COVID-19'S CONFUSING STATISTICS AND CHARACTERISTICS

While I would like to post about topics involving matters other than Covid-19, there are so many pressing aspects about the Covid-19 statistics and about the characteristics of the disease itself that I felt it imperative to bring some vital information to the attention of readers. As I write this, several US states are imposing or considering new societal lock-downs due to rising coronavirus cases being discovered. I’d like to ask a question of readers at the beginning of this piece. Have you noticed how seemingly random and capricious this Covid-19 virus seems to be? Some nations are hit hard even though they imposed draconian lock-down measures (some would say the lock-downs themselves promote the spread of the disease by keeping people inside and away from fresh air and Vitamin D-producing sunshine). In some nations and places, masks seem very effective at lessening the spread of the disease, and in other places masks seem to have no impact. First, let’s examine the global scope of the virus’ progress.

The first link reproduces a global statistical breakdown of Covid-19 cases and deaths as well as per capita ratings by “nation”. The statistics have some revealing data that runs counter to the perceptions created by the mass media. As I’m sure you realize, the media is stressing the cases and death totals of Covid-19 in conservative-led nations, and trumpeting the “success” of liberal/globalist nations. What is the truth? Let’s take the data in the first link at face value with the caveats that China is known to be vastly under-reporting its cases and deaths as are some other nations as well. I do not know how often the page’s data “refreshes” itself, but as of the writing of this post, the USA leads the world with about 3.6 million cases and 140,000 deaths. Brazil is second with about 2 million cases and about 76,000 deaths. Both have populist/conservative leaders. However, most media reports are “comparing apples and oranges.” Instead of comparing US totals to the totals of individual European nations (all of which have mere fractions of the US population), let’s compare the US totals to the EU-wide totals–a much more equivalent population comparison. In aggregating the cases and deaths of only 17 EU nations, the EU’s deaths from Covid-19 totaled approximately 177,000 to the USA’s 140,000, and the EU’s case totals were approximately 1.6 million to the USA’s 3.6 million. When one also sees the USA has tested vastly more people than any other nation, it can be understood why the USA has more cases…because more testing means more positive cases found. When considered in perspective, the USA’s “confirmed case fatality rate” is only 3.85% compared to such European national rates as France (17.36%), Belgium (15.53%), the UK (15.42%), Italy (14.37%), Spain (9.33%), etc. Brazil’s rate is only 3.83%, also far lower than these cited European nations. Europe has some nations with rates as low as the USA. Germany has a 4.54% rate, Poland has a 4.11% rate, Austria has a 3.69% rate and Norway has a low 2.82% rate. When deaths are considered on a per-capita rate, the USA has 430 deaths per one million in population, and Brazil has 361 per million of population. These rates are far better than such European nations as Belgium’s 857 per million, the UK’s 679 per million, Spain’s 608 per million, Italy’s 579 per million, France’s 450 per million, etc. Europe has some nations with relatively low per capita rates per million, such as Germany’s 110 per million rate Austria’s 80 per million, Hungary’s 61 per million, Poland’s 42 per million, etc. When per-capita rates of cases and deaths are considered, the USA is doing far better than many large European nations in fighting Covid-19’s spread. That is not what the media wants you to think, especially with a presidential election nearing in the USA.

The second link also has revealing statistical information from an article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, a leftist newspaper. I want to draw your attention to the statistical graphs at the end of the article. These graphs show the number of cases and deaths related to Covid-19 in Minnesota and the nation. You have heard the USA is experiencing a new runaway “community spread” which is causing new lock-downs in large states. The charts do show rapid rises in the number of cases in Minnesota and the nation but notice the number of deaths (which is far more meaningful than cases). Minnesota’s leftist governor is starting to lock down the state again even though Minnesota is showing no increase in the death rate at all. Indeed, Minnesota’s death rate is at a new low level. The national cases also show no runaway increase in the number of deaths. There was a very slight blip upward and then death totals settled back near all-time lows since this disease began. Based on the death rates, there is no reason to consider new lock-downs at all!

Given that there is no “second peak” in death rates, where are all the new cases coming from? Let’s consider some reasons why. The third link reports that the reporting methodology recently became flawed and many states were counting new cases of COVID-19 that were no new cases at all. The link notes that COVID “antibody tests” and new positive tests were being inaccurately combined in reporting new cases. The antibody test is designed to see if asymptomatic people have been exposed to the virus in the past while the regular COVID test determines if someone has a new, active infection (which may or may not be symptomatic) in the present. Such states as Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, Maine, and Vermont were reporting test results in a way that inflated the number of new cases beyond the real total of actual new cases. So a significant number of the “new cases” being reported don’t actually exist. No attempt has been made as far as I know to determine how many of the nation’s new cases are actually a result of bogus statistical reporting. It needs to be stressed that “new cases” (no matter how fast they rise) are essentially meaningless as long as hospitalizations and deaths don’t go up proportionately. What this means simply is that the population is developing the “herd immunity” that the “experts” originally told us was necessary before the pandemic could end.

