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One nation under the CDC
Biden’s fight to save his mask mandate is all about power

April 21, 2022




CDC director Rochelle Walensky removes her face mask in order to spread her droplets to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

For a brief moment, America was the cheering mission control room in every action movie. You know the one: the flight controllers stand there nervously, waiting to hear from the wayward rocket. Then, suddenly, the radio crackles: “Houston,” says a voice, “this is Gemini One…we did it. A federal judge in Florida just struck down the mask mandate.”

And everyone goes wild.

From out of claustrophobic plane cabins and sterile airports this week came unlikely scenes of jubilation as passengers tore off their masks and breathed freely once again. Public transportation had become a kind of last holdout of the Karens; you could go to a jam-packed music festival mask-free but forget to re-cover your mouth while chewing your Amtrak-issued cheesesteak and you were liable to get chucked off of a moving train. Now, no more. Thanks to Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who voided the CDC’s mask requirement on mass transit, travelers can rip off their suffocating, reeking facial prophylactics for good.

Mizelle handed down her ruling on Monday, and instantly the Biden administration was put in a tough spot. As Politico summed it up on Tuesday, “The White House is still figuring out what to do next, weighing two very big factors: credibility and politics.” ...

Call it the politician’s dilemma: cheap political advantage versus protecting bureaucrats. Ultimately, Biden decided to punt to the CDC, which was as good as heading to court, since no government department ever willingly gives up its own power. Sure enough, the agency chose to appeal. ...

The funniest part about all this is the stated rationale behind it. “The CDC’s credibility,” Democrats solemnly warn, “is on the line.” But then since when has the CDC had any credibility left to lose? This is the same medical bureaucracy that told Americans for months to socially distance only to suddenly discover an exemption for BLM rioters. It’s the same bureaucracy that recommended cloth masks only to announce back in January that they weren’t very effective. It’s the same bureaucracy that said those who are vaccinated don’t need to wear masks only to discover that they do.

Even CNN’s Brian Stelter has said the agency is “a punchline,” and Brian Stelter travels with his own laugh track. I understand this is a novel coronavirus and experts are still scrambling to figure it out. But two years on, it’s hard to escape the impression that the CDC makes decisions chiefly by dropping watermelons off of a building onto a chalk-drawn target.

Note well what Judge Mizelle said in her ruling. She didn’t strike down mask mandates as unconstitutional. She didn’t gut the CDC. She didn’t find that masks were a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment (though some of us, the weary and glasses-befogged, wish she had). All she did was to notice that the CDC had claimed enormous emergency powers while failing to go through proper regulatory channels. The agency can now use those channels if it wishes. It can also call upon the powers of an ancient and mist-shrouded branch of government known as “Congress,” which can enact mask mandates on trains, planes, double-masted schooners, whatever it wants.

The problem is that the Biden administration knows even a friendly Congress isn’t going to do that in an election year. And that’s the cream in the coffee: it is the public, not Judge Mizelle, that has kneecapped the CDC. They aren’t listening to the agency and haven’t been for some time. Yet the Democrats also need the CDC right now more than ever, at least as a matter of principle. With Republicans likely to take control of the House and Senate and with GOP-appointed judges dominating the judiciary, the left is increasingly dependent on the unelected bureaucracy to advance its agenda.

Hence why Biden must now fight to preserve the CDC’s absolute supremacy. No word yet on which Federalist paper makes clear that Dr. Rochelle Walensky gets to run everything. But at least now they can see our faces as we glower in disapproval.

To propose that any government action be immune to judicial oversight – that is, immune to oversight by the formal guardians of the law – is to propose that the officials who perform that action are above the law. As Reason’sEric Boehm wrote in reaction to this authoritarian outburst by Fauci, “This is either a complete misunderstanding of the American system’s basic functions or an expression of disdain toward the rule of law.”

