There are scientists that say the virus came from a lab in Wuhan, China. They point to unusual non-naturally occurring gene sequences. Others that claim, based on peer reviewed studies that hydroxychloroquine when given early saves lives. Still others that point to pre-Covid-19 studies of flu and Sars viruses that masks offer no protection. Some look at the states that locked down and the states that did not lock down and see no benefit of the lockdowns. Others question why if children are not at risk schools remain closed in many states.
So many theories, they must all be wrong. Surely we would not force masks if they did not work. Surely we would not close schools if children could not be at risk. Surely we would not prevent Covid patients from getting life saving inexpensive treatments if the science said otherwise. Surely we would not destroy 1000s of businesses for no good reason.
This is something to think about. The science never said to do the things that were done. All society continues to suffer as a result.
I am a nobody, just a news watcher and someone who has paid attention as COVID-19 has remade this country into one whose inherent freedoms have been decimated in exchange for a false sense of security. In response to this threat, we locked down the healthy not at risk people as well as the vulnerable. For every other disease we took precautions to protect the vulnerable. We crippled our economy, prevented churches from meeting and in many states we are still putting restrictions on healthy free people.
We are told to get the vaccine, but our leaders who have had the vaccine are still wearing masks. We are told that masks work even though scientifically viral particles are far smaller than the holes in the fabric of most masks. We have not opened schools in many places even though the science says children are neither spreaders nor vulnerable to the virus. The flu all but disappeared, yet another mystery. So, what is the origin of the virus? Who benefits from its having been unleashed? Who benefits from its continued presence and its continued injection of fear into society?
COVID-19 virus.
Dr. Fauci is one of the people directly responsible for the creation of Covid-19. No wonder he has consistently steered the conversation and response away from China. So why does he and President Biden continue to wear masks even after they have been vaccinated and even after countless studies showing masks do not prevent the spread of COVID-19? So why are these vaccinated people wearing masks. Surely Dr. Fauci is aware of the studies regarding common cold viruses and the flu virus about masks that predated COVID-19. Recommending something that does not work makes no sense. The World Health Organizations main COVID-19 page says nothing about masks, which is odd. It also says to distance one metre (3 feet) and not 6 feet. So why is the CDC still saying 6 feet?
WHO (The World Health Organization) recently put out a report about the origins of the COVID-19 virus stating that it was extremely unlikely that the virus came from a lab in Wuhan. The fact that China has not allowed access to the lab and its data is glossed over even though this access has been requested by WHO, by the CDC and by Australian authorities. The obvious question is, if China has nothing to hide regarding the origins of COVID-19, why have they repeatedly denied access to data that would confirm that? Perhaps they do have something to hide. Why did China destroy the data from 300 studies at the Wuhan lab?
We often hear that science is absolute. Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a Chinese virologist who was forced to escape Hong Kong wrote a paper detailing how the genetic sequence demonstrated by the COVID-19 virus could not have occurred naturally, but was engineered. The Wuhan lab is implicated in viral “Gain of Function” engineering. This is a process where a potentially harmful virus has its genome enhanced to make the virus more infectious and more lethal. If her claims are true and this virus was engineered at the Wuhan Institute for Virology and escaped safety controls, then the truth is horrifying. A man made killer virus was let out into the world by China.
In addition, let’s look at China’s behavior from early in the pandemic. Although China knew the virus was human to human transmissible they had the World Health Organization telling everyone that human to human transmission did not occur. Scientists in China that wanted to speak out about this virus conveniently disappeared or died. Dr. Yan fled and fears for her life. These are not actions of a country interested in minimizing the impact of the virus, these are the actions of a country that both wants to hide its involvement and of a country that wants to see what impact the virus will have on the world.
If your goal as a country is economic dominance. Unleashing a virus that causes your competitors to shut down their economies, that overwhelms their medical systems and for which there is no cure seems like a perfect plan. The fact that the plan is completely amoral, kills millions and causes massive devastation is not relevant when the ultimate goal is domination of your enemies. Perhaps the virus escaped the lab accidentally and China saw this as an opportunity. Whether accidental or purposeful, the initial response in saying it was not human to human transmissible provided time for the virus to spread, to gain a foothold in the rest of the world.
