Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 473 | Carrie Underwood Gets It: Masks Don't Belong in Schools (with Data)

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

Today we're discussing masks and mask mandates, specifically for kids and schools. Singer Carrie Underwood got in trouble with the progressive Twitter mob for simply liking a tweet from Matt Walsh that was critical of masks in school. However, both she and the science seem to agree: There is little to no scientific evidence that would suggest government mask mandates are needed, least of all for schools. And we've got plenty of data in this episode to back that up. --- Today's Sponsors: Reliefband stimulates a nerve in the wrist that travels to the part of the brain that controls nausea. Go to Reliefband.com & use promo code 'ALLIE' to save 20% off plus free shipping & a no-questions-asked 30-day money back guarantee! Good Ranchers products are individually wrapped, vacuum sealed, & ready to grill (which helps eliminate waste!). Know where your meat comes from — go to GoodRanchers.com/ALLIE to get $20 off & FREE express shipping. Prayer Bowls: simply write the name of the person you intend to pray for on the card & collect them in your Prayer Bowl. Go to PrayerBowls.com to see their beautiful collection of prayer bowls & give yourself & others the gift of your prayer every day. --- Previous Episodes Mentioned: Ep 472: Biden's Afghanistan Disaster & How We Can Help | Guest: Morgan Ortagus https://apple.co/37WjuPE Ep 468: America's Narcissism Problem & How to Fix It | Guest: Matt Walsh https://apple.co/3xSG4Da Ep 357: Taking Cara Babies Gets Canceled & Christian Nationalism Becomes a Scapegoat https://apple.co/2W8dhxF --- Show Links: AllieBethStuckey.com: "Why Kids (And You) Shouldn't Be Forced to Mask:" https://bit.ly/37XCkG1 COVID Charts Quiz: https://bit.ly/37VaOsI --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone had a great Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday so far. Today, we are going to talk about Carrie Underwood.

We have never talked about Carrie Underwood on this podcast before. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, what happened. was she got blasted on Twitter and across social media for liking a tweet about kids not needing to wear masks at school. We're going to break down the data on masks and why it actually matters. But before we get into it, as you guys know, there are a lot of big things going on in the world right now. We've talked about them this week, especially yesterday. If you haven't listened to yesterday's episode about Afghanistan, I encourage you to do that. We really give all of the comments. context and all the details, information, insight that's necessary to really understand what's going on.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be talking big picture about what's going on in the world, what's going on in Afghanistan, taking a theological view of all of that and what we can learn from this. That is going to be a really, really important episode. The big thing that is weighing on me and on the hearts of Christians everywhere is the persecution, being suffered by Christians in Afghanistan right now. They are no strangers to persecution, of course, as many of us are in the United States. But this may be more intense persecution than many Afghan Christians have seen in a very long time, maybe even in their lifetime.

So tomorrow we are going to talk about this, like I said, from a spiritual perspective, most importantly, but also practically and politically how we can help what this all means and I understand like this is the big thing that is weighing on your heart and your mind right now. Today though, today though, we're going to take a break from talking about some of that. We're going to talk about something that is objectively less important, but it's still important. And I mean, how needed though is it to get perspective on things when we see the suffering of people around the world? It makes the political problems that we have in America seem so. small. And yet, they are problems that exist. And because they exist, they do matter to an extent

because they affect people. Like we're talking about policies that actually have an impact on people's lives. And so that's why we're talking about mask mandates in schools and if they're really necessary. And while we know this is extremely small potatoes compared to so much of what's going on in the world, I still think that it's worth talking about because the truth matters. Two plus two equaling four may seem like an inconsequential equation compared to more complicated mathematical formulas that are used to build rockets or create life-saving medical treatments, but it's foundational. Without it, none of the other formulas would make sense or even be possible. And in the same way, saying what is true about seemingly little things is necessary to knowing

and saying what is true about the much bigger things. And the truth is always worth saying, especially in my opinion, when it comes to, to questioning what the state sanctions in the name of safety, especially when it comes to rules that are ostensibly implemented for our good, but aren't well explained at all and aren't, as we will talk about, really backed by a whole lot of data. I mean, especially when all of this stuff affects our kids. And that is why we are going to talk about these mask mandates in schools and break all the data down. And it starts with this fateful like of a tweet by singer Carrie Underwood. So Carrie Underwood, she liked the tweet by Matt Walsh, whom we had on, I believe it was last week. So go listen to that episode if you haven't already or watch it on YouTube. She liked a tweet that was a video of Matt Walsh speaking at a school board meeting about kids wearing masks. It's a great video. You should go watch it. He points out that none of the people demanding that children wear masks in schools are actually explaining why, factually, scientifically, they should.

