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| Silverfiddle Rant! |
I detect a disturbing trend in our nation: People are expecting guarantees and definitive answers that real life and "experts" simply cannot provide:
With no national system to check who is vaccinated and who is not, the new federal guidance leaves an unavoidable — but gaping — hole, some people said. There’s no guarantee, they said, that unvaccinated people will not discard their masks along with the vaccinated ones, potentially creating a risk that the virus will continue to circulate.
I proffer two articles that provide a snapshot into the state of America today. Please read them and share your thoughts on what a year and an half of masking has done to this nation:
This statement made me jump up and shout, Hell NO!
"Masking, a rare practice in the United States just 14 months ago, has become a normal part of American life."
God forbid we ever consider a year with diapers on our faces "normal." My "favorite" quotes from the articles:
She said she wondered whether unvaccinated people would rip off their masks, putting her daughter at risk before she could get her shots. With no system to track whether people in public spaces have been inoculated, Garrett figured she couldn't know for sure.
“I’m thinking that until we really know more about it from empirical scientific evidence, that we should keep the mask in place, especially in public,” he said.
“It freaked me out,” Mary Beagan, 77, said of riding the elevator in her Minneapolis apartment building on Friday and seeing a woman step on with no mask. Yes, Ms. Beagan had heard about the C.D.C’s announcement. And yes, she has had her Covid-19 vaccines. Still, after all these months, it felt kind of scary.
“I still don’t know where people have been to; they don’t know where I’ve been,” said Yamilet Rebolledo, 24, who wore a fuchsia mask to the farmers’ market and said she plans to continue covering her face even once she is vaccinated.
“I’m hyper-aware that wearing a mask or not wearing a mask says something about me,” said Annie Krabbenschmidt, 27, a gig worker and writer who lives in Los Angeles. She said she had apprehensions about giving up her mask. “They are so much more than a safety vest, at this point.”
Politicising masks was a grave error.
ReplyDeleteJez,
DeleteI agree, but here in the irrational States of Amrika, it was as inevitable as the sun rising in the east. Our public discourse turned rancid and dysfunctional years ago.
@Jez - So was politicizing COVID in the first place. But SF is correct in framing our discourse....and perfidy is our currency.
DeleteMurphy's 4th law.
DeletePerfidy, trends toward maximum.
Here's how the honor system for masks worked for me yesterday....
ReplyDeleteYesterday, my home care vet of longstanding came here to vaccinate Amber, one of my kitties.
Wearing a mask, the vet tech knocked on the door. Not wearing a mask, I answered the door and proclaimed, "I'm not going to wear a mask. I'm fully vaccinated.
The vet tech immediately ripped off her mask. Then we proceeded with Amber to the vet's van. The vet, who has had a kidney transplant, was wearing a mask. Again, I proclaimed, "I'm fully vaccinated!" He ripped off his mask.
Now, this vet and I have known each other for years. We are friends! He full well knows that I would not lie to him and thus put his health in danger.
Conversely, he knows of my health issues (reduced kidney function), so he would not put my health in danger by lying to me.
It will be interesting what another home care vet does here tomorrow when he comes to trim Callie's nails. Callie, a 3.5-year-old rescue and a juvenile delinquent, is one rambunctious dog, so I won't risk doing the trimming on my own and set back her baby steps in trusting me.
Anyway, I don't know if enough trust exists between this different vet and me for him to trust me when I say, "Fully vaccinated!" We shall see.
I, too, am hearing such relief when VACCINATED is said! People whip masks off and smile as if they were DYING to hear it. The other day, I went to a radiology office and moved my bangs for the standard temp taking...she said "Oh! We're not doing that anymore!" I almost wept with what that meant...hurray!
DeleteNOTHING is normal about a mask, but I personally feel those who thought masks did nothing weren't normal, either...sorry, but to think some kind of barrier can't be even remotely helpful is not something I'd think. Don't want to argue that again (EVER again) but just sayin'....
