Normalcy COVIDiocy: Who is "Urgency of Normal" and Why Are They In So Much Hurry to Repeal Pandemic Protective Measures?

In the past two or three months, you may have seen a new hashtag online #urgencyofnormal. They are a vocal minority group of doctors and scientists calling for repeal of as many pandemic protective measures as soon as possible, preferably immediately. Their reasoning is the measures are doing more harm than the pandemic itself. They are going as far as claiming that existing measures are just "panic porn". One such spokesperson for this group is Dr. Lucy McBride. 

Dr. Lucy McBride, on CNN, "Doctor says 'panic porn' is hurting her patients"

Are they making any sense? Is the attempt to contain COVID, i.e. masks and vaccines and boosters (there's no lockdown now) doing more harm than good? 

What exactly is the "harm" of these protective measures? 

According to urgencyofnormal.com/our-statement, pandemic and/or its protective measures have caused "youth depression, suspected suicide attempts, drug overdose deaths, and obesity". In their "toolkit", they have also cited polls as evidence of these increases, and dropping grades in 2020 vs 2019. 

What I find interesting is they can only cite an increase in suicide attempts in girls... so boys are not affected?

UrgencyOfNormal Toolkit claims pandemic and/or protective measures have caused harm... to girls? 

Also, just how do you separate harm from the pandemic itself vs. the protective measures designed to combat the pandemic? 

You can't. 

Yet their solution is to stop all the protective measures for children! No masking! Vax or not just go back to school! Pretend there is no pandemic! 

Maintain in-person learning regardless of case counts and vaccination rates. 

So why are they against masking in schools? First they told us that masking is NOT proven to work (i.e. any benefits are not statistically significant). But does it really?

Does the Georgia study really say mask use was not statistically significant? Yes, but... 

They helpfully included a link to the study in the footnotes, and this is where the cracks started to show in their "logic". I will quote from the study's page 5

The 21% lower incidence in schools that required mask use among students was not statistically significant compared with schools where mask use was optional. This finding might be attributed to higher effectiveness of masks among adults, who are at higher risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection but might also result from differences in mask-wearing behavior among students in schools with optional requirements. Mask use requirements were limited in this sample; 65.1% of schools required teacher and staff member mask use and approximately one half (51.5%) required student mask use. Because universal and correct use of masks can reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission (6) and is a relatively low-cost and easily implemented strategy, findings in this report suggest universal and correct mask use is an important COVID-19 prevention strategy in schools as part of a multicomponent approach

(bold and italics added by me)

The UrgencyOfNormal folks took one sentence they liked, and ignored the REAL finding of the study. What the study said was they have no data from the mask "optional" schools. They have no idea what percentage of people are actually wearing or NOT wearing the masks. So it cannot act as a proper control group against "mask required". 

But the UrgencyofNormal folks read it as if it said "masks did not do anything". 

I have not checked the rest of the other studies they cited, but it would not surprise me if they used similar leaps in logic and cherry-picking. 

And based on this, UrgencyOfNormal is calling for an end to ALL school masking. 

But there are a couple other problems with their suppositions... They are basing their numbers on Delta, and omicron, while supposedly milder, is FAR more contagious. 

UrgencyOfNormal claims are based on Delta numbers. Omicron turned out to be FAR FAR WORSE

Let's look at some REAL numbers... CDC mortality of 0-17 year olds as of now, which is over 2 years. Remember to divide by 25.7 (1.7 months into 2022) then times 12 for rough yearly numbers. 

One also wonders where did they get their flu numbers, which seems to be a bit... exaggerated. 

According to CDC, 2019-20 flu season had 188 pediatric flu death (0-17 yrs of age), which tied the record set during 2017-18. So why does their graph show death in the 500's? Can they be... massaging the numbers? Oh, but also look at the 2012-2013 bar... over 1200 deaths? Why does the CDC say only 170 pediatric deaths? Where did they even find these numbers? 

