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Coronamonomania Lives Forever, Part 21

By September 13, 2021Commentary

Okay, it is getting weirder and wilder every day.  It feels to me like we are getting close to a majority of people having enough of this nonsense.  We are always going to have a significant minority of people who are safety nuts, who think they are going to live forever and who believe the length of their life is more important than its quality.  Let me give them a little musical reminder, as Jackson Browne sang, “in the end, its the wink of an eye” in regard to the passage of time.  That is from The Pretender, what a phenomenal song.  And then there are the Greatful Dead, with “such a long, long time to be gone and short time to be there”, from Box of Rain, another song about the ineffable and fleeting nature of life.  So my friends, enjoy every moment of your life, you know not what the next moment brings.

And speaking of enjoying moments, fortunately we are only having about one DOH briefing a week, which is like torture.  And the one last week did not disappoint in the terror attempts and the lies.  The department becomes more and more bold in its lying, knowing that the state press will never call DOH on its mendacity–I am referring to you Star Tribune and every local TV station.  Most of these lies are easily revealed by looking at the state’s own data.  Now that school has started they are really enjoying making up stuff about spread in those settings.  They used what sounds like a high number of cases among students and teachers, and then reveal it is cumulative, for all 18 months of the epidemic.  It isn’t even 4% of total cases.  The Commissioner referenced the disgraceful and disgraced CDC study on child hospitalization rates and she lied about the rates in Minnesota.  She failed to disclose that the state counts as school cases, any case among children whether contracted in a school or not.  Kris Errorsperson chimed in with a lie about more cases than last year and a higher case rate.  And Kris threw in the lie that Delta was ten times more infectious, which is completely unsubstantiated.  A reporter did note that schools weren’t in-person last fall, which might make a difference in case numbers.  I publish those charts almost every week, there is nothing happening.  You get the picture, why not lie in the service of terror or whatever good ends you think you are promoting.  The message is more important to these people than the truth.

Here is the worst lie–the commissioner said that masking prevents transmission, period.  That is not true, it is demonstrably false.  The DOH is lying too, because they know that they started a study on masking and stopped it when it didn’t show any benefit.  I have Data Practice Act-ed them, and we will see what gets turned over.  There is not a single credible piece of research showing the benefit of masks in slowing spread in the community.  And I refer you to every single chart of cases, and would love to see someone point out where masks made a clear difference in the curve.

And a turning point may be full whacko woke magazines like the New Yorker and Atlantic turning on the Zero CV-19 terror campaign.  The Atlantic just wrote an article noting what we have been saying since early on, a ton of supposed CV-19 hospitalizations, and deaths, have nothing to do with being infected by the virus.  (Atlantic Article)   The article references this study.  (RS Paper)    The study was conducted in regard to hospitalizations in the VA system from March 2020 through June 2021.  The proportion of hospitalizations involving moderate to severe disease was the primary outcome, as only those cases were likely actually hospitalized for CV-19.  Prior to vaccine availability, that percent was 64%, so 36% of all hospitalizations, at least in the VA system, were not likely for CV-19.  After vaccine availability, that proportion dropped to 52%.  Interestingly, the proportion of moderate or severe disease among the unvaxed also dropped following vaccine availability.  This study mirrors the findings of an earlier study from California finding that 40% of pediatric hospitalizations were not for CV-19.  The public health nazis are fond of terrorizing us by telling us how many hospitalizations there are and deaths.  Cut them both in half, and the case rates go in half.  I am still waiting for Minnesota to do a real study to correct their erroneous reporting.

The US has a bunch of obscure health related agencies, your tax dollars at work.  One is the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, which manages several good health care databases.  One, called the health care utilization project, puts out a fair amount of data on hospitalizations and issued three briefs on trends in light of CV-19.  The first focused on hospitalizations among those 65 and older, where there are around 13 million hospitalizations a year.  It finds that across 13 states, all hospitalizations in the second quarter of 2020 were down 23% from the 2016 to 2019 average but in-hospital all-cause deaths were up 30%.  That is your terror campaign at work.  Any wonder that at home deaths have risen equally dramatically.  Meanwhile in the second quarter of 2020, all cause in-hospital deaths were up 30% but only 7% were related to CV-19.  In Minnesota, only 4% of hospitalizations were related to CV-19 and 16.6% of in-hospital deaths were attributed to CV-19.  (HCUP Brief 1)

The next brief covers the same topic but among adults aged 18 to 64.  The number of hospitalizations in the second quarter of 2020 declined by 19% while the number of in-hospital all-cause deaths increased by 44% compared to the average of the four prior years.  In Minnesota only 4% of hospitalizations and 13% of in-hospital deaths were related to CV-19 in this period, compared to national averages of 5% and 24%, respectively.  (HCUP Brief 2)

The third brief looks at hospitalizations in children.  There are 5 million annual hospitalizations for all reasons in this group.  More than you might imagine.   Almost none of those in 2020 or 2021 were actually for treatment of CV-19.  A few were attributed to CV-19, but most were not actually caused by the virus.  The number of pediatric hospitalizations in the second quarter of 2020 declined by 17% over the prior four year average, but the number of in-hospital deaths also decreased, unlike the situation with adults.  Now look at this only .4% of all hospitalizations in that second quarter were for CV-19, or should I say with, and no deaths.  Similarly in Minnesota, only .4% of hospitalizations were among children.  (HCUP Brief 3)

Here is the big message, if you listened to the “experts” you would think the hospitals are full of CV-19 patients most of whom die.  Not true at all.

