World Affairs Brief, March 6, 2020 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).

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THE ONGOING CORONAVIRUS THREAT

There are a flood of stories floating around the net blaming the coronavirus on the US, but I am not buying it. Most of the sites reporting this are left-wing, and pro-Russia and China, but as the free China website, EpochTimes.com points out, all these sites lead back to one original Chinese study which obviously has every motive for shifting blame to the US.

Another false piece of evidence is that some of the American deaths are people who never traveled to China. But, as in the first cases in Germany, they worked at places where people had traveled to China and brought back the disease. As the disease spreads, it has already escaped the pool of people who contracted it in China.

Critics also point out that the death rates are higher in Iran, a constant target of US dirty tricks, than anywhere else. Even some in the Iranian leadership are blaming the US for the outbreak. That doesn’t make it so. The Iranians who brought the virus to Iran had traveled to China. There is no denying that China’s Wuhan Bio4 lab was and still is busy cooking up deadly viruses with which to attack the West.

As to the spread of the coronavirus in the US, I feel that the death rate is too low for it to be a major health problem for most people.

1. It is not an airborne virus, and has to be spread by people to people contact, or tiny droplets, either from coughing, spitting, or touching an infected person or some surface where the virus has landed and is still viable.

2. It doesn’t seem to affect young people, and is most deadly only to people who are elderly and/or those who have compromised immune systems. The minority of healthy people in their 30’s that have died were unfortunate enough to have had a massive exposure period—which highlights the dangers of forced quarantine along with other infected people in a building with a common systems. Healthy people who only have a small dosage of infection sometimes have very mild symptoms and don’t go to a hospital—thus unreported. Statnews.com, relying on Chinese statistics, published these interesting numbers relating to age and condition of the dead:

Overall, China CDC found, 2.3% of confirmed cases died. But the fatality rate was 14.8% in people 80 or older, likely reflecting the presence of other diseases, a weaker immune system, or simply worse overall health. By contrast, the fatality rate was 1.3% in 50-somethings, 0.4% in 40-somethings, and 0.2% in people 10 to 39.

The age-related death risk probably reflects the strength, or weakness, of the respiratory system. About half of the 109 Covid-19 patients (ages 22 to 94) treated at Central Hospital of Wuhan, researchers there reported, developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), in which fluid builds up in the small air sacs of the lungs. That restricts how much air the lungs can take in, reducing the oxygen supply to vital organs, sometimes fatally; half of the ARDS patients died, compared to 9% of patients who did not develop the syndrome.

3. The death rate is not anywhere near as high as it was with the Spanish Flu at the end of WWI—not by a long shot. It is hard to trust any statistic that comes out of China that routinely lies about the severity of the crisis there. For people in the USA, a better comparison is what happened on the Diamond Princess cruise ship where around 705 passengers out of 3,711 on board the boat caught the coronavirus. And the infection rate would have been much lower had not everyone been quarantined on that infected ship and not allowed to leave. Still, after being subjected to infected common surfaces (hand rails, food lines, door knobs) for two weeks, only six people died, yielding a death rate of 0.85%, and all of them were over 70 years of age.

The death rate would even be lower if people had been healthy and didn’t rely so much on establishment medical protocols which concentrate on anti-viral drugs and antibiotics which are relatively ineffective.

Drugs have lots of side effects and can only target the symptoms of viral infections, which is ineffective compared to the valuable anti-viral properties of concentrated solutions of garlic, cayenne pepper, horseradish and ginger root such as in the apple cider vinegar solution called “Fire Cider” (see the recipe in the Jan 31 WAB). Vitamin D3 is also essential, and high doses (1000mg 3x a day) of naturally-sourced vitamin C with bioflavanoids is also quite effective against viruses.

Environmentally, every home should also have an Oxygen Ionizing air filtration unit in their house—at all times, not just in times of this crisis. They kill bacteria and viruses and drop pollutants out of the air. There are many available brands online, and they are all quite effective.

