Uprising
By Cathy Jameson
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious!
One of my typical children had a follow-up appointment with an orthopeadic specialist last week. The doctor she see practices at the same hospital where most of Ronan’s specialists are. The appointment, even though on the books since last October, had to be rescheduled due to the lockdowns placed by the state. Like the restrictions we experienced with Ronan’s recent appointments, unless my child was experiencing a medical emergency, all visits were cancelled. While her issues are minor in comparison to Ronan’s, it was just as frustrating waiting for her medical care to resume.
Fortunately, once the state allowed “elective” appointments and procedures to once again be scheduled, we did not have to wait as long to get in as we’ve had to wait for Ronan’s team. I’m not sure why the ortho staff was able to get things moving faster than the other doctors. I wanted to ask but was too busy juggling everything else that’s been thrown at us, so I quickly accepted their next available appointment. Within days of getting the call that the clinic was back up and running, we made the two-hour trip to the hospital.
Before being allowed in, though, I had to answer some questions. The screening questions pertained to my daughter, the patient, not me:
Has your child been in contact with anyone with COVID-19, or has she herself been diagnosed with COVID-19?
Has your child recently had a rash…
fever…
abdominal pain…
chills…
joint pain…
loss of taste or smell…
diarrhea…
discomfort or shortness of breath?
Replying no to her query, I didn’t ask the receptionist what if I had any of the symptoms she rattled off. I didn’t have any of them but thought it odd that the parent/caretaker’s health wasn’t also taken into consideration.
Massive changes have and will likely continue to be made at medical facilities. In just 3.5 weeks from when Ronan was there, I noticed that additional questions had been added to their screening checklist, like the ones about joint pain and the loss of smell and taste. Another new procedure had been added also.
Once we arrived at the building, we were to park, call the receptionist’s line, answer the questions above, then wait for a call. That call would come when we were allowed to proceed into the clinic. I’d been told by the scheduler when I made the appointment that we may even be escorted into the building, so have everything ready – insurance cards, child’s belongings, any orthopeadic equipment, etc., once we were cleared to enter. The changes since our visit with Ronan earlier this month were time consuming but manageable.
Since that visit, I noticed one new thing that remained the same: a temperature check, the need to wear masks and the requirement to sanitize our hands upon arriving to the door. As much as I did not feel we needed to wear masks, we are not sick, we accepted the ones we were offered by the parking lot attendant who was now manning the medical checkpoint at the door.
Last time, it was a nurse or med tech who was in charge of taking temperatures and providing day passes for all visitors (a date-stamped sticker indicating our destination). This time, we were greeted by my favorite person at that very large hospital – it’s an older fellow who’s always reminded me of my Dad. No matter the day or hour, this fellow is always there with his welcoming smile at the door we always go through. As comforted as I was to see him, I was taken aback that he was now conducting medical screenings. He’s the parking lot guy. He’s the friendly face who directs me to the right hallway. He’s the guy that will sometimes walk with me toward the elevator making sure I get to where I need to if he sees Ronan struggling. He’s the man I see for the few seconds before and after our many medical appointments. He’s not a nurse, med tech, or doctor, but here he was checking my health stats and my daughter’s. I’ve said it several times during this quarantine and am sure I will say it again, What odd times we are living!
Making our way to the ortho floor, I shook my head and muttered to myself. This is so weird, so wrong. We’re not sick, and if we were, we wouldn’t be here. “Mommy?” my daughter started. “Yes, honey?” I said refocusing on her. “What did you say?” she asked. “Oh, nothing. Mommy’s just frustrated that we’re being forced to follow rules that don’t make sense.” “Like wearing this mask?” she asked. “Yes, honey,” I told her, “like wearing that mask.” To have some sort of control over our own bodies, instead of using the chemical-based hand sanitizer we were asked to use after putting the masks on, I said we’d be using our own and sprayed our hands with a Thieves essential oil spray I carry. If there’s one thing I want to continue to instill in my children, even during these changes we are living, is that they should still fight for what they know to be right.
The rest of our time at the hospital was uneventful. The appointment was good and met my expectations. The doctor and her staff were helpful and knowledgeable. We agreed that progress was being made for my daughter’s condition and that the only thing left to do was to make another follow-up appointment. If nothing major came up, we’d be back in six months. After setting that up, we started to make our way to the car.
As we got closer to the main door, I waved goodbye to the older fellow who was still screening hospital visitors. For years, he’s been a happy constant in my travels back and forth with Ronan. I was glad that his smile had not faded while he’s taken on new duties. Offering us a good afternoon, I thanked him, not for screening us, but for being that person that I always hope to see at each appointment. “He’s nice, Mommy,” she whispered. “Oh, he’s one of my favorites!” I shared, “I love that he’s here every time we are.”
We got in the car and started on our trip back home. We talked about what’s next for her and how we can keep up with what the doctor suggested we do. We talked about seeing other kids in the clinic knowing they had many more challenges than she did. We also talked about the moms and dads and how hard some of this might be for them, especially with some restrictions and rules still in place. She thoughtfully considered everything she’d seen and then took a short nap.
Before we got back into town, I decided that I wanted to run some errands. They would add to our already long day, but I wanted to see if I could replenish some of items I couldn’t find at our local shops. Pulling into a parking spot at a small grocery store, I pointed to several people in the store and parking lot. “Look, they’re not wearing masks,” I said. “So, we’re not either?” my youngest asked. I told her, “Yep, not that it’s up them anyway, but I am not going to wear it. Other places will make you wear a mask, but this place lets you choose.” Folding the kid-size one she’d received at the hospital and putting it back down next to her, she said, “I’m not wearing one either.” I told her she could if she wanted to, I would never stop her from doing that, but she agreed. We’re not sick. We’re not a threat, so her mask, like mine, would stay in the car.
I thought it perfect timing as one of my very favorite songs came on the radio as we unbuckled our seatbelts. Excitedly, I heard from the backseat, “MOM, we are *not* getting out of the car yet. We need to turn this up and listen to the whole thing first.” Agreeing with my little mini-me, we sat in the parking lot and rocked out. Singing along, I looked at my child as she sang those lyrics and could only think, from your lips to God’s ears, my little dear. Someday, we will be victorious.
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious!
Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.
Benedetta and Bayareamom,
I skimmed the video. Do this man intones: hypochondria? What is hypochondria? It’s believing you’re sick when you’re not sick. Now, as we all know, coronavirus is simply not dangerous to anyone listening now. Anyone who is afraid of it for his own sake or that of people he cares about, is simply an unbalanced hypochondriac. OK, it kills a lot of people my age. It kills twice as many blacks and Asians as Caucasians. So there you go! Who CARES about those who are more vulnerable than yourselves? Why run around in masks to break the chain of transmission and save lives? How peculiar! How deranged! You say tens of thousands of young adults and children have gotten severe cases, disabling cases, have even died? Well, just don’t think about them! The important thing is to keep the market going like normal, go to work (like all those nice meat packers dropping from Covid like flies and now under federal order to remain at their posts, working.) Buy, sell, just keep swimming no matter what the consequences to the lives and health of millions! Shame people into compliance by telling them they’re hypochondriacs! They say they’ve seen the hundreds of coffins in mass graves, the piles of dead bodies overflowing the morgues, dozens of refrigerated trucks at the doors of hospitals? Tell them FRAIDY CAT! Who cares? Previously healthy young adults suddenly dropping dead from sudden respiratory failure? Well, why dwell on that? How many have you SEEN with your own eyes? Where would we all REALLY rather see carnage? On the streets or in homes and hospitals, or in our sainted MARKETS?
You can’t be serious.
Posted by: Cia | June 02, 2020 at 04:31 PM
I love Dr. Breggin!
