Censored Doctors Speak Truth

I read an article on Americanthinker.com a few days ago.  I started watching the video associated with it but didn't have time to finish so I saved it in my YouTube history to watch later.  Well, it has since been removed -- It has been banned by YouTube because it contains truth and doesn't conform with the communist WHO agenda -- and I cannot finish watching it.  :-(

But, luckily the article states a lot of the facts that these doctors were relaying in the press conference.  What they claim makes perfect sense and is very logical.  Unfortunately, when people tell the truth, the liberal media doesn't like it -- and squashes it.

These doctors are actually treating patients on the daily, unlike all the so called experts-- whose models and statistics are grossly inaccurate.

As someone who also has a background in medicine and biology, I agree with these doctors.  Too bad the Gestapo liberal media squashes truth and censored these doctors' by deleting their press conference video.  But, at least you can read the article and get the gist of what the press conference was about-- there is a lot of good information in the article.

That's my two cents.

Here is the article:

April 26, 2020

An ER Physician/Entrepreneur Perspective on the Wuhan Virus

By Trevor Thomas

In California recently, two emergency room doctors gave a powerful briefing on what’s going on when it comes to the Wuhan virus in their state, our nation, and the world over. The two doctors in the video are Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi. Dr. Erickson is a former emergency room (ER) physician who now co-owns Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield, CA. Dr. Massihi is his business partner. Bakersfield is the largest city and the county seat of Kern County, CA. Kern County has a population just over 900,000.

Dr. Erickson (YouTube screen grab)

The highlights from their briefing:

The Wuhan virus has caused “severe disruption” for their urgent care business. Because of the forced shutdown and the forced total focus on only Wuhan virus patients, their “volumes [of patients] have dropped significantly.” Confirming what Portland, OR nurse, Josie Alexander, boldly declared just one day prior to their briefing, Dr. Erickson also revealed that many California hospital ICUs “are empty, essentially.” Because of this, hospitals are “shutting down floors, they’re furloughing patients, they’re furloughing doctors.”

In certain places in California, the health system has been “evacuated” to the point that they are operating at a “minimal capacity -- getting rid of our doctors and nurses because we just don’t have the volume [of patients].”After talking to ER physicians around the country, “because COVID has become the focus” of our healthcare system, Dr. Erickson concludes that people with critical illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, hypertension, and the like, are not going to the doctor out of “fear.” Thanks to the media and many politicians across the U.S., we are dealing with an irrational and uninformed fear.

When it comes to the widespread “shelter in place” orders that permeate the U.S., Dr. Erickson points out that typically we are supposed to quarantine the sick, not the healthy. “We’ve never seen where we quarantine the healthy -- where you take those without disease, and without symptoms and lock them in your home.” This type of quarantine is not “really meshing with what we know as people of scientific minds that read this stuff every day.”

After testing 5,213 people for the Wuhan virus at their five Bakersfield locations -- which is over half of the 9,197 tests performed in Kern County -- 340 came back positive. That’s a positive rate of just over 6.5%. This indicates a “widespread viral infection” that is “similar to [the] flu.” Dr. Erickson believes these numbers are “ubiquitous” for California.

The overall numbers for the state of California -- those who tested positive divided by the overall number tested -- show that about 12% of Californians are positive for the Wuhan virus. If you apply this rate to the overall population of California, you get just over 4.7 million Californians with the Wuhan virus. At the time of this briefing, California had 1,227 Wuhan virus deaths. That means, currently in California, you have about a 0.026% chance of dying from the Wuhan virus. These numbers differ vastly from the “woefully inaccurate” (Dr. Erickson’s words) models that first predicted millions of Wuhan virus deaths across the U.S.

Dr. Erickson next asks the important questions that many politicians in the U.S. seem unwilling to consider as most of us remain in some form of shutdown: Do such numbers “necessitate sheltering in place?” Do such numbers “necessitate shutting down medical systems?” Do such numbers “necessitate people being out of work?” Of course, the answers to each of these questions should be a widespread and resounding “NO!”

Also note, as most anyone with a basic understanding of math would see, the more you test, the rate of positives (those with the Wuhan virus) goes up. With the number of deaths staying relatively the same, the death rate then gets smaller and smaller. As Dr. Erickson repeatedly put it, “millions of cases, small amount of death.” This is playing out in every state in the U.S. -- including the worst hit states such as New York. Also, it is well worth noting that across the U.S., the recovery rate for those actually contracting the Wuhan virus is well over 90% -- much closer to 100% than 90% in most parts of the U.S.

When looking at the U.S. as a whole, with over four million Wuhan virus tests, we see a 19.6% positive rate. Again notice, more testing indicates a higher rate of Wuhan virus infection. If you apply 19.6% to the total population of the U.S. (~328 million) you get over 64 million infected. Per CDC numbers, that potential number of Wuhan virus infections is similar to what we’ve seen with the flu recently in the U.S. Likewise, the total number of Wuhan virus deaths is similar to what we’ve seen in recent bad flu seasons.

Dr. Erickson highlights the 2017-2018 flu season, where “50 to 60 million” Americans had the flu, with 43,545 flu deaths. (There are multiple reports that put the deaths from the 2017-2018 flu season at 80,000 Americans.) Again, these numbers compare very well with what we are seeing with the Wuhan virus. Yet, during the deadly flu season of 2017-2018, there was “no pandemic talk, no shelter in place, no shutting down of businesses, and no sending doctors home.”

“The flu’s dangerous, it kills people,” declares Dr. Erickson, and that’s with a vaccine. Yet, just because you have a vaccine -- because only about half of Americans even get the flu vaccine -- there are no guarantees when it comes to controlling the spread of, preventing death from, or that the vaccine will even be effective against the flu or a flu-like virus. So, unless we come up with a highly effective vaccine for the Wuhan virus, and unless we’re willing to force it upon people, as we see with the flu there are few guarantees when it comes to a vaccine. 

Dr. Erickson is Norwegian, thus he compares Norway, which essentially shut down, to Sweden, which did not. These are neighboring Scandinavian nations, with significantly different approaches to battling the Wuhan virus. The difference in results for both nations were “statistically insignificant” and again showed “millions of cases with small amount of death.”

Though Norway’s numbers were slightly better than Sweden’s, Dr. Erickson again asks the important question: Do Norway’s slightly better numbers justify “shutdown, loss of jobs, destruction of the oil [companies], furloughing of doctors?”

