Masters Of COVID Gloom, Lysenkoism, And Squirrels

By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD

The media, taking their cue from George Orwell’s 1984’s daily “Two Minute Hate,” provide a constant drumbeat of one-sided political talking points and incomplete statistics about COVID-19. It is designed to wear us down. The recovery of President Trump and many others gives us another side of the picture.

When questioned about motives for the unrelenting negativity, folks say they are following the science. This statement merits an historical note of caution about comingling politics and science. Nikolai Vavilov had data-driven work that was an accurate exposition of agricultural genetics.

Unfortunately, Trofim Lysenko’s patently wrong, but Marxist leaning ideas on the science of agriculture caught the eye of Joseph Stalin. Lysenko buried Vavilov’s work, thousands starved, and Vavilov rotted in prison.

This episode in science gave rise to an ism: Lysenkoism is any deliberate distortion of scientific facts or theories for purposes that are deemed politically, religiously, or socially desirable.

Decades later we are left to tune in to the next episode of political theater, featuring “do as I say, not as I do.” One of Ms. Pelosi’s pastimes is lecturing the President on the value of wearing a mask.

Then we see Ms. Pelosi sashaying around with no mask; her designer mask flopping around with her exposed nose (that harbors the bulk of the coronavirus).

And in a when the camera’s away, the mice will play moment, Mr. Biden doffed his ever-present, over-sized mask to speak with Anderson Cooper face to face. And for comic relief, Mr. Biden lowered his mask to cough in his hand—not even his elbow!

Where’s the science? As time has passed and we gain more knowledge and data about the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, scientists have found several fold lower mortality rates than previously predicted.

The CDC has some good news regarding the infection fatality ratio (IFR), the ratio of deaths divided by the number of actual infections with SARS-CoV-2:

  • Age 0-19 years: 0.00003, meaning 99.997% of that age group who get the infection will survive;
  • Age 20-49 years: 0.0002, meaning 99.98% of that age group who get the infection will survive;
  • Age 50-69 years: 0.005, meaning 99.5% of that age group who get the infection will survive;
  • Age 70+ years: 0.054, meaning 94.6% of that age group who get the infection will survive.

Additionally, in the United States, hospitalizations and deaths are down, cases—even with more testing—are leveling off and more successful treatments are available.

Joe Biden tells us that when he wants to learn about COVID, he consults “the scientists,” one of whom is Ezekiel “let me die when I’m 75” Emanuel. Dr. Emanuel, a breast oncologist, believes we should stay in a lockdown until November 2021.

Emanuel is also is the co-creator of the Complete Lives System.” This medical care rationing system prioritizes persons with “instrumental value,” i.e., individuals with “future usefulness.” Joe Biden should watch his back.

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has admitted that he saw “the potential” in the COVID crisis for “a new progressive era” in state and national politics. Instead of using the CDC data and science to lift restrictions on the activities of the residents, he established a new parameter: the Equity Metric.

No one in a county can open until the test positivity rates in its most disadvantaged neighborhoods are not worse than the overall county positivity rate.

This is just what we need: prolonging lockdowns when data have shown they are harmful to society. The CDC reported that 40 percent of thousands surveyed reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition.

Thirteen percent started or increased substance use to cope with stress or emotions related to COVID-19 lockdowns. Eleven percent seriously considered suicide. Moreover, despite increases in telemedicine, evaluations of cardiovascular risk factors have dropped by 50 percent.

Between March 1 and April 18, 2020, there was a 46 percent decrease in diagnoses of the six common cancer types. The World Health Organization has finally admitted that lockdowns “make the poor an awful lot poorer.” All of these factors will lead to an increase in non-COVID related deaths.

Internationally noted epidemiologists and thousands of physicians from multiple specialties have a solution called “focused protection.” The Great Barrington Declaration posits that “the most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk.”

Squirrels are the cutest little rats with fur you’d ever want to see. But they do carry bubonic plague that is fatal without treatment. We do not kill all the squirrels.

Let’s not kill our souls and optimism, terrify our elders into deadly isolation, psychologically cripple our children, and sentence our society to a generation of anxiety and depression, merely to score political points.

Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD

Dr. Singleton is a board-certified anesthesiologist. She is the immediate past President of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). She graduated from Stanford and earned her MD at UCSF Medical School.

Despite being told, “they don’t take Negroes at Stanford”, she graduated from Stanford and earned her MD at UCSF Medical School.

