Wayland said:

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Man, these briefing are pathetic.

You have 3 defeated looking bureaucrats, claiming to follow the 'Data and Science' and yet even now, unable to pivot from their original narrative. Which we know that any time that phrase is invoked, it means they are just making **** up.

Walensky and her love of masks... and Fauci and his endless boosters.

And then... the building of the permanent testing infrastructure that will be supported even outside of the pandemic.

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Some on Twitter last night were saying the new masking metrics would be based on hospitalizations and severity of hospitalizations, instead of a focus on cases. Was there any mention in the briefing on what the basis for the new guidelines would be when updated next week or are new guidelines now off the table?

Wayland said:

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Wayland said:

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New Hanover just went mask optional for schools in a 6-0 vote.

That puts the count at 57 optional to 58 required for districts in NC. One more and we are over halfway home.

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Cooper briefing tomorrow at 3pm to discuss masks in school (as we are about to cross 50% mask optional).


Let's take a look at our neighbors to our north.

BREAKING: Gov @GlennYoungkin signs SB 739, making school mask mandates ILLEGAL in Virginia.

He hands the pen to a little girl who was suspended 9 times from school for not wearing a mask.

Suck it, lefty NoVA school boards, suck it!!
pic.twitter.com/mKhViZr2Q4

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 16, 2022

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My prediction as to what Cooper will say tomorrow, is along these lines. See if this sounds familar:

- Not where we want to be with our key metrics, but we are headed in the right direction
- Hospitals are coming down, but need to continue to see progress
- Concerned some communities may be moving too fast in lifting mask mandates in schools - need to see higher vaccination rates among this age group to feel more comfortable
- Overall vaccination rates, particularly for boosters, needs to be higher - need people to do their part and get their shot
- Recommend waiting a couple more weeks before we make any changes to the guidance for school masking.

Given that the CDC has not changed their guidelines yet, I do not expect them to get out in front of the CDC. Cooper and his minion may surprise me and not echo the talking points I listed above, but if he does, I will be stunned. He has never lead as it relates to aggressive policies that go against CDC guidance, so I do not expect him to start to do it now.

As an aside, I was talking to my son earlier this week. They thought they would get to stop wearing masks for weightlifting this week, but the requirement to mask was extended. It now seems to be tied to Forsyth Co. and their indoor masking requirements. Until the county lifts the indoor mask requirements, he does not believe their masking requirements will be lifted. Again, this is a university where 98% of the students and staff are fully vaccinated AND boosted.

Wayland said:

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Daviewolf83 said:

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Wayland said:

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Wayland said:

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New Hanover just went mask optional for schools in a 6-0 vote.

That puts the count at 57 optional to 58 required for districts in NC. One more and we are over halfway home.

---

Cooper briefing tomorrow at 3pm to discuss masks in school (as we are about to cross 50% mask optional).


Let's take a look at our neighbors to our north.

BREAKING: Gov @GlennYoungkin signs SB 739, making school mask mandates ILLEGAL in Virginia.

He hands the pen to a little girl who was suspended 9 times from school for not wearing a mask.

Suck it, lefty NoVA school boards, suck it!!
pic.twitter.com/mKhViZr2Q4

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 16, 2022

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My prediction as to what Cooper will say tomorrow, is along these lines. See if this sounds familar:

- Not where we want to be with our key metrics, but we are headed in the right direction
- Hospitals are coming down, but need to continue to see progress
- Concerned some communities may be moving too fast in lifting mask mandates in schools - need to see higher vaccination rates among this age group to feel more comfortable
- Overall vaccination rates, particularly for boosters, needs to be higher - need people to do their part and get their shot
- Recommend waiting a couple more weeks before we make any changes to the guidance for school masking.

Given that the CDC has not changed their guidelines yet, I do not expect them to get out in front of the CDC. Cooper and his minion may surprise me and not echo the talking points I listed above, but if he does, I will be stunned. He has never lead as it relates to aggressive policies that go against CDC guidance, so I do not expect him to start to do it now.

As an aside, I was talking to my son earlier this week. They thought they would get to stop wearing masks for weightlifting this week, but the requirement to mask was extended. It now seems to be tied to Forsyth Co. and their indoor masking requirements. Until the county lifts the indoor mask requirements, he does not believe their masking requirements will be lifted. Again, this is a university where 98% of the students and staff are fully vaccinated AND boosted.

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Colleges and universities, of all places, should be 100% running normal life right now.

I really think the left has REALLY underestimated how unpopular these mandates have been... just because most people weren't vocal because they didn't want to 'cause trouble' and really did want to help.

But these people have simmered for 2 years and seen how futile and damaging the restrictions were. So outside of the devout followers, there is a large unease with the majority.

Restrictions are being lifted is snowballing and people are seeing that it was all theater.... not sure how they can avoid looking the fool other than to keep parroting the same talking points... which makes them look the fool.

