Patterico's Pontifications

5/17/2021

Can We Just Be Done With This Pandemic Already?

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:46 pm



[guest post by Dana]

In Covid vaccine news, the U.S. will be sending vaccines to other parts of the world:

President Joe Biden plans to send an additional 20 million doses of U.S. coronavirus vaccines abroad by the end of June — including, for the first time, shots authorized for domestic use, where supply is beginning to outstrip demand.

Biden will announce Monday that he’ll export 20 million doses of vaccines from Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. or Johnson & Johnson, on top of 60 million AstraZeneca Plc doses he had already planned to give to other countries, according to a senior administration official familiar with the plan.

The official, who asked not to be identified ahead of planned remarks from the president, stressed that the measures are only a first step as the U.S. pivots its attention to quelling the pandemic abroad. Biden has previously pledged that the U.S. would soon become an “arsenal” of global vaccine supply.

The administration has not identified which countries will be receiving the shipments.

Here is where the U.S. currently stands with regard to those vaccinated:

Untitled

Meanwhile, in spite of the CDC’s new guidelines released last week, it appears that mask-wearing is the new norm for some people, even those fully vaccinated:

More than 500 USA TODAY readers shared their thoughts on whether the mask policy changes would change their shopping habits with approximately 80% self-reporting as fully vaccinated. Many said they plan to keep wearing masks while others who self-reported as unvaccinated said they would not wear masks or get the vaccine.

More on the vaccinated who choose to continue wearing their masks:

Even as a combination of evolving public health recommendations and pandemic fatigue lead more Americans to toss the masks they’ve worn for more than a year, Mr. Glickman is among those who say they plan to keep their faces covered in public indefinitely.

For people like Mr. Glickman, a combination of anxiety, murky information about new virus variants and the emergence of an obdurate and sizable faction of vaccine holdouts means mask-free life is on hold — possibly forever.

“I have no problem being one of the only people,” said Mr. Glickman, a professional photographer and musician from Albany, N.Y. “But I don’t think I’m going to be the only one.”

[M]asks have emerged as a dystopian political flash point during the pandemic. A map of states that enforced mask mandates corresponds closely with how people in those states voted for president.

But as more Americans become vaccinated and virus restrictions loosen, masks are at the center of a second round in the country’s culture brawl. This time, people who choose to continue to cover their faces have become targets of public ire.

In interviews, vaccinated people who continue to wear masks said they are increasingly under pressure, especially in recent days; friends and family have urged them to relax, or even have suggested that they are paranoid.

But for some people, no newfound freedom will persuade them to reveal their faces just yet. After a year, they say they have grown accustomed to the masks and glad for the extra safety they provide.

…“I’m in no hurry; why should I be in a hurry?” said Mr. Jones, who became fully vaccinated about a month and a half ago. Until New York City reaches a higher level of vaccination — just 40 percent are completely vaccinated — he believes it’s too risky to unmask. “Being around is more important. That’s what counts. I’m an old man — I’d like to be around as long as I can.”

Public health data shows that masking and social distancing have most likely had far-reaching positive impacts, beyond slowing the spread of Covid-19. While over 34,000 adults died from influenza in the 2018-19 season, this year deaths are on track to remain in the hundreds, according to C.D.C. data. Mask wearers say their seasonal allergy symptoms seem to be lessened.

Leni Cohen, 51, a retired kindergarten teacher from New York City who has a compromised immune system, said she planned to continue wearing a mask …“Kindergartners, while adorable, are quick to share their secretions…”

Barry J. Neely, 41, a composer from Los Angeles, fell ill with the coronavirus in March 2020 and battled symptoms for months. He has also struggled with guilt over whether he had inadvertently infected people he came in contact with before his diagnosis — which came at a time when the government discouraged mask use.

He now plans to wear a mask whenever he feels under the weather, in perpetuity.

For a number of so-called perma-maskers, the decision is informed by trauma: They endured the coronavirus or witnessed loved ones die, and they say taking off their mask makes them feel terrifyingly vulnerable.

