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Whistleblowers say they were told to downplay Covid outbreak among migrant kids at shelter

FAUlty Gator

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Oct 27, 2017
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In case @RileyHawk missed it. WASHINGTON — Two more whistleblowers have come forward to allege that children were mistreated by contractors and senior federal employee managers at a Department Health and Human Services migrant shelter in Fort Bliss, Texas, earlier this year, and also say HHS told them to downplay hundreds of Covid infections among children held at the facility.

"Covid was widespread among children and eventually spread to many employees. Hundreds of children contracted Covid in the overcrowded conditions. Adequate masks were not consistently provided to children, nor was their use consistently enforced," the whistleblowers, Arthur Pearlstein and Lauren Reinhold, said in a federal whistleblower complaint filed Wednesday


But at the end of their service, they said, federal detailees were regularly given written instructions from HHS public affairs that told them, "when asked, to make everything sound positive about the Fort Bliss experience and to play down anything negative."

At a town hall with employees, a senior manager from the U.S. Public Health Service refused to share the rate of infections, explaining that he did not want the number to end up reported by the media, they said.

Pearlstein and Reinhold are federal employees who volunteered to be detailed to the shelter when the Biden administration ramped up staffing to accommodate the influx of unaccompanied children crossing the border by building emergency intake shelters like Fort Bliss and others.

NBC News previously reported that Servpro, a company that specializes in disaster cleanup and has no child welfare experience, oversaw the care of nearly 5,000 children in Ft. Bliss in early May and June.

In their complaint, which was filed by lawyers from the Government Accountability Project, Pearlstein and Reinhold said two other contractors in addition to Servpro — Chenega Corporation and Rapid Deployment Inc. — also handled the close to $1 billion in contracts the federal government paid to operate Fort Bliss. None of the three companies had child care experience and they did not properly vet applicants to be sure they had relevant experience, they said.
 
In case @RileyHawk missed it. WASHINGTON — Two more whistleblowers have come forward to allege that children were mistreated by contractors and senior federal employee managers at a Department Health and Human Services migrant shelter in Fort Bliss, Texas, earlier this year, and also say HHS told them to downplay hundreds of Covid infections among children held at the facility.

"Covid was widespread among children and eventually spread to many employees. Hundreds of children contracted Covid in the overcrowded conditions. Adequate masks were not consistently provided to children, nor was their use consistently enforced," the whistleblowers, Arthur Pearlstein and Lauren Reinhold, said in a federal whistleblower complaint filed Wednesday


But at the end of their service, they said, federal detailees were regularly given written instructions from HHS public affairs that told them, "when asked, to make everything sound positive about the Fort Bliss experience and to play down anything negative."

At a town hall with employees, a senior manager from the U.S. Public Health Service refused to share the rate of infections, explaining that he did not want the number to end up reported by the media, they said.

Pearlstein and Reinhold are federal employees who volunteered to be detailed to the shelter when the Biden administration ramped up staffing to accommodate the influx of unaccompanied children crossing the border by building emergency intake shelters like Fort Bliss and others.

NBC News previously reported that Servpro, a company that specializes in disaster cleanup and has no child welfare experience, oversaw the care of nearly 5,000 children in Ft. Bliss in early May and June.

In their complaint, which was filed by lawyers from the Government Accountability Project, Pearlstein and Reinhold said two other contractors in addition to Servpro — Chenega Corporation and Rapid Deployment Inc. — also handled the close to $1 billion in contracts the federal government paid to operate Fort Bliss. None of the three companies had child care experience and they did not properly vet applicants to be sure they had relevant experience, they said.

It's sad we can't have bipartisan agreement on issues like the southern border and 1-6.

There is just no inoculation for the stupidity tribalism inflicts.
 
I wonder when the CDC will order the southern border closed, and all illegal immigrants tested, and quarantined if positive. Can we assume they are also all masked, and that mandate is being enforced?
You mean the same people who told us to lock everything down because we are all gonna die…but it’s OK to jam yourselves into the crowded streets to protest if you want.
 
I wonder when the CDC will order the southern border closed, and all illegal immigrants tested, and quarantined if positive. Can we assume they are also all masked, and that mandate is being enforced?

I wonder when the CDC will order the southern border closed, and all illegal immigrants tested, and quarantined if positive. Can we assume they are also all masked, and that mandate is being enforced?
The mask mandate at the border is not being followed. It is was, then there would be 0 cases of spread according to the CDC and Fauci. Masks protect everyone.... remember.
 
