> According to the AAP’s tracker, 871 children have died thus far in the pandemic
During the 2009 H1N1 influenza season, 1,090 children died. This was over a single season, not an aggregated count from the beginning of time, which seems to be a phenomenon unique to COVID. Until some point late last year, the CDC even had language on their website saying that young children were more likely to experience complications from influenza than from Covid-19.
"health labs" doing a lot of work in this headline. The WHO says they want to prevent "accidental or deliberate release of pathogens." If the pathogens can be intentionally released and cause harm, in what sense are they not bioweapons?
The article says the "deadly pathogens" in question are elements of peaceful scientific research, not bioweapons development, so it can't really be called "admitting it."
I would imagine the parent is referring to some of the more "Freedom Fries"-esque excesses of Russophobia, like canceling Tchaikovsky from symphony programs, discarding Russian vodka, banning Russian cat breeds from competitions, etc
That's all fine and I am broadly in support of the statement "people without major COVID risk factors should not take any special precautions or avoid travel to areas experiencing high case rates." My comment was simply addressed to the claim that the U.S. is currently doing much worse than New Zealand in some way that is relevant to travel advisories.
New Zealand is just at the beginning of its first major wave and deaths lag considerably, so it's a bit early to be drawing this comparison. I would agree they're likely to experience a lower death count than the U.S. but not by this magnitude.
Also, presumably the epidemiological factors which are causing Americans to die from COVID at higher rates are also likely to apply to Americans who are infected while traveling to New Zealand.
> The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatricians has both said very clearly that there is no evidence linking masks with developmental delays or language deficits.
In what way is this not simply a naked appeal to authority? Have the CDC or AAP conducted long-running randomized trials to determine what the effects of mass masking might be? From what you have linked, this seems like nothing more than that well-worn rhetorical jibe where they just proclaim "there is no evidence" of some thing they're not actually looking for in the first place.
> Instead, they made the issue so incredibly complicated and polarized that almost a million people died.
Is it your impression that more consistent messaging or public compliance would have prevented all of those deaths?
A lot of what people believe about what's happening at the plant is based on the statements of Ukrainian officials, who by some accounts are using it to call for NATO to impose a no-fly zone. A disaster at this plant would cause huge problems for DNR/LNR/Crimea, which Russia does not want. Amid the fog of war it's often a good idea to take a step back and wait for more evidence to present itself.