The Pentagon Has Turned into a Covid Panic Room; I am Done with Masks. We've Been Idiotic About Them Since the Beginning, and other C-Virus related stories

Erin Scott/Reuters

The Pentagon Has Turned into a Covid Panic Room:

A nonsensical web of policies present in the buildings of the Department of Defense doesn’t do anything to aid our military readiness.

As my son’s school continues with in-person instruction, the federal government, at the direction of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is using the latest Covid scare as an excuse to waste even more taxpayer funds and remains largely remote. The Department of Defense and the Pentagon dutifully comply with this nonsense. Once upon a time, decreased mask-wearing was held out as a reward for increased vaccination, but vaccination rates have increased while masks remain mandatory virtually everywhere within the Department. And now, on top of this, the DoD and the Pentagon have gone to what is called Health Protection Condition level Charlie (HPCON C). These protocols severely restrict the number of in-office personnel, as well as facility use. A fuller examination of these new policies shows that we have completely lost any sense of risk assessment; our nation and national security are suffering for it.

What exactly is HPCON C? Well, here are just some of the most ridiculous measures put in place at the Pentagon and our overflow offices as a result of these protocols (on top of the virtually universal indoor masking already enforced):

• Organizations are expected to maintain occupancy rates at less than 25 percent of normal occupancy 

• The Pentagon Athletic Center (PAC) will open to active-duty military and Pentagon Force Protection Agency first responders only. All annexes will be closed. The Mark Center and Polk Building athletic centers will be closed 

• The 9/11 Memorial will also remain closed with the exception of pre-approved activities 

• Promotion and retirement ceremonies indoors should be discouraged or deferred when possible 

• Food court and concession options remain available with no options for indoor seating

While this list is quite transparently foolish, I would like to expand on exactly how foolish these measures are. Just for the sake of argument, let’s assume these measures will actually cut down on community spread. Would they be worth it? What are the costs of implementing them? Of course, these questions are not allowed to be asked; the Pentagon is instead operating by the absurd metric of “if it saves just one life.” --->READ MORE HERE

I am done with masks. We've been idiotic about them since the beginning.

Who knew that little pieces of plastic or cloth worn over the nose and mouth could turn people into complete idiots? Masks have led us astray since the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As with many ideas and trends during COVID, Dr. Anthony Fauci was a leader. When the new coronavirus first began to spread in the USA, he argued that the general public shouldn't wear masks.

"Typical mask(s)," he wrote, are "not really effective in keeping out virus."

But that wasn't what he really thought. He instead was worried that a rush from the public to buy masks would strip them from medical professionals who were treating COVID patients.

The idiotic part is that no resource, not even masks, is more vital to public health than the credibility of leaders who during a crisis need to ask people to do unpopular or uncomfortable things like get vaccinations that were fast-tracked through the review process. Fauci lost plenty of his credibility before COVID-19 was officially a pandemic.

Americans were then urged to wear cloth masks to save specialized medical-grade masks for the health care professionals and COVID patients. And fights over mask mandates soon spread nationwide.

Now, in light of omicron, experts are saying never mind. For instance, Dr. Lena Wen, a health policy professor at George Washington University's School of Public Health and an emergency room doctor, recently said, "Cloth masks are little more than a facial decoration." --->READ MORE HERE

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