Is it possible that the virus was a natural mutation, sure. SARS-COVID viruses have been around a while and have been studied extensively. It would be simple if the will was there to prove whether this was a man made or natural virus. Dr. Yan’s work and that of others suggests that it is man-made. The source of the spread, outward from China does not seem to be in dispute, so in keeping with viral naming traditions, Africa Ebola, Spanish Flu and China virus the name seems apt. But to validate where this originated all that is required is a set of virologists familiar with gene sequencing who are tasked with determining whether this is a naturally occurring virus. The difficulty is finding virologists who work for institutions that have not been corrupted by Chinese money or grants. Dr. Fauci’s own history shows that corruption.
Ever wonder why the messaging about the virus, about its spread, and about its treatment keeps changing. Often the changes appear to have nothing to do with ‘science’. There is so much money and so many special interests surrounding this virus that any science that disagrees with the messaging is shut down. The tech companies, the media companies and much of academia have an interest in not answering these questions and in debunking the answers that China is opposed to. If the accumulated science seems to overwhelm the messaging then the messaging is tweaked. Note that the messaging seems to always favor increasing fear, denying that treatments work (HydroxyChloroquinine), urging people to be separate from others, and denying China was the source. This is exactly what a government that wanted to control its population would put out.
For China as a country, currently with 1 million Uighurs in concentration camps, using them for body parts, sterilizing others to the tune of 80+ per day, it is not hard to see a country that will do anything to achieve dominance. The virus hardly impacts healthy people, but those who are elderly or unhealthy who have the greatest medical cost to society are at significant risk, if infected. Killing off this segment of the population is in line with the communist party dogma. It is no different than when Barack Obama suggested rationing care to the elderly that were sick. Give them an aspirin, make them comfortable, but deny them expensive treatments as they are no longer significant contributors to society. The China of Tiananmen Square still exists but now it is a global philosophy with financial controls and a more opaque ruthlessness. That ruthlessness is still there and appears to underlie the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether you believe the election was fair and honest or not, the basic freedoms we have are under assault and the court and courts appear silent. Who is protecting the constitution?
The power to suppress speech and free thought without the checks and balances provided in the constitution is the power to repress all alternate views. This is now the status quo in this country. With 26000 troops in the capital not just as a deterrent but as a show of force to intimidate people with alternate views it is clear that the road toward fascism is well on the way to reality. Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube are all actively suppressing conservative voices. Congress people are demanding duly elected members step down because they questioned an election. Trump supporters are being called racists enmass as preparation for repressing their voices.
If you want to know where this is headed, just look at what one of the attorneys at NPR was suggesting. People are going to have to speak up soon and in large numbers. (non-violently) if this trend is going to stop. The idea that all white people are guilty of racism is patently false. This was even true in in civil war when 100,000s died so that slavery would be abolished. Great gains were made in the civil rights movement. All of this is as if it never happened so that those with conservative beliefs can be vilified. Already they are being silenced by the government and by the tech companies. This is what is required to implement totalitarian rule.
Below is a snapshot of what conservatives believe and why.
We believe each person has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is guaranteed by the constitution.
We believe in small government that provides for safety, defense of the nation, and for a safety net for those that can not take care of themselves or for those that need a hand up, not a hand out. Programs that have focused on a hand out have resulted in generational poverty.
We believe in meritocracy where as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” Vilifying anyone on the basis of skin color is wrong, yet that is what we see coming from our leaders, from out educators, and from big tech. What do you think will happen if this continues?
We believe in economic freedom where business succeeds or fails in a competitive marketplace, where the government’s job is to protect us from predatory practices, and monopolistic dominance that prevents competition. We believe economic freedom produces the most prosperity for the most people. This has been proven. It let’s people rise from poor circumstances to affluence through their own choices. More lives have been lifted out of poverty by this philosophy than by any other approach.
We believe in freedom of speech that all speech should be protected, even speech we disagree with. That is how ideas are spawned and discourse provides a method to weed out bad ideas. Before the media started calling everyone racists the “white supremacists” in the country had almost died out. If you call people something enough, for some of them you create the very thing you are calling them.
We believe in America First. That as we do the most to help our own people we will in turn, and by example help others around the world. The fact that this is the most generous country in the world speaks to that.
We believe that each person is entitled to the fruits of what they earn. The fact that some have tremendous wealth is not nearly as important as the fact that everyone does better under this capitalist system, where even the poorest live far better lives than the middle class in many countries. That wealth that is so often cited as unfair, employs in some cases 10’s of thousands who can take care of their families and provide good livings for themselves.
