paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

As of current there are no antiviral drugs, hence no cure for the common colds, flu, etc. Viruses are in a completely different field from bacteria. So it is hard get a cure. The best cure is natural immunity where we get exposure and build our own immunity.
The loss of

cancer donations and selling cold remedies would be devastating to the

pharmaceutical companies. As would be the monies made off of vaccines. 5 new billionaires were formed.

National Park

The threat of losing a job causes more people to get vaccinated, which reduces the spread of the disease, which protects you and me.

National Park

Kennedy's book is trash. He cites people totally out of context and fails to even mention the numerous studies that don't support his theories. His father and uncle must be turning over in their graves.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

It is the fear of the disease.

btbg

Are you serious? The covid vaccine neither prevented anyone from getting covid, it did not prevent anyone from transmitting it either. The only thing it did is make the disease less serious for those at high risk.

In spite of that we forced our military, high school and college students, professional athletes and many other groups that were at no risk from the virus to take the vaccine regardless of the side effects. It should never have been allowed to be given to anyone other than those at high risk from the virus.

btbg

Getting vaccinated did not reduce the spread of the disease. It only reduced the severity of the disease in some individuals. That is not the same thing. People can and still do get the virus that have been vaccinated. And, those who have been vaccinated and get the virus can still spread the disease, so how does the vaccine reduce the spread?

btbg

The Cochran report shows conclusively that masks did not work. Try reading the report.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/03/11/cochrane-says-review-does-not-show-that-face-masks-dont-work-against-covid-19/?sh=1e6dbb771937

That is just one link that shows your beloved Cochrane Review has been misinterpreted. Choose what you want to believe, and I will choose my beliefs.

I see a difference in claiming “masks don’t work” vs “masks didn’t work.” I have seen how people wore masks, and it is no surprise that they were not as effective as they could have been.

btbg

Use whatever semantics you wish. They didn't work so mask mandates were not only worthless they were tyranical.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Operationally, masking might have been less effective than it could have been. And the toll on the economy and the human psyche may have been massively excessive. But NOT because masks do not work.

I am reminded of the joke about the guy with a large family. The doctor told him to put a rubber on his organ during sex. A few months later the wife is pregnant again, and the doctor asks why the man didn’t follow the advice. The man said he tried, but didn’t have rubbers or an organ, so he put a pair of boots on the piano.

And your comment does not address your misinterpretation of the Cochrane Report.

btbg

Ok, lets address the Cochran Report and the "misinterpretation." From your article.

“It would be accurate to say that the review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses, and that the results were inconclusive. Given the limitations in the primary evidence, the review is not able to address the question of whether mask-wearing itself reduces people's risk of contracting or spreading respiratory viruses.”

The results were not inconclusive. They showed a very slight difference between masks and no masks, in favor of the non-masked. The difference is too small to be statistically valid. Inconclusive in this context means that there was no detectable benefit of mask wearing.

Even if only 10 percent of the population that wore masks wore them correctly there should have been a clear statistical benefit to wearing them. The fact that there was not shows that they did not work. As to the "difference" between the flu and covid and the claim that because the two are not the same the Cochrane Report mixed apples and oranges, that is just plain bull from scientists attempting to cover their butts for their incorrect recommendations on masking.

Covid is more contagious than the flu, yet the evidence is clear that masks do not work on the flu. The less contagious the virus the more benefit the masks should show. The claim that flu is not in aerosols but covid is means nothing as aerosols will pass right through a mask because of their small size.

Believe whatever you want, but masks mandates did not work because masks are ineffective. The covid vaccine did not slow the spread of the disease because it still allowed transmission. So, everything they told us was a lie.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Doesn’t “inconclusive” mean you cannot say “they did not work?”

btbg

No. In scientific terms iteans there is no statistical difference between the two groups.

No statistical difference .Evans the masks did no harm, at least when it comes to the virus, which surprised me.

Had the minute difference between the masked and non masked group been skewed in favor of masks instead of the other way that would indicate that further study was needed to see if different types of masks got better results and to see if behavior might be altered to improve mask function.

However the data actually skewed slightly the other way meaning that the next study should be regarding the behavior of the masked vs the unmasked to see if that made a difference.

What is really interesting about the whole thing is that states with no or limited mask requirements fared virtually identical to other states with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii who both isolated themselves from visitors. The same with percentage of vaccinated individuals. That also seemed to make no difference in the number of people who got sick. In fact by 2023 more vaccinated than unvaccinated were getting seriously ill suggesting that the vaccine does not last very long and that natural immunity does work.

That means the best defense from the virus is extreme social distancing rather than any requirements government made.