CORRECTION May 23, 2021, at 11:14 a.m. ET: A statement in the below commentary has been fact-checked by HealthFeedback and found to be misinterpreted. The statement in question is:
“Also this week, the CDC admitted that calculations used to compile COVID death rates were improperly inflated due to hospitals counting COVID deaths to include cases where a patient died from some other cause, such as a heart attack.”
The fact-check found that the U.S. CDC director didn’t state that COVID-19 deaths were over-counted, but that her statements about deaths among vaccine breakthrough cases were misinterpreted. HealthFeedback noted: “U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky declared in May 2021 that hospitals are reporting cases of COVID-19 infections in people who have been fully vaccinated, which are known as breakthrough cases. Some of these cases resulted in deaths, which may have been due to COVID-19 or other causes, like heart attack. Only cases in which COVID-19 was the immediate cause of death or did initiate the chain of events leading to the death are counted as deaths by COVID-19, according to CDC guidelines.”
The original commentary is below:
As with everything in America in the current year, medical science has been hopelessly corrupted by leftist politicians, twisted into a political tool to force compliance and increase their own power. The mask has slipped off, and every day brings news of more reversals of previous guidance that was preached by major media as above scrutiny or question because it was claimed to be “science,” no matter how inconsistent or ridiculous it seemed.
From the beginning of the COVID pandemic, it was obvious that official medical guidance and public health policy was being driven by political considerations. In early 2020, when major media began reporting on the novel coronavirus in China and the possibility of its coming to the U.S., health experts minimized the danger to Americans and urged the public not to worry. As late as March, Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” telling Americans, “There’s no reason to be walking around in masks. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better … but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is.” [Emphasis added.] Within days, though, Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led the full-blown panic being driven by Democrats and their allies in major media. Officials claimed computer models (of mysterious origin and using unknown methodology) showed that millions of Americans would soon be dead from COVID and that we must shut down the U.S. economy, cancel medical procedures nationwide to free up medical resources, keep Americans confined to their homes, shut schools, make everyone wear masks and prohibit people from being physically near each other.
The sudden reversal, from encouraging calm to inciting panic, coincided with the complete collapse of Democrats’ impeachment fiasco and the surprising increase in President Trump’s subsequent approval rating. The failure of Democrats’ years-long attempt to drive down his approval ratings – through bottomless investigations of the Russian collusion hoax, Stormy Daniels’ accusations, hysterical charges of racist immigration policies and ridiculous Ukrainian phone call histrionics – all resulted in a strengthened presidency and roaring economy in the spring of an election year. COVID was immediately seized by Democrats as the next occasion to bash President Trump and slam the brakes on the economy. Nancy Pelosi said of COVID “this is an opportunity. Every crisis is” – and the recent book “Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency” quotes Biden adviser Anita Dunn as saying “COVID is the best thing that ever happened” for the Biden campaign.
Even though most Americans dutifully shut their businesses, stayed home and wore masks because it seemed inconceivable that public health officials would exaggerate dangers to intentionally destroy the U.S. economy and provide a new excuse to attack the president, it became increasingly clear that is exactly what was happening as hospitals sat mostly empty and the claim these unprecedented measures were only temporary (“Only two weeks to ‘flatten the curve'”) turned into months of draconian authoritarianism in Democrat-controlled cities and states and were used as a political weapon. That reality also became apparent as people realized there was little or no difference in infection and death rates between areas with severe COVID restrictions and those places that remained largely open. The insistence on continued COVID restrictions and mask mandates, even after being vaccinated, has fully exposed the entire virus panic as a partisan power grab.
Now, as Americans are in open revolt against continued mask mandates and other restrictions, the administration has decided it is politically impossible to continue the charade while simultaneously claiming the various COVID vaccines are safe and effective.
In Senate hearings in March, Fauci’s sad attempts to explain the need for continued COVID restrictions after vaccination when questioned by GOP Sen. Rand Paul (also an accomplished physician) by hiding behind a generic reference to “science” were so embarrassing that Democrats saw the political necessity to shift the narrative.
The mask has fallen off.
Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suddenly changed guidance, saying vaccinated people could safely go without a mask and no longer needed to maintain social distance. This week, Anthony Fauci admitted in an interview that his continuing to wear a mask after being vaccinated was for optics and not out of scientific or medical necessity. In other words, it was all just theater. When specifically asked by Sen. Paul in March, “If we’re not spreading the infection, isn’t it just theater?” Fauci replied, “No, it’s not.” Democrat cheerleaders in major media pounced on the new guidance, viewing it as a threat to Democrats’ continued authoritarian control over Americans. PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor argued with White House press secretary Jen Psaki that the CDC is wrong and alleged some liberals believed that removing the mask mandate could be dangerous and somehow racist.
Also this week, the CDC admitted that calculations used to compile COVID death rates were improperly inflated due to hospitals counting COVID deaths to include cases where a patient died from some other cause, such as a heart attack. The unhinged attacks by liberals on President Trump and conservatives based on COVID death counts were manufactured propaganda.
On Sunday, Texas reported zero COVID deaths two months after lifting the statewide mask mandate and removing restrictions on businesses. In March, when Gov. Greg Abbott announced the new policy, he was met with outrage and promises of mass death from the virus. Joe Biden accused those favoring the new policies of “Neanderthal thinking.” Just like Florida, Georgia and every other state to end COVID restrictions, the liberal prophecies of doom never occurred.
The Great Coronavirus Panic of 2020 is increasingly being revealed to have been the greatest partisan political scam in history.
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