#masks mandate

[chronicallycouchbound]

Almost twice as many people died from COVID-19 in 2021 than all unintentional accidents. COVID-19 is the third leading cause of death. COVID rates are on the rise.

The least you can do is wear a mask.

[sunderingstars]

thinking about sparkle’s performance line. thinking about how she says “this performance” and sampo says “my performance.” thinking about how she says “elation” and he says “joy.” even, perhaps, thinking about sampo’s familiarity with elation yet his simultaneous deconstruction of it, viewing his performance as his life yet ultimately steering that performance towards genuine love, care, and respect. thinking about elation not as hedonism but as dignity. anyways

[ectonurites]

Wake up babe a new Tim Drake costume just dropped (for real this time)

ah. um . yeah.

[sunshades]

that new meme that's going around....

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

On Wednesday, former Republican President Donald Trump turned his aim towards transgender people near the end of a speech in Racine, Wisconsin, which was mostly focused on immigration and crime. In the speech, he announced that his administration would shut down federal funding for schools that support transgender people, describing these schools as “pushing transgender insanity,” on day one. He also announced his intent to target transgender people in sports. These statements suggest that the candidate may increasingly prioritize targeting transgender people as a key election issue should he win.

Though the first hour of the speech went by without a mention of LGBTQ+ people, Trump turned his attention towards schools abruptly after speaking about crime, where he announced his day one priorities: “We're going to be proud of our Capital, we're going to take care of our Capital. On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut Federal funding of any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto the lives of our children, and I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask."

He then turned towards the topic of transgender athletes, claiming that a cisgender woman was injured by a volleyball hit by a transgender woman, which he claimed “came out at her at a speed that which she’s never seen before.” He also took aim at transgender swimmers and weightlifters. This is not the first time that Donald Trump has spoken about transgender issues. Recently, his campaign slammed President Biden’s proclamation of Transgender Day of Visibility as “blasphemous” for falling on the same day as Easter. Notably, Trans Day of Visibility has been on March 31st for several years, whereas Easter is a moving holiday. Shortly after, he endorsed Pastor Mark Burns in South Carolina, who has called for executions over transgender people.

Recently, in a rally in Michigan, he stated that his day-one priorities included reversing Title IX protections for trans youth. Likewise, last year he released a video stating he intends to target programs promoting gender-affirming care “at any age” and to treat gender-affirming care as child abuse.

At a propaganda rally in Racine, WI Wednesday, Donald Trump pushed his insane "parental rights" in schools agenda by suggesting that federal funding of schools be cut if they don't toe Trump's anti-student inclusion line of banning support for trans people in schools.

Speaking of who is cramming down "political content" in schools? It's right-wing indoctrination factories such as PragerU.

See Also:

The Signorile Report: Trump's feeble pitch to LGBTQ voters: Think about your wallet--and stay closeted

[probablyasocialecologist]

At the start, masks helped flatten the curve to protect our hospital systems, and since, masks have helped make public spaces and essential services more open and accessible to everyone. Many studies show that masks work, and they work best when everyone wears a high-quality one to protect each other. Masks are magnificent.

Yet, three years into the pandemic, we still see conflicting stories in the news about masks on a daily basis. The latest culprit powering the confounding headlines is a new scientific review published in Cochrane. The paper analyzes many different studies that assess how physical measures – including masks – fare against respiratory viruses.

The analysis is flawed because it compares apples to oranges. The paper mixes together studies that were conducted in different environments with different transmission risks. It also combines studies where masks were worn part of the time with studies where masks are worn all the time. And it blends studies that looked at Covid-19 with studies that looked at influenza.

If apples work and oranges don’t, but your analysis mixes them together, you may come to the false conclusion that apples don’t work. Out of the 78 papers analyzed in the review, only two actually studied masking during the Covid-19 pandemic. And both of those found that masks did protect wearers from Covid-19. But these studies are drowned out by the greater number of studies on influenza included, where the benefit of masking is harder to detect because it’s a far less contagious virus than Covid-19.

[...]

The mischaracterization of the Cochrane review by its authors and like-minded supporters is deliberate. Those with vested interests are sowing doubt about the science of Covid-19 protections by using the same disinformation playbook that tobacco companies, the fossil fuel industry and the anti-vax movement have used in the past.

