The first topic I am going to discuss is most assuredly also the most time sensitive and important one in my blog and that is the subject of COVID-19.

You would be hard pressed to find one person in the world today that hasn’t either been affected directly or indirectly by the COVID-19 pandemic. You would also find it difficult not to find a person who has a negative anecdotal account to tell about the pandemic. Having made these statements, it is not surprising that I have devoted so much time on this subject in my blog.

There is another reason for my focusing on this subject while there is a plethora of information on the subject, most is erroneous and misleading. If you have spent any time reading my postings or my first book, you know that I have a fairly strong medical background and I am also a medical professional with 20 years of experience. It is this background that has helped me to sift through a large amount of material on the pandemic. I have done my best with all my postings to do the following, to be accurate, to be unbiased, to be succinct, to be current and to be consistent. You will find if you read all my postings that I have been consistent in my views something that very few people can say, especially, Fauci.

First of all, with the ease with which COVID-19 spread, it had to be airborne not droplet. Any good and impartial clinician or diagnostic specialist could tell you that. So what does this mean? For one, only N95 masks will be effective. So, any mask whether it be cotton fabric mask or a surgical mask, it will be totally ineffective in preventing the spread of COVID-19. It also means that the 6- foot distance was useless because that only pertains to droplet isolation. The mask mandate and the distance guidelines were about two things. First, it was about control and second, it made people feel like something was being done. Making people stay indoors and in many cases, bunched in like sardines served the same two purposes. However, it made matters even worse, at least, ultraviolet rays from the sun helped to kill the virus.

The most effective means to stop the spread was by doing the following, things that I discussed from early on in the pandemic. They were nasopharyngeal hygiene, handwashing and wearing a face shield with an N95 mask. If they had followed these guidelines, nothing except for bars and restaurants would have had to been closed. That was only because those places required you to take off your mask. Outdoor eating was actually a pretty good idea for warmer climates, that is.

I want to make one caveat, no mask is effective if worn incorrectly. To wear an N95 mask correctly you need some basic training and a sufficient maturity level to follow those instructions. That is why you are wasting your time on toddlers and young adolescents. Besides prolonged mask wearing is unhealthy especially for children. They also should never be worn when engaged in sports or during physical exertion.

The problem from the beginning is that we were woefully unprepared for this pandemic. China having advanced knowledge of the pandemic, cornered the market on personal protection equipment or PPE. This made the situation even more dire. What was the most unforgivable thing our government did was to lie about the situation. The best thing and tends to gain the most trust is tell the truth and be totally transparent and tell people what you are going to do to fix the problem. Forcing people to follow harsh measures and continue to follow them even after they have been proven ineffective, is inexcusable.

Throughout the pandemic, I continued to post articles on COVID-19 and updated existing articles to keep the flow of accurate information active. If our government, big business and the media all worked together selflessly, we could have whipped this pandemic in no time. But instead we were at cross purposes from the start. The left used it as a weapon to destroy the Trump presidency, others used it to obtain immense wealth and power. Thousands and eventually millions of lives were sacrificed by unscrupulous individuals, governments and corporations to gain power and wealth. Existing cheap and safe therapeutics were pushed aside for new, expensive and unproven ones. Perhaps the most hateful, insidious and evil action taken was to transfer patients that were recovering from COVID-19 and were still contagious to nursing homes loaded with defenseless elderly individuals. Those responsible should have been tried and convicted in a public tribunal.

I created a category in my blog for not only COVID-19 articles but Healthcare ones, in general. I have written at least 20 articles on COVID-19 and related subjects in an effort to disseminate accurate information to the public. Besides posting them on my blog, I also discussed the subject in my first book and in a multitude of postings in Facebook and Instagram. I have also discussed the subject on several of my podcasts.

In the following portion of the chapter, I will include some excerpts from some of these articles.

Masks, How They Work

I’ve seen a lot of confusion about the efficacy of mask filtration, and the impact of masks on re-breathing CO2. In each case, part of the problem is based on a failure to understand the relevant particles, and particle sizes. So let’s see if we can resolve some of the confusion!