Flu does NOT kill at the rate of two dozen PER WEEK non-stop. 

Another 23 children died from Covid last week according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Parents need to understand that Covid can be quite serious and children can be safely protected through vaccination. #VaccinesSaveLives pic.twitter.com/cwBXiSC8vL

— EMK (@eveamk) February 22, 2022

Oh, and they also claimed that children don't get long COVID. You did read that on the slide, right? The latest results say something very different... AT LEAST 10% of all kids infected with COVID get long COVID. The number can be as high as 20%. And these numbers are based on PRE-OMICRON numbers. The current numbers could be worse, FAR WORSE, and we won't see the results for at least a MONTH after the infection. 

By now, it's clear that UrgencyOfNormal is not based on data as they claimed, but potentially deliberate misinterpretation and/or outright fabrication of data. 

The harm they claimed is based on polls, not science. The comparisons they made are unscientific and based on inflated and possibly fabricated numbers, and out-of-date numbers. And their anti-mask justification is based on deliberate cherry-picking of study results. They also claim the danger is minimal, by minimizing numbers, using outdated numbers, or outright FABRICATING pediatric flu deaths in prior years. 

But let us be absolutely clear:

What UrgencyOfNormal proposed is to get our children back into school without ANY protection, and roll the odds, ASSUMING the vast majority of them will survive, instead of doing EVERYTHING we can to make sure they do.

That is not epidemiology. 

That's playing roulette with someone else's children. 

That's COVIDiot thinking. 

Child COVIDiocy: Latest Data Shows 10% of CHILDREN with COVID become "Long Haulers" (i.e. "long COVID")

One of the most common refrains from antivaxxers about vaccinating children is "children don't need COVID jabs, because they don't get very sick even if they caught COVID". Take a look at JuliaHB1's tweet here just last week. She's a pretty famous talk show host in the UK. 

Children don't need Covid jabs, let alone boosters. And there's not a single study showing mask wearing in the real world has any effect at all. You used to be a journalist who looked at facts rather than virtue signalling to get approval. What happened to you?

— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) February 12, 2022

But latest round of science shows very worrying prospects for children who was infected with COVID: 10% of them became sufferers of "long COVID" that lasts months, even years, with symptoms such as rashes, heart palpitations, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, memory struggles, headaches... and more. And the numbers may be conservative. Numbers from Israel indicate 11.2%, and numbers from UK range from 12% to 15% depending on age group. Some doctors are estimating up to 20% of children infected by COVID may be suffering long COVID. 

The worst part about this is the long COVID symptoms typically start 30-days to 6 weeks AFTER the child recovers from mild COVID symptoms. And this data is PRE-OMICRON. We simply don't have enough data on how Omicron is affecting kids... other than hospitalization... and omicron in children accounted for 22% of all COVID hospitalizations in the US for the week ending Feb 10th. 

There is also the question of MIS-C, which is another rare but very serious post-COVID condition, with almost 7000 cases reported in the US, and killed 59, but so far we have not seen a corresponding increase due to omicron. 

CDC had also warned that post-COVID child is more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, based on pre-Omicron data. 

While symptoms seem worse in older children, experts warn that younger children lack the ability to express nuanced distress or comfort. 

And you have "conservative" hosts denying that children need COVID vaccinations because symptoms are "mild". As a parent, would you not want your children to have EVERY layer of protection you can get, including vaccinations and masks? 

Don't be a COVIDiot. 

Qanon COVIDiocy: How Qanon Carried On Without Trump by Merging with the Antivax Movement

Qanon started as some nameless droppers of info promising new revealing information about a conspiracy... and somehow Trump was battling some sort of "deep state" conspiracy full of child traffickers led by notable Democrats such as former first lady Hilary Clinton. Enough of them stuck around for the January 6th insurrection, and enough of them remain to discredit and undermine the Biden government now. And one of the most obvious targets was the vaccine and mask mandates. 