In short, I think you can prepare to survive the virus, as most do. So far, the infection rate has not been large or rapid in the US. At this point, your greatest threat is economic fallout, restrictions on travel and government induced group quarantines. There are also some shortages caused by unprepared people emptying stores of toilet paper and bottled water (Walmart) and rice and other food supplies (Costco).

Any crisis, perceived or real, is a wakeup call for complacent Americans, but it has little staying power unless they understand the long-term threats (like war and EMP)—which will create shortages that last a long time, and where you will need a lot more than a good supply of toilet paper to survive.

So far there have been 14 deaths in the US, 1 in California (a passenger on the Diamond Princess) and 13 from the Seattle WA area, due to workplace contamination from someone returning from China. Another Princess cruise ship off the coast of California is under quarantine because an infected passenger was found on board.

I can’t emphasize enough how great the danger is when you travel in groups or stay in big hotels or cruise ships—the threat of coming under lock down where you will be confined for weeks in close proximity to a lot of people, heightens your chances of infection—and without access to any herbs to fight it.

More and more we are seeing whole nations succumb to the mass isolation or quarantine effects. Italy is starting to ban all large public gatherings such as in soccer stadiums, despite the national passion for the sport. Both Italy and Japan have started closing down schools.

The Stock markets rebounded this week, both because of the FED’s drop in interest rates and the low death rate to the virus in the US. Then stocks tanked again, so expect a lot of volatility in the markets. As Zerohedge.com says, no one knows what is going on anymore. Stocks that rely on Chinese imports will remain weak until this is over because of limitations on factory output in China.

Advice to avoid: Beware the establishment cry to “get your flu” shot, as if it could protect you against the coronavirus. It won’t, and will make you more susceptible, as Dr. Brownstein writes:

The headline in the February 25, 2020 article in the New York Times article reads, “How to prepare for the Coronavirus.” Right below the headline, in large font, it states, “Wash your hands. Keep a supply of medicines. Get a flu shot.”

I have no problems with the idea of washing hands. That is a good antimicrobial technique… [but] “Get a flu shot?” WHAT? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?

The writer states, “Infectious disease specialists strongly recommend flu vaccination. And the best protection for older people against bacterial pneumonia is, paradoxically, to vaccinate children…” Folks, this is another example of FAKE NEWS! The flu vaccine has never been shown to protect against pneumonia.

I would suggest the opposite is true; those who get the flu vaccine will be more at risk for other non-flu-like infections such as coronavirus… It is important to keep in mind that the flu vaccine regularly fails most (usually over 90%) who receive it. Not only does it NOT protect you against the flu, it gives the immune system problems identifying other strains of the flu as well as different non-flu like viruses such as…coronavirus.

Vaccine Hype: There is also a lot of hype and anticipation about a vaccine. Trump is signing an $8B bill to through money at the coronavirus problem including a $3B gift to Big Pharma to develop a vaccine. This is an unnecessary bailout for rich companies that don’t need it. Vaccines already reap huge profits for Big Pharmaceuticals, because they have no liability to worry about over vaccine damage. In any case, don’t plan on taking any vaccine, even if they say they have one. The dangers outweigh the benefits, especially for the healthy who know and practice good nutrition and alternative herbal remedies. President Trump is easily susceptible to the hype that a vaccine is almost here, as CNN reports:

“I don’t know what the time will be. I’ve heard very quick numbers, that of months. And I’ve heard pretty much a year would be an outside number. So I think that’s not a bad range. But if you’re talking about three to four months in a couple of cases, a year in other cases,” Trump said.

But Dr. Antony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, immediately corrected the President: “Let me make sure you get the … information. A vaccine that you make and start testing in a year is not a vaccine that’s deployable.”

As Fauci explained the timeline, Trump folded his arms. Fauci said: “So he’s asking the question — when is it going to be deployable? And that is going to be, at the earliest, a year to a year and a half, no matter how fast you go.”

Israel claims to already have one vaccine, but that is impossible unless they had advanced notice of the outbreak and a sample. Other experts say it will take 3-5 years if you do proper trials. But why should Big Pharmaceuticals do lengthy studies or trials when the government grants them immunity from any damage from vaccines?