I still remember "15 days to flatten the curve" and, at least in Michigan, shortly thereafter, "once vaccines are just available, that will mean the end of any further restrictions".
Never, ever, ever, trust the government when it says something is just temporary.
I admit I haven't even read your essay, just the headline, after this morning watching Dr Jay Bhattacharya mention a joint Harvard-Stanford study that suggests 94% of Americans have already had Covid.
Just WTF do we care whether someone getting off a plane from China (or anywhere else) has Covid or not? W the actual F?
Can somebody give me the citation for the "joint Harvard-Stanford study" mentioned by Mitch Barrie? I would be thrilled to see that 94 percent of some randomly obtained sample of suitably large size showed (presumably?) serological evidence affirming the suggested degree of prior infection/recovery in us folks from 'Murika.
A few minutes of Googling (strictly speaking, DuckDuckGoing) reveals nothing obvious. It's good to ask for the source. I saw it mentioned in Jimmy Dore interview with Dr Bhattacharya posted today on YouTube.
But we do know most of us have had it, and there's little point in testing foreign travelers.
I have a large extended family in Japan by way of my mother. Many of her family members don't want her to visit them (we live in the U.S.) due to fear of bringing covid over. Ridiculous. As if covid isn't already running rampant in Japan. This same thing happened to me during the H1N1 flu period. I was visiting Japan in the summer, and my family members did not want me to come see them. Crazy.
Granted, this is not all of them saying this, but it's still sad to hear.
Virtually every single government/ administrative state agency from NIH to CDC to FDA et al has failed us, ordinary Americans. And to now find out the extent of the failures, is beyond disgraceful. We see pictures of medical conferences with everyone partying while our schools from Berkeley to Philadelphia continue to mask children. Trust in doctors, scientists, government? Not a chance.
I will keep repeating this from stack to stack. Why are you waiting for NIAID or CDC to run a masking study? You run many studies, some epidemiologic. Why not run a masking study? I am certain funding could be gotten. I have yet to understand why all those competent researchers who bemoan the lack of masking (and other) studies just do not do them. Help?
Why are you so certain funding could be secured for any truly scientific study on any subject that could possibly refute the Narrative? Who would supply the funding?
Those who think masks might be useful are the ones who should run the studies - otherwise their mandates/recommendations are based on whatever makes them feel virtuous or whatever they pull out of their asses. The rest of us know all evidence prior to Covid already established the uselessness of masks to do anything except preventing large globules of sweat or saliva from dripping onto surgery patients (and even that - not strong evidence).
People say we are anti-maskers, and yet like you said pre-covid studies already showed masks have limited usefulness. But then people will say "if it just helps a little bit it's worth doing". Nuts.
Masking studies are notoriously difficult to conduct. The COVID pandemic is dynamic. One cannot compare a population this month to a different one in three months. Insuring correct use of masking is almost impossible. Masking tends to be associated with physical distancing which may be a more important factor in reducing transmission. Getting a large enough population of well matched individuals in the same community at the same time in the same socioeconomic classes, all adherent to the study protocol is very difficult. In imperfect studies, the benefits of masking are so modest that many of us have concluded that masking is of marginal benefit.
I saw a comment on Twitter recently suggesting oh-so-cynically that a similar policy in the UK would result in a renewal of widespread testing to ensure the new testing regime didn't appear discriminatory against Chinese.
Yes Clown World (The Administrative State) continues to issue asinine edicts and orders, that have zero basis in science or reality. The only way out is more people need to WAKE UP to all the Fear Porn Crap that they have been spoon fed for now going on 3 years.
‘Question Everything and Accept Nothing That You Cannot Trust and Verify’ should be THE MANTRA for ALL going into 2023.
I deal with foundations that would have no trouble funding such a study, assuming amounts were not absurd. It is like Steve Kirsch's debates for $1M. Many offers... No takers. For the life of me I cannot figure out why.
Again, those who know masks don’t work based on all previous studies don’t want to waste time w this. Those in favor are too scared to find out how absurd their mandates are. If I - someone who has written various screeds against masking that are findable on Google- were to do a well designed and executed study of masking it would be ignored and/or “discredited” in some bogus way by The Scientists. The studies have to come from them but we all know that’s not gonna happen. Catch22.
Bread and circuses. That's the world we now live in. Clown $hit show everyday. And the ignorant populace just happy to get the N95 gruel. How depressing. Where have the statesmen gone?
Thanks, Vinay. I would add to your analysis that the immune status of the populations of China and USA are quite different and this is the key variable that makes this policy of little use. The vast majority of the US population has partial immunity via natural infection and/or effective vaccination and thus exposure to recent travelers from China has little risk. The vast majority of Chinese citizens evidently do not have such immunity. Walensky seems not to have understood that SARS-CoV2 is now endemic in the USA and requires a different response. Vinay and Walensky both omit the possible instruction to individuals who remain at risk of serious disease - the elderly and immunosuppressed - which would be to avoid contact with recent travelers from China.
There is no suggestion that the world does not know with clarity which Omicron variants are most prevalent from China and what kind of virulence these variants represent. This question would be a good one for the CDC to study.
I still remember "15 days to flatten the curve" and, at least in Michigan, shortly thereafter, "once vaccines are just available, that will mean the end of any further restrictions".
Never, ever, ever, trust the government when it says something is just temporary.
"We're from the government. We're here to help you."
