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An update on coronavirus from an Arizona doctor

My personal GP doctor in Arizona, Robert Lending, has for the last year sent out weekly detailed updates to his patients on the on-going COVID-19 epidemic. I thought I provide my readers his carefully researched doctor’s perspective, with his permission of course.

First he updates us on the state of the epidemic in Arizona:

The surge in AZ and in Pima County is over; with dramatic decreases in Cases, Case Fatality Rates (CFR), and Case Hospitalization Rates (CHR). The hospitalization utilizations including beds and ventilators, etc. are markedly decreased. {{{Tucson Medical Center is down to 10.5% Inpatient Covid-19, and they will resume elective surgeries.}}} The initial reductions began before vaccinations, but now may have been helped by the vaccinations. On the other hand, the virus acts as it will; independent of most of society’s attempts to control or modify it, no matter what the politicians and health department officials state. [emphasis mine]

The highlighted text matches what I have been saying for the past year, that the panicky effort to “stop the spread of COVID-19” was foolish, counterproductive, and entirely useless. And the evidence now a year later supports that conclusion. Nothing done by any government anywhere in the world has stopped the virus from spreading, whether it be lockdowns, masks, or quarantines. In the U.S. and Europe especially places that imposed fewer restrictions on their citizens seemed to fare about the same as places where the government stamped down hard. And those former places also had less negative consequences for their economies and for the freedoms of their citizens.

Meanwhile, the evidence is that the epidemic in Arizona is fading. And as far as I can see, during its height it affected almost no one in the general population. Like the flu it impacted the elderly sick the most, but everyone else either didn’t see it at all, or if they got sick they almost always recovered.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter that the epidemic is fading and that a vaccine is now available. The unreasonable rules imposed during the panic remain in force, and likely will never go away. And I speak from experience. For example, in trying to schedule an appointment with another doctor, I was told by his office that even if I had tested negative for COVID, received the vaccine, and quarantined myself between its receipt and my appearance at the office, I would still be required to wear a mask.

Think about that. I would be totally healthy and have no symptoms and could in no way transmit the virus, and yet the mask would still be required. We are now a society that irrationally sees all other humans as a threat to be avoided, at all times.

As for the flu, Lending noted some very intriguing data.

The seasonal flu has all but been non-existent, with only 20 Cases in Pima County; compared to 2800+ cases at this point in time a year ago. Our office, as well as the pharmacies, still have vaccine. If you are not in the middle of your COVID-19 vaccine series, and have not yet received your seasonal flu shot, then you could still benefit although it is unknown as to if the flu will ever really emerge this season.

As I and others have also been saying now for months, the federal government’s policy of awarding doctors more money if they report all respiratory disease as COVID has apparently cured the human race of the flu. (People might still be getting the flu, but doctors are reporting it routinely as the coronavirus.)

I should add however that when Lending told me of the disappearance of the flu this year during my most recent doctor’s appointment, he added that he did not think the disappearance was entirely because of these warping the record-keeping. He truly believes that the coronavirus itself has replaced the flu in its ecological niche.

The bottom line still remains. In almost all ways the overall impact of COVID-19 closely matches that of the flu. We can argue numbers about whether it is worse, but that doesn’t change the entire picture.

First, like the flu COVID-19 is practically harmless to the young. As of this date Lending notes that no one in Pima County in Arizona under 20 has died from it. And that matches data across the globe. The young are immune from this virus, as they generally are of the flu.

Second, if you are an adult and in good health, the virus is also not much of a threat. Yes, it appears it might be more deadly than the flu, but not significantly so for healthy people. Almost everyone who gets it recovers soon thereafter, just like the flu.

Third, after a year of panic we still see that more 99% of the world’s population has been unharmed by this virus. In normal less emotional times — when people apparently had more courage — the public and government’s would have treated this whole virus with a shrug of the shoulders. Some preventative actions would certainly have been taken, but nothing that would have harmed the general population. The rational goal would have been to isolate the sick, and let the healthy live their lives normally.

