De bestrijding van Corona in de USA begint schizofrene trekjes te krijgen, die de politieke meningen over de ziekte verdiepen.

Met name de verplichting tot het dragen van maskers ligt onder vuur. In veel Republikeinse staten zijn dergelijke maatregelen al enige tijd verleden tijd, en ook in Democratische staten begint dat nu langzaam te komen. Begin deze week was het New Jersey, waar de gouverneur van deze buurstaat van New York aankondigde dat alles terug zou gaan naar normaal. Vandaag gevolgd door de gouverneur van New York, die de verplichting tot het buitenshuis dragen van maskers bij het grof vuil zette.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is planning to lift the Empire State’s mask mandate this week – what the NYT described as a “watershed moment” in New York’s struggle against COVID – a decision that follows a similar move by NJ Gov. Phil Murphy made earlier this week.
According to an NYT preview of Hochul’s decision (which she confirmed in an announcement released just before noon, in New York) the governor “was not swayed” by similar moves made by neighboring Democrat-controlled states (*cough* New Jersey *cough*) and is basing her decision “purely on the latest data and consultations with public health experts” – including her talks with Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Met als consequentie, dat

The decision will have a “far reaching” impact on public settings in the state, including businesses from retail shops to restaurants and malls – and workplaces as well.
Once Hochul’s decision has been made, these places would no longer be required to enforce “mask-wearing” or ask for “proof of vaccination” unless they choose to do so on their own.

Tegelijkertijd kondigde LA County aan dat zoiets er in Californië de komende weken nog niet in zit.

While California prepares to lift its indoor mask mandate next week, the state’s most populous county – LA County – has established itself as a notable hold out, thanks to the decision-making skills of its “SJW” Director of the Department of Public Health, Barbara Ferrer.

Ook de gouverneur volgt deze lijn:

NEW: CA’s case rate has decreased by 65% since our Omicron peak. Our hospitalizations have stabilized across the state.

Our statewide indoor mask requirement will expire on 2/15.

Unvaccinated people will still need to wear masks indoors.

Get vaccinated. Get boosted.

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 7, 2022

Ferrer, who isn’t a doctor and whose background focuses on health-care “access”, not the actual provision of health-care, said yesterday that LA County will not follow the state’s guidelines to lift masking mandates. Instead, the mandate will remain in effect for weeks, if not months, the Epoch Times reports.

Het contrast met staten als Texas en Florida – met Republikeinse gouverneurs – kon niet groter zijn.

CDC
Intussen is het vertrouwen van Amerikaanse burgers in het Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), het coördinerende instituut voor de Amerikaanse Corona-bestrijding, door de vloer gezakt. En neemt het vertrouwen in de federale overheid met zich mee omlaag:

Twisting the truth is our current Federal Government’s modus operandi. Look no further than White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s latest political gymnastics when she claimed, “We’ve not been pro-lockdown – most of the lockdowns actually happened under the previous President.”
While technically true (most actual lockdowns happened in America under Trump), the reality is that Biden praised pro-lockdown governors like Andrew Cuomo of NY, deified lockdown advocate Anthony Fauci as “America’s scientist,” and insisted throughout his 2020 campaign that lockdowns were necessary.
While our government officials may struggle with cognitive dissonance, Americans are taking notice as their trust in the federal government continues to plummet.

Dit toont zich vernietigend in het pleidooi dat het CDC in stand houdt vóór het gebruik van gezichtsmaskers. Dat deugt maar ternauwernood, en de gewekte indruk is uiterst dubieus:

The latest example of this trend occurs in a misleading infographic, which if taken at face value, conveys that wearing a cloth mask provides 56 percent more protection than no mask at all.

The CDC cites the results from its new study on masking, which states that “wearing a cloth mask (aOR = 0.44; 95 percent CI = 0.17–1.17) was associated with lower adjusted odds of a positive test compared with never wearing a face covering but was not statistically significant.” If one looks closely at the infographic, the hash symbol at the bottom indicates the results for cloth masks are “not statistically significant.”
Even though the CDC is technically honest in reporting this fact on the infographic, the situation still raises the question: if it admits in fine print that its infographic isn’t backed by reliable evidence, then why are they publishing it in the first place? Moreover, if the evidence suggests that wearing cloth masks has no statistically significant relationship with reducing the probability of testing positive, then why does the CDC continue to say we should use them?
[..]
Despite the growing evidence against masks, the CDC is intent on maintaining its position on school masking.

Een lijn die ook in staten als New York en New Jersey dientengevolge wordt aangehouden. Hilarisch onderdeel hiervan is hoe CNN er mee omgaat. De spreekbuis van de Democratische Partij stelt nu openbaar dat “The science has changed”

"The science has changed." @DrLeanaWen explains why she supports lifting some pandemic restrictions and thinks the decision to wear a mask should shift from a government mandate to an individual choice. pic.twitter.com/vaiybBBF2b

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) February 8, 2022

Wie zich nog herinnert hoe de science de afgelopen maanden als knots werd gehanteerd tegen twijfelaars aan opmerkelijk beleid, heeft nu reden zich krom te lachen. Een cynicus zou zeggen dat er een politieke motivatie achter zitten moet. En inderdaad blijkt er een onderliggende rol voor Midterms2022 mee te spelen!

What fantastic luck that this third camp — which many people have been long urging: take the pandemic seriously but also take seriously the physical/mental costs of restrictions — suddenly is declared permissible as polling shows it's vital for the 2022 survival of Dems. https://t.co/3ADl5eRbOY

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 9, 2022

---

Meer over de ontwikkelingen richting een plicht u te laten inenten, vaccinatiedwang en een vaccinatiepaspoort leest u hier. Meer feiten en opinies over vaccinatie tegen Corona vindt u hier. Het Corona-virus (Covid-19), de wijze van aanpak van Corona en haar sociale en economische gevolgen vindt u hier.