From Matt Halloway, local keeping track of the virus in Missouri
Good evening! Here is my Missouri COVID-19 Update for 09/16.
I was able to identify 1,517 cases from 90 jurisdictions and 23 deaths today.
Two things tonight, and a super long narrative:
Thing 1: Here is a link to the results of over 3,600 RNA sequences, submitted from 55 countries, quite clearly documenting that SARS-CoV-2 was not made in a laboratory.
Here is the “report”, published directly from Dr. Li Meng-Yan, that claims to have evidence that the virus was created in a laboratory:
I didn’t actually see any differences between what has been found thousands of times and what Dr. Yan found. What I do see is a whole slew of unsubstantiated claims, and a great deal of speculative information without a source. It’s crazy that people have tried to silence me when I am just regurgitating data that is publicly available and sourced, but will believe this story because it was on TV.
Regardless, I’m not here to tell anyone what to believe, really. “Facts not fear”, right? The facts are, quite literally, right there… But for those of you using this phrase with a negative connotation, be warned; you’re going to be super pissed when you find out that you are supposed to use actual facts to validate your claims.
In light of my news feed’s sudden uptick in ridiculousness, I would like to offer up some solutions to problems that seem to be more of a concern than COVID-19 itself.
If “the news is fake”, stop watching it, stop sharing it, and stop believing it.
If “Facebook is censoring the truth”, log out, deactivate your account, and uninstall the app.
There. The world’s two biggest problems solved, in only two sentences. I will sit here in my underwear and wait for a number of prestigious humanitarian awards to start rolling in.
..
Thing 2: [UPDATE --- I am working on confirming some information that was shared to me regarding tree he possibility of this guidance being rescinded, and will update this with additional information as I learn more]
Here is a letter from Larry Bergner, the Newton County Health Department’s Administrator, dated September 15th, as it reads from the Neosho High School website:
“Dear School Administrator
Last night, the Newton County Board of Health gave authorization for me to make changes that allow more flexibility in how we deal with contacts to a positive COVID-19 case in our Newton County schools. This will demand a high level of cooperation between parents, school districts, and the Newton County Health Department. Currently, a contact to a positive COVID-19 case is sent home for a 14-day quarantine and is unable to return to school until the quarantine time has been completed. I believe this can lead to many lost learning opportunities along with at-risk children not having their nutritional needs met and perhaps being in an abusive situation at home. Mental anguish continues to be a big issue during this time of pandemic, and I believe children have better health outcomes given the opportunity to attend school and participate in school activities. Therefore, at your discretion and upon your time frame, I, as the local Public Health Authority, allow contacts to a positive COVID-19 case to continue to attend school and school activities with the following conditions:
1. All contacts must always wear a mask/face covering except during a time that proper social distancing can be observed, specifically the ability to have at least 6ft between the contact and others. This includes during sporting or other extracurricular activities. For activities where masks are not feasible, contact must have a negative test for COVID-19 within 36hrs of activity start time before being allowed to participate in the activity.
2. School personnel and parents must monitor the contact for any symptoms of COVID-19 and must isolate the contact from others immediately upon any symptom development.
3. Contact must adhere to the conditions of quarantine in that he/she may attend school and school activities but must remain in quarantine at home at all other times until the 14-day quarantine has been completed.
4. School personnel must continue to identify and report those individuals who become COVID-19 positive and those who are identified as contacts of those individuals to the Newton County Health Department.
5. School personnel along with the Newton County Health Department will monitor closely those positive cases and the contacts and will immediately move to a more strict policy if the data shows a substantial increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases within the school districts.
Each school district can enforce this policy or a policy that is more strict if you so desire. This more flexible policy, if you choose to adopt, will go into effect at a time and date of your choosing. Keep in mind that these contacts will continue to be monitored. The only difference being they will be allowed to attend school and school activities. My hope is that this more flexible policy will protect all aspects of a child’s health, both mental and physical while at the same time allowing healthy children who happen to be a contact to a positive case the ability to continue to experience and benefit from all aspects of our exceptional educational institutions in Newton County. Also, be aware that if conditions warrant, one school district may be adhering to a more strict policy while another school district follows a more flexible policy. These decisions will be based on specific daily data which could differ by school district or even within the school district itself.
