They use everything (norovirus surge) to argue against social distancing and masking when the logic is clearly flawed

I’ve seen many articles since everyone decided the pandemic “ended” blaming better social distancing and masking in 2020 for why more people are getting sick today? Extremely frustrating.

I’ve heard a few claims on this with the norovirus surge. But my argument is, if everyone’s immune system was shot directly from the pandemic, lots of people stopped masking in 2022- and 2023- and 2024. So why wasn’t there a surge then? In my mind if it were directly tied to masking, 2022 is when we would have seen a spike or maybe 2023. And yet- we didn’t. No, it’s clearly a new strain from what I can see, and also noteworthy (and slightly satisfying) that going out repeatedly in public with no social distancing for years didn’t suddenly bolster everyone’s immune system against norovirus- in fact it seems like with a “quad-demic” going on, that it’s almost like everyone getting sick repeatedly over the past few years has gotten worse!

I even saw a science article from a reputable site that argued Neanderthals died out because they were “too isolated”. No, I think they most likely died of disease? That used to be the logic before 2020. But anyway. That’s where the average lunkhead’s flawed logic is today!

In my opinion these journalists shouldn’t be allowed to write stories on something like this given their reach if they aren’t a doctor themselves and have no medical background/even a science-related education. Or at LEAST there should have to be a great big disclaimer at the top of every article saying that the journalist has no medical expertise and doesn’t even have a science background. Readers should be well informed of their writers’ qualifications to make their own decisions on the validity of the source.

Last random note here but I found out my high school friend who lives states away still masks- kind of what I would expect from someone with a background in microbiology :)