We then hear how the healthcare community’s almost complete focus on the Wuhan virus has led to a myriad of other negative health outcomes across the U.S. After hearing from the doctors in his clinics and ER doctors across America, Dr. Erickson concludes that the weeks-long isolation we’ve been in has led to a “severe” increase in child molestation, along with increases in spousal abuse, alcoholism, anxiety, depression, and suicide.

Having made it their “life’s work” to understand immunology, microbiology, biochemistry, and virology, Dr. Erickson and Dr. Massihi conclude that all of our sheltering in place, excessive hand washing, not touching our faces, wearing of masks, wearing of gloves, disinfecting our homes, and so on, has robbed our bodies of their natural ability to develop immunities. In other words, by staying home for extended periods of time, we are weakening our immune systems. The longer we do it, the worse it gets.

There’s much more. The briefing is just over 50 minutes and is well worth your time. To sum up, we’re reacting to a virus in a way that we’ve never before reacted, with disastrous consequences -- economically and otherwise. We’re in a hole, and it’s time to stop digging. It’s time to get out, go to church, go to work, go to school, go play, and get on with our lives!

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!

That evil governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, recently said that there is nothing worse than death. He said, "The illness's death.  What is worse than death?" Actually, Governor Cuomo, there are a lot of things worse than death.  Loss of liberty and freedom for one!

The patriot, Patrick Henry, said it best in 1775, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!"  I'm confident in saying that most patriotic Americans would agree.

Back in 1952, during a BYU devotional, as a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, Elder Ezra Taft Benson echoed Patrick Henry's sentiment, "I'd rather be dead than lose my liberty."



This land has been consecrated as a land of liberty from the beginning.  The Book of Mormon is full of evidence that even the ancient Americans valued their liberties and freedoms.

The prophet Lehi was commanded to leave Jerusalem with his family and sail to the Americas.  His son, Nephi, built a boat and they sailed across the seas to the promised land in 600 BC.  The following Scripture is Lehi prophesying that America is a land consecrated as a land of liberty.

2 Nephi 1:7 (About 588-570 BC)

7 Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.

This next Scripture is Lehi's son Jacob, also prophesying that this promised land that they are now living in, America, is a land of liberty, unto the Gentiles (us), where there shall be no kings.

2 Nephi 10:11 (About 559-544 BC)

11 And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles.

Nearly 500 years later, the righteous king Mosiah was highly esteemed by the people because they establish peace in the land and granted the people their liberty.

Mosiah 29:32, 39-40 (About 92-91 BC)

32 And now I desire that this inequality should be no more in this land, especially among this my people; but I desire that this land be a land of liberty, and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lord sees fit that we may live and inherit the land, yea, even as long as any of our posterity remains upon the face of the land.

39 Therefore, it came to pass that they assembled themselves together in bodies throughout the land, to cast in their voices concerning who should be their judges, to judge them according to the claw which had been given them; and they were exceedingly rejoiced because of the liberty which had been granted unto them.

40 And they did wax strong in love towards Mosiah; yea, they did esteem him more than any other man; for they did not look upon him as a tyrant who was seeking for gain, yea, for that lucre which doth corrupt the soul; for he had not exacted riches of them, neither had he delighted in the shedding of blood; but he had established peace in the land, and he had granted unto his people that they should be delivered from all manner of bondage; therefore they did esteem him, yea, exceedingly, beyond measure.

Mosiah was not a tyrant -- like many of our governors are now.  Mosiah was not seeking for power or money.  He actually wanted what was best for his people. And that was liberty and equality for all.  Our politicians now could sure use a few lessons from Mosiah.

Now we have a wicked man named Amalickiah, who wanted to be King and destroy the church of God by destroying the God-given liberties of the people.  Many people were deceived by his flattering talk and cunning ways.  Just replace Amalickiah with any Liberal/Democrat politician and it accurately describes what we're going through in our day right now.

Luckily, for the Nephites, there was a righteous man named Captain Moroni willing to defend their liberties, peace, freedom, religion, God, and families.

Alma 46:10, 12-13, 17, 24, 28 (About 73-72 BC)

10 Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake.

12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land.

16 And therefore, at this time, Moroni prayed that the cause of the Christians, and the freedom of the land might be favored.

17 And it came to pass that when he had poured out his soul to God, he named all the land which was south of the land Desolation, yea, and in fine, all the land, both on the north and on the south—A chosen land, and the land of liberty.

28 And now it came to pass that when Moroni had said these words he went forth, and also sent forth in all the parts of the land where there were dissensions, and gathered together all the people who were desirous to maintain their liberty, to stand against Amalickiah and those who had dissented, who were called Amalickiahites.

The Book of Alma gives many accounts of people fighting for their liberties.  In fact they are called the war years of the Book of Mormon. I have often wondered why The Book of Mormon contains so much war and violence.  I wondered why it was so important for us to have that history.  Well, now I understand.  Because we are facing the same thing that the righteous Nephites faced, with our liberties being taken from us.

Another interesting thing I've noticed is that the Nephite dissenters -- righteous church members who leave the church and turn away from God -- always turn evil and want to take liberties from their brethren.  Much like today's apostates.  They always lose their common sense and turn liberal thereby fighting to suppress our freedoms. God and freedom of religion have been under attack for some time now.  But with this new pandemic, our liberties and freedoms have been taken away suddenly in a matter of weeks.  It is now like we are living in communist China or the old Soviet Union.

I guess we need to take a few pages out of the Nephite's playbook.

This account is when the Nephite dissenters join with the evil Lamanites in trying to destroy their righteous brethern and take away their liberties.

Alma 43:9, 26, 30, 45, 48-49 (About 74 BC)

9 And now the design of the Nephites was to support their lands, and their houses, and their wives, and their children, that they might preserve them from the hands of their enemies; and also that they might preserve their rights and their privileges, yea, and also their liberty, that they might worship God according to their desires.

26 And he caused that all the people in that quarter of the land should gather themselves together to battle against the Lamanites, to defend their lands and their country, their rights and their liberties; therefore they were prepared against the time of the coming of the Lamanites.

29 And now, as Moroni knew the intention of the Lamanites, that it was their intention to destroy their brethren, or to subject them and bring them into bondage that they might establish a kingdom unto themselves over all the land;

30 And he also knowing that it was the only desire of the Nephites to preserve their lands, and their liberty, and their church, therefore he thought it no sin that he should defend them by stratagem; therefore, he found by his spies which course the Lamanites were to take.

45 Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.

47 And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.

48 And it came to pass that when the men of Moroni saw the fierceness and the anger of the Lamanites, they were about to shrink and flee from them. And Moroni, perceiving their intent, sent forth and inspired their hearts with these thoughts—yea, the thoughts of their lands, their liberty, yea, their freedom from bondage.

