'Repeat After Me'
#38 Candidates on the ballot for Nov. 8 elections count on voter amnesia and alternate realities to overcome COVID records
Introduction: The Alex Jones trial verdict, requiring him to pay $965 million to Sandy Hook families, shows fabricating stories out of thin air about gun violence victims isn’t popular with a broad swath of Americans.
And even politicians who were “tough” on COVID, denying the seriousness of it, discouraging countermeasures — as if the politicians themselves could kick the behind of RNA virus aerosols — backed off. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro heads to a runoff election this weekend. And when it looked like he might not make it even to this far, Bolsonaro issued a public mea culpa:
Sep 19 [Translated: ] Brazil: Bolsonaro's mea culpa for his slippages on the Covid (Le Figaro) - [Translated:] Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he regretted certain sweeping statements on the Covid-19, a rare mea culpa in the middle of the electoral campaign, three weeks before the presidential election.
Also mentioning COVID less frequently last month was Gov. Ron DeSantis. But debate moderators days ago brought up the pandemic disease, and he committed to his original COVID positions—find more on that below.
**To prepare for the approaching holidays, there will be an extra issue next week covering CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, among other topics.**
Contents:
Tactic of the Month
TikTok Ascendant
Misinformation Dilutes Ron DeSantis’ COVID Extremism
=>Misinformation: the “Lowry Meme”
=>Florida’s, Trump’s, DeSantis’ and Lapado’s Records on COVID
LongCOVID Tests & Treatments
Rand Paul Advises Medical Students Spread Disinformation
Tactic of the Month
Note: the “Great Barrington Declaration” group funded partly by Koch industries has formed a news outlet and employs the GBD signatories. That outlet is called “The Brownstone Institute”.
Sep 2011 Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (GoodReads) - “A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.”
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PREBUNK: New York City’s hospitals were in fact quite overwhelmed, especially in April 2020.
Oct 13 New York City’s Hospitals Were Not Overwhelmed in Spring 2020 (Brownstone Institute) - “Repeat after me: New York City's emergency rooms were not overwhelmed by visits in spring 2020. In fact, they were busier during the 2017-2018 flu season than they were at any point between lockdown orders and January 2022s omicron surge.”
DEBUNK: Many candidates on the ballot Nov. 8 are running on this amnesia platform, that schools should never have shut down while we awaited a COVID vaccine.
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TikTok Ascendant
Because TikTok is all video and no text, and shortens attention spans more so than long YouTube videos, it is easier to bypass viewers’ critical thinking faculties using this medium. “Prebunking” is the most effective method to inoculate people from misinformation and disinformation. But disinformation actors can inoculate viewers from truth using the same “pre” technique. We’re in “Cold War II”, and this war involves many a race to deliver one’s narrative to pre-literate and regressed-literate viewers before opponents or enemies do. (For more on video vs. text, see the “Secondary Orality” issue of TracingCOVID published July 31.)
Oct 27 Inside Democrats’ elaborate attempt to woo TikTok influencers (Washington Post) - “We felt very excited, very optimistic, Spehar said. A lot of the creators talked about how they didn’t get a lot of civics education in school. They were excited to learn about the structure of government and see it in person.”
Oct 26 China-Linked Internet Trolls Try Fueling Divisions in U.S. Midterms, Researchers Say (Wall Street Journal) - “Internet trolls linked to China are trying to fuel political division and discord in the U.S. ahead of the November midterm elections, suggesting Beijing is interested in meddling in American politics after largely abstaining during previous contests, according to researchers at Alphabet Inc.s Google unit. The efforts, which also include attempts to create rifts between the U.S. and its European allies around the war in Ukraine, appear to have had minimal impact so far, the researchers said.”
Oct 22 How an alarming amount of monkeypox misinformation spread on TikTok (Toronto Star) - “They always fit into this one basket. If you think vaccines don’t work, you think monkeypox is a conspiracy, that climate change isn’t real, you can just go down the list and tick the boxes.”
Oct 13 More Americans are getting news on TikTok, bucking the trend on other social media sites (Pew Research) - “In just two years, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has roughly tripled, from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022.”
