Covid-19 News

    Quote from RobertBryant

    perhaps Fauci lacked patient skills

    I doubt if Dr Fauci has treated a patient since 1968..

    Dr McCullough's testimony from March... not much has changed..


    TM 3.52 the world has closed in on us

    there's only one doctor whose face is on tv now

    one....


    not a panel of doctors

    we always work in groups we always have different opinions

    04:00
    there's not a single media doctor on tv

    who's ever treated a covid patient not a single one

    there's not a single person in the white house task force who has ever treated a patient"


    Many post mortems on the Standard of Care.... to follow


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    Maybe you should just get your head out of these intricacies and see the global picture : Sars cov 2 is just a flu on steroids, it affects old and/ or obese people. There is no point getting vaccinated if you are not at risk.


    The RNA vaccines have been forced on a us by a few sleazy companies. Here in France treatments and experiments by doctors on the ground have been banned by the government, as well as the chinese and the russian vaccines. I wonder why :/.... I am not surprized to see the same patterns in other EU countries and in the US.


    People like you assume that governments cannot be corrupted and know better so they put blind faith in everything that comes from the gvt and its agencies ( the "MSM" & alia). This assumption is wrong and as a scientist lurking around LENR matters, you should know that money is always part of the equation.

    Quote from Wyttenbach

    Only complete idiots cite other idiots. There is no study that did show this. Some people just wish that it would be so. People that look at the data immediately can notice that facts and conclusion do not match.... Children stuff again.

    No-one -conducting an RCT - wishes it to fail.


    Quote from RobertBryant

    I remember when THH 'read' a QCD paper that showed him six(6) digit precision on the neutron-proton mass difference

    You have a very long memory - I've noticed, for things that are not to the point!

    Quote from Ull25

    Maybe you should just get your head out of these intricacies and see the global picture : Sars cov 2 is just a flu on steroids, it affects old and/ or obese people. There is no point getting vaccinated if you are not at risk.


    The RNA vaccines have been forced on a us by a few sleazy companies. Here in France treatments and experiments by doctors on the ground have been banned by the government, as well as the chinese and the russian vaccines. I wonder why :/ .... I am not surprized to see the same patterns in other EU countries and in the US.


    People like you assume that governments cannot be corrupted and know better so they put blind faith in everything that comes from the gvt and its agencies ( the "MSM" & alia). This assumption is wrong and as a scientist lurking around LENR matters, you should know that money is always part of the equation.

    "Sars cov2 is just flu on steroids" good tag line as espoused by Brazil's Bolsonaro. I suppose if you get Covid you will just take some aspirin and drink plenty of fluid.

    Not working out too well in Brazil though. Reality is different virus, different disease, different treatment.


    "It affects old and/or obese people".

    Half of the truth, there are many examples in the news of young, healthy people who have died from Covid, I am sure you can find them if you look.


    "There is no point getting vaccinated if you are not at risk".

    Reminds me of the recent story of the US doctor who is getting patients who are not old, or obese being hospitalised with severe Covid, at which point they finally realize that they are in fact at risk and request the vaccine, to be told it is now too late.

    I support vaccination being a free choice, but if only a minority get vaccinated then the virus continues to spread and mutate, and we risk getting a more dangerous variant, perhaps one that can evade the current vaccines. Then we are back to square one with lockdowns or overwhelmed hospitals. Thanks for that!

    University of Massachusetts Led Study Indicates Microthrombosis Possible Trigger for Second Stage of COVID-19


    University of Massachusetts Led Study Indicates Microthrombosis Possible Trigger for Second Stage of COVID-19
    A multi-site study led by the University of Massachusetts addressed a topic that the global scientific community has been trying to determine: what
    trialsitenews.com


    A multi-site study led by the University of Massachusetts addressed a topic that the global scientific community has been trying to determine: what is the initial driver of the second stage of Covid-19: hyper-inflammation, immune dysregulation, or microthrombosis? This study might just have revealed the smoking gun that shows microthrombosis is caused by platelet apoptosis.


