White House to charge Press $170 per day for access.

[phill4paul]

The Biden administration is apparently going to start charging members of the press for COVID tests to enter the White House.

Journalists will have no choice because you can’t enter the premises without one.

Biden Press Office Seeks To Charge Reporters $170 For COVID-19 Tests Before Entering White House

President Joe Biden’s press team is seeking to charge reporters $170 for mandatory COVID-19 tests every day they enter the White House, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The White House is reportedly seeking to implement the unprecedented measure on Monday, arguing that the cost of testing dozens of journalists each day has “strained its budget.” The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has already raised objections to the change, and critics argue it could effectively ban smaller outlets from the campus, giving major outlets a monopoly on White House access.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the potential charges.

https://americanlookout.com/biden-to...sts-freak-out/

[XNavyNuke]

Do they still have to get the test if their Form MLS-319813 CDC Covid-19 vaccination card is properly filled out?

XNN

[Anti Globalist]

I would never pay that amount of money and take a coronavirus test, just so I can listen to Raggedly Ann say she'll circle back to things.

[asurfaholic]

Straining the budget? Is that some sort of joke? This after they pass a 1.9 T spending bill with money we dont have?

Washington is so out of touch with reality it’s almost sad.

[devil21]

Straining the budget? Is that some sort of joke? This after they pass a 1.9 T spending bill with money we dont have?

Washington is so out of touch with reality it’s almost sad.

That's when you know that the publicly stated reason is not the real reason, aside from the fact that covid is a hoax and the WH knows it. Sounds like the suggestion that it's to limit media participation to only a few select organizations is the goal. They're already slowly putting up physical and mental borders around the federal buildings. Everything is slowly but surely limiting access to "The People's Houses".

[CaptUSA]

Lol - It's not enough that press kisses the administration's ass, they now have to pay for the privilege.

Classic!

[GlennwaldSnowdenAssanged]

Is this the same guy that is going to give us everything?

[GlennwaldSnowdenAssanged]

Why are they doing live press conferences in the midst of a pandemic? These should be virtual press conferences.

[Anti Globalist]

Soon the WH will have to tell these people they'll have to get anal swabs if they want access.

[jmdrake]

I would never pay that amount of money and take a coronavirus test, just so I can listen to Raggedly Ann say she'll circle back to things.

LOL

[jmdrake]

This belongs here:

https://www.aarp.org/home-family/fri...ronavirus.html
enior Living Facilities Call In the Dogs to Sniff Out COVID-19
Studies show the canine sense of smell can detect the coronavirus, plus residents enjoy the visit
by Robin L. Flanigan, AARP, February 22, 2021 | Comments: 2

Dog sniffing the used masks on January 18, 2021 in Bolzano, Italy.
ALESSIO COSER/GETTY IMAGES

Now and then Marshall, a 2-year-old golden retriever, walks into Frances Skelton's room and lies at her feet. The visit is a spirit-lifter for the 85-year-old Skelton, a resident of Benton House of Sugar Hill, a senior living community in Sugar Hill, Georgia.

"I rub him and we're best buddies for a few minutes and then he goes on to someone else,” she says.

But Marshall is no ordinary dog. He is one of a growing number of canines trained to sniff out COVID-19.

These dogs are able to detect coronavirus infections with astonishing accuracy rates — up to 95 percent. Though large-scale studies still are needed, canine COVID-19 detection programs are being developed in Russia, England, France, Germany and other countries.

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Frances Skelton greets golden retriever Marshall as he makes his rounds to detect COVID-19 at her senior living community.
COURTESY BENTON HOUSE OF SUGAR HILL

Frances Skelton greets golden retriever Marshall as he makes his rounds to detect COVID-19 at her senior living community.

The dogs are promoted as a reliable and relatively affordable way to test a large number of people in a short amount of time, such as at airports, hospitals or sports venues. In late January, the Miami Heat basketball team used COVID-19 detection dogs to screen fans at a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. If a dog sat down next to a ticket holder, that meant the virus was detected and that ticket holder was denied entrance to the arena.

