The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

[Smoove_B]

There's another theory (one that I'm sure you won't be surprised I'm more likely to believe) - that SARS-CoV-2 is more like measles than we know. Namely, it's impacting our immune system in ways we've yet to quantify and potentially putting us at increased risk for getting other illness after we've been exposed to it.

EDIT: To clarify, there are definitely pools of people that had lower exposure to diseases over the last 2 years because of what we collectively did as a society. So when the gates swing wide open (i.e. "let it rip"), they're now at increased risk based on no longer being sheltered/protected in any way. My issue with all this is that the "immunity debt" concept is being used by policy makers and wingnuts in the antivax/anti mask circles as a way to justify the current "you do you" approach we're taking by saying "See, this is what you get - we would have all been better off never doing anything and just soaking in illness for the last 3 years."

EDIT THE SECOND: Here's a great explainer; Tweet is first; Thread Reader here

[Max Peck]

Ontario county's top doctor sues Queen's University over 'malicious' comments about his pandemic views

Dr. Matthew Strauss — a controversial, acting medical officer of health in southern Ontario — is suing Queen's University and the head of its medicine department for over $600,000, saying he had no choice but to resign from his university position because of "malicious, aggressive, condescending and defamatory statements" made about him.

The statement of claim, filed Oct. 20, states Dr. Stephen Archer, Strauss's direct supervisor and the head of the medicine department at Queen's in Kingston, Ont., constantly berated Strauss over his public criticism of COVID-19 public health measures, including lockdowns.

None of the claims have been proven in court and no statement of defence has been filed.

Queen's University told CBC Hamilton it could not comment on the case and Archer didn't respond to requests for comment. Strauss declined to speak on the record about the statement of claim.

Strauss, the acting medical officer of health for Haldimand and Norfolk counties, has faced criticism for his public comments before.

He previously said on social media he'd sooner give his children COVID-19 over a Happy Meal, and when he was initially brought on as acting medical officer of health in September 2021, the Ontario Liberals called on the health minister to veto his hiring.

Earlier this year, he wrote op-eds to explain his critique of masking and vaccine mandates.

The irony of suing people for criticizing your criticism...

[Smoove_B]

Speaking of masking mandates, big study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that concluded for the State of MA:

“During the 15 weeks after the statewide masking policy was rescinded, the lifting of masking requirements was associated with an additional 44.9 cases per 1000 students and staff (95% confidence interval, 32.6 to 57.1), which corresponded to an estimated 11,901 cases”

You can read it here and share with your friends and family on social media when they ask for proof that masks actually work. I'm sure this will lead to additional good-faith discussions, all rooted in science.

[TheMix]

I'm sure this will lead to additional good-faith discussions, all rooted in science.

I have an image of you giggling madly while typing that.

[Smoove_B]

Accurate.

Over the last ~2 years when people on social media have started flailing into "There's no proof of [X]", I've learned they don't like it when you can in fact show something demonstrating there is. Even now (in November of 2022) there are still people absolutely apoplectic over masks and masking - as though there are still mandates anywhere or large groups of people putting pressure on non-maskers to mask. And overwhelmingly, their cry is "masks don't work". I'm hoping this helps (he says, in earnest).

EDIT: Sorry

[TheMix]

I'm also guessing the 'day drinking' has steadily gotten earlier and earlier. By now you must keep a bottle and glass by the bed.

[Smoove_B]

I've been trying to be reasonable, but yeah, my stock of Scotch has taken a significant hit.

[Blackhawk]

I haven't seen a mask anywhere other than my own face - not one - in months.

[LawBeefaroni]

I haven't seen a mask anywhere other than my own face - not one - in months.

My workplace is still mask mandated in public areas. Which is pretty much everywhere except business/àdmin office suites.

[Smoove_B]

I'm a little slow today - that study I shared earlier (about how masking protects people in schools) was authored (in part) by the NY state commissioner of health. And yet the mask mandate was ended by Governor Hochul in NY on 3/2/22. Weird. (looks around) Oh right...politics.

[Max Peck]

Ontario Premier Doug Ford urges masking, stops short of imposing mandate

As pediatric hospitals across Ontario deal with an unprecedented surge of very sick children, Premier Doug Ford asked residents to mask up on Sunday but stopped short of mandating the practice.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore is set to make an announcement on Monday where he will recommend the public don masks regularly.

