Drowning in Coronavirus Research

First, you should know that the lockdown forever advocates are desperately trying to seize on any data they can to continue their campaign of fearmongering and to justify shutdowns that most people can now see were completely unnecessary and did immense damage.  So don’t believe any crap you read about surges in cases after re-opening or hospitals running out of beds or any of that nonsense.  Every statistic shows that anyone who needs it is getting adequate care and that there is no sudden elevation in either cases, hospital use or deaths.

Now on to the real news.  You may recall the outbreak on an aircraft carrier.  Over 1000 crew became infected, several were hospitalized, one died.  The Centers for Disease Control conducted an antibody study.  This article gives details.  (Carrier Story)  Here is the CDC study.  (CDC Study)  382 sailors participated in the study, all younger, generally healthy adults.  The report is slightly confusing.  Apparently 238 of those participating in the study had had a positive infection test before.  Around 60% of the entire study group had positive results for the presence of antibodies and about 60% of those had neutralizing antibodies.  Of the previously infected group, 90% had antibodies.  For the ship as a whole, out of the over 1000 infections, around 18% had been completely asymptomatic, and some that were called mild illness sound like asymptomatic to me, but in any event, there were only two hospitalizations and one death.  Berthing with an infected person led to almost twice the risk of being infected.  Wearing face masks and distancing was associated with a lower infection risk.

Over 95% of those who died from coronavirus disease in the United Kingdom had pre-existing health conditions which contributed to the death.  The great majority had two or more such conditions.  (UK Report) 

This paper suggests that cases had begun declining in the United Kingdom before the lockdown was imposed.  (Arxiv Paper)  Infections that led to death had likely begun to decrease even earlier.

This lengthy article summarizes the harms which are unfolding from the lockdowns.  (RC Story)   This is the third in a series and the headline is that it is clear that more harm came from lockdowns than the epidemic.  It is common knowledge now that for people under 65, the risk of death is quite remote. Other interesting fact are provided, such as that people who kept working in New York actually were less likely to have antibodies than those who worked from home.  Although I view the evidence as unclear, there are a number of analyses that find that cases and deaths were declining even as lockdowns were imposed.    On the other hand,  40% of poor households have lost a job, which probably contributed to our recent civil unrest, and the article lists all the terrible outcomes expected around the globe from the economic free fall.

I am impressed that several European leaders have been very honest about their view of their reactions to the epidemic.  Norway has often been favorably compared to Sweden and has far lower deaths.  But the head of public health in that country said that certain actions were likely unnecessary.  (Norway Interview)  She said the public health authorities had recommended not closing schools.  She said there had been no increase in cases as Norway had reopened.  She anticipates another wave of infections, but they would not recommend a lockdown but rather more testing and tracing.  She also said the evidence for mask use is weak and social distancing could be recommended at a shorter distance.