Cia you should hold your nose and watch it all the way through. Could open your mind, if you just persevere.
I wish my son could see Dr. Breggin. Sigh.
@Benedetta:
I love Dr. Breggin too! He's wonderful. I read everything I could find back in the day about Breggin when I was homeschooling our son. He's a breath of fresh air I'll tell you that.
I, too, wish your son could see him.
Have you ever tried contacting him?
Posted by: Bayareamom | May 31, 2020 at 10:20 PM
Bayareamom
I love Dr. Breggin!
Cia you should hold your nose and watch it all the way through. Could open your mind, if you just persevere.
I wish my son could see Dr. Breggin. Sigh.
Posted by: Benedetta | May 31, 2020 at 06:30 PM
Cia
No, my only point is that it is not going to cut much ice if you cite people or sources that anyhow have no credibility, like Johnson and Hancock.
Posted by: John Stone | May 31, 2020 at 05:54 PM
Angus,
Regardless of how you feel about BoJo and Hancock, being in the area where a Covid carrier has even walked through three hours ago can infect you with Covid. Up to 80% of Covid carriers have no idea they’re contagious. They feel fine. That means that those who do not want to be infected themselves or infect others need to follow these simple precautions to avoid breathing in the virus or touching something that has the virus, on some surfaces it can linger for up to nine days. The show-offs here crowded into a swimming pool without masks. One of them tested positive yesterday. At least four hair cutters at Great Cuts have tested positive this past week, but both they and their many customers were wearing masks, and so far there have been no reports of any of the customers testing positive. Masks make a big difference as well as social distancing. That’s why so many Brits have been infected and so many have died. I really don’t understand it.
Posted by: Cia | May 31, 2020 at 05:47 PM
Truth and lives dont matter Boris and Gove seen to that.
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | May 31, 2020 at 04:06 PM
This is the report I got from The Sun the other day. It’s hard for me to understand. If Johnson and Hancock say Please don’t be in crowds, you might get or transmit Covid. And I hated both of them ( which I don’t), am I hurting myself and my community or them if I blow off their warning and go out in crowds?
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11743919/uk-weather-forecast-brits-beach-28c-scorcher-warning-groups/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Coronavirus%2030/05/2020&utm_term=Newsletter_thesun_daily
Posted by: Cia | May 31, 2020 at 03:59 PM
I don’t think it matters whether or not one finds Johnson and Hancock to be sympathetic figures . On this subject, they were right. This was from the beginning of April: https://www.itv.com/news/2020-04-03/prime-minister-boris-johnson-coronavirus-covid-19/
You don’t have to like or respect someone to heed their advice. I don’t think anyone would disagree that if almost all Brits had followed the guidelines, there would have been far fewer cases and deaths. It’s just the way respiratory viruses work. I’ll check the link, I had several choices when I googled it.
Posted by: Cia | May 31, 2020 at 03:51 PM
Just found this interview; Dr. Peter Breggin interview with Del Bigtree (Breggin's a true hero in my book imho);
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNjNZDsHqUU
Posted by: Bayareamom | May 31, 2020 at 03:20 PM
Link is to a recent interview that Bobby Kennedy, Jr. did on a YouTube channel called The Dark Journalist. Excellent interview - most interesting was Bobby's discussion re his past relationship with Roger Ailes and what Ailes told Bobby years ago over lunch re Big Pharma's influence in modern day media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8gQ258X5IU&frags=pl%2Cwn
Posted by: Bayareamom | May 31, 2020 at 03:16 PM
Cia, You lost me when you mentioned Johnson and Hancock 'wanted to save lives'. If only that were the case we would not be in the dreadful mess we are in.
You obviously believe mainstream media. I do not. I am sure we will never agree. Sorry
Posted by: susan welch | May 31, 2020 at 12:55 PM
Cia
I really don’t see Johnson and Hancock as attractive or sympathetic figures and on Thursday they are hosting a GAVI jamboree to which they will no doubt commit billions more of public money to the Gates cartel (as if they needed it). Johnson calls for vaccine critics to be excluded from social media, Hancock agitates over compulsion: together they set the Oxford COVID vaccine racket in motion in February when they should have been focussing on how to deal with coming flood of cases. I see only a completely repellant pair of sheisters - the kleptocracy in action. I only mention that whatever the basis of the policy it gets ever harder to have any good will towards them whatsoever, and I see saving lives as at best no more than incidental to their agenda.
Posted by: John Stone | May 31, 2020 at 10:32 AM
Susan Welch,
It depends. Libraries are great, but would you take your toddler in to check out new board books when a raging inferno was in progress?
If all these people went to a spacious natural location where people were few and far between, they could go, staying far away from any other people. But many towns and cities in the U.K. are densely-packed: the U.K. and the Netherlands are the most densely-packed countries in the world, and they’ve both had a huge number of Covid cases and deaths. No one has the right to endanger other people’s lives, which he does if he is close to them in a pandemic. I’m sure you heard Johnson, Hancock, and others to obey the regulations and stay home despite the nice weather last month? Do you think they did it because they are sadistic and love torturing people, or because they wanted to save lives? What’s hard to understand is people’s insistence that they can go out unprotected and do whatever they want to, who cares how many die as a result? Would you stay home if you knew that going out would cause your neighbor’s death? Now they say that up to 80% of carriers are asymptomatic and don’t realize they’re contagious. So these rules take that into account the only way they can, by applying to everybody. Here in Missouri, after hordes of people crammed into pools at Lake of the Ozarks, no masks, the Governor ordered all of them to self-quarantine for two weeks and called their behavior irresponsible. Putting it lightly. And yesterday it was announced that one had tested positive for Covid. And he probably infected many others. Are you saying that this is fine, you don’t care?
Posted by: Cia | May 31, 2020 at 09:31 AM
Cia,
The symptomatic case fatality rate isn't 6%. Not all people with symptoms get tested in fact symptomatic people can be denied testing if symptoms aren't serious enough.
The CDC does now estimate the symptomatic case fatality rate to be 0.4%.
One can't compare COVID-19 to SARS.
Posted by: vaxxus | May 31, 2020 at 02:49 AM
susan welch: Sun exposure has many benefits. Not only the production of vitamin D, but of Nitric Oxide (NO), our cardiovascular system's best friend (it relaxes the smooth muscles in the vasculature, lowering blood pressure, and aids in the repair part of the constant injury/repair process we all experience in daily living, especially in the cardiac arteries), and certainly other things yet to be discovered. Dr. Malcolm Kendrick wrote an excellent blog post about the benefits of sun exposure. Absolutely essential for good health. I repeat, sun exposure is absolutely essential for good health. I no longer read Cia's comments, so I don't know what you were referring to.
Posted by: Gary Ogden | May 30, 2020 at 10:00 PM
Fresh air and sunlight were so important to thousands that they were willing to pay the price in human lives.
Cia, I was a bit shocked to read the above sentence from you. Just about every expert is agreed that fresh air and sunlight are important for good health (vitamin D).
Posted by: susan welch | May 30, 2020 at 04:55 PM
Hera,
Anything is subject to abuse, but in this case, the stakes are very high. I’d say take people’s word for contacts unless evidence appears that it was untrue and malicious. One good thing is that now they have a saliva Covid test, which should be used within the applicable guidelines to test all probable contacts. If enough time has passed that they would test positive if they got it, if they’re positive they should be isolated at state expense. If they get a reliable negative, then they’re free to go.
I never said that Covid killed one in five. In the US, about 6% of symptomatic patients are dying. The rate differs according to time and place, especially as to whether or not the hospitals are crashed. Many places have a ten or twelve percent case fatality rate, and this is like SARS.
