So, I looked at what was trending on Twitter and was surprised to see 'Stop Getting Tested' was trending. I thought maybe it was a play on words, that it meant just the opposite of what it said.
Nope, it was something that was really said. What? Let me explain.
Republican Nino Vitale in the House of Representatives posted the following on Facebook this yesterday:
Are you tired of living in a dictatorship yet? This is what happens when people go crazy and get tested. STOP GETTING TESTED! It is giving the government an excuse to claim something is happening that is not happening at the magnitude they say it is happening. Have you noticed they never talk about deaths anymore, just cases? And they never talk about recoveries. They just keep adding to numbers they have been feeding us from over 3 months ago!
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Apparently, he has a problem with masks, too. This morning he posted:
Researcher and Professor, Denis Rancourt, PhD, just released a paper compiling studies on the science surrounding the effectiveness of masks. Here's what he had to say. "There were 17 eligible studies. … None of the studies established a conclusive relationship between mask ⁄ respirator use and protection against influenza infection." "Looking at only the scientific trials done in a proper way, to avoid bias, none show a statistically significant advantage to wearing a mask. That's the scientific result." "If there was any kind of a significant advantage in terms of limiting your risk of being infected by a viral/respiratory disease, using a mask, it would have shown up in one of these very reliable trials that were done." "There have been many (studies) and I reviewed them all. And there has been one or two that have come out since, and they also have come out in the same direction." "To just through the idea of masks out in the general population, and even wear whatever, is potentially and believed to be a dangerous thing." "The masks collect and gather all kinds of pathogen laden materials near your face and eyes and nose and you touch the mask and touch the rest of your body." "There is danger associated with that concentration of pathogens and that's why the main world health organizations did not recommend mask use in a general population." "Clinicians properly remove their masks, immediately wash their hands, and dispose of them in the proper way." "They (world health organizations) abandoned that and flipped it around, in the total absence of supportive evidence. They used, what I call, sub standard science, which does not use randomized control trials." "That's when you don't want bad science, when everyone is terrified and you are in a pandemic, you want to have the highest quality standards that you publish and for the policy recommendations that you make." So, they are telling us, you can use anything as a mask. Why? Because it is not about safety, it is about compliance. Do people really think putting a cotton t-shirt over their faces will prevent the spread of a virus? Research and scientific data say no.
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Maybe there will be another hashtag trending about masks.
Contrary to what he says about masks, Dr. Fauci said yesterday
"What is alarming is the slope of the curve," Fauci said of cases in Alabama. He added, "the signal should be wear a mask, period."