SEATTLE (LifeSiteNews) – With most of the country having long since returned to normal and COVID no longer a regular feature of White House messaging, officials and media in at least one far-left city are suggesting a return to pandemic “precautions.”
The Seattle Times reported that King County, Washington communicable disease chief Dr. Eric Chow has suggested now is the time “when people should start taking precautions” after a slight increase in COVID-related visits to county emergency rooms. Last weekend, 1.5% of visitors tested positive for the virus, up from 0.5% the weekend of April 27 (a new low). “I don’t know how high this (peak) is going to be, when it’s going to peak, but taking precautions now is the best way for people to be able to mitigate the complications related to COVID.”
The number is still below the county’s 3% threshold for transmission alerts, but Chow suggested “probably a lot more community transmission that’s happening that’s not fully captured in the data here” because so few people regularly test for COVID anymore.
“In King County, vaccination rates have fallen since last October, after the most recently updated shot became available,” the report noted. “Statewide, just 19% of Washingtonians are up to date with their COVID vaccinations, although nearly 70% have been vaccinated with their full primary series.”
Among the precautions he suggested were staying up to date with (potentially harmful) COVID-19 vaccination, as well as returning to mask-wearing on planes and in airports for summer travel. “We’re excited that people now have the ability to travel,” Chow said. “But this poses a new risk that we didn’t see at the same degree during the height of the pandemic.”
“How many of those visits are people who have been freaked out by a cold after being told that COVID is back to kill them? I bet it’s more than a few,” Hot Air’s David Strom asked.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government recommended wearing face coverings in the presence of others, advice that many states and localities used to impose mask mandates on a wide range of public gatherings. But evidence has long since shown that masking was largely ineffective at limiting the spread of the virus.
Among that evidence is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) September 2020 admission that masks cannot be counted on to keep out COVID when spending 15 minutes or longer within six feet of someone, and a May 2020 study published by the peer-reviewed CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases that “did not find evidence that surgical-type face masks are effective in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza transmission, either when worn by infected persons (source control) or by persons in the general community to reduce their susceptibility.”
In May 2021, another study found that, though mandates were largely followed, usage did not yield the expected benefits. “Mask mandates and use (were) not associated with lower SARS-CoV-2 spread among U.S. states” from March 2020 to March 2021. In fact, the researchers found the results to be a net negative, with masks increasing “dehydration … headaches and sweating and decreas(ing) cognitive precision,” and interfering with communication, as well as impairing social learning among children.
More than 170 studies, plus a grand jury investigation empaneled by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have found that masks have been ineffective at stopping COVID while instead being harmful, especially to children, who evidence finds face little-to-no-danger from COVID itself. By contrast, evidence suggests that the ability to see faces is critical for early development.