Here are some basic parameters (all approximate measurements):

• The SARS-CoV-2 virus particle is 100nm (nanometers) in diameter.
• A CO2 molecule is 0.33nm diameter.
• When we speak we produce droplets between 20 and 2000µm (micrometers) in diameter. Note that a micrometer is a thousand times larger than a nanometer!
• Larger droplets fall to the ground fairly quickly. Smaller droplets evaporate in (at most) a few seconds to a droplet nuclei of around 1µm.
• A 27µm droplet would carry 1 virion on average, and would evaporate to 5µm in a few seconds.
• Small particles do not fly straight through materials, but instead follow brownian motion, resulting in them coming in contact with a material even when the material weave is larger than the particle.
• Many materials, such as paper towel, have a complex weave which make it very difficult for particles to fully penetrate.
• Materials like chiffon and silk also have electrostatic effects that result in charge transfer with nanoscale aerosol particles, making them particularly effective (considering their sheerness) at excluding particles in the nanoscale regime (<∼100 nm).

So, the first thing to note is that CO2 is going to flow through any mask without any trouble. There is no known mask material that will filter 0.33nm molecules. If it did, you wouldn’t be able to breathe at all!

The size of the virus particle itself is not relevant to any discussion of mask filtration. This is because virus particles never float freely in the air, but are always at least suspended in a droplet nuclei ten times larger than the virus itself. A droplet containing a single particle will on average start out 270 times larger than the virion, and will evaporate to nuclei of 50 times larger than the virion.

The size of the weave of the fabric is also not directly comparable to the size of the droplets or droplet nuclei, due to the three dimensional nature of many types of material, the indirect route taken by small particles in brownian motion, and the electrostatic effects in many materials. So if you’ve seen those claims that masks can’t possibly stop COVID-19 because the virus is too small, now you know why they’re totally wrong.

Therefore, the only way to really understand the efficacy of a mask is to actually test it in practice. Because the size of droplets that are ejected are much larger than those that remain in the air (due to evaporation), testing must be done separately for source control (protecting others from the wearer) vs PPE (protecting the wearer from others).

(1)

Is the Vaccine Safe?

I have discussed the subject of vaccines for the coronavirus in brief. I will discuss this subject matter more in depth. I feel this is a good time to do so, since we are getting closer to the roll out of these vaccines. Typically it takes 2 to 3 years for a vaccine to be introduced for a new outbreak, if one comes out at all. We still do not have a vaccine for HIV, though we do have excellent therapeutics out. The diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. The flu vaccine has to be updated yearly due to mutations and new strains of the virus appearing. The coronavirus is an insidious virus, not only is it easily spread, it is quite lethal for certain high risk individuals. I have discussed the coronavirus thoroughly in a previous article on entitled “The Coronavirus Exposed”, so I won’t rehash that information. President Trump to speed up the creation of the vaccine has set up a task force called Warp Speed. He has authorized large amounts of funds and also has set up the production of the vaccine even before it has been thoroughly tested. As a result several pharmaceutical companies are doing final stages of testing.

While the president does have a lot of power, he is not a super hero like Dr. Strange. He can’t make events happen by the power of his mind. The companies that are working on these vaccines are reputable companies. They are being closely monitored by not only the US but the rest of the world as well. They are not going to do anything to jeopardize people’s health. Their are countless lawyers waiting for possible lawsuits from this vaccine. These companies know that. I also take exception with the news media, politicians and celebrities casting doubt on the safety of these vaccines, simply for political reasons. They are jeopardizing people’s health by doing so. I will get my vaccination shot as soon as it is available. I also get my yearly flu shot. I am an ICU nurse, so my situation is somewhat different. I can’t hide from the virus.

To allay these fears, I have included some more information on the development of the vaccine.

A vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is perhaps the best hope for ending the pandemic. Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent infection with the COVID-19 virus, but researchers are racing to create one. (2)

The Evil Empire That COVID-19 Made

Even though the COVID pandemic changed the world, it did not create our corrupt world. The building blocks were already there. There is an old saying, that I have used in a previous posting, but it bears repeating in this one as well. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Unlimited wealth also does the same thing. Most politicians go into office for all the right reasons, however the longer they are in the office the greater the temptation becomes to attain wealth and the thirst for more power increases. That is why there should be term limits in all the levels of the government, and that includes the courts. I think justices should serve one 10 year term and that is all. The more times you run for office the more apt you are to become beholden to those donating money to your campaign. Nobody donates tens of thousands of dollars to a campaign without expecting something in return for it. I mean nobody.

There is another quote that was popular in the times of the wild west: “God created all men, but Samuel Colt made them equal.” This ties into the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the great corrupter and destroyer. It destroyed the Trumps presidency and allowed Biden to win in 2020, something he could never have done, if it had not been for the pandemic. Fear of the unknown gave absolute power to politicians of all levels, from Federal to the Local level. Politicians used their control of the purse strings to corrupt everybody else, from hospital administrators, doctors, CEOs and even private individuals. (3)

Using Fear to Gain Power

There are two general models for organizational culture: one is based on fear, intimidation, and violence; the other is based on love, empathy, and support. The model that is most common, that causes so much dysfunction, and that undermines the profit theology, is the fear model.

Fear was the tool used by Harvey Weinstein to manipulate others. In this model, someone in power consciously or unconsciously creates fear in others. This could be through acts like sarcasm, shaming, bullying, physical intimidation, actual physical or sexual violence, and blacklisting. An event like this does not have to occur often for people to develop a fear of the possibility of it occurring in the future. A leader who targets only one person even one time can create fear among witnesses and those who hear about it through the grapevine. It’s not even necessary that a leader be the actor if another engages in these behaviors and a leader doesn’t stop it.

Over time, the fear becomes normalized such that people can forget it ever was different, and it can outlive whoever was the initial seed. Thus one’s ability to recognize the wrongness of the behavior disappears and it becomes accepted. People then act unconscious of their own fear. Anyone joining such an organization might learn the behaviors only as the unwritten rules of the culture, unaware even that their roots were in real fear-based events. The fear culture becomes self-perpetuating as newcomers strive to fit in.

As in a totalitarian regime, it is the awareness of what could happen that keeps everyone in fear and working to avoid doing anything that would put oneself at risk. The existence of gulags and concentration camps, and the knowledge that the reasons for being sent there could be arbitrary and capricious, were enough to encourage everyone to keep their heads down, their mouths shut, and willing to engage in or overlook otherwise inhumane or delusional behavior.

So too it is in the workplace. One angry tirade, “eviscerating email,” sarcastic remark, or other private or public criticism, let alone something worse, is all it takes for an employee to decide that they will do what they can to avoid a repeat. Human Resources employees can be seen as the gulag guards if they are believed to be untrustworthy, e.g., reporting back to one’s supervisor about a private conversation or inquiry made to HR, or the agents of mysterious disappearances (when an employee suddenly and without explanation stops showing up at work).

Harvey Weinstein’s fear-mongering was more overtly tied to survival, as he threatened careers. In an employer-employee relationship, fear also can arise around the content of a performance review, the size of a bonus, the opportunity to do interesting work, promotions and pay increases, and the threat of termination.

Some will argue that being able to withstand intimidating behavior is about not being “soft.” That’s the argument of a bully, and a red flag that indicates someone to avoid. Which is not to say to judge that person; they might be the unaware victim of intimidation themselves and unconsciously see it as the only way to recover the power taken from them by whoever was their victimizer. For these behaviors are ultimately about taking another’s power to compensate for one’s own sense of disempowerment. It’s a habit developed to fill an internal power void. The original cause of the void might be long gone but the personal power vacuum remains. There are many examples of these people in power, from Harvey Weinstein to Anna Wintour. 