should do so. He makes the, what's considered probably a pretty scandalous and maybe offensive argument that really the masks are more a security blanket for the adults rather than for actual safety measures for the kids. And like I said, we're going to, we're going to look at that argument. We're going to look at some of the facts from around the world that I believe prove that we do not need mask mandates. especially for kids. Now, I know that some of you out there who may adamantly disagree with me may already be really uncomfortable with me saying that. But let's hold on, hold on to your britches, make it through the episode. And then if you still disagree with me or you disagree with my

interpretation of the data, I would be happy to hear from you and happy to talk to you about that. But first, I want to talk about how things devolved on Twitter because of this, because it was truly absurd. And I've got some nuggets in here about other cultural things that I think that we should be analyzing and taking from this. So someone by the name of Keith Edwards, who, of course, of course works or has worked for the Lincoln Project and multiple Democrat campaigns, according to his Twitter bio, he posted a screenshot that showed Carrie Underwood's like of that tweet. and his commentary was not this dot, dot, dot. Well, eventually, a bunch of blue check marks and other random Twitter users heard about it and started tweeting about it. And pretty soon there were a whole bunch of people saying how sad they were, how disappointed

they were in Carrie Underwood, that they were going to unfollow Carrie Underwood, not going to play her music anymore. And then get this. This was so crazy for me to watch. They were calling Carrie Underwood because of liking, because she liked a tweet, about not forcing kids to wear masks in schools. They called her an anti-vaxxer. So nowhere did she or even Matt Walsh say anything about vaccines.

The video was not about vaccines. It wasn't even about masks in general. It was specifically about forcing kids to wear masks in schools. And yet, if you go look at their replies to the tweets on her page, if you go look at some of what some of the blue check marks are saying about this, they're calling her an anti-vaxxer. And so this, this is such a great. lesson that all of us need to learn. Are you ready for this lesson because I really think that it's

crucial for us to know? The rage mob does not care about the truth. They don't care about the truth. They're not thinking rationally. Like, they don't care about how nuanced your take is. It doesn't matter how kind you are, how sweet you are, what your tone is when you're saying what you're saying, or even really the content of what you say or how logical and sound your arguments are. Like, if they don't like what you say, they will accuse you. of being guilty of the worst possible thing that they can think of, and it will not matter how you defend yourself. It will not matter the facts of what actually you did or what you said. These people, unfortunately, and I'm not just talking about people who just disagree with Caryanda Wood,

I'm talking about these people who get whipped up into a frenzy and whip other people up into a frenzy and direct people to harass and docks and try to cancel someone based on an opinion that they don't like. These people are thoughtless. They're amoral at best, immoral, worst creeps who have no life and whose only purpose and joy is found in trying to cancel other people for deviating from their views. I think that is a very generous description of people who do things like this. They don't see it that way, though. They see it as holding bigots and science deniers accountable. But of course, that's not true. They're overly sensitive, intolerant, fascist bullies who cannot tolerate a difference of opinion. And again, I'm not talking about,

you know, even the person who originally tweeted the screenshot or everyone who expressed his agreement with her, whatever. That is totally fine. I'm talking about the people who are calling her an anti-vaxxer and tagging the NFL because she sings their theme song. So I don't know what they want the NFL to do, denounce her. So they're really trying to get people to harass her and make her regret what she did. It's such a, it's such a totalitarian and evil and corrupt tendency that people have in these kinds of situations. And Twitter, of course, makes it trend, which just incites more people. Twitter loves to do this.

It started out as a few totally random people talking about it. And then it turns into a Twitter moment. The same Twitter who claims to be against harassment and wants to create a so-called healthy platform for productive dialogue, they exacerbate bullying. And they allow all kinds of terrible abuse and false narratives to thrive while suspending people for stating facts about human biology, suspending or banning permanently. the president of the United States, even while the leaders of the Taliban are on Twitter. My goodness. So understand, understand this, understand what's going on. Understand that you will never be enough

for the cancel month. You will never be nuanced enough. You'll never be woke enough. You'll never be kind enough. Your tone will never be sweet enough for the rage mom. So do not try to please him in the first place. Don't self-censor or over-explained in the hopes that they won't come for you. They're not thinking logically. So it really doesn't matter how well you can defend yourself. So you've got two options in these scenarios if you find yourself in it. If you are being dragged for something that you don't actually regret, if you're being pressured to renounce something that you still actually believe, you either double down or you ignore it. And that's what I hope.

that Carrie Underwood does. I hope she either says, hey, yeah, I don't think we should be masking young kids and y'all can get over it. Or she can just totally ignore that it even happened. Because guess what? People will forget. They will move on. They will download and listen to her next song. I can almost guarantee you that. Do you remember, we did a whole episode on it. We'll link it in description. If you remember taking care of babies, she is a baby sleep trainer, very popular. A lot of people, a lot of celebrities follow her to gently sleep train their babies. She's just a wonderful, sweet person. If you follow her, you know that she's nothing but love and positivity and help and care and compassion. But she and her husband committed the unforgettable, not unforgettable,

maybe unforgettable for some people, unforgivable crime of donating somewhere like $1,000 to the Trump campaign over the course of a few years. And people found this out. I think the guy, his name was, well, I don't remember, so I don't want to accidentally throw someone under the bus by using the wrong name. But there was a guy who apparently he reviews like baby products or something on Instagram. He originally posted about this, called for people, quote, holding her accountable. The cancel mom really tried to come for her. They put her videos, which are behind a paywall. That's how she gets paid up on Reddit for free to try to hurt her business.

