“DEATH TOLL PASSES 20,000 IN USA”
That was last Sunday’s DRUDGE headline. Happy Easter!
Twenty thousand have died out of a population of 330,000,000… or 0.00606 percent of the nation.
As we noted on the cover of our 28 January Trends Journal: “CORONAVIRUS: 106 Dead in China – 1.4 Billion Still Alive. New Black Plague?”… since the virus’s outbreak, the mainstream media has been responsible for spreading non-stop fear and anxiety worse than the disease itself.
And never ones to let a “good crisis go to waste,” political leaders around the world, amplified by media hysteria, seized upon the virus to grant themselves supreme powers of control over citizens, dismissing Constitutions, Bills of Rights, and basic freedoms throughout the world.
Another Day, Another Made-Up Story
Some hard facts: the highly exalted, knows-more-than-anyone-in-the-world, “America’s Most Trusted Disease Expert,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force… can’t keep his numbers straight.
On 26 March, Dr. Fauci stated at a press conference that “100,000 to 240,000” were the estimated number of people in America who would die of the virus.
Twelve days later, Fauci lowered his prediction saying, “I believe we are going to see a downturn. It looks more like 60,000.”
On Sunday, he expressed “cautious optimism” that the metrics he uses to track the virus indicate it is “starting to level off,” and the U.S. economy, which virtually has been locked down, could start reopening sometime in May.
Prior to Dr. Fauci’s forecast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that up to 1.7 million Americans could die of the virus.
Fake Numbers Pump Virus Deaths
While it is reported that 20,000 have died from the virus as of Sunday, the numbers of actual victims from COVID-19 is now being called into question. Some doctors and physician assistants have claimed they are under pressure to categorize COVID-19 as the cause of death, even when it’s likely not to be the case.
In the United States, Dr. Scott Jenson, a Minnesota state senator who is also a medical doctor, accused the CDC of directing doctors to list COVID-19 as a cause of death even for someone who was never tested for it, which he said is “ridiculous” and misleading.
“I know that I’ve talked with nursing staff… and led to believe that there may have been a COVID-19 diagnosis included on the death certificate document without having had a COVID-19 confirmed laboratory test,” said Dr. Jenson.
He added, “The idea that we are going to allow people to massage and sort of game the numbers is a real issue because we are going to undermine the [public] trust.”
Confirming what we had noted since the outbreak, Dr. Jenson concluded, “And right now as we see politicians doing things that aren’t necessarily motivated on fact and science, their trust in politicians is already wearing thin.”
Clearly, as evidenced by the general public’s reaction to the virus, which to date has killed less than the flu has in America, Dr. Jenson noted that voicing concern about the false death numbers attributed had him worried that “sometimes we’re so darn interested in jazzing up the fear factor that sometimes people’s ability to think for themselves is paralyzed if they’re frightened enough.”
Who Knows What?
As the hard data comes in from China, Italy, and other countries that have “flattened the curve,” it is now known most people who contract the virus have either no symptoms or those so mild they don’t report to a doctor.
The death rates, however, amplified by mainstream media and seized on by politicians, are based only on those who actually have tested positive or got so sick they required hospitalization.
Since so few have been tested, the total number of people who have contracted the virus is far higher. Therefore, the percentage of those dying who had the virus is much smaller than being reported.
Dr. Jeffrey Shaman and colleagues at Columbia University showed that in China, where the curve has been “flattened,” some 85 percent of Chinese residents who had the coronavirus went undetected. (Again, this dramatically lowers the percentage of people dying from COVID-19.)
Yet this and other important distinctions remain absent from political leaders, who have dictated extreme lockdown measures, and the mainstream media, which continues to headline numbers lacking medical analysis.
States of Confusion
“How many people have died from COVID-19 in the UK?” asked the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. “You’d think this was an easy question to answer, but you would be wrong. There are numerous places in which you can find this data, and they don’t always give the same answer.”
For example, each day, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care releases data on how many died who had tested positive for COVID-19. But included in the data are those who may have entered a hospital with COVID-19 symptoms, yet died from a pre-existing illness.