    Recently, an active TrialSite community member sent an intriguing study for review. Led by corresponding author Milka Koupenova with the University Of Massachusetts, the study team wrote a concise and succinct conclusion. That is, “Platelets internalize SARS-CoV-2 virions or attach to microparticles, and viral internalization leads to rapid digression, programmed cell death and extracellular vesicle release.” Apparently, during the infection, “platelets mediate a rapid response to SARS-CoV-2 and this response can contribute to dysregulated immunity and thrombosis.”


    Lead Research/Investigator

    Milka Koupenova PhD, with University Of Massachusetts


    Call to Action: If the study results turn out to be accurate, everyone would be well advised to keep a bottle of aspirin in their medicine cabinet.

    A Pandemic of the Unvaccinated or Something More?


    A Pandemic of the Unvaccinated or Something More?
    A surge in Delta-variant driven COVID-19 cases concentrates in just a handful of states as there is, overall, an uptick in total cases across the United
    trialsitenews.com


    A surge in Delta-variant driven COVID-19 cases concentrates in just a handful of states as there is, overall, an uptick in total cases across the United States. By June 1, 2021, the 7-day average of new daily cases was at 17,197. What a difference the summer months are making as the total has risen to 51,209 new cases per day as of July 24. As of a couple days ago, 40% of new cases occurred in three states including Missouri, Texas, and Florida. Dr. Anthony Fauci recently on CNN’s “State of the Union” commented that America is in an “unnecessary predicament” associated with the COVID-19 surge, placing the blame on unvaccinated Americans combined with the contagious delta variant.


    Overall rates are on their way up but what about total deaths? During June 1, with a 7-day average of new daily cases at 17,197, there was a total 7-day daily death count at 601. By June 15, the number of daily cases (7-day average) declined to 13,620 while the average death rate declined to 354. By July 1, the total 7-day average was recorded at 12,799. Still below June 1’s 7 -day average with a July 1st 7-day death average at 256. Now, of course, the cases have increased to 51,209 with a 7-day average new death record from COVID-19 at 267. This means that at least thus far the Delta-driven variant isn’t as deadly—at what the current numbers show. This, of course, could change in the forthcoming weeks.


    Mask Up & Boosters

    Based on a recent update from Associated Press (AP), the chief medical advisor suggested, “We’re going in the wrong direction,” as Fauci described himself as “Frustrated.” Consequently, new mask recommendations are under consideration, even for those who are vaccinated. Additionally, health officials may recommend booster shots for individuals with challenged immune systems who have also already been vaccinated.


    Republicans Praised

    Recently, Fauci praised Republicans, including Govs. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, and the second-ranking House leader, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, for encouraging their constituents to get vaccinated. Their states have among the lowest vaccination rates in the country and obviously, there’s a correlation between the resurgence and unvaccinated.


    Los Angeles Crisis

    Health authorities in Los Angeles County are calling on individuals to wear masks when in public, whether vaccinated or not. By early June, Los Angeles County’s 7-day average new daily cases were below 200 cases the day before. However, that number has risen to 2,220 by July 24 with 3,038 new cases reported on July 23.


    Vaccine Hesitancy

    Contrary to many mainstream media, vaccine hesitancy isn’t just Right Wing conspiracy theory enthusiasts but a large, diverse group of people ranging from those that have historical hesitancy due to past historical incidents (such as some African Americans, for example), to individuals concerned about safety and others that would like to see the vaccines formally approved. There are also some that in fact are conspiracy theorists. But regardless, the more transparency the better to ensure that as many people as possible get protected from vaccines while others that for whatever reason cannot get vaccinated have other means of early care should they become infected.

    Quote from Ull25

    Maybe you should just get your head out of these intricacies and see the global picture : Sars cov 2 is just a flu on steroids, it affects old and/ or obese people. There is no point getting vaccinated if you are not at risk.


    The RNA vaccines have been forced on a us by a few sleazy companies. Here in France treatments and experiments by doctors on the ground have been banned by the government, as well as the chinese and the russian vaccines. I wonder why :/.... I am not surprized to see the same patterns in other EU countries and in the US.