Dr. Singleton completed 2 years of Surgery residency at UCSF, then her Anesthesia residency at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital. She was first an instructor, then an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

While still working in the operating room, she attended UC Berkeley Law School, focusing on constitutional law and administrative law and teaches classes in the recognition of elder abuse and constitutional law for non-lawyers.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in editorials, opinions, commentaries, or LTTE are not necessarily those of Corridor News or staff. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…”

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6 Comments

  1. A police officer sees a man driving around with a pickup truck full of blind squirrels.
    He pulls the guy over and says… “You can’t drive around with squirrels here! Take them to the animal pound immediately.”
    The guy says “OK”… and drives away.

    The next day, the officer sees the guy still driving around with the truck full of squirrels, and now they’re all wearing sun glasses and Covid facemasks, so he pulls the guy over and asks, “I thought I told you to take these squirrels to the pound yesterday?”
    The guy replies… “I did . . . today I’m taking them to a Beto O’Rourke lecture on critical thinking”

  2. She criticizes Biden for talking to someone who’s a breast cancer oncologist, yet she’s an anesthesiologist, not someone who specializes in infectious diseases. I’ll still with advice from docs who actually study and understand infectious diseases.
    She’s saying that 5.4% of people 70+ years old don’t survive this disease. Do you really want to be responsible for killing your grandparents?
    She didn’t cover this, but the president is saying “lets go for herd immunity.” Let’s consider that. Experts say that 75-85% of our population would have to get the disease, and they’re not even sure “herd immunity” works for this- that’s usually a term used for vaccines. But IF 75-85% of Texans get the virus, with using the lower death rates this woman uses, an average of .5%, that would mean, at the lower edge, 19,500,000 Texans would need to get COVID, and of those, 97,500 would die. We’ve lost over 16,000 already, and that’s with most of us trying to avoid the disease. Do you really want to be responsible for the deaths of over 80,000 Texans? And that’s just Texas!
    The economy will recover when this pandemic is under control. It can get under control IF people would do these very simple, very basic steps- steps they did in the 1919 flu pandemic, which helped curb the spread:
    1. wash your hands- can’t say that enough
    2. Social distance anytime you’re around people, especially if they’re not wearing a mask
    3. Wear a mask, it isn’t to protect you, it’s to protect others. You may not know you’re a carrier.
    4. Love your neighbor as yourself- do the 3 things above, and let’s slow the spread of this awful virus. Once we get it slowed, it will be safer to go out, not like we used to, but with social distancing limits. Til we’ve got an effective and accessible vaccine, this is our life.

    1. Dear Karen:

      Pandemic huh? You’ve got your facts–I should say you’ve got some yada yada all lined up and by-golly, you’ve even got it enumerated for us 1, 2, 3 and 4. Just like that. Of course, I should cut you some credibility because you were actually there in 1918, and you KNOW a real pandemic and VOILA –here it comes again version 2020 ! And as proven by your factual statement “Do you really want to be responsible for the deaths of over 80,000 Texans? And that’s just Texas!” Really. Truly. Emotionally compelling narrative.

      Karen, maybe you simply forgot to tell us about that little old ASIAN FLU that ripped through the U.S. back in 1968. Yeah, back when our population was only 209 million–as opposed to 340 million today. We were awful busy at that time putting some dolts on the moon, including major race riots in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadephia. Anyhow, you forgot to tell us how we screwed up back then, because I was there and recall it killed about 120 thousand of us simply because we refused to wear masks, or to arrest those who wouldn’t wear masks. Sieg Heil !

      Ah but that doesn’t mean we can’t arrest those who print 2020 COVID mortality numbers such as:
      Age 0-19 … 99.997%
      Age 20-49 … 99.98%
      Age 50-69 … 99.5%
      Age 70+ … 94.6% ——Oookay, Karen ….everybody all together ….”WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE ….

    2. Kathi… When is it acceptable to try something different? We are 7 months into “15 Days to Slow the Spread.”

      I don’t mask. I’m not scared. We have not gotten sick. However, I do see the fear in other people. They cross the street to avoid me. They won’t respond when I say hello. They give me dirty looks all because I have the audacity to enjoy the fresh air. Those that wear masks while driving have a special place in my heart. Those people are, seriously, the people I worry the most about. We need to try something different.

      The latest miracle cures for Rona are: Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Zinc. There is apparently a clear link between bad cases and Vitamin D deficiency. Tell me, since you’ve got all the bulletized “Science” talking points, how does one process Vitamin D? I seem to recall there was an environmental factor. Is there a link between the deficiency and obesity?

      With that SHOCKER(! /s), I’m betting there is correlation with S.A.D. too. We need to return to reality. REAL REALITY.

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