Unfortunately, we no longer live in a less emotional times, and courage is in short supply. Instead, most people are locked into their smart phones and appear immediately convinced by anything that phone tells them. And thus the world panicked, and as far as I can tell, abandoned all the fundamentals of western civilization that made this time in human history the wealthiest and most pleasant ever.

Instead, people have allowed their fear rule them. And so freedom died.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

24 comments

  • John Stevens

    “He truly believes that the coronavirus itself has replaced the flu in its ecological niche.”

    I thought this was an interesting statement, but I believe it is wrong. I can not imagine anything more statistically random than a virus circulating in the atmosphere around you. This corona virus is not a moral agent with the ability to overpower other viruses with any amount of violence or coercion. It is simply a more powerful virus.

    If you were susceptible to the ‘common’ flu, then the likelihood of your contracting the corona virus was very high anyway. This is the number that needs to be scraped off the tallies of ‘corona deaths’ to find/gauge the true effect of the virus as far as statistics are concerned.

    Another conversation regarding statistics that needs to be addressed is the manner which a death is attributed to the corona virus. When a person drops dead from a heart attack it obvious he did not die of the corona virus, but because of the ‘confusion’ ($15,000 in federal money per ‘corona’ patients, honest ignorance, etc.) that person may have ‘accidentally’ been put in the wrong tally simply because he had contracted the virus at some point before dying of something else.

    In an honest society, this would not be a tall order

  • Chris

    Bob – later in your text switch virus with vaccine in the sentence:
    Unfortunately it doesn’t matter that a virus —> vaccine is available.

  • For example, in trying to schedule an appointment with another doctor, I was told by his office that even if I had tested negative for COVID, received the vaccine, and quarantined myself between its receipt and my appearance at the office, I would still be required to wear a mask.

    This is what is imposed upon you and I in a world where following rules absolves one of the need to engage in the unpleasant task of exercising sound judgment.

    OTOH, had NY Governor Mayhem and his ilk endured that unpleasantness instead of just decreeing rules and awarding Emmys, a lot of businesses would still be operating … and not a few seniors would still be with us.

    (And I say this, as someone who has had Winnie the WuFlu).

  • Max

    That infection numbers are down, we were beginning to believe that everything was going back to normal.
    I got my 11th Covid test yesterday, mandatory at my work, and I asked the technician if it was true that we no longer need to be tested…
    She said that “they thought so”, but they were just told that their contract had been “renewed” until October. That a new strain of the virus was going to cause another lock down of most of the nation so they would be needed for months yet. (That’s what they were told) “sigh”

    The Gateway Pundit lays out the evidence that they have gathered that shows “the pandemic doesn’t make sense”.
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/johns-hopkins-takes-article-showing-us-deaths-2020-no-different-prior-years-doesnt-fit-gonna-die-narrative/

    The Canadians write about it and are very blunt.
    https://canadafreepress.com/article/johns-hopkins-study-explodes-covid-death-hoax-its-re-labeling-on-a-grand-sc

    “The CDC classified all deaths that are related to COVID-19 simply as COVID-19 deaths. Even patients dying from other underlying diseases but are infected with COVID-19 count as COVID-19 deaths. This is likely the main explanation as to why COVID-19 deaths drastically increased while deaths by all other diseases experienced a significant decrease.”

    “’All of this points to no evidence that COVID-19 created any excess deaths. Total death numbers are not above normal death numbers. We found no evidence to the contrary,’ Briand concluded.”

    So why the charade that shutdown the entire worlds economy? To save the world from an increase of 2° In temperature in 20 years. A plan To Eliminate all carbon usage totally. The new reverse hockey stick.

    “TIME IS RUNNING OUT
    Even if all 194 countries that signed the Paris Agreement fulfil their emissions-cutting pledges,
    the rise in temperatures is still forecast to hit 3.2-degrees this century.”

    https://www.circularity-gap.world/2021
    And;
    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/02/circularity-gap-report-2021-strategies-climate-breakdown/
    The largest emissions come from housing, transportation, food.
    They won’t be successful until they drastically reduce or eliminate these items. For that to happen, a lot of consumers will need to die.

