Ingo Hoffmann – Licence CC BY 2.0
What an intense, roller coaster of a ride it has been since my last post on COVID-19. According the the Lancet, the hospitals in London are now overwhelmed [10]. The UK, like many nations, has changed beyond all recognition in the face of this global psyop / pandemic. I have now reached the point that I am unsure if the UK government cure for CV is actually worse than the disease itself, and I am continually trying to sift through the mountains of rumor, panic, disinformation and propaganda in a desperate attempt to make some sense of it all. The biggest risk CV poses seems to be its infectivity, rather than its lethality. Even The Prime Minister and the Health Secretary have succumbed. The only conclusion I can unswervingly come to is that this outbreak has been front-loaded with a politically driven, global desire to change, disrupt and reshape society. Pragmatically though, it is difficult not to take a negative view on the very serious risks COVID-19 currently poses, especially when you read the distressing comments from the front line of healthcare, paramedics and ICU professionals, who are not generally prone to panic. Such articles make for grim reading. When these individuals are deeply worried, to dismiss this outbreak with a wave of the hand is bordering on foolishness. It is essential we continue to ruthlessly question the overall picture, if we just lie down and let the mainstream media narrative wash over us without any critical thought or challenge, we will rapidly be consumed by depression, fear and doubt. Moreover, it is critical that we appreciate that while the mainstream media are frequently inveterate liars, they are not total and complete liars. Those who cling to the life raft that this is “Just a bad flu season” don’t appreciate the scale and complexity of the problem, nor the vulnerability of interdependent systems like our society, should the dynamics change violently, rapidly or unexpectedly as they are now. I have been quite shocked at the number of credible sources and individuals who seem to be bewitched by this line, transposing the fear many are experiencing into an anger that this is all just hype, conspiracy, or a gross overreaction. This position is just as extreme as the one that suggests that we are facing the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI). Both positions are as equally flawed, for a number of reasons as I will elucidate. In short, we are facing a pincer attack on multiple levels – Medical, financial, social, political and moral, to name but the most obvious.
As many predicted, the current national pain is very much focused on infrastructure rather than actual casualties, bringing with it the false dawn of misplaced optimism, and the well oiled machine of daily life and routine has effectively ground to a halt as a result. What is most concerning is that this is happening globally at the same time, in the same time frame, and as a result we will see further supply chain disruption in the identical way that the collapse of the Chinese economy has wrought havoc in the manufacturing sector. For over 35 years I have argued that globalisation is an intrinsic security threat to society on many levels, in the same way that an oil tanker without separate internal bulkheads is a pollution disaster waiting to happen. Hole a ship without bulkheads once or twice and it will sink, whereas a properly designed ship may withstand multiple impacts without serious consequences. The one slim silver lining in this cloud of despair is that hopefully, this truth will eventually be accepted for what it is.
The bone that is currently stuck in my throat though, is that it is becoming clearer by the day that this crisis is being used for hidden and far darker motives, irrespective of cries to the contrary. The UK government downgraded the virus on the 19th of March, allegedly due to potential prophylactic and successful treatments, an estimated lower casualty rate or for those of a more conspiratorial mindset, a tacit acceptance of the fate of thousands of vulnerable or elderly people due to lack of earlier controls. All this, while still allowing free movement across our borders amidst the implementation of Draconian levels of restrictions on internal movement and medical triage [8], the latter which is an effective death sentence to “At risk” groups should they catch this disease. You can’t have it both ways, either this outbreak of SARS is a totally unknown quantity, with an ensuing significant death toll, or it is not. Either the media and the government need to “Wind their necks in” as they have overreacted and responded disproportionately, or the situation has coldly, deliberately and callously been allowed to get out of control to facilitate greater civic control and the culling of the “Useless eaters”. The smoking gun in this instance is the 2020 Coronavirus Act, which has a sunset clause applying only to a small proportion of the sweeping legislation. Such actions are as immoral as the forthcoming withdrawal of treatment to the disadvantaged, all based on the glib premise that nothing more can be done. Apart from subtle hints in the media, a personal credible source, with much grief, openly admits if you have a pre-existing condition or are elderly, you are going to the back of the queue. That means oxygen therapy, painkillers and palliative care, without any intrusive intervention, irrespective of your wishes. At a stroke, thousands of years of legal, Christian and moral foundation has been torn asunder. The part of the social contract that states we will care for our sick to the bitter end, in hope of a miracle – no matter how pointless this may seem, glibly and formally dismissed. We must let those baby boomers make the ultimate sacrifice for the next generation, while harvesting their organs, pensions and property. The irony is that many in their twilight years, myself included, given free choice, would be willing to make that sacrifice without the slightest murmer should the need arise. We have lived our lives as best we can and appreciate the honour of passing the baton on to the next generation. Having my government force my hand in such a way though is repugnant, immoral, wicked and a clear abuse of power, privilege and responsibility. If you thought the Liverpool pathway had disappeared, think again. Mutterings about restablishing “Care pathways” are starting to emerge again, or to decode the rhetoric, how can we quickly despatch those no longer deemed to be of value as quickly, painlessly, but most importantly, cheaply as possible. Time to purchase shares in cardboard coffin manufacturers, I presume. My heart is very rapidly hardening to such callous strategies. While I appreciate we are amidst a global emergency, the right of the individual to choose their personal destiny is a sacrosanct one, not something any government may toy with, irrespective of the level of crisis.
