I was wrong.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu issued a statewide mask mandate earlier today which takes effect tomorrow.
Sununu made the announcement Thursday during his weekly briefing on the coronavirus. The new emergency order comes as the state has recorded its highest totals of current COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.What’s ironic is that more studies are showing that mask use does not prevent spread of Covid-19, one of the latest being published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This same study also showed that lockdowns were ineffective. Hopefully our governor won’t be stupid enough to do that...again. We suffered enough from the first one.
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The emergency order applies to anyone over the age of 5 in indoor public spaces and outdoors when social distancing cannot be maintained.
What’s ironic is that while we’re experiencing this second wave with Covid-19 spreading rapidly, the virus has become weaker and not nearly as deadly. This isn’t unexpected as that is how most viruses mutate, becoming more virulent (meaning it spreads more easily) while at the same time becoming weaker and less deadly. That’s where we are now.
Are we still seeing deaths? Yes, but we’re not seeing anywhere near the same number even though we have more active cases now than we did back this spring.
Where are the majority of the deaths taking place? In long-term care facilities, i.e. nursing homes. As I have mentioned in a number of other places including Disqus, most people in those facilities aren’t there to get better. They’re there for end-of-life care which means many of them are already vulnerable to any opportunistic infection. They are the most vulnerable and that’s where we need to focus prevention efforts. Instead we focus on everyone else, cause disruptions, economic chaos, and scaring the bejeezus out of the public with mis-/disinformation, and the vulnerable people still die.
What a waste.