Per Ida Bergstrom, MD*
Of known respiratory viruses, only Covid-19 has ever killed more than 100 US children in a month in the modern era; it did so three times during the Delta and Omicron alone
There are so many misstatements about mask mandates published in USA, it's hard to keep up. First of all, masks actually work well in reducing spread. We have seen that over and over again. Shown in school settings
"We found that teacher masking, student masking, restricted entry, and symptom screens were individually associated with the greatest reduction in the risk associated with in-person schooling"
In-person schooling and associated COVID-19 risk in the United States over spring semester 2021
“ Adequate mitigation measures appear to eliminate the excess risk associated with in-person schooling.”
Do face mask policies work? Countries with them had lower COVID death rates, study says
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/.../article256659402.html...
·Covid being "mild" just simply is not true, especially in children. We know that each variant appears to be more and more contagious and so countless more are infected.
Prevention is not the same as treatment. Remember that saying "Stitch in time saves 9"? It is usually preferable to avoid infection instead of letting it happen and then having to treat something that can occur over and over again and each time takes a toll on the body
It is becoming increasingly and glaringly obvious that repeated C19 infections are not meaningless nor are they prevented by prior infections or vaccinations.
Vaccines limit hospitalizations and deaths. But the main tool to avoid infections, which is a goal for many, is still masks indoors. And simply saying that it's inconvenient or people don't feel like doing it is simply not the reason for not doing it..
To be honest, many people no longer want to mask b/c so many platforms have been minimizing their benefit for months and months. So the propaganda against masks has been strong and led by many who have large platforms.
Telling people what they want to hear has always been a way to increase popularity. It's more comforting to Urgently get back to "normal" than to actually reckon with the U.S. having the most deaths in the world, well over 1 million now despite moving the definitions of C19 deaths.
*
Ida Bergstrom: Internal medicine MD, MBA; special interests in travel medicine, vaccines; viking mother of 2 boys; perpetual learner
Chart Source: Inside Medicine Bulletin
***
Based on Twitter Thread by Ida Bergstrom this morning: https://twitter.com/DCDoc33/status/1531643405973041153
*
Posted by Kay Ebeling, producing City of Angels Blog since 2007
The City of Angels is Everywhere
