Penny Thoughts: The Numbers for COVID-19

Three points at the outset: 1) our knee-jerk reaction to the COVID-19 virus has been predicated on numbers given to politicians by the presumed authorities on epidemiology; 2) the mainstream media has “cherry picked” those numbers to promote their agendas, and 3) as a consequence, some politicians have weaponized the numbers for their own agendas and/or power grabs – see New York, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and California to cite just a few.

I don’t know about you, but I just plain do not trust anyone today who tries to hide behind the statement, “Well, it is the ‘science’,” or “You have to trust the ‘science’.” My problem is that “science” has become an esoteric exercise rather than a definitive process based on objective facts and data.

And please don’t try to lecture me about my understanding of “science”. I began my college career as a chemical engineering major, then changed to a physics major, which occupied my studies for more than two years. I developed an exceptionally good understanding of what “science” was back then. I saw it then, as I see it now as a process of experimentation, observation, and application of the data gathered in an objective analysis.

By way of further clarification, my studies in physics eventually led me to majoring in philosophy owing to the fact that physics leads to all sorts of intriguing questions about the universe. I graduated with a strong minor in physics, nevertheless.

For purposes here, I use the Cambridge English Dictionary definition of “science”:

“The careful study of the structure and behavior of the physical world, especially by watching, measuring, and doing experiments, and the development of theories to describe the results of these activities.”

The problem today with those who stick “science” in our faces to justify their “results” for COVID-19 relates directly to the final phrase of our working definition: “…and the development of theories to describe the results of these activities.”

Medicine and epidemiology are NOT “science”. “They are arts based upon interpretation,” explained Dr. Brent Bost, prominent and authoritative physician in Texas with not only an M.D., but with an M.B.A. as well. He makes contributions to “Wise OB”, a YouTube channel dealing with medical issues.

I submit that we have been the victims of my first three points at the start of this column. Evidence of that fact continues to pour in as we are getting conflicting reports from various sources that 1) there has been NO CONFORMITY on the methodology to assess various deaths, 2) the major “models” from John Hopkins has been disputed by the studies now offered by Stanford University and 3) the CDC has been exposed as a quasi-political entity by encouraging mail-in-voting, and in so doing the impact of their “encouragement” has gravity.

Let me note that while the CDC’s recommendations on voting options qualifies mail-in ballots, anyone with a mind can easily extrapolate that it is a not-so-subtle veiled endorsement, which will make the Democrats ecstatic.

Of course, my position on this entire COVID-19 calamity has been documented in this column and perhaps criticized roundly by those who have read it. Even members of my family have been convinced that I appear to be “a few fries short of a ‘Happy Meal’.” Still, as more and more data begins to receive objective analysis, we are finding that our original “the sky is falling” panic was really based on the purported research data offered up more in the line of the “little boy who cried wolf”.

We have used numbers based on an urgent need to have answers right now, when such research often takes years to compile, digest, analyze and project. We have used concentrated population centers as the benchmarks for an entire nation whose populations are unevenly dispersed across millions of square miles. We have been victimized by governors who have brazenly crushed our Constitutional rights using our fear as their catalyst and hook. And we have been naïve about the agendas of those in positions of influence on this travesty which are motivated by profit.

As such, I am done with it. I am 75, at risk with the comorbidity of being a heart patient, and on top of it all, the ONLY real relief to this year’s virus attack – hydroxychloroquine with Zithromax – I am allergic to! Years ago, I found out that I am allergic to quinine, the major component in hydroxychloroquine!

You know what! I’M STILL STANDING! And I fear the “new normal” which is going to cripple my children, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren.

Because this time, the numbers have been used to manipulate us!