el gato malo understands the media bias that distorts reporting on Covid.
Also from el gato malo is this report on so-called “Long Covid.” A slice:
surprising basically no one who has actually been paying attention, this french study seems to demonstrate that “long covid” is not, in fact, predominantly caused by covid.
The media dub Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general awaiting confirmation, a “firebrand” who’s “controversial.” He opposes mask and vaccine mandates — and so is erroneously called “anti-vax” by his foes.
But Ladapo came off as none of these things when I spoke to him for an exclusive interview last week. Calm and poised, Ladapo became a national figure after a clip of him saying the obvious — “The data do not support any clinical benefit for children in schools with mask mandates” — went viral.
In so many ways, the Nigerian-born Ladapo is the anti-Fauci. While the oft-criticized Ladapo has stayed consistent, frequent television guest Fauci has reversed himself many times on many details of pandemic policy without showing any data to support those reversals.
Florida’s coronavirus case rate has dropped to among the lowest in the country as the state’s Republican leaders continue to fight vaccine mandates and other measures to combat the pandemic.
The state currently has the lowest count of cases per capita, jointly tied with Georgia and Hawaii at 7 cases per 100,000 people, according to data from The New York Times.
In contrast, California—a state that has enforced some of the strictest mandates in the country, has seen infections on the rise. Experts have explained that states that saw large outbreaks driven by the Delta variant over the summer now see fewer avenues for the virus to spread, thanks to greater numbers of people acquiring immunity after recovering from infections plus those who are vaccinated.
(Please excuse my vanity, but I’m pleased that in today’s Wall Street Journal is this letter of mine on Covid death tolls in Florida and in California.)
Jeffrey Tucker reflects on the past 21 months. A slice:
Thus are we transitioning from the Covid kabuki dance to a system of overt segregation of the clean vs the unclean, a situation we’ve encountered before during the most morally egregious episodes in modern history. While the clean are granted freedom, the unclean cannot travel, cannot participate in public life, and sometimes cannot shop or get medical care.
Jay Bhattacharya recommends Toby Green’s new book, The COVID Consensus. In his tweet to recommend Green’s book, Jay writes (emphasis added):
The COVID Consensus by @toby00green is essential reading to understand what lockdown really means for the poor worldwide.
The architects of lockdown, narrow experts blind to the devastating collateral harms they caused, would do well to heed Toby.
Michael Brendan Dougherty wonders why Democrats refuse to end their love affair with masks.
I have to say what really annoys me, and my lovely editor, Victoria, is that we are held to the highest standards of accuracy. If we tried an Amanda Pritchard and published arrant nonsense about Covid on these pages we would soon be explaining ourselves to IPSO, the independent press standards organisation. Before you could say misleading information, Queen Vic and I would be sitting on a pavement outside Telegraph Towers with a dog on a rope, caterwauling the greatest hits of George Michael, dependent on a few spare coppers dropped into a hat by passing strangers. That’s what happens to journalists who make it up as they go along.
“And what about McAuliffe’s Oct. 7 comment that 1,142 children were in ICU beds?” Kessler asks. “That number seemed totally off-kilter. (For the week ended Oct. 2, the number of children in hospitals, not necessarily in intensive care, was just 35.) [On October 21] there were only 334 people (of all ages) in ICU beds in Virginia, according to the state health department data.”
Still, can we really conclude that this is a lie rather than an honest mistake? The Post’s fact-checkers actually reached out to the McAuliffe campaign questioning these false figures yet the gubernatorial candidate continued to use them.
TANSTAFPFC (There Ain’t No Such Thing As Free Protection From Covid.)
Private entrepreneurs and their employees go to the mat to boost Covid vaccinations!