The latest news concerning who is vulnerable to the more serious effects of CV, from the Italian outbreak this appears to be the following individuals. If you have COPD, diabetes, hypertension, are overweight, or have recently undergone immunotherapy, the prognosis is not good [Various sources]. There also has been a major shift in the age demographic from the elderly, with those in the 0-44 age range being as vulnerable as the 45-64 age range, with those over 65 being the major casualties. There is also a lot of confusion concerning testing, with even the CDC falling foul of test kits being ineffective. Ultrasound scans of the lung tissue seems to be the most accurate indicator of CV, but obviously only applies to serious or critical patients. The lack of reliable testing kits globally and the widespread decision not to test a substantial percentage of any given population is severely hindering any empirical or scientific analysis of the true scope of this outbreak. This in turn, leads to the war of statistical analysis between the likes of Imperial College and Oxford University, who disagree about the total infection rate in the population. As always, garbage in equals garbage out, but I personally think the IC figures are more credible. For a full paper on the current scenario, please see the excellent breakdown at EB Medicine [11].
Despite all this, there is good news though. A number of treatments seem to be very encouraging, and one of them appears to be the drug combination hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin [1], which if correct, means the only stumbling block is ramping up production and sourcing sufficient quantities to supply the world. Medical expertise is divided on this however, and there are currently over 70 potential cures and prophylactics being considered, including selenium [7]. What is so depressing though, is the results of any blind tests will not be available until March 2022 [2]. It is natural that every nation under such circumstances will consider its own interests first, so don’t be surprised if the usual suspects don’t attempt to financially capitalise off the back of this tragedy. India has already banned exports of drugs to other nations. The effectiveness of this treatment against the S and L strains (and the rapidly growing number of genetic derivatives, of which there are many) [3] is unknown, as there has not been a sufficiently large blind sample tested to date. The other bit of news is allegedly China is getting back to normal, although those keeping an eye on the Wuhan webcam during the wee small hours will quickly realise that the metropolis is clearly still locked down [4]. We have also not had a “Hard” lockdown in the UK yet, although this may still be on the cards. So rather than parrot a lot of news which will no doubt change hourly between me writing this article and publication, I am going to share with you my working hypothesis as to what is really happening.
Some background to set the scene first. SARS-CoV-2 is not the flu, it is an entirely new strain of virus clearly genetically engineered in the laboratory, for whatever reason. This follows in the footsteps of AIDS, which according to Dr Robert Strecker, has its roots in genetic engineering experiments with cow and sheep tissue rather than the African monkey [5]. It doesn’t really matter at this point if CV was deliberately or accidentally released, but being the eternal optimist, I will tentatively suggest the latter rather than the former. If the former was ever found to be the case, the nation responsible would become a global pariah overnight, and I seriously doubt in this age of global interdependence that any major player would be as foolish to undertake such a suicidal foreign and economic policy objective. A minor player, quite possibly, for there are some that are hell bent in taking everyone with them if they cannot have a seat at the top table. If you really want to join the tinfoil hat brigade, one could always argue that a smaller nation could act as a proxy, thereby giving the larger nation plausible deniability. The deep state is well crafted in deploying such sleight of hand. Secondly, rumours persist that there appears to be a genetic aspect to this virus, with potentially East Asian males being the most vulnerable due to attacks on the ACE2 receptors. This argument can be countered by the positive containment results coming out of South Korea, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong, although I would posit that this is not so much down to any lack of genetic targeting per se, but better infectious disease controls and a more disciplined society as a whole. This may also go some way to explain the incredibly low overall statistics for Germany and high figures for Italy as Lombardy has a large Chinese migrant population, but without full disclosure from all health agencies, this hypothesis must be taken with a very large pinch of salt. What is inarguable though, is the emerging epidemiological patterns are highly irregular, especially when overlayed with circumstantial and anecdotal evidence. Are we to blithely accept that a highly infectious killer epidemic, first identified in December (possibly earlier according to some), on the other side of the world, has taken almost 2 months to spread to the UK and European populations, in an age of airline travel? Not only does this destroy the credibility of the initial R0 figures, but the period of asymptomatic infection as well. The Diamond Princess cruise ship incident reveals a staggering R0 of 15. The lag time between the initial outbreak in China (Case zero) and the emergence of infection in the UK in late January is allegedly 8 weeks – if we are to believe the current narrative. Even if we take a pessimistic view on incubation time, say 4 weeks, considering the amount of human traffic from China to London, the figures and timeline just don’t stack up. The only way this seems to fit is if we have two or more different strains, with very different medical outcomes. This would also go some