Wear a Mask for Protection.....But Not Against COVID-19

Gun control activist David Hogg wears a mask to signal that he's not a conservative:

I feel the need to continue wearing my mask outside even though I’m fully vaccinated because the inconvenience of having to wear a mask is more than worth it to have people not think I’m a conservative 😬

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) May 14, 2021

Dr. Susan Philip (Chron photo)

There's another, more important reason to wear a mask, despite the CDC guidance that fully vaccinated people don't have to wear a mask outdoors: to protect oneself from being yelled at or worse by people who want everyone to keep covering their face.

Dr. Susan Philip, San Francisco health officer: [bold added]

she has a message for city residents: Nobody needs to play the Mask Cop.

“They’re getting dirty looks. They’re getting yelled at, and they’re feeling very uncomfortable in their neighborhoods following our recommendations,” she said. “We want to make sure that everyone understands that this is permitted. We want people in the city to feel comfortable removing their masks.”

The Department of Public Health shared a particularly eye-popping email from a Glen Park resident who insisted on anonymity in this column “because of how irrational people can be about this particular topic.”

His email described going on two short walks without masks after the CDC said that was fine. On one walk, a woman screamed, “COVID is real, and people die!” On the other, somebody flipped him off and said, “Why don’t you move?” even though he’s lived in the city for more than 15 years.

“People are unhinged. ... My neighbors are scared to take their mask off outside because of other people — not the risk of COVID,” he wrote. “I would think such an educated city would understand science and trust the experts.”

The SF resident made several mistakes in his previous sentence: that San Francisco is an "educated" city ("indoctrinated" is more accurate), that residents understand "science" (but only if science agrees with their preconceptions), and that they trust the experts (but only if the experts support their politics).

David Hogg wears a mask to signal he's not a conservative. Conservatives wear masks in Cambridge--where he goes to school--and in San Francisco for protection against David Hogg's people.

Thank Goodness WHO Was Not in Charge

The WHO team arrives at Wuhan on February 3, 2021 (WSJ)

Dr. Fauci, the CDC, and other health officials have faced withering criticism for their mistakes over the past year.

(Aside: for the record, your humble blogger's personal preference during times of high uncertainty and paucity of knowledge is to distribute as much information as widely as possible. Tread lightly on mandates and enforcement and trust people to make their own decisions.)

For all their faults American officials are speedy geniuses compared to the World Health Organization: [bold added]

Scientists will likely discover the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic within the next few years, after they pursue and zero in on an animal source for the new coronavirus, a member of an international team of investigators led by the World Health Organization said Wednesday...

International team members learned on the trip that meat from animals known to carry coronaviruses belonging to the same family as the pandemic virus were sold in the Huanan market, Dr. Daszak said.

One year after the lockdown Americans are being vaccinated in increasing numbers, with widespread immunity forecasted by Memorial Day.

Meanwhile, WHO is still figuring out where the virus came from, with the "likely scenario" that it originated from a bat near the Huanan market. Thank goodness WHO was never put in charge of developing a vaccine.

A Spike in Coverage

There's been a spike in coronavirus cases in the United States.

Although the WSJ article was packed with information, your humble blogger has trouble grasping written descriptions of numerical data and can comprehend it more easily in graphs or tables. Below are graphs from the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 website via Google:


U.S. Total Cases = 9,020,000

U.S. Deaths = 229,000

Comments:

1) Yes, infections have spiked, but deaths per day have leveled off.

2) With total U.S. cases of 9.02 million and total deaths of 229,000, the cumulative data showed that one has a 2.5% chance of dying if one contracts the coronavirus.

3) The chances of recovery from COVID-19 are getting better than 2.5%. Whether due to improved treatment, better health among the new cases (for example, younger, fitter patients), earlier detection, or a combination of factors, the graphs show that the chances of dying after diagnosis is now 1% or less.

4) The coronavirus is unquestionably deadlier than the flu. According to the CDC 2018-2019 infections and deaths were 35.5 million and 34,200, respectively, which is a 0.1% chance of dying if one catches the flu. In 2017-2018 infections and deaths were 44.8 million and 61,099, respectively, a 0.14% mortality.

5) A vaccine is not yet available for the coronavirus, while flu infections and deaths are undoubtedly lower because a flu vaccine has been widely distributed and is inexpensive.

6) If I were in charge, I would recommend masks and social distancing indoors with modifications for quality of ventilation. I support universal reopening and would require each establishment (e.g., schools, churches, restaurants) to post its policy so that patrons are fully informed before they make the decision to enter. Then again, it's probably a good thing that I'm not in charge.

IRS: So What, We Cannot Lose Them as Customers

Despite a backlog of millions of pieces of unopened mail--some containing checks from taxpayers---the IRS is sending out late payment notices.

Rep. Neal (Accounting Today)

Many taxpayers have been receiving balance-due notices from the IRS even though they sent in their tax payments to the IRS months ago, because trailers full of mail have remained unopened since the start of the pandemic....

“IRS officials reported that, due to office closures, the IRS has accumulated a staggering backlog of unopened mail,” [Rep. Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts] wrote in a letter Wednesday to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. “At one point this summer, the IRS had approximately 12 million pieces of unopened correspondence in its inventory. Despite this unprocessed mail, the IRS reportedly has been sending notices to taxpayers whose correspondence and payments remain unopened. Therefore, many of the taxpayers receiving these notices already have made the payments that the IRS seeks.”

...Neal would like the IRS to stop sending out the notices when there is still so much uncertainty about what taxes have been paid by check and are sitting in unopened envelopes.

The IRS acknowledged it has received
Mom's return 5 months after it was
mailed but has yet to send the refund.

Somehow businesses that have managed to stay alive have coped with the unprecedented stress of the COVID-19 lockdown.

A broad swath of Government agencies--e.g., the CDC, the State Department, public education, and the IRS--have demonstrated gross inefficiency, if not incompetence.

Taxpayers should be given the benefit of the doubt that the mistakes lie with the IRS, not them.

It also doesn't bode well for the November elections, when enormous burdens will be placed on the U.S. Postal Service.

Just Say No Go

Today's earlier post is about safe health practices during Holy Communion.

The CDC has another solution: [bold added]

Amid a coronavirus outbreak in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is encouraging older people and people with severe chronic medical conditions to "stay at home as much as possible"....

Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University professor and longtime adviser to the CDC, said these two groups should consider avoiding activities such as traveling by airplane, going to movie theaters, attending family events, shopping at crowded malls, and going to religious services...

"Don't go. Be reverent at home," Schaffner said.

Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."