Now if we could get Biden to stop talking already about how this experience should have prepared us for THE NEXT PANDEMIC, I'd be a lot happier. I'm a bit worried about his rhetoric. Well, about everything, not just this!!
How about, "I am asymptomatic, healthy with no symptoms of illness, I'm not sneezing, wheezing or coughing, and if I do, I'll cover my mouth with a kerchief (far thicker than a mask) and retreat."
DeleteYou know, like we used to do.
That's perfectly adequate for controlling diseases which don't spread much asymptomatically, but what fantasy town do you live in where people actually stayed home from work when sick and used handkerchiefs properly?
DeleteYep, it's different: it's less fatal but more contagious.
DeleteThe threat is not theoretical, we need only review the experiences in cities where bad outbreaks have occurred to understand what we're defending against. Going on about how the worst hasn't happened near you yet is facile.
SF,
ReplyDelete"Masking, a rare practice in the United States just 14 months ago, has become a normal part of American life."
What sheeple Americans have become! Makes me furious, I tell you!
I do not wear a mask and have only if force to. I saw a You Tube video by Dr. Ted Noel giving various types of mask demonstrations that show they do not work in blocking COVID. The mask wearing is political and not for health reasons.
ReplyDeleteBingo.
DeleteJG, well, if an unlicensed anesthesiologist post a YouTube defying world renown research and top socialists, I guess that’s that.
ReplyDeleteSpecialist
DeleteAnd of course, an anesthesiologist wouldn't know anything about the properties of surgical masks or breathing... rolls eyes.
DeleteBTW, nice Freudian slip you made there, Ronald. -i.e. socialists.- and "world renown research and top socialists" seem to have brought us the Wuhan flu. They are entirely upright and truthful people that don't have any skin in the game! /sarc
Warren for the win.
Delete9/11/2001 was the beginning of the "United States of Fearful" and it has been all downhill since. Politicians have stoked it nonstop, and people who were raised by the schools instead of by their parents have lapped it up. The lack of ability to face life with a sense of courage in this nation is astounding.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with your history. It's always interesting to go back further like Mustang, but I think 9/11 marked a step change in the government's willingness to exploit and exacerbate public fear. But I do distinguish between fear and taking precautions.
DeleteTruthfully, the government has access to all the databases that contain health information, as do insurance companies. So the federal government knows. Of you think that information won't be used, you are sadly mistaken.
ReplyDeleteAn example is, if a cop runs a warrant search on your driver's license -and they do any time you're stopped for anything-, he will know if you have a licence to own or carry a gun. By extrapolation, the federal government has that knowledge through the database of Commercial Drivers Licenses.
The fact is, the government aquires far more personal information about you than you might imagine. Whether, Joe Blow, your neighbor, knows, is ilrealivant. Big Brother knows.
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” – George Orwell
Delete@ Mustang:
DeleteFour thumbs up!
We have been living in the “State of Fear” for a lot longer than 9/11/2001. Creating and maintaining fear is government’s primary methodology for coercing 328 million people into obedience to orders. Practically, wearing a mask, or getting the jab is completely irrelevant to Covid infection, in the exact same way a mask or flu shot prevents influenza infection.
ReplyDeleteIf we all loathe false advertising, then we should stop calling ourselves “The Land of the Free.” No one is free who accepts the leftist premise that government knows best – about anything. But if anyone thinks that fear has taken over in America, step into Jez’ world for a few days, where literally every human activity is assumed to be against the law until the law decrees otherwise – which is why British citizens flocked to the colonies in the millions, and why there is a waiting list today for Englishmen to immigrate to the United States. Something to think about.
"Practically, wearing a mask, or getting the jab is completely irrelevant to Covid infection, in the exact same way a mask or flu shot prevents influenza infection."
DeleteThat's a funny way of saying "not irrelevant".