49 And it came to pass that they turned upon the Lamanites, and they cried with one voice unto the Lord their God, for their liberty and their freedom from bondage.

Captain Moroni was a big strong dude.  He was a defender of liberty and truth.  He was a righteous man.  He did not delight in bloodshed.  He wasn't power-hungry like Amalickiah (akin to our Liberals/Democrats) who use fraud and deceit to obtain power.

Captain Moroni just wanted liberty and freedom for his country and brethren/people.  Unfortunately, sometimes you have to fight to keep your liberties and freedoms.  Many people have died in history -- not only in the United States of America but also in ancient America -- defending their liberties, freedoms, rights, God, and families.

Alma 48:10-13 (About 72 BC)

7 Now it came to pass that while Amalickiah had thus been obtaining power by fraud and deceit, Moroni, on the other hand, had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God.

10 And thus he was preparing to support their liberty, their lands, their wives, and their children, and their peace, and that they might live unto the Lord their God, and that they might maintain that which was called by their enemies the cause of Christians.

11 And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery;

12 Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people.

13 Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.

The sons of the people of Ammon also fought for their liberty.

Alma 58:12 (About 63-62 BC)

12 And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, and to maintain our lands, and our possessions, and our wives, and our children, and the cause of our liberty.

Pahoran -- a righteous chief governor -- was facing a rebellion from those who have been deceived by flattery.  Sound familiar?  Nobody in their right mind would follow liberalism because it goes against truth and God's laws.  But so many people are deceived by the flattering words of the cunning leaders of liberalism.

Once again, the righteous governor, is not seeking from power.  All he wants is to preserve the rights and liberty of his people.

Alma 61:9, 14, 21 (About 62 BC)

2 I, Pahoran, who am the chief governor of this land, do send these words unto Moroni, the chief captain over the army. Behold, I say unto you, Moroni, that I do not joy in your great afflictions, yea, it grieves my soul.

3 But behold, there are those who do joy in your afflictions, yea, insomuch that they have risen up in rebellion against me, and also those of my people who are freemen, yea, and those who have risen up are exceedingly numerous.

4 And it is those who have sought to take away the judgment-seat from me that have been the cause of this great iniquity; for they have used great flattery, and they have bled away the hearts of many people, which will be the cause of sore affliction among us; they have withheld our provisions, and have daunted our freemen that they have not come unto you.

9 And now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it mattereth not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart. I, Pahoran, do not seek for power, save only to retain my judgment-seat that I may preserve the rights and the liberty of my people. My soul standeth fast in that liberty in the which God hath made us free.

14 Therefore, my beloved brother, Moroni, let us resist evil, and whatsoever evil we cannot resist with our words, yea, such as rebellions and dissensions, let us resist them with our swords, that we may retain our freedom, that we may rejoice in the great privilege of our church, and in the cause of our Redeemer and our God.

21 See that ye strengthen Lehi and Teancum in the Lord; tell them to fear not, for God will deliver them, yea, and also all those who stand fast in that liberty wherewith God hath made them free. And now I close mine epistle to my beloved brother, Moroni.

There is so much more in The Book of Mormon regarding liberty and freedom.  This was only the first page of the search I did under keyword liberty.  There were at least five pages.  And that's just in The Book of Mormon.

This is how important God thinks that liberty and freedom are.  Agency is a central part of His plan of salvation.  This promised land in which we now live -- The United States Of America -- is consecrated to be free and a land of liberty.

I am very disturbed -- extremely disturbed -- at how easily our freedoms and liberties have been taken from us.  We are banned from going to church for good thunder!  People going surfing are being arrested.  People doing nails in their own home are being arrested.  People going to parks are being arrested. People just trying to live normal lives are being arrested. People can't even work to support their families.  Stores are now requiring people to wear masks, only walk in a certain direction, stay 6 feet apart, etc. Doctors who are treating actual patients and are telling the truth about COVID-19 are being censored.  Their YouTube video was removed because it doesn't corroborate with the Communist agenda of WHO. And there are many more disturbing examples.

It's insane!  Sheer lunacy!  Has everybody gone mad?

 So, in answer to Governor Cuomo's question, "What is worse than death?"  -- Which is hypocritical in and of itself because Governor Cuomo advocates killing babies not only in the womb but after they are born -- all liberals/democrats are a bunch of hypocrites.  But I digress -- to answer his question, the loss of liberty and freedom is much worse than death.  Just ask Patrick Henry, Ezra Taft Benson, or any patriotic American.

To borrow the some of lyrics from of all people, Twisted Sister.

Oh, we're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
Oh, we're not gonna take it anymore 

We've got the right to choose it
There ain't no way we'll lose it
This is our life, this is our song

We'll fight the powers that be, just
Don't pick our destiny 'cause
You don't know us, you don't belong 

Oh, we're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
Oh, we're not gonna take it anymore

Oh, you're so condescending
Your gall is never ending
We don't want nothin', not a thing from you

Your life is trite and jaded
Boring and confiscated
If that's your best, your best won't do 

No way

We're right (yeah)
We're free (yeah)
We'll fight (yeah)
You'll see (yeah) 

We're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
We're not gonna take it anymore

I, for one, have had a gut full of the government tyranny in using this COVID-19 pandemic to suppress and take away our freedoms.  Slowly but surely the government creates more and more regulations, laws, rules that take away our liberty.  But what has happened in the last month or two is ridiculous. Suddenly, ALL our freedoms have been squashed and taken away from us.  This is not right!  This is tyranny.  This is communism.  This is evil!

"Give me liberty or give me death!"

That's my two cents.

Hear Him

The prophet has been emphasizing to us recently that we need to increase our spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation.  It is obviously something that is important for us to do in order to survive spiritually in these troubled last days.

"We also hear Him more clearly as we refine our ability to recognize the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. It has never been more imperative to know how the Spirit speaks to you than right now. In the Godhead, the Holy Ghost is the messenger. He will bring thoughts to your mind which the Father and Son want you to receive. He is the Comforter. He will bring a feeling of peace to your heart. He testifies of truth and will confirm what is true as you hear and read the word of the Lord. 

"I renew my plea for you to do whatever it takes to increase your spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation. 

"Doing so will help you know how to move ahead with your life, what to do during times of crisis, and how to discern and avoid the temptations and the deceptions of the adversary."  -- President Russell M. Nelson, "Hear Him", April 2020 General Conference

I love the promise in the last paragraph.  That we will know what to do in times of crisis.  And that we will be able to discern and avoid the temptations and the deceptions of Satan.  That's a pretty powerful promise, if we heed the Prophet's admonition.  "It has never been more imperative to know how the Spirit speaks you than right now."