Having empathy for the abuser does not mean tolerating their behavior. That is a form of giving away one’s power. Part of what the victim learns — and the Weinstein victims fit this description — is that silence means acquiescence, even if there is a financial settlement, and that the victimizer has still won; completely separate from his ability to continue the behaviors, he has still taken your power by silencing you. Regardless of any calling you might feel to fight on behalf of someone else, as Rose McGowan is doing, your first obligation is to yourself and your own self-worth and self-respect.

Harvey, in paying people for their silence, only extended into a new realm the deal that already exists in every employer-employee relationship: buying an individual’s acquiescence in exchange for money. Wells Fargo is an obvious and egregious example of a case where this power was abused when conditions were created that encouraged employees to open fake checking accounts for unwitting customers. More than 5,000 people were fired as a result of the checking accounts scandal at Wells, though hardly any of those were responsible for creating the unethical conditions and, in any case, were punished only after the facts became public. In other words, management nearly got away with the abuse, then when caught, nearly got away with blaming the more than 5,000 people they fired for doing what management expected them to do — even though everyone knew opening fake accounts was wrong.

From an organizational success perspective, the most pernicious effect of a fear culture is how it limits self-expression to avoid behaviors and actions that might inspire verbal or physical harassment or otherwise draw unwanted attention. The threat of attack drives self-censorship that denies the organization the benefit of every employee’s best ideas and contributions. Leadership hears more of what employees think it wants to hear, divorced from whether that is actually best for the organization or not. They stop contributing and innovating, which in this era of “disruption” and ever faster change creates real risk to the survival of the organization.

Individuals who self-censor can be further harmed because they often slowly withdraw into themselves until one day they realize, or those who love them realize, they are no longer the same person they were before they took “that job.” It’s a sad and avoidable corrosion of the quality of life that affects the individual, their family, and their community — and it’s very tough to recover from.

The fear of a gruesome death incurred by Covid-19 made it easy for our leaders to enact draconian measures to prevent the spread of the virus, especially when they were only supposed to be for 15 days. However fear mongering and constantly changing data made it easy to keep the lockdowns going. Dr. Fauci of the AIDS/HIV scare fame was back up to his old bag of tricks with a new pandemic. You could see that he was enjoying himself during his press conferences, especially when he could contradict President Trump. You ever wonder why he is still in power even with a Democrat in power? It was because he was a tool of the left from the very beginning. Just think of this, he is going to retire with the most lucrative pension plan in our government’s history. His yearly pension is going to be $350,000 a year. Tell me this is isn’t a payoff for a job well done? It is so obvious. You tell me why Dr. Fauci was so against therapeutics for Covid, including Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin and he pushed a very expensive Remdesivir, $3,500 as opposed to $2.00 for Hydroxychloroquine. By the way Dr. Fauci has stocks in Remdesivir. Have you ever wondered why they want you to stay home until you are deathly sick from the covid virus? Because the chances of you surviving from the virus, especially when the docotrs are not allowed to use all of the treatments available, is pretty slim. I know I am jumping around a lot, it is because there is so much nasty shit out there.

Lets back track a little to fear mongering. Why was it necessary to post the daily death counts on all the news shows on 2020? It of course was to scare the living hell out of Joe Citizen, and to hurt the Trump presidency. They were trying to make it look like what he was doing was ineffective.

Another bit of information, that is not common knowledge but has been going on since covid began starting to spread. It was done to supposedly help the financially strapped hospitals. Because they had to stop all elective surgeries and treatments, and treating covid patients was extremely expensive at first, both of which were in fact true. But giving extra money for every positive case was wrong, giving money for every intubated patient was even more so and giving additional money for every death caused by covid was especially heinous. So what is this saying, we are paying hospitals to do a shitty job?! If they truly wanted to help the hospitals they could have based support on the size of the hospital and what types of services they provided. By doing it the way they did, none of the numbers coming from the hospitals can now be trusted. It also made it more appealing to hold back on therapeutics, especially cheap ones. So hospital administrators were helping to increase the counts for positive covid cases.