At a rare Sunday news conference on an unrelated issue, the premier laid the groundwork for the top doctor's message.

"Wear a mask every time possible," Ford said while speaking at a gas station in west Toronto.

He also urged members of the public to get their flu shots and be up to date on the COVID-19 vaccinations.

Two government sources have told The Canadian Press Moore will not announce a mask mandate on Monday, but will just issue a plea to wear masks.

Hmm... I suppose that as long as nobody actually said the M-word, then Ford might not be talking out of his ass.

Ford did not answer repeated questions Sunday about mandating masks in any settings.

"I'm going to follow Dr. Moore's direction," Ford said, a line he repeated several times when pressed on the issue.

Ford said he spoke to seven unnamed hospital CEOs on Friday.

"No one told me they wanted mandatory masking," he said.

"I have confidence in the system and, yes, there will be bumps in the road and we're working on solutions every single day."

Health-care officials have increasingly been calling for the province to implement a mask mandate.

On Saturday, Hospital for Sick Children CEO Dr. Ronald Cohn said he would welcome universal masking.

"There's no question that would help," he said.

[Max Peck]

In contrast to Ontario's inaction, the premier of Alberta is attempting to take decisive action (if they can overcome the activist courts) to deal with the insidious threat of... hypothetical efforts limit the spread of infectious diseases in schools.

Alberta government to try to prohibit COVID-19 mask mandates in schools, Smith says

The Alberta government is moving to try to prohibit any COVID-19 mask mandates in schools, Premier Danielle Smith said Saturday morning.

In a statement sent to news media Saturday, Smith alleged that the mental health, development and education of students, from kindergarten to Grade 12, have suffered because of wearing masks in class.

"We must turn the page on what has been an extremely difficult time for children, along with their parents and teachers," Smith said.

On Thursday, Court of King's Bench Justice Grant Dunlop ruled that the order to lift school mask mandates last February was "unreasonable," because it was based on an interpretation of the province's Public Health Act that gave politicians final say on public health orders.

This is in the context of significant outbreaks of respiratory illness in schools.

More than 20,000 Edmonton students missed school with illnesses on Wednesday

More than three-quarters of Edmonton public schools have hit an illness absenteeism rate that triggers Alberta Health Services to investigate an infectious disease outbreak.

According to data posted online, more than 75 per cent of the division's 213 schools had more than 10 per cent of their students out of classes due to illness on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

On Wednesday, more than 20,000 Edmonton students were absent.

The school board has called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to ask provincial health officials for more clarity on how many kids must be sick before the province puts additional health measures in place.

"We are not considering a mask mandate as we continue to believe that decisions related to health need to be made by the chief medical officer of health and Alberta Health Services," school board chair Trisha Estabrooks said in an emailed statement Wednesday.

When a school reaches a 10 per cent illness absenteeism rate, it notifies Alberta Health Services, which will investigate if there is an outbreak.

Although it has previously released the numbers of school outbreaks by zone, Alberta Health Services would not release the data this week, and referred questions to Alberta Health.

Steve Buick, press secretary to Health Minister Jason Copping, did not respond to inquiries on Wednesday or Thursday.

Well, OK, given that school boards won't mandate masks in the schools unless the government that is vehemently opposed to mask mandates orders the mask mandates that the government will never allow to happen, I guess there is actually a lot of inaction there too.

[Smoove_B]

It's the same here. Pediatric beds are completely filled and yet it's just too much to require that adults wear masks anywhere. This shit is really starting to wear on me.

[Max Peck]

Yeah, Ontario has more children in ICU than it has pediatric ICU beds.

Ontario pediatric ICUs operating above capacity, provincial data shows

New data shows Ontario's pediatric intensive care units are operating over capacity, with the number of children receiving care exceeding the number of available beds across the province as respiratory illnesses surge in kids.

Critical Care Services Ontario's daily census shows there are currently 122 children in pediatric ICUs, up from 111 the day before.

Ontario has a total of 112 intensive care beds for children.

"This is a point to what I would characterize a point of crisis for pediatric care across the province," said Dr. Lennox Huang, an intensive care physician and the chief medical officer at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

"All of our predictions ... would indicate that things are going to get worse before they're better."

