Items

• 
  2023-08-30

  COVID paranoia alive and well in 2023

  At a stop light this morning, my attention was grabbed by a car with lots of writing on it. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but the light turned green before I could. The car message was about Marxism and how fear controls its movement. The message expressed that recent events have all been staged in order to control society and went on to predict that mask mandates would be back on September 15. The message ended by encouraging people to resist the future mandate in order to retain control of our society. I was very intrigued to see that there are some people who are still very vocal about topics such as this and very loudly are telling people not to live in fear when they are the only ones who seem to be living in fear these days. I read a hashtag on their car and looked it up when I got home. This page belongs to a person (or movement) that is very anti-mask, anti-covid vaccine, and anti-mandates. They are part of the extreme right politically and very religious. I’m curious to see if anything were to happen on the 15th and if not, how this page will respond to the “normality” of September 15. I guess we’ll see in two weeks.
• 2023-07-21

  A Year of Betrayal

  This doesn't need to be long I am just glad to have a way to express how incredibly disappointed I have been throughout the course of this pandemic. In the first few months after the outbreak, most of us relied heavily on the public governmental briefings by Dr Fauci and others, and we eagerly awaited the development of tests and vaccines by the pharmaceutical industry. We trusted that our government and our doctors were working earnestly to provide good solutions to a terrible problem, quickly. But if we fast forward a few years, what a horrible change has transpired! Pretty much everyone who we trusted at the beginning of the pandemic has been proven either a downright liar or to have been working for their own private interests all along. Dr Fauci couldn't get his story straight - repeatedly - over simple matters, and lied again and again about the connection between the virus, the government, and the Wuhan virology lab. Though various remedies (like ivermectin) were decried as malicious and dangerous, we now know that the pharmaceutical companies we were busy trusting were pushing to consider the use of ivermectin medical malpractice, because they wanted an emergency use authorization for their insufficiently tested and experimental vaccines. Some of us already knew we couldn't trust our government, but most of us hoped that we could at least trust our doctors. What a disappointment.
• 
  2021-10

  Woodcrofts in Post-Pandemic Iceland

  First, let me say that I am not a big traveler. I was never bitten by the travel bug, and I had no strong desires to see the world. A bit controversial, but I remember feeling even just a few months of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic that I needed to get out. I needed to escape my house, not because being quarantined and working from home with my husband was problematic or bad as far as our being with one another 24/7, but I just felt very confined and small, almost suffocated. There’s a difference, I think between choosing not to travel or leave your house and not being able to leave your house because of guidelines and the risk of spread illness. My husband and I had planned a trip to go to Iceland in September of 2019, but I just started a new job and couldn’t get time off that soon after starting, so we pushed it off to – as luck would have it – March 2020. In fact, it was planned for about a week or so after the entire world shut down and said “stay home.” At that point, we were “refunded” our tickets and accommodations, and were in this place of not know when or if this trip would happen. By refunded, I mean that the airline gave us a credit for the amount needing to be spent within a year after this date. So we felt in a bit of a dilemma and unsure of what to do. The news of the pandemic and the guidelines were – understandably - constantly shifting, and we were looking at international travel, so we had to frequently check the U.S. travel restrictions as well as Iceland’s restrictions and compare. Even then, restrictions fluctuated, at some points saying travel was allowed on one end, at others, if you test positive you may have to stay there for your entire quarantine period in a designated space away from others, extending your stay for potentially a month. It was a force to even consider planning. Finally, the stars aligned, and we were able to schedule our trip for October 2021, two years later that we had originally planned, but we were going and excited, if a bit nervous. I remember from the day we picked the flights looking up the travel restriction websites every day. I bookmarked the U.S. and Iceland’s sites to check to see if anything had changed in terms of guidelines or cancellations. We knew that we needed to schedule a covid test about 1 week prior to the flight and upload and bring proof of a negative result for the airline. We had been vaccinated, so we had to bring our cards for verification at customs. We also at that point, scheduled our return flight’s covid testing in Iceland to make sure that we had another negative result so we could come home. It was incredibly stressful trying to schedule all this, some sites were booked up, we had to take time off of work to get available appointments before going, all while reminding ourselves this is supposed to be a fun trip, a vacation in a country neither of us had visited before. Luckily, everything by way of travel went well. At that point, being in such a crowded area, like an airport, felt strange and uncomfortable. Everyone wearing masks, but still getting closer to us that we were used to now. We had heard stories of how planes are breeding grounds for covid, the air was recycled, so if someone on the plane is a false negative, they’ll give it to everyone. But we landed 6 hours later, and were relieved to do so. Despite not seeing a single puffin, our week in Iceland was absolutely fantastic; however, I can’t say that it wasn’t hindered a bit by covid and the transitioning public guidelines. After planning this trip for two years, we had read and marked up a number of travel guides that suggested areas to visits, restaurants to try, and trips to take while there. None of these books were equipped to prepare us for what vacation would look like post-pandemic. On one side, the sites and streets, even in the city of Reykjavik, were not nearly as crowded as we had read and expected it would be, which, for someone like me, who gets incredibly overwhelmed when around too many people, was perfect. We were able to visit museums, go on a virtual flyover of Iceland’s landscape, and see sights with no line or trouble. On the other hand, many store, restaurant, and attraction hours had changed or were complete shutdown, and were not updated on Google or on company sites. Occasionally we would finally reach a destination and find it was closed, but we understood that this was a small price to pay overall for a trip to Iceland so soon after things re-opened. One restaurant we stopped at in a small town south of Reykjavik was completely empty, we were the only customers from when we walked in to when we left. We were able to talk to the owner, who was saying that this is what it has been like for them since the start of the pandemic and restrictions on travel, especially international travel and tourism. It was a family-owned restaurant, where the owner and his wife sold art and homemade Nordic pieces on one of the tables in the back. They relied on tourism and the income of international visitors, and they said that this was the hardest part of the pandemic for them, seeing Iceland, a huge tourist spot for years, now hit financially and, really their way of life, changing because of this long ban on travel. For our trip across the country, fortunately, as it is, my husband and I are moderately outdoorsy people, so most of what we wanted to see or wanted to visit was outside and didn’t have the same restrictions that we found in town. We were able to spend a day at the Blue Lagoon, climbing a relatively recently active volcano, walk on the black sand beaches, and just drive around, climb out of the car and hike up a hill for the view. Early on, we decided to abandon our strict itinerary and just think of what we might want to do the next day and plan from there. It was jarring for someone like me, who is almost too reliant on structure and order, but the flexibility worked better and developing that mindset of being adaptable in this post-pandemic time helped combat the frustration and panic we felt after realizing so much had changed from the typical and expected. A stark difference we noticed while there was the general feeling towards covid-19 guidelines and vaccinations there compared to the U.S. at the time. Since the start of the pandemic, so many people were outspokenly skeptical and against the restrictions and guidelines in place and the vaccine, but we never really experienced any of that in Iceland. Rules and guidelines were quietly followed wherever we went, wearing a mask or maintaining distance, there was never a fight or resistance to this. We never saw or heard of any anti-vaccination groups or protests, as we had experienced both where we lived and on the news across America. All in all, our trip coming out of the pandemic was great, if not a bit unexpected because of the guidelines and transition period that came from international travel post-covid.
• 2020-04-08