Before January 2022 came about, there were plenty of doomsday predictions from Qanon fodders claiming that when 5G activates all you COVID vaccine lovers will be turned into mind-controlled zombies. They don't realize they've been repeating an old debunked story when someone uploaded a guitar effect pedal circuit diagram and claimed it's a "5G mind control chip" embedded into COVID vaccine nanotech. 

Then of course Bill Gates gets dragged into it because he's rich. And fearmonger mockumentaries such as Plandemic II made false claims about Bill Gates, among many other egregious factual problems. 

Then there are Qanon fodders who decided to martyr themselves for news. Cirsten Weldon was known for sprouting Qanon beliefs on YT, Facebook, Telegram, and Telegram, still refers to Trump as president, and claiming arrests of enemies are already happening. She also called people who got COVID vaccines "idiots". In December she fell sick of COVID, but chose to use the term "bacterial pneumonia", a common term among Qanon fodder as a euphemism for COVID. In hospital she refused antiviral treatment, and died in January 2022. Apparently her followers harassed the staff of the hospital, some even called for death of hospital staff for contributing to Weldom's death. 

But the weirdest and craziest Qanon fodders actually killed people. Troy Burke killed his wife Jessica after being told by Qanon members that his wife is a transgender offspring of President Biden and is working for the CIA as a child trafficker. So he shot her in the head 3 times. 

And he's not the only one. Another Qanon fodder lighted a pipe bomb and blew up his RV killing himself and injuring 3 others. Another tried to kill his family ahead of Biden's inauguration day because he was convinced the "great revelation" will be horrible. Another tried to kill his own children with a spear gun because he believed they had DNA from lizard people and would "grow up to be monsters". They all are Qanon fodder egged on by other Qanon to do evil. 

Burke was declared not guilty by reason of insanity and will likely spend his life in an institution. 

If you are antivax or on the fence, consider the strange bedfellows you're keeping, They may be insane, or they are egging on unstable people to actually go insane. 

Maybe they are egging you on... 

Legal COVIDiocy Denied: Anti-Masker Got His Day In Court. Got Glorious Federal Judge Smackdown

There is a saying, "a lawyer who represents himself in court has a fool for a client". So when a civilian (read: non-lawyer), probably goaded on by antivaxxers, decided to sue Whole Foods for enforcing a local (Dedham, Massachusetts) mask mandate on January 4th, 2021 and going in "pro se" (without a lawyer, only as himself), you know things will get ugly... for the civilian. But let's lay out the case. 

Ryan Manning went to Whole Foods in Dedham, Massachusetts on Jan 4, 2021, without a mask. He was stopped by staff who asked him to mask up, and he refused. It was escalated to both the manager and head manager, both of whom told him he needs to mask up. Instead of complying, he left the premises  to call the police, alleged that his civil rights were being violated, then returned to the store with the police. The manager tried to offer him compromises, like doing the shopping for him, or giving him a health screening and a temperature check. Manning refused both. (It's obvious he's looking for a fight.) Why he won't wear a mask? He believes masks are used for satanic rituals so he won't wear one, and he refuses to "slowly commit suicide by lowering his immune system and depriving himself of oxygen". He eventually left. He filed the lawsuit in May 2021, with no less than EIGHT alleged violations of law:

1) Violated his first amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion (42 USC 1983)

2) Violated 18 USC 242 

3) Discriminated against him in public and violated 42 USC 2000a in two instances (counts as 2)

4) Conspiracy to interfere with his civil rights violating 42 USC 1985

5) Engaged in "unauthorized practice of medicine" against MA general laws CH 112 / 6

6) Harassed him

7) Falsely imprisoned him. 

Let's just say the judge eviscerated him in every count. 

Florida COVIDiocy: FL Surgeon General Ladapo Wants to Unwind COVID Testing while Speaking at Podium with Sign "Early Treatment Saves Lives"

I originally thought that DeSantis' Republican anti-health lunacy is limited to himself. Seems he has found a partner in his Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo. 