One of the hypothetical criteria that the provincial government has cited as a trigger for reinstating mask mandates was an impact on surgeries. We're already at the point where pediatric surgeries are being cancelled, and so far the only thing being done is having a couple of press conferences where people are urged to mask up. You know, if they feel like it.

[LawBeefaroni]

No one wants to fight Mask War II. The Mask War to End All Mask Wars still weighs heavy on us all. The best strategy is one of appeasement and non-confrontation. This will all blow over.

[Zaxxon]

This will all blow over.

Or, you know, into our respiratory systems.

[Blackhawk]

No one wants to fight Mask War II.

For me...

For me the war never ended.

[Isgrimnur]

[Smoove_B]

I might need to yoink that into social media somehow...

In worse news (the area where I hang out), money is running out:

As covid-19 raged, roughly 4,000 highly skilled epidemiologists, communication specialists, and public health nurses were hired by a nonprofit tied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to plug the holes at battered public health departments on the front lines.

But over the past few months, the majority of the CDC Foundation’s contracts for those public health workers at local and state departments have ended as the group has spent nearly all of its almost $289 million in covid relief funding. The CDC Foundation, an independent nonprofit that supports the CDC’s work, anticipates that no more than about 800 of its 4,000 hires will ultimately staff those jurisdictions, spokesperson Pierce Nelson said.

Bigger picture:

The public health workforce in the U.S. has been underfunded for decades — just before the start of the pandemic, only 28% of local health departments had an epidemiologist or statistician, a 2020 Associated Press-KHN investigation found. Then, after the pandemic began, public health officials left in droves as they were lambasted for instituting covid rules, blamed for the economic downturn, and grappled with burnout.

And even if funding were available to retain all 4,000 foundation employees, that would not have met public health staffing needs, according to new research in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. The research says at least 80,000 new employees are required for state and local public health departments to implement the minimum package of public health services.

This is (I think) the third cycle I've been part of - the boom and bust nature of public health funding - all tied to politics. It was on a downturn when I started in the late 1990s, then a boom after Sept/October 2001. Then down again during housing crisis through COVID - where money magically appeared and tried to address 12+ years of cut budgets. Now after only ~2 years, funds are disappearing again. The next pandemic is going to be great.

[Roman]

Yeah, Ontario has more children in ICU than it has pediatric ICU beds.

Ontario pediatric ICUs operating above capacity, provincial data shows

New data shows Ontario's pediatric intensive care units are operating over capacity, with the number of children receiving care exceeding the number of available beds across the province as respiratory illnesses surge in kids.

Critical Care Services Ontario's daily census shows there are currently 122 children in pediatric ICUs, up from 111 the day before.

Ontario has a total of 112 intensive care beds for children.

"This is a point to what I would characterize a point of crisis for pediatric care across the province," said Dr. Lennox Huang, an intensive care physician and the chief medical officer at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

"All of our predictions ... would indicate that things are going to get worse before they're better."

One of the hypothetical criteria that the provincial government has cited as a trigger for reinstating mask mandates was an impact on surgeries. We're already at the point where pediatric surgeries are being cancelled, and so far the only thing being done is having a couple of press conferences where people are urged to mask up. You know, if they feel like it.

I still wear a mask on the GO Train to and from work. People are gross and my train goes thru Brampton which was hit bad in 2020/21/22.... I am perhaps only 1 of maybe 10 people on the double decker train that wears one.

[Smoove_B]

Wait...what?

WASHINGTON—Senate lawmakers voted on Tuesday to end the federal government’s emergency declaration on the Covid-19 pandemic, a status that has given the Biden administration tools to combat the coronavirus.

The Senate voted 62-36 to end the emergency declaration nearly three years after it was invoked. It’s unclear if the House will take up the measure.

More:

The issue was put before Senate lawmakers on Tuesday by Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall who called for a vote to end the declaration in September shortly after Mr. Biden said on CBS‘s “60 Minutes” that “the pandemic is over.”

On the Senate floor on Tuesday, Mr. Marshall said the declaration should end because of lower coronavirus cases, fewer hospitalizations and lower mortality rates. He said that the emergency declaration was giving the Biden administration a way “to supersize government powers.”