Tried to get everyone to unfollow her. And that was really hard on her. Like it was an intense few days. I saw the things that people were saying about her. People who considered themselves her friends. And what we did in that is that I reached out to her, and I encouraged a bunch of you to reach out to her. And I know for a fact that she not only appreciated that, but that actually gave her so

much encouragement and buoyed her that she was able to, by the grace of God, not just because of the encouragement that she got from us, she was able to handle this with a whole lot of kindness and a whole lot of confidence. She did not apologize. She made a statement and she just kept doing great work, helping families and their babies get better sleep. And now it's fine. So she was a wonderful example.

And as I say, when we see something like this happening, we have to share arrows with the people who are getting unfairly attacked. I'm not talking about people who are suffering consequences for, you know, actual sinful actions, for immoral actions. Like I'm not talking about coming to the defense of some, you know, monster like Harvey Weinstein. Like that person needs to be canceled because what they did was criminal. It was objectively wrong. Donating to a campaign of the sitting president is not.

Like you might not like it, but it's not morally wrong. And so I think it was really good that we came to her defense. Treat those people that are in the line of fire for whatever thing as you would want be treated. You would want people to come to your defense. You would want people to share arrows. You would want to stick up for her. And this community, specifically, the relatable community did. And I know for a fact that it gave her a lot of encouragement and that she was able to stand strong. And she did. And things are okay. Like she's still doing such a good job and serving so many families. Now, there's another story. There was another baby product company that happened around the same time.

this was after the George Floyd incident last summer, like people were so social justice warriors were so excited to try to guilt and to cancel. Specifically, it seemed like white female social media influencers for not being sensitive enough, for not being enough of an activist, for not doing and saying all the right things. And so you saw a lot of these different kinds of scenarios and a lot of people, you know, there were a variety of reactions to this. And so Solly Baby is a company that makes baby wearing wraps, and they made one wrap that they were going to get patented. Great. Except, apparently, this is off limits because baby wearing was, according to the people who came for the founder of this company, started by African women and women in other cultures. And I guess they claim was only learned by white women, which I don't even know if that's actually true. If you go back 100.

of years and you look at all the different kinds of cultures that baby wore. I'm sure there were all different kinds of melanin count in their skin that have used fabric to carry their babies. But apparently because this was a white woman who started a dolly baby, it was wrong of her to try to patent this particular wrap. So, and this woman, she created this particular wrap and the particular fabric. And so she wanted to patent that. But again, the social just, justice anti-racist so-called rage mob came lambasted her and she ended up posting multiple apologies multiple apologies because the first one wasn't good enough all the comment section was filled with people telling her how her apology was bad how it centered you know her white woman

feelings and how she needed to do more and say more and do something differently and so she did she been over backwards to please the people who were after her. And I'm sure she was sincere. Like, I don't think that she is some, I'm not trying to throw her under the bus from this direction either. I'm just saying that her probably very sincere efforts did not matter. And you could tell that this was really, that this really took a big emotional toll on her. And maybe everything is fine now. I hope her business is doing well. But the latter situation was drawn out. and caused a lot more pain because of the assumption that I guess she had that social media bullies can actually be appeased, that they can be satisfied by anything other than total and

complete self-loathing and grovelling and capitulation. I think honestly, they probably only would have been satisfied if she had just shut down her business altogether and decided she wasn't going to make baby wraps anymore. And then even that probably wouldn't have been sufficient. So learn a lesson from all of this. Apologize when you know that you have sinned, when you know that you are legitimately in the wrong, but do not do it for the mob no matter what, even if you are legitimately in the wrong, do it to obey God. But do not apologize, do not acquiesce, don't give in a single centimeter, don't even defend yourself when you are being wrongly dragged for something that you said that you truly do believe or something that you did that you know is right.

And as I said on Twitter, this stance that kids should not be forced to mask is backed by the data. So there is absolutely no reason for anyone, including Carrie Underwood, to apologize for saying that. So we're going to get into all of that data. As some of you have already read in a blog post, I am going to articulate it again for you. Now, hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality.

We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. All right. So like I said, I already wrote a post about this.

It's been out for about a week now. A ton of you guys have been sharing it. Thank you for that. It's been helpful because I've been asked by so many people who want to talk to your school boards. Hey, what do I say? Like, how do I try to convince people that it's not scientific to force kids to wear masks in schools? And so I decided it took me a few days to compile all the studies from peer-reviewed scientific journals, data from the New York Times and our world and statistics. And by the way, there are a lot of other people that I drew from and that I credit in this post who have been working on this for a long time.

