The Great Barrington Declaration

Let's stop the government overreach madness associated with COVID-19. The media makes it sound as if scientists and 'science' are unanimous in their opinion that COVID-19 is a threat that merits lock-downs, social restrictions and mask-wearing and reality could not be farther from the truth. Recently (Oct. 1-4, 2020), a meeting was hosted that brought together some of the top epidemiologists, economists, and journalists to discuss the impacts of lockdowns and social restrictions and also to present on the actual data we have gathered about COVID-19 and its threats to human life. Below is the incredible list of people who have authored and co-signed on what is now called, "The Great Barrington Declaration". You can read it's contents for yourself here. Don't tell me scientists and science are unanimous here because these highly respected people, who are all willing to put their hard-fought reputations on the line, are willing to publicly state their disagreement with the mainstream COVID-19 narrative.

The primary authors and signers of the document are 

• Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
• Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Professor,  Medicine, Stanford University.
• Dr. Sunetra Gupta, Professor, Theoretical Epidemiology, University of Oxford.

The co-signers include 

• Dr. Rodney Sturdivant, PhD. associate professor of biostatistics at Baylor University and the Director of the Baylor Statistical Consulting Center. He is a Colonel in the US Army (retired) whose research includes a focus on infectious disease spread and diagnosis.
• Dr. Eitan Friedman, MD, PhD. Founder and Director, The Susanne Levy Gertner Oncogenetics Unit, The Danek Gertner Institute of Human Genetics, Chaim Sheba Medical Center and Professor of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine and Depertment of Human Genetics and Biochemistry, Tel-Aviv University
• Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, MD, MPH a physician with the VA health system with expertise in epidemiology, health equity practice, and health impact assessment of public policy. He formerly served as a Deputy Health Officer for San Francisco for 18 years.
• Dr. Michael Levitt, PhD is a biophysicist and a professor of structural biology at Stanford University. Prof. Levitt received the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.
• Dr. Eyal Shahar, MD professor (emeritus) of public health at the University of Arizona, a physician, epidemiologist, with expertise in causal and statistical inference.
• Dr. David Katz, MD, MPH, President, True Health Initiative and the Founder and Former Director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center
• Dr. Laura Lazzeroni, PhD., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and of biomedical data science at Stanford University Medical School, a biostatistician and data scientist
• Dr. Simon Thornley, PhD is an epidemiologist at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has experience in biostatistics and epidemiological analysis, and has applied these to a range of areas including communicable and non-communicable diseases.
• Dr. Michael Jackson, PhD is an ecologist and research fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
• Dr. Jonas Ludvigsson, pediatrician, epidemiologist and professor at Karolinska Institute and senior physician at Örebro University Hospital, Sweden.
• Dr. Sylvia Fogel, autism expert and psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School, USA.
• Dr. Andrius Kavaliunas, epidemiologist and assistant professor at Karolinska Institute, Sweden
• Prof. Udi Qimron, Chair, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Tel Aviv University
• Prof. Ariel Munitz, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Tel Aviv University
• Prof. Motti Gerlic, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Tel Aviv University
• Dr. Uri Gavish, an expert in algorithm analysis and a biomedical consultant
• Prof. Ellen Townsend, Self-Harm Research Group, University of Nottingham, UK.
• Dr. Paul McKeigue, professor of epidemiology in the University of Edinburgh and public health physician, with expertise in statistical modelling of disease.
• Dr. Mario Recker, Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics at the Centre for Mathematics and the Environment, University of Exeter.
• Prof. Mike Hulme, professor of human geography, University of Cambridge
• Prof. Stephen Bremner, Professor of Medical Statistics, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex
• Prof. Matthew Ratcliffe, Professor of Philosophy specializing in philosophy of mental health, University of York, UK
• Prof. Lisa White, Professor of Modelling and Epidemiology Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University, UK
• Prof. Angus Dalgleish, MD, FRCP, FRACP, FRCPath, FMedSci, Department of Oncology, St. George’s, University of London
• Dr. Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine, an expert on vaccine development, efficacy and safety.
• Dr. Helen Colhoun, professor of medical informatics and epidemiology in the University of Edinburgh and public health physician, with expertise in risk prediction.
• Prof. Partha P. Majumder, PhD, FNA, FASc, FNASc, FTWAS National Science Chair, Distinguished Professor and Founder National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, KalyaniEmeritus Professor Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
• Dr. Gabriela Gomes, professor at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, a mathematician focussing on population dynamics, evolutionary theory and infectious disease epidemiology.
• Prof. Anthony J Brookes, Department of Genetics & Genome Biology, University of Leicester, UK
• Prof. Simon Wood, professor at Edinburgh University, a statistician with expertise in statistical methodology, applied statistics and mathematical modelling in biology
• Prof. David Livermore, Professor at University of East Anglia, a microbiologist with expertise in disease epidemiology, antibiotic resistance and rapid diagnostics
• Prof. Sucharit Bhakdi, em. Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of Mainz, Germany
• Prof. Yaz Gulnur Muradoglu, Professor of Finance, Director at Behavioural Finance Working Group, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London
• Prof. Karol Sikora MA, PhD, MBBChir, FRCP, FRCR, FFPM, Medical Director of Rutherford Health, Oncologist, & Dean of Medicine

