A promising step in the right direction. But the New York Times and other lockdown supporters have a very long way to go if they ever wish to fully atone for what they supported during COVID.
Morons of a feather flock together. Substack is a steaming pile of manure!! Contrast this echo chamber with someone with a high level of critical thinking skills like me—I read and listened to Berenson from the beginning!! I listened to people that went against the conventional wisdom—everything Berenson said was proven wrong during the southeast Delta death surge except his position that ivermectin was useless!
You pretty much said this in your excellent post: The damage has already been done. As someone who has worn masks for the *right reasons* my entire working life, was educated about mask use yearly, and was properly trained and fitted for masks, I knew that the whole mask thing was insanity from day one. I'll never forget being the only person (that I could see) brave enough to walk through the Denver airport maskless in a see of frightened and paranoid faceless eyes in 2020. Mask mandates and the fear mongering behind them have left a scar on the psyche of civilization that may never disappear. To this day, I still don't like going anywhere anymore because if I see someone wearing their face diaper I about come uncorked. The policy should have always been, "if you are sick, stay home and if you feel the need to go out when you are sick with symptoms, please consider wearing a mask in case you cough in someone's immediate space." I never have, and *never* will, inhibit my supply of oxygen just to make some feel better.
Masks worked. They weren’t a silver bullet but nothing was. States that more aggressively masked have significantly lower Covid death rates than states with governors that opposed masking. The way you analyze the data is throw out the deaths from the initial wave in which spread took place before masking and social distancing AND then group logical states based on location and % below poverty level. Also age matters for a population much more on the low end as America is old and unhealthy. So a state like Florida could have had a Covid death rate similar to NC had DeSantis more aggressively pushed masking like Cooper.
Thank you. There’s been too little publicity on the terrible effects of inhibiting oxygen… those masks made me dizzy after 10 minutes. I think collecting those and elaborating on them in a sequel to the Cochran study might be more of a nail in the coffin for this continuing hysterical delusion.
I was born with a cleft pallet and my right nostril is a little smaller than my left. I think because of that it's always been a little harder for me to breathe well than people who didn't have this birth defect. But there was a definite difference when I had the mask on. Plus, you talk and nobody can understand what you are saying.
That anyone was ever convinced we were not allowed to breathe free was insane. It was & always is a matter of rebreathing spent CO2, bacteria, toxic fibers from the diaper itself...not to mention having snot, sweat & other $#!+ plastered all over your face & steamed glasses. The only way I ever wore the damn things when I had to was under my nose.
I couldn't breathe well when I was made to put one on. I never wore it for more than 10 minutes, but my small kids had to wear them 7 hours a day at school for more than a year. And my wife is a school teacher. She had to wear one for 7 hours as well. I don't know how teachers taught in them. Not as good as they could have taught without them.
The masks were used to take away our humanity and muzzle us. Have a friend who has 3 kids - 2 age 1 and 1 age 2 1/2. They were flying to visit grandma. The 2 year old refused to wear a mask, so family of 5 with 3 kids under age 2 1/2 were thrown off the plane. One of tens of thousands of insane stories. Hey mask nuts, I will never forget and I am glad I made you uncomfortable when I didn’t wear one.
It is a pity we have lost the will and the ability to make an example of people like Fauci and Wallensky...IMHO a public tar and feathering would serve as a deterrent to future idiocies....
Re the commenters to Bret's column: You can bet that many of them virtuous outraged denizens could be seen wearing a mask while driving by themselves with closed windows, or while outdoors with no one around them.
Good analysis, Michael. Thanks for this! Love the bullet points of what the NYT needs to do to make amends. I agree that the NYT has a long way to go before they can begin to make up for the constant propaganda they dispensed during the pandemic. Stephens' opinion piece is a step in the right direction, but is sadly lacking in sincere belief that masks didn't work, as evidenced by lines such as this one: "No study — or study of studies — is ever perfect. Science is never absolutely settled. What’s more, the [Cochrane] analysis does not prove that proper masks, properly worn, had no benefit at an individual level. People may have good personal reasons to wear masks, and they may have the discipline to wear them consistently. Their choices are their own." So...mandates are bad, but if we all had just "properly worn" masks, and had "the discipline to wear them," we might have had a different outcome? This kind of caveat in a "mea culpa" article reinforces the people who scapegoated the unmasked and unvaccinated as the reason for the continuing pandemic, and who have no qualms throwing out human rights and democratic principles in their pursuit of "safety" and the "greater good."