You mean the same people who told us to lock everything down because we are all gonna die…but it’s OK to jam yourselves into the crowded streets to protest if you want.
I get pounded on a lot here. Mostly from the left, but that's mainly because it's a left leaning board, and more topics are posted by extremely left leaning posters.

All I want from all levels of government is consistency of approach instead of partisanship. If the CDC is going to be telling landlords they can't evict someone because the evicted people will spread disease, then they need to step in to stop illegals from spreading disease. In fact, the former likely isn't constitutional, but the latter is.

If Joe Biden wants everyone to wear a mask, he has the power to order that for employees in the executive branch.

It would be so much better if everyone would look at each issue individually instead of simply falling in line with partisan politics. My personal guide is the Constitution, and amendments of course. If some think that's political, so be it. At least there's some level of consistency.
 
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OP, correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is you were pounding your chest about known Covid-positives being released indiscriminately.

This article appears not to discuss irresponsible releasing, but irresponsible prevention and treatment behaviors. Which, of course, is not going to be a surprise given the circumstances these facilities face (even with the best leadership any of us could imagine).

Now, I expect you will read this as some defense of the Biden administration. It's not. It's just allowing for some nuance and context.

But back to the original point… maybe there is more to the article than pasted into the post. Are these Covid-positives being irresponsibly released?

Because, again, unless I am mistaken, that was the crux of your argument with Riley in the other thread.
 
OP, correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is you were pounding your chest about known Covid-positives being released indiscriminately.

This article appears not to discuss irresponsible releasing, but irresponsible prevention and treatment behaviors. Which, of course, is not going to be a surprise given the circumstances these facilities face (even with the best leadership any of us could imagine).

Now, I expect you will read this as some defense of the Biden administration. It's not. It's just allowing for some nuance and context.

But back to the original point… maybe there is more to the article than pasted into the post. Are these Covid-positives being irresponsibly released?

Because, again, unless I am mistaken, that was the crux of your argument with Riley in the other thread.
Well…I’m happy to see you now know who I was arguing with now. Riley just outright downplayed the idea of COVID at the border from start and continued to ignore all of the links I spit out at him. This just shows more proof of there being cases there and that there’s actually more than we know about because workers are being told to down play them.

Take a look at the greyhound article I posted in that thread. 100 COVID immigrants given tickets and dropped off at the bus station. Greyhound had to actually tell them to stop doing that.
 
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How upset were you when this guy downplayed it?

The right still can't decide if this is a hoax that should be dismissed or if this is something we need to take seriously. Depends on the day and who said what, am I right?

MAGAts must sleep well at night knowing their "values" are so flexible they'll never conflict with their politics.

200910_view_segone1_1101_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg
 
Well…I’m happy to see you now know who I was arguing with now. Riley just outright downplayed the idea of COVID at the border from start and continued to ignore all of the links I spit out at him. This just shows more proof of there being cases there and that there’s actually more than we know about because workers are being told to down play them.

Take a look at the greyhound article I posted in that thread. 100 COVID immigrants given tickets and dropped off at the bus station. Greyhound had to actually tell them to stop doing that.
Yes, I went back and read the thread. You realize there are no perfect answers, though, right? You're in such a rush to place blame, and under some odd and misplaced presumption that there is a perfect course of action.

Again, this is not to excuse anyone. I'm just tired of the cherry-picking, easy-scapegoating crap. It serves nothing and nobody. Well, it may feel like it's serving you, in your desperate need to find people to blame for this or that mess.

Okay, so the 100 Covids dropped at Greyhound. Tell me more. What was/were the alternative(s)? Is this someone's mistake or oversight? Or was this blatant negligence?
 
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Yes, I went back and read the thread. You realize there are no perfect answers, though, right? You're in such a rush to place blame, and under some odd and misplaced presumption that there is a perfect course of action.

Again, this is not to excuse anyone. I'm just tired of the cherry-picking, easy-scapegoating crap. It serves nothing and nobody. Well, it may feel like it's serving you, in your desperate need to find people to blame for this or that mess.

Okay, so the 100 Covids dropped at Greyhound. Tell me more. What was/were the alternative(s)? Is this someone's mistake or oversight? Or was this blatant negligence?
I don't care about blame or credit. But I admit, it's incredibly frustrating when giant swaths of people completely ignore and pretend that something that is an actual problem doesn't even exist. Hell, I'll just take acknowledgement of it being a problem before we ever even think about trying to solve it. Are you really going to tell me that I shouldn't have been frustrated with that nonsense and the amount of delusion being shoved in my direction? Especially from someone who follows me around the board with the same dumb shit every time.

