Wednesday, September 15, 2021

The US is nearing immunity from COVID-19; Why Are Teachers Unions Pushing For School Masks? To Make Life Easier For Teachers, and other C-Virus related stories

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
The US is nearing immunity from COVID-19:
Despite media claims that “We Can’t Turn the Corner on COVID,” the numbers of COVID-19 cases, new hospitalizations, and deaths nationwide peaked and started to decline around the beginning of September. The combination of this milestone, new findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing widespread levels of vaccination and natural immunity, and improved availability of treatments suggests that, outside of isolated pockets, COVID-19 is likely to become a diminishing health risk in the United States.
The CDC looked for evidence of prior infection or vaccination in the blood of approximately 1.5 million blood donors from around the country between July 2020 and May 2021. Based on the antibodies found in the specimens, they were able to distinguish between those who had been vaccinated and those with antibodies resulting from infection. As of the end of May, the combined vaccine and infection seroprevalence (indicating the proportion of the population with antibodies and some level of immune protection) was 83 percent for those 16 and older (children under 16 can’t donate blood). Over 20 percent had antibodies indicating an earlier infection and recovery. Based on the infection-induced seroprevalence, the researchers estimated that there were actually 2.1 infections per reported COVID-19 case.
Now, following the surge from the Delta variant, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases (all ages) is over 40 million, or 8 million more than on May 31. Applying the 2.1 multiple from the blood donation study to the entire population results in a real number of cases and people with natural immunity of 84 million, or 25 percent of the population.
In addition, 177 million people are fully vaccinated, which is 53 percent of the total population and 34 million more than at the end of May. An additional 10 percent of the population has received a single dose, which provides some protection, albeit less than the full two doses. --->READ MORE HERE
Why Are Teachers Unions Pushing For School Masks? To Make Life Easier For Teachers:
Thanks to emails published last week, we know the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) caved to pressure from the National Educational Association to reverse a recommendation on school masking. On May 14, a day before the CDC recommended continued masking at schools, the NEA threatened to publish a letter complaining that not mandating masks in schools makes “it hard for school boards and leaders of institutions of higher education to do the right thing by maintaining mitigation measures.”
This brings up a few questions. Why did the NEA go against scientific authorities to push for more masking? Are they really scared that teachers and students are at greater risk of infection? Do they simply want to use the inconvenience of masking to motivate more people to take a vaccine? Or do they want people to mask up because they like what masking does to the school environment?
Having worked as a teacher through the dumpster fire that was the 2020-2021 school year, I strongly suspect that the NEA wants the masks because of the atmosphere it creates. While there’s little hard evidence that masks do much to stop or slow the spread of the virus, there’s strong evidence they are an effective symbol. Joy Pullmann elaborates on this idea, writing that universal masking “communicates that the entire world should look like a hospital, a fearful and sad place where people are desperately sick, even if they don’t know it.” --->READ MORE HERE
Follow links below to related stories and resources:

Fauci Calls for 'Many, Many More' Vaccine Mandates

Data shows Covid booster shots are ‘not appropriate’ at this time, U.S. and international scientists conclude

USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates

WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates

YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates

NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest

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