Follow the science
Dear Editor:
On July 22, Loudoun County BOS Chair Phyllis Randall tweeted that people who are unvaccinated against COVID should “have your living will and funeral plans in order.” What an irresponsible, anti-science statement. Chair Randall should apologize for spreading misinformation.
Let’s consider the facts. First point: CDC data—as of early August, the Loudoun County data on the CDC’s website states that the 7-day moving average for cases is 73.75 per 100,000, 1.67 percent of hospital beds are currently used for COVID patients, zero percent of ICU beds are occupied by COVID patients, and the 7-day average number of COVID deaths is zero.
In fact, there have been zero COVID deaths since March of this year, which offers compelling evidence the Delta variant is not more lethal than previous strains. The Delta variant may be more contagious, but there is very little evidence anywhere that indicates it’s more lethal.
Besides the Delta variant, when we look at demographics, 93 percent of Loudoun’s 283 COVID deaths were people aged 60 plus.
Is Chair Randall really saying an unvaccinated person under 60, for example, should start funeral planning? Either she doesn’t understand data or she’s willfully not telling the truth.
Second point: The southern border—The number of illegal border crossings has reached 1 million with the number in July 2021 reaching a 20-year high—that only counts those apprehended.
How many migrants are COVID positive? We can’t be certain, but Yahoo News reported on July 20 that the number of migrants testing positive for COVID increased 900 percent, compared to the previous 14 months.
If Chair Randall is honestly worried that many Loudoun County residents will die of COVID, why isn’t she speaking out against the public health crisis at the border?
Third point: We deserve better—Chair Randall, like other Democrats, chose a scornful and dishonest approach to addressing those who aren’t yet vaccinated.
Instead of threatening and mocking them, she should have used facts and genuine concern. Loudoun residents deserve honest and ethical leadership.
I invite Chair Randall to put her party’s mantra into practice and actually “follow the science” instead of following the politics. Until then, we’ll wait for that apology.
Rebecca Ratliff
Chantilly
Comments
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Oh, Rebecca. I will agree, Chairwoman Randall went too far with her ‘living will’ comment. Since this virus was politicized by the party that was in the White House when it arrived, we will always have those that don’t listen to real experts. Our country has embraced that being ignorant, conspiracy theory-ridden, and indifferent, is how we are supposed to be. Your use of statistics were admirable, but once you threw migrants into the conversation, you dropped the ball. Last time I checked, Loudoun isn’t in a border state. You complain about Randall being too political, but you used a political trope that the right will use until we all are in the grave. Both parties are shells of their former selves, and we set no examples for ANY country to follow, especially after electing an ever-rotating administration, that quickly changed into a clown show, that dissolved the program that was put together to fight pandemics.
Urgency is always part of a sales strategy so it should be understood as a tactic rather than assuming it is necessarily wrong. Politics and science are grounded quite differently. One is focused on proving a truth by eliminating variables that are shown to validly dilute a conclusion. The other is to force acceptance of a position which may create a self benefit regardless of any legitimate underlying causality. Do we even know how much virus is actually being found with the nucleic acid amplification test, has any of it replicated or is it anywhere in our body other than a few alive or dead DNA in our nasal cavity? The word “amplification” in the test itself should be a hint. Do we know if the new variant affects the test results differently as the death figures on the Johns Hopkins report are substantially different now than they were last year as a proportion of infections? If we operate on 100% safety we would stop driving, stop eating pre-packaged food, stop all medicines and certainly stop sending our children to school where there are many known dangers and very few adults actually responsible for negative events. My point is to suggest we need to ask better questions of our experts by having substantive engagement instead of relying on politicians to be our advisors automatically accepting whatever they say as long as they are in our chosen tribe or wrong if they are not. Maybe we should force our medical experts to tell us how to maximize our immune systems instead of scaring us into labeled groups.
@Bob O.
“Maybe we should force our medical experts to tell us how to maximize our immune systems”
No force necessary. I would think our medical experts are quite ready to do so. Medical advice has proliferated media over the last 1 1/2 years to the extent we are now all armchair epidemiologists. As for maximizing our immune systems, try getting a safe and effective mRNA vaccine readily available and free that will provide those wonderful antibodies specifically designed to target COVID. Thanks to those medical experts for developing it in record time.
I agree the MRNA vaccine has timely value but it was done over a decade not overnight according to the BNTX founder. I hope your comment isn’t intended to suggest people (sheeple) just depend on being given shots instead of a disease prevention focus. How do you feel about the new shot being required by LCPS? What is that actually intended to accomplish? (suggest reading the WHO justification for the shot before commenting especially the behaviors it is intended to protect against. 🙂 Should that be our priority over maximizing our immune system?
Getting a vaccine through clinical trials and through FDA emergency use approval in less than a year is unprecedented. Research has been ongoing for mRNA technology for use in cancer and coronavirus diseases for a decade but development has been blocked by severe debilitating side-effects. Those had been overcome only recently and in time for application in development of the COVID vaccine.