After contracting the coronavirus, Mr. Glickman fell ill with pneumonia. He still experiences gastrointestinal problems and neurological symptoms, including extreme lightheadedness and problems with his sight. “Floaters” swim in his field of vision, and on one occasion, he said, everything turned yellow.

Post-coronavirus trauma appears to be common: A survey of nearly 400 Covid patients by doctors at Agostino Gemelli hospital in Italy showed 30 percent developed post-traumatic stress disorder after a severe illness.

“There is an element of precaution that is brought on by the emotional and psychological impact with what I went through,” Mr. Glickman said of his masking. “I don’t think it is necessarily unjustified. I think it is somewhere in the middle.”

“As a woman, we feel like we have to, when we go out in public, put on a little bit of makeup, eyeliner, blush,” said Keela Samis, 57, an attorney from St. Petersburg, Fla., who is vaccinated and does not plan to stop wearing a mask. “With a mask I don’t have to. It simplified my life.”

Ms. Samis added: “Even if I’m the only person on planet Earth that continues to wear the mask, if that’s what makes me feel comfortable, I’ll wear the mask.”

Whether you feel the need to continue wearing a mask after being fully vaccinated or not, maybe not harass anyone for their personal decision that is none of your business because it doesn’t impact you in any way. The person choosing to wear a mask isn’t putting you at risk by potentially infecting you with a virus. It’s a personal decision, and as we see in the linked report, there are a variety of reasons why a fully vaccinated person may keep wearing a mask. Pre-vaccine the harassment was “Why are you wearing a mask?” and now, as we’re in the midst of vaccines, the harassment remains “Why are you wearing a mask?”. In my experience, it’s the same group of people doing the harassment.

Just get vaccinated already.

–Dana

55 Responses to “Can We Just Be Done With This Pandemic Already?”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (fd537d)

  2. Those who berated unmasked people who were outdoors, and who still wear a mask themselves, deserve all the scorn they get.

    norcal (1aafb8)

  3. Theatre and virtue signaling. Get vaccinated.

    Simon Jester (b40163)

  4. I don’t mean the post. I do mean the knuckleheads trying to use public health issues for politics. We have learned nothing since 1918.

    Simon Jester (b40163)

  5. “Those who berated unmasked people who were outdoors, and who still wear a mask themselves, deserve all the scorn they get.”

    The US is still averaging over 600 deaths per day.

    Davethulhu (6ba00b)

  6. Here’s my thang. Everyone who wanted to get vaccinated has been vaccinated, or should be able to get vaccinated by the end of the month, so open everything up after Memorial Day. After that, it’s on you, but for everyone’s sake, just get the damn vaccine.
    Yes, I’m past done with this.

    Paul Montagu (26e0d1)

  7. @2 norcal – Bari Weiss has an interesting discussion on this question. She admits that, in the early stages, she was fanatic about disinfecting everything that came into her home. I did something similar, using disinfectant in a shared laundry, and wearing dish gloves in supermarkets.

    As the scientists learned more about how the virus is transmitted, both of us changed our behavior. For instance, I stopped using the disinfectant, and bought better masks and switched to contactless payments, where possible.

    But we were both acting on the best (though not very good) information available at the time. (And I was trying to act in ways that would not scare other people, as I would expect her to do, too. For instance, if my nose was itching from allergies as I was approaching a store, I stopped outside and blew it, rather than scare the people inside when I was unable to repress a sneeze.)

    I’ll admit that, for me, it was partly a game of trying to figure out how best to follow the rules. Example: I started walking in bicycle lanes, facing traffic, so as to maintain that 6 foot distance, even though I was fairly sure that distance was arbitrary. (After all, from the beginning, it was 2 meters in most of the world.)

    And some of the restrictions did work. The clearest example I know of is the difference between Norway and Sweden. Norway locked down, Sweden didn’t, and Sweden has had about 10 times more deaths than Norway, per capita.

