Florida has recorded back-to-back days with over 30,000 new COVID cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), records per the CDC, Both were new daily record for COVID cases in the state (Florida’s own reporting indicates a day during the Delta surge this past summer with higher numbers, but Florida’s sporadic and haphazard public reporting during that period should be avoided for comparisons like this).

With COVID surging again, the misinformation has returned in full force. Here are some frequent pieces of misinformation to push back on.

• “Omicron is less severe than Delta.”

Maybe, maybe not. We don’t have enough data on long-term hospitalizations to know. One thing that is for sure is that because it has increasingly transmittable compared to Delta, lots of people will get very ill.

• “Hospitalizations are down in this wave”

We don’t know this – for the millionth time since COVID began I need to point out the obvious anyone who uses common sense understands. You don’t get infected with COVID and go to the Hospital the same day. Usually we have a lag of a week or more.

• “No one is dying in this wave”

We don’t know this – for the millionth time since COVID began I need to point out the obvious anyone who uses common sense understands. You don’t get infected with COVID and go die the same day. Usually we have a lag of three weeks to a month or even more before death occurs.

• “Deaths are all that matter”

I know of multiple people as I am sure our readers do as well that have exhibited symptoms of “Long Covid.” These are generally younger people who were fit who got the virus before vaccines were widely available. Long Covid involves breathing problems, possible lung damage, frequent tiredness and brain fog among other things. I am sick and tired of people focusing on the numbers deaths which aren’t chopped liver themselves (over 62,000 in Florida as of this writing) but impacts COVID is a LOT MORE EXTENSIVE than just counting death numbers.

• “Natural immunity is better than vaccines”

I’ve heard of multiple previously infected people contracting COVID again in Florida this holiday season, so the answer to that is probably a wash as I know of several vaccinated people who have gotten ill as well.

• “Masks don’t work”

This one is a doozy because what the libertarian freedom brigade loves to do is use examples related to cheap paper masks or worse, items not designed to be face coverings and then apply to those findings universally to say masks don’t work, and those of us pushing them are fascists (which is rich since they were calling us socialists just the other day, right?).

Get a good mask- kn95’s have been widely available for the duration of this pandemic and n95’s are now becoming more widely available.

• “Vaccines don’t work”

The unholy alliance between the far left and far right (as David Frum aptly put it on Twitter, an alliance between the Never-Never Trumpers and Anti-Hillary left) has created a wide array of widely distributed misinformation. Since these ideological camps tend to be more active on social media than ordinary folks, or establishment types from either political party, the misinformation is everywhere. Consider it if you must but please weigh against the information coming from scientists.

If you are immune-compromised that is one thing and it’s our responsibility to protect those people through means outside of vaccines (another reason masking is important even if you are vaccinated) but otherwise their is no excuse to not get vaccinated unless you are a complete homebody who doesn’t interact with many people. Then I suppose it is your choice, but since that applies to maybe .000001% of the population, please reject the misinformation.