Also included in the death total are all patients with COVID-19 mentioned on the death certificate even if they weren’t tested or were just “suspected” of having it.
Indeed, Dr. Jenson had also noted that if a patient died after being hit by a bus and tested positive for the virus, he/she would be listed as having died from coronavirus.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said. Dr. Jenson also disputed Dr. Fauci’s response that accusations of padding numbers and the CDC document, which advocates making COVID-19 the cause of death without medical proof, are part of “conspiracy theories” during “challenging” times in public health.
Bringing the falsification of the COVID-19 deaths to the bottom line, Dr. Jenson noted, “Right now Medicare has determined that if you have a COVID-19 admission to the hospital you’ll get paid $13,000. If that COVID-19 patient goes on a ventilator, you get $39,000; three times as much. Nobody can tell me, after 35 years in the world of medicine, that sometimes those kinds of things [have] impact on what we do.”
Facts to Forget
While the statistics overstating the severity of coronavirus continue to be pumped out by the mainstream media, already, there were clues the data was inflated.
For example, last February, John Allen Paulos, an American professor of mathematics, published his analysis of coronavirus data coming in from China:
“The authorities of Hubei, the province in China at the center of the epidemic, revised their definition of what it means to be infected by the new coronavirus: On Thursday [13 February], they started including people who displayed symptoms associated with COVID-19 – coughing, a fever, difficulty breathing – even if those people hadn’t been tested or had tested negative for the virus. As a result, the number of new daily cases increased by a factor of nine overnight.”
This over-inflating of coronavirus’ danger is widespread, as confirmed by Carl Heneghan, an epidemiologist and Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford.
On 1 April, he stated, “We know, during an epidemic, people will call every death as though it’s related to Covid-19. But that is not the case… Always, when people look back at the case notes and assign causation, they realize they will have overestimated the case fatality in relation to the disease.”
Media Fear Machine in High Gear
As reported in detail in the Trends Journal, data from around the world confirms the vast majority of those who have died from COVID-19 had serious pre-existing illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic heart conditions, and lung diseases (99 percent in Italy, over 86 percent in New York City).
In Italy, the Italian Health Institute reported the average age of those dying was about 80 years old.
According to the CDC, in the U.S. “a mortality rate of 10% to 27% for those ages 85 and over, 3% to 11% for those ages 65 to 84, 1% to 3% for those ages 55 to 64, and less than 1% for those ages 20 to 54.”
Also underreported is the significant amount of those dying from COVID-19 being smokers. This virus attacks the lungs, and a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found Chinese coronavirus patients who smoked to be twice as vulnerable to serious infection and death from COVID-19 than those who didn’t smoke.
Yet the mainstream media, ignoring these hard facts, continues to pump out their tabloid headlines. For example, despite the fact stated above by the CDC that less than one percent of those between 20-54 years of age are dying from COVID-19, we get this 9 April headline from the Washington Post: “Hundreds of young Americans have now been killed by the coronavirus, data shows.”
The article states, “At least 759 people under age 50 across the United States who have perished amid the deepening pandemic, according to a Washington Post analysis of state data. These deaths underscore the tragic fact that while the novel coronavirus might be most threatening to the old and compromised, no one is immune.”
What’s left out of this junk journalism, which hyper-inflates the “deepening pandemic,” is that in the U.S. there are over 200 million people under the age of 50. Therefore, the 759 “under age 50” who have “perished” from the coronavirus represent around 0.0000038 percent.
Included in the Pandemonium Panic Awards for “Most Fear-Mongering Headline” was this one from Newsweek on 9 April: “CORONAVIRUS BECOMES NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF DEATH PER DAY IN U.S., SURPASSING HEART DISEASE AND CANCER.”
This headline was picked up by media across the nation… despite the fact that it’s “dead” wrong.
Even if the current highest estimate of 60,000 U.S. deaths from coronavirus were reached, it pales in comparison with the number of deaths each year from heart disease (over 650,000, according to the CDC) and cancer (over 600,000, according to the American Cancer Society).