    Here is an article about a “true believer” in government asking others on Skype to do drastic measures. “we must break their will to use carbon!”
    https://pjmedia.com/columns/stacey-lennox/2021/02/07/massachusetts-climate-official-ismay-proposes-turning-the-screws-to-break-citizens-will-to-stop-climate-change-n1423867

    (There are some good quotes in this article, like;
    “Many areas of the country are now on approximately day 300 to slow the spread without significant complaints. That is because the government used its second weapon, the corporate media. Dr. Fauci was the only government official who was ubiquitous in the media and he provided never-ending fodder for “panic porn”.
    For everything Fauci suggested or hinted at to be accurate, COVID-19 is unlike any other respiratory virus in the history of modern medical science. Yet, he has never provided any evidence for why that would be the case. COVID-19 is a coronavirus, and we have some baseline ideas about how that class of virus should behave. Some of his advice has been outright contradictory. Yet anyone who does not follow it can be suppressed, vilified, or ruined by a video posted on social media”)

    Even the health statistics on the UN website have been adjusted to show death in the future will be twice as much as birth. The opposite that it is currently.

    The big plan;
    “COVID-19 has accelerated our transition into the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We have to make sure that the new technologies in the digital, biological and physical world remain human-centred and serve society as a whole, providing everyone with fair access,” he said.

    “This global pandemic has also demonstrated again how interconnected we are. We have to restore a functioning system of smart global cooperation structured to address the challenges of the next 50 years. The Great Reset will require us to integrate all stakeholders of global society into a community of common interest, purpose and action,” said Schwab. “We need a change of mindset, moving from short-term to long-term thinking, moving from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder responsibility. Environmental, social and good governance have to be a measured part of corporate and governmental accountability,”

    https://www.weforum.org/press/2020/06/the-great-reset-a-unique-twin-summit-to-begin-2021

    “The rights of society out weigh the rights of the individual”
    Without individual rights, there are no rights.

    “Never let a crisis go to waste” but if there isn’t a crisis available, create one…
    If you haven’t watched it yet, PlanDemic shows you all the preparation for what we’re living now.
    The new and improved Obamacare is about to make all your problems go away… Permanently.

    The fourth industrial revolution sounds a lot like the third Reich…

  • MDN

    I would argue that another significant factor in the drop of seasonal flu is the widespread adoption of masking, social distancing, and hygiene protocols. I have traveled to Asia many times in my career and good hygiene and masking in public if YOU were symptomatic (as a socially expected courtesy to protect others from your coughs and sneezes) have always kept their prevalence of flu lower than our typical experience.

    Also, while COVID is real and is dangerous, as Bob notes the risk is far disproportionate to the reaction. As I know only a few people who have personally had the virus, and none who have perished of it, I have examined the numbers and believe this is an effective way to communicate the true risk:

    The mortality for COVID to date is approximately the same as for all cancers combined. So, just as you likely know a few people right now who are dealing with cancer in some form, you probably don’t know anyone who has died of the disease this year. So COVID is a health risk, but you should fear it no more than you do getting, and dying of, cancer. And unlike cancer we now have a vaccine and all viral pandemics fade in time as the population develops herd immunity, so we have seen the worst and it is only going to get better from here.

  • Milt

    Two Different Worlds

    In observing how people react to the Corona Virus and the events of the last year, I have noticed something that I believe is significant, but I don’t recall seeing anyone else taking much notice of it or commenting on it in a direct fashion. Where I am living, a small rural county in north Florida, most people seem to be reacting as Robert suggests that they should. That is, they have gone on with their lives, taking whatever precautions they think necessary to avoid the virus — just as they might do with respect to the conventional flu — but in no way have they allowed the virus, or the fear of it, to in any way dominate (or as my wife likes to say, “take over”) their lives. If their response has not been, in Bob’s words, quite a “shrug of the shoulders,” it has at least embraced the approach of bringing a rational, nuanced attitude to bear.