Let us all heed President Nelson's counsel and do whatever it takes to increase our spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation.

That's my two cents.

COVID-19 Epidemiology in Washington State

 Out of curiosity, I wanted to look at the epidemiology records of COVID-19 in Washington.  Granted, the numbers are skewed.  We know there are a lot more cases than are being reported.  Either because they are mild or asymptomatic or just haven't been tested.  But, nonetheless I still see the classic bell curve.  I will mention a little bit about what I see on each graph.

This graph represents the number of confirmed cases in Washington State as of April 23. We have obviously reached the peak and are near the tail end.  The exact dates are not listed but it looks to have peaked some time in mid to late March or early April.

This graph represents the number of deaths in Washington State attributed to COVID-19.  Again, we have obviously peaked and are at the tail end of this pandemic here in Washington.

This graph represents confirmed cases by sex and age.  It looks pretty evenly distributed to me except in the 0 to 19 age group.  Which is underrepresented.  Basically proving that kids are not as affected by this coronavirus as older people are.

I'm guessing that the males are slightly underrepresented because they are less likely to seek treatment for illness.

This graph represents the number of deaths by sex and age.

To me, this graph is most interesting.  Even though males have fewer confirmed cases, they have more deaths.  But the biggest thing that jumps out at me is the number of deaths in the 0 to 19-year-old age group.  Zero! And the under 40 age group represents only 1% of COVID-19 deaths. And even the under 60 age group only represents 9% of deaths from this virus.

This is astonishing to me.  Knowing the predilection of this virus to sicken and kill old people (91% of deaths in Washington State are in people over age 60).  Why in the world are we shutting the state and country down and ruining the economy and severely disrupting peoples lives when the working-class and school-aged people rarely die from this virus?  And I guarantee those 9% in the 20 to 59 age group have comorbidities that contributed to or caused their death.

This is insane!

There is absolutely no reason that people cannot be working and going to school.

This graph represents the hospitalizations of people in Washington state with COVID-19 like illness.  This isn't even a representation of actual confirmed cases who were hospitalized.

So, anyone with a flu or cold or any respiratory symptoms who are hospitalized are included on this graph.

Nonetheless, hospitalizations peaked in mid to late March.  And once again we are at the tail end of the  bell curve.

This graph represents total numbers of confirmed cases by County.  I included this to show that basically all cases in Washington State are in three or four counties. Snohomish, King, Pierce by far represent the vast majority of cases in Washington.

 

This graph represents total number of deaths by County.  Only Snohomish and King counties have more than 80 deaths.  The majority of counties have less than 20 and many have zero.

The percent of deaths they have listed as 5.6%.  But I can guarantee you that is erroneous and vastly inflated.  I'm sure that number will change when it is realized that there are vastly more than 12,977 people who have had the virus.  Studies in California by Stanford and UCLA and even New York now is figuring out that many people have the antibody but never knew they had the virus.

I remember the Stanford numbers.  50-85 times more people infected than they thought.  Who now carry antibodies.  So the actual mortality rate is closer to .1%.  That means that 99.9% of people recover from this virus.

This entire tyrannical lockdown of our country is and was completely unnecessary.  There was absolutely no reason to shut down schools.  Kids are not susceptible to this virus.  There was absolutely no reason to shut down businesses and tell people they can't work. And what's even crazier is that they are still keeping everybody under lockdown, knowing the statistics!

Protect the old and vulnerable.  Which most of them don't go out much anyway.  But let people work and go to school.  This is sheer lunacy!

And the stinking liberal democrats are still saying it's too early to open the country up and get back to business.  Their true colors are showing through.  This is and always has been a political ploy to destroy the economy and President Trump.

Even the skewed numbers of liberal Washington State prove that this pandemic is waning and is at the tail end.

The whole reason to shut down the state and country was to "flatten the curve" so as not to overwhelm hospitals.  Well the curve is nearly nonexistent now.  Hospitals did not even get close to being overrun -- in fact just the opposite. They have lost tons of business.  A couple of days ago I got an e-mail from MultiCare informing me that their emergency rooms are still open.  Basically begging for business.  Ironically, hospitals are hurting for business.  And even more so are those who are considered "nonessential" who have been shut down for over a month.

For heaven's sake -- let everyone have their normal lives and freedoms back.

Obviously Idiot Inslee has these numbers and graphs.  I got them from the State government website.  So what is he waiting for?  To completely destroy and devastate the state economy and the lives of all Washingtonians?  

Lift all restrictions now!  

That's my two cents.  

Bad Dudes

The Chinese government are bad dudes.  They are communists. Xi Jinping is a bad dude.  He is a dictator.  I don't know what Xi Jinping's official title is but he is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and is most certainly a dictator/tyrant.  Communism isn't the bed of roses that Bernie Sanders and AOC want you to believe that it is.  Just ask any Cuban refugee or anyone who lived through Soviet communism.  Anyone who has lived in Communism will tell you how bad it is.

I'm not going to say that this SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus -- which causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease -- was released intentionally by the ChiComs (as Rush Limbaugh likes to call the CCP), but it is certainly within the realm of their capabilities to do so.

We do know now that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus-- which is responsible for our current pandemic -- escaped from the Level 4 BIO LAB in Wuhan China. Level 4 requiring the highest precautionary efforts because they deal with the most deadly pathogens. Here is some evidence: (As I was looking up the French guy's name, I decide to include the information I came across -- which I didn't initially intend on including -- therefore there may be some redundancy.  Sorry.)

"French virologist and medicine Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier sparked controversy Sunday when he claimed that the virus – officially called SARS-CoV-2 – was not only man-made but is the result of a Chinese attempt to produce a vaccine against AIDS.

"Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions known since 1981. With no known vaccine or cure, it is considered an ongoing global pandemic.

"According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, as of 2018, there were approximately 37.9 million people across the globe with HIV/AIDS. Of these, 36.2 million were adults and 1.7 million were children under the age of 15. About 1.7 million individuals worldwide became infected with HIV every year.

"According to the Times of India, in an interview with French media, Montagnier alleged that the current global pandemic was the result of an "industrial accident"  that took place in the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, which specializes in dealing with coronaviruses.