Posted by: Cia | May 30, 2020 at 11:48 AM
Julie,
Cait is right. And a large portion of the British people have been very irresponsible. On the first warm days of spring, THOUSANDS of people were out and about, strolling in the parks, sitting shoulder to shoulder on lawns, with health officials in the background pleading with them to stay at home, only go out for food etc. while wearing masks. So that’s again the way it goes. Fresh air and sunlight were so important to thousands that they were willing to pay the price in human lives.
Posted by: Cia | May 30, 2020 at 11:38 AM
I just saw that one of the merrymakers in the crowded pool at Lake of the Ozarks last weekend, has tested positive for Covid.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kmbc.com/amp/article/missouri-resident-tests-positive-for-covid-19-after-going-to-the-lake-of-the-ozarks/32716915
So if he gave it to five others, one of those five gives it to his elderly mother, and she dies, whose fault is it? Obviously that of those shoulder to shoulder in the pool who ignored the social distancing orders. None of them thought he had Covid. All of them felt fine. But at least one of them is now positive for Covid and has probably infected others. Morally everyone in the pool shares the sin and the guilt: any of them could have contracted the virus at any time from any unmasked person now or recently within their forty-foot air mass. Cases here in Boone County have now quintupled in one week. It’s like a lot of people don’t know what a contagious disease is, or think it could never apply to them.
Posted by: Cia | May 30, 2020 at 11:32 AM
Beleaguered,
I just looked at the list of a few Covid victims: https://www.latimes.com/projects/coronavirus-lives-lost-in-california/?utm_source=sfmc_100035609&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=25261+Essential+California+05%2f28%2f20&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.latimes.com%2fprojects%2fcoronavirus-lives-lost-in-california%2f%23valeria-viveros&utm_id=7471&sfmc_id=1837578#valeria-viveros
The first, the 21 year old girl, was overweight but not obese. The next was 51, in law enforcement, not OW or obese. The 80 year old was a minister, as you said, not obese, he started the Hour of Power. The 67 year old was not OW, but was developmentally delayed. The 80 year old woman of Japanese background was skinny. Alfonso, 25, was OW, not obese. Gary, 66, was not OW. Terrell, 52, in law enforcement, was not OW. Pedro, 52, was not OW. All just tragically died of CV.
There has been no planned release of CV. It was the product of bioengineering in the lab, which should be made illegal everywhere. I’m sure it escaped accidentally. No, there will be no planned release in the fall. That’s the natural course of pandemics of respiratory disease, to become worse in October when the weather gets colder. Like the Spanish flu.
Posted by: Cia | May 29, 2020 at 03:40 PM
Hera,
I both follow the local and state rules and follow my own common sense rules. The government had NOT been on top of this. Up until the beginning of April it said NOT to use N95 masks, to leave them to the medical professionals, and that they were not helpful for healthy people. Just for doctors. Even though up to 80% of Covid spreaders had no symptoms and thought they were healthy. But weren’t. And some, like my friend in St. Louis, just repeated the mantra as though it made any sense, as though virtue lay in following the letter of the law rather than the underlying goal, which was not to catch it, not to spread it. We ordered N95 masks from China on Amazon on Feb 22, they were sold out two days later. It took them ten days to come, and since early March, we’ve been wearing them or other kinds of masks every time we go out in public. Even a month before it became a government recommendation. We stopped going to Mass at the beginning of March, several weeks before the church closed in lockdown. Cecily was supposed to go to lunch at a restaurant with an old teacher around March 20 and was supposed to go to a Best Buddies trivia night, but I cancelled all of them because I didn’t think they were wise because of Covid. OpenTable reported restaurant reservations were down 50% by mid-March, not because of government rules or regulations, but from common sense, the precautionary principle, which all competent adults must heed. MOST of the over 100,000 who have died in the US died because some of those around them did not take common sense precautions. If you don’t take them you are on the side inflicting harm.
Posted by: Cia | May 29, 2020 at 03:24 PM
Cathy,
As a Quaker (hounded out of the Society of Friends by MI5 infiltrators) I am ecumenical to the point of being universalist. I always find your own faith shines from your articles, and is inspirational. I don't think you need to take any advice from anyone who may be pretending to be a Catholic, as well as pretending to be antivaccine, autistic, a mother, a lecturer etc.!
Posted by: Grace Green | May 29, 2020 at 09:55 AM
Cia, you have said the current virus is man-made. Do you think the "second wave" touted to arrive by next winter is a planned release? I noticed in the link you sent from the LA Times, all victims are overweight to obese (except the 80-year-olds). I say this because we know high blood pressure is a risk factor and high blood pressure is more common in people who are overweight. I noticed there were no children in the list - probably because kids don't have high BP unless they have another medical condition that causes it. Do you think the virus was targeted?
Posted by: Beleaguered Autism Mom | May 28, 2020 at 10:40 PM
Hi Cia,
I think that what you are not understanding is that Cathy is also following the rules of the area in which she lives. She is not required to wear a mask, and from what she said, most people were not wearing one in the stores.
She, in fact is, doing what you are doing; following the rules. And making choices to do things she is allowed to do, under the rules where she lives, just like you are.
I do like mask wearing for those who can, as imo it does provide some protection for everybody, but that is a choice. A while ago,I was sympathizing with a checkout lady at Walmart, saying, they should give you masks. She said ( this was a while ago) she was going to be required to wear one next week, but she got panic attacks when anything was placed around her face or neck.
Similarly, I realize that you cannot imagine how contact tracing could be abused. As I pointed out earlier, anyone wanting to get back at someone just has to name them as having been a contact, and whoops, two weeks quarantine, no choice. ( For example, if you have an argument with a neighbor, and they test positive, they can easily say you are a contact.Yep, I spent time talking with Cia, even though you haven't spoken to him for months...) and then you are in quarantine for two weeks, not even knowing who it was who supposedly infected you.
Then, someone calls you up just after that quarantine ends, and says I am a contact tracer ,and you need to go back into quarantine. You don't know if they really are a contact tracer, because there is not government number they are calling from, but you are law abiding so..back into quarantine you go. ( its been a month now.) Then just after you get out again, guess what, you get a call...its from a contact tracer ( who says he will take your name off the list this time, if you pay him a hundred bucks..) Don't know if any of this will happen, but people with only 6 hours training being put in charge of ordering people into essentially house arrest, based on unconfirmed reports from other people who can say whatever they want with no proof required.....what could possibly go wrong? ....
Posted by: Hera | May 28, 2020 at 03:25 PM
Hera,
This is what I was referring to: “it is kind of strange that while some are still in strict lockdown, you write about doing all kinds of things other people in some states are still not allowed to do, while explaining that you believe "positives" should be isolated for months. I understand why you feel the need to do things, that your daughter feels imprisoned. You are taking risks ( some small manageable risks), because you feel freedom is worth it in your particular circumstances. Others may make the same choices.And others may feel the choices you are making are too risky, and continue to stay home, away from others. In the end we live in a free society, where forced isolation and home imprisonment needs extreme reasons for it to be acceptable.”
We have been in the area of extreme reasons making the measures acceptable for several months.” I pointed out that what we have done is acceptable under the rules and recommendations of most places. I wouldn’t have done them if they hadn’t been.
Since many do not wear masks and universal testing is not being done, contact tracing is necessary, to warn those who may have been exposed. Who could object to that? I can’t even think of a situation embarrassing and compromising enough that anyone would have a strong desire to conceal even though lives are on the line.
Cathy,
Maybe you might consider talking to a priest about your belief that you have a right not to wear a mask if you don’t feel like it, as in the store you mentioned in which few were wearing masks, so you didn’t either.