According to one of the fathers of mRNA technology who is a world renowned physician with both a PHD and an MD, Dr. Robert Malone, hospitals are black balling doctors who are pushing for the early use of therapeutics. He is not only for early treatment, he is against mask mandates and vaccine mandates. He is pro choice. He believes that vaccines for young children are dangerous and ill advised, unless the benefits outweigh the risks, such as children with comorbidities. Mask wearing in children and remote teaching is delaying their development. There have been studies that their IQs may be as much as 20 points lower. Why would our leaders want this to happen? For one it is easier to lead dim witted sheep than intelligent foxes.

This is where the brains of government come into play. Somebody told them that the Omicron variant would be the dominant variant from now on, so they stopped supplying the hospitals with the Delta version of the monoclonal antibody. Did anybody tell them that so far there have been no deaths for the omicron variant and they would not even need the monoclonal antibody treatment? Did they also forget to tell them that the patients sick enough to be admitted to the hospital and require the monoclonal antibody treatment have the delta variant? If they are not going to help maybe they should just stop doing anything.

Another question you may ask is why are we ignoring the natural immunity incurred from previous covid infections? Well there is no money in natural immunity for one, it is also far superior to the immunity from receiving vaccines and it most likely doesn’t need boosters or maybe just one shot at the most. Pfizer one of the most corrupt pharmaceutical companies in the country is making bank on all these vaccine shots. It is becoming their cash cow. They are also known for bribing doctors and medical administrators and doing shoddy testing. As a result many of the side effects from the vaccines are being under reported by hospitals. Well to give then some credit, the side effects being exhibited by the vaccines tend to mirror the symptoms of the covid virus so it is difficult to differentiate the causality.

I am not blaming President Trump for the vaccine issues. He did what he thought was best, in actuality the vaccines did save lives, however now they are being used as weapons for control. Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson are becoming insanely rich.

What is amazing is that all the money floating around the world is due to the hard work of people like you and me. We are paying politicians to F–k us over. The richer and more powerful they become the poorer and more dependent on the government dole we become.

There is supposedly limits to how much money that can be donated to candidates running for office, however Bloomberg managed to donate $100 Million to the Biden campaign effort in Florida. You might ask how is this possible?

On Nov. 6, 2002, the day after the 2002 midterm elections, a new set of federal campaign finance laws went into effect. Known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), the law increased the contribution limits for individuals giving to federal candidates and political parties. Every two years, the Federal Election Commission updates certain contribution limits — such as the amount individuals may give to candidates and party committees — that are indexed to inflation.

Following the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in McCutcheon v. FEC, there is no longer an aggregate limit on how much an individual can give in total to all candidates, PACs and party committees combined.

This is how companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter can also donate 100s of millions of dollars to campaigns to sway the result of elections. For one the federal government is run by the democrats and the supreme court while being conservative has been rendered impotent from fear of justice packing. So there is in essence no negative consequences for any illegal activities perpetrated by politicians or big wigs. Look at Hunter Biden for instance. He does whatever he pleases with total impunity.

Lets ask one more question who do you think a politician is going to listen to a supporter who owns a small flower boutique who donated $10.00 in campaign contributions or the owner of Walmart who donated lets say $50 million? So now you know why the decisions that were made were made. Walmart, and the other box stores became essential while the small mom and pop stores were shut down. Amazon and Walmart reported record profits last year. Why were marijuana dispensaries and liquor stores deemed essential and churches not? The answer is easier people who are drunk or high are more malleable than people who have support from their church and religion.

So we have a vicious cycle, the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, and the powerful become more powerful and the weak become weaker.

There are several other things that are going on that are not directly related to the COVID pandemic but are related to destroying our country and making its citizens weaker. Destroying the first and the second amendment, so now people are no longer able to speak out against the injustices being perpetrated by our government and they are no longer able to protect themselves. Why are criminals being released, why are illegal aliens being allowed to cross the border at will? The list just goes on and on. (4)

What Is The Coronavirus Lockdown Doing To The U.S.?