I'm certainly not the first person or the only person to compile these kinds of things. I will include a link to that post in the description of today's episode. So if you're wondering, what are the citations? can I read these? Can I look at the data myself? Yes, you absolutely can. I have cited everything, everything in my post. I posted this on Twitter. And of course, you had crazy people saying, oh, you're just citing. You're just citing yourself. You're citing yourself. This doesn't count. No, I'm not citing myself. I just happen to compile all this data cited from these peer-reviewed studies and from these medical journals. I just happened to compile it. on my own website. So I'm going to read you some of this, some of this data now. So if it weren't for Governor Abbott banning mask mandates in Texas and Rhonda Santis doing the same thing in Florida as well. But if Governor Abbott hadn't done that in Texas, Dallas County would have required children as young as two years old. Two years old, guys, that's a baby. That is a baby.

will be, they would have been required to wear masks in commercial entities. And that's not just true in Dallas. That's true in many places in the United States and on commercial flights. That's why it's so important, by the way, for these red governors and red lawmakers to stand up and say, no, you're not going to do this because it violates individual liberty, but also because it's scientifically absurd from everything that I have read from the world's leading researchers. The science shows, Here's my summary. The science shows that there are certain situations in which certain masks worn a certain way by certain people may, may be effective at preventing the spread of COVID. But even that is debatable. Personally, I think the risks far outweigh the benefits of masking

kids. But like I say, I will present you with the data and you can decide for yourself. first though let's get some context let's look let's talk about this delta delta variant which um has sent everyone into a tizzy and kind of for a good reason but also kind of not for a good reason the delta variant is causing a spike in cases it is causing a spike in cases there is also apparently an increase in hospitalizations too but we're still nowhere near where we were at our peak in January as far as deaths go. Now, vaccines could get the credit for this, of course, and or it could be that the strain isn't actually quite as deadly as the original. And as we'll get to more later, the American Academy of Pediatrics found that pediatric hospitalization numbers are being

inflated because of the CDC's requirement for testing. Plus, if Delta goes the way it's gone in other countries, gone in other countries that it's passed through, it is going to spike and then it is going to steeply drop off. And this is going to happen for every kind of variant that we have. So if we look at data from India where Delta actually originated and we look at data from the Netherlands and the UK, and we look at the data compiled by the New York Times, it shows spiking cases due to Delta and then a sharp increase. So if you're watching on YouTube, I will put this up.

So right now you're seeing that Delta rose and fell in India. Now, what's interesting is that mask compliance in India has always remained low. About 32% is what is reported by the times of India. Of course, that is, you know, that's a self-reporting survey. So people are saying, do you wear a mask? Do you not wear a mask? Only 32% in India say that they do wear a mask. And yet, Delta rose and fell seemingly regardless of that.

If you look at the Netherlands where Delta also swept through, Delta rose and fell. The country, though, actually ditched masks in most places on June 26th. But if you look at the graph that's up right now, you'll see that the peak of the Delta variant was on July 21st, and it still fell. So they didn't have masks. Starting on June 26th, the Delta came around July, and then it dropped off. and they only require masks in some places for people 13 and over. And then if you look in the UK where mask compliance is much higher and there are a lot more people wearing masks than in the Netherlands and in India.

It rose and fell in the UK. Now they are not required. The masks now, though, are not required in England. They're in force in some places in Wales. they are not required in Northern Ireland for worshippers or students in classrooms. The UK has made a lot of different decisions on kids wearing masks than the United States has. So all this to say, Delta is going to do the same thing in the United States that it has in other countries spike than fall, regardless of universal masking. That's what we see from the other places where Delta has come through.

We just really don't have a lot of evidence of mask mandates staving off the virus. In late October 2020, 93 of adults in the United States reported that they sometimes often are always wear masks when they leave their home. 72% said that they always do. And if anyone is saying, oh, you know, that's not good enough. Other countries are doing better. That puts us right on par with Germany and ahead of most other European countries, like mask compliance in the United States comparatively.

is very high. And yet, the data from the New York Times shows that the end of October marks the beginning of the biggest spike in COVID cases. And so the vast majority of adults in the United States reported in October of 2020 that they wore masks. And the vast majority say that they always wear masks when they go outside of their home. And yet, when you look at the New York Times data that they compile that you're looking at if you're watching on YouTube, you will see that the end of October, when everyone is wearing a mask, that the cases go up, up, up, blah, bu. Now, could you maybe argue that, oh, the cases would be way worse if people weren't wearing masks? Maybe you could argue that, but that would be a guess. We don't know that for sure. And especially

if you look at the fact that Sweden never mandated masks. In January, in January of 2021, only 12% of Swedes said that they wore a mask all the time, with 59% saying never. So the vast majority of Swedes have never worn masks and they have not fared any worse than we have. Their death rate is lower than some other European countries like those in the UK who have had mask mandates in the past. So you'll see the graph of Sweden's new cases and you'll see that really by population, you know, per capita, they're really not faring than worse than most countries. And we can also compare Sweden to a U.S. state with a similar population site. because I understand the argument that says, well, we can't compare Sweden to the United States.

