U.S. MARINES & NAVY PREPARE TO EXECUTE PANDEMIC PLAN AS QUESTIONS RESURFACE ABOUT CORONAVIRUS ORIGIN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research
purposes:
Responding to the coronavirus outbreak in China, where tens of thousands of citizens suspected of being infected with coronavirus (COVID-2019) have been detained and involuntarily taken to quarantine camps,1 on Feb. 1, 2020 an executive order was issued by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, directing the U.S. Northern Command to implement the DoD’s Global Campaign Plan for Pandemic and Infectious Diseases.2 On Feb. 12, 2020, orders were sent to the U.S. Marine Corps3 and Navy4 directing “geographic combatant commanders to execute their pandemic plans in response to the NCOV outbreak.”The U.S. Marine Corps directive told combat commanders to “review, update and validate existing disease containment plans and policies in order to implement procedures for response, isolation, quarantine, restriction of movement and community-based intervention” and to “become familiar with authority to declare a public health emergency, restrict movement, quarantine and isolate [and[ coordinate with Federal, State, local, and military treatment facilities and public health emergency officials…” The U.S. Navy directive stated, “DoD will continue to follow CDC guidance and comply with local public health authorities during this outbreak.”As of Feb. 18, 2020, there had been 75,198 cases of COVID-2019 detected globally and 2,009 deaths, with all but 1,013 cases and 5 deaths occurring in China.5 The U.S. now has 29 confirmed cases being treated on military bases or in a biocontainment facility.Reports by Chinese Scientists Raise Questions About Origin of Coronavirus
At the same time, over the past week new questions have resurfaced about whether the novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) can be traced back to scientific research conducted in Wuhan labs, a subject that has been widely discussed since January after the outbreak in China emerged.6 According to a Feb. 16 report in the Daily Mail, scientists at the South China University of Technology have written a paper questioning whether research on bats and respiratory diseases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Wuhan Centers for Disease Control (WCDC) created a new chimeric coronavirus capable of infecting humans. The WCDC is located just 300 yards from the fish and wildlife food market thought to be the origin of the coronavirus and is adjacent to the Union Hospital where the first group of doctors were infected.7On Feb. 15, a paper was published in The Lancet by Chinese scientists, “Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China.” The authors stated, “In December, 2019, a series of pneumonia cases of unknown cause emerged in Wuhan, Hubei, China, with clinical presentations greatly resembling viral pneumonia” and they described 41 cases hospitalized by Jan. 2, 2020, of which 66 percent (27 people) had been exposed to the food market and 15 percent (6 people) died:Most of the infected patients were men (30 [73%] of 41); less than half had underlying diseases (13 [32%]), including diabetes (eight [20%]), hypertension (six [15%]), and cardiovascular disease (six [15%]). Median age was 49·0 years (IQR 41·0–58·0). 27 (66%) of 41 patients had been exposed to Huanan seafood market…Complications included acute respiratory distress syndrome (12 [29%]), RNAaemia (six [15%]), acute cardiac injury (five [12%]) and secondary infection (four [10%]). 13 (32%) patients were admitted to an ICU and six (15%) died.8The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to maintain that the new virus spontaneously jumped from animals, most likely bats, to humans in the Wuhan market selling seafood and wildlife animals and that online speculation to the contrary is “misinformation.” In early February, International Business Times reported that WHO had teamed up with Google to battle online “misinformation” about the epidemic.9 A Feb. 14 CNBC report revealed that the WHO hosted a meeting at Facebook’s Menlo Park, California campus with Google, Amazon, You Tube, Twitter, Verizon and other big tech companies to discuss how to “tamp down on misinformation about the coronavirus.10CDC Preparing for Novel Coronavirus to “gain a foothold in the U.S.”
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, on Feb. 12 Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told media during a conference call “we can and should be prepared for this new virus to gain a foothold in the U.S.”11On Feb. 14, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York City, the agency had begun monitoring Americans with flu-like symptoms, who test negative for influenza, by additionally lab testing them for coronavirus. According to CNBC, the CDC intends to add more cities in the coming weeks in an effort to achieve a “national surveillance” system that would act as an early warning that COVID-2019 is spreading, which would “trigger a change in our response strategy,” said Messonnier.12A report by Reuters stated:The CDC’s current strategy to fight the virus includes quarantines and travel restrictions, but that may change if the virus takes hold in the United States and begins to spread. In that scenario, the CDC will put in place “social distancing” strategies such as cancelling mass gatherings, using telemedicine, tele-schooling and remote working to try to disrupt the spread of the virus.13[xiii]Americans on Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Test Positive
More than 600 Americans, who were evacuated from Wuhan, China in early February, have been in quarantined in the U.S. and some have already been released. Other Americans suspected to have come in contact with COVID-2019 have been quarantined on cruise ships. On Feb. 16, about 380 U.S. citizens on the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in a Japanese harbor, who had not tested positive for coronavirus and were symptom-free, were offered seats on U.S. State Department chartered flights transporting them back to quarantine centers on military bases in California and Texas. According to CNBC, about 300 Americans accepted the State Department’s offer to fly back to the U.S., while nearly 100 others with no symptoms of illness decided to stay on the ship.14On Feb. 17, the U.S. State Department and Department of Health and Human Services issued a joint statement acknowledging that 14 asymptomatic American evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship were allowed to fly on the chartered flights despite testing positive for coronavirus before getting on the planes.15 According to USA Today, when the planes landed at military bases in Texas and California, 13 passengers who had tested positive for the virus were flown to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine quarantine and biocontainment facility in Omaha for treatment. All of the Americans returning from the Diamond Princess will remain in quarantine for 14 days. 16By Feb. 18, there had been 542 cases of COVID-2019 diagnosed among the cruise ships’ 3,700 passengers and crew. 17 Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told USA Today that, “The quarantine process failed.”18Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