My decision to ask for this flexibility arose from close observation of data, specifically a comparison of positive cases within school districts compared to number of contacts within school districts along with overall county data pertaining to COVID-19. Please contact Larry Bergner, Administrator, Newton County Health Department at (417) 451- 3743 for more information.”
Keep in mind here --- this hits close to home for me, because… well, I spent the first 18 years of my life as a Newton County resident. I graduated from Neosho High School. I am still very much invested in the community. I compared this against both local and national guidance. I spoke with a number of health department administrators across the state. I consulted with some local leaders who I have come to admire and respect very much over the years. I have known employees at this particular health department for years.
And one other thought to offer a glimpse inside my wild brain… Candidly, this project has had me mentally circling around the idea of a career change. Yes, it has been mentally gruesome. A pandemic is like a psychological shadow that’s always following everyone around --- in the news, in your day-to-day life and the decisions you have to make, worrying about loved ones’ overall wellbeing and risks --- but when you have a miserable response to it, that darkness turns everything pitch black. Even so, I can’t disregard that notion entirely, because I’ve got that thing… that thing where you want to help people. For me, it’s been helping people to best understand the situation and enable my neighbors (close and far) to make rational decisions about what’s best for them. It has enabled me to do that, for my family, as well.
I’ve thought a lot about how to address this situation. I can think of at least five people who are going to smirk as they read this, and a few others who probably won’t have anything to do with me. With those things in mind, I am moving forward with what I feel like I need to say about this particular situation, regardless of the consequence.
This does not align with any CDC recommendation.
This does not align with any WHO recommendation.
This does not align with any DHS/S recommendation --- in fact, it seems to be the exact opposite of recent, regional communication from regarding ensuring families of students have a good understanding of what a quarantine actually means.
This does not align with any (ANY) other health department in the state, and with a quick scan, I couldn’t find any national entity that it aligns with, either (although I spent maybe a total of five minutes looking). Sticking to strictly Missouri, this will (in fact, it already has) created additional work in the form of fielding angry phone calls demanding the same policy be adopted in their areas.
This absolutely does not align with the expressed mission of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services --- it does not promote, protect, or partner health in any capacity, as far as I am concerned. Lunch this year is free to all students whether learning is in-person or remote. It’s literally on the same Neosho High School website that this press release can be found on. Plus, the release clearly states that the decision was not made using any type of statistical data regarding the claims of malnutrition or abusive environments.
For me, this does not reflect the best interests of public health. For me, this promotes a particular person’s or a group’s interests. For me, this is maybe the first time in my life (and yes, it literally happened in talking with someone tonight) where I had to give a “yeah, that’s where I’m from, but we’re not ALL like that” response.
To date, I have repeatedly supported local health officials across the state in believing that they are capable of making determinations about what is best for their own communities, based on a comprehensive understanding and consideration of the individual situations they face. After reading this press release, that offers no foundation for the decision being made, I can’t help but believe that the backbone that should exist to protect the community I grew up in has been compromised.
Given the fallout that this has already and will continue to create, both for the health of the residents in Newton County, and the contributions to already high levels of divisiveness in other communities across Missouri and potentially the US, it seems clear to me that whatever is going on in Newton County has reached a point that they have turned their backs on the people they serve.
With this development, the responsibility of looking after public health has fallen onto the shoulders of Diamond, East Newton, Neosho, and Seneca school districts. Diamond was currently in a week-long remote learning plan after reaching a certain threshold for required quarantines, but will be returning some students sooner with this new guidance --- except for those students who live *outside* of Newton County, which those students will be required to follow their own county’s regulations. The Diamond school district is rolling things all the way down to their lowest phase of COVID-19 response, and the press release from them issued tonight says it is specifically due to this guidance.
I can’t imagine that whatever is driving this seemingly rogue decision could outweigh the documented risks associated with congregating students who have been exposed to COVID-19 inside of classrooms. My heart is heavy for these educators and school personnel who are being sent back into a literal hell, and I hope someone with the authority to make this situation right realizes what they’re asking of the residents in the communities that they serve. Your public health officials are failing you.
[Trends]
- We are now at our second highest total ever for the moving 7-day average of deaths, contrary to the governor’s bit on COVID-19 today. It is no secret that the state’s data lags behind on deaths, in some cases by upwards of a month, and even my data lags. He made some bold statements related to deaths, which I would caution anyone to do without giving the state time to process those.
- Our 7-day moving average has increased again, representing a new all-time high.
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