The Earth is flat and the sun revolves around the Earth. Settled science.
Liberal icon Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes legitimized the science of eugenics when he ruled that the interest of “public welfare” outweighed the interest of individuals in their bodily integrity. Science intersects with public policy.
Scientific journals have published at least 75,000 peer-reviewed papers since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic started. Some studies had significant design flaws, and many results are contradictory. Nonetheless, experts have stolen our lives, stolen the smiles from children’s faces, and bullied a segment of the population into paralyzing fear. Why? Because someone, somewhere was “following the science.” Which science? Only the science that comports with a particular political agenda?
The misinformation began with the dire prediction of one of the world’s foremost disease modelers, epidemiologist Dr. Neil M. Ferguson of the Imperial College of London Covid-19 Response Team. He warned that unless the government did something, the pandemic could kill 2.2 million people in the United States
Accordingly, channeling Communist China, in March the experts recommended lockdowns to “flatten the curve” of infections. However, a July multi-country analysis revealed that the data “did not support a definitive judgment on the effectiveness” of lockdowns, among other public health interventions. A recent 14-day study involving carefully monitored masked and quarantined U.S. Marine recruits found that the virus can circulate even with the strictest non-pharmaceutical measures. SARS-CoV-2 tests became positive in 2 percent of the recruits.
Mandatory mask wearing is another contentious non-pharmaceutical mitigating measure. Our most vocal expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told us we didn’t need masks in March 2020. Similarly, in April 2020, WHO reported that “the wide use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not supported by current evidence.” But in June, based on “observational evidence,” The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended wearing masks to prevent the infected wearer from transmitting the virus to others and/or to protect the wearer against infection.
A long awaited “gold standard” randomized controlled trial with 6,000 participants found that wearing a mask offered no statistically significant benefit: after one month, about 2 percent of the mask wearers and the non-mask wearers tested positive.
Evidence aside, masks are likely here to stay. Everyone is begging for a “COVID for Dummies” solution. Masks fit the bill: they are highly visible and they tell the world you are a diligent, caring human being.
Realistically, there is no magic prevention bullet. Until we attain community immunity, treatment is the key to keeping COVID at bay. Unfortunately, the focus in the U.S. has been on the treatment of hospitalized patients. After limited research, in April 2020 Dr. Fauci declared that the newly minted drug, remdesivir at $3,000 per treatment was the “standard of care.” A few short months later, WHO issued a conditional recommendation against the use of remdesivir in hospitalized patients, regardless of disease severity, “as there is currently no evidence” that remdesivir improved survival.
In many cases treatment in the hospital is too little, too late. Early outpatient treatment has been largely ignored by the U.S. media and medical establishment despite good results across the world. For example, in 4 months, Honduras went from a fatality rate of 14.5 percent to 2.66 percent because of its early treatment regimen, “Catracho”: colchicine, anti-inflammatories, tocilizumab, ivermectin, blood thinners, and hydroxychloroquine.
Sadly, an expert politician, Senator Gary Peters, squandered his opportunity to learn from clinicians and professors about several effective outpatient early treatments with inexpensive generic medications at the November 19, 2020, Hearing on Early Outpatient Treatment: An Essential Part of a COVID-19 Solution. Peters spent his time parroting political talking points about “misinformation” and “disinformation” from treating physicians and shifted the conversation to vaccines as “The Answer.” Ironically, his expert had never treated a single COVID patient. The $1,636,714 in donations Peters received from the health care and pharmaceutical industry adds a layer of “show me the money” to what should have been an informed debate.
Our politicians and experts have flaunted the science upon which they rely to impose authoritarian measures on the little people. True believers would not put multiple families at risk by breaking quarantine to visit their married mistress, going to hairdressers maskless, walking through an airport maskless, having $350 per plate maskless indoor dinners with lobbyists, or attending a baseball game maskless with folks from different households. Worse yet, pre-election basement Joe Biden displayed photos socializing with his extended family while many had their Thanksgiving dinner for one.
Early treatment provides an alternative to lockdowns and unproven vaccines. Experts’ behavior demonstrates their disdain for the lumpen proletariat. They are not interested in our health but in our acquiescence to deprivation and loss of control over our own lives. Dr. Fauci finally blurted out the core of the matter: “it’s time to do what you’re told.”
About the author: Dr. Singleton is a board-certified anesthesiologist. She is the immediate past President of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). She graduated from Stanford and earned her MD at UCSF Medical School. Dr. Singleton completed 2 years of Surgery residency at UCSF, then her Anesthesia residency at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital. While still working in the operating room, she attended UC Berkeley Law School, focusing on constitutional law and administrative law. She interned at the National Health Law Project and practiced insurance and health law. She teaches classes in the recognition of elder abuse and constitutional law for non-lawyers. She lives in Oakland, Ca.
Previous Tulsa Today posts on Covid-19/Kung Flu/China Plague (2020):
Don’ts and Dos on Coronavirus, Jane M. Orient, M.D. ,March 17
Politics in pandemic, David Arnett, Publisher, April 4
Evidence: Covid 19 escaped research from lab National Review, April 6
OK begins reopen, Dems oppose, David Arnett, Publisher, April 23
Vaccine at ‘Warp Speed’?, Jane M. Orient, M.D., May 19
The Universal Health Scare, Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD, June 9
Covid News That Could Save Your Life!, Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet, July 15
COVID Chaos: Prison without bars, Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD, July 26
FDA delays causing deaths daily, Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D. July 29
Swedish strategy working for Kung Flu, David Arnett, Publisher, July 30
COVID 19 Coverup: Preventable, Video, The Epoch Times, August 6
Lessons: The 9-Month COVID ‘Emergency’, Dr Jane Orient, Sept 23
America: Hope & help to treat COVID at home Elizabeth Lee Vliet, Oct 20
Masters of COVID Gloom, Lysenkoism & squirrels Marilyn Singleton, Oct 25
COVID-19 won the Presidential Election, Marilyn Singleton, MD, JD, Nov 26