    On a larger scale, this has also been something like the approach that the State of Florida has taken, to the great unhappiness, it appears, of the Biden Administration and the governors of certain other states where things have not gone quite so well. (I suppose it could be said that here in Florida, we have been negligent and allowed a crisis go to waste…)

    Others that I observe / am aware of — again, not so much here but in other places — seem to have allowed the virus to absolutely dominate their consciousness and to determine their actions down to the most minute detail. Although healthy, they will not go out of their homes or engage in any other ordinary activities, they wear masks when they are outdoors or driving in their cars (even if there is no mandate to do so), and they seem to be absolutely convinced that they are hanging onto life by a thread. In responding in this way,
    their actions seem to perfectly reflect the relentless, 24/7 drumbeat of doom that has been broadcast on CNN and NPR / PBS that “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” That such an assertion is both statistically impossible and not borne out by even the most rudimentary application of logic or common sense seems to make not the slightest difference. These people are in a state of constant, media-induced terror (akin, perhaps, to Trump Derangement Syndrome), and nothing seems likely to disabuse them of this kind of overarching delusion that the world is coming to an end.

    Whether this kind of response results from a lack of courage, I am not sure, but my suspicion is that it has more to do with simple suggestibility and the willingness to believe what the authorities and their media lap dogs have been drilling into them over the past year.

    Pretty clearly, this difference in attitude also extends into the realm of politics, with the former population relying predominantly on their own personal efforts to avoid contracting the virus, and the latter loudly lamenting that the government is not doing enough to “save” them. Again, two very different approaches to dealing with this situation, and perhaps another good indicator of just how fundamentally divided in our thinking we have become.

  • Milt

    PS — I think that MDN is quite correct. Taking the simple precautions that he mentions, we could (and have?) probably also put a dent in the prevelence of the common seasonal flu. Not a bad thing, and one less reason to live in fear.

  • Ray Van Dune

    Isn’t it obvious that COVID-19 was used expressly to defeat President Donald J. Trump? I don’t know if there was a master plan, but everyone that needed desperately for him to not be President any more sure jumped on it, and used it to make everything look terrible, and discredit anything he did to combat it, even if they were the ones who demanded he do it!

  • Edward

    Robert wrote: “Instead, most people are locked into their smart phones and appear immediately convinced by anything that phone tells them.

    I recently heard an interesting thought. We often hear fears of the machines and computers taking over, similar to Skynet in the Terminator movies, but what if the takeover takes a much subtler form. What if we are taken over by our own actions, by staring our whole lives at the screens of our computers and phones?

    He truly believes that the coronavirus itself has replaced the flu in its ecological niche.

    I agree with John Stevens, but for a different reason. For Wuhan flu to overpower the regular flus, it would have had to infect a much larger portion of the population. The regular flus infect a large number of people every year, but Wuhan has not.

    For some reason, we are supposed to follow the directives of people who do not follow them themselves.

  • Johann Amadeus Metesky

    Instead, people have allowed their fear rule them. And so freedom died.

    “The entire world, all of it, is a very narrow bridge, and the essential thing is to have no fear at all.” – Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

  • GWB

    the world panicked, and as far as I can tell, abandoned all the fundamentals of western civilization that made this time in human history the wealthiest and most pleasant ever
    Goes back to that old saw:
    Hard Times make Hard Men; Hard Men make Easy Times; Easy Times make Soft Men; Soft Men make Hard Times.

  • Sky Masterson

    A vaccine so good you have to be threatened to take it – for a virus so deadly you have to be tested to even know if you have it.

  • You mean, Edward, that we carry a mini-HAL around with us – voluntarily?

  • Michael

    Looking back retrospectively, I have known several people who have contracted the coronavirus and the thing that always concerned me was the randomness of it…some had no problems at all with it (my young niece and her boyfriend, for example, who said it ‘was like a hangover’) while others spent time in the ICU and almost died from it (a good friend’s brother in his late 50s.) I did have one acquaintance die from it — early in the pandemic — and he was healthy and didn’t see it coming.

    Millions of people in the world died from this pandemic and whether statistically that is overstated doesn’t really matter to me. (Half of them could be deaths from other reasons and it would still be a catastrophe.) At the start of the pandemic we had no idea how deadly this disease could be (remember Ford making respirators?) and to say that “the world panicked” is specious and the worst kind of Monday-morning quarterbacking.

