Posted on 12/28/2020 4:21:51 AM PST by Kaslin
As you may have heard, we’ve sort of got a "casedemic" problem here in Tennessee. That means lots and lots (and lots) of people are testing positive for COVID-19. That’s about all we know for sure, of course. Nevertheless, hand-wringing from media, politicians, and local ‘health authorities’ is seemingly neverending, as are local reporters in my neck of the woods being filmed standing in front of that FEMA body truck they don’t bother to tell us has been sitting in front of the regional hospital, unused, SINCE MARCH. Hospitals aren’t overwhelmed by any measure, and even the death toll isn’t really all that impressive either considering that Tennessee is actually below the national average in deaths per million and most people who are dying are either already super old or super sick.
Indeed, while COVID does tragically hit some people hard, most ‘cases’ are quite mild and often non-symptomatic, driven by panic at every sniffle or people being forced to test for work and other reasons. And there is increasingly solid evidence that not everyone counted as a ‘COVID death’ is really a death caused by COVID, but rather someone who had a positive PCR test at some point in 2020 before dying. When you have a highly contagious respiratory virus going around, particularly one that is seasonal and seems to be boxing out the flu, an increasing percentage of those who die will likely have it. These ‘scary’ numbers lie at the root of the ongoing panic and give continued justification for our overlords to continue to exercise control over society.
Here in Tennessee, one of the few states without a statewide mask-mandate, much pressure has been placed upon Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to “do something.” Since lockdowns are thankfully for the most part out of the question here, the pressure has centered on establishing that mandate the mask-Karens have been longing for. Even former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a medical doctor, has gotten in on the action, begging Lee to pull the trigger in a Facebook post earlier this month that blamed rising case numbers not on the winter months when such viruses always tend to spread, but on supposedly unmasked rural counties.
But is Frist correct? Fortunately, like Florida, Tennessee is a great place to compare mask-mandated places with ones that aren’t and see if such governmental overreach really does contribute to slowing the spread of COVID-19. If they help, surely some evidence of that would be in the data, right? Since I’m a resident of the eastern part of the state, I decided to run the numbers myself. When I first started getting the data together, I didn’t know entirely what to expect. If there was a sharp difference showing masked counties doing better than unmasked ones, it would be a truth I would have to report, even if it went against my preconceived (in this case anti-mask) notions.
Then again, I figured if that were the case every news outlet in the country would be reporting it. After all, they make a national news story out of every cherry-picked “study,” like the one that came out of Kansas a few weeks ago, that purports to show masks working. The Tennessean even lamely tried to use positivity rates, which vary widely in urban vs rural settings often because rural areas test significantly less, to shame Lee into giving in. But if they had raw numbers showing masked areas doing significantly better, wouldn’t they be shouting those from the rooftops? Of course they would, which led me to believe the numbers I generated would be, shall we say, inconvenient for the chosen narrative on masks.
And boy was I correct. While we’re not allowed to insert tweets or images in op-eds, you can view my data here. Since COVID appears to be seasonal and often hits different parts of the nation at different times and Tennessee is a WIDE state, I stuck with only the east Tennessee area for this particular analysis. For simplicity, I also left out counties that chickened out and issued mask mandates in the middle of the time period. Then I ran the numbers for 17 contiguous counties for the period from October 1 to December 22. Nine did not have a mask-mandate in place, while eight did.
Over the allotted period, counties with mask mandates saw 4.7% of their population infected while those without them saw a 4.6% infection rate. Interestingly, Hawkins County, which let its mandate expire at the end of September, had 4.3% of its population infected, while Carter County had 5.1% infected with a mandate in place. Both have nearly identical populations.
Granted, there are other factors at play. There always are. Almost everyone got a spike in November, masked or not. That’s because this virus is seasonal, and there was no stopping it once it came. Some areas were hit harder in the spring and over the summer. Often urban areas like Knox County will actually tend to fight off bugs like this a little better because of other coronavirus antibodies developed through greater population density, and there’s sadly little stopping the virus, when it comes, from ripping through ‘virgin’ areas that have barely experienced it, rural or not. Although mask-wearing will generally be less in the non-mandated areas, some people shun wearing masks where they’re mandated and some people wear masks where they aren’t required to. But even with these other factors, if mask mandates worked as our overlords insist they do, does not logic demand that the raw numbers would show it at least a little? If this data were in the pro-maskers’ favor, wouldn’t it have already been on the front page of The New York Times?