Under Donald Trump before Covid we saw what this philosophy could do. What will happen now? Will all the good be stamped out to push a false and harmful narrative? Where will conservative voices go? We we all go to re-education camps as the NPR guy wants. Make no mistake, he was called out, but that is the current thinking in the halls of power.
Donald Trump has done some incredible things for this country and in the midst of all the media hate towards him calling him all sorts of vile things below are just a few of the things he has done that have made a difference in the lives of ordinary working Americans. These are the 74 million plus Americans that make this country exceptional, and make this country the envy of the world.
Jobs and Regulations: Before COVID this country had the lowest unemployment rate it had had in years and years, with that figure including historically low unemployment rates for minorities along with real wage growth, something also not seen in years. If you benefited from his policies you should let your congress people and senators know you want more of that.
There are 100,000’s of Americans whose lives will have been saved by the COVID vaccine. No President has ever put together a plan that reduced the time to market for any vaccine to under a year. If your family members get the vaccine and are at less risk, then you should let your congress people and senators know you want more of that.
Thousands of minorities given sentences that were too harsh are out of prison thanks to Donald Trump.
Multiple countries in the Mideast are safer and more prosperous thanks to full relations with Israel. He also moved the US embassy to Jerusalem. No prior President improved Mideast stability more than Donald Trump. Israel is safer and we are safer because of this.
He stopped the bleeding of US jobs to foreign countries and improved the trade deals we had with Canada and Mexico, and stopped the raiding of American assets by China. You are more prosperous because of this.
He got NATO to pay its dues and to stop freeloading on us for defense. The result is an alliance where NATO respects us more and where we are heard much more forcefully.
He defeated ISIS in the Mideast and pulled much of our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. If you are a military family your family members are less likely to be killed in a foreign war. Let your congress people and senators know you want more of that.
He cut taxes for the middle class and some corporate taxes. Many of those companies boosted salaries and bonuses after that. Let your congress people and senators know you want more of that.
He created opportunity zones for poor minority neighborhoods bringing jobs back to blighted minority communities. Let your congress people and senators know you want more of that.
He took steps to lower drug prices more than any President ever, saving seniors billions.
He protected communities that were established for having to have sections of housing for the homeless and for those who could not afford those communities, preserving the value of those communities for the future.
You may not like his tweets, you may not like his style, but if you like his policies, or if you or your family members have benefited from Donald Trump’s tenure in office, let your voice be heard. Call your senator, email them, or your congress person and pass a link to this along. Special interests want to demonize him. Now is the time to make it known that he is supported. That the policies that benefited so many Americans are the policies you want to continue. Say it often and loud, and pass this on.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic caused fear and panic in the 1980s. Yet physicians stepped up, set new protocols, and continued to treat patients without requiring HIV tests before seeing them At the time this disease was 100% fatal and they did not fully know how it was transmitted. Today, COVID-19 if you are under 60 the crude mortality rate is less than .4% and if you are under 30 this rate is less that .2%. Yet even with known precautions, patients with severe NON-COVID disease are being put off, sent to the ER or ignored. It’s an embarrassment to the medical community. Most of the heroes of the HIV era are gone, replaced by physicians that would rather cower behind overblown fear than take care of their patients.
A part of the modern hippocratic oathas taken by physicians today says:
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.
John Smith, (not his real name) waited weeks for an appointment to meet with the orthopedic surgeon to remove infected bone from his hip. He had already been diagnosed with osteomyelitis (an infection in the bone) in his hip. After waiting two weeks as his infection raged in his hip he developed a fever but was finally able to come to Birmingham for his appointment and leg and life saving surgery. Upon arriving at his doctor’s office they took his temperature. Then sent him away.
It does not take much intelligence to figure out why he had a fever. Instead the doctor puts his patient at risk by refusing to see him. He will now have to go through an emergency room and will likely lose his leg or his life.
Another friend of mine, call her Jill, has been diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia. She has tested negative for COVID. The pneumonia is getting slowly worse. Her doctor refused to see her for two weeks. This too will most likely result in an ER visit at the point her life is in danger.
