American Thinker\William Sullivan:
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York says that it’s “shocking” to discover that 66 percent of new hospitalizations appear to have been among people “largely sheltering at home.”
“We thought maybe they were taking public transportation,” he said, “but actually no, because these people were literally at home.”
“Much of this comes down to what you do to protect yourself,” he continues. “Everything closed down, government has done everything it could, society has done everything it could.”
It’s your fault, he says to the hospitalized New Yorkers who loyally complied with his government directive. But here’s an interesting alternative theory as to why, mostly, old people who are staying at home are being hospitalized. What if the government directive to close everything down and mandate “social distancing” actually made the problem worse?
Dr. David Katz predicted precisely this outcome on March 20, in an article that is proving every bit as correct in its predictions and sober policy recommendations as Dr. Anthony Fauci has been proven incorrect — which is another way of saying that the article has proven flawless, so far.
Dr. Katz writes:
[I]n more and more places we are limiting gatherings uniformly, a tactic I call “horizontal interdiction” — when containment policies are applied to the entire population without consideration of their risk for severe infection.
But as the work force is laid off en masse (our family has one adult child home for that reason already), and colleges close (we have another two young adults back home for this reason), young people of indeterminate infectious status are being sent home to huddle with their families nationwide. And because we lack widespread testing, they may be carrying the virus and transmitting it to their 50-something parents, and 70- or 80-something grandparents. If there are any clear guidelines for behavior within families — what I call “vertical interdiction” — I have not seen them.
One might be inclined to simply accept this as an unintended consequence of “social distancing,” but accepting that would require there to be some kind of benefit to “social distancing” that would make it worth the cost. Is there?
Very likely, you already instinctively know that the guidelines suggesting that it’s somehow helpful to keep a six-foot space between healthy people, even outdoors, is not based on science, but just an arbitrary suggestion we’ve been conditioned to accept without evidence.
And your gut feeling would be right. There’s a reason that “social distancing” wasn’t a buzzword common to the American lexicon prior to 2020. There’s very little science behind “social distancing” at all. READ MORE
h/t Forcibly Rearranged.
Glad I’m an old geezer who lives alone. I still go out every day, though without a stinking mask.
Social distancing is the “Obama cough” of the 21st Century. Obama’s response to H1N1 was “Ho hum. Everyone cough into your elbow. That’s the ticket. Now get back to work and stop worrying.” He was aided tremendously by a worshipful media who dutifully suppressed any fear-mongering coverage.
Now, we have the entire world locked in their homes, economies crumbling, and political leaders telling us that the virus must be eradicated before we can return to any sense of normalcy, while also assuring us that we can never return to things the way they were before.
Well, let’s see now. H1N1 is still killing hundreds of thousands worldwide each year. H3N2, of 1968 pandemic fame, reappeared in an altered form in 2017, killing 80,000 people and hospitalizing around 900,000 in the US (mostly in late Spring) in the 2017-2018 flu season, but you likely didn’t read anything about it. The 2019-2020 flu season was looking to be about as bad. These recent numbers are with vaccines.
The world is a dangerous place to live. Disease has wiped out entire civilizations and severely impacted others, often quite rapidly. It is sobering to accept that modern medicine cannot protect us entirely from such things. Nevertheless, we seem to have the ability, as a society, to take the punches and move on. Why not this time?
It can’t all be blamed on Democrats and nevertrumpers. This has been a worldwide hysteria.
Anyway, food for thought.
Obviously other undiscovered disease vectors are in play.
For example: How many gallons of infected spit gets licked
on envelopes every day to go tumbling through the mail
processing centers with the uninfected mail that you then
pull from your mailbox and open without precautions?
I’m a paranoid germaphobe. I preheat my oven to 170°F
pick out what can’t take heat and toast mine in the oven
while taking possible fire precautions. Same with cash.
WHO states 135°F destroys it.
“but actually no, because these people were literally at home.” Gee, who changed the definition of the word “literally” to mean “under house arrest”?
Mother nature is a cruel master.
If you enjoy living one atop another, be prepared for her wrath.
We need to get hold of the reins of this 7 billion population problem and bring it back into control because if we don’t, we will see more pandemics like this one take us out.
Sure, we can support 10, 12, and even 15 billion, but at what cost in quality of life?
Get it right…It’s Socialist Distancing
mandatory masks and social distancing which do nothing is recommended but hydroxychloroquine which has been proven to work is outlawed !
cognitive dissonance is once again considered to be democrat logic.
We need to start a mass campaign, emailing the President and asking him to sign an EO outlawing the Democrat Party. I’ve been trying for over 3 years; maybe if we do it as a group……
There was a bank robbery in a reopened branch near me. Although several people witnessed the crime, no one was able to describe the criminal because he wasn’t wearing a mask.
More stupudity and cya from incompetent and authoritarian government. Life would be so much better if we could reduce fed govt by 90%. They botch everything they touch and waste zillions of our tax $ in the process
People seem to have forgotten, or maybe never understood, that “flatten the curve” was never intended to stop people from catching the disease; it was intended to prevent a sudden large spike that would overwhelm hospital and emergency room capacities to handle the numbers happening all at once. Something that didn’t consider that most people catching it would never need treatment or many even know they had it because it was only sever in a small population (i.e. nursing homes with their mostly immune compromised residents).
IOW, it was intended to drag the duration of the disease out at a lower level of active cases instead of just letting it play out over a short time and being done with it.
ALL of it comes down to what YOU do to protect yourself – and always has.
Self-interest is what makes everything happen.
It’s the flu.
Another variation.
But the fukkin flu, nonetheless.
Scare mongering and hysteria sown to disrupt the economies, not just of the United States, but of the entire World outside of China. The socialists and other totalitarians picked up on it and hyperventilated in ecstasy over the possibilities – close the economy – attack President Trump – consolidate their efforts at voter fraud – empower the Lilliputian Hitlers among the Several States – put millions of citizens on the public teat – increase the debt enormously – take advantage to extort more money to pay off the unfunded liabilities of the profligate – to release rapists and murderers onto the streets – and to arrogate unto themselves rights and privileges which are not accorded them by Law.
We see it all around us.
The LSM continues to lie, the talking heads parrot the lies, the billionaire limousine “liberals” channel “opinion,” the medic-ocracy continues to spew laughably idiotic “predictions” based on their individual political biases (while pretending to practice “science”), and we sit at home with our thumbs up our asses.
Still the same question: “How many have died EXCLUSIVELY from the Wuhan Flu?”
Still no answer. The silence speaks volumes.
izlamo delenda est …
This is all about getting rid of Trump.
“This is all about getting rid of Trump.”
Or bending him into compliance.
^^^ Nope, it’s all about getting rid of Trump.
Even they know Trump is not bending!
Aaaaaaaaaaannnnd one thing is for damn sure obvious – democRATs couldn’t care less about the American People! They only care about themselves and absolute power!
The so called experts are not experts after all, no matter their high cost, and have been inventing it all as they go along!
The third leading cause of death in the United States is due to medical error! Yeah, experts, RIGHT!
For all the talk of masks and gloves when going outside, I think most of these people should consider wearing helmets. In their deteriorated mental state, they shouldn’t risk a blow to the head.
Trump is the lightning rod.
America is the barn.
They are attempting to burn us to the ground.
War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death – from which the totalitarian state will rise.
Those who have eyes can see it.
Those who have ears can hear it.
izlamo delenda est …
Actually, it’s “Anti-Social Distancing” isn’t it?