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| Photo: Jeenah Moon/Getty Images |
Nobody needs to be shocked that political messaging was going on during the Covid crisis, as seen in the Anthony Fauci emails from early in the pandemic recently released under the Freedom of Information Act. Politicians and officials wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they didn’t measure the effect of their words, beyond merely their accuracy or consistency. And Dr. Fauci, director of U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the past 36 years, has at least been more wink-wink in this regard than many officials.
But the latest furor does underline one thing: what a colossal disaster for public understanding masks have been.
Until November, the official advice was the same that Dr. Fauci gave in a now infamous early email to a colleague—a store-bought mask may somewhat reduce your chance of spreading the disease if you happen to be infected. It will do little to prevent you from catching it if you’re breathing around someone who is exhaling the Covid virus.
Only in the fall did the U.S. government start claiming masks might protect the uninfected too. This appears to have been largely disinformation designed to get more unwitting carriers to wear masks. Even today, the CDC on its website stresses only one claim: “Masks are a simple barrier to help prevent your respiratory droplets from reaching others.” --->READ MORE HERE
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| Image Credit: tracktherecovery.org |
Founding father and the second president of the United States John Adams once said that “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” What he meant was that objective, raw numbers don’t lie—and this remains true hundreds of years later.
We just got yet another example. A new data analysis from Harvard University, Brown University, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation calculates how different employment levels have been impacted during the pandemic to date. The findings reveal that government lockdown orders devastated workers at the bottom of the financial food chain but left the upper-tier actually better off.
The analysis examined employment levels in January 2020, before the coronavirus spread widely and before lockdown orders and other restrictions on the economy were implemented. It compared them to employment figures from March 31, 2021.
The picture painted by this comparison is one of working-class destruction.
Employment for lower-wage workers, defined as earning less than $27,000 annually, declined by a whopping 23.6 percent over the time period. Employment for middle-wage workers, defined as earning from $27,000 to $60,000, declined by a modest 4.5 percent. However, employment for high-wage workers, defined as earning more than $60,000, actually increased 2.4 percent over the measured time period despite the country’s economic turmoil. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to related stories and resources::
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USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
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