    (Weiss has her own substack now, if you are wondering where to find her, now that she has left the NYT.)

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  8. @6 Paul – I think the Golden Rule implies that — except for those with compromised immune systems — we should get vaccinated to protect others.

    For what it is worth, I think the Rule applies to mask wearing, too. You wear a mask more to keep from infecting other people, than to protect yourself.

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  9. The US is still averaging over 600 deaths per day.

    I always said I would go along with masks until everyone who wants a vaccine can get one. We have reached that point. Vaccines are going either unused or overseas. Anybody who is still afraid of Covid can wear an N-95 mask wherever they go.

    I have no problem if some want to continue to wear a mask everywhere they go. I will not chew them out for doing so. However, if they happen to be the very people who were previously chastising the unmasked people who were outdoors, then I won’t feel sorry for them if other people mock them.

    norcal (1aafb8)

  10. Jim Miller,

    I was very careful at the beginning as well, but I never wore gloves or used disinfectant. I turned down my neighbors’ dinner invitations a couple of times, but I eventually caved in. I figured that my neighbors were older than me, and in subpar physical condition. If they wanted to risk it, I wasn’t going to be afraid.

    I’m glad I did get out. I live alone, and it would have been detrimental to my mental health to stay hunkered down.

    I’ve been to several states in the past year, including a cross-country drive from Miami to Reno. It’s interesting to see how the various states responded to Covid. California is by far the most freaked out (of the states I’ve been in).

    norcal (1aafb8)

  11. BTW Jim, I did read that excellent Bari Weiss article. She is a gem.

    norcal (1aafb8)

  12. Jim Miller (edcec1) — 5/17/2021 @ 7:21 pm

    Exactly, Jim. I don’t wear a mask out of fear, but out of courtesy. There’s been way too much emphasis from the Trumpy Right about rights when it should be about civics, about being a good citizen and loving your neighbor.
    And with two Pfizer shots in me, I’ll be the first to take off my mask when Inslee lifts the indoor mask mandate. There’s nothing worse than playing gym rat at the Y with that thing over my face.

    Paul Montagu (26e0d1)

  13. Or the person wearing the mask is trying to rob the place.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  14. There are people who both won’t get a vaccine because reasons, and want everyone else to stay masked and 6 feet apart.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  15. There are people who both won’t get a vaccine because reasons, and want everyone else to stay masked and 6 feet apart.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/17/2021 @ 10:34 pm

    I want a solid gold toilet seat. Ain’t gonna happen.

    norcal (1aafb8)

  16. And with two Pfizer shots in me, I’ll be the first to take off my mask when Inslee lifts the indoor mask mandate.

    The only places I’m wearing a mask now are venues that require it, now that NM has dropped its rules. If someone objects, I will tell them to get vaccinated while the shots are still free.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  17. I want a solid gold toilet seat.

    No, you don’t. At least not for the morning sit-down.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  18. Okay. With a heater. 🙂

    norcal (1aafb8)

  19. Dr. Drew nails it:

    California: We all must follow CDC guidelines! No exceptions!

    Also California: So the CDC says fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks in public anymore except when required by the state. Let’s mandate masks for another month… so strange

    https://twitter.com/drdrew/status/1394376391513186305

    norcal (1aafb8)

  20. Take your mask and needle and cram them where the sun won’t shine.
    And stay off my property.

    mg (8cbc69)

  21. Here is the problem. The CDC guidance does not tell us who is vaccinated and who isn’t. The assumption is the unvaccinated are only threats to themselves. But that doesn’t necessarily help me when the unvaccinated come back to my place of business and infect each other and then sue me (or hit my workers comp insurance).

    I hate to be mean and insist I want masks or VAX passports. But we have become the society that acts irresponsibly then files a lawsuit when it turns out badly.