—> “I agree the MRNA vaccine has timely value”
To suggest that it has timely value is an understatement. Where would we be without a vaccine now? How many more deaths would there be?
—>”…your comment isn’t intended to suggest people (sheeple) just depend on being given shots”
The obvious first line of defense against COVID is a vaccine. Yes, I encourage everyone (over 12) to get vaccinated. This is the only way we will defeat the spread. It is obvious that because of antivaxxers, we will never reach herd immunity thresholds especially now that the Delta variant, being as contagious as it is, has pushed HIT to > 80%. As long as people refuse to get vaccinated, we must continue to take other precautions to control spread.
—> ” instead of a disease prevention focus.”
If you mean wearing masks in confined spaces and social distancing? Sure. Disease prevention focus as far as COVID is concerned means controlling the spread. Use of expensive monoclonal antibodies after you’re infected is only 70% effective but why wait? Vaccines work.
—>”How do you feel about the new shot being required by LCPS?”
We could ask the three (young) teachers who died in Broward County but they’re not being very responsive right now.
—>”Should that be our priority over maximizing our immune system?”
The most effective way to developing antibodies that combat COVID is a vaccine. How else can one “maximize” our immune system? Our natural immunity fails for too many people as evidenced by overflowing ICUs and massive deaths.
“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to publish two new studies indicating that covid-19 cases, emergency room visits and hospitalizations for children are much lower in communities with higher vaccination rates. “Vaccination works,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Thursday.”
Amazingly, people who have been crying to get schools and businesses reopened are the very people who defy masks and vaccines. 140,000 children needlessly died in 2018 from measles, a disease for which we have had safe and effective vaccine for years.
The human experiment continues.
Peace be with you. We’re all in this together.
Getting a vaccine through clinical trials and through FDA emergency use approval in less than a year is unprecedented. Research has been ongoing for mRNA technology for use in cancer, seasonal flu, and coronavirus diseases for a decade but development has been blocked by severe debilitating side-effects. Those had been overcome only recently and in time for application in development of the COVID vaccine.
—> “I agree the MRNA vaccine has timely value”
To suggest that it has timely value is an understatement. Where would we be without a vaccine now? How many more deaths would there be?
—>”…your comment isn’t intended to suggest people (sheeple) just depend on being given shots”
The obvious first line of defense against COVID is a vaccine. Yes, I encourage everyone (over 12) to get vaccinated. This is the only way we will defeat the spread. It is obvious that because of antivaxxers, we will never reach herd immunity thresholds especially now that the Delta variant, being as contagious as it is, has pushed HIT to > 80%. As long as people refuse to get vaccinated, we must continue to take other precautions to control spread.
—> ” instead of a disease prevention focus.”
If you mean wearing masks in confined spaces and social distancing? Sure. Disease prevention focus as far as COVID is concerned means controlling the spread. Use of expensive monoclonal antibodies after you’re infected is only 70% effective but why wait? Vaccines work.
—>”How do you feel about the new shot being required by LCPS?”
We could ask the three (young) teachers who died in Broward County but they’re not being very responsive right now.
—>”Should that be our priority over maximizing our immune system?”
The most effective way to developing antibodies that combat COVID is a vaccine. How else can one “maximize” our immune system? Our natural immunity fails for too many people as evidenced by overflowing ICUs and massive deaths.
“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to publish two new studies indicating that covid-19 cases, emergency room visits and hospitalizations for children are much lower in communities with higher vaccination rates. “Vaccination works,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Thursday.”
Amazingly, people who have been crying to get schools and businesses reopened are the very people who defy masks and vaccines. 140,000 children needlessly died in 2018 from measles, a disease for which we have had safe and effective vaccine for years. This is what happens when we reject science.
The human experiment continues.
Peace be with you. We’re all in this together.
—->”Should that be our priority over maximizing our immune system?”
Just how does one “maximize our immune system”?
(I submitted a lengthier response but for some reason it is not being published. Not sure if the moderators are censoring it. There is nothing in it that is either objectionable or not factual.)
—> “Should that be our priority over maximizing our immune system?”
Just how to we “maximize” our immune system? We see what outcomes we have had with our natural immune system as ICUs fill to capacity and deaths continue to climb.
@Rebecca
—> ” If Chair Randall is honestly worried that many Loudoun County residents will die of COVID, why isn’t she speaking out against the public health crisis at the border?”
Or the 700,000 attending Sturgis for a super-spreader event?
Someone said to “follow the science”…
99.5% of all COVID deaths are unvaccinated people; 97% of all hospitalizations are unvaccinated people. Vaccine side-effects across more than 200M people are virtually nil after 8 months.
Someone said to “follow the science”
The statistics for Loudoun County may be glowing, but how safe are you if you travel anywhere (especially where those infected immigrants are)? How safe will you and your family be when you travel to places where people refuse to get vaccinated or wear masks? I suppose if you plan never to leave Loudoun County, by your standards, you would be safe. We do not live in a bubble.