I had a similar reaction to the Stephens piece and that same paragraph. This is the comment I posted on El Gato Malo’s substack:
This NYT piece is another one that sort of admits they were wrong while still defending their position.
“What’s more, the analysis does not prove that proper masks, properly worn, had no benefit at an individual level. People may have good personal reasons to wear masks, and they may have the discipline to wear them consistently. Their choices are their own.”
See, masks still work if you would only wear them right. Also, personal choice! (Uh, where was the personal choice to NOT wear a mask?)
“Yet there was never a chance that mask mandates in the United States would get anywhere close to 100 percent compliance, or that people would or could wear masks in a way that would meaningfully reduce transmission.”
"Globally, these policies led to millions of deaths, pushed hundreds of millions into extreme poverty, wrecked the mental health of billions, and transferred trillions of dollars in wealth from the world’s poorest to the very richest, all for virtually no benefit."
The crimes are almost too vast to comprehend. The number of perpetrators involved also boggles the mind. This is why my own mental health might be teetering.
Yes, it’s not just the covidiots who still believe in masks, vaxx & all the rest & would welcome it all back in a myocardial heartbeat who are psychologically damaged. I defied all of it but seeing clearly from the start what was going on & what was being done to us (not to mention what they still have in store) & the bovine compliance has been traumatizing for me beyond belief.
When grocery stores in my state of New Mexico started denying entry to customers not wearing a mask, my family and I wore paper bags over our heads (holes cut out for eyes). This is how we bought food for over a year and kept hoping people would see the obvious, that we saw from the beginning. Our bags were great information boards, and invited conversation, support, and ridicule. Many people would say, "You are brave." We always said, "You can be brave too. Just get a bag, scissors and a marking pen." We thought it would catch on, but instead people started double and triple masking. Anyone with any kind of observational skills could see how diabolical the masks were and are, especially for children.
We could breathe fine, but we could not see very well. We loved coming up with slogans for our paper bags, and loved the reactions. We had great conversations with total strangers and learned that the majority of New Mexicans did not even know our tyrannical governor's name. Friends have told us that people have put our pictures on their social media.
In July 2020 my son checked into his American Airlines flight with his paper bag mask. We kept waiting for the agent to laugh or get mad at all of us, but he acted like everything was normal. He didn't even ask my son to take the bag off when the agent checked his id. TSA, however, made him take it off.
I still believe in good hand washing. With soap and water! Not that sanitizer rubbish. But otherwise, the masks and social distancing drive me crazy. I was instructed very recently to step away from the fabric cutting table in a store, while the (masked) staff member cut my yard of fabric. I wrote a review on Google and complained about this 'store policy'. The reply floored me. It's not a store policy, but individual members of staff who might be vulnerable, or have a vulnerable family member can request customers keep away six feet!!! How does that make sense?? And nice Canadian shoppers go along with it.
I think I wore a mask maybe 5 times during this shit show. And only when it was shoved in my hand in a medical environment. I hid under a blanket on a Southwest flight. I was thrown out of REI for refusal, uninvited to a family birthday party, and screamed at in Wegmans. The cashier in Target refused to check out my purchase. What a rebel……
My mom was in a nursing home, and they let us take her out for doc appointments. The staff was glad to have us transport her, but would chase me down the hall, flapping a mask, and yelling. I ended up on their “Do Not Fly” list.
My covidiot friends/family have dumped their masks, but will never, ever apologize. I will never ever forgive nor forget.
Your 6 bulleted items at the end of your article are spot on! I won’t hold my breath waiting for them. But your book is on my birthday list. Looking forward to reading it.
Which Saint Anthony hath delivered unto us, as written down of yore in the Sacred Scrolls of Covidia, which he did verily retrieve from the Palace of Pharma, high atop Science Mountain.
Walensky is such a snake and dumber than a box of rocks. What master is she serving? Saying “Our masking guidance doesn’t really change with time.” is just absurd given the fact that the CDC had no recommended masking guidance before April 2020. This silly statement runs a close second to Fauci claiming he’s the science.
