#VirusCasedemic #coronavirus #CDC #Trump
“Across the country, new VirusCasedemic cases, hospitalizations and deaths have dropped significantly since early January, herd immunity is happening“– Paul Ebeling
On 25 March 2020 President Donald Trump declared a State of Emergency for the United States
On that day, NYC recorded approximately 20,000 new cases with close to 900 COVID-19related deaths happening daily; totals, which seroprevalence studies suggest, perhaps less than 25% of the disease burden.
A wk later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged mask use by the public prompting state mask mandates and capacity restrictions to be implemented across the nation.
Across the country, new cases, hospitalizations and deaths have really fallen since early January as a massive vaccination campaign took hold. Now, over 59% of American adults have received at least 1 shot contributing to the immunity of the nation.
Reliable data confirm the vaccines not only protect against severe disease, but also offer protection from asymptomatic transmission and circulating global variants.
So, there is no doubt that people in this group should be mask free in all settings unless they choose to wear 1, as indicated in the updated CDC recommendations.
The CDC continues to offer little guidance about the unvaccinated and certified immune including those who have recovered from infection and young children.
The CDC and subsequent statements by Mr. Biden, including a Tweet he sent that declared, “Get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do” set a an alarming precedent by indicating that only the vaccinated among The People can return to normal life; affirming the vaccine as the only means to eliminating the VirusCasedemic.
This neglects the true definition of herd immunity where once a sufficient amount of the population has immunity, as demonstrated by declining cases, hospitalizations and deaths and not the number of people vaccinated, the entire country can resume activities with low risk of transmission.
The wall of protection from the amount of natural immunity has consistently been ignored by the government. To date, the amount of reinfections following natural infection are similar if not less than breakthrough cases after vaccination, demonstrating the strength of natural immunity.
The US economy and America’s children cannot wait for the slow rollout of the CDC to acknowledge real world data about the severity of risk amongst the entire population, not just the vaccinated.
In California, there is currently a higher prevalence of active tuberculosis than COVID-19, yet the low incidence of the illness has not warranted routine mask wearing by the general public.
In a similar vein, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have higher combined mortality rates in young children than SARS-CoV-2 and mask mandates haven’t been instituted to prevent those infections despite higher caseloads during peak seasons.
While the percent of positive cases has expectedly risen in children as more adults become vaccinated, the risk of severe illness resulting in hospitalization and death remain rare. Of the states reporting, 0.00%-0.03% of all child COVID-19 cases result in death, with 306 pediatric deaths total nationwide.
As the US exits the
As the US exits the state of emergency, it is important that vaccine companies seek full FDA approval for vaccines in young children rather than extending it through the Emergency Use Authorization since the data does not reflect COVID-19 to be an emergency in young children. Nor are the current studies powered enough to ensure the vaccine immune response does not also lead to multisystem inflammatory system in children (MIS-C), a concern following infection.
Moving ahead
Messages from public health entities and government leadership must be transparent and unambiguous regarding fluctuating community transmission and true risk level while continuing to encourage adults to get vaccinated.
Continued vaccination efforts will further lessen the spread of the virus and prevent future variants from escaping existing immunity from evolving.
The emergency is over.
So, it is now prudent now for America’s leaders and health officials to have less tunnel vision and to allow the country to return to pre-medical emergency activities, without mask mandates.
Have a healthy week, Keep the Faith!
