Free Republic

We just passed the fourth anniversary of “15 Days To Slow the Spread,” the start of the COVID lockdowns that did damage from which we still haven’t recovered. ... Anthony Fauci, Nancy Pelosi and Bill de Blasio were telling us not to worry, to take cruises and go visit Chinatown ... They reversed course like a week later. ... Neither the lockdowns nor the masking requirements did any good, though they caused a lot of trauma, inconvenience and colossal economic destruction. ... Then there were the deaths caused by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s program of moving still-contagious COVID patients into old-folks’...

New Report Details Horrifying Cost of Fauci’s FailuresIn the post-pandemic period of Covid, there’s now a concerted effort to comprehend and explain the damage that was caused by our capitulating to the hysterical overreaction and overreach of the ‘experts.’ There’s a long list of policy failures to examine; mask mandates were a disaster that accomplished absolute nothing of value, but instead led to tremendous harms, many of which continue today.Children were forced into masks for years on end, millions of people still wear masks when traveling or inside stores and restaurants, permanently convinced of the deliberate falsehood that masks are...

A federal court dismissed a case Tuesday against Republican Iowa Gov. Kimberly Reynolds’ prohibition of mask mandate in school districts across the state, official documents showed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit found “persuasive” the argument that “the general risks associated with COVID-19, even though COVID-19 remains an ever-present concern in society, are not enough to show ‘imminent and substantial’ harm,” court papers showed in part. The court also decided that “because Plaintiffs have only alleged the potential risk of severe illness should they contract COVID-19 at school, the risk of harm is too speculative to satisfy...

Hospitals across the U.S. are reinstating COVID-19 mask mandates as the JN.1 variant becomes the dominant strain spreading throughout the country. Hospitals in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Washington D.C. have all brought back divisive rules meaning masks are mandatory for selected people in medical settings. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control has recorded a 10.4 percent increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations across America in the week leading up to December 16. There has been an increase of 3.4 percent in deaths related to coronavirus in the same period. Newsweek has contacted the CDC for comment via email. Mask...

VIDEOWe now know that not only did masks FAIL to stop the spread of Covid but they also are harmful to those wearing them. So what was the REAL reason for the mask mandates? Control. The people on San Marcos were ordered to wear their underwear on the outside for the purpose of government control and most of the rest of the world was mandated to wear masks for the same reason. Control. Oh, and also for Virtue Signaling. We can't forget that.

Public health agencies that spent the past three-and-a-half years promoting their preferred COVID-19 interventions as "The Science," above the realm of policy tradeoffs, are finally facing sustained skepticism from top American research journals as well as the public. The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which is widely cited but not externally peer-reviewed, serially exaggerated the evidence for mask-wearing among 77 such outside studies it published, according to an independent review by epidemiologists at the University of California San Francisco, the system's health sciences campus. None of the 77 was randomized, the strongest form of evidence, and just one study...

While a new subvariant is causing increasing hospitalizations across the country and we await the updated Covid-19 vaccines, now may be a good time to put your mask back on, doctors say. Especially in certain settings like on plane rides and trips on the subway. The percentage of people who said they wore a mask outside of their home in the U.S. decreased from about 57% in January 2022 to around 27% in January of 2023, according to data compiled by the Covid States Project.

Join Reason on YouTube and Facebook at 1 p.m. Eastern this Thursday for a discussion with Aaron Kheriaty, author of The New Abnormal about the persistent COVID mandates for K-12 schools, college campuses and health care settings.It's back-to-school season, and for some parts of the country, that means dealing with COVID restrictions again. Americans are no longer experiencing indefinite school closures or ubiquitous masking, but intermittent school closures, temporary mask mandates, and COVID vaccine requirements persist. Will it ever end? Or are we in "the new abnormal?" That's what Aaron Kheriaty, a psychiatrist and fellow and director of the Program...

Esparto High School near Sacramento confirmed it canceled a game after it said six players tested positive for COVID-19. Two California high schools have confirmed that they canceled football games because of COVID-19 cases among students. Esparto High School near Sacramento confirmed that it canceled a game after it stated that six players tested positive for COVID-19. It also stated that multiple players were also injured and that it didn't have enough players for a game. This comes as there have been concerns that virus-related rules might be reimplemented in the coming months. ... Hundreds of miles away, a high...

The Atlanta college that reinstated its mask mandate in August confirmed that it has ended the rule after two weeks. Morris Brown College, described as a historically black liberal arts college, stated in mid-August that it would reimpose mask mandates amid what it said was a rise in COVID-19 cases on campuses near where it’s located. That rule was scheduled to end on Sept. 3. In a statement to Newsweek, college President Kevin James confirmed that the rule had ended. However, the school will still “have several safety protocols in place,” he said. Parties and large events will still be...

