A friend in Maskachusetts wrote yesterday that his son’s private school had dropped its mask requirement (public schools in MA are still generally masked), overruling at least one member of its own medical board who voted to keep the kids in masks. His son reported that none of the teachers wore masks, but some students continued to do so. In other words, the teachers sent a message that they hadn’t believed that the masks were necessary or helpful by all dropping them as soon as they became optional. Adults are free to party unmasked in MA and almost everyone else. “Soon only one U.S. state will still have an indoor mask mandate” (CBS, 2/23/2022):
New York and Rhode Island this month lifted indoor mask rules for businesses, but still require them in schools. Illinois, Oregon, Washington and Washington, D.C., plan to let mask requirements lapse by the end of March.
These Followers of Science are no longer Following the Science. “‘We Are Not There Yet’: As States Drop Mask Rules, the C.D.C. Stands Firm” (NYT, 2/9/2022):
The Biden administration said federal masking guidance would not change for now, but was seeking advice from public health experts on the way forward.
… Dr. Walensky said pointedly that while her agency is working on new guidance for the states, it is too soon for all Americans to take off their masks in indoor public places.
As officials examine the science and chart a careful course, they run the risk of making the Biden administration look irrelevant as governors forge ahead on their own.
Even without reference to Science, the idea of dropping vaccine paper checks and mask orders “because cases are down” is puzzling. A friend recently texted regarding “Denver to end COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city employees, teachers and workers in high-risk settings”. He wrote “Why would you end the mandate if you believed it’s what saved you in the first place?” A San Francisco friend, regarding extending the school mask orders: “every additional day might save one life.”
Let’s look at the Maskachusetts “cases”:
Checking vaccine papers began in Boston on January 15 and, as one can see from “the curve,” cases trended down smartly after that intervention. “Boston businesses bid farewell to vaccine mandate, but some still check vax cards” (2/20/2022) describes the elimination of this safety measure just as its effectiveness was proven.
The California curve similarly shows that vaccine paper checks and mask orders worked:
For comparison, the Florida curve shows how cases trend to infinity in an environment where there are no mask orders, vaccine checks, or vaccine coercion:
Science tells us that universal vaccination, achieved via coercion if necessary, stops COVID infection and that masks cut the near-zero risk of COVID infection for the vaccinated to even nearer zero. Why abandon Science at this point when Science in the Science-following states saved lives at what lockdown proponents characterize as virtually zero cost?
I was in Denver last week and it was a bit strange: there were “mask required” signs everywhere and nobody wore the masks, except the actual employees of hotels, shops, etc. Uber made take a picture of masked self to prove that I wear a mask. I promptly removed it and got into the car, where driver was unmasked. 🙂
Then I had a chance to feel like a brave rebel, when back in Seattle I was the only person in Whole Foods without a mask.
I would be interested what our host thinks about this Maskachusetts All Cause mortality analysis done on FOIA’d data:
https://metatron.substack.com/p/the-definitive-guide-to-covid-and
Does anybody understand how they count Covid cases? I cannot figure out how they get a decent estimate, without a random sampling of the population. Wouldn’t asymptomatic be uncounted in the case numbers, since they are very unlikely to be tested?
I wonder if the case numbers are significantly understated, at least in the US.