A Short, Short History of a Bad, Bad Time
In the scheme of things, this year; 2020 will be a blip in history, when all the paroxysms of human emotions and desires are collated. The intensity of emotions driven more by the inherent flaws in their ideologies, than by the actual realities that paraded on the ground. History for some is a source of learning. Things happened and how did they turn out? So, every opportunity for those that avail themselves with clear eyes and open minds cradle the source of the past. It is the crucible with the elixir that propels us into the future. So, I begin by asking myself that same question, what did I learn from this whole COVID pandemic?
To start at the beginning is a very good place to start. Mind you that start is based solely on what is known to us as average individuals going about our simple or complexified lives.
When the story broke with a bang and there were Lysol spraying in the streets and healthcare and other workers were garbed in hazmat suits. Things in the city of Wuhan, China seemed quite desperate. The daily death toll was broadcast and a hospital with over 1000 beds was made in 10 days for the world to see. Things were going terrifyingly smoothly. Meanwhile the Chinese and the World Health Organization stated that there was little risk to humans across the world. Meanwhile, the city of Wuhan where the Level IV Biotech laboratory existed was quarantined from the rest of China, as they faced the virus, which would ultimately be named COVID-19. The trains, planes, and automobiles from Wuhan to the rest of the world continued unabated. Recently a dissident Chinese Virologist (Scientist) Dr. Li-Meng Yan who studied the virus has stated publicly on a National TV that the virus was manufactured in the (Wuhan) laboratory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFlqXPl_hZQ&feature=youtu.be. The veracity of that statement lies in the article she wrote: https://zenodo.org/record/4028830#.X3Ddpi2z0Y0
As the virus burrowed itself into humanity’s weaknesses, the infection quickly followed by a gruesome lonely death for the individual. Italy bore the brunt of the spread as the former Wuhan citizens that had emigrated to Lombardi, Italy brought with them the unpleasant visitor. From Italy, Europe’s borderless roads took it far and wide into the Union.
Meanwhile, the travelers from Wuhan had made a beeline to the State of Washington in the United States. Immediately following that travelers from China alighted in New York and the country got slapped by the bookends. The infection spread to a nursing home and claimed the lives of all of the elderly inhabitants and then traveled unabated through the rest of the country.
The theater of disinfection and healthcare overburdened images in China was a perfect backdrop for every nation in the world. Soon all began to follow the script to contain the microbe.
The world hesitated at first given the dubious statements from China and the WHO. But human fears forced the US to impose a travel ban from China in spite of WHO’s reasoning that there was little danger of spread within humans and later as the scourge spread to Europe, the Eu was added to the travel ban. Politicians tried to minimize the potential of spread by parading in the streets, but the microbe was not easily fooled. It marched on. Then as if by the sheer magic of mathematical manipulation, from the collective statistical genius of the IHME came a very dire prophecy that millions of people would die from the virus. The world shivered and hunkered down.
The sound of the screeching halt of the economies of the world reverberated like gravitational waves forcing the citizens to cower under their blankets. “Flattening the Curve” was the order of the day. 14 days of the shutdown was ordered as infections rose and hospitals filled to capacity. Alerts went out for the need of PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) and ventilators and more hospital beds. Comfort and Mercy arrived on the East/West shores of the United States and make-shift hospital beds were built in record time. The private sector went into overdrive manufacturing went into full-tilt with millions of PPEs and thousands of Ventilators became available in record time. The alarm bells hospital bed utility stopped ringing and the thousands of beds remained vacant as the victims of the infection never arrived at these makeshift facilities. Meanwhile, some authorities in several states decided to house the convalescing COVID patients in the Nursing Homes in order to free up the hospital beds. That seemingly “well-intentioned” policy caused thousands of frail and vulnerable elderly beings to forfeit their lives. The exact number of deaths from such a policy Is estimated by some to have harmed 60,000+. Humans had once again over-reacted and under-appreciated the problem at hand.