"if anyone thinks that fear has taken over in America, step into Jez’ world for a few days, where literally every human activity is assumed to be against the law"
that's a funny, ironic usage of the word "literally."
"British citizens flocked to the colonies in the millions"
I'm not saying there wasn't a certain amount of religious persecution going on in the early modern period (and more generally throughout history), but it was hardly millions -- there simply weren't that many millions of people in England back then.
"there is a waiting list today for Englishmen to immigrate to the United States"
congratulations on your pointlessly long and drawn-out immigration application process. But if you think you're an unholy beurocratic shambles, get ready to hold our beer: it usually takes us five whole years to grant indefinite leave to remain (two if you're marrying in).
In July 1775, 2.5 million British lived in the 13 colonies. Religious persecution wasn't the main reason for migrating, either. They mainly wanted to be "free" of government tyranny.
DeleteI think that must include descendends of original British immigrants. AFAIK it's more like a total of 500k or so actual immigrants from Britain prior to 18th century.
Deleteshould be "prior to the 19th century."
DeleteAs Alfred E. Newman once said (after being vaccinated), "What, me worry?" ;p
ReplyDeleteStanford study recently concludes (as if it was needed) the masks are absolutely useless. We're surrounded by people so stupid it's a wonder how they keep themselves alive.
ReplyDeleteLink please?
DeleteHere's the link.
Delete....surrounded by irony....
Deleterescued from all the sass: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987720333028?via%3Dihub#b0265
DeleteIf you decide to wade in, not only will you have to read through the "RETRACTED" stamp on each page, you should also keep the journal editor's criticisms in mind, particularly 2 & 3 (misquoted sources, and unverified & speculative data).
Good post
ReplyDeleteThe Oregon Health Authority said in new guidance on Tuesday that effective immediately, businesses would be required to continue to enforce mask requirements unless they had established a policy to confirm proof of vaccination using a card or photo of one before individuals can enter the building without a mask.
ReplyDeleteGov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said last week that Oregonians who were fully vaccinated no longer needed to wear masks in most public settings, except in places like schools, public transit and health care settings.
But she quickly noted that businesses would have “the option” of lifting mask requirements only if they instituted verification. “Some businesses may prefer to simply continue operating under the current guidance for now rather than worrying about vaccination status, and that’s fine,” she said.
"Let me see your papers...." aka -The Corporate Nazification of America, courtesy of un-Democratic Democrats.
DeleteAmerica's solution... wear a mask at the building's checkpoint, then step inside, and take the mask off.
DeleteNote that the law requires "verification"... and not "enforcement".
DeleteIt's Oregon. I expect nothing but idiocy and insanity.
DeleteVacation in Oregon! It's a riot!
DeleteInsanity! (But I think I'm channeling Ed.) Coercing people to participate in a medical experiment against their will (and against the ethics principles of the Nuremberg code) by the institution of medical apartheid. I understand what the words "clinical studies to be complete in 2023" mean, and obviously the governor does not!
Delete^^What he said+++++^^^^
DeleteI'm with Ed on this.
ReplyDeleteThe drumbeat continues of, "The unvaccinated will lie and remove their masks, putting me in danger."
ReplyDeleteIf the vaccine does not work, why did you take it? If it does work, why do you care whether the unvaccinated are masked or not?
Don't be fooled, Jayhawk knows how to answer this one, he is not as ignorant as he is trying to look.
DeleteI'm just no longer responding to jez at all. Tired of being insulted.
DeleteExactly!
DeleteDon't blame you, but it is a lot to do with the energy you yourself out out, so something to think about there.
DeleteStupidity? Sheepledom? Malevolence?
ReplyDeleteDeep in the bowels of the logic and magic of mask wearing is the assumption that "as many as 40% of people infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 may have no symptoms" per a Stanford Medical Center newsletter 6-19-20. This spread so much fear. Good, functional fear.