    Appalled (1a17de)

  22. When normal people do what they feel they should do, the odds are that it is the right thing to do.

    Normal people. It’s self-explanatory, really.

    nk (1d9030)

  23. To be sure, there’s a lot a paranoia out there, along with various irrational phobias. But I find paranoid people a lot less annoying than healthy anti-vaxxers who, in my opinion, are being rather selfish by refusing vaccination. Thanks (or no thanks) to them, we might never reach herd immunity.

    Roger (e34354)

  24. I should clarify what I just posted: by paranoia I mean specifically people whose paranoia leads them to continue to wear masks even when it’s not necessary. I am impatient with people who are paranoid about vaccines. Unnecessary mask wearing is harmless.

    Roger (e34354)

  25. One incidental benefit I’ve found from from wearing a mask to the store is that I don’t have to check in the car mirror that there’s nothing hanging out of my nose.

    Kind of like concealed carry, too, where if you wear a windbreaker or your shirt with the tail out to hide the holster, it will also cover your fly should you have forgot to zip.

    nk (1d9030)

  26. And stay off my property.

    Not a problem. You can come onto mine, once you sign a waiver saying that any disease you contract is your own damn fault.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  27. When normal people do what they feel they should do, the odds are that it is the right thing to do.

    Explain gluten-free foods, reality TV and the L.A. city council then.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  28. Normal people? And let me add cryptocurrency to your list.

    nk (1d9030)

  29. Like Joseph Stalin said,

    laws of science–whether they be laws of natural science or laws of political economy–[are] the reflection of objective processes which take place independently of the will of man. Man may discover these laws, get to know them, study them, reckon with them in his activities and utilize them in the interests of society, but he cannot change or abolish them. Still less can he form or create new laws of science.

    What does this mean in regard to the things Kevin listed in his comment #27 (and I’m sure others we all can think of)? It’s this:

    If a grift needed so many marks to flourish in 1821, it still needs that many marks to flourish in 2021. However, in 1821 the U.S. population was under 10 million people and now it’s over 330 million people. Therefore, a grift now has 33 times the chance to flourish in the first place, as well as the chance to flourish to a magnitude of 33 times greater, even though the standard deviation remains the same.

    nk (1d9030)

  30. “My name is Joe Biden and I’m a ‘carghi.'” – President Plagiarist, Ford plant, Detroit, MI, 5/18/21

    Certainly not a Marxist nor a Klingon or Romulan.

    A septuagenarian, though.

    Just like Peggy Noonan.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  31. ^ Where are the guys in Oakleys or Sam Wurzlebach (who actually did a sort of James Keefian turn at a Chrysler plant) when you need them?

    urbanleftbehind (763e5d)

  32. @31. Test-driving Teslas?!

    😉

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  33. Appalled (1a17de) — 5/18/2021 @ 4:15 am

    Some states have laws where a business posts a sign and it limits their liability. It’s not really that hard to deal with the whole issue of everyone suing each other. We already can’t sue any of the vaccine manufacturers if this turns out bad and it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to sue businesses, universities, etc. that require people to get vaccinated and then have short or long term side effects.

    I hate to be mean and insist …

    I hate to be skeptical and jaded but …

    Fingers crossed these vaccines that don’t prevent you from contracting COVID don’t have any long term side effects.

    frosty (f27e97)

  34. . The person choosing to wear a mask isn’t putting you at risk by potentially infecting you with a virus.

    Ah, but Dr. Fauci is not willing to say that.

    He also says it is a good idea for anyone who has a cold, and in the future there will be a lot more f mask wearing.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/09/fauci-says-face-masks-could-become-seasonal-after-covid-pandemic.html

    “I think people have gotten used to the fact that wearing masks, clearly if you look at the data it diminishes respiratory diseases, we’ve had practically a non-existent flu season this year merely because people were doing the kinds of public health things that were directed predominately against Covid-19,” Fauci said during an interview on NBC Sunday program “Meet the Press.”