Posted by: Cia | May 28, 2020 at 10:19 AM
https://www.latimes.com/projects/coronavirus-lives-lost-in-california/?utm_source=sfmc_100035609&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=25261+Essential+California+05%2f28%2f20&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.latimes.com%2fprojects%2fcoronavirus-lives-lost-in-california%2f%23valeria-viveros&utm_id=7471&sfmc_id=1837578#valeria-viveros
Descriptions of some who have died of Covid in California. All ages, several ethnicities. The first is a 21 year old Mexican girl in her first nursing job. One was a developmentally-disabled man who worked as a janitor. I think it is a bad thing to make excuses for Covid, saying it’s just better to get it, or those who die of it are old and sick anyway, or just throw them overboard because the rest of us have almost reached the promised, though elusive, land of herd immunity. We have not yet even determined if recovering to some extent from Covid is a good or a bad thing.
We in the US reached 100,000 deaths the other day. This is nothing but an inconceivably huge tragedy. Most of those lives would have been spared if everyone in these people’s areas had been wearing masks.
Posted by: Cia | May 28, 2020 at 10:00 AM
greyone. thank you for your comment. I appreciate it very much. Cathy
Posted by: Cathy | May 28, 2020 at 08:45 AM
Hi Cia,
I think you are confusing commenters? I have already explained in previous posts
I live in an extremely low virus area
I live in a rural area
and I am comfortable wearing a mask even though almost all around here do not.
Your comments have surprised me because on the one hand you have stated that you want forced quarantine, that the virus is so dangerous that it will kill 1 in 5, and that it can spread 10 feet or more with a cough, that you are having strange symptoms, and at the same time almost all of your posts describe you going somewhere that is not staying at home, including sitting for an hour and a half in a church (with social distancing). I am not saying you aren't allowed to do these things, (obviously you are), or that you should not, ( again, your choice) . I suppose that what I find strange is that even though I am far less worried about COVID that you are, still right now , regardless of what I am "allowed" to do, I still would not make a choice to spend an hour and a half in a large group of people, right now, social distancing or not..
I know that all any of us get is small snap shots of what people are doing, and also that all of our tolerance for risks and view of COVID change as more information comes in. It just seems that you are advocating forced quarantine on others, but it is not what you are choosing to live yourself.The reality is of course, that most situations are shades of grey, and it is hard for that to come across in our posts.
I wish you and all here health and strength in this time; it is hard on all of us.
Posted by: Hera | May 28, 2020 at 01:01 AM
Good article on the bizarre current vice dignaling.
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/05/face-mask-videos-culture-wars-trump-logic/612139/
Posted by: Cia | May 28, 2020 at 12:51 AM
I wore a surgeon’s mask when we went to Petco today as I had taken the filter out and washed the lining of my N95 mask. It was light and cool, and it was easy to breathe wearing it. I washed C’s Starry Night gaiter mask and she wore a constellation gaiter mask. We have no problem with wearing them.
I think it is good to compare countries of rebels, many in them refusing to wear masks or observe the other protective measures, with countries in which basically the entire country observed the measures. The US has had the most cases of any country in the world, thanks to our egotistical exceptionalism: 1,743,763 cases, 18,488 of them new today, 1,442 new deaths today, 102,014 total deaths, 308 deaths per million.
The UK: 267,240 cases, 2,013 of them new today, 37,460 total deaths, 412 new deaths today, 552 deaths per million.
Sweden: 35,088 cases, 648 new today, 4,220 deaths, 95 new today, 418 deaths per million.
Now compare those examples to countries which have acted responsibly.
Denmark: 11,480 cases, 52 new today, 565 deaths, 98 deaths per million (Denmark locked down and has observed the measures.)
Czechia: 9,086 cases, 317 deaths, 30 deaths per million
Austria: 16,591 cases, 645 deaths, 72 deaths per million. Austria saw a 90% decrease in its infection rate as soon as it started the mask mandate. Notice how there have been no Austrians who have died as a result of mask use.
New Zealand: 1,504 cases, 21 deaths, 4 deaths per million
Israel: 16,793 cases, 281 deaths, 31 deaths per million
Mongolia, right next to China. It sounded the alarm with the first reported cases in January, went on lockdown, mandated masks, closed the borders, and as a result has had only 148 cases and no deaths.
Other Asian countries which took many appropriate measures immediately, including masks, adding more as needed:
South Korea: 11,265 cases, 269 deaths, 5 deaths per million
Singapore: 32,876 cases, 23 deaths, 4 deaths per million
Hong Kong: 1,067 cases, 4 deaths, 0.5 deaths per million
Taiwan: 441 cases, 7 deaths, 0.3 deaths per million
The strain of the virus in East Asia was the original, somewhat milder S strain, while the one ravaging Europe and the eastern US has been the more virulent L strain. But you can compare outcomes between European countries and see the huge difference made by taking the measures seriously and obeying them. No ethical person can say Who cares? Most of those who died were old and/or had other sicknesses. That wouldn’t be me.
Hundreds of thousands of those who have recovered are troubled with recurrences and ongoing health problems caused by Covid. Many have permanent damage to their lungs, kidneys, livers, and other organs. Many are troubled with hyper inflammatory or hypercoagulation syndromes caused by Covid, with heart failure and amputation some of the problems. Many children and teens have developed a syndrome similar to Kawasaki’s, with permanent heart damage common.
In other words, no one should say Who cares? It’s not a problem for people like me.
Posted by: Cia | May 27, 2020 at 07:37 PM
It all makes perfect sense now the mask was just the first bit...
Stunned Glasgow Morrison's shopper pictures man dressed as Predator in next level PPE gear
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/stunned-glasgow-morrisons-shopper-pictures-22093553
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | May 27, 2020 at 05:17 PM
Cathy,
just wanted to thank you for your relentlessly uplifting posts.
I look forward each week to the uniquely blended perspective of gentleness and strength in your essays.
Posted by: greyone | May 27, 2020 at 03:50 PM
Jane,
You live in Australia, which has only had about a hundred deaths. If your society is not experiencing a serious epidemic, then its lawmakers would be justified in not mandating the measured necessary in most of the world. Every epidemic is to a large degree random in its attacks. However, Australia’s situation may change.
I think it’s fine for people in low-risk areas not to wear masks. But it’s morally and often legally mandatory to wear them in hard-hit areas. And that’s as it should be. No one has a right to carelessly infect anyone else.
A lot of people here are not up to speed with Sweden. Unlike its neighbors, it refused to lock down, close schools, mandate masks, etc. it was supposed to get up to 60% immunity by the end of May, which was supposed to justify the many deaths which everyone knew would ensue. So it had four thousand deaths in two months, the highest per capita mortality rate in Europe, exponentially more than its locked-down neighbors. It had the highest deaths per million in Europe until the densely-populated UK edged it out the
other day. And did it achieve the goal for which it was
willing to throw away thousands of lives? No. It got 7.4% of Stockholmers with antibodies, which may offer no protection and may last only eight months to two years. In the rest of the country it seems to be between two and three percent. About what most countries are getting even taking measures to protect lives. Sweden just made itself look st- and irresponsible. Indignant debates are taking place now in Sweden about their nonchalant jettisoning of innocent lives.
Posted by: Cia | May 27, 2020 at 03:45 PM
Nhokannon,
I just looked at my linked article, with a chart recording how successful many kinds of masks were at filtering. It said a cotton handkerchief was in the twenty-some odd percentile ranking, and bicycle mask C was in the fifties. ALL the others were in the eighties or nineties.
Masks work. They prevent the transmission of Covid. What the whiners are saying is that their own comfort and sense of liberating personal defiance of authority are more important to them than saving people’s lives, both their own and those of others.
