Science Says End the Lockdown

It is always quite comical when the left leverages “science.” They find comfort with “science” when it fits their ideological agenda. When it does not, well, you are a member of the flat-earth society, or some other imbecilic denigrating reference.

Now, I know that there are some who are still concerned, okay, scared, when it comes to COVID-19. I have tried to present empirical data, facts, not emotional hyperbole based upon erroneous computer models, overblown assessments, or fear. With that being said, I wanted to share a very good article done by Scott W. Atlas, MD, the David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and former Chief of Neuroradiology at Stanford Medical Center.

I will leave it up to you to make your own decisions, after all, that is what being an American is all about. That is why this whole COVID-19 issue has violated that very fundamental premise. That must end.

For those of you who wish to know what I think about Gov. Abbott’s decree to open by 25 percent, I would have taken a different approach. If I were governor of the Lone Star State of Texas, I would have said, Texans can make their own decisions, and would recommend a 70 percent threshold in reopening businesses, meaning all businesses. If all is well in two weeks, then Texas would be open 100 percent.

Here is a short snippet from Dr. Atlas’ oped piece, posted at the NY Post:

“The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have been enormous, and New York has suffered more than anywhere else in the world. Compared as a separate country, the New York area would rank, by far, as No. 1 for deaths per capita.

The New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area accounts for approximately 60 percent of all US deaths. Theories abound, but the New York area itself is different: New York is the top port of entry for the hundreds of thousands of tourists coming to the US every month from China; Gotham has a uniquely high density of living that swells daily by millions from workers and tourists; and Manhattan sees some 1.6 million commuters daily, mostly on crowded public transit, including 320,000 from Jersey alone.

Yet the pandemic toll is falling, dramatically so in New York, ­including both hospitalizations and deaths per day. Few doubt that the unprecedented isolation policies had a significant ­impact on “flattening the curves.”

Now, we face another, even greater problem: how to sensibly re-enter normal life. This must be based on what we now know, not on worst-case projections, using facts and fundamental medical knowledge, not fear or single-vision policies.

First, we know the risk of ­dying from COVID-19 is far lower than initially thought, and not significant for the overwhelming majority of those infected.

Multiple recent studies from Iceland, Germany, USC, Stanford, and New York City all suggest that the fatality rate if infected is likely far lower than early estimates, perhaps under 0.1 to 0.4 percent, i.e., 10 to 40 times lower than estimates that motivated extreme isolation.

In the Big Apple, with almost one-third of all US deaths, the rate of death for all people ages 18 to 45 is 0.01 percent, or 13 per 100,000 in the population, one-eightieth of the rate for people age 75 and over. For people under 18, the rate of death is zero per 100,000. Of Empire State fatalities, almost two-thirds were over 70 years of age. And regardless of age, if you don’t already have an underlying chronic condition, your chances of dying are small. Of 7,959 NYC COVID-19 deaths fully investigated for underlying conditions, 99.2 percent had an underlying illness.”

Please read the full op-ed, and then, you decide. Stop allowing elected officials and ideologues from running your lives. Actually, destroying your livelihood, I suspect our unemployment number to hit 30 million Americans this week. We are at 1.8 million in Texas.

This column was originally published at The Old School Patriot.