CDC director, Rochelle Walensky has been a rather mercurial communicator throughout her tenure so far. At present she, like President Biden, is laying the blame for the current, game-changing Delta surge on the unvaccinated alone. Now, I'm the last person to deny that those who actively oppose vaccination and masks, then go out to crowded venues with impunity, are significant drivers of the surge and should be subject to mandates. They are more dangerous than drunk drivers, because 1 such person can infect multiple others with a deadly virus. But this is not the big story this week. It is NOT the reason for the reversal of CDC guidelines which is what has spurred a rash of new mandates, and led to Ms. Walensky's announcement of the reversal of policy guidelines on Tuesday, July, 27. It isn't what caused Joe Biden to make a 1/2 hour speech to the nation two days later. So what just happened?
We were told by Walensky and Biden that unfortunately it turns out that it turns out that fully vaxxed folks can act as vehicles of transmission for Delta after all. But no data was put forward, though Walensky mentioned that these conclusions were data-driven. Many scientists and citizens alike asked just what data she was referring to. She had stated in her comments that we are "at a pivotal point" because of the situation, but had not shared any empirical information.
The coverage was a bit surreal. Suddenly, the NY Times reported that New Yorkers were "scared all over again," though I noted with cognitive dissonance that they were out and about unmasked on the Upper West Side as if nothing had been said by the CDC. It had only been a few days since the last of the store signs mandating masks came down, and people were jazzed about the new "post-pandemic" vibe in the city. ( https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/nyregion/new-york-masks-virus-mood.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage)
The Times article didn't shed much light on what was so new and urgent:
For a fleeting moment, New York was a city reveling in itself. Just a month ago officials declared it fully open for business; masks slipped to chins and restaurants packed in customers as vaccines rolled out. The virus seemed to be losing. Today, the coronavirus has crept back, in a new, more infectious form that has driven up cases and hospitalizations, primarily among those still refusing vaccination, sending a city just staggering back to life into a tailspin.Didn't we all know this? What did it mean to say that "today" the virus crept back in "more infectious form?" Weren't the newspapers filled with articles about Delta for months before that? Were we not warned in early May when the UK classed it as a "Variant of Concern," and delayed all reopening? Did we not follow the news from Israel which was warning us that they were seeing many breakthrough infections in late June? The Wall ST. Journal reported this on June, 25 and it certainly got my attention:
About half of adults infected in an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in Israel were fully inoculated with the Pfizer Inc. vaccine, prompting the government to reimpose an indoor mask requirement [my emph.] and other measures to contain the highly transmissible strain. Preliminary findings by Israeli health officials suggest about 90% of new infections were likely caused by the Delta variant, according to Ran Balicer, who leads an expert advisory panel on Covid-19 for the government. Children under 16, most of whom haven’t been vaccinated, accounted for about half of those infected, he said. https://www.wsj.com/articles/vaccinated-people-account-for-half-of-new-covid-19-delta-cases-in-israeli-outbreak-11624624326?mod=article_inlineIn mid July, Israel found that one reason for breakthrough infection (though not the only) was the "waning efficacy of Pfizer vaccine." Surely, one would guess the US gov't was taking these alarming reports and warnings seriously. On August 1, in the wake of a CDC leak (I'll get to that) Bloomberg News and the Boston Globe published the following grim report:
Half of the infections in Israel now are among the fully vaccinated, and public health officials are beginning to see signs of more serious disease among them, said Sharon Alroy-Preis, the nation’s Director of Public Health Services. She said that infections for people vaccinated in January are double those vaccinated in March, an apparent decrease in effectiveness over time that has led Israel to begin booster shots. She said infections were particularly problematic for people 60 and older. “It’s not just the fact that we’re seeing more disease, but they’re getting to severe and critical conditions,” she said... ( https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/08/01/nation/israel-sees-waning-coronavirus-vaccine-effectiveness/?p1=Article_Recirc_Most_Popular )Today, Sharon Alroy-Preis was interviewed on Face The Nation, after weeks of almost no coverage of this critical information in the US media (The Wall ST. Journal being an exception). During all these reversals of fortune in Israel, the UK, France, Indonesia et al., what was the US doing to prepare for the inevitable? How did they respond to the warnings based on alarming statistics and facts? Well, on July 4th, Biden declared "Independence from Covid" for the nation, stressing only the need to continue getting Americans vaxxed. This was consistent with his messsaging starting in mid-May, when the CDC advised all vaccinated Americans to discard their masks for almost all situations (including around their own unvaxxed children) and to stop social distancing."“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky declared in May. This decision was made at the same time the UK was delaying reopening and reimposing mask mandates due to Delta, about which they warned the US gov't. But to make matters even worse, the guidelines specifically stipulated that there should be no system for requiring proof of vaccination, but rather, the CDC expected the unvaccinated to continue wearing masks on the basis of what was called an "honor system."