In fact, I recall that the CDC, the Surgeon General Jerome Adams, and even Fauci himself actually advised AGAINST wearing masks in March 2020 and earlier. We have the receipts.
Nurse "CM" needs to see a couple videos, say of a 2 year old being forcibly masked. And of course our fearless Prez pedoJoe pulling his mask down, coughing into his hand, & then putting the mask back on with his goopy hand. And then moments later reaching out with that same goopy hand to shake hands with some unfortunate staffer or whoever. And yes, that video does exist 😆
My city's medical system still requires masking. I've made it a point to wear bright yellow bandanas, when I've had to be seen, that cover practically my whole face to show how ridiculous masking is. As everyone stares at me as they walk past me, I hope they reconsider their stance on masking.
They'll always exist. What federal agency has ever been abolished? So your state(s) would have to secede, form their own government and say, "You know, we can get by without a CDC, NIH or State Public Health Agency."
Everyone too terrified to live in a state without a "public health" bureaucracy could immigrate to California or New York.
The people that didn't think they needed these agencies to have "health" could move to .... "the free state of Florida."
I recall many years back that the official Libertarian Party platform called for exactly that, at least for the FDA in particular being jettisoned and replaced by a private entity much like UL or ETL currently are for electrical appliances and equipment. Same would go for the CDC I would think.
Several billion masks are now shedding microplastics into the ocean for centuries. Millions of kids are developmentally delayed. Where's Greta?
"Millions of kids are developmentally delayed. Where's Greta?" I think you answered your own question there.
She has vaccine damage...she's on the spectrum.
I know, right? Crickets from the likes of Greta.....
Morons of a feather flock together. Substack is a steaming pile of manure!! Contrast this echo chamber with someone with a high level of critical thinking skills like me—I read and listened to Berenson from the beginning!! I listened to people that went against the conventional wisdom—everything Berenson said was proven wrong during the southeast Delta death surge except his position that ivermectin was useless!
Your trolling is pretty lame, lol. Give it up.
As for Ivermectin, prepare to eat crow:
https://www.biznews.com/health/2023/01/23/ivermectin-efficacy
You pretty much said this in your excellent post: The damage has already been done. As someone who has worn masks for the *right reasons* my entire working life, was educated about mask use yearly, and was properly trained and fitted for masks, I knew that the whole mask thing was insanity from day one. I'll never forget being the only person (that I could see) brave enough to walk through the Denver airport maskless in a see of frightened and paranoid faceless eyes in 2020. Mask mandates and the fear mongering behind them have left a scar on the psyche of civilization that may never disappear. To this day, I still don't like going anywhere anymore because if I see someone wearing their face diaper I about come uncorked. The policy should have always been, "if you are sick, stay home and if you feel the need to go out when you are sick with symptoms, please consider wearing a mask in case you cough in someone's immediate space." I never have, and *never* will, inhibit my supply of oxygen just to make some feel better.
Thank you, Rob! Well said.
Masks worked. They weren’t a silver bullet but nothing was. States that more aggressively masked have significantly lower Covid death rates than states with governors that opposed masking. The way you analyze the data is throw out the deaths from the initial wave in which spread took place before masking and social distancing AND then group logical states based on location and % below poverty level. Also age matters for a population much more on the low end as America is old and unhealthy. So a state like Florida could have had a Covid death rate similar to NC had DeSantis more aggressively pushed masking like Cooper.
Thank you. There’s been too little publicity on the terrible effects of inhibiting oxygen… those masks made me dizzy after 10 minutes. I think collecting those and elaborating on them in a sequel to the Cochran study might be more of a nail in the coffin for this continuing hysterical delusion.
I was born with a cleft pallet and my right nostril is a little smaller than my left. I think because of that it's always been a little harder for me to breathe well than people who didn't have this birth defect. But there was a definite difference when I had the mask on. Plus, you talk and nobody can understand what you are saying.
That anyone was ever convinced we were not allowed to breathe free was insane. It was & always is a matter of rebreathing spent CO2, bacteria, toxic fibers from the diaper itself...not to mention having snot, sweat & other $#!+ plastered all over your face & steamed glasses. The only way I ever wore the damn things when I had to was under my nose.
