Covid and lock downs in a nutshell

[Anonymous]

A poll conducted by the nation's second-largest teachers union found that a majority of teachers back in the classroom for in-person learning feel comfortable in their COVID-19 classroom arrangements.



The American Federation of Teachers' poll conducted Feb. 4-6 asked 600 teachers and 200 school-related professionals a number of questions regarding their respective school's education model during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the teachers polled who were back in the classroom, 61% of teachers said they felt comfortable in their current arrangement, and 69% of school-related professionals responded they were comfortable.

[Anonymous]

Enough with the fear, how about confidence?



On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sounded doom and gloom fears about a potential third wave of COVID-19 cases surging in Canada in the weeks ahead.



These remarks came after new modelling from Dr. Theresa Tam and the Public Health Agency of Canada, who speculated on a rise in cases of new variants. Tam's new report presents a chart showing cases in Canada almost immediately shooting up to astronomical levels that are more than double what they've previously been.



"With spread of (new variants), current public health measures will be insufficient, and epidemic resurgence is forecast," the report says.



It calls for "enhanced" measures to avoid a calamity. That's right — officials want you to live under even stricter measures now.



This is nothing short of absurd. Cases are going down dramatically across the country and have done so for the past six weeks.



Maybe they'll plateau. Maybe they'll rise again. But we find the notion of Tam's riselike-a-rocket-ship chart rather absurd.



They are going to have to do better than one outlandish graph to argue why we need to keep Canada under lockdown.



Jurisdictions across the country have been slowly and responsibly reopening for some time now and that hasn't caused an uptick in cases.



These new variants of concern are slowly increasing, but have done so alongside that drastic decline in overall cases.



The United States and many other countries are seeing a major decline, despite also having new variants in their midst.



There has not yet been an example of new variants causing a major surge anywhere in the world. This latest modelling in Canada looks to us like nothing more than rank fearmongering. Enough.



We support taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus, but there is no contact tracing evidence that shows, for example, that schools and retail settings are causing significant spread.



It's time to stop trying to frighten people and instead restore some confidence in our shaken and nervous nation.



Let's use the information we've learned over the past 12 months to actually devise smart policies that are connected to reality.



Canadians need to side with the evidence and demand a responsible reopening.

[Anonymous]

The NDP in Saskatchewan wants an indefinite lockdown.



The ZeroCovid Movement: Cult Dressed as Science

https://www.aier.org/article/zerocovid-movement-cult-dressed-as-science/?fbclid=IwAR00VPMT2aRnmcbvqecGoMa8w0C7YyumQG0dDB1mWBLiy71EkwlAQ5hQfcI">https://www.aier.org/article/zerocovid- ... wlAQ5hQfcI">https://www.aier.org/article/zerocovid-movement-cult-dressed-as-science/?fbclid=IwAR00VPMT2aRnmcbvqecGoMa8w0C7YyumQG0dDB1mWBLiy71EkwlAQ5hQfcI



Rather than acknowledge to a weary public that their approach has been a failure, they are doubling down and attempting to save their reputations by claiming that the problem is not that lockdowns do not work, but that they have not gone far enough.



There is, apparently, some diversity of opinion among the ZeroCovid crowd as to whether the term is to be interpreted literally, as some of its most impassioned and vocal proponents argue, or whether it simply means a more extreme version of the ideology that has dominated societies around the globe for the past year: the belief that suppressing the coronavirus is a singularly important goal, to replace all others and to be pursued with no or only minimal consideration of the effects of doing so.



ZeroCovid promoters appear to agree that much stricter border controls, lockdowns, and mask mandates are needed than exist in most nations today. Sam Bowman, one of the most prominent ZeroCoviders, claims for instance that the only way to address the coronavirus problem is with "lockdowns, school closures, travel bans, mass testing, contact tracing, and masks." Likewise, former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair's think-tank has stated that the only way to avoid another lockdown is to bring coronavirus cases to zero. China, Australia and New Zealand are portrayed as successes by ZeroCovid proponents, and prove that suffering now brings with it the promise of eventual freedom.