Population is totally different. Okay, so the population size of Sweden and the population size of Michigan are very similar. Michigan implemented their mask mandate in March of 2020. And while Sweden has had slightly more cases than Michigan, 1.1 million versus 1.02 million. Sweden has had far fewer deaths than Michigan, 14,658 versus 21,2008 versus 21,200. 143, those numbers might just be a tiny bit different since I actually wrote this last week. But so we see that Michigan has been wearing masks from the beginning of the pandemic. Sweden has never worn masks.

The deaths are right about this. They're not about the same. The cases are right about the same. And then the deaths are actually much better in Sweden. Yannin Weiss, a reporter at the Federalist, he grafted all these things out. He graphed COVID case stats from our world and data of European countries as well as states in the United States. And he pinpointed when each national and state government implemented mask mandates. And what he found was that mask mandates seem to have no effect on the spread of the virus.

You can go to that article. It's linked in my article. And I'll give you one example right now. And that example would be Israel. So Israel reinstated its mask mandate. on June 25th. Israel has been, has had a very unprecedented rollout of the vaccine. They've got vaccine passports. They've been very restrictive on this kind of thing. And they are also seeing a spike right now from the Delta variant. And so they decided on June 25th that they were going to

reinstate the mask mandate. And so you can see that right now on YouTube. And what you'll see is that the cases have risen in a similar fashion as other countries like the Netherlands, which actually did the exact opposite. They ditched their mask mandate right before the rise in Delta cases. And we're seeing the same rate of increase in both countries. Like we said, Sweden never mandated masks. They've even created a stigma around masks or, and they did not lock down. Their death rate is much lower than some other European countries that have mandated them, like we said, like countries in the UK. I also, I'm going to include a link to this quiz that I saw someone share on Twitter.

And it's called the COVID charts quiz. And it compares two states in the United States, their COVID deaths. So they map them out. And it doesn't tell you which line is which state. And so one of the questions will be one of these neighboring states had a statewide mask mandate until February 2021. The other never had a statewide mask mandate. which state had the mandate. Click the line to select, then click, show, answer.

And I'll put this up on the YouTube screen as well, so you can see it. And what you find when you go through all these questions is that they're almost, they're indistinguishable. Like, just by looking at the death rate of these states who had these disparate, disparate mandates, you can't see which state did what. And so really the conclusion is, that we don't have evidence that these mask mandates, we don't have very much a good evidence that these mask mandates have really done anything to stave off the virus. Now, there are other studies

looking at some states and some countries that do show that cases began to decrease after a mask mandate. But I believe that is coincidence, not causation. Now, why do I believe that? And this is also in response to someone saying, oh, well, it could have been a lot worse if this particular country or state didn't have a mask mandate. So that doesn't prove anything. Well, there have been many studies, many studies that have already been done on the effectiveness of masks at stopping the transmission of disease. So the reason why mask mandates aren't proven to do much is because masks aren't really proven to do much. I know that's scandalous to say. So like I said, several studies demonstrate this. The Center for Evidence-based Medicine at Oxford University

points out that research on the efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of COVID is weak. Quote, in 2010, at the end of the last influenza pandemic, there were six published randomized control trials with 4,147 participants focusing on the benefits of different types of masks. Two were done in health care workers in foreign family or student clusters. The face mass trials for influenza-like illness, I-L-I, reported poor compliance, rarely reported harms, and revealed the pressing need for future trials. So basically, they're kind of saying it's inconclusive, but here's what they found. Despite the clear requirement to carry out further large pragmatic trials a decade later,

only six had been published, five in healthcare workers and one in pilgrims. This recent crop of trials added 9,11112 participants to the total randomized denomized denominator of 13,259 and showed that masks alone have no significant effect in interrupting the spread of influenza like illness or influenza in the general population, nor in health care workers. And so they realized, okay, we need more trials after they did the first trials back in 2010. So they did more trials, adding more people. And what they found is that masks alone have no significant effect whatsoever in interrupting the spread of these kinds of illnesses. It would appear that despite two decades of pandemic preparedness, there's considerable uncertainty as to the

value of wearing masks. And then it goes on to talk about how we are placing these restrictions, but we don't actually know how effective they are. It goes on to say Norway's Institute for Public Health reported that if masks did work, then any difference in infection rates would be small when infection rates are low, assuming 20% asymptomatic and a risk reduction of 40% for wearing masks, 200,000 people would need to wear one to prevent one new infection per week. And that's just not the case anywhere. The New England Journal of Medicine concluded this in May 2020. We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection.

Public health authorities define a significant exposure to COVID-19 to face-to-face contact within six feet with a patient with symptomatic COVID-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes. The chance of catching COVID-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic. Now, you might say, okay, that was in 2020. We've learned more. What do we learn? Can you tell me? The CDC hasn't articulated how the science is different from what the New England Journal of Medicine concluded in May of 2020. Like, it is still nearly impossible to get COVID from randomly passing someone.

