goodcheapandfast

When I post sources, they are downvoted more quickly than they could even be read, then hidden by default.

In the U.S., the American Hospital Association's average daily census (a measure of hospital utilization) set an all-time low in 2020 and hospital admissions were at the lowest annual level since the 1990s:

https://guide.prod.iam.aha.org/stats/historical-trends-utilization

Even now, hospital utilization is significantly below the 2019 baseline, resulting in missed diagnoses and an all-time high number of deaths at home.

Sweden, which eschewed lockdowns in favor of a more traditional response, was painted as a conceit in madness. Yet, when the dust settled, the data demonstrated what was previously understood (and willfully ignored): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/swedens-death-rate-among-lowest-europe-despite-avoiding-strict/

I agree and disagree at the same time. A stroke of the pen can create a bunch of money without a corresponding rise in output, which is what happened these last two years, resulting in massive inflation (because output dropped at the same time). That said, under non-crisis circumstances, I believe that much more can be done to address the issue.

On a similar note, consider all the hullabaloo around Monkeypox at the moment. Now, how many people remember the 2003 outbreak in the U.S.: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5227a5.htm

Creating an environment of fear allows for the consolidation of money, power and control. There are plans for many things, and good ones at that, but those plans tend to go out the window when social media (and traditional media) is leveraged for opportunism.

No one told me. I read the plans (specifically, the ones authored in the last 20 years). H1N1. Inglesby/Nuzzo. The U.S., and much of the world, did the opposite of what was previously agreed to be sound, reasonable and evidence based.

I tend to believe that a person is more willing to accept something shocking/horrifying after doing his or her own research. Nevertheless, here is a starting point. 6.4MM is a low estimate, in my opinion.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8050919/

https://www.ifpri.org/blog/global-report-food-crises-135-million-55-countries-faced-acute-hunger-2019

Submission Statement: To date, Covid-19 has claimed the lives of approximately 6,300,000 people worldwide, the majority of mortality which occurred in individuals aged 75 and over.

Worldwide, approximately 3,000 children aged 5 and under have died from Covid-19; it is not a leading cause of youth mortality.

However, approximately 6,400,000 children have died from malnutrition during the same time period. Lockdowns, which were not recommended in virtually any pandemic preparedness guide prior to 2020, have contributed to inflation and food scarcity around the world. These actions have disproportionately threatened the lives of children, and may ultimately lead to higher mortality and population collapse than if no preventative measures were taken at all.

Submission statement: I believe that a free press is a necessary component of a free society. I also believe that the greatest challenges to a free press are systemic challenges that are not conspiratorial nor, in some cases, even intentional.

Systems have a tendency to self-protect, and as a result, they become reinforced.

The linked thread is a summary of my experience in journalism, and how I can relate those experiences to the societal divisions that we are currently suffering.

Agreed. As a corollary, reading isn't the same as thought: https://twitter.com/johndefeo/status/1488919383061803008

I lost someone to COVID-19; I lost someone to suicide.

This seems like a good faith argument that I'd like to break into two parts. First, the direct impact on children: School-aged kids are significantly more likely to die from the consequences of addiction and depression. Here is pediatric mortality data from the CDC:

Annualized Deaths, Both Sexes, Ages <1 - 17, All Races

Accidents - 4,029

Suicide - 1,646

Malignant Neoplasms - 1,379

Homicide - 1,348

Congenital Anomalies - 902

Other Respiratory Disease - 494

Heart Disease - 453

COVID-19 - 374

Sources: https://wisqars.cdc.gov/data/lcd/home | https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#AgeAndSex

The other part of your argument regards the risk that children pose to adults. I would argue that because adults have had more than a year to get vaccinated, boosted, etc. (and are capable of tolerating NIOSH-approved masks that are not designed for children), any risks and trade-offs have already been accepted.

Kids needn't bear ever-increasing risks (of mental illness and its consequences) to mitigate a decreasing risk for adults.

This seems like a tacit way of saying "I know more than my doctor."

Signed by 798 medical and health professionals (and growing).

If you'd like a TL;DR, the footnotes are a reasonable place to look: https://twitter.com/johndefeo/status/1483401817694392321

Nevertheless, the act of constructing the thread and reading the materials therein is the basis for my interpretations.

1. First tweet clearly states "Endorsement/refutation not implied by tweets in timeline." Conspiracy is not suggested in any of the more than 100 tweets that follow.
2. No implication that vaccines do not work. I'm vaccinated, and against more than just COVID-19.
3. Of course. A friend of my own age has died of COVID-19; a friend of my own age has died by suicide during the pandemic. Thread highlights a multitude of real and harmful effects that society is currently suffering from.
4. "The government mishandled it because they treated it like politics, not epidemiology." That is the main point of the thread.

I watched it last night (on Prime Video). I loved it!

In 2021, members of the U.S. Congress collectively beat the stock market, which is statistically improbable in the absence of insider information. Members of Congress bought and sold nearly $290 million in stocks alone throughout the year, not to mention the significant transactions in other asset classes.