IF ONLY THEY HAD LISTENED
A letter by a former science journalist dated March 21, 2020 accurately forecast the dangerous course of the COVID-19 response.
On March 21, 2020, as COVID-19 hysteria took over, I sent the letter below to a prominent American journalist. I’d hoped it might nudge the toxic early reporting about C-19 in a more productive direction. It was not arrogance on my part but rather frustration with the media’s inability to think critically about data, health outcomes and the folly of lockdowns as a solution to the virus. I have no scientific degree or special training, just the brain of an old-school reporter who approaches groupthink driven by politics with heavy scepticism. Regard the date and imagine how much pain, destruction, mistrust and death might have been avoided if only journalists had done their jobs. (two edits made for privacy)
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March 21, 2020
Dear xxxxx
I left you a somewhat rambling message yesterday out of deep frustration with the way the media (not you) is handling the virus crisis. I am an investigative journalist, formerly covering science and medicine for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
I’m sure you are super busy but I wanted to follow up with an email and some ideas (off the record) for you to consider and that might be useful, perhaps for an article. I have included a PDF as an attachment.
Back in the ‘80s, I was deeply immersed in the AIDS crisis from its earliest days and won many awards for reporting outside the box. I produced and reported hour-long documentaries, news stories, attended International AIDS Conferences and interviewed all the key players including Anthony Fauci.
Here is what I learned about science, medicine, bureaucracy and Tony Fauci.
Doctors and scientists are as vulnerable to groupthink, hubris and greed as any other profession. Treating them as Gods, not to be questioned, and handing them the reins to public health policy and the world’s economy without accountability is absolute folly. I watch as every news program, takes without question or accountability, pronouncements that have no underpinnings in actual data.
Family medicine doctors and ER physicians are weighing in on public health with no more knowledge than what we all read online. They can’t explain why this is more dangerous than flu or even what the actual mortality rate will be. But they sing the praises of harsh measures lest they be accused of not taking it seriously and because many of them love their moment in the spotlight. Reporters and anchors with no experience in public health, science or epidemiology are enabling this charade. They seem to know only that science is always good and questioning it is bad.
I fear that two weeks from now, we will learn that Covid is actually much less dangerous than is being portrayed now, given that we don’t have an epidemiologically reliable cohort of infected people to draw conclusions from.
Given that there are likely hundreds of thousands of mild, unreported Covid cases in the population, mortality rates will be downgraded by a massive number. Tony Fauci knows this, and alludes to it but doesn’t seem to want the message to be fully absorbed.
I’d like to see data on how many people will die as a result of the harsh economic measures being taken. Low margin industries, like restaurants and cab driving will have bankruptcies, suicides and on-going health issues related to this cruel and unforeseen economic shock.
Why didn’t the science gurus counsel caution on taking extreme measures? They believe it is not their job to weigh the downside of prevention. The country may be virus-free one day soon — but if the economy and communities are in tatters, was this actually a successful approach? You should review some data on how this might play out for people. Thirty thousand Americans died of flu last year and it was hardly noticed. They didn’t die in Covid-like clusters so there was no panic to save them. Is this a moral quandary for the nation? Will we approach next year’s flu season with countrywide lockdowns to protect vulnerable people?
As for Trump, the virus has him right where it wants him. If he is optimistic and tries to boost the economy he is accused of being a science-denying monster. So, he goes all in for public health and allows the NIH and CDC to essentially take over the country – which will end badly for everyone except the scientists who will claim credit for “keeping us safe.”
As for the actual virus — I have attached an article for you to read about how Fauci botched the AIDS crisis. People with AIDS actually chained themselves to the NIH — begging for treatments to save their lives.
Fauci refused to release anecdotally promising treatments like aerosolized Pentamidine and Bactrim for PCP pneumonia (biggest killer of AIDS patients at the start of the epidemic) because he wanted perfect controlled studies. Thousands of gay men died waiting. You can see the tension between Fauci and Trump on this issue. Trump is actually correct in wanting to rush a promising and likely harmless treatment to patients. Fauci will block him at every turn.
Never forget, it was the ACT-UP movement of infected gay men and their devoted doctors who pushed the scientific bureaucracy in DC into approving life-saving treatments. They were smart and they won against huge odds. Science was pushing for a perfect cure and a Nobel Prize while people with AIDS just wanted to stay alive.
You should also know that vaccine obsession is highly profitable and sexy for science. At every AIDS conference a vaccine hotshot would appear to announce that a vaccine was only a year away. The media would dutifully report it, every year, year after year, without questioning the false promises. The vaccine was always the headline.
Here is a link to Fauci’s history with AIDS. He has tried to rewrite it but I was there. I knew Michael Callen and I interviewed Fauci about this.
Huffington Post – Whitewashing AIDS History
My sense of what is going on culturally is that questioning Big Science about anything is like doubting climate change. Science is the new God and doubters are accused of being conspiracy theorists.
I’m happy to talk about this should you want to write something.
Important questions need to be asked about the DC science bureaucrats taking over the country. A more prudent approach would have been to safeguard the elderly and vulnerable AND the economy at the same time -- which protects everyone.
Keep up the great work!
Allbest
Trish Wood
Shortly after sending that note I began a podcast on critical thinking called Trish Wood is Critical. Our focus is the folly of heavy-handed, politically motivated lockdown policies and mandates driven by professional groupthink. We also expose social media censorship and the abdication of accountability reporting by legacy media which enables, perhaps, the biggest public health debacle in history.
Wow, Trish. What a great and prescient letter.