Dr. Ladapo, while standing in at a lectern with a sign "Early Treatment Saves Lives", talked about how he will "unwind the testing psychology" of the Federal government. 

❓Just how exactly will you do early treatment without early testing? ❓

Keep in mind, Florida is begging / demanding the Federal government for more monoclonal antibodies for treatment because Florida has seen DOUBLE the people hospitalized for COVID (5700 vs 2406), from the previous week, as well as more than double the number of new COVID cases (from 128K to 298K). 

What's really disturbing, however, is Ladapo's emphasis that the guidance "doesn’t restrict access to testing, but reduces the use of low-value testing and prioritizes high-value testing."

❓So who determines what's high-value and what's low-value? ❓

Then DeSantis chimed in about how younger folks should not come in and hog up all the monoclonal antibodies treatment and save them for the seniors. He said literally: 

“It’s basically cold-like symptoms for a lot of those folks. That is not something you need to be coming in and getting monoclonals for. So, let’s look at our elderly population. Let’s look at folks that are immunocompromised or maybe things like diabetes that have shown to be a real serious risk factor,”

Wait, so the young folks who probably don't need them, are hogging all the monoclonal antibodies treatments? ❓

❓Is that why DeSantis are demanding more doses from the Feds? Because he wasted them due to him ignoring Federal testing policies, vaccine mandates, and mask mandates?❓ 

But consider this: by limiting the number of tests, DeSantis can claim he has fewer positive cases. 

Wouldn't stop the hospitalization from increasing, of course. 

But "high quality testing" is a playbook out of the Great Barrington Declaration. And indeed, Ladapo is a signatory of the GBD. Keep in mind that Ladapo is a cardiovascular physician. He has no training or expertise in epidemiology, virology, or even infectious diseases. He was even at one time among the voices of HQL and IVM pimps. 

What's REALLY out of touch? Florida's Department of Health tweeted on Christmas Day that "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!"

Please keep in mind that singing requires you to breathe WITHOUT any mask on. And if you are carrying the virus (with or without symptoms) you will be spreading it far and wide, potentially infecting lots of people. 

It's been documented that even two doors that briefly opened together are enough to pass COVID, according to a New Zealand quarantine facility contact tracing. The two groups were separated across a hallway at a quarantine hotel. The two groups never came into contact with one another, except for a brief period where one side opened their door, then the other side also did. There were only a few seconds of overlap, but it was enough. 

It was clear that Florida Department of Health has turned into the Department of ANTI-Health, with "leadership" from not just one, but two death-dealers. 

Not only do they openly fight Federal attempts to fight the disease, but they also want Federal help to save the victims of their own efforts.  

And it's only going to get worse. 

Sad COVIDiocy: Antivax Mom of Three, vowing to live without fear, died of COVID at 29

Bridget Jackson is a mother of three in Port Huron, Michigan, and both anti-mask and anti-vaccine. She claimed in one post that she "understands the risks" but does not "prioritize fear over life", and "your fear (because you wear masks) is your issue". She had shared many different posts about God did not make you to be afraid of COVID. 

Jackson came down with COVID in November, and passed away on December 21st, 2021, at the age of 29, leaving behind a fiancee and three children under age of 10. 

Like many antivaxxers, Ms. Jackson made the mistake of confusing respect and taking precautions with being afraid. 

I respect the potential harm of COVID, so I took every reasonable precaution such as buying N95 masks and wearing them when I go out, getting both of my Pfizer shots plus the booster shot, and I limit my outdoor excursions. Am I afraid of COVID? No. 

The people who vow to "live free" whether from fear or from mandate, are prioritizing some ideals ABOVE their survival. 

And Ms. Jackson found that COVID will take her anyway. 

Please don't be Ms. Jackson. Get vaxxed. Stick around and enjoy your life. 

God did not create us for us to throw away our lives on a dare. 

