I have just finished watching the #StateOfTheUnion address, and it became clear about half way through why the mask guidance was changed by @CDCgov.
Beautiful speech, but also very sad in that one respect.
There is a “War on COVID-19”. It’s still raging on, but today there needed to be some sign that America has gained some ground in that war.
Sadly, that ground gained was the loss of mask guidance. Seen as a symbol of the fight, the shield was discarded.
There were many other things that I really liked about the planned COVID-19 response. The access to testing and medication. The access to respirators for vulnerable people… vaccination efforts, globally.
Improving access to healthcare and cutting insurance premiums…
…but unless America picks up the shield that has been dropped… COVID-19 will strike again, and it will land body blows.
“…person couldn’t find their father in his room, only to discover he was “sitting asleep in the shower chair in the bathroom of another resident’s room…”
Masks work. Respirators work better. Anyone saying that the public shouldn’t be given access to respirators is essentially saying either the government still aren’t ready 2yrs into a pandemic, or they think the public are too stupid to manage one.
Here is evidence to show that the public benefit from using respirators.
Everyone should have access to a respirator that fits them. Governments should give out adult and child trial packs, and then people should order the one that fits them best online.
I should warn you that there are many physiological and anatomical differences between adults and children… and although younger immune systems are stronger, there are many things that make children more vulnerable.
For example, babies and young children have small floppy airways. This can lead to collapse (closure) of the upper airways making breathing very difficult, very early.
I strongly suspect that this mechanism is involved in the change in presentation of omicron.
Next the heart compensates for increased oxygen demand from infected tissues by increasing the rate. Stroke volume increase is limited. Kids can de-compensate very quickly due to sepsis.
For the individual, lower dose inoculation probably gives the best chance for vaccine mediated immunity to reduce organ damage. Dose to disease severity link shown in animals and other viral disease, so a worthwhile pursuit.
Fewer infections in a lifetime also worthwhile. ->
Currently we have kids reporting reinfections within weeks of infection. That’s unlikely to lead anywhere good whe the pathogen causes vasculitis and autoimmunity among many other long term issues.
Standard troll tactic to reduce every single life preserving measure to lockdown.
Don’t let them fool you.
There is no choice but to #CutDownTransmission and one effective way to do that is that is to have proper quarantine and isolation periods based on science.
The alternative is *dire*.
Ongoing circulation of COVID-19 will cause a massive wave of chronic disease including heart failure, strokes, dementia, Parkinson’s like movement disorders, autonomic system messed up, immune systems shattered.