Arnie1974
@Arnie1974
·
Apr 24
Fauci Above the Law: Dr. Death Sets Up Defense Against Being Prosecuted

Dr. Robert Malone: "Tony is finally revealing he has gone full out with the case that the public health system is above the law. That's what he's saying. And I wonder whether this is a foreshadowing of his defense in the event that... Ron Johnson finds himself head of the Subcommittee on investigation because Tony Fauci has to be held accountable, and he's already kind of gaming the system by saying, 'Hey, I'm above the law.' That is quite literally what he is saying. He is saying not only is he above the law, so is the CDC and the entire HHS and public health infrastructure in the United States. This cannot be allowed to stand."

Mask Study Finds No Impact on Covid Infections From Mask-Wearing and an INCREASE in Deaths

on thursday afternoon, a mandate to bring back masks and mandatory hand sanitizing in all public spaces, indoor and out, emerged PR health secretary carlos lopez to whom authority to set covid regulations and intrude upon everyone’s lives and livelihoods has been delegated by the governor. ...

“turned the hornet’s nest upside down” is an apt choice of phrase.

from what i saw, it pretty much looked like this:

While no cause-effect conclusions could be inferred from this observational analysis, the lack of negative correlations between mask usage and COVID-19 cases and deaths suggest that the widespread use of masks at a time when an effective intervention was most needed, i.e., during the strong 2020-2021 autumn-winter peak, was not able to reduce COVID-19 transmission. Moreover, the moderate positive correlation between mask usage and deaths in Western Europe also suggests that the universal use of masks may have had harmful unintended consequences.

“your mask protects me” was a wonderful soundbite to shift responsibility for my superstitious anxiety to you. but it never had ANY basis in fact. ...

even as efficacy claims fell to pieces, the masqueraders fell back to this position:

“it’s really not a big deal. do it for me. even if it works a little or makes people feel better, where is the harm? why not try?”

but even this has fallen to pieces. masks wrecked schools and learning. they also impeded the social and verbal development of infants and toddlers. ...

what if masks really were making everyone quite a lot worse off and unable to concentrate because they were getting too much CO2?

because it’s sure starting to look like they did. frequent sounding board and gatopal™ andrew bostom (professor at brown university med school and a rare beacon of principled reason at the gato alma mater) explains here...

but like so many other things covid, all this past knowledge was not only ignored but inverted, especially with regard to children who have been subjected to masking rules no workplace would have been permitted to implement before 2020.

and based on this data, they really bore the brunt of it.




... interestingly, this CO2 study may provide the answer to another of the interesting issues of masking and infection: surgeons who wear them during surgery wind up with higher rates of post op infection in their patients.

Daniela Jampel
@daniela127

Yesterday my toddler threw up at school. I was there to pick her up and saw it happen. Because we have TheNYCScience™️, she was wearing a mask. Yes you read that correctly she THREW UP IN HER MASK.

I have a picture but it is actually too disgusting to share. You're welcome.
May 18, 2022

Masking was the single most common non-pharmaceutical intervention in the course of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Most countries have implemented recommendations or mandates regarding the use of masks in public spaces. The aim of this short study was to analyse the correlation between mask usage against morbidity and mortality rates in the 2020-2021 winter in Europe. Data from 35 European countries on morbidity, mortality, and mask usage during a six-month period were analysed and crossed. Mask usage was more homogeneous in Eastern Europe than in Western European countries. Spearman's correlation coefficients between mask usage and COVID-19 outcomes were either null or positive, depending on the subgroup of countries and type of outcome (cases or deaths). Positive correlations were stronger in Western than in Eastern European countries. These findings indicate that countries with high levels of mask compliance did not perform better than those with low mask usage.

A parallelization analysis based on county-level data showed that in Kansas, counties with mask mandate had significantly higher case fatality rates than counties without mask mandate, with a risk ratio of 1.85 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.51–2.10) for COVID-19-related deaths. Even after adjusting for the number of “protected persons,” that is, the number of persons who were not infected in the mask-mandated group compared to the no-mask group, the risk ratio remained significantly high at 1.52 (95% CI: 1.24–1.72). By analyzing the excess mortality in Kansas, this study determines that over 95% of this effect can solely be attributed to COVID-19.

