The news came in that hurricane Ian was headed to Florida much faster than anticipated. It’s nothing unusual for this area, and the evacuations began. Those who stay know the drill. Board up the windows. Stock on food and water. Drag the generator out from the garage and make sure you have fuel. Most of the time, all ends well but better to be safe than sorry.
The Centers for Disease Control, however, also has advice for Hurricane preparedness. You simply won’t believe what they say. It reads like the Babylon Bee. It’s no longer easy to distinguish the parody from the reality.
The very first piece of advice: “Stay up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines help protect you from getting sick or severely ill with COVID-19. Staying up to date on vaccines makes it less likely that you will be sick with COVID-19 while sheltering or evacuating from a hurricane, and less likely to need medical services while hospitals are under strain from the natural disaster.”
The second piece of advice: “Pay attention to the COVID-19 Community Level in your area and follow recommendations to stay safe. Take steps to protect yours and others’ health while preparing for the hurricane.”
There is more even for those evacuating: “If you may need to evacuate, prepare a ‘go kit’ with personal items you cannot do without during an emergency. Include items that can help protect you and others from COVID-19, such as hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol, bar or liquid soap, disinfectant wipes (if available) and multiple, clean masks for everyone age 2 or older.”
So they are still promoting the view that the virus is spread through surfaces! Incredible. Oh, and masks work, despite the full debunking of the one study in the world that was once cited in support of the claim.
Also: “If you have to travel away from your community to evacuate, follow safety precautions for travelers to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.”
And sheltering: “If you need to go to a disaster shelter, follow CDC recommendations for staying safe and healthy in a public disaster shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
That’s weird: Biden said the pandemic is over.
Maybe you are staying with friends: “Does either household have someone at high risk of getting very sick from COVID-19, including older adults or people of any age who have certain medical conditions? Make sure everyone knows what they can do to keep them safe from COVID-19. Consider taking rapid COVID-19 tests if possible before sharing living spaces. This is especially important before gathering with individuals with certain medical conditions, older adults, those who are immunocompromised, or people who are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines, including children who cannot get vaccinated yet.”
“Dear Aunt Sallie, can we come stay with you to be safe from a deadly hurricane?”
Answer: “No way, you unvaccinated vermin! You have to stay in Florida and risk death from drowning!”
Oh, one more set of advice after the hurricane: “The COVID-19 Community Level may change after a hurricane as people move around. Pay attention to your local health department so that you can take the right actions to stay safe and healthy.”
Are we talking about a deadly storm hurling its way to the coast or an invisible-to-the-eye pathogen that presents a medically significant risk to 0.2 percent of the population? The CDC seems to think that COVID is the real danger and that its magic elixir is the key. It somehow cannot sell the vaccine no matter how much information comes out concerning its inability to stop infection or transmission plus its extremely high risks of adverse effects.
The CDC has become a one-note samba that never stops playing, giving more fodder to those who have observed the outsized influence of the pharmaceutical industry on public-health bureaucracies. It’s a single-minded obsession that just won’t go away. Not even a tropical storm can divert this agency’s fanaticism.
And maybe that makes sense from a bureaucratic point of view. During the pandemic, the powers of the CDC to rule our lives was never more on display. They need no votes from Congress. Money was plentiful. The bureaucrats could demand changes in the behavior of hundreds of millions with the stroke of a pen. It was a joy to be a Zoom-class stay-at-home government employee in those days.
Now they just can’t let it go.
There is also a dark political purpose here. Starting in the summer of last year, the Biden administration crudely came to the view that states that voted for Trump are also unvaccinated. That’s when the administration decided to unleash its vitriol against the unvaccinated, blaming the entire pandemic on them, and doing so without the slightest shred of evidence.
This hysterical warning to Florida is a continuation of the same. It’s an attempt to shame the noncompliant, even though evidence comes in by the day that those who had a bad feeling about this vaccine, especially for those with natural immunity, had the right idea. We know this. The evidence is in. The CDC routinely and daily ignores it—ignores the science!
This whole bit has become a wild fanaticism that no one can turn off. Not even the president’s announcement that the pandemic is over is making a dent in the obsessions of these people.
How in the world can the CDC expect to re-earn the trust of the American people under these conditions?
Meanwhile, even zero-COVID nations like Australia and Canada have moved on. In Australia, every last shred of restriction is gone. The entire country has finally come around to the view that impressionism was dumb. People will get COVID, get over it, and be stronger for it. Those who cannot should be careful and seek therapeutics when needed. Pretty simple. It only took two years to come around to that view.
And finally, Canada has eliminated its mandate that all travelers must be vaccinated. The ridiculous and unworkable app they forced everyone to use has bit the dust. Finally, people can cross the border.
This is tragic and egregious. It’s also unAmerican in every way we can understand this term.
Meanwhile, we have an economic crisis well underway. What to do about 7 percent mortgage rates, a crashing stock market, roaring inflation, rising personal debt, and falling personal income? If you ask the CDC, they will tell you: get tested for COVID, sanitize, wear a mask, and, above all else, take the Pfizer or Moderna shot.
The CDC seems to have been taken over by the enemies of public health—or trolls who enjoy a good parody.
