LIHU‘E — The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has increased Kaua‘i County’s COVID-19 community level to “high.”
LIHU‘E — The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has increased Kaua‘i County’s COVID-19 community level to “high.”
The state Department of Health reported the change Friday, two days after DOH officials announced rising case numbers throughout the state.
The CDC studies three weekly metrics to determine an area’s COVID-19 community level: The case rate per population of 100,000, new COVID-19 admissions per population of 100,000 and the percentage of staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19.
CDC recommended actions based on Kaua‘i’s current level are to wear masks indoors in public and on public transportation.
Perfect, the CDC which has waffled back and forth with its proscriptions, all unsuccessful, now “recommends” indoor masking for Kauai only. This is a vain attempt to show that it is doing “something”. Unfortunately that “something” is a recommendation which has not a single RCT (randomized controlled trial) in the entire world that has shown that masks, even N95s, can stop the spread of respiratory viruses. In fact, studies have shown positive correlation between mask wearing and negative health outcomes. So, this is more political theater than a “recommendation” based on any evidence or data showing efficacy. A theater intended to ramp up fear among those who cannot or will not look at accurate data. Wearing masks is nothing less than virtue signalling and a show of compliance to whatever the so called experts at the CDC “recommend”.
If these “experts” really cared about public health they would be recommending truly healthy lifestyles rather than useless compliance signalling.
Colin McCleod