"The term "coronavirus" represents a group of related viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. The condition caused by the current pandemic has been dubbed COVID-19, simply standing for "coronavirus disease 2019." -- Coronavirus created in an attempt to find AIDS vaccine, Nobel laureate claims, by Yori Yalon , Israel Hayom Staff  Published on  04-20-2020

Here is another article which may be a bit redundant but perhaps more complete:

"French virologist and Nobel Prize winner, Luc Montagnier created a scientific firestorm when he announced during an interview on CNEWS that the coronavirus virus (SARS-CoV-2) was manufactured and leaked from a Wuhan lab in China with HIV (AIDS) DNA.

"Montagnier stressed that his job as a scientist is not to assign motive: “My job is to present the facts, I do not blame anyone, I don’t know who did this and why,” the scientist said.

"Montagnier was the 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the identification of the virus responsible for AIDS. Montagnier proclaimed he is one hundred percent certain the virus was designed by molecular biologists.

"According to Montagnier, the coronavirus was said to have grown in the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory . “The Wuhan city laboratory has specialized in these coronaviruses since the early 2000s,” he claimed. “They have expertise in this area.”

"According to Asia Times, as part of a 2004 cooperative agreement on the prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases, this coronavirus-creating Wuhan lab was designed and constructed with French assistance. The construction of the lab was not completed until the end of 2014.

"The Wuhan lab was China’s first biosafety Level IV lab. In 2018, the US state department had warned about “serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory”.

"Other high profile scientists have reached the same conclusions as Montagnier. An Indian lab confirmed in February 2020 that the coronavirus had at least four protein inserts from HIV that were bio-engineered. After facing backlash for their findings the famous Indian research group was forced to retract their scientific findings. Montagnier explained, “I’m aged out. I’m a Nobel Prize winner and I can work freely. So there’s no pressure on me to do anything.”  --NOBEL PRIZE WINNING SCIENTIST: CORONAVIRUS WAS LEAKED FROM A CHINESE LABORATORY AND HAS HIV DNA, Posted by Amy Mek,  April 19, 2020

I know there's a lot of redundancy.  I already had most of my blog post written when I decide to add evidence and references.  But my point is that we know the virus was created in the lab in Wuhan China. These articles hint that the leak was accidental.  Which, at this point, is cautiously plausible.

The virus could have inadvertently escaped from the Wuhan lab due to carelessness and/or inadequate precautions.  Or it could have been released deliberately.  The jury is still out on that I guess.  But, however the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was released, we do know that the Chinese government (CCP) covered it up.  Thereby allowing it to spread throughout the world, causing our current pandemic.

If there's one thing everyone should know about the Chinese government and their communist leader/dictator --Xi Jinping -- is that they are bad dudes.  They don't care about human life.  They don't care about their own people, let alone others in the world.  All they care about is power and control.

I mentioned before that Joe Kenda and I don't believe in coincidences.  So it is with a skeptical eye that I mention our recent trade deal with China.  For decades China has been walking all over the United States of America -- economically.  President Trump recently put an end to this -- or at least has started to put an end to this unfairness -- by recently signing a trade deal with China.  I don't know the details but I do know that China has agreed to buy $200 billion worth of US goods over the next two years as part of the trade deal.

This will boost the US economy and China doesn't like that.  China wants control and power over the United States economy.  Right now we do rely on China for many things including pharmaceuticals and healthcare supplies.  This has to stop.  Trump knows this.

So is it a coincidence that a virus was released from a level IV BIO LAB in Wuhan China that has crippled not only the US economy but the world economy in just a few short weeks?  I don't know.  Seems kind of fishy to me.

Thankfully this SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from Wuhan, China is not the monster pathogen that it is being portrayed as by the liberal media.  It is proving to be similar to seasonal flu in its virulence and mortality rate.

But it certainly is a monster to the economy.  It has killed The United States economy faster than anything else could have.  Perhaps this is just a trial run by Xi Jinping and the CCP.  Next time it will be the real deal -- a deadly, extremely virulent, devastating virus or pathogen of some kind.  That not only kills the economy, but also kills millions of people.  This SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic is a warning of what the Chinese Communist Party and government can do.

Be ye hereby warned.  Beware of the Chinese Communist Party, The Chinese government and Dictator Xi Jinping.  They are bad dudes.

That's my two cents.

What Are You In For?

Lisa showed this to me. I asked her to send it to me so I could post it on my blog.

Yeah, it's pretty pathetic when you can get arrested for going to church -- staying in your car listening to services over the radio.  But you can go shopping in crowded stores to buy "essentials".

And if you want to murder your innocent unborn child -- don't fret, abortions are "essential".  But if you need elective surgery to improve your quality of life, you're out of luck, elective surgeries are not essential.

Makes perfect sense -- to deranged liberals.

That's my two cents.

Nonsense

I know I sound like a broken record about this whole Wuhan coronavirus garbage.  The more data that's coming out -- the more it is evident that this tyrannical lockdown was and is unnecessary.

And the damage being done is far worse -- much much worse -- than any possible good that this ridiculous social distancing, stay at home, wear a mask nonsense is doing.  Let me give you a few examples.

I read an article a few days ago written by a cardiologist in New York.  Sorry I don't have the reference.  I'll paraphrase what I remember.  Basically, this cardiologist said he was worried because visits to the ER have dropped dramatically since this media induced panic started.  And it's not only in New York.  Many hospitals across the country are struggling for lack of patients.  Hospitals are businesses and patients are their clients.  One physician assistant said she was laid off because they are not doing any elective procedures -- or surgeries -- therefore her services are no longer needed right now.

People with heart attacks, angina, appendicitis, or any number of ailments for which you would normally go to the ER -- are choosing to stay home and tough it out.  The article stated it was because they are scared of catching the virus at the hospital.  But I think it has more to do with not being able to have family around to support you.  This is precisely why we didn't take my mom to the ER last week when normally we would have.  Because she would have been alone.  No one is allowed to visit hospital patients.  And we figured, if she's going to die, it's better to die at home with family around than in a hospital all alone.

So many people are not getting the medical care they need because it is not "essential".  And who decides what is essential and not?  A tyrant!  My mom had a procedure scheduled for March 24 for which she had already taken a course of expensive antibiotics in preparation for the procedure.  It was canceled two days before the scheduled appointment.  They told her to finish the antibiotics and she'll have to start a new (expensive) course of antibiotics when they reschedule the procedure.  I personally don't think this is an elective procedure.  It is a very important procedure needed to improve her quality of life.  And even save her life.  Now she has to go once a week to the cancer center to receive treatment until she can receive the procedure she needs.  Which is ridiculous because now she's being exposed every week to dreaded illnesses that are floating around cancer stricken immunocompromised patients.  Makes no sense at all.  Yet this is going on everywhere in the country!  Even I had a referral from a specialist for a procedure to be done in the hospital.  That was pushed back until June tentatively and may be pushed back again.