Our governmental COVID-19 mitigation policy of broad societal lockdown focuses on containing the spread of the disease at all costs, instead of “flattening the curve” and preventing hospital overcrowding. Although well-intentioned, the lockdown was imposed without consideration of its consequences beyond those directly from the pandemic. Although decisions have been made by state and sometimes local officials, the United States is effectively subject to a national lockdown. States representing 95 percent of the economy are subject to statewide public health–motivated shutdowns. In response to the novel and deadly coronavirus, many governments deployed draconian tactics never used in modern times: severe and broad restrictions on daily activity that helped send the world into its deepest peacetime slump since the Great Depression.

The policies have created the greatest global economic disruption in history, with trillions of dollars of lost economic output. These financial losses have been falsely portrayed as purely economic. The equivalent of 400 million jobs have been lost world-wide, 13 million in the U.S. alone. Global output is on track to fall 5% this year, far worse than during the financial crisis, according to the International Monetary Fund. To the contrary, using numerous National Institutes of Health Public Access publications, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and various actuarial tables, we calculate that these policies will cause devastating non-economic consequences that will total millions of accumulated years of life lost in the United States, far beyond what the virus itself has caused.

Pandemics have afflicted humankind throughout history. They devastated the Roman and Byzantine empires, Medieval Europe, China and India, and they continue to the present day despite medical progress. 

The past century has witnessed three pandemics with at least 100,000 U.S. fatalities: The “Spanish Flu,” 1918-1919, with between 20 million and 50 million fatalities worldwide, including 675,000 in the U.S.; the “Asian Flu,” 1957-1958, with about 1.1 million deaths worldwide, 116,000 of those in the U.S.; and the “Hong Kong Flu,” 1968-1972,  with about 1 million people worldwide, including 100,000 in the U.S. So far, the current pandemic has produced almost 100,000 U.S. deaths, but the reaction of a near-complete economic shutdown is unprecedented.

The lost economic output in the U.S. alone is estimated to be 5 percent of GDP, or $1.1 trillion for every month of the economic shutdown. This lost income results in lost lives as the stresses of unemployment and providing basic needs increase the incidence of suicide, alcohol or drug abuse, and stress-induced illnesses. These effects are particularly severe on the lower-income populace, as they are more likely to lose their jobs, and mortality rates are much higher for lower-income individuals.   

Statistically, every $10 million to $24 million lost in U.S. incomes results in one additional death. One portion of this effect is through unemployment, which leads to an average increase in mortality of at least 60 percent. That translates into 7,200 lives lost per month among the 36 million newly unemployed Americans, over 40 percent of whom are not expected to regain their jobs. In addition, many small business owners are near financial collapse, creating lost wealth that results in mortality increases of 50 percent. With an average estimate of one additional lost life per $17 million income loss, that would translate to 65,000 lives lost in the U.S. for each month because of the economic shutdown. 

In addition to lives lost because of lost income, lives also are lost due to delayed or foregone health care imposed by the shutdown and the fear it creates among patients. From personal communications with neurosurgery colleagues, about half of their patients have not appeared for treatment of disease which, left untreated, risks brain hemorrhage, paralysis or death.

Here are the examples of missed health care on which we base our calculations: Emergency stroke evaluations are down 40 percent. Of the 650,000 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in the United States, an estimated half are missing their treatments. Of the 150,000 new cancer cases typically discovered each month in the U.S., most – as elsewhere in the world – are not being diagnosed, and two-thirds to three-fourths of routine cancer screenings are not happening because of shutdown policies and fear among the population. Nearly 85 percent fewer living-donor transplants are occurring now, compared to the same period last year. In addition, more than half of childhood vaccinations are not being performed, setting up the potential of a massive future health disaster. We do not consider social or public health costs such as increased child abuse, suicides, drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, and other crimes that may be associated with the substantial economic reverses that the United States is enduring. Although difficult to quantify, these are likely to be significant. 