It’s since been amply demonstrated that the grossly faulty PCR tests had been run in such a way (40-45 cycles instead of 10-28) as to pick up any tiny fragment of something related to a Coronavirus which do not cause infection, hence we get so many positives tagged as asymptomatic cases.
Can we finally ask how many asymptomatics do we actually have? The NYT re-jiggered the 'cases' number last August in 4 states to find 90% of 'cases' could be re-normed to negative. That alone should have prompted a mass investigation and explosive re-think of our approach to Covid. It makes the rational mind ask “did we get this mask mandate based on faulty testing?” Or “did we get faulty testing based on the desire for a mask mandate and other aggressive acts of control?” Even the pitiable Dr. Fauci said in March 2020 that any PCR test cycled over 33 was junk.
In the most benign interpretation, a re-think may conclude that only people with symptoms should wear a mask. Or stay home.
Nobody should be freaked out seeing another person without a diaper on their face. This is NOT Ebola or smallpox. Get a grip.
+++++
DeleteThe problem with playing with the math on positive covid tests is when you throw out "90% of the cases as false positives" you exponentially raise the mortality rate of true positives. Meaning if you are a "true positive" you're probably going to die. I don't see how increasing the number of asymptomatic "Typhoid Marys" carrying / spreading the virus but not suffering from it makes the backlash against mask wearing seem a stupid gamble -- don't wear a mask until ypu've killed yourself with cumulative exposures to asymptomatic infections? Yeah, no.
ReplyDeleteCouple this with the cl*sterf*ck to come when wveryone that has recieved vaccines are notified that they need to get booster shots and keep track of which versions and brand names of prior vaccines they have put into their bodies and what happens if the wrong combo is made or done in the wrong order, etc. and all the other potential risks that go with willingly putting an unknown substance in your body just to see what happens in the first place, and wearing a mask becomes an even safer bet.
Mask up or die playing guinea pig.
Along with throwing out the false positive tests, however, you need to throw out the false positive deaths, such as the guy who was run over by a truck and whose death certificate says he died of Covid. The latter brings the death rate back down to where it was before you threw out the false positive tests.
DeleteYou mask up. I'm over it, and thankfully, so are most sane people in my state and town.
DeleteOf course if you count deaths related to 'cases' death rates will rise! I see no reason why there would be any change in rates of deaths related to actual infections and illness. People are yelping about misclassified relatives when in many obvious cases - like died in accident - the death cert reads Covid. If you've been tagged Covid positive in the prior 28 (I think) days, you're getting Covid on your death cert.
DeleteWe've covered the fiasco of "positive" tests. Death stats are suspected as illusions, as poison fruit of a poison tree.
@Baysider - there's no evidence of any significant number of deaths being falsely ruled as caused by Covid19. Go over all the death certificates with a UV light amd magnifying glass looking for bamboo shoots if you must, but urban legend mythology isn't science. There is no reason to suspect somemoe that died from Covid19 died from anything else. No one ruled fatal car crashes "Covid deaths" ever.
DeleteAddendum... most people can't remember their own phone numbers much less that of their loved ones without looking at their cell phones (corrollary to Carlin's Law "the average person is a stupid mfer and half the people are dumber than that") and people are supposed to remember which version of the covid19 vaccines they have to keep updating? To merely become an asymptomatic carrier?
ReplyDeleteWear a mask. Play Russian roulette and wear a mask anyway. Until asymptomatics aren't still carriers, what's the safest bet?
I support your right to diaper your face.
DeleteWe have a problem when you want nanny government to forcibly diaper the rest of us.
Nanny government tells you where to smoke and piss. No different.
DeleteIf by that you mean we have laws, OK.
DeleteThe diaper decrees were imperial flicks of the wrist.
Have fun diapering yourself. The rest of us are over it.
Stand your ground. Wear a mask or get shot. Er, the shots. 😉
DeleteIf you don't get the shot, where a yellow star of David with the word "Unvaccinated" on it on all your clothes at all times.
Delete