  Impressive experience

  When the Covid-19 outbreak first started in New York, it was unfortunate that all of my family was positive. In March 2020, after someone in New York was diagnosed positive, my family did not want me to go out and during that time I was in high school and working part-time. My family including most relatives also started not to work and quarantined at home. One day, one of my aunts came to my house with a cold and a cough, but we didn't think much of it because she just got the flu shot so we figured it might be the aftermath of the shot. After two or three days, we started to have different symptoms. I remember I started with a sore throat, a headache, a fever, and then lost my sense of taste and smell. My relatives also showed different degrees of symptoms, and my grandma had the most severe symptoms. She first had a sore throat, a cold, and a low-grade fever, and then she kept having diarrhea and couldn't eat which caused her to lose almost 10 pounds in just one week. During that time, one of my aunts came to take care of my grandma. Throughout the duration of my grandma being ill my aunt was running on only a few hours of sleep per day since she had to keep an eye over my grandma. I remember that the hospitals in New York were full at that time, many patients died without receiving treatment, and refrigerated trucks were parked outside the hospital to store the dead bodies of patients. The TV news also showed that many people were protesting against the announcement of masks being mandatory when going out. None of them believed that Covid-19 would be serious enough to kill people, and this frustrated me, making me feel the urge to express my feelings towards how serious this virus is. I saw that my grandma's condition was getting worse and worse. We also thought about calling an ambulance to take her to the hospital, but we were afraid that we would not get treatment and we would not be able to visit the hospital. We felt very hopeless. We were on the last straw, thus we were all discussing that if grandma didn't show any signs of improvement the next day, our last resort is to have my grandma sent to the hospital. As a result, the following day, my grandma started to eat and did not continue to have a fever, and her condition began to improve. Overall, Covid-19 has brought my family a lot of distress and I am glad that Covid-19 has started to settle and everything is slowly getting back to normal again.
• 
  2022-07-01

  Delay to The Bay

  My plans to visit San Francisco in 2020 came to a halt with the outbreak of the Coronavirus. As a high school teacher, I was looking forward to my long awaited-spring break. It had been quite some years since my last visit to the San Francisco, and I knew a trip to ‘The Bay’ was long overdue. I booked a flight, hotel, and waited patiently as the weeks went by. Spring was coming up and there were heavy concerns about COVID 19 spreading into North America. I was slightly concerned but figured I would be safe to make this trip. As news broke out about cases emerging in San Francisco, the nation went into hysteria. I was not skeptic about the hazard of Coronavirus, but selfishly planned to proceed with the trip. Then my father called me. My parents, both in their seventies were definitely at risk, especially my mother who struggled with health since my childhood. My father asked me kindly not to go to San Francisco. Without hesitation, I canceled my flight and hotel. I had booked everything online through a third party and was unable to receive any refund. Bummed out, I knew it was the right thing to do. Coronavirus spread, schools shut down and my spring break prolonged. At first I was spending time kayaking, but the weather in Phoenix got so hot I had to stay inside. The Phoenix summer of 2020 had record breaking heat with 55 consecutive days of 115 degrees plus Fahrenheit temperatures. I was miserable. With concerns of my mom’s health, social distancing, living alone and bored, I was very unhappy. The unjustifiable killing of George Floyd caused anger, and rightfully so, across the nation which contributed to more hysteria. The only positive that came from that hot summer were my experiments in the kitchen. I would then deliver tasty meals for my parents. This was the one thing that made me happy. Unfortunately, my mother did not survive past the summer of 2020. She passed away in her sleep peacefully due to an unrelated COVID cause. I was on an all time low. Sad, empty, missing my students, and missing normal daily life. We had no idea how many people would die and when things would normalize. It was truly scary. Fast forward to 2022 and things were much better. I figured surviving 2020 made me stronger and much happier. Vaccinated and boosted, I decided to pursue my trip to San Francisco. I made the best of this short trip. I went to a party outside the Chase Center for the NBA Finals, in which the Golden State Warriors played against the Boston Celtics. For the first time, I took a ferry to Alcatraz. In China Town, I saw locals dance with dragons, in which one bopped me in the face while I was taking photos! Caught by surprise, I did not take offense to this. Observing how the dragons behaved with mischief, I knew it was all for fun. This made me laugh. This was a much-needed trip indeed. 2020 affected everyone around the world. With global hysteria, people getting sick, people dying, racial injustice, everyone except pandemic deniers and those oblivious to political issues resonated with fear. Passing through time, my 2022 trip to San Francisco was a rebirth. A rebirth to normalization. A rebirth to my passion of exploring culture. A rebirth of sanity, and a rebirth of controlling fear. A rebirth to laughter. With dragons, noodles, basketball, and Ghirardelli, the delay to ‘The Bay’ will forever be a golden memory.
• 2021-05-03

  Business As Usual

  I am a software engineer at a small, fairly conservative, company in PA. Because of its small company status it was never required for our employees to work from home, at least that was what they told us, and throughout the pandemic it was in fact a requirement that we work from the office. I wasn’t surprised when I was told I would be traveling to Washington state but I was apprehensive. A few of our employees were getting stick but I had so far been safe. On May 3rd 2021 I drove to the airport with a mask on my face and hand sanitizer in my hand. The airport was fairly empty as it was early but the few people that wandered the terminals were wearing masks. My flight was long but I got some sleep with the help of some Dramamine. That night my coworkers went out to eat but I decided to order in. The next morning I headed downstairs to head out for my first appointment. At the registration counter there were brown paper lunch bags sitting out in a neat row, the woman behind the desk asked me if I would like a breakfast bag to-go. As I walked over to pick up one of the bags she explained to me how due to Covid-19 they are not longer serving a hot buffet breakfast but are instead were providing this to-go bag options, I smiled from underneath my mask and thanked her. The bag had a banana, a granola bar, a yogurt and a bottle of water. I drove to the meeting site and headed inside, there were few people around but I noticed no one was wearing a mask, I felt like my light blue mask was a huge neon sign directing everyone’s attention to me. When I arrived at the designated meeting room I set up my computer and prepared the demo while I waited for others to arrive. One by one they walked in, greeted me, shook my hand and took a seat. Still no one was wearing a mask or if they were it was not secured properly, I felt embarrassed being the only one with a mask on. Once everyone arrived I stood up and looked at the room, everyone was looking right back at me, waiting. I took off my mask and began the meeting. The rest of the week was more of the same and the trip home was uneventful. A few days after getting home I tested positive for Covid-19 and was finally allowed to work from home, at least until I got better.
• 2022-11-21

  Why?

  At the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, my dad was (and still is) a skeptic. He would always ask, "Why do some people get Covid, and others don't? How does the virus choose it's victims?" As the Pandemic continued to grow and spread, my step-mother and I got Covid at the same time. My dad took care of both of us, yet he still did not get Covid. We all survived. Then, the vaccine shots came out, and my dad said, "Hey, I never got it. Why should I take something, when I never got it in the first place?" He did not get the vaccine, while the rest of the family did. Then, my step-mother and I got Covid for a second time. We survived again. Dad said, "I never got the vaccine, and I never got Covid. You guys get the vaccine, and you have it twice. I don't understand at all." To this day, Dad still has not gotten Covid and still refuses to get the vaccines.
• 
  2022-06-10

  Arkansas prison doctors and ivermectin

  This is a story detailing Arkansas' Medical Board dismissing charges against a Washington County prison doctor for treating prisoners with ivermectin. Arkansas' Medical Board has not explicitly denounced the drug as a treatment for COVID-19, and many physicians prescribe the drug. This particular physician treated several unknowing prisoners with ivermectin in order to combat rising covid cases in the Washington County Jail in April. This dismissal of charges by the Medical Board reveals a deeper skepticism of the pandemic in Arkansas and a willingness of the board to allow physicians to treat their patients as they ultimately see fit with minimal regulations. I feel it also reveals a deeper understanding of Arkansas' prison system due to the prisoners not being informed of what was given to them, and therefore without consent.
• 
  2022-06-17

  Shots for the Youth

  This article details the FDA's approval for vaccinations of children and infants. With encouragement from the Biden Administration, the youth are the final group with full approval for vaccinations against COVID-19. While this is a good thing for many who take the pandemic seriously, many Arkansans and southerners in general will likely be resistant to this new approval. The south has largely been skeptical of the vaccine and of COVID, and indeed the vaccinating of children with be a harsh topic across the south. It will be interesting to see the backlash and discussion from this decision, as well as analyzing the many questions that will doubtlessly be raised about the powers of the parents.
• 
  2022-06-26

  Remember when it wasn't "your body, your choice"?

  This is an Instagram post from dontfollowpatrick. This is a meme posted regarding bodily autonomy. For pandemic skeptics, "my body, my choice" has been common rhetoric with things like masks and vaccines. Dissenters claim that it is not a valid argument because the actions of one person in a public health crisis affect other people around them. With things like abortion, it is seen as an individual decision that does not affect others the way not wearing a mask would.
• 
  2022-06-25

  Do not inject your child without research

  This is a tweet from NealJ4USA. This person has decided not to vaccinate their children after having done some research on the subject. Due to distrust in the COVID vaccine, it is also making this person feel more hesitant about any other vaccines that end up getting pushed.
• 
  2022-06-25

  My body, my choice...except with experimental vaccines

  This is a tweet from geraldcelente. This person is expressing their anger towards Dr. Fauci and his ideas on what "my body, my choice" actually consists of. Within the vaccine skeptic communities, people like Dr. Fauci are held in contempt due to his stances on things like masks, vaccines, and lockdowns.
• 
  2022-06-25

  Calling people out

  This is a tweet from KingsleyCortes. She is criticizing the general Democrat talking points with things like abortion and gay marriage by pointing out that many Democrats were in favor of people getting the vaccines. The vaccines were not voluntary in some cases, where people were coerced into getting them at the risk of losing their jobs. People have many different takes on these hot button issues, but this is the best way I can explain it.
• 2022-06-25

  The same sort of people

  This is a tweet from Connybub. This person is pointing out the hypocrisy of the pro-choice crowd and their use of "my body, my choice" while many in this same group also wanted people to take the vaccines against their own will. This is obviously a very controversial topic, and there have been people using different aspects of the vaccine debates and the abortion debates to show which side in the correct one.
• 
  2022-06-16

  Why have politicians stopped talking about Covid?

  This is a text story from Vox by Dylan Scott. The article claims that COVID helped sink President Donald Trump's re-election campaign, yet despite this, it is not being focused on by either party. Though, this author believes the Democrat response hasn't been much better, with people not really touting President Joe Biden's vaccine rollout and other initiatives. The author links the reason for inflation being COVID interrupting supply lines, which is on people's minds for this midterm election. According to Gallup polling, COVID has lost importance in many people's minds, with it falling behind Russia and gas prices. On the Republican side of things, COVID is rarely mentioned, and if it is, it is in a negative light. Scott says that candidates favored by Donald Trump have gone against his ideas, with them being more skeptical of vaccines, and some refusing to get the vaccine at all. COVID is being tied to an anti-establishment attitude that has been rising within the Republican party. As for my own opinion on this piece, I believe that is does bring up an interesting point with linking COVID to current inflation. I do agree that COVID has impacted the economy for the worst with supply chains being more limited and rising spending of the federal government to counter it, but I do not think it can explain everything. Federal spending in general has been on an increase, which is driving up the cost of items, and not all that spending is COVID related. In addition to that, the shutdown of important pipelines has made reliance on foreign oil more of a necessity, which then drives up gas prices. These types of decisions can't all be traced back to COVID. So while I do think COVID has impacted the economy, I do not think it explains nearly all the economic issues the United States is facing.
• 
  2022-05-15

  The Great Reset Pandemic Skeptic

  This double-sided A4 leaflet provides an extended summary overview of the supposedly 12-step plan behind the COVID. This leaflet was taken from the dissidentsignposts.org, and they hope to inform people about the “real” reason behind the COVID pandemic. This leaflet says that the billionaires want to impose new ways for global corporations but for their plan to work, they need to acquire everyone to be tagged with a unique digital identity number and surrender their privacy. As this leaflet points out, the “New Normal” that billionaires want to accomplish is to be depopulated, cleaned-up, high-tech, dehumanized, totalitarian dictatorship, genetically modified, digitally tagged, nano-chipped, etc. this leaflet tries to persuade the audience by pointing out that the COVID pandemic is just a big scheme in hopes of taking control of the total population. The 12 step that is mentioned explains the different reasons why the government is pushing for people to take COVID and the vaccines seriously. I have heard of this idea before from my friends. They were talking about it, but to me, I believe that COVID is real. I have seen my family members getting infected by the virus. I will never believe things like this and I will never let anybody put a chip or something within me. Although our world is getting more and more highly advanced, I believe that this so-called “Great Reset” will not take place.
• 
  2022-05-11

  WHO Plans Global Takeover: The Pandemic Treaty

  American alternative medicine proponent, Joseph Michael Mercola, stated that the World Health Organization (WHO) has started drafting a global pandemic treaty in preparation of a global takeover. in biosecurity. This treaty would grant WHO absolute power over digital identities, vaccine passports, mandatory vaccinations, travel restrictions, standardized medical care, and more. Although the World Health Organization does not currently have absolute authorization over international public health, Mercola argues that the agency is working with the United Nations to pass this treaty on June 16th and 17th so that they may seize absolute control over these entities in order to strip civilians of their basic rights and freedoms based on claims and statistics that seem to exaggerate the climate of the pandemic and its transmissions. As a reader, I am somewhat amused and concern with this information, not because I believe it to be true but because I know that it is heavily misguided. For starters, Mercola tries to persuade readers that the WHO "is not qualified to make global health decisions," but stressed how the agency is tied to international public health and has advocated the public health risk of COVID-19 throughout the whole entire pandemic. Secondly, "The Corbett Report" mentions that the treaty is not expected to be carried out until 2024 which is less urgent of a matter than what Mercola stated in his article (that he mentioned would transpire in mid-June of this year.) Finally, I do not feel that Mercola takes nations and state legislations into account of this treaty and proposal. Although the US federal government mandated the shutdown, it is still up to state legislators to decide the curfews and times the shutdown would commence. Therefore, I think this article, "The WHO Pandemic Treaty Closes in on Absolute Control over Global Biosecurity," offered more conspiracy than tangible evidence, being that this proposal has been drafted or commenced.
• 
  2021-03-01

  Skeptic's flawed analysis of pandemics over a century using data that ignores population growth and globalization.

  The attached image was used as evidence in an article for pandemic skeptics to make a "realistic risk assessment" of their danger during the COVID-19 pandemic in an article originally published in March 2021. The image utilizes only the mortality rate of England and Wales over the last century to visually "show" that COVID-19 is just a "blip" on the map. They are seemingly hinting through an image that this pandemic is fake news compared to world wars or influenza, using data to propagandize skepticism. What is misleading about this data is that they are using numbers of today against nearly one hundred years ago and are not contextualizing the numbers at all. At first glance one can see the overall mortality rate is going down. Of course, this is due to improved science, sanitization, water, and medicine over this time period. We must not also forget that this rate has gone down because the number of people in England and Wales, as in all life on our Earth, has increased. Like all math problems, the larger the denominator the small the rate. For example, if 100 people died out of a population of 1,000, the mortality rate is 10% (100/1000x100). But, if 100 people died in a population of 10,000, the mortality rate is only 1 percent (100/10000x100). Trying to compare numbers in a situation where the world population is much different and globalized, is not an equal comparison. I believe this is misleading persuasive propaganda that skeptics used to make COVID look like not a big deal. However, the risk factors have much more to do with your age, location, health history, interaction with other people, and how your surrounding areas respond to a pandemic, none of which is contextualized in this vague graph.
• 
  2022-05-15

  The Nature of the Covid Skeptic

  This is an interesting article I have found detailing 20 "facts" about the Covid-19 pandemic. This article largely attempts to refute the "overreaction" of the world when it came to the covid-19 pandemic. While criticism of conduct and policy is valuable and necessary for an open and clear discussion, attitudes of pandemic skeptics largely negate the vulnerable populations of the world and feed on the ignorance of the global population. This is one such article. 1. This article claims the lethality of covid is generally less than 1% of the population. While I seriously question that number, it still does not negate the extreme death seen by the world. The United States of America has roughly 331 million people living within their boarders. 1% of 331 million is still 3.31 million deaths. Is this a number in which it is appropriate to have an "it is what it is" attitude? Particularly when the people most impacted by the pandemic are those with health issues and the elderly? This attitude, which is shared by many skeptics borders on ageism and ableism. 2. This article claims that those most adversely impacted by covid are those over the age of 80 (78 in the US). But I ask again: is this a valid reason to not take the pandemic seriously? Are we supposed to let the elderly population simply waste away under the boot of covid? 3. This article claims that the covid-19 vaccine is ultimately ineffective in protecting against infection or transmission. The plain truth is that nothing is 100% effective. Seatbelts are not 100% effective in preventing deaths in the event of car accidents, so should we stop wearing them? Additionally, once the vaccines began rolling out, we have seen a decline in covid cases. Indeed, that is not to say vaccinated people don't get covid, I myself being one of them, but it has certainly made covid much more manageable, particularly on the already strapped healthcare industry. 4. This article claims that the vaccine can cause fatal reactions. As can the flu vaccine, or the polio vaccine, or any vaccine. It varies from person to person. 5. This article lays blame for increased mortality on the feet of covid lockdown procedure. I would simply say that correlation does not equal causation and I am certain the increased mortality rate can more accurately be attributed to the millions who have died from covid-19 across the globe. 6. This article mentions that in most cases, individuals were asymptomatic or only had mild to moderate symptoms and that obesity played a major part in whether or not symptoms were severe. While I doubt the validity of this, even so it does not negate the precautions the world took. Should asymptomatic people not take precautions and isolate? Should they be free to wander and infect those who could be vulnerable and perpetuate death? I feel this attitude, again, negates the vulnerable population. 7. This article claims that early treatment of the disease prevented hospitalizations. I feel this point negates the rapidity of covid's effect on people. Indeed, it also assumes that everyone has equal access to early-stage treatment. 8. This article claims that 10% of symptomatic people may experience long-term health related issues following covid. This appears to be about the only accurate point of this article, the only thing i question is the percentage of the population. 9. This article claims that the ability of transmission is very limited. This is very inaccurate, particularly when one looks at the extensive number of the population who received a positive test. 10. This article claims that masks had zero impact on limiting transmission. There are countless studies disproving this point. Often times this attitude is held by individuals who care only about their own comfort rather than the people around them. 11. This article claims that lockdown's were ineffective and only perpetuated economic issues across the globe. I think New Zealand is a prime example of why this is a moot point. New Zealand locked down early in the pandemic and did not have a single case of covid for nearly a year. It was only when their borders reopened that new Zealand began to experience covid. 12. This article claims that the impact of the virus on children is miniscule and that school lockdowns did nothing to help stop the spread. It is idiotic to think that children cannot contract covid. Indeed it is further selfish to not factor in teachers and staff and their health. 13. The article claims that PCR tests often returned false positives which artificially increased the number of cases. This is deeply inaccurate as there are numerous studies highlighting the effectiveness of PCR tests. 14. This article claims that contact tracing is ineffective and cites a WHO 2019 paper on influenza tracing. Contract tracing is valuable in informing the population that they have been exposed so that they may get tested and limit their contact with others to limit the spread, it is most certainly effective. As for the 2019 WHO paper on the ineffectiveness of contact tracing for the influenza: different disease, different way of managing it. 15. The article claims that vaccine passports are ineffective as the vaccine is ineffective and are used for tracking the population. Again, the vaccine has proven to be effective. And if the government wanted to track the population, it can be far more easily be done via phones and computers than via vaccinations. 16. This article claims that mutations of covid occur frequently and that new variants decline in lethality. While I agree that the virus mutates, I seriously doubt the decline in lethality. Indeed, I think because the virus can mutate so effectively, it is another justification in taking the pandemic seriously. 17. This article cites Sweden as a case where a full lockdown did not occur, a small number of deaths, and deaths being largely attributed to the elderly population. I think the primary effectiveness of Sweden this article cites is due to the Swedish taking the pandemic seriously, wearing masks, rapid vaccinations, social distancing, and not perpetuating misinformation. 18. This article claims that seasonal influenza largely disappeared during the pandemic and that covid has displaced it as the seasonal virus. Seasonal viruses aren't displaced. Indeed, the reason for the decline in flu cases is due to the population wearing masks and social distancing. Seasonal flu returned to pre-pandemic numbers in fall and winter 2021 when many of the covid protocols had been removed. 19. This article claims the media blew the pandemic out of proportion, spread fear, and distorted information. I disagree. It is the job of the media to make the population aware of global issues such as this. Indeed, the only distortion of facts that I found during the pandemic were from pandemic skeptics who were too selfish and uncomfortable to consider their fellow humans. 20. This article claims that the virus was lab-created. Whether or not the virus was lab-created is irrelevant. The point is: it exists, it is here, and it is vital that it be taken seriously.
• 
  2022-05-13

  Pandemic skeptics assignment

  The instructions given to HST 580 interns: Assignment: Browse one of the pandemic skeptic websites below. Select one image/idea/video to submit to the archive. Write a reaction paragraph to this item. What is its message? How does it try to persuade the audience? And what is your reaction to this item? DissidentSignPosts.org evidencenotfear.com worlddoctorsalliance.org principia-scientific.org mercola.org swprs.org pandata.org globalresearch.ca off-guardian.com technocracy.news What to submit Submit your story to the COVID-19 archive and submit the title of the story (or even better- the link to the story in the archive) in Canvas.
• 
  2022-05-11

  Fact Checkers

  This is an Instagram post by covid_antivax. This post is in criticism of social media removing posts deemed "misinformation" about COVID and the vaccine. The tags from this user, like #depopulation, suggest that the goal of COVID and the vaccines is to reduce the population size. The censoring of information regarding the virus and the vaccine has been troublesome for myself. I do not think it is the right of social media to dictate what can and cannot be said, barring anything illegal, like death threats. I think it is a dangerous trajectory when these multinational companies start deciding what governing bodies and people should think. It brings into question people's actual rights to speech. People should have the right to voice their opinion on subjects like this. If people are prevented from speaking out as much on social media, they will get driven to more niche websites and forums to discuss things, which in turn help create more echo chambers. The great thing about free speech is the ability to bounce ideas off with other people and be given the opportunity to decide for myself what is right with more information available. Taking this away will make it harder to really test ideas and make them more refined. This is more my criticism of social media in general, but the talk on the virus and the vaccines has noticeably made it worse for any side to reconcile.
• 
  2022-05-12

  Baby Formula Shortage

  This is an Instagram post by shanti.mikel. This post is on a conspiracy that the baby formula shortage is being used by Bill Gates to promote artificial breast milk technology. Connected to this theory is Pfizer advising people to not breast feed. I would be curious to know what the vaccine's impact would be on breast feeding in the future, as mRNA vaccines like the one Pfizer has produced are going to be used to treat other diseases. The claim that breast feeding is not recommended with COVID vaccines originated in Britain's medicines regulator, not Pfizer, according to Reuters. In order to give more context to this post, I have posted the story by Reuters as well, for those interested in reading. For me personally, I still don't think all the side-effects from the vaccines will be known for a while, as I have had a hard time getting information on the vaccines that has not come across as highly partisan for one group or the other. The evidence I rely on is mostly anecdotal from people that have received the vaccines, in addition to the reasoning of people that did not get them. For the people in my immediate circle, I have not seen any ill health effects from the vaccines so far, but I am also unsure how effective the vaccines are in the long run if some of those same people still get COVID anyway. It is hard to tell if the vaccine is making the COVID cases more mild, or if the virus has just mutated enough to where it is less deadly. It could be a mixture of both. All of it is hard for me to really be sure about either side because I feel like I am only getting partial truth from both.
• 
  2021-12

  The “Vaccine Passport” Agenda

  This is information on vaccine passports by Swiss Policy Research. The overall message is that there is a correlation between totalitarianism and panic over the virus. This panic, in turn, has translated into governments around the world bringing up the possibility of vaccine passports. The vaccine passports may be used for more than vaccines, as they would be a way for the government to identify movement of individuals easier. The groups uses a number of ways to sway the audience, using information on what different organizations have funded, in addition to bringing up what other governments have said about the vaccine passports. Vaccine passports, according to this publication, really got traction from the digital identity lobby group ID2020 in February 2021, which has funding from both the Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. The research foundation cites pushback against the vaccine passports too. Places like Ontario, Canada have had to take away the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, as they would potentially lose many workers in the process. In Spain, they have been called "ineffective and unconstitutional." The publication ends by calling the pandemic a "plandemic," saying that it was likely lab-created for the purpose of controlling the populations more. I think given the information available, this is persuasive. There are links to where the claims come from, such as what Bill Gates says himself, as well as information on the Good Health Pass, which is a collaboration between many different organizations and their implementation of vaccine passports. In my own opinion, I find vaccine passports unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy. A vaccine passport makes it so you are forced to disclose personal health information to strangers in order to do things like grocery shopping, which I consider to be a potential HIPAA violation. It is also breech of the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution. If people feel inclined to get vaccinated, they should, but forcing people to do so through vaccine passports creates more overall distrust in the government. I have known people that would have otherwise have gotten the vaccine if it wasn't so forced. Even though vaccine passports were never mandated where I live, there have been people that have lost their livelihoods over not wanting to get vaccinated. I myself was very hesitant to get the vaccine for a while due to the way the government was handling it. Trying to implement vaccine passports and mandates has made it so society becomes more segregated, where unvaccinated would be forced to shop at different places, work at different places, and many other things. I am glad that the overall effort to actually do this has failed, but that is only because of many groups of people throughout the United States exercising their rights. I am pro-choice too, and I extend that reasoning to vaccine passports. People need bodily autonomy and vaccine mandates remove some of that.
• 
  2022-05-10

  Pandemic Skeptics

  The attached screenshot is from the pandemic skeptic website https://evidencenotfear.com/. In this image, the site states a fact that adults are more likely to be killed in a car accident than from contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This fact is true, unless you are an adult over the age of 49. Sites like this twist and spin facts to produce a narrative that sounds convincing enough to make you not have to look the information up. Oh and if you click the hyperlink "car accident" in that fact, it just takes you to more articles on their site that talk about automotive accidents on their site. This site is trying to use "science" and "medical" facts to push the narrative that COVID fears are unreasonable and scare tactics. My reaction when I see any article full of hyperlinks is to check them out as well as to fact check the main ideas separately. Sites like this assume that people will not take the time to look information up and take it at face value.
• 
  2022-05-10

  Evidence Not Fear Key Facts Chart

  The item is a chart from evidencenotfear.org. It can be found on the homepage. This chart can be found under the “key facts” section and explains the information that is claimed to be from experts in epidemiology, microbiology, and virology. The key facts section contains information that is immediately concerning to me. Some of the statements that are the most concerning to me are that children cannot transmit the virus, face masks can create negative health effects for the person wearing them, and more people have died from the panic of COVID-19 than the virus itself. The chart contains links, which I assumed would provide evidence and research to back up the claims. However, each link leads to an archive of news articles that are related to that topic. The message of this item is that the fear of COVID-19 has been worse than what the virus can actually do. This is seen through the explanations of face masks causing complications, lockdowns preventing herd immunity, and children cannot being affected by it. It tries to persuade the reader by providing links to several different news articles supporting the claim. However, the news article that they are using as support does not provide sources either.
• 
  2021-06-25

  Pandata falsehoods putting children at risk

  The attached link is to an anti-covid vaxx website, specifically about not vaccinating children. The first thing you see is a list of 10 reasons not to vaccinate children, followed by a video. The main message is vaccines for children are not safe. (Which I would personally like to point out is false.) They are pushing the idea that vaccines are coercive and dangerous. The video is titled “What about the kids?”, and the page it’s listed on is titled “All Risk Zero Benefit.” First, we can look at the title of both of these to see tactics of persuasion. “What about the kids?” Exactly, what about them? This creates an emotional appeal to listen to the message, surely everyone would care about kids, and surely you want the best for them? “All Risk Zero Benefit”, a short title, to the point, definitive word choice. There is no room for argument with “zero benefit”. The video itself flashes between different news outlets and interviews with ‘experts’, Doctors. There is the continued tactic of “The other doctors don’t want you to know this”, or “The government is trying to control you”. This is truly stupid and disgusting. If you watch the video, all the clips are from either Fox ‘news’, The Epoch Times, or from something called Brees Media. Fox and Epoch are both conservative right-wing outlets. I looked into Brees Media, as I hadn’t heard of it before. It is a former BBC employee who now created a company that teaches people how to create media content. She (Anna Brees, the owner) has several tweets and Instagram posts that push this anti-vaxx mentality. People tend to trust BBC, at least more so than other news sources, so by continuing to use the Ex-BBC in her bios on everything it begins to create a buy-in for people.
• 
  2022-04-22

  The Shanghai Lockdown. Seen from Another Angle

  This is a screenshot of an article from globalresearch.ca about looking at the most recent Shanghai Lockdown. Yet, the article does not talk about the Shanghai lockdown until maybe halfway through the article. It goes on a tirade about how the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak went after the "Chinese race" and how it became an early trial for China before COVID. Then the author states that China has "mastered the disease" and managed to reopen its economy by the end of 2020, which leads to the conclusion that China's economic growth hardly suffered during the newest outbreak. The author asserts that China will surpass the U.S. economy in 3-4 years and then launches into a world history lesson about Cold War politics. The author tends to wander in the article, going from pandemic skepticism on vaccines sterilizing women, being lied to the government, or having HIV ingredients. Then somehow, Ukraine has virus labs...I don't know. Somehow, Russia is involved in this article, but I'm not sure why. I don't know how this is supposed to persuade its audience because the author goes all over the place with his points. I suppose skeptics will like the fact that the vaccine is being questioned here? Personally, I don't even understand why skeptics would want to read this because I think they would lose even more brain cells from just trying to read it. I think this article is just a gigantic mess and it makes my brain hurt. I find myself just not understanding a single thing that is being written in this article. I don't understand why anyone would even understand or like this article. It literally makes absolutely no sense and there are even typos in it. The look of this website and article makes me want to run my virus protection at least three times because I feel like they're going to infect my computer with a Trojan horse.
• 
  2022-05-09

  I can't even make this up anymore

  First off, I do not agree with the attached pdf to this story. When I first looked at this awful website, and saw that they had FREE DOWNLOADABLE PRINTS, I immediately sighed because this is the type of stuff that's turning people AWAY from getting a vaccine. These people are the reason why people can't trust "media". It is also very obvious that these people have never taken a history or any type of political science class in their lives. Let's analyze a little bit of what they say. First off, in their step 1 of "create a problem" they compare COVID-19 to something like the flu. Given, I'm sure people have died from the flu. I mean, the influenza pandemic was a thing in 1918. Also important that they even wore masks then! Their step 2 is "provoke a terrified reaction". What I'm getting from this is, we shouldn't be worried. But we should. Any pandemic should be worrying. I can also guarantee you as well that these people didn't give a shit when the AIDS/HIV Epidemic was literally killing so many queer people at an alarming rate, and wasn't addressed until 6 years later after it started. Anyways, the steps that talk about "contact tracing" and "health passports" things are interesting. They talk about surveillance, but surveillance has been happening since the dawn of time. I'm sure muslim's everywhere in the United States could talk more about surveillance than I could as a white person. Health passports? You have to have certain vaccines to attend public school or even a public university. Also, actual passports are a thing. You know, the thing you need to tell other people who you are and where you're from when you visit their country. I'm going to jump to step 10's "Impose a Cashless Economy," anyone that has ever handled cash during a job knows how gross cash is. This pamphlet must've been when the pandemic first happened, because that's when my last job couldn't take cash because we were too afraid to touch anything. Now knowing the information I know now, a lot of places take cash now. But also, people are gross. Half of the time, people are sneezing into their hands or not washing their hands and come out of the bathroom and go to pay and give you cash. Don't even get me started on people pulling money out of their bras. Throughout this entire pdf, they talk about the elite. Which is probably the only thing I agree with them because the rich got richer during the lockdown and even made prices higher. This type of propaganda could be harmful to someone that was already on the fence about vaccines, but the fact that this information is out there instead of the actual science based truth is harmful. It uses familiar words from history to persuade people to not get the vaccine.
• 
  2022-05-05

  Vaccine skeptics and anti-maskers who invoked 'my body, my choice' in the pandemic are now lining up to support the end of Roe v. Wade

  This is a news story from Business Insider by Mia Jankowicz. This is about the argument of bodily autonomy as it applies to abortion and COVID. People have argued that vaccine passports and masks are infringements of civil liberties. The author writes that this is a mirror of what pro-choice advocates say. Some have argued that the anti-vaccine and anti-mask views being conflated with bodily autonomy arguments do not make sense, as being unvaccinated poses a greater risk to others, whereas lack of abortion access could put the mother's life in danger.
• 
  2022-04-25

  Covid Green Pass

  This is an Instagram post by informa_mente_italia. It is criticizing the use of the Green Pass in Italy, where vaccination status is checked at certain places. The picture shown is making fun of the people that get the vaccines, and there are many needles to show that they are never ending, due to booster shots. This is a political issue within Europe at the moment because the Green Pass for COVID controls movement of people and what parts of society they are allowed to participate in.
• 
  2022-04-29

  A Return to Truth #REL101

  This is a short story detailing my struggles with the Christian church as I returned to the faith during the pandemic.
• 2020-03-01

  Covid-19 Life

  When covid first began, it did not have a huge impact on my life and the lives closest to me. The two week quarantine was more of a vacation rather than a punishment to me and my friends. However, as the months went by and I was the only one that had to go back to work due to being an "essential worker" while my friends did not was a blow to me personally. I continued to work 40 hour weeks and lost thousands of dollars monthly due to the low pay and being in a sales job. My friends were in the restaurant business so they continued to get unemployment and made more than me. This was a very annoying to me. I would never hold that against them since I would have done the same thing if given the opportunity. As time went on, it became a different type of annoyance from dealing with people who refused to wear a mask and gave constant issues to me and my coworkers. Our company had rules and while I had to wear the mask 8 hours a day, the customers did a fraction of that and still would constantly complain. I understand they can be annoying but it did not affect their breathing like they claimed. I had a couple compare themselves to Rosa Parks by "refusing to wear a mask to make a change" which got under my skin. The way the American government went about preventing covid was done in a terrible manner and I am extremely glad we are past the true heart of the pandemic.
• 
  2022-04-28

  COVID-19, Religion, and Public Life Reflection #REL101

  To shine a light on the tension between Science and Religion
• 
  2022-04-27

  Poverty and the Pandemic

  My story touches on the importance of who holds the power over your life. Ultimately it is written to give an account to future generations so we never go back there again.
• 
  2022-04-26

  WHO Warns About the Dangers of Health Misinformation as Musk Takes Over Twitter

  This is a news story from Bloomberg News by Andy Hoffman and Clara Hernanz Lizarraga. Since Elon Musk has officially acquired Twitter, it has prompted groups like the World Health Organization to give warnings on COVID misinformation. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the health emergencies program at the WHO issued a statement on Musk buying Twitter for $44 billion dollars. “When anyone reaches a position in life where they have so much influence over the way information is shared with communities, they take on a huge responsibility,” Ryan said at the media briefing in Geneva. “We wish Mr. Musk luck with his endeavors to improve the quality of information we all receive.” Throughout the pandemic, the WHO has worked to make sure correct information about the pandemic and vaccines are being spread. The WHO has an overall fear now that bad information could be spread more easily about COVID and possibly cause more death.
• 
  2020-12-14

  Changing hearts and minds

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2020-12-03

  Snowman

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2022-04-23

  #rel101 covid reflection story

  this is a short reflection about the changes that happened during the covid-19 pandemic and the divide that occurred amongst American people
• 
  2022-04-14

  Biolabs

  This is an Instagram post by dehart_perks. This is a parody of the "I Stand with Ukraine" social media trend that became popular with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is making fun of people that follow the media narrative, whether it is for which side to support in a war, or getting vaccinated. The extra things that are added, are biolabs, which some believe are responsible for helping create COVID itself.
• 
  2022-04-15

  I Stand With Pfizer

  This is an Instagram post by covid_parent. This is a parody of "I Stand with Ukraine" posts that have become popular over social media since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Instead of saying that they stand with Ukraine, it is saying they stand with Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company. It is mocking the type of people that just follow any trend, whether it is vaccines, or which side to support in a war. The hashtags call the pandemic a "scamdemic" and references the "New World Order." These tags indicate the overall feeling that the pandemic is partly, or completely planned, in order to exert more control over people and limit their freedoms.
• 
  2022-04-18

  Natural Medicine

  This is an Instagram post by angelicaviator. This person suggests that more natural cures can help with COVID symptoms. Since natural cures don't make profit for the healthcare industry, this is why this person thinks that they are often overlooked. The picture that goes with this has types of juicing suggestions on what goes best against a certain ailment.
• 
  2022-04-20

  "Trust the Science" is Anti-Science

  This is an Instagram post by city_slicker_bnswagon. This person is questioning the way we think of the science surrounding COVID. This person thinks that the virus is more political than it is about health.
• 
  2022-04-22

  Drawing What I See in NYC

  This is an Instagram post by themeatofit. This is an illustration of someone wearing a mask. The person wearing the mask looks miserable. In the tags the artist uses, he wants the mandates to end. One person, jake._.robertss, suggests that if the person is wearing a properly fitted KN95 or N95 mask that the person will be more protected.
• 
  2021-09-30

  For Marc, Another Needless Covid Fatality

  I feel bad that my mom's boyfriend died back in September, but he was also an idiot who did it to himself. I have complicated feelings here and I hope they're worth sharing.
• 2020-06

  Fort Sill - Trainee

  While the pandemic had made digital communications and networking boom. Anything in the real world came to a screeching halt. I went into Fort Sill, Lawton Oklahoma for Advanced Individual Training (AIT) while had just begun to really put its foot into the door on US soil. Entering the facility we were immediately put in makeshift facilities specifically designed for incoming soldiers, they looked like 2-story mobile homes and each building contained roughly 60-80 troops per floor (can't remember exactly how many fit. but we were packed in there like sardines). We were originally told we would be in the facilities for 2 weeks before we would be allowed onto the rest of the base to begin training. 2 weeks, turned to 4, and that turned into 6 weeks. We weren't allowed to go outside other than to get an MRE and then go right back into our bays. We became so restless we would disassemble bunks and make makeshift pull-up bars, running up and down the hall in order to run miles. Eventually, we were released and allowed to continue training. Once we had actually begun AIT. We were immediately told that they were "overbooked" the facilities were forced to hold more soldiers than it was designed for due to outgoing flights being halted until an entire flight could be filled with military personal all going to the same location. Masks mandation was very hit or miss. Some days we would go by without them at all, others, we would be told to wear them the moment we got up, even wearing them during physical training, and while on the firing range shooting artillery.
• 
  2022-04-17

  Vaccine Mandates are Harmful

  This is a Twitter update by ellymelly. She is calling the vaccine mandates "cruel and unscientific" because people who have already gotten the vaccine could get and spread COVID anyway.
• 
  2022-04-08

  The Herman Cain Award: the prize no one wants to get and creators want to destroy

  This is a news story from WBUR by Amory Sivertson, Ben Brock Johnson, and Quincy Walters. This is an interview that has been transcribed about the subreddit r/TheHermanCainAward. This subreddit has over 500,000 members. It is named after Herman Cain, a former businessman and Republican presidential candidate, who died in 2020 after getting the Coronavirus. One of the moderators, "Hammy", says that specific anti-mask and anti-vaccine people are featured on the subreddit in an attempt to influence, and in turn, take what is posted publicly, and throw it back in their faces. In order to get an "award" on the subreddit, one has to die. Nominations are for those that go to the hospital. The subreddit makes sure that all information is verified so people cannot call it "fake." They also go to lengths to black-out names, faces, and places in order to protect privacy. Though, even with attempts to make things anonymous, people are still found out. The moderator "Hammy" also does not wish to include their real name in this interview for fear of harassment. Glenn, someone that got featured in the subreddit, was also in this interview to explain his reasoning. Many of his doubts stem from the way the government has been handling it, in addition to the producers of the vaccine themselves asking for more boosters after the initial vaccine, which to him, doesn't seem normal for a vaccine. Glenn also recounts getting lots of harassment on his own Facebook page after getting featured in the subreddit, saying it isn't treatment their own kids should have to see, like people cheering on his death. Despite being vaccinated, "Hammy" contracted "long COVID." Glenn ended up with COVID pneumonia.
• 
  2022-04-13

  700 Chicago officers are refusing the city’s vaccine mandate without consequence

  This is a news story from WBEZ Chicago by Patrick Smith. This story is about 700 police officers in Chicago refusing to comply with the vaccine mandates. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised that officers refusing to abide by the mandate will face consequences by being placed on a no-pay status. Figures from the Chicago Police Department show that almost no officers have faced consequences for refusing vaccination. In total, the number of unvaccinated cops in Chicago is 2,110.
• 
  2022-01-09

  Dear Unvaxxed Friends: I Don't Want To Judge You, I Just Don't Want You To Die

  This is a text story by YourTango, written by Joanna Schroeder. This is a story written from the point-of-view by someone that wants others to be vaccinated. At the beginning, she brings up the feelings of distrust some have towards the government, which has been a big reason why some are refusing to get vaccinated. The author then mentions that she has been seeing an increase in patients with heart problems in the pediatric section of hospitals, with some of those cases being due to COVID. Continuing on with this point, the author mentions a peds cardiologist she has been in contact with, and the cardiologist says that there has been an increase in myocarditis cases due to COVID. Later, she says that her left-leaning friends are receptive to data like this, but her right-leaning friends are not. She then pleads that she does not want her unvaccinated friends to die, and that they have a greater chance of getting hospitalized compared to those that are vaccinated. Finally, she ends by saying to not let policies get in the way of good judgement, saying that she is tired of misinformation coming from both sides.
• 
  2022-04-12

  NOT AGAIN! Philadelphia set to reimpose indoor mask mandate

  This is an Instagram story by endtimeheadline. This is about Philadelphia bringing back the mask mandate, which will have masks be required again at restaurants, shops, offices, and other indoor public spaces.