So, Rudy Has COVID
Yep, you heard it here first (possibly), Trump’s big Attorney Rudy Giuliani has COVID-19. Of course, the “liberal media” Giuliani hates so much was warning him this was possible for months on end, but he decided to ignore it and look where he is now. After doing some super-spreader events, he himself ended up with the virus — but remember, he is part of the party of God.
One cannot help but notice how many Trump officials have caught COVID in one form or another. We saw Hope Hicks catch it earlier this year and spread it to various other people, including the President himself. According to NPR, of the eight Senators who have tested positive for COVID-19, all of them are Republicans.
One must wonder why Republicans keep catching it while Democrats do not. The highest profile members of the Democratic Party who have caught it include a handful of members of House and a Kamala Harris aid, and that’s it. Could it be, maybe, that this mask wearing and social distancing are actually effective against the virus and could be a solution to the issue at hand? Especially considering there seems to be a huge difference in cases between the party that has embraced these two ideas and the party that has not?
Seeing the anti-mask crowd try to prove they don’t work has been absolutely wild. Not all of them are as funny as the Plandemic (a conspiracy documentary) claim that masks “unlock your inner virus” — whatever that means, but there are some great ones.
Among my favorites involve a Danish study that anti-maskers said was evidence masks are ineffective. Here’s how The Daily Wire reported on the study:
A new study from Danish researchers found that mask-wearers were not protected from becoming infected by the novel coronavirus more than their mask-less counterparts, contradicting the mainstream consensus, including that of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Actually, here’s what was found:
The study was comprised of 4,862 total participants; about half were directed to wear masks in public, and the other half were told not to.
Through antibody testing, it was found that COVID-19 occurred in 42 participants (1.8%) who wore masks, and in 53 participants (2.1%) who did not wear masks — the “control participants.”
The researchers concluded that the difference between the groups was statistically insignificant.
For the sake of argument, we’ll ignore how that sample size leans on the small side. Instead, I must note how this study that is said to prove that masks don’t work, actually says masks do work — just not as much as we’d like so who cares anyway. For the record, 0.3% in a country of three-hundred thirty million is just under ten million people. Yeah, doesn’t seem so small when you actually put the numbers in context.
This has been the common theme among the anti-mask crowd, they find out that masks aren’t a literal magic bullet against COVID-19 and then act like this is some massive point nobody considered beforehand. Anthony Fauci was saying just this on 60 Minutes back in April:
When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.
(Side note: Some have used this quote as evidence Fauci was discouraging mask wearing all together, that’s not true but misleading. Fauci was trying to prevent people from hording masks in a state of panic, which was actually a massive issue at the time. In this same interview, he does same masks are better protection than nothing and that you should wear a mask if you are showing symptoms of COVID-19. At the time he said this, most of the country was under lockdowns, and hording masks while also staying at home most of the day anyway is simply bad for everyone. While I do disagree with the liberal worship of Fauci, I think he has made a mistake or two and it’s hard for me to fully forgive his actions during the AIDS crisis, the man has been good natured this entire time and has never lied to the public, and that is something I do respect.)
I should end by noting that many of these people do not believe there own bullshit. When Florida Governor Ron Desantis announced he planned to re-open schools, he declared those who were against his decision “modern flat earthers.” (So flat-earthers?) However, Desantis also gave Florida parents the option to do fully remote schooling if they so choose — one wonders if he also allows schools to teach that the Earth is flat.
To put it simply, the most likely situation is Desantis is hoping enough parents ignore him for cases to stay down. If Desantis truly believed, not just that schools did not spread COVID-19, but also that those who believed it did were on the same level as those who believed the Earth is flat, why wouldn’t he just re-open the schools and force attendance like he already has the power to do as governor?
I will end by noting that Desantis is a 2024 Republican frontrunner. As is South Dakota Governor, and diehard Trump supporter, Kristi Noem, who tried to stop Native American groups in her state from setting up COVID-19 checkpoints. I don’t know if this is a coincidence or not, but this was at the same time many state Attorney Generals were suing China for COVID-19.