Turn Your Hearts to Jesus

This was from Jim Daly's blog (Focus on the Family) which, despite being regularly delivered to my email, I almost never read. What caught my eye this time was the subject line which read, "The Presidential Election of 2020: Stop the Blame Game". So I read it - I thought it was good enough to share. Bottom-line, the government of the United States was never intended to be the hope of the people. The US Constitution and Bill of Rights lay down the foundation but never suppose that life, liberty and happiness will come from the government...rather, they promise that life, the right to liberty (freedom) and one's ability to pursue happiness will be defended by the government. We would do well, as a nation, to remember this. The government is not responsible for everything that happens in this country and to make it seem that way is to put the government on a pedestal that it was never meant or intended to be on. No amount of government oversight, regulation, control or programming will stop people from dying, stop disasters from happening, or solve the cultural issues we face. We need God - and we need the love of Jesus and his Holy Spirit inside of us. That is our only true hope.

"If you tuned into last night’s debate or have spent any amount of time following this year’s race, you know blame is now the name of the game in the 2020 presidential election.

Every affliction must be assigned a villain. 

It wasn’t always so. Let me describe a true-life scene for you:

Record deaths from the virus were mounting, taxing hospitals beyond their capacity. On one day alone, over 60 desperate calls for medical help in New York City go unaided.

Meanwhile, a blizzard in North Dakota killed 34 people and a deadly tornado outbreak was sweeping through the South, killing dozens in its path. On Palm Sunday, twisters claimed the lives of 380 people throughout the Midwest and South. Days later, seven violent F-4 tornadoes devastate Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.

Compounding the gathering woes was a deadly, category 2 hurricane in Louisiana, swamping low-lying properties and washing out roads and railroad tracks.

There was more.

In a single day, 5 wildfires ravage the dried-out Adirondacks.

In Chicago and Independence, Kansas, race riots with police rage, while another wicked feud is averted in Arkansas.

Our current life in 2020, the apocalyptic consequences of gross presidential mismanagement and/or the reckless ignoring of cataclysmic climate change?

Not quite.

Rather, a snapshot of President Woodrow Wilson’s America one-hundred years ago in 1920, just as the death toll for the Spanish flu pandemic approached 675,000 in the United States and 5 million across the globe.

By 1920, Wilson was in his second term, hampered by a stroke suffered a year earlier, but still riding high from being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping negotiate the peace treaty to end World War I.

Yet, despite the escalating death toll attributable to the influenza, Wilson made no public statements about it throughout the multiple-year pandemic.

No daily press briefings. No big speeches.

Not a single word.

Why?

Historians have long suggested Wilson was singularly focused on World War I, but by the end of 1920, hostilities in Europe had been over for two years.

I suspect he didn’t say anything about it because nobody was blaming him for it.

Once upon a time, Americans didn’t expect their president or their government to solve every problem. They understood that some things were outside not only a politician’s control, but also mankind’s.

They recognized that government can try to minimize and mitigate catastrophes, but in an open society, bad things happen. It’s inevitable. It’s the story of humanity.

It’s a doctor’s job to alleviate suffering, but it’s God’s to cure.

In other words, men and women can help – but only God can heal. As government takes a more active role in people’s lives, that’s become something of a foreign concept.

In fact, many now rely on government far more than God.

Tragically, tens of millions of deaths have been attributable to disease and natural disasters over the centuries. Perhaps some plagues and pandemics could have been avoided or reduced if people knew then what we know now – but hindsight is always 20/20.

Countless natural disasters struck the world long before the proliferation of fossil fuels and charges of carbon and ozone pollution. From floods to fires, catastrophes preceded cars and factory chimneys.

Despite presiding as president in the midst of the explosion of a global pandemic, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was lionized, with The New York Times lauding him for his “unflagging zeal and devotion.”

As a Christian, I try to look inward before casting stones outward. I also recognize there are so many difficult things happening in this world that are outside of my control, like disease and natural disasters. Why God allows suffering like COVID-19 is the type of question people have been asking for ages, but I do know He uses everything to accomplish His purposes.

“The problem with the world is it blames problems on things besides sin and identifies salvation on things outside God,” says my friend, pastor Dr. Tim Keller.

I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for sin to catch the blame for our current challenges – but in the “blame game,” that’s the hands-down winner."