While marketing themselves as theoretically opposed to lockdowns, ZeroCovid adherents actually aspire to implement a totalitarian-style state, which we are supposed to believe will exist only temporarily. For example, Devi Sridhar, one of the movement's most public faces in the United Kingdom, has claimed that the only way out of endless lockdown is a "crude, harsh, catastrophic lockdown" now, the first phase. Given that the third phase of Sridhar's plan entails an "East Asian and Pacific model of elimination" that prohibits travel abroad, I can only imagine precisely what sort of totalitarian nightmare Sridhar envisions during phase one.



Those who follow this philosophy fail to recognize the glaringly obvious truth that suppression tactics have not succeeded because they run contrary to human nature (as well as basic cell biology) and entail severe deprivations of human rights and liberties. They also do not acknowledge the fact that if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) managed to eliminate the coronavirus (a questionable assumption given the CCP's tenuous relationship with the truth), it did so using tactics that prima facie constitute human rights violations.



Even Australia and New Zealand, which before 2020 were considered beacons of liberal democracy, have recently been the subject of investigations or inquiries by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The ZeroCovid proponents do not address the reality that China, Australia, and New Zealand have continually had to implement lockdown policies in response to new cases arising even after declaring victory over the virus, and that the latter two are island nations able to effectuate border control in a way that cannot possibly be applied to nations that are geographically proximate to others and in which the virus has already become endemic.

[Anonymous]

Texas is fully reopening and the statewide mask mandate will be rescinded this week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Tuesday.



"Effective next Wednesday, all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100%," the governor said at a news conference announcing an end to restrictions imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19. Abbott said declining hospitalization rates across the state and increased distribution of virus vaccines were reasons to end the coronavirus restrictions.

[Anonymous]

Texas is fully reopening and the statewide mask mandate will be rescinded this week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Tuesday.



"Effective next Wednesday, all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100%," the governor said at a news conference announcing an end to restrictions imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19. Abbott said declining hospitalization rates across the state and increased distribution of virus vaccines were reasons to end the coronavirus restrictions.

Mississipi too.

[Anonymous]

The big lie behind the panic over COVID 'variants' exposed

'Variants' are the new '15 days to flatten the curve'

https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-the-big-lie-behind-the-panic-over-covid-variants-exposed?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210303Trending-Horowitz&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News">https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz ... ing%20News">https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-the-big-lie-behind-the-panic-over-covid-variants-exposed?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210303Trending-Horowitz&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News



It was the most unprecedentedly destructive decision in the history of human civilization. Officials decided to lock down a society and treat every human being like a leper until a vaccine was introduced, regardless of whether those interventions helped one iota in slowing the virus. Well, the vaccine is here, so it's game over, right? Wrong. "Variants" are the new 15 days years to flatten the curve. Except the premise is built on a lie.



"The US is at risk of losing all its recent gains in the battle against Covid-19 as highly contagious variants take advantage of Americans getting lax with safety measures," read the opening line of a fresh new piece of panic porn from CNN on Tuesday. Never mind the fact that the mask mandates have not been lifted one iota in states like California and have been intensified at the federal level, but of course, we already know masks don't work.



It's the perfect narrative. What more can they do to keep people under their control as roughly 35% of the country has already gotten the virus and pretty much any vulnerable person who wants a vaccine now has access to one? Well, watch out for the new variants that, of course, just magically appeared and were never there all along – they will make us start all over again!



We already know that T cells and B cells play the predominant role in stimulating immunity against coronavirus, at least against any serious illness. So how does T cell immunity work against the new strains? Researchers at the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, tested both people who already had the original strain of the virus and those who had the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to see if the T cell responses worked against the four new strains: B.1.1.7 (British), B.1.351 (South African), P.1 (Brazilian), and CAL.20C (Californian).



The results? "T cell responses are largely unaffected by the variants."