And so the people who are wearing their masks on the beach or outside, it just doesn't follow the science. Like the New England Journal of Medicine said, the science is still the same. The desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic. A randomized controlled trial in Japan testing for the effectiveness of surgical masks and reducing the incidence of the calming cold found, quote, face mask use and health care workers has not. been demonstrated to provide benefit in terms of cold symptoms of getting or getting colds. A larger study is needed to definitively establish non-inferiority of no mask use. A 2010 study by Cambridge University found, quote,

while there is some experimental evidence that masks should be able to reduce infectiousness under controlled conditions should be able to reduce. Really, that's what we're running on here. And just to kind of insert my own commentary, because I've seen so many people post as their sourcing that masks work, recommendations for masks by the Mayo Clinic or from American Academy of Pediatrics, that's not proof. That's not a study just because a medical or so-called scientific entity recommends a mask is not data or a scientific proof that the mask works.

And so while there are experimental evidence, is some experimental evidence, Cambridge University says that masks should be able to reduce infectiousness under controlled conditions. They go on to say there is less evidence on whether this translate to effectiveness in natural settings. So theoretically, it should work, but there isn't a whole lot of evidence to prove that they actually do. They go on to say there is little evidence to support the effectiveness of face masks to reduce the risk of infection. A study from Oxford clinical infectious diseases found that, quote, single-use medical masks are preferable to cloth masks for which there is no evidence of protection and which, get this, might facilitate transmission of pathogens when used repeatedly

without adequate sterilization. Interesting. So sitting in a cloth mask all day without sterilization could transmit pathogens or organisms that transmit diseases. What does that sound like? Are you saying that kids are sitting in the sterile chain? periodically in 95 masks all day at school? No, of course not. A Danish randomized control trial with 6,000 participants, you'll probably remember when this came out, published in November of 2020, found no statistically significant effect of high-quality medical face masks against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community setting. Now, other countries get this, apparently, and it's reflected in their policies. But we apparently, we don't get it because everything is political in the United States.

So it just makes everything toxic. And we can't actually have any logical scientific conversations about any of this because it's become a symbol of who you voted for, which is so silly, so dumb and so damaging. Even UNICEF, which is pro mask in general. And I would add they seem not to follow some of the science that we've just talked about by they recommend cotton masks. But really, they're talking to people who don't have any other option and might be crammed together. And so they're in a situation where maybe it would provide some protection from the spread of COVID. But they even strongly advise against kids under the age of five wearing masks. And they recommend mask wearing for kids ages 6 to 11 only in certain settings.

So this is in direct opposition to airlines. in some city governments, mandating masks for children as young as two years old. So UNICEF even disagrees with that, even being the pro-mask entity that they are. The UK, as we noted before, removed face mask requirements for students in May. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said this, removing face masks will hugely improve interactions between teachers and students, while all other school safety measures will remain in place to help keep the virus out of classrooms. A Swedish student, this was crazy.

He was kicked out of a class for refusing to take off his mask. This was reported you can just search this, that this kid, he wanted to wear a mask. I guess his parent wanted him to wear a mask. I think his parent was actually like American because I'm pretty sure this was an international school and he wanted to wear a mask. And he was sit home because it was causing distress among other students. This kid wearing a mask could not be more different here. And as noted above as well, the Netherlands. only urges mask wearing for people 13 and over.

So there's no expectation. There's no urging whatsoever for kids under the age of 13 to wear masks. Also, keep in mind, people seem to forget this, that mask wearing has been a prevalent trend in Asia, China specifically for years. And that obviously did not stop the virus from originating there and spreading like wildfire there. And maybe it's also worth noting that many people,

or that many of the same people, I'm mandating and advocating for these rules are not always following them themselves. We've got examples from Lori Lightfoot, Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Barack Obama, Muriel Bowser, Nancy Pelosi, just to name a few. So that's just something to consider. Even if masks were proven to be super effective, kids have a very, very, very small chance of getting anything close to a severe case of COVID. I know if you're reading headlines right now, you would think differently, but it's still true. And actually, the American Academy of Pediatrics, which I have found, which all of us have found, to be very political sometimes and their statements and recommendations, especially when it

comes to things like gender identity and toddlers and little kids, they did find that pediatric, and they published this, that pediatric hospitalization of kids because of, key phrase, because of COVID, is extremely rare. So a recent study that they put out found that some hospitals are reported. reporting children admitted to the hospital with COVID symptoms or who tested positive for COVID, but who were not admitted because of COVID. So this is what the study says. Children have suffered tremendously due to policies that have kept schools and recreational facilities closed to them. And the burden has been the burden has been greatest on children who are low income and