COVID-19: A Legal Problem

I had a very good discussion with a friend of mine the other day and while he and I disagreed on a lot - the one thing we both do agree on is that COVID-19 is now a huge legal problem. I would argue that it is a far bigger legal problem now than it is a health problem whereas my friend doesn't believe it has gotten to that point yet, but that it will.

If you look at how this has evolved, publicly, over the past 4-5 months there has been a theme. First, it was lockdowns...first with countries...then with states; one state did it, then another, then a bunch more, until most of the country, save the states where no one lives (*cough* South Dakota *cough*) were all on 'lockdown'. Then it was re-opening plans. One state developed a "re-opening" plan and pretty soon, every state had a re-opening plan that looked something like a staging model, where it would happen slowly and over the course of a couple of months. At this point, school is now the vanguard - in our area, district after district has announced they are moving exclusively to e-learning to start the school year. I'm sure similar things are playing out all across the country. Colleges and universities have followed suit with the NCAA canceling team sports and many institutions of higher learning moving to e-learning models. The bottom-line is this: no one wants to be left holding a bag of blame. Executive orders written by governors have been successfully challenged, legally speaking, in almost every state and yet many are acting as though those orders still have teeth. Why? Because states have threatened legal action (forcible closings, forfeiture of business licensing, including liquor licenses, etc) for those businesses that don't comply. In talking to a couple of restaurant owner friends of mine - they probably would open except that the departments of health in the towns they operate in have threatened to shut them down, or take away their liquor licenses. They also talk about the social stigma and/or blow back that would occur as a result of re-opening.

The data could not be more clear in terms of how minimal the COVID threat is to children. The median age of the person who dies from COVID-19 is 78 years old. If we look at the CDC's data set, which is updated to September 9th, a total of 62 people under the age of 15 have died of COVID-19, in the entire United States, since the start of the pandemic in February (data set is 2/1 to 9/9). A total of 377 people under the age of 25, in the entire United States, have died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic in February. By comparison, 15,644 people under the age of 15 in the United States, have died of any cause, in that same period of time. A total of 35,642 people under the age of 25 in the United States have died of all causes, in that same period of time. Our children are far less vulnerable to COVID than they are to a number of other things (the flu, for example, has killed 110 children under 15 since Feb 1st, 2020), but we are shutting down in-person school because of COVID...why?

In case that isn't convincing. 1,894,447 (as of September 9th) Americans have died in the United States, since February 1st, when all causes of death are taken into account. The latest COVID death count is 175,866. Over 1 million Americans over the age of 75 have died since February 1st (1,028,792). Death, even death on a large scale, is common in our society...and yet we are weirdly fixated on COVID. To underscore this fact - a poll recently conducted by Franklin Templeton (accounting firm) showed that "for people aged 18-24, the share of those worried about serious health consequences is 400 times higher than the share of total COVID deaths; for those aged 25-34 it is 90 times higher..."

To me, it's a head-scratcher. We have more access to hard data than we have ever had for anything, and yet the story being painted by media (social and otherwise) doesn't match with reality. The question I keep asking myself is 'what is going on here!?"

The only logical conclusion I can make is that no one wants to be sued. That is the only conclusion that makes any logical sense when you look at the numbers. Every day - the media flashes up the current COVID death statistic, without giving it any context whatsoever, and so it has become a thing. They don't give it context within itself (number of deaths FROM covid vs. WITH covid), they don't give it any context in terms of what kills people commonly (cancer, heart disease, etc). They never mention that in a regular ho-hum year, 2.8 MILLION people die in this country of various causes.

And so we have what we have - schools closed, college students forced to wear masks almost 24/7, no fans in the stands, no concerts or large gatherings, businesses closing left and right, widespread unemployment or underemployment and on and on and on. PEOPLE - the folks making decisions have the same numbers that are available to you and I. 180,000 as a number, without any context, sounds like a lot, but it's not. It just isn't, even as it relates to death. And yet, we continually hear from people like Dr. Fauci and our governors, that we won't be "safe" until we have a vaccine. Dr. Fauci said yesterday that even when we get a vaccine, it will have to have been available for 6 months to a year until it's administered to enough people to make a difference. I guarantee you Dr. Fauci knows what is truly at risk here - it is his reputation. A reputation that has been hard fought over decades of time. You put a mic in his face and ask him, "Dr. Fauci, when will we be able to go back to normal again?" - he won't be hedging his bets. He's going to say the thing that preserves his reputation. The problem is, we aren't asking enough people - we aren't asking other experts in other fields what the consequences of shutdowns, social distancing, closing schools, making people wear masks, preventing people from dining out inside, etc. are. There needs to be more voices in the room where the policy decisions are being made. There needs to be federal leadership with regard to protecting businesses and individuals from litigation related to COVID-19. These are common-sense actions that no one is taking - and so we continue, in this malaise of uncertainty and fear, waiting for a phantom vaccine that may never come. How much longer will we tolerate this?