    People like you assume that governments cannot be corrupted and know better so they put blind faith in everything that comes from the gvt and its agencies ( the "MSM" & alia). This assumption is wrong and as a scientist lurking around LENR matters, you should know that money is always part of the equation.

    Those are all points worth considering.


    Sars cov 2 is just a flu on steroids, it affects old and/ or obese people. There is no point getting vaccinated if you are not at risk.


    It is absolutely true that COVID is less dangerous for young people. It is true that it is a bit more dangerous for obese people.


    DEFINE_ME


    That is a very detailed study of how BMI affects risk. So for age 20-39 we have HR = 1.17 for every point in BMI above 23 - so obesity corresponds to 30-23 = 7 points, or an HR of 1.17^7 = 3


    Now that means that those with BMI < 23 have 1/3 the risk that obese people in this age group (the dependence is less in older age groups). Compared with average for the age group that means those who are a normal weight have a slightly lower risk, maybe 30% (somone can work it out). A 30% lower risk than average is not very significant. At least I would not jump out of a plane with a high fraction of duff parachutes if told that is was Ok, new QA had reduced the duff fraction by 20%!


    It is true that the overall mortality risk for people contracting COVID ages 20 -39 is low (from that same paper) a CFR of 0.6%


    Now I know that the antivaxx propaganda - and the semi-antivaxx propaganda - is that if you are healthy, and age < 50, you cannot die from COVID. It is not true. Younger age reduces your risk a lot. Being unhealthy, or overweight, increases risk by a factor of at most 3 or 4 (for young people) less (for older people). Being healthy decreases risk by not a lot (for young people) because half of young people are healthy.


    The random factor is your genetics and immune system. Some people shut down COVID quicker, and some people suffer more from the COVID-induced inflammation.


    Age modified the association between BMI and severe COVID-19 outcomes significantly (p<0·0001 for all outcomes; figure 2). The HR was highest in the youngest age groups and decreased progressively with increasing age becoming non-significant in the 80 years and older age group for death. Among people aged 20–39 years, each BMI unit increase above 23 kg/m2 was associated with increased risk of hospital admission (HR 1·09 [95% CI 1·08–1·10]), ICU admission (1·13 [1·11–1·16]), and death due to COVID-19 (1·17 [1·11–1·23; figure 2). The incidence of severe COVID-19 increased with age, therefore the attributable risks were generally higher in people aged 40–59 and 60–69 years but attributable fractions were higher in those aged 20–39 years


    The RNA vaccines have been forced on a us by a few sleazy companies.


    The RNA vaccines are newish technology - 20 years from first prototype, 10 years from first wide use. They are, frankly - what will save us from COVID and things like it, because they are quicker to make, quicker to tweak for variants, then other technologies. No-one is forced to use them - all the countries in the world were begging to gtevtham - ans still are. They work better than the other vaccines, and have fewer side effects (though that is a bit random). The one big (1 : 20,000 worst case) known side effect - pericarditis - is not a problem because it is unlike normal pericarditis (e.g. what COVID often leaves people with). It is a mild inflammatory response to the vaccine that goes away quickly.


    So - everyone (apart from antivxxers and those overly-influenced by fringe internet websites) prefers getting the mRNA vaccines over the other options, though they all work well, and have low incidence of side effects.


    Anti-vax memes are to take something that sounds scary - 20 years old technology - injecting RNA - and then lie about it, e.g. - it accumulates in ovaries, it can be shed, it alters your DNA, it has the risks that it did 20 years ago when it was first being developed.



    People like you assume that governments cannot be corrupted and know better so they put blind faith in everything that comes from the gvt and its agencies ( the "MSM" & alia). This assumption is wrong


    I never put blind faith in anything. Governments vary - all have made mistakes with COVID - the US and UK have been particularly stupid in response.