Want some more examples of statistical confusion? The fourth link relates that in Florida while positive cases were being reported to the authorities negative outcomes were understated or were not reported at all in some cases. That is an outcome so obviously erroneous that I can only assume the statistical error was deliberate. Such an effort makes the situation look much worse than it really is. Are you fearful about having schools reopen? Check out the fifth link, which is a German study that having children go back to school does not increase the infection rate. Concerned about whether the World Health Organization (WHO) knows what it is doing? The WHO initially assured us this coronavirus was not transmissible, praised China for its response efforts (China covered up the coronavirus’ existence and punished doctors who told the truth) and dragged its feet before admitting a pandemic really was occurring. I’m sure you’ve seen Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO on many media reports about Covid-19 (sixth link). You would assume he is a world-renowned physician or surgeon to be in such a responsible position, right? However, he is not a physician at all. He has a “doctorate” of philosophy in community health and a, masters degree in the infectious diseases field. Are you comfortable that a non-physician is running the world’s global medical body? Are you confused about conflicting opinions from various “experts” we see quoted or interviewed on news channels? I confess I find it jarring when the “experts” can’t agree. What about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the media-designated Health Care Fuhrer for all things re the coronavirus. The seventh link seeks to explain why Dr. Fauci has been firmly both against and for the wearing of face masks to fend off the coronavirus. If even Dr. Fauci can’t agree with himself on key matters re: this coronavirus, how can lay people trust the “experts?”

Have you heard or read that hydroxychloroquine was shown to be dangerous or ineffective in treating Covid-19? There was much media hype about an article in the prestigious Lancet medical journal which attempted to prove hydroxychloroquine was dangerous or ineffective for Covid-19 patients. There was almost no media coverage when the Lancet had to withdraw the article due to the false and sloppy statistics underpinning it (eighth link). Indeed, the opposite is true. A recent, scientific, in-hospital survey in Michigan found that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for Covid-19 infections and that and that it saves lives (ninth link). Given that this common and cheap medicine is available and has been shown to be effective, why is there such an effort to suppress its use? It certainly looks like the powers-that-be do not want a cheap cure for Covid-19 to be used as they have political agendas that require an untreatable disease pandemic in place to (A) defeat President Trump and (B) justify a universal vaccination program when that vaccine has been rushed to the market without the usual safety protocols being observed to determine if it is safe. If there was a cheap treatment being used, there would be no need for a risky new vaccine. Do you think you will be able to refuse to take a new and untested vaccine? Think again. The tenth link is a video featuring no less than the prominent attorney, Alan Dershowitz, asserting his opinion that you have no right to refuse a vaccine. Indeed, he asserts the government has the right to force you to submit to getting a vaccination whether you want it or not. I sure hope he’s wrong because I truly do not want to live through a civil war. I think our founding fathers if they could be resurrected to see what is happening in the nation they founded, would firmly assert the Second Amendment was included in the Constitution to protect us against the totalitarian thinking espoused by Mr. Dershowitz.

Meanwhile, here in South Dakota, I must be living in a relative Covid-19 oasis. Our state has never had a mandated lock-down as our governor, Kristi Noem, maintained (correctly, in my view) that she has no Constitutional authority to take away people’s liberties. As this post is being written, our state has had only 111 deaths since this pandemic began, and that seems to be no more than an average flu season to me. Since the pandemic began, we have had only 7,652 cases statewide and 6,663 have already recovered (an 87% recovery rate)–as of this writing. The vast majority of the 878 active cases will recover as well. Only 59 people are currently hospitalized statewide due to Covid-19, and you generally see most people choosing not to wear masks unless a business requires it. I’ll offer a very recent experience of my own. I went to get take-out meals at a restaurant and all the staff members were wearing masks. The restaurant was almost filled. I counted 60 patrons and only two (one other person and me) were wearing masks. Since the pandemic began, I have known only two people who had the virus. One was a man in his 50s who was symptom-free and told me he never felt sick as he endured his 14-day quarantine period. The other person, a female in her 30s, was very sick, had painful breathing, and still hasn’t recovered her senses of smell or taste…even after three months have transpired since she had a negative test for the virus and she has otherwise recovered. I am not a pandemic-denier. I also treat this virus with the respect it deserves and I wear a mask unless I’m at home, outdoors, or in an indoor situation (eating at a restaurant, sitting in a dentists’ chair, etc.) where a mask is impractical.

I’ll finish with one more thought. I’m 70 years old, so I’ve lived through many flu seasons. Invariably, flu seasons ended when warm weather returned and people got outside in fresh air, built up their immune system with free Vitamin D from the sun, and when the virus would also perish in warm weather. This has always happened with the naturally-occurring flus of previous seasons. That Covid-19 is not only not going away as the weather warms, but is also most resurgent in hot-weather states (California, Texas, Florida) makes me think that Covid-19 is not a naturally-occurring flu virus. We know it originated in Wuhan, China, where China has located a high-security, infectious diseases/bio-hazard laboratory. Whether by design or accident, I think Covid-19 was developed in that Chinese lab and it escaped the lab. The longer this coronavirus continues to act very dissimilar to any previous normal flu, the more this belief grows in my thinking. Clearly, this global pandemic is the worst global illness since the Spanish Flu struck a century ago. However, when the Spanish Flu hit, did societies all over the world Lock-down? No. Their economies were running full-speed and they even fought World War 1 without any let-up.

This coronavirus abundantly fulfills the prophecy in Matthew 24:4-8 and Revelation 6:6 that plagues/pestilences will strike the world in the time just prior to the end of our age when, divine intervention will end our age and usher in a millennium ruled by Jesus Christ and the saints (Revelation 20:3-4). As a point of clarification, the King James Version of the Bible does not use the word “plague” or “pestilence” in verse 6 although the Revised Standard Version and the Jewish New Testament do. The KJV uses the word “death” in the last sentence of verse 6 while the other two translations include the word “pestilence” or “plague.” Wars and food shortages are both clearly mentioned in Matthew 24:6-8 and Revelation 6:1-8 as being present on earth during the latter-days of our age. Any way you look at it, I think the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are beginning their climactic ride.

My thanks to a reader who sent me one of the links cited in this post.

COVID-19’S CONFUSING STATISTICS AND CHARACTERISTICS

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