The miasma of COVID

Here in Sri Lanka, where economic necessity is applying brakes on rampant fear, and leaders are balancing public health with economic solvency and viability like policy adults, we have to beware of being “seduced” by insane examples of what amounts to “medical propaganda” – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

We have become almost a “single narrative” world, but it feels as if the fever may be breaking as more and more evidence stockpiles making the ‘cult Covidian’ religion harder and harder to sustain, despite the usual anguished declarations from those most invested in the narrative.

Illusions and delusions

We continue to get misleading death stats here locally, and we are not alone in this. On 4 May, the published Lanka list of 13 decedents included the following comorbidities: number two had hypertension, number three had heart disease and acute kidney injury, number four is cited as having had “multi organ dysfunction,” number five was a tragic souk of comorbidities including acute kidney failure, hypertension, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Number seven had acute respiratory distress syndrome, hypertension, diabetes and hypercholeseterolemia, number eight had heart disease and diabetes, number nine had diabetes and hypertension, number 13 had “multi organ dysfunction”.

So, roughly five of the 13 arguably were “from” COVID. There is an outlier 44-year-old among those, without other serious pre-existing or compounding conditions. Most as expected are upper 50s including the majority in their mid-60s, 70s and 80s, awash in other complications. 

I cannot imagine anyone reading the above and thinking there is an unprecedented killer viral scourge stalking the land! England and Wales fall afoul of this as well. Just released UK data indicates recent “COVID deaths” are one-third from other causes though having been initially classified under this dire canopy! This is direct from the ONS. The Daily Telegraph reports just under its headline, ‘Increasing numbers of people whose underlying cause of death is not coronavirus are still being included in official figures’. Well, that should bring comfort and guidance to all who read it.

There are then vaccine issues to navigate. We all want these “vaccines” to work, but adverse effect reports are being suppressed. Surely, we can face the facts, do a risk assessment, and then with “informed consent” the hallmark of modern medicine and the post Nuremberg gold standard, we can opt in or not? 

The UK had a catastrophic spike after vaccination. Now numbers have plummeted. Is this the natural waning of the virulence as per Farr’s Law or the vaccines? We don’t know. Same pattern in Israel. Same pattern in India (more below) in terms of post-vaccine spike. Portugal has about 9% vaccinated, results are roughly as positive as UK and Israel; South Africa, less than 1% vaccinated, cases are down 94% (despite their dreaded mutant variant).

The world’s most currently vaccinated nation is the Seychelles, and cases are surging after two shots having been administered, they have re-instituted curbs and panic shutdowns. So, there is more (or less) here than meets the eye.

There are citizen’s groups from Israel posting that actual vaccine mortality is at least four times higher than published figures, which would constitute a “record” and not one we would wish to attain. US commentator Tucker Carlson (the highest rated cable show on US television) also revealed that the CDC adverse effects database (VAERS) shows at least a 20-fold+ greater risk of death associated with C-19 vaccines versus flu vaccines.

All this to say, it seems we are peddling agendas, and here in Sri Lanka, where economic necessity is applying brakes on rampant fear, and leaders are balancing public health with economic solvency and viability like policy adults, we have to beware of being “seduced” by these insane examples of what amounts to “medical propaganda”.

Another simple statistic that is at odds with the narrative, and which I’ve reported before is that the eight US States with the greatest number of recent “positive tests” (cases) in the US are the ones with statewide mask mandates still in place; 22 States that do not, do at least as well, and some considerably better, despite far greater urban density and elderly populations. So, the wilful disregard for demonstrated “reality” and abundant science on this topic, is over-ruled so the largely pointless pagan religion of mask wearing can continue with no media scrutiny. Why? A lot of reputations are invested, and it is the “symbol” of membership in the pandemic panic orthodoxy. We can understand why Thomas Carlyle wrote, “I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”

A Japanese Stand

Howard Steen shares a letter from a Japanese Professor friend, under fire for not wearing a mask at his university in Japan. Rather than wilting away, he does what we all increasingly must, speak up, and speak passionately, rationally and emphatically.

He begins by pointing out a female nurse from Fukuoka, aged 26 was found dead on her sofa, foaming at the mouth, bleeding at the nose, after undergoing the “experimental gene therapy” we call “vaccination”. He is at pains to point out he can’t “prove” that was the cause, “although nobody seems to die of vaccination these days”. (And please note, pointing out adverse effects is not saying the vast majority of vaccinations are not safe, but when you are 26 you are virtually zero risk, so any such risk becomes irrational; there may be a different calculus for the elderly and vulnerable, but even there…)

But his next words deserve to be heard directly, “She died on the altar of fear, a sacrificial lamb to the gods of fear-mongering who, refusing to leave from our lives every day since March 2020, shout at us through the television, smart media platforms, and announcements at work.” Indeed, life is now a barrage of admonitions. Our psyche is battered by “updates” on clusters and attempts to terrorise us from interacting with each other.