    Let us leave out the US since you are so politicised none of you trust anything. Other sane governments; throughout Europe, UK, Australia, NZ, Norawy, Sweden are all independent. They come to different decisions about the pandemic but all reckon vaccines are important at least fro those over 18. That is because too many people in ICUs and hospitals cannot function properly. Even 18-24 year old people in a country end up in ICU in a decent proportion if not vaxinated, and COVID runs wild. COVOID, Like any virus, increases cases exponentially until enough people are seropositive. Politicians like to stay in power. In democracies, that means coping with COVID however works best. I'm not saying anyone is exactly sure what works best, but vaccination is right at the top of the list - and mRNA vaccines are at the top of the "vaccines that work well and do not kill many people". The idea that politicians are corrupted by kickbacks from companies making mRNA vaccines is ludicous. It might happen in Israel (under Netanyahu). In India, Turkey, Russia. It would not happen except occasionally in European countries.


    One other thing to consider. Countries with very low COVID rates will take a different view about vaccines, because this is always a balance of risk between vaccine and COVID. Unfortunately, as they are finding out, no unvaccinated country is safe from high COVID rates eventually.


    Vaccines will not provide perfect protection - and protection will get worse over time and with new variants. Thus far we are lucky - 1 years and original --> delta seems still Ok. mRNA vaccines in particular will be able to respond quickly.


    Many countries have shown how unvaccinated people getting COVID destroys health systems. Even in UK with very high percentage vaccinated our health system is under pressure with 50K cases/day. Would be under extreme pressure or break with 200K cases per day. It looks at the moment as though we are lucky. schools (the main vector - given > 18 are vaccinated) have stopped for the Summer. Adult seropositivity is 92% (nearly all of that is vaccination, but some is natural immunity).




    Quote from Fm1

    Vaccine Hesitancy

    Contrary to many mainstream media, vaccine hesitancy isn’t just Right Wing conspiracy theory enthusiasts but a large, diverse group of people ranging from those that have historical hesitancy due to past historical incidents (such as some African Americans, for example), to individuals concerned about safety and others that would like to see the vaccines formally approved. There are also some that in fact are conspiracy theorists. But regardless, the more transparency the better to ensure that as many people as possible get protected from vaccines while others that for whatever reason cannot get vaccinated have other means of early care should they become infected.

    This, from TSN - is definite proof that as a "news" site it is thoroughly under the thumb of anti-vaxxer alt-medicine propaganda. it is entirely controlled by one wealthy individual, who finds like-minded editors, and his views I guess are what they are.


    Note how typical this argument is of false internet arguments:

    (1) straw-man. No-one is saying that anti-vaxx is just right-wing conspiracy. It has a long and dishonourable history from Andrew Wakefield (fraud) onwards. And as FM1 has pointed out anti-vaxxers come from left as well as right. They started off as more a left-wing movement but have moved over the years, and now feed well off right-wing anti-government sentiment (see the previous reply to me - from somone who distrusts vaccines because he believes all governments in the world have been corrupted by sleazy companies). Trump in the US is a special case, along with Bolsanaro - autocrats that have been suspicious of vaccines - i know trump wanted credit for the vaccines but he also did not join in the ex-presidents showing vthey wanted to be vaccinated adverts. in fact - he kept very quiet about the fact that he and Melania had been vaccinated - not wanting to appear weak. Overall right-wing autocrats may back vaccines, or deny them, pretty randomly. the republican party in the US is not typical of right-wing parties in its suspicion of vaccines.


    (2) It claims to be objective while not looking at the facts. waiting for vaccines to get full approval - is an anti-vaxx argument. In a pandemic the risks to individuals who wait are high - which is why emergency approval is done quickly. In any case we now have one year worth of data with a very large number people


    (3) The claim that the regulatory agencies are not transparent is wrong. The data is available. The research papers are available. And in any case the big protection against bad decisions is that every free country is making its own decision with different regulators. look at them all, in context. it would be nice to have more definite and precise statistics for subgroup risks of vaccines. We just cannot - because at low rates


    (4) Other means of early care should they get infected. TSN editorial policy is controlled by fanatics (FLCC) who believe contrary to all evidence (we have discussed it in detail here) that ivermectin is a magic bullet, and that ivermectin is being suppressed by the medical establishment. Both are obviously false (do I need to give the reasons? again?). Let us hope that ivermectin helps - but we know now from the trials done that it might at best reduce deaths but will not prevent them almost completely in the way that vaccines do.