Before the vote, Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) said it would be premature to end the emergency designation, saying doing so will eliminate tools that have helped resolve shortages of medical supplies at hospitals.

COVID-19 is still the #3 cause of death in the United States, btw. And the only infectious disease in the Top 10 (influenza and pneumonia need to combine to make #9). Still chugging along at ~350 deaths a day.

[Zaxxon]

Obvious horror that this will effect on marginalized folks aside, there is a certain *chef's kiss* to calling Biden's bluff.

[Smoove_B]

I need to understand why Democrats in the Senate voted for this. Like, detailed quotes explaining the logic.

[Zaxxon]

I need to understand why Democrats in the Senate voted for this. Like, detailed quotes explaining the logic.

Beyond that their party leader said the pandemic's over?

[Smoove_B]

Beyond that their party leader said the pandemic's over?

And yet...

After multiple failed attempts this past winter and spring to secure more money to address the pandemic, the White House plans on requesting $10 billion during the lame-duck session of Congress before newly elected lawmakers begin in January, sources familiar with the discussions confirmed to ABC News.

...

People familiar with the budget discussions told ABC News that that $10 billion request would go toward the "research and development of next-generation vaccines and therapeutics" -- which has been a major priority for the administration -- as well as research into long COVID and global efforts to combat the virus.

There would also be some money set aside for combating other infectious diseases, these people said.

"While COVID-19 is no longer the disruptive force it once was, we face new subvariants in the U.S. and around the world that have the potential to cause a surge of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths—particularly as we head into the winter months, a time when viruses like COVID spread more quickly," one person familiar with the discussions said in a statement.

"That means an urgent need for additional COVID-19 funding remains to help us stay on our front foot against an unpredictable virus with the tools we know work to protect the American people against COVID-19," the source continued.

Don't get me wrong - he's been down playing it from one side and then claiming we need funding on the other, so it's confusing. If the Senators are confused, I want to hear that. The article even has the GOP Senators commenting on the apparent confusion. With every passing day, my sanity continues to dip.

[Isgrimnur]

Cortez Masto (D-NV), Yea
Hickenlooper (D-CO), Yea
Kaine (D-VA), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Manchin (D-WV), Yea
Murphy (D-CT), Yea
Rosen (D-NV), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
Sinema (D-AZ), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Yea
Warner (D-VA), Yea

[Defiant]

Biden would veto proposed U.S. Senate resolution to end COVID national emergency -White House

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 022-11-15/

[Defiant]

Found this from Warner:

“When COVID-19 hit, Congress acted with urgency under a number of emergency declarations to provide the flexibilities and funding needed to save lives, roll out a vaccine, and keep our economy afloat. We’ve come a long way since then, and while it might be easier to kick the can down the road, I think it’s time to have a bipartisan conversation about how we unwind from these emergency actions and move forward with the valuable lessons we’ve learned.

Today’s resolution won’t affect critical flexibilities, such as the ones facilitating access to telehealth. Rather, this vote should serve as the beginning of a productive and bipartisan effort to examine which mitigation efforts and flexibilities are worth embedding permanently into our lives, and which are no longer relevant or necessary.”

https://royalexaminer.com/u-s-sen-mark- ... emergency/

[stessier]

South Carolina is sending all taxpayers $800 from the COVID money they were given by the Feds. If you owe taxes, then they will pay down your balance. If you're all paid up, you get the cash. They deemed this the best use of the funds.

[Smoove_B]

Found this from Warner:

Thanks. Tim Kaine voted to end the emergency. If someone with Long COVID is against extending it, I guess that's something. Biden has communicated he'll veto anything that comes across his desk related to this, but I'm still so very confused.

[Smoove_B]

South Carolina is sending all taxpayers $800 from the COVID money they were given by the Feds. If you owe taxes, then they will pay down your balance. If you're all paid up, you get the cash. They deemed this the best use of the funds.

Makes sense. I'm sure there's no way that ~$2 billion could be put to use reinforcing/updating/expanding public health services in South Carolina. We clearly don't need that.

EDIT: What happens when COVID-19 Federal Emergency ends?



Article from April of 2022.