This is absolute insanity.  So many people are suffering from lack of medical care of because of some stupid politically induced panic.

Stanford University did a study of people in Santa Clara County, California (where the 49ers play).  They actually tested antibodies to the Wuhan virus (COVID-19).  They are reporting slightly under 1000 cases.  But according to Stanford University research, the prevalence rate for those carrying the antibodies to the Wuhan Coronavirus are 50 to 85 times higher than is being reported.  48,000 to 81,000 people-- Instead of under 1000.

Therefore the mortality rate is much lower than the reported 1% - 4%.  The mortality rate is now estimated to be 0.1% (which is on par with seasonal flu) down to 0.02%.  Of course you won't see mainstream media reporting this because the higher the mortality rate and more deaths that occur, the better for them and their sick, deranged power trip.

Our country and world have shut down.  Economies are plummeting.  Individuals and families are in economic ruin from being forced to stay home and not work.  People can't get necessary regular medical treatments.  People aren't seeking medical treatment because of fear -- either media induced or fear of being/dying alone.  As if that wasn't bad enough, our lives or been turned upside down by not being able to go to church, not being able to go shopping for "nonessentials", not being able to go to school, not being able to get closer than 6 feet to anybody.  Having to wear a mask everywhere you go.  And heaven forbid if you don't follow all of the communistic tyrannical "rules" that have just been imposed upon us -- then you are shunned and given the evil eye at the very least. Yelled at, cursed at, called selfish, fined, and even jailed at the worst. A poor elderly man was ripped off (physically removed from) a city bus by two cops for not wearing a mask! Everybody has turned into judgmental coronavirus police who are quick to point out what other people are doing wrong.

Well, guess what?  If you don't like it, stay home!  Self quarantine.  Aren't you being the selfish one for going out in public?  Yet you are judging others for doing the same thing. Well, guess what judgmental hypocrite, if you stay home and self quarantine, then you don't have to worry about being exposed to the deadly coronavirus, by all the "bad people" not following the rules.  Why don't you look at the beam in your own eye before ye go pointing out the mote in everyone else's eyes?   You live your life the way you see fit.  And let everyone else live their life the way they choose. And quit being judgmental hypocrites.

You would think we are living in Communist China or the Soviet Union.  This is how bad it's gotten.

The entire world has turned to communism/dictatorship.  I read that in the UK the police are checking shopping bags as you leave the grocery store.  If they deem what you bought as nonessential, snacks?,  they will issue you a hefty fine.

How stupid is that?  If you are already in the store -- you are exposed to microbes anyway -- what does it matter which items you purchase?  It's purely a power trip.  Communism at its best.

This lockdown, stay at home, malarkey does not reduce the spread of the virus when you allow people to go grocery shopping and go shopping at Wal-Mart, Target, Lowes, Etc.  Seriously, what's the point of quarantine when you don't actually quarantine anybody?  It's ridiculous. 

People can't even get a haircut for good thunder.  A hairdresser in Florida, I believe, had her license revoked for doing someone's hair.  Yet the mayor of Chicago can get her hair done because she has to look good because she is in the public eye.  Well guess what, all of you politician hypocrites?  You are no better than your constituents.  They want to look nice too.  As a matter of fact, you politicians are nothing but hypocritical swamp scum. And you still don't look good even after your illicit hairdressing appointment.

People can't get necessary medical treatment and dental care because it is "nonessential".  Yet women can still get abortions because apparently murdering innocent babies is essential.  They claim that women's health is so important, yet a needed gynecological procedure is postponed for months?  But if it was an abortion that was requested, they will get you right in.  That's a bunch of nonsense.  What kind of sick and depraved world do we live in?

I'm happy to see that many Americans are not taking it anymore and are protesting.  We are used to our freedoms, and cherish them.  Many people have fought for (including my dad) and died protecting our freedoms.  They are precious to us.  We live in the promised land.  The greatest country in the world. It is very sad to me how quickly everyone has given up their freedoms (by being bamboozled by the media).  Thankfully, Americans are starting to wake up and realize they've been hoodwinked. And now are beginning to demand their freedoms back.

By invitation from our Prophet, many of us fasted and prayed for life to return to normal.  It will happen.  The Lord will hear and listen to and bless His people.  This much I know.

I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.  Because many people are suffering tremendously because of this nonsense.

That's my two cents.

Dolly and Kenny

I just watched an interview where Dolly and Kenny interview each other.  There is a quote from each of them that I want to share with you.

They are both profound in their own way.

"A good friend will kill for you.  A true friend will help you hide the body."  -- Dolly Parton 

Dolly is always the quickwitted jokester. After Dolly said that, Kenny said "I'll help you hide the body."  It was funny.  Basically saying that he is Dolly's true friend.

Despite the macabre nature to the quote, there is a clever nugget of truth being taught.  True friends will stand by you and help you out in whatever you need, no matter what sacrifice it takes on their part.  This doesn't mean that they agree with or condone certain choices or behaviors but that they have unconditional love for you.

I think I should clarify that true friends will help you out in whatever you need as long as it is morally sound and not detrimental or harmful to you or others.  There is a moral line that has to be drawn but that's what makes the quote funny.

Thanks Dolly.

"We're all three people.  We're who we think we are.  We're who the audience thinks we are. And we're who we really are.  The closer those three people are together, the longer your career will last."  -- Kenny Rogers

Kenny's right, people don't like fake plastic people.  Dolly and Kenny both had long careers, so I guess they are both genuine, real people.  We know they have "Real Love".  :-)

I think that quote can apply to everybody not just entertainers.  Just replace the word audience with others.  And replace the longer your career will last with the more real or genuine you are.

People who put on a different face and change who they are depending on who they are around or with are plastic and most people will eventually see through the façade.  If you're not good enough to be you no matter who you're with or around, then maybe you should work on changing who you really are.

Thanks Kenny.

RIP Kenny Rogers.  August 21, 1938 - March 20, 2020

That's my two cents.

Even the Unbelieving Will Recognize the Church

As promised, here is a quote from General Conference a couple weeks ago.  This quote stood out to me when I heard it.  Because of Dad, I have grown to love President Eyring as one of my favorite apostles.

I have bolded my favorite part of the quote.  This is talking about the last days in which we live prior to the Lord's Second Coming.