Some high-brow experts started posting daily graphics of the infections and the deaths proclaiming Armageddon was upon us. And they proclaimed that the only way to harness this virus was to do widespread testing across the country and follow that with contact tracing to prevent the spread. Unfortunately, the cat was out of the bag, and with limited resources of human capital, the contact tracing was a fool’s errand. Yet with the capital committed to resources millions of tests were conducted daily and lo and behold the infection rate skyrocketed, both the real and the false positives. This furthered the cause of the experts and confirmed their biases of the potential rise in the deaths and the future tragedy that would purportedly be unfolding.
Two interesting scientific thoughts emerged about the testing and soon circulated across the wires: 1. The antibody testing was a past event and 2. The PCR testing due to the 30+ thermal cycle amplification may have been detecting fragments of coronaviruses other than COVID. Even if it wasn’t COVID, the scientists reasoned, it was most probably a past or asymptomatic case. So once heralded truths of the PCR and Antibody tests were called into question.
What to believe?
By now in September 2020, claims of 6 million infected cases were called into question by some. And it was revealed that some of the deaths attributed to COVID were correlated and not necessarily causal in nature (previously posted). Some truthful states have begun dismantling the total numbers by virtue of the mirror of reality. One institution reviewed 67 Autopsies and found only 2 actually confirmed as COVID related. In other words, questions arose if contact between the deceased with an infected source was considered causal. All deaths occurring in the hospitals were reported as COVID-related. Part of the problem was the lucrative incentive to the hospitals for each COVID death was worth several thousand dollars, earmarked by the Federal Government. So now we had a perfect storm of an inflated infection rate and an inflated death rate from this COVID virus.
Meanwhile, it was well known by then that those at risk were mostly elderly individuals with comorbid conditions of Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, and altered Immune states. The young were relatively protected. When infected they were mostly asymptomatic and posed little risk.
As the spikes dove to their respective surfaces, crashing in a parabolic arc, the hyper-concerned individuals and those charmed to the ideas of constant fear began laying the groundwork for continuous testing of all citizens, so they could contact trace them and prevent further spread? With nary a few thousand “contact tracers” at hand that was projected to solve the dilemma of this scourge? Needless to say, a million tests a day were being done, and lo and behold to the delight of the modelers and the statisticians and some self-proclaimed experts, infected cases began to rise again. A few stalwarts looking into that reality figured that this time more than 50% of those tested were in the ages between 18-40 years. Hmm, one wondered why should that be? Apparently, according to the experts, the peaceful protests that had devolved into looting and vandalism were not to blame. The fingers pointed straight to the early opening of commerce. Great pains, they took to cajole and combine and collate the data to fit their narrative. The only saving grace for the average human who paid attention to these developments was that hospital admissions did not escalate and in fact, the death rate continued to decline and flat-lined in spite of efforts to gin it up. Most of the spikes in certain states earlier on were the direct result of the Governor’s policies of inserting convalescent patients recovering from the COVID infection into nursing homes. Those policies, it is thought to have caused over 63,000 deaths alone sadly. Power inflates the mind of the powerful in his or her capacity, which may be sorely lacking in reality.
The spike in the infections was too much for the powerful managers of some states and draconian measures were taken to shut-down any potential source of infection. New Zealand that had regaled in zero infection rate for a few weeks had 4 cases and the long arm of the law came down hard on her citizens. Meanwhile, another wannabe totalitarian politician in Australia decried the same mantra, and “thought-police” was added to the “mask-police” and began issuing summons and arresting the innocent citizens for their opinions. These draconian and seemingly unnecessary measures sparked a worldwide protest against the loss of liberty and freedom in other countries. Meanwhile, in the United States, the window-glass breaking and store looting continued unabated as the police were told not to interact with the rioters as they were only “expressing their rights to protest.” Small businesses belonging to minorities and others were ransacked and forced to close. Generations of work in those businesses lost overnight to the dark cloud that governed the state of mind of humanity. Gyms were closed so no one could exercise, while the governors and congress-people had fully stocked gyms ready for use. Restaurants were closed except if you happen to be the governor. Hair salons too had the same fate except if you happen to be powerful and called the shots. The whole system of the consent of the governed had been upended in one short period of time. The neighbor was encouraged to report the neighbor for any misdeed. Social media decided it would get in on the act and use censorship, because they were private, and they could with impunity, being protected from prosecution under the aegis of Section 320. Anything that did not fit their narrative was considered “bad for society,” and censored. They became the arbiters of their version of the truth.