The implications of treatment delays for situations other than COVID-19 result in 8,000 U.S. deaths per month of the shutdown, or about 120,000 years of remaining life. Missed strokes contribute an additional loss of 100,000 years of life for each month; late cancer diagnoses lose 250,000 years of remaining life for each month; missing living-donor transplants, another 5,000 years of life per month — and, if even 10 percent of vaccinations are not done, the result is an additional 24,000 years of life lost each month. 

These unintended consequences of missed health care amount to more than 500,000 lost years of life per month, not including all the other known skipped care. If we only consider unemployment-related fatalities from the economic shutdown, that would total at least an additional 7,200 lives per month. Assuming these deaths occur proportionally across the ages of current U.S. mortality data, and equally among men and women, this amounts to more than 200,000 lost years of life for each month of the economic shutdown. 

In comparison, COVID-19 fatalities have fallen disproportionately on the elderly, particularly in nursing homes, and those with co-morbidities. Based on the expected remaining lifetimes of these COVID-19 patients, and given that 40 percent of deaths are in nursing homes, the disease has been responsible for 800,000 lost years of life so far. Considering only the losses of life from missed health care and unemployment due solely to the lockdown policy, we conservatively estimate that the national lockdown is responsible for at least 700,000 lost years of life every month, or about 1.5 million so far — already far surpassing the COVID-19 total.

Policymakers combatting the effects of COVID-19 must recognize and consider the full impact of their decisions. They need to be aware of the devastating effects in terms of lost life from shutting down significant parts of the economy. The belated acknowledgement by policy leaders of irreparable harms from the lockdown is not nearly enough. They need to emphatically and widely inform the public of these serious consequences and reassure them of their concern for all human life by strongly articulating the rationale for reopening society. 

To end the loss of life from the economic lockdown, businesses as well as K-12 schools, public transportation, parks and beaches should smartly reopen with enhanced hygiene and science-based protection warnings for any in the high-risk population. For most of the country, that reopening should occur now, without any unnecessary fear-based restrictions, many of which repeat the error of disregarding the evidence. By following a thoughtful analysis that finally recognizes all available actions and their consequences, we can save millions of years of American life. When the next pandemic inevitably arises, we need to remember these lessons and follow policies that consider the lives of all Americans from the outset.

Several months later, the evidence suggests lockdowns were an overly blunt and economically costly tool. They are politically difficult to keep in place for long enough to stamp out the virus. The evidence also points to alternative strategies that could slow the spread of the epidemic at much less cost. As cases flare up throughout the U.S., some experts are urging policy makers to pursue these more targeted restrictions and interventions rather than another crippling round of lockdowns.

“We’re on the cusp of an economic catastrophe,” said James Stock, a Harvard University economist who, with Harvard epidemiologist Michael Mina and others, is modeling how to avoid a surge in deaths without a deeply damaging lockdown. “We can avoid the worst of that catastrophe by being disciplined,” Mr. Stock said.

The economic pain from pandemics mostly comes not from sick people but from healthy people trying not to get sick: consumers and workers who stay home, and businesses that rearrange or suspend production. A lot of this is voluntary, so some economic hit is inevitable whether or not governments impose restrictions. Still, because of the close connection between the pandemic and economic activity, many epidemiologists and economists say the economy can’t recover while the virus is out of control. “The virus is going to determine when we can safely reopen,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in April. The Federal Reserve said in late July that “the path of the economy will depend significantly on the course of the virus.”

Such statements leave wide open what represents an acceptable level of infection, which in turn determines what restrictions to impose. If the only acceptable level of infection were zero, lockdowns would have to be severe and potentially repeated, or at least until an effective vaccine or treatment comes along. Most countries have rejected that course.

Prior to Covid-19, lockdowns weren’t part of the standard epidemic tool kit, which was primarily designed with flu in mind.

