We’re on the cusp of distributing vaccines to suppress the coronavirus pandemic, which, the Democrats and “the experts” had assured us, was the finish line. But wait. Yes, once again, they’re telling us, “Not so fast. Don’t even think about lowering your mask!”
A report in the New York Times this week began by noting that two vaccines created by Pfizer and Moderna purport to have an astonishingly high success rate of preventing illness. “But,” the report continued, “it’s unclear how well they will curb the spread of the coronavirus.”
Sorry, what? If the vaccine prevents people from becoming severely sick, why would we continue fretting over how to “curb the spread?”
The point of the article wasn’t so much to ponder over the efficacy of the vaccines. It was to promote widespread mask-wearing even after people have been vaccinated. Don we now our gay apparel!
“The Pfizer and Moderna trials tracked only how many vaccinated people became sick with COVID-19,” the New York Times said. “That leaves open the possibility that some vaccinated people get infected without developing symptoms, and could then silently transmit the virus — especially if they come in close contact with others or stop wearing masks.”
In other words, mask-wearing and “social distancing” will be needed long after the vaccines start rolling out.
For how long, you say? Well, at this point, one cannot get a straight answer from scientists on how effective masks are at preventing infection. Likewise, “the experts” won’t offer a straight answer to that one, either.
In a recent interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s foremost expert on infectious disease, was asked when we could eliminate masks altogether. He wouldn’t say. His answer is frustrating to the point of angry tears.
“I think that we’re going to have some degree of public health measures together with the vaccine for a considerable period of time,” he said. “But we’ll start approaching normal, if the overwhelming majority of people take the vaccine, as we get into the third or fourth quarter [of 2021].”
Approaching normal.
That means, as of right now, it could be at least another year before there are any recommendations in changes to “social distancing” and mask-wearing. And even then, it will be in the direction of “approaching normal.”
When will we actually get to normal? No answer.
This is not unlike Fauci saying just days ago, with regard to the pandemic, that he sees “light at the end of the tunnel.” You know how long he’s been saying that? Since at least the middle of April, nearly eight months ago.
Here’s a more pressing question that no one seems to be asking and that no one will likely want to answer: How many infections of a virus that’s largely harmless to the overwhelming majority of the population are acceptable for us to return to normal life? How many deaths are acceptable?
I haven’t heard any of “the experts” say that there’s an acceptable number for either infections or deaths. I also haven’t heard any of them say that it’s possible to push the virus down to zero infections and zero deaths.
We’ve gone from “15 days to slow the spread” to “stay home a few weeks” to “there’s light at the end of the tunnel.” Nine months from the start, Fauci is saying there may yet be another full year of this, and only then do we begin “approaching normal.”
How long are we going to tolerate this lack of answers from the people who are supposed to have them?
