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’...

So, what the hell did we go through all of this for? I expected another wave of either anger or hilarity regarding the new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued earlier this month about COVID: we can pretty much treat this viral infection like the flu. Remember, it was not long ago that even uttering such a thing could land you in social media jail or be branded a science denier. The footnote for the COVID pandemic will be that the people were right, and the experts were wrong. Masking is grossly ineffective. The vaccine is...

The new year is kicking off with a spike in respiratory illnesses across the U.S., including COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus. Considering all the circulating illnesses right now, it might be time for masking to make a comeback, experts say. "We're certainly in the winter peak of respiratory viruses," Dr. Albert Ko, professor of epidemiology and medicine at the Yale School of Public Health, tells TODAY.com. A post-holiday COVID spike alongside upticks of the usual winter illnesses, like flu and RSV, make this surge "very much expected," he adds. Amid this rise in the spread of illnesses, mask mandates...

Washington Post crybaby and COVID advocate Taylor Lorenz is skipping her fourth Christmas because of "selfish people" who refuse to wear masks against a non-life threatening virus. Lorenz has labeled herself "disabled" due to an "illness" that puts her at a higher risk of contracting COVID. However, I think her "illness" is more along the lines of a radical Leftist disease that clouds her common sense abilities. She also claims she has "PTSD" from online "harassment." "Literally, what is the plan for high-risk/medically vulnerable and disabled people? Just let us die while the world marches on??" Lorenz wrote in an...

Here’s a guide for everything you need to know about COVID-19 — from variant- and case-tracking to the most up-to-date public health recommendations. Variants What COVID variant is dominant right now? HV.1 now accounts for nearly a third of cases nationwide — more than any other variant in the U.S. A member of the Omicron family of COVID variants, HV.1 was first detected over the summer and appears to share many of the symptoms we’ve come to know from other variants, including fever, cough, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. EG.5, nicknamed Eris, has...

Masking is now required for staff in long term care homes across Ontario amid a recent rise in COVID-19 outbreaks, cases and resident hospitalizations, the provincial government says. A Nov. 2 memo from the Ministry of Long-Term Care to LTC licensees says the requirement is based on advice from Dr. Kieran Moore, chief medical officer of health. Homes were expected to implement the requirement no later than Nov. 7, it says. The masking requirement also applies to students, support workers and volunteers when they are in resident areas indoors. The ministry further strongly recommends that visitors and caregivers wear a...

More whistleblowers have stepped forward to tell Congress that high-ranking FBI officials are targeting agents, specifically former military members, for their political beliefs and trying to force them out of the bureau. A Marine and other military veterans at the FBI have been accused of disloyalty to the U.S. because they fit the profile of a supporter of former President Donald Trump, according to two disclosures sent to lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee. The Washington Times obtained copies of the disclosures. The whistleblowers said Jeffrey Veltri, deputy assistant director of the bureau’s security division, and Dena Perkins, assistant section...

As you put away those zombie masks and Halloween decorations, it might be a good time to pull out that box of surgical or KN95 face masks again as respiratory virus season gets underway, especially if you are headed to the doctor’s office soon. In Santa Clara County, everyone — patients, caregivers and healthcare providers — will be required to wear face masks in public patient care areas in hospitals, clinics, and long term care facilities for the “winter respiratory virus period,” starting Nov. 1 and lasting five months through the end of March. Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and...

When the COVID-19 pandemic took off in 2020, so too did questions over the effectiveness of wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of the virus. Now, three and a half years later, what does the science say? In an interview for 60 Minutes, CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook posed that question to Linsey Marr, a Virginia Tech University professor specializing in aerosol science. "They are very helpful in reducing the chances that the person will get COVID because it's reducing the amount of virus that you would inhale from the air around you," Marr said...

President Joe Biden presents retired Army Capt. Larry Taylor with the Medal of Honor. September 5, 2023 A long overdue ceremony was held yesterday for retired Army Captain Larry Taylor, a Vietnam war veteran who earned the Medal of Honor. He received his award yesterday from President Joe Biden, but as with most normal functions of the White House during this presidency, the event didn’t go off without a few hitches and controversies. The first of these was the fact that First Lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID yesterday for the third time, despite having received all of...

President Joe Biden is masking up in indoor areas yet again following first lady Jill Biden testing positive for the coronavirus for the second time, despite being double vaccinated and twice boosted. “President Biden tested negative last night for COVID-19 and tested negative again today,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday following Jill Biden testing positive for the virus on Monday.

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...

Nearly one year after President Joe Biden declared the pandemic over, some colleges and work places have reinstituted mask mandates amid reports that the administration is set to roll out new COVID regulations as early as next month. The COVID sub-variant, currently known as Eris, which has been seen in more than 50 countries including Denmark and Israel, has spurred increasing numbers of medical professionals and health activists to begin calling for a reinstatement of COVID-era restrictions, including forced face coverings. However, the public can expect any new regulations to be met by congressional pushback. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) told...

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...

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...

The Biden regime is preparing to reinstate full COVID-19 lockdowns, beginning with masking mandates for TSA and airport employees reportedly as early as mid-September, Infowars first to report. A high-level TSA official reached out to Infowars, detailing a Tuesday meeting where TSA managers were informed of new memorandums and policies that would reimplement mask-wearing. These policies will reinstate the mask mandate for TSA and airport employees starting in mid-September. According to the TSA official, further details on how the policy will escalate will be provided next week. The official added that by mid-October, mask-wearing will be mandated for pilots, flight...

Dear Patient: You may have seen that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ends on May 11, 2023. This means that many hospital policies made during the pandemic are changing. This message explains the changes happening across all Mass General Brigham facilities. Masking Masks have been important during the pandemic. At this point in time, however, universal masking is no longer needed. This is due to many factors, including the availability of vaccines and treatments. With the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, Mass General Brigham will end universal masking at all our hospitals, clinics, and other facilities starting on...

Senators introduce bill to create digital identity for all Americans.. U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema, an independent of Arizona, and Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, have introduced Senate Bill 884, also known as “the Improving Digital Identity Act of 2023.” The bill was introduced March 21 and ordered to proceed out of committee on March 29 without amendments and with a favorable recommendation. ... The bill’s text states: “The lack of an easy, affordable, reliable, and secure way for organizations, businesses, and government agencies to identify whether an individual is who they claim to be online creates an attack vector that...

Calvary Chapel in San Jose, Calif., is a large evangelical church that defied state and local orders to mask up during services and maintain “social distancing.” Of course, we now know that mask-wearing was about as effective against spreading COVID-19 as wearing a necklace of newt entrails and “social distancing” was a bad joke. But it’s not the science. It’s that the church defied authorities. So now Calvary must pay the state of California $1.2 million in fines because they got bureaucrats mad at them. So there. Is there anyone who doesn’t think $1.2 million for not wearing masks is...

Zeynep Tufekci and Jeremy Howard played a decisive role in shifting CDC guidance and ushering in mask mandates across America. Zeynep’s role in the COVID story goes far deeper than most realize. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeynep_Tufekci But alas, the pro-mask establishment responded with a trump card of their own: a New York Times op-ed by sociologist Zeynep Tufekci, Here’s Why the Science Is Clear That Masks Work, highlighting a statement of clarification from Cochrane’s editor-in-chief, Karla Soares-Weiser, that the review’s conclusion had been “open to misinterpretation, for which we apologize.” This new trump card was a disaster for mask opponents—the proverbial queen of...