Two stories have dominated every aspect of our lives in 2020. The first is the Coronavirus itself and secondly, our reaction to it.
There is no doubt that Covid-19 is a potentially serious and deadly illness. Initially, the World Health Organization downplayed the illness, then subsequently they stated that they believed the mortality rate to be 3.4% which is quite high. They were wrong.
To date, there have been 5.5 million cases worldwide with 346,000 deaths. However, sample population testing in both the USA and Europe have found that positive cases show that many more people have the virus than have symptomatic illness. In California and New York, it was found that COVID positive people were 30 to 50 times that of those who demonstrated symptoms. This brings the mortality rate to the range of 0.01 to 0.04 per cent. That is the rate equivalent to a severe flu season. So why have political leaders instituted draconian measures never seen before which have pummelled economies worldwide?
There have been other greater killers than Covid-19 but we never shut down the world's economy. Let's look at one such illness; AIDS. When Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome came on the scene it was a 100% killer. Since it started, AIDS has infected some 100 million people worldwide with 35 million deaths. That is quite a shocking mortality rate. Today, AIDS is no longer 100% fatal for two reasons: the virus has mutated to a less deadly form and there are successful antiviral treatments which allow people to live comfortably with the disease. It was also known with AIDS that certain groups were affected, namely those engaging in unprotected sexual activity, drug users and those receiving blood transfusions.
We know that Covid-19 is much less deadly than AIDS and it overwhelming affects the elderly and those with certain conditions such as compromised immune systems, respiratory conditions and diabetes. We also know that children are rarely affected by the coronavirus. In places such as New York City, nearly one half of the deaths occurred in nursing homes. So it begs the question as to why across the board in virtually everywhere jurisdiction, businesses and schools have been shut down? Sweden is one of the few exceptions.
One of the most striking aspects of this whole pandemic is the contradictions and deceptive practices of not only politicians but of so-called medical experts and bureaucrats. Initially, the World Health Organization stated that there was no pandemic and that the virus did not spread from person to person. Of course, that let everyone's guard down. Then the WHO reversed itself. Health authorities including the U.S. Surgeon General and Anthony Fauci head of the NIH stated that masks were of no use. Then they did an about-face and said that masks were imperative. Of course, we know about the total failure of models in predicting the number of deaths and the death rate itself.
One of the more egregious policy statements was that the shutdown was necessary until the "curve" was flattened. Then the narrative changed; things couldn't open up until a vaccine was developed or until we knew that a second wave wouldn't occur. Politicians justified this as the reason to keep schools closed and as in the case of Western Australia, a reason to restrict travel within the state, even when at the time of this writing, there are NO active cases.
There is one tool that governments and health bureaucrats use to achieve their end goals and that is the use of FEAR. This instils compliance and behavioural changes in society. It's not far removed from the techniques used in Communist countries. There are three things we have to be mindful of in all the hysteria.
1. There is an innate ability of the body to maintain itself in a healthy state and to interact and heal itself when it comes in contact with microorganisms.
2. The majority of the population will not contract Covid-19 and for those who do, the vast majority will recover.
3. Some treatments work in overcoming the illness.
We need to bring some sense into the way we respond to such an outbreak otherwise we create so many other unintended consequences. That is another story in itself.
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