Anthony Fauci has sparked a backlash from politicians and commentators after saying that wearing face masks protects individuals from spreading coronavirus, but that there was inconclusive evidence to suggest it prevented a pandemic spiraling at a whole population level. The former chief medical adviser to the president, who was regularly the face of the government's response to the pandemic, told CNN on Saturday that "an individual protecting themselves or protecting them from spreading it, there is no doubt that masks work," amid a spike in infections of the virus and speculation that fresh COVID restrictions could be on the horizon....

VIDEORemember how INSANE liberals went over enforcing mask mandates Unfortunately for them recent rigorous scientific studies on the efficacy of masks show they have ZERO effect on stopping the transmission of COVID. And that includes the much vaunted N-95 masks. No surprise because attempting to stop the flow of a virus with a mask is like aiming a water hose at a chain link fence and expecting it to prevent water from getting through. Here are a few examples of just how CRAZY liberals went in their hysteria over enforcing the mask mandates that had NO effect on stopping the...

the incredible dumbing down of the American public ... Masks ... Nothing sums up the dumbing down of America better than the image of a person driving alone in his car, all masked up. Vaccines.. The COVID vaccines were — and remain — experimental. First we were told that if you take the vax, you can't get COVID. That was wrong. Then we were told that if you take the vax and a booster, you can't get or transmit COVID. That was wrong. Then we were told that if you get double-boosted, you'll be protected from all future variants. That...

A study published in April found disposable masks can have toxic chemicals. Experts said this could make newly instated mask mandates ineffective. Mask mania sweeps America...AGAIN. The surgical N95 mask has been held up as the gold standard when it comes to protecting against Covid. But a study quietly re-shared by the National Institutes of Health in spring suggests the tight-fitting mask may expose users to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. Researchers from Jeonbuk National University in South Korea looked at two types of disposable medical-grade masks, as well as several reusable cotton masks. The study found that the chemicals...

Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, California, on Aug. 24 reversed a recent policy that would require masks in its facility after it reinstated the mandate days before. A Hollywood studio also said it would do away with its mandate. Officials for the hospital system told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that the mask policy applies only to staff, not patients. It said that it is “strongly encouraging masks for patients, members, and visitors in the hospital and medical offices in the Santa Rosa Service Area in response to this latest increase in COVID-19 cases.” “Our intent was to communicate that...

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo harshly criticized COVID-19 mask mandates and lockdowns, and urged people to consider "refusing to participate." "What do you call re-imposing mask policies that have been proven ineffective or restarting lockdowns that are known to cause harm? You don't call it sanity," Dr. Ladapo posted last week on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "These terrible policies only work with your cooperation. How about refusing to participate…" Some schools and companies are implementing mask mandates amid a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, even though some peer-reviewed research has suggested that face coverings may cause...

First things first: if you want to wear a mask, go ahead. Nobody is stopping you. If you believe they work, have at it.Obviously, people who wear masks think they provide protection from infection. And it is hard to imagine that anybody wearing masks to protect against COVID in 2023 isn’t vaxxed to the max. A new booster is coming out soon, too.You have your COVID armor, right?So why the push to reinstate mask mandates?It literally makes no sense if you believe that masks and vaccines work. And if you don’t believe they work, why push a mask mandate at...

A summer surge of COVID-19 has some wondering aloud if we should return to mask mandates. For now, the official line, despite the media effort to rekindle coronavirus hysteria, is that it’s unlikely. But we heard that before, in 2020, right before public health officials dropped their mask tyranny on us. If they do it again, we have an obligation to say no. Are we calling for civil disobedience? Are we suggesting that Americans resist orders that are not laws but are instead decrees issued by despots? Absolutely, and without reservation. Masks are dehumanizing. When we cover our faces, we...

Major Hollywood studio Lionsgate has brought back mask mandates to nearly half its employees amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. Sommer McElroy, response manager for Lionsgate/Starz, announced the new policy in an internal memo obtained by Deadline after several employees tested positive. “Employees must wear a medical grade face covering (surgical mask, KN95 or N95) when indoors except when alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their desk or workstation, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace,” he wrote, according to the outlet. The mandate will be in...

There are reports circulating that colleges and offices are beginning to reinstate COVID mask mandates and contact tracing despite no new cases of the virus being reported.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday that Morris Brown College, a black private liberal arts college has reinstated the measures as part of a “precautionary step.” The report notes that students and staff will all be asked to mask up while on campus, only one week after classes began.A communication issued by the college claims there have been “reports of positive cases among students in the Atlanta University Center,” a consortium of black colleges and...