Look at this Wendy Bell rant from today.
On the same day that Allegheny County announced yet another rise in the number of new Covid-19 cases, she spends a couple of minutes proudly preening about the lack of masks she's seeing while out shopping.
About a minute or so in, while ranting at Governor Wolf, she tells him:
Stop trying to circumvent the law. Stop trying to supersede our individual freedoms. Stop trying to rule with an iron fist and stop trying to scare us about this virus.We understand what happens with coronavirus. People get sick. But people need to be exposed. We need to all become immune to this thing. Stop saying (she uses air quotes here) we need a vaccine, OK? We have a flu vaccine and only half the people get it. So everyone's going to rush out and get this vaccine? C'mon.
Evidently, she's talking so called herd immunity but look, it's herd immunity without the need for a vaccine.
This is dangerous. Very very dangerous. Wendy Bell is not a medical professional and yet she's pushing a line that may very well get lots of people sick.
(But isn't she married to a medical doctor? Have the two of them never discussed this?)
Let's look at some facts. What does the medical community have to say about herd immunity? Well, there's this from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center:
(But isn't she married to a medical doctor? Have the two of them never discussed this?)
Let's look at some facts. What does the medical community have to say about herd immunity? Well, there's this from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center:
To reach herd immunity for COVID-19, likely 70% or more of the population would need to be immune. Without a vaccine, over 200 million Americans would have to get infected before we reach this threshold. Put another way, even if the current pace of the COVID-19 pandemic continues in the United States – with over 25,000 confirmed cases a day – it will be well into 2021 before we reach herd immunity. If current daily death rates continue, over half a million Americans would be dead from COVID-19 by that time. [Emphasis added.]
That's a half million dead US citizens before herd immunity kicks in. That's about 3 times as many as have died so far. Doesn't Wendy Bell know this? If not, WHY DOESN'T WENDY BELL KNOW THIS YET?
Perhaps she does and has decided not to tell her audience. Which is worse? Her ignorance or her cruel dishonesty?
Then there's this part about herd immunity that Wendy Bell evidently doesn't know (or, again, she does and she yet chooses not to tell her audience):
WHO has published guidance on adjusting public health and social measures for the next phase of the COVID-19 response. Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an “immunity passport” or “risk-free certificate” that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection. There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection. [Emphasis added.]
So again, Wendy Bell comes up empty. The sad part is that if members of her audience actually believe her, lots them are going to get sick - and some of those will die.
Wendy, are you OK with that? Or are you still on the fence about it?
Wendy, are you OK with that? Or are you still on the fence about it?