    To be anti-vax now with COVID delta infecting everyone you need:

    (1) to believe that the doctors and scientists in every free country who pretty unanimously say vax risks are lower than COVID risks - at least fro over 18s - are all corrupt or stupid.

    (2) you need to talk-up vaccine risks

    (3) you need to talk-down COVID risks

    (4) you need to claim that COVID risks can be greatly reduced by the correct drug treatment that is being suppressed by the establishment


    None of these contentions hold water. They are all argued by TSN.


    Without being anti-vax - you can argue of the personal direct risk of vaccination from anyone younger than 18. With a high risk of COVID infection the vaccines are still clearly better personally for over 12. With a low risk of COVID infection that is not true.


    As always with vaccination - arguing that you don't need to do it because personal risks are low is very short-sighted. Unless it is done enough COVID rates will become high, and the "low risk" argument falls away, as those in some US states are now finding. In addition while COVID rates are high anywhere we make it more likely another more infectious more capable of evading vaccines and prior natural immunity variant will develop. We can hope that will not happen - but no-one sensible would think that a low probability. It will happen some time, and probably within 6 months, since so many countries are not vaccinated.

    Aspirin has been checked in RECOVERY trial and did not help hopsitalised patients. But more targeted agents preventing blood clotting might help and are being tried.

    https://www.recoverytrial.net/…g%20in%20other%20diseases.


    One problem is that severe COVID causes bleeding in cell walls - as well as clots!


    TSN is acting as though no-one except its editors read the literature. And its editors only read it partially! Weird! Oh - and its editors are not experts in the field... A bit like here, only we have a more diverse range of opinion to draw upon.

    Here you are, aspirin does not seem to work but otehr blood-thinners maybe do


    Blood thinners may protect against COVID-19 complications
    A recent study suggests that early administration of anticoagulants to people hospitalized with COVID-19 may prevent some complications.
    www.medicalnewstoday.com


    Blood thinners may improve outcomes in 'moderately ill' COVID patients | Imperial News | Imperial College London
    Treating less seriously ill COVID-19 patients with blood thinning drugs may help to reduce the need for vital organ support, a study has found.
    www.imperial.ac.uk


    This is not an RCT so comes with all the normal caveats. Still, we know clots are a problem with COVID so there is a clear mechanism.


    Getting these things right will take quite a long time. I think more direct interference with the way COVID changes the immune response is likely to hold more promise.

    Quote from THHuxleynew

    "Adult seropositivity is 92% (nearly all of that is vaccination, but some is natural immunity)."

    That is quite high.


    The first "Freedom Day" in the UK was cancelled. The second attempt on 19 July went ahead. Predictably there were some saying the virus numbers were\are worryingly high (which they are) and thus we should continue the lockdown. Others, particularly certain sectors of industry were pushing for the remaining restrictions to be lifted immediately.


    I get the impression that we were at the limit of what large sections of the community would tolerate and that politically lockdown had to be ended.

    From the science point of view I think the pragmatists won. The view seems to be if we don't lift restrictions now then September, when the schools all reopen and the NHS starts to get hit with the normal winter bugs, will be no better, so might as well do it now and hope enough people are vaccinated and that the health service can cope with the results.

    I had read some estimates that somewhere around 65% may be needed for herd immunity, I think we have reached that in the UK in terms of vaccinations.

    92% seropositivity would therefore seem to be good news. We shall see.


    Certainly the theory that the virus might disappear in the summer time has not been borne out.

    the trial site Editorial board is made up of practicing licensed physicians and researchers, and your credentials?

    They are the experts in their given fields of MEDICINE and RESEARCH. I keep being told listen to the experts. So Thomas are you an expert on medical advise or just a town crier?

    Quote from ZenoOfElea

    That is quite high.


    The first "Freedom Day" in the UK was cancelled. The second attempt on 19 July went ahead. Predictably there were some saying the virus numbers were\are worryingly high (which they are) and thus we should continue the lockdown. Others, particularly certain sectors of industry were pushing for the remaining restrictions to be lifted immediately.