Where are the physicians, those heroes that took the Hippocratic Oath, the one’s who swore to do something to help the sick and injured, who swore not to do nothing. Yet, doctor after doctor is letting their patients get sicker and sicker, even die rather than take the chance a patient might be infected with COVID. Even when they know their patient does not have COVID from testing, they are turning them away, or delaying seeing them.
This used to mean something.
I have been unable to see my cardiologist for 3 months past when they told me I needed to be checked. If I had a problem, they would let me go to the ER or have a heart attack before I was treated. No heroes there, and I have tested COVID negative.
These few examples are being repeated millions of times across the country. Yet physicians have gone along with this approach to healthcare, intentionally putting their patients at risk rather than seeing any patient that might carry the disease. The patient and the doctor can wear masks and limit the time of exposure yet fear rules these former heroes.
Since when was being a physician supposed to be risk free? Each one signs on to treat sick people. Healthy people have no need for doctors. With the advent of COVID, they are violating, en mass their commitment to patients. Is this why they are so highly paid, so they can cower behind policies that keep patients away. It’s like a roofer that won’t go up high because he might fall. But the roofer is at much greater risk and has far more fortitude than those that are not caring for their patients.
No one is measuring the deaths that could have been prevented with normal care. So if a patient waiting to see his physician gets COVID he or she is more likely to die or to be sicker than if they had been treated properly.
We should call it the hypocritical oath instead. These former heroes took an oath they refuse to uphold. It is a shameful response to a virus that seldom kills anyone without underlying disease. If they had not taken such an oath I would not hold these physicians responsible, but they did take the oath. History is full of physicians that took much greater risks in order to treat infectious patients. Yet, even knowing a patient does not have COVID many of these doctors are still not seeing their patients or are delaying treatment.
No wonder our ERs are full, everyone with an issue, or fever, or cough is being sent to the ER, even if the cause is known. This exposes these patients to COVID when it is completely unnecessary. Even if they did not have COVID, by the time they leave the hospital or ER, they will have it. Where are the doctors that took the Hippocratic oath? Why don’t they speak up against this crime against their patients? This approach to personal safety is putting every patient at risk. It is killing many of them.
Why would Twitter remove a video by physicians that suggested, based on science and facts that hydroxychloroquine was both a safe and effective treatment for those with COVID-19? That is it! Just prevent the truth and debate while Americans die. Such behavior causes death. Yes, Twitter you are helping to kill Americans that would not otherwise succumb to COVID-19? By not letting the public see the range of research and anecdotal evidence Twitter endangers the lives of those who get information from Twitter.
From 1984
Search engine results from Google have dropped conservative sites like Breitbart down to a point they hardly exist. Such tactics are designed to get Joe Biden elected. But more than that they are designed to herd Americans into following the whims of tech companies and what ever the mini oligarchs working for those companies want you to believe.
Uigurs in China’s Concentration Camps
Overwhelmingly liberal these tech company cultures are promoting socialist and marxist views. No matter the evidence that such views generate poverty, violence and death. Just look at the history. Russia, China, Venezuela, Laos, North Korea)
The woke movement and cancel culture is destroying those who may have said something that could be construed as racist, conservative, religious, sexist or just said something that supports views that they don’t like. Justice Kavanaugh was tormented by someone just claimed something happened when he was in high school. No evidence, no facts, just smear. The media did not research the claims, it looked for others who could make claims. Even less valid. He kept his job, 100s of others are losing their jobs based on something they might have said 10, 20 or more years ago. Eventually it could be you.
Twitter allows tweets calling for genocide by the Ayatollah Khomeini but censors tweets by doctors that might support Trump. Twitter further censors any tweet they feel might benefit Donald Trump. Does Twitter actually support the destruction of the Jews? Is Twitter anti-semetic? They support the Ayatollah’s rants, so that must be the conclusion.
The mainstream media filters out the violence and rioting destroying our cities because they think showing that will help Donald Trump. They don’t show the 1000+ cops injured by rocks and fireworks, or the 36 people killed in these ‘peaceful’ riots. They create the lies that they want the public to believe.
The threat to our freedoms from these big tech and media companies is existential. Growing up in a world that was anti-semetic I learned that even unpopular, despicable speech , whether neo-nazi or racist was to be tolerated because that protected counter arguments, that the free exchange of ideas was more important and created an environment where the best ideas could emerge. Censorship creates the world of China and 1,000,000 plus in concentration camps. Where is that outrage?
