Thread by @PetiteCharette

I was going to reply to this, but once I got going I ended up writing my first ever 🧵

https://twitter.com/politicalmath/status/1587262486683652096

During the pandemic, I represented our private school in a coalition of local independent schools. The first call we had with public health officials was in Feb 2020, with the Director of Infectious Diseases for our state Health Dept 1/25

She said that no one in public health/authority would know what to do because the reality was that we wouldn’t have the data until it was over- and then it would still take years to analyze death certs, etc for accuracy. 2/25

She said, “What we do know about the history of pandemics is that policy decisions will not be driven by science and data; they will be driven by fear and politics.” 3/25

Thing is, no one that I shared that with understood. They didn’t want to believe it. This was hard bc I also spent 2 years sitting through public health calls for schools wherein it proved true. 4/25

Pediatricians conceded that masks were not slowing the spread, but insisted on masking policies anyways. They did the same when the vaccine turned out to be ineffective at preventing transmission. 5/25

A pediatric office in my city was participating in the vaccine trial for kids under 12. They shared that the “delay” in EUA approval for that age group was bc the data showed ZERO efficacy at two doses. So they decided to test out 3 doses. 6/25

Pediatricians- doctors for our KIDS- all chimed in to say that we did not need more safety trials, we just needed approval so we can mandate them at schools. 7/25

Administrators and nurses from the various schools were reporting that vaccinated employees and students were contracting and spreading covid at the same rate as the unvax’d. 8/25

The health officials, docs, & admins supported continued coercive measures to get the shot, incl. different quarantine/isolation protocols based on vax status - All policies based on the faulty (and demonstrably incorrect) assumption that being vaxd reduced transmission. 9/25

And so we had unvax’d students out of school for 10 days bc they were a close contact of someone with a positive test, while vaxd contacts were allowed to return - and spread the disease - the very thing we ostensibly were trying to curb. 10/25

Why? I asked once. The answer? “It’s an incentive to get the vaccine. We need everyone to get it and if carrots won’t work a stick will.” I am not making that up. That was said. By a local pediatrician. 11/25

One day a doc said, “We all know, and have known, that the masks don't work.” He received no pushback. I worked up the gumption to ask why, then, we would continue universal masking requirements. I got 3 versions of the same chilling answer- we need compliance. 12/25

“It trains the kids to follow rules.” “Someone who puts a mask on has a habit and physical reminder to also wash their hands or take their temperature.” "It might help a time or two so let's try!" (reasoning that would not work with vit C or ivermectin) 13/25

Once, they changed the quarantine time for close contacts to 10 days, down from 14, bc “we will get more compliance with a shorter time.” Not bc of any data re: incubation time of the virus after exposure. For compliance and control. 14/25

The doc that openly stated masks don’t work was a pediatric cardiologist. When the health department announced it would follow CDC guidance re: treating the unboosted as tho they were unvax’d he spoke up. 15/25

His office would not be recommending boosters for the 12-17 year olds. His reason? There was ZERO safety data on a third dose in that age group for his team to review. Why? Bc there was no trial. It just got EUA approval. 16/25

He said they had reviewed the data coming out from adults and were concerned about the effect on kids this age. He was chastised publicly (and, we later learned, privately.) 17/25

Eventually he joined a team of doctors that developed The Urgency of Normal- and sent information nationwide about how important it was to get kids back in school - without masks. They promoted the vaccine but not mandates. 18/25

Within a week he was sending an apology letter to our entire group. He had been accused of undermining public health efforts and his job was on the line with the university hospital. He was banned from the weekly health district calls with schools. 19/25

I shared these things often and widely in my personal circles. Friends and family members were clearly bewildered but always tried to rationalize it. Or, worse, pretend “we have no other choice.” 20/25

The things I heard were not shared in heated, academic discussions about what to do. They were calmly and plainly stated as facts that somehow had NO BEARING on the policies. 21/25

There was CONSENSUS that masks weren’t working and simultaneously CONSENSUS that we had to continue mandating them. 22/25

I could go on. My experience wasn’t unique. This happened all over the U.S.A at the local, state, and federal levels. 23/25

I don’t want a tribunal. I want public health and doctors to admit that they pushed for policies they knew were ineffective bc that’s the truth. We weren’t in the dark. Neither were they. 24/25

And I want anyone that supported these policies to admit that they were wrong. Period. You weren’t in the dark. People like me were in your lives. We told you. 25/25