SPRINGFIELD, IL. (ECWd) –
ECWd attended the Illinois State Board of Education meeting yesterday in Springfield, Illinois, where the Board heard more than 2 hours of public comment, mostly concerning the school mask requirements.
The majority of those speaking were asking for it to be changed to “mask optional” and not be applied as it is currently being applied.
There were protesters outside the building when we showed up, all asking for mask optional.
We livestreamed the entire public comment period, which can be viewed below:
15 Comments
jannie
Posted at 07:58h, 19 AugustI would not have gone in person – I’m afraid of these people who get so upset with wearing a mask. So masks optional means that you have “peer” pressure to not wear a mask. As it’s pretty obvious these people don’t want their kids to wear one, nor my guess do they. We already know that masks work as most schools have said there’s been less common illnesses during the 20/21 school year & yes our school was in session. Masks were no big deal because everyone wone one. It’s a matter of trying to keep the kids/staff safe – the masks are the problem, it’s the parents who can’t adjust to an inconvence and maybe don’t care if their kids get sick. I don’t get it.
JIMBO
Posted at 11:33h, 19 AugustHave it your way and don’t get it, then don’t even try.
Frank Miller
Posted at 11:55h, 19 August“A single paragraph has been added to the CDC’s website page titled, U.S. Influenza Surveillance System: Purpose and Methods, stating that because of COVID-19, it will suspend data collection for regular influenza during the 2020-2021 flu season. Thus, it will be impossible to statistically analyze the relative differences between COVID and influenza. It will also likely result in reporting some cases of influenza as COVID, when they are not. Thus, all attention will be given to COVID, magnifying cases to fit the pandemic narrative.” – Patrick Wood
“I did a very thorough study of the scientific literature on masks, and I concentrated on, is there any evidence that masks can be of help in terms of reducing the risk of getting one of these viral respiratory diseases. And what I found is, when I looked at all the randomized controlled trials with verified outcome, meaning people actually measured whether or not the person was infected. I found that there were none of these well designed studies that were intended to remove any observational bias. Out of all the many trials that were done, none found that there was a statistically significant advantage for this application to wearing a mask versus not wearing a mask. And likewise there was no detectable difference between respirators and surgical masks. If there was any significant advantage to wearing a mask to reduce this risk, then you would have detected that in at least one of these trials. So that to me is a firm scientific conclusion. There is no evidence that masks are of any utility, either preventing the aerosol particles from coming out, or from going in. You are not helping the people around you by wearing a mask, and you’re not helping yourself, preventing the disease by wearing a mask. The science is unambiguous, in that such a positive effect can not be detected.
You have to look at deaths, you have to look at all-cause mortality deaths on a per week or per day basis, because that’s reliable. If you try to assign a cause of death in a complicated situation like this, with a viral respiratory infection that taxes your immune system, and you die if you have co-morbidity conditions. To try to unravel that, epidemiologists have known forever, since the discipline started, that you can’t reliably do that. And there is a tremendous source of bias, there always has been, in terms of assigning deaths in the middle of an epidemic. So you don’t do that, you look at all-cause mortality. What you find is that the winter burden deaths of all-causes is not any different statistically from the previous several decades. So this was not anything out of the ordinary in terms of the usual array of viruses that give us viral respiratory diseases.” – Denis Rancourt
Matt Fischer
Posted at 08:09h, 19 AugustBut you’re ignoring the peer pressure to wear a mask and get vaccinated because you believe in your side of the argument? Your bias is pretty obvious.
wunce1
Posted at 09:19h, 19 AugustOne of the biggest arguments I see comments saying is “I just don’t understand why people are so against masks”. Well the reason that you dont understand is because you are blind and you are looking for every reason to not mind your own business. the reason that you dont understand is that you think that you have to be in everyone else’s business. We live in a free country to do what you will. What I dont understand is why women want to butcher babies. What I dont understand is how people think that there is more than two genders of the human species. What I dont understand is why the government thinks that they need to be in my business. What I dont understand is why people dont just mind their own business.
PK
Posted at 11:27h, 19 AugustThat was a great exclamation point by Mt. Zion’s superintendent.
Truth Teller
Posted at 12:04h, 19 AugustSo the Edgar County Watch Dogs are continuing their anti science and anti public health crusade. How many people have to die? How many children have to get infected, hospitalized and incubated? Despite what you say people ARE dying of Delta variant. Your claims about masks are scientifically wrong and fly in the face of what is known about masks used for years by doctors and nurses. Masks stop the spread of aerosol droplets that are present in your throat, nose that are breathe out when you talk, cough,sneezed. Children can wear masks. Masks don’t harm them as you’re trying to push. It’s impossible to suffer from lack of oxygen or breathe in CO2. Again doctors and nurses wear masks for extended times and aren’t passing out or dying because of their masks accumulate CO2.