What should you do with a ten-year old who loves setting people’s houses on fire, and has killed many people within? His parents, teachers, and police officers have talked to him many times about the evil of wantonly taking life and destroying property, but he has a thing about the purifying effects of fire. What do you do with him? The only answer is to lock him up. And that’s the answer of many countries in the Far East. You don’t want to observe simple, basic rules to protect lives, you lose your right to freedom. Some of those countries impose a five-year prison term for those who flout the rule requiring masks.
And that is what we should do.
Hera,
You say the Navajo should have sufficient clean water. I agree. But at this time when 156 have been killed by CV, it is much more important that they be protected from the disease. In nearly every single case in which those 156 Navajos died, it was because those in their vicinity (and the larger world beyond that) were not wearing masks. Nearly every single person of the nearly 400,000 who have died of CV had ample access to clean water, also to food and a warm house. Those are not the vademecum for preventing a horrible, prolonged, choking death from CV.
If you don’t wear a mask, you are paying forward the Red Death. I am really glad I’m not you. I’d hate to have that sin on my head.
Hera,
Your comment is odd. Here in Missouri the stay at home order ended on May 6. Businesses are opening slowly. Since cases have quintupled in the last five days, I’d say a new lockdown is in the cards. We’re still observing it with only the exceptions permitted when it was in force. It has always been permitted to visit and help the elderly and the disabled. My neighbor is 92 and is having serious health problems now. We go to the supermarket once a week. Permitted everywhere. We went to Mass the first Sunday in May when it reopened with a lit of restrictions, which we and everyone else observed. I went to a clinic two weeks ago in mask and gloves. Permitted. We have gone for a walk in our neighborhood about once a week, without masks, but haven’t come within the personal boundary of anyone we came across. Permitted. Are you complaining because you live in a densely-populated urban area with more cases and higher risk, and stricter rules? That would be silly. Once this is over maybe you should consider moving to a less-densely populated area like the one we live in so you won’t feel such resentment next time.
Cait,
Thank you for your sensible comments. What a weird situation this is.
Posted by: Cia | May 27, 2020 at 03:17 PM
@Nancy
I don't see anything on the CIDRAP site that specifically reverses their earlier position on mask wearing. But an article they published yesterday, May 26, reports that public health officials in Missouri and Kansas are asking people to stay home for the next 2 weeks if they participated in Memorial Day celebrations without wearing masks or social distancing. If CIDRAP's position on masks is unchanged, this would have been a good place to mention it.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/05/us-covid-19-hospitalizations-officials-respond-memorial-day-festivities
Posted by: cait | May 27, 2020 at 10:17 AM
Jane,
Thank you for your excellent comment, and for being persistent! The Prof. Cahill interview is a must watch.
Posted by: Grace Green | May 27, 2020 at 07:25 AM
This is the link for Delores Cahill https://www.bitchute.com/video/btbLZBcEWelT/
Posted by: John Stone | May 27, 2020 at 03:33 AM
Cia and Ann,
As people will see I have tried many times to send this post and even written to Kim (our editor) and got someone in another country to send it for me but it comes out blank and Kim said it appears in her spam. I am trying again but removing the links to the Del Bigtree discussion with Prof. Cahill and links to Australian govt. stats of Covid.
I just wanted to say that you can both wear a mask if you want but I agree with Cathy, people should not have to wear one nor feel guilty if they do not. The science around wearing a mask and lock up is not sound when you listen to many doctors. Wearing a mask deprives you of oxygen and as you know the lack of oxygen can kill you, as we saw from the young boys in China running longer distances and suffocating during a PE class. According to Prof. Dolores Cahill (who also recovered from Covid), wearing a mask deprives you of oxygen which lowers your immune system which can reawaken dormant viruses in your body and make you sicker. Maybe that is why some health care workers wearing masks for such long shifts died from Covid in spite of their youth. Scientists who announced at a press conference in front of Trump said UV rays (sunshine) above 70 F with humidity, and 75 F without humidity, can also kill the virus. Vitamin D from the sun can also build your immune system. Thus, wearing a mask and living in lockdown can be more dangerous and delay natural herd immunity, which I am sure you will agree, is better than any possible temporary protection one could get from a questionable and toxic vaccine. Masks also do nothing to protect you from Covid according to many doctors including Fauci. People fiddle with masks and then rub their face and eyes and germs can be absorbed through your eyes as many infections do. According to the doctors from Bakersfield (who oppose mask wearing), and Prof. Cahill; Lock up can also weaken your immune system because when you go back into the community you are prone to catching diseases a lot easier than you would have had you been exposed to germs on a daily basis as is normal. The doctors said the hospitals will be very busy when this happens after the end of lockup.
We have around 25 million population here is Australia. Testing for Covid is free upon demand by anyone and very liberal. To date we have 7109 confirmed cases, 6506 recovered and 102 deaths. Nearly all the deaths have occurred in ages well over 70 and in people suffering co morbidities.
Some countries have high counts of Covid deaths because they have not taken into the account of effect of co morbidities, not carried out autopsies, and been pressured to write down Covid as a cause of death (see Dr. Erickson from Bakersfield). 25 of those 102 Covid deaths in Oz came from two nursing homes and some transferred from nursing home died in hospital not counted as a nursing home death. Another 23 of the 102 came from the Ruby Princess Cruise ship because the government mistakenly let 2500 passengers disembark into the community without even checking their temps and knowing the ship was plagued with Covid. Other cases were brought in from international travellers before they started quarantining them for 14 days. We have Covid restrictions but they are not as strict as in some countries and you rarely see anyone wearing a mask when you are out and about. I had to go to my local big public hospital Emergency Department for a suspected heart complaint a few weeks ago and no staff or patients were wearing masks or gloves, or washed their hands between seeing patients except if doing dressings. Staff, who are usually run off their feet, told me they were so bored because the place was empty and that is similar to many hospitals around the country. What we are starting to see in the hospitals after covid restrictions are increased victims of domestic violence including an increase in murders, suicides, alcoholism, drug overdoses, and injuries and accidents related to increased drug taking and alcohol. Young people being the most affected. They also cancelled all elective surgeries up until a couple of weeks ago because people were suffering and even dying as a result. That is why our government has decided to open up the country again gradually but not the state border or international travel yet. It was clear that collateral damage from lock down including unemployment, bankruptcies, financial ruin, homelessness, depression and anxiety etc. etc. was going to take a lot bigger toll on young lives than the risk of that demographic dying of Covid. Quarantine and caring for the sick (not on ventilators as this was a mistake for Covid) is how society has dealt with the spread of disease in the past and should continue this like Sweden.
Posted by: Jane | May 27, 2020 at 12:07 AM
Posted by: Jane | May 26, 2020 at 01:15 PM
Posted by: Jane | May 26, 2020 at 09:18 AM
Cait, I cannot agree with you that wearing a mask is an 'act of civic responsibility'. The jury appears to be out on whether or not the pros outweigh the cons. I have read articles with views on both sides of this thorny issue.
It also appears that different parts of the world have different policies. Where I live, in south west England, it is rare to see anyone wearing a mask.
If it was law that I had to, then I would comply, but I would make sure it had an appropriate message about vaccine injury on it.
Posted by: susan welch | May 26, 2020 at 03:46 AM
Cait: Has CIDRAP changed its position since last month, as Fauci did? I don’t see that policy reversal online.
Cia: You refer to 70% effectiveness; your linked article states 40%, which still allows 60% of particles through. A condom with a pinhole is almost fully intact, but can still facilitate a pregnancy — hence, no 100% certainty of protection.
Mask or no mask, at this point no one can state definitively that they aren’t exhaling viral droplets or carrying them on hair, glasses, clothing or personal belongings.