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I am hopeful in the next election that every school board member in Wake Co. is replaced. I hope in the next election that the mayor and every city council member is replaced. Even if they did not support the mandates, they were complicit. Let what happened in Virginia and what happened yesterday in San Francisco serve as a warning. I also do not care if they eventually lift the mandates. I am not willing to give them any credit for eventually lifting mandates. They get no grace from me. I want to send a message to everyone of them and to future politicians.

People argue vaccines and mandates were made political and I agree. They were made political because people are not stupid and they know when they are being lied to. They know when people claim to follow science, are not following the science. There are too many people who now have a vested interest in keeping "emergency" powers in place. Teachers unions use it for leverage and power. The "experts" have gained power and influence and they are not going to want to give it up. It allows them to use their "expert" titles for future gain. I saw a report just yesterday that the Biden administration wants to fund another $50 billion in spending. If the "emergency" ends, it makes it harder to get more funds.

Remember the old saying - "Never let a crisis go to waste". What's one person's crisis is another person's opportunity. They are all grifters and should never be trusted to have your best interests at heart.

Mecklenburg Co. is supposed to be voting on mask mandates tonight. I found this Tweet interesting and funny. Case counts and percent positives have always been suspect measures, particularly with the more transmissive Omicron variant.

When politicians try to talk about some number that we must be below to lift restrictions, you should recognize those numbers have no statistical relevance.

With case counts and percent positivity becoming less reliable metrics, Mecklenburg County will shift focus to wastewater monitoring and syndromic surveillance of ED visits for Covid-like illness.

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) February 16, 2022

One positive from tonight - they are finally telling the truth and recognizing that mask mandates had no effect on Covid spread. I will add that the new health director of Mecklenburg Co. is an epidemiologist.

Mecklenburg County Health Director Dr. Raynard Washington says the mask mandate did not result in a lower impact of Omicron surge for Mecklenburg compared to surrounding counties without mask mandates #MeckBOCC pic.twitter.com/mYr51B0wKb

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) February 17, 2022

As it relates to Charlotte/Mecklenburg schools, the health director for the county is going to urge the schools to drop their mask mandate.

Mecklenburg County Health Director Dr. Raynard Washington says he will attend next week's CMS meeting. He says schools needs to plan to be mask optional by early March 2022 #MeckBOCC

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) February 17, 2022

Packchem91 said:

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Wayland said:

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Daviewolf83 said:

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Mecklenburg Co. is supposed to be voting on mask mandates tonight. I found this Tweet interesting and funny. Case counts and percent positives have always been suspect measures, particularly with the more transmissive Omicron variant.

When politicians try to talk about some number that we must be below to lift restrictions, you should recognize those numbers have no statistical relevance.

With case counts and percent positivity becoming less reliable metrics, Mecklenburg County will shift focus to wastewater monitoring and syndromic surveillance of ED visits for Covid-like illness.

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) February 16, 2022

One positive from tonight - they are finally telling the truth and recognizing that mask mandates had no effect on Covid spread. I will add that the new health director of Mecklenburg Co. is an epidemiologist.

Mecklenburg County Health Director Dr. Raynard Washington says the mask mandate did not result in a lower impact of Omicron surge for Mecklenburg compared to surrounding counties without mask mandates #MeckBOCC pic.twitter.com/mYr51B0wKb

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) February 17, 2022

As it relates to Charlotte/Mecklenburg schools, the health director for the county is going to urge the schools to drop their mask mandate.

Mecklenburg County Health Director Dr. Raynard Washington says he will attend next week's CMS meeting. He says schools needs to plan to be mask optional by early March 2022 #MeckBOCC

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) February 17, 2022

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Mask mandates in Meck gone. Unanimous vote... No one wanted to look the fool for hanging on. Do give credit to a couple of the commissioners for some solid comments.

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Its funny to read the Brett Jensen (WBT news radio) tweeting about this same topic. He's been much more cynical of the local/state government's decisions for, well, 18 mos now, so his perspective on tonight is a little more jaded.

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I have followed Bruno and Jensen for a couple of years now. Early into the reporting, Jensen grew very frustrated with how Cooper would only take questions from the media members that would play along with Cooper and his actions. Cooper never took a single question from Jensen the entire time the press conferences were held remotely. Jensen would be the first to join the conference call and he was never called on to ask a single question. When they finally allowed reporters to be present, Jensen traveled to Raleigh and at that press conference, he was able to get one question into Cooper.

Why did Cooper avoid Jensen for all those months? What did he have to hide? Why was his press secretary afraid of allowing Jensen to ask a single question?

The reason is they knew Jensen would ask questions that did not play along with their agenda. They needed to control the message and they had willing media members who would enable them to control the message. Jensen knew what they were doing. He saw through it very early in the pandemic. They could not afford to have Jensen embarrass Cooper in his own press conference.