    “So it is conceivable that as we go on a year or two or more from now that during certain seasonal periods when you have respiratory borne viruses like the flu, people might actually elect to wear masks to diminish the likelihood that you’ll spread these respiratory borne diseases,” he added.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  35. Simon Jester (b40163) — 5/17/2021 @ 6:07 pm

    I do mean the knuckleheads trying to use public health issues for politics. We have learned nothing since 1918.

    Did anybody do that in 1918??

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  36. Frosty:

    I am aware of the laws that let retail businesses avoid liability if a superspreader wanders in. I am looking at this more as an employer that opens up his office and ends up with unmasked unvaxed people. Employers don’t have much guidance on how to handle this situation. I’d want an ability to verify VAX status beyond easily forged vaccination cards.

    As for long-term effects — well, it seems COVID has some too.

    Appalled (1a17de)

  37. Appalled (1a17de) — 5/19/2021 @ 4:33 am

    As for long-term effects — well, it seems COVID has some too.

    Sure, but no one is requiring you get COVID as a condition for employment. If you’re requiring someone to take a risk you should share some it. The idea that the vaccine always reduces risk is a misunderstanding of the probability and statistics involved.

    And I keep noticing that people miss this point, the vaccine doesn’t prevent you from getting COVID or spreading it and there’s some debate over which long term risks it mitigates. That certified unforgeable vaccine certification won’t protect you from “superspreaders”. Would you be surprised to know it’s possible the vaccine increases your risk of being exposed to the virus?

    I am aware … superspreader … ends up with unmasked unvaxed people … easily forged

    I don’t think you’re going to get the control over other people you need to feel safe. But don’t let that stop you from trying.

    frosty (f27e97)

  38. And I keep noticing that people miss this point, the vaccine doesn’t prevent you from getting COVID or spreading it

    Say what? Prease to exprain.

    1. Because if you mean it does not keep a Covid germ from climbing up your nose, yeah, that’s true. But the moment it gets in your blood, the antibodies will sound “Charge!” and kill it.

    2. As for spreading it, how? You gonna sneeze that germ out again? No, you won’t. It needs a minimum of twenty-four hours to multiply enough to start shedding. Even with unvaccinated people. And for the vaccinated, see 1 above.

    nk (1d9030)

  39. From Frank Herbert in Dune:

    I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

    Fear has been the method by which the government has controlled the people. An unreasoning fear of a virus which, while serious, is usually not fatal, has allowed the government to simply suspend our constitutional rights, and the sheeple simply accepted it.

    Now we see (purportedly) fully vaccinated people saying that they are going to keep wearing their masks, because they have no way of knowing whether an unmasked stranger they may encounter is vaccinated or an evil reich wing Republican and Trump supporter not.

    Those who have submitted to the control of the State have decided that they like being controlled, and so very dearly want other people controlled, too.

    It would be interesting to see some research on it, but I’d bet a case of Mountain Dew that there would be a strong correlation between those who want to continue the mask mandates and those who want the government to confiscate privately owned firearms.

    The Dana in Kentucky (e9cac9)

  40. I have not done anything The State ordered me to do. I have done what I, me, my own self, feel is the right thing to do. Since I am intelligent, educated, socially responsible, friendly, courteous, considerate of others, and with a more or less healthy instinct of self-preservation, I am confident that my “feels” is also the right thing to do. For myself, my family, and my neighbors.

    nk (1d9030)

  41. Now if you were to tell me that the vaccine is “belt and suspenders” because 90% of the population
    1) will not contract it at all, or
    2) will contract it asymptomatically and not even know it, or
    3) have only mild symptoms,
    I might find that credible.

    At least on heavily overcast days when the International Rothschild-Zionist-Vatican Mind Control Space Rays cannot penetrate though the cloud layers.

    But we will still have the 10%.

    nk (1d9030)

  42. Frosty:

    You completely misunderstand what I am saying. As an employer, I do not want to see my workers comp rates soar because a bunch of terrified anti-Vaxers work for me, don’t get the vax, and infect each other. I also don’t want my health insurance rates spike as a result of a cluster of COVID cases caused by unvaccinated people infecting each other. It’s money, not fear.