[Max Peck]

Right-wing doctor group led by anti-vaccine insurrectionist implodes in scandal

Scandal has reached a full boil at America's Frontline Doctors—the right-wing pseudo-medical group notorious for peddling bogus COVID-19 treatments and fear-mongering over vaccines and other safe, effective health measures.

The scandal has split the group—aka AFLDS—into warring factions, with its prominent founder, Simone Gold, accused of a slew of wrongdoing, including using the charity group's funds to buy a $3.6 million mansion for herself and her boyfriend. She's also accused of staging a hostile coup of the organization in the weeks since her release from federal prison for her role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, which the group has defended.

The coup has left employees locked out of email accounts and other resources, according to a lawsuit filed by AFLDS against Gold on November 4. The lawsuit also claims Gold seized control of the group's bank accounts, which reportedly contain at least $7.3 million. For now, it appears Gold also has control over the AFLDS website, which has been pumping out fawning and indignant press releases on her behalf. It's in an extraordinarily sordid state, even for the ignoble group.

Stealing millions from a group like this feels like a victimless crime.

[El Guapo]

So my family is currently looking at high schools for my daughter. On Monday we toured a high school that recently reinstituted a mask mandate as a precautionary measure going into the Thanksgiving season. I found that pretty interesting given that I think it's literally the only place / entity / anything that has reintroduced a mask mandate that I'm aware of.

[YellowKing]

My hospital has re-implemented a mask mandate in all clinical areas. Business areas are still mask-optional. But I think it's as much a response to the bad flu/RSV season as it is to Covid.

[Smoove_B]

But I think it's as much a response to the bad flu/RSV season as it is to Covid.

Absolutely. And people are (broadly) indignant that we're doing anything to try and limit flu/RSV spread and keep hospitals from being overrun this early in the season. I really (truly I did) believed after COVID-19 we'd see the benefits of masking during surges of respiratory illnesses and people would be "proud" to wear a mask to do their part in helping to limit spread. Instead it went in the complete opposite direction and now I don't ever see it coming back.

I've said it countless times; I don't know how front-line medical workers are doing it anymore. It's pretty clear we collectively don't give a crap about them or what they're dealing with.

[Smoove_B]

More and more, I am thinking it's time for me to get a new career:

When Elko County commissioners rejected a $500,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that could have helped the county create a health department or health district, Kayla Hopkins pleaded with them to reconsider.

Hopkins, who has lived for nearly nine years in the sprawling rural county that forms the northeastern corner of Nevada, told the board how she struggled through postpartum depression and needed mental health resources.

“I was unable to get the help that I needed,” Hopkins said during a public meeting in late 2021, adding that she fell into what could be considered a mental breakdown. She said she was sent by air ambulance more than 300 miles away to Carson City, where she received care in a psychiatric facility for 10 days.

“I was away from my family,” Hopkins said. “I was away from my support system here, and I still struggle with mental health, and I still cannot get the help that I need because we just don’t have it here.”

Pleas from Hopkins and others weren’t enough to sway the elected commissioners. Neither were 11 letters from local health leaders urging the board to take the infusion of public health funding. Four of the county’s five commissioners, citing concerns about government overreach and their lack of trust in federal agencies, voted against pursuing the grant. Nearly a year later, as the pandemic grinds toward a third year and with the arrival of monkeypox, the county still is without a public health department to respond.

And the same mistrust of agencies administering grants for public health persists elsewhere.

I can't even believe this is happening in the same country I'm currently living in - that citizens of the United States of America are living in areas where local leaders are actively rejecting public health.

[LawBeefaroni]

My hospital has re-implemented a mask mandate in all clinical areas. Business areas are still mask-optional. But I think it's as much a response to the bad flu/RSV season as it is to Covid.

We never stopped having a mask mandate in all clinical and public areas.

Don't see us stopping anytime soon since clinical leadership is calling this the time of "triple threat" (flu/RSV/COVID).

[LawBeefaroni]

I can't even believe this is happening in the same country I'm currently living in - that citizens of the United States of America are living in areas where local leaders are actively rejecting public health.

I can't believe that you can't believe it.

[malchior]

Extremely low trust in the federal government is a big part of our problems including this public health issue.

[Isgrimnur]

Elko county

Elko County is the fourth-largest county by area in the contiguous United States
...
It contains 49.8 percent of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation
...
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 48,818 people