Also left out, as we’ve been making the case in the Trends Journal, is that the numbers of COVID-19 deaths in America can’t even begin to compare with the number of U.S. deaths each year from other health issues, such as obesity and smoking.
According to the National Institute of Health, it is estimated that obesity causes the premature death of around 300,000 Americans every year.
And, according to the CDC, in the U.S., there are 480,000 deaths annually from smoking… yet smoking has not been banned.
Remember “More Doctors Smoke Camels Than Any Other Cigarette”?
TRENDPOST: In the largest study conducted to date of U.S. hospital admissions for COVID-19, doctors at NYU Langone Health report that obesity, along with age, was the biggest deciding factor in hospital admissions. Yet, again, this is downplayed by the media and ignored by a socially-distanced, panicked public covered in masks and gloves.
TRENDPOST: OK, Little Boys and Girls, a question for you: How many socially-distanced feet must we be apart according to the rulers of our universe?
Answer: It depends where you live and which of the high-and-mighty politicians and elite “Club of Flunkies” members you believe know what’s best for you.
Who knows better than the World Health Organization? They declared we must stay “at least a meter”… or a little more than three feet apart from other human beings.
Here in the United “We’re Number One” States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proclaim it must six feet.
The German and Australian COVID-19 pros split the difference.
Conclusion: it’s total bullshit being made up by “authorities,” that gleefully is being enforced by military-police to the letters of law with punishment for all who disobey.
TRENDPOST: Can social distancing save lives? Yes!
Since it has been documented that a high percentage of those succumbing to COVID-19 are already suffering from obesity, diabetes, and heart disease – why aren’t the “experts” recommending social distancing from McDonald’s, sheltering-in-place away from Burger King, and banning travel to KFC?
Why aren’t the highly-trusted, constantly-quoted “medical experts” featured on mainstream media calling for self-quarantine from pesticide-laden, chemically processed, high fructose, artificially flavored and dyed foods that wreak havoc on the immune system?
How about shelter-in-place away from Pepsi, Coke, Dr. Pepper, and all the other sugar-saturated sodas washing down the junk food being devoured?
According to researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the average can of soda contains 75 percent of a person’s suggested daily sugar intake, and, for each additional sugary drink a person consumes in a day their risk of dying from heart disease is increased by ten percent.
Again, whether from politicians who dictate what We the People must do, the Presstitutes who keep pumping pandemonium panic, and all the medical/science professionals they feature on the mainstream media… virtually absent is the simple solution of how to best beat the virus: Build a Strong Immune System.
TRENDPOST: Social Distancing? Tell that to the half-million plus homeless in the United States… and the millions around the world!
If the coronavirus is so virulent, why aren’t the homeless crowding the streets, who are living from hand to mouth in unsanitary conditions with compromised immune systems, filling up hospitals and emergency rooms?
Indeed, according to Dr. Fauci and his worldwide crew of “experts,” the homeless would be the #1 class of victims to succumb to COVID-19… yet they are not, and this goes unreported in the media.
TRENDPOST: As Gerald Celente has been predicting, with estimates of coronavirus deaths now dropping from week to week, politicians and health officials will start taking credit for diminishing the crisis, which was hyper-inflated through the media in the first place.
Case in point is this headline in last Saturday’s New York Times: “Virus Deaths Mount, but N.Y. Avoids Predicted Surge at Hospitals.”
Or this from the 9 April Wall Street Journal headline: “California’s Steps Help It Limit Cases.”
Yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo, now being cheered by the Democratic faithful to run for president, who, after anointing himself supreme leader of New York State on 3 March after pushing through legislation granting him emergency management powers… patted himself on the back: “We’re controlling the spread.” “The worst is over.” “The curve continues to flatten.”
Comparing the total number of fatalities thus far from the virus to the 2,753 deaths recorded to the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City, Cuomo said, “I believe the worst is over if we continue to be smart about coronavirus.”
“I believe”?
“I”?
It’s not about “We the People” – it’s about “I the Governor.”
How about “We the People” who believe the virus is not as deadly as the numerous diseases, chemicals, pesticides, air pollution, poisoned water, and junk food culture that is killing tens of millions each year… that do not require the closing down of the entire economy by political “I’s”?