Okay, so the 100 Covids dropped at Greyhound. Tell me more. What was/were the alternative(s)? Is this someone's mistake or oversight? Or was this blatant negligence?

Well...this is pretty much the first time I've gotten anyone to actually agree that it's happening, so congrats on that. As for blatant negligence...this article seems to suggest there is. But for me...It's all part of the big picture. We have people worried about mask mandates for school children but pretend that allowing and ignoring DHS sending COVID positive migrants, unchecked into all areas throughout the country has no impact. No different than the people ignoring that Democracy was under attack on 1/6 but pretend a BLM riot was the end of days. I guess I'm cursed by seeing that ALL of these things are actually happening and need bipartisan ADMITTANCE (not even solutions) to get anything done. So, when I see these folks that only see one side of their reality and refuse to see the whole picture, I take it upon myself to show it to them.
 
How upset were you when this guy downplayed it?

The right still can't decide if this is a hoax that should be dismissed or if this is something we need to take seriously. Depends on the day and who said what, am I right?

MAGAts must sleep well at night knowing their "values" are so flexible they'll never conflict with their politics.

200910_view_segone1_1101_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg
Yeah...he was a horrible president, a liar and an overall shitty person who cared about no one but himself. So, your contention is that Biden and Trump are exactly alike. Well done.
 
In case @RileyHawk missed it. WASHINGTON — Two more whistleblowers have come forward to allege that children were mistreated by contractors and senior federal employee managers at a Department Health and Human Services migrant shelter in Fort Bliss, Texas, earlier this year, and also say HHS told them to downplay hundreds of Covid infections among children held at the facility.

"Covid was widespread among children and eventually spread to many employees. Hundreds of children contracted Covid in the overcrowded conditions. Adequate masks were not consistently provided to children, nor was their use consistently enforced," the whistleblowers, Arthur Pearlstein and Lauren Reinhold, said in a federal whistleblower complaint filed Wednesday


But at the end of their service, they said, federal detailees were regularly given written instructions from HHS public affairs that told them, "when asked, to make everything sound positive about the Fort Bliss experience and to play down anything negative."

At a town hall with employees, a senior manager from the U.S. Public Health Service refused to share the rate of infections, explaining that he did not want the number to end up reported by the media, they said.

Pearlstein and Reinhold are federal employees who volunteered to be detailed to the shelter when the Biden administration ramped up staffing to accommodate the influx of unaccompanied children crossing the border by building emergency intake shelters like Fort Bliss and others.

NBC News previously reported that Servpro, a company that specializes in disaster cleanup and has no child welfare experience, oversaw the care of nearly 5,000 children in Ft. Bliss in early May and June.

In their complaint, which was filed by lawyers from the Government Accountability Project, Pearlstein and Reinhold said two other contractors in addition to Servpro — Chenega Corporation and Rapid Deployment Inc. — also handled the close to $1 billion in contracts the federal government paid to operate Fort Bliss. None of the three companies had child care experience and they did not properly vet applicants to be sure they had relevant experience, they said.
Still having a problem distinguishing between "detained" and "released" I see. Sorry, but that's a you problem. SMH
 
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OP, correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is you were pounding your chest about known Covid-positives being released indiscriminately.

This article appears not to discuss irresponsible releasing, but irresponsible prevention and treatment behaviors. Which, of course, is not going to be a surprise given the circumstances these facilities face (even with the best leadership any of us could imagine).

Now, I expect you will read this as some defense of the Biden administration. It's not. It's just allowing for some nuance and context.

But back to the original point… maybe there is more to the article than pasted into the post. Are these Covid-positives being irresponsibly released?

Because, again, unless I am mistaken, that was the crux of your argument with Riley in the other thread.
It was. He consistently moves the goalposts in discussions when he's getting owned - often just to get owned even worse, as in this case.
 
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How upset were you when this guy downplayed it?

The right still can't decide if this is a hoax that should be dismissed or if this is something we need to take seriously. Depends on the day and who said what, am I right?

MAGAts must sleep well at night knowing their "values" are so flexible they'll never conflict with their politics.

200910_view_segone1_1101_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg
Yep....politics.

Just like it was politics when Dems called a Chinese Travel ban xenophobic and racist. Just like they called the Wuhan lab theory racist and zenophobic.

Been a lot of politics from all sides during covid and still is.
 