    I can’t fire someone for having COVID, nor do I wish to. I can fire them for violating safety protocols. Coming back to work unvaccinated for no good reason other than an unwarranted faith in Tucker Carlson seems a violation that I ought to be able to do something about.

    Appalled (1a17de)

  43. 7, Jim Miller (edcec1) — 5/17/2021 @ 7:15 pm

    But we were both acting on the best (though not very good) information available at the time.

    That was the best information the way the assault on the compound n Benghazi was spontaneous and inspired by the events in Cairo was the best information.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  44. nk (1d9030) — 5/19/2021 @ 6:33 am

    1. Because if you mean it does not keep a Covid germ from climbing up your nose, yeah, that’s true. But the moment it gets in your blood, the antibodies will sound “Charge!” and kill it.

    Well, yes and no. It was always true that your body would respond to the virus whether you had the vaccine or not. It being novel didn’t mean your body didn’t respond. It just meant that it didn’t have a head start and it was easier for the virus to overwhelm the system before the immune response could catch up. Depending on the specific vaccine it would be more correct to say that it improves the chances that it will respond effectively. The vaccine doesn’t confer 100% immunity.

    2. As for spreading it, how? You gonna sneeze that germ out again? No, you won’t. It needs a minimum of twenty-four hours to multiply enough to start shedding. Even with unvaccinated people. And for the vaccinated, see 1 above.

    Well, yes and no. From the CDC

    Scientists are still learning how well vaccines prevent you from spreading the virus. We’re also still learning how long COVID-19 vaccines protect people.

    So, two points, “still learning how well” means it isn’t 100% and we don’t know the actual number. And “still learning how long” means that VAX certificate you’re worshiping probably has an expiration date.

    The current vaccines reduce the chances of catching and of spreading COVID. But they aren’t as you imagine. I’m also not sure why people keep spreading this nonsense. No one in authority nor any expert is telling anyone that getting vaccinated makes you immune or unable to carry and transmit COVID. In fact, they are saying the opposite. And all of this is ignoring variants. There is some evidence that one of the vaccines improves immune response to variants but it’s preliminary and there’s no data to support “the moment it gets in your blood, the antibodies will sound “Charge!” and kill it”.

    If you don’t like the CDC maybe you can try the UK government press release.

    One dose of COVID-19 vaccine can cut household transmission by up to half

    I think these are good numbers and I’m glad the vaccine is improving the situation but statements like

    This new research shows that those who do become infected 3 weeks after receiving one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine were between 38% and 49% less likely to pass the virus on to their household contacts than those who were unvaccinated.

    says several things, i.e. “those who do become infected 3 weeks after receiving one dose”, and “38% and 49% less likely” isn’t 100% effective.

    frosty (f27e97)

  45. Appalled (1a17de) — 5/19/2021 @ 6:59 am

    Coming back to work unvaccinated … seems a violation that I ought to be able to do something about.

    I’m fine with that as long as they can sue you if they have long-term health effects from the vaccine.

    It’s money, not fear.

    I didn’t say it was about fear. I said it was about control and shifting as much risk from you to your employees, customers, etc.

    Back in Jan/2020 I mentioned something about this COVID thing and Sammy said it was just the flu. A few months later I mentioned it wouldn’t be long before people would start asking for “papers please” and required people to wear identifying clothing. I wish this garbage wasn’t so easy to predict.

    frosty (f27e97)

  46. 95% isn’t 100%, if you’re vaccinated you can still get infected, see Yankee’s infections after J&J vax. But, the vax has already jump started the response, so the likelihood of serious effects are something like close to zero, and of those that are infected with the vax, deaths have been something like zero. I looked it up for the UK, US, and Israel a few weeks ago and it was zero out of a 150M at the time.

