OPINION | THE NEW YORK POST – For 14 months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended draconian restrictions on Americans’ daily lives to combat the spread of COVID-19.
The CDC disregarded the psychological hardships and economic losses the restrictions inflicted. Now the evidence is emerging that the restrictions were based on flimsy science or sheer guesswork.
Last week, MIT researchers showed that the CDC’s 6-foot social-distancing rule has no basis in science. If you’re indoors, your risk is the same, whether an infected person is 3 feet away from you, 6 feet away, or even 60 feet away.
So much for carefully standing 6 feet apart in the grocery store line. It’s a joke. On you.
In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the MIT researchers explained that an infected person emits the virus in an aerosol that can waft across indoor space, traveling 60 feet or more.
The 6-foot rule, which restaurants, churches, schools, gyms and retailers follow, offers no protection. The key factors are whether you’re wearing a mask and how much time you spend in the space.
On Sunday, White House health guru Anthony Fauci pulled the veil off another CDC guideline: wearing masks outdoors. He admitted the risk of contracting COVID outdoors is “really, really quite low.”
Scientists have known that for months because outdoor air movement will disperse the aerosol. You’d have to be talking nose-to-nose with an infected person to catch COVID outdoors.
On Tuesday, President Biden announced that the CDC’s guidance is eliminating most outdoor masking for people who are vaccinated.
Truth is, outdoor masking is ridiculous in nearly all circumstances. It’s inconsistent with what scientists have learned about how the virus spreads.
When the pandemic hit, in February 2020, scientists suspected the virus was transmitted on surfaces and through droplets emitted when people sneeze or cough. With no knowledge about COVID-19, they applied what they knew about influenza.
When a person with the flu coughs, droplets land on the floor or a surface within 6 feet … Click here to read more.