These findings suggest that mask use might pose a yet unknown threat to the user instead of protecting them, making mask mandates a debatable epidemiologic intervention.

The cause of this trend is explained herein using the “Foegen effect” theory; that is, deep re-inhalation of hypercondensed droplets or pure virions caught in facemasks as droplets can worsen prognosis and might be linked to long-term effects of COVID-19 infection.

The Gray Lady (quietly) concedes that masks have zero impact on COVID
And if the NYTimes were a real newspaper, dedicated to the truth, and public good, it would be HEADLINING that "discovery," to get all those STILL wearing masks to TAKE THEM OFF!

Once upon a time, the DOJ, said it would appeal a judges ruling against mandatory mask wearing on airplanes if the CDC asked it to. Well, the CDC asked the DOJ to appeal and the DOJ said it would.

It seems that settled science (political science) has trumped this stance as it seems this case has been put to the wayside.

The DOJ is supposed to be apolitical. Just add this to the Department of Jokes memes.

They must've heard me bitching and filed. They still don't deserve a paycheck.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/justice-department-appeals-mask-mandate-ruling-but-here-s-why-it-won-t-matter-to-you-for-now/ar-AAXYKXy?li=BBnbklE

We still see the people wearing N-95s while walking in the park.
At this point I just kind of pity their mental disease.

“Our data indicate that children are at far greater risk of critical illness from influenza than from COVID-19.” Source (JAMA Network)

“Children and young people remain at low risk from COVID-19 mortality.” Source (OSF PrePrint)

“…children are not the main drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.” Source (CMAJ Group)

Children rarely transmit infection to others and more frequently have an asymptomatic or mild course compared to adults. Source (Journal of Medical Virology)

Asymptomatic spread in long-exposure, household settings was less than 1%. Source (JAMANetwork)

“…could not provide evidence for a relevant asymptomatic spread… in childcare facilities… in a low nor a high prevalence setting.” Source (MedRxIV)

“For adults living with children there is no evidence of an increased risk of severe COVID outcomes” Source (MedRxIV)

Increased household exposure to kids was associated w/ a smaller risk of testing positive or hospitalization w/ Covid Source (MedRxIV)

“…we did not note any association between mask use and risk…” Source (The Lancet)

“Evidence regarding the effectiveness of non-medical face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 is scarce.” Source (ECDC)

“…people must not touch their masks, must change their single-use masks frequently or wash them regularly…” Source (BMJ)

The effectiveness of high-grade masks for flue was linked to correct usage. Source (NIH)

Children have a lower tolerance to wearing masks and may fail to use them properly. Source (ECDC)

“…household use of face masks is associated with low adherence and is ineffective for controlling seasonal respiratory disease.” Source (EID)

“…it’s difficult for some autistic people to wear masks because of sensitivity issues,” Source (OAR)

Deaf and Disabled children can feel isolated from other children and adults who are wearing masks. Source (The Guardian)

“Extended mask-wearing by the general population could lead to relevant effects and consequences in many medical fields.” Source (MDPI)

“Psychosocial, biological, and immunological risks for children and pupils…” Source (BMJ)

School masks: face coverings could damage children’s speech development, warn scientists. Source (The Telegraph)

“…wearing masks throughout the day can hinder language and socio-emotional development, particularly for younger children.” Source (AAP)

A database tracking mask mandates has seen no clear benefit to masking children Source (Qualtrics Dashboard)

“…the data shows that districts’ face covering policies do not impact the spread of the virus,” Source (FL Education Board)

Delta does not seem to change the game No difference in risk of hospitalisation between Delta variant and Alpha Source (MedRxIV)

The viral dynamics of the Delta variant are similar to those of Alpha. Source (MedRxIV)

Studies in favor of school masking have been extremely flawed North Carolina study without a control group.Source (WSJ)

CDC (MMWR) studies have numerous flaws. Source (Thread)