Oct 24 Op-Ed: Misleading political TV ads are filling up Californias news deserts (Los Angeles Times) - “Since 2004, California has lost 24% of its newspapers and 14 California counties are essentially news deserts: places that have no local news or are severely under-resourced for local news.”
Misinformation Dilutes Ron DeSantis’ COVID Extremism
=>Misinformation: the “Lowry Meme”
PREBUNK: The misinformation in the following article by pundit Rich Lowry implies DeSantis was less draconian than other governors when it came to ordering COVID mitigations. But in fact, DeSantis is a “lightning rod” because he was the most extreme of the anti-mask governors, punishing schools who ordered mask mandates. And in appointing Surgeon General Ron Lapado, DeSantis is more anti-vaccine than President Trump.
May 24 Republicans Need a New Leader. They’re Looking to Florida (New York Times) - "The broad parameters of his strategy recognize there’s a balance between mitigation and its social and economic costs; keep the schools open; don’t force students to wear masks have now become widely accepted. Thanks to his Covid response, Mr. DeSantis attained a status that is invaluable in Republican politics that of a lightning rod."
DEBUNK: For starters, the column was not labeled “Opinion” which is the common lexicon’s term to indicate it’s a partisan article. This is a fast-changing media environment and even literate young and middle-aged readers, all the way through GenX, were not taught in school to differentiate between these labels, but learned by doing to recognize “Editorial” and “Opinion” versus plain objective articles. Instead only the most media-literate readers will catch the author’s name as a Republican pundit, and decipher the meaning of the New York Times’ alternative label “Guest Essay”. More importantly, DeSantis is a “lightning rod” (Lowry’s description) in his state because he withheld money from public schools which implemented temporary mask mandates, but left private schools to do as they wished. He threatened to fine the Special Olympics over $20 million for requiring athletes be vaccinated, then celebrated from his governor’s website when they backed down.
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PREBUNK: After Lowry’s article appeared in the New York Times, the meme – that DeSantis is a saner version of Donald Trump when it comes to COVID – gained unearned legitimacy. Here is a column in the San Francisco Chronicle comparing DeSantis’ COVID record to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s as equally intense, but politically opposite:
Jul 17 The 2024 shadow campaign heats up: Gov. French Laundry vs. Gov. DeathSantis (San Francisco Chronicle) - “DeSantis ordered schools to reopen in fall 2020, while Newsom said schools could open then if their infection rates merited it. Among all states, Florida had the third-most in-person school days during the pandemic; California ranked last, according to the school tracking site Burbio, DeSantis dismissed mask and vaccine mandates, while Newsom encouraged them.”
DEBUNK: While the subsequent sentence in the San Francisco Chronicle article attempted to blend the truth back in, the phrase from the above clip, “dismissed mask and vaccine mandates”, enhances the lingering false impression from the Lowry meme. The meme falsely waters down DeSantis as hands-off on COVID mitigations, and permissive in allowing local districts to make their own rules. But as the next section’s clips show, even before juvenile vaccines were approved, DeSantis’ administration forbade immunocompromised teachers from Zoom-teaching while punishing schools which called for easy-to-follow, temporary, no-brainer indoor mask policies. The consequences were fatal. This year, DeSantis recruited a doctor to be state surgeon general who is now discouraging Black men and all males under 39 from getting the COVID vaccine. Oddly, DeSantis’ opponent Charlie Crist provides no press contact email on his website.
=>Florida’s, Trump’s, DeSantis’ and Lapado’s Records on COVID
Jan 14 2021 Florida mum on contact tracing success as cases continue to surge (WPTV 5 NBC West Palm Beach) - “The Florida Department of Health wouldn't provide any information to the press. But Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said contact tracing is ‘failing’ due to a fully-staffed yet ‘terrible program’. He receives reports every two weeks and sees a consistent rate of less than 50% of cases being reached within two days.”
Aug 10 2021 10 States Have School Mask Mandates While 8 Forbid Them (Pew Trusts) -
Aug 21 2021 Donald Trump Booed at Alabama Rally After Encouraging Crowd to Get COVID-19 Vaccine (Newsweek) - "’I believe totally in your freedoms, I do, you gotta do what you gotta do, but I recommend take the vaccines. I did it. It's good,’ he said, drawing boos from the crowd of supporters.”