It’s disappointing to again see social media become a polarized political cage match pitting over-staters of mask efficacy against the “give me liberty or or give me death” contingent (which might turn into liberty = death.)
Responsible citizens should do whatever is within their power to reduce disease transmission, but not succumb to fear to the point of creating new and worse problems. The shocking rate of deaths in nursing homes and other congregate living facilities is one example of failure to first examine the facts of supplies, conditions and human dynamics to mitigate potential negative outcomes.
Posted by: nhokkanen | May 25, 2020 at 10:25 PM
Oops, sorry. Just checked and a couple of weeks ago the UK government advised people to wear masks in enclosed public spaces such as public transport and some shops. I don't use public transport at the moment so couldn't say how that's going but in the city where I live, there would be less than one in ten people wearing masks at the shops.
Posted by: Julie | May 25, 2020 at 08:08 PM
The reason for the questions is anyone who answers yes to any question will be forced to have a COVID test. This is according to CDC guidelines.
The push for universal testing might be to harvest DNA prior to the introduction of DNA changing vaccines. That way they know what changes were made. We are in one giant experiment without informed consent
Posted by: Pft | May 25, 2020 at 07:22 PM
Cait,
If Cathy is being civically irresponsible, then 90% of the British must also be. So must the government, not recommending it. So must all the shops in Britain, none asking customers to wear masks. So must all the doctors and nurses who do not wear the masks in public. Maybe the corona virus in Britain is different to the corona virus in the US since in Britain, the numbers are going down rapidly, oddly without wearing masks. Just as there are 'experts' who recommend mask wearing, there are other 'experts' warning of the dangers.
Posted by: Julie | May 25, 2020 at 07:20 PM
@Nancy
The article you referenced is from early April. Many public health organizations and officials have changed their position on mask-wearing since then. While initially it was assumed that only people with active symptoms could transmit the virus, we now know that is not the case. As a result, seemingly healthy people are now being encouraged to wear masks in situations where adequate social distancing is not possible.
Masks are not 100% effective, but every reduction in the rate of transmission has the potential to save lives.
Posted by: cait | May 25, 2020 at 04:16 PM
@Cathy
"Not wearing a mask doesn’t mean I am uncaring or that I lack common courtesy or respect. Your fear is your issue."
I don’t think fear is the issue being raised here. Wearing a mask is primarily about protecting others.
How do you know you and/or your daughter are not pre- or asymptomatic carriers of the virus? You could even have picked it up at the hospital just before going to the store. People who work in grocery stores are at high risk of contracting Covid-19 because they come in contact with so many people. Elderly shoppers are also at elevated risk.
Is it really so onerous to wear a mask for a few minutes in order to protect these vulnerable people? How does this impinge on your freedom? How is this mind control or degrading? If anything, it is an act of civic responsibility.
Posted by: cait | May 25, 2020 at 04:10 PM
"Fungal (pneumocystis) pnuemonia from wearing a mask (first time I've edited a report on a NON-HIV patient). You think the nasal swab is invasive? Wait until you have a bronchoalveolar lavage.." -- Savannah, Nurse
Health problems from chronic stress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRfSMyf_F4&fbclid=IwAR2CuMnbNKE3SyzmgDJ04uH9MpwZcc85s4xOHJ4CaXiVskLrmah079jmToQ
Posted by: Tim Lundeen | May 25, 2020 at 03:08 PM
Cia,
it is kind of strange that while some are still in strict lockdown, you write about doing all kinds of things other people in some states are still not allowed to do, while explaining that you believe "positives" should be isolated for months. I understand why you feel the need to do things, that your daughter feels imprisoned. You are taking risks ( some small manageable risks), because you feel freedom is worth it in your particular circumstances. Others may make the same choices.And others may feel the choices you are making are too risky, and continue to stay home, away from others. In the end we live in a free society, where forced isolation and home imprisonment needs extreme reasons for it to be acceptable.
Contact tracing, where people are expected to share their private medical information with non medical personnel who have only had a 6 hour training, and who may or may not understand HIPPA and confidentiality laws, is imo unlikely to be helpful. It is also very prone to abuse. If you dislike someone, then if you test positive, then all you have to say is that you had contact with them ( no proof being required here) and they will be told to quarantine for two weeks.And that is not counting scammers or people having "fun" pretending to be tracers and ringing up all kinds of people telling them to isolate for weeks. If someone really wanted to be cruel, just call every three weeks or so with another new "contact' needing isolation for another two weeks. And as far as I can tell, non one even has to tell you where you were when you met the supposed infectious person...
We could instead focus on those who need the most help.For example, the Navaho nation has 100,000 people with no running water. If we care about their lives, which I am pretty sure everyone here does, then providing the infrastructure for running water would save lives. We have the billions available for "contact tracing' but not for running water in the place where the most people are dying? And this is in America? As a nation, what are we thinking?
I do support anyone who wants to, wearing masks. I think it is a good idea for people who can comfortably do so.Some people can't wear masks for different reasons,and I can support their choice too. Staying home when you are sick is has always been a good idea to protect others, if you possibly can.This is just my opinion.
if we were seeing people here dying in the streets right now, ( as in the black death) or people dropping dead overnight in huge numbers,( Spanish flu) or 1 in every three people dying ( black death again) then different choices would need to be made. I am pretty sure with that level of death, you and your daughter would not be choosing to visit a friends house, for example.
The reality is that maybe some agendas would be best met by a semi permanent lock down,, so miserable that people will do almost anything in order for it to end.There may be some people who are focused only on forcing a vaccine world wide, and forcing vaccine mandates.
(Bill Gates has talked about a lock down for 18 months, so this length of mandated lock down is certainly on some people's minds..)
Some may not have not even realized that after 18 months,economic collapse may harm many many people, and we may start tipping into food shortages, or even famine.Starvation is also a nasty way to die.( And in fact, some of the deaths during the plague were from starvation; people were quarantined /locked in boarded up houses with no food til they died, if they could not bargain with someone to put food in a lowered down basket.)
We are already starting to see the very beginnings of food shortages.Right now, it is just silly, unimportant things that are missing. In 18 months, with no workers on the farms, with people quarantined away from supply chains, factories that produce food shut down, no one available to feed and care for animals, or harvest fruits and other crops, then who knows what will happen. Life is about balance. World wide food shortages may well kill far more than COVID ever could.
Posted by: Hera | May 25, 2020 at 02:35 PM
Posted by: Jane | May 25, 2020 at 11:47 AM
Posted by: Jane | May 25, 2020 at 11:44 AM
Posted by: Jane | May 25, 2020 at 02:41 AM
Cia
The death numbers for Covid-19 have been padded and exaggerated, because death certificates have listed Covid-19 as the cause of death when it was not the actual cause of death in many instances. Not saying that Covid-19 cannot or has not killed thousands of people, but it has not killed nearly 100,000 people.
I do not believe that wearing masks would have prevented almost every death, either. I believe that many of the deaths were caused by bad policies in some states like NJ, NY and PA, where infected Covid-19 patients were recklessly sent back to nursing homes to infect the vulnerable elderly population living there. That stupid policy mistake was responsible for killing between 1/3 and 1/2 of those who died from Covid-19 in the USA. The failure to treat some patients medically was the reason for the other deaths from Covid-19. When 90% of people on ventilators are dying on those ventilators, it is time to rethink what is being done to provide oxygen to the patients. Dr. Cameron Kyle-Siddel came forward and blew the whistle loudly, as he saw way too many patients dying from their high ventilator settings. He advised the use of high flow nasal cannula or CPAP machines instead of ventilators, and now, with less ventilators in use, we are seeing less deaths from Covid-19.
