN, the “takeaways” from the hearing involved GOP concerns over Fauci’s emails and the origin of the “six feet of distance” rule we all encountered over and over during the height of the pandemic.

The second topic involves the latest strain of the bird flu, H5N1. Take your pick of stories: There’s this San Francisco Chronicle piece about the virus being detected in San Francisco wastewater, or this piece about the latest human to get the disease, or many others.

The disconnect: Why in the hell are are GOP members of Congress so worried unfounded accusations about lab leaks when, as that AP article mentions, it’s only a matter of time before we’re hit by another damned pandemic?

Let me be clear that most scientists say that, as of now, there’s nothing to be really concerned about regarding H5N1 jumping to humans in a significant way. Yes, another pandemic is inevitable, but it may be many years away. Fingers crossed.

But it also might not be many years away. The good news in all of this is that some are trying to be prepared, just in case. CBS News reports:

Some 4.8 million doses of flu vaccine are now being prepared for use in response to the growing U.S. outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or H5N1, officials say. 

The order for the doses to be filled into vials comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a growing number of human cases linked to the unprecedented outbreak of the virus in dairy cattle this year. 

The supplies will be pulled from a “pre-pandemic” stockpile funded by the federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. Vaccinemaker CSL Seqirus has been tasked with manufacturing the doses at its North Carolina plant.

“It utilizes a highly scalable method of production and is currently positioned to deliver up to 150 million influenza vaccine doses to support an influenza pandemic response within six months of a pandemic declaration,” CSL Seqirus said in a release.

As of this writing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 1,191,702 Americans have died due to COVID-19. We were largely unprepared when SARS-CoV-2 arrived here four-plus years ago—and our elected leaders should be doing all they can to make sure we’re ready for the next pandemic, rather than arguing about who came up with the “six feet of distance” rule.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• First, a clarification regarding a news item we reported in last Thursday’s Digest: While the Bureau of Land Management has closed the portions of Whitewater Canyon that it controls due to wildfire concerns, the Whitewater Preserve, which is managed by The Wildlands Conservancy, remains open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily. Thanks to reader Susan Myrland for pointing this out. I apologize for our lack of clarity.

• ProPublica reports that nine witnesses in cases against Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits from his businesses: “The benefits have flowed from Trump’s businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500. Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign’s top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee. These pay increases and other benefits often came at delicate moments in the legal proceedings against Trump. One aide who was given a plum position on the board of Trump’s social media company, for example, got the seat after he was subpoenaed but before he testified.”

• Sort of tangentially related: A juror was excused from a trial in Minnesota after she reported receiving a bag of cash—with a promise of more if she voted to acquit. The Minnesota Reformer has more on this bonkers story: “A juror in the Feeding Our Future case was excused Monday morning after prosecutors said an unidentified individual went to the juror’s house on Sunday night and offered a bag containing $120,000 in cash and another bag if she voted for acquittal. The bribery allegation comes during closing arguments and right before the jury was to begin deliberations on the guilt of seven defendants accused of fraudulently getting reimbursed $49 million in federal funds by vastly inflating the number of meals served to children at 50 locations across Minnesota during the pandemic. Prosecutors say they used the reimbursement money to buy luxury cars, houses, jewelry and property overseas—and very little food. With the jury out of the courtroom, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in open court that a woman in a Mazda drove to the juror’s home in Spring Lake Park, left a bag of cash with her father-in-law and said ‘there’ll be another bag tomorrow’ if she voted to acquit the seven defendants. … Thompson asked that the 12 jurors and six alternates be sequestered for the remainder of the trial, and suggested defendants be held until a verdict.” Wow.

• Live Nation/Ticketmaster has apparently suffered a massive data breach. BBC says: “Ticketmaster owner Live Nation confirmed ‘unauthorized activity’ on its database after a group of hackers said they had stolen the personal details of 560 million customers. ShinyHunters, the group claiming responsibility, says the stolen data includes names, addresses, phone numbers and partial credit card details from Ticketmaster users worldwide. The hacking group is reportedly demanding a $500,000 ransom payment to prevent the data from being sold to other parties. In a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Live Nation said that on (May 27) ‘a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be company user data for sale via the dark web,’ and that it was investigating. The number of customers affected by the data breach has not been confirmed by Live Nation.”

• Rubio’s Coastal Grill rather suddenly closed 48 California restaurants over the weekend. (The three Coachella Valley locations remain open.) Ownership cited business costs in the state as the reason. The Los Angeles Times reports: “On Monday, Rubio’s confirmed that it had closed 48 of its California restaurants on Friday — more than a third of its already slimmed-down chain of 134 restaurants. Rubio’s, in a statement Monday issued by media strategist Sitrick & Co., attributed the closings to the rising cost of doing business in California. The company did not elaborate on the closures, which stunned some workers, but said they were ‘underperforming.’ The move came two months after the state’s $20 an hour minimum wage took effect for fast-food employees. The company statement said the decision came after a ‘thorough review of its operations and the current business climate.'”

• And finally … the feds have approved Moderna’s RSV vaccine for use in older adults. CNBC says: “The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Moderna’s vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus for adults ages 60 and above, the company’s second-ever product to enter the U.S. market. The decision is a win for Moderna, which desperately needs another revenue source amid plunging demand for its Covid jab, its only commercially available product. The approval of Moderna’s shot is based on a late-stage trial on older adults, who are more vulnerable to severe cases of RSV. The virus kills between 6,000 and 10,000 seniors every year and results in 60,000 to 160,000 hospitalizations, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

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