If you examine history, this is where we are headed. The world of prosperity will look like Minneapolis unless action is taken now. I would urge each and every one of those who feel they are being censored to speak up. Inundate these platforms with videos, and posts supporting their ideas. They should also vote where they can with their wallets. If you do not need google to reach your market, don’t pay Google. The same with the other platforms. The violence and lies are spreading faster than COVID-19. You are the cure, but not if it is too late.
American cities are burning while the media describes pictures similar to the one above as peaceful protests. Statues are torn down, confederate statues, Christopher Columbus, Ulysses Grant, and even Abe Lincoln has been defaced. Yet, the media, does not speak against this. Ulysses Grant, and Abe Lincoln both fought to give African Americans the freedom promised by the constitution. They fought to bring about the promise of freedom in the United States. Yet these rioters only see hate and would tear down a system that is the best the world has known.
China has forced labor and re-education camps. In Saudi Arabia women are still mostly property. In the Philippines resistance is met with death. Yet, they deride this country and its freedom.
Some networks even described protests as peaceful while fires were started live on camera. Over a 1000 police officers have been injured and several killed by these peaceful protesters.
While mayors in these cities, (Atlanta, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York) force their police forces to stand down or back off. Crime in these cities is exploding with murders leading all prior measures. Yet the media does not report that this increase competes with COVID as a cause of death.
David Dorn and his murderer. Retired policeman killed in peaceful protest. Fox New.
Murders in New York City are up by 21% this year and murders in Chicago are up 78%. Kids are killed almost every weekend. Yet, nothing is done to prevent this. The media focuses on the 10 unarmed African American killed by cops, when there were 19 unarmed whites killed last year by cops. Clearly not a racist trend. All the deaths were tragic. Some of the cops were prosecuted others used force appropriately. Yet, none of the white deaths were reported nor was the tremendous reduction in unarmed African American deaths that has occurred over the last few years.
Yet the 1000’s killed by criminals receive no justice. Instead the cops are hampered, demonized, and threatened if they do what they are sworn to do. Protect and Serve. The men and women in blue are our protection from mayhem and murder, yet there are calls to defund the police.
I strongly urge people to find the truth. The media, and big tech companies are trying to hide this truth. It takes work and thought to find the information. It is not so hard to understand that these calls to defund and mayor’s forcing their police forces to back off has resulted in the increase in crime and murder. Yet, there is more happening here.
If you look at the history of Nazi Germany, the Nazis originally said they were going to help solve the crime issues the police were having. So Nazis became members of the police. Crime went down. Then those same Nazis became a tool for oppression of those who did not support the party.
So is this what is happening?
1. Let crime get out of control.
2. Defund the police.
3. Replace with your own (social workers)
4. Arm the social workers since they are in danger.
5. Social workers become the revolutionary arm to root out dissidents.
Revolution succeeds.
It happened much this way in Yugoslavia. It is starting here. It is time for those who can to support our police and our constitution. Failure to do so may mean the complete loss of the freedoms we hold dear.
If you support the police and this country’s promise of freedom, now is the time to pass this on and stand up.
As the rioters, looters and protesters have taken to the street destroying the lives and livelihoods of 1000s of Americans no one is asking the single biggest question. Why was George Floyd murdered by Derek Chauvin? The rioters would say George was murdered because of white privilege and a pattern of oppression by the cops. In some places that may well be true, but it is not the reason Mr. Chauvin choked the life out of Mr. Floyd.
The killing of Mr.Floyd was personal. One man killing another in a venue where the perpetrator (Chauvin) thought he could both get away with it and thought he was justified. Was Chauvin bigoted? He was working with 3 other cops two of which were minority. Why did they not stop the killing? Was it just a matter of unrestrained police brutality? Chauvin had multiple complaints against him.
So much of what happened makes no sense. What occurred during the part of the video when they were not on camera? Chauvin and Floyd worked at the same nightclub, was there some sort of beef between them? Did Floyd have information that was going to expose some element of graft by officer Chauvin? Was Floyd killed so he would be silenced? That brings up a whole set of questions about the corruption of the Minneapolis police department. Maybe there was corruption, maybe not, but the question has to be asked.