Here is another study on reinfections.  It comes from a large midwestern health system and was conducted among health care workers, many of who had signficant exposure to CV-19 patients.  The rate of reinfections in this group, defined as a new positive test at least 90 days after an initial one, was 6%, and was significantly higher among staff working directly on wards with CV-19 patients.  The recurrence rate, defined as another positive test without a set passage of time, was around 25%, but you have to suspect that many of these were just finding lingering virus fragments from the initial infection.  (Medrxiv Paper)

Another study tells us what we pretty much already know–the response to vaccination, at least in terms of antibodies is weaker in older people, and that is likely why we see so many breakthrough infections in that age group.  (Medrxiv Paper)

This antibody study from Texas finds that persons with prior infection and part or full vaccination were most likely to have the maximum antibody levels for the test used.  The rates were higher than those who had not been previously infected and were fully or partly vaxed, and the lowest group was the unvaxed even if they had prior infection.  No word, however, on relative time following either infection or vax, which could have a dramatic effect on antibody levels.  And this was only antibodies to spike protein, while infected persons have a much broader range of B and T cell responses.   (Medrxiv Paper)

This is kind of an interesting study on the effect of one dose of Pfizer vax given to a pretty old group 15 months after they had an active infection.  This group experienced a massive surge in antibodies, far exceeding the response to two doses in uninfected persons.  (Medrxiv Paper)

 

Join the discussion 4 Comments

  • David Krieg says:

    We seem to have entered “a strange and absurd alternate universe”, formerly known as Wonderland. Aren’t many of us wondering when, or if, normalcy will return? When will the covid propagators begin to list balanced data – maybe include some positive break-throughs in treatments and survivability rates? “Covid!” has become the new “racist!”, sending people frantically running in all directions.
    A young journalist opined that, besides the never-ending covid drama being politically beneficial to some, those involved in false-hoods and mandates against a free people will face legal repercussions once the dust settles and the societal destruction becomes clear.

  • dirtyjobsguy says:

    I’ve come across (via Marginal Revolution) a study done by the Presidents Council for Economic Advisors (CEA) in 2019 on future influenza epidemics and vaccination. What was interesting is that the economists correctly saw that only a rapid vaccine development and distribution could meaningfully impact such an epidemic. The only way to do this was to pursue the mRNA and other paths which had much shorter lead times, and to pursue rapid manufacturing deployment. This became the future Operation Warp Speed. I’m pretty sure President Trump had little to do with this initial study, but he did listen and respond to the ideas when COVID appeared. It seems the economists were more perceptive about public health than the public health experts!

    (Mitigating-the-Impact-of-Pandemic-Influenza-through-Vaccine-Innovation.pdf (archives.gov))

  • Ted says:

    The article in The Atlantic has been featured in ZeroHedge: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/new-study-suggests-almost-half-all-covid-hospitalizations-january-june-had-mild-or

    “A brand new study is calling into question how reliable and meaningful of a number of “patients hospitalized with Covid-19” in the U.S. is.

    Covid hospitalizations – the most common metric heard when discussing the seriousness of the pandemic – may not be nearly as meaningful of a number as many once thought. And don’t take it from us: The Atlantic published a stunning piece on Tuesday citing a new study that suggests “almost half of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have mild or asymptomatic cases”.

    The Atlantic had formerly called Covid hospitalizations “the most reliable pandemic number,” last winter. Now, after a nationwide study of hospitalization records was release, the publication is walking back its fervor on that statement.”

  • James Zuck says:

    You have linked several studies indicating people who have recovered from Covid-19 and later have gotten the vaccine have improved or stronger immunity, or least a stronger presence of antibodies. You have also linked a study or 2 that indicate there are differences in antibodies structure between natural immunity and adaptive immunity. Most of the people I know who had Covid-19 got vaccinated post recovery per instructions from their doctor and several of those people recently have gotten a second infection of Covid-19. The age range of the people is above 60. For one person on the trip to the doctor the Nurse Practitioner informed her when vaccinated after a covid-19 recovery the vaccinated immunity becomes dominate and overrides the protection given by natural immunity. I am not sure if that is the Nurse Practitioner’s observation on what they are seeing in their clinic or based on a study. My best man in my wedding is immunity compromised due to a lot of medical issues, was fully vaccinated and just recently got Covid-19 and is in the hospital but appears to be on the way for recovery. He did receive a notice for a booster but was informed since he got Covid-19 he would have to wait 4 to 6 months for a booster. Does that mean all the people with break through infections just got a booster?
    I do not think our data here in the U. S. is detailed enough for good researchers to study. It seems the recommendation for people with natural immunity to become vaccinated has really hurt rather than helped.

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