The overselling of the Cochrane study is a classic example of cherry-picking, where biased groups highlight a subset of data that support their position, while ignoring the larger pool of evidence that disagrees with them. Many direct studies in labs show that high-quality masks significantly reduce the number of viral particles mask-wearers inhale and emit, but these are intentionally omitted in the arguments of anti-maskers.

These disinformation tactics are successfully quashing public health policies. Policymakers are susceptible to bad faith arguments about masks because they are beholden to short-term corporate interests. Masks are a visible symbol that the pandemic is ongoing, and politicians fear that these reminders stop people from consuming. It’s easy to lie to those who want to believe.

[commonsensecommentary]

Forcing us to wear the face diapers never had a thing to do with science. It was always about spreading fear, exerting control, and justifying election fraud. We were played for suckers by the Deep State Marxists, and we’re now suffering the consequences.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Some health-care workers in British Columbia have started receiving notification that they will once again be expected to wear masks in medical settings, but the language is ambiguous about what exactly will be required and for whom.

CTV News has obtained a memo from Brian Sagar, executive director of communicable disease prevention and control for B.C., notifying workers that “in preparation for the viral respiratory illness (season) this fall and winter” they will be reinstating enhanced infection prevention and control measures in hospitals, family doctors’ offices, and clinics effective Oct. 3. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[daisiesonafield-blog]

Abstract:

Full article here

[diablo1776]

[quaalussy]

getting ready for my first zoom visit for the research study on ppl who have recovered from BPD lol

[etapereine]

apparently they’re all traveling together in buses to the airport bc the team buses have already gone ahead? and multiple guys already out with covid this morning……

[girldraki]

incredible one-two punch of going “what the hell is she even on abt” and then clicking and seeing. please say this frankly very weird thing about something that has earned it

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

Then-President Donald Trump repeatedly favored the Fox News hosts and guests he saw on his television screen over federal health policy experts as he managed the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and it had calamitous consequences. He's going even further as he prepares for his second term, picking familiar faces from the right-wing propaganda network to run the government health bureaucracy. Trump, a Fox obsessive, staffed his first administration with at least 20 former Fox personalities, and he continues to rely on that method as he stocks his second one. But the network’s dominance among Trump’s announced picks to carry out his second-term health policy is nonetheless striking.

Anti-vaccine activist and Fox hero Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He will potentially oversee former Fox contributor Dr. Marty Makary at the Food and Drug Administration, Fox medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as U.S. surgeon general, and frequent Fox guests Dr. Jay Bhattacharya at the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Mehmet Oz at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (Bhattacharya has not been formally announced but is reportedly the top pick for the position.) These picks, to an extent, show Trump aligning his health policy hires with his own Fox-molded views. As president during the pandemic, he clashed with his official advisers when they contradicted what he was hearing from Fox personalities. The result was often chaos in decision-making, implementation, and public messaging.

Makary, Bhattacharya, Oz, and Nesheiwat received regular Fox airtime because on issues like the use of untested drugs such as hydroxychloroquine or nonpharmaceutical interventions like office and school closures, they tended to hew close to the Fox line — which also became the Trump line. If another pandemic hits, it is possible that they will be able to mitigate Trump’s worst impulses; they have real medical credentials, and Trump is likely to have greater confidence in them due to their shared past views. But while Trump’s promotion of COVID-19 vaccines through Operation Warp Speed was an unalloyed triumph in his first term, Kennedy is a crank who was openly hostile to the drugs. And other members of the second-term team regularly went on Fox to warn about the purported health impacts of the vaccines and criticize mandates to ensure their use. That does not bode well for the prospect of a successful response should another pandemic hit during the next four years.

The people tasked to run health departments under a 2nd Trump Administration are a motley crew of TV doctors, anti-vaxx cranks, COVID minimizers, and quack cures promoters.

[spitblaze]

did you know that having issues and criticisms with members of the democratic party isnt voter suppression or an attempt to convince people not to vote. did you know that you can expect and ask and demand the politicians of your favored do better without also saying 'i think voting is stupid and pointless'. did you know that expressing dissatisfaction with a democratic administration isnt saying 'therefore i prefer conservatives'. did you know you can be dissatisfied with something without condeming it as a whole did you know you can praise the actions of politicians without telling people that their complaints are completely invalid did you fucking know that