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Another Star Tribune Op-Ed

By November 11, 2021Commentary

I have another opinion piece in the Star Tribune today.  The basic theme is what I have been saying forever, that we have to have a truly balanced approach to the epidemic and we have to give the public accurate information to support a rational public policy.  (Strib Piece)   Many thanks to the very kind Doug Tice and the Star Tribune editorial staff for the willingness to print my thoughts.

May seem like odd timing, given the  apparent re-surgence of cases, but that is exactly why I think it is important to face facts.  I strongly suspect that at least half of cases right now are in the vaxed.  The Governor, and Presidementia Biden, clearly have no plan and really have never had a plan, that addresses the epidemic in a balanced, rational, totality of the public interest manner.  First it was mask, double mask, mask when you sleep, mask with your family, mask, mask, mask, with no data or evidence to support the notion that this would slow community transmission.  Now it is vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate, and it should be apparent that the virus will not be suppressed and we simply have to accept it as one of the many pathogens we are faced with on a daily basis and do what we can to ameliorate morbidity and mortality without continuing to do immense damage to the more general public health.

True leadership right now would be to boldly tell the public that the vaccines can help most people avoid serious illness, that they won’t do much for the frail elderly, that thank God CV-19 isn’t much of a threat to children so we don’t need to force them to be vaccinated, that CV-19 is largely substitutive for influenza, and we simply can’t go on doing the kind of damage to our society that current and past suppression attempts have done.  Don’t hold your breath waiting for that kind of leadership, unless you live in Florida.

Meanwhile, we are having an impact.  The wonderful work Dave Dixon has done with data is paying off.  He has succeeded in getting more detailed information on breakthrough cases out of the state and is busy analyzing it and we will bring you details as soon as possible.

Join the discussion 17 Comments

  • Kevin says:

    The comments on this article are hilarious. Apparently, Kevin, you are an evil person and how dare the Star Tribune print such an article. Kudos for trying, but it is the Red Star Tribune….

    • Kevin Roche says:

      thank you, and I just ignore comments at the STrib, and I get lots of emails from people hating on me, and I don’t respond to those. I am trying to be as science and data based as I can be and make policy suggestions derived from my understanding and people who just make emotional responses can’t be taken seriously. I really appreciate you and other readers who try to spread the message. It is a hard task.

  • J. Thomas says:

    The “Administration” (and I use the term very loosely) has a huge dilemma. They have to convince the unvaxxed that it works while at the same time convince the vaxxed that it doesn’t. via the boosters. This is a direct result of not using science and even the corrupt data to build out policy. This is the ’emotional’ result.

    Brilliant … keep up the great work.

  • Bill says:

    Thanks for fighting for all of us.

  • dell says:

    Four short comments:
    1. The article was too kind to our governors;
    2. Kids are not an issue and you needed to say it;
    3. The half-brain who said Dixon hasn’t given his data is, well, a half-brain. It’s there! Your readers need to go the STrib and leave a comment; and
    4. Here’s the actual Minnesota data Dixon charts. It’s a very benign flu for all but the very elderly and those in poor health. (Sorry for the dots, but website formats can make it otherwise unreadable.)

    11-9-21 Data, Minnesota Department of Health Age group data table: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/situation.html#raceeth1

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Deaths %……………..Deaths %
    Age group….Cases….Deaths….% Cases…% Deaths…of Total Cases….of Age Group Cases
    0-4…………….23,692………..1……………2.9…………….0……………………0…………………………….0
    5-19…………146,374………..3………….17.9…………….0……………………0…………………………….0
    20-29……….143,210………22…………17.5……………..0……………………0…………………………….0
    30-39……….135,497………78…………16.5……………..0……………………0…………………………….0
    40-49……….116,110…….176…………14.2……………1.9…………………0.2…………………………0.1
    50-59………109,433…….485…………13.3……………5.5…………………0.6…………………………0.4
    60-69………..77,123….1,139…………..9.4………….12.9…………………1.4…………………………1.5
    70-79………..39,066….1,991…………..4.8………….22.5…………………2.4…………………………5.1
    80-89………..20,653….2,903…………..2.5………….32.8…………………3.5……………………….14.1
    90+…………….7,977….2,064………….0.97……….23.3…………………2.5………………………..28.9
    …Totals…..819,135…..8,862……………………………1.08

    Minnesota by Major Races, 11-9-21 Race and ethnicity data table.
    ……………………..Cases…….Deaths…% Cases…..% Deaths…Deaths % of Cases
    White…………….566,523…..7,450……..78.4……………87.4……………….1.3
    Black……………..61,496………452……….8.5………………5.3……………….0.7
    Asian……………..31,478………343……….4.4………………4.0……………….1.0
    Hispanic…………63,353………280………..8.8……………….3.2……………….0.4
    …Total………….722,850……8,525

  • Kevin says:

    Well, don’t give up. You are a great source of science backed data and sanity.

  • Don says:

    I see the comments on the Strib. I think it’s great. You might be getting instant hate and pushback, but you’ve planted the seed of truth and that’s the best thing a skeptic can do to other disbelievers.

  • J. Thomas says:

    Very interesting how 90% of the negative comments regarding the article are from people who have never read the blog. Or if they did, they apparently are not smart enough to find and follow the supporting linked studies or the disclaimers that DD uses only the state’s or CDC data.

    It just goes to show you exactly why the politicians treat the populous as they do, because the odds are, they’ll be talking to morons who can’t read, follow, or understand information. They will keep up the fear mongering because they can. The majority of the populous will make emotionally driven decisions (you’re going to kill granny) unless you become part of the grand (failing) vaccine experiment.

  • Bill in Seminole says:

    “Don’t hold your breath waiting for that kind of leadership, unless you live in Florida”. I’m a lifetime Florida resident; we went through a surge in new positive cases over the summer; but without a surge in hospitalizations. Gov. DeSantis has adopted a “we’ve got to go on with life despite this virus” policy without actually saying so. If he said it that way the national media would be all over him. Come visit Florida, Kevin, when the Minnesota snow gets too high – things are back to normal here.

  • Jim says:

    Bill Gates is a big advocate for vaccines. The press is hung up on the “unvaccinated” being the entire problem. They fail to talk about how transmissible (similar to vaccinated) those vaccinated truly are. I enjoyed what one of their poster boys had to say in a quote yesterday – below. Thanks for your great work, hopefully the lemmings will finally think on their own.

    Despite being one of the largest proponents of presently-available COVID-19 vaccines, Bill Gates admits to the failure of the vaccine industry that he has worked so hard to prop up.

    Bill Gates: “The economic damage, the deaths. It’s been completely horrific and I would expect that will lead the R&D projects to focus on things we didn’t have today. We didn’t have vaccines that block transmission. We got vaccines that help you with your health, but they only slightly reduce the transmission. We need a new way of doing the vaccines.”

  • rob says:

    According to the article comments your investments are making you fabulously rich from all the people dying. Not sure how that works. Did you buy a whole bunch of cemetery plots early on?

    • Kevin Roche says:

      Actually I do own Pfizer stock, but that would make me a vaccine bobo–pump its use and benefits mercilessly. This blog costs me tens of thousands of dollars a year. you can all see it isn’t monetized in any way. The best way I could make money on the epidemic would be taking the other side of Governor Walz’ bets on the data.

  • Dan says:

    Can you post your op ed here? Only subscribers can read it in the trib rag. I’m not giving them a penny.

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