Frustration and anger spilled into a rage on either side of the argument when things were forced. The bedlam needed an open valve to release the pressure. Where was that valve?
Was it the vaccine still in its late phases of discovery? Or was it the real science affording glimpses of therapeutics yet to come? Small molecule antibodies that destroyed the virus on contact tested in animal models or the ubiquitous Heparin itself that might afford an insight into the workings of the virus? Humans being who they are, were hard at work deciphering the code of survival of this virus. Several lessons had been learned; no ventilators, immune-related cytokine damage to organs, and the rage within the blood vessels. All could be and were quelled through the ingenuity of the human mind in short order. Yet the “experts” continued their drumbeat. “It isn’t over! It isn’t over!”
To that drumbeat, some science-less, senselessness pervaded into previously reasonable minds. Shutdowns when refracted through the prism of reality seemed not to have done anything to stem the tide. The virus did what it had to do: gain access to humans to propagate and in doing so, it challenged the immune system. If it found a solid immune system, it was stifled, if it found weaknesses, such as infirmity of age, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure or pre-existing heart diseases it conquered and decimated. The young ones were mostly spared the wrath with almost asymptomatic infection, that they barely noticed, the older ones hunkered down in their homes.
And truly as the sun rises every morning along the eastern shores, a new mandate arose; “Wear the mask!” What was interesting was that several studies prior to the pandemic, about masks, had failed to show any benefit. Yet the mantra continued, and cartoon Gifs began to appear on social media about the need and relevance of the mask. The question arose if “asymptomatic” infected individuals did not drive the pandemic then why should they wear the mask? The question hung like a dewdrop on a leaf teetering on the edge threatening to fall and never seem to alight on the mental synapses of those in power, drowned out by the loud voices. So much so that as things went on, any contrary opinion was considered a hateful event and worthy of reprimand and censorship. The antimaskers were added to the antivaxers to form according to the experts the “ignorant collective.” Yet when it was made aware that a Vaccine against the COVID would be available soon, the “Vaxxers” turned into “anti-Vaxxers” themselves! The Gulag had arrived and seemed wanting to enter every home and business. A strange wild tuber of confused stupidity was growing in the mindset.
The well-established science of the Long-term immunity through T-cell lymphocytes was offered as a potential cross-reactive immunity of a large population previously infected by other coronaviruses and hence the possibility of herd immunity was cast at a much lower percentage of 30%, than previously thought at 80%. Soon that was discarded by the “expert” because the populace was getting too comfortable with the idea of a release from the draconian measures. Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac and once enjoyed is magnetized by repetition. The parade of the experts continued their daily Television appearances and Op-Eds in various newspapers. The Armageddon was upon us and we must not let our guard down, they said.
Only one type of commerce seemed destined to grow and flourish: the internet kind. That business was considered essential and raked in billions of dollars because people had to live on food and things. The brick and mortar smaller ones, however, were starved out of their soul.
Politics eroded the sanctity of medicine and studies purporting this and that conjured up via correlation were served on the platter as causal facts. The world was a mess. The rage of the destroyers however remained unabated and soon the halls pf power decided that they needed to defund the police, because they figured, had started this whole messy rioting process in the first place. But, as all things forced and lacking any thought, unintended consequences showed their ugly heads. When the citizens need arose and there was no police force to take care of those needs since most had resigned, the politicians seemed taken aback. How could this be?
Yet as the saying goes, people deserve the government they choose. And some states in the US learned that lesson the hard way: ransacked and in economic despair!
The drama has continued and yet some minds have been alerted to the false prophets of doom. The day of reckoning it seems will come soon. Life is not meant to be subjected to such blanket impositions of denials of liberty. Life is meant to be celebrated through Liberty. When all is said and done, this pandemic will go down as the single worst case of human hubris and human greed. It will have unnecessarily caused thousands of avoidable deaths from the infection, the economic despair, from opioid abuse, and suicides. The fault line is squarely on the self-proclaimed experts and the Governors and Managers of various states, where their powers exceeded their capacity to understand science or common sense. For they exercised power with little regard for human life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of their citizens.
PS:
All information contained within is verified by scientific data and by relevant facts reported in the News.