Almost everyday I encounter “news” that confirms what I knew months ago—and said months ago out loud on Freedom and Reason. Here’s the latest, from Francis Collins’ blog: “COVID-19 Infected Many More Americans in 2020 than Official Tallies Show.” If you take time to study epidemiology, it became obvious a long time ago that many times more people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 than the case numbers show. I blogged about this as the pandemic was just getting underway. (See, for example, We Should Stop Citing the Case-Lethality Rate for COVID-19—or Start Using it for Influenza.)
But, really, you don’t need to know epidemiology to figure out what’s going on. As soon as I learned that most people who get this virus have mild cold symptoms or are asymptomatic, I knew that the case numbers underrepresented the true number of infections (On the Pains of Testing and Contact Tracing. It’s Worse than Folly). Many of those infected are simply not going to get tested if they don’t know they are infected or if they believe the media that this virus is on the scale of ebola and all they have are cold symptoms. (Remember, polls show that 40 percent of Democrats believe that catching the virus guarantees hospitalization, when the fact is that only a small proportion of cases require hospitalization. See “Whatever that number is”: Vaccine Hesitancy, Common Sense, and Stigmatizing Christians.) Even flu-like symptoms, which I experienced in March 2020, don’t always move a person to get tested. I considered it, but felt too bad to do anything about it (and there was another concern I will note in a moment). I did what I always do: sweat it out.
If you apply the metrics the CDC uses to estimate influenza cases, which likely undercounts coronavirus cases, since influenza is less contagious, half the population has been infected at this point (“COVID-19 is Worse than the Flu”—For Whom?). Many of these individuals got vaccinated (they should have been tested for antibodies—and I don’t buy this nonsense about “super-immunity”). As I have argued, herd immunity towards the known mutants is likely the reason cases dropped dramatically beginning in early January 2021. With the introduction of the vaccines, case numbers soared. Part of this is thanks to mutants that can get around the vaccine. It is also possible that the vaccine is driving mutation.
As Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of mRNA technology, has told us, we cannot vaccinate our way out of the pandemic. We’re going to need therapeutics, and that means standing up to resistance put up by the medical industry to public access to cheap pharmaceuticals, such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. We need to stand up to the corporate state and its technocratic corps and demand healthcare that puts people before profits. (See Profits Before People: Civilians Denied Cheap and Effective Therapeutics.)
Despite the vaccine setback, I had hope that the latest wave was cresting based on the trend line as we were reestablishing herd immunity. But the number of cases reported today set a new record for daily cases. I don’t mean to depress you. I mean to keep you informed. Trump should have insisted on therapeutics more strongly than he did and not rushed the vaccine. He opened the door to this mess. Biden is worthless. Fauci should be removed and investigated. Public policy in this area has been a disaster.
When everything is said and done, I wonder what percentage of COVID-19 patients ventilators killed? What percentage of the 600-plus-thousand people. Remember when something like 9 of every 10 persons on a ventilator died? When I was considering whether to seek medical attention for my illness in March 2020, which was severe (and I have a history of pneumonia), I shuttered at the thought of being hospitalized, What would they do to me? The medical industry is the third leading case of death in the United States. As it turned out, my experience was typical of my experiences with flu-like illness. I was tired for some weeks after the symptoms passed (which was three days of high fever and profuse sweating). But I have suffered no long-term effects, except for rediscovering the necessity of being skeptical of the claims made by authorities and experts. After all, they’re only people.
Jimmy Kimmel says unvaccinated people shouldn’t be given hospital beds. He’s not the only one. More and more, we are seeing a desire that those who have opted for not taking the shots suffer terrible consequences. What about obese people? If it wasn’t for obesity far fewer people would be seeking hospitalization. Most people who are obese choose to be obese. Diet and exercise works. If you are fat, losing weight will sharply reduce your chance of serious complications from SARS-CoV-2. Why is the media neglecting this issue? However, nobody should be turned away from medical treatment. Doctors can recommend vaccination for the old and unhealthy, just as they can recommend diet and exercise. They cannot refuse treatment for people who need it.
freedom and reason 