way to make sense of why there are so many false positives and negatives in the testing regime, and the battle that is now raging over the total number of infections in any population, and the best public health strategy. Apart from the fact that there is no standard test or protocol for this globally, which in turn makes the WHO and John Hopkins figures as much fantasy time as the Chinese statistics, there is also the danger that nations are politicising the results. I strongly suspect that Germany, not wishing to undermine its reputation as the industrial powerhouse of Europe, would rather play down any casualties, for instance. With every form of diagnosis used from real time PCR, blood serum tests, various “Instant read” testing kits (Of which the 460,000 the Spanish purchased from China were found to be completely useless), X-rays and CAT scans, the only truly level playing field seems to be the Italian strategy of post mortem diagnosis. While every other test may or may not suggest you have CV depending on viral load and the progression of the disease, the figures can be manipulated any way you want them, depending on the narrative you wish to engineer. Like AIDS testing, the figures are conveniently variable to suit any particular agenda. As to dealing with the outbreak, common sense suggests a very straightforward approach. Close your borders tight, isolate your most vulnerable, and keep a watching eye via standardised, rigourous, global and accurate testing on the outcomes. You might run the risk of a wider more lethal outbreak at first if the virus is particularly potent, but the exactly same risk applies with the current UK model [9] without the current corresponding financial and social trauma. It is a fine balancing act between human casualties, disease containment and destroying the economy. Realistically, we cannot remain in isolation for ever. It is pretty much a moot point with our currently porous borders, but even if we kept them closed, we have still got to face the scenario that CV may change, we don’t know the medical outcomes of a second wave, and any natural resistance we build may be useless in the face of the next genetic mutation. If we do achieve herd immunity all well and good, but like so many factors surrounding this outbreak, it is a very big and unknown “If”.
So do I believe the ongoing media narrative? No, I am taking same the view like just about every individual I have talked to, from former medical professionals to politicians and engineers. The anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that CV seems to have been around since at least last autumn. Remember the mysterious vaping deaths in the US late last year? The lung damage seems very similar to the permanent scarring experienced by COVID-19 victims. But what about the delay in the mortality figures? As there was no testing or public awareness at the time, these deaths would be categorised as standard seasonal flu casualties. So why the major increase now? It could be down to two different strains in circulation, mutations or possibly something more sinister. One major development in the biological warfare field is binary chemical weapons. These are relatively innocuous substances, maybe causing little or no symptoms, until triggered by another specific catalyst. Then, the full payload takes effect. Now I’m not suggesting that this is the case here, I think the more outlandish theory that 5G has a part to play in this outbreak is rather far fetched, but there is sufficient peer reviewed medical documentation to suggest that some vaccines actually impair the immune systems ability to cope with certain viral infections, resulting in a fatal cytokine storms [11] rather than the anticipated immune responses. This was an early hypothesis in the Wuhan outbreak, and was an important discovery milestone in the ongoing development of a Chinese SARs vaccine, but was quietly forgotten about, as of course, vaccines must be perfectly safe. It would be an interesting study to see how many individuals who have fallen victim to this virus had their annual flu Jab or other inoculations, but like the ethnic characteristics, I somehow doubt if that figure, if even recorded, will make it to the light of day or the general public.
In closing though, I would point readers in the direction of the COVID-19 trenches, The Internet Book of Critical Care [6]. Pulling no punches, it outlines the daily struggles that intensive care staff face in this gruesome battle, including makeshift PPE and respirators. Until the battlefield levels out with more accurate statistics, testing methodologies, recordings of cause of death etc, this will be the most poignant indicator of where we are going. There are lies, damned lies and statistics, and the more one tries to get to the truth surrounding the origins, pathology, lethality and outcomes surrounding SARS-CoV-2, the more confused, fragmented and disjointed the picture appears. The best I can suggest is monitor the political and healthcare situation over the coming weeks. I still think we are in for a major increase in the number of casualties, although this may peak rapidly and have a very short window, if a viable cure is found and administered. Sadly, I heard tonight of two fatal casualties in London, individuals working on the front line with extensive public contact, without any PPE. Like everyone else, I just want our country to get back to normal as quickly as possible. Somehow, taking into account the social, political and financial implications alone, I don’t think this will be for quite some time yet, if ever.
References
1 IJAA paper on a potential cure
2 Application for clinical trial blind testing the above
3 Latest genetic analysis of NCOV
4 Wuhan webcam
5 Dr Robert Strecker
6 Internet book of critical care – COVID 19
7 Selenium as additional immune system prophylactic
8 NICE triage guidelines
9 Simulating an epidemic
10 Offline – The Lancet
11 EB Medicine – Breakdown of Italian medical outcomes
© Rookwood 2020
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