In his March 17, 2020 stat op-ed John Ioannidis warned that: “… we don’t know how long social distancing measures and lockdowns can be maintained without major consequences to the economy, society, and mental health. Unpredictable evolutions may ensue, including financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric….”
VP— there were plenty of doctors conveying these sentiments during the spring/summer of 2020, when data were first being reported. They were basically told to go take a hike… or worse— called names like “Trumper”, “right-winger”, etc. The question is, when the next pandemic comes around (we are told by our trusted leaders that it will be soon!), how will we prevent a repeat? Meanwhile, skepticism abounds
I'd argue there would be far fewer deaths simply because every hospitalized patient was (and still is) deemed positive or negative with a test I will not name; this was regardless of symptoms or reason for presentation. The number of incidentals (not to mention false +) is astonishing, fabricating what we are continuing to live through at the hands of the few influential people you reference.
Yes, the baseline deaths of people who are already susceptible to any seasonal respiratory disease would have remained the same. But every ARF, PNA, AMI would attribute to the appropriate Dx, not CV19. The death count of the official narrative would plummet.
The NYTimes actually wrote about the dangers of lockdowns early on. Mentioned famine, etc but of course that was going to happen “over there”…
Want to know why oil prices are so high? Lockdowns.
Mental health crisis and exploding alcohol and drug abuse?
Lockdowns
Full blown inflation, supply chain problems?
Lockdowns
The shuttering of untold thousands of small businesses?
Lockdowns
Arrested childhood development?
Lockdowns and masking
Oh we were all so scandalized by Sweden’s policies!! We threw rocks and mocked them. Their numbers are looking pretty good. Of course they are out of the news. Can’t talk about that now can we?
Shall we keep going here?
We had effective Early Treatment protocols in place for Covid in May of 2020. Ignored. Belittled. Demonized.
AAPS had a Covid early treatment and hospitalization guide authored by Dr. Peter McCullough in August 2020
Ignored.
Senate Homeland Security Hearings for Early Covid Treatment in November and December 2020. CSpan refused to air them. Dr.Jhad belittled and denigrated the testifying doctors. A Doctor who never treated a Covid patient and hid away at home for over a year out of fear of Covid.
Senator Johnson, a hated Republican was smeared and mocked for holding the hearings.
Check out the books these treating doctors have written “Overcoming the Covid Darkness” by Dr. George Fareed and Dr. Mike Tyson. “The Courage To Face Covid-19, Preventing Hospitalization and Death While Battling the Bio-Pharmceutical Complex” by Dr. Peter McCullough and John Leake
For some real gasoline on the fire “The Real Anthony Fauci” is soothing bedtime reading.
We were led astray from the beginning by a handful of people and projections of Covid deaths from a source that has been historically way off the mark.
The Great Barrington Declaration was witch hunted and buried by Fauci and Collins. With FOIL requisitioned emails proving that move by them. With the assistance of our “Trusted News Initiative”.
They would have done that if they really valued the public's trust, their own integrity and valued the public's civil liberties, right to provide for their families...if they really cared about our future generation's means for upward mobility, whole-person-well-being...
Wow. That almost sounds like the Pandemic preparedness playbook! The one St Fauci chucked away to assume power! Good GAWD how is this man still revered?
God forbid one tells the truth, i.e. “much is uncertain but this is what we think now. And it will probably change as we learn more.” I think it has been unbelievably paternalistic to dumb down the message, keep it simple, one size fits all, etc.
“Ultimately, careful research will try to untangle these possibilities, but the first step to generate a research model is to make sure you think through the full counterfactual (including spill over effects to other nations).”
But there is another necessary condition: the population (“citizens” or “”voters”if you prefer) needs to believe that the underlying premise is true (the scientific method should be trusted and will set you free). I think this condition is not satisfied and instead we inhabit a world where many (enough?) believe that technical competence should be used in the service of other objectives. One could have all of the RCTs imaginable but I don’t think the policy outcome would be different. Unfortunately.
We are facing the political choice of a no risk administration. The current inability of any public health official to admit to error is stunning. Despite obvious policy reversals by Dr Fauci and his crew, any trust we once had has evaporated. They based too many decisions on opinion yet called it science. Only Dr Atlas bothered to show the point and he has been vilified by a corrupt media that we also no longer trust.
if your position is (as mine is) that we didn't need to do anything special, we don't have to prove anything, the failure of the entire endeavor is as clear as day. every piece of pre-existing knowledge was thrown out (masks don't work, lockdowns should never have been tried for a fast spreading respiratory virus, a leaky "vaccine" should not be used en masse during a pandemic, you can't establish safety in months or even years for a new biological treatment), if we had smart and courageous politicians and bureaucrats we would have used our knowledge and we would have been in a much better place today. Instead we still have many of these idiots in positions of power, they need to be purged from our institutions if we are to avoid a repeat of this idiocy and those institutions need to be stripped of power over the population as they have proven way to dangerous to have any power other than informational.
If it wasn't Covid the same amount of frenzy would have been ginned up somewhere else. Its an externality type product of modern day media where you simply will stop being listened to if you aren't revving up your audience against something.
