If you’re anything like me, you probably feel a little confused at the recent supposed “uptick” in many states of coronavirus infections, accompanied by renewed restrictions. So is the coronavirus problem really getting worse, or are the media, politicians and some medical authorities again peddling irrational fear?

 

I was greatly helped in my understanding of this by watching and reading several interviews with Scott Atlas, MD, Robert Wesson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and member of the Hoover Institution’s Working Group on Health Care Policy. Dr. Atlas was former the Chief of Neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center. Let me summarize his answers to several key questions regarding the current risks associated with coronavirus infection:

1. Is Coronavirus Getting Worse?

For people under age 70 the infection rate is a paltry 0.04% — less than the infection rate for the seasonal flu. Previously the average age for an infected person was 60; now it’s 35. Younger people do more social mingling and thus have more positive tests for coronavirus, but Dr. Atlas says that is actually a good thing, which i’ll explain shortly.

2. Are Hospitalizations for Coronavirus Increasing?

Not really. Every person that goes into the hospital is being tested for coronavirus. Many, if not most, are hospitalized with coronavirus, but not for coronavirus. Those that test positive upon hospital admission are appropriately being isolated, with some of those being isolated into ICU beds. So more ICU beds are being occupied by people who tested positive for coronavirus, but they’re not really sick with coronavirus. 20-30% of the hospitalizations are not COVID-19 related, though those patients tested positive for the infection. For example, if you go into the hospital for an appendectomy and test positive for coronavirus, you will be counted as a coronavirus hospitalization, in spite of being in the hospital for a totally different reason and being asymptomatic.

Dr. Atlas adds that coronavirus hospitalizations have gotten shorter. That, of course, is basically the nature of viral pandemics — virulence weakens with time. Further, he adds that the death rate from COVID-19 infection is going down.

3. The Benefit of Younger People Getting Infected

Dr. Atlas hits the current panic narrative broadside by saying the best thing that could happen right now is for more younger people to become infected. Here’s why: 50% of those infected (all age groups) have zero symptoms, plus it’s an even higher asymptomatic percentage with just younger people. He says we need more low-risk people to get the infection to produce herd immunity. This goes back to the nature of how viral illness spreads. When someone becomes infected, the normal reaction is to produce antibodies. If enough people (enough of the “herd”) has antibodies, the virus has no one to latch onto to continue its life cycle and dies out.

This is the same concept as a vaccine, which is simply designed to stimulate antibody production and thus likewise produce herd immunity, choking off the virus from finding new hosts. The problem with vaccines, in addition to viral mutation which causes the vaccine to no longer match the microorganism intended, is that for some people they may be more than their immune system can handle and thus produce a major illness. The other typical problem is that vaccines generally have a mercury preservative and aluminum adjuvants, which are two highly toxic heavy metals associated with many neurological and other diseases. By comparison, just getting the virus — for a low-risk younger person — is pretty safe.

You may not be old enough to remember “childhood diseases.” Back when I was a kid, we were expected to get infected with measles, mumps, chicken pox and whooping cough. These childhood diseases pretty much went from kid to kid in school until everybody had had them, and thus herd immunity was achieved, plus you didn’t get them again. Then someone figured out that you could vaccinate for these, typically preventing getting infected as a child (Are you following the money?). Problem is, getting those diseases as a kid is no big deal, but if you do get them as an adult, they are usually much more serious.

4. Protecting the High-Risk Population

While Dr. Atlas is saying there’s great benefit in the “low-risk” younger population becoming infected, it is a totally different issue with the “high-risk” population, for which various mitigation efforts are appropriate. For example, Florida, which has the highest senior population in the country, wisely focused very early on protecting their older population, unlike New York and Michigan which sent COVID-19 positive people back into their nursing homes causing massive infection rates.

So, who are the high-risk individuals? As noted from the beginning, it is older people, though age alone I don’t believe is really the issue. It’s more a question of “co-morbidities.” As people get older, they tend to have more of these underlying health problems which are really the compromising issue more so than mere chronological age. The big three, which Dr. Atlas notes are responsible for 99.2% of the coronavirus deaths would be obesity, diabetes and hypertension. I would add that other immune-compromised situations, such as having had an organ transplant and being on immuno-suppressive drugs would also put one at high risk.

Having said the above, I would still maintain that an “isolation strategy” for older, high-risk people is a largely vain attempt — kind of like trying to keep the mosquitoes out with a chain-link fence! The best preventive will always be  building a strong immune system, as I have been emphasizing for months, with the various natural remedy possibilities I check our clients on every day.

5. “Mask Mania”

Like the statement from the New England Journal of Medicine which I have twice quoted in previous newsletters, Dr. Atlas is highly critical of what I would call “Mask Mania.” He says masks are appropriate if you expect someone to cough in your face (like a doctor or dentist might experience) or if you are in a crowded space. He questions why everyone is saying you need to have a mask on with this virus, when no similar suggestion from the CDC is made for seasonal flu prevention — which would have everyone wearing masks all winter.

Then there’s the “6 foot rule,” which Dr. Atlas describes as “terrible science” and totally arbitrary. The WHO has a 3 foot rule, so who decides if it’s 3 foot or 6 foot? No one knows because it’s strictly an arbitrary number picked out of thin air with no solid research establishing it.

How about the “stay at home” directives? Dr. Atlas notes that the most likely place to become infected is in an enclosed room, while there is almost no chance of getting infected out in the fresh air (provided you’re not in close quarters such as in rioting or looting). How many people have you seen wearing their mask alone in their car? That’s nuts! How many people have you seen out walking, jogging, or bicycling that are wearing a mask with no one even close to them? That’s also nuts! Most, but not all, of the mask suggestions are utterly unscientific or blatantly irrational.

6. The Biggest Threat — Fear

FDR famously said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” No truer words could be spoken about our present situation. The irrational fears, stoked by the media and politicians seeking greater power over the lives of individuals, are driving a lot of ridiculous behavior. Fear is an emotion, and emotion always trumps rational facts when it comes to human behavior.

Whatever approach you take during the pandemic, you’ve got to combat fear with facts. Dr. Atlas notes that 99% of the positive COVID-19 people will have no problems with the infection. That is a fact that can displace fear. The “infection” numbers you hear every day are therefore largely meaningless. Make no mistake that if you actually become seriously ill from coronavirus infection, it is a very big deal and very serious. But the fact of the matter is that is an extremely small percentage of people who almost always are in some high-risk category with underlying health issues. If that doesn’t describe you, put away fear and go on living your life.

I would encourage meditating on scriptures that deal with the problem of fear, of which there are many. One personal favorite is Psalm 46:1-3:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

— Monte Kline, Ph.D.