Biden And The Current State Of The COVID Narrative

It seems to me that the Power Point slide above, or whatever it is, is no more than wishful thinking. The COVID narrative has been changing so fast -- lockdowns work, masks work, businesses need to close, you can't go to church, you can't go to the beach, you need to get the vax, the vax prevents transmission, it's a pandemic of the unvaccinated, you need a booster, you need another booster, you won't get as sick if you're vaxxed -- all of these have seamlessly morphed into the next vademecum and the next set of excuses within months or even weeks.

Given the failure of each successive policy, the course of COVID with none other than the President of the United States, the paradigmatic citizen suffering from the paradigmatic disease, is the perfect illustration of the current public health conundrum.

Biden is quadruple-vaxxed and double-masked. He also took a round of Pfizer’s proclaimed “wonder drug,” Paxlovid, after becoming infected. Yet, he’s still COVID-19 positive after initially testing positive over two weeks ago. If that’s not a rebuke of the White House’s messaging on the coronavirus, nothing is.

The idea that even though the vaccines failed, Paxlovid would fill the breach, as I noted Dr Birx saying less than two weeks ago, looks to be one of the quickest narrative fails ever. A key remaining fallback has been home testing, on the basis that even if lockdowns, masks, business closures, vaccines, and even Paxolin didn't work, at least if you take frequent at-home tests, if you test positive, you'll know to isolate and, if needed, seek treatment. The current CDC guidelines for at-home testing specify that if you test positive at home:

• The test detected the virus and you have an infection.
• Stay home for at least 5 days and isolate from others in your home.
• Tell your close contacts.
• Wear a well-fitted mask when around others. If available, a N95 or KN95 respirator is recommended.
• Watch for symptoms. If you have any emergency warning signs, seek emergency care immediately.
• Blah blah blah.

So as far as we can tell, the president is being tested frequently, and he's been coming up positive for some days in a "rebound infection" said to be caused by the miracle drug Paxolin. But actually, from the first link above,

Joe Biden is on his sixth day of a so-called “rebound” infection of COVID-19, and he continues to test positive for the virus. The White House released the news on Thursday, though details of his actual condition are scarce. Biden’s doctor has been put on lockdown and has not been allowed to address the press.

We don't know if Biden actually has symptoms, but let's consider the best case, he's testing positive, but he's asymptomatic and otherwise healthy. Nevertheless, this puts us in a situation where the Leader of the Free World is in mandated isolation, which must limit his ability to lead the free world to at least some degree, and for each day he continues to test positive, that means another five-day isolation period. In fact, I've got to think the White House protocol is (or ought to be) something like these California guidelines. If you test positive, whether with or without symptoms:

• Isolate for at least 5 days
• Sleep and stay in a separate room from those not infected
• Use a separate bathroom if you can
• Wear a mask around others, even at home

• Get tested (antigen preferred) on Day 5

• End isolation on Day 6 if:
  • You test negative, AND
  • Have no fever for 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medication, AND
  • Your other symptoms are gone or going
• End isolation on Day 10 if:
  • You test positive on Day 5 or don’t test, AND
  • You have no fever for 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medication

But think about the implications of this regimen. The infected person must stay in a separate room, isolated from family members (and in the case of the White House, also isolated from staff). Must they push papers for him to sign under the door, or what? How do they make sure the papers aren't carrying COVID, either in or out? If Biden is alone in his isolation room, must he spray disinfectant on the papers or maybe run them under an infrared bulb? What about his food? Is there a little trap door for his meals? Must he run them through another microwave cycle before he touches the plate?

Remember, this is the President of the United States. I've got to wonder how the protocols may differ from Howard Hughes's notorious germ phobia:

As he grew older, he became increasingly worried about being exposed to germs from other people. He would insist that anyone serving him food cover their hands with paper towels, and he even wrote a manual for his employees on the proper procedure for serving canned peaches: first remove the label, then scrub the can thoroughly and wash it again, and finally pour the peaches - without letting the can touch the bowl.

This is the logical implication of even the most current polcies on home testing and self-isolation (the California policy is dated four days ago, August 1). This is clearly unworkable and likely no more effective than any previous public health decree, but it looks like it's arbitrarily restricting the president's ability to function whether he's healthy or not. I can't imagine that normal people in the real world bother with this -- a logical starting point would be not to open Pandora's box by using a home test kit. Or do I have this wrong?

We're starting to see academic studies, such as this one from Japan that indicates lockdowns and business closures had no effect on the spread of the virus, that will provide post-mortem explanations of the COVID policies that didn't work. The authorities who should have been driven by such studies from the start, as well as their own adult judgment and common sense, will likely continue to ignore them as they are released.

The disintegration of the COVID narrative is coming instead from the daily absurdity to which the public is exposed, notwithstanding the efforts of the usual "authorities" to discount it or cover it up.