Gee, do ya think folks who plot the kidnapping of a governor over mask mandates would "honor" any CDC system that they keep masking up? All those who had demonstrated, all the Republican politicians who had equated masks with "slavery" and the vaccine with a gov't conspiracy, they were to wear masks on scout's honor? A pathetic mistake, and one that was not conceded or reversed until now-- sort of.
What was Biden saying during the intervening months in his statements to the press? In May, announcing the unmasking of America, he thanked all the American "patriots" who had been called by him and the admin to roll their sleeves up, and had responded definitively. Of course, this was an odd moment to be so grateful. After all, back then something like only 40-45% of eligible Americans were fully vaccinated. Instead of reinforcing vaccinations with the effective protocols of social distancing (esp. for the majority of Americans who were not vaccinated) and face coverings, that opportunity was squandered on a feel-goood anouncement. "Take off your mask...go and live your life again." Though many private companies and stores did not immediately make such a transition, over weeks the masks came off vaccinated and unvaccinated alike, mass-gatherings resumed, and talk of the "post-pandemic" era was ubiquitous.
Again, in June, Biden stated, "Take off your mask. You've earned the right." On July 22, "“You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations." But by July 22, anybody living near Provincetown already knew that to be false if they followed local news or the Boston Globe. A significant outbreak among the unvaccinated had been occurring following July 4 celebrations in Cape Cod. The result was harrowing, and a shock to those vaccinated persons who became quite sick.
It is truly astounding that not only did the government not issue a statement on the outbreak of Delta among mostly unvaccinated people in Cape Cod, but the mainstream media outlets somehow found it unworthy of their attention. Indeed, most of the country found out only after a whistleblower in the CDC, it is unknown who, leaked an internal document which revealed that the outbreak in Massachusetts was the main cause of the CDC's reversal of policy guidelines, along with the ungodly transmissability-- "more contagious than the common cold.. as contagious as chickenpox." The power-point document also stated that unvaxxed persons infected had as much virus as vaccinated cases, implying the ability to shed the virus just as easily as them. It should have been an embarrassing and disgraceful moment for the administration. Yet Walensky released the document the following day(just Friday), as if she had planned to do so all along, and she spun the report until it somehow fit back into the narrative that the only problem we face is the unvaccinatmed. That is absurd on its face as she conceded that the outbreak in Cape Cod was the decisive catalyst of the CDC reversal, and that event was about anything but the "unvaccinated."