"Overall, the results demonstrate that CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses in convalescent COVID-19 subjects or COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are not substantially affected by mutations found in the SARS-CoV-2 variants," concluded the authors of this complex T cell study.



This study should come as no surprise to those who have been following the research on T cell immunity over the past year. Researchers in Singapore found that those who recovered from SARS-1 in 2003 not only retained their SARS-specific memory T cells 17 years later, but that those T cells appeared to work against SARS-CoV-2 in lab simulations. It stands to reason that a variant of SARS-CoV-2 is unlikely to pose a greater challenge to the immune systems of convalescent COVID patients that it does to those who had a completely different form of coronavirus.



The media is trying to scare people by reporting each variant as if it's something novel to this particular virus, when in fact, most viruses have endless numbers of variants that are generally not impervious to the immune system's response triggered by the original variant. Forget about four or five variants; already, back in June 2020, a paper published last in the WHO Bulletin claimed that a variant analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes "detected in total 65776 variants with 5775 distinct variants."



The media is focusing on these few variants as if they are somehow more deadly, but the reality is that cases and deaths have plummeted in all of the source countries, such as South Africa, Brazil, and England, over the past two months, coinciding with the same decline following the late fall spike in nearly every part of the world.



Additionally, according to a study by University of Arizona researchers, the British variant has been circulating in the U.S. since mid-November and does not appear to have altered the existing trajectory of the virus under the original strain. Clearly, these variants have not altered the natural progression – roughly two-month cycles of mechanical waxing and waning of this virus – that we have observed since the beginning.



A King's College study of 37,000 people during the peak of the fall spread in England found no proof of higher mortality, hospitalization rates, or reinfection due to the new Kent B.1.1.7 variant among those who already recovered from the original virus. "A key question was whether immunity would be lost with the new strain," observed Professor Tim Spector OBE from the School of Life Course Sciences. "Our analysis found that of every 1,000 people previously infected with the virus, only 7 got reinfected and this rate was not affected by the new Kent variant. It's reassuring that reinfections are still really rare many months after previous infection, suggesting that both natural immunity and vaccines will be effective against this new strain."



An even larger study of 184K from New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) for the British government concluded as of January that "we do not have evidence of an increased risk of hospitalization in individuals with variant B1.1.7."



Finally, it's important to remember that if those sowing panic about variants are correct, then it is a self-indictment of their own policies. Clearly, masks and lockdowns did not prevent their proliferation and never will in the future. Consequently, if somehow natural infection and vaccination do not protect against them, then there is no point in continuing any of these policies.



You know what does help and has not been proven any weaker against any variant – yet the government will not promote it? Cheap drugs and natural supplements – from hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin to doxycycline, vitamin D, zinc, quercetin and even aspirin and melatonin. Many of these treatments naturally boost the immune system and/or prevent viral RNA from replicating itself. They work for all sorts of RNA viruses, not just COVID, so the variants will not change this equation.



As such, it looks like the real answer to this problem – to the extent they believe it's real – is to mail out cheap kits to every American to use as a prophylactic, as India has been doing for $2.65 a person.



Sadly, that would unleash freedom in America without lining anyone's pocket. It would also alleviate the fear and panic of getting the virus. Given that tyranny and cronyism control our government and media, the contradictory panic porn will continue, forcing our public health officials to double down on failure to address their own supposed concerns.

[Anonymous]

'Biden Totally Caved': Jesse Watters Says Teachers Unions 'Held Students Hostage' To Jump The Line On Vaccines

https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/02/biden-caved-jesse-watters-teachers-unions-students-hostage-jump-line-vaccines/?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2360&pnespid=lLZy8uRFWxONvH5GE8MPsaHKlp94jdFU_JR2Acyj">https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/02/bide ... FU_JR2Acyj">https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/02/biden-caved-jesse-watters-teachers-unions-students-hostage-jump-line-vaccines/?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2360&pnespid=lLZy8uRFWxONvH5GE8MPsaHKlp94jdFU_JR2Acyj



Joe Biden just got absolutely worked by the teachers union. Do you have any idea what they just did?" he asked. "They basically boycotted, refused to show up to work, held the students hostage so not only could they take billions in more money that they are not even going to get this year but they got to be able to jump the line on the vaccine."