And don't get me started on the failure to permit hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin + zinc until a Covid-19 patient is hospitalized. That was a political move, and it cost many lives. Hydroxycloroquine is a zinc ionophore that allows zinc to enter the cells where it can prevent viral RNA replication. Now, blood thinners, and anti-inflammatory drugs are also being used to counter those additional, potentially deadly side effects some Covid-19 patients experience-- blood clots and out of control inflammation.
Once a person contracts Covid-19, they need oxygen intake. A mask, at least the ones available today, would prevent them from breathing in that necessary oxygen.
Well, that's my take on the reason for the deaths from Covid-19. Those issues above and the failure by mainstream medicine to discuss the benefits of taking lots of Vitamin C, D3 (which halves the death rate from Covid-19, allegedly), some Vitamin A, and other known natural antivirals and antiinflammatory supplements. But natural remedies don't rake in profits for Pharma, do they? Doctors aren't permitted to discuss those alternative remedies, either. That, to me, is the real tragedy. People who should and who can be helped are not being helped.
Posted by: Not an MD | May 25, 2020 at 12:15 AM
Nkannon,
My reply to you hasn’t been posted yet, but this site has a lot of evidence from tests that all kinds of masks work very well, and they keep out nearly all the droplet-borne as well as the aerosolized virus.
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/can-masks-capture-coronavirus/
Posted by: Cia | May 24, 2020 at 11:32 PM
Nhokannen,
N95 masks are the best for protecting the wearer, surgical masks for protecting those near the wearer. But even homemade masks are very effective, with woven cotton masks about 70% effective. All of them block the droplets the virus is usually transmitted in. What an odd phrase, moral superiority because you promote mask use. Like saying You think you’re so morally superior because you feed your child. You think you’re morally superior because you use seatbelts. The question is whether or not you take responsibility for saving the lives of those around you. There are other paradigms through which to see it. How about crime and punishment? In Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong, you can receive a five-year prison sentence for not wearing a mask in public. You spread your germs around, heedless of those you infect and kill, bang! Into the slammer! And those are the only countries which seem to have a hope of just eradicating the disease.
You think that since homemade cotton masks are “only” 70% effective at preventing Covid, that that completely invalidates their effectiveness? Again, how odd. Austria “only” reduced its Covid rates by 90% with its mask mandate? Well, there you go. Everyone knows that it has to be 100% to be of any value at all.
We went to my neighbor’s this afternoon to play Quirkle, her, her daughter, and us in masks. The daughter said she doesn’t think they should end the lockdown yet. I said I thought they should mandate masks and distancing and give it a shot. Set a figure for daily Covid hospitalizations. As long as they stayed below that, live relatively normally. As soon as they go above that, instant lockdown until they’re brought down again. Although I think in the long run it would be better to test everyone in the country in one week and instantly isolate all positives. Test everyone again, both for current disease and antibodies one month later to pick up outliers. Test everyone entering the country and isolate all positives. Government pays for testing, isolation expenses, and treatment when necessary.
Anyway, Susan said that just in the last two weeks, most people have stopped wearing masks. I said Really? At Schnucks, where we shop, all the staff and about 80% of customers wore masks. Susan listed three grocery stores she had recently shopped at where only about 30% wore masks now, a change for the worse just in the last two weeks.
We talked to Cecily’s job coach on Friday: she’s expecting a lot of new cases, maybe deaths, starting in June, and another wave this fall. They haven’t yet decided whether to have normal public school and university classes starting in August. If they insist on protective measures, especially masks, I’d say go for it (cautiously). If they don’t, they’re insane, and we’re in for a long pandemic. I just saw a photo of merry-makers at Lake of the Ozarks for Memorial Day weekend crowded together with no masks in a pool. I think we’d better go full Singapore sooner rather than later.
Posted by: Cia | May 24, 2020 at 10:33 PM
Not an MD,
The US is about to reach 100,000 deaths, and the world has had 350,009 deaths. Almost all of them could have been prevented if everyone around the victims as well as the people THEY caught it from, had worn masks. I think it’s better to look at what should be changed to prevent such deaths as those of the Chinese students. I’d suspend the requirement of P.E. for the duration. In July they are going to market a new type of mask made of a transparent material with little fans in the back. Very expensive, but there will soon be knock-offs. Or other masks could be designed if needed for strenuous physical activity, which provided filtered air flow. Actually that’s what the new mask design I mentioned is for. So there are two routes which still permit saving lives: cancel the requirement for strenuous physical activity or provide a mask designed to permit such activity comfortably.
I’d like to know if the boys were tested for Covid. There have been many cases of people active in public who have suddenly keeled over and died from sudden respiratory arrest caused by Covid.
But if you want me to say that 100,000 deaths are perfectly acceptable if their prevention requires mask use, that’s silly. They are not.
Will,
The thing is that the coronavirus genome has a strange artificial insertion which could not have been natural, but was designed to increase the transmissibility and pathogenicity of Covid, what the lab was receiving grants to do. I no longer think that it could have been natural.
Posted by: Cia | May 24, 2020 at 06:49 PM
Infectious disease experts don’t all agree about the ability of masks to contain aerosolized virus particles. Unless one is wearing an N95, one cannot confidently assume the moral high ground.
CIDRAP is the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota; its director is Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH. Over the years Dr. Osterholm has been nicknamed “Chicken Little” by some for ringing the pandemic alarm bell, but as a friend once told me, “it only takes one to be right.”
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/about-us/cidrap-staff/michael-t-osterholm-phd-mph
An April 9, 2020 CIDRAP article is headlined “Data do not back cloth masks to limit COVID-19, experts say.” One quote: “Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), who contributed to the paper along with Sundaresan Jayaraman, PhD, of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, said in his weekly CIDRAP podcast yesterday that, because aerosols likely play an important role in coronavirus transmission, cloth masks will do little, if anything, to limit spread of the disease.”
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/search/mask
Posted by: nhokkanen | May 24, 2020 at 06:43 PM
If you do not think the corona virus kills developmentally disabled including autism people read the Harbor Regional Center (Harbour regional centre for our British readers) website. Several clients were hospitalized and some died from Corona virus according to an April news letter. A store has every right to make you where a mask! As for the virus origin it may have been from a lab tech but that does not mean it is directly created by the lab as many people who worked at the lab in question also visited that seafood market in Wuhan.
Posted by: Will | May 24, 2020 at 03:21 PM
Not trying to fan the flames here, but what do you think of the deaths of three Chinese children, Cia? Their deaths were likely due to their inhalation of their own carbon dioxide during strenous running exercises, because they were compelled to wear facial masks, even though they were kept physically apart from each other. I am concerned about all the students who will be returning to school, eventually, who will collapse, or worse, during gym class. Exercising requires proper oxygen intake.
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-two-chinese-boys-die-face-masks-gym-class-20200507-ruyinz7czjbqde3tprx647q3dm-story.html
https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1005609/after-multiple-deaths%2C-officials-call-for-no-masks-in-gym-class?fbclid=IwAR2DbFG4AX33Iv-AGM6cP71mMDugoeWO80E6iVT496iSZWuVVrh5Pc60n34
Julie -- Thank you for your kind response. We've all replaced our morning coffee with black tea in our home. It is a nice change.
Posted by: Not an MD | May 24, 2020 at 03:08 PM
Sweden has had 4000 deaths from 10 million people. That's a lower rate than UK. Hardly millions dying.
In any case with Swedens approach to natural herd immunity, you'd expect a slightly elevated rate in the early stages of the pandemic. The time to judge Sweden is in 12 months from now, not today.
As a matter of interest, here in Scotland over 90% of people do not wear masks and the death rate is quite low and falling everyday.
