Covid-19

[XU_Lou]

Part 3:

2/24: “It’s exciting to be here, especially at this time, to be able to be unified with our community,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tells reporters as she visits San Francisco’s Chinatown. “We want to be vigilant about what is out there in other places. We want to be careful about how we deal with it, but we do want to say to people ‘Come to Chinatown, here we are — we’re, again, careful, safe — and come join us.’”

2/24: The White House submits a request to Congress for $2.5 billion in supplemental spending to help combat the coronavirus outbreak. The request includes $1.25 billion in new money, with the rest coming from unspent funds.

2/27: NY Times Ginia Bellafante: “I fundamentally don’t understand the panic: incidence of the disease is declining in China. Virus is not deadly in the vast majority of cases. Production and so on will slow down and will obviously rebound. cc: @opinion_joe”

2/29: The Trump administration rolls back Obama-era regulations in order to speed up coronavirus testing.

3/2: “Since I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions,” de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, tweets. “Here’s the first: thru Thurs 3/5 go see ‘The Traitor’ @FilmLinc. If ‘The Wire’ was a true story + set in Italy, it would be this film.”

3/2: NY Governor Cuomo: “When you’re saying, what happened in other countries versus what happened here, we don’t even think it’s going to be as bad as it was in other countries.”

3/4: Democrat Barbot, the top New York City health official, declares, “There’s no indication that being in a car, being in the subways with someone who’s potentially sick is a risk factor.”

3/4: On CNN, Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta downplay the virus. “The flu right now is far deadlier,” Cooper says. “So if you’re freaked out at all about the coronavirus you should be more concerned about the flu, and you can actually do something about it, and get a flu shot.”

3/4: At a Fox News town hall, Bernie Sanders says he would not close the border, even if it were necessary to halt the spread of coronavirus. He then attacked Trump’s “xenophobia.”

3/9: Dr. Anthony Fauci:“…if you are a healthy young person, there is no reason if you want to go on a cruise ship, go on a cruise ship.”

3/10: Rebecca Katz, named to Biden Task Force the next day "Quarantine, by definition, is curtailing individual rights. You are impacting population movement. And not all societies are OK with that."

3/12: Biden Task Force’s Dr. Rebecca Katz ◾“There are estimates all over the place for exactly what’s going to happen. Its hard to know exactly what the right answer is…”

3/25: New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo's orders nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients

4/20: Cuomo on COVID-19 in Nursing Homes: ‘It’s Not Our Job’ Refusing to take any responsibility for the climbing death toll in New York’s nursing homes, Gov. Cuomo responded to a question during his April 20 press briefing saying he “did not know” about the (see this video, 33:12) policy that required nursing home patients who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 to be readmitted to nursing homes. At that point, the governor turned to Zucker, who acknowledged the policy of readmitting COVID-infected patients back to the nursing home population.

◾Fifty-eight percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the state of New York have occurred in nursing homes in New York City.

[X-man]

All you need to do is look at the two picture charts. A child could do it. And there are more out there.

Final conclusion:

Wash your hands ———- If you are sick, stay home!

Again, you might try reading the actual report, or even the reports cited with the diagrams. Nobody says that mask wearing increases the number of cases, unless people take riskier actions because of a false sense of security. There are many concerns expressed about the lack of mask effectiveness (in reducing covid) if masks are worn incorrectly, masks are made of cloth, or if masks are used to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in aerosols. Just looking at a diagram tells you nothing. Statements like yours are not only incorrect, they also mislead people...sort of like the comments of dear leader.

[Masterofreality]

Again, you might try reading the actual report, or even the reports cited with the diagrams. Nobody says that mask wearing increases the number of cases, unless people take riskier actions because of a false sense of security. There are many concerns expressed about the lack of mask effectiveness (in reducing covid) if masks are worn incorrectly, masks are made of cloth, or if masks are used to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in aerosols. Just looking at a diagram tells you nothing. Statements like yours are not only incorrect, they also mislead people...sort of like the comments of dear leader.

Or the World Health Organization on April 6, discouraging the use of masks because they would cause a "False sense of Security".
Seems as if even the "Science" disagreed and disagrees.
Meanwhile, cases seem to still be rising despite all of these "precautions". But because the threraputics and treatments are better, less folks are getting a serious case.

[Muskie in dayton]

If that is what you came away with from this report, I strongly suggest that you brush up on your reading comprehension skills. There is nothing in this report remotely suggesting what you state are its conclusions.

I'll summarize. This is a meta analysis of dozens of studies and reports on covid-19 spread, and use of masks. I'm sure someone will point out that this is a conservative group; however the articles used in the analysis are from a wide variety of sources, including governmental agencies.

Two key findings are quoted below.

The preponderance of scientific evidence supports that aerosols play a critical role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Years of dose response studies indicate that if anything gets through, you will become infected.

This is significant, and it is not the first time this has been reported. The transmission mechanism this spring and summer was thought to be droplets (larger particles that can be stopped by a mask). With the aerosol spread becoming very clear, a surgical or cloth mask will not stop the flow in or out of the virus. Aerosols is how the flu spreads, and the ineffectiveness of masks against the flu is well documented and indisputable. Thus, the article leads to the following:

Conclusion: Wearing masks (other than N95) will not be effective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, whether worn as source control or as PPE

The article also provides a meta analysis of negative effects of masks. These include reduced arterial O2, increased inhaled CO2, headaches, mold and bacterial infection related to mask moisture retention, self-contamination from improper wearing/doffing of the masks, and "mask mouth" (chronic tooth decay similar to that from methamphetamine use).

The article also presents some studies presenting positive studies of masks, but points out that they made unrealistic assumptions. Finally it presents practical evidence that mask mandates do not result in decreased covid spread. To this I'll add that while there is a preponderance of practical examples (here and elsewhere like the Rational Ground article previously mentioned on this site) don't over interpret this since there is no control group.

[bobbiemcgee]

24 million people in taiwan wear a mask everyday and they have less infections than the WH.

[GoMuskies]

24 million people in Taiwan speak Mandarin Chinese everyday, and they have less infections than the WH. If we all just spoke Mandarin Chinese....

[bobbiemcgee]

24 million people in Taiwan speak Mandarin Chinese everyday, and they have less infections than the WH.

yep

[paulxu]

Lou, I appreciate the lengthy noting of a lot of stuff, later proved to have been incorrect.
And certainly I'll admit that both sides participated in those incorrect statements about the virus.

The overriding point of the former directors letter was we needed a national strategy...and still do!...to combat the virus.
Having the president say "I accept no responsibility" and leave it to 50 governors is not/was not an effective national strategy.

As to masks, and their use/cautions, the CDC notes that that "primary" form of contamination is by "droplets" from one person to another.
So, although they may not be very effective for aerosol, they are helpful to stop droplets.
And that is primarily from the person wearing them.
So, although the mask may not necessarily stop droplets/aerosols from getting TO you...they are very helpful in stopping your droplets from going out to others.
Which is why doctors/nurses wear them in the OR. Which is why if a lot of people wear them, we can hold down the spread, like Taiwan.

[bleedXblue]

24 million people in taiwan wear a mask everyday and they have less infections than the WH.

And maybe they stay home when they are sick or wash their hands more often than Americans do.

[bobbiemcgee]

Mitch Mc Connell sez he hasn't been to the WH in two months bcuz they don't practice CDC recommendations. All you need to know.