2021-08-01

Key facts about a COVID outbreak the CDC ignores

Here is an excerpt from a CDC report: 
<blockquote>On July 27 [2021], CDC released recommendations that 
<b>all persons</b>, including those who are fully vaccinated, 
should wear masks in indoor public settings 
in areas where COVID-19 transmission is high or substantial.  
Findings  from  this  investigation  suggest  that  even jurisdictions without substantial or high COVID-19 transmission  might consider expanding prevention strategies, including 
masking in indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status, 
given the potential risk of infection during <b>attendance at</b> large public gatherings that include travelers from many areas with differing levels of transmission.</blockquote>

Note what the CDC says increases your risk factor: mere "attendance at" large public gatherings.

The above was a quote from this CDC report, dated July 30, 2021:
Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7031e2.htm?s_cid=mm7031e2_w

This recommendation was based on a specific outbreak.
However, there were very key facts about that outbreak that definitely do not apply in the more general setting of the recommendation.

Let's go back to the CDC report and see some of those facts:

<blockquote>Persons with COVID-19 reported attending densely packed indoor and outdoor events 
at venues that included bars, restaurants, <b>guest houses, and rental homes</b>.
...
Most cases occurred in males (85%); median age was 40 years 
...
demographics of cases likely reflect those of attendees at the public gatherings, as events were marketed to adult male participants</blockquote>

Further, the outbreak was not merely in Barnstable County, but in Provincetown:
https://www.capeandislands.org/local-news/2021-07-28/provincetown-covid-19-outbreak-hits-765-more-than-two-thirds-of-mass-cases-are-vaccinated

Finally, Provincetown is known as being a mecca for gay tourists:
https://ptowntourism.com/lgbtq/

As to what gay visitors find so attractive about Provincetown, if you Google the phrase
gay sex in Provincetown
you will quite a few entries on that subject.

Also see
https://ptowntourism.com/events/bear-week/

What is a "bear" in this context?
I don't know, and I am not willing to Google it to find out.
But I would bet it has something to do with male-male sex.

So what are all those gay tourists doing in the CDC's "guest houses and rental homes"?
The answer to that question seems rather certain.
Surely there is a non-trivial amount of mouth-to-mouth kissing, involving the exchange of saliva.
Which surely increases greatly the probability of transmission of the COVID virus, 
as compared to the probability of aerosol transmission.

That the CDC generalized 
from the transmission rate in such a unique situation, people promiscuously having sex with each other,
to more general situations of people being merely adjacent to each other,
seems utterly irresponsible to me.