  • Edward

    Linda S Fox asked: “You mean, Edward, that we carry a mini-HAL around with us – voluntarily?

    Sort of, but with less control over our life support.

    On the other hand, self driving cars will have an important role in our safety.

  • As an ‘at risk’ 82 year old, so far, going about my life maskless and washing my hands occasionally, I’ve, to the best of my knowledge avoided getting the China Bad Cold.

    I say to the best of my knowledge as I’ve seen not reason to have a swab pushed up my nose nor anus to check. Though I will admit I have had the sniffles at least twice and coughed thrice since last March, so it is possible I’ve had it.

    At 82, of course my chance of dying tomorrow, is greater than that of a 28 year old. death happens, sooner or later, but I do think it’s quite silly to give up living to keep from dying.

    That’s me, I’m not telling anyone else what to do, if one wants to triple face diaper, self wrap in bubble wrap and huddle in place, hey, that’s their choice.

  • Max

    The CDC report on the rumors of vaccine death is exaggerated, all the doctors reporting are liars and you can’t believe them.

    “Over 52 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States from December 14, 2020, through February 14, 2021. During this time, VAERS received “”934″” reports of death* (0.0018%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. CDC and FDA physicians review each case report of death as soon as notified and CDC requests medical records to further assess reports. A review of available clinical information including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records findings revealed “”no link with vaccination””. CDC and FDA will continue to investigate reports of adverse events, including deaths, reported to VAERS.

    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html
    All deaths are coincidences, and we will destroy you if you challenge us. That’s why coronavirus deaths are going down, it’s to make the experimental vaccination look better than it actually is. Reporting deaths after vaccination is highly discouraged. The CDC will rewrite the certificate to show heart attack, cancer, natural causes, anaphylaxis. Just Coincidences.
    The CDC owns patents and makes money from vaccinations, they’ve made mistakes in the past and have learned how to handle them better… Or disavow them.
    https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20201013/what-happed-other-times-a-vaccine-was-rushed

    Biden’s track record, in the Obama administration on infectious diseases, is dismal.

    “However, during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the Obama administration suddenly told states to shut down their testing, without providing much in the way of explanation. And, Biden’s top advisor at the time has acknowledged that the Obama administration didn’t do “anything right” to combat that pandemic, before walking back those comments”
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flashback-obama-admin-halted-state-h1n1-testing-complicating-bidens-attacks-on-white-house
    If I remember right, the vaccination developed was taken off the market after 20 deaths. We’re nearing 1000 deaths now… No worries, the drug companies cannot be held liable under the new provisions. And as Wayne would say, “if you’re getting the product for free… Then you are the product”. At $300 per vaccination, why experiment on animals when human subjects volunteer?

    It is funny that Biden claimed that the vaccinations were not ready before his presidency even though he had already received his second shot before he was sworn in… Does anybody dare to tell the emperor, who is rewriting recent history, that he has no clothes on?

    Biden’s new ethics manager handing out “ethic waivers”, inviting all those who supported Hillary with mountains of cash, that the White House is open for business. 11 minutes.
    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/corruption/business-as-usual-in-the-biden-administration-corruption-corruption-corruption/

    Just in case you need a refresher, here is an audio file 40 minutes long that goes down Hillary Clinton rabbit hole with extensive details.
    https://truthbits.blog/2018/08/29/hillary-emails-hacked-by-china-more-treasonous-crimes-revealed/

    Many talking about the increase in drug prices, and the killing of jobs from executive orders from our dictator in chief.
    “Insulin back up to $1,500 for a 90 day supply. Thank President Biden. Big Pharma’s investment paying off. Meanwhile, minimum wage increases looking iffy, trade protections disappearing, low-wage immigration influx incoming, energy jobs cut, and stimulus checks shrinking.”

    ( I wonder what the Arkancide Clinton death count is nowadays?)