"Many of the specifics of what we will do and when we will do it in the unfolding Restoration are not yet revealed. Yet the First Presidency even in those early days knew some of the breadth and depth of the work the Lord has set before us. Here are a few examples of what we do know will take place: 

"Through His Saints, the Lord will offer the gift of His gospel “to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.” Technology and miracles will continue to play a part—as will individual “fishers of men” who minister with power and increasing faith. 

"We as a people will become more united amid increasing conflict. We will be gathered in the spiritual strength of groups and families filled with gospel light. 

"Even an unbelieving world will recognize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and realize the power of God upon it. Faithful and brave disciples will fearlessly, humbly, and openly take upon them the name of Christ in their everyday lives." -- President Henry B. Eyring, "Prayers of Faith", April 2020 General Conference 

My take on that quotation is that as we draw closer to The Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the world is becoming more unbelieving and evil.  Yet, despite their unbelief, they will still recognize the Power of God in the Lord's church -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  And those of us who strive to be obedient disciples will be recognized as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ-- even by the unbelieving -- because of our faith.  And by fearlessly living the Gospel despite the finger-pointing and persecutions of the world.

That's my two cents.

Flattening the Curves

I'm sure you've all heard about flattening the curve -- probably ad nauseam.  I've even seen commercials about it and I don't even watch the news.  I don't know what the mainstream media is telling you about it but do you realize that it's not about saving lives?  It's merely to spread out the Infections and therefore hospitalizations over a longer period of time.

It's all about not overwhelming hospitals.  So we have severely disrupted 327 million people's lives in this country alone and ruined the economy all to prevent hospital overcrowding?

And the irony is that it wasn't even necessary!  There would not have been any hospital overcrowding anyway.

Here is what Rush Limbaugh had to say about it:

"In flattening the curve as a policy, i.e., social distancing, locking down, stay at home, avoiding have the virus, the same number of people are gonna get sick and the same percentage of those people are going to die except — and here’s the real point behind it — social distancing, flattening the curve was designed for one thing: to prevent overruns at hospitals, to prevent massive numbers of infections that required very sick people to go to the hospital and put pressure on hospitals, ICU’s, emergency rooms that the hospitals couldn’t handle. That’s why we have been doing what we’ve been doing, to avoid stress, to avoid overcrowding, to avoiding chaos at the hospitals." 

"Well, let’s look at the flu. Let’s look at hospitalizations. Are you ready for some shocking numbers? Do you want to hear some shocking numbers? During last year’s flu season, according to the CDC, 490,000 people were hospitalized due to seasonal flu. The year before that, 810,000 people were hospitalized due to the flu. The maximum number of projected hospitalizations with COVID-19 as of two days ago is 62,000. If we could handle 810,000 hospitalizations due to flu, if we could handle 490, 500,000 hospitalizations, then we certainly can handle 62,000 hospitalizations due to COVID-19.

"So there are the numbers in context. American hospitals have not been overwhelmed by the number of flu sufferers. Now, New York, you can find a pocket here or there. But in New York all the override hospitals, the Javits Center, Central Park build-out, the Navy ships, none of ’em were necessary. They were there to handle both COVID-19 and regular cases.

"Folks, the reason for flattening the curve never materialized — to handle an overrun of hospitals. Everything is arguable. We could reopen much sooner than a lot of people think.

"The same number of people are gonna get sick and die.

"It’s just that theoretically the hospitals will not be overwhelmed." -- Rush Limbaugh.com, "Examining Why We Tried to Flatten the Curve", April 15, 2020

Our country never needed to be shut down.  Lock down, social distancing, stay at home orders -- shutting down businesses, churches, schools, restaurants, etc. -- none of it was necessary!

Now, the Liberal Democrat media will tell you that it was because of the tyrannical lock down that kept the virus at bay.  But flattening the curve doesn't reduce the numbers, it just spreads them out over a longer period of time.  So instead of the pandemic lasting a few weeks to a few months, flattening the curve will make it last a few months to a year plus.

For some reason I thought that all of this extreme tyrannical lock down, social distancing, stay at home orders would actually bring the numbers down of those who become infected with the virus and those who die from it.  But that's not what it does.  Which, thinking about it, that makes sense.  The virus will continue to spread to people who are not immune until a certain number of people become immune -- herd immunity -- which stops the progression of the spread of the virus.  It will just take longer for the virus to run its course.

So when the Liberal Democrat mainstream media tells you that the numbers are much less than they expected because of the extreme lockdown measures -- they are lying.  First of all, their models -- which at first projected 2.2 million deaths in the United States -- those models already took into account social distancing, stay at home lock down.

When they noticed the numbers weren't ever going to come close to 2.2 million they lowered it to 240,000.  10% of the original estimate.  Then it was lowered to 60,000 projected US deaths.  Now I hear they are going to lower the projection again.

And actually the numbers are grossly inflated.  The CDC even said that anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 -- even if they die from comorbidities such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer etc. are still counted as a COVID-19 death.  And New York just added 4000 deaths to their tally of COVID-19 deaths because they might have tested positive.  But were never tested.

No matter what happens, the Democrats i.e. mainstream media will spin the truth and claim that the pandemic was much worse than it really was and that it was because of extreme tyrannical lockdowns that prevented even more illness and deaths.

The truth is that the same number of people are going to get sick and die regardless of what tyrannical measures are taken.  Flattening the curve just spreads out the pandemic over a longer period of time.

Remember the wise words of Waylon Jennings in The Dukes of Hazzard theme song:

Staightenin' the curves
Flattenin' the hills
Someday the mountain might get 'em
But the law never will

Makin' their way
The only way they know how
That's just a little bit more
Than the law will allow

Every time I hear, "flattening the curve" I think of this song.  Seems to apply to these days of pandemic panic.  The current tyranny we are facing is much worse than Boss Hogg or Roscoe P. Coltrane ever imposed on the Duke boys.

That's my two cents.

Immunology Lesson

I read an interesting article a couple of days ago.  The gist of it was that we may be making this virus worse by drastically overprotecting people.  Having studied epidemiology and immunology in medical school and undergraduate biology -- this makes total sense.

I'm going to quote a big portion of the article but I will also link the article if you want to read the entire thing.  It's very interesting.

I do remember studying immunology in medical school -- by the way it's one of the most difficult courses I took.  Very detailed.  But one thing I do remember that stood out to me was that by not exposing yourself to germs, you develop allergies.  Now of course there's a fine line between getting sick all the time and living a normal germ free hygienic life.  But for example, children who are not exposed to pets during childhood often end up allergic.  Same thing with certain foods.  Obviously, the more you are exposed to, the more antibodies you produce and carry with you.  And the more protected you are against myriad diseases.