During the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, some American cities closed schools, churches and theaters, banned large gatherings and funerals and restricted store hours. But none imposed stay-at-home orders or closed all nonessential businesses. No such measures were imposed during the 1957 flu pandemic, the next-deadliest one; even schools stayed open.

Lockdowns weren’t part of the contemporary playbook, either. Canada’s pandemic guidelines concluded that restrictions on movement were “impractical, if not impossible.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in its 2017 community mitigation guidelines for pandemic flu, didn’t recommend stay-at-home orders or closing nonessential businesses even for a flu as severe as the one a century ago.

So when China locked down Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province in January, and Italy imposed blanket stay-at-home orders in March, many epidemiologists elsewhere thought the steps were unnecessarily harmful and potentially ineffective.

It is evident that we have to open up country. Prolonged closures are causing undue harm to our people and to our economy. Social distancing and mask wearing are having some effects, to slow down the spread of the disease. We need herd immunity and a vaccine. They are the only way we are going to get back to the old normal. I refuse to believe that we have to live in a new normal where masks wearing is the norm. It is not natural and it is harmful. It prevents people from developing relationships. It is harming our children. We are going to have a generation of recluses and introverts, people that don’t know how to interact socially. It started with video games and cell phones, now it is becoming worse because of a virus. We are social creatures. Studies have shown that single people who live alone and have few friends, tend to have shorter life expectancies. A hug a day is good medicine. We need physical contact. There is a reason that sex is called making love. It helps to reinforce relationships between couples. We also need fresh air and sunshine. The utilization of Vitamin D requires sunlight to be effective. We can’t be locked away in our basements. (5)

How Covid-19 is Spread, Who Needs WHO?

There is a question about whether asymptomatic people can spread the disease or if you have to be symptomatic. As I have stated in my previous article about mask wearing, Covid is spread by sneezing and coughing, little or no transmission is by contact. Covid-19 is a virus just like the Flu, it behaves the same way. It is not the boogy man and is not possessed of special powers. If you have the Flu it usually take a few days to even a week for the symptoms to kick in. Does this mean you are not contagious, it does not .That is how the flu gets spread so easily, you don’y know you have it right away. However, because you are not coughing and sneezing the distances for transmission have to be much closer and for a more prolonged duration. You have to repeatedly breathe on the unsuspecting person. Like something you would do with your children or your spouse. Kissing someone on the mouth is a guaranteed way to transfer the flu. That is why your loved one or spouse always gets it. It seems to make a couple of rounds through your household before it winds down.

The covid-19 virus is transmitted the same way. Once it infects the body that is where the differences arise. So social distancing works and masks help to slow down the spread by reducing the force of the sneeze, cough or breathing so the virus does not travel so far. I discussed the benefits of masks in a previous article. So in short you can spread the covid-19 virus if you are asymptomatic, you just have to be closer and for a longer period of time. Unless of course, you are engaged in kissing or sharing drinking glasses, tooth brushes or eating utensils, in other words intimate contact. Covid-19 can survive on surfaces, but only for a limited time, just like the flu virus. They are closely related, so they are transmitted in very similar manners.

These are just a sampling of the articles that I have posted in this category in my blog. You are more than welcome to visit my blog, comm-sense-in-america.com, if you want to read about COVID-19 or other healthcare issues go to the category on COVID-19 and healthcare.

References:

(1)fast.ai, ” Particle sizes for mask filtration,” By Jeremy Howard

(2)nationalgeographic.com, “Vaccines are highly unlikely to cause side effects long after getting the shot: Science shows that even the most serious side effects for any vaccine, including COVID-19, occur within just a few weeks,” BY MERYL DAVIDS LANDAU

(3)scienceofpeople.com, “The 8 Laws of Power: How to Get Power Using Science.” By Vanessa Van Edwards

(4)medium.com, “Using Fear to Gain Power.” By Rick Hanson; opensecrets.org

(5)thehill.com, “The COVID-19 shutdown will cost Americans millions of years of life,” BY SCOTT W. ATLAS