oh dear lord, just beginning, extra sad, nz stats
https://rumble.com/v3aaa9x-nzs-offic...h-numbers.html
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Xn7SeaUVI
The above report is controversial and Dr. Jefferson eschews any political stance. He claims that he is a scientist and that's the end of the story. It runs contrary to what common sense tells me. If masks are worthless then surgeons should stop wearing them in surgery. I wonder how many people are good with that?
Last edited by Chuckie, 9th September 2023 at 13:57.
“I am a social justice...advocate and I say, "Stop the Hate!"
Aianawa (10th September 2023)
Fact check: Were mask mandates really a ‘bust?’ UNC expert points out problems with study behind controversial NY Times column
Were mask mandates really a ‘bust?’ UNC expert speaks on study behind NY Times column
Fact check: Were mask mandates really a ‘bust?’ UNC expert points out problems with study behind controversial NY Times column
by: Joedy McCreary
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — It’s been nearly two full years since North Carolina had a COVID-19 mask mandate.
Since then, one question has lingered: Did it work?
A total of 39 states, including North Carolina, put mask mandates of some type into place early in the pandemic.
In a column that drew plenty of outcry this week on social media, an opinion writer at one of the nation’s largest newspapers of record argues they didn’t work, and points to new scientific research into masking as proof of that.
But an authority on masks from the University of North Carolina’s medical school says that not only does the study lacks context, the columnist is reading it the wrong way.
THE CLAIM: An opinion piece in The New York Times headlined “The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?” argues that mask mandates were “a bust” and “a fool’s errand from the start,” and calls the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s adherence to masking recommendations “mindless.”
THE FACTS: Dr. Emily Sickbert-Bennett, who has conducted extensive research on masks and their effectiveness, said she was “surprised to see such a strong statement … considering how strong I think the data are in many ways.”
Columnist Bret Stephens bases his argument on a study with a conclusion that seems to undermine his position.
He quotes author Tom Jefferson, an Oxford epidemiologist, as telling journalist Maryanne Demasi that “there is just no evidence that they (masks) make any difference.”
Demasi’s earlier work included an accusation that the Food and Drug Administration is misleading doctors about COVID vaccines, and an interview with a doctor who is calling for the vaccines to be suspended.
And there are plenty of issues with the study Stephens cited.
Even the first sentence of its conclusion seems to serve as a warning to readers, pointing out several factors that it says “hampers drawing firm conclusions.”
Published last month by UK-based nonprofit Cochrane, it looks at multiple studies of several groups of people across different time frames in what’s called a meta-analysis — or, a “study of many studies,” Sickbert-Bennett said.
But that creates some apples-to-oranges comparisons. For example, it combines trials where masks or respirators were worn some of the time with those when they were worn all the time.
And Sickbert-Bennett, the director of infection prevention at the UNC School of Medicine, pointed out another comparison that doesn’t square.
The authors specifically say it doesn’t apply to healthcare settings — such as crowded hospitals where sick patients could be breathing out viral particles, making transmission much riskier.
In fact, the largest study of the project — and the only one conducted during the COVID pandemic — showed what Sickbert-Bennett called a “clinically meaningful and statistical improvement:” A 13 percent relative reduction that increased to 35 percent when looking at the highest-risk population of those 60 and older.
“We don’t really want to take one summary of summaries across multiple time points without really understanding the context of it all,” Sickbert-Bennett said.
Another problem: Most of those trials only looked at part of the issue — whether the mask-wearer was protected.
But it didn’t address the other half — whether masks kept an infected person from infecting others. That was part of the allure of the masking movement: Your mask protects me, my mask protects you.
Also, COVID-19 makes up only a fraction of the viruses involved in the studies. Others include the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009, non-epidemic flu seasons and epidemic flu seasons up to 2016.
That means most of those don’t take into account what makes COVID unique — namely, that it’s twice as infectious as the flu, and masking wasn’t nearly as widespread in a pre-COVID world.
“It wasn’t that important of a strategy when we were just seeing these more localized influenza outbreaks,” Sickbert-Bennett said.
There’s also a difference between arguing that masks didn’t work and that mask mandates didn’t work.
“They work when people choose to wear them at times when they have exposure, and so compliance matters a lot,” Sickbert-Bennett said. “And the actual circumstances of when they’re wearing it matters. And whether mask mandates are effective at getting compliance, and whether mask mandates are issued at the times when … the exposure is happening the most is kind of another circumstantial piece to consider with masking mandates.”
CBS 17’s Joedy McCreary has been tracking COVID-19 figures since March 2020, compiling data from federal, state, and local sources to deliver a clear snapshot of what the coronavirus situation looks like now and what it could look like in the future.
Aianawa (10th September 2023)
And did you know that none of that is true, and only intended to rile up the anti-vaxxers?Originally posted by Aianawa
= DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR =
Aianawa (19th September 2023)
In 2020, the United States achieved a record low infant mortality rate: 541.9 infant deaths per 100,000 live births. At the same time, the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rate increased 15% from 2019 to 2020, moving up to the 3rd leading cause of infant death. The study “Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths: 2015–2020,” which is published in the April 2023 issue of Pediatrics (published online March 13), acknowledges the uncertainty around the SIDS rate bump. Potential reasons may be related to the COVID-19 pandemic or changing death certification practices. Exploring why SIDS rates increased is important, but due to variability in reporting practices, rates must be explored in conjunction with other sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID). When researchers examined SUID as a group, the authors concluded that the 2020 increased SIDS rate was likely explained by diagnostic shifting -- the SIDS rate increased, but the overall SUID rate did not. Researchers say increased rates of SUID from 2019 to 2020 among non-Hispanic Black infants, but not for other single race or Hispanic infant groups, was unexpected. The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected communities of color compared to non-Hispanic white families through exacerbation of crowded housing, food insecurity, unemployment, limited healthcare access, altered childcare, and social or emotional health stressors. Factors compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and related stay-at-home orders (e.g., access to health care, changes to or loss of childcare, parental/caregiver financial and emotional stressors, and increased parental or caregiver substance use) may have also influenced the increased SUID rate among non-Hispanic Black infants in 2020. These factors affect family...
Aianawa (19th September 2023)
Chuckie (25th September 2023)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KTMAvKvyVeE
Just for F's sake, well now known, most will not want to know, some will ignore, all will get angry
Chuckie (Yesterday)
Thanks Aianawa, I just spent an hour looking at shorts...
Aianawa (Today)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks