I do not believe your first sentence
See #1 below.
Honest question...did you ever believe them?
Good question and I will give you an honest answer on what I believed or did not at the time. Feel free to look back and if I am inconsistent with what I posted prior, I will take account for that.
#1 - I always believed, and still do, that Vaccines reduce hospitalizations and death. I think that has been proven. Red states had far higher unnecessary deaths - and lower vaccination rates.
#2 - I believed in masking, but then could not believe that with cloth masks and inconsistent use, that it would be effective at a population level - I was right. I stopped wearing masks back in 2022 and will only wear one if I am in a highly infectious ICU or doing work with paints or cleaning out my parent's barn (raccoon excrement can be toxic). Cloth masks are pure theater.
#3 - I was told, and believed that vaccines could prevent and in turn reduce the spread of covid - that was grossly inaccurate. This was also critical because it was based on this premise that had vaccine mandates
#4 - I was, and perhaps my memory is biased here, always unsure on vaccine mandates.
#5 - Natural immunity was broadly downplayed. I think I always believed in it, but was personally concerned of just "leaving to chance" exposure to Covid. Had we studied and supported it more, we would have saved BILLIONS in unnecessary shots taken.
#6 - I believed in boosters and took two of them. Was that necessary or effective? In retrospect - a hard no. I will get my flu shot but not a vaccine booster. Most of my moderate and left leaning friends are identical. I am in very good physical and respiratory health (I run 25 miles/week). A vaccine will not prevent covid (see #3) and if I have Covid, I am not going to the hospital anyways. So, get Covid and will have very strong natural immunity (strong than the vaccine per Cleveland Clinic).
#7 - I always believed that it came from a lab. It was why I was eager to get a Vaccine. This was man-made through gain of function research. Back to #5, I was not going to leave it to chance.
#8 - I always thought that lockdowns were a significant mistake once we had a handle on ICU capacity. I was proven right.
#9 - School lockdowns were a disaster and would only hurt black and brown communities. Per #8, I believe I was very consistent on that. I was proven precisely right.
#10 - Child vaccines for anyone else than those who were immunocompromised was completely unnecessary and a profound waste of money. Again, proven right.
Finally, I have worked either remotely or hybrid since 2020. That has been a wonderful gift. It has saved me thousands upon thousands of dollars, saved CO2 emissions, has allowed me so much time with my daughters, my wife and my two goldens. It has transformed work - for the FAR better.
So, that is hopefully, a pretty honest assessment of my thoughts, what I got wrong, what I got right, and then looking forward - I will apply FAR more skepticism to establishment science. I think everyone, even those who went to elite universities and work on the coasts (they are my fellow Managing Directors and friends) will say the exact same - if perhaps only in private.