Let there be no doubt that unvaccinated people are getting sick and transmitting covid to others-- in some cases their own children or elderly parents. This is an outrage. It would be otherwise had the CDC cautioned parents to wear masks around unvaccinated children and their grandparents. Some data from the state of Massachusetts may help us to imagine the true situation. The Boston Globe reports:
In the most recent tally, 6,373 Massachusetts residents have contracted so-called breakthrough cases of COVID-19 — an infinitesimal percentage of those who have been vaccinated but still a source of anxiety for many and heartbreak for the families of 91 who have died. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/29/nation/this-is-what-its-like-have-breakthrough-case-covid-19/What has Ms. Walensky got to say about this? In an interview with McCatchy Press she stated that:
“Our guidance in May said that fully vaccinated people could take off their masks safely, and that unvaccinated people should continue to wear them. Unfortunately, that’s not how it played out,” Walensky said in a phone interview with McClatchy. “Unvaccinated people took off their masks as well. And that’s what led us to where we are today.” https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/coronavirus/article253156748.htmlThe May, 13 "Honor System" guidance had prompted almost universal abondonment of masking in the US by early Summer, yet the leaked CDC document stated in bold red print that "universal masking is essential to reduce transmission of the Delta variant." (see p. 21 of leaked document here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/cdc-breakthrough-infections/94390e3a-5e45-44a5-ac40-2744e4e25f2e/ )
Clearly, one of the main drivers of the surge of infections in the US has been the consequence of dismissing the need for such masking, and neglecting to reccomend, at the very least, some system by means of which the unvaccinated would be prevented from mingling with the vaccinated in crowded places. No such mistakes were conceded. "The science had changed," Walensky stated on Fox this AM.
What science? The CDC did not uncover the outbreak in Cape Cod. Citizen journalists and scientists in that highly vaccinated and health-conscious community brought their findings to the government. As for the CDC, on May 1, it incautiously stopped collecting information on the spread of covid with the exception of cases that ended up in the hospital and recorded covid deaths. It was all rather strange, as Walensky had just recently teared up on national TV and warned Americans (in mid-March) of "imminent doom" due to low vaccination rates. However, the majority of Americans were still unvaccinated, and Delta was on the rise when contact tracing was abandoned.
The failure to admit that the Biden Admin/CDC took their eyes off the ball, preached a rosy but empirically false story of "post pandemic America/Independence from Covid," did nothing as unvaccinated teens and young adults went out to reopened bars and clubs, frat parties, etc. and are now among the most prevalent victims found in hospitals across the country, and repeatedly claimed that "you can't get covid if you're vaccinated" despite evidence from other countries and our own to the contrary-- the fact that no admission of error is made, and that mainstream media indulge the fantasy of a diligent and empirically-based thinking process in the CDC, all this should arouse confusion and perhaps indignation among citizens who have suffered profoundly due to bad advice and misinformation.
Yet still, the official line is that "breakthrough cases are extremely rare" (Fauci on Face the Nation today). Since the CDC stopped looking at breakthrough cases on May, 1, except in cases of hospitalization, one wonders just how these unequivocal statements are supported. Given what we know about Israel, the UK and now our own country, it seems that we should look first and speak later about the prevalence of breakthrough. Similarly, Fauci stated that among the breakthrough cases, symptoms are "either none or minimal." (ibid) . Really? Maybe he should read accounts of the illness published in thee Boston Globe last week where many discussed illnesses with high fever, no sense of taste or smell, loss of appetite, inability to think clearly, etc. (see: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/29/nation/this-is-what-its-like-have-breakthrough-case-covid-19/ )
One of the victims profiled who was in her 90s-- but had been healthy before the covid bout-- died . Perhaps Fauci can console the family that their loss was "minimal." And others in Massachusetts have met the same fate. The Boston Globe reports:
In the most recent tally, 6,373 Massachusetts residents have contracted so-called breakthrough cases of COVID-19 — an infinitesimal percentage of those who have been vaccinated but still a source of anxiety for many and heartbreak for the families of 91 who have died.(ibid)Today, I saw many fellow New Yorkers in the park with masks. In particular, and with great concern, I noted almost everyone with toddlers and children wore a mask. Only last week such was not the case. The CDC in May told us that if we were vaccinated we could hug and kiss our unvaccinated children; invite members of other vaccinated households in for meals sans masks, and go into crowded places unmasked with impunity. As punk singer Johnny Rotten once asked an audience famously, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
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