The scope of the mission of the U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy’s involvement in implementing the DoD’s Global Campaign Plan for Pandemic and Infectious Diseases in a civilian population is not clear as that Plan does not appear to have been publicly released by DoD. In general, however, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) prohibits the carte blanche use of military forces in civilian law enforcement in the U.S.19According to an essay for the Encyclopedia Brittanica:20The willful use of the army or air force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws is a felony, unless the use is expressly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress. The PCA directly applies only to the army and air force, without mentioning the navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, or the National Guard. The National Guard is subject to Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, “To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” The National Guard is under state control until called into federal service, and is authorized to enforce the laws upon the request of a governor. Because the Coast Guard has a law enforcement function and is not under the control of the Department of Defense, it is not subject to the PCA. Although the naval service is not mentioned in the PCA, Department of Defense regulations extend the PCA to the navy and Marine Corps.Establishment of the U.S. Northern Command After 9/11
After terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland on Sept. 11, 2001 (9/11), the U.S. Northern Command was established Oct. 1, 2002. According to a 2008 report to Congress by the Congressional Research Service, “In 2002, President Bush signed a new Unified Command Plan (UCP) establishing United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM) to provide command and control of the Department of Defense’ (DOD’s) homeland defense efforts and coordinate military support to civil authorities.”21NORTHCOM’s area of responsibility includes the continental United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and surrounding waters out to approximately 500 nautical miles, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida. Headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, the NORTHCOM Commander also commands North American Aerospace Defense Command.22U.S. Northern Command’s mission is to deter, prevent and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories, and interests. To this end personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard are assigned to coordinate the protection of North America from external threats, drawing on the full capabilities of all U.S. military services, including the National Guard and Coast Guard, as necessary. Additionally, the command is charged with providing defense support for civil authorities when approved by the President or Secretary of Defense. U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) also provides military resources and support to federal, state and local authorities.23According to the USNORTHCOM website, so far it “has not had to respond to a large scale threat calling for military intervention” in U.S. territory. It has primarily been used to respond to natural or manmade disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, wildfires, earthquakes and a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, emphasizing that “the philosophy behind USNORTHCOM’s participation in defense support for civil authorities was to be prepared at all times but only to act when requested and to depart just as soon as their support was no longer required.”24The Feb. 12 DoD directives to the Navy and Marine Corps indicated that officials of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made the request to DoD and USNORTHCOM to get involved in anticipation of widespread coronavirus infections in the U.S. and that combatant commanders implementing DoD’s Global Campaign Plan for Pandemic and Infectious Diseases would be following directions from HHS and state and local public health officials.Post 9/11 Model State Emergency Health Powers Act
After terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001 (9/11), and subsequent reports of biological warfare threats against U.S. citizens, federal health officials immediately began preparing for mass anthrax and smallpox vaccination campaigns in the U.S. At the same time, model state legislation entitled the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA) was introduced in multiple states to rewrite state public health laws and give federal and state public health officials sweeping new power over citizens when public health “emergencies” were declared by the Secretary of HHS and state governors.The CDC had given Professor Lawrence Gostin, PhD, of the Center for Law and the Public’s Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins University, funding to develop the model legislation, which is why MSEHPA could be quickly introduced in the states the month after 9/11.25 Among its provisions, MSEHPA gave power to public health officials to:
Coercive powers are the most controversial aspects of any legal system… There similarly may be a need to exercise powers over individuals to avert a significant threat to the public’s health. Vaccination, testing, physical examination, treatment, isolation, and quarantine each may help contain the spread of infectious diseases. Although the vast majority of people probably will comply willingly (because it is in their interests and/or desirable for the common welfare), some compulsory powers are necessary for those who will not comply.
American values at the turn of the 21st century fairly could be characterized as individualistic. There was a distinct orientation toward personal and proprietary freedoms and against a substantial government presence in social and economic life. The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the anthrax outbreaks reawakened the political community to the importance of public health. Historians will look back and ask whether September 11, 2001 was a fleeting scare with temporary solutions or whether it was a transforming event.
Health officials in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have more than enough authority under the U.S. Constitution and the Public Health Service Act to prevent the introduction, transmission and spread of a short list of serious communicable diseases with very high mortality rates, such as hemorrhagic fevers. However, this NPRM makes a point of equating non-quarantinable vaccine-targeted diseases, such as measles and chickenpox, with quarantinable diseases, such as tuberculosis and smallpox. It expands the list of minor illness symptoms that could trigger the use of police power by government health officials to apprehend and involuntarily quarantine individuals, who can be asked to consent to vaccination as a condition of release from government custody.
First appearing late December of 2019, the new coronavirus (called the COVID-19) managed to kill almost 1,400 people and infect several thousands more in Mainland China alone in a mere two months, putting people to pin their hopes on one of the most effective disease-fighting tools: a vaccine. Having one would mean that there would no longer be a need to quarantine people nor close off cities and monitor airports because people would be protected from the virus even before they get exposed.54
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