He points out that when we suspect this infection, we “test” it with a test its own manufacturers confess – in the literature that accompanies each kit – is not by itself “diagnostic” and cannot detect a live infection. Yet we have mortgaged the world to its vicissitudes. 

I cited in my last article the British Medical Journal assessment of PCR Tests. The Swedish Ministry of Health have since declared these tests not fit for purpose in confirming infectiousness as well. See their recently published quote below.

Of being “spotted” without the diaper on his face, Professor Saji says, “I apologise to the two staff members who had to pass by my class to check whether I was wearing a mask or not. It seems we are in a war-like situation and have to keep an eye on dissidents all the time.”

He goes on to point out that he is not opposed to masks per se. For example, he insisted his three little children wear them when a nuclear explosion in March 2011 sent radioactive dust to their region. He felt, in that instance, there was relevance. This time though, he feels it is not the pathogen, but incomplete information relentlessly being recycled. The charitable name for that is “propaganda”.

As a sentient, critically thinking person, the Professor points out that he can see there isn’t factually or objectively a life-threatening situation, but only an infatuation with fear which gets “upgraded” with every variant, or seasonal “spike”. He reminds us how generous the Japanese Constitution is in protecting liberties, severely limiting what the leaders can do even under states of “emergency.” Of course, these leaders actually pay attention to their Constitution, a novel idea that seems to have eluded most of the Western democracies over this period. On masking in particular, the Professor points out that a “constitutionally illegal mandate” is being inflicted upon a remote rural corner of Japan, though the US States without mask mandates as I’ve said above have hearteningly demonstrated what an overwhelming chorus of research had already confirmed. He writes, “Is that because a 60-140 nano meter long virus, smaller in dimension than the wavelength of UV radiation (100-400 nano meter) is miraculously confined by a cloth mask?” 

The Professor had missed the memo whereby his university had been transmuted into a Theological College for Asymptomatic Gullibility. He asks with such meticulous mask wearing in so many parts of the world, why is the curve never flattening? 

And he concludes, as we all should, “But perhaps the most important life saving measure would be for all of us, the stakeholders of the normal life, to allow free and fair public discourse into the conditions that have brought us into this dystopian nightmare.”

Bravo, Professor Saji!

Swedish Ministry of Health quote: “The PCR technology used in tests to detect viruses cannot distinguish between viruses capable of infecting cells and viruses that have been neutralised by the immune system and therefore these tests cannot be used to determine whether someone is contagious or not. RNA from viruses can often be detected for weeks (sometimes months) after the illness but does not mean that you are still contagious. There are also several scientific studies that suggest that the contagion of COVID-19 is greatest at the beginning of the disease period.” 

One small step for medicine, a giant leap for sanity, rationality and evidence. Curiously, this key bit of news, is glaringly missing in mainstream coverage.

The India confusion

The COVID narrative has become one, increasingly, of “hysteria migration”. So, if Chile stops being a hotspot, bemoan the Brazilian implosion, and if then, India serves up frenzied fare, just as the US and UK are uncooperatively moving past panic stats, pounce!

For instance, in late April, we all saw photos about the “COVID surge” in India reading “footage shows people dead in the streets” (shades of Wuhan). The image shown of a woman lying dead in the US press was actually of a woman lying on the floor from a May 2020 story about a gas leak in Andhra Pradesh!

Reporting on this Colin Todhunter spoke with healthcare specialist and political analyst Yohan Tengra, based in Mumbai. Tengra is the co-author of a fascinating new report entitled ‘How the Unscientific Interpretation of RT-PCR & Rapid Antigen Test Results is Causing Misleading Spikes in Cases & Deaths’. Well worth a read!

He points out that to make a statistical assessment of India, “we would need data of symptomatic people who have tested positive with a virus culture test or PCR that uses 24 cycles or less; ideally under 20”. Let’s let that sink in.

He says in Mumbai a few days back, 85% of the cases were asymptomatic (meaning by medical terminology pre 2020 when up became down, and right became left, not “cases”), and in Bangalore 95% were asymptomatic!

Those wanting further medical and scientific underwriting into the asymptomatic hoax (clarified in my last article), will find it in the above report. He indicates not only are Indian Ct (amplification) settings far too high for the PCR test to be reliable, but and I quote, “Even with a negative PCR test they are using CAT scans and diagnosing people with COVID. These scans are not specific to SARS-CoV-2 at all.” Moreover, the “protocol” is to intervene early with mild to no symptoms, and so everyone heads into hospital, filling up beds, hence preventing access for those who truly need the attention.

The case fatality rate in India was over 3% last year (“cases” being “positive tests” of uncertain merit or accuracy). Even applying that standard, they are 1.5% now. Taking serosurvey results and looking at the far more relevant “Infection Fatality Rate”, they are, he says, between .05% and .1%. Hardly globe-destabilising numbers, except when flashed “in the raw.” 

Directors of the All India Institute of Medical Science and the India Council of Medical Research have both said, there is not much difference between the earlier and current “waves” and there are “many more asymptomatic people this time.” Yes, meaning far more “asserted” cases.

