© Carlos Barria/ReutersWashington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser
Specific lies and certain public policy stances remain diabolically harmful in a world that increasingly suffers from universal deceit. Often such lies retain their potency in the face of contrary evidence. It has been more than nine months since the
Brownstone Institute published a report on
53 studies from the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere showing that the then exploding COVID infection rate correlated with vaccination rates. These studies raise the question of whether the vaccinated
are putting the unvaccinated at risk.Since the Brownstone study was published, first, the
United State Supreme Court invalidated the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for businesses. Second, the
Danish government issued a policy declaring that it is
no longer possible for young people to get vaccinated, citing the low risk posed by
the virus. Third, results of a national test released on August 31, 2022, show that U.S. elementary school students' math and reading scores plummeted to the
lowest level in decades amid the
school shutdowns implemented in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Shutdowns erased two decades of educational progress. For instance, in math, the gap between ethnic groups widened as
"Black students lost 13 points, compared with five points among white students, widening the gap between the two groups." More likely than not, the data would confirm the similarly devastating effects of school shutdowns on adolescent students.
Taken as a whole, the evidence shows that vaccines have doubtful efficacy, children face a very low risk of COVID infection, and educational shutdowns hamper learning and childhood development for elementary students. Notwithstanding the data,
Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington D.C., has issued an edict that would bar nearly two-thirds of Black adolescents from attending school despite the educational and social consequences -- ensuring that few people are capable of outhustling her on COVID fearmongering. Equally plain, she appears oblivious to the fact that her policy would unduly burden a racial demographic already facing severe education challenges. Indeed, Mayor Bowser
refused to provide alternatives for students denied an in-school education.
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