As Birx admitted the 15 days was a lie to get Trump on board. Once the camel's nose under the tent, all over. An inch, a mile or something.
I admit I haven't even read your essay, just the headline, after this morning watching Dr Jay Bhattacharya mention a joint Harvard-Stanford study that suggests 94% of Americans have already had Covid.
Just WTF do we care whether someone getting off a plane from China (or anywhere else) has Covid or not? W the actual F?
Can somebody give me the citation for the "joint Harvard-Stanford study" mentioned by Mitch Barrie? I would be thrilled to see that 94 percent of some randomly obtained sample of suitably large size showed (presumably?) serological evidence affirming the suggested degree of prior infection/recovery in us folks from 'Murika.
A few minutes of Googling (strictly speaking, DuckDuckGoing) reveals nothing obvious. It's good to ask for the source. I saw it mentioned in Jimmy Dore interview with Dr Bhattacharya posted today on YouTube.
But we do know most of us have had it, and there's little point in testing foreign travelers.
I have a large extended family in Japan by way of my mother. Many of her family members don't want her to visit them (we live in the U.S.) due to fear of bringing covid over. Ridiculous. As if covid isn't already running rampant in Japan. This same thing happened to me during the H1N1 flu period. I was visiting Japan in the summer, and my family members did not want me to come see them. Crazy.
Granted, this is not all of them saying this, but it's still sad to hear.
Virtually every single government/ administrative state agency from NIH to CDC to FDA et al has failed us, ordinary Americans. And to now find out the extent of the failures, is beyond disgraceful. We see pictures of medical conferences with everyone partying while our schools from Berkeley to Philadelphia continue to mask children. Trust in doctors, scientists, government? Not a chance.
I will keep repeating this from stack to stack. Why are you waiting for NIAID or CDC to run a masking study? You run many studies, some epidemiologic. Why not run a masking study? I am certain funding could be gotten. I have yet to understand why all those competent researchers who bemoan the lack of masking (and other) studies just do not do them. Help?
Why are you so certain funding could be secured for any truly scientific study on any subject that could possibly refute the Narrative? Who would supply the funding?
Those who think masks might be useful are the ones who should run the studies - otherwise their mandates/recommendations are based on whatever makes them feel virtuous or whatever they pull out of their asses. The rest of us know all evidence prior to Covid already established the uselessness of masks to do anything except preventing large globules of sweat or saliva from dripping onto surgery patients (and even that - not strong evidence).
People say we are anti-maskers, and yet like you said pre-covid studies already showed masks have limited usefulness. But then people will say "if it just helps a little bit it's worth doing". Nuts.
Masking studies are notoriously difficult to conduct. The COVID pandemic is dynamic. One cannot compare a population this month to a different one in three months. Insuring correct use of masking is almost impossible. Masking tends to be associated with physical distancing which may be a more important factor in reducing transmission. Getting a large enough population of well matched individuals in the same community at the same time in the same socioeconomic classes, all adherent to the study protocol is very difficult. In imperfect studies, the benefits of masking are so modest that many of us have concluded that masking is of marginal benefit.
I saw a comment on Twitter recently suggesting oh-so-cynically that a similar policy in the UK would result in a renewal of widespread testing to ensure the new testing regime didn't appear discriminatory against Chinese.
You can't be too cynical anymore.
Yes Clown World (The Administrative State) continues to issue asinine edicts and orders, that have zero basis in science or reality. The only way out is more people need to WAKE UP to all the Fear Porn Crap that they have been spoon fed for now going on 3 years.
‘Question Everything and Accept Nothing That You Cannot Trust and Verify’ should be THE MANTRA for ALL going into 2023.
I deal with foundations that would have no trouble funding such a study, assuming amounts were not absurd. It is like Steve Kirsch's debates for $1M. Many offers... No takers. For the life of me I cannot figure out why.
Again, those who know masks don’t work based on all previous studies don’t want to waste time w this. Those in favor are too scared to find out how absurd their mandates are. If I - someone who has written various screeds against masking that are findable on Google- were to do a well designed and executed study of masking it would be ignored and/or “discredited” in some bogus way by The Scientists. The studies have to come from them but we all know that’s not gonna happen. Catch22.
Bread and circuses. That's the world we now live in. Clown $hit show everyday. And the ignorant populace just happy to get the N95 gruel. How depressing. Where have the statesmen gone?
I don’t think enough scorn can be heaped?
She probably thinks her Harvard and even Brown friends will go for it.
Thanks, Vinay. I would add to your analysis that the immune status of the populations of China and USA are quite different and this is the key variable that makes this policy of little use. The vast majority of the US population has partial immunity via natural infection and/or effective vaccination and thus exposure to recent travelers from China has little risk. The vast majority of Chinese citizens evidently do not have such immunity. Walensky seems not to have understood that SARS-CoV2 is now endemic in the USA and requires a different response. Vinay and Walensky both omit the possible instruction to individuals who remain at risk of serious disease - the elderly and immunosuppressed - which would be to avoid contact with recent travelers from China.
There is no suggestion that the world does not know with clarity which Omicron variants are most prevalent from China and what kind of virulence these variants represent. This question would be a good one for the CDC to study.
The CDC director serves at the pleasure of the President. That is where a lot of the dislogic comes from.
Canada too. I hate it here.
Why can' t we vote on her? Seriously, she needs to be retired.
You think the CDC director makes her own decisions? No, she is under much pressure by other interested parties.
And the insane ones March on!