    Yes. Of course that is 92% of adults - and a lot of the transmisison was schools - which have now broken up for holidays hence it looks like rates are now going down.


    So we have school holiday herd immunity! Maybe.


    I think no-one is quite sure. A pretty usually position for people to be in this pandemic.

    Longer Duration Between First and Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Boosts Antibody Levels According to UK Study Investigating Pfizer-BioNTech


    Longer Duration Between First and Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Boosts Antibody Levels According to UK Study Investigating Pfizer-BioNTech
    The University of Oxford conducted a study recently in collaboration with a handful of other UK research centers all supported by the UK Coronavirus
    trialsitenews.com


    The University of Oxford conducted a study recently in collaboration with a handful of other UK research centers all supported by the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium leading to what very well could be one of the most compelling immune response studies to date centering on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The study team found that if the duration between the first and second jab is delayed—leading to a longer gap between doses—that the corresponding antibody and T cell immune responses grow stronger in effect.


    The Study

    Known as the Protective Immunity from T Cells to COVID-19 in Health Workers study (PITCH), the study team, which also included the Universities of Birmingham, Newcastle, Liverpool, and Sheffield, and was supported by the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, found T cell levels are well-maintained and antibody levels are higher following a longer interval between the first and second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, even if there is a drop in antibody levels between doses.


    The University of Birmingham issued a press release declaring that importantly, studies from around the world reveal that both the short and long dosing schedules lead to strong real-world protection against COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of having a second dose of the vaccine. TrialSite suggested, however, that when reviewing the first dose, sufficient time should be given for that dose alone to consider levels of T cells and antibodies.


    The PITCH study investigated the extent to which antibody and T cell levels change over time following either a short (3-4 weeks, average 24 days) or long (6-14 weeks, average 70 days) interval between the first and second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Of the 503 healthcare workers recruited to the study, 223 (44%) previously had COVID-19.


    Key Findings

    For the longer dosing interval, antibody levels fell noticeably between the first and second dose when tested in the lab. In particular, neutralizing antibody levels against the Delta variant were poorly induced after a single dose, and not maintained during the interval before the second dose. T cells were well-maintained between the first and second dose.

    Following two vaccine doses, neutralizing antibody levels were twice as high after the longer dosing interval compared with the shorter dosing interval.

    After two doses, overall T cell levels were 1.6 times lower after the long compared with the short dosing schedule. However, after the longer dosing interval, a higher proportion of T cells present were ‘helper’ T cells, which are important for long-term immune memory and helping generate antibodies to prevent infection.

    The longer dosing interval resulted in higher neutralizing antibody levels, after the second dose, against the Delta variant and all other Variants of Concern tested.

    Lead Research/Investigators

    The lead investigators from the participating centers can be viewed here.


    Call to Action: See the study results uploaded to preprint server. This study hasn’t been peer reviewed yet.

    Quote from Fm1

    the trial site Editorial board is made up of practicing licensed physicians and researchers, and your credentials?

    My credentials: 1st degree and PhD. Enough research papers for me to know how to write them - plus getting students to write them. It means you learn how to read them. Talking (I enjoy it) to a very wide range of scientists about stuff. I am a bit of a non-specialist - I am interested in a lot of different things, and like learning. I don't claim to be a specialist in anything. I claim I can appraise other people's work.


    More important than that - I came to this whole vaccine / drug for COVID thing without prejudices. I don't assume vaccines are safe or effective. nor do I have a built-in political need to stop vaccines being used. I am really vry neutral over lockdowns - I can see that they theoretically might cost more than the lives they save - in the long term. I can also see that in a free country crashing the health system is not possible if preventable , and anyway will lead to am effective lockdown where everyone is afraid to go out. No-one thought, at the start of COVID, that lockdowns were possible. With R of 2.7 they worked. Now however delta, and R = 8, lock-downs do not work unless you have significant immunity whether from vaccine or prior infection.


    I went through the TSN op-ed credentials before. Basically, there is Brown - one PhD - who is highly biassed, and has proven wrong in early outlying arguments about IFR.

