Even if they're not, they have little option BUT to be 'baffled' because to investigate and provide answers they risk biting the hand that feeds them (professional persecution, loss of license, etc.). Few brave professionals have dared cross them (McCullough among them).
The narrative - and the conspirators - must be protected. The grant money ensures that continued protection.
This article is just more evidence of that fact and of the total corruption of those who dare use the title 'scientist' (or MD, for that matter) without freely asking the hard questions, publishing their findings and/or providing effective pre/post medical care.
Until those who corrupted science are held to account - Fauxi among them, but FAR from the highest authority - things will NEVER again be normal and will remain subject to the whims of those desperate to maintain this paradigm, regardless their motivation or nationality.
This is it yet another rehash of an AP article posted over and over here last year with a clickbait headline about scientists being “mystified”. If you read that article, and the rehash ones, it becomes clear the scientists are not battled or mystified, but merely interested and curious. They have a number of plausible theories (such as younger population, lower rates of obesity and diabetes, etc.). Because no proper studies had been undertaken, there was no proof of course, just educated guesses and theories.
The photograph accompanying the original article also provides a clue: it show people shopping at a small open pair market. Unlike in developed countries where we shop in closed buildings. There is likely a constellation of reasons for the lower Covid death toll in sub-Saharan Africa. They also don’t do nursing homes.