The pandemic is now endemic. Last week, there were more hospitalizations from Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 than there were per week during the fall of 2020, a time when vaccination against COVID was not yet available.
For the past four years, red state Americans have resisted government solutions to prevent the spread of COVID, cope with its effects and vaccinate against it. And, not surprisingly for a group of people known to reject science, red state Americans have and continue to spread lies and misinformation about COVID, with deadly consequences.
A picture is worth a thousand words. This chart, courtesy of ABC News, graphs death rate per capita from COVID versus percent of the population immunized against it from April 2021 through February, 2022. In red states such as Wyoming, Tennessee, West Virginia, where vaccination rates barely exceeded 50%, COVID deaths per capita were more than double that of blue states such as Vermont, Hawaii, and Connecticut where vaccination rates exceeds 75%.
For red-staters, resistance to vaccines followed years of resistance to taking any precautions at all against the spread of COVID. A good place to start is this meme created by a Canadian political activist named Gregory Allen Elliott.
Myth: Masking is not effective in preventing the spread of COVID. The Cochrane Review proved it!
Fact: In 2023, a commentary from the Cochrane Library database of health care reviews suggested that when authorities introduced mask mandates, and people largely ignored those mandates and did not mask, then COVID spread rapidly. Well heck, I could have told you that without any data.
Fact: In 2022, the CDC published a study
that found that consistently wearing a mask in public reduces the risk
of Covid between 56% and 83% depending on the quality of the mask worn. LINK.
Myth: Social distancing is not effective in preventing the spread of COVID.
Fact: A 2020 study showed that countries that implemented social distances policies quickly saw a 65% reduction in new COVID cases.
Myth: The vaccines were "rushed" making them unsafe.
Fact: From Anisa M. Ibrahim, MD: "Although widespread use of mRNA vaccines is new,
the technology to make the vaccine has been
studied for decades before the pandemic. Scientists also have spent decades studying
coronaviruses, like the one that causes COVID-19." "There were no shortcuts. Once they knew what virus was causing the pandemic, it was more straightforward for them to make a vaccine. That's why the
COVID-19 vaccine works similarly to other vaccines your child has had. All safety processes were followed and none were rushed."
Myth: Many people have died from the COVID vaccines themselves, possibly more than from the virus. (A poll in 2023 showed that 33% of Americans believe that it is
definitely or probably true that, "The COVID-19 vaccines have caused
thousands of sudden deaths in otherwise healthy people.")
Fact: There have been no deaths directly caused by the Pfizer or Moderna
vaccines. Three people died in 2021 from blood clots after
receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. LINK. These were persons who already had low blood platelet health concerns.
Another set of myths regarding prevention of COVID revolves around things "we were told" that turned out to not be true. But all that's turned out to not be true was that we were ever told these things in the first place. For example, just this week an embittered Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, going off-topic while speaking about his failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination said:
"They lied to us about the COVID shot. Remember? They said if you take a COVID shot you will not get COVID? How true was that? Not at all. Now, every booster you take you’re more likely to get COVID as a result of it. And they would never talk about any type of side effects. Think about this. Any pharmaceutical that is put on the market when they run these commercials, it’s like the first 30 seconds of the commercial, it’s usually like a married couple, probably like 60 to 65, just walking on the beach, whatever, laughing, having fun, because of this miracle drug, right? And then the next 30 seconds is, like, ‘you could die, heart attack, this, stroke.’ They list all the possible side effects because they're covering their rear ends. But yet when the mRNA shots came out, they said with a very short lead time, ‘Oh, yeah, you know, no problem, you can’t have any questions,’ and that’s just not the way these things go."
A lot of myths here in one oration. Here's a good response to the Governor from blogger Aldous J Pennyfarthing of dailykos:
"Shall we break it down? No one ever said you couldn’t get COVID-19 if you got vaccinated against it. Even early on, health officials acknowledged there would be breakthrough cases. Secondly, the idea that people taking boosters are actually more susceptible to COVID is easily debunked nonsense,
much like DeSantis himself. Finally, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention has always been upfront about side effects, going so far
as to pause the administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine
to evaluate a blood-clotting disorder that occurred in just six women
who had taken the shot. What we do know for sure is that the vaccines
have saved millions of lives worldwide and that taking the jab(s) significantly decreases one’s chance of dying from COVID-19."
There are actually more myths about COVID and its treatments and vaccines than I care to cover, but here are some "best of the rest" examples:
Myth: COVID vaccines contain microchips that allow the vaccinated to be tracked.
Fact: No they don't.
Myth: Ivermectin is an effective treatment for COVID.
Fact: Horse dewormer is not effective to treat COVID, and not healthy for humans.
Myth: Hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for COVID.
Fact: "In June 2020, the FDA ended the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for treatment of COVID-19. Over time, clinical trials showed hydroxychloroquine:
1. Led to serious heart problems in some people.
2. Did not effectively treat COVID-19.
3. Did not prevent infection with the virus that causes COVID-19." - The Mayo Clinic
And finally, who can forget:
Myth: President Donald Trump, April, 2020: "So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it's
ultraviolet or just a very powerful light — and I think you said that
hasn't been checked because of the testing." "And then I said, supposing you brought the
light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some
other way, and I think you said you're going to test that, too."
"I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And
is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or
almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a
tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check
that."
Fact: "There
is some evidence that, in general, viruses on surfaces die more quickly
when exposed directly to sunlight." "This is only about infected objects and surfaces - not about what happens once the virus is inside your body." - BBC News
"This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product
into the body is irresponsible and it’s dangerous." "It’s a
common method that people utilize when they want to kill themselves." - Dr. Vin Gupta
Good night, and good luck.
