1 in 35 People Have Covid Now. Coming for Your Right to Wear a Mask, Nassau Co, NY, North Carolina

[appalachiablue]

Daily Kos, Sept. 3, 2024. - Ed. (218 Recs, 111 Comments).

- EXCERPTS - 🗣

Welcome back to some monthly highlights from a place I call Covidlandia. Here I present recent news, scientific discoveries, and medical knowledge that caught my attention and that is of interest to primary care. I try to highlight useful, actionable stuff monthly.
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Covid is still infecting about 1,000,000 Americans a day. - 1 out of every 35 people is currently infected (1 million x 10 day illness / - 350 million Americans). The curve is bending downwards, though, which is good news. Back to school will prolong these high rates, but one well-respected forecaster predicts rates will be down 40% by early October. We will take it, but half of these large numbers is still large. Maybe - 1,000 Americans are dying of Covid per week based on several sources I read, but it’s hard to confirm since hospital reporting is no longer mandatory.

Nonetheless we know that in general hospitalizations are up, as are new long Covid syndromes we can conservatively assume affect at least 5% of people each time they get sick, if not much higher. I’m just going to include 3 highlights from my Aug. report that I think are most relevant to Daily Kos themes: CARING ABOUT COVID IS SOCIALLY AWKWARD. The New York Times had a good piece last month about the problematic offramp from this pandemic. I really do see all sides: the strong desire to have some normalcy, the strong social pressures to let our guards down, the fact that each time we get this disease it’s a roll of the dice, for young and old, healthy and frail.

Five years into the Covid pandemic, a stark divide has emerged in how people respond to the virus, with many now treating it like a common cold despite surging cases and increased hospitalizations. This shift stems from growing immunity, fatigue with restrictions, and a collective overoptimistic fiction, creating social tensions as some still exercise caution. The CDC's relaxed guidelines reflect this new reality, but epidemiologists warn the virus remains unpredictable, leaving individuals to navigate a complex landscape where former norms clash with a desire to return to pre-pandemic life.

THEY ARE COMING FOR YOUR RIGHT TO WEAR A MASK IF YOU CHOOSE. Wearing a mask in Nassau County, NY is a now misdemeanor that includes a $1,000 fine and can include jail time. North Carolina enacted a similar ban. Here are two excellent opinion pieces about this problem...

Read More + 111 Comments,
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/3/2267439/-About-1-in-35-people-have-Covid-now-and-they-re-coming-for-your-choice-to-mask

[Redleg]

1. On what basis can they make it illegal to wear a mask?

Seems like a stretch to me.

[elleng]

4. Sure as hell IS a stretch!

First Amendment???

'to hide their idenity in public'

[appalachiablue]

7. From #5, Nassau Co. news & justification - crime. I read rumblings of this months ago.

Nassau County police make 1st arrest under new law banning face masks. ABC, Aug. 28, '24.

https://abc7ny.com/post/nassau-county-police-have-made-arrest-new-law-banning-face-masks/15236975/

[raging moderate]

10. Could we wear TRANSPARENT plastic masks?

Or could we wear transparent plastic veils?

[appalachiablue]

11. Great idea and should be possible. Why havent they started on this? Thanks!..

I'll take a chance with inhaling some microplastics over serious complications, organ damage and painful death anytime.

[IbogaProject]

12. except for health reasons

There are criminals using facemasks.

[elleng]

2. OMFG! Can't go 'home' w mask!

Guess I'll stay were I AM instead, @ riverside.

[DBoon]

3. I like this quote

A new modeling study in JAMA Health Forum found that Covid-19 precautions, like mask mandates and vaccine requirements, could have saved as many as 250,000 lives in the United States by reducing excess deaths, or deaths that occur above what researchers predict for a typical time period.

“If all states had imposed restrictions similar to those used in the 10 most restrictive states, excess deaths would have been an estimated 10% to 21% lower than the 1.18 million that actually occurred during the 2-year analysis period,” the study’s author wrote.

JAMA article is : https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2821581

[appalachiablue]

8. The reality and tragedy, thanks for posting this JAMA article.

[DBoon]

9. Yes, governors like DeSantis and Noem brag about "freedom"

Their freedom requires thousands of preventable deaths

[marybourg]

5. Nassau County law:

The law makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for anyone in Nassau to wear a face covering to hide their identity in public. It exempts people who wear masks "for health, safety, religious or cultural purposes, or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event for which masks or facial coverings are customarily worn."

https://abc7ny.com/post/nassau-county-police-have-made-arrest-new-law-banning-face-masks/15236975/

[onecaliberal]

6. Nothing says if your sick go die like banning masks.

I hate this world so much.