Apr 23 2020 Trump Criticizes Gov. Brian Kemp for Decision to Reopen Georgia (New York Times) -
Dec 23 2020 Why are nursing home COVID deaths doubling in Florida? Advocates blame testing (Miami Herald) - On Tuesday, AARP released a report that shows that the COVID-19 death rate among Florida nursing home residents doubled in the three weeks around the Thanksgiving holiday, and infections continue to climb among the states most vulnerable residents. The death toll spike was so alarming that AARP decided to report on the data rather than wait for its scheduled monthly release on Jan. 10.
Aug 25 2021 A Florida teacher who couldn't get vaccinated because of her cancer treatment died of COVID-19. Her union says she caught it from her classroom, which had no mask mandate. (Yahoo! News) - “Last year, Peterson worked remotely, but her sister said she was forced to return to in-person learning this school year, even though she's immunocompromised. ‘With all the COVID cases this year and her medical situation, she should have been a virtual teacher this year. The school didn't offer that,’ Peterson's sister told The Ledger.”
Sep 05 2021 15 Miami-Dade Public School Staff Members Die Of COVID In Just 10 Days (Yahoo! News) - Miami-Dade is the largest school district in the state and one of a handful there that has enacted a mask mandate in defiance of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “The number of lives that teacher Abe Coleman, 55, impacted are countless. So many young men had the benefit of him intervening in their lives and pointing them in the right direction, Marcus Bright, who works with a local education program 5000 Role Models of Excellence, told NBC-6 TV.”
Sep 07 2021 Parents Of Children With Disabilities Join The Legal Battle Over Masks In Schools (NPR) - “In a separate lawsuit, a Florida judge has already ruled that DeSantis cannot enforce a ban on mask mandates. Nonetheless, the governor is withholding money from two school districts that are requiring face coverings.”
Oct 11 2021 There’s not much tracing in Florida’s COVID-19 contact tracing program | The state once had 4,400 people involved in calling those who test positive, but it leaves to patients the task of reaching out to their contacts. (Tampa Bay Times) - While contact tracing was a mess everywhere, it appears the DeSantis administration spent an enormous amount of money outsourcing the job to a private firm which was either too overwhelmed by unmitigated virus spread to carry out the duties, or too cowed by authorities, or too indifferent.
Oct 27 2021 Florida Surgeon General Ladapo was rushed into UF College of Medicine job, emails show (Tallahassee Democrat) - “Top brass at the University of Florida College of Medicine fast-tracked the hiring of Dr. Joseph Ladapo, knowing that Gov. Ron DeSantis was eyeing him for the position of state surgeon general, according to emails obtained by the USA TODAY Network-Florida.”
Apr 02 University Of Florida Faces Another Political Flap Over Hiring Of DeSantis Appointee (Forbes) - “Only days after what’s now being described as a rushed process that skirted, if not violated, standard UF hiring procedures, Ladapo was tabbed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to be the state’s surgeon general and Secretary of the Florida Department of Health.” “A report submitted by an ad hoc UF Faculty Senate committee this week said the process used to hire Ladapo was marked by ‘numerous irregularities’, and that it ‘appeared to violate the spirit, and in review the exact letter, of UF hiring regulations and procedures’, particularly in the vital role faculty play in evaluating the qualifications of their peers."
Jun 29 Ladapo tells Congress that Florida decision could limit kids vaccine access (Tampa Bay Times) - “Ladapo doubled down on the Florida Department of Health’s official guidance that healthy children younger than 16 are at ‘little to no risk of severe illness complications from COVID-19’ contrary to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics.”
Oct 10 Feds rebuke Florida surgeon general’s advice to young men on COVID vaccine (Twin Cities Pioneer Press) -
Oct 11 Some scientists raise questions about new COVID-19 vaccine guidance from Florida surgeon general (FOX 13 WTVT Tampa Bay) - He is advising against the mRNA vaccines for men ages 18-39, citing an increased risk for cardiac death, but some health experts are coming out strongly against the new recommendation.
