Science, August 2021 edition: Getting COVID-19 (e.g., in Florida) is due to stupidity, irresponsibility, failure to get injected with an emergency use-authorized vaccine, Science-denial, and support for Donald Trump. It’s mostly old people dying, which is why we need to redouble our restrictions on the young.
Science, December/January 2022: Getting COVID-19 (e.g., in New York or Boston) is a sign of intelligence, virtue, rule-following, and being guided by Science. As the double- and triple-vaccinated get infected through their masks, we should enhance our mask protocols to include N95 and remember the immunocompromised and also that every infection potentially leads to a dangerous mutation. It’s mostly old people dying, which is what makes COVID-19 worse than World War II, and which is why we need to order 5-year-olds to get experimental use authorized injections.
Science, February 2022: Despite a near-record death rate, Governors should drop the mask orders and other restrictions that they had imposed starting in March 2020. The immunocompromised can fend for themselves. If SARS-CoV-2 wants to have a mutation party in an unmasked school, that’s okay too. It’s mostly old people dying and there are thousands of such deaths per day, but we don’t need to do anything special to try to prevent these deaths.
[See “Masks Come Off in More States, but Not Everyone Is Grinning” (NYT, 2/9):
Some Americans cheered the moves, mostly by Democratic governors, but others questioned the timing, with more than 200,000 new virus infections being reported each day.
New York’s governor said on Wednesday that she was ending the state’s indoor masking rules. The governor of Massachusetts announced that face coverings would soon become optional in schools. And by day’s end, the governors of Illinois, Rhode Island and Washington said that they, too, would loosen coronavirus rules.
… others asked whether states were moving too fast at a time when more than 200,000 new infections were being announced each day and when the country was reporting more than 17,000 deaths a week, more than at any other point in the pandemic except last winter.
Note that it is “Democratic governors” who are delivering freedom to the people and who are being cheered.]
What’s the situation in Washington State, for example, where the governor is loosening the rules dictated by Science? Deaths tagged to COVID-19 are at an all-time high:
The above progression seems inconsistent with “normal science”. A paradigm shift (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Wikipedia) has occurred, apparently, and that requires “extraordinary research” according to Thomas Kuhn. But who did the extraordinary research?
My vote is Dr. James Kraus, MD, PhD. His/her/zir/their discovery was “Everybody takes a beating sometimes.” (I apologize for the source, but this is one video moment that the New York Times and CNN don’t seem to have covered.) Dr. Kraus, MD, PhD tells us that, as occupiers of the biosphere, humans are fated to be attacked periodically by viruses and we shouldn’t try to defend ourselves.
Dr. Kraus, MD, PhD’s results and conclusions were rejected by peer reviewers (the jurors in the Kyle Rittenhouse case), just as Thomas Kuhn predicted. But, also as Kuhn predicted, when data inconsistent with the old paradigm (saliva-soaked bandanas are effective PPE against an aerosol; shutting down schools while keeping marijuana stores open will make a respiratory virus go away) became too glaring to ignore, Dr. Kraus, MD, PhD’s new paradigm was accepted.
February 9, email from the “person of color” who is the principal of a high school in Maskachusetts:
Last night I announced that Lincoln Sudbury would shift from mask required in school to mask optional effective Monday, March 7. … The notion of stepping away from the mask requirement will evoke a range of response and emotion from members of our community. … Mask wearing absolutely remains an option for everyone. I expect we will respect each person’s personal choice.
Reaction from a heretical bandana-denier friend who received the email:
I wish you had respected our personal choices over the last two years.
Related:
- Stellar evolution in the #MeToo era (regarding Dr. James Kraus, MD, PhD’s colleague Professor Dr. Lawrence Krauss, Ph.D.)
- The wife fights the plaintiffs, physics edition (a follow-up to the above)
- “Cities of Minneapolis, Saint Paul lift regulations requiring COVID-19 vaccinations or negative tests to enter food, drink establishments” (according to Science, v. January 2022, unless everyone who gathers is vaccinated, there is a high risk of deadly mutations developing, but as of February 2022 it is okay for unvaccinated Deplorables to gather at Chick-fil-A and share the 4,000+ new cases of Covid that Minnesota currently records daily)
Reading this does evoke a range of response and emotion. Only one thing can be done with those “scientists”.
“Heads, spikes, walls” using apt Game Of Thrones citation.
The governor of NY State proclaimed yesterday as mask freedom day for private businesses — school children still need to be masked, a matter the NYT solemnly observes “remains contentious.” On the streets it seemed as if about 50% of the people, mostly young, were still masked and in the several indoor establishments I observed it was still close to 100% masked. Some private establishments seem to believe that until the City says otherwise masks continue to be required in indoor establishments. The gym sagely noted that masks continue to be required but it is “considering” whether to change that policy. Just how the geniuses who run the gym will weigh the epidemiological pros and cons was not disclosed.
Emperor Biden wants to announce the victory over COVID-19 in his/her/zir/their State of the Union Address, so Science is changed until after the midterm elections.
This could be a reason why Trudeau cannot give in to the truckers: The axis Biden-Trudeau needs all the credit for returning to normal, so the axis’ achievements cannot be preempted by some redneck truckers.
I think the actual data point “too glaring to ignore” was Biden’s approval rating dropped into the 30s for the first time, now solidly lower than where most-hated-president-ever Trump was at this same point in his presidency. Any additional time spent fighting the war against COVID is just a reminder to people that Biden said he would defeat the virus and failed. The withdrawal from this war will be as rapid as that from the war in Afghanistan. And likely just as competently executed.
Just got back from the most deplorable place on earth (Walmart) and it was still 75 percent masked. Maybe more. Also, the inflation is getting more and more obvious. I almost did a Weimar republic move on the butter since it didn’t go up 30 percent like everything else. But what would I do with 2000 boxes of butter? (I’ll probably regret it…)