Posted by: David | May 24, 2020 at 02:58 PM
Not wearing a mask doesn’t mean I am uncaring or that I lack common courtesy or respect. Your fear is your issue. How you chose to handle it is entirely up to you. I understand the risks that have been presented and have chosen to handle them differently. I'm thankful to still have the ability to make that choice and that you have that chance as well.
Posted by: Cathy Jameson | May 24, 2020 at 02:57 PM
Thank you, Ann!
I had read that the gain of function studies the US was paying the Wuhan lab to conduct were to work on genetic manipulation of the genome to increase both transmissibility of the virus and its pathogenicity. The nucleotide insertion of the sequence PRRA, with no relation whatsoever to the bat and pangolin genomes, but which had been successfully inserted into other viruses by biotechs, increased pathogenicity by giving the virus a furin cleavage site, enhancing its ability to enter and kill host cells. I hadn’t understood how they had increased transmissibility until yesterday. The improved coronavirus is designed to infect people and make them contagious, but remain asymptomatic for a much longer period of time than most viruses, in this case up to 24 days before developing symptoms. And some people never do, but, if they are not wearing masks, etc., spend several weeks infecting other people. And there are reports of some people being contagious for longer, testing positive again with fever after having apparently recovered and testing negative.
Ann, I also find it completely incomprehensible how so many could have persuaded themselves that protective measures are really tyrannical thought control. Their goal seems to be, like repentant Sweden, to go ahead and enable the painful death of millions confident that neither they nor their family members will be among the suffering, disabled, or dead. Their confidence is completely unfounded, and yes, how arrogant to be willing to toss OTHER lives into the garbage. Sweden is now a pariah, the laughing stock of the world, no tourism now, a major industry, and surrounding countries have shut down their borders with Sweden. It won’t be forever, but those responsible will one day be judged for heartlessly throwing away four thousand lives, per capita the highest in Europe. As will all of us when we are asked why we did not protect the lives of others as well as ourselves by wearing masks. Many may ask Am I my brother’s keeper? And what is the answer to that?
Posted by: Cia | May 24, 2020 at 01:39 PM
Thank you, Cia. People should be wearing masks. To complain that YOU know you aren't sick and should be allowed to choose not to wear a mask in a hospital! is arrogant and uncaring. I expect more from this publication and its editors. Very disappointed.
Posted by: Ann Carnley | May 24, 2020 at 12:39 PM
I am a scientist and of course, I know many other scientists. The majority of them are not wearing masks nor am I. Are we stupid? Some of the contributors here think so.
A "doctor" told me I should wear a mask says Cia.
You must understand that doctors are not scientists. They have useful clinincal knowledge but their understanding of virus science is quite poor. I might wear a mask if I was very ill to reduce (not prevent) the spread of infection in close quarters.
Please don't start condeming people on the basis of whether they wear a mask or not. If you are not well educated in this field, you don't know what you are talking about and you ar simply going by what you have been told by someone in whom you place your trust.
If all this fearful talk is true, the country of Sweden should be on its knees shortly. Let's see what happens to these brave, stupid or sensible people acting on the advice of their "doctors".
Posted by: David | May 24, 2020 at 12:02 PM
Not an MD,
As an avid black tea drinker I thank you for that lovely gift.
Posted by: Julie | May 24, 2020 at 12:01 PM
Thank you so much for sharing that song with us, Cathy! I had never heard it before. Those lyrics were just what I needed to hear this morning, sung so passionately. Music has the power to uplift us, and it is something that has been notoriously and chronically absent in the last decade and a half of my life. I really need to find a way to incorporate it into my daily living activities.
Here's my gift to the people who read these comments. Black tea. Just drink it! Here's why:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142193/pdf/neh081.pdf
xox
Posted by: Not an MD | May 24, 2020 at 09:57 AM
I shudder to think our "new normal" will just be accepted without any public organized resistance .. we will simply submit to each and every "new hoop" we will have to jump through for our entire day .. voluntarily submitting to a whole host of "hoops" .. such as .. having our temperatures taken three or four times a day .. wearing face masks when requested to do so .. social distancing ourselves to groups limited to ten or less people .. playgrounds for our children marked with circles for each child to play within .. class rooms with students in "plastic cubbies" .. no physical contact allowed .. shaking hands with a stranger or new acquaintance forbidden … on and on.
All to protect us from exposure to a virus … one of tens of thousands such viruses … which have been with us since the beginning of time … our miraculous inherited immune systems have always allowed us to live our lives without a NEW NORMAL existence.
Posted by: Bob Moffit | May 24, 2020 at 09:38 AM
I am teaching my daughter what is right, and what is right is to wear masks in public. I cut and pasted a quotation from a doctor yesterday on the “Liberty Angels” article, who said masks are essential. He said when he wears his N95 mask he is fearless about going into the room with an infected patient, even three inches from a TB patient. He said the mask is a barrier: he can’t catch their germs and they can’t catch his. He expressed disgust with those who attend rallies without wearing masks, saying with a super-transmissible virus like this, each infected person infecting six others, who then each infects an average of six others, it quickly infects those who are especially vulnerable, and many of them die. As a result of the chain of infection perking along through people not wearing masks. He said Why don’t they just go into a nursing home and stab 10% of the residents to death? It would be quicker and less painful than causing them the protracted, lonely, painful death of dying of Covid. Not something a moral person would do.
How can anyone be 100% sure he is not infected and is not carrying CV germs? It is circulating everywhere. It is USUAL for the people giving it to someone else to feel FINE, have NO symptoms. They are pre- or asymptomatic. Most of them will soon get symptoms of illness, but there are also many who transmit the virus to others but NEVER get any symptoms. You know, a subclinical case. Still contagious. And THAT’S why we’re still having twenty to thirty THOUSAND new cases a day diagnosed. We’re now down from two to three thousand deaths a day, but many are expecting cases and deaths to go up in June as a result of ending the lockdown in early May in many places. Do you think all or even most of these Covid patients caught it from someone with a high fever who coughed in their face? No. Most of them caught it from someone who mistakenly thought they were uninfected.
The solution which reduces transmission by at least 90% is to wear masks in public. I talked to a friend yesterday, a microbiologist. She said people looked at her as though she were crazy when she went out wearing a mask. I said I hadn’t noticed that at all. At the supermarket all of the staff and 80% of the customers now wore masks. I said last week I saw a young couple not wearing masks leaning over examining produce and they were not wearing masks. I was annoyed and thought They know we’re in a pandemic, and they just don’t care if they infect others with a potentially deadly disease. But most people were, including the two year old child I mentioned the other day, whose parents are teaching him the importance of protecting both others and himself.
We went to Best Buy last week, many measures in place, you had to have an appointment to get in through the guarded barrier in front, everyone in masks, both clients and staff, the girl who helped us said they were constantly sanitizing everything. She was hospitalized with pneumonia in March which may have been Covid, she turned 26 that month and discovered she no longer had health insurance through her parents’ plan. To look at my cell phone she backed far away while I approached the counter where I set it and then backed away to our chairs separated ten feet. We had two appointments, but we had to go wait in our car until the time of the second appointment, we weren’t allowed to wait in chairs in the Geek Squad area. I said I thought it was great that they were taking all these measures to protect both them and us. They’ve reopened, at least.
We would NEVER go into any business not wearing masks. I would feel guilty and upset for the rest of my life if I infected someone who was disabled or killed by the disease caught because I was an active part of the chain of transmission because I or my daughter was not wearing a mask. And it’s irresponsible to act as though, if you were not aware you were infectious, that absolves you from guilt when you infect others? Do you get a 100% reliable coronavirus test every morning before you go out? Then how can you be sure you do not have it?
Posted by: Cia | May 24, 2020 at 09:28 AM