Oct 12 Treasury Department looking into use of COVID money for DeSantis migrant flights (Tampa Bay Times) -
Oct 13 Letters: Florida surgeon general needs to do the math on vaccines (Tampa Bay Times) - “Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has changed Florida’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccination recommendations for men between 18 and 39, citing data that shows nine men in Florida in that age group happened to die of cardiac-related reasons after vaccination. And yet, COVID has killed 1,159 men in Florida in that age group 1,878 if you include deaths involving COVID and pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Oct 27 Sweden’s laissez-faire COVID approach failed, then Florida copied it | Opinion (Sun Sentinel) - “In reality, though, only later in 2021 did a more laissez-faire approach to COVID consume Florida after measures by local governments in place to mitigate COVIDs spread were prohibited by DeSantis via executive orders and law.”
LongCOVID Test & Treatments
Oct 13 It's in the blood: Researchers discover new way to diagnose long-COVID (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) - “The team at Lawson Health Research Institute found 'unique blood biomarkers’ in long COVID patients and are now working to develop a first-of-its-kind blood test for wider use. The discovery could lead to new treatments and medications for long COVID patients, researchers say.”
Oct 14 I’m going to get there: the slow path to recovery from long Covid (Guardian) - “As of July, Mutesva had taken four courses of the drug. Six weeks after the last course, her symptoms had not come back. It may be the breakthrough she has been waiting for. ‘I’m not 100%, but Im 90% better, she says.’”
Sep 13 The Long Haul – Chicago Magazine (Chicago Magazine) - “There is brand-new data showing that if you’ve been double vaccinated and boosted, then the risk of developing long COVID, if you get COVID, is probably more like 16, 17 percent.”
Rand Paul Advises Medical Students Spread Disinformation
PREBUNK: Spreading misinformation by accident happens all the time. Spreading it deliberately is to spread disinformation. While Kentucky Senator Rand Paul advises students in the clip to gain a competitive edge in the medical school grading curve by “misinformation” he’s in fact advising them to spread disinformation. Also, spreading disinformation often is an act of fraud, which is illegal.
Sep 09 2013 2013 BRI Lecture Series: Rand Paul at University of Louisville (Benjamin Rush Institute YouTube Channel) - "I never, ever cheated. I don't condone cheating. But I would sometimes spread misinformation" in medical school to bend the grade curve in his friends' favor. "One time we were in the library studying for a path test. We started spreading a rumor that we knew what was on the test and that it was definitely all about the liver" "So we tried to trick all of our competing students into over-studying for the liver and not studying for the kidney." "So that's my advice: misinformation works [laughter] try to trick your opponents into studying for the [inaudible] [laughter]"
DEBUNK: Without the ability to mind-read, it’s hard to determine how far he advises students to carry this habit.
Aug 12 2021 Rand Paul discloses 16 months late that his wife bought stock in company behind covid treatment (Washington Post) - “Kelsey Cooper, a spokeswoman for Paul, said the senator completed a reporting form for his wifes investment last year but learned only recently, while preparing an annual disclosure, that the form had not been transmitted.”
May 23 2021 Rand Paul says he won't get vaccinated because he's already had COVID-19 (Kaiser Health News) - “Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted a Twitter thread asserting that people who have survived a covid-19 infection were unlikely to be reinfected and have better immunity against variants than those who have been vaccinated against but not infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid.”
Aug 12 2021 Rand Paul’s wife bought shares in Covid treatment maker Gilead in early days of virus, the couples only individual stock purchase in years (CNBC) -
Apr 30 Sen. Rand Paul wants to investigate origins of COVID-19 (WSLS 10 NBC Roanoke) - SMITHFIELD, Ky. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul promised Saturday to wage a vigorous review into the origins of the coronavirus if Republicans retake the Senate and he lands a committee chairmanship.
Aug 25 Views on pandemic clash in politically divided Kentucky (WTOP Washington's Top News 103.5 FM) - “Republicans already in the race for governor are taking aim at Gov. Beshears’ handling of the pandemic, and Paul gladly joined the fray Thursday. The senator lavished praise on the state’s GOP-led legislature for reining in the governor's virus policy making power. ’I don’t care how bad the pandemic was,’ Paul said.”
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