Over at the MacIver Institute, known far and wide for their impeccable epidemiological and infectious disease data analysis credentials, they announce that Dan O’Donnell ” dives into the data” and comes up with “proof” that Wisconsin’s mask mandate hasn’t worked. O’Donnell puts up some charts, rattles off some timelines and statistics, and then exhorts readers to ” look at the charts and judge for yourself. ” Calling this analysis simplistic is charitable. Idiotic and dangerous is a more accurate description.
I couldn’t find a bio for O’Donnell anywhere on the MacIver Institute website so I don’t know what he does for a living, but I’d bet my house it isn’t ” Health Researcher” or ” Epidemiologist”.
I’m neither of these either, but anyone with just a modicum of intelligence , which apparently O’Donnell does not possess, can instantly spot the most rudimentary and relevant variables missing from O’Donnell’s so-called analysis, variables such as overall compliance rates, mask quality, observation of social distancing guidelines, observation of occupancy limits in congregate settings, unknown transmission rates prior to the mask order, etc, etc, etc. O’Donnell’s ” infections and deaths went up after the mask mandate so it didn’t work” is akin to assigning a rise in truancy to parents telling children ” you have to go to school!!!” It would be laughable if there weren’t big dollar conservative donors putting money behind an asinine entity like the MacIver Institute, peddling gobbledygook as a reasoned argument.
If the above bit of incomprehensible and scientifically illiterate babble weren’t enough, O’Donnell goes on to say, “ Again, the onset of the normal cold and flu season with the colder fall months is the far more likely culprit for the massive rise in COVID cases. ” Whaaat? What does this mean?
The overwhelming public health consensus is that the rise in Covid cases last fall is at least partly attributable to people moving indoors with the colder weather, unmasked, socially un-distanced, letting their guard down while not observing basic public health protocols. It has nothing to do with the onset of the ” normal cold and flu season”. What does O’Donnell think? The coronavirus is hitching a ride on the backs of the flu and cold viruses to more efficiently infect us all? A diabolical, malevolently scheming stealth virus? Kind of a Bond villain virus? Maybe with gold teeth?
I’m not familiar enough with conservative media in the Milwaukee area to know if the MacIver Institute has any kind of significant following, but if they do here’s my message to their readers: O’Donnell’s piece isn’t proof that Governor Ever’s mask mandate hasn’t worked. It’s proof Dan O’Donnell is a dumbass who doesn’t have the slightest idea what he’s talking about.
Recent Comments