Well…I’m happy to see you now know who I was arguing with now. Riley just outright downplayed the idea of COVID at the border from start and continued to ignore all of the links I spit out at him. This just shows more proof of there being cases there and that there’s actually more than we know about because workers are being told to down play them.

Take a look at the greyhound article I posted in that thread. 100 COVID immigrants given tickets and dropped off at the bus station. Greyhound had to actually tell them to stop doing that.
No - stop lying. I've never suggested there isn't an issue at the border. I did call you out for your misrepresentation that the government of releasing migrants known to have Covid. That's not the case. Stop getting your info from Lauren Boebert and spreading misinformation.
 
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No - stop lying. I've never suggested there isn't an issue at the border. I did call you out for your misrepresentation that the government of releasing migrants known to have Covid. That's not the case. Stop getting your info from Lauren Boebert and spreading misinformation.
Holy shit. How do you think 100 of them got to the bus stop? They were caught. Detained. Given a bus ticket and Released. And now we have whistleblowers admitting it’s been known and they’ve been asked to keep the bullshit hush hush. But go ahead and keep on jamming that head further up your ass.
 
Holy shit. How do you think 100 of them got to the bus stop? They were caught. Detained. Given a bus ticket and Released. And now we have whistleblowers admitting it’s been known and they’ve been asked to keep the bullshit hush hush. But go ahead and keep on jamming that head further up your ass.
They were tested and were negative. You do realize people can get the virus after testing negative, don't you? Maybe not.

The government is NOT doing what you accused them of. Your claims are based on right wing propaganda that you've bought into again. You're stupid for getting duped so many times.
 
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They were tested and were negative. You do realize people can get the virus after testing negative, don't you? Maybe not.

The government is NOT don't what you accused them of. Your claims are based on right wing propaganda that you've bought into again. You're stupid for getting duped so many times.
The La Joya, Texas, Police Department issued a public health announcement on Facebook this week and explained that concerned citizens had witnessed a family group coughing and sneezing at a local Whataburger. Police said they were told by the group they had been released by Border Patrol into a local hotel.

ABBOTT ORDERS TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD TO ASSIST WITH ARRESTS AT US-MEXICO BORDER


"The Officer approached the family and was told by them that they had been apprehended by Border Patrol days prior and were released because they were sick with COVID-19," the Facebook post read, adding that they determined the family was being housed at a local hotel by a charity group.

"Officers made contact with Hotel management who explained that Catholic Charities of The Rio Grande Valley had booked all the rooms in the hotel to house undocumented immigrants that were detained By Border Patrol," the post stated.

The post says the majority of the migrants held were not wearing masks and that border authorities are releasing migrants with coronavirus symptoms to local charities who were not notifying local police that sick people were being housed in the hotels.
 
Just seemed like you would, maybe I’m wrong?
Why would it seem like I would? Because I'm against ILLEGAL immigration, or people entering the country with a communicable disease? Yes, you are wrong. If you're going to play the race card, perhaps you should have a basis for it. FWIW, I'm mixed race, and have no tolerance for racism.
 
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He’s calling you a racist. It’s the go to for Team Adult.
I just figured he was part of the “Rapists, Murderers and Cartel type” are the only ones coming across the border. If I was wrong I will admit it.
 
Why would it seem like I would? Because I'm against ILLEGAL immigration, or people entering the country with a communicable disease? Yes, you are wrong. If you're going to play the race card, perhaps you should have a basis for it. FWIW, I'm mixed race, and have no tolerance for racism.
I apologize

From what I read the immigrants are getting it after they cross, they aren’t bringing it with them.
 
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The La Joya, Texas, Police Department issued a public health announcement on Facebook this week and explained that concerned citizens had witnessed a family group coughing and sneezing at a local Whataburger. Police said they were told by the group they had been released by Border Patrol into a local hotel.

ABBOTT ORDERS TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD TO ASSIST WITH ARRESTS AT US-MEXICO BORDER


"The Officer approached the family and was told by them that they had been apprehended by Border Patrol days prior and were released because they were sick with COVID-19," the Facebook post read, adding that they determined the family was being housed at a local hotel by a charity group.

"Officers made contact with Hotel management who explained that Catholic Charities of The Rio Grande Valley had booked all the rooms in the hotel to house undocumented immigrants that were detained By Border Patrol," the post stated.

The post says the majority of the migrants held were not wearing masks and that border authorities are releasing migrants with coronavirus symptoms to local charities who were not notifying local police that sick people were being housed in the hotels.
That's an entirely different issue. The government has contracted to detain Covid positive migrants in hotels. Sounds like the company responsible for that is not doing their job.