Had Chauvin just had a bad day and Floyd was a release of unrestrained brutal aggression? What kind of temper did the man have? Was he thin skinned and reacted to taunts by Floyd? Why did he remain on top of Floyd, almost nonchalantly as if killing Floyd was nothing, just a part of a job he needed to do? Why would he do that directly in front of the video he had to know was there? It almost like he wanted to be seen killing Floyd. Was the killing meant to send a message, not of bigotry but of compliance. If you don’t do what the cops want, this is how you wind up.
The divorce filing from his wife came incredibly swiftly after Officer Chauvin was arrested. Surely that was not some spur of the moment decision. What was going on in that household prior to the murder of Mr. Floyd. Did that influence Derek Chauvin’s decision to kill Mr. Floyd?
The last thing I am wondering, a bit of conspiracy theory coming out. Was the video taping of this event just a random act, or was this a premeditated event where the videographer knew what was going to happen? Then because this was so public, decided to release the video.
There are so many questions underlying the original event and these have all been clouded and interfered with. Is there systemic racism in the Minneapolis police department? Is there systemic brutality, or was this part of the corruption that exists in that department?
The fact that the three other officers have not been charged and the fact that the autopsy seemed to disparage the character of Mr. Floyd in stark contrast to Dr. Baden’s report suggest that what really happened here may not have anything to do with race but have everything to do with something else.
I hope that at some time we can hear what Derek Chauvin was thinking, what his purpose for killing Mr. Floyd. It is clear that these two had crossed paths and that this was not some random arrest.
The United States is a country with a history of overcoming huge problems when the people are left to be inventive, innovative, and free. We have forgotten that basic fact, to our great detriment.
The response to COVID-19 is not protecting the most vulnerable, just damaging everyone else. In New York 66% of the new cases have come from people sheltering in place, yet “Non-Essential workers” can not go to work. Studies have show that the number of people infected but who never were sick enough to seek treatment is far higher (20%)in New York City than imagined. The virus has been here and the shelter in place orders may have flattened the peak and kept the hospitals from being overwhelmed, but at this point all these orders are are draconian steps demonstrating the arbitrary execution of power by government. There is no science to it.
The government has arbitrarily decided who is “Essential”. It is not just healthcare workers, delivery drivers, grocery workers. Every person who has to feed a family is essential to that family. Every business with customers is essential to those customers. Daycare is essential to working parents. To a near sighted person eye doctors are essential, to the sick the availability of emergency rooms is essential even if they do not have COVID-19.
Instead we have run patients with milder problems away from our medical facilities, so when they do return, those problems will be severe. We have cut off those who are sick from any disease from their loved ones and advocates. Patients that could not speak for themselves now have no one to speak for them.
What makes sense, is that instead of locking up everyone, denying even the most basic rights of free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to assemble, and the freedom to worship, is that we protect the people that are most vulnerable. Clearly the elderly, those in nursing homes or those who have significant co-morbidities are most at risk. The vast majority of everyone else is at minor risk of serious infection.
Those at risk need personal protective gear or need to limit their exposure to others who have known COVID-19 statuses. In New York City 20% of the people tested for antibodies showed exposure. That is millions. They have already been exposed, had the disease, mostly without symptoms and so have no need to shelter. They do not need to be protected.
We have let the media scare us into terrible and horribly destructive policy decisions. These decisions have failed to protect the most vulnerable while scaring everyone into giving up their inalienable rights. The media have tried to scare us at every turn, they have dismissed the proven effectiveness of Hydroxy-Chloro-quinine although the drug has been around for 50+ years. They have helped fuel bad decisions at every turn. Much of the media took China’s propaganda and repeated it slowing recognition of the true threat from this virus.
Google has said they will only allow posts that agree with World Health Organization guidelines. This is the same WHO that told us that the virus was not human to human transmittable, and who’s ties to China are more than questionable. Science is about putting all ideas out there for evaluation, not just those approved by the communist party of China.
There are a whole host of players to blame for the destruction of our economy and the loss of freedom that has resulted. Now is the time to reverse those errors. Look at the science, the true numbers, as some of the media have inflated the deaths to sow fear. Look at Sweden as they did not shut down and fared better than us. Stop state and city oligarchs from exercising petty rules designed to show their power. Be smart about protecting the vulnerable and fully open up the country.
Not opening up the country will extend the depression that is already upon us. If you care for this country for the well being of your family, now is the time to step up and demand the freedoms guaranteed by our constitution.