Perhaps more importantly for nursing homes and senior living communities, the dogs are seen as a critical future tool to sniff out other common health concerns, including influenza and urinary tract infections — viral and bacterial issues known for affecting seniors.

'Extra layer of protection'
At Benton House of Sugar Hill, Marshall uses a different method for signaling the virus. He smells a sterile swab used to collect a sweat sample from residents. When a handler asks whether he smells COVID-19, he either taps with his nose or visually holds his gaze on the handler's right or left hand. The left means yes, the right means no.

Mike Allard, CEO of the Benton House family of senior living communities, reached out to service dog trainers Canine Assistants after reading about COVID-19-sniffing dogs in a news article he found on Twitter.

He wound up collaborating with the Georgia-based nonprofit, which already was training dogs to detect seizures or changes in blood sugar. Allard, who had donated to the dog training company in past years, provided initial seed money for training, vaccinations, food and boarding for five dogs to be put on the COVID-19 case. In addition to golden retriever Marshall, the four other dogs will be placed in other Benton House communities around Atlanta. The dogs will be used to detect the virus in residents and staff as well as ultimately in visitors.

"We'd like to see this in all of our communities eventually,” Allard says. “We're very anxious to have families return for visits."

Testing currently is focused on staff when possible, and residents who show symptoms. The current goal is to test every staff member on every shift, as well as guests and residents as needed.

As for the residents, they're happy that Marshall's nose is being added to other, more conventional testing protocols.

"It's good to have that extra layer of protection,” Skelton says.

Promising science in dogs’ virus-detection abilities
Research is being done around the world to determine how dependable specially trained dogs are in detecting the coronavirus.

So far, the evidence is promising.

In one proof-of-concept study, conducted in Paris and Beirut, researchers took sweat samples from the underarms of patients from five hospitals. The dogs with the least amount of training identified the COVID-19 samples more than 76 percent of the time. Two dogs with prior training in sniffing out cancer cells were able to discern the virus every single time.

Meanwhile, a team of dog trainers in a Czech Republic mountain village reported a 95 percent success rate in detecting COVID-19 — from samples obtained by rubbing a piece of cotton against human skin.

Dogs trained to detect scents can accurately perceive low concentrations of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, present in human blood, saliva, urine or breath and associated with various diseases, infections and tumors, according to Cynthia Otto, director of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's Penn Vet Working Dog Center.

Even so, at this point COVID-19 detection dogs are being considered by many as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for comprehensive clinical testing.

For the latest coronavirus news and advice go to AARP.org/coronavirus.

Trainer Jeff Minder helps teach dogs to recognize the scent of COVID-19.
COURTESY JEFF MINDER

Trainer Jeff Minder helps teach dogs to recognize the scent of COVID-19.

Possibilities go beyond COVID-19
Jeff Minder remembers the exact date he was sure the dogs he was training to be virus detectors had discovered the scent of COVID-19: April 3, 2020.

After word spread, the owner of Top Tier K9 in Madison, Florida, received skepticism in response.

"Everybody said, “There's no way you can do that. You're lying,'” recalls Minder, 57. “I was all on my own. Now everybody's like … ‘Dogs can find the virus!'"

Minder trains Belgian malinois, German and Dutch shepherds, and British Labrador retrievers.

A former Air Force survival instructor, Minder says the possibilities for what dog scent recognition can achieve now appear endless, from detecting cancerous tumors to sniffing out Ebola and HIV.

"This opened up an unbelievable ability to apply canine olfactory processes to human challenges and threats,” he says. “We're looking at everything now."

In the short term, notes Minder, COVID-19-sniffing dogs — in combination with masking, handwashing, testing and other preventive measures — can offer additional safeguards from the threat of the virus so peoplen can gather more safely.

"In the long term,” he adds, “we can destroy the next pandemic before it's a pandemic."

Robin L. Flanigan is a contributing writer based in Rochester, New York, who covers mental health, education, and human-interest stories for national publications. A former beat reporter for several daily newspapers, her work has appeared in People Magazine, USA Today and Education Week.