Another nice goalpost move attempt though.
 
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I don't care about blame or credit. But I admit, it's incredibly frustrating when giant swaths of people completely ignore and pretend that something that is an actual problem doesn't even exist. Hell, I'll just take acknowledgement of it being a problem before we ever even think about trying to solve it. Are you really going to tell me that I shouldn't have been frustrated with that nonsense and the amount of delusion being shoved in my direction? Especially from someone who follows me around the board with the same dumb shit every time.

Okay, so the 100 Covids dropped at Greyhound. Tell me more. What was/were the alternative(s)? Is this someone's mistake or oversight? Or was this blatant negligence?

Well...this is pretty much the first time I've gotten anyone to actually agree that it's happening, so congrats on that. As for blatant negligence...this article seems to suggest there is. But for me...It's all part of the big picture. We have people worried about mask mandates for school children but pretend that allowing and ignoring DHS sending COVID positive migrants, unchecked into all areas throughout the country has no impact. No different than the people ignoring that Democracy was under attack on 1/6 but pretend a BLM riot was the end of days. I guess I'm cursed by seeing that ALL of these things are actually happening and need bipartisan ADMITTANCE (not even solutions) to get anything done. So, when I see these folks that only see one side of their reality and refuse to see the whole picture, I take it upon myself to show it to them.
Dude, you're such a mess. You have the most inaccurate interpretations of shit. And now here you are, so close to reasonable discussion, making these giant stretches of the truth. WHY???!!!! The actual truth is plenty concerning.

I think I just have to give up with you. You are so damned insistent on being this frantic raving irrational goofball. You're cursed by wanting everybody to see things as you do, and when they don't, you completely misrepresent their thoughts and opinions into absolute extremes. Damn near everything in your last paragraph is completely made up. Like, completely made up.

  1. Link to someone who has expressed that releasing covid-positive immigrants into the community has no impact. Remember, the bar is "no impact".
  2. Link to some type of journalism that backs up this idea that these covid-positive immigrants are being release into "all areas throughout the country". Lol. I mean, come on.
  3. The admittance thing. There is plenty of admittance of various issues. You just don't like how EXTREME the language around the various admittances is. You want everyone to see JUST HOW HUGE AND SCARY every issue is, and when their language around it isn't to your liking, you position them as !!@! IGNORING THE ISSUE ALTOGETHER!!!?!<@J!!"
  4. You're not interested in trying to accurately discuss reality, If this was central to your interests, you wouldn't constantly misrepresent things. You do it all, the, damn, time,
  5. "I take it upon myself to show them." Lol. Bro. Lol. Too funny.

Just so damn hyped up on emotion, man. Like you have some heavy addiction to Monster energy drinks or something.
 
Dude, you're such a mess. You have the most inaccurate interpretations of shit. And now here you are, so close to reasonable discussion, making these giant stretches of the truth. WHY???!!!! The actual truth is plenty concerning.

I think I just have to give up with you. You are so damned insistent on being this frantic raving irrational goofball. You're cursed by wanting everybody to see things as you do, and when they don't, you completely misrepresent their thoughts and opinions into absolute extremes. Damn near everything in your last paragraph is completely made up. Like, completely made up.

  1. Link to someone who has expressed that releasing covid-positive immigrants into the community has no impact. Remember, the bar is "no impact".
  2. Link to some type of journalism that backs up this idea that these covid-positive immigrants are being release into "all areas throughout the country". Lol. I mean, come on.
  3. The admittance thing. There is plenty of admittance of various issues. You just don't like how EXTREME the language around the various admittances is. You want everyone to see JUST HOW HUGE AND SCARY every issue is, and when their language around it isn't to your liking, you position them as !!@! IGNORING THE ISSUE ALTOGETHER!!!?!<@J!!"
  4. You're not interested in trying to accurately discuss reality, If this was central to your interests, you wouldn't constantly misrepresent things. You do it all, the, damn, time,
  5. "I take it upon myself to show them." Lol. Bro. Lol. Too funny.

Just so damn hyped up on emotion, man. Like you have some heavy addiction to Monster energy drinks or something.
Agreed. It's fun to make him squirm and throw hissy fits but after a while it gets boring. I wish he would stop with the misinformation but I doubt it has any impact give his reputation. Time to let someone else play with him.
 
You mean the same people who told us to lock everything down because we are all gonna die…but it’s OK to jam yourselves into the crowded streets to protest if you want.

Was it really the same people doing both?
 
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