English language learners. Scientific and media reports that inaccurately portray the The risk of COVID-19 to children can do harm by alarming parents and providing justification for ongoing restrictions to in-person education and other programming, i.e. summer camps, Kushner at all, and Webb at all have contributed greatly to the field by careful work to understand the true burden of COVID-19 disease among children via these studies. parents and policymakers should be reassured that pediatric hospitalization for severe COVID-19 disease is rare. And so every kid who is being admitted to the hospital is being tested for COVID. And in many hospitals, that is being reported as the reason why they are in the ICU or in the hospital. But in many cases, this study found it's actually just incidental. So it's actually just a coincidence that they, have COVID, and that's not why they're there. They could be there for something totally different

for some other, you know, fatal disease or illness or RSV. There is a huge RSV breakout across the country, especially in North Texas where you're seeing a lot of the media reports coming out saying pediatric ICU beds are full as COVID cases rise. You see how clever that wording is that they're not actually saying it's because of COVID. They're saying COVID cases are rising, pediatric ICU beds are filling, but it's not actually because of COVID, if you look at the numbers. Not for these kids. It's because mostly, not entirely, there are some kids with COVID. There are some kids who will go to the hospital because of COVID, but it's very, very, very, very rare. It's mostly because of RSV. RSV is a respiratory virus, as we've talked about several times on this podcast,

that is very serious, especially for babies under six months, much more serious than COVID is for babies under six months. And it is roaring right now, and people are theorizing. pediatricians, nurses, medical experts, not me, are theorizing. It's because it wasn't able to cycle, as it typically does, in the winter months because people were locked down. People, you know, people were trying to protect themselves from COVID. And so they basically just shut down their immune systems for several months. And now it's coming back with a vengeance and people's immune systems just are not prepared to be able to handle it how they typically are. And so you've got a lot of pediatric cases of RSV. maybe worse than in several years and a lot of kids going to the hospital for it, but the media don't really care because it's not COVID, which is crazy. As we talk about so many times, there are so many different things, so many different threats that can kill you, so many different kinds of harm that our compassion should cover. Like that also demands our attention.

But again, because things are so politicized in the United States, we're not even able to, we're not even able to acknowledge that. There's also hand foot and mouth disease, which is not, it doesn't put kids in the ICU, but that very seriously is going around right now because, again, people are out and about, they're congregating, kids are going back to daycare, going back to Sunday school, going back to school, some in some areas for the first time. And so there are a lot of things that are putting people in the hospital that aren't actually COVID.

But if the media, again, can whip you up that, okay, COVID cases are rising over here and also hospitals are full, they don't have to tell you why. the hospitals are full. And a lot of cases also the hospitals are full because they are short-staffed. Not something they don't want to talk about that the lockdowns actually decreased the need for general hospitalizations. And so in a lot of cases, some hospitals were less busy. Now, I know some hospitals were more busy than ever before. A lot of hospitals were less busy than ever before. And so there were a lot of staffers that were laid off in hospitals. And also, there are a lot of nurses who didn't want to take the vaccine. And so rather than following the vaccine

mandate that has been implemented in a lot of these hospitals, some nurses quit. And so many hospitals are short-staffed right now. Some nurses are just quitting because they don't want to do bedside anymore because it's just a really hard job. And also, here's another thing. Hospital administrations, they run hospitals like businesses. They still want to make money. And so they are going to try to keep their hospitals at capacity. So there are so many other factors that are going into this, and the media, as usual, is being very irresponsible. Now, am I saying that that means that we should not care about COVID or that no kids get COVID, that it's not a threat to anyone at all? I'm not saying that. I'm saying that we

have to be very careful about which narratives we latch on to. Dr. Roshney Matthew is a Stanford School of Medicine, Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist. She told NPR, quote, For children in particular, the risk of serious consequences from COVID-19 is the same magnitude as the risk they face from the flu, she says. But many parents seem more worried about the new and less familiar disease that heightened anxiety by the new guidelines, or that anxiety is heightened by the new guidelines on mask wearing. But experts urge parents to try not to worry too much. Now, if we are to take the CDC's numbers at face value, and they're, they're, they're, they're, be a reason or two, not to, but if we are, 416 children have reportedly died with COVID. That's their phraseology with COVID. Again, important, not necessarily from COVID, but with

COVID. Out of 74 million children in the United States. And most, it seems, had underlying conditions. I linked proof of that or I linked what seems to be proof of that in the article that is linked to the description of this episode. So these facts taken with the AAP's warning that previously noted, or that we previously noted about inflated pediatric hospitalization numbers, lets us know that there's almost a zero percent chance of how we get dying from this virus. And while every single life absolutely matters, no matter the age, it is important to have some perspective. So in the 2017 to 2018 flu season, it was a really bad flu season. You might remember. I actually, well, I guess that would have been the 2018-2019 flu season.