When you combine this Tennessee data with Rational Ground’s data from Florida and masked vs unmasked states nationwide that I wrote about in last week’s column, the picture is increasingly clear. It’s time to face the fact that mask mandates DO NOT WORK to stop or even slow the spread of COVID-19.
Interesting data. The ability to move the goalposts are many. The fiscal, physical and psychological toll is not calculable.
Just 15 years to slow the spread. It’s all we ask.
“Just put your training burqa on, and shut up. Follow the SCIENCE!”
God bless the great state of Tennessee, my new home.
My county isn’t under a mask mandate and hasn’t been. Lots and lots of cases but most deaths were from a nursing home. A friend of ours tested positive after going to the doctor for a sinus infection. He works at Wal-Mart and while employees are required to wear them, customers are not. He feels fine but he carried it home to his wife. His wife tested positive and is in a local hospital in really bad shape.
I have been going to Knoxville to the doctor since they have been under a mask mandate. I don’t shop locally since they aren’t required here but I do curbside pickup so I can stay out of stores. I order everything I can online. I go to Knoxville for everything else. I guess I’m going to have to cut my own hair since our salons don’t require masks. Most customers in the Vet’s office don’t wear one while the Vets all do but they will come to your vehicle to get your pet so staying in the vehicle is an option there.
I know most people get over it just fine. I actually think I had it in March. I’m 66 with asthma and my husband is 82 with health issues so we aren’t taking a chance. I wear a mask in public every winter anyway so by staying home most of the time we aren’t wearing one that much.
Bkmrk.
.
The Great Mask Hoax.
A great many masks worn now are plain cloth. How effective are they at stopping the wearer’s moist, virus-laden breath from passing through to the environment?
A great many masks worn now are ill-fitting, with gaps at the nose and jaw, or worn under the nose, or removed when eating or drinking from a water bottle. How effective are they at stopping the wearer’s moist, virus-laden breath from passing to the environment?
A great many masks are touched frequently and mis-handled, left laying about wherever between uses, and tossed wherever as refuse. If coated with the wearer’s virus-laden breath particulates, doesn’t such behavior act to increase surface contact transmission?
Most cases are asymptomatic, I read.
The bottom line: My deplorable brain tells me herd immunity has mostly happened already.
Ping.
Wear your mask, get your $600 bucks, take the vaccination, sit down and shut up. It is called Political SCIENCE.
We are being re-programmed for the Great Reset. Months to break old habits/norms, months to establish new habits/norms.
Disconnect sheeple from one another by lock-downs (minimize chatter) and anonymize them with masks (makes snitching easier).
Then require Covid tracing apps (so you are tracked forever after).
Then require ImmuniPass cards to enter businesses, schools and events (to ensure you get your dose of whatever is in the vaccine).
This has been well planned by UN/WHO/CDC/Soros/Gates/China/communists.
Ping.
Follow the science...the REAL science!
“God bless the great state of Tennessee, my new home.”
Welcome!
We’re in Loudon County, just a smidge from whatever county Knoxville is in (Blount? Knox?).
People aren’t crazy when it comes to masks here; some wear and some don’t. Haven’t seen anyone confronted about not wearing one. Walmart people are about 50/50.
People aren’t nuts about masks here, but none of the vets will allow customers in the waiting room. You MUST wait in the car with the pet picked up, then delivered back to you. I suspect that WuFlu is just an excuse not to have to deal with people in person. They did allow us in when our cat was being euthanized. So if Covid were an actual “thing” to them that wouldn’t have been permitted, either. Of course, the cootie knows to back off when euthanasia is occurring. (Yes; it IS that smart, as it knows when 10 p.m. comes around in bars.)
Not sure about beauty salons as I haven’t been to one since May. I have a stash of wigs left over from cancer diagnosis.
We celebrated Christmas dinner with 13 unmasked people, some from NY, some from here in TN, and some from GA.
“We are being re-programmed .... Months to break old habits/norms, months to establish new habits/norms.”
Don’t forget separation from worshiping. And it seems that so many people are getting accustomed to that quickly, which I think is surprising.
I'm in my mid-70s. I should be dead by now, according to the CDC and the Blue State commies.