In New York State, to date, some 10,100 people out of a population of 20 million have reportedly died… or the grand total of 0.0005 percent.
TRENDPOST: Unmentioned by Governor “I believe” Cuomo are the millions of lives that are being destroyed by shutting down businesses and robbing people of their livelihoods.
To exemplify both the arrogance and hypocrisy of this Daddy’s Boy, who renamed the Tappan Zee Bridge after his father, is the fact that among the businesses he declared as “essential” are liquor stores.
As long evidenced, the more depressed and desperate people become, the more they drink. Already the facts are in. Bottoms up!
“U.S. online alcohol sales jump 243% during coronavirus pandemic.” – MarketWatch, 2 April 2020
TRENDPOST: Today, Andrew Cuomo, who, as we noted, installed himself as Supreme Leader of New York State by slipping in legislation that he signed, attacked his “born on third base and thought he hit a home run” cohort, Donald Trump.
The war of words as to who’s in charge of We the People heated up after Trump declared that as President, he had “ultimate authority” to decide when to open the economy.
Stating he was in full control and would refuse to obey Trump, Cuomo said, “The Constitution says we don’t have a king. To say, ‘I have total authority over the country because I’m the president, it’s absolute,’ that is a king.” He added, “We didn’t have King George Washington, we had President George Washington.
Further proving that the decisions being made by politicians are without scientific backing and based on their personal beliefs and power-hungry decisions, when New York Mayor Bill de Blasio decided last week to shut down NYC schools for the rest of the year, without asking permission from Cuomo, the Governor discounted the mayor’s decision as a mere “opinion,” declaring that only his judgments (opinions) counted and he was the supreme ruler of the state.
TREND TRACKING LESSON: Going back to our 28 January Trends Journal cover story headline: “CORONAVIRUS: 106 Dead in China. 1.4 Billion Still Alive,” the media sensationalize the death tolls with hyperbole when they add up to virtually nothing.
Then, in our 10 March Trends Journal, the cover read: “COVID-10: PRESSTITUTE AND PUPPET MASTERS PEDDLING HYSTERIA.”
It continues on a daily basis.
- “Coronavirus live updates: China reports 42 new cases, 1 death” – CNBC, 9 April. Two deaths out of a population of 1.4 billion? Why are they telling us this?
- “Sailor from USS Theodore Roosevelt dies of coronavirus” – Politico, 13 April. One person dead out of a crew of over 6,000 (0.00016 percent) is news, when one in five American sailors are obese?
- “A boy from a remote Amazon tribe has died, raising concerns about COVID-19’s impact on indigenous people” – CNN, 10 April. One boy dies among a tribe of 38,000 in a country of 212,000 million people and that’s news? Yes, when you sell fear and hysteria.
- “Coronavirus Update: Worldwide Death Total Surpasses 100,000” – New York Times, 11 April. That 650,000 died from the flu, 1.5 million from tuberculosis, seven million plus from smoking, nine million from air pollution, etc. 100,000 dead from the virus out of a global population of 7.7 billion (0.13 percent)?
To keep the fear spreading, the NYT begins their “Tracking and Outbreak” story with: “Sadly, the predictions that it would be a devastating week turned out to be true, validated by terrifying six-digit numbers: 100,747, the worldwide death toll in the coronavirus pandemic.”
Look at the words they use (which we bolded) setting the tone for how to think and feel: “sadly,” “devastating,” “terrifying”… rather than “here are the facts; Think for Yourself.”
The article continues stating, “The United States – which leads the world in coronavirus cases, with three times as many as Spain and four times as many as Germany.”
What the self-proclaimed “Paper of Record” failed to record is the U.S. has seven times as many people as Spain, so their comparison is bias, and with four times Germany’s population, America’s COVID-19 death rate breaks even.
TRENDPOST: An essential skill to identifying, tracking, and forecasting trends is to read and hear the language carefully.
Indeed, in a society that lives on soundbites and headlines, the propaganda- laced language is absorbed, as are the broadcast soundbites, leading those tuned in to a pre-determined direction.