Related: “To defeat Delta variant, experts recommend doing all the things that didn’t work the first time” was intended as satire, but here we are today:

A recent, promising decline from record-high COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations and cases does not mean it’s time to ease up, but instead to redouble efforts to keep all Oregonians safe through vaccinations, masks and distancing efforts, State Health Officer and Epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger said Thursday.

Source: Sidelinger: Recent slowing in COVID-19 surge a hopeful sign, but no time to let down our guard – KTVZ

The state’s epidemiologist is literally saying to do more of what we’ve been doing, which led to new high records for all metrics. It didn’t work, so let’s do more of it!

This is incoherent.

1. Vaccines are highly effective
2. On Sep 17, Pfizer will spend the day trying to convince the FDA that their vaccine does not last long and you need to get a booster shot
3. The CDC and other say you need to wear a cloth facial covering even when fully vaccinated
4. In my state, the fully vaccinated need to wear a cloth facial covering outside.
5. Family blames the unvaccinated for the death of a fully vaccinated individual. The logic here escapes me but I am a brain injured idiot.

Does this public health messaging sound inconsistent and contradictory to any one else?

Another one that confuses me – say what?

“My cousin story is very painful: one of my cousins has been on a ventilator in an ICU for two weeks after contracting COVID. He is unvaccinated, like his wife, who is also ill but less so. Anti-maskers won in their school district and their daughter brought it home from school.”

So it’s someone else’s problem, not his for not being vaccinated (and he later died).

The messaging around vaccines is so screwed up.

This was intended as a satire piece, not an instruction manual: “To defeat Delta Variant, Experts Recommend doing all the things that didn’t work the first time”

But then, here we are in September 2021: Gavin Newsom signals more COVID-19 mandates could come after California recall

(Well, it may be mandatory vaccinations and vaccine passports.)

Which means a majority of Americans believe neither vaccines nor acquired immunity works to stop a disease.

New data shows 54 percent of Americans think the pandemic stands to worsen.

Source: Majority of Americans believe worst COVID-19 outbreak is yet to come: report | TheHill

This is a big disconnect between what people believe versus what is known about viral disease, the immune system and immunity.

How did we get here?

A doctor and MPH says this slide proves that generic masks prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus by children in schools.

Face plant.

1. The slide is for “Bacteria” not viruses; CDC and WHO both say Covid-19 spreads primarily by aerosols. Viruses are an order of magnitude or more smaller than bacteria.
2. This slide is from June 26, 2020, and part of it appears in a video released on July 2, 2020. This was created when the CDC said a bandana would prevent the spread of Covid-19; that is since known to be untrue.
3. The color coordinated red palette is a clue that this is a classic poster designed by a public health public relations propagandist.
4. The use of a strawman type argument – arguing if it works for bacteria it should work for viruses, when that is not true. Indeed, during the 1918 Spanish flu, experts thought they were combating a virus and urged the use of cloth face masks. The masks had no effect on the spread of the disease, and the concept of virus was not understood until about a dozen years later. Oddly, this slide is repeating the mistakes of the 1918 Spanish flu response.
5. Note how the size of the Petri dishes changes from small at the top to large at the bottom, to emphasize the bacterial growth on the media. This is a propaganda technique for the purpose of persuasion.
6. In her Tweet thread, the doctor cites the pre-print study of an RCT on masks in Bangladesh as proof that masks work for kids in schools. In fact, the study found that “cloth masks” had no effect, and that surgical masks had no effect in reducing the disease spread for those under age 50. Citing a study that says the opposite of what she says is basically being a liar.
7. She never defines “mask” in 2021 terms. The Bangladesh study used a custom made “cloth mask” that had one layer of blown polypropylene, similar to surgical masks, and then two cloth masks. People in the U.S. are not wearing this type of mask but are instead, following CDC guidelines, using two layers of woven fabric. Even with this enhanced “cloth” mask, the study authors found “cloth masks” had no significant reduction on the spread of Covid-19.
8. She assumes a study of (mostly) adults in Bangladesh applies to children as young as two in U.S. classrooms. She assumes children adhere perfectly to mask rules for 6-8 hours per day (the latter being kids in pre-school/child-care settings). Even if the kids adhere 90% of the time (unlikely), then it takes 10 days to have been out of compliance the equivalent of a full day. At best, this mitigation delays but does not eliminate risk.
9. She has embarrassed herself with this social media post. The subsequent comments on her social media shred what she has done here. This is so embarrassing and at this point is misinformation.
10. The slide was created in June 2020 by Richard Davis, Ph.D. of Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center (unclear which campus but appears to be Spokane, WA) – and is significantly out of date with what is now known. This was done when the CDC believed a bandana would stop the spread of Covid-19. No one, including the CDC, believes that to be true anymore and the CDC says many cloth coverings are not approved by the CDC anymore.
11. Why is the original post not classified as misinformation by Twitter?