    Kory is an ultrasound doctor - not a research scientist - and is enmeshed in politics and so biassed (FLCC) he has been sacked twice. I am happy for him to be a true expert in Medical Ultrasound. When experts go outside their own field and have pet ideas it is problematic.

    No-one else has science or medical experience. Yim, Kirsch, Pfeiffer are not engaged in research.


    Details below


    Steve Kirsch - tech entrepeneur (not a scientist)


    Ron Brown (PhD) - he has published, and should in theory know how to do a LS outside of his field. But his publications about COVID have been outliers and extraordinarily inacurate: like his early paper when he suggested that COVID IFR was similar to Flu. He has shown consistently bad judgement. Here is his anti-vax-typical argument that COVID mortality is low. The problem is - he correctly notes than in a comparison with Flu others have confused IFR with CFR. He then (incorrectly) compares CFRs to obtain an estimated IFR for COVID that is much too low. His argument is now known broken since true IFR for COVID is well established from multiple sources and is not dissimilar from those early estimates.

    From Brown's paper:


    In NIAID testimony before the House Oversight and Reform
    Committee Hearing on Coronavirus response, Day 1,3
    the Committee learned that mortality from seasonal influenza is 0.1%. Additionally, it was reported to Congress that
    the overall coronavirus mortality of approximately 2-3%
    had been reduced to 1% to take into account infected people
    who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. The adjusted
    mortality rate from coronavirus of 1% was then compared with
    the 0.1% mortality rate from seasonal influenza, and the conclusion was reported to the House Committee that the coronavirus
    was 10-times more lethal than seasonal influenza.

    A comparison of coronavirus and seasonal influenza
    CFRs may have been intended during Congressional testimony, but due to misclassifying an IFR as a CFR, the comparison turned out to be between an adjusted coronavirus CFR
    of 1% and an influenza IFR of 0.1%. Had the adjusted coronavirus
    mortality rate not been lowered from 3% to 1%, fatality comparisons of the coronavirus to the IFR of seasonal influenza would
    have increased from 10-times higher to 20- to 30-times higher.
    By then, epidemiologists might have been alerted to the possibility
    of a miscalculation in such an alarming estimation.

    By then, relative to the 2017-2018 influenza, it was clear that the coronavirus mortality total for the season would be nowhere near
    800,000 deaths inferred from the 10-fold mortality overestimation reported to Congress. Even after adjusting for the effect
    of successful mitigation measures that may have slowed down
    the rate of coronavirus transmission, it seems unlikely that so
    many deaths were completely eliminated by a nonpharmaceutical intervention such as social distancing, which was only
    intended to contain infection transmission, not suppress infections and related fatalities.31 Also in early May, 2020, a New
    York State survey of 1269 COVID-19 patients recently
    admitted to 113 hospitals found that most of the patients
    had been following shelter-in-place orders for 6 wk, which
    raised state officials’ suspicions about social distancing
    effectiveness.32 Still, polls showed the public credited social
    distancing and other mitigation measures for reducing predicted COVID-19 deaths, and for keeping people safe from
    the coronavirus.33,34


    The (adjusted) IFR given to Congress was not 10X in error, but 30% too high (1% instead of 0.66%). I agree that in the comparison with Flu they confused CFR and IFR - but the difference is still 6X. But it is worse than that. Flu is a deadly disease when a completely new strain emerges for which there is no immunity - the case for COVID. CV is 6X worse than that. Ron Brown is just either not thinking, or has a mind so narrowly focussed on one argument (his correct identiifcantion of IFR vs CFR confusion) he neglects the context and the other relevant points. He cites:


    A revised version of a non–peer-reviewed study on COVID-19
    antibody seroprevalence in Santa Clara County, California,
    found that infections were many times more prevalent
    than confirmed cases.54 A


    You will remember that study. it suffered strong sampling bias and gave unexpected very low IFRs - and was found wrong based on the many other surveys done. This was obvious even at the time, where the likely sampling bias was known.


