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Coronamonomania Lives Forever, Part 188

By January 23, 2023Commentary

Here we go again, with a scintillating set of summaries!!  As readers know, a lot of activity around excess deaths–are there some, how many, why?  If you are a twitterite, you should follow Vinay Prasad, who is also on substack, he has some sensible thoughts on excess death analyses.  The Daily Sceptic has attempted to present a balanced perspective, including this piece which again cautions about identifying the existing trends carefully.  (DS Post)

And here is the latest paper on the topic.  These authors study excess deaths across the US and conclude CV-19 deaths are underreported, which I just find to be complete garbage.  Looking at death certificates is all it takes to realize that there was massive over-attribution of deaths to CV-19.  I do think some deaths might, and it is a big might, have been missed very early on, but thereafter, due to the CDC position on attributing deaths, it was substantially exaggerated.  So if there were excess deaths beyond reported CV-19 ones, other causes need to be examined.  One of the problems with the paper is use of only a five year baseline.  There was also a failure to track by age groups.  (Medrxiv Paper)

One cause of deaths that is particularly troubling is drug overdoses.  This research finds that while such deaths increased substantially during the epidemic, they increased in a manner consistent with pre-epidemic trends, which was very rapid growth.  From 2019 to 2021 the population rate of such deaths increased by 50%.  The authors conclude that it is unlikely epidemic restrictions contributed to the greater number of overdose deaths, but they certainly didn’t help.  (Medrxiv Paper)

And according to this research, suicide rates actually declined during the epidemic, which I really find hard to accept and wonder if drug overdoses or other classifications are used to hide suicides, especially among young people.  We had such high rates of serious mental health illness, that a decline in suicides seems unlikely.  (Medrxiv Paper)

Many countries in Africa had low rates of CV-19 infection and deaths.  Their populations are significantly younger, but they also may have more consistent exposure to a variety of pathogens, which prompt immune responses.  According to this study, a 90% of Ugandans had T cells reactive to CV-19 in blood samples collected in 2015 to 2017, well before the epidemic.  These cross-reactive T cells may have played a role in limiting the epidemic in Africa.  (Medrxiv Study)

The epidemic response measures had a high impact on health care delivery.  Research from England finds a sharp decline in “elective” surgeries during the epidemic, which have not yet returned to pre-epidemic levels.  These elective surgeries include cataract removal, joint replacements and hernia repair.  You can imagine that waiting for these surgeries is not a trivial matter to the afflicted person.  And just to show you how wonderful a government-run health system is, almost 380,000 people in England have been waiting at least one year for an “elective” surgery.  (Medrxiv Paper)

I have said repeatedly that I saw no reason for vaccinating young children.  This study from North Carolina among 5 to 11 year-olds give little support to the push to vax kids.  After primary vax, effectiveness against Omicron was only 60% a month out, 34% at four months and a mere 15% at 10 months.  Boosters were only marginally better.  A prior infection offered better protection, 80% at three months and 54% at six months.  For younger children, five and under, vax effectiveness was no better and a prior infection was more protective.  (Medrxiv Paper)

This study found a high rate of breakthrough infections in vaccinated students, including many being symptomatic.  (Medrxiv Paper)

 

 

Join the discussion 4 Comments

  • joe Kosanda says:

    Interesting comment on the low infection rates in African countries.

    Let me state up front that I dont believe that ivermectin was a viable treatment for covid. Though there seemed to be more lower infection rates in areas of high ivermectin usage thus creating the appearance that Ivermectin was a working treatment.

    Based on my reading of the aforemention African study, the most likely reason for the lower case rates is due to partial cross immunity from other pathogens and not from actual ivermectin usage

    Thoughts?

    • Kevin Roche says:

      hard to know what the cause for the apparent lower case rates is. Could be partly much lower testing, but I suspect the better pre-existing immune response is a factor.

  • JT says:

    How about the lowest rate of the mRNA product usage of any country? The grand illusion that this product did anything to prevent transmission was one of the big lies. Eat right, exercise, get sick, get better, live your life! Build your immune system, don’t poison it !

    • Kevin Roche says:

      that poison the immune system comment is just absurd, being healthy is good, believing bullshit is bad

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