I have posted the information below on masks many times on FR but I will post it again since this thread is about whether wearing or not wearing masks affect the virus transfer. It does not here's some of the reasons why:
As a military hospital administrator in a former life, I was charged with purchasing face masks for the medical staff for years in several hospitals.
Doctors and nurses wear masks to stop the spread of germs and bacteria, living organisms that are large enough to be seen under a microscope. They wear them when dealing with infectious cases and surgical operations and only for short periods of time maximum and then they dispose of them and their latex gloves in a biohazard container. If they are needed to continue their work, they scrub up and put on new masks and gloves. They didn't wear them all of the time.
But the masks are not and never were intended to prevent the spread of viruses, which are inert (dead) particles that are submicroscopic in size, much smaller than bacterial germs. So small, they require an electron microscope to see them.
The masks that people wear for this corona virus are essentially worthless in stopping the passage of the virus. That's because the particles are so small that they can pass freely through the mask material. To stop the virus, the material in the mask would have to be woven so tight that most people would have trouble breathing if they wore them.
The CDC's own reporting reveals that 89% of all Covid-19 patients wore a mask all of the time or most of the time before being diagnosed. That means the masks are not protective against contracting the virus. Less people (11%) were diagnosed after not wearing the masks or wearing them very little, than those that wore them all or most of the time.
People have been convinced by so-called government medical "experts", that wearing the mask will protect them and others. Other people wear masks as a fashion statement but their utility is zero in stopping the virus. Many people wear masks to assuage their guilt for not following what the government tells them to do.
And yet the population as a whole has been wearing the masks for most of the year and lo and behold where do we find ourselves now? With a drastic increase in "new cases" and "deaths" (numbers that are suspect in their veracity—discussion for another day) according to so-called government experts, and yet the solution is to double down on wearing masks, social distancing and locking down in our homes, to keep it from getting worse. All the things that didn't work before, we are doing again. The virus is here to stay. It is not going to go away. Wearing masks will have no impact on this fact.
The biggest thing people can do to avoid contracting the virus is to wash their hands regularly and not touch their mouth, nose or eyes. But wearing a mask forces people to touch the mask and face all the time to adjust its position. Accomplishes the opposite from what people think the masks are for.
It's not that I think the corona virus is not real health danger or a risk. It can be for older people with multiple medical issues and weakened immune systems. But for the vast majority of people, this viral disease, Covid-19, is not deadly or even that uncomfortable. Most colds are more problematic.
With a survivability rate of 99.9% for those under 70 year of age, not wearing a mask doesn't present much of a risk. The rate is still good at 94.6% for those over age 70, the highest risk age group.
So wearing masks is not a real solution. It is just a visual symbol that you are part of a group who believe the government propaganda. Wear them if you want. Decide to not wear them if you are like me and know the facts that masks do not not stop the spread of this virus.
bttt
I’m sorry, did you read the article where the data showed no difference in masked vs non masked?
If you feel that staying home is best for you, go for it.
But please don’t conflate masks with safety.
Yes, I keep seeing that information. Fortunately my pulmonary specialist and my primary care don’t believe it. He told me not to be in public without one.
What kind of doctor are you BTW?
My granddaughter is a Physical Therapy Assistant in Chattanooga (Hamilton Co.) and she is required to wear one at work and so are the patients. Even though she's only 25 she also refuses to go where crowded where they aren't required. I agree that most healthy people don't need masks. General personal hygiene should be sufficient. If people would stay home when they are sick, that would help. I do believe that masks help even if they aren't perfect. You have to do all the other stuff too that any adult should already be doing. When I was sick in March it was pretty much awful. I didn't catch it in public. My daughter had it first and gave it to me. No test at the time so we don't know if it was COVID or not. After that I started taking more Vit.D, Vit.C, and Quercetin/Zinc. So far so good. The only place I get harassed about choosing to wear one is in here and other places online but that's OK. I'm a big girl and can take it. TN is mostly great about not trampling on our rights by letting the Counties make their own rules and the citizens make their own decisions. States and Counties that completely lock down are doing more harm than good. I do wish more people would wear one but no way I want them forced.
I was under the impression that it was a Walmart national policy to require masks in all their stores.
I know it was in Iowa this summer. And is also in Florida during Fall and Winter when I came down.
Neither Iowa nor Florida have mask mandates, so it isn’t that.
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