    Basically - Brown has the following biasses that cause him to interpret facts selectively and ignore contrary information:

    • Lockdowns do not help
    • Early-treatment drugs are the best way to deal with COVID
    • COVID IFR is much lower than claimed.

    Many people share this - but it is basically wish-fullfillment. They start from a correct understanding of the terrible cost of lockdowns. They then argue incorrectly (and with wishful thinking) that the scientific evidence that leads to them is wrong.


    Peter J Yim (PhD) Computer Scientist


    May Beth Pfeiffer - Investigative Journalist


    Pierre Kory MD (FLCC ivermectin fanatic - not exactly unbiassed)

    Kory first practised in Madison, Wisconsin at UW Health, which is the academic medical center at the University of Wisconsin. He served there as the medical director for the Trauma and Life Support Center, in the outpatient pulmonary medicine clinic, where he performed bronchoscopic and pleural procedures.[2]

    Kory is an expert in critical care ultrasonography. In 2015, along with his two co-editors, Kory won the British Medical Association’s 2015 President’s Choice award in medical textbooks for their work on Point of Care Ultrasound.[2]

    Kory was the critical care service chief at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in May 2020.[3]

    In May 2020, Kory resigned from UW Health after his public participation as a guest of Senator Ron Johnson at a hearing in which he called for use of steroids in COVID-19 patients.[3][4]

    Kory then joined Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After his participation in a 8 December 2020 meeting[5] of the Senate Homeland Security Committee in which he expounded the benefits of ivermectin for COVID-19,[6][1] he resigned from Aurora St Luke's, telling a reporter the hospital wanted to limit his freedom to speak.[4]

    Quote from RobertBryant

    I doubt if Dr Fauci has treated a patient since 1968..

    An interesting point. I would not want Fauci as my family physician.


    Equally - I would not want my family physician to review the hot off the press research and decide on what is the best current treatment for COVID, or what is the exact risk balance between COVID and vaccines.


    They do not have time - they are busy being doctors. They do not have the correct skills - being a good family doctors is a very different skill-set from being a research scientist.


    Anyway - Fauci is not deciding these things either - it is specialist panels that do that.

    Quote from ZenoOfElea

    Half of the truth, there are many examples in the news of young, healthy people who have died from Covid

    Much fewer than from flu! Did you ever see young flu deaths in the news ?? Only 3% of all CoV-19 deaths are younger than 65...Most of them with severe preconditions and as sections did show most were not aware of them. Just an other failure of medicine...

    Quote from THHuxleynew

    It is true that the overall mortality risk for people contracting COVID ages 20 -39 is low (from that same paper) a CFR of 0.6%

    This is not serious data. May be counting in all chemo deaths and neglecting all silent cases. Anyway the only serious data you get from IFR. CFR can be manipulated all the way...

    Quote from THHuxleynew

    he RNA vaccines are newish technology - 20 years from first prototype, 10 years from first wide use.

    THH-Huxxly crap Alert! there never was any wide human use of RNA vaccines before CoV-19...

    Quote from THHuxleynew

    Adult seropositivity is 92% (nearly all of that is vaccination, but some is natural immunity).

    Oh yes UK has 90% vaccination rate. I guess they use Beer?!

    Quote from Fm1

    The longer dosing interval resulted in higher neutralizing antibody levels, after the second dose, against the Delta variant and all other Variants of Concern tested.

    This is just a QED (quick and dirty) fix for a crappy vaccine. Unluckily with this tactics the T-Cell memory degrades the only real immune weapon. Using a larger interval is a banker - short time gain - decision.

    Covid: Fauci says US heading in wrong direction as cases rise
    President Joe Biden's top medical adviser says cases are rising in areas with low vaccination rates.
    www.bbc.co.uk


    It is worse than it looks from this for the US. The UK currently does not (much) allow vaccination under 18, the US allows 12+. So the UK unvaccinated include a lot of children that could - if it were worthwhile - be vaccinated.


    The Uk has had reducing COVID cases for 5 days running now. It is pretty clear that is R < 1. Opinions vary as to why, and whether it will stay like that. Let us hope it does.



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