Growing Data Awareness

One valuable and sacred principle of American freedom is the ring of truth that inevitably rises from any cloaking of information - the Pentagon Papers, Vietnam Causulties, Tobacco Cancer Data.... the list goes on  (10 Cover-ups that Just Made Things Worse). 

A.S. sent me an email suggesting I watch a youtube presentation from Dr. Dan Stock to the Mt. Vernon School Board last night.  By 9:00am this morning the Youtube feed had been removed.

Naturally I decided to look into the guidelines for this removal from a public School Board Meeting. The Youtube specific policy on COVID-19 can be found at this link:  COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy. 

YouTube doesn't allow content that spreads medical misinformation that contradicts local health authorities’ or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) medical information about COVID-19. This is limited to content that contradicts WHO or local health authorities’ guidance on:

• Treatment 
• Prevention
• Diagnosis
• Transmission
• Social distancing and self isolation guidelines
• The existence of COVID-19

Note: YouTube’s policies on COVID-19 are subject to change in response to changes to global or local health authorities’ guidance on the virus. This policy was published on May 20, 2020. 

Luckily the internet provides a vehicle for 1st Amendment Rights - Freedom of Speech and I was able to find the transcript of Dr. Dan Stock's address. Clearly this (among others) statement did him in:

"And you can’t prevent it with a vaccine because they don’t do the very thing you’re wanting them to do, and you will be chasing this the remainder of your life until you recognize that the Center for Disease Control, and the Indiana State Board of Health, are giving you very bad scientific guidance" 

One side claims conspiracy theories by kooks, the other side claims government propoganda and each attempts to gain public access and the podium.  

My bully pulpit is about the data and continues to be only that in my poorly written blogs (as pointed out by T.Mc.).  Obviously my bias (self proclaimed) is that I previously had COVID-19 (with documented Antibodies) and feel no rush to become vaccinated.  

Recently I became aware of Mass. Dept of Health statistics.  Ignoring the CDC's advice to not count breakthrough cases (and only hospitalizations and deaths) they are publishing (a bit hard to find though) data on Breakthroughs cases in addition to hospitalizations and deaths.

I can quibble with their percentage calculation as too early to be significant (it's like saying in March 31of 2020 there were only 3,889 deaths in the USA from COVID-19 with a population of 332 million - .001%).  I think both percentages are meaningless. 

However - give Mass Dept of Health credit for maintaining history.  On May 24 there were 3.343 Breathtrough cases with 2.9 million fully vaccinated; On 7/31 there were 7,737 Breakthrough Cases and on 8/7 there were 9,969 Breakthrough cases with 4.3 million fully vaccinated.  You can now compute the compounded daily growth rate of  Breakthrough infections in Mass.  for the fully vaccinated.  Oh heck -  I'll do it for you -  It is a 1.47% Daily Compound Growth Rate since May 24 and the last week was a 3.69% Daily Compound Growth Rate from 7/31 to 8/7.   

NOTE:   The COMPOUND DAILY GROWTH RATE OF COVID-19 POSITIVE CASES (USA) FROM 1/20/2020 to 8/11/2021 is ....... wait for it .........3.11%

T. Mc. (also willing to crosscheck my logic and play devils advocate) just sent me an email from a reliable left bias source The Guardian to the question:  Why isn’t the US tracking ‘breakthrough’ Covid cases?

The response he received from Nao Yachot (Guardian US Membership Editor) is too long to publish in this blog,  Here is a snipet:  

With Delta come many questions that Guardian reporters have been pursuing as hospitals in the deep south run out of ICU beds, mayors and governors reintroduce restrictions and health professionals report increased hospitalization of children with severe cases. Among the questions we are asking:

• How many vaccinated people are getting infected with so-called “breakthrough” Covid cases?
• Are children at particular risk as the school year begins?
• Can people who have been vaccinated still get long Covid?

Answering some of these questions is made tricky by the fact that the US has no centralized system for collecting information on breakthrough cases – because the CDC stopped tracking those cases earlier this year, and is now only collecting data on breakthrough cases that lead to hospitalization or death. In an op-ed we recently published, science writer Yasmin Tayag laments this dearth of information, which she says limits our ability to make informed decisions.

The cry of Paul Revere for data will be heard.....  time and data freedom will ring the truth.  Let both the right and left cry out - uncensored.