Watters went on to accuse the teachers unions of refusing to work until healthy, younger teachers could get the vaccines ahead of people's grandparents.



"I mean, Biden totally caved. I mean, if the teachers union can do this to Joe Biden, what is China going to do?" Watters continued. "Juan, what if the border patrol union says we are not going to go patrol the border until we get a shot? What if the airline union said we are not going to fly until we skip the line."

[Anonymous]

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's top COVID-19 adviser, seemed to admit Wednesday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention coronavirus guidelines are not entirely based on science.





During an interview on CNN, Fauci was asked to explain the "science" behind CDC guidelines that advise people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to refrain from traveling. In his answer, Fauci did not explain the science, but instead said that in the absence of data, sometimes the health experts responsible for making policy use their best judgement to tell Americans what to do.

[Anonymous]

Concern mounts over censorship of Canadian doctors



https://ipolitics.ca/2021/03/09/concern-mounts-over-censorship-of-canadian-doctors/?fbclid=IwAR20oJI_dsB1sSWSRYnepYAHAydIYTURF9tSs_Fw6kd6glXrqH9t0YOmq6I">https://ipolitics.ca/2021/03/09/concern ... H9t0YOmq6I">https://ipolitics.ca/2021/03/09/concern-mounts-over-censorship-of-canadian-doctors/?fbclid=IwAR20oJI_dsB1sSWSRYnepYAHAydIYTURF9tSs_Fw6kd6glXrqH9t0YOmq6I

A video of Canadian doctors listing reasons not to be afraid of COVID-19 was censored within minutes of being posted to YouTube, says a group advocating to end government lockdowns.



Liberty Coalition Canada posted the video to YouTube on Monday morning, and 20 minutes later, the video-sharing platform removed the post citing a violation of its policy.



"YouTube censored us really quickly, almost immediately," said Liberty Coalition campaign manager Michael Thiessen.



The move is indicative of the escalating censorship for anyone questioning the government's approach to COVID-19, contended Independent MP Derek Sloan, a member of the End the Lockdowns National Caucus.

[Anonymous]

[media]

[Anonymous]

[media]

[cc]

Not arguing positions, but



Phil & Oz are no more creditable than the royal pair .. or Oprah



And a bunch of knowitallknownothing  kids blabbering?



Dimbos, Bimbos, Quacks and Charlatans like that  can only hurt the cause



Like WTF?

"I mean, Biden totally caved. I mean, if the teachers union can do this to Joe Biden, what is China going to do?" Watters continued. "Juan, what if the border patrol union says we are not going to go patrol the border until we get a shot? What if the airline union said we are not going to fly until we skip the line."

Now there's a bit of actual red meat we can chew on

[Anonymous]

They are both doctors.

[cc]

Possibly they "were", but not practicing medicine even if they ever did have a true license.



They are petty reality show type celebs who play on peoples fears and offer only "cheap" drama / sensation type shows to get the big bucks .. embarrassments to their purported profession.



"Embarrassing  Cornballs" would be gentle



Anyone thinks they have even one ounce of credibility,  I suggest they ask their "real" Doc how he or she views them



Causes need legitimate experts to succeed. Charlatans only hurt the cause

[Anonymous]

Possibly they "were", but not practicing medicine even if they ever did have a true license.



They are petty reality show type celebs who play on peoples fears and offer only "cheap" drama / sensation type shows to get the big bucks .. embarrassments to their purported profession .



"Embarrassing  Cornballs" would be gentle



Anyone thinks they have even one ounce of credibility,  I suggest they ask their "real" Doc how he or she views them

I thought Dr Oz was a practicing doctor.