    These vaccines are historically safe, and historically effective. mRNA vaccines look like a superb advance, it has taken 20 years to go from figuring out how to do it, and an application for it, the government billions globally thrown at it help shortcut the financial requirements of building an mRNA production pipeline. Maybe they can figure out the cold chain and a flu-rona vax. I’ve seen the old style one being tested, but a dual yearly booster in the 95% range without the cold chain would be awesome, then for colds, and HPV, and…

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0)

  47. 95% isn’t 100%, if you’re vaccinated you can still get infected

    It’s not a binary choice, it’s an analog thing. Those 5% are almost all mild infections and knocked down quickly — just not quickly enough to be undetected.

    The point of vaccination is not “to become immune” (although it may be sold that way), it is to become resistant and for the herd to have highly immune statistics. Some vaccines are more effective than others — the flu vaccine hovers around 50% (although new mRNA flu vaccines may do much better). The mRNA Covid vaccines are 95% effective, which is pretty much as good as it gets.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  48. Went out to the stores today, now that the state has dropped its mask order and the stores have dropped their requirements as well.

    Everyone is wearing a mask.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  49. Oh, sorry Klink. Didn’t read it all. Should have.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  50. frosty (f27e97) — 5/19/2021 @ 2:12 pm

    Back in Jan/2020 I mentioned something about this COVID thing and Sammy said it was just the flu. A few months later I mentioned it wouldn’t be long before people would start asking for “papers please” and required people to wear identifying clothing. I wish this garbage wasn’t so easy to predict.

    I can’t recall or find anything like this – or almost anything by you but that may be a problem with my search.

    I do recall saying that that it would be impossible to write anything about the year 2020 without mentioning the coronavirus, and somebody else feeling bad about that, or not wanting it.

    I did say it was not a very serious virus, or maybe very deadly.

    I even uploaded a capsule movie review sometme after March 18 – not the same week.

    “The Uncommon Cold” (Imaginary, 1989)

    In the year 2020, nations of the world go crazy over a not too serious
    infection. Travel restrictions aplenty, and everything gradually shuts
    down. The president of the United States is Donald Trump. Not the
    Andromeda Strain. ** 1/2. (Dir. James Cameron.)

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  51. mRNA vaccines look like a superb advance

    Pretty sure this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to the mRNA people. Apparently, if they have the virus genome, they can just dial it in.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  52. 48. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/19/2021 @ 3:02 pm

    Everyone is wearing a mask.

    Mask mandates don’t have too great an effect, one way or the other, on whether or not people are wearing a mask.

    Therefore, not much of an effect on infection rates either.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  53. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/19/2021 @ 3:05 pm

    Apparently, if they have the virus genome, they can just dial it in.

    Not if the Food and Drug Administration has anything to say about it!

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  54. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/19/2021 @ 3:01 pm

    , it is to become resistant and for the herd to have highly immune statistics.

    Not only that, but for almost all cases that do occur to be mild. Remember this circulated undetected for weeks every place that it newly went to. Even on a cruise ship it took time.

    The amount of initial virus exposure matters a great deal (and also the state of a person’s immune system and any pre-existing immunity.)

    It takes a whole chain of transmission, either one person infecting another and so on, with each case getting further before it is beaten back, or exposure from multiple people with less serious cases, to create very serious cases.

    They are always interested in positive test results, but rarely report how serious it is. They would routinely confine infected people together, like it didn’t matter once someone was exposed.

    Bad, bad decision!

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  55. The New York Post had an opinion article the other day arguing about the health risks of masks (what kind of masks?) and how it reduces oxygen for athletes and how that was being censored.

    https://nypost.com/2021/05/18/how-facebook-uses-fact-checking-to-suppress-scientific-truth

    At the end of a recent 800-meter race in Oregon, a high-school runner named Maggie Williams got dizzy, passed out and landed face-first just beyond the finish line. She and her coach blamed her collapse on a deficit of oxygen due to the mask she’d been forced to wear, and state officials responded to the public outcry by easing their requirements for masks during athletic events.

    But long before the pandemic began, scientists had repeatedly found that wearing a mask could lead to oxygen deprivation. Why had this risk been ignored?

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)


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