John Kraft
Posted at 12:32h, 19 AugustAgain, “Truth Teller” – or “far-from-the-truth-teller” – We simply livestreamed the public comment portion of the public meeting of the Illinois State Board of Education. No crusading involved.
Frank Miller
Posted at 16:17h, 19 August— Masks stop the spread of aerosol droplets that are present in your throat, nose that are breathe out when you talk, cough,sneezed. —
Your undies might block a droplet whilst passing gas, but within seconds you will smell the reason they “don’t work” to prevent aerosols.
The Delta variant doesn’t exist, just ask your local health department for evidence of purification/isolation. Then ask them what test is used to determine presence of the Delta variant.
Frank Miller
Posted at 18:40h, 19 August“There is no such thing as an alpha, or a beta, or a gamma, or a delta variant. This is a means by which what is desperately sought, is a degree to which individuals can be coerced into accepting something they would not otherwise accept. There has not been in any of the published studies on what has been reportedly the delta variant. What has been estimated are computer simulations. But unfortunately, if you look at GISAID, which is the public source of uploading any one of a number of variations. What you will find is that there has been no ability to identify any clinically altered gene sequence, which has then a clinically expressed variation.
This is the problem going back to the very beginning of what is alleged to be a pandemic. We do not have any evidence that the gene sequence alteration had any clinical significance whatsoever. There has not been a single paper published by anyone that has actually established, that anything novel since the beginning of November 2019 has clinical distinction from anything that predates November 2019. The problem with the 73 patents that I described, is that those 73 patents all contain what was reported to be novel in December and January of 2019 and 2020 respectively. We do not have a single piece of published evidence that tells us, that anything about the subclade SARS-CoV-2 has clinical distinction from anything that was known and published prior to November 2019, in 73 patents dating to 2008. There is no novel anything.” – Dr. David Martin
Golden Country
Posted at 14:22h, 19 AugustTruth Teller and Janie I heard wraping plastic over your head is a great way to mitigate the transmission of the virus and also works great at thining the gene pool of stupidity
Spike Protein
Posted at 17:57h, 19 AugustThe whole idea that “science” can somehow justify suspending our civil liberties and force us to mask up, vaccinate, quarantine healthy people, and test people indefinitely to make sure that they aren’t infected with covid needs to be squelched.
As British Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said:
“Science will explain how but not why. It talks about what is, not what ought to be. Science is descriptive, not prescriptive; it can tell us about causes but it cannot tell us about purposes. Indeed, science disavows purposes.”
In other words, science only tells us what is. It doesn’t tell us what policies to implement. Mask and vaccine mandates are the result of political science, not actual science.
If the vaccine works, then those who are vaccinated should have no reason to be concerned about the vaccination status of others or feel a need to force others to wear a mask in order to protect themselves.
The concept of medical privacy protects those who don’t wish to disclose their vaccination status to their employer, school, or other people in general.
Risk is inherent in a free society. A free people assume that risk as they go about their daily lives. No more restricting our liberty under the guise of additional security. No more mask mandates, quarantining of healthy people, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, mandatory covid testing, and other covid mandates.
Tony
Posted at 22:04h, 19 AugustMasks will be problematic for some and harmless for most.
But the big question becomes, is it really stopping a virus? All evidence points to no. Why?
Virus particles are smaller than cloth masks.
Cloth masks eventually become saturated and start shedding via exhalation anyway…and this exposes a wearer through inhalation of a mask potentially saturated with contaminants.
Proper wearing by an untrained general public limits effectiveness from the start.
Masks at best limit range of exhalation, but that still means suspended aerosols are left behind…in a poorly ventilated area, other people will walk through those suspended particles.
Better maintenance of the interior environment has been proven effective. Airlines being ideal, albeit limited, examples. We should be focused on improving indoor air quality, not virtue signaling via useless gestures(masks)
Dave Dahl
Posted at 23:15h, 19 AugustThis is not an anti mask issue as some stated. If your focusing on that alone, then you should know the n95 respirators are what doctors wear, or people doing body work in collision shops. The cloth masks don’t wok period. Dr Mike Osterholm, who’s politics I don’t agree with, was warning of this virus months before anyone here knew of it. I caught him speaking in December on a podcast from back home in MN where I grew up.. look him up, he began at the U of Minnesota. He states in no uncertain terms that cloth masks and anything lower than a type n95 don’t work at all and can bring increased issues. Beyond the mask ineffectiveness issue is the negative side effects. Then add in the risk percentages. You need to be looking at the entire picture to those who think this is dangerous. More children died under age 12 of the flu last year than Covid. So if it truly were about real science, where were you screaming about wearing masks prior to 2019? There are sheep, wolves and sheep dogs. Everyone who took time today should be branded a sheepdog for protecting the rights of individuals and respecting the laws of our State and Nation. Great job everyone!
Melanie Monroe
Posted at 17:51h, 20 AugustI’m so impressed with all the individuals showing up, and speaking up. Way to go to all of you! Thank you Edgar County Watchdogs for sharing!