Gay rights activist exposes how CDC study justifying new face mask guidance is skewed: 'Too politically correct'



A prominent gay rights activist known for his AIDS/HIV activism revealed Friday how the central study the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used to justify its new mask guidance may be flawed.

What is the background?

The CDC revised face mask guidelines this week, recommending that fully vaccinated Americans who live in regions with high rates of COVID-19 transmission need to mask up. The agency previously said that fully vaccinated Americans should neither social distance nor wear face masks.

To justify the new guidance, the CDC said data show that fully vaccinated are becoming infected by the so-called "delta variant" or they carry COVID-19 and spread the virus to others.

The CDC released that data on Friday, highlighting the "highly transmissible" nature of the delta variant. The CDC's study focused on an outbreak in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, that caused the 14-day average incidence rate in the county to go from zero cases per 100,000 people to 177 cases per 100,000 people over a span of just two weeks. The CDC discovered that most of the infections (74%) occurred in fully vaccinated people.

What is the flaw?

According to activist Peter Staley, the CDC is not accounting for a major event that happened in Provincetown — a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts — during the same time period as the outbreak: "Bear Week," an annual gathering of thousands of gay men.

The event explains why 85% of the cases occurred in men, and means the CDC updated their national guidance using, in part, skewed results.

"If the CDC has increased their Delta Ro because of the Ptown cohort, then they are overstating it for the general population. The cohort was 85% male (WaPo and NYT have both failed to mention this). Hello, it was Bear Week," Staley explained. "@apoorva_nyc rightly mentions packed bars, etc., but everyone is missing the horny bear in the room. Bears go to Ptown to have lots of fun which includes lots of sex. News flash, gay men KISS when they have sex."

... everyone is missing the horny bear in the room. Bears go to Ptown to have lots of fun which includes lots of se… https://t.co/tpOOMDWqI7

— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) 1627679180.0

"If you asked an ID expert to suggest the most efficient way for an infected vaxd person to infect another vaxd person, she'd say 'let them deeply kiss for half a minute.' Hoping CDC used other cohorts for their new Ro. Ptown's is skewed by (gay) boys being boys," Staley continued.

Staley added, "Even during its gayest week, Ptown is NOT 85% male tourists. The cohort skews 85% male for a reason. CDC is being too politically correct in not explaining this skew."

New York Times COVID writer says lab leak theory is racist, then deletes her tweet after online blowback



A New York Times writer covering the COVID-19 pandemic deleted a tweet claiming that that the "lab leak theory" is racist after receiving online blowback.

Apoorva Mandavilli, the Times science and global health reporter, issued the missive on Wednesday.

"Someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots," she wrote. "But alas, that day is not yet here."

The possibility that the coronavirus was a creation in a laboratory has been theorized by many including former President Donald Trump and has gained popularity as more and more evidence is revealed publicly. Many on the left have dismissed those discussing the lab leak theory as conspiracy theorists.

Critics pounced on Mandavilli's tweet as the latest incident proving bias at the Times.

"Nyt covid-19 reporter instills perfect confidence in the paper's ability to actually report the issue," replied commentator Becket Adams.

'I think my favorite thing about dismissing the lab theory as 'racist' is that it asks us instead to believe the virus started in a filthy chinese wet market filled with bats and pangolin stomaches or whatever," he added.

"Can someone explain to me why it's racist to wonder if a virus escaped from a Chinese lab, but it's not racist to insist that it infected humans because of Chinese wet markets? If anything, isn't the latter more racist?" asked Glenn Greenwald.

Mandavilli deleted the tweet but appeared to defend her position to a critic.

"A theory can have racist roots and still gather reasonable supporters along the way," she said in a tweet documented at Fox News. "Doesn't make the roots any less racist or the theory any more convincing, though."

Hours later, she offered a much different take on the issue.

"I deleted my earlier tweets about the origins of the pandemic because they were badly phrased," said Mandavilli.

I deleted my earlier tweets about the origins of the pandemic because they were badly phrased. The origin of the pa… https://t.co/OUyWPNbeza

— Apoorva Mandavilli (@apoorva_nyc) 1622065855.0

"The origin of the pandemic is an important line of reporting that my colleagues are covering aggressively," she added.

A report released by House Republicans claimed that there was significant circumstantial evidence that the pandemic might have originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden said he had ordered the intelligence community to redouble their efforts to discover the true origin of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mandavilli had previously reported that experts believed that total herd immunity was not a reachable goal and that the U.S. would need to face regular outbreaks of the coronavirus. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow called the report "crushing," and "scary."

Here's Mandavilli on MSNBC:

What Happens If The U.S. Falls Short Of 'Herd Immunity' To Covid? | Rachel Maddow | MSNBCwww.youtube.com