In Recommended Reading, it looks like we're ready to give up on the stupidest ideas of the pandemic. Even flight attendants are ready to ditch masks on airplanes. And the CDC is putting an end -- mostly -- to its guidelines for contact-tracing.
Covid-2019
Covid-2019
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Advice from FEMA on how to deal with nuclear fallout sounds awfully familiar: "Try to maintain a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who are not part of your household. If possible, wear a mask if you’re sheltering with people who are not a part of your household. Children under two years old, people who have trouble breathing, and those who are unable to remove masks on their own should not wear them." This is not a fake. The link is in Recommended Reading.
Covid-2019
Monday, February 28, 2022
We knew there had to be a way to link up Covid and Russia! We could just point out that Russia has been at or near the top of the wall of shame in new cases and deaths now. Or... in Recommended Reading, we could point to a theory that Covid is the long-lost ghost of the "Russian flu" of the 19th century. And then there's just our Meme of the Day that says it all...
Covid-2019
Sunday, February 27, 2022
What a great relief for the apologists at the New York Times. They gleefully proclaim "New Research Points to Wuhan Market as Pandemic Origin" and point to two self-published papers. No, there is no research. Just opinion based on old research. In a nutshell, the first cases broke out around the market, so the market must be to blame. Never mind that the Chinese CDC, where they were doing gain-of-function research on bat viruses, is just a block away from the market. Never mind that no infected animals have ever been found at the market. In fact, just never mind. Let's think about Russia and Ukraine. But if you insist, it's all in Recommended Reading.
Covid-2019
Saturday, February 26, 2022
"Take the win!" In Recommended Reading, an astonishing polling memo commissioned by the White House, with recommendations for Biden on where to go next with the Covid crisis. Not exactly following the science, except the science of polling. But there are some gems here: "Declare the crisis phase of COVID over and push for feeling and acting more normal." "Recognize that people are 'worn out' and feeling real harm from the yearslong restrictions and take their side." And "Don't set 'COVID zero' as the victory condition." About time!
Covid-2019
Friday, February 25, 2022
New evidence of a Chinese lab-leak points to a gene-sequence found in the Moderna vaccine. Weirder and weirder.
Covid-2019
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Trudeau ends his invocation of emergency powers to stop the protests against his lockdown policies. Now all he has to do it end the lockdown policies.
Covid-2019
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
The great walk-back of monolithic vaccine obsession begins. Bill Gates at the security conference in Munich -- "Sadly the virus itself - particularly the variant called Omicron - is a type of vaccine, creates both B cell and T cell immunity and it's done a better job of getting out to the world population than we have with vaccines." Sadly? That finally something has brought this crisis to an end? Meanwhile, the New York Times' most narrative-sensitive Covid reporter admits much the same thing in a different way -- she says if you've had a booster, at this point you'll never need another one. First time ever the Times has admitted that constant re-vaccination was anything but inevitable. It's all in "Recommended Reading."
Covid-2019
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
We know all you want to hear about is the Ukraine crisis. But this is the daily Covid report, so we will point out that whatever war may be brewing in Europe, the war on the coronavirus is winding down. In the UK, Prime Minister Johnson has announced the end to virtually all restrictions, even the requirement to self-isolate. Canada is the only place in the world doubling down on "the last war." We point to a Financial Times editorial -- as far from the right-wing as you can get -- criticizing fellow Commonwealth nation Canada for its "illiberal" approach to the trucker protests ("illiberal" is the word the elites reserve to criticize nations ruled by supposed populists, like Hungary).
Covid-2019
Monday, February 21, 2022
The New York Times' most establishment-friendly Covid reporter dances around it as best she can, but even she is scandalized that the CDC has deliberately withheld data unfavorable to the Master Narrative of vaccine effectiveness. This one is really worth it -- see "Recommended Reading" in today's report. Philosophical question: what is the optimal amount of public trust in institutions? Arguably there was too much in the pandemic. Considering how institutions are increasingly understood to have abused that trust, in the future will there be too little?