I couldn't breathe well when I was made to put one on. I never wore it for more than 10 minutes, but my small kids had to wear them 7 hours a day at school for more than a year. And my wife is a school teacher. She had to wear one for 7 hours as well. I don't know how teachers taught in them. Not as good as they could have taught without them.
Well said. I feel the same. Can't even stand seeing the sheep wear their masks. I'm done feeling sorry for them.
Rob I can totally relate. I too become uncorked often. Love that word!!!
The masks were used to take away our humanity and muzzle us. Have a friend who has 3 kids - 2 age 1 and 1 age 2 1/2. They were flying to visit grandma. The 2 year old refused to wear a mask, so family of 5 with 3 kids under age 2 1/2 were thrown off the plane. One of tens of thousands of insane stories. Hey mask nuts, I will never forget and I am glad I made you uncomfortable when I didn’t wear one.
It is a pity we have lost the will and the ability to make an example of people like Fauci and Wallensky...IMHO a public tar and feathering would serve as a deterrent to future idiocies....
When did we become sheep?
Somehow, this has to happen. But I don't see many political "leaders" pushing for this to happen.
Re the commenters to Bret's column: You can bet that many of them virtuous outraged denizens could be seen wearing a mask while driving by themselves with closed windows, or while outdoors with no one around them.
To this day....
What game is the NYT playing here? Isn't Stephens one of their beacons of propaganda?
Good analysis, Michael. Thanks for this! Love the bullet points of what the NYT needs to do to make amends. I agree that the NYT has a long way to go before they can begin to make up for the constant propaganda they dispensed during the pandemic. Stephens' opinion piece is a step in the right direction, but is sadly lacking in sincere belief that masks didn't work, as evidenced by lines such as this one: "No study — or study of studies — is ever perfect. Science is never absolutely settled. What’s more, the [Cochrane] analysis does not prove that proper masks, properly worn, had no benefit at an individual level. People may have good personal reasons to wear masks, and they may have the discipline to wear them consistently. Their choices are their own." So...mandates are bad, but if we all had just "properly worn" masks, and had "the discipline to wear them," we might have had a different outcome? This kind of caveat in a "mea culpa" article reinforces the people who scapegoated the unmasked and unvaccinated as the reason for the continuing pandemic, and who have no qualms throwing out human rights and democratic principles in their pursuit of "safety" and the "greater good."
Thanks Lori! Great points.
I had a similar reaction to the Stephens piece and that same paragraph. This is the comment I posted on El Gato Malo’s substack:
This NYT piece is another one that sort of admits they were wrong while still defending their position.
“What’s more, the analysis does not prove that proper masks, properly worn, had no benefit at an individual level. People may have good personal reasons to wear masks, and they may have the discipline to wear them consistently. Their choices are their own.”
See, masks still work if you would only wear them right. Also, personal choice! (Uh, where was the personal choice to NOT wear a mask?)
“Yet there was never a chance that mask mandates in the United States would get anywhere close to 100 percent compliance, or that people would or could wear masks in a way that would meaningfully reduce transmission.”
Again, if only people masked harder...
Great summary of the results:
"Globally, these policies led to millions of deaths, pushed hundreds of millions into extreme poverty, wrecked the mental health of billions, and transferred trillions of dollars in wealth from the world’s poorest to the very richest, all for virtually no benefit."
The crimes are almost too vast to comprehend. The number of perpetrators involved also boggles the mind. This is why my own mental health might be teetering.
So true..
Yes, it’s not just the covidiots who still believe in masks, vaxx & all the rest & would welcome it all back in a myocardial heartbeat who are psychologically damaged. I defied all of it but seeing clearly from the start what was going on & what was being done to us (not to mention what they still have in store) & the bovine compliance has been traumatizing for me beyond belief.
When grocery stores in my state of New Mexico started denying entry to customers not wearing a mask, my family and I wore paper bags over our heads (holes cut out for eyes). This is how we bought food for over a year and kept hoping people would see the obvious, that we saw from the beginning. Our bags were great information boards, and invited conversation, support, and ridicule. Many people would say, "You are brave." We always said, "You can be brave too. Just get a bag, scissors and a marking pen." We thought it would catch on, but instead people started double and triple masking. Anyone with any kind of observational skills could see how diabolical the masks were and are, especially for children.
I did this a couple of times. My paper bag mask was decorated with carnivalesque wide-open eyes and a huge smile. I just couldn’t breath either.
