1/
More than a year into the pandemic, we can start to evaluate the overall efficacy of our COVID responses. The U.S. provides a unique opportunity to evaluate different policy responses.

TL DR: Heavy-handed approaches don't look good.

Source data: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
2/
The graphic below ranks states by their overall COVID policy score: This score takes into account COVID deaths/million, access to education, and increased unemployment ABOVE Feb 2020. All numbers are over the course of the entire year.

Source data: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
3/
In order not to overly penalize or reward “outliers,” the score is based on rank relative to other states. Raw data is linked below, to create your own scorecard.

No matter how you slice it, doesn't look good for heavy-handed approaches

Source:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
4/
If we take masking and mask compliance as being emblematic of heavy-handed approaches, we can see that there is a strong correlation between high levels of masking, and poor results.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
5/
Looking at masking relative to individual measures, the same is true. It is not associated with lower levels of deaths—but is tightly linked with extremely low access to in-person learning, and high unemployment.

6/
The inefficacy of masks and other “non-pharmaceutical interventions” has been excused, because they are ostensibly no-cost interventions. Indeed, the opposite appears to be true.

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26…
7/
The last year has been a global experiment in the efficacy of these “non-pharmaceutical interventions.”To gain from the experiment, we must look at results. Unfortunately, the results appear to be so bad, that there is virtually a moratorium on even asking the question.
8/
That this was the “pandemic of the century” has been repeatedly invoked. This is simply not true. Based on the CDC’s current disease burden estimate, the U.S. IFR is around 0.48%. This is with MANY deaths that were with COVID, not from--ultimately, it will likely be lower.
9/
In a late March NEJM article, Dr. Fauci mentions that in a worst case scenario, this might be like the 1957 of 1967 flus—with an IFR of 0.5%. We are lower than that, and possibly considerably lower.

nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
documentcloud.org/documents/2079…
10/
However, had we had the same age structure we had now, as in ’57 and ’68, the IFR would have been far worse for those flus. What’s even worse though, is our NPIs, appear to have driven the virus to the most vulnerable—increasing mortality.

11/
Nor was this unexpected, in fact, it is why these kinds of interventions WERE NOT recommended.

As with everything, these were things we knew, things that informed our policies, and which were jettisoned.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
12/
What’s more, this is not NEW information. This was known as early as May of 2020, based on the early seroprevalence work in NY. There, the IFR was 0.5%, and vanishingly small for those without co-morbidites. And there were MANY, MANY mistakes made.

thepragmatist.co/post/nearly-60…
13/
But rather than learning from these mistakes, understanding the magnitude of the mistakes, the scientific community, running interference for politicians, is trying to memory-hole all of this data, and everything we knew before 2020. This can’t happen
1/a (Correction)

Typo on the original graph--This is indeed, March 2020 - May 2021.

Continue to the rest of the thread by clicking the post below.

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More from @EmilyVBurns

Mar 11, 2023
The suicide of the elites.

This was an invited guest, yet Stanford DEI admin ginned up so much fury about his visit that she closed her PREPARED & PRACTICED remarks with “I don’t look out & say, ‘what is going on here?’ I look out & say ‘I’m glad this is going on here.’”

/1
2/
By ginning up this fury, she ensured these students would not join w/an open mind. She robbed them of the oppty to hear an opposing argument articulately stated. Was that the plan? That if exposed w/o being prejudiced these LAW students might find the rationale compelling?
3/
Stanford and other institutions are of course free to mold their students in this manner. It will backfire. This kind of behavior is toxic for workplaces, and the only reason people esteem places like Stanford is b/c you get better jobs w/more certainty.

Unless…
Read 6 tweets
Oct 21, 2022
1/ RT 🙏

Join me at my (new) home in Austin, TX for a fundraiser to support @Rstorechildhood. Their mission is to make sure what happened over the past 2+ years NEVER happens again ➡️ documentation, advocacy and research. Want to meet #TeamReality? Come!
donorbox.org/events/372292 Image
2/
There are a bunch of #TeamReality rockstars on the joining us. I'll add as I find out and confirm, but for now, I think known are: @scottyd121 @vlal42 @AppletoZucchini @DanaMarie262 @TeachLiberty1 m/b @contrarian4data. We'll get more--especially if YOU come!
3/
This group is GOOD. They have done incredible work documenting the harms of pandemic policies. For a taste, check out here. youtube.com/restorechildho…
Read 5 tweets
Oct 18, 2022
1/
Chickenpox vax doesn’t stop infection, DOES mostly prevent disease. You need a booster (after ~4 yrs). Developed 1974 ➡️ on US vax schedule in '96.

COVID vaxes don’t stop infection OR DISEASE. Boosters ~4mos. Developed in 2021--ACIP voting tomorrow (2022) to add to sched.
2/
Would you get the chickenpox vax if you still got chicken pox--seemingly more frequently than people who didn't? Probably not.

Even as it is, the chickenpox vax isn't recommended in the UK. Because it doesn't stop infection, and chickenpox not a bad disease for most. Image
3/
Yet ACIP is voting tomorrow to add this to the US kids' vax schedule, despite being disallowed for administration in children in many European countries. The safety signal is atrocious. The benefits--especially for children--non-existent.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 26, 2022
1/
I see a lot of stuff now about whether fascism is left or right. It doesn't really matter.

Totalitarian mechanics are always the same--terror, isolation, atomization--they just have different motivating ideologies. The results are the same, whether Bolshevik, Nazi, Maoist.
2/
We fail to recognize this new threat as totalitarian, because it lacks the charismatic leader that we are used to--no hitler, no mao.

But the totalizing nature of the ideology, the inversion of reality to suit the ideology and so many more are unquestionable hallmarks.
3/
I can't recommend strongly enough Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism". It's dense, but you will find so much of what she describes (the last third is most pertinent), describes what we are experiencing--just without the leader.
Read 4 tweets
Aug 11, 2022
1/
The authors of this newest mask study acknowledge that masked districts exempted masked close contacts (all) from testing, but still claim it is legitimate. Let’s explore.

2/
But as usual, the opposite is true. We looked at data from more than 20 million kids, and found that masked districts missed 3x more days of school last year, than mask-optional.

emilyburns.substack.com/p/no-masks-don…
3/
Let’s see how big a difference it makes that the masked districts DON'T test masked contacts.

In this CDC study, all were masked, yet each child infected 0.66, each teacher 3 additional people. ALL would be EXCLUDED from testing in this study.

cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…
Read 10 tweets
Feb 14, 2022
1/
Effective immediately, I am withdrawing my candidacy. In search of normal, will be relocating to Austin, TX. This move is 100% due to the policies of the last 2 yrs.

We have no faith in the political and cultural leadership of this state.
emilyburns.vote/post/fighting-…
2/
We have been unable to protect our children from the shrapnel of fear emanating from the media & Beacon Hill.

Our kids are set to be un-masked on 2/28. But I can't trust that. All it will take to undo, is a louder, more potent constituency making its demands known.
3/
So, we are leaving. Despite living here for nearly 20 years—longer than any other place we have lived.

18 months ago, I thought this was impossible, from a professional and real estate perspective. But necessity is the mother of invention.
Read 12 tweets

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