    The comment was made that the coronavirus hurt Trump and allowed Biden to become president. If it wasn’t for the coronavirus scare, then all the mail in ballots would not have been possible to steal the election.
    It doesn’t hurt that mitt Romney’s son owns the controlling interest in election software that makes the conservative vote worth 3/5 of a person. (Bane capital supported Biden with huge donations as did Mitts staff)
    https://westvirginia.forums.rivals.com/threads/mitt-romney%E2%80%99s-son-tagg-is-involved-in-dominion-smartmatic-software-and-they-used-taggs-machines-in-utah-in-2018.242231/
    Now you know how Massachusetts progressive liberal party got it third Senate seat… (even though mitt Romney came in third place in the Republican caucus, he did a petition to get his name on the ballot which was later ruled illegal after the election)
    Mitt Romney has a home in Massachusetts and Florida with a large vacation ski lodge in Utah to establish residency. Utah house representatives won’t censor him for his vote against Trump, because then they would have to give back the money… People are signing a petition in hopes of… something will happen, maybe.
    By obfuscating the truth, doing science by consensus,the will of the people being ignored, senseless environmental laws dangerously interrupting normal lives, that’s how freedom dies. That’s what’s killing Texas. A crisis that will not be wasted…

  • MLR, M.D.

    “ The young are immune from this virus, as they generally are of the flu.” In fact influenza is much more deadly to children than the Kungflu. The Spanish flu also killed mostly young people as opposed to the Wuhan.
    As a practical matter, it is highly unusual for a person to be infected with two respiratory viruses at the same time so the absence of influenza is not really surprising.
    The response of economic self immolation of Western societies was predicted on following the Chinese model of lockdowns which only a totalitarian society could accomplish. Their expert use of a biological agent to cripple their opponents even if not deliberately released has been very successful. In this country it was also an election year and everyone knows what that means now.

  • m d mill

    For the record:
    “NOTHING done by any government ANYWHERE in the world has stopped the virus from spreading, whether it be lockdowns, masks, or quarantines.”–RZ
    This is simply factually not true, and should be retracted. See New Zealand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan.(others?)

    As to lethality…Covid-19 will kill roughly 14 times the number (of the usual susceptible groups) than that of a recent normal or average flu season (of the same susceptible groups). From Andrew_W–“Over the last decade flu deaths/season in the US average 35,900…”
    https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html”

    500,000/36,000=14 …ROUGHLY.

    As to attribution, the increasing difference of total deaths/month from the recent normal started sharply in about March at the time of the great china-covid infection increase and has increased to about 500,000 above the norm roughly. What else was the cause? Are the elderly dying at an increased 500,000 per year rate since march by coincidence?
    It does not matter that many of these people had other diseases or were elderly and weak BECAUSE this is the same group that dies of “normal” flu. The approximate 2 week lagging correlation of death rate spikes with known infection rate spikes is again hardly coincidental and further indication of the cause/effect relation of covid-19 to these deaths.
    Whether this is a flu virus or not, it is roughly 14 times as lethal as the “normal” flu here in the U.S..

    In the reference link sited by RZ:
    https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/covid-19-the-unwarranted-panic/

    is the quote “This is a death rate[in S. Korea] of 0.9%, higher than the flu’s 0.1% but not horribly so.”
    Thus, an early confirmation from RZ himself that Covid-19 is roughly a factor of 10 worse than “common” flu viruses, and not “quite comparable to the ordinary flu”.

    But I do agree with the general sentiment of the post. The number of people in the U.S. mortally threatened (ie needing hospitalization) of covid is about 3 in 1000 per year. The number of covid-19 induced deaths is about half of that…hardly an existential crisis warranting the egregious devastation of an economy, personal finances, private businesses, education, and the social health and happiness of entire societies.

  • Edward

    Max wrote: “That’s why coronavirus deaths are going down

    Flu deaths peak in mid January every year. So it is with this year. That is why Wuhan flu deaths are decreasing.

    MLR, M.D. wrote: “As a practical matter, it is highly unusual for a person to be infected with two respiratory viruses at the same time so the absence of influenza is not really surprising.

    It would not be surprising if a larger percentage had had the Wuhan flu, but only about 10% has tested positive. The good doctor’s statement also assumes that a person infected with Wuhan flu will be unlikely to become infected with another flu virus after the first infection is gone.

    m d mill,
    You continue with your disproved drivel: “500,000/36,000=14 …ROUGHLY.” Although the math is correct, the data is not. No wonder no one believes anything else that you write.

