Posted on 11/13/2020 7:03:00 PM PST by RandFan
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday called for those who have recovered from COVID-19 to “throw away their masks, go to restaurants, live again” as the coronavirus surges nationwide, falsely claiming those who have recovered from the virus are “now immune.”
Paul, who tested positive for the virus in March, told Fox News that the 11 million Americans who have also recovered should “celebrate.”
“We should tell them to throw away their masks, go to restaurants, live again, because these people are now immune,” Paul, a self-certified ophthalmologist, said.
The Kentucky Republican then went after Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, and claimed the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases “doesn’t want to admit to any of that.”
“Dr. Fauci is like ‘Oh, woe is me’ until the election occurs, but now maybe he’ll be changing his attitude,” Paul continued.
Paul’s comments appear to contradict the guidance from public health experts who have said there is no evidence yet to suggest that people who have contracted the virus are now immune to reinfection indefinitely or cannot spread it to anyone else.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated guidance on Oct. 27 stating that experts are “still learning more about COVID-19." Current research suggests reinfection is rare but the CDC states some coronavirus reinfections are “expected.”
The agency’s guidance still recommends wearing a mask, social distancing and washing hands regardless of whether someone has had COVID-19 or not.
Paul’s comments come as coronavirus cases have spiked to record-breaking levels across the country.
On Thursday, the United States recorded more than 152,000 new coronavirus infections, surpassing a daily increase of 150,000 for the first time since the pandemic hit the country earlier this year. The grim record comes after the U.S. first reached 100,000 new cases in a single day last week.
Paul, who has frequently criticized lockdowns aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus while questioning their effectiveness, has previously gone after Fauci’s guidance.
In September, a seemingly irritated Fauci scolded Paul at a congressional hearing after the senator claimed that COVID-19 cases might not be rising in New York because of herd immunity.
He told Paul he had been wrong about the concept of herd immunity, saying: “No, you've misconstrued that, senator, and you've done that repeatedly in the past.”
When Paul floated the theory that New Yorkers have now developed enough immunity that they are no longer at risk, Fauci said the senator was “completely off base.”
“He was saying things that were not true,” Fauci said on Vox’s “Today, Explained” podcast the next day. “It is what’s called cherry-picking information out there. He was saying things that were not compatible with the scientific data.”
Other doctors were quick to criticize the senator’s claims.
“I don’t know why he would say that,” Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist at the University of Washington Medical Center, told MSNBC of Paul’s comments. “There is no evidence that if you’ve been infected with COVID-19 that you are immune from reinfection for any period of time.”
Gupta pointed to a 25-year-old Nevada man who scientists confirmed was the first case of coronavirus reinfection in the U.S. last month. The man, who remains unnamed, first tested positive in April before recovering and testing negative in May. Then in June, he tested positive for the virus again, developing symptoms of COVID-19 a second time that were more severe.
“That is shameful on the part of Sen. Rand Paul,” Gupta said.
He’s encouraging littering?
Umm, Rand...?
We are all covid 19 survivors now.
Reinfection may be possible for any illness, due to variation in the infectious agent, or the inability of the body to maintain its immune system response over time, but if continued immunity is not possible then a vaccine cannot exist.
NO, those of us that had it and recovered should not be forced to wear masks to protect those who have not had it and those that have it. It is the only way to become free again. My 83 year old Father in law caught with my wife and I at the same time and survived. He lives with us and he has cancer, diabetes, heart problems but he did not die. So that is what Senator Paul was saying. We should live our lives now instead of getting lock up.
No one should wear masks, is my point.
Anyone alive now has survived this plandemic.
Share the love and spread your antibodies!
LOVE IT!
One out of 7.1 million?
So you're saying there's a chance, Dr. Fauci?
I have read as much as I can on coronavirus and still am in the dark.
Can you have a recurrence of it and if so, is it worse than the initial sickness?
When are you not contagious? Do they even know?
What happens down the road? I remember reading something about HIV similarities - does the virus hide in your body like HIV?
“...So you’re saying there’s a chance, Dr. Fauci?...”
Well, he funded and engineered it for the CCP and the RATs.
IF anyone knows, it would be this little twerp.
am. tnx Rand.
“Falsely claiming he is immune”
I hate it when reporters play doctor on TV, they are such idiots.
So this guy must be a dreaded anti-vaxer, cause if the actual virus can not give you immunity how can a cheap copy?
I have done just that after disembarking from the Carnival cruise ship Ecstasy on Feb 29th. I acquired a mild exposure on ship to covid-19, recovered at home in 2 weeks without serious symptoms, and now I can go anywhere and not get sick because of immunity acquired.
This explains why people who are locked in basements get seriously sick more often because they have not been exposed to virus and thus have no immunity at all.
In the movie Pandemic, those who had recovered or had been vaccinated (by lottery) could move freely in society by showing their bracelet. Others had to stay in lockdown
Still won’t let you in the grocery or hardware store without a bandanna or pulling your t-shirt collar over your face (wear a loose oversized tee), even in Florida. I’m sick of Wu-Flu.
Sorry the movie was Contagion
With Senator Paul. I was a leper with a FLU, now I am free
This whole thing about wearing masks is ridiculous..unless someone is wearing an N95 mask everything else is pretty much a face diaper..take a Huggies diaper put it on your face you will get the same result. My nephew’s friend’s Mom, she works at the bank, everyone is required to wear a mask, she did, all the time, never went to work without it..she got the virus over a month ago, turns out she got it from a co-worker at the bank..how, who knows but that is how she got it..if she can get it with the freakin mask on, anyone can get it..surgical masks are useless
The state demands obedience
Do the worthless things we say because thers will feel good you are doing them
Otherwise we have trained them to irrationally rage against you and believe you are harming their health
Your dad is one tough bird! Need more people like him! You should be proud!
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