If We Lose Our Focus on Coronavirus It Might Bite Us Again
Paul Craig Roberts
The discussion of coronavirus has taken some sharp turns. One such turn is the claim that the mortality rate is not high enough to justify shutdowns. But the mortality rate is not the reason for the shutdowns. The purpose of the closedowns is to reduce the exponential rate of infection. Covid-19 is much more contagious than flu, people can spread the virus for days and weeks prior to developing symptoms, the seriousness of each case is not predictable in advance, and it is a new virus about which little is known including treatment. Therefore, the highly infectious virus can easily
overwhelm health care systems—just ask New York City and Italy. This is the reason for trying to reduce the rate of infection. There is no good information on mortality rates as there is no reliable or widespread testing, and the payment incentives result in hospitals reporting the virus as the cause of any deaths that can be associated with it.
What has happened is that the mortality rate, which was not the reason for the shutdowns, is now the reason for reopening. The overlooked question is: If the closedowns did not drop the escalating rate of infection, what did? Did the virus simply give up? If we experienced a high rate of infection prior to closedown, what will happen on reopening? The public authorities did not use the period of the closedown to prepare the public with masks or attend to building ventilation systems. Are New York and Italy also hoaxes? And is it a hoax that China and Japan are again closing down large cities? Do we really think this virus can be reduced to a plot?
Japan has had to reclose a city that had been cleared of the virus. Reopening simply was accompanied by a second wave of infection. This and reports that those “cured” of the virus have amazing low antibodies against it raise a serious question about relying on herd immunity. Perhaps all Sweden is doing is establishing the virus in the population, not immunity to the virus.
As my readers know, I am the last to trust the presstitute media which includes the Internet. As this virus is new little is known about it, including by medical personnel and ER doctors. I have posted views of experts who have spent their lives studying viruses and the immune system response, and have been entertained by uninformed narcissistic know-it-alls shouting them down. It is amazing how many people know more than experts. If a life of research doesn’t provide a clue, how do people who have never been inside a lab know?
Reactions to the virus have shown how weak is our sense of social responsibility. Big Pharma and Bill Gates want to use the virus to advance their agenda of vaccination. Police agencies want to use the virus for more control. Libertarians complaining of the infringements on their freedom of movement show an inadequate sense of social responsibility when they insist they shouldn’t be limited as the virus only kills old people. Youth are only interested in their recreational activities.
There is no doubt that shutdowns are economically costly and that confinement creates problems of its own for some people. Perhaps it will make them more emphathetic for those confined to prison for taking drugs and engaging in other victimless crimes or framed up in order to shut them up as appears to be happening to former British ambassador Craig Murray ( https://www.opednews.com/articles/Former-UK-Ambassador-Craig-by-Ray-McGovern-Charged_Craig-Murray_Innocent_Jail-200427-315.html ).
During the period of closedown, public authorities have taken no steps to prepare for reopening. There are still no masks, no or not enough reliable tests, no attention to building ventilation systems, and effective treatments still encounter some official opposition. Just the other day there was a news report, perhaps a hoax, that the FBI had raided a medical facility for engaging in fraud for treating Covid patients with intravenous vitamin C.
In a recent posting ( https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/04/25/coming-out-of-lockdown-unprepared/ ) Marc Wathelet explains how to have a sucessful reopening. It is extraordinary that during the period of closedown no steps were taken in this direction.
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