I actually know someone, a young, healthy person who died of the flu in 2018. But the 2017-to-2018 flu season was a really bad flu season. The CDC estimates that 643 children 17 and under died of the flu. Quote, deaths in children with laboratory confirmed influenza virus infection are reportable in the United States and 183 deaths were reported for the 2017. to 2018 season. However, influenza-associated pediatric deaths are likely underreported, as not all children whose death was related to an influenza virus infection may have been

tested for influenza. Therefore, we use the mathematical model to estimate the total number of pediatric deaths based on hospitalization rates and the frequency of death in and out of the hospital from death certificates, estimating that there were more than 640 deaths associated. with influenza in children. So keep in mind to that flu seasons are about six months. We've had COVID for over a year and a half. So far more children died of slash with the flu in six months a few years ago than have died of slash with COVID in the last 18 plus months. There were 11 million kids who tested positive for the flu in 2017 and the 2017 to 2018 season. There have been four

million children who have tested positive for COVID so far. Now, did anyone suggest shutting down schools or wearing masks in 2018? Why not? Because, well, one, as we already cited, the study that shows that masks really aren't effective in stopping the spread of influenza-like illnesses, but also until COVID, we understood the importance of kids receiving in-person instruction unencumbered by plexiglass and pathogen-laden facecloths. The only thing that has changed, at least when it comes to talking about this age group is politics. As Matt Walsh said, in his speech before a school board in Nashville, the masks are really more about security for the teachers. Security for the school board and the administration, not for the kids. Because even if kids do get it, they are very unlikely to pass

to teachers who, by the way, can get vaccinated if they want to. And if they're not vaccinated, they've probably already calculated the risk and are okay with their chances of surviving COVID. in Sweden, France, Wales, in China, again, which we are linking, show that transmission from a child to an adult, mask or not, is extremely rare. Dr. Raska said in the article that we are linking, the data are striking. The key takeaway is that children are not driving the pandemic. After six months, we have a wealth of accumulating data showing that children are less likely to become infected and seem less infectious.

It is congregating adults. who aren't following safety protocols, who are responsible for driving the upward curve. The risk of mask wearing for kids simply outweighs the benefits. Dr. Marty McCari, he is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He wrote about the adverse effects of masks on kids for the Wall Street Journal. So he says, in March Ireland's Department of Health announced that it won't require masks in schools because it may exacerbate anxiety or breathing difficulties, and the doctor agrees. He said chronic and prolonged mouth breathing, which is sometimes what happens when kids are wearing masks,

it can alter your facial development. And it also, it says that because adenoids block their nasal airways, it can develop a mouth deformity and elongated face. And there's also possible psychological harm of widespread masking. He says, he says facial expressions are integral to human connection. Now, what's interesting is that the American Academy of Pediatrics put out a tweet thread saying babies and young children study faces. So you may worry that having masked caregivers would harm children's language development. There are no studies to support this concern. I saw a reply that was like, if you don't study it, there can't be any studies. There can't be any studies supporting

it. So their first sentence actually contradicts the next sentence. So we know that babies and young children study faces, that it's important for communication. It's. It's. It's important for them to pick up social cues. It's important for them to be able to see the articulation of words, especially when you're still learning to talk and learning in class and learning new words and all of that, especially for kids who are hard of hearing. And yet the American Academy of Pediatrics says, there's no studies showing that that's going to, it's going to harm them at all when

it comes to communication and development by covering their mouth. So the doctor in the Wall Street Journal also says, seeing people speak as a building block of phonetic development. I don't even think that we have scratched the surface when it comes to the developmental and psychological issues that we are strapping onto kids by strapping a mask onto their face. And so all of this has to be considered. We can't just say, okay, well, we're going to believe whatever, you know, whatever this bureaucratic body, we actually have to look at the scientific studies that have already

been done for more than a death. when it comes to this particular subject and there just really isn't data supporting that young kids need to be mandated wearing masks. Now, I think that there's not a whole lot of data supporting that people in general need to be mandated wearing masks. But again, I'm more concerned. I'm more concerned with the kids and their ability to be able to learn well and function well and communicate well. That's going to have long lasting, long lasting repercussions. So to summarize, to summarize all of this, kids are at an extremely low risk of severe COVID illness. They are not driving the spread of COVID to adults. Plus, everyone 12 and over has had the opportunity

to get vaccinated. If the vaccines work, then everyone who has taken it is protected. And everyone who has not chosen to take the vaccine has already accepted whatever risks. That choice may or may not pose. There is therefore no reason to treat kids as if they are a threat to public health. Furthermore, there's no solid evidence to prove that masking kids is an effective strategy in mitigating COVID. And in fact, as we have noted today, there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. Parents can protect their kids. As they see fit, as we say many times, the state does not care about your children. They also don't own your children. But kids should not be forced to wear masks. If we are going to hashtag follow the science, that means following the science. That means following the

science, even when it contradicts popular narratives. So gather with people who agree with you. Try to get more people in your organization or in your school district to be concerned about this. Raise a respectful and factual ruckus about this. Come together. Craft a message, push back on this where you are. Try to influence in a God glorifying and strong, unapologetic way, the spheres in which God has placed you, the spheres that you, and you can do it with a wealth of knowledge and data. So do that and then report back to me and let me know how it goes. All right. I will see you guys back here tomorrow with a big episode that you will not want to miss. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest

issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts.

I hope you'll join us.