The day after my open heart surgery, just back from the ICU, the nurse came and provided a heparin shot. This thinned my blood to prevent clots. However, too much heparin and I would bleed out. My new graphs would leak and my heart would fail from the pressure build up. Yet, an hour later a new nurse came in determined to give me another heparin shot, doubling the proper dose. Had it not been for family members fighting tooth and nail, I would have gotten that second shot and met my demise. What you ask, does this have to do with COVID-19? Read on.
Melonie could barely sit up as she waited in the waiting area at Grandview Medical. She leaned against her boyfriend and when she talked 70% of what she said had no connection to reality. The pneumonia had advanced to the point her kidneys were shutting down with every breath a rale. This was pneumonia, a secondary lung infection after a bacterial infection had settled in her lungs. Without oxygen or a respirator Melonie would have died.
Unable to communicate effectively, Melonie’s boyfriend, and medical proxy had to communicate for her. He could do what she could not while she was impaired by sickness. Had he been banned from the ER the results of Melonie’s situation may not have been as successful.
This crisis is banning patient advocates.
The events above are real, though Melonie is not her real name. The subsequent hospital stay was 16 days, the first 4 of which were touch and go, not knowing whether she would survive the ordeal. Pneumonia is how COVID-19 kills the vulnerable. It is how lung infections kill those who are infected, by filling the lungs with so much fluid that infected person can’t breathe.
The fact that many, particularly young people contact this disease but have next to no symptoms is misleading. They are the typhoid Marys of COVID-19, carrying this disease to their parents and grandparents who by virtue of age or prior bad health are far more susceptible to getting the high fever, cough and subsequent breathing crisis. As of this moment, the US has 22,708 confirmed cases with 279 deaths and 64 seriously critical patients. Many of the latter will die. In the US 1.2% of those infected die. The scary thing is that because testing has been delayed in the US, the total number of cases will grow tremendously in the next couple of weeks.
In Italy and now New York, hospitals are being overwhelmed. With the cancellation of elective surgeries and the governments urging all but the most seriously sick to avoid emergency rooms, there are other tragedies occurring. These receive little media attention and yet create fatalities that are not reported. The beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, so the lady with COPD comes in needing a respirator. It is not available, the bed is not available. The man having a heart attack is delayed while the hospital is in all out COVID-19 war mode. He dies. The lady with the flu and subsequent pneumonia is sent home because the hospital does not want her to get COVID-19 as well. The most effective patient advocates are banned in the interest of preventing spread.
The resources of our medical community are being marshaled full on to take care of COVID-19 cases. Yet, while those cases are receiving as much help as possible there is a silent set of deaths happening. No one reports on these. No one reports on the other life threatening infections whose treatment is delayed while COVID-19 sweeps across the US. Many of our hospitals were swamped before this pandemic. Those patients still need care but many are being sent away, delayed or denied the care they need.
The banning of family members from hospital rooms and care facilities will dramatically increase the number of medical mistakes. Ginger, recovering from foot surgery, developed a MRSA infection in her arm. Even though the nurses bandaged it, they did not chart it. Her husband had to keep asking about treating this even after her arm had swollen to twice its normal size. It took 4 days of constant asking to get the antibiotics ordered that eventually cleared up the infection in her arm. Had the husband not been there Ginger would have lost the arm or her life. This is the role of the patient advocate. COVID-19 has banned patient advocates from the ER and from the hospital room. How many extra deaths will this cause?
Further, anyone that has had the experience of staying with a seriously ill loved one in the hospital knows how many small errands they run in order to take care the sick. From getting blankets, pillows or drinks to helping with a bath the family member adds tremendously to the patient’s comfort. Now without the family member there, the nurse or aid has to perform these tasks adding to the work load of already overworked staff.
I firmly believe that we have to defeat this virus, but we have to do so without causing ancillary damage. I am sure that no hospital would admit that having family at the beside saves lives. Yet, seriously ill patients’ ability to communicate and to advocate on their own behalf is compromised. Often they are completely unable to communicate. This is one area of the COVID-19 response that needs to be rethought. I would urge that medical facilities allow at least one family member in with the sick patient. It will prevent countless unnecessary deaths. For God’s sake, give the member a mask to protect them from COVID-19 and to protect the hospital staff from infection, but don’t put patients at greater risk because the policies are not thought through.
takebackourindependence 