In addition to Delhi being the epicentre, one of the most toxic places on earth for respiratory illness anyway – much of it untreated this year due to COVID and fear of Government hospitals – we are still alleging “deaths” (apparently death certificate guidelines in India make it easy for someone to be labelled a “COVID death” off a positive PCR test and general symptoms) that at their most terrifying apex only barely “match” daily recurring deaths from diarrhoea and TB in India (1200 and 2,000 respectively every day). Why, pray tell, is the fact that a child dies every two minutes in India from diarrhoea and/or pneumonia not considered a “crisis?” 

There is also the correlation of vaccine roll-out. For official corroboration of this, see the report by long-time India resident Jo Nash, ‘India’s Current ‘COVID Crisis’ in Context’. Nash is also a fundraiser for a food bank in Bihar dealing with alleviating the starvation threat from the lockdowns. As an aside, he also points out a 3,000 daily death rate even if true, would be equivalent to 150 deaths a day in the UK, way below the peak rate, closer to recent numbers by far.

According to both of these reports, there is wide-scale distrust of the vaccination campaign, and the re-introduction of earlier remedies like Ivermectin are being received with great relief. The “aefi” (adverse events following immunisation) data as per Tengra, “vastly underestimates how many vaccine adverse reactions are taking place in the country”.

Tengra is working with lawyers and concerned citizens to file legal cases to challenge the plausibility or even coherence, based on data of “asymptomatic transmission” and the renewed testing of healthy people. Professor Amitav Banerjee, Clinical Epidemiologist, writing in India’s National Herald says the public health infrastructure is in shambles and there is blatantly inequitable distribution of health services, with a mismatch between supply and demand at the best of times.

But his conclusion overall is sobering, and we should at least explore its ramifications: “Going all out for mass vaccination with uncertain input on effectiveness is a big gambit. We have a vaccine against tuberculosis for decades which has zero effectiveness in the Indian population. Moreover, there are concerns that haphazard and incomplete vaccination of the population can trigger mutant strains.” Or, looking at the so called “Indian variant,” maybe they already have?

We can heave a huge sigh of relief in Lanka that our current surge resembles this not at all. Daily numbers in terms of positivity are far below Europe and the US, they are globally a footnote. Our “deaths from COVID” are a smattering, all to be deeply and sincerely honoured and grieved for. But our real tragedy will be if we frighten ourselves into a disaster that otherwise just isn’t here.

The people issue

One of the less fortunate aspects of our response here locally is that we are treating, apart from the wise policy of “zonal” intervention (rather than shutdowns by police areas or regions) the country as one “tier” or “level”. But if you look at numbers in Colombo, GDP central, those numbers even of “positive tests” posing as cases are miniscule. But we’ve “frozen” much of the economy with these “tier 3” impositions that are arguably, on the data, not needed, and frankly, even with more worrying data, would argue for adequate distancing, which likely would not need to be 25% in hotel restaurants or other locations. Again, we’ve learned the virus is “airborne” and so being careful re congestion is laudable, but we mustn’t keep rubbing outdated talismans for deliverance.

And in stopping brand launches, meetings, discussions, any developmental activity (unsure why these are more “lethal” if sane guidelines are applied there too), there is a profound misunderstanding of how business is conducted, and customers connected with. “Work” is not just something that happens in isolated offices or on a factory floor.

A leading CEO told me, “If our people again think this will recur, and we’ll be frozen or stuck, I’m not sure how they’ll take it.” Again, you can’t “order” people to be imaginative, productive, passionate, competitive with the rest of the world. We need to take the brakes off and stop quaking at these tests, focus on the symptomatic, trust our natural immunity, use every efficacious remedy, take extra care with the vulnerable, and realise we won’t “save” lives by continuing to wreak havoc on “ways of life” and “making a living”. Time for some courage, but also some insight.

People have to be embraced, re-energised, coached and catalysed, it’s our only real hope. Flooding the economy with cash is a temporary reprieve, but Lanka is aiming at competitive regional leadership, not banana republic status. And people are the only conduit. How did Singapore with no natural resources end up say as a net exporter of oil? How did Japan, literally “blown up” in parts after World War II, become one of the world’s leading economies, and be in the top 3 still, alongside behemoths like China and the US? People, people, people. That’s it.

People are as crucial to a car dealer or a six person or 60-person accountancy or Google or to a cricket team or a symphony orchestra or to the Tri-Forces. And post crisis, those countries that galvanise their people and give them some stability, coherence, runway space, and not keep pulling the pandemic alarm at every PCR test spasm, will thrive and deserve to.

A company is not a sterilised org chart. A country is not a collection of postal codes or NIC numbers. These are all full-fledged living, adaptive communities of talent and collaboration, or nothing. Crisis response: can we meet the needs of our people while asking them through their jobs and citizenship to take care of each other, and their stakeholders?

Urge people to go get married, start and run businesses, innovate, build and leverage digital expertise, excel at nurturing and stimulating human capital. Let the panic merchants rend their garments. Let everyone else render the future.