We could breathe fine, but we could not see very well. We loved coming up with slogans for our paper bags, and loved the reactions. We had great conversations with total strangers and learned that the majority of New Mexicans did not even know our tyrannical governor's name. Friends have told us that people have put our pictures on their social media.
What a great idea! No doubt that Wuhan-Grisham is demonic, Truth Seeker.
It was actually kind of fun, most of the time.
😉
In July 2020 my son checked into his American Airlines flight with his paper bag mask. We kept waiting for the agent to laugh or get mad at all of us, but he acted like everything was normal. He didn't even ask my son to take the bag off when the agent checked his id. TSA, however, made him take it off.
I still believe in good hand washing. With soap and water! Not that sanitizer rubbish. But otherwise, the masks and social distancing drive me crazy. I was instructed very recently to step away from the fabric cutting table in a store, while the (masked) staff member cut my yard of fabric. I wrote a review on Google and complained about this 'store policy'. The reply floored me. It's not a store policy, but individual members of staff who might be vulnerable, or have a vulnerable family member can request customers keep away six feet!!! How does that make sense?? And nice Canadian shoppers go along with it.
I think I wore a mask maybe 5 times during this shit show. And only when it was shoved in my hand in a medical environment. I hid under a blanket on a Southwest flight. I was thrown out of REI for refusal, uninvited to a family birthday party, and screamed at in Wegmans. The cashier in Target refused to check out my purchase. What a rebel……
My mom was in a nursing home, and they let us take her out for doc appointments. The staff was glad to have us transport her, but would chase me down the hall, flapping a mask, and yelling. I ended up on their “Do Not Fly” list.
My covidiot friends/family have dumped their masks, but will never, ever apologize. I will never ever forgive nor forget.
Your 6 bulleted items at the end of your article are spot on! I won’t hold my breath waiting for them. But your book is on my birthday list. Looking forward to reading it.
The Branch Covidians will never give up their precious masks, not even if St Fauci tells them to (which will never happen).
Please use the full, proper name:
Saint Anthony of Pharma.
Lol! Love it.
Stealing that!
Be my guest, spread the Good Word!
Which Saint Anthony hath delivered unto us, as written down of yore in the Sacred Scrolls of Covidia, which he did verily retrieve from the Palace of Pharma, high atop Science Mountain.
Walensky is such a snake and dumber than a box of rocks. What master is she serving? Saying “Our masking guidance doesn’t really change with time.” is just absurd given the fact that the CDC had no recommended masking guidance before April 2020. This silly statement runs a close second to Fauci claiming he’s the science.
In fact, I recall that the CDC, the Surgeon General Jerome Adams, and even Fauci himself actually advised AGAINST wearing masks in March 2020 and earlier. We have the receipts.
Ipse dixit, per the Surgeon General:
"Seriously, people, STOP BUYING MASKS!"
QED
I wear sandals, never got COVID. Therefore sandals are safe and effective in protecting you from The Varus™. NYT-sectarian logic!
Nurse "CM" needs to see a couple videos, say of a 2 year old being forcibly masked. And of course our fearless Prez pedoJoe pulling his mask down, coughing into his hand, & then putting the mask back on with his goopy hand. And then moments later reaching out with that same goopy hand to shake hands with some unfortunate staffer or whoever. And yes, that video does exist 😆
My city's medical system still requires masking. I've made it a point to wear bright yellow bandanas, when I've had to be seen, that cover practically my whole face to show how ridiculous masking is. As everyone stares at me as they walk past me, I hope they reconsider their stance on masking.
When the CDC/FDA ceases to exist, we’re moving in the right direction.
They'll always exist. What federal agency has ever been abolished? So your state(s) would have to secede, form their own government and say, "You know, we can get by without a CDC, NIH or State Public Health Agency."
Everyone too terrified to live in a state without a "public health" bureaucracy could immigrate to California or New York.
The people that didn't think they needed these agencies to have "health" could move to .... "the free state of Florida."
Indeed, it always ratchets in one direction.
I recall many years back that the official Libertarian Party platform called for exactly that, at least for the FDA in particular being jettisoned and replaced by a private entity much like UL or ETL currently are for electrical appliances and equipment. Same would go for the CDC I would think.