  • m d mill

    edward:
    “No wonder NO one believes ANYTHING else that you write.”
    Your statement about me and my posts are as usual inane. Prove the inanity.
    This statement is particularly ridiculous.
    Of course your inane statements about me and my posts are usually short of proof, even when it is specifically asked.
    Prove any of this is wrong, let alone drivel:

    As to lethality…Covid-19 will kill roughly 14 times the number (of the usual susceptible groups) than that of a recent normal or average flu season (of the same susceptible groups). From Andrew_W–“Over the last decade flu deaths/season in the US average 35,900…”
    https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html

    500,000/36,000=14 …ROUGHLY.

    As to attribution, the increasing difference of total deaths/month from the recent normal started sharply in about March at the time of the great china-covid infection increase and has increased to about 500,000 per year average above the norm roughly. What else was the cause? Are the elderly dying at an increased 500,000 per year rate since march by coincidence?
    It does not matter that many of these people had other diseases or were elderly and weak BECAUSE this is the same group that dies of “normal” flu. The approximate 2 week lagging correlation of death rate spikes with known infection rate spikes is again hardly coincidental and further indication of the cause/effect relation of covid-19 to these deaths.
    Whether this is a flu virus or not, it is roughly 14 times as lethal as the “normal” flu here in the U.S..

    In the reference link sited by RZ:
    https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/covid-19-the-unwarranted-panic/

    is his quote “This is a death rate[in S. Korea] of 0.9%, higher than the flu’s 0.1% but not horribly so.”
    Thus, an early confirmation from RZ himself that Covid-19 is roughly a factor of 10 worse than “common” flu viruses, and not “quite comparable to the ordinary flu”. So this high lethality rate should not be surprising.

    A further example from a past post of your lack of contrary evidence and credibility when it is requested is your assertion of significantly “increased suicide” in 2020 to explain the mortality increase:

    ” Although recent US suicide data does seem hard to find on the web,
    the total US suicides in 2019 were about 45,000 . There has been no apparent large increase from this number from data bases using millions of persons.
    see :

    https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4352
    “Nevertheless, a reasonably consistent picture is beginning to emerge from high income countries. Reports suggest either no rise in suicide rates (Massachusetts, USA11; Victoria, Australia13; England14) or a fall (Japan,9 Norway15) in the early months of the pandemic.”

    specifically:
    march to may, Massachusetts state USA,pop 7 million:
    https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.20.20215343v1?ijkey=d80a0dd9ea00b890f6e810403195dd67c0ef3e6e&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

    jan to september, Victoria state AU, pop.=6million:
    https://www.coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-10/Coroners%20Court%20Suicide%20Data%20Report%20-%20Report%202%20-%2005102020.pdf

    Feb to Aug, Queensland AU, pop 5 million
    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30435-1/fulltext
    “There does not yet appear to be an overall change in the suspected suicide rate in the 7 months since Queensland declared a public health emergency.”
    [Note: the suicide rates in Australia are comparable to the US ,generally.]

    Can you find any actual suicide data using millions of people that would back up your contention that the suicide rate has doubled, or tripled so as to significantly effect the excess death rate from 500,000?
    I am sure you cannot, or ever will, but am sincerely willing to change my opinion if you can.

    Similarly, even if 36,000 of these deaths are from normal flu (and it is easy to understand why this rate may be much reduced this year), it effects the 500,000 excess deaths but little.

    As usual your comments regarding my posts seem particularly unreasonable and unlikely, IMO. “

  • Edward

    m d mill,
    You wrote: “>i<Prove the inanity.”

    You are the one making the claim that it is inane. It is up to you to prove your own claim.

    Prove any of this is wrong, let alone drivel

    I have, on multiple occasions. You have not paid attention, so why should I believe that another explanation is any use now?

    In the meantime, you refuse to prove your own point. Your source is not even reliable. You use Andrew_W as a source, as though his profession is keeper of information. Your drivel is two unsourced numbers, at least one of which is bogus and the other of dubious origin. that may make sense in your world, but the rest of us know better.

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