May 13th US Covid Data

Any breakdown of the deaths/per capita broken down by demographic factors? At least by gender/ageDecades (20s, …, 90s, etc)? Even better further detail by no preexisting condition vs hypertension, obesity, etc?

Actual title:

Do Masks and Respirators Prevent Viral Respiratory Illnesses?
Interview with Professor Denis Rancourt

Who is this professor?

Denis Rancourt, an eminent physics professor, former anarchist, and author, examined the scientific evidence for using face masks and respirators as preventative of contracting respiratory influenza-like disease, or respiratory illnesses believed to be transmitted by minuscule droplets.

What is the money quote here?

What I have noticed is that Rancourt is wedded to the evidence, and he is unafraid to make known his conclusion even though it goes against the mainstream consensus. His article, “Masks Don’t Work: A review of science relevant to COVID-19 social policy,” is Rancourt at his iconoclastic finest. He concludes,

No RCT [randomized control trial] study with verified outcome shows a benefit for HCW [health care workers] or community members in households to wearing a mask or respirator. There is no such study. There are no exceptions.

I think I could easily be inspired by this Eminent Professor to write a scientific article of my own: “Parachutes As Expensive And Unnecessary Security Blankets: Results of Tests of Parachute utility to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft in randomized controlled trials”

My test subjects would be male and female, black and white, young, middle aged, and more elderly folks. They’d take turns jumping from airplanes while equipped with parachutes, and without them. In fact, the footwork for my potential Ph.D. thesis has already been published on the Internet. My own contribution would be small in the sense I would be standing on the shoulders of Giants.

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/files/2018/12/parachute_RWY.jpg

I suspect the reason the Eminent Professor (at the unlinked story) can speak with such confidence is because nobody was ever devoted enough to construct such an properly scientific trial. It would resemble me trying to assemble enough volunteers to create my aforementioned science article where all the subjects departed the airplanes at an altitude of three miles.

The hyping of the Eminent Professor mentioned his being a former anarchist. Back when he had a real college job, he once gave “A+ grades to all students in his fourth-year physics courses in the Winter 2008 term. These courses include Quantum Mechanics (a required course) and Solid State Physics.” He also changed the guts of a course without bothering to inform the University where he worked. Anarchy!

The puffing also spoke of his being an author. The Eminent Professor has a blog where he makes authoritative statements about assorted topics. Example:

I argue: (1) that global warming (climate change, climate chaos, etc.) will not become humankind’s greatest threat until the sun has its next hiccup in a billion years or more (in the very unlikely scenario that we are still around), (2) that global warming is presently nowhere near being the planet’s most deadly environmental scourge, and (3) that government action and political will cannot measurably or significantly ameliorate global climate in the present world.

Now the Trumpies have another Eminent Scientist in their corner.

Masks are a waste of time.
Global Warming won’t be a problem until the sun goes out.

Moral of the story: If You Trust Your Trump In All Matters, You Will Certainly Live Long And Prosper!

It’s a matter of faith. More Evidence of the Power of Positive Thinking.

“Who is this professor?”

On both the extreme left and the extreme right, the pandemic is creating problems. Anarchism is important, but not viable.

I found this story at Naked Capitalism this morning. By merely reading Trump’s screwups in order, a reader ends up being stunned. Sample of something I hadn’t known before:

Here again, though, Trump’s stamp is clear. It was Trump who chose Robert Redfield to head the CDC in spite of widespread warnings about the former military officer’s controversial record. Redfield led the Pentagon’s response to HIV-Aids in the 1980s. It involved isolating suspected soldiers in so-called HIV Hotels. Many who tested positive were dishonourably discharged. Some took their own lives.

A devout Catholic, Redfield saw Aids as the product of an immoral society. For many years, he championed a much-hyped remedy that was discredited in tests. That debacle led to his removal from the job in 1994.

“Redfield is about the worst person you could think of to be heading the CDC at this time,” says Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist who has reported on epidemics. “He lets his prejudices interfere with the science, which you cannot afford during a pandemic.”

This again demonstrates Trump’s knack for picking the most awful person available for a job. I knew the CDC was massively screwed up, but till now I hadn’t known why. This is even worse than Trump’s choice of Pence as VP.

His own worst enemy: how Donald Trump failed coronavirus challenge

300,000 deaths worldwide, at least according to the official figures. One more thing to correct: official to stop meaning “underreported figures to soothe political figures.”