Sad COVIDiocy: Anti-Masker and Anti-vaxxer Naturopath Christopher Foley died of COVID

Christopher Foley, a doctor in Minnesota, who also got credentials as a naturopath and homeopath, has died of complications of COVID, according to his son. The 71-year old doctor was famously anti-mask and anti-vaccine, claiming masks are "downright dangerous" if worn for extended periods of time, and called vaccine "a human experiment". 

According to his obituary, he died back in Mid-October. He had promoted taking Ivermectin, carrageenan, and vitamin D for treating COVID, and believed COVID was a Chinese bio-weapon. 

A reminder that Ivermectin is NOT an approved treatment for COVID and has no demonstratable effect except in a petri-dish at way too high a concentration. Carrageenan is believed to potentially cause gut tumors and ulcers, and is banned in Europe.  

Sad COVIDiocy: Proud unvaxxed and unmasked Mother of 4 died of COVID

An Escalon (southeast of Stockton, CA) mother, a well-known local antivaxxer, had died of COVID on September 15th, 2021. 

Kristen Lowery, who declared herself "unmasked, unmuzzled, unvaccinated, unafraid -- together we win", left behind 4 school-aged children. 

She proclaimed to be a "free-thinker" and an "ex-vaxxer" on various posts. 

If you won't get vaxxed for yourself, would you do it for your children? 

Don't be a COVIDiot. Get vaxxed is the simplest way to protect yourself. 

More COVIDiocy: How had we sunk this far?

Today is 9/11, the day when the largest terrorist attack on US soil took 3000+ lives in moments. 

Today also marks a time that it has been more than 20 months since COVID first appeared in the US, and it has claimed 659K lives since then in the US alone (check on Google for latest CDC data). 

In fact, on September 10th alone, CDC recorded 2418 deaths, in the US. And the trend is still upwards. We may see deaths surpassing 3000 daily in a few days. 

US COVID Daily Deaths for 9/10/21 = 2418... and rising

Yet it seems some people are so desperate to go back to normal, they are ignoring the deaths and prefer to tout "right to choose". 

Texas Governor Abbot infamously tweeted that he will defend the Texans' "right to choose" when the Biden administration announced some sweeping vaccine mandates in a few months. How he can tweet that, having signed the anti-abortion law which limits Texas women's "right to choose" not too long ago, signifies the broken Republican moral system, and clearly, his own broken hypocrisy detector. But let's not get into that at the moment. 

It seems a lot of Federal Worker Unions are not going to be onboard the vaccine mandate train, so to speak. Many have carefully worded their response as "workers should have a choice in their own working conditions" or similar verbiage. 

Translation: "You can't tell me what to do!" (Even though it's the right thing to do, like masking up, or getting vaccinated.)

Who says that? Entitled people, i.e. the "Karens" of the world. 

One Florida parent was arrested when he got physical with a student who started filming him without a mask on inside the school. The guy was already warned several times for not wearing a mask despite school policy. So he was basically provoking a reaction. 

In California, a man got into fisticuffs with a teacher who was trying to protect the principal as the man yelled profanities over the school's mask policy. He was arrested for assault and battery. 

In Austin, Texas, several parents started yelling at the teachers who chose to stay masked during a meet-the-teachers meeting. One parent even yanked the mask off a teacher's face. The two cases had shaken the community. (FWIW, Governor Abbot of Texas, whom we mentioned earlier, also signed an order PROHIBITING mask mandates)

Please keep in mind that Florida, Texas, and California are the most populous states in the US, and therefore, COVID hotbeds, with the most cases... and deaths. 

Given that we can't vaccinate the kids yet, at least those under 12 years of age, the only way to protect them was to mask them, and the teachers, and all the school employees, and EVERYONE around them (including the parents, relatives, and so on).  It'd be better they all get vaccinated too, but it takes weeks for the vaccination to reach full potency (the antibodies get made).  Masking is immediate. 