Bruno has also been very fair in his reporting and has tried to remain balanced. He was not as aggressive as Jensen, but he was also very fair in his reporting. I have a lot of respect for how he has conducted himself. I can not say the same thing for anyone from the News and Observer or from WRAL. They have been absolutely horrible and I blame them for stocking a lot of fear and anxiety among the general public.

I was struck by a comment made by one of the Mecklenburg commissioners tonight during the public comment section. Bruno reported the following:

"There are people who are terrified to go outside and there has to be respect."

Do you know what? They are right. There are a lot of people who are fully vaccinated and they are scared to go out of their house. They believe there risk of hospitalization and dying is much higher than it actually is. They can not make an accurate risk assessment, since they do not have the information they need to make a sound decision. Who do I blame. I blame the news media. I blame the media that have stocked fear and sold panic for over two years. A media that would rather focus on cases and deaths than the vaccines and the ability of the vaccines to lower the risk of severe illness.

I blame many of the healthcare leaders who have refused to recognize prior infection immunity. Leaders who have done a horrible job of explaining that a vaccine offers much better protection against severe illness than any mask ever could provide. One of the worst things we could have done last year was to require fully vaccinated people to wear a mask - in some cases both indoors AND outdoors. I said this last year when mask mandates were put back into effect and I believe it to be true today. What message did this send? It told people that vaccines do not work to protect you, but a piece of cloth in front of your health will protect you. This is what people heard and it was horrible and did tremendous damage.

So, who can blame them for being afraid. The messaging from healthcare professionals, politicians, and the mainstream media has been horrible. it has done a tremendous amount of damage to people and their psyche. I have sympathy for these people - for the people who are scared to go outside without a mask. Some of these people will take months and years to feel safe again.

This is why I resist criticizing people who wear a mask. It is their choice and I understand why many do this. They are scared. We do need to show empathy to these people and try to help them feel secure. Respect their decision to mask and at the same time, they need to respect and not fear the people who go without a mask. .

Just like requirements for my son's heavily vaccinated school, here's a report of another university with ridiculous Covid policies. These policies seemed more of one where they are touting their virtues to their big money donors, alumni, and prospective students than they do in actually trying to protect the health of the students and faculty. They act like Covid has an end point and if we only mask harder, Covid would vanish from the planet.

My tripled vax'd, COVID-recovered, PCR-tested, masked son in college w/ a 99% vax rate got to see the inside of the University's dining hall for 1st time in *2 yrs* last week.

Today? It closed again. Student dining is back to *outside* only - or alone. Socializing limited ...🧵 pic.twitter.com/p53tc41FLz

— Lucy McBride, MD (@drlucymcbride) February 17, 2022

Wayland said:

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MORE: Sources close to @NC_Governor tell @ABC11_WTVD that in encouraging end to “local” mask mandates - that includes a call for school districts to make masks optional. #coronavirusNC #COVID19 #ncpol

— Jonah Kaplan (@KaplanABC11) February 17, 2022

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I do think these tweets are accurate. In the comments from the Mecklenburg Co. Commissioner meeting last night (the one where they approved removing indoor mask mandates), the health director made the comment that he had reviewed his recommendation to drop the masking requirement with the local hospitals AND NCDHHS. He said all were in agreement. This is what gives me confidence Cooper will call for an end to indoor mask mandates in his update today. With Mecklenburg Co. moving to end indoor mask mandates, it will be hard for all of the other counties to keep their mandate. The two outliers could be Durham Co. and Orange Co. I think Wake Co. will have to make the move, now that Mecklenburg Co. has made the move. Durham Co. has marched to a different drummer through the entire pandemic and they could continue to do so.

So, the director of the CDC admits they are using cherry-picked data to justify the masking of kids in schools and are not considering other available data and despite this admission, they have no plans to change their guidance that kids in school need to be masked.

What I take from this is - the CDC is a political organization and are taking direction from other political organizations (ie., teacher's unions). They have absolutely zero credibility anymore and should be ignored by people responsible for making healthcare policies.

In a private Congressional meeting CDC director says she won’t change school mask guidance. Her comments lack acknowledgment at how agency guidance impacts policy at local level, but only in some areas /1https://t.co/7I8SpKAwoX per @robbysoave

— David Zweig (@davidzweig) February 17, 2022

Now we get to see if Wake Co. and some of the other large county school systems act on this guidance on schools or if they continue to dig in their heels and keep school mask mandates. Please note, they now say schools are "lower-risk" settings. Something we have known, since vaccinations for teachers were made available. Finally politicians are catching up to the science.

I am waiting for the comments on Twitter that start of with, "but the CDC says."

BREAKING: North Carolina’s new COVID guidance for schools is out, recommending districts “consider moving to voluntary masking…as universal masking is a less important tool in lower-risk settings like schools.”

Masks still recommended after exposure and for those at-risk.@WRAL pic.twitter.com/KOaEvcDNXg

— Keenan Willard (@KeenanWRAL) February 17, 2022