If I remember correctly the hypothesis or theory is that your immune system begins to recognize what is normal and what is pathogenic, the more antigens it is exposed to.  And the more antibodies it produces against pathogens. When the immune system doesn't have anything to fight it starts getting confused and attacking normal cells.  That's one theory about autoimmune diseases.  Which is still not well understood.

Remember the story about the milk maids?  Well you probably don't, since you didn't study immunology, :-).  Back during the smallpox epidemic it was discovered that milk maids who were exposed to cowpox did not get smallpox.  Even though they were different viruses, they were related enough that the antibodies produced against cowpox worked against smallpox as well.  Cowpox is a much milder disease than smallpox.  Therefore, the milkmaids got cowpox, recovered, and were immune to smallpox.  This is how the smallpox vaccine came about.

Believe it or not, we are exposed to pathogens all the time.  Or at least to microbes.  Some are nonpathogenic.  Leave a petri dish exposed to air for a few minutes and then incubate it. You'll find all kinds of things growing on it.  Molds, bacteria, fungus, yeast.  I'm sure you would also find viruses if you could see them.  They are only visible under an electron microscope.  Plus they don't survive long outside of a host.  But my point is, we coexist with microbes.  They are floating in the air.  We breathe them, eat them -- our immune system takes care of most microbes and pathogens without our knowledge of being exposed.

Herd immunity is an interesting concept.  You may have heard about this with all of the coronavirus talk going on.  I don't know.  But I will explain it as I learned it in medical school. People who are immune to a disease actually protect others from the disease.  This works because people carrying antibodies to a disease do not spread it to others.  Thereby protecting the herd.  If I remember correctly, at least 30% of the herd must be immune for this to work.  Of course, the higher percentage of immunity in the herd, the more protective herd immunity is.  This is why vaccinations are so important.  They not only protect you but other people also. But, just being exposed to disease and producing antibodies -- whether you ever become symptomatic or not -- produces immunity.  Also protecting the herd.

Now, after your mini immunology lesson here are the excerpts from the article I mentioned (link at end of article):

"More importantly, the deep knowledge of viruses garnered from studying both the original H1N1 flu and polio strongly implies that, if we continue to over-react and over-protect people from COVID 19, we risk turning it into a much more lethal virus.
...
"Our current everyone-stay-home approach is anything but enlightened by immunological theory.  Quite the opposite: As billions of people worldwide are currently in their homes, in close confinement, in situations of extreme fear and psychological distress, being told by their governments to go to the grocery store as rarely as possible, we are creating an environment which is more and more conducive for facilitating a virus with enhanced virulence in the future.  How are we doing this? 

1)   Lowering everyone’s resistance to viruses by scaring, stressing, and discouraging them from normal activities including buying food and drink.  

2)   Keeping everyone at home in effect creates just the immunosuppressive scenario that fosters flu during the winter time -- cold, close quarters and stress.

3)   Discouraging direct human contact including hugging and kissing, and directly loving one another suppresses immunity.  With social distancing, our species never would have made it this far.  

4)   Preventing young people from being exposed to COVID 19 short circuits “herd immunity.”  

"In stark contrast to the quixotic fantasies driving our stay-at-home American approach, which sees all new viruses as equally terrifying, British health authorities are taking the more sober approach, one which is solidly based on contemporary virological, immunological and evolutionary biological theory: letting children go to school, to acquire COVID 19 and become naturally immune is absolutely the best way to assure that this new virus learns to peacefully coexist with we human beings.  Viruses have always been with us, and are part of our very genomes. 

"I have met few modern immunologists who believe, as Dr. Fauci does, that washing one’s hands 50 times a day is the best way to stay healthy.  At the Ghost lab at the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology in the 2000s, we often discussed how over-cleanliness and over-protection from viruses and bacteria was a very poor public health approach: too much hand washing actually prevents normal development of the immune system, and leads to autoimmune and other immune-regulatory disturbances later in life.  That “hygiene hypothesis” is well known and well accepted by most immunologists." -- Viruses 101: How Overprotecting People from COVID 19 Could Make it More Lethal, By Brandon P. Reines, April 14, 2020 (Brandon P. Reines’s academic appointments include adjunct assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Visiting Fellow, Department of Applied Mathematics, Australia National University)

 Now, we should still wash our hands.  That's the best way to prevent the spread of pathogenic disease.  But, don't be OCD about it.  Social distancing among healthy people is stupid.  First of all it doesn't stop the spread of disease.  It may slow it -- which is another topic(tomorrow perhaps).  But letting nature take its course, thereby building up herd immunity in the healthy population, actually prevents more disease and death than this ridiculous social distancing, lock down, stay at home garbage. The way to create monster viruses (by mutation) is to do exactly what we are doing.  Putting a bunch of immunosuppressed people (caused by stress) together in close quarters.  Brilliant!

The human race has survived for millennia without tyrannical governments forcing the entire world population into quarantine.  When is everyone going to realize that this is causing much more harm to everyone than any good it may be doing?  Honestly, I don't see one advantage to this craziness.  It's insane. 

Give us back our freedoms and let us live our lives as we choose.

That's my two cents.

Heroes

Joe Kenda and I are both bugged by the same thing.  And it has been in the news a lot more lately since this pandemic panic started.  Joe and I both think that the word hero is vastly overused.

I suppose, technically, a hero can merely mean someone you admire.  But to me, a hero is someone who stands out above everyone else because of their bravery, selflessness, conviction, integrity, and service to humanity.

Heroes can be personal such as your mom or dad.  Or heroes can be universal such as martyrs like William Tyndale, Joseph Smith, or Abinadi.

Heroes are not ordinary people doing their jobs.  Yet so many ordinary people are labeled as heroes for doing their everyday job.  It's crazy.

People who are merely doing a job, which they have chosen as a career, and are getting paid for their services, are not heroes.  I'm getting tired of hearing people say that health care workers, grocery store workers, delivery people, first responders such as law enforcement, firefighters, EMT etc. are heroes for merely doing their job.

Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers know that their chosen career path will expose them to sick people. Law-enforcement officers know that their chosen career path will expose them to bad guys who may want to hurt them.  Just because you may have chosen a career that may be more dangerous or risky doesn't make you a hero.

Those who go above and beyond the call of duty may be heroes but ordinary every day people who go to work and do their job are not heroes.

So let's quit labeling everyone a hero who is merely doing a job, which they have chosen, and are getting paid to do.

It cheapens the honor paid to real heroes.

That's my two cents.