Early on, I was a fanatical lockdown and mask supporter. And, briefly, a vaccine zealot
I can say I have never been more ashamed of any behavior in my life than that period
There were people who knew better, or should have known better, who happily fanned the flames and fed the fear.
VP— there were plenty of doctors conveying these sentiments during the spring/summer of 2020, when data were first being reported. They were basically told to go take a hike… or worse— called names like “Trumper”, “right-winger”, etc. The question is, when the next pandemic comes around (we are told by our trusted leaders that it will be soon!), how will we prevent a repeat? Meanwhile, skepticism abounds
I'd argue there would be far fewer deaths simply because every hospitalized patient was (and still is) deemed positive or negative with a test I will not name; this was regardless of symptoms or reason for presentation. The number of incidentals (not to mention false +) is astonishing, fabricating what we are continuing to live through at the hands of the few influential people you reference.
Yes, the baseline deaths of people who are already susceptible to any seasonal respiratory disease would have remained the same. But every ARF, PNA, AMI would attribute to the appropriate Dx, not CV19. The death count of the official narrative would plummet.
The NYTimes actually wrote about the dangers of lockdowns early on. Mentioned famine, etc but of course that was going to happen “over there”…
Want to know why oil prices are so high? Lockdowns.
Mental health crisis and exploding alcohol and drug abuse?
Lockdowns
Full blown inflation, supply chain problems?
Lockdowns
The shuttering of untold thousands of small businesses?
Lockdowns
Arrested childhood development?
Lockdowns and masking
Oh we were all so scandalized by Sweden’s policies!! We threw rocks and mocked them. Their numbers are looking pretty good. Of course they are out of the news. Can’t talk about that now can we?
Shall we keep going here?
We had effective Early Treatment protocols in place for Covid in May of 2020. Ignored. Belittled. Demonized.
AAPS had a Covid early treatment and hospitalization guide authored by Dr. Peter McCullough in August 2020
Ignored.
Senate Homeland Security Hearings for Early Covid Treatment in November and December 2020. CSpan refused to air them. Dr.Jhad belittled and denigrated the testifying doctors. A Doctor who never treated a Covid patient and hid away at home for over a year out of fear of Covid.
Senator Johnson, a hated Republican was smeared and mocked for holding the hearings.
Check out the books these treating doctors have written “Overcoming the Covid Darkness” by Dr. George Fareed and Dr. Mike Tyson. “The Courage To Face Covid-19, Preventing Hospitalization and Death While Battling the Bio-Pharmceutical Complex” by Dr. Peter McCullough and John Leake
For some real gasoline on the fire “The Real Anthony Fauci” is soothing bedtime reading.
We were led astray from the beginning by a handful of people and projections of Covid deaths from a source that has been historically way off the mark.
The Great Barrington Declaration was witch hunted and buried by Fauci and Collins. With FOIL requisitioned emails proving that move by them. With the assistance of our “Trusted News Initiative”.
We are now inheriting the whirlwind.
If only....
They would have done that if they really valued the public's trust, their own integrity and valued the public's civil liberties, right to provide for their families...if they really cared about our future generation's means for upward mobility, whole-person-well-being...
They only care about POWER
Wow. That almost sounds like the Pandemic preparedness playbook! The one St Fauci chucked away to assume power! Good GAWD how is this man still revered?
God forbid one tells the truth, i.e. “much is uncertain but this is what we think now. And it will probably change as we learn more.” I think it has been unbelievably paternalistic to dumb down the message, keep it simple, one size fits all, etc.
“Ultimately, careful research will try to untangle these possibilities, but the first step to generate a research model is to make sure you think through the full counterfactual (including spill over effects to other nations).”
But there is another necessary condition: the population (“citizens” or “”voters”if you prefer) needs to believe that the underlying premise is true (the scientific method should be trusted and will set you free). I think this condition is not satisfied and instead we inhabit a world where many (enough?) believe that technical competence should be used in the service of other objectives. One could have all of the RCTs imaginable but I don’t think the policy outcome would be different. Unfortunately.
We are facing the political choice of a no risk administration. The current inability of any public health official to admit to error is stunning. Despite obvious policy reversals by Dr Fauci and his crew, any trust we once had has evaporated. They based too many decisions on opinion yet called it science. Only Dr Atlas bothered to show the point and he has been vilified by a corrupt media that we also no longer trust.
if your position is (as mine is) that we didn't need to do anything special, we don't have to prove anything, the failure of the entire endeavor is as clear as day. every piece of pre-existing knowledge was thrown out (masks don't work, lockdowns should never have been tried for a fast spreading respiratory virus, a leaky "vaccine" should not be used en masse during a pandemic, you can't establish safety in months or even years for a new biological treatment), if we had smart and courageous politicians and bureaucrats we would have used our knowledge and we would have been in a much better place today. Instead we still have many of these idiots in positions of power, they need to be purged from our institutions if we are to avoid a repeat of this idiocy and those institutions need to be stripped of power over the population as they have proven way to dangerous to have any power other than informational.
In a pure vacuum. Sure. But in reality...
If it wasn't Covid the same amount of frenzy would have been ginned up somewhere else. Its an externality type product of modern day media where you simply will stop being listened to if you aren't revving up your audience against something.