So people opposing the masks are basically saying "my right to NOT cover my face is more important than protecting the kids". 

COVID is not merciful. Given half of US population is fully vaccinated, the new COVID cases are almost exclusively of the unvaccinated, and sadly, that includes children. Infants. Babies. EVEN THE UNBORN. Yes, COVID also causes fetal deaths. And we've earlier covered a case where a 4-year old went from fever to death in mere HOURS. Children are now over 20% of new COVID cases in several different states. 

In 2020, we thought we had survived COVID because we didn't get the huge wave of casualties like China when the entire medical system was overwhelmed in Wuhan. 

It is now 2021, and ICUs across the country are filling up with COVID patients with a good number of them children. Several states have started or are preparing for "rationing care" because they only have so much resources available to fight COVID. First state to do so was Idaho. Care to guess which party is Idaho's governor? You guess it: Republican. It is just so ironic to see how Sarah Palin (Republican) tried to push the narrative of a "death panel" in the 2009 political debate, and it is now forced into practice... 

The Republican party has governors in two out of three most populous (and thus, most COVID) states. DeSantis in Florida, and Abbott in Texas. BOTH have signed mask anti-mandate orders for their state in the name of "freedom for the parents". 

It is no coincidence that many reports of overwhelmed hospitals have surfaced from both Texas and Florida. Texas had run out of ICU space near Houston, and Florida is believed to have less than 10% space left in ICU as of mid-August.

Is freedom really worth THAT much death, esp. of children? 

Or perhaps..

"The needs of the many, outweighs the needs of the few"?

More COVIDiots: Fake vaccine carder, and antimasker decided to show his wee-wee...

 An Illinois COVIDiot decided her Hawaii vacation is reason enough to violate Hawaii's 10-day COVID quarantine should you arrive without proof of vaccination. So she decided to fake her vaccine card. Except she can't spell Moderna. She wrote "Maderna" on her fake card instead. In fact, she claimed to be vaccinated by the national guard in Delaware. But even then, Hawaiian officials checked with her home state of Illinois (vaccinated in Delaware? Really?)... Which replied she has no vaccination records there for COVID. So they arrested her... Yes, it really went down like that. 

A Canadian COVIDiot was told to please wear a mask at Dairy Queen in Port Alberni. Instead of complying, he decided to argue about it. When he can't prove he warrants a medical exemption, he chose to demonstrate his exemption with his weewee and urinated on the counter. Now he has the Mounties (Canadian police) out looking for him. You seriously can't make this **** up. 

In Florida, already with some of the highest COVID rates in the US, some parents are screaming "people are hospitalized wearing masks" and "stifling (children) their education" regarding a school board discussion on mask mandate for school kids. One guy even claimed that you should NOT mask the children because it makes them easier to abduct by child predators. The CNN correspondent Don Lemon was TOTALLY shocked. This is his tweet with the footage from the school meeting. 

Take This: Tempers flare and fists fly over a school mask mandate in Florida’s Lee County. @donlemon has the shocking video from inside and outside the school board meeting. Watch: pic.twitter.com/n38kxLhXbZ

— Don Lemon Tonight (@DonLemonTonight) September 1, 2021

WTF: Woman Sues Man Who Setup GoFundMe for a server She Shamed

 It goes like this, as per USA Today:

Amber, an anti-mask coffee drinker in San Diego, posted her outrage on her FB page back in June, that "lenen" won't serve her at her local Starbucks. 

A guy named Matt then launched "Tips for Lenin" campaign on GoFundMe, and raised over 105445 dollars for the server, Lenin Guitierrez. 

Amber decided because the campaign used her name, she's entitled to some of that money, and demanded half of it. When Matt refused, she sued Matt for "unspecified damages". 

Both have launched respective GoFundMe campaigns for their legal costs. Let's just say, Matt's winning by a wide margin. 

Just proves that you can hire a lawyer for almost ANYTHING.