Oregon Epidemiologist Makes Asinine Statement as to the Cause of Drop in Oregon COVID Numbers

AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Among the cardinal sins committed by many within the government science community is that of believing that correlation equals causation.  Throughout the pandemic, many “scientists” have misattributed occurrences within COVID-19 data as being caused or triggered by a particular event, even though those occurrences are non-unique to that event.  In other words, if I thought that my alarm clock going off in the morning caused the sun to rise, that would not be the case.  This has occurred over and over again, especially when referring to a rise or drop in the death or hospitalization rate of a particular population.

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Among the hardest-hit states for the last several months is Oregon.  Despite Oregon’s strict COVID mandates for masks and their over 60% vaccinated population, Oregon’s COVID cases have pushed the state to the brink, requiring state officials to issue ominous warnings about the state’s future absent continued COVID-19 mitigation efforts. In fact, Oregon State Officials made a bigger stink about people who had negative side effects from alleged ivermectin use, despite those who have had negative side effects from the vaccine outnumbering them, both in raw numbers and in percentages.

However, one statement made by one of Oregon’s epidemiologists hit a new level of intellectual disingenuousness, by attributing the drop in Oregon’s COVID numbers to Oregon’s COVID mitigation efforts.

From KOIN:

“The slow but steady decline of cases and hospitalizations can be traced to more adult vaccinations, wearing masks and “reconsidering plans that put us or others at higher risk,” Oregon Health Authority’s State Epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger said during the press conference Thursday morning.”

Statements like these should immediately be cause for the removal of any licenses held by people in authority.  Not only is a statement like this absolutely untrue, but it also paints a picture that suggests that these very people who are making such recommendations are in some way, helping.

A quick look at the COVID-19 data coming out of Oregon shows the following:

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Oregon Cases (Credit: Worldometers)
Oregon Deaths (Credit: Worldometers)

While the data shows that cases have dropped slightly in Oregon, their death rate, at the very most, has plateaued, rather than dropped.  While Oregon officials would like to suggest that this drop and (at best) plateau is a direct result of their mitigation efforts, the data suggests that this drop isn’t unique, in fact, states without those mitigation efforts also saw a drop in COVID-19 numbers.  Instead of doing a state-by-state comparison, let’s take a look at the states which the Democrats and Media would like us to believe have the biggest problem.

Let’s start with Florida:

Florida Cases (Credit: Worldometers)
Florida Deaths (Credit: Worldometers)

Florida, during the same period, has seen a greater percentage drop in both daily cases and daily deaths than did Oregon, all without any mask or vaccine mandates.

Mississippi (I can’t be the only one that has to spell that out loud every time I write it), another state that has been villainized by the media has a similar drop:

Mississippi Cases (Credit: Worldometers)
Mississippi Deaths (Credit: Worldometers)

Just like Oregon:  Cases dropped, deaths plateaued.  The only difference?  No mandates.

Texas, another state labeled as “extremist” by the media for not enacting further restrictions, follows the same pattern as Oregon:

Texas Cases (Credit: Worldometers)
Texas Deaths (Credit: Worldometers)
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How could the Oregon State Official make such a wildly inaccurate statement without it being challenged by anyone?  Why wouldn’t a single member of the media at least ask how it could be related to their mandates when states without these mandates are having the same drops in numbers?

Furthermore, the CDC even shows the difference.  Look at Oregon and Florida.  Who has the bigger issue?

US Reported Cases per 100,000 Population (Credit: CDC)

The narrative is failing at a meteoric pace.  Their fearmongering is now almost immediately countered by the data of record.  At some point, they